Summa de Ecclesia

¹ Moreover the Church, for the amplitude of her offspring, is called the consort or wife of Christ. Whence of her it is said in Ps. 127: Your wife shall be as an abundant vine in the sides of your house. Upon this verse Aug. says: Your wife is said to Christ; therefore his wife is the Church, whose sons we ourselves are. Here it must be noted that this consort of Christ, namely the Church, for her most ample dignity is shown figured in holy Scripture in many wives worthy of memory. She was figured first in Eve, the wife of our first parent Adam. Whence in Eph. 5 the teacher of the nations, Paul the Apostle, privy to the counsels of heavenly secrets, after commemorating the marriage of Adam and Eve, adds: This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church. Plainly, just as in Eve, the mother of all the living, the Church was figured, which is the mother of all the faithful, whence Aug. on the word of Ps. 127, Behold the inheritance of the Lord are sons, etc., says: The Church brings forth sons, the consort of Christ, in whose figure Eve was called the mother of the living. Second, she was figured in the wife of Abraham, namely Sarah, who according to the promise conceived and bore Isaac, who is interpreted as laughter, Gen. 25. Whence the Gloss on Gen. 20: Abraham signifies Christ, Sarah the Church. Abraham is honored for the beauty of Sarah, Christ for the Church. Whence God is wonderful in his saints, Ps. 67. ² Third, the consort of Christ the Church was figured in Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, whose name is interpreted as beautiful in face. And of the Church it is said in Cant. 2: Your face is comely, whence the Gloss of Greg. placed on Gen. 2, on the words, Isaac brought her, namely Rebecca, into the tabernacle, says: Isaac brought her into the tabernacle of his mother and took her as wife, because in the place of the synagogue, from which Christ was born, he loves the Church, so that she who was beloved by kinship, that is, by predestination, may become, joined in love, his wife. Fourth, she was figured in the wives of Jacob, namely Rachel the beautiful and Lia the laborious, who bore the Patriarchs to her husband. Whence the Gloss on Gen., ch. 29: Rachel, beautiful in face and of comely aspect, younger and more beautiful, first sterile, afterwards fruitful, signifies the Church, which, later in time than the synagogue, is holy in body and in spirit. Her eyes are comely, because she deserved to see the Gospel. Fifth, she was figured in Esther, who, with queen Vasthi repudiated, became the wife of king Assuerus, who, as is said in Esther 2, was exceeding beautiful and of comely face, where the Gloss says: Esther is interpreted as hidden, concealed mercy, that is, the Church of the Gentiles, which, nourishing in the hidden place of the heart the chastity of faith, found mercy and grace before the eyes of the Lord. The synagogue having been repudiated, which in Osee is called without mercy.

³ Furthermore, since, as has already been said, the holy and universal Church is the consort of Christ, yet not sterile but as an abundant vine in the sides of her house, Ps. 127, it is openly and reasonably evident that she is the mother of all the faithful, the mother of all who live in the faith and charity of Christ. Whence the Gloss on the words of Ps. 57, They are alienated from the womb, they err from the belly, the Gloss: By the womb or belly is understood the charity of the Church, in which converts are received and born, while they receive the rudiments of faith, and are gradually nourished until, with truth formed in them, they are born to the light. The Church is therefore the mother of all the sons of God, and so blessed Aug. in his book on the Creed says: If anyone shall be found outside the Church, he will be alien from the number of the sons of God, nor will he have God as father who refused to have the Church as mother. Here it must be noted that, as gathered from the Gloss in this place and on the words of Ps. 130, As a weaned child upon his mother, just as a carnal mother observes five successions and seasons in her carnal offspring, so also in spiritual upbringing the holy mother Church observes the same. For first the child is conceived, that is, born in the womb. Second, he is nourished in the womb. Third, he is brought forth into the light. Fourth, he is carried in the hands of his mother and nourished with milk that he may grow. Fifth, he is weaned, that he may approach the table of his father and be fed with stronger food. The first season, then, is that of conception, the second of nourishment in the womb, the third of bringing forth, the fourth of carrying and suckling, the fifth of weaning; so it is with those whom the Church rears. For first they are born in the womb, that is, conceived, while they are instructed in the rudiments of the faith in the catechism and exorcism. Second, they are nourished in the womb while, more fully formed in the beginnings of the faith, they progress. Then third, they are led forth into the light while they are regenerated through baptism. Fourth, they are carried as if in the hands of the Church and fed with milk until, separated from the milk of the Holy Spirit, they approach the table of their father to feed on strong food, namely the bread of angels, In the beginning was the Word. Hence it is that Abraham is said to have made a great feast not at the birth of Isaac, not at his circumcision, but at his weaning; thus far there. Therefore blessed Aug. in his book on the Creed at the end speaks thus of the Church: The holy mother Church, in whom the authority of this sacrament is determined, mother and virgin, chaste in body, fruitful in offspring, the spouse of Christ, devoutly nourishes the sons whom she strives to assign as worthy to God the Father. Sons, love so great a mother. Good sons, do not abandon her who continually seeks you; answer her voice, love her who loves you. So great is she, such is she, noble is she, a queen fruitful in offspring is she; do not suffer her to be wasted by the injuries and snares of most wicked servants; plead the causes of your mother, search out her most ample dignity; let not the evil servant insult his lord, let not the Arian heretic insult the Church; he is a wolf, recognize him; thus far Augu.

⁴ Here it deservedly comes to be considered in this place how the Church is called mother not only of the faithful but also of Christ himself, whose spouse and consort she is. That she is called mother, Christ himself, the very truth, testifies, saying: For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother, Matt. 12. Brother and sister indeed, because born of God spiritually, from whom I am born naturally, for, as the Apostle says, he is the firstborn among many brethren, the Gloss: He deigned to call brethren all who through his primacy are reborn in the grace of God. But he set down each sex, lest he seem to exclude woman. But mother, because she has begotten me in the hearts of believers by word and example. Whence the Apostle says in Gal. 4: My little children, of whom I am in labor until Christ be formed in you. Lest, moreover, it seem impossible to anyone what we have already said of the Church, namely that she is, with respect to one and the same, namely Christ, daughter, sister, spouse, and mother — though among carnal marriages no examples of this sort are found — it must be considered that, as blessed Aug. says on Ps. 127, treating the words, Thy children as young olive plants: In these carnal nuptials and marriages, the wife is one person and the children others; in the Church, those who are the wife are themselves the children. For the Apostles belong to the Church, and were among the members of the Church; therefore they were both in his spouse and were his spouse according to the proportion they held among the members. Why then is it said of them, When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall the children of the bridegroom fast? Therefore she herself is the spouse, and she herself the children. A wondrous thing I say, my brethren. But in the words of the Lord we find that she who is the wife is herself also the children. For we find the Church to be both his brethren and his sisters and his mother. For when his mother and his brethren standing by were announced to him, the Lord answered and said: Who is my mother, or who are my brethren? And stretching forth his hands upon his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren. They were brethren; how were they mother? He added: Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, he is my brother, sister, and mother. Mother how, unless because Christ himself is in the Christians whom the Church daily brings forth as Christians through baptism? Therefore in whom you understand the spouse, in them the mother, in them the children. Thus far Aug.