Summa de Ecclesia

¹

Just as in the human body the members of the body take diverse names according to the variety of acts and operations, so that one is called the head, another the eye, another the hand, etc., so in the mystic body of Christ, which is the Church, according to the diversity and variety of the operations and offices to which the faithful of Christ are deputed as members of the body, they take diverse characters of members. Whence Job said in ch. 29: I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame. He was an eye whom the spirit of wisdom enlightened; he was an eye to the blind because he prudently provided for the imprudent and showed the way of salvation to the straying and erring; he was a foot to the lame because he furnished supports of strength to the weak. The members of the Church are those that follow, as in the book of the Canticle, whose matter, as the Gloss says in the beginning, is the spouse and the bride: head and Church; head, face, cheeks, eyes, ears, nose, lips, teeth, neck, breasts, hands, belly, legs, and feet.

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Of her head it is found in Cant. 5: His head is the finest gold, the Gloss: the head, that is Christ, who is the head of the body of the Church, full of wisdom, Col. 2: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. And it is called the finest gold because it is most radiant. For he is beautiful in form above the sons of men, Ps. 43.

Moreover Christ is rightly called the head of the body of the Church. First, because after the likeness of the head he is higher and more sublime than the other members, John 3: He who comes from heaven is above all. Second, because just as in the head all the senses dwell, which is not so in the other members, for in the head are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, while in the others there is only the sense of touch, so also in Christ is the fullness of all grace, namely in whom dwells all the fullness of the divinity, in Col. 2. Whence Aug. in his epistle to Dardanus: Because he is the head, in him are all the senses of the divinity, while in the other saints there is as it were only the sense of touch, to whom the spirit has been given by measure. Third, Christ is called the head of the body of the Church because he transfused and bestowed the sense and motion of faith upon all the members of that body, according to the word in John 1: Of his fullness we have all received. These three reasons the Apostle embraces together in Col. 1, saying: All things were created through him and in him, and he is before all, and all things consist in him, and he is the head of the body of the Church, where the Gloss says thus: He is above all; none is equal to him even according as he is man, and just as he created all things, so also all things consist in him, who, infused into all things according to his divinity, sustains and rules all things, and though he is such, he is also according to human nature the head of his body, namely of the Church, which is united to him by grace and nature as to a head. Rightly, then, is he called the head of the body, that is, of the Church, because he stands to the Church as the head stands to the body. For he provides for the Church and rules her, and in him are all the spiritual senses of the Church just as in the head are all the senses of the body; thus far there.

³

Of the face of the Church it is said in Cant. 2: Show me your face, for your face is comely. For by the face, in which the beauty of fairness and the comeliness of the person chiefly shine, we understand exemplary men conspicuous in holiness and religion, to whom Christ says in Matt. 5: So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven, whence the Gloss on Cant. 2 says: Show me your face, that is, what inward beauty you have and what you have learned in the secret of quiet, display in public action for the profit of many. And Orige. on the Canticle: The face of the Church is fair, but that of heretics is foul. If there is one who well knows how to prove the beauty of the countenance, that is, if one is spiritual who knows how to examine all things, for among the unlearned and sensual men the sophisms of falsehood seem fairer than the teachings of truth.

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Of the cheeks of the Church it is said in Cant. 1: Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove, and in Cant. 4: Your cheeks are as a fragment of pomegranate, and in Cant. 5.

⁵ His cheeks are as beds of spices planted by perfumers. By the cheeks, in which beauty, modesty, and bashfulness are designated, we understand in the Church those who are modest and bashful, who are ashamed to say or do, to hear or see shameful things. Whence Origen on the Canticle: Her cheeks are so called, in which the honesty and modesty of the soul is known, by which without doubt those are declared among the members of the Church who cultivate the honesty of chastity and modesty; thus far Origen. Truly such are chiefly to be understood in the Church as the prelates, elegant in morals and shining with the whiteness of holy conduct, who are not only an example but a fear to others. Therefore the Gloss on Cant. 3, on the words, Your cheeks are as a fragment of pomegranate, that is, the modest prelates who are the face of the Church, in whose sight others are ashamed to do evil. But let us see how beautifully the Spirit designates the cheeks of the Church; for he says: First, your cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove, first for the chastity in which the prelates and ministers of the Church ought to abound, Isa. 52: Be clean, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. Then for the groan of compassion which they ought to have toward their neighbor, 2 Cor. 11: Who is weak, and I am not weaker; the turtledove has a groan for its song. Third, for the solitude of contemplation which they ought to love like the turtledove, Osee 2: I will lead her into solitude and there I will speak to her heart. Second, the cheeks of the Church are said to be as a fragment of pomegranate, in which many red grains are contained. In this is designated that in many things they ought to be an example to others, according to the word of the Apostle in 1 Tim. 4: Be an example of the faithful in word, in conduct, in charity, in faith, and in chastity. Or they are so called because the prelates and preachers above all ought not to blush at the fragment of pomegranate, that is, at Christ crucified, but ought to imitate him and profess him before others in open confession, according to the word in Rom. 1: I am not ashamed of the Gospel, the Gloss: like those who reckon the cross of Christ a disgrace. Third, the cheeks of the Church are compared to beds of spices planted by perfumers, Cant. 5, because just as in beds aromatic herbs are planted, so in their minds have been planted sprouts of fragrant sweetness: by perfumers, that is, by the holy teachers who took from the apostles and prophets the spices of holy words and works and mingled them, which they planted in the other faithful. They are called beds planted, not inborn, because we are coadjutors of God, 1 Cor. 3, or by perfumers, that is, by the three divine persons. For the Father, speaking appropriatively, bestows there the strength of fortitude; the Son, the light of discretion; the Holy Spirit, the odor of sweetness, Ecclesiasticus 24: As choice myrrh I gave the sweetness of odor. But because the works of the undivided Trinity are undivided, as Diony. and August. say, and the three persons are one God, John 10: I and the Father are one, and in 1 John 1: There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one, therefore it is said in the singular in Eccles. 28: The apothecary shall make pigments of sweetness.

⁶

Of the eyes of the Church it is found thus: in Cant. 4, where the spouse, commending the bride for her eyes, says: Your eyes are doves, and in Cant. 7: Your eyes are as pools in Esebon. For by the eyes, in which the visual power resides for the provision of the whole body, are designated in the Church those who, excelling in greater keenness and perspicacity of wit, penetrate more deeply the secrets of the divine Scriptures and dispense them to others, who by the amplitude of discretion and the clarity of understanding which they have above the rest take precaution not only for themselves but also for others against the snares of malign spirits. Two eyes of the Church are designated: the right one, namely those illuminated by the spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of divine things; the left one, namely those illuminated by the spirit of knowledge, that is, in the administration of good temporal things. Of these the spouse says: Your eyes are doves; he did not say of the raven or vulture, which always have their eyes upon corpses; he did not say of the hawk or heron, whose eye is always upon blood and rapine; but he says of doves, which are simple and dwell beside streams of water and most full currents. So the holy teachers of the Church are simple, without the fold of error and malice, and dwell upon the currents of the Scriptures, that in them they may know spiritual mysteries. Whence Origen on the Canticle says thus: That the eyes of the Church are compared to doves is indeed for this reason, that they understand and behold the divine Scriptures no longer according to the letter but according to the spirit, and see in them spiritual mysteries. For the dove is a token of the Holy Spirit. To understand the law and the prophets spiritually, then, is to have the eyes of a dove; thus far Orige. And the Gloss on Cant. 7 says: The eyes are those who behold secrets so that they may proclaim openly what they do not cease to give to hearers as currents of doctrine.

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Of the ears of the Church implicit mention is made in Cant. 1, where the spouse says to the bride: We will make you chains inlaid with silver. Chains, according to the Gloss, are ornaments of the ears. They are certain little chains made of diverse rings penetrating one another. By the ears, which hear and receive the words of doctrine, are to be understood in the Church, as the Gloss says, men illuminated by the Holy Spirit who, shining within with the gold of spiritual understanding and without with the silver of heavenly eloquence, do not cease to reveal the depths of divine wisdom to others according to the diversity of persons; the ornaments of these ears are said to be inlaid with silver because the sermons of teachers ought to shine with varied brightness, since the speech of teachers must be formed according to the quality of the hearers, according to Grego. Plainly not all things are to be dispensed to all, but precepts to all, counsels to the perfect, rudiments to the little, but profound secrets to the great.

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Of the nose of the Church it is found in Cant. 7, where the spouse thus commends the bride for her nose: Your nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. By the nose, in which sagacity and discretion are marked and designated, we understand in the Church those who sagaciously discern what is the odor of life unto life and of death unto death, what is the fragrance of virtues, what is the stench of vices, whence the Gloss says: By the nose understand those who are most cautious discerners of good and evil, whom no hypocrisy deceives; these are called the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. Damascus is interpreted as draught of blood, or drinking blood, and figures the devil, who thirsts for the blood of our souls; against him these are called the tower of Lebanon: a tower, I say, for the strength of constancy; a tower for the height of virtues; a tower for the eminence of place which it holds in the Church, so that they may descry from afar the incursions of malign spirits and take precaution, and thus fortify their own against the snares of devils and wicked men and draw others out of them.

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Of the lips of the Church the fourth Canticle speaks, where the spouse thus commends the bride: Your lips, O bride, are a dripping honeycomb. By the lips, with which words are formed, are understood teachers and preachers in the Church, who through the sweetness of speech and the fitness of doctrine, as the Gloss says, are compared to honey, Ps. 128.¹⁰ How sweet are your words to my throat, above honey to my mouth. And in Cant. 4: Your lips and your speech are sweet. Therefore in Cant. 2 the spouse says to the bride: Let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice is sweet, upon which Origen says on the Canticle: He wishes the voice of his Church to be heard, because whoever confesses him before men, he also will confess him before his Father who is in heaven, for your voice is lovely. And who would not confess the voice of the catholic Church confessing the true faith to be a sweet voice, but the voice of heretics to be unsweet and unpleasant, who speak not the dogmas of truth but blasphemies against God and iniquity on high.

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Of the teeth of the Church the spouse speaks thus to the bride in Cant. 6: Your teeth are as flocks of sheep that ascend from the washing. By the teeth, which are white and strong and are instruments cooperating both for chewing and dividing food and for forming speech, are to be understood in the Church perfect teachers most constant in faith, white with the purity of innocence, breaking food for others and expounding salvation by chewing it, abounding in well-watered doctrines, as flocks are full of water in their fleeces when they newly ascend from the washing.

¹²

Of the neck of the Church it is written in Cant. 4: Your neck is as the tower of David, built with bulwarks. And in Cant. 7: Your neck is as a tower of ivory. By the neck, through which the body is joined to the head and food is conveyed into the body and incorporated, are understood the prelates, who by dispensing to others the foods of doctrine and the ecclesiastical sacraments incorporate others into Christ and the Church. Whence it was said to Peter in Act. 10: Kill and eat, because, as Augu. says on Ps. 122, no one enters into the body of the Church unless first slain he dies to what he was, that he may be what he was not; a pagan comes, in him idolatry still lives; he must be inserted into the members of Christ; to be inserted he must be eaten, but he cannot be eaten by the Church unless first slain he renounces the world; he is slain when he believes in God; thus far Augu. Such are called a tower because by the examples of holy life and the power of the word, as by bulwarks, they have become to others a tower of impregnable fortification.

¹³

Of the breasts of the Church the spouse speaks thus to the bride in Cant. 4: Your breasts are more beautiful than wine. By the breasts, which pour milk to little ones, are designated teachers and masters in the Church, as the Gloss on the Canticle says, who by grinding solid foods convert them into the nature of milk, by which the little ones newly reborn in faith are nourished, of whose number was Peter, who says, that is, 2 Peter: As newborn babes desire the rational milk without guile, that in it you may grow unto salvation. And there was the Apostle Paul, who said to the Corinthians: As to little ones in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not meat, 1 Cor. 3. These breasts are said to be more beautiful than wine because, as the interlinear Gloss says, the documents of the Church are more honorable and beautiful than philosophic and logical doctrines. Here it must be considered that both in this fourth chapter and in the seventh chapter of the Canticle the breasts of the Church are described as two, where it is said: Your two breasts are as two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies until the day breaks. They are called two, first because there are two testaments from which, as from two breasts, all the milk flows by which mother Church nourishes her sons. Then because doctrine is said to be twofold, namely the doctrine of things to be believed and the doctrine of things to be done. They are likened to twin young roes, which see keenly and bear conformity, because in the teachers of the Church deeds and words ought so to agree with each other and answer to each other that life accords with speech. They are said to feed among the lilies, that is, among the flowery sentences of the Scriptures, which also invite to the cleanness of chastity, among which the spouse himself also feeds, Cant. 2: My beloved to me and I to him, who feeds among the lilies until the day breaks, namely of eternity, of which in Ps. 83: Better is one day in your courts above thousands.

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Of the hands of the bride the bride herself speaks thus in Cant. 5: My hands distilled myrrh. By the hands, with which we chiefly work and fight, according to the words of Ps. 143, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to battle, are understood in the Church to be brave men given to the active life, who, exercising themselves manfully in the field of the communications of this world and fighting most constantly, enduring labors, straits, bitternesses, and most grievous torments for the desire of heavenly life, left to others most bright examples of patience and longanimity. Whence the Gloss on the words, My hands distilled myrrh, says: that is, an example of bitter suffering.

¹⁵

Of the belly of the Church the spouse thus commends the bride in Cant. 7: Your belly is as a heap of wheat fenced with lilies. By the belly, in which the fruit of generation is conceived and formed, as gathered from the Gloss, good married persons are designated. They are called a heap of wheat fenced with lilies: a heap for the abundance of good works with which good married persons prepare fruits for themselves by which they may be refreshed perpetually; of wheat because they solicitously intend the refreshment of the poor; fenced with lilies because, as the Gloss says, all the good they do, they do for the sake of seeing the glory.

¹⁶

Of the legs of the bride may congruently be received, by reason of conformity, the word in Cant. 5 written of the legs of the spouse: His legs are pillars of marble founded upon bases of gold. By the legs, which are the pillars of the body, are designated in the Church men most excellent in wisdom and holiness, who sustain and strengthen others in the Church by their might, as the Gloss says. Whence Paul says of the blessed apostles Peter, James, and John in Gal. 2: Who seemed to be pillars, the Gloss: that is, the support of the whole Church.

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Of the feet of the Church it is found plainly enough in Can. 7, where the spouse himself says to the Church: How beautiful are your steps in shoes, O daughter of the prince, the Gloss: that is, of God. By the feet, which sustain and carry the whole body, are understood in the Church the apostles, who carry the faith of Christ into all the earth, preaching it and glittering with examples and miracles, of whom in Isa. 53 and in Rom. 10: How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize good things, the Gloss: The feet of Christ are his apostles by carrying his preaching, who were called beautiful because cleansed from the dust of worldly sin. The shoes of these feet of the Church are the testimonies of the Scriptures and the examples of the holy fathers, for which so admirable and beautiful variety of members in the bride the spouse deservedly says to her in Cant. 4: You are all beautiful, my friend, and there is no spot in you. And let this suffice to have said for now of the signification of the members of the body of the Church.