Summa de Ecclesia
Juan de Torquemada (1388–1468)
First published 1561
Torquemada's Summa de Ecclesia from the Venice 1561 edition, Books I-IV with the Florentine union apparatus, in Latin with a new English translation.
Titulus I: Title page
Privilegium I: Privilege
Epistola I: Dedicatory letter
Index I: Full index
Prologus I: Prologue
Liber I: Book I — On the Universal Church
Caput I: Chapter I. On the name Church and how it differs from the name synagogue.
Caput II: Chapter II. On the various senses of the name Church.
Caput III: Chapter III. In which sense the discussion of the Church is to be taken in what follows, where it is shown that in the Church the good and the wicked are mingled together.
Caput IV: Chapter IV. In which objections are raised against what was said, that in the holy and universal Church the good and the wicked are contained together.
Caput V: Chapter V. In which the distinction is given by which the just faithful and sinful faithful are said to be in the Church, and the objections raised are answered.
Caput VI: Chapter VI. Proving that the Church is one, and on its manifold unity.
Caput VII: Chapter VII. In which objections are raised against what was said on the unity of the Church.
Caput VIII: Chapter VIII. In which the objections raised are answered.
Caput IX: Chapter IX. In which it is shown that the Church is holy.
Caput X: Chapter X. In which objections are raised against what was said on the holiness of the Church.
Caput XI: Chapter XI. In which the objections raised are answered.
Caput XII: Chapter XII. In which a certain way of speaking about the holiness of the Church is disapproved.
Caput XIII: Chapter XIII. That the Church is to be called Catholic.
Caput XIV: Chapter XIV. In which objections are raised against what was said, that the Christian faith is to be called Catholic.
Caput XV: Chapter XV. In which the arguments already made are answered.
Caput XVI: Chapter XVI. Where objections are raised against what was said, that the Church is to be called Catholic.
Caput XVII: Chapter XVII. In which the objections of the preceding chapter are answered.
Caput XVIII: Chapter XVIII. In which it is shown by arguments that the Church is called Apostolic.
Caput XIX: Chapter XIX. In which some objections are raised against what was said, that the Church is to be called Apostolic.
Caput XX: Chapter XX. How the words 'We believe in one holy Church' are to be understood.
Caput XXI: Chapter XXI. In which the error of those who say that men can be saved outside the unity of this holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is refuted.
Caput XXII: Chapter XXII. When the Church began, and on its ages.
Caput XXIII: Chapter XXIII. In which objections are raised against what was said on the antiquity of the Church.
Caput XXIV: Chapter XXIV. In which the solution to the arguments of the preceding chapter is given.
Caput XXV: Chapter XXV. From whom the Church began.
Caput XXVI: Chapter XXVI. In which objections are raised against the foregoing.
Caput XXVII: Chapter XXVII. In which the objections already made are answered.
Caput XXVIII: Chapter XXVIII. That after the Church began it has not ceased to be, and that in it faith, holiness, doctrine, prelacy, and the sacraments will endure to the end of the age.
Caput XXIX: Chapter XXIX. In which some objections are raised against what was said on the duration of the Church.
Caput XXX: Chapter XXX. In which the objections already made are answered.
Caput XXXI: Chapter XXXI. Why the Church is called heaven, earth, field, and net.
Caput XXXII: Chapter XXXII. On the reasons why the holy Church is called the vineyard of God, and the garden, fountain, and well of living waters.
Caput XXXIII: Chapter XXXIII. In which the reasons are given why the Church is called Ship, House, City, and an army in battle array.
Caput XXXIV: Chapter XXXIV. On the reasons why the Church is called a Kingdom, and on the twelve things by which the glory of the magnificence of the kingdom of the Church is shown.
Caput XXXV: Chapter XXXV. On the reasons why the Church is called the tabernacle and temple of God.
Caput XXXVI: Chapter XXXVI. On the reasons why the Church is called Woman, Beloved, and Dove, Perfect, Sister, and Daughter.
Caput XXXVII: Chapter XXXVII. Why she is also called bride, and on the time of her espousal.
Caput XXXVIII: Chapter XXXVIII. In which the solution to a certain difficulty concerning what was said on the time of the espousal of the Church is given.
Caput XXXIX: Chapter XXXIX. On the gifts and presents with which Christ adorned his bride the Church, singularly even above the angels.
Caput XL: Chapter XL. That the Church is called the spouse of Christ and the mother of the faithful.
Caput XLI: Chapter XLI. That although the Church is said to be the spouse of Christ and the mother of all the faithful, she does not cease to be wholly a virgin.
Caput XLII: Chapter XLII. That the Church is called queen.
Caput XLIII: Chapter XLIII. On the reasons why the Church is called a body, namely the mystical body of Christ.
Caput XLIV: Chapter XLIV. On the variety of the members of the Church and their signification.
Caput XLV: Chapter XLV. In which objections are raised against what was said on the head of the body of the Church.
Caput XLVI: Chapter XLVI. In which the objections already made are answered.
Caput XLVII: Chapter XLVII. In which it is shown how Christ can be called a member of the Church, and how not.
Caput XLVIII: Chapter XLVIII. That Christ as man was the head of the faithful, not only of those who came after the Incarnation, but also of those who from the beginning preceded the Incarnation.
Caput XLIX: Chapter XLIX. In which objections are raised against what was said, that Christ as man was the head of the faithful who preceded the Incarnation.
Caput L: Chapter L. In which the objections already raised are answered.
Caput LI: Chapter LI. In which, on the foregoing, one recent error is refuted.
Caput LII: Chapter LII. In which it is shown how it belongs to Christ alone as God to be head of the Church, and how not to him alone but to others.
Caput LIII: Chapter LIII. In which it is shown that Christ is head of the faithful not only as to souls but also as to bodies.
Caput LIV: Chapter LIV. In which the opinion of some is set out, with their arguments, who say that only the elect are members of Christ or of the mystical body which is the holy Church of God.
Caput LV: Chapter LV. In which the aforesaid opinion is refuted, with its foundations.
Caput LVI: Chapter LVI. In which two other ways of speaking or of marking out the members of the body of Christ are set out.
The second way of speaking and describing the members of the mystical body of Christ is that of those who say that only the faithful existing in grace that makes pleasing are to be called members of the body of Christ. In support of this opinion several reasons are formed; first indeed are those eight which were assigned in ch. 4 of this book, besides which there are those that follow.
First, it is argued from Cant. vi.: One is my dove, that is, the Church, which in this place is called a dove, as we have noted above, because it is illumined with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. From this it seems openly gathered that only those adorned with virtues belong to the members of this dove. Hence Augustine, treating this word in Book iv. against the Donatists, says thus: One is my dove; let him assert, who can, that those who renounce the world in words but not in deeds are members of this dove.
Second, it is argued from Sapientiae iii.: The sons of wisdom are the Church of the just, where only those who are sons of wisdom seem to belong to the Church of the just, which is the holy universal Church itself, of which sort are just and holy men, according to Ecclesi. xiv.: Blessed is the man that shall abide in wisdom.
Third, it is argued from Augustine in Book iv. against the Donatists: The voice, he says, not mine or of any man, but of the Lord himself, sounded not through men but through angels when Christ was born: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will; which assuredly would not have sounded by angelic mouth at the birth of Christ, unless God wished it to be understood that those are in the unity of the body of Christ who are in the peace of Christ, and that those are in the peace of Christ who are of good will.
Fourth, it is argued from Hugh of St. Victor, saying in the second part of his book on the sacraments: Nothing dead is in the body of Christ, nothing outside the one body.
Fifth, it is argued thus: The true body of Christ is the figure of the mystical body, but in the true body of Christ there is no impure member; therefore it seems that no one is to be called a member of the mystical body of Christ unless he be pure from sin. And it is confirmed by that saying of Augustine which the Master of the Sentences adduces in iv., di. viii., who, speaking of the unity of the Church, says thus: The sacrament of this unity is the body of Christ proper, taken from the Virgin, for as the body of Christ stood composed of many most pure and immaculate members, so the ecclesiastical society stands composed of many persons free from criminal fault. In type of this thing the ark of the Lord was made of setim wood, which are incorruptible and like the white thorn, these are his words.
The third way of speaking on this matter is that all the faithful keeping integrity of faith are members of Christ. In favor of their opinion seem to work all the things said around ch. iii. of this work, in which it was shown in a long discourse that in the holy and universal Church the good and the evil are intermingled. In favor of their opinion this too can support what the Apostle says at Gal. iii.: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. From this it seems that all baptized in Christ are said to be members of Christ, since to put on Christ seems to be nothing other than to adhere to Christ or to be united to Christ as his member. Hence Augustine, treating this word on Ps. xxxiii., says thus: For if all Christians, both the faithful and the baptized, put him on, as the Apostle says: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ, they are made members of the body, and if they say they are not holy, they do injury to the head itself, these are his words. The same is also argued from 1 Tim. iv.: Who is the Saviour of all men, especially of the faithful; and 1 John ii. says: And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. But to save men or to be a propitiator for their sins belongs to Christ according as he is head; therefore it follows that he is head of all those, and thus all the faithful are his members.