Summa de Ecclesia

Very often also among the holy doctors speaking of this mystical union of Christ and the Church we find this proposition, that Christ and his body which is the Church are one person. Whence Aug. on Psalm 30, as posited in the ordinary Gloss, says thus: And that you may know that Christ, head and his body, is called one, he himself says, when he spoke of marriage: They shall be two in one flesh; therefore now no longer two, but one flesh. If perchance he says this of any marriage whatsoever, hear the apostle Paul: They shall, he says, be two in one flesh; this is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church. There is made therefore as it were from two a certain one person, from head and body, and from bridegroom and bride. For Isaiah the prophet also commends this unity of person with marvelous and excellent praise, in whom Christ speaking says: As a bridegroom he bound a mitre upon me, and as a bride adorned me with ornament. He calls himself bridegroom, himself bride: why himself bridegroom and himself bride, except because they shall be two in one flesh? thus Aug. Likewise Damascene in book III, ch. 25, calls this union in Christ personal, saying thus: It must be known that there are two Kirioses, that is, proprieties or familiarities, one natural and substantial, the other personal and habitual; thus he. The first, namely the substantial, that is, the hypostatic, St. Thomas expounds as referring to the unity of the humanity with the Word; the second, to the unity of the Church with Christ. Likewise the same proposition is oftentimes repeated in blessed Gregory, whence in book 19 of the Moralia, ch. 9, he says that Christ and the Church are one person, as we have already often said. Likewise in book 35, ch. 9, he says: Because Christ and the Church, that is, head and body, is one person, we often say that blessed Job now designates the figure of the head, now of the body. Person is taken in two ways¹ For the true understanding of this proposition it is to be noted that person is taken by the holy doctors in two ways. In one way properly for one, namely a singular individual or supposit of a rational nature, as Boethius takes it in his book on the two natures and the one person of Christ: Person is the individual substance of a rational nature. In which manner also Richard takes it in his book on the Trinity: Person is the incommunicable subsistence of an intellectual nature. In another way the name person is taken not properly for the native propriety of one individual rational substance, but mystically from a certain analogical likeness or resonance, and in this way Scripture and the holy doctors often speak of the whole mystical body of the Church as of one person, as has now appeared. Whence Aug. on Psalm 56, upon that word, Rush in upon a man, etc., says: We ought to understand our person, the person of our Church, the person of the body of Christ. Since, moreover, one follows upon being, and the condition of unity follows the condition of being, as is gathered from Aristotle, Metaphysics 4, as there is a twofold manner of speaking of person, or of man, namely naturally or mystically, so there is a twofold manner of speaking of unity. For if we speak of the unity of person as it answers to the first manner of taking person, then it is plain that Christ and his body which is the Church are not one person, as neither are they one man, as we declared in the preceding chapter. For those things which in this manner are one in person, as one person, are not many supposits, as is clear from the definition of person both of Boethius and of Richard posited above. But Christ and the faithful who are his body have in this manner distinct personalities. If, however, we speak of personal unity as it answers to the second manner of taking the name person, the mystical, then it must be granted that Christ and his body which is the Church are one person. For in this manner of unity those things can be said to be one person which are also distinct in supposits and in their own natural personalities, which unity is called mystical or figurative, because it is taken after the likeness of the unity which is between the natural body of man and its head; for as, in conceiving the natural body of man and the head conjoined, one must necessarily understand a certain whole, namely a man and a natural person in which body and head are united, so in the present case, in considering Christ the head and the body of the Church joined and compacted together by one spirit, one must necessarily understand one mystical person to result. Whence Augustine, treating that word at Eph. 5, They shall be two in one flesh, as posited in the Gloss of the Master, says: How he is called bridegroom and bride, so head and body; whether therefore head and body be said, or bridegroom and bride, understand one; for from two there is made as it were a certain one person, namely from head and body, from bridegroom and bride; thus there. Where it is to be considered, as we have already in part given to understand, that this mystical personal unity by which the whole body of the Church with Christ is called one person does not confound the natural personal distinction of Christ and the members, because, since these personalities are of one and of another character, one does not confound the other; for with the unity of one there stands the distinction and plurality of the other personality, since although according to the sentence of the Apostle at Rom. 12 and 1 Cor. 12 all the faithful are one body, yet they are distinguished in supposits and in their own personalities, for as many as are the faithful, so many are the persons, since person is the individual substance of a rational nature, as Boethius says. Wherefore Augustine, treating that word of Psalm 127, Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and there follows, in the singular, thou shalt eat the labors of thy fruits, says: O you, O thou, ye many who are one; thus he. For nothing forbids that things which in one way are many should in another way be one and undivided, as things distinct in number are one in species, and things distinct in species are one in genus; indeed, as Dionysius says in his book on the divine names, there is nothing of existing things not participating in the one, for since they are many in parts they are one in whole, and things which are many in accidents are one in subject, and things which are many in number are one in species, and things which are many in species are one in genus, and things which are many in processes are one in principle; so in the present case, we who are many in ourselves are one in Christ. Gal. 3: You are all one in Christ. It is also to be considered here that although blessed Gregory in book 4 of the Moralia, ch. 9, says that as our Redeemer is one person with the congregation of the good, for he himself is the head of the body, and we the body of this head, so the ancient enemy is one person joined with the collection of the reprobate, because he is as it were a head preeminent over them unto iniquity, while they, enslaved to perverse ways, cleave as a body subjected to the head. Nevertheless the mystical personal unity by which Christ with his body which is the Church is called one person is much more excellent or greater than that by which the ancient enemy is called one person with the body of the wicked, because the aforesaid unity in Christ and the body of the Church, as we touched a little above, rises from two roots, namely from the conformity of one nature which is between Christ the head and his body which is the Church, which, as we said, resulted from the incarnation of the Son of God. For Hugh of St. Victor says in his book on the sacraments: He assumed from us our nature, to associate it to himself through union in person, which was not associated through union in nature, that through that of ours which he had made one with himself he might unite us to himself, that with him we might be one through that of ours which was one with him; thus he. The second, moreover, from which the aforesaid mystical unity is said to result, and which is as it were its complement, is the unity of the Holy Spirit quickening the whole body of the Church, of whom the Apostle at Eph. 4: Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body and one Spirit, that is, being subjected, says the Gloss, be one body, keep the unity of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is that by which we are made one body. For since he is the love and connection of the Father and the Son, to him pertains the society by which we are made one body. But the unity by which the devil is called one person with the whole body of the wicked rises neither from conformity of nature which is between head and body, nor from the unity of any one spirit inhabiting that whole body of the wicked, but only from conformity of affection and imitation of perverse work, according to that word of Wisdom 2: By the envy of the devil death came into the world; but they imitate him who are of his side; the Gloss: sons of perdition.

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