Summa de Ecclesia

From what we have said so far it is easy to see that both the greater prelates of the Church, namely the bishops, and religious are in the state of perfection. For since, as was said in the preceding chapter, a perpetual obligation to the things that belong to perfection, with a certain solemnity, is required for the state of perfection, and since both of these befit bishops and religious, it is manifest that they are in the state of perfection. As regards bishops it is clear: they bind themselves to the things that belong to perfection when they undertake the pastoral office, to which it belongs that the shepherd lay down his soul for his sheep, as is said in John 10. Expounding this, blessed Gregory says: Hear, brethren, our instruction and our peril. And afterwards he adds: The way we should follow has been shown to us, through contempt of death: first, to bestow our outward goods mercifully for the sheep; last, if need be, to minister even our death for the same sheep. That bishops bind themselves to this perfection is gathered from the Apostle in 1 Timothy, the last chapter: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were called and confessed a good confession before many witnesses, namely in your ordination, where the Gloss says the same. Moreover they also have a certain solemnity of consecration together with the aforesaid profession, according to 2 Tim. 1: Stir up the grace of God which is in you by the imposition of my hands. The Gloss expounds this of episcopal grace, and blessed Dionysius says in ch. 10 of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy that the high priest, that is the bishop, has in his ordination the most holy imposition of the Scriptures upon his head, to signify that he partakes of the whole hierarchical power in its entirety, and that he is not only illuminative with respect to all things pertaining to holy discourses and actions, but also hands this on to others. From these things it is easy to see which prelates, namely only the greater, befits to be in the state of perfection: those alone to whom belongs a perpetual obligation to the things that belong to perfection, celebrated with a certain solemnity, which does not befit the other inferior prelates, such as parish priests and archdeacons. Hence such men do not seem to be in the state of perfection, as St Thomas deduces in II-II, q. 183, arg. 6: In priests and deacons having cure of souls two things can be considered: order and cure. Order itself is ordered to a certain act in the divine offices; from undertaking a sacred order one receives the power of performing certain sacred acts, yet one is not thereby bound to the things that belong to perfection, except insofar as in the Western Church a vow of continence, which is one of the things pertaining to perfection, is emitted in the reception of sacred order. Hence it is clear that from receiving sacred order one is not placed simply in the state of perfection, although perfection is required for one to exercise such acts worthily. Likewise, on the part of the cure they undertake they are not placed in the state of perfection, although they are appointed to a certain office; for they are not thereby bound by a bond of perpetual vow to retain the cure of souls, but can abandon it, either by passing to religion even without the bishop's leave, as found in ch. Duae, xi, q. ii, or even, with the bishop's leave, by giving up the parish or archdeaconry and receiving a simple benefice without cure, which they can do, yet could in no way do if they were in the state of perfection. For no one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God, as is said in Luke 9. Bishops, however, since they are in the state of perfection, can abandon the episcopal cure only by the authority of the supreme pontiff, to whom it also belongs to dispense in perpetual vows, and even then for certain causes. Hence it is manifest that to be in the state of perfection befits not all prelates, but only the greater. That this also befits religious is clear: religious bind themselves by vow to abstain from secular things, which they could licitly use, so that they may more freely attend to God, in which consists the perfection of the present life. Hence Dionysius, speaking of religious in ch. 7 of the Celestial Hierarchy, says that some call religious servants of God, others monks, from the service and ministry of God, living an undivided and solitary life, drawing themselves in undivided holy contemplations to the unity of the form of God and to perfection beloved of God, etc. Their obligation also takes place with a certain solemnity of profession and blessing. Hence blessed Dionysius adds in the same place: Wherefore, granting them perfect grace, the holy legislator has deemed them worthy of a certain sanctifying invocation. It is clear, therefore, that both bishops and professed religious are to be said to be in the state of perfection. Hence blessed Dionysius in book 5 of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy attributes perfection to bishops as perfectors, and in ch. 6 of the same work to religious, whom he calls monks or servants of God, as perfected, etc. Here it must be considered that, since, as blessed Aug. testifies in the Literal Commentary on Genesis, the agent is always nobler than the patient, and the cause than its effect, and since, from what blessed Dionysius has said, in the genus of perfection bishops stand as perfectors while religious stand as perfected, one pertaining to action and the other to reception, we manifestly hold that the state of perfection is mightier and higher in bishops than in religious. Moreover this is also clear from the fact that a religious can pass to the episcopal state. For it is said in ch. 1, xviii, q. 1, that sacred ordination makes a bishop from a monk. This would in no way be licit unless the episcopal state were more perfect than the religious state, since no one may pass from a greater state to a lesser; for this would be to look back.