Summa de Ecclesia

It is certainly not a little to be wondered at that the adversaries, amid so many luminaries of the holy fathers, that is, the most splendid testimonies, labor under such blindness as to dare to deny that Peter the apostle is the foundation of the Church; nevertheless let us answer their reasons.

¹ To the first, which is taken from the apostle in 1 Cor. 3, I answer that Christ is the first and chief foundation of the Church, as the one upon whom the Church principally depends and by whom it is sustained, and besides this foundation no one can lay another as first and principal; nevertheless the apostles are called foundations in a secondary way, and among them principally and above all blessed Peter, as was seen above.

Whence the apostle Paul, as blessed Dionysius testifies, is reported to have said to blessed Peter when facing death, Peace be with thee, foundation of the churches, shepherd of the sheep of Christ. Whence the word besides in the authority of the apostle seems rather a mark of antonomasia than a mark of exclusion, as in that place, Thou alone art holy. Of this opinion is the excellent doctor Aug. on psalm 76, who speaks thus, That thou mayest know that Christ is the first and greatest foundation. The foundation, says the apostle, no one can lay another besides that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. How then are the prophets and apostles foundations, and how is Christ Jesus the foundation besides which there is nothing further? How shall we understand it, unless as it is plainly said, the holy of holies, so figuratively the foundation of foundations? If thou thinkest of the sacraments, Christ is the holy of holies; if thou thinkest of the subject flock, Christ is the shepherd of shepherds; if thou thinkest of the fabric, Christ is the foundation of foundations; thus Aug. And the same is set down in the Gloss on Eph. 3.

² To the second reason, which is taken from the interlinear Gloss on Matt. 16, although the answer is plain from what has been said, we say that it is true that Christ retained for himself the dignity of the principal foundation, but this does not hinder that Peter was secondarily the foundation. But for fuller understanding of this matter it must be known that foundation is said in two ways. In one way, that to which the first part of the building adheres, which yet is not included in the building, as solid earth or rock or cliff. In another way, the first part of the building itself, upon which the rest of the building is founded, can be called the foundation. In the first way, the foundation which sustains the whole edifice is Christ, and in this way Christ retained for himself the dignity of the said foundation. But the foundation spoken of in the second way well befits others, namely the apostles. Whence of both of these is said Eccl. 26, Eternal foundations upon solid rock; and among the apostles this especially befits blessed Peter and his see; and thus that Gloss does not stand in the way.

³ To the third reason, which is taken from the sayings of Augustine, I answer that blessed Augustine also, as was plain above, was of another opinion, namely that Peter was the foundation of the Church upon which the Church herself was founded, which he testifies, that in him as upon rock the Church was founded, in the book of the Retractations, ch. 2, where he speaks thus, I said in a certain place concerning the apostle Peter that in him as upon rock the Church was founded. Which sense is also sung by the mouth of many in the verses of the most blessed Ambrose, where concerning the cock's crowing he says, The rock of the Church itself, by crowing, washed away guilt; but I know that I have most often expounded thus what was said by the Lord, Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, so that it be understood of him whom Peter confessed, saying, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God; as if Peter, named from this rock, figured the person of the Church which is built upon this rock; nor was it said to him, Thou art the rock, but, Thou art Peter; but the rock was Christ. Which of these opinions is more probable, let the reader choose; thus he. But either opinion or exposition can have place and stand together, so that we say that upon Christ the rock the Church is built first and principally, but secondarily upon Peter, as we expounded above. Whence Aug. himself, in the sermon on the Transfiguration of the Lord, speaks thus, How fittingly the rock answered Peter, And I say to thee, Peter, that thou art Peter, etc., that is to say, upon me I will build thee, who bearest the figure of the Church which is built in thee upon me; thus Aug. But if one well considers the sequence of the letter of that passage of Matt. 16, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God, and I say to thee that thou art, etc., according to the opinions of Chrysostom, Hilary, Jerome, Theophilus, Origen, Ambrose, and Pope Leo adduced above, it seems that to the letter that authority of Matt. 16 must be taken of blessed Peter; for as Richard argues in the questions on the Armenians, book 7, ch. 11, and well, according to the sequence of the letter, to Peter first and alone confessing, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God, Christ, wishing to recompense so great a confession with something notable, answered, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven; and I say to thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, etc. Whence he seems to proclaim that Peter must be the foundation of his Church, for otherwise the things that follow would be impertinent to the things that precede; for they do not seem to cohere, I say to thee that thou art Peter, and what follows, upon this rock, namely upon Christ, I will build my Church. That this saying, and upon this rock I will build my Church, must be understood of Peter, the authorities of the saints adduced in ch. 17 plainly show, above all that of Chrysostom and that of blessed Pope Leo.

⁴ To the fourth reason, when it is said that of one building, etc., I answer that it is true of the principal foundation; but secondary foundations can be many, and so it is in the present case.

⁵ To the fifth, when it is said that a foundation has no foundation, I answer that although not of every foundation is there another foundation, for of the first and principal foundation there is no other foundation, nevertheless of secondary foundations there well is another foundation, namely the first and principal. But Peter the apostle is not set down as the first and principal foundation of the Church, but Christ, who, as is plain from Aug. in the answer to the first reason, is called not only foundation but foundation of foundations.

⁶ To the sixth reason, when it is said that a foundation is prior to that of which, etc., it must be said, as we can gather from the above-said opinions of the holy fathers who call blessed Peter the foundation of the Church, that we can speak of the foundation of the Church in two ways. In one way, as regards faith and progress in virtues, of which it is said in Ephes. 3, in whom, the Gloss: in Christ, every building, the Gloss: both of Gentiles and of Jews, built up, the Gloss: in faith grows, the Gloss: through the increase of virtues, into a holy temple in the Lord. In another way we can speak of the foundation of the Church as regards the power of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, according as structure⁷ of the Church rises according to the diverse grades of that power, according to which some, as regards that power itself, are lowest, as parish priests; some middle, as bishops; and one alone is highest, as the Pope. And in both ways of foundation can that word of Matt. 16 be understood. For according to the first, Peter is called the foundation of the Church among other reasons because in his faith and confession, as Jerome says and the Gloss on Matt. 16, the Church was built. But according to the second way of understanding, Peter is called the foundation of the Church inasmuch as he first obtained in the Church the principate of ecclesiastical power, with the Lord saying to him, And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whence blessed Cyprian, and it is found in ch. Loquitur dominus, 24, q. 1, The Lord speaks to Peter, saying, I say to thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; upon one he builds the Church. With these presuppositions, I answer the reason thus, that if we speak of the foundation of the Church in the faith of Christ, although the Church absolutely was prior to Peter's having confessed Christ, saying Thou art Christ, etc., since many were already believers, Peter himself and the other apostles; nevertheless Peter, as regards those who were to believe through the word of his preaching in Christ, was prior to the Church itself; whence, as was said above in ch. 17 from the saying of blessed Ambrose, he first laid the foundations of the faith among the nations, and as Anacletus says, he first brought the people to the faith by the power of his preaching. But if we speak of the foundation of the Church as regards ecclesiastical power in the way we said above, the Church does not seem to have been prior to Peter, since a foundation of this kind of Church was made in Peter; for as holy Anacletus says in ch. In novo, dist. 21, In the New Testament, after Christ the Lord, the sacerdotal order began from Peter, for the pontificate was first given to him in the Church of Christ, with the Lord saying to him, Thou art, he says, Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. From these things the error of those who say that Peter was to be called the foundation of Christ's Church no more than the other apostles is manifestly confounded.