Summa de Ecclesia

We find three species of ecclesiastical councils commonly distinguished among the doctors, whose form and example went before in the councils celebrated by the apostles, namely the universal or general, the provincial, and the episcopal. Now a general or universal council is found to be distinguished at times in two ways, according as the notion of generality can be taken in two ways: in one way, namely, on the part of those to be summoned or assembling at the council, and thus a council is called universal which is plenary: which, according to blessed Aug. in the book on the one baptism, is said to be celebrated with bishops summoned from the whole Christian world, and of such a universal council holds that definition which is placed in the Gloss on ch. 1 dist. 17, where it is said that a universal council is that which is constituted by the Pope or his legate with all the bishops, that is, with bishops gathered from the whole Christian world. And speaking in this way of a universal council, its fullness was said to arise from the five patriarchal sees, namely those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Rome, when the light of faith irradiated all of them. Hence in the ninth action of the eighth council it is read that the fathers of that council, at the reception of the patriarch of Alexandria who came last, said: We glorify the God of all who has supplied what was lacking to the universal council, and now shows it most perfect. The form of such a universal council seems to have gone before in some way in the first council celebrated by the apostles in Acts 1, which blessed Peter, pontiff of the universal Church, celebrated with all the apostles present. In another way the notion of universality in a council is taken not on the part of those summoned but on the part of the authority presiding in it, which is so great that it can lay down law and command the whole multitude of the faithful, and in this way a council is called universal which the Pope, prince and ruler of the whole Church, celebrates by himself or his legate with a special commission for matters concerning the whole Church, with the prelates of the Church summoned, even if not all of them, since this is not always easily possible nor even necessary (as we shall show below). And speaking in this way of a universal council, many universal councils are named which were celebrated by the supreme pontiffs with only the bishops of Italy, as is clear in the acts of the councils concerning the council celebrated by blessed Pope Sylvester after the Nicene synod of 270 fathers, in which the faith of the Nicene synod was confirmed and Arius condemned. Likewise it is clear concerning the synod celebrated at Rome by Pope Symmachus, in which Symmachus the Pope is said to preside in a general council, and so of many others, to which even if prelates did not come nor were summoned from the whole Christian world, but only from the Roman patriarchate, they are nevertheless truly called universal on account of the authority of the Roman pontiff or patriarch, who, since he is not only the Roman patriarch but also that of the whole world — hence in the council of Chalcedon blessed Pope Leo was called Oecumenical, that is patriarch — for which reason in ch. Convenientibus 1 q. 7 the Gloss, defining a universal synod, says that universal synods are those at which the Roman pontiff or his legate was present, on account of which the canons or synodal definitions of such universal councils bind not only those subject to the Roman patriarchate but all the faithful who are mediately subject to other patriarchates and powers. The form of this general council went before in the second council of the apostles, which blessed Peter is read to have celebrated with only three other apostles present, namely Paul, James, and Barnabas. It is to be noted here that even if a plenary council, at the time when the light of the Catholic faith illumined the eastern parts, was said to arise from the five patriarchal sees, yet from the time when the splendor of the faith set in the eastern parts, the council of the Roman patriarchate, in which the brightness of the Christian religion has always purely endured, is universal, not only on the part of the authority of the Roman pontiff which extends to the whole Church, but also on the part of those summoned or assembling, since they are gathered from the whole Christian world, as the Church has been reduced to the Roman patriarchate alone, with blessed Jerome saying on Ps. ch. 33: The Church does not consist in walls but in the truth of doctrines; where the true faith is, there is the Church. And Chrysostom on Matt.: where faith is, there is the Church, there the priest, there baptism, there the Christian; where faith is not, there is no Church. And Ambrose on the first epistle to Timothy ch. 1: I write to you that you may know what church you order, which is the house of God, so that although the whole world of God is the church, yet that is called his house whose ruler today is Damasus. For the world in its transgression is disturbed by diverse error; therefore it is necessary that the house of God and the truth be said to be there where he is feared according to his will. Nor should it be passed over, for fuller knowledge of this name of universal council, that since the universal Catholic Church is called Catholic in speaking broadly, a council can be called Catholic or universal which has not departed from its unity. For which reason Lord Aimarus, archbishop of Rheims, says in his book on synods that when the bishops of two or three provinces come together and establish what befits the Catholic Church, perhaps such a council can be called universal although it was not enacted by all prelates. For it suffices that it does not disagree in faith and traditions from the unity of all, thus far he. But in this place, when we distinguish the species of councils, we do not speak of a universal council so generally, since in this way all patriarchal councils and even many provincial ones would be called universal which did not disagree from the traditions of the universal Church. Moreover what is sometimes found does not stand against the foregoing, that a council of one nation or region is called universal, as in the African council it is said that lest they be wearied by an anniversary assembly it was pleasing that when necessary a common cause of all Africa should so require we should assemble a universal council; but when causes are not common they should be judged in their own provinces; since such is not called a universal council simply of the universal Church, neither with respect to those assembled since they are not gathered from the whole world, nor with respect to authority since it is not supported by the special authority of the Roman pontiff presiding through the Pope himself or his legate, but is called universal in a qualified sense, of one nation or region. ¹ The second species of councils is named a provincial council, as in ch. Porro dist. 3. And this is subdivided, since one is decreed for a province, whether delegated to a legate a latere of the Pope or to another sent for this purpose, which he celebrates by right of legation or special commission with the primates and metropolitans, and bishops, and clerics even exempt, of the province or provinces contained within the bounds of his legation, according to what is read and noted on the office of a delegate, last ch. and under that title ch. 3 in the 6th. Another is called a provincial council of a limited province, over which a patriarch presides, or a legate, an elder, or a primate, or a metropolitan, who ought to celebrate such a council with the bishops subject to him, abbots and clerics of his province not exempt, as in ch. 1 on the office of a delegate with what is noted there by Hostiensis and Johannes Andreae. Hence the Gloss, speaking of this provincial council on 1 ch. dist. 17, says a provincial council is that which a metropolitan or primate holds with his suffragans, as dist. 18 ch. 5 and 9 dist. 100 if any of the bishops. Under this species of provincial council is comprehended the patriarchal council which is celebrated by patriarchs other than the Roman patriarch, since as the Pope is patriarch not only of the city but of the world, his council celebrated with only the bishops of the Roman patriarchate has the character of a universal one on the part of authority, as we said above. The form of this provincial council seems to have gone before in the council which Paul is said to have celebrated at Miletus with the elders of the province of Ephesus summoned, concerning which Acts 20. ² The third species of councils is called an episcopal council or episcopal synod, which a bishop celebrates in his diocese with the abbots and clerics subject to him, concerning which in ch. Quando dist. 38 and 18 q. 2 Abbates. The form of this council seems to have gone before in the council which blessed James is said to have celebrated at Jerusalem with the elders for removing the suspicion raised against Paul, concerning which Acts 20, and as was said above in the preceding chapter. It is to be noted here that the Gloss in ch. Convenientibus 1 q. 7, reducing all synods to two species, says that some synods are universal, at which the Roman pontiff or his legate is present, others are local, which primates or metropolitans assemble without the presence of the Pope or his legate, where note that the aforesaid Gloss calls all councils besides the universal ones, which it says are those which the Roman pontiff celebrates by himself or his legate, local, which in our judgment it does because the authority of those local councils is confined by fixed limits beyond which it does not extend. Not so however with universal ones, since they are supported by the authority of him who is head and bishop of the whole Christian world.