Bellarmine · Apologia pro Responsione sua · Apology for His Answer to the Book of James, King of Great Britain, Entitled Triplici Nodo Triplex Cuneus
Chapter 2: That the Cause of the King of the English Is Not Common with the Orthodox and Catholic Kings and Princes
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. XII, Apologia pro Responsione sua ad Librum Jacobi Magnae Britanniae Regis, an apology of 1609. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
At the beginning of his monitory preface the king of the English tries to make his cause common with all Christian kings and princes: “A common cause,” he says, “is at stake, and one which pertains to the right and dignity not only of all kings, but also of all others to whom the supreme power of civil affairs has been entrusted by God.” But why a common cause is at stake he touches in a single word, when he says that this book of his contains an Apology for the oath of fidelity; from which he wishes it understood that he fights against the Roman Pontiff for the oath of fidelity which ought to be rendered, and is wont to be, by subjects to all kings and princes. As if the Roman Pontiff forbade oaths of that kind, and wished to strip kings and princes of all power. But the king labours in vain to make that cause common. For neither did the Supreme Pontiff in his Briefs to the English Catholics, nor I in my letter to the Archpriest of England, disapprove any oath of fidelity whatever, but an oath which, under the appearance of civil fidelity, contained a denial of the pontifical authority; nor do Catholic kings and princes wish fidelity to be so sworn to them by their peoples that the authority of the Supreme Pontiff is denied. Which two things if I can show, no doubt will be left to anyone that the cause of the king of England is his own, and has nothing in common with the cause of Catholic kings and princes.
That, then, the oath which the king of England calls one of fidelity and civil obedience is not an oath of simple fidelity, nor of civil obedience only, is clear from the title of the edict by which this oath is prescribed; for this is the title: “For the detecting and repressing of Papists.” The end of this oath, then, is not to detect the seditious, the disobedient, rebels; but Papists, that is, those who venerate the Supreme Pontiff as the Vicar of Christ. Nor is the end to keep the peoples in that obedience which is owed to kings and princes; but to repress Papists, who show civil obedience to kings, but refuse to acknowledge the king as head or supreme governor of the Church in spiritual things, and refuse to deny the Apostolic primacy of the Supreme Pontiff. But since I have treated what pertains to this place copiously enough in the answer to the king's book which is entitled Triplici nodo triplex cuneus, and this same answer, printed again, is carried here annexed, I refer the reader to it, lest by repeating the same twice I weary both myself and the reader in vain. But that orthodox kings and princes so wish fidelity and obedience to be sworn and shown to them by the peoples subject to them that at the same time they wish their own fidelity and obedience to the Supreme Pontiff, as the Vicar of Christ, to be preserved, is shown clearer than light by the very reverence and obedience which they themselves lately, according to custom, publicly showed to this same Supreme Pontiff Paul V through their legates, most distinguished men. For we saw, with all Rome looking on, the legates of the commonwealth of Lucca, then of Genoa, and lastly of Venice, arrive at the City with a most splendid retinue, kiss the feet of the Supreme Pontiff, and in Latin and most elegant speech show reverence and obedience in the name of the whole commonwealth. We saw not long after the king of the Spains through his ambassador, the most illustrious and most excellent Duke of Feria; and after some time the most Christian king of the French through his ambassador, the most illustrious and most excellent Duke of Nevers, with such a retinue of nobles and such a multitude of noble men as became the magnificence of such great kings, kiss the feet of the same Supreme Pontiff, and render him in the amplest words through their most eloquent orators the reverence and obedience which is by right owed to Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and his successors. Nor were the other supreme and free princes wanting to their duty, as many as are counted by the Catholic name, whether Germans, or French, or Italians; with less display indeed, but with equal piety and devotion.
Wherefore if orthodox kings and princes publicly profess that obedience is owed by all Christians to the supreme head of the Church, the Roman Pontiff, and themselves by their example go before the peoples whom they have undertaken to rule; and the Supreme Pontiff not only does not disapprove oaths of fidelity toward kings and princes, but approves and praises them, and compels their keeping, when need is, by ecclesiastical censures; what has the cause of the king of the English in common with the rest, since he himself contends for this above all, to turn his peoples from obedience to the Supreme Pontiff, and in that way to separate them from the body of Christ, which is the Church, and sink them with himself into hell? For true is that sentence of Leo the Great in the epistle to the bishops of the province of Vienne: “Whoever thinks the primacy is to be denied to this See can in no way lessen its dignity; but, puffed up with the spirit of his own pride, sinks himself into hell.” Which being so, the king could have abstained from those words which he brought forth to the injury of all Catholic princes: “Awake, therefore, while there is time, and do not allow the sinews of your authority to be cut in each of you, through too long a sleep, to the ruin of all”; as if the king of the English alone were awake, alone were wise; the rest all asleep and foolish; and as if kings could not keep the sinews of their authority whole unless they themselves cut the sinews of the pontifical authority. Let the king of the English rather awake, and carefully weigh the word of the Lord: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. Let him hear also the Apostle of Christ, who, as in Romans 13 he admonishes the peoples to be subject and obey the temporal powers, and to render custom to whom custom is due, and tribute to whom tribute is due, so admonishes the same in Hebrews 13 to obey their spiritual prelates, and be subject to them, who watch as being to render account for their souls.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT II. Quod, non sit communis causa regis A ng lo¬ rum, cum regibus, et principibus ortho¬ doxis, et Catholicis. Initio suae monitoriae praefationis conatur rex Anglorum, communem facere causam suam cum omnibus regibus, et principibus Christianis : « Causa, inquit, communis agi¬ tur, et quae ad jus, dignitatemque pertinet omnium non modo regum , sed aliorum etiam quibuscumque suprema est a Deo re¬ rum civilium demandata potestas. » Cur autem communis causa agatur, unico verbo attingit, cum ait, hoc libro suo conti¬ neri Apologiam pro juramento fidelitatis, ex quo intelligi vult, pugnare se adversus Ro¬ manum Pontificem pro juramento fidelitatis, quod omnibus regibus, atque principibus praestari debet, et solet a subditis. Quasi Pontifex Romanus ejusmodi juramenta pro¬ hibeat, ac velit reges, et principes omni po¬ testate exuere. Sed ( a ) frustra laborat rex, ut causam istam communem faciat. Nam neque sum¬ mus Pontifex in Brevibus suis ad Catholicos Anglos ; neque ego in epistola mea ad Ar- chipresbyterum Angliae, juramentum quod- cumque fidelitatis improbavimus, sed jura¬ mentum, quod sub specie civilis fidelitatis, abnegationem Pontificiae auctoritatis conti¬ nebat : neque reges, et principes Catholici ita sibi jurari volunt a populis fidelitatem; ut summi Pontificis auctoritas abnegetur. Quae duo si demonstrare potuero, nemini dubium relinquetur, quin causa regis Angliae 125 propria ipsius sit, neque aliquid commune habeat cum causa regum, et principum Ca¬ tholicorum. Quod igitur juramentum, quod rex Anglia? fidelitatis, et civilis obedientiae vocat, non sit juramentum simplicis fidelitatis, neque solius civilis obedientiae, perspicuum est ex titulo edicti, quo juramentum hoc praescri¬ bitur, hic enim est titulus : « Ad detegendos et reprimendos Papistas. » Finis igitur hu¬ jus juramenti non est, detegere seditiosos, inobedientes, rebelles ; sed Papistas, id est, eos, qui summum Pontificem, ut Christi Vicarium venerantur. Neque finis est conti¬ nere populos in ea obedientia, quae regibus, et principibus debetur ; sed reprimere Pa¬ pistas, qui civilem obedientiam regibus exhi¬ bent; sed nolunt regem agnoscere caput, vel supremum gubernatorem Ecclesiae in spiritualibus ; neque volunt primatum Apo- stolicum summi Pontificis abnegare. Sed quoniam ea, quae ad hunc locum pertinent, satis copiose tractavi in responsione ad librum regis, qui inscribitur : Triplici nodo triplex cuneus ; et haec ipsa responsio denuo recusa hic adjuncta fertur ; ad eamdem remitto lectorem, ne bis eadem repetendo, et me, et lectorem frustra fatigem. Quod autem reges, et principes orthodoxi ita velint fidelitatem, et obedientiam a po¬ pulis sibi subjectis jurari, et exhiberi ; ut si¬ mul velint suam Pontifici Maximo , ut Christi Vicario, fidelitatem, et obedientiam conservari : ex ipsa reverentia, et obedien¬ tia, quam ipsi nuper, de more, huic ipsi Summo Pontifici Paulo V. publice per lega¬ tos suos, viros amplissimos exhibuerunt, luce clarius demonstratur. Vidimus enim tota spectante Roma ( b ), Legatos reipub. Lucensis, deinde Genuensis, ac demum Veneta?, cum splendidissimo co¬ mitatu ad Urbem advenire, Summi Ponti¬ ficis pedes deosculari, latina, et pereleganti oratione reverentiam, et obedientiam nomi¬ ne totius reipublicee exhibere. Vidimus non diu post, regem Hispaniarum per oratorem suum illustrissimum, et excellentissimum Ferise ducem ; ac post aliquod tempus re¬ gem Francorum Christianissimum per ora¬ torem suum illustrissimum, et excellentissi¬ mam ducem Nivernensem, cum eo procerum (a) Frustra conatur Jacobus rex causam suam communem facere cum Principibus orthodoxis. — [b) Honorificas legationes ad Paulum V. Pont. Max. causa exhibendas reverentiae , et praestandae obedientiae , more majorum . 126 APOLOGIS CAPUT III. comitatu, eaque nobilium virorum multitu¬ dine, quce tantorum regum magnificentiam decebat, ejusdem Summi Pontificis deoscu¬ lari pedes, eique amplissimis verbis per elo- quentissimos oratores suos reverentiam, et obedientiam preestare, quce S. Petro Aposto¬ lorum Principi, ejusque successoribus jure debetur. Nec defuerunt officio suo supremi, ac liberi Principes cceteri, quotquot nomine Catholico censentur, sive Germani, sive Gal¬ li, sive Itali ; apparatu quidem minore, sed pietate, et devotione pari. Quare si reges, ac principes orthodoxi publice profitentur obedientiam supremo Ecclesise capiti, Romano Pontifici, a Chri¬ stianis omnibus deberi ; et ipsi exemplo suo ' prseeunt populos, quos regendos suscepe¬ runt : Et Pontifex Maximus non modo non improbat juramenta fidelitatis erga reges, et principes sed probat, et laudat , et ad ea servanda, cum opus est, censuris Ecclesia¬ sticis cogit : quid habet commune causa re¬ gis Anglorum cum ceeteris; cum ipse hoc in primis contendat, ut populos suos ab obe- dientia Summi Pontificis avertat, atque eo modo a Christi corpore, quod est Ecclesia, separet, ac secum in inferna demergat. .Ve¬ ra est enim sententia illa Magni Leonis in epist. ad Episcopos Provinciae Viennensis : « Quisquis huic Sedi Principatum existimat denegandum, illius quidem nullo modo po¬ test minuere dignitatem ; sed inflatus spi¬ ritu superbiae suae semetipsum in inferna demergit. » Quae cum ita sint, poterat rex ab illis ver¬ bis abstinere, quae in injuriam omnium Ca¬ tholicorum principum protulit : « Exper- giscimini igitur, dum tempus est, neque si¬ nite sommo diuturniore incidi in singulis, ad ruinam universorum, auctoritatis vestrae ner¬ vos : » quasi unus rex Anglorum vigilet, unus sapiat ; caeteri dormiant, et desipiant universi : neque possint reges auctoritatis suae nervos integros servare, nisi auctori¬ tatis Pontificiae nervos ipsi praecidant. Ex- pergiscatur potius rex Anglorum, et verbum Domini diligenter expendat : Reddite quce sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo. Audiat et Apostolum Christi, qui quemad¬ modum ad Rom. xm. admonet populos ut subjecti sint, et obediant temporalibus po¬ testatibus, et reddant vectigal, cui debetur vectigal , et tributum cui debetur tributum ; ita eosdem monet, ad Heb. xm. ut obediant spiritualibus praepositis, et subjaceant eis, qui pervigilant, quasi rationem pro anima- bus ipsorum reddituri.