Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 3: On the Unbaptized
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia Militante, On the Church Militant (of the controversy On Councils and the Church). 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).
Of the unbaptized infidels Paul without doubt speaks, 1 Corinthians 5: For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Where he says generally that all those are without who have not given their names to Christ through Baptism, but follow some other religions.
Of the Catechumens there is a little greater difficulty, because they are believers and can be saved if they die in that state, and yet outside the Church no one is saved, just as neither outside the ark of Noe, according to that of the Lateran Council, chapter 1: “There is one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” But nevertheless it is certain that the Catechumens are not in the Church actually and properly, but only in potency, in the way that a man conceived, but not yet formed and born, is not called a man except in potency. For we read, Acts 2: They therefore that received his word were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. Likewise the Council of Florence, in the instruction of the Armenians, teaches that men are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church when they are baptized. The same the Fathers teach.
Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration on holy Baptism, says that the Catechumen is in the vestibule of piety, and cannot yet be called a believer, unless he enter within through Baptism. John Chrysostom, homily 24 on John, says that the Catechumen is a stranger to the believer, and has nothing in common with him, not city, not table, etc. Tertullian, book on prescriptions, reprehends in the heretics that they do not distinguish Catechumens from believers. Cyril, Book 12 on John, chapter 50, teaches that the Catechumens are among the Christians what the uncircumcised were among the Jews, who therefore could not eat the Paschal lamb. Augustine, treatise 4 on John and elsewhere, distinguishes Catechumens from believers. Which other Fathers also do. But it is established that the Church is the congregation of the faithful.
Finally, the Catechumens have no right to any Sacraments, nor to the other things which are common to the whole Church. Not, therefore, are the Catechumens actually and properly of the Church. How then, you will say, are they saved, if they are outside the Church? The author of the book on ecclesiastical dogmas, chapter 74, openly answers that the Catechumens are not saved. But this seems too hard. Certainly Ambrose, in his oration on the death of Valentinian, in express words affirms that Catechumens can be saved, of whose number Valentinian was when he departed from this life.
Another solution, therefore, must be sought. Melchior Cano says that the Catechumens can be saved, because, although they are not of the Church which is properly called Christian, yet they are of the Church which comprehends all the faithful from Abel to the consummation of the world. But this does not seem to satisfy. For after the coming of Christ there is no true Church except that which is properly called Christian; if therefore the Catechumens are not of that, they are of none. I answer, therefore, that what is said, that outside the Church no one is saved, ought to be understood of those who are of the Church neither in fact nor in desire, as the theologians commonly speak of Baptism. But because the Catechumens, if not in fact, at least by desire (voto) are in the Church, therefore they can be saved. Nor does the likeness of the ark of Noe stand in the way, outside which no one was saved, even if by desire he had been in it: for likenesses do not agree in all points. Wherefore, 1 Peter 3, Baptism is compared to the ark of Noe, and yet it is established that some are saved without Baptism in fact.
But, you will say, Augustine, treatise 4 on John, says that the Catechumens are in the Church. It is true, but in the same place he separates them from the believers. He wished, therefore, to say that they are in the Church not actually, but in potency, which same thing he himself explained at the beginning of Book 2 on the Creed, where he compares the Catechumens to men conceived, not born.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPOT III. De non baptizatis. De infidelibus non baptizatis sine dubio Paulus loquitur I. Cor. V : Quid enim mihi de iis , qui foris sunt , judicare (1) ? Ubi gene¬ raliter eos omnes foris esse dicit, qui non dederunt nomina sua Christo per Baptismum, sed aliquas alias religiones sequuntur. De Catechumenis est paulo major difficul¬ tas, quia sunt fideles , et salvari possunt, si moriantur in eo statu, et tamen extra Eccle¬ siam nemo salvatur, sicut nec extra arcam Noe, juxta illud Concilii Lateranensis c. 1. : « Una est fidelium universalis Ecclesia , ex¬ tra quam nullus omnino salvatur. » At nihi¬ lominus certum est, Catechumenos non esse in Ecclesia actu et proprie , sed tantum in potentia, quomodo homo conceptus, sed nondum formatus, et natus, non dicitur ho¬ mo, nisi in potentia. Nam legimus Actor. II ; Qui ergo receperunt verbum , baptizati sunt, et appositae sunt in die illa animae circiter tria millia (2). Item Concilium Florentinum in in¬ structione Armenorum, docet, homines fieri membra Christi, ac de corpore Ecclesiae, cum baptizantur. Idem et Pdtres donent. Gregorius Nazianzenus oratione in sanc¬ ti) I. Cor. V, 12. — (2) Act. II, 41, CAPUT IV. 319 tum Lavacrum dicit, Catechumenum esse in vestibulo pietatis , nec adhuc posse vocari fidelem, nisi intus ingrediatur per Baptis¬ mum. Joannes Chrysostomus hom. 24. in Joann. dicit Catechumenum alienum esse a fideli, et nihil habere commune cum eo, non civitatem, noa mensam etc. Tertullian. lib. de praescriptionibus, reprehendit in haereti¬ cis, quod non distinguant Catechumenos a fidelibus. Cyrill. lib. XII in Joann. cap. 50. docet, Catechumenos esse apud Christianos id, quod erant incircumcisi apud Judaeos, qui propterea non poterant vesci agno Pas¬ chali. Augustinus tract. 4. in Joan. et alibi distinguit Catechumenos a fidelibus. Quod etiam alii Patres faciunt. Constat autem Ec¬ clesiam esse fidelium congregationem. Denique, Catechumeni non habent jus ad ulla Sacramenta, neque ad alia , quee sunt communia universae Ecclesiae. Non igitur actu, et proprie sunt Catechumeni de Eccle¬ sia. Quomodo igitur, inquies, salvantur, si sunt extra Ecclesiam ? Auctor libri de Eccle¬ siasticis dogmatibus cap. 74. aperte respon¬ det, Catechumenos non salvari. Sed hoc ni¬ mis durum esse videtur. Certe Ambrosius in oratione de obitu Valentiniani disertis verbis affirmat, Catechumenos posse salvari, de quorum numero Valentinianus erat, cum de hac vita migraret. Alia igitur quaerenda solutio est. Melchior Canus ait, Catechumenos posse salvari, quia etsi non sunt de Ecclesia, quae proprie dici¬ tur Christiana, sunt tamen de Ecclesia, quae comprehendit omnes fideles ab Abel usque ad mundi consummationem. At non videtur satisfacere. Nam post Christi adventum nulla est vera Ecclesia , nisi illa quae proprie dici¬ tur Christiana; si ergo Catechumeni de ista non sunt, de nulla sunt. Respondeo igitur, quod dicitur, extra Ecclesiam neminem sal¬ vari, intelligi debere de iis, qui neque re ipsa, nec desiderio sunt de Ecclesia, sicut de Baptismo communiter loquuntur Theologi. Quoniam autem Catechumeni si non re, sal¬ tem voto sunt in Ecclesia , ideo salvari pos¬ sunt. Neque repugnat similitudo arcae Noe, extra quam nemo salvabatur, etiamsi voto in ea fuisset : nam similitudines non in om¬ nibus conveniunt. Quocirca I. Pet. III, Bap¬ tismus comparatur Arcae Noe, et tamen con¬ stat, sine Baptismo in re, aliquos salvari. Ar, inquies, August. tract. 4. in Joan. di¬ cit, Catechumenos esse in Ecclesia; Verum est, sed ibidem separat eos a fidelibus. Vo¬ luit ergo dicere, esse in Ecclesia non actu, sed potentia, quod idem ipse explicuit ini¬ tio lib. II de Symbolo , ubi comparat Cate¬ chumenos hominibus conceptis, non natis.