Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 4: On Heretics and Apostates
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).
Baptized heretics and apostates Alphonsus of Castro, Book 2 on the just punishment of heretics, chapter 24, teaches to be members and parts of the Church, even though they openly profess false doctrine. Which opinion, as it is openly false, so it can most easily be refuted. For first, Scripture indicates this, when it says, 1 Timothy 1: Some have made shipwreck concerning the faith. In which place, by the metaphor of shipwreck, he understands that heretics, one part of the ship of the Church being broken, have fallen from it into the sea: which is also signified by that parable of the Lord about the net which was breaking by the multitude, Luke 5. Moreover, to Titus 3: A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: knowing that he that is such an one is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgment. Where the Apostle commands the bishop to avoid the heretic, which certainly he would not command if he were within the Church. For the pastor ought not to avoid, but to tend, those who belong to his flock. And he adds the reason, because such a pertinacious heretic is condemned by his own judgment, that is (as Jerome expounds) he is not cast out of the Church by excommunication, as many other sinners, but he cast himself out of the Church. Likewise 1 John 2: They went out from us, but they were not of us; that is, they went out from us, because they were with us in the same Church, but they were not of us according to the divine election, as Augustine expounds, book on the good of perseverance, chapter 8.
Secondly, this same is proved from chapters 8 and 19 of the Council of Nicaea, where heretics are said to be able to be received into the Church, if they wish to return, yet with certain conditions. Likewise from the Lateran Council, whence it is established, chapter Firmiter, on the supreme Trinity and the Catholic faith, where the Church is called the congregation of the faithful. For it is established that heretics are in no way faithful.
Thirdly, from the Fathers. Irenaeus, Book 3, chapter 3, says that Polycarp converted many heretics to the Church: from which it follows that they had before gone out of the Church. Tertullian, book on prescription, says that Marcion, when he wished to return to the Church, received the condition that he restore to the Church the others whom he had perverted. Cyprian, in his letter to Jubaianus, says that heretics, since they are outside the Church, yet claim to themselves the authority of the Church, after the manner of apes, which, though they are not men, yet wish to seem men.
Jerome, in the Dialogue against the Luciferians, near the end: “If anywhere thou hearest,” he says, “those who are said to be of Christ named not from the Lord Jesus Christ, but from some other, as, for instance, Marcionists, Valentinians, Montanists, or Campenses, know that it is not the Church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antichrist.” Augustine, Book 4 against the Donatists, chapter 10, says that it sometimes happens that a heretic, existing outside, acts not against the Church, and a Catholic, existing within, acts against the Church, etc. And in his book on the unity of the Church, chapter 4: “Those who do not believe,” he says, “that Christ came in the flesh of the Virgin Mary, from the seed of David, or rose again in the very body in which He was crucified and buried, are certainly not in the Church, etc.”
There is added lastly that, since the Church is a united multitude (for it is a certain people, or kingdom, or one body), and this union consists chiefly in the profession of one faith and the observance of the same laws and rites, no reason permits us to say that those are of the body of the Church who have with it no conjunction at all.
But on the contrary some object. First, that Matthew 13, in the parable of the cockle, in the same field are found three things, grain, chaff, and cockle, which signify good Catholics, and bad Catholics, and heretics, as Augustine expounds, question 11 on Matthew, and Jerome and Chrysostom on this place. But that the field is the Church, Cyprian teaches, Book 3, letter 3, and Augustine, Book 2 against Cresconius, chapter 34.
I answer: Some understand by the cockle not heretics, but evil men who are in the Church: so Cyprian in the noted place, and Book 4, letter 2, and Augustine often, speaking not so much from his own opinion as from the mind of Cyprian. But that Cyprian by the cockle does not understand heretics can be understood from this, that in those very places where he says the cockle is in the Church, he says that heretics are not in the Church; and moreover from the intention of Cyprian, who in those places writes against the Novatians, who would not admit lapsed penitents into the Church, fearing lest they should communicate in the sins of others: to whom Cyprian shows from the parable of the Lord that in the Church there are not only strong men, but also weak ones, who sometimes fall, just as in the field together with the wheat there is also cockle.
But although this exposition is not to be despised, nor is contrary to us, yet it is better answered with Augustine, question 11 on Matthew, that by the field is signified not the Church, but the whole world. For the Lord, expounding the parable, says, the field is the world. Further, by the name of cockle, although heretics are rightly understood, yet perhaps more to the letter we should understand all the evil in general, whether they be heretics or not. For the scope of the parable is to show that there will always be some evil in the world, and that the world cannot by any human diligence be purged before the day of judgment. Whence the Lord says that the cockle are the children of the wicked one, and all those who at last shall be cast into the eternal fire.
Secondly, they object that of 2 Timothy 2: In a great house there are vessels of gold and of silver, and of wood and of earth. Where by the name of house Paul seems to understand the Church, and by the name of vessels of wood and of earth the heretics. For he had said a little before: Whose speech spreadeth like a canker; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have erred from the truth. But that by the name of house is understood the Church, Cyprian teaches, Book 3, letter 3, and Book 4, letter 2, and Ambrose in the commentary on this place, and Augustine, Book 2 on Baptism, chapter 12.
I answer: There are here various expositions of the ancients. One is of the Greeks, Chrysostom and Theophylact, who by the name of house understand not the Church, but the world, as we said of the field in which is the cockle. The other is of the Latins, Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, who by the name of house understand the Church; and although Augustine and Ambrose will have heretics signified by the vessels of wood and earth, yet Augustine himself explains, Book 3 on Baptism, chapter 19, how it is to be understood that they are in the Church, where he says that they are in the Church before they are separated by obstinacy and pertinacity, and that the Apostle looked to this time; so that not so much heretics as the erring are said to be in the Church. He adds also that it can be said that they are in the Church, after they have gone out, on account of the administration of the Sacraments, because they too truly administer certain Sacraments: which is to say that they are in the Church according to something, not simply. But Ambrose takes the Church in a broad manner, and more vulgar than proper, namely as it embraces all those who in any way are named Christians. In which manner the Pagans are wont to say that in the assembly of the Christians there are many dissenting opinions and sects.
But according to Cyprian (whose exposition I think truer), by the vessels of wood and earth are understood not heretics, but weak and feeble believers who are easily seduced. For that which the Apostle says, In a great house there are vessels of gold, etc., is not referred to that, whose speech spreadeth like a canker, of whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have erred from the truth, but to that: And they have subverted the faith of some. For the Apostle wishes to say that, if they have subverted some, there is not therefore danger lest all be subverted. For in the Church there are strong, and there are weak, etc.
But, you will say, Augustine, who understands by the vessels of wood and earth the heretics, says that he was moved to think this from the words of Cyprian in the letter to Antonianus, which is the second of Book 4. I answer that Augustine thought that those words of the Apostle, In a great house there are vessels of gold, etc., were referred by Cyprian to those, Whose speech spreadeth like a canker, as he himself referred them. But Cyprian's words sound nothing of the sort; and indeed that Cyprian did not wish to say that heretics are in the Church is clear from the same letter, where he openly says that Novatian, because he is a heretic, is outside the Church.
The third argument: The Church can judge and punish heretics, therefore they are within: for What have I to do, says Paul, 1 Corinthians 5, to judge them that are without? Moreover heretics retain the character of Baptism and of the priesthood, therefore they are Christians and priests.
I answer: Heretics, although they are not of the Church, yet ought to be, and accordingly belong to it, as sheep to the fold whence they have fled. As it is wont to be said, "That sheep is of this fold," even when it wanders outside the fold. But the Church can judge those who are really within, or certainly ought to be, just as a shepherd can really compel a sheep which strays outside the fold through the mountains back again to the fold; and an emperor can by force compel a deserter from the army, who has fled over to the enemy's camp, back to his own camp, or even hang him. But the Apostle speaks of those who are so outside as never to have been within.
To that of the character I say that heretics retain outside the Church those indelible characters, just as lost sheep retain the mark branded on the back, and deserters from the army retain the military badges: but they are not therefore of the Church, because those characters do not suffice to constitute anyone in the Church; otherwise there would be a Church even in hell. And yet Saint Thomas, third part, question 8, article 3, says that the damned are members of Christ neither actually nor potentially. Moreover, the character does not properly unite a man with the head, but is a sign of a certain power and union, and therefore in hell those will be known by that sign who were members of Christ. But that it does not unite is clear; for it does not unite exteriorly, since it is an invisible thing; nor interiorly, since it is neither an act nor an operative habit. Whence blessed Thomas places the first internal union in faith.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT IV. De Haereticis et Apostatis. Haereticos et apostatas baptizatos, Alphon- sus de Castro lib. II de justa haereticorum punitione cap. 24. docet esse membra et partes Ecclesiae , etiamsi palam falsam doc¬ trinam profiteantur. Quae sententia, ut est aperte falsa, ita facillime refutari potest. Nam primo. Scriptura hoc indicat , cum ait I. Timoth. I. Quidam circa fidem naufraga¬ verunt. Quo locojper [metaphoram naufragii, intelligit haereticos fracta una parte navis Ecclesiae, ex ea in mare decidisse : Quod etiam significatur illa parabola Domini de rete , quod prae multitudine scindebatur, Lue. V. Praeterea ad Tit. III : Haereticum ho¬ minem post unam et alteram correptionem de¬ vita , sciens , quia subversus est qui ejusmodi est , et delinquit cum sit proprio judicio condemna¬ tus (1). Ubi Apostolus Episcopo praecipit, ut haereticum vitet, quod certe non juberet , si esset intra Ecclesiam. Debet enim pastor non vitare, sed curare eos, qui ad suum gre¬ gem pertinent. Et addit rationem, quia talis pertinax haereticus est, proprio judicio con¬ demnatus, id est (ut Hieronymus exponit) non est ejectus ab Ecclesia per excommuni¬ cationem, ut multi alii peccatores , sed ipse seipsum ab Ecclesia ejecit. Itenf I. Joan. II : Ex nobis exierunt , sed non erant ex nobis (2) ; id est, ex nobis exierunt , quia erant nobis- cum in eadem Ecclesia, sed non erant ex nobis, secundum divinam electionem, ut Augustinus exponit lib. de bono persever. cap. 8. Secundo, probatur hoc idem ex cap. 8 et 19. Concilii Nicaeni, ubi haeretici dicuntur posse recipi in Ecclesiam, si redire velint, cum certis tamen conditionibus. Item ex Concilio Lateranensi, unde constat, cap, (1) Tit. III, 10. — (2) I. Joan. II, 19. 320 LIBER III. Firmiter, de summa Trinitate, et fide Catho¬ lica, ubi Ecclesia dicitur fidelium congrega¬ tio. Constat enim haereticos nullo modo esse fideles. Tertio, ex Patribus, Irenaeus lib. III, cap. 3. dicit, Polycarpum multos haereticos ad Ecclesiam convertisse : ex quo sequitur, eos antea fuisse de Ecclesia egressos. Tertullia¬ nus lib. de praescriptione dicit, Marcionem cum ad Ecclesiam redire vellet, conditionem accepisse, ut eaeteros, quos perverterat, Ec¬ clesiae restitueret. Cyprianus in epistola ad • Jubajanum, dicit, haereticos cum sint extra Ecclesiam, tamen vendicare sibi Ecclesiae auctoritatem more simiarum, quae cum ho¬ mines non sint, tamen homines videri vo¬ lunt. Hieronymus in Dialogo contra Lueiferia- nos, circa finem : « Sicubi audieris, inquit, eos qui dicuntur Christi, non a Domino Jesu Christo, sed a quoquam alio nuncupari, ut puta Marcionistas, Valentinianos, Monten- ses, sive Campenses, scito non Ecclesiam Christi, sed Antichristi esse Synagogam. » Augustinus lib. IV contra Donatistas, cap. 10. dicit, interdum accidere, ut haereticus, foris existens, non agat contra Ecclesiam, et Catholicus intus existens, contra Ecclesiam agat, etc. Et lib. de unitate Ecclesiae, cap. 4 : <( Qui non credunt, inquit, Christum in carne venisse de Virgine Maria, ex semine David, aut in corpore ipso resurrexisse, in quo crucifixus et sepultus est; non utique sunt in Ecclesia etc. » Accedit postremo, quod cum Ecclesia sit multitudo unita (est enim populus quidam, sive regnum, sive corpus unum) et ista unio praecipue in professione unius fidei, et ea- rumdem legum ac rituum observatione con¬ sistat ; nulla ratio permittit, ut eos de Eccle¬ siae corpore esse dicamus, qui cum eo nul¬ lam omnino conjunctionem habent. At contra objiciunt aliqui. Primo, quia Matth. XIII in parabola de zizaniis, in eodem agro inveniuntur tria, granum, paleae, et zi¬ zania, quae significant bonos Catholicos, et malos Catholicos et haereticos, ut Augustinus exponit quaest. II. super Matthaeum , et Hieronymus et Chrysostomus in hunc locum. Quod autem ager sit Ecclesia, docet Cypria¬ nus lib. III, epist. 3. et Augustinus lib. II contra Cresconium, cap. 34. Respondeo, aliqui intelligunt per zizania non haereticos, sed homines malos, qui sunt in Ecclesia : ita Cyprianus loco notqto, et lib. IV, epistol. 2. et Augustinus saepe, non tam ex sua sententia quam ex Cypriani mente loquens. Quod autem Cyprianus per zizania non intelligat haereticos, inde intel- ligi potest, quod in illis ipsis locis, ubi dicit zizania esse in Ecclesia, dicit, haereticos non esse in Ecclesia, et praeterea ex intentione Cypriani, qui in illis locis scribit contra No- vatianos, qui nolebant admittere lapsos poe- nitentes in Ecclesiam, metuentes, ne com¬ municarent peccatis aliorum : quibus Cy¬ prianus ostendit ex parabola Domini , in Ecclesia non solum esse homines fortes, sed etiam imbecilles, qui aliquando labuntur, sicut in agro simul cum frumento sunt etiam zizania. At licet haec expbsitio non sit contemnen¬ da, neque nobis contrairia , melius tamen respondetur cum Augustino quaest. 11. super Matthaeum, per agrum non significari Ec¬ clesiam, sed mundum universum. Dominus enim exponens parabolam ait, ager est mun¬ dus. Porro nomine zizaniorum, etsi recte in- telliguntur haeretici, tamen forte magis aid litteram intelligeremus omnes malos in ge¬ nere, sive sint haeretici, sive non. Scopus enim parabolae , est ostendere semper in mundo futuros aliquos malos, nec posse ulla humana diligentia mundum purgari ante diem judicii. Unde Dominus ait, zizania esse filios nequam, et illos omnes, qui tandem in ignem aeternum dejicientur. Secundo, objiciunt illud II. Timot. II : In magna domo sunt vasa aurea, et argentea , et lignea , et fictilia . Ubi nomine domus vide¬ tur Paulus intelligere Ecclesiam, et nomine vasorum ligneorum et fictilium haereticos. Dixerat enim paulo ante : Quorum sermo , ut cancer serpit , ex quibus est Hymenaeus et Phi- letus, qui a veritate exciderunt (1). Nomine autem domus intelligi Ecclesiam, docet Cy- prian. lib. III, epist. 3. et lib. IV, epist. 2. et Ambrosius in commentario hujus loci, et Augustinus lib. II de Baptismo, cap. 12. Respondeo, varias hic esse veterum expo¬ sitiones. Una est Graecorum, Chrysostomi, et Theopliilacti, qui nomine domus non in¬ telligunt Ecclesiam, sed mundum, sicut di¬ ximus de agro, in quo sunt zizania. Altera est Latinorum, Cypriani, Ambrosii, Augus¬ tini, qui nomine domus intelligunt Eccle- (1) II. Timoth. II, 20 et 17. A MYSTERY OF FAITH (Feonardo da "Vinci.) CAPUT V. 321 siam ; et licet Augustinus et Ambrosius par vasa lignea et fictilia velint significari htere- ticos ; tamen Augustinus idem explicat lib. III de Baptismo, c. 19. quomodo sit intelli— gendum, eos esse in Ecclesia, ubi dicit, eos esse in Ecclesia antequam per obstinationem et pertinaciam separentur, et ad hoc tempus respexisse Apostolum ; ita ut non tam haere¬ tici, quam errantes dicantur esse in Eccle¬ sia. Addit etiam, posse dici, eos esse in Ec¬ clesia, postquam exierunt, propter Sacra¬ mentorum administrati onem , quia etiam ipsi quaedam Sacramenta vere administrant : quod est dicere, eos esse in Ecclesia secun¬ dum aliquid, non simpliciter. Ambrosius autem accipit Ecclesiam largo modo, et ma¬ gis vulgari, quam proprio, prout videlicet eos omnes complectitur, qui quovis modo nominantur Christiani. Ad quem modum Pagani dicere solent, in coetu Christianorum multas esse dissentientes opiniones ac sec¬ tas. At secundum Cyprianum (cujus expositio¬ nem veriorem puto) per vasa lignea et ficti¬ lia non intelliguntur haeretici, sed infirmi fideles, ac debiles, qui facile seducuntur. Quod enim ait Apostolus : in magna domo sunt vasa aurea etc. non refertur ad illud, quorum sermo, ut cancer serpit, ex quibus sunt Hymenaeus et Philetus ; qui a veritate exciderunt, sed ad illnd : Et subverterunt quorumdam fidem. Yult enim Apostolus di¬ cere, quod si illi quosdam subverterunt, non propterea periculum est, ne omnes subver¬ tantur. Nam in Ecclesia sunt fortes, et sunt debiles, etc. Sed, inquies, Augustinus, qui intelligit per vasa lignea et fictilia haereticos, dicit, se permotum ad hoc sentiendum ex verbis Cy¬ priani in epistola ad Antonianum, qua} est secunda lib. IV. Respondeo, Augustinum existimavisse a Cypriano referri illa verba Apostoli : ln magna domo sunt vasa aurea etc. ad illa Quorum sermo, ut cancer serpit , sicut ipse referebat. Caeterum Cypriani verba ni¬ hil tale sonant ; et sane Cyprianum non vo¬ luisse dicere, haereticos esse in Ecclesia, pa¬ tet ex eadem epistola, ubi aperte dicit, No- vatianum, quia hsereticus est, extra Eccle¬ siam esse. Argumentum tertium, haereticos Ecclesia judicare et punire potest, igitur sunt intus : Nam quid mihi est , inquit, Paulus, I. Corint. (1) I. Cor. V, 12. Tom. II. V, de iis, qui foris sunt, judicare? Praeterea haeretici retinent characterem Baptismi, et sacerdotii, igitur sunt Christiani, et Sacer¬ dotes. Respondeo, haereticos, licet non sint de Ecclesia, tamen debere esse, et proinde ad eam pertinere, ut oves ad ovile, unde fuge¬ runt. Sicut solet dici, ista ovis est illius ovi¬ lis, quando tamen vagatur extra ovile. Po¬ test autem Ecclesia judicare de iis, qui re ipsa intus sunt, vel certe esse debent, sicut pastor revera potesf ovem, quae extra ovile errat per montes, cogere iterum ad ovile : et Imperator potest desertorem militiae, qui transfugit ad castra hostium, vi cogere ad sua castra, aut etiam suspendere. Apostolus autem loquitur de iis, qui ita foris sunt, ut nunquam fuerint intus. Ad illud de charactere dico, haereticos re¬ tinere extra Ecclesiam characteres illos in- delibiles, sicut retinent oves perditae charac¬ terem inustum in dorso, et desertores mili¬ tiae signa militaria : sed non propterea sunt de Ecclesia, quia non sufficiunt characteres illi ad constituendum aliquem in Ecclesia ; alioqui etiam in inferno esset Ecclesia. Et tamen S. Thom. 3. part., quaest. VIII, art. 3. dicit, damnatos nec actu, nec potentia esse membra Christi. Praeterea, non proprie unit character hominem cum capite, sed est sig¬ num potestatis et unionis cujusdam, et ideo in inferno, illo signo cognoscentur, qui fue¬ runt membra Christi. Quod autem non uniat, patet ; nam non unit exterius, cum sit res invisibilis : nec interius, cum non sit actus, nec habitus operativus. Unde B. Thomas primam unionem internam ponit in fide.