Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 17: The Arguments That All the Pastors of the Church Can Err Together Are Resolved
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).
That the Church, or at least all the pastors of the Church together, can err, they prove first, because in the time of Micah all the Prophets, who were 400, except Micah, erred, as is clear from 3 Kings 22, and accordingly the Church, which followed them, as it ought, was deceived. Secondly, Isaiah 56: His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant, etc. Thirdly, in the passion of the Lord the high Priest with all the priests and elders of the people condemned Christ to be guilty of death, Mark 14; and the whole people too, seduced by the priests, cried to Pilate: Crucify Him, Mark 15. At the same time all the Apostles lost the faith; for the Lord, Mark last chapter, upbraided their incredulity and hardness of heart, etc., and Matthew 26 says: You will all be scandalized in me.
Add that there are not lacking even Catholics who say that in the passion of the Lord the true faith remained in none but the most holy Virgin Mary, and they believe this to be signified by that one candle which alone is kept lit in the three days before Easter in the nocturnal office. So Alexander of Hales, third part, last question, article 2, and John of Torquemada, Book 1 on the Church, chapter 30, and Book 3, chapter 61. But these things are light enough, and are refuted without great trouble.
To the first I say that those 400 Prophets were manifestly false prophets, nor did even Achab himself, who consulted them, not know it. For in the same place, when King Josaphat said: Is there not here some prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire by him of the Lord?, Achab answered: There is one man left, but I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good to me, but evil. Certainly if anyone now in the middle of Saxony should consult 400 Lutheran Ministers about justifying faith, and afterward one Catholic, it would be no wonder if the greater part erred. And just as now it does not follow that the whole Church errs, even if 400 Lutheran Ministers erred, because besides Saxony and certain neighboring places there are many others where the true faith is preached, so it does not follow that all the Doctors of the Jews in the time of Achab erred, even if the 400 Prophets who were in Samaria erred. For besides those Prophets there were in Judea many other prophets, and (what is most important) there were priests in Jerusalem, on whom by office it lay to answer to consultations about the law of the Lord.
To the second I say that those words of the Prophets are figurative, and are directed indeed to all, yet ought not really to be understood of all, but of many, as we said above.
To the third I say that the Priests and Pontiffs had not the privilege of not erring in teaching the people, except until the times of Christ; but with Christ present and teaching, their error did little harm. Nay this seems to have been foretold by Jeremiah chapter 18, when he says: The law shall perish from the priest, and the word from the prophet, and counsel from the wise. Although on account of the honor of the priesthood God provided that the sentence of the Pontiff Caiphas should in some sense, though not intended by Caiphas, be true and just. For John 11 it is said that, because he was the Pontiff of that year, he prophesied; of which matter we said more in Book 2 on Councils.
As regards the people who cried, Crucify, I say that that people was not all the Jews, but only some, and perhaps the lesser part; for in the very city of Jerusalem was Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea, and many others to whom this displeased, and outside Jerusalem in all the rest of Judea, and in the whole world, were very many Jews dispersed, who knew nothing of the death of Christ, and accordingly remained in the true faith and religion.
To that of the Apostles I say first that the Apostles then were not Bishops except designate, as is clear, but only material parts of the Church, which can err, nor did the Church consist in them alone. For the state of the Christian Church, with the obligation of entering it, began on the day of Pentecost, when, all the mysteries of redemption being accomplished, the Apostles began publicly in Jerusalem to promulgate the faith of Christ and Baptism. And so even if all the Apostles had erred concerning the faith in the time of Christ's passion, their error would have done no harm to the universal Church.
I say secondly that it is not probable that the Apostles lost the faith. For they are not read to be reprehended except concerning the faith of the resurrection, but that they could not lose, since they had it not until after the Lord rose; for although before Christ had often foretold them that He would rise, yet they thought He spoke figuratively, and did not understand nor believe. Since Luke 18, when the Lord had said, They shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again, Luke subjoins: And they understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them, and they understood not the things that were said. And John 20 we read that Peter and John, having heard from Magdalen that the body of the Lord was taken from the tomb, straightway ran to the tomb, and, seeing the linen cloths and the napkin, believed, namely that the body of Christ had been taken by someone: for, says John, they knew not yet the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead, that is, they therefore believed it taken by someone, because they knew not that He must rise. Moreover Luke 22 it was said to Peter: I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. How then will it be credible that the same night Peter's faith failed, so that it did not remain at least in his heart? for that it did not remain in his mouth is certain. Finally, Mary Magdalen burned with the highest charity in those three days, as is clear from John 19 and 20; but without faith there cannot be charity, therefore Magdalen had not lost the faith in Christ which she had before, therefore the faith did not remain in the blessed Virgin alone.
But what is said Mark last chapter, He upbraided their incredulity, does not signify that they lost the faith which they had, but that they were slow to believe what they had not yet believed, which was indeed some sin, but not properly of infidelity. But that of Matthew 26, You will all be scandalized in me in this night, signifies the sin which the Apostles committed by fleeing and fearing too much and wavering, even concerning the faith, on the occasion of the Lord's passion; for not every wavering is infidelity, but only deliberate wavering.
But I wonder at John of Torquemada, who, on account of the most trifling argument about the candle, says that it is against the faith of the universal Church to assert that the faith remained not in the blessed Virgin alone on the day of the Lord's passion. For Rupert, Book 5 on the divine offices, chapter 26, says that in his time the last candle too was wont to be extinguished. And he adds, chapter 28, that on those three nights, after all the lights were extinguished, a new fire was afterward wont to be kindled from a stone; and that by all the lights, which were gradually extinguished, are signified the prophets, whom at diverse times the Jews slew, and, slaying them, made darkness of mind for themselves; but by the last is signified Christ, whom, when they slew, they brought upon themselves the densest darkness; but by the new light, which on each of those three nights was struck from a stone, is signified the new light of the Christians, which arose in our minds from the Stone, Christ, struck by the Jews.
But if, neglecting the custom of the ancient Church, they press the usage which now is, of not extinguishing the last candle, it can be answered with the Abulensis, question 14 of the prologue on Matthew, that by that candle is signified the blessed Virgin, in whom alone, as is piously believed, was in those three days the explicit faith of the resurrection. From which, however, it does not follow that in the others there was error or infidelity, because they were not bound to believe the resurrection explicitly, except after its lawful promulgation and proof; and especially those who were absent from Jerusalem and had heard nothing of Christ. And truly it seems dangerous to say that the true faith remained in the Virgin alone; both because the Church would have perished, for one person cannot be called the Church, since the Church is the people and kingdom of God; and also because then those who were absent from Jerusalem, and up to that time had had the true faith, would straightway have lost it without their own fault.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XVII. Solvuntur argumenta , quibus adversarii pro¬ bant , pastores Ecclesice omnes simul errare posse. Quod Ecclesia vel saltem omnes pastores Ecclesiae simul errare possint , probant pri¬ mo , quia tempore Michaeae, Prophetae om¬ nes, qui erant 400, excepto Michaea, errave¬ runt, ut patet lib. III. Reg. XXII. et proinde Ecclesia, quae illos sequebatur, ut debebat, decepta fuit. Secundo, Isaiae LVI : Specula¬ tores ejus cceci omnes nescierunt universi etc . (1) Tertio , in passione Domini summus Sacer¬ dos cnm Omnibus sacerdotibus , et seniori¬ bus populi condemnaverunt Christum esse reum mortis. Mare. XIV. et totus etiam po¬ pulus, a sacerdotibus seductus, clamavit ad Pilatum : Crucifige eum. Mare. XV. Eodem tempore Apostoli omnes fidem amiserunt; nam Dominus Mare. ult. Exprobravit incre¬ dulitatem eorum , et duritiam cordis etc. Et Matth. XXVI. ait : Omnes vos scandalum pa¬ tiemini in me. (2) Adde , quod non desunt etiam Catholici, qui dicant in passione Domini non mansisse veram fidem, nisi in sanctissima Virgine Ma¬ ria , idque significari credunt una illa can¬ dela, quae sola accensa conservatur , in tri¬ duo ante Pascha in officio nocturno. Ita Ale¬ xander Alensis III. parte quaest. ult. art. 2. et Joannes de Turrecremata , lib. I de Ec¬ clesia cap. 30. et lib. III, cap. 61. Sed haec satis levia sunt, nec magno negotio refellen¬ tur. Ad primum dico, illos 400 Prophetas ma¬ nifeste fuisse Pseudoprophetas, neque id ig¬ norasse, vel ipsum Achab, qui eos consule¬ bat. Nam ibidem cum diceret Rex Josaphat: Non est hic aliquis Propheta Domini , per quem interrogemus Dominum ? Respondit Achab : Remansit unus, sed ego odi eum , quia nonpro - phetat mihi nisi malum (3). Certe si quis nunc in media Saxonia consuleret 400 Mi¬ nistros Lutheranos de fide justificante , et postea unum Catholicum, non esset mirum, si major pars erraret. Et sicut nunc non se¬ quitur totam Ecclesiam errare , etiam si er¬ rarent 400 Ministri Lutherani , quia praeter Saxoniam, et vicina quaedam loca, sunt alia multa, ubi vera fides praedicatur, ita non se¬ quitur omnes Doctores Judaeorum tempore Achab errasse, etiam si erraverint 400 Pro¬ phetae , qui in Samaria erant. Nam praeter eos Prophetas erant in Judaea multi alii prophetae , et (quod potissimum est) erant sacerdotes in Hierusalem , quibus ex officio incumbebat respondere ad consulata de lege Domini. Ad secundum dico , verba illa Propheta¬ rum esse figurata , et dirigi quidem ad om¬ nes , non tamen revera intelligi debere de omnibus, sed de multis, ut supra diximus. Ad tertium dico, Sacerdotes, et Pontifices non habuisse privilegium non errandi in do- * (1) Isai. LVI, 10. - (2) Mare. XV. 13: XVI. 14: Matth. XXVI. 31. — (3) III. Reg-. XXII,- 7 et 8. 358 UBER [II. cendo populo, nisi usque ad tempora Chris¬ ti, Christo autem praesente , et docente pa¬ rum oberat illorum error. Imo hoc videtur praedictum per Hieremiam c. XVlil. cum ait: Peribit lex a sacerdote , verbum a Propheta, consilium a sapiente (1). Quamvis propter ho¬ norem sacerdotii Deus providit, ut sententia Pontificis Caiphae in aliquo sensu , licet a Caipha non intento, esset vera et justa. Nam Joan. XI. dicitur, quia erat Pontifex anni il¬ lius, prophetavit , de qua re plura diximus in lib. II de Conciliis. Quod ad populum attinet, qui clamavit: Crucifige , dico eum populum non fuisse om¬ nes Judaeos : sed aliquos tantum , et forte minorem partem : nam in ipsa urbe Hieru¬ salem erat Nicodemus, et Joseph ab Arima- thia, et multi alii , quibus id displicebat, et extra Hierusalem in tota reliqua Judaea, et in toto orbe terrarum erant plurimi Ju¬ daei dispersi , qui nihil sciebant de morte Christi, et proinde in vera fide, et religione permanebant. Ad illud de Apostolis dico primo, Aposto¬ los tunc non fuisse Episcopos nisi designa¬ tos, ut patet, sed solum partes Ecclesiae ma¬ teriales, quae errare possunt , neque in eis solis Ecclesia consistebat. Nam status Ec¬ clesiae Christianae cum obligatione ad ingre¬ diendum in eam incepit in die Pentecostes, quando peractis omnibus mysteriis redemp¬ tionis, coeperunt Apostoli in Hierusalem pu¬ blice promulgare fidem Christi, et Baptisma. Itaque etiam si Apostoli omnes tempore pas¬ sionis Christi errassent circa fidem, nihil ob-. fuisset eorum error Ecclesiae universali. Dico secundo , non esse probabile quod Apostoli fidem amiserint. Nam non leguntur reprehensi, nisi de fide resurrectionis, illam autem non potuerunt amittere, cum eam non habuerint, nisi postquam Dominus resurre¬ xit ; Etsi enim antea Christus saepe illis prae¬ dicaverat se resurrecturum, tamen ipsi pu¬ taverant eum loqui figurate, et non intelle¬ xerant, neque crediderant. Siquidem Lucae XVIII. cum dixisset Dominus : Occident eum, et tertiayhe resurget . Subjungit Lucas : Et ipsi nihil horum intellexerunt , et erat verbum istud absconditum ab eis , et non intelligebant , quce dicebantur (2). Et Joan. XX. legimus, Petrum et Joannem, audito a Magdalena sub¬ latum esse corpus Domini de monumento, mox cucurrisse ad monumentum, et visis lin¬ teaminibus et sudario credidisse , nimirum Christi corpus fuisse ab aliquo sublatum : Nam, inquit Joan. nondum sciebant Scripturas, quia oporteret eum a mortuis resurgere (3), id est , ideo crediderunt ab aliquo sublatum, quia non sciebant eum debuisse resurgere. Praeterea Lucae XXII. dictum est Petro : Ro¬ gavi pro te, ut non deficiat fides tua (4). Quo¬ modo igitur credibile erit eadem nocte fidem Petri defecisse, ita ut non saltem in corde ejus remaneret ; nam quod in ore non permanse¬ rit certum est. Denique , Maria Magdalena summa charitate flagrabat in illo triduo , ut patet ex Joan. XIX et XX. at sine fide non potest esse charitas, ergo non amiserat Mag¬ dalena fidem in Christum, quam ante habue¬ rat , ergo non in sola B. Virgine fides per¬ mansit. Quod autem dicitur Marci ultimo : Expro¬ bravit incredulitatem , non significat eos ami¬ sisse fidem , quam habuerant , sed tardos fuisse ad credendum quod nondum credide¬ rant , quod quidem aliquod peccatum fuit, sed non proprie infidelitatis. Illud vero Mat. XXVI : Omnes vos scandalum patiemini in me in nocte ista (5) , significat peccatum, quod commiserunt Apostoli fugiendo , et nimis timendo , et vacillando, etiam circa fidem, ex occasione Dominicae passionis; nec enim omnis vacillatio esj^ infidelitas , sed solum vacillatio deliberata. Miror autem Joannem de Turrecremata, qui propter argumentum levissimum de can¬ dela, dicit esse contrafidem universalis Eccle¬ siae asserere non in sola B. Virgine mansis¬ se fidem in die passionis Domini. Nam Ru- pertus lib. V de divin. offic. c.26. dicit ulti¬ mam candelam tempore suo consuevisse etiam extingui. Et addit cap. 28. illis tribus noctibus post omnia lumina extincta, iterum postea ex lapide novum ignem accendi soli¬ tum; et quidem per omnia lumina, quae pau- latim extinguebantur, significari prophetas, quos diversis saeculis Judaei occiderunt, et illos occidentes sibi ipsis tenebras mentis fa¬ ciebant : per ultimam vero significari Chris¬ tum, quem cum occiderunt , sibi ipsis tene¬ bras densissimas pepererunt; Per novum autem lumen, quod singulis illis tribus noc¬ tibus ex lapide excutiebatur , significari no¬ vum lumen Christianorum , quod ex lapide (1) J erem. XVIII, 18. — (2) Luc. XVIII, 33 et 34. — (3) Joan. XX, 9. - (4) Luc. XXII, 32. - (5) Matth. XXVI, 31, CAPUT XVII. 339 Christo a Judaeis percusso in mentibus nos¬ tris ortum est. Quod si neglecta consuetudine, antiquae Ecclesiae vim faciant in eo usu, qui nunc est, ultimam candelam non extinguendi : potest cum Abulensi responderi quaest. 14. prologi in Matthaeum, per illam candelam significari beatam Virginem, in qua sola, ut pie credi¬ tur, fuit in illo triduo fides explicita resur¬ rectionis. Ex quo tamen non sequitur in aliis fuisse errorem , vel infidelitatem , quia non tenebantur credere explicite resurrectionem, nisi post legitimam ejus promulgationem, et probationem; et praesertim illi, qui aberant a Hierusalem, et nihil de Christo audierant. Et sane videtur periculosum dicere in sola Virgine mansisse veram fidem ; tum quia Ecclesia periisset, non enim una persona potest dici Ecclesia, cum Ecclesia sit popu¬ lus et regnum Dei ; tum etiam quia tunc illi qui aberant a Hierusalem , et usque ad il¬ lud tempus habuerant veram fidem, mox il¬ lam amisissent sine sua culpa. CONTROVERSIARUM DE CONCILIIS LIBER QUARTUS DBI DE NOTIS ECCLESI.E.