Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church Militant · The Church Spread Throughout the Whole World
Chapter 35: The Fifteenth Mark: Temporal Felicity
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).
The last Mark is temporal felicity, divinely conferred on those who have defended the Church. For never did Catholic Princes cleave to God from the heart, but they most easily triumphed over their enemies. Well known, first of all, are the victories in the Old Testament of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, Ezechias, Josias, the Maccabees. In the New Testament, Constantine, who first of the Emperors publicly defended the Church, overcame Maxentius in almost the same manner in which Moses overcame Pharaoh. See Eusebius, Book 9 of the history, chapter 9. Of him thus says Augustine, Book 5 of the City of God, chapter 25: “God filled the Emperor Constantine — not a suppliant to demons, but a worshipper of the true God Himself — with such earthly gifts as no one would dare to wish for. One Augustus held and defended the whole Roman world. In administering and waging wars he was most victorious. In suppressing tyrants he was in all things prospered. Full of years, he died of sickness and old age, and left his sons reigning.”
Of Theodosius the elder the same Augustine writes, in the same place, chapter 26, that, because he was truly pious and Catholic, all things so prosperously succeeded for him that in battles the weapons of the enemy were, by God's action, turned back upon their authors. Theodoret adds, Book 5 of the history, chapter 24, that the holy Apostles John and Philip appeared on white horses in the same battle, fighting for the Emperor Theodosius.
Of Honorius also, plainly Catholic, and most devoted to the Roman Pontiff, as is plain from his letters to Pope Boniface, Augustine writes, Book 5 of the City of God, chapter 23, that God so fought for him that in one battle much more than a hundred thousand Goths were laid low, and the King himself, Radagaisus, with his sons, was taken and killed, without even one of the Romans being wounded, much less slain.
Of Theodosius the younger Socrates writes, Book 7 of the history, chapter 18, that, while his army fought with the Barbarians, and he meanwhile in the city gave himself to prayers before God, about a hundred thousand Saracens, driven by Angels into the Euphrates, perished most wretchedly.
Justinian the elder, as long as he was Catholic, reigned most happily, so that he restored Italy, Africa, and many other provinces to the Roman Empire, as is plain from Evagrius, Book 4 of the history, chapter 16 and following. But when he became a heretic, and wished to publish an edict for receiving his heresy, he was soon taken off by a sudden death, and freed the Church from great fear, as the same Evagrius writes, Book 4, last chapter.
Heraclius too, as can be known from John Zonaras and other historians, while he was Catholic, carried off a most illustrious victory over the Persians, and recovered the cross of the Lord, when the Roman affairs seemed altogether desperate. But when he fell into the heresy of the Monothelites, all things succeeded unhappily for him, and he himself was extinguished by a new and unheard-of kind of disease.
It is established likewise from the histories of the Greeks that the Emperors of the East, from the time when, because of the dissension about images, they separated themselves from the Roman Church, always fared daily worse, until at last they utterly lost the Empire. But in the West, from the histories of the Latins, it is manifestly gathered that the Emperors always flourished more or less, according as they were more or less devoted to the Roman Church.
In the time of Urban II, about the year of the Lord 1098, the Christians in the holy war proclaimed by the Pope for the recovery of Jerusalem, when they were at Antioch in the utmost desperation — because an infinite army of Turks and Persians was near at hand, and they themselves were few, and nearly worn out by long famine, so that even the bravest men walked leaning on staves, and had no horses but very few, so that the chief Prince Godfrey used a borrowed horse, and many Princes were forced to ride on asses — at last God revealed where the sacred lance was, and, it being carried before them, gave the victory in the war, so that a hundred thousand Turks were killed, and of themselves scarcely four thousand fell. A dew also fell upon them from heaven, which added strength to their minds and bodies. Finally, three holy men appeared fighting for them from heaven. See Paulus Aemilius, Book 4, William of Tyre, Book 4 near the end, and Dodechinus, the continuator of Marianus Scotus.
In the time of Innocent III, in Gaul, by eight thousand Catholics were slain in one battle a hundred thousand Albigensian heretics, as Aemilius writes, Book 6 of the history of the Franks.
In our times, in the year 1531, the Catholic Swiss fought five battles for the faith with the heretical Swiss, and always the Catholics conquered, though they were much inferior in number and arms. See John Cochlaeus in the acts of Luther, year 1531.
Charles V, by a divine miracle, carried off the victory over the Lutherans in the year 1547.
In Gaul too and in the Low Countries the Catholics carried off many victories over the heretics, not without a miracle. Nay, scarcely ever were the heretics superior, when it was fought in a fair battle. And let these things concerning the marks of the Church, and this whole disputation, be said according to the brevity proposed.
Editors' appendix (Vivès edition, 1870). The 1870 Opera Omnia here appends a note on Bellarmine's cause for canonization, quoting Fr. Henri Ramière: that the cause had been far advanced under Benedict XIV — the preparatory processes happily finished, his writings severely examined and declared without reproach, and three preparatory congregations having established that the servant of God possessed all the theological and moral virtues in a heroic degree — and that nothing remained but to draw up the decree, when a letter from the Cardinal of Tencin to Benedict XIV halted everything, for fear of increasing the hostility of the French government and parlements. The editors add that, governments no longer obstructing such causes, nothing would now prevent that of the venerable Cardinal being resumed, needing perhaps only some signal miracle obtained through his intercession; and they close by begging God that, Bellarmine interceding, such miracles be granted, and that the cause of his canonization be taken up again. (Bellarmine was in fact beatified in 1923, canonized in 1930, and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931.)
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XVIII, Nota decimaquinta. Ultima Nota est foelicitas temporalis, divi¬ nitus iis collata, qui Ecclesiam defenderunt. Numquam enim Catholici Principes ex ani¬ mo Deo adhaeserunt, quin facillime de hosti¬ bus triumpharent. Notae sunt in primis vic¬ toriae in Testamento veteri Abrahae, Mosis, Josue, Gedeonis, Samuelis, Davidis , Eze- chiae, Josiae, Machabaeorum. In testamento novo Constantinus , qui primus publice ex Imperatoribus Ecclesiam defendit , eo fere modo Maxentium vicit , quo Moses Pharao- nem. Vide Euseb. lib. IX hist. cap. 9. de eo sic ait Augustin. lib. V de Civit, Dei, c. 25. « Constantinum Imperatorem , non suppli¬ cantem daemonibus, sed ipsum verum Deum colentem, tantis terrenis implevit muneri¬ bus, quanta optare nullus auderet. Univer¬ sum orbem Romanum unus Augustus tenuit, et defendit. In administrandis et gerendis bellis victoriosissimus fuit. In tyrannis oppri¬ mendis per omnia prosperatus est. Grandae¬ vus aegritudine et senectute defunctus est, filios imperantes reliquit. » De Theodosio seniore scribit idem Augus¬ tinus ibidem, cap. 26. ei, quod vere pius et Catholicus esset, adeo prospere omnia suc¬ cessisse, ut in praeliis hostium tela in aucto¬ res, Deo agente, retorquerentur. Addit Theo- doretus lib. V hist cap. 24. sanctos Joannem et Philippum Apostolos apparuisse in equis albis in eodem praelio pro Theodosio Impe¬ ratore pugnantes. X» CAPUT XVIII. De Honorio etiam plane Catholico, et Ro¬ mano Pontifici addictissimo, ut patet ex ejus epistolis ad Bonifacium Papam , scribit Au¬ gustinus lib. V de Civit. Dei, cap. 23. ita Deum pro illo pugnasse, ut uno praelio multo amplius, quam centum millia Gothorum pros¬ ternerentur, et Rex ipse Radagaisus cum fi¬ liis caperetur, et occideretur, ex Roma¬ nis ne uno quidem vulnerato, nedum extincto. De Theodosio juniore scribit Socrates lib. VII hist. cap. 18. exercitu ejus pugnante cum Barbaris, et ipso interim in urbe preci¬ bus apud Deum vacante, circiter centum mil¬ lia Saracenorum, ab Angelis acta in Euphra¬ tem, miserrime periisse. Justinianus senior, donec Catholicus fuit, foelicissime imperavit , ita ut Italiam , Afri¬ cam, aliasque multas provincias Romano Imperio restituerit, ut patet ex Evagrio lib . IV histor. cap. 16. et seq. At, ubi haereticus factus est, et edictum proponere voluit de sua hseresi recipienda, mox repentina morte sublatus est, et Ecclesiam magno metu li-* beravit, ut idem Evagrius scribit 1. IV, c. ult. Heraclius quoque , ut ex Joanne Zonara, aliisque historicis cognosci potest , dum Ca¬ tholicus esset, praeclarissimam victoriam de Persis reportavit, et crucem Domini recepit, quando res Romanae desperatae omnino esse videbantur. At cum in haeresim incidit Mo- nothelitarum. omnia illi infceliciter successe¬ runt, et ipse novo atque inaudito morbi ge¬ nere extinctus est. Constat item ex Graecorum historiis , Im¬ peratores Orientis ab eo tempore, quo prop¬ ter dissidium circa imagines se ab Ecclesia Romana separaverunt, semper in dies dete¬ rius se habuisse , donec tandem Imperium penitus amiserunt. In Occidente vero ex La¬ tinorum historiis manifeste colligitur , sem¬ per Imperatores magis, vel minus floruisse ; ut magis, vel minus Romanae Ecclesiae ad¬ dicti fuerunt. ' 4(77 Tempore Urbani II ad annum Domini 1098, Christiani in bello sacroaPapaindicto pro recuperatione Hierosolymae, cum essent Antiochiae in summa desperatione , eo quod prope adesset infinitus exercitus Turearum et Persarum, et ipsi pauci essent, et diutur¬ na fame prope enecti , ita ut etiam viri for¬ tissimi baculis innixi incederent , nec equos haberent, nisi paucissimos, ita ut praecipuus Princeps Godefredus equo commodato ute¬ retur, et multi Principes in asinis equitare cogerentur, tandem Deus revelavit , ubi es¬ set sacra lancea, et ea praelata, in bello vic¬ toriam dedit, ita ut occiderint centum millia Turearum, et ex ipsis vix quatuor millia ce¬ ciderint. Cecidit etiam ros divinitus in illos, qui animis et corporibus vires addidit. Deni¬ que apparuerunt tres viri sancti pro illis de coelo pugnantes : Vide Paulum iEmilium lib. IV, Gulielmum Tyrium lib. IV prope fin. et Dodechinum Mariani Scoti continua- torem. Tempore Innocentii III, in Gallia ab octo millibus Catholicorum caesa sunt uno prae¬ lio centum millia Albigensium haereticorum, ut scribit ^Emilius lib. VI historiae Franco¬ rum. Nostris temporibus, anno 1531 , quinque praelia commiserunt pro fide Catholici Hel¬ vetii cum haereticis Helvetiis, et semper Ca¬ tholici vicerunt, cum tamen essent numero et armis multo inferiores : Vide Joan. Co- chlaeum in actis Lutheri, anni 1531. Garolus V, miraculo divino, victoriam re¬ tulit de Lutheranis anno 1547. In Gallia quoque et Belgis multas victorias Catholici de haereticis, non sine miraculo^ reportarunt. Imo vix unquam fuerunt haere¬ tici superiores, quando justo praelio dimica¬ tum est. Atque haec de notis Ecclesiae, et universa hac disputatione pro instituta bre¬ vitate dicta sint. APPENDIX QUARTiE CONTROVERSIA De Bellar mini canonisatione. Quam protulit et defendit doctrinam Bel- larminus de Ecclesia, de summo Pontifice et de Concilio , non solum non prohibita est nisi inconsulto, sed etiam auctor in canoni- sationis causam introductus est. De quo haec habet P. Henricus Ramiere in opusculo cui titulus : Labbe Gratry , le pseudo-Isidore et les defenseurs de 1’Eglise Romaine , pag. 19 : « Nous avons recueilli des renseignements prdcis relativement a la cause de beatifica- tion du cardinalBellarmin. Cette cause etait deja tres-avancee au temps de Benoit XIY ; tous les proces preparatoires etaient lieu- reusement termines ; les dcrits, severement examines, avaient etedeclaressansreproche; les trois congregations preparatoires avaient etabli que le serviteur deDieu avait possede a un degre heroique, toutes les vertus tbeo- logales et morales; il ne restait plus qu’a dresser le decret , quand une lettre du car¬ dinat de Tenices a Benoit XIY vint tout ar- reter , par la crainte d’accroitre Pacbarne- ment du gouvernement et des parlements frangais. Aujourd’hui que, grace a Dieu, les gouvernements ne se melent plus d’entra- ver les causes de beatification, rien ne s’op- poserait a ce que celle du venerable Cardi¬ nal Bellarmin futreprise; et il suffirait pour cela, peut-etre , que la confiance d6s chre- tiens obtint , par son intercession, quelque miracle signald. N’est-il pas permis de croire que Dieu ne refuserait pas cesmiracles, ssils etaient instamment demandes, pour glorifier celui quia si vaillammentdefendu les prero- gatives de son vicaire, et qui, a cause de ce¬ la meme, est aujourd’hui si injustement at- taque. » A Deo flagitamus ut, intercedente Bellar- mino, edantur ha?c miracula, et, si Deus ita permiserit, a Summo Pontifice , supplici li¬ bello, quaeremus ut supradictae canonisatio- nis iterum causa sumatur.