Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Indulgences and the Jubilee · Book II: Against the Adversaries of Indulgences
Chapter 5: What Calvin has in chapter 9 of the Institutes, numbers 41 and 42, is refuted
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. VII, De Indulgentiis et Jubilaeo, Book II, a treatise of the Controversies. 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).
Calvin goes on, and in section 41 tries to refute the reasoning by which he says the treasury of indulgences is built up by Catholics. He sets out that reasoning in these words: “Let them acknowledge whether these are not their own tenets: that the martyrs by their death rendered more to God, and merited more, than they had need of; and that so great an abundance of merits was left over to them that it overflowed to others. Lest, therefore, so great a good be superfluous, their blood is mingled with the blood of Christ, and from both is made the treasury of the Church for the remission and satisfaction of sins. And so is to be taken what Paul says in Colossians 1, I fill up in my body those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, for his body, which is the Church.” So he. But he has not set out the reasoning of Catholics at all faithfully, so that we can plainly deny that these are our tenets. For we do not teach that the martyrs by their death rendered more to God than they had need of absolutely, but more than they had need of for satisfaction for the guilt of temporal punishment. And this is so true that a man must be blind who does not see it. Certainly John the Baptist had led so innocent a life that he in no way needed the bitterness of that passion and death to expiate his own sins. Accordingly he rendered more to God by his death than he had need of for expiating his sins. The same can be said of the apostles and of many other martyrs. For if the guilt even of the greatest and most numerous sins is purged by a single passion of a martyr, sins for which otherwise penalties would long have had to be paid in fire, as Saint Cyprian writes in book 2, epistle 4, to Antonianus, surely he who is guilty of light and few offences, and yet lays down his life for Christ after various torments, renders more to God by his death than he had need of for dissolving the guilt of the temporal punishment owed to his sins. Besides, what Calvin adds, that we say the saints merited more before God than was necessary for them, and that an abundance of merits was so left over to them that it overflowed to others, we do not acknowledge as our tenets but as his own inventions. For as we grant that satisfactions were left over to many of the saints, which we have just shown clearly enough, so we deny that merits were left over, or that merits themselves overflow to others; on which matter we said enough in the former book. But we readily forgive Calvin that, whether from ignorance, or from negligence, or even to make the Catholic cause odious, he did not set out our position faithfully. Let us see whether he who did not report the foundation of indulgences whole has at least refuted it solidly. He goes on thus in the place noted: “What is this but to leave Christ the name, and for the rest make him a common little saint, who can scarcely be picked out in the crowd? He alone, he alone ought to be preached, alone set forth, alone named, alone looked to, when it is a question of obtaining the remission, expiation and sanctification of sins.”
But it is not so; Christ is acknowledged from the treasury of indulgences not as a common little saint, but as the Holy of Holies. For the sufferings of the saints are not mingled with the sufferings of Christ in the treasury because the sufferings of Christ do not suffice by themselves, but so that the excellence of the sufferings of Christ may be shown, which can not only expiate the guilt of sins, but also communicate to others the power of expiating. And so the sufferings of the saints are mingled in the treasury with the sufferings of Christ in such a way that the sufferings of Christ can expiate all fault, original and actual, deadly and venial, and all punishment, everlasting and temporal, and all this by themselves, even if no sufferings of the saints were mixed in; while the sufferings of the saints without the sufferings of Christ can do nothing, and with the sufferings of Christ can expiate only temporal punishments. We do not, then, make Christ one of the crowd, but the King of martyrs and of all the saints; and him alone, as simply and absolutely Redeemer, Propitiator and Saviour, we preach, name, set forth and look to. But if he leaves Christ only the name who joins the saints to him in any way, what shall we answer the Apostle, who makes himself Christ's helper in 1 Corinthians 3, and claims for himself the office of Saviour in 1 Corinthians 9, and calls himself the enlightener of all men in Ephesians 3? Was the Apostle unaware that Christ does not need human help, and that he alone is the Saviour of all men, and that he, the same and alone, is the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world? Did he wish to make Christ a common little saint, so that he could scarcely be picked out in the crowd? As, then, the Apostle, when he takes to himself the office of helping Christ and of saving and enlightening men, does no injury to Christ, because Christ himself willed Paul to be his helper, by condescension, not by necessity; and if Christ and Paul save and enlighten men, Paul received the power of saving and enlightening from Christ, not Christ from Paul; so too when we attribute to the saints the office of satisfying for the temporal punishments of others, we do no injury to Christ, since, as has been said, the saints receive the power of satisfying from Christ himself, not absolutely and simply, but according to the measure communicated to them. Calvin adds last, in the same section: “But let us hear their enthymemes. Lest the blood of the martyrs should have been shed without fruit, let it be brought into the common gain of the Church. Is that so? But was there no fruit in glorifying God by death? in subscribing to his truth with their blood? in testifying by contempt of the present life that they sought a better one? in confirming the faith of the Church by their constancy, and breaking the obstinacy of its enemies?” But we never made such enthymemes, nor is it difficult to dissolve arguments he invented himself. There are very many books of Catholics in which indulgences are accurately discussed, and in none of them will it be found that the sufferings of the saints would be without fruit if they were not laid up in the treasury. They say only this, that the sufferings of the saints would be without fruit not absolutely, but as satisfactory, if neither they themselves needed them nor they were applied to others; although otherwise there is no doubt that under many other titles they were glorious to God, honourable to themselves, and useful to the Church.
Further, to the testimony of the Apostle from the epistle to the Colossians, chapter 1, which Calvin said is brought forward by Catholics, he answers in the following section, which is the forty-second, and at great length teaches that the Apostle's words, “I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ,” and so on, do not signify that anything was wanting to the sufferings of Christ for the power of satisfying for sins, but that the members of Christ, namely all the faithful, must be exercised by various afflictions, and that for the Church, that is, for the building up and progress of the Church. But although this sense, which Calvin embraces, has also been noted and approved by many of ours, yet we showed in the former book that, besides that sense, those apostolic words can fittingly receive other senses, and especially the one which contributes to establishing the treasury of indulgences; which sense Calvin signifies is not approved by him, but he neither could nor tried to refute it by any solid argument.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT V. Refelluntur ea, qux Calvinus habet cap . 9. Insiit. num. 41. et 12. Pergit Calvinus, et sectione 41. refellere conatur rationem Catholicorum, qua thesau¬ rum indulgentiarum ab illis astrui dicit. Pro¬ ponit autem eam rationem his verbis. «Ag¬ noscant, an non lisec sint sua placita : Mar¬ tyres plus morte sua praestitisse Deo, ac me¬ ritos esse, quam sibi opus esset : tantamque illis meritorum largitatem superfuisse, qua) in alios redundaret. Ne igitur supervacuum sit tantum bonum, commisceri eorum san¬ guinem sanguini Christi, et ex utroque the¬ saurum Ecclesia) confici ad remissionem, et satisfactionem peccatorum. Atque ita acci¬ piendum quod ait Paulus Coloss. i. Suppleo in corpore meo ea qua) desunt passionum Chri¬ sti pro corpore ejus, quod est Ecclesia». IIa)c ille. Qui non omnino fideliter rationem Ca¬ tholicorum proposuit, ut plane negare pos¬ simus illa nostra esse placita. Neque enim docemus, martyres morte sua plus Deo prae¬ stitisse, quam sibi opus esset absolute : sed quam sibi opus esset ad satisfactionem pro reatu poena) temporalis. Quod quidem adeo verum est, utca)cus sit oporteat, qui id non videat. Certe Joannes Baptista tam innocen¬ ter vitam duxerat, ut nullo modo ad expian¬ da peccata sua passionis ct mortis illius acerbitate indigeret. Proinde plus Deo prae¬ stitit morte sua, quam sibi ad peccata expian¬ da opus esset. Quod idem de apostolis, mul¬ tisque aliis martyribus dici potest. Nam si peccatorum etiam maximorum et plurimo¬ rum reatus unica martyris passione purgatur, pro quibus alioqui diu in igne poma luenda Tow, VII, fuerat, ut S. Cyprianus scribit lib. n. epist. 4. ad Anonianum, profecto qui levium, et paucorum delictorum est reus, et tamen pro Christo, post varia tormenta vitam ponit : morte sua plus Deo prrestat quam sibi ad reatum poena) temporariae peccatis suis de¬ bita) dissolvendum opus esset. Praeterea quod Calvinus addit, nos dicere, sanctos plus esse meritos apud Deum, quam sibi necesse esset, et meritorum largitatem ita illis superfuisse, ut in alios redundaret : non agnoscimus, ut nostra placita, sed ut ipsius commenta. Nos enim, ut concedimus, satisfactiones multis sanctorum superfuisse, quod modo satis evi¬ denter ostendimus : ita negamus superfuisse merita, vel ipsa merita in alios redundare:. De qua re in lib. priore satis multa diximus. Sed facile ignoscimus Calvino, quod vel oh imperitiam, vel ob negligentiam, vel etiam ut causam catholicorum odiosam redderet, non fideliter nostra proposuit. Illud videa¬ mus, an qui non integre fundamentum in¬ dulgentiarum retulit, illud saltem solide futaverit. Sic igitur pergit loco notato. «Quid hoc est, nisi Christo nomen relinquere, cie- tcrum vulgarem sanctulum facere, qui in turba vix dignoscatur? Unum, unum illuni praedicari decebat , unum proponi, unum nominari, unum respici, cum de obtinenda peccatorum remissione, expiatione, sanctifi¬ catione agitur. » At non ita est ; non vulgaris sanctulus, sed sanctus sanctorum ex thesauro indulgentia¬ rum Christus agnoscitur. Non enim sancto¬ rum passiones Christi passionibus miscentur in' thesauro, quod Christi passiones per se non sufficiant, sed ut ostendatur excellentia passionum Christi, qua) non solum expiare queunt reatus peccatorum, sed etiam aliis vim expiandi communicare. Itaque, ita mi¬ scentur in thesauro passionibus Christi pas¬ siones sanctorum, ut Christi passiones om¬ nem culpam, originalem, et actualem, letha- lem, et venialem, et omnem poenam sempi¬ ternam , et temporariam expiare valeant, idque totum per se ; etiamsi nullse admisce¬ rentur passiones sanctorum, qua) sanctorum passiones sine Christi passionibus nihil pos¬ sunt, et cum Christi passionibus solas poenas temporarias expiare possunt. Non igitur unum de turba, sed regem martyrum, et sanctorum omnium Christum facimus, illumque unum, ut simpliciter et absolute Redemptorem, pro¬ pitiatorem, et Salvatorem pnedicamus, no¬ minamus, proponimus, atque respicimus. 5 66 LIBER II. Quod si solum nomen Christo relinquit, qui sanctos quoquo modo illi adjungit, quid re¬ spondebimus Apostolo, qui se Christi adju¬ torem facit I Cor. m. et Salvatoris officium sibi vendicat I Cor. ix. et illuminatorem omnium hominum se dicit Ephes. m. an ignorabat Apostolus , Christum non egere humano adjutorio, et ipsum solum esse Sal¬ vatorem omnium hominum; et ipsum eum- dem, et solum esse lucem veram, qux illu¬ minat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum ? An volebat Christum, vulgarem sanctulum facere, ut in turba vix dignoscere¬ tur? Quemadmodum igitur Apostolus dum sibi officium adjuvandi Christum, salvandi- que, et illuminandi homines desumit, nullam Christo facit injuriam, quia Christus ipse Paulum sibi adjutorem esse voluit, dignatio¬ ne, non necessitate : et si Christus et Paulus salvant et illuminant homines, Paulus a Chri¬ sto virtutem salvandi, et illuminandi accepitj non Christus a Paulo; sic etiam dum nos sanctis tribuimus officium satisfaciendi pro poenis temporalibus aliorum, non facimus Christo inauriam, quoniam, ut dictum est, virtutem satisfaciendi ab ipso Christo sancti accipiunt, non absolute, et simpliciter sed pro modulo sibi communicato. Addit po¬ stremo Calvinus in eadem sectione. « Sed audiamus eorum entymemata. Ne sine fructu effusus sit sanguis Martyrum , in commune Ecclesiae lucrum conferatur. Ita ne?aifvero nullus erat fructus, glorificare Deum per mortem ? veritati ejus suo san¬ guine subscribere? testificari praesentis vitae contemptu meliorem se vitam quaerere? fi¬ dem Ei clesiee sua constantia confirmare , hostium autem pertinaciam frangere ». At nus talia entymemata numquam feci¬ mus, r.eque est difficile conficta a se argu¬ menta dissolvere. Exstant libri permulti Ca¬ tholicorum , ubi de indulgentiis accurate disseritur, et in nullo eorum invenietur, passiones sanctorum sine fructu futuras, si in thesauro non reponantur. Id solum di¬ cunt, passiones sanctorum non absolute, sed ut satis faci orias sine fructu futuras, si neque illis ipsi egeant, neque aliis applicentur; quamvis alioqui multis aliis nominibus glo¬ riosas Deo, honorificas ipsis, et utiles Ec¬ clesia! fuisse non dubium sit. Porro ad testimonium Apostoli ex epist. ad Co.oss. cup. i. quod Caiviuus a Catholi¬ cis adferri dixit, respondet in sectione se¬ quenti, quae est quadragesima secunda : ac multis verbis docet Apostoli verba : « Sup¬ pleo quae desunt passionibus Christi, etc. », non significare Christi passionibus aliquid defuisse ad vim satisfaciendi pro peccatis, sed Christi membra, nempe fideles omnes exerceri oportere variis afflictionibus, idque pro Ecclesia, id est, pro Ecclesise aedifica¬ tione, et profectu. Sed quamvis hic sensus, quem Calvinus amplectitur, sit etiam a mul¬ tis ex nostris observatus, et approbatus : tamen nos in libro superiore ostendimus, praeter eum sensum, posse apostolica illa verba commode recipere alios sensus ; atque eum praesertim, qui ad thesaurum indulgen¬ tiarum stabiliendum confert, quem quidem sensum sibi non probari Calvinus significat, . sed eum refellere solido aliquo argumento nec potuit, nec tentavit.