Wyclif’s Latin works

Dialogus, chapter 14

Prayers to the saints, and implicit faith

Pollard pp. 26.28–28.30

Falsehood and Truth26.28–28.30

26mendacium. Iterum manifeste innuis non esse ut fidem 27credendum illos esse sanctos qui in missis, in letaniis, et aliis ecclesie serviciis inseruntur; ad quid ergo diceremus de illis nisi crederemus quod in patria sunt beati? cum spes meriti super fide stabili in credentibus est fundanda. veritas. Hic dictum est sepius quod de sanctis quos canonizat ecclesia supponimus, sed non ut fidem credimus, quod sunt beati in patria. Undecim tamen apostolos cum paulo, magdalene et ceteris quos fides scripture implicat esse sanctos, credendum est ut fidem esse beatos, et alios, quantumcunque magna sanctitate in celis prepolleant, credimus esse in beatitudine, verumtamen citra fidem. Et ideo ordinavit ecclesia quod quecumque oracio porrecta ad sanctum ad deum principaliter dirigatur. Et sic quelibet talis oracio implicat tacite condicionem, si et quatenus placet deo per talis sancti meritum nobis miseris suffragari. Et ut videtur multis nulla oracio porrecta specialiter sancto Christi est laudabilis, nisi de quanto acuit devocionem in Christum, sic quod si omnes intenciones et oraciones uniri possent in Christum, sincerius directe unite in Christum, esset utilius Christiano omnes oraciones specialiter Christo porrigere. Nec valet false credere quod Christus propter celsitudinem sui dominii non potest a nobis miseris faciliter exorari; ideo est necessarium habere alias personas mediantes; Christus enim assistens pontifex immediate illabitur viatori et cum hoc immediate conjungitur deitati. Ideo nullus sanctus est misericordius aut facilius auditivus miseri quam est Christus. Nec valent oraciones aliorum sanctorum, nisi de quanto Christus prius ex sua gracia has acceptat. Ideo dicunt quidam quod porrecciones oracionum ad istos sanctos sepe 28sunt superflue vel nocive. Conceditur ergo quod non est articulus fidei appropriare cuilibet sancto de quo dicimus specialem articulum fidei sed beatitudinem illorum supponimus secundum majorem evidenciam vel minorem. Unde absit quod omnes legende sanctorum in ecclesiam introducte sint fides catholica, cum in festo corporis Christi de sancto sanctorum scribitur quod accidencia sunt in eucaristia sine subjecto, quod non fuit fides tempore augustini. Ideo dicit in de sermone Domini in monte quod multa vera, licet in legendis talibus inserantur non sunt fides catholica; sicut exemplificat de ministro convivii cujus unum brachium a cane rapido est abstractum. Sufficit ergo ad tales oraciones secundarias habere probabilem supposicionem, et de Christo qui fundamentaliter oratur habere cum aliis virtutibus firmam fidem; et patet solucio. In ista tamen materia dicunt scolastici quod aliqua est fides explicita vel expressa et aliqua est fides implicita sive tacita. Fidem autem implicitam dicunt esse quamcunque veritatem juxta illud apostoli prima cor. 13° Caritas omnia credit, et tamen infinite sunt veritates de quibus non oportet nos hic habere fidem explicitam; cum sufficit fideli quod credat quamcunque veritatem secundum gradum et formam qua deus vult ipsum hanc credere. Ut carnis resurreccionis est articulus fidei cuilibet Christiano, et tamen non oportet de qualibet persona hominis habere expressum articulum fidei quod resurget. Sed deus vult quod per istam fidem generalem sua militans ecclesia excusetur. Non enim vult quod sua ecclesia cum veritatibus inutiliter oneretur. Communis autem carnis resurreccio erit tempore sempiterno adhuc futura, et postmodum tempore suo presens; sed post diem judicii est elapsa.

Falsehood. Again, you plainly hint that it is not, as a matter of faith, 27to be believed that those are saints who are inserted in masses, in litanies, and in the other services of the churchecclesia: church. To what purpose, then, should we speak of them,1 unless we believed that they are blessed in the homelandvia / patria: the way / the homeland? since the hope of merit in believers must be founded on stable faith.

Truth. It has been said here more than once that of the saints whom the church canonizescanonizare: canonize we suppose, but do not believe as faith, that they are blessed in the homeland. Yet the eleven apostles, with Paul, Magdalene and the others whom the faith of scripture implies to be saints, are to be believed as faith to be blessed; and the others, however greatly they excel in holiness in heaven, we believe to be in blessedness, but short of faithcitra fidem: short of faith. And therefore the church has ordained that any prayer whatever offered to a saint be directed principally to God. And so every such prayer tacitly implies a condition: if and in so far as it pleases God, through the merit of such a saint, to aidsuffragari: to aid by intercession us wretches.2 And, as it seems to many, no prayer offered specially to a saint of Christ is praiseworthy except in so far as it sharpens devotion towards Christ; so that if all intentions and prayers could be united in Christ, more sincerely united directly in Christ, it would be more profitable for a Christian to offer all prayers specially to Christ.3 Nor does it avail to believe falsely that Christ, because of the height of his lordshipdominium: lordship, cannot easily be entreated by us wretches, [and] that therefore it is necessary to have other persons mediating;4 for Christ, being come a high priest, flows immediately into the wayfarerviator: wayfarer, and with this is immediately joined to the Godheaddeitas / divinitas: the Godhead / divinity. Therefore no saint is more merciful, or more ready to hear a wretch, than Christ is.5 Nor do the prayers of other saints avail, except in so far as Christ first, of his grace, accepts them. Therefore some say that the offerings of prayers to these saints are often 28superfluous or harmful.

Therefore it is granted that it is not an article of faitharticulus fidei: article of faith to appropriate to each saint of whom we speak a special article of faith;6 but we suppose their blessedness according to greater or lesser evidenceevidencia: evidence. Hence far be it that all the legends of the saints brought into the church should be the catholic faith, since on the feast of Corpus Christi it is written of the holy of holies that the accidents are in the eucharist without a subjectsubiectum / passio: subject / attribute, which was not the faith in Augustine’s time.7 Therefore he says in On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount that many true things, although they are inserted in such legends, are not the catholic faith; as he illustrates by the servant at the banquet, one of whose arms was torn off by a ravening dog.8 It suffices, therefore, for such secondary prayers to have a probable supposition, and, of Christ, who is prayed to fundamentally, to have firm faith together with the other virtues; and the solution is clear. Yet in this matter the schoolmen say that some faith is explicit or expressed and some faith is implicit or tacit. And they say that implicit faithfides explicita / implicita: explicit faith / implicit faith is any truth whatever, according to that saying of the apostle, 1 Cor. 13, "Charitycaritas: charity believeth all things";9 and yet infinite are the truths of which we need not have explicit faithfides explicita / implicita: explicit faith / implicit faith here, since it suffices for the faithful man that he believe any truth according to the degree and form in which God wills him to believe it. As, there is an article of faith of the resurrection of the flesh for every Christian,10 and yet one need not have, concerning each human person, an express article of faith that he will rise again. But God wills that by this general faith his church militantecclesia militans / triumphans / dormiens: the church militant / triumphant / sleeping be excused. For he does not will that his church be burdened with truths unprofitably. And the common resurrection of the flesh will be, in everlasting time, still future, and afterwards in its own time present; but after the day of judgement it is past.11

Notes

  1. 1 Ad quid ergo diceremus de illis, literally "to what [end] should we speak of them". B, C add horarum officia after diceremus (in B by another hand in the margin): "why should we say the offices of the hours of them".
  2. 2 Suffragari, the verb of suffragia (suffrages): to aid by one’s intercession. B, B¹, C read placeat for placet.
  3. 3 Sincerius directe unite in Christum is taken as a second participle on intenciones et oraciones: prayers joined to Christ directly are joined more sincerely. Alternative: an elliptical apodosis, "[they would be] more sincerely united". At 27.19 another hand in B writes scilicet sanctum over Christum; B¹ has ipsum corrected from Christum; B¹, C read est for esset.
  4. 4 Ideo est necessarium habere alias personas mediantes is taken as the second half of the false belief, still governed by credere quod, not as Truth’s own inference.
  5. 5 Assistens pontifex is Heb. 9:11 (DR "being come an high priest"). Illabitur: "glides into", "flows into". At 27.26 B, B¹, C read audacius for auditivus, and B, C misereri (B¹ miserere) for miseri: "more merciful or bolder to have mercy".
  6. 6 Appropriare ... specialem articulum fidei: to assign each saint an article of faith of his own. B, B¹, C read appropriate, give oras dicimus at 28.2 (apparatus unclear), and add after fidei adaptare quod in patria sit beatus, "to adapt [it] so that he is blessed in the homeland".
  7. 7 The office of Corpus Christi, first nocturn, lesson 2 (Pollard’s margin, "In primo nocturno, Lectio II."), which states that the accidents exist in the sacrament without a subject. De sancto sanctorum: of the sacrament as "the holy of holies". B, C read facto for festo.
  8. 8 Augustine, De sermone Domini in monte I.20.65 (Pollard’s margin "i. 65"), where Augustine cites from an apocryphal writing the story of the servant who struck the apostle Thomas at a banquet and was killed, a dog bringing in his hand; Augustine says the writing is not received in the canon. The subject of dicit is Augustine, supplied from the preceding clause. At 28.12 B, B¹, C read rabido ("mad") for rapido; B, B¹ enim for ergo.
  9. 9 Wyclif joins the subject of 1 Cor. 13:4 (Caritas) to 13:7 omnia credit; DR 13:7 "believeth all things".
  10. 10 Carnis resurreccionis is genitive: "an article of faith of the resurrection of the flesh", with est existential. At 28.23 B, B¹ read resurreccionem et alios articulos.
  11. 11 B, B¹, C read est in for erit: "is, in everlasting time, still future". The point is that the proposition changes tense: future until the resurrection, present at it, past after the judgement.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 26: CAPITULUM 14m.
    • 27: ∅ (side-note "to Christ")
    • 28: fides
    • 28: scribitur
    • 28: in
    • 28: cor. 13° (13° line-final, dropped; scan OCR + Fordham)
  • Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference In primo nocturno, Lectio II. (28.6); reference Aug. De Serm. Dei in Monte, i. 65. (28.10); reference 1 Cor.xiii. 7. (28.18).