Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 1, part 5

Subjection to the roman pontiff; why the church is called roman

Loserth pp. 14.17–16.34

¶114.17–15.16

14Quinta conclusio est ista: Subesse Romano pontifici omni humane nature est de necessitate salutis. Patet ex hoc quod nemo potest salvari, nisi meritorie subsit Christo; sed ipse est Romanus pontifex sicut est caput universalis ac cuiuslibet particularis ecclesie: ergo conclusio. Nam columba dicitur modo viatrix, quia secundum partem, igitur per idem: ipsa est Romana ecclesia, quia secundum partem. Non enim est racio, quare ipsa modo peregrinatur vel tribulatur nisi quod secundum partem. Et per idem ipsa inhabitat Romam, Angliam et quemcunque locum fidelem Nam si ubicunque papa fuerit, ibi est Romana ecclesia, quia eadem ecclesia que Rome edificatur 15per apostolos succedens ex quibuscunque fidelibus, per idem ecclesia Romana sic est in Anglia et ubicunque fuerit fidelis christianus, quia sancta ecclesia catholica; que non potest stringi secundum se totam in Roma vel cetu pape et cardinalium; sed distenditur per tria loca sancta, scilicet celum, locum peregrinacionis et purgatorium. Unde nimis erronee concipiunt qui fingunt quod ubicunque fuerit dominus papa, ibi est Roma, quia superflue equivocaretur in nomine civitatis, sicut pueri vocant Oxonie Romam monticulum Belli Montis; sed ubicunque dominus papa fuerit, ibi est ecclesia Romana, sicut fuit Jerusalem tempore Christi, in Constantinopoli tempore sinodi, ut patet XXII dist. Sacrosancta, in Antiochia tempore cathedracionis sancti Petri et post in Roma tempore predicacionis et passionis Petri et Pauli.

The fifth conclusion is this: to be subject to the Roman pontiff is, for every human nature, of necessity of salvation.1 This is clear from the fact that no one can be saved unless he is meritoriously subject to Christ; now he is the Roman pontiff, as he is head of the universal churchecclesia: church and of every particular church: therefore the conclusion.2 For the dove is now called a wayfarerviator: wayfarer because [she is so] in part; therefore, by the same token, she is the Roman church because [she is so] in part. For there is no reason why she is now a pilgrimpars peregrinans; peregrinari: the pilgrim part; to be a pilgrim or in tribulation except that [she is so] in part.3 And by the same token she dwells in Rome, in England and in any faithful place. For if wherever the popepapa: pope is, there is the Roman church, because [it is] the same church which is built at Rome 15by the apostles, continuing out of any faithful whatever, then by the same token the Roman church is thus in England and wherever there is a faithful Christian, because [it is] the holy catholic church; which cannot be confined, in its whole self, to Rome or to the company of the pope and cardinals, but is spread out through three holy places, namely heaven, the place of pilgrimage, and purgatory.4 Hence those conceive too erroneously who imagine that wherever the lord pope is, there is Rome; for the name of the city would be made equivocal to no purpose, as boys at Oxford call the little hill of Beaumont "Rome".5 But wherever the lord pope is, there is the Roman church, as it was at Jerusalem in the time of Christ, in Constantinople at the time of the synod, as is clear in [Distinction] 22, Sacrosancta, in Antioch at the time of St Peter’s taking his chair, and afterwards in Rome at the time of the preaching and passion of Peter and Paul.6

¶215.17–16.34

15Et sic intelligitur dictum pape post Luce XI°, 20. Profecto pervenit in vos regnum dei et illud Luce XVII°, 22: Regnum dei intra vos est; ubicunque enim fuerit corpus, illic congregabuntur aquile. Quamvis enim ecclesia cepit a Judea et Christus caput ecclesie fuit martirizatus in Jerusalem, tamen racionabiliter vocata est ecclesia Christi secundum quandam preeminenciam propter tria: Primo quia Christus scivit gentes sub Romano imperio loco Judeorum infideliter discredencium inserendas, sicut dixit apostolus Rom. XI°, 23. Secunda causa est, quia maior multitudo martirum ibi triumphavit quam in alia civitate; sic enim 16ubi homo nascitur ex utero et triumphat gloriose, nomen abhinc contrahit. Cum ergo persona universalis ecclesie secundum multas partes suas ibi nascebatur, segregata ex utero synagoge, et ibi triumphavit crescens in gentibus: ideo fuit consonum quod caperet nomen a civitate metropoli gencium que est Roma. Tercia causa est, ut notetur quod non locus sive antiquitas sed fides formata fundet Christi ecclesiam. Nam quoad personam et quoad tempus prius fuit ecclesia Christi in sedibus prioribus et ad sensum istum dicitur II° Mach. V°, 19, quod non locus gentem sed gens locum sanctificat. Et hinc credo derelictum licere vocare Christi ecclesiam nomine cuiuscunque loci quem fideles inhabitant, sicut Christus vocatur Nazarenus propter concepcionem, et potest catholice vocari David Bethlehemiticus propter nativitatem, et sic de aliis civitatibus que possent licite dici sue propter inhabitacionem vel propter factum aliud notabile vel passionem. Notando tamen quod vocando ecclesiam quamcunque nomine loci hoc potest intelligi dupliciter, vel appropriate quoad habitacionem illius loci vel secundum partem, et in hoc sunt quotlibet gradus secundum amplitudinem parcium ecclesie. Non enim est bona causa vocare matrem nostram Romanam ecclesiam propter fastum aut complacenciam imperatoris dotantis ecclesiam nec propter extollenciam domini pape pompantis de parte imperii ex suo primatu sive dominio nec tercio, ut credatur quod ad ipsum oportet omnem christianum recurrere et de necessitate salutis ipsum capitalem recognoscere, sed propter causas topicas supradictas. Cum enim Romana ecclesia sit terminus institutus preter fundacionem in scriptura sacra, satis est habere racionem probabilem cavendo semper de deduccione perfida.

And so the pope’s saying is understood, after Luke 11:20, "doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you", and that of Luke 17:21, "the kingdom of God is within you"; for "wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles be gathered together".7 For although the church began from Judea, and Christ, the head of the church, was martyred in Jerusalem, yet the church of Christ has reasonably been called [Roman] by a certain pre-eminence, for three [reasons].8 First, because Christ knew that the gentiles under the Roman empire were to be grafted in, in place of the Jews who faithlessly disbelieved, as the apostle said, Romans 11:23.9 The second cause is that a greater multitude of martyrs triumphed there than in any other city; for so, 16where a man is born from the womb and triumphs gloriously, he takes his name from there. Since, therefore, the person of the universal church, in many of her parts, was born there, separated from the womb of the synagogue, and triumphed there, growing among the gentiles, it was therefore fitting that she should take her name from the city that is the metropolis of the gentiles, which is Rome.10 The third cause is that it may be noted that not place or antiquity but formed faithfides formata / informis: formed faith / unformed faith founds the church of Christ. For as to person and as to time the church of Christ was earlier in earlier sees; and in this sense it is said in 2 Maccabees 5:19 that not the place sanctifies the people, but the people the place.11 And hence I believe it has been left [open] that it is lawful to call the church of Christ by the name of any place which the faithful inhabit,12 as Christ is called a Nazarene by reason of [his] conception, and can catholicly be called "David the Bethlehemite" by reason of [his] birth; and so of other cities which could lawfully be called his by reason of dwelling, or of some other notable deed, or of [his] passion.13

Yet it is to be noted that, in calling any church by the name of a place, this can be understood in two ways: either appropriately, as to dwelling in that place, or according to part; and in this there are any number of degrees according to the extent of the parts of the church.14 For it is not a good cause to call our mothermater nostra: our mother the Roman church on account of the pride or the complaisance of the emperor who endowed the church, nor on account of the exaltation of the lord pope, who makes a display of his share in the empire by his primacy or lordshipdominium: lordship, nor, third, so that it should be believed that every Christian must have recourse to him and, of necessity of salvation, acknowledge him as chief; but for the topical causes stated above. For since "the Roman church" is a term instituted beyond [any] foundation in holy scripture, it is enough to have a probable reason, always guarding against a perfidious deduction.15

Notes

  1. 1 The fifth conclusion is the closing sentence of Unam sanctam (Loserth, at 14.18; Extrav. comm. 1.8.1, our modern form), which reads humanae creaturae (Friedberg II, 1245–46); Wyclif’s nature is translated as printed.
  2. 2 Ipse … sicut est caput: Christ is the Roman pontiff inasmuch as he is head of every church; the conclusion is granted only by moving its subject from the pope to Christ. Sed brings the minor premiss ("now").
  3. 3 The dove is the church (Song 6:8, una est columba mea). Quia secundum partem: the church is a wayfarer, a pilgrim and in tribulation only in her earthly part, and by the same token "Roman" only in part. AA₁ lack the words from igitur to partem (14.22); the print follows B.
  4. 4 Nam si …, per idem …: the inference runs from the curial maxim (wherever the pope is, there is the Roman church) to Wyclif’s own (wherever a faithful Christian is). B lacks quia — ecclesia (14.29). The three places are the church triumphant, militant and sleeping.
  5. 5 Bellus Mons: Beaumont, a royal palace, later destroyed, in the north suburb of Oxford (Loserth, after Wood’s History of the City of Oxford). Equivocaretur: "Rome" would become an equivocal name for wherever the pope stands.
  6. 6 Gratian, Decretum D.22 c.2 Sacrosancta (Loserth; our modern form; PL 187:123A): the canon names Rome, Antioch and Alexandria; Constantinople is in Gratian’s dictum and cc. 3–4; B’s margin: 22ª distinccione. Cathedracio: Peter’s taking the chair at Antioch.
  7. 7 Dictum pape post: we take it as the curial saying just corrected (wherever the pope is, there is the Roman church), understood "after" these texts; the phrase is doubtful (Latin doubt reported). The MSS have Matt. 12 (12:28 has the same words); Loserth corrected to Luke 11:20. The print’s verse "22" for Luke 17:21 is Loserth’s; B lacks Luce 17. The last clause is Matt. 24:28 (cf. Luke 17:37); Wyclif lacks Vg et, "also", and we omit it.
  8. 8 The print supplies no predicate name; "[Roman]" is from the side-note and A’s margin (Propter tres causas ecclesia Christi vocata est Romana ecclesia). I3o" (15.21) is the folio mark (fol. 130) left in the Latin. B’s reader objects to a Judea: the church began from Abel, "as the blessed Gregory thinks".
  9. 9 Rom. 11:23 (MSS Rom. IX; Loserth’s correction), DR "shall be grafted in": a reference to the grafting of 11:17–24, not a quotation.
  10. 10 The comparison joins birth and triumph: a martyr is named from the place of his triumph, and the church, "born" at Rome out of the synagogue and triumphing there, is named from Rome. B ad nomen (16.2).
  11. 11 2 Macc. 5:19, DR "God did not choose the people for the place’s sake, but the place for the people’s sake"; Wyclif’s non locus gentem sed gens locum sanctificat is the proverbial form, and we translate his Latin. Sedibus prioribus: Jerusalem and Antioch, above.
  12. 12 Derelictum: "sic in codd." and in Hus, De ecclesia (Loserth). We construe "left [open]", not settled by scripture; the word is doubtful (Latin doubt reported).
  13. 13 We keep Christ as subject: he "can be called 'David the Bethlehemite'", as David’s son born in Bethlehem. The Latin could also mean "David can be called the Bethlehemite", but sue ("his" cities) follows Christ throughout.
  14. 14 Appropriate: "properly", of a church named from where it dwells; not the canonists’ appropriacio. Secundum partem: named from one of its parts.
  15. 15 Dotantis: the emperor of the endowment (Constantine, unnamed). B excellenciam (16.25) for extollenciam; B nec estimo ut, "nor do I think that" (16.28), for nec tercio, ut. Capitalem: "as chief", the word of capitalis dominus. Causas topicas: dialectical, probable grounds, hence "a probable reason" next. B de seduccione perfida (16.34).
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 14: tifici (second half of pon-/tifici hyphenated across line (pon- is pos 118))
    • 15: dominus ('Local' is side-note text glued)
    • 15: Christus
    • 15: Romano (leading 1 is margin line-number fragment)
    • 16: Christi
  • OCR scars (not the print’s) corrected in the Latin against the scans and plates: 14.17 pon-i, tifici; 14.27 fidelem»; 15.21 i3o" (folio mark); 15.27 mar2tirum; 16.19 be (margin letters).
  • 15.17 Luke 11:20: MSS Matth. XII, Loserth’s correction. 15.26 Rom. 11:23: MSS Rom. IX, Loserth’s correction.
  • Variants noted but not affecting the English: 15.7 A errone, B erronie.