Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 12, part 6

The doctor’s double dream; privileges defended by patience; the patron not to be excommunicated

Loserth pp. 272.22–274.24

¶1272.22–273.3

272Unde audivi quemdam doctorem negare consequenciam, eo quod dicta ecclesia fuit miraculose consecrata, sed nec templum nec altare in quo occisus est Joab fuit taliter consecratum. Illud autem duplex sompnium nichil movet. Dico autem duplex sompnium, quia non docetur quin illud templum Salomonis fuit per inhabitacionem sanctorum prophetarum, sapientis et sancti regis in suis floribus, cum alio devoto populo, locus a domino per talem populum consecratus; plus enim valet ad sanctificacionem loci populus sanctus inhabitans cuius spiritus perungitur oleo gracie a spiritu sancto, quam valet corporalis linicio parietum secundum cerimonias sacerdotum. Nam illa sanctificacio 273est plus fundabilis ex scriptura, ut patet II° Machabeorum V°, et Exodi XXXII° dicit propheta: Consecrastis manus vestras hodie.

Hence I have heard a certain doctor deny the inferenceconsequencia: inference, on the ground that the said church was miraculously consecrated, whereas neither the temple nor the altar at which Joab was killed was so consecrated.1 But that double dream moves nothing. And I say "double dream" because it is not shown that that temple of Solomon was not, through the indwelling of the holy prophets, and of the wise and holy king in his flowering, with the other devout people, a place consecrated by the Lord through such a people;2 for a holy people dwelling [there], whose spirit is anointed through and through with the oil of grace by the Holy Spirit, avails more for the sanctification of a place than the bodily anointing of the walls according to the ceremonies of the priests. For that sanctification 273is more firmly grounded in scripture, as is clear from 2 Maccabees 5:19, and in Exodus 32:29 the prophet says: "You have consecrated your hands this day."3

¶2273.4–274.4

273Secundum sompnium est de quodam piscatore qui sompniavit se locutum fuisse cum beato Petro dicente se ipsum velle dictam basilicam manibus propriis consecrare. Unde vidit consequenter in nocte vehemens lumen in basilica illa splendescere cum assistencia aliorum signorum consecracionem illam testancium. Sed da utrumque sompnium, et videamus quid obest loco sancto extraccionem legitimam ac meritoriam, preceptam a rege ibi perficere specialiter tantum opus misericordie quod vergeret ad basilice purgamentum. Unde consuluissem dicto abbati et eius conventui quod equanimiter tollerassent illatam iniuriam sanctificando se ipsos et celebrando devocius pro rege et suis progenitoribus. In illa autem paciencia facilius superassent quam insurgendo frontose per excommunicacionem in privatam regis familiam. Sicut enim privilegium ecclesie quesitum est per pacienciam Christi et suorum membrorum, sic est conformiter defendendum. Unde Christus dedit privilegia facillima ad querendum pro quibus docuit non esse corporaliter contendendum, sed in eorum defensionem esse humiliter paciendum, ut docetur XXIIIª, q. I, in principio. Privilegia autem humana sunt condicionis opposite, cum in sua impetracione sunt sumptuosa, in sua defensione sunt laboriosa, et in sua retribucione sunt dampnosa, sicut est de superbia et suis singulis filiabus. Quis, inquam, contenderet circa privilegium nolendi possidere aurum vel argentum, et sic de aliis privilegiis Christi superius memoratis? Ipsa enim donantur per apercionem oris 274anime et continuantur per pacienciam persecucionis atque iniurie et demum augmentantur usque ad summum gradum libertatis in requie.

The second dream is about a certain fisherman who dreamed that he had spoken with blessed Peter, who said that he himself wished to consecrate the said basilica with his own hands. Hence he then saw in the night a powerful light shining in that basilica, with the attendance of other signs witnessing to that consecration.4 But grant both dreams, and let us see what harm it does a holy place to carry out there a lawful and meritorious extraction, commanded by the king, especially so great a work of mercy, which would tend to the cleansing of the basilica.5 Hence I would have counselled the said abbot and his convent to bear with equanimity the injury inflicted, sanctifying themselves and celebrating more devoutly for the king and his forebears. And in that patience they would have prevailed more easily than by rising up brazenly, with excommunication, against the king’s private householdfamilia: household.6 For as the privilegeprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging of the churchecclesia: church was acquired through the patience of Christ and of his membersmembrum: member, so is it to be defended in conformity [with that]. Hence Christ gave privileges most easy to acquire, for which he taught that one must not contend bodily, but in their defence must suffer humbly, as is taught in C.23 q.1, at the beginning.7 But human privileges are of the opposite condition, since in their obtainingimpetrare: obtain (by request) they are costly, in their defence laborious, and in their return ruinous, as is the case with pride and each of its daughters. Who, I say, would contend over the privilege of not wishing to possess gold or silver, and so with the other privileges of Christ recalled above? For they are given through the opening of the mouth 274of the soul, and continued through patience under persecution and injury, and finally increased up to the highest degree of liberty in rest.8

¶3274.5–274.24

274Stulticia ergo est fastidiando certa privilegia secularia ista contempnere. Et ista doctrina docetur Baruch 1°, 11 ex consilio Jeremie et captivitatis sapiencia sub hiis verbis: Orate pro vita Nabugodonosor, regis Babilonis, et pro vita Baltazar, filii eius, ut sint dies eorum sicut dies celi super terram. Si ergo tempore veteris testamenti, quando nondum perfecte docta est scola paciencie per Christum, non excommunicaret populus Dei regem infidelem qui destruxit templum, civitatem et gentem, et insuper ecclesiam eorum spoliavit cunctis suis insigniis et ministros ecclesie captivavit, sed e contrario benedixit, quanto magis tempore paciencie legis evangelice non excommunicaret vicarius Christi patronum suum vel eius familiam propter eius legitimum factum ad regni ac ecclesie fulcimentum vel propter opus unius persone nepharium, preter voluntatem regis vel sui consilii perpetratum, specialiter cum Christus Luce IX° docuit non sic maledicere eciam infideli. Erubescerent, inquam, interim recipere corporales elemosinas et defensionem corporis et bonorum a peculiari patrono cui taliter maledicunt.

It is folly, then, out of fastidiousness to despise these sure secular privileges.9 And this doctrinedoctrina: doctrine is taught in Baruch 1:11, from the counsel of Jeremiah and the wisdom of the captivity, in these words: "And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon earth as the days of heaven."10 If, then, in the time of the old testament, when the school of patience had not yet been perfectly taught by Christ, the people of God would not excommunicate an unbelievinginfidelis: unbeliever; with a dative, faithless (to) king who destroyed the temple, the city and the nation, and moreover despoiled their church of all its ornaments and led the ministers of the church captive, but on the contrary blessed [him], how much more, in the time of patience of the gospel lawlex dei / lex Christi / lex evangelica: God's law / the law of Christ / the gospel law, should a vicar of Christ not excommunicate his patronpatronus: patron or his household, for his lawful deed for the support of the kingdomregnum: kingdom and of the church, or for the wicked deed of one person, perpetrated beyond the will of the king or of his council; especially since Christ in Luke 9:55 taught not so to curse even an unbeliever.11 They should blush, I say, meanwhile to receive bodily almselemosina: alms and the defence of body and goods from a particular patron whom they curse in this way.12

Notes

  1. 1 A in the margin Responsio quedam (272.22); side-note 272.22. Consequenciam: the inference a maiori just drawn from Joab (272.15–21, 12-e). Dicta ecclesia: the abbey church of Westminster, whose miraculous consecration is the second dream (273.4–9).
  2. 2 Duplex sompnium: the doctor’s reply rests on two dreams: the first, that the temple was not consecrated (exposed here); the second, the fisherman’s (273.4). Non docetur quin … fuit: it is not shown that it was not. In suis floribus: in his flowering, Solomon in his prime.
  3. 3 Perungitur: anointed throughout. Linicio parietum: the anointing of the walls in the rite of dedication. 2 Maccabees 5:19: "But God did not choose the people for the place’s sake, but the place for the people’s sake" (DR). The manuscripts give Exod. XXII; Loserth prints XXXII (273.2). Exodus 32:29 (DR), where the Vulgate continues Domino, "to the Lord"; propheta: Moses.
  4. 4 The fisherman’s dream: the Westminster legend that St Peter himself consecrated the abbey church, seen by a fisherman (Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita S. Edwardi, PL 195:756B, where it is a waking apparition to a Thames fisherman on the eve of the dedication).
  5. 5 Side-note 273.10. Da utrumque sompnium: grant both dreams for the sake of argument. Extraccionem … preceptam a rege: the removal of the fugitives from sanctuary at the king’s order in 1378 (12-a). Opus misericordie: Wyclif counts the extraction a work of mercy.
  6. 6 A in the margin Consilium (273.14); B reads consiluissem (273.14); side-note 273.17. Abbati et eius conventui: the abbot and monks of Westminster. Per excommunicacionem in privatam regis familiam: the excommunication of members of the king’s household for the violation (pronounced at the abbey’s instance by the archbishop and four suffragans and published by the bishop of London; Loserth, Introduction, p. x). Frontose: brazenly.
  7. 7 A in the margin Defensio privilegiorum ecclesie (273.23). Gratian, Decretum II, C.23 q.1 c.1 (Loserth: Decr. sec. pars, causa XXIII, q. I, cap. I. Nisi bella; the modern form is ours); Gratian inscribes it Gregorius, but Friedberg identifies it as Origen, Hom. in Iosue 16.1. In principio: at the head of the question.
  8. 8 Impetracione: obtaining by request (the glossary, ). Retribucione: what they bring back to their holders. Superbia et suis singulis filiabus: pride and the vices that are its daughters. Privilegiis Christi superius memoratis: the privileges of Christ set out earlier in cap. 12. B reads per apcionem (273.33). Apercionem oris anime: the opening of the soul’s mouth, to receive them.
  9. 9 Certa privilegia secularia ista: taken as the sure secular privileges the monks hold of the king, his alms and protection (274.21–24); fastidiando: out of fastidiousness, disdaining them. They could be read instead as secular privileges set against Christ’s, but the sentence then lacks the privileges despised.
  10. 10 A and A₁ lack doctrina (274.5). Baruch 1:11 (DR). Loserth notes the place as corrupt in the manuscripts and suggests captivitatis paciencia, "the patience of the captivity" (274.6); the print’s sapiencia is translated. Ex consilio Jeremie: Baruch’s book follows Jeremiah’s and sends its letter from the captivity.
  11. 11 Vicarius Christi: here the abbot, as a priest and so Christ’s vicar; the term is not reserved to the pope. Patronum suum: the king, as patron of Westminster. Eius legitimum factum: the extraction the king commanded; opus unius persone nepharium: the killing, done by one man without the king’s will. Luke 9:54–55: Christ rebukes the disciples who would call down fire on the Samaritans.
  12. 12 Side-note 274.17. Erubescerent: they, the monks of Westminster, should blush. Peculiari patrono: their own particular patron.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 273: II°
    • 273: manus
    • 273: qui (R is the alinea letter)
    • 273: perficere [NW]
    • 273: ∅ (print has in-/surgendo; main already holds insurgendo whole at pos 118)
    • 273: Christus
    • 273: XXIIIª
    • 274: 1 (old-style arabic 1, x-height (Baruch I°, 1); the 5 after it is the line number)
    • 274: scola (167ᶜ folio mark glued)
    • 273: V°, [-VERSE]