Wyclif’s Latin works

De ecclesia, chapter 5, part 1

The universal church: equivocations, and why Christ alone is its head

Loserth pp. 92.7–96.19

¶192.7–92.18

92Sed adhuc obicitur contra dicta per hoc quod communitas intelligit per Romanam ecclesiam papam et cardinales quibus est necessarium omnibus aliis obedire. Et sic intelligit maior pars ecclesie in tantum quod dominus Ardmacanus scribit Innocencio pape librum De Pauperie Christi tamquam capiti universalis ecclesie. Et talem stilum a maioribus et minoribus recipiunt pape communiter, ubi utrinque est verisimile quod nec papa nec suus fidelis subditus audiret talem blasfemiam, si stilus ille foret scripture sacre contrarius. Quare ergo non potest universalis ecclesia vocari quecunque universitas fidelium viatorum?

But it is still objected, by appeal toobicitur per: it is objected, by appeal to this, against what has been said: that the community understands by the Roman churchecclesia: church the popepapa: pope and cardinals, whom all others must of necessity obey. And so the greater part of the church understands [it], so far that the lord Armachanus writes to Pope Innocent the book On the Poverty of Christ as to the headcaput: head of the universal church. And popes commonly receive such a style from greater and lesser [men], where on both sides it is likely that neither the pope nor his faithful subject would hear such blasphemy, if that style were contrary to sacred scripture.1 Why, then, cannot any whole body whatever of faithful wayfarersviator: wayfarer be called the universal church?

¶292.19–94.9

92Hic dicitur (ut supra) quod multi laborant in equivocis, loquendo de ecclesia, unde communiter universitas predestinatorum viancium vocatur universalis ecclesia tam in legibus quam in doctoribus. Et racio potest esse in hoc quod ipsi habent equivoce racionem inperfeccionis in obscuritate fidei qua filii superioris ecclesie sunt purgati. Et quod plus est: Aliqui descendunt 93particularius ad gradus universalitatum, et hii vocant ecclesiam Latinorum universalem ecclesiam, hii ecclesiam Grecorum vel Hebreorum, et sic de aliis linguis aut gentibus de quarum universitate solum considerant. Et hoc contingit vel ex radice superbie vel ignorancie. Nam quidam ex fastu aspirant quod sint magnarum universitatum capita. Quod non laudo, et hinc credo quod scole que olim vocate sunt studia generalia propter doctrinam septem arcium, nunc dicuntur universitates, cum sint quasi punctus in comparacione ad primam universitatem creatam. Quandoque autem ex ignorancia quidam vocant datam particularem congregacionem universalem ecclesiam, non putantes esse ecclesiam ampliorem, ut III Reg. XIX, 18, alloquitur Helyas Deum, quoniam ipse solus relictus est fidelis in populo, et tamen audivit divinum responsum quod Deus reliquit sibi septem millia qui non curvaverunt genua ante Baal (ut meminit apostolus). Sic quidam maniaci putant quod non sit fidelis in terris nisi sit eis seculariter subiectus, cum tamen stat quod sint multe gentes ignote linguis priores illis in ecclesia sancta Dei. Quando ergo doctores sic loquuntur ex circumstanciis, potest perpendi equivocacionis sue deteccio, ut vocando episcopum Romanum caput universalis ecclesie intelligitur quod sit caput tante Latine ecclesie quantam regit. Quod reputative vel suppositive potest dici de quocunque Romano pontifice cuius opera papalia ad hoc movent. Sed ne laboraverim in istis equivocis, limitavi ad universalem ecclesiam, distinctam contra particularem, que quidem universalis est unica, habens omnes alias eius partes. Nam (ut ostendi superius, cap. II) sunt multe 94tales particulares ecclesie: ideo decreta ecclesie et sancti doctores non debent vocare illam particularem et pauperem ecclesiam sic artatam in angulo ecclesiam sanctam catholicam. Verumptamen si papa ut olim regat illam secundum legem Christi principaliter et capitaliter tam in moribus quam in dubiis decidendis, tunc cum suo collegio potest dici virtualiter universalis ecclesia in effectu. Sed hec est solum per accidens dependens ab opere et non a nudo nomine.

To this the answer is (as above) that many labour in equivocations in speaking of the church; hence the whole body of the predestinatepredestinatus, -i: the predestinate (sg. "a predestinate [person]") on the roadviantes: those on the road is commonly called the universal church, both in the laws and in the doctors. And the reason can lie in this, that they have, equivocally, the character of imperfection in the obscurity of faith, from which the sons of the higher church have been purged.2 And what is more, some descend 93more particularly to grades of universality, and these call the church of the Latins the universal church, those the church of the Greeks or of the Hebrews, and so of other tongues or nations, of whose whole body alone they take account. And this happens from the root either of pride or of ignorance. For some out of haughtiness aspire to be heads of great universities. This I do not praise; and hence I believe that the schools which were once called general studies, on account of the doctrinedoctrina: doctrine of the seven arts, are now called universities, although they are as a point in comparison with the first created universe.3 And sometimes out of ignorance some call a given particular congregation the universal church, not thinking that there is a wider church; as in 1 Kings 19:18 Elias addresses God [saying] that he alone was left faithful among the people, and yet he heard the divine answer that God had left himself seven thousand who had not bowed their knees before Baal (as the apostle recalls). So some madmen think that there is no faithful [man] on earth unless he is subject to them in secular fashion, although it may well be that there are many nations, unknown in tongue, before them in the holy church of God.4 When, therefore, the doctors speak thus, the detection of their equivocation can be weighed from the circumstances; as, in calling the Roman bishop head of the universal church, it is understood that he is head of as much of the Latin church as he rules. Which can be said by reckoning or by supposition of any Roman pontiff whatever whose papal works move [us] to this. But, lest I labour in these equivocations, I have assignedlimitare; limites: to assign (an office); limits [the name] to the universal church, distinguished against the particular, which universal [church] indeed is single, having all the others as its parts.5 For (as I showed above, chapter 2) there are many 94such particular churches; therefore the decrees of the church and the holy doctors ought not to call that particular and poor church, so confined in a corner, the holy catholic church. Nevertheless, if the pope, as once, rules it according to the law of Christ, principally and as headcapitaliter: as head (as chief lord), both in morals and in deciding doubts, then with his college he can be called virtually the universal church in effect. But this is only by accident, depending on the work and not on the bare name.6

¶394.10–94.15

94Unde (ut dixi superius) solus Christus potest esse caput ecclesie sancte catholice. Ipsa enim (ut dicit Augustinus in epistola ad Dardanum) habet solummodo unum caput; nec movet quod respublica habet imperatorem et papam capita unum subordinatum alteri (ut exemplificat dominus Ardmacanus).

Hence (as I said above) Christ alone can be head of the holy catholic church. For it (as Augustine says in the letter to Dardanus) has only one head; nor does it move [me] that the commonwealth has an emperor and a pope as heads, one subordinated to the other (as the lord Armachanus exemplifies).7

¶494.16–95.1

94Nam caput tocius ecclesie oportet simul in unum exemplare tam spirituale quam seculare regnum, et cum hoc regnum ierarchie celestis ad quod officium nulla alia creatura potest attingere. Unde bene est pape, si habet a Christo virtutem ad regendum se ipsum et pauculas oves in spiritualibus, licet non blasphemet quod sit caput universalis ecclesie paris potestatis cum Christo. Nec debet eius vicarius sentire heretice quod regat parcialem ecclesiam viantem tam seculariter quam spiritualiter, dum Christus solum spiritualiter rexit utramque ecclesiam. Ideo sufficit eius vicario quod tam in temporalibus quam in spiritualibus regat spiritualiter eius iuvenculam. Nam vivendo seculariter Christus non potuit exemplare utrumque officium. Quomodo ergo eius vicarius? 95Regnum ergo imperatoris est independens a

For the head of the whole church must at once, in one, be the pattern of the spiritual as well as of the secular kingdomregnum: kingdom, and with this of the kingdom of the heavenly hierarchy; to which office no other creature can attain. Hence it is well with the pope if he has from Christ the power to rule himself and a very few sheep in spiritual things, even though he does not blaspheme [by saying] that he is head of the universal church, of equal power with Christ. Nor ought his vicar to think heretically that he rules the partial church on the road both secularly and spiritually, while Christ ruled both churches only spiritually. Therefore it suffices for his vicar that he rule his young girl spiritually, in temporal as well as in spiritual things. For Christ could not, by living in secular fashion, have been the pattern of both offices. How then [could] his vicar?8 95The kingdom of the emperor, therefore, is independent

¶595.2–95.29

95regimine pape et econtra. Utrumque tamen per accidens iuvat reliquum, licet prepositura spiritualis sit dignior. Regimen autem Christi respicit essenciali causacione regimen utriusque sui vicarii. Unde ne vicarii Christi inducantur in blasphemiam, usurpando ex verbis floridis honorem Deo proprium, necesse est doctores cavere ab adulacionibus et instar beati Gregorii vinum et oleum alternare. Nam secundum Commentatorem in prologo tercii Phisicorum sicut quidam assuescunt sic venenum comedere quod totum cibarium vertatur in substanciam venenosam: sic quidam sic assuescunt opinionibus falsis quod instruccioni veritatis redduntur inhabiles. Correspondenter evenit de honoribus (ut patet inferius cap...) Unde hodie non valet vocare prepositum nisi reverendissimum, sanctissimum et beatissimum, quia in quolibet inferiori gradu est dulia, sed in superlativo gradu est latria qua non est honor amplior expectandus. Correspondenter ad ista non quietatur prepositus vocari caput ecclesie militantis, sed exigit vocari caput universalis ecclesie et ecclesie tocius catholice. Utrobique tamen possunt predicta sane concipi, ut quod Deus sit in tali preposito tamquam in imagine adorandus vel secundo quod inter signandos prepositos ille sit reverendissimus, sanctissimus et tempore suo beatissimus, dum tamen nomen et meritorium ministerium correspondent; quod debet supponi in preposito reputative, non diffinitive asseri, dum tamen nec ocium nec commissum notorie contradicant.

of the rule of the pope, and conversely. Yet each by accident helps the other, although the spiritual office of superior is the worthier. But the rule of Christ regards, by essential causation, the rule of each of his two vicars.9 Hence, lest the vicars of Christ be led into blasphemy, usurping on the strength of flowery words the honour proper to God, the doctors must beware of flatteries and, after the pattern of blessed Gregory, alternate wine and oil. For according to the Commentator, in the prologue of the third [book] of the Physics, just as some grow so used to eating poison that all their food is turned into a poisonous substance, so some grow so used to false opinionsopinio: opinion that they are rendered unqualifiedinhabilis: unqualified (to hold office) for instruction in the truth.10 Correspondingly it happens with honours (as is clear below, chapter …). Hence today it does not do to call a superiorprepositi: superiors anything but most reverend, most holy and most blessed, since in any lower degree there is dulia, but in the superlative degree there is latria, than which no ampler honour is to be looked for. Correspondingly to these things, the superior is not content to be called head of the church militantecclesia militans / triumphans / dormiens: the church militant / triumphant / sleeping, but demands to be called head of the universal church and of the whole catholic church. In both cases, nevertheless, the aforesaid can be soundly conceived: as, that God is to be adored in such a superior as in an image; or, secondly, that among the superiors to be designated he is the most reverend, most holy and, in his time, most blessed, provided however that the name and the meritorious ministry correspond; which ought to be supposed in the superior by reckoning, not asserted definitively, provided however that neither idleness nor [a deed] committed notoriously contradict [it].11

¶696.1–96.19

96Et sic Potest intelligi papam esse caput universalis ecclesie vel in quantum ministratorie propinquius gerit ministerium Christi quem induit, vel secundo equivocando in universali, universaliori et universalissimo intelligatur per universalem ecclesiam tota ecclesia militans quam hic regit; que debet supponi extencior quam alia militans cui vicarius eius preest. Melius tamen foret inniti modo loquendi scripture et instar apostolorum vehemenciori ac humiliori ministerio totalis ecclesie propter blasphemam ydolatriam precavendam. Nam dum papa non supereminet quoad Deum, sed appreciatur honorem secularem plus opere servili ecclesie, tunc facit populum non adorare eum, sed statum communem in alio ad sui dedecus et ypocrite detrimentum. Et ita ecclesia Romana potest sumi tripliciter: vel pro ecclesia catholica (ut in fine proximi capituli), vel pro papa, vel coniunctim et divisim pro suo collegio. Sed hec duo membra postrema sunt extorta.

And so it can be understood that the pope is head of the universal church: either inasmuch as, by way of ministry, he bears more nearly the ministry of Christ, whom he has put on; or, secondly, by equivocating among universal, more universal and most universal, [so that] by the universal church is understood the whole church militant which he rules here, which ought to be supposed more extensive than another [church] militant over which his vicar presides. Yet it would be better to rely on scripture’s manner of speaking and, after the pattern of the apostles, on a more vehement and humbler ministry of the total church, so as to guard against blasphemous idolatry.12 For when the pope does not stand pre-eminent with respect to God, but prizes secular honour more than the servile work of the church, then he makes the people adore not him but the common state in another, to his own dishonour and the hypocrite’s detriment. And so the Roman church can be takensumitur pro: is taken for in three ways: either for the catholic church (as at the end of the preceding chapter), or for the pope, or, jointly and severally, for his college. But these two last members are forced.13

Notes

  1. 1 Dominus Ardmacanus: Richard FitzRalph, archbishop of Armagh; the book is his De pauperie Salvatoris, which Wyclif calls De pauperie Christi and says was written to Pope Innocent [VI] (Loserth’s foot identifies the work; the dedication to Innocent is not independently checked). Loserth’s foot cites Vienna, ÖNB Cod. Pal. 1430, Libri septem de paupertate Salvatoris, whose fol. 1 note says Ricardus composed it in the Roman curia against the mendicant friars "at the instance of Pope Clement VI". A verissimile (92.15). A₁ auderet (92.16), "would dare [to use]", is easier; but A₁ alone does not outweigh the print, which construes: neither would listen to such blasphemy. Stilus: the style of address.
  2. 2 A margin Ecclesie equivocacio (92.19). Universitas runs through ¶1–2 as "whole body", "university" and "universe": the play is Wyclif’s. Ipsi habent equivoce racionem inperfeccionis: our construal, doubtful: the predestinate on the road are "universal church" only equivocally, since they share the imperfection of faith’s obscurity, from which the church above has been purged. Qua: ablative with purgati.
  3. 3 B ut bene vocant (93.2). De quarum: Loserth’s emendation; the MSS de quorum (93.4). B quod sicut (93.6–7). Studia generalia: the medieval name of a university. Doctrina (the glossary, ): here the teaching of the arts course. Cum: concessive. Prima universitas creata: the created universe.
  4. 4 1 Kings 19:10–18 (Wyclif III Reg., the Vulgate numbering), recalled through Rom. 11:3–4 (Loserth’s foot); the indirect speech follows Rom. 11:4, DR "But what saith the divine answer to him? I have left me seven thousand men that have not bowed their knees to Baal"; Wyclif ante Baal, as the Vulgate. B quod sicut; B ignote lingue (93.21–22). Ignote linguis: we take the ablative of respect (nations whose tongues they do not know); a dative, "unknown to [their] tongues", is possible. Cum tamen stat quod: "although it stands that", the logicians’ "it is consistent that".
  5. 5 Ex circumstanciis: taken with potest perpendi; it may go with loquuntur ("speak thus from the circumstances"). A margin Papa quomodo est caput ecclesie (93.28). Reputative vel suppositive: by reckoning or supposition, not as known (cf. 90.29). Limitavi (93.29): the print has an inkless gap (limi avi), corrected in the Latin. Limitare: to assign (the glossary, ): the name "universal church" is kept for the whole church as against the particular.
  6. 6 Cap. II: chapter 2 of this work. Illam particularem et pauperem ecclesiam: the Roman church in the narrow sense, as against the catholic church. Ut olim: as [popes did] once. Hec: this naming of pope and college "universal church".
  7. 7 Augustine, Ep. 187 to Dardanus §§20, 37, PL 33 (Hujus corporis caput est Christus; unum caput est Christus), in sense (Loserth: Opp. Aug. II, p. 678); cf. 04-e ¶1 (85.25–29). A margin (94.10): Solucio obiectus. Solus Christus est caput ecclesie sancte catholice. B unum scribo animatum alteri (94.14), a garble of unum subordinatum alteri; B dominus Dardinandus (94.15). FitzRalph’s example of the two heads: untraced (not in De pauperie Salvatoris I–IV; Loserth gives no reference). Respublica: the commonwealth of Christendom.
  8. 8 Simul in unum exemplare: to be in one person the pattern of both kingdoms and of the heavenly hierarchy; only Christ is. Licet non blasphemet: concessive; the alternative, "provided he does not blaspheme", gives the same point. A margin (94.24): Solucio obiectus. Papa debet spiritualiter regere utramque partem ecclesie et non seculariter, which takes utramque ecclesiam as both parts of the church. Eius vicarius: Christ’s vicar, the pope. Iuvencula: a girl, a young woman (also a heifer); here Christ’s young bride, the church on the road. A margin Conclusio (94.28).
  9. 9 B lacks tamen (95.2); B Regnum autem for Regimen autem (95.4). Regimine pape: ablative after independens. Prepositura: the office of a superior (the glossary, prepositi). Utriusque sui vicarii: the king and the priest, vicar of the Godhead and vicar of Christ’s humanity (the glossary, ).
  10. 10 A margin Contra adulatores ad papam (95.7), Commentator (95.10). Gregory’s wine and oil (Luke 10:34), severity and gentleness in the ruler of souls: Regula pastoralis II.6 (PL 77: vinum atque oleum … Miscenda ergo est lenitas cum severitate). "The Commentator" is Averroes (Loserth’s foot); the passage in his commentary on Physics III (the prologue, with the poison simile) is not independently checked. B lacks Nam — assuescunt (95.10). Inhabiles: "unqualified" (the glossary, ), here for receiving instruction.
  11. 11 Cap. …: Loserth, Num. capituli deest (95.15). B, a later hand, in the margin (95.18): Reverendissime sanctissime cum vocatur, ydolatratur, "when he is called most reverend, most holy, he is idolised". Dulia / latria: the honour due to creatures / the worship due to God alone; the superlative claims latria. A margin Sensus duplex (95.23), Nota de titulis pape quomodo debent intelligi (95.25). Inter signandos prepositos: our construal of the gerundive, "among the superiors to be designated [by such titles]". Ocium … commissum: what is left undone and what is done.
  12. 12 Potest (96.1) is printed with a capital. Quam hic regit: hic may be "here" or "this [man]", the pope. If the pope rules, eius vicarius is the pope’s deputy; if Christ rules (hic, "here"), eius vicarius is the pope. Loserth’s side-note (96.1) takes the pope as ruler. AB blasphemiam (96.10), "to guard against blasphemy [and] idolatry"; we translate the print blasphemam.
  13. 13 Eum: the pope, or God (quoad Deum); statum communem in alio: the common state of man in another man: the people adore a man for his rank. The construal is doubtful. A margin Equivocacio ecclesie Romane ad tria (96.16). Proximi capituli: chapter 4 (04-e ¶2). Membra: the members of the division; extorta, wrested, forced.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 92: CAP. V.
    • 93: 18 (15 is the line number)
    • 93: avi (zoomed on leaf: 'limi avi' with an inkless gap before avi (a sort did not print; limi[t]avi by sense) - ink has avi)
    • 94: Christus
    • 94: unum
    • 94: caput
    • 95: Christi
    • 95: Commentatorem
    • 96: Et
    • 96: sic
  • OCR scars corrected in the Latin; plates for 96.27, 100.10), and doubts: 92.29–93.1 desceni4iadunt; 93.29 limi avi; 94.12 hdbet; 95.24 velsecundo; 95.15 cap... (Loserth: number wanting).