site: migne

title: Commentaria in Cantica canticorum

author: Robert of Tombelaine

languages: en la

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 150, coll. 1361B–1370C

source_text:
## EPISTOLA SEU PRAEFATIO AUCTORIS AD ANSFRIDUM ABBATEM.

[1361B]

Servo Dei incluso dilectissimo suo, ANSFRIDO, quondam filio et amico, modo, divina favente cui voluerit gratia, Patri et domino, frater ROBERTUS, hominum minimus, vitam, gaudium et gloriam, quae vere gloria est.

Multis jam nuntiis inertiam meam fervor tuus in Dominum sollicitat, ut tibi librum, quem ante hos [1362B] quamplurimos dies super Cantica canticorum scripsi, mittam. Vix igitur nunc mitto, quem a nomine videri vellem, si omnibus abscondere possem. Quem enim rudis et impolitus artifex fecerit annulum, ab aliis videri formidat; suo minime credit, et de alterius judicio non confidit: dum id, quod sibi soli ante examen perfecte non placet, in examine displicere pluribus timet. Sic ostendentis et sic paventis, accipe opusculum amici tui. Judica quid placuerit, [1363A] et rescribe quod judicaveris. Videor forsitan pluribus, quod et tibi videri timeo, hoc opus praesumptione coepisse, praesumptione perfecisse: si tamen perfectum est dicendum, quod a doctioribus melioribusque viris est adhuc examinandum, et utique corrigendum. Mihi quippe, fateor, cum magna indignatione fieri videtur, ut ego tam rudis studio, tam stolidus ingenio, tam sordidus peccato: in tam antiquum, tam doctum, tam nitidum opus proruperim: ut Salomonis verba exponerem, qui de Salomone nihil habeo, nisi forsitan quod de illo abominabile lego: scilicet, cum senex factus fuerit, nunc sapiens esse destiterit. Mihi tamen amico tuo crede, quod hunc quem tibi mitto libellum rogatus coepi, multoties admonitus perfeci. Rogavit me dominus [1363B] Anastasius, dilectissimus frater et dominus meus, admonuerunt vero cum illo et alii multi, non tantum pensantes mihi innatam stultitiam; quantum amantes tam secretorum verborum qualemcunque sibi clarere peritiam. Quamvis nonnulli alii, et maxime dominus Beda in hoc eodem laboraverint, secreta patefecerint, posterisque lectionem utilissimam reliquerint. Tu ergo, serve Dei, humiliter lege quae inveneris; et si placuerint, transcribe quae legeris.

Rogo vero ut in duo principia hoc opus dividas, quia dictamen illud dum a seipso variatur, turpe est si sub uno principio universum concludatur. Dum enim ego in cella solitaria positus Cantica canticorum exponerem, contigit ut me quidam amici [1363C] mei supervenientes exponentem invenirent: cumque ea quae jam exposueram per partes legerent, laudaverunt quidem opus; sed quod canonicorum librorum exempla non inserueram, quibus quae dicerem probarentur, hoc unius inesse dixerunt. Ex illo mox tempore quae memoriae occurrerunt, pro re quam agebam, exempla apposui, quamvis non necessaria mihi esse videbantur. Maxime enim compunctioni in expositione intendens, non probanda, sed interius inserta dixeram; unde postea exempla colligens dum brevitati studeo, strictius exposita minus suavia legenti videntur. Dictaminis itaque varietas, quae exemplorum insertione fit, ibi notatur, ubi dicitur: *Vadam ad montem myrrhae et ad collem [1363D] thuris [n: (Cant. IV, 6)]*. Hoc dicto et exposito, finiatur liber primus, incipiatque secundus, sic oriens: *Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te [n: (Cant. IV, 7)]*. Pergamenum autem, si tibi defuerit, mittam quantum sufficiet.

Lege igitur, frater amantissime, sapientissimi verba Salomonis Cantica canticorum, quae ob reverentiam sacratissimi sensus, ob excellentiam nuptialis amoris, ob Sponsi et Sponsae suavissimam conglutinationem, non solum Cantica, sed Cantica canticorum vocantur. In horum expositione si quid tibi displicuerit, ora pro ignorantia mea; si quid tibi placuerit, ora pro peccatis meis, qui bene loquor et male operor. Quod si librum istum tibi scribere libuerit, non ita in marginibus sicut hic habetur, [1364A] scribas, sed continuum in paginis, sicut aliae expositiones scribi solent. Haec vero epistola, volo ut ponatur in capite.

## PROLOGUS AUCTORIS.

Tribus nominibus vocatus est Salomon: Salomon, id est *pacificus;* Edida, id est *dilectus;* Ecclesiastes, quod est Coelet, id est *concionator,* quod Ecclesias congreget. Is juxta numerum vocabulorum suorum tria volumina edidit, Proverbia, id est Maslot, Ecclesiastem, Cantica canticorum. In Proverbiis parvulam docens, et quasi de officiis praesentibus erudiens. In Ecclesiaste, naturae aetatis virum instituens: ne quidquam in mundi rebus putet esse perpetuum, sed caduca et brevia omnia quae cernimus. Ad extremum, jam consummatum virum, et calcato saeculo [1364B] praeparatum, in Cantico canticorum Sponsi jungit amplexibus: quia nisi prius relinquamus vitia, et pompis saeculi renuntiemus, non possumus dicere: *Osculetur me osculo oris sui.* Hoc ordine et philosophi sectatores erudiunt, ut primum ethicam doceant, deinde physicam: et quem in his profecisse perspexerint, per theoriam ad theologiam usque perducant. Hoc notandum est. Titulus enim in Proverbiis adnotatur: *Proverbia Salomonis, filii David, regis Israel.* In Ecclesiaste vero: *Verba Ecclesiastis, filii David, regis Hierusalem.* In Cantica canticorum, nec filius David, nec rex Israel, sive Hierusalem praescribitur, quia ad incipientes et paterna dignitas et regni proprium nomen sufficit: et aequalis magister est, et nescit se esse regem. Pacificus Dei [1364C] Patris et Ecclesiastes noster Christus est, qui medio pariete destructo et inimicitias in carne evacuans, *fecit utraque unum [n: (Ephes. II, 14)]*; *Pacem meam do vobis [n: (Joan. XIV, 27)]*. De quo Pater ad discipulos: *Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi complacui; ipsum audite [n: (Matth. III, 17)]*, quia est caput Ecclesiae.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

[n: (CAP. I. Osculum oris, inspiratio Sponsi. )]

## 1.

Vers 1. *Osculetur me osculo oris sui.* Os sponsi, inspiratio Christi. Osculum oris, dulcis amor inspirationis. Dicit ergo sponsa desiderio aestuans, et in amplexum sponsi sui inardescens: *Osculetur me osculo oris sui.* Ac si diceret: Ille quem super omnia, [1364D] imo solum diligo, veniat, qui dulcedine suae inspirationis me tangat, quia cum ejus osculum sentio, subita mutatione me derelinquo, et in ejus similitudinem illico liquefacta transformor. Fastidit quippe sancta mens omnia quae per corpus sentit, et in illa spiritalia tota transmutari concupiscit, et dum ista obstrepunt, in illa fugit, seque abscondere ne haec sentiat, appetit. Ideoque osculum sponsi praeerit, quia si ille gratissimi amoris vinculo hanc non trahit, haec vi suae molestissimae gravedinis detenta, quomodo se ad illum conferat, omnino non invenit. Sed pius sponsus anxietatem ejus sentiens, amorem diligens, votum exaudiens, osculum porrigit, et ne desiderio lassescat, gustu suae suavitatis lenit, et dum suam praesentiam exhibet, eam ad [1365A] majus dilectionis osculum accendit. Unde haec illum sentiens, ad eum se convertit; et quem praesentem habet, mox gaudens, voce mutata, alloquitur et dicit:

[n: ( Ubera sponsi, dilectio Dei et proximi. )]

## 2.

*Quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino, fragrantia unguentis optimis.* Ubera sponsi, dilectio Dei et proximi. Ex his uberibus sponsam suam lacte pietatis nutrit et inter tentationum turbines, his eam fovet, et, ut persistat, reficit. Quid autem per vinum, nisi cura temporalis exprimitur? A qua mens saecularis cujuslibet inebriatur, ut ad invisibilia cognoscenda, aut ex toto, aut pene insensibilis reddatur. Sed ubera sponsi vino meliora existunt, quia illud necat, haec nutriunt; illud oculos mentis turbat, haec [1365B] acuunt; illud apostatare facit sapientes [n: (Eccli. XIX, 2)], haec ipsos idiotas utique sapientissimos faciunt, quae quot vicibus sponsa cum dilectionis ubertate sugit, tot sententias sapientiae sibi in ventrem memoriae trahit. Charitas enim cor pacificat, mentem in tentationibus roborat, et ut sedes sapientiae sit anima justi, quietem tribuit, et locum praeparat. Haec itaque ubera unguentis optimis fragrant, quia odorem suavitatis per sapientiae verba et sanctitatis exempla secum portant. Quicunque enim sancta charitate Dei se reficit, is spiritualium donorum et odorem et suavitatem sentit. Quorum bonorum ubertate proximos quosque ad interiora gustanda secum trahit, et ut in amorem divinum convalescant, istis uberibus nutrit.

[1365C] [n: ( Oleum effusum Christi nomen est. )]

## 3.

Vers. 2. *Oleum effusum, nomen tuum.* Nomen sponsi, Christus est. Sed nomen sponsi quasi oleum effunditur, quia quicunque nomine Christiano in veritate censentur, charitate sancta affluunt, qua molliuntur, et ut flammas exemplorum emittant, eadem charitate perpetuo suffunduntur. Hac charitate in amorem ipsius Christi vehementius accenduntur, et ab ipso accipiunt, quo ei amplius inhaereant, quo perfunduntur. Hinc est quod sequitur:

[n: ( Adolescentulae, sanctae animae. )]

## 4.

*Ideo adolescentulae dilexerunt te.* Quid enim per adolescentulas, nisi sanctae animae designantur, quae baptismatis aqua per Spiritum sanctum regenerantur, [1365D] et in novam vitam per Novum Testamentum transformantur? Quae propter olei infusionem Christum diligunt, quia ad gratiam vocatae, in eo suavitatem vitae perpetuae inveniunt, pro cujus suavitatis dilectione, omnes mundi fastus et divitias respuunt. Sunt enim nonnulli qui ita Deum diligunt ut se ipsos contemnant, in interiora se rapiunt ut Deum inveniant. Et quia Deus in superficie non jacet, meditationibus laborant, subtilissime cogitationes suas examinant, lectionibus vacant; et quo modo Deus inveniatur, omnibus modis perquirere non cessant. Hi profecto odorem unguentorum sentiunt et olei infusione se inungunt, quia dum omnem putredinem vitiorum abjiciunt, flores sibi inveniunt, quorum compositione suaveolentia unguenta faciente [1366A] Deo conficiunt. Qui ejusmodi est, desiderio aestuat, et quasi nihil habeat, semper majora exoptat. Et quia sibi virtus non suppetit, in Deum inhians, trahi se postulat dicens:

[n: ( Odor unguentorum, gratia divina, quam sequimur. )]

## 5.

Vers. 3. *Trahe me post te, curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum.* Non currit, qui non trahitur, quia quem gratia divina non adjuvat, molestia suae corruptionis gravatur. Gratia quippe divina nos praevenit, et internorum dulcedinem nobis ostendens, de exterioribus nos compungit, moxque in illa transiens animus prae eorum dilectione temporalia vilipendit. Iste ergo qui trahitur, currit, quia vinculum amoris libenter sequens, gratiae roboratus amore, sine gravedine obstacula omnia [1366B] transit. Nec mirum, cum unguentorum odorem sequatur, quia cum spiritalium donorum suavitas sentitur, quid est in hac temporalitate, cujus desiderio omnia sancta sponsa Christi, ne in illa properet, teneatur? Ibi quippe lenitate unguentorum gaudet, et dum naribus discretionis spirat, charitas sibi suaviter olet. Hinc est quod a singulari numero ad pluralem transit, quia in dilectione Dei, etiam praeceptum, quod de proximi dilectione nos admonet, invenit; quo instructa, eructat nobis foras, quod gustavit suaviter intus, dicens:

[n: ( Cellaria, sanctae contemplationis mysteria. )]

## 6.

*Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua.* Quid per hujus sponsi, qui rex est, cellaria intelligimus, nisi sanctae Scripturae arcana, quae rimamur, nisi sanctae [1366C] contemplationis mysteria, quorum deliciis, si reficimur, mox convalescimus? In illa procul dubio, quisquis introducitur, omnia temporalia mox contemnit, quia aeternis ditatur. Ideo sequitur:

[n: ( Exsultatio, in uberibus Ecclesiae. )]

## 7.

*Exsultabimus et laetabimur in te, memores uberum tuorum super vinum.* Sancta anima sponsa Christi in sponsi sui deliciis exsultat, dum corporalia respuit, et in spiritalibus se occultat. Eumdemque sponsum delicias suas facit, in cujus respectu mundana omnia non curat. Sed haec in memoria uberum agit, quia, dum recolit quanta charitate Christus eam dilexerit, qui sanguine suo eam moriens in cruce redemit, et quotidie eam in sinu Ecclesiae [1366D] matris ejusdem, sanguinis lacte nutrit, procul dubio magis magisque ejus dilectionem intendit. Quod lac bene super vinum dulce esse dicitur, quia per sanguinem Christi misericorditer educamur, qui per legis litteram severe prius constringebamur. Per quam dilectionem adimpletur quod dicitur:

[n: ( Recti, Christiani. )]

## 8.

*Recti diligunt te.* Soli utique recti Christum diligunt, quia quicunque adhuc per distorta vitiorum, ex desiderio currunt, dum in rectitudinis lineam semper offendunt, ipsum justitiae auctorem Christum omnino diligere non possunt. Tunc vero homo per viam veritatis incedit, cum et opera virtutum exsequitur, et tamen peccata sua semper agnoscit. Ideoque et dicit:

[1367A] [n: ( Nigredo et forma sponsae, per mortificationem. )]

## 9.

Vers. 4. *Nigra sum sed formosa, filiae Hierusalem, sicut tabernacula Cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis.* Nigram quippe et formosam sancta anima se bene dicit, quia semper et turpitudinem peccatorum suorum perspicit, et tamen illius justitiae quam in intimis videt, in exterioribus sibi solerter formam gerit. Quae bene *sicut tabernacula Cedar nigra, sicut pelles Salomonis formosa* dicitur, quia in quantum tenebras mortalitatis portat, nigredine corruptionis sordidatur. Cedar enim *tenebrae* interpretatur; Salomon vero, qui Christum significat, *pacificus* dicitur. Formosam ergo se sicut pelles Salomonis dicit, quia dum sanctos quosque qui ad imitationem Christi se mortificant, imitari non negligit, eorum utique pulchritudini [1367B] per similitudinem se jungit. Ne vero proximi ejus nigredinem intendentes, minus exempla bonorum ejus ad imitationem diligant, turpitudinis causam satisfaciens ostendit, dum ab admiratione sua filias Hierusalem repellit, dicens:

( *Omnis anima sancta, in comparatione Christi, fusca* )

## 10.

Vers. 5. *Nolite me considerare, quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol.* Per solem Christus significatur. Sol ergo eam decoloravit, quia quantumlibet fulgeat anima, in comparatione Christi, fulgorem amittit. Sunt quippe nonnulli, qui in hac nocte mundi velut stellae hominibus fulgent, luminaria proximis apparent; sed mox ut justitiae Christi se comparant, quasi sine luce sunt, qui bene incomparabiliter [1367C] prius hominibus lucebant. Qualiter vero ad hoc pervenerit, ut aliquantulum luceret, ostendit cum subjungit:

[n: ( Mater sponsae, sancta Ecclesia, cujus filii apostoli. )]

## 11.

*Filii matris meae pugnaverunt contra me, posuerunt me custodem in vineis.* Mater sponsae, sancta Ecclesia; filii matris, sancti apostoli exstiterunt. Ante apostolorum quippe praedicationem, pene totus mundus rebellis exstitit, omnis pene anima idolorum se cultibus sordidavit, et cupiditates sceleratas accumulavit. Apostolorum vero praedicatio superveniens, contra omnes verbo pugnavit, in multis regnum daemonum expugnavit, et regnum Christi, id est sanctam Ecclesiam, ampliavit. Vinctam ergo Christo, [1367D] et sanctificatam congregationem, apostoli custodem in vineis posuerunt, quia primos credentes in Ecclesias per mundum, ut eas et congregarent et custodirent, disperserunt. Cujus dispersionis causam ostendit, dicens:

[n: ( Vinea, Judaea. )]

## 12.

*Vineam meam non custodivi.* Quid per vineam singulariter, nisi Judaea designatur? Quae a se fideles expulit, quia custodiri aspernabatur. Praedicatione quippe expugnata, et sponsa Christi facta anima, dilectione ardet, et inquirendo eum, quem diligit, in intimis se exercet, dicens:

[n: ( Quae in meridie Christum requiescere facit. )]

## 13.

Vers. 6. *Indica mihi, quem diligit anima mea, ubi pascas, ubi cubes in meridie, ne vagari incipiam [1368A] post greges sodalium tuorum.* In meridie Christum sub umbra pascit, et cubat, qui in refrigeratione Spiritus sancti, sibi quasi requiem et pastum parat. Per meridiem quippe ardor vitiorum exprimitur; per umbram vero spiritalis gratiae flatus designatur. Meridie ergo fervente, in umbra Christus requiescit, quia dum in reprobis aestus vitiorum flagrat, ipse sponsae suae refrigerium tribuit, et in ea sibi delectabilem locum quietis efficit. Sed hoc sibi sponsa indicari deposcit, quod nulli unquam declaratur, nisi ei qui idem sanctificatricis gratiae munus percipit. Quare vero ad haec percipienda aestuet, manifestatur cum dicitur:

[n: ( Ne vaga sit post greges passionum. )]

## 14.

*Ne vagari incipiam post greges sodalium tuorum.* [1368B] Vere, in quo Christus non cubat, vagatur, quia mens, quam ille suavis et ponderosus Christi Spiritus non implet, multis cogitationibus dissoluta circumfertur. Sed qui sunt sodales Christi, per quorum greges sponsa vagari pertimescit, nisi falsi quique Christiani? Qui aut ob nominis solius, aut etiam sacramentorum communionem, fratres Christi vocantur, quia electis quos ipse fratres vocavit, in Ecclesia cohabitando, sociantur. Quorum multitudines bene per exprobrationem greges appellantur, quia, dum quasi irrationabilia animalia sine ordine vivunt, seductoribus spiritibus ad devorandum traduntur. Per hujusmodi greges vagatur quisquis ab intimo desiderio expulsus, reproborum [1368C] stultitiam persimiles cupiditates imitatur. Hos quippe electi cum moleste patiantur, per eorum persecutiones probati, mundiores ad aeterna bona perducuntur. Unde admonetur sponsa, cum per increpationem dicitur:

[n: ( Pugnandum est contra tentationes. )]

## 15.

Vers. 7. *Si ignoras te, o pulchra inter mulieres, egredere, et ubi post vestigia gregum.* Si ignorat se sponsa, egrediatur et abeat, quia quisquis nescit se in hoc positum, ut tentationes per sufferentiam vincat, a familiaritate Christi recedit, quia in bello positus, cum Domino suo pugnare recusat. Sciendum est enim omnibus quod cum in tentatione sumus contra aeras potestates pugnare praecipimur, quia sine victoria coronari non possumus. Etsi adversarius [1368D] deest, nec est quem vincamus; ideoque corona deerit, quam nonnisi vincentes capiemus. Hoc qui ignorat in bello est et quasi in pace exsultat, et eo frequentius vulneratur, quo securior est: quia nescit videre quem caveat. Digne ergo a pugnatoribus secernitur, ut vestigia gregum sequatur, quia dum prudentes quosque imitari negligit, necessario reprobos sequitur, quos stultitia brutis animalibus similes fecit.

[n: ( Haedi, immundae cogitationes; tabernacula pastorum, conventus haereticorum. )]

## 16.

*Et pasce haedos tuos juxta tabernaculum pastorum.* Per hoedos, immundae cogitationes designantur; per tabernacula pastorum, conventicula haereticorum exprimuntur. Qui ergo pugnare nescit, [1369A] juxta tabernacula pastorum hoedos pascit, quia quisquis obsistentibus tentationem gladiis viriliter non resistit, immundas cogitationes, quasi hoedos lascivos, in corde nutrit, et efficitur ei similis etiam qui a fide recedit. Anima vero quae sponsa Christi effici concupiscit, qualiter se habeat, Christus eam docet, cum ei per comparationem protinus dicit:

[n: ( Equitatus Israeliticus, multis tentationibus probatus. )]

## 17.

Vers. 8. *Equitatui meo in curribus Pharaonis assimilavi te, amica mea.* Scimus quia equitatus Israeliticus, currus Pharaonis fugiens, in mari demersos reliquit, nec tamen statim terram repromissionis intravit, sed prius multas tentationes in eremo [1369B] quadraginta annis sustinuit, multos reges multis laboribus expugnavit, et sic tandem ad beatam terram, in qua cum sponso delectetur, pervenit. Cui bene dicitur, quod subditur:

[n: ( Genae sponsae. )]

## 18.

Vers. 9. *Pulchrae sunt genae, sicut turturis.* Turtur postquam parem suum perdiderit semel, nunquam alteri se jungit, sed semper solitarie habitans in gemitu perseverat, quia quem diligebat non inveniens, quaerit. Sic sancta quaeque anima, dum a sponso suo absens est, ab ejus amore non recedit, sed in ejus desiderium semper anhelat et gemit. Et dum illum quem valde diligit, non invenit, quia ab omni alieno amore se retrahit, quasi in genarum verecundia castitatem cordis, ipso habitu et [1369C] actu exteriori ostendit. Sequitur:

[n: ( Collum sponsae, praedicatores. )]

## 19.

*Collum tuum sicut monilia.* Per collum sponsae, praedicatores sanctae Ecclesiae designantur. Monilibus praedicatores comparantur, vel quia Ecclesiae sunt ornamentum, vel quia Ecclesiam muniunt, ut pectus monile vel a rotunditate, id est perfectione. In monilibus, gemmae in auro ponuntur. Per aurum quippe sapientia, per lapides ornamenta exprimuntur. Collum ergo sponsae sicut monilia existit, quia quilibet rectus Ecclesiae praedicator, et sapientia interius se induit, et opera exterius exercet, quae in sapientia vidit. Cui et adhuc dicitur:

[1370A] [n: ( Murenulae aureae, sacra Scriptura. )]

## 20.

Vers. 10. *Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi, vermiculatas argento.* Murena piscis est, qui captus vertit se in circulum, ad cujus exemplar fit inauris, quae murenula dicitur, qua designatur praedicatio, quae in auribus inhaeret, et eas penetrat. Murenulis, monilia collo ligantur, quia et sapientia et religio a Scripturis sanctis, praedicatoribus adjungitur. Per murenulas enim Scriptura sancta intelligitur. Quae bene aureae et argento vermiculatae dicuntur, quia et sapientia Scriptura sancta fulget, et sonora praedicatione per universum mundum auditur. Sicut enim per aurum sapientia, sic per argentum sancta praedicatio demonstratur. His verbis sponsi sponsa respondet, et per corporeas rerum species amorem [1370B] intimat, quo spiritaliter intus ardet, dicens:

[n: ( Nardus sponsae, bonum exemplum. )]

## 21.

Vers. 11. *Dum esset rex in accubitu suo, nardus mea dedit odorem suum.* Nardus est herba humilis, quae gustata frigus expellit, et calefacit membrum. Accubitum suum rex tunc intravit, quando Dominus noster Jesus Christus corporaliter coeli interiora penetravit. Quo ibi requiescente, nardus sponsae odorem suum dedit, quia virtus sanctae Ecclesiae, suavem famam bonitatis longe lateque sparsit. Ad coelos enim Dominus ascendit, et Spiritum sanctum suum super discipulos misit, quo impleti verba salutis mundo praedicarent, et per sancta opera boni odoris famam circumquaque diffunderent. Hunc quippe in baptismo unaquaeque fidelis [1370C] anima recipit, ut per eum sibi ex virtutum confectione unguenta componat, et proximos exempli exhibitione, quasi unguenti odore reficiat. Sequitur:

[n: ( Fasciculus myrrhae, mortificatio. )]

## 22.

Vers. 12. *Fasciculus myrrhae dilectus meus mihi, inter ubera mea commorabitur.* Mortuorum corpora myrrha condiri solent, ne putrescant. Myrrham quippe, etc. *Reliqua usque ad finem Commentarii habes ad verbum in Expositione quae sub nomine S. Gregorii Magni inter ejus Opera edita est. Vide Patrologiae tom.* LXXIX, *col.* 471.

english:
## THE AUTHOR'S EPISTLE OR PREFACE TO ABBOT ANSFRID.

[1361B]

To the servant of God shut up in his cell, his most beloved ANSFRID, once his son and friend, now — by the favor of divine grace, to whomsoever it wills — his father and lord: brother ROBERT, least of men, wishes life, joy, and that glory which is truly glory.

By many messengers now your fervor toward the Lord has been urging my sluggishness, that I should send you the book which, [1362B] very many days ago, I wrote upon the Song of Songs. Scarcely, then, do I now send it, whose authorship I would wish to hide from all, if I could. For the raw and unpolished craftsman who has made a ring is afraid to have it seen by others; he trusts his own judgment least of all, and has no confidence in another's verdict: since that which, even before its own examination, does not fully please him, he fears will displease many when it is examined. In this manner of one displaying his work, and in this manner of one afraid, receive the little work of your friend. Judge what has pleased you, [1363A] and write back what you have judged. I seem perhaps to many — as I fear I may also seem to you — to have begun this work out of presumption, and to have finished it out of presumption: if indeed it is to be called finished, a thing which is still to be examined, and certainly corrected, by more learned and better men. To myself, indeed, I confess, it seems to be done with great indignation, that I, so untrained in study, so dull in wit, so filthy in sin, should have burst in upon a work so ancient, so learned, so polished, so as to expound the words of Solomon — I, who have nothing of Solomon, except perhaps that abominable thing which I read concerning him: namely, that when he had grown old, he ceased then to be wise. Yet believe me, your friend, that this little book which I send you I began at another's asking, and finished only after being often admonished. My lord [1363B] Anastasius, my most beloved brother and lord, asked me; and along with him many others admonished me as well — not so much weighing my inborn foolishness, as loving whatever small skill of mine might make clear to them the meaning of such secret words. Although several others, and especially the lord Bede, have labored at this same task, laid bare its secrets, and left to those who came after a most useful reading. Do you, therefore, servant of God, humbly read what you shall find; and if it pleases you, transcribe what you have read.

I ask, indeed, that you divide this work into two principal parts, because that composition, since it varies within itself, would be shameful if the whole were enclosed under one single beginning. For while I, set in my solitary cell, was expounding the Song of Songs, it happened that certain friends [1363C] of mine, coming upon me unexpectedly, found me at my exposition; and when they read through, part by part, what I had already expounded, they praised the work indeed, but said that this alone was lacking in it — that I had not inserted examples from the canonical books, by which what I said might be proved. From that time on, whatever examples came to mind, I set down as fitting the matter I was treating, although they did not seem to me necessary. For, intent above all upon compunction in my exposition, I had set down things inserted inwardly, not things to be proved; whence, afterward, in gathering examples while striving for brevity, the passages, more tightly expounded, seem to the reader less pleasant. The variety of the composition, then, which comes about through the insertion of examples, is marked at the point where it is said: *I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of [1363D] frankincense [n: (Cant. IV, 6)]*. When this has been said and expounded, let the first book end, and let the second begin, opening thus: *Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee [n: (Cant. IV, 7)]*. As for parchment, if you should lack it, I will send as much as will suffice.

Read, then, most beloved brother, the words of the most wise Solomon, the Song of Songs — which, on account of the reverence of their most sacred sense, on account of the excellence of the nuptial love, on account of the most sweet joining together of the Bridegroom and the Bride, are called not merely Songs, but the Song of Songs. In the exposition of these, if anything should displease you, pray for my ignorance; if anything should please you, pray for my sins, for I speak well and act ill. But if it should please you to copy out this book for yourself, do not write it in the margins as it is arranged here, [1364A] but continuously across the pages, as other expositions are usually written. As for this epistle, I wish it to be placed at the head of the book.

## THE AUTHOR'S PROLOGUE.

Solomon was called by three names: Solomon, that is, *the peaceable one;* Edida, that is, *the beloved;* Ecclesiastes, which is Coelet, that is, *the preacher,* because he gathers the churches together. According to the number of his names he published three volumes: Proverbs, that is, Maslot, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. In Proverbs he teaches the little one, instructing him, as it were, concerning present duties. In Ecclesiastes he trains the man in the nature proper to his age, that he may think nothing in the affairs of the world to be everlasting, but all things that we see fleeting and brief. At the last, the man now made complete, and prepared, the world having been trodden underfoot [1364B], he joins him in the Song of Songs to the embraces of the Bridegroom: because unless we first forsake our vices and renounce the pomps of the world, we cannot say: *Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.* In this same order the followers of philosophy also instruct, that they first teach ethics, then physics; and him whom they have observed to have made progress in these, they lead through theoria all the way to theology. This must be noted. For a title is set down in Proverbs: *The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel.* But in Ecclesiastes: *The words of the Preacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem.* In the Song of Songs, neither son of David, nor king of Israel or of Jerusalem is prefixed, because for beginners both his father's dignity and the proper title of kingship suffice; and here he is an equal master, and does not know himself to be a king. The peaceable one of God [1364C] the Father, and our Preacher, is Christ, who, the middle wall having been broken down, and doing away with the enmities in the flesh, *made both one [n: (Ephes. II, 14)]*; *My peace I give unto you [n: (Joan. XIV, 27)]*. Of whom the Father said to the disciples: *This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him [n: (Matth. III, 17)]*, because he is the head of the Church.

## CHAPTER ONE.

[n: (CAP. I. Osculum oris, inspiratio Sponsi. )]

## 1.

Verse 1. *Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.* The mouth of the Bridegroom is the inspiration of Christ. The kiss of the mouth is the sweet love of that inspiration. The Bride, then, seething with desire, and burning for the embrace of her Bridegroom, says: *Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.* As if she were saying: Let him come, whom above all things — nay, whom alone — [1364D] I love, that he may touch me with the sweetness of his inspiration; because when I feel his kiss, I forsake myself by a sudden change, and am at once melted and transformed into his likeness. For the holy mind grows weary of all that it perceives through the body, and desires to be wholly changed into those spiritual things; and while these bodily things clamor about it, it flees into those spiritual things, and longs to hide itself so as not to perceive them. And therefore the kiss of the Bridegroom must come first, because if he does not draw her by the bond of a most welcome love, she, held fast by the force of her most burdensome heaviness, finds no way at all to bring herself to him. But the loving Bridegroom, feeling her anxiety, cherishing her love, hearing her prayer, extends his kiss; and lest she grow faint with desire, he soothes her with a taste of his own sweetness, and while he shows her his presence, he kindles her toward [1365A] a greater kiss of love. Whence she, feeling him, turns herself to him; and rejoicing at once in him whom she has present, she addresses him with a changed voice, and says:

[n: ( Ubera sponsi, dilectio Dei et proximi. )]

## 2.

*For thy breasts are better than wine, fragrant with the best ointments.* The breasts of the Bridegroom are love of God and of neighbor. From these breasts he nourishes his Bride with the milk of piety, and amid the whirlwinds of temptation cherishes her by them, and refreshes her that she may persevere. But what is expressed by wine, if not worldly care? By this the mind of any worldly man is made drunk, so that it is rendered either wholly, or nearly, insensible to the knowing of invisible things. But the breasts of the Bridegroom prove better than wine, because the one kills, the other nourish; the one troubles the eyes of the mind, the other [1365B] sharpens them; the one makes the wise fall away [n: (Eccli. XIX, 2)], the other makes even the unlearned themselves most wise indeed — for as many times as the Bride sucks with the fullness of love, so many sentences of wisdom does she draw into the belly of her memory. For charity brings peace to the heart, strengthens the mind amid temptations, and, that the soul of the just man may be the seat of wisdom, grants it quiet and prepares it a place. These breasts, then, are fragrant with the best ointments, because they carry with them the odor of sweetness through the words of wisdom and the examples of holiness. For whoever refreshes himself with the holy charity of God perceives both the odor and the sweetness of spiritual gifts. By the abundance of these goods he draws each of his neighbors with him to taste of the inward things, and nourishes them with these same breasts, that they may grow strong in divine love.

[1365C] [n: ( Oleum effusum Christi nomen est. )]

## 3.

Verse 2. *Oil poured out is thy name.* The name of the Bridegroom is Christ. But the name of the Bridegroom is poured out as it were like oil, because whoever are reckoned in truth by the Christian name abound in holy charity, by which they are softened, and are perpetually steeped in that same charity, that they may send forth the flames of good example. By this charity they are the more vehemently kindled into love of Christ himself, and receive from him that whereby they may cling to him the more, with which they are drenched through. Hence it follows:

[n: ( Adolescentulae, sanctae animae. )]

## 4.

*Therefore have the maidens loved thee.* For what is signified by the maidens, if not holy souls, who are regenerated by the water of baptism through the Holy Spirit, [1365D] and are transformed into a new life through the New Testament? These love Christ on account of the pouring in of the oil, because, called to grace, they find in him the sweetness of life everlasting, for love of which sweetness they cast off all the pomp and riches of the world. For there are some who so love God that they despise themselves, and snatch themselves away into the inward things, that they may find God. And because God does not lie on the surface, they labor in meditations, examine their thoughts most minutely, give themselves to reading; and they do not cease to seek out, by every means, how God may be found. These indeed perceive the odor of ointments and anoint themselves with the pouring in of oil, because, while they cast off all the rottenness of vices, they find for themselves flowers, from the composition of which, making sweet-smelling ointments, [1366A] they make an offering to God. Whoever is of this kind burns with desire, and, as though he had nothing, always longs for greater things. And because his own strength does not suffice him, gasping after God, he asks to be drawn, saying:

[n: ( Odor unguentorum, gratia divina, quam sequimur. )]

## 5.

Verse 3. *Draw me after thee, we will run to the odor of thy ointments.* He does not run who is not drawn, because whoever is not helped by divine grace is weighed down by the burden of his own corruption. For divine grace goes before us, and, showing us the sweetness of inward things, pricks us concerning outward things; and the soul, presently passing over into those inward things, holds temporal things cheap for love of them. This one, then, who is drawn, runs, because, gladly following the bond of love, strengthened by the love of grace, he passes through all obstacles [1366B] without heaviness. Nor is it strange that he should follow the odor of ointments, since, when the sweetness of spiritual gifts is perceived, what is there in this temporal life whose desire could hold back the whole holy Bride of Christ from hastening into that other life? For there she rejoices in the gentleness of ointments, and, while she breathes with the nostrils of discernment, charity smells sweet to her. Hence it is that the text passes from the singular number to the plural, because in the love of God she finds also the commandment which admonishes us concerning love of neighbor; instructed by which, she belches forth to us outwardly what she has sweetly tasted within, saying:

[n: ( Cellaria, sanctae contemplationis mysteria. )]

## 6.

*The king has brought me into his storerooms.* What do we understand by the storerooms of this Bridegroom, who is king, if not the secrets of Holy Scripture, which we search into, if not the mysteries of holy [1366C] contemplation, by whose delights, if we are refreshed, we straightway grow strong? Into these, without doubt, whoever is brought in at once despises all temporal things, because he is enriched with things eternal. Therefore it follows:

[n: ( Exsultatio, in uberibus Ecclesiae. )]

## 7.

*We will exult and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine.* The holy soul, the Bride of Christ, exults in the delights of her Bridegroom, while she casts off bodily things and hides herself in spiritual things. And she makes that same Bridegroom her delight, in comparison with whom she cares for nothing of the world. But she does this in the remembrance of his breasts, because, while she recalls with how great a charity Christ loved her — he who, dying, redeemed her by his own blood on the cross, and daily nourishes her in the bosom of the Church, [1366D] his mother, with the milk of that same blood — without doubt she strains after his love more and more. Which milk is rightly said to be sweeter than wine, because we are mercifully brought up by the blood of Christ, whereas before we were severely constrained by the letter of the law. Through which love is fulfilled what is said:

[n: ( Recti, Christiani. )]

## 8.

*The upright love thee.* Only the upright, indeed, love Christ, because whoever still runs through the crooked paths of vice out of desire, while ever stumbling against the line of uprightness, cannot love Christ, the very author of justice, at all. But then a man truly walks along the way of truth, when he both carries out the works of virtue, and yet always acknowledges his own sins. And therefore it also says:

[1367A] [n: ( Nigredo et forma sponsae, per mortificationem. )]

## 9.

Verse 4. *I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.* The holy soul rightly calls herself black and beautiful, because she always sees clearly the foulness of her own sins, and yet, as to that righteousness which she sees within, she skillfully bears its form outwardly. She is rightly said to be *black as the tents of Cedar, beautiful as the curtains of Solomon,* because, insofar as she carries the darkness of mortality, she is defiled with the blackness of corruption. For Cedar is interpreted *darkness;* but Solomon, who signifies Christ, is called *the peaceable one.* She says herself, then, to be beautiful as the curtains of Solomon, because, while she does not neglect to imitate all the holy ones who mortify themselves in imitation of Christ, she joins herself, by that likeness, to their beauty. [1367B] But lest her neighbors, dwelling on her blackness, should love the examples of her good deeds the less for imitation, she shows, by way of satisfaction, the cause of her foulness, while she turns away the daughters of Jerusalem from admiring her, saying:

( *Omnis anima sancta, in comparatione Christi, fusca* )

## 10.

Verse 5. *Do not consider me, that I am swarthy, because the sun has discolored me.* By the sun Christ is signified. The sun, then, has discolored her, because however much a soul may shine, in comparison with Christ it loses its brightness. For there are some who, in this night of the world, shine upon men like stars, and appear as lights to their neighbors; but as soon as they compare themselves to the righteousness of Christ, they are as if without light, who before shone incomparably well [1367C] upon men. But how she came to shine even a little, she shows when she adds:

[n: ( Mater sponsae, sancta Ecclesia, cujus filii apostoli. )]

## 11.

*The sons of my mother have fought against me; they have made me the keeper in the vineyards.* The mother of the Bride is the holy Church; the sons of the mother are the holy apostles. For before the preaching of the apostles, almost the whole world stood in rebellion, and almost every soul defiled itself with the worship of idols, and heaped up wicked desires. But the preaching of the apostles, coming upon them, fought against all by the word, overthrew the kingdom of the demons in many, and enlarged the kingdom of Christ, that is, the holy Church. The apostles, then, set the congregation bound to Christ [1367D] and made holy as keeper in the vineyards, because they scattered the first believers into churches throughout the world, that they might both gather and guard them. He shows the cause of this scattering, saying:

[n: ( Vinea, Judaea. )]

## 12.

*My own vineyard I have not kept.* What is designated by the vineyard in the singular, if not Judea? Which drove the faithful away from itself, because it scorned to be kept. For the soul, overcome by preaching and made the Bride of Christ, burns with love, and, in seeking him whom she loves, exercises herself in the inmost parts, saying:

[n: ( Quae in meridie Christum requiescere facit. )]

## 13.

Verse 6. *Tell me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feedest, where thou liest at noon, lest I begin to wander [1368A] after the flocks of thy companions.* He who, in the refreshment of the Holy Spirit, prepares for himself as it were rest and pasture, feeds and lies down at noon with Christ under the shade. For by noon the burning heat of vices is expressed; but by the shade the breath of spiritual grace is signified. When noon, then, is at its hottest, Christ rests in the shade, because while the heat of vices burns in the reprobate, he grants his Bride refreshment, and makes in her for himself a delightful place of rest. But the Bride begs that this be told to her, a thing which is never declared to anyone save him who receives that same gift of sanctifying grace. But why she burns to grasp these things is made plain when it is said:

[n: ( Ne vaga sit post greges passionum. )]

## 14.

*Lest I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions.* [1368B] Truly, he in whom Christ does not lie down wanders, because the mind, which that sweet and weighty Spirit of Christ does not fill, is carried about, dissolved into many thoughts. But who are the companions of Christ, on whose account the Bride so dreads to wander after their flocks, if not certain false Christians? Who are called brothers of Christ either merely on account of the name, or even on account of a shared communion of the sacraments, because they are joined, by dwelling together in the Church, to the elect whom he himself has called brothers. Whose multitudes are rightly called, by way of reproach, flocks, because, while they live without order like irrational animals, they are handed over to seducing spirits to be devoured. Through flocks of this kind wanders whoever, driven out from inward desire, imitates the folly of the reprobate [1368C] with like desires. For while the elect suffer these grievously, being proved through their persecutions, they are led, made purer, to the eternal goods. Whence the Bride is admonished, when it is said by way of reproof:

[n: ( Pugnandum est contra tentationes. )]

## 15.

Verse 7. *If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and go by the footsteps of the flocks.* If the Bride does not know herself, let her go forth and depart, because whoever does not know that he is placed in this life so that he may overcome temptations through endurance withdraws from familiarity with Christ, because, though placed in warfare, he refuses to fight alongside his Lord. For it must be known by all that when we are in temptation we are commanded to fight against the powers of the air, because we cannot be crowned without victory. Even if the adversary [1368D] is absent, and there is no one for us to conquer, the crown too will be absent, which we shall receive only by conquering. Whoever does not know this is in a state of war and yet exults as though in peace, and is wounded all the more often the more secure he feels, because he does not know how to see the one against whom he must be on guard. Rightly, then, is he cut off from the fighters, that he may follow the footsteps of the flocks, because, while he neglects to imitate the prudent, he necessarily follows the reprobate, whom folly has made like brute animals.

[n: ( Haedi, immundae cogitationes; tabernacula pastorum, conventus haereticorum. )]

## 16.

*And feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds.* By the kids, unclean thoughts are designated; by the tents of the shepherds, the conventicles of heretics are expressed. Whoever, then, does not know how to fight [1369A] feeds his kids beside the tents of the shepherds, because whoever does not resist manfully with the swords that oppose temptation nourishes unclean thoughts in his heart like wanton kids, and becomes like the man who even falls away from the faith. But how the soul who longs to be made the Bride of Christ ought to conduct herself, Christ teaches her, when he straightway tells her by way of comparison:

[n: ( Equitatus Israeliticus, multis tentationibus probatus. )]

## 17.

Verse 8. *I have compared thee, my love, to my company of horsemen in Pharaoh's chariots.* We know that the horsemen of Israel, fleeing the chariots of Pharaoh, left them sunk in the sea, and yet did not at once enter the land of promise, but first endured many temptations in the wilderness [1369B] for forty years, overcame many kings with many labors, and so at last arrived at the blessed land, in which she may delight with her Bridegroom. To her, then, it is rightly said what follows:

[n: ( Genae sponsae. )]

## 18.

Verse 9. *Thy cheeks are beautiful, as the turtledove's.* Once the turtledove has lost her mate, she never joins herself to another, but always dwells alone and perseveres in mourning, because, not finding him whom she loved, she seeks him. So every holy soul, while she is absent from her Bridegroom, does not withdraw from love of him, but always sighs and yearns after desire of him. And since she does not find him whom she greatly loves — because she withdraws herself from every strange love — she shows the chastity of her heart, as it were in the modesty of her cheeks, by that very outward habit and [1369C] bearing. It follows:

[n: ( Collum sponsae, praedicatores. )]

## 19.

*Thy neck is like jewels.* By the neck of the Bride, the preachers of the holy Church are designated. Preachers are compared to jewels, either because they are an ornament to the Church, or because they defend the Church, as a necklace defends the breast — or from its roundness, that is, its perfection. In necklaces, gems are set in gold. For by gold wisdom is expressed, and by the stones, ornaments. The neck of the Bride, then, is like jewels, because every upright preacher of the Church both clothes himself inwardly with wisdom, and outwardly carries out the works which he has seen in wisdom. To whom it is also further said:

[1370A] [n: ( Murenulae aureae, sacra Scriptura. )]

## 20.

Verse 10. *We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.* The moray is a fish which, when caught, turns itself into a circle, after whose likeness is made the earring which is called a *murenula*, by which is designated preaching, which clings to the ears and penetrates them. By these little chains the jewels are bound to the neck, because both wisdom and religion are joined to preachers from the Holy Scriptures. For by the little chains Holy Scripture is understood. Which is rightly said to be golden and inlaid with silver, because Holy Scripture both shines with wisdom, and is heard through resounding preaching throughout the whole world. For as wisdom is shown by gold, so holy preaching is shown by silver. To these words of the Bridegroom the Bride replies, and through bodily images of things she makes known [1370B] the love with which she burns spiritually within, saying:

[n: ( Nardus sponsae, bonum exemplum. )]

## 21.

Verse 11. *While the king was at his repose, my nard gave forth its odor.* Nard is a lowly herb which, when tasted, drives away cold, and warms the limb. The king entered his repose then, when our Lord Jesus Christ, in the body, penetrated the inward parts of heaven. While he rests there, the Bride's nard gave forth its odor, because the power of the holy Church scattered far and wide the sweet fame of her goodness. For the Lord ascended into the heavens, and sent his Holy Spirit upon the disciples, that, filled with him, they might preach the words of salvation to the world, and spread abroad on every side, through holy works, the fame of a good odor. Every faithful soul, indeed, receives this Spirit in baptism, [1370C] that through him she may compound for herself ointments from the making of virtues, and refresh her neighbors, as it were with the odor of ointment, by the showing of example. It follows:

[n: ( Fasciculus myrrhae, mortificatio. )]

## 22.

Verse 12. *A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; he shall lie between my breasts.* The bodies of the dead are commonly embalmed with myrrh, that they may not putrefy. Myrrh, indeed, etc. — *The rest, down to the end of the Commentary, you have word for word in the Exposition which is published, under the name of St. Gregory the Great, among his Works. See Patrologia, vol.* LXXIX, *col.* 471.

license_source: Public Domain Mark 1.0

license_translation: CC BY-NC 4.0

license_apparatus: CC BY-NC 4.0


title: De celanda confessione

author: Lanfranc of Canterbury

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 150, coll. 625C–632C

source_text:
## De celanda confessione

*379* ARGUMENTUM.--Quaeri videtur in hoc libello, cum proprius sacerdos poenitentis confessionem publicaverit, cuinam poenitens confiteri debeat. I. Probata Ecclesiae virginitate et unitate, ostendit auctor quantorum malorum causa extiterit sigilli confessionnis infractor.--II. In hoc casu, ubi nimirum poenitenti sacerdotum inest penuria tanta ut nullus queat prorsus reperiri, posse eum clericis, quin etiam et laicis mundis, hoc est fidelibus confiteri; non quod illa confessio (ut proferam hac in re theologorum sententiam) gratiam ex opere operato conferat (neque enim sacramentalis est) sed ex opere operantis, nempe ex contritione, et humilitate quam testatam facit confitens in sui delicti revelatione, majorem ut sibi ruborem adsciscat; unde quodammodo Deus suppleat sacerdotis officium.--III. Ubi nec sacerdos, nec clericus, nec laicus invenitur non de salute desperandum, sed soli Deo confitendum ex diversis probat SS. Patrum auctoritatibus.

[0625C]Rogatus super virginitate matris Ecclesiae, quomodo virgo est, quae non solum ex virginibus, sed etiam ex conjugatis, ex corruptis, et incorruptis carne constat, negare non debui charitati dare de virginitate testimonium. Virgo enim est, et vere virgo; nam, si intueamur in speculo puritatis et veritatis, et vere virgo imaginem habens [ *al.,* hujus] virginitatis, quod est carne beata virgo Maria, mater est Ecclesia conscientia. Cujus rei in lineam citius dirigimus, si quatuor ecclesiastica sacramenta diligenter inspicimus, fidem, baptismum, Dominici corporis et sanguinis consecrationem, peccatorum remissionem. Fide enim est mater Ecclesia, quod est carne beata Maria, quia quod illa in Spiritu sancto concepit, ista in Spiritu sancto credit. Sacramentis [0626C] baptismi, Dominici corporis et sanguinis, peccatorum confessionis divisa non est, et quia vere una, vere est virgo, quia omnis virgo, ex eo quod virgo est, in duo dividi non potest; etenim caro quae virgo est, perfecte est virgo; beata ergo [ *al.,* vero] mater Ecclesia una eademque in sacramentis, et fide, dum nihil corruptum in conscientia, sicut nec virgo Dei genitrix patitur; ut illa in corpore, ita ipsa quoque sensu virgo, est. In hujus itaque virginitatis speculo ad intuendam faciem veritatis in sacramentis confessionis nonnulli, et quod gravius est, qui imaginem videntur habere religionis, caligant; quae diligentius intueamur; et omne quod unum non est in *380* sancta Ecclesia, ab oculo veritatis evanescat.

Tria esse sacramenta confessionis Dominus [0627A] in sua persona declaravit, figuram baptismi, unam conscientiam de duobus, Deum et hominem in eodem judicio. In figura baptismi, is qui confitetur, abrenuntiat per poenitentiam, et credit per fidem, sicut is qui baptizatur abrenuntiat et credit. Unde et Dominus idem testimonium accepit a Patre in transfiguratione, quod et in baptismo, et additum est: *Ipsum audite [n: (Math. XVII, 6)]*. De eo enim de quo audierat Joannes: *Hic est qui baptizat [n: (Joan. I, 33)]*, audierunt discipuli: *Ipsum audite,* quia qui baptizat in baptismate, ipse auditur in poenitentiam dante. Duae conscientiae in unam transeunt, confitentis scilicet in ejus cui confitetur, et judicantis in ejusdem qui judicatur. Hanc unitatem imprecatur Filius Dei apud Patrem: *Ut et [0627B] ipsi in nobis,* inquiens, *unum sint, sicut tu Pater in me, et ego in te [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]*. Deus et homo in eodem judicio conveniunt, quia qui se judicat, jam cum Deo facit [n: (Aug. tract. 12, in Joan. sub finem)]. Unde et latro in cruce cum dixisset: *Nos quidem digna factis recipimus [n: (Luc. XXIII, 41)]*, quia cum Domino se judicavit, cum Domino in paradiso est.

In his sacramentis qui quocunque modo de confessis sibi aliquam suspicionem in publicum oriri scienter faciunt, vel confessos infamant, caligant; et hi qui in confessionem aliquam, vel consortem sui criminis produnt, peccant; et illi qui in confessionem [ *f.* confessione; *vel sic:* peccant, et illi in confessionem, qui facta, etc.] facta aliorum perquirunt. Cum enim confessio figuram baptismi teneat, [0627C] scimus quia in peccati abrenuntiatione, non alterius detractione baptizamur. In Judae etiam proditoris Domini censentur participio, quia, licet is cui detrahitur, ex eo quod peccavit, personam Domini non significet, ex eo tamen quod traditur significare potest. Dominus namque, etsi non peccavit, tamen traditus est, de quo Judas ait: *Quemcunque osculatus fuero, ipse est, tenete eum [n: (Marc. XIV, 44)]*; et is cui, cum imagine [ *al.,* imaginem] familiaritatis, quasi osculum vel exhibet vel exhibuit, de crimine rogat teneri in confessione.. Et Apostolus Joannes: Omnis *qui facit peccatum, ex diabolo est* natus, *quia ab initio diabolus peccat [n: (I Joan. III, V. 8)]*; hoc peccatum violationem charitatis intelligimus, quia ab [0627D] initio diabolus peccat [ *al.,* perdidit]. Horrendum vero est valde, cum is, qui per confessionem puram de Spiritu sancto renasci debuerat, in alterius detractione per violationem charitatis de diabolo renascitur. Et Scriptura: *Justus in principio sui accusator est [n: (Prov. XVIII, 17)]*: sui, non alterius. Et item *Confitemini alterutrum peccata vestra [n: (Jac. V, 16)]* vestra, non aliena.

In quo revocemus ad memoriam quia Judas se solum laqueo suspendit; derogans enim in confessione solum sibi nocet, quia is, cui derogatur, nec publicatur, nec in quamcunque suspicionem quocunque modo adduci salvis sacramentis potest confessionis. Unde, in sacris canonibus et causis ecclesiasticis, de his tantum quae in tractatu audivimus, et videmus in [0628A] effectu tractari, palam loquimur et testamur. Et in Veteri Testamento bos cornupeta recludi praecipitur [n: (Exod. XXI, 29)]; si enim non reclusus in campo publicationis aliquem occiderit, id est, in suspicionem mortalis criminis adduxerit, dominus ejus, is videlicet cui per confessionem se credidit, quia non eum reclusit, aliquod videlicet in confessione dictum peccatum, vel quemquam simpliciter a derogante nominatum, in causam publicam quocunque modo adducit, morte mori praecipitur. Revelator enim confessionis, mortalis criminis reus est; fidem namque mentitur, sacramenta confessionis non observat, in unitatem Patris et Filii peccat, in Spiritum sanctum, qui est vera remissio, blasphemat, et cum Judaeis Domino dicit: *Nonne bene dicimus nos quia [0628B] Samaritanus es tu; et daemonium habes? [n: (Joan. VIII, 48.)]* Fidem mentitur, cum, quod fidei Christianitatis ejus creditum est non servat; de qua beatus Augustinus in homilia 10 super epist. Joannis dicit: « Qui non credunt, id est, qui fidem non habent, pejores sunt quam daemones, et tardiores. »

Sacramenta confessionis violat, quia nec poenitentem in confessione baptizatum credit; ipsumque secundum baptismum, id est confessionem, quantum in ipso est, destruit, nec unitatem conscientiae custodit, nec Deum in suis judiciis convenisse veretur. In unitatem Patris et Filii peccat, cum unitatem quae est inter Deum Patrem et Filium, in confitente sibi repraesentatam, quacunque publicatione dividit. Cum enim Filius ad Patrem dicat: [0628C] *Et ipsi in nobis unum sint, sicut tu, Pater, in me, et ego in te [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]*; aut Deum unum, aut se in illo, qui unus est, aut omnipotentem in ipso posse operari unitatem negat. Sed quia Deus unus est, et membra Christi in unum conveniunt, profecto liquet quia, dum ab unitate Ecclesiae, quae est corpus Christi, per tanti violationem sacramenti se praescindit, non in Deo, nec ex Deo, nec cum Deo est. In Spiritum sanctum blasphemat, dum quod in fide et advocatione ejus qui est remissio peccatorum, sibi creditum est revelat, ostendens quia apud eum nec Spiritus sanctus est advocatus. Apud Salomonem quoque *381* fraudulentus vocatur qui revelat arcana, et fidelis qui animi celat commissum *(Prov. [0628D] XI, 13)*. Et in Ecclesiastico: *Qui denudat arcana amici, perdit fidem [n: (Eccli. XXVII, 17)]*, quae est origo et fundamentum omnium virtutum, incurritque desperationem, quae est blasphemia Spiritus, et ultimum maximumque omnium criminum. Cum Judaeis Domino dicit: *Nonne bene dicimus nos quia Samaritanus es tu, et daemonium habes? [n: (Joan. VIII, 48.)]* Per daemonium peccatum potest intelligi, teste evangelista, qui de Maria Magdalena septem daemonia ejecta dicit; et Dominus Samaritanus esse, et daemonium habere dicitur, cum confessi culpa reducitur; quia qui Samaritanus est, id est custos per confessionem, in eo quem custodit, daemonium habere improperat per peccati communionem.

Si vero is qui confitetur in culpa perseverat, et [0629A] etiam anathema est is cui confessum est, cum Domino usque ad exitum Judam patiatur; nec etiam in illos aliquando [aliquam omnino vel] per se vel per aliquem vindictam exerceat, qui sibi denuntiati sunt in crimine, vel per confitentium malitiam vel simplicitatem, ne sacramenta confessionis violentur. Sunt enim quidam qui non arbitrantur indulgentiam consequi, nisi sociorum suorum nomina detexerint.

Sunt et alii qui studiosissime in confessione facta perquirunt aliorum quod vitiosissimum nobis videtur esse, quia, secundum papam Gregorium [n: (in Job, l. v, c. 3, vers. 40)], magnum curiositatis est vitium. Jam de his qui vel alios in confessione produnt, vel quod confessum est in causam publicam quocunque modo adducunt, vel a confitentibus crimina sociorum [0629B] inquirunt, raro quidem, nec secundum rigorem Scripturarum, nec aures audire, quam horribiles sint horrescant.

## De celanda confessione (cont.)

Tamen quantulumcunque dictum est, videamus quibus tunc confitendum sit. Hi in primis de quibus diximus cavendi sunt, quoniam, si B. Joannis Epistola prima requiritur [n: (cap. II, 2)], in omnibus sacramentis moribus Antichristi sunt. Quibus praetermissis, in Veteri Testamento sacerdotibus lepra ostenditur *(Levit, XIII, 49)*; levitae tabernaculum foederis comportant, erigunt, deponunt. Tabernaculis populi a tabernaculo foederis terminum ponunt, ne indiscrete appropinquent ad tabernaculum, et moriantur [n: (Num. I, 50, 53)]. Tabernaculum foederis corpus est Dei et hominum Mediatoris, a [0629C] quo levitae populo terminum ponunt, dum pro quibus peccatis a mensa Domini abstinere debeat, docent. De subdiaconibus dicitur: *Mundamini, qui fertis vasa Domini [n: (Isai. LII, 11)]*. Vasa, corda significant; unde in Evangelio: *Prudentes vero acceperunt oleum in vasis suis cum lampadibus [n: (Matth. XXV, 4)]*. Subdiaconi itaque vasa Domini lavant, cum conscientias mundant; acolythi luminaria accendunt Ecclesiae. Exorcistarum est officium ex obsessis corporibus daemonia effugare; lectorum est verbum Dei referre; ostiariorum est ecclesiam aperire. Quae si omnia diligenter intuentur, ad hoc fiunt visibiliter, ut ab his a quibus fiunt fiant per mundationem conscientiarum invisibiliter. Unde B. Augustinus in tractatu sexto Epistolae S. Joannis Apostoli, sic de [0629D] Baptismo: « Aqua sacramenti visibilis est, aqua spiritus invisibilis; ista abluit corpus, et significat quid fiat [ *al.,* quod sit] in anima. » Visibilia namque sacramenta et operantur, et significant [ *al.,* signant] invisibilia. In hoc cognoscimus quia de occultis omni ecclesiastico ordini confiteri debemus; de apertis vero solis convenit sacerdotibus, per quos Ecclesia, quae publice novit, et solvit et ligat.

Sin nec in ordinibus ecclesiasticis cui confitearis invenis, vir mundus ubicunque sit, requiratur, sicut in Veteri Testamento praecipitur: *Ista lex est hominis qui moritur in tabernaculo. Omnes qui ingrediuntur [0630A] tentorium illius, et universa vasa quae ibi sunt, polluta erunt septem diebus. Vas quod non habuerit operculum, nec ligaturam desuper, immundum erit. Si quis in agro tetigerit cadaver occisi hominis, aut per se mortui, sive os illius, vel sepulcrum, immundus erit septem diebus. Tollent de cineribus combustionis atque peccati, et mittent aquas vivas super eos in vas, in quibus cum homo mundus tinxerit hyssopum, asperget ex eo omne tentorium, et cunctam supellectilem ejus, et homines hujuscemodi contagione pollutos; atque hoc modo mundus lustrabit immundum tertio, et septimo die [n: (Num. XIX, c. 14-19)]*. Longum est per singula allegoriarum mysteria currere. Sed diligenter intuendum quid est quod sino determinatione cujusquam ordinis homo mundus [0630B] lustrare immundum dicitur: et quosdam sanctorum Patrum legimus qui animas rexerunt, et tamen eorum ordines nescimus.

Quod si nemo cui confitearis invenitur, ne desperes, quia in hoc Patrum conveniunt sententiae, ut Domino confitearis. Unde B. Joannes Chrysostomus super L psalmum [n: (homil. 2, ad hunc versum: Et peccatum meum contra me est semper, ante medium)]: « Si confunderis alicui dicere quae [ *al.,* quia] peccasti, dic ea quotidie in anima tua. Non dico ut confitearis conservo tuo, ut tibi exprobret, sed confitere Deo, qui ea curet. » Item idem super Epistolam ad Hebraeos [n: (super cap. 12 hom. 31, post medium)]: « Non dico tibi ut te prodas in publicum, neque ut te apud alios accuses; sed obedire [0630C] te volo Prophetae dicenti. » *Revela Domino viam tuam [n: (Psal. XXXVI, 5)]*, *382* et tunc demum spera misericordiam te posse consequi. Et in septem collationibus ultimis Joannes Cassianus [n: (collat. 20, cap. 8)]: « Si verecundia retrahente revelare peccata tua coram hominibus erubescis, illi, quem latere non possunt, confiteri ea jugi supplicatione non desinas, qui et absque ullius verecundiae publicatione curare, et sine improperio peccata donare consuevit. Maximus in sermone paschali dicit: « Invenio quod Petrus fleverit, non invenio quid dixerit: lacrymas ejus lego, satisfactionem non lego. » Et lingua Spiritus sancti Leo: « Lacrymis lavatur delictum quod voce pudor est confiteri. Misericors etenim [0630D] Dominus, et absque ulla confessione respexit Petrum, et indulsit ei trinae negationis admissum. »

Sciendum vero minoribus summopere est sacerdotibus, et maxime praelatis, ne culpam dictam in occulto sub nomine alterius culpae vindicent in publico. Unde in linea veritatis, sigillo videlicet evangelico, cum Filius Dei dixisset: *Ut ipsi in nobis unum sint, sicut tu Pater in me, et ego in te [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]* non sine magno sacramento tacuit nomen Spiritus sancti, cum Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus sanctus unum sint. Unitas enim confitentis in tertiam adduci personam non debet, nec sub nomine alterius culpae [0631A] ista puritas infamari, sed secrete Spiritu sancto committi.

Omitto de his quae confessa sunt, tantum loqui, cum Evangelium de his quae videmus et patimur dicat: *Si peccaverit in te frater tuus, corripe eum inter te et ipsum solum [n: (Matth. XVIII, 15)]*. De qua sententia B. Augustinus sic in verbis evangelii dicit [n: (Serm. 16 de verb. Domini, c. 4, tom. X)]: « Corripe fratrem tuum inter te et ipsum solum, intuens [ *al,* intendens] correctioni, parcens pudori; forte enim prae verecundia incipiet defendere culpam suam, vel peccatum suum; et qui vis facere correctionem [ *al.,* quem vis facere correctiorem], facis pejorem. Corripe ergo inter te et ipsum solum. » Item idem [n: (ibid.)]: « Tu scis quia peccavit, quia enim secretum [0631B] fuit quando in te peccavit; secretum quaere, cum corrigis quod peccavit: nam si solus nosti quod peccavit in te, et eum vis coram omnibus corrigere, non es corrector, sed proditor. « Item idem [n: (ibid.)]: « Ipsa corripienda sunt coram hominibus, quae peccantur coram hominibus; ipsa corripienda sunt secretius, quae peccantur secretius: distribuite tempora, et concordat Scriptura. Sic agimus [ *al.,* agamus], et sic agendum est, non solum quando in nos peccatur, sed quando peccatur ab aliquo, ita ut ab altero nesciatur. » [n: (Ibid. 8.)] « In secreto debemus corripere, in secreto arguere, ne, volentes publice arguere, prodamus hominem. Nos volumus corripere et corrigere; quid si inimicus quaerit audire, et corripere [quod puniat]? Novit enim nescio quem [0631C] homicidam episcopus, et alius nemo illum novit. Ego publice corripere, at tu quaeris inscribere: prorsus nec prodo, nec negligo. Corripio in secreto, pono ante oculos Dei judicium, terreo cruentam conscientiam, persuadeo poenitentiam. Hac charitate [0632A] praediti esse debemus. Unde aliquando homines reprehendunt nos, quia, quasi non corripiamus, aut putant nos scire quod nescimus, aut putant nos tacere quod scimus. Sed forte quod dicis [ *al.,* scis] et ego scio; sed non coram te corripio, quia curare volo, non accusare. Sunt homines adulteri in domibus suis, in secreto peccant; aliquando nobis produntur ab uxoribus suis, plerumque zelantibus, aliquando maritorum salutem quaerentibus. Nos non prodimus palam, sed in secreto arguimus; ubi contingit malum, ibi malum moriatur. Non tamen vulnus illud negligimus, ante omnia ostendentes homini in tali peccato constituto, sauciamque gerenti conscientiam, illud vulnus esse mortiferum. » B. Hieronymus sic super Matthaeum dicit *(in cap. 18, [0632B] in medio, ad illa verba: Si peccaverit in te, etc.)*: « Corripiendus est frater seorsum, ne, si semel pudorem ac verecundiam amiserit, permaneat in peccato. »

In his satis liquet quia si quae videmus et patimur, salvo Dominico praecepto, nonnisi inter nos et fratres nostros peccantes secretum habere possumus. Si, corrigere voluerint, omnimodis confessa detegimus, teste Spiritu sancto, Antichristi et proditores habemur. De quibus Felix papa [n: (FEL. 1, ep. 1, in medio tom. I Conciliorum editionis regiae)]: « Proditorum nec vox, nec calumnia audiatur. »

Quod vero quae confessa sunt sub nomine alterius culpae vindicari, vel secrete visa detegi non debeant, sic dicit Innocentius papa: « Latentia peccata non [0632C] habeant vindictam, et, probatione cessante, vindictae ratio conquiescat. » In his omnibus liquet quia unum cum Sponso suo mater est Ecclesia, et membra sua non divisioni, sed unitati parit in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

english:
## On Keeping Confession Secret

*379* ARGUMENT.--It seems to be asked in this little book, when a penitent's own priest has made his confession public, to whom the penitent ought then to confess. I. Having proved the virginity and the unity of the Church, the author shows of how many evils the breaker of the seal of confession has been the cause.--II. That in this case — namely, where the penitent suffers so great a scarcity of priests that none at all can be found — he may confess to clerics, or even to clean laymen, that is, to the faithful; not that such a confession (to set forth in this matter the opinion of the theologians) confers grace *ex opere operato* (for it is not sacramental), but *ex opere operantis,* namely from contrition, and from the humility which the one confessing attests in the disclosure of his own offense, so that he may draw upon himself a greater blush of shame; whence in some manner God supplies the office of a priest.--III. That where neither priest, nor cleric, nor layman is to be found, one must not despair of salvation, but must confess to God alone: which he proves from various authorities of the holy Fathers.

[0625C]Being asked concerning the virginity of mother Church — how she is a virgin, who consists not only of virgins but also of the married, of the corrupted and of the incorrupt in flesh — I ought not to have denied to charity the giving of a testimony concerning that virginity. For she is a virgin, and truly a virgin; for, if we gaze into the mirror of purity and truth, she is also truly a virgin, having the image [ *al.,* hujus] of that virginity which the blessed Virgin Mary is in the flesh: mother Church is a virgin in conscience. And we bring this matter the more quickly into line if we diligently examine the four ecclesiastical sacraments — faith, baptism, the consecration of the Lord's body and blood, and the remission of sins. For mother Church is by faith what blessed Mary is in the flesh, because what the one conceived in the Holy Spirit, the other believes in the Holy Spirit. In the sacraments [0626C] of baptism, of the Lord's body and blood, and of the confession of sins she is not divided; and because she is truly one, she is truly a virgin, since every virgin, in that she is a virgin, cannot be divided in two; for flesh which is virgin is perfectly virgin. Blessed [ *al.,* vero] mother Church, therefore, is one and the same in the sacraments and in faith, seeing that she suffers nothing corrupt in her conscience, even as neither does the Virgin Mother of God; and as the latter is a virgin in body, so she also is a virgin in mind. And so in the mirror of this virginity, for the beholding of the face of truth in the sacraments of confession, certain men are darkened — and, what is graver, men who seem to have the image of religion. Let us look upon these things the more diligently; and let everything that is not one in *380* holy Church vanish from the eye of truth.

That there are three sacred things in confession the Lord [0627A] declared in his own person: the figure of baptism; one conscience made out of two; and God and man in the same judgment. In the figure of baptism, he who confesses renounces through penitence and believes through faith, just as he who is baptized renounces and believes. Whence the Lord also received from the Father the same testimony in the transfiguration as in the baptism, and there was added: *Hear ye him [n: (Math. XVII, 6)]*. For of him concerning whom John had heard: *This is he that baptizeth [n: (Joan. I, 33)]*, the disciples heard: *Hear ye him;* because he who baptizes in baptism is himself heard in the one who gives penance. Two consciences pass into one: namely, that of him who confesses into that of him to whom he confesses, and that of him who judges into that of the same man who is judged. This unity the Son of God prays for with the Father, saying: *That they also [0627B] may be one in us, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]*. God and man come together in the same judgment, because he who judges himself already acts together with God [n: (Aug. tract. 12, in Joan. sub finem)]. Whence the thief also on the cross, when he had said: *We indeed receive things worthy of our deeds [n: (Luc. XXIII, 41)]* — because he judged himself together with the Lord, he is with the Lord in paradise.

In these sacred things they are darkened who in any way knowingly cause any suspicion to arise publicly concerning those who have confessed to them, or who defame those who have confessed; and those sin who in confession betray anyone, or a partner in their own crime; and those [ *f.* confessione; *vel sic:* peccant, et illi in confessionem, qui facta, etc.] who in confession search out the deeds of others. For since confession holds the figure of baptism, [0627C] we know that we are baptized in the renunciation of our own sin, not in the disparagement of another. They are reckoned also as sharing in Judas, the betrayer of the Lord; because, although he who is disparaged does not, by the fact that he has sinned, signify the person of the Lord, yet by the fact that he is betrayed he can signify him. For the Lord, although he did not sin, was nevertheless betrayed, of whom Judas said: *Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast [n: (Marc. XIV, 44)]*; and he to whom, with the appearance [ *al.,* imaginem] of familiarity, he offers or has offered as it were a kiss, he asks to be held fast for his crime in confession.. And the Apostle John: Everyone *who committeth sin is* born *of the devil, because the devil sinneth from the beginning [n: (I Joan. III, V. 8)]*; and this sin we understand to be the violation of charity, because from the [0627D] beginning the devil sins [ *al.,* perdidit]. But it is exceedingly horrible that he who ought to have been reborn of the Holy Spirit through a pure confession is reborn of the devil in the disparaging of another, through the violation of charity. And the Scripture: *The just man is at the beginning the accuser of himself [n: (Prov. XVIII, 17)]* — of himself, not of another. And likewise: *Confess your sins one to another [n: (Jac. V, 16)]* — your own, not another's.

Wherein let us call to memory that Judas hanged himself alone with a noose; for he who disparages another in confession harms himself alone, since he who is disparaged is neither made public, nor can in any way be brought under any suspicion whatever, so long as the sacraments of confession are kept unbroken. Whence, in the sacred canons and in ecclesiastical cases, we speak openly and bear witness only concerning those things which we have heard in open treatment and see to be handled [0628A] in effect. And in the Old Testament the goring ox is commanded to be shut up [n: (Exod. XXI, 29)]; for if, not being shut up, it kills someone in the field of publication — that is, brings him under the suspicion of a mortal crime — then its owner (namely, he to whom the man entrusted himself through confession), because he did not shut it up, that is, because he brings in any way into a public case some sin spoken in confession, or anyone simply named by the one who disparages him, is commanded to die the death. For the revealer of a confession is guilty of a mortal crime; for he lies against faith, he does not observe the sacraments of confession, he sins against the unity of the Father and the Son, he blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, who is the true remission, and with the Jews he says to the Lord: *Do we not say well that [0628B] thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? [n: (Joan. VIII, 48.)]* He lies against faith when he does not keep what was entrusted to the faith of his Christianity; concerning which blessed Augustine says in Homily 10 on the Epistle of John: « They who do not believe, that is, who have not faith, are worse than the demons, and duller. »

He violates the sacraments of confession, because he does not believe that the penitent has been baptized in confession; and he destroys, so far as in him lies, that second baptism, that is, confession; nor does he guard the unity of conscience, nor does he stand in awe that God has met with him in his judgments. He sins against the unity of the Father and the Son when by any publication he divides the unity which is between God the Father and the Son, represented in the man confessing to him. For since the Son says to the Father: [0628C] *And may they also be one in us, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]* — he denies either that God is one, or that he himself is in him who is one, or that the Almighty is able to work unity in him. But since God is one, and the members of Christ come together into one, it is assuredly plain that, while by the violation of so great a sacrament he cuts himself off from the unity of the Church, which is the body of Christ, he is neither in God, nor of God, nor with God. He blasphemes against the Holy Spirit when he reveals what was entrusted to him in the faith and in the invocation of him who is the remission of sins, showing thereby that with him not even the Holy Spirit is an advocate. In Solomon also *381* he is called fraudulent who reveals secrets, and faithful who conceals what is committed to his mind *(Prov. [0628D] XI, 13)*. And in Ecclesiasticus: *He that discloseth the secrets of a friend loseth his credit [n: (Eccli. XXVII, 17)]* — which is the origin and foundation of all the virtues — and he runs into despair, which is the blasphemy against the Spirit, and the last and greatest of all crimes. With the Jews he says to the Lord: *Do we not say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? [n: (Joan. VIII, 48.)]* By "devil" sin can be understood, as the evangelist witnesses, who says of Mary Magdalene that seven devils were cast out; and the Lord is said to be a Samaritan and to have a devil when the fault of one who has confessed is brought up against him again; because he who is a Samaritan — that is, a keeper through confession — reproaches the man whom he keeps with having a devil, through his own sharing in the sin.

But if he who confesses persists in his fault, and [0629A] even is anathema, let him to whom the confession was made bear with his Judas, together with the Lord, even to the end; nor let him ever [aliquam omnino vel] exact any vengeance, by himself or by another, upon those who have been denounced to him as being in a crime, whether through the malice or through the simplicity of those confessing, lest the sacraments of confession be violated. For there are some who do not think that they obtain pardon unless they have disclosed the names of their associates.

And there are others who most studiously search out in confession the deeds of others — which seems to us a thing most vicious, because, according to Pope Gregory [n: (in Job, l. v, c. 3, vers. 40)], curiosity is a great vice. Now as to those who either betray others in confession, or in any way bring what has been confessed into a public case, or inquire of those confessing after the crimes of their associates [0629B] — rarely indeed, and not according to the rigor of the Scriptures, do the ears endure to hear how horrible these things are: let them shudder at them.

## On Keeping Confession Secret (cont.)

Yet, however little has been said, let us see to whom confession is then to be made. Those first of all of whom we have spoken are to be avoided, since, if the first Epistle of blessed John be consulted [n: (cap. II, 2)], in all the sacraments they are of the manners of Antichrist. These being passed over: in the Old Testament leprosy is shown to the priests *(Levit, XIII, 49)*; the Levites carry the tabernacle of the covenant, set it up, and take it down. They set a boundary for the tents of the people away from the tabernacle of the covenant, lest they approach the tabernacle without discretion and die [n: (Num. I, 50, 53)]. The tabernacle of the covenant is the body of the Mediator of God and men, from which [0629C] the Levites set a boundary for the people, when they teach for what sins a man ought to abstain from the table of the Lord. Of subdeacons it is said: *Be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord [n: (Isai. LII, 11)]*. The vessels signify hearts; whence in the Gospel: *But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps [n: (Matth. XXV, 4)]*. And so subdeacons wash the vessels of the Lord when they cleanse consciences; acolytes kindle the lights of the Church. It is the office of exorcists to drive demons out of possessed bodies; of readers, to deliver the word of God; of doorkeepers, to open the church. And if all these things be diligently considered, they are done visibly to this end: that by those who do them they may be done invisibly, through the cleansing of consciences. Whence blessed Augustine, in Tractate 6 on the Epistle of St. John the Apostle, thus speaks of [0629D] Baptism: « The water of the sacrament is visible, the water of the Spirit invisible; the former washes the body, and signifies what is done [ *al.,* quod sit] in the soul. » For visible sacraments both effect and signify [ *al.,* signant] invisible things. By this we know that concerning hidden things we ought to confess to every ecclesiastical order; but concerning open things it belongs to priests alone, through whom the Church both looses and binds what she publicly knows.

But if you do not find even among the ecclesiastical orders one to whom you may confess, let a clean man be sought out, wherever he may be, as is commanded in the Old Testament: *This is the law of a man that dieth in a tent. All that enter [0630A] into his tent, and all the vessels that are there, shall be defiled seven days. The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean. If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days. They shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel; and when a clean man hath dipped hyssop therein, he shall sprinkle with it all the tent, and all its furniture, and the men that are defiled with such a contagion; and in this manner the clean man shall purify the unclean on the third and on the seventh day [n: (Num. XIX, c. 14-19)]*. It would be long to run through the mysteries of the allegories one by one. But it must be diligently considered what this means, that without the determining of any order a clean man [0630B] is said to purify the unclean; and we read of certain of the holy Fathers who governed souls, and yet we do not know their orders.

But if no one is found to whom you may confess, do not despair, since in this the judgments of the Fathers agree — that you should confess to the Lord. Whence blessed John Chrysostom on Psalm 50 [n: (homil. 2, ad hunc versum: Et peccatum meum contra me est semper, ante medium)]: « If you are ashamed to tell anyone the things wherein [ *al.,* quia] you have sinned, say them daily in your soul. I do not say that you should confess to your fellow servant, that he may reproach you; but confess to God, who will heal them. » Likewise the same, on the Epistle to the Hebrews [n: (super cap. 12 hom. 31, post medium)]: « I do not tell you to betray yourself in public, nor to accuse yourself before others; but I wish you [0630C] to obey the Prophet who says: » *Reveal thy way to the Lord [n: (Psal. XXXVI, 5)]*, *382* and then at last hope that you can obtain mercy. And in the last seven Conferences John Cassian [n: (collat. 20, cap. 8)]: « If, drawn back by shame, you blush to reveal your sins before men, cease not to confess them with unceasing supplication to him from whom they cannot lie hidden — who is wont both to heal without the publishing of any shame, and to forgive sins without reproach. Maximus says in an Easter sermon: « I find that Peter wept; I do not find what he said: I read of his tears, I do not read of his satisfaction. » And Leo, the tongue of the Holy Spirit: « That offense is washed away with tears which it is shameful to confess with the voice. For the merciful [0630D] Lord looked upon Peter even without any confession, and pardoned him the guilt of his threefold denial. »

But it must be known above all by the lesser priests, and most of all by prelates, that they must not punish in public, under the name of another fault, a fault told in secret. Whence in the line of truth — namely, in the evangelical seal — when the Son of God had said: *That they may be one in us, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee [n: (Joan. XVII, 21)]* — not without a great mystery did he keep silent the name of the Holy Spirit, although the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. For the unity of him who confesses ought not to be brought before a third person, nor ought this purity to be defamed under the name of another fault, [0631A] but committed secretly to the Holy Spirit.

I forbear to speak only of those things which have been confessed, since the Gospel says concerning those things which we see and suffer: *If thy brother shall offend against thee, rebuke him between thee and him alone [n: (Matth. XVIII, 15)]*. Of which sentence blessed Augustine speaks thus in his words on the Gospel [n: (Serm. 16 de verb. Domini, c. 4, tom. X)]: « Rebuke thy brother between thee and him alone, looking [ *al,* intendens] to his correction, sparing his shame; for perhaps out of embarrassment he will begin to defend his fault, or his sin; and you who wish to make a correction [ *al.,* quem vis facere correctiorem] make him worse. Rebuke him, therefore, between thee and him alone. » Likewise the same [n: (ibid.)]: « You know that he has sinned; for it was secret [0631B] when he sinned against you; seek secrecy when you correct what he has sinned: for if you alone know that he has sinned against you, and you wish to correct him before all men, you are not a corrector but a betrayer. « Likewise the same [n: (ibid.)]: « Those things are to be rebuked before men which are sinned before men; those things are to be rebuked more secretly which are sinned more secretly: distinguish the occasions, and the Scripture is in accord. So we act [ *al.,* agamus], and so it must be done, not only when men sin against us, but when anyone sins in such a way that it is not known by another. » [n: (Ibid. 8.)] « In secret we ought to rebuke, in secret to reprove, lest, wishing to reprove publicly, we betray the man. We wish to rebuke and to correct; but what if an enemy is seeking to hear, and to seize upon [quod puniat] something to punish? For the bishop knows some [0631C] murderer or other, and no one else knows him. I, rebuke him publicly? — but you seek to indict him: I neither betray him at all, nor neglect him. I rebuke in secret, I set the judgment of God before his eyes, I terrify his bloodstained conscience, I urge penitence. With this charity [0632A] we ought to be endowed. Whence men sometimes find fault with us, as though we did not rebuke: either they think that we know what we do not know, or they think that we are silent about what we know. But perhaps what you say [ *al.,* scis] I too know; yet I do not rebuke him in your presence, because I wish to heal, not to accuse. There are men who are adulterers in their own houses; they sin in secret; sometimes they are betrayed to us by their wives, for the most part out of jealousy, sometimes by wives seeking their husbands' salvation. We do not betray them openly, but reprove them in secret; where the evil happened, there let the evil die. Yet we do not neglect that wound, showing above all to the man set in such a sin, and bearing a wounded conscience, that that wound is deadly. » Blessed Jerome speaks thus on Matthew *(in cap. 18, [0632B] in medio, ad illa verba: Si peccaverit in te, etc.)*: « The brother must be rebuked apart, lest, if once he has lost shame and modesty, he remain in his sin. »

From these things it is sufficiently plain that, as for the things which we see and suffer, we can — saving the Lord's precept — keep them secret only between ourselves and our sinning brethren. If they are willing to be corrected, and we nevertheless by every means uncover what has been confessed, then, the Holy Spirit being witness, we are accounted antichrists and betrayers. Concerning whom Pope Felix [n: (FEL. 1, ep. 1, in medio tom. I Conciliorum editionis regiae)]: « Let neither the voice nor the accusation of betrayers be heard. »

But that the things which have been confessed ought not to be punished under the name of another fault, nor things seen in secret to be uncovered, Pope Innocent thus says: « Let hidden sins not [0632C] have punishment; and, proof being wanting, let the reckoning of vengeance be at rest. » In all these things it is plain that mother Church is one with her Bridegroom, and brings forth her members not unto division but unto unity, world without end. Amen.