Venerable Brethren,
Health and Apostolic Benediction.

VENERABILES FRATRES
SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM

The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, ¹ was first taught us by the Redeemer Himself. Illustrating as it does the great and inestimable privilege of our intimate union with so exalted a Head, this doctrine by its sublime dignity invites all those who are drawn by the Holy Spirit to study it, and gives them, in the truths of which it proposes to the mind, a strong incentive to the performance of such good works as are conformable to its teaching. For this reason, We deem it fitting to speak to you on this subject through this Encyclical Letter, developing and explaining above all, those points which concern the Church Militant. To this We are urged not only by the surpassing grandeur of the subject but also by the circumstances of the present time.

Mystici Corporis Christi, quod est Ecclesia (cfr. Col. 1, 24), ex ipsius Redemptoris labiis primitus excepta doctrina, ex qua magnum in sua luce ponitur beneficium, satis numquam elatum laudibus, arctissimae coniunctionis nostrae cum tam excelso Capite, res eiusmodi profecto est, quae praestantia dignitateque sua omnes homines, quotquot Divino moventur Spiritu, ad contemplationem invitat, eorumque mentes collustrando, ad salutifera ea opera, quae praeceptis hisce consentanea sint, summopere excitat. Nostrarum igitur esse partium ducimus hac de causa per Encyclicas has Litteras vobiscum colloqui, ea praesertim enucleando edisserendoque, quae ad militantem pertinent Ecclesiam. Ad quod quidem faciendum non modo insignis huius doctrinae granditas Nos permovet, sed praesentes etiam, quibus utimur, rerum condiciones.

2. For We intend to speak of the riches stored up in this Church which Christ purchased with His own Blood, ² and whose members glory in a thorn-crowned Head. The fact that they thus glory is a striking proof that the greatest joy and exaltation are born only of suffering, and hence that we should rejoice if we partake of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed we may also be glad with exceeding joy. ³

Loqui siquidem in animo est de divitiis in sinu conditis Ecclesiae, quam Christus acquisivit sanguine suo (Act. 20, 28), et cuius membra spineo serto redimito gloriantur Capite. Quod quidem perspicuum testimonium est gloriosissima quaeque atque eximia non nisi ex doloribus nasci, atque adeo communicantibus nobis cum Christi passionibus esse gaudendum, ut et in revelatione gloriae eius gaudeamus exultantes (cfr. 1 Petr. 4, 13).

3. From the outset it should be noted that the society established by the Redeemer of the human race resembles its divine Founder, who was persecuted, calumniated and tortured by those very men whom He had undertaken to save. We do not deny, rather from a heart filled with gratitude to God We admit, that even in our turbulent times there are many who, though outside the fold of Jesus Christ, look to the Church as the only haven of salvation; but We are also aware that the Church of God not only is despised and hated maliciously by those who shut their eyes to the light of Christian wisdom and miserably return to the teachings, customs and practices of ancient paganism, but is ignored and neglected, and even at times looked upon as irksome by many Christians who are allured by specious error or caught in the meshes of the world’s corruption. In obedience, therefore, Venerable Brethren, to the voice of Our conscience and in compliance with the wishes of many, We will set forth before the eyes of all and extol the beauty, the praises, and the glory of Mother Church to whom, after God, we owe everything.

Ac principio animadvertendum est, quemadmodum humani generis Redemptor ab iisdem fuit, quorum salutem procurandam susceperat, insectationibus, calumniis cruciatibusque affectus, ita constitutam ab eo societatem hac quoque in re divino adsimulari Conditori suo. Etenim, quamquam non infitiamur, immo potius grato erga Deum fatemur animo, turbulenta etiam aetate hac nostra non paucos esse, qui, etsi a Iesu Christi grege seiuncti, ad Ecclesiam tamen veluti ad unicum salutis portum adspiciant, haud ignoramus tamen non modo ab iis, qui, contempto christianae sapientiae lumine, ad ethnicae vetustatis doctrinas mores institutaque miserrime regrediantur, Ecclesiam Dei contemni ac superbe hostiliterque detrectari, sed a pluribus etiam christianis, vel fucata errorum specie allectis, vel saeculi illecebris corruptelisque delenitis, eam saepenumero ignorari, neglegi ac quodam etiam taedio fastidioque haberi. Est igitur cur Nos, Venerabiles Fratres, ex ipsius conscientiae Nostrae officio, ac multorum obsecundantes votis, Ecclesiae Matris, cui post Deum omnia debemus, pulchritudinem, laudes, gloriam ante omnium oculos collocando celebremus.

4. And it is to be hoped that Our instructions and exhortations will bring forth abundant fruit in the souls of the faithful in the present circumstances. For We know that if all the sorrows and calamities of these stormy times, by which countless multitudes are being sorely tried, are accepted from God’s hands with calm submission, they naturally lift souls above the passing things of earth those of heaven that abide forever, and arouse a certain secret thirst and intense desire for spiritual things. Thus, urged by the Holy Spirit, men are moved, and as it were, impelled to seek the kingdom of God with greater diligence; for the more they are detached from the vanities of this world and from inordinate love of temporal things, the more apt they will be to perceive the light of heavenly mysteries. But the vanity and emptiness of earthly things are more manifest today than perhaps at any other period, when Kingdoms and States are crumbling, when enormous quantities of goods and all kinds of wealth are being sunk in the depths of the sea, and cities, towns and fertile fields are strewn with massive ruins and defiled with the blood of brothers.

Ac spes est haec praecepta hortamentaque Nostra uberiores esse, in praesentibus rerum adiunctis, christifidelibus paritura fructus; quandoquidem novimus tot procellosae huius aetatis aerumnas doloresque, quibus pene innumeri homines acerbissime torquentur, si veluti e Dei manibus pacata quiescentique voluntate excipiantur, eorum animos e terrenis fluxisque rebus ad caelestia aeternumque mansura naturali quodam impulsu convertere, atque arcanam quandam in eis commovere spiritualium rerum sitim impensumque desiderium, quo Divino exstimulante Spiritu, ad Dei Regnum studiosius inquirendum excitentur ac veluti compellantur. Quod enim magis homines ex huius saeculi vanitatibus et ab inordinato praesentium rerum amore abstrahuntur, eo aptiores profecto fiunt ad supernorum mysteriorum lucem perspiciendam. Atqui luculentius fortasse hodie, quam unquam alias, terrenarum rerum levitas et inanitas cernitur, dum Regna Civitatesque corruunt, dum ingentes opes omneque genus divitiae per vasta oceani spatia submerguntur, dumque urbes, oppida, fertilesque terrae immanibus consternuntur ruinis fraternaque caede foedantur.

5. Moreover, We trust that Our exposition of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ will be acceptable and useful to those also who are without the fold of the Church, not only because their good will toward the Church seems to grow from day to day, but also because, while before their eyes nation rises up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and discord is sown everywhere together with the seeds of envy and hatred, if they turn their gaze to the Church, if they contemplate her divinely-given unity - by which all men of every race are united to Christ in the bond of brotherhood - they will be forced to admire this fellowship in charity, and with the guidance and assistance of divine grace will long to share in the same union and charity.

Ac praeterea fore confidimus ut iis etiam, qui a Catholicae Ecclesiae gremio seiuncti sunt, ea non ingrata neque inutilia evadant, quae mox sumus de mystico Iesu Christi Corpore exposituri. Idque non modo quod eorum erga Ecclesiam benevolentia in dies augeri videtur, sed quod etiam, cum iidem in praesens cernant gentem adversus gentem, Regnumque adversus Regnum exsurgere, atque in immensum excrescere discordias, invidias simultatisque semina, si ad Ecclesiam oculos convertant, si eius divinitus acceptam unitatem contemplentur — qua omnes cuiusvis stirpis homines fraterno foedere cum Christo coniunguntur — tum profecto eiusmodi caritatis coetum admirari cogentur, et ad eandem unitatem caritatemque participandam, divina adspirante iuvanteque gratia, allicientur.

6. There is a special reason too, and one most dear to Us, which recalls this doctrine to Our mind and with it a deep sense of joy. During the year that has passed since the twenty-fifth anniversary of Our Episcopal consecration, We have had the great consolation of witnessing something that has made the image of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ stand out most clearly before the whole world. Though a long and deadly war has pitilessly broken the bond of brotherly union between nations, We have seen Our children in Christ, in whatever part of the world they happened to be, one in will and affection, lift up their hearts to the common Father, who, carrying in his own heart the cares and anxieties of all, is guiding the barque of the Catholic Church int he teeth of a raging tempest. This is a testimony to the wonderful union existing among Christians; but it also proves that, as Our paternal love embraces all peoples, whatever their nationality and race, so Catholics the world over, though their countries may have drawn the sword against each other, look to the Vicar of Jesus Christ as to the loving Father of them all, who, with absolute impartiality and incorruptible judgment, rising above the conflicting gales of human passions, takes upon himself with all his strength the defence of truth, justice and charity.

Peculiaris quoque ratio est, eaque suavissima, qua huius doctrinae caput menti Nostrae occurrit eamque summopere delectat. Per elapsum scilicet annum a suscepto a Nobis Episcopatu XXV, aliquid summo solacio vidimus, quod mystici Iesu Christi Corporis imaginem in totius terrarum orbis partibus perspicue significanterque refulgere iussit. Vidimus nempe, quamvis per internecivum diuturnumque bellum fraterna gentium communitas misere diffracta esset, quotquot tamen ubique habemus in Christo filios, una omnium voluntate caritateque, animum ad communem Patrem erigere, qui, omnium sollicitudines anxitudinesque in se referens, Catholicae Ecclesiae navigio tam adversa tempestate moderatur. Qua quidem in re, non modo mirabilem christianorum coetus unitatem, sed hoc etiam testatum animadvertimus, quemadmodum Nos omnes cuiusvis nationis populos paterno amplectimur pectore, ita undique catholicos homines, e gentibus etiam inter se digladiantibus, ad Iesu Christi Vicarium, quasi ad universorum Parentem amantissimum suspicere, qui integra in utrasque partes aequabilitate incorruptoque iudicio ductus, ac turbulentas humanarum perturbationum procellas transcendensa veritatem, iustitiam, caritatemque commendet ac pro viribus tueatur.

7. We have been no less consoled to know that with spontaneous generosity a fund has been created for the erection of a church in Rome to be dedicated to our saintly predecessor and patron, Eugene I. At this temple, to be built by the wish and through the liberality of all the faithful, will be a lasting memorial of this happy event, so We desire to offer this Encyclical Letter in testimony of Our gratitude. It tells of those living stones which rest upon the living cornerstone, which is Christ, and are built together into a holy temple, far surpassing any temple built by hands, into a habitation of God in the Spirit. ⁴

Nec minus solacii id attulit, quod novimus ultro libenterque fuisse stipem corrogatam, qua sacra aedes Romae excitari queat sanctissimo Decessori Nostro ac nominali Praestiti Eugenio I dicanda. Ut igitur hoc templo, christifidelium omnium voluntatibus largitionibusque excitando, faustissimi huius eventus erit memoria perennanda, ita cupimus ut grati animi Nostri testimonium per Encyclicas has Litteras exhibeatur, in quibus res est de vivis illis lapidibus, qui superaedificati lapidi vivo angulari, qui Christus est, coaedificantur in templum sanctum, quovis templo manibus constructo longe excelsius, in habitaculum videlicet Dei in Spiritu (cfr. Eph. 2, 21-22; I Petr. 2, 5).

8. But the chief reason for Our present exposition of this sublime doctrine is Our solicitude for the souls entrusted to Us. Much indeed has been written on this subject; and We know that many today are turning with greater zest to a study which delights and nourishes Christian piety. This, it would seem, is chiefly because a revived interest in the sacred liturgy, the more widely spread custom of frequent Communion, and the more fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus practiced today, have brought many souls to a deeper consideration of the unsearchable riches of Christ which are preserved in the Church. Moreover, recent pronouncements on Catholic Action, by drawing closer the bonds of union between Christians and between them and the ecclesiastical hierarchy and especially the Roman Pontiff, have undoubtedly helped not a little to place this truth in its proper light. Nevertheless, while We can derive legitimate joy from these considerations, We must confess that grave errors with regard to this doctrine are being spread among those outside the true Church, and that among the faithful, also, inaccurate or thoroughly false ideas are being disseminated which turn minds aside from the straight path of truth.

Pastoralis autem sollicitudo Nostra potissimum in causa est, cur Nos in praesens hac de excelsa doctrina enucleate satis pertractemus. M ulta siquidem hac super re in lucem prolata sunt; neque ignoramus non paucos hodie actuosiore voluntate ad haec studia converti, quibus etiam christianorum pietas delectatur et alitur. Quod quidem inde praesertim repetendum esse videtur, quod et renovatum sacrae liturgiae studium, et frequentius in morem inducta Eucharistici pabuli perceptio, et impensior denique sacratissimi Cordis Iesu cultus, quo hodie laetamur, ad altiorem contemplationem investigabilium divitiarum Christi, quae in Ecclesia adservantur, multorum animos adduxerint. Accedit quod, quae de Catholica Actione postremis hisce temporibus prodiere documenta, quandoquidem christianorum inter se et cum ecclesiastica hierarchia, imprimisque cum Romano Pontifice, magis magisque adstrinxere nexus, ad hanc causam in sua luce ponendam haud parum procul dubio contulere. Nihilo secius, si de his, quae supra attigimus, iure meritoque gaudere possumus, diffitendum tamen non est, non modo ab iis, qui sunt a vera Ecclesia disiuncti, graves, ad hanc doctrinam quod attinet disseminari errores, sed inter christifideles etiam vel minus accuratas, vel omnino falsas serpere sententias, quae quidem mentes e recto veritatis tramite abducant.

9. For while there still survives a false rationalism, which ridicules anything that transcends and defies the power of human genius, and which is accompanied by a cognate error, the so-called popular naturalism, which sees and wills to see in the Church nothing but a juridical and social union, there is on the other hand a false mysticism creeping in, which, in its attempt to eliminate the immovable frontier that separates creatures from their Creator, falsifies the Sacred Scriptures.

Dum enim ex una parte commenticius perdurat rationalismus, qui per absurdum reputat, quidquid transcendat atque evincat humani ingenii vires, dumque eidem comitatur cognatum erroris genus, naturalismum vulgarem quem vocant, qui in Ecclesia Christi, nihil aliud nisi vincula mere iuridica et socialia nec videt, nec cernere vult; ex altera parte falsus subrepit mysticismus, qui immobiles limites removere conatus inter creatas res earumque Creatorem, Sacras Litteras adulterat.

10. As a result of these conflicting and mutually antagonistic schools of thought, some through vain fear, look upon so profound a doctrine as something dangerous, and so they shrink from it as from the beautiful but forbidden fruit of paradise. But this is not so. Mysteries revealed by God cannot be harmful to men, nor should they remain as treasures hidden in a field, useless. They have been given from on high precisely to help the spiritual progress of those who study them in a spirit of piety. For, as the Vatican Council teaches, “reason illumined by faith, if it seeks earnestly, piously and wisely, does attain under God, to a certain and most helpful knowledge of mysteries, by considering their analogy with what it knows naturally, and their mutual relations, and their common relations with man’s last end,” although, as the same holy Synod observes, reason, even thus illumined, “is never capable of understanding those mysteries as it does those truths which forms its proper object.” ⁵

Haec autem contraria sibique invicem adversantia ac falsa commenta id efficiunt, ut quidam inani quodam timore perculsi, altiorem eiusmodi doctrinam utpote periculosum quiddam considerent, atque adeo ab ea tamquam a pulchro, sed prohibito Paradisi pomo abhorreant. Haud recte id sane: non enim revelata a Deo mysteria exitialia hominibus esse possunt, nec instar thesauri in agro absconditi, infructuosa permanere debent; sed idcirco divinitus data sunt, ut pie contemplantium ad spiritualem conferant profectum. Nam, ut Vaticana Synodus docet, « ratio fide illustrata, cum sedulo pie et sobrie quaerit, aliquam Deo dante mysteriorum intelligentiam eamque fructuosissimam assequitui, tum ex eorum, quae naturaliter cognoscit analogia, tum e mysteriorum nexu inter se et cum fine hominis ultimo »; quamquam eadem, ut ipsa sacra Synodus admonet, « numquam idonea redditur ad ea perspicienda instar veritatum, quae proprium ipsius obiectum constituunt» (Sessio III Const. de fide cath. c. 4).

11. After pondering all this long and seriously before God We consider it part of Our pastoral duty to explain to the entire flock of Christ through this Encyclical Letter the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ and of the union in this Body of the faithful with the divine Redeemer; and then, from this consoling doctrine, to draw certain lessons that will make a deeper study of this mystery bear yet richer fruits of perfection and holiness. Our purpose is to throw an added ray of glory on the supreme beauty of the Church; to bring out into fuller light the exalted supernatural nobility of the faithful who in the Body of Christ are united with their Head; and finally, to exclude definitely the many current errors with regard to this matter.

Quibus omnibus coram Deo mature perpensis: ut suroma Ecclesiae pulchritudo nova gloria affulgeat; ut fidelium qui in Christi Corpore cum Capite suo coniunguntur, nobilitas eximia supraque naturam elata luculentius innotescat : ut denique multiplicibus erroribus in hanc rem penitus claudatur aditus, Nos pastoralis Nostri officii partes duximus universo christiano gregi per Encyclicas has Litteras doctrinam proponere de mystico Iesu Christi Corpore deque fidelium in eodem Corpore cum divino Redemptore coniunctione; simulque ex suavissima eadem doctrina documenta quaedam proferre, quibus altior mysterii huius investigatio uberiores usque edat perfectionis sanctitatisque fructus.

12. When one reflects on the origin of this doctrine, there come to mind at once the words of the Apostle: “Where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” ⁶ All know that the father of the whole human race was constituted by God in so exalted a state that he was to hand on to his posterity, together with earthly existence, the heavenly life of divine grace. But after the unhappy fall of Adam, the whole human race, infected by the hereditary stain, lost their participation in the divine nature, ⁷ and we were all “children of wrath.” ⁸ But the all-merciful God “so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son,” ⁹ and the Word of the Eternal Father with the same divine love assumed human nature from the race of Adam - but as an innocent and spotless nature - so that He, as the new Adam, might be the source whence the grace of the Holy Spirit should flow unto all the children of the first parent. Through the sin of the first man they had been excluded from adoption as children of God; through the Word incarnate, made brothers according to the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God, they receive also the power to become the sons of God. ¹⁰ As He hung upon the Cross, Christ Jesus not only appeased the justice of the Eternal Father which had been violated, but He also won for us, His brethren, an ineffable flow of graces. It was possible for Him of Himself to impart these graces to mankind directly; but He willed to do so only through a visible Church made up of men, so that through her all might cooperate with Him in dispensing the graces of Redemption. As the Word of God willed to make use of our nature, when in excruciating agony He would redeem mankind, so in the same way throughout the centuries He makes use of the Church that the work begun might endure. ¹¹

Meditantibus nobis huius doctrinae caput Apostoli verba principio occurrunt: « Ubi abundavit delictum, superabundavit gratia » (Rom. 5, 20). Constat siquidem totius humani generis parentem in tam excelsa fuisse a Deo condicione constitutum, ut una cum terrena supernam posteris traderet caelestis gratiae vitam. Attamen post miserum Adae casum, universa hominum stirps, hereditaria labe infecta, divinae naturae consortium (cfr. 2 Petr. 1, 4) amisit, omnesque facti sumus filii irae (Eph. 2, 3). Sed miserentissimus Deus « sic . . . dilexit mundum, ut Filium suum unigenitum daret » (Io. 3, 16), et Verbum Aeterni Patris una eadem divina dilectione sibi ex Adae progenie humanam assumpsit naturam, innocentem tamen omnique labe expertem, ut ex novo ac caelesti Ada Spiritus Sancti gratia in omnes protoparentis filios deflueret; qui quidem cum fuissent per peccatum primi hominis divinae subolis adoptione privati, per Incarnatum Verbum, fratres secundum carnem effecti Filii Dei Unigeniti, potestatem acciperent, qua filii Dei fierent (cfr. Io. 1, 12). Atque adeo pendens e Cruce Christus Iesus non modo violatam resarsit Aeterni Patris iustitiam, sed ineffabilem nobis consanguineis suis gratiarum copiam promeruit. Quam directo per se ipse universo humano generi dilargiri potuerat; voluit tamen per adspectabilem, in quam homines coalescerent Ecclesiam, ut per eam omnes in divinis impertiendis Redemptionis fructibus sociam quodammodo sibi operam praestarent. Sicut enim Dei Verbum, ut doloribus cruciatibusque suis homines redimeret, nostra voluit natura uti, eodem fere modo per saeculorum decursum utitur Ecclesia sua, ut inceptum opus perennet (cfr. Conc. Vat. Const. de Eccl. prol.).

13. If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church ¹² - we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression “the Mystical Body of Christ” - an expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the Holy Fathers.

Iamvero ad definiendam describendamque hanc veracem Christi Ecclesiam — quae sanctā, catholica, apostolica, Romana Ecclesia est — (cfr. ibidem Const. de fid. cath. cap. i) nihil nobilius, nihil praestantius, nihil denique divinius invenitur sententia illa, qua eadem nuncupatur « mysticum Iesu Christi Corpus »; quae quidem sententia ex iis effluit ac veluti efflorescit, quae et in Sacris Litteris et in sanctorum Patrum scriptis crebro proponuntur.

14. That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. “Christ,” says the Apostle, “is the Head of the Body of the Church.” ¹³ If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: “Though many we are one body in Christ.” ¹⁴ But it is not enough that the Body of the Church should be an unbroken unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: “the Church is visible because she is a body. ¹⁵ Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely “pneumatological” as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are untied by an invisible bond.

Ecclesiam esse corpus saepe Sacra Eloquia praedicant. « Christus, inquit Apostolus, est Caput Corporis Ecclesiae » (Col. 1, 18). Quodsi corpus est Ecclesia, unum quiddam et indivisum sit oportet secundum illud Pauli : « Multi unum corpus sumus in Christo »(Rom. 12, 5). Nec solumrnodo unum quiddam et indivisum esse debet, sed aliquid etiam concretum ac perspicibile, ut Decessor Noster fel. rec. Leo XIII in Encyclicis Litteris Satis cognitum affirmat :« Propter eam rem quod corpus est, oculis cernitur Ecclesia » (cfr. A. S. S. XXVIII p. 710). Quapropter a divina veritate ii aberrant, qui Ecclesiam ita effingunt, ut neque attingi neque videri possit, sitque tantum «pneumaticum » aliquid, ut aiunt, quo multae Christianorum communitates, licet fide ab se invicem seiunctae, inter se tamen haud adspectabili nexu coniungantur.

15. But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body.

At corpus multitudinem quoque membrorum exigit, quae ita inter se connectantur, ut mutuo sibi auxilio veniant. Et quemadmodum in mortali concretione nostra cum membrum dolet, cetera omnia condolescunt; et quae sana sunt aegrotantibus suppetias veniunt: ita in Ecclesia singula membra non sibi unice vivunt, sed aliis quoque opitulantur, atque omnia sibi invicem adiutricem operam praestant, cum ad mutuam consolationem, tum ad ampliorem usque aedificationem totius Corporis.

16. Again, as in nature a body is not formed by any haphazard grouping of members but must be constituted of organs, that is of members, that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is constituted by the coalescence of structurally untied parts, and that it has a variety of members reciprocally dependent. It is thus the Apostle describes the Church when he writes: “As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.” ¹⁶

Ac praeterea sicut in natura rerum non ex qualibet membrorum congerie constituitur corpus, sed organis, uti aiunt, instructum sit oportet, seu membris, quae non eundem actum habeant ac sint apto ordine compossta : ita Ecclesia ea maxime de causa Corpus dicenda est, quod recta eonsentaneaque coalescit partium temperatione coagmentationeque, ac diversis est sibique invicem congruentibus membris instructa. Nec aliter Apostolus Ecclesiam describit, cum dicit :« Sicut . . . in uno corpore multa membra habemus, omnia autem membra non eundem actum habent, ita multi unum corpus sumus in Christo, singuli autem alter alterius membra » (Rom. 12, 4).

17. One must not think, however, that this ordered or “organic” structure of the body of the Church contains only hierarchical elements and with them is complete; or, as an opposite opinion holds, that it is composed only of those who enjoy charismatic gifts - though members gifted with miraculous powers will never be lacking in the Church. That those who exercise sacred power in this Body are its chief members must be maintained uncompromisingly. It is through them, by commission of the Divine Redeemer Himself, that Christ’s apostolate as Teacher, King and Priest is to endure. At the same time, when the Fathers of the Church sing the praises of this Mystical Body of Christ, with its ministries, its variety of ranks, its officers, it conditions, its orders, its duties, they are thinking not only of those who have received Holy Orders, but of all those too, who, following the evangelical counsels, pass their lives either actively among men, or hidden in the silence of the cloister, or who aim at combining the active and contemplative life according to their Institute; as also of those who, though living in the world, consecrate themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual or corporal works of mercy, and of those in the state of holy matrimony. Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in our days, fathers and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honorable, if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never be wanting to the Church.

Minime autem reputandum est hanc ordine digestam, seu « organicam », ut aiunt, Ecclesiae Corporis structuram solis hierarchiae gradibus absolvi ac definiri; vel, ut opposita sententia tenet, unice ex charismaticis constare; qui quidem donis prodigialibus instructi, numquam sunt in Ecclesia defuturi. Omnino utique retinendum est, qui sacra potestate in eiusmodi Corpore fruantur, primaria eos ac principalia membra exsistere, cum per eosdem, ex ipso Divini Redemptoris mandato, munera Christi doctoris, regis, sacerdotis perennia fiant.. Attamen iure meritoque Ecclesiae Patres, cum huius Corporis ministeria, gradus, professiones, status, ordines, officia dilaudant, non eos tantum prae oculis habent, qui sacris fuerint ordinibus initiati; sed eos quoque omnes, qui evangelica consilia amplexi, vel operosam inter homines, vel umbratilem in silentio vitam agant, vel utrumque pro peculiari instituto suo efficere contendant; eosque etiam, qui licet in saeculo vivant, actuosa tamen voluntate misericordiae operibus se dedant, sive animis, sive corporibus iuvandis; ac denique eos quoque, qui casto sint connubio coniugati. Quin imo animadvertendum est, in praesentibus potissimum rerum condicionibus, patres matresque familias, ac patres matresque ex baptismate, eosque nominatim, qui ex laicorum ordine ad Divini Redemptoris regnum dilatandum adiutricem ecclesiasticae hierarchiae operam navent, honorificum, etiamsi saepenumero humilem, in christiana societate obtinere locum; ac vel eos posse, adspirante faventeque Deo, ad sanctitudinis culmen ascendere, numquam in Ecclesia ex Iesu Christi promissionibus defuturum.

18. Now we see that the human body is given the proper means to provide for its own life, health and growth, and for that of all its members. Similarly, the Savior of mankind out of His infinite goodness has provided in a wonderful way for His Mystical Body, endowing it with the Sacraments, so that, as though by an uninterrupted series of graces, its members should be sustained from birth to death, and that generous provision might be made for the social needs of the Church. Through the waters of Baptism those who are born into this world dead in sin are not only born again and made members of the Church, but being stamped with a spiritual seal they become able and fit to receive the other Sacraments. By the chrism of Confirmation, the faithful are given added strength to protect and defend the Church, their Mother, and the faith she has given them. In the Sacrament of Penance a saving medicine is offered for the members of the Church who have fallen into sin, not only to provide for their own health, but to remove from other members of the Mystical Body all danger of contagion, or rather to afford them an incentive to virtue, and the example of a virtuous act.

Sicut autem humanum corpus propriis instrumentis ornatum cernitur, quibus vitae, sanitati, ac sui ipsius singulorumque membrorum incremento consulat: sic humani generis Servator ex infinita bonitate sua Corpori suo mystico mirum in modum prospexit, illud sacramentis ditando, quibus membra quasi per non intermissos gratiarum gradus, ab incunabulis ad extremum usque halitum sustentarentur, itemque socialibus totius Corporis necessitatibus uberrime provideretur. Siquidem per lustralis aquae lavacrum non modo qui sunt mortali huic vitae nati, ex peccati morte renascuntur et Ecclesiae constituuntur membra, sed spirituali etiam charactere insigniti capaces aptique fiunt ad cetera suscipienda munera sacra. Confirmationis vero chrismate credentibus novum robur inditur, ut Ecclesiam Matrem et quam ad ea acceperint fidem, strenue tueantur ac defendant. Per Paenitentiae autem Sacramentum Ecclesiae membris, in peccatum lapsis, salutaris praebetur medicina, non solum ut ipsorum saluti consulatur, sed ut ab aliis etiam mystici Corporis membris contagionis periculurn removeatur, immo potius virtutis iisdem praestetur incitamentum atque exemplum

19. Nor is that all; for in the Holy Eucharist the faithful are nourished and strengthened at the same banquet and by a divine, ineffable bond are united with each other and with the Divine Head of the whole Body. Finally, like a devoted mother, the Church is at the bedside of those who are sick unto death; and if it be not always God’s will that by the holy anointing she restore health to the mortal body, nevertheless she administers spiritual medicine to the wounded soul and sends new citizens to heaven - to be her new advocates - who will enjoy forever the happiness of God.

. Neque id satis; nam per sacram Eucharistiam fideles uno eodemque epulo enutriuntur ac roborantur, atque inter se et cum divino totius Corporis Capite ineffabili ac divino copulantur vinculo. Ac postremo hominibus ad mortem oblanguescentibus praesto est pia Mater Ecclesia, quae per sacram infirmorum unctionem, si non semper mortalis huius corporis sanitatem, ita volente Deo, impertit, supernam tamen sauciatis animis medicinam praestat, ut novos cives novosque sibi datos praestites coelo transmittat, divina bonitate omne per aevum fruituros.

20. For the social needs of the Church Christ has provided in a particular way by the institution of two other Sacraments. Through Matrimony, in which the contracting parties are ministers of grace to each other, provision is made for the external and duly regulated increase of Christian society, and, what is of greater importance, for the correct religious education of the children, without which this Mystical Body would be in grave danger. Through Holy Orders men are set aside and consecrated to God, to offer the Sacrifice of the Eucharistic Victim, to nourish the flock of the faithful with the Bread of Angels and the food of doctrine, to guide them in the way of God’s commandments and counsels and to strengthen them with all other supernatural helps.

Ac peculiari modo Christus socialibus Ecclesiae necessitatibus per duo instituta ab se sacramenta consuluit. Matrimonio enim, quo coniuges sibi invicem sunt ministri gratiae, externo Christianae consortionis providetur ordinatoque incremento; et quod maius est, rectae etiam religiosaeque subolis educationi, sine qua mysticum eiusmodi Corpus gravissimum in discrimen vocaretur. Sacro autem Ordine ii Deo mancipantur ac consecrantur, qui Eucharisticam Hostiam immolent, qui fidelium gregem Angelorum Pane et doctrinae pabulo enutriant, qui divinis eum praeceptis consiliisque dirigant, qui ceteris denique supernis muneribus confirment.

21. In this connection it must be borne in mind that, as God at the beginning of time endowed man’s body with most ample power to subject all creatures to himself, and to increase and multiply and fill the earth, so at the beginning of the Christian era, He supplied the Church with the means necessary to overcome the countless dangers and to fill not only the whole world but the realms of heaven as well.

Quam ad rem animadvertendum est, quemadmodum Deus initio temporis hominem ditissimo corporis apparatu instruxit, quo creatas res sibi subiceret, ac multiplicatus repleret terram, ita eum christiani aevi exordio necessariis opibus comparasse Ecclesiam, ut, pene innumeris superatis periculis, non modo universum terrarum orbem, sed caelestia quoque repleret regna.

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. “For in one spirit” says the Apostle, “were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free.” ¹⁷ As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. ¹⁸ And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. ¹⁹ It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

In Ecclesiae autem membris reapse ii soli annumerandi sunt, qui regenerationis lavacrum receperunt veramque fidem profitentur, neque a Corporis compage semet ipsos misere separarunt, vel ob gravissima admissa a legitima auctoritate seiuncti sunt. « Etenim in uno Spiritu, ait Apostolus, omnes nos in unum Corpus baptizati sumus, sive Iudaei, sive Gentiles, sive servi, sive liberi » (1 Cor. 12, 13). Sicut igitur in vero christifidelium coetu unum tantummomdo habetur Corpus, unus Spiritus, unus Dominus et unum Baptisma, sic haberi non potest nisi una fides (cfr. Eph. 4, 5); atque adeo qui Ecclesiam audire renuerit, iubente Domino habendus est ut ethnicus et publicanus (cfr. Matth. 18, 17). Quamobrem qui fide vel regimine invicem dividuntur, in uno eiusmodi Corpore, atque uno eius divino Spiritu vivere nequeunt.

23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior’s infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet. ²⁰ For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.

Neque existimandum est Ecclesiae Corpus, idcirco quod Christi nomine insigniatur, hoc etiam terrenae peregrinationis tempore, ex membris tantummodo sanctitate praestantibus constare, vel ex solo eorum coetu exsistere, qui a Deo sint ad sempiternam felicitatem praedestinati. Id enim est infinitae Servatoris nostri misericordiae tribuendum, quod heic in mystico suo Corpore iis locum non deneget, quibus olim in convivio locum non denegaverit (cfr. Matth. 9, 11; Marc. 2, 16; Luc. 15, 2). Siquidem non omne admissum, etsi grave scelus, eiusmodi est ut — sicut schisma, vel haeresis, vel apostasia faciunt — suapte natura hominem ab Ecclesiae Corpore separet. Neque ab iis omnis vita recedit, qui licet caritatem divinamque gratiam peccando amiserint, atque adeo superni promeriti iam non capaces evaserint, fidem tamen christianamque spem retinent, ac caelesti luce collustrati, intimis Spiritus Sancti suasionibus impulsionibusque ad salutarem instigantur timorem, et ad precandum suique lapsus paenitendum divinitus excitantur.

24. Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a weak member of Jesus Christ. For, as the Bishop of Hippo remarks, it is better “to be cured within the Church’s community than to be cut off from its body as incurable members.” ²¹ “As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be neither cured nor healed.” ²²

Horreat igitur omnium animus peccatum, quo mystica maculantur Redemptoris membra; sed qui misere delimquerit, nec contumacia sese indignum reddiderit christifidelium communione, summo excipiatur amore, in eoque actuosa caritate conspiciatur infirmum Iesu Christi membrum. Praestat enim, ut Hipponensis Episcopus animadvertit, « in Ecclesiae compage sanari, quam ex illius corpore voluti insanabilia membra resecari » (S. Aug. Epist. 157, 3, 22 — Migne PL 33 col. 686). Quidquid enim adhuc haeret corpori, non desperatae sanitatis est; quod autem praecisum fuerit, nec curari nec sanari potest » (S. Aug. Serm. 137, i Migne PL 38 col. 754).

25. In the course of the present study, Venerable Brethren, we have thus far seen that the Church is so constituted that it may be likened to a body. We must now explain clearly and precisely why it is to be called not merely a body, but the Body of Jesus Christ. This follows from the fact that our Lord is the Founder, the Head, the Support and the Savior of this Mystical Body.

Usque adhuc edisserendo vidimus, Venerabiles Fratres, ita constitutam esse Ecclesiam, ut corpori adsimulari queat; superest in praesens ut enucleate accurateque explanemus quibus de causis eadem non qualecumque corpus, sed Iesu Christi Corpus praedicanda sit. Quod quidem ex eo eruitur quod Dominus Noster mystici huius Corporis est Conditor, Caput, Sustentator, Servator.

26. As We set out briefly to expound in what sense Christ founded His social Body, the following thought of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, occurs to Us at once: “The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed Herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost.” ²³ For the Divine Redeemer began the building of the mystical temple of the Church when by His preaching He made known His Precepts; He completed it when he hung glorified on the Cross; and He manifested and proclaimed it when He sent the Holy Ghost as Paraclete in visible form on His disciples.

Exposituris breviter, qua ratione Christus sociale Corpus suum condiderit, principio haec Nobis occurrit Decessoris Nostri fel. rec. Leonis XIII sententia : « Ecclesiae, quae iam concepta, ex latere ipso secundi Adami, velut in Cruce dormientis, orta erat, sese in lucem hominum insigni modo primitus dedit die celeberrima Pentecostes » (Encycl. Divinum illud: A. A. S. XXIX p. 649). Divinus enim Redemptor mystici Ecclesiae templi aedificationem tum inchoavit, cum concionando sua tradidit praecepta; tum consummavit, cum clarificatus e Cruce pependit; ac tum denique manifestavit promulgavitque, cum adspectabili modo Paraclitum Spiritum in discipulos misit.

27. For while fulfilling His office as preacher He chose Apostles, sending them as He had been sent by the Father ²⁴ - namely, as teachers, rulers, instruments of holiness in the assembly of the believers; He appointed their Chief and His Vicar on earth; ²⁵ He made known to them all things and whatsoever He had heard from His Father; ²⁶ He also determined that through Baptism ²⁷ those who should believe would be incorporated in the Body of the Church; and finally, when He came to the close of His life, He instituted at the Last Supper the wonderful Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Dum nimirum concionatoris munus obibat, Apostolos elegebat, mittens eos sicut ipse erat missus a Patre (Io. 17, 18), doctores nempe, rectores, sanctitatisque effectores in credentium coetu; eorum Principem suumque in terris Vicarium indicabat (cfr. Matth.16, 18-19); omnia, quae audierat a Patre, eis nota faciebat (Io. 15, 15 coll. 17, 8 et 14); Baptismum quoque designabat (cfr. Io. 3, 5), quo credituri Ecclesiae Corpori insererentur; ac tandem ad vitae vesperam cum pervenisset, novissimam celebrans coenam, Eucharistiam, mirabile sacrificium mirabileque sacramentum, instituebat.

28. That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living. ²⁸ “And it is now,” says the great St. Ambrose, speaking of the pierced side of Christ, “that it is built, it is now that it is formed, it is now that it is...molded, it is now that it is created... Now it is that arises a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.” ²⁹ One who reverently examines this venerable teaching will easily discover the reasons on which it is based.

Opus autem suum in Crucis patibulo consummavisse, haud interrupta Sanctorum Patrum testimonia asseverant, qui quidem animadvertunt in Cruce Ecclesiam e latere Salvatoris esse natam instar novae Evae, matris omnium viventium (cfr. Gen. 3, 20). « Et nunc, ita magnus Ambrosius de latere Christi perforato agens, aedificatur, et nunc formatur, et nunc . . . figuratur, et nunc creatur . . . Nunc domus spiritalis surgit in sacerdotium sanctum » (S. Ambros. In Luc. 2, 87 — Migne PL 15 col. 1585). Quam venerandam doctrinam qui religiose perscrutatus fuerit, haud difficulter rationes, quibus eadem innititur, cernere poterit.

29. And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments, institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of Jesus Christ. For, while our Divine Savior was preaching in a restricted area - He was not sent but to the sheep that were lost of the House of Israel ³⁰ - the Law and the Gospel were together in force; ³¹ but on the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees ³² fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, ³³ establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. ³⁴ “To such an extent, then,” says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, “was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from the many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as Our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom.” ³⁵

Et primo quidem Redemptoris morte, Legi Veteri abolitae Novum Testamentum successit ; tunc Lex Christi una cum suis mysteriis, legibus, institutis, ac sacris ritibus pro universo terrarum orbe sancita est Iesu Christi sanguine. Nam, dum Divinus Servator in angusto territorio concionabatur — non enim erat missus nisi ad oves quae perierant domus Israel (cfr. Matth. 15, 24) — simul currebant Lex et Evangelium (cfr. S. Thom. 1ª 2^ae q. 103 a. 3 ad 2); in suae autem mortis patibulo Iesus Legem cum decretis suis evacuavit (cfr. Eph. 2, 15), chirographum Antiqui Testamenti Cruci affixit (cfr. Col. 2, 14), in sanguine suo, pro universo humano genere profuso, Novum Testamentum constituens (cfr. Matth. 26, 28 et I Cor. 11, 25). « Adeo tunc, ita S. Leo Magnus de Cruce Domini verba faciens, a Lege ad Evangelium, a Synagoga ad Ecclesiam, a multis sacrificiis ad unam hostiam evidens facta est translatio, ut emittente spiritum Domino velum illud mysticum, quod templi penetralia sanctumque secretum suo intercludebat obiectu, a summo usque ad imum vi subita scinderetur » (S. Leo Magnus Serm. 68, 3 - Migne PL 54 col. 374).

30. On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death, ³⁶ in order to give way to the New Testament of which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers; ³⁷ and although He had been constituted the Head of the whole human family in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, it is by the power of the Cross that our Savior exercises fully the office itself of Head of His Church. “For it was through His triumph on the Cross,” according to the teaching of the Angelic and Common Doctor, “that He won power and dominion over the gentiles”; ³⁸ by that same victory He increased the immense treasure of graces, which, as He reigns in glory in heaven, He lavishes continually on His mortal members; it was by His blood shed on the Cross that God’s anger was averted and that all the heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession of His Church, that is, of all the members of His Mystical Body; for they would not have been untied to this Mystical Body through the waters of Baptism except by the salutary virtue of the Cross, by which they had been already brought under the complete sway of Christ.

In Cruce igitur Lex Vetus mortua est, mox sepelienda et mortifera futura (cfr. S. Hier. et S. Aug. Epist. 112, 14 et 116, 16 — Migne PL 22 col. 924 et 943 ; S. Thom.1ª 2^ae q. 103 a. 3 ad 2, a. 4 ad I; Concil. Flor. pro Iacob — Mansi 31, 1738), ut Novo Testamento locum cederet, cuius quidem Christus idoneos ministros Apostolos elegerat (cfr. 2 Cor. 3, 6) : atque e Crucis virtute Servator noster, etsi iam in utero Virginis Caput totius humanae familiae constitutus, ipsum Capitis munus in Ecclesia sua plenissime exercet. « Per Crucis enim victoriam, ex Angelici Communisque Doctoris sententia, meruit potestatem et dominium super gentes », (cfr. S. Thom. 3ª q. 42 a. I): per eandem in immenmsum nobis auxit thesaurum illum gratiarum, quas gloriosus regnans in caelo, membris suis mortalibus nulla intermissiomne elargitur; per sanguinem in Cruce profusum id effecit, ut divinae irae remoto obice, omnia caelestia dona imprimismque spiritualia Novi et Aeterni Testamenti munera e fonmtibus Servatoris in salutem hominum, maximeque fidelium, effluere possent; in arbore Crucis denique sibi suam acquimsivit Ecclesiam, hoc est omnia mystici sui Corporis memmbra, quippe quae per Baptismatis lavacrum mystico huic Corpori non coagmentarentur, nisi ex salutifera virtute Crumcis, in qua quidem iam plenissimae Christi ditionis facta essent.

31. But if our Savior, by His death, became, in the full and complete sense of the word, the Head of the Church, it was likewise through His blood that the Church was enriched with the fullest communication of the Holy Spirit, through which, from the time when the Son of Man was lifted up and glorified on the Cross by His sufferings, she is divinely illumined. For then, as Augustine notes, ³⁹ with the rending of the veil of the temple it happened that the dew of the Paraclete’s gifts, which heretofore had descended only on the fleece, that is on the people of Israel, fell copiously and abundantly (while the fleece remained dry and deserted) on the whole earth, that is on the Catholic Church, which is confined by no boundaries of race or territory. Just as at the first moment of the Incarnation the Son of the Eternal Father adorned with the fullness of the Holy Spirit the human nature which was substantially united to Him, that it might be a fitting instrument of the Divinity in the sanguinary work of the Redemption, so at the hour of His precious death He willed that His Church should be enriched with the abundant gifts of the Paraclete in order that in dispensing the divine fruits of the Redemption she might be, for the Incarnate Word, a powerful instrument that would never fail. For both the juridical mission of the Church, and the power to teach, govern and administer the Sacraments, derive their supernatural efficacy and force for the building up of the Body of Christ from the fact that Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.

Quodsi morte sua Servator noster, plena atque integra verbi significatione, factus est Ecclesiae Caput: haud secus Ecclesia per sanguinem eius uberrima illa Spiritus commmunicatione ditata est, qua quidem, inde a « Filio hominis » in suum dolorum patibulum elato ibique clarificato, divinitus illustratur. Tunc enim, ut Augustinus animadvertit ( cfr. De pecc. orig. 25, 29 — Migne PL 44 col. 400), conscisso templi velo factum est, ut ros charismatum Paracliti, qui eo usque descenderat in solum vellus, hoc est in populum Israel, large abundanterque, exsiccato et relicto vellere, universam terram, Catholicam scilicet Ecclesiam irrigaret, quae nullis vel stirpis, vel territorii finibus terminaretur. Sicut igitur primo incarnationis momento, Aeterni Patris Filius humanam naturam sibi substantialiter unitam Sancti Spiritus plenitudine ornavit, ut aptum divinitatis instrumentum esset in cruento Redemptionis opere : ita pretiosae suae mortis hora Ecclesiam suam uberioribus Paracliti muneribus ditatam voluit, ut in divinis Redemptionis fructibus impertiendis validum evaderet incarnati Verbi instrumentum, numquam utique defuturum. Iuridica enim, quam vocant, Ecclesiae missio, ac docendi, gubernandi samcramentaque administrandi potestas, idcirco ad aedificandum Christi Corpus supernam vim habent atque vigorem, quod Christus Iesus e Cruce pendens Ecclesiae suae divinorum munerum fontem aperuit, quibus et fallentem numquam doctrinam homines docere posset, et eos per divinitus illuminatos Pastores salutariter regere, ac caelestium gratiarum imbre perfundere.

32. If we consider closely all these mysteries of the Cross, those words of the Apostle are no longer obscure, in which he teaches the Ephesians that Christ, by His blood, made the Jews and Gentiles one “breaking down the middle wall of partition...in his flesh” by which the two peoples were divided; and that He made the Old Law void “that He might make the two in Himself into one new man,” that is, the Church, and might reconcile both to God in one Body by the Cross.” ⁴⁰

Quodsi haec omnia Crucis mysteria attente consideramus, iam ea non obscura nobis sunt Apostoli verba, quibus docet Ephesios, Christum sanguine suo Iudaeos et Gentes unum fecisse, « medium parietem . . . solvens . . . in carne sua », quo duo populi dividebantur; itemque Legem Veterem evacuasse, e ut duos conderet in semetipso in unum novum hominem », Ecclesiam videlicet : et ambos in uno Corpore reconciliaret Deo per Crucem (cfr. Eph. 2, 14-16).

33. The Church which He founded by His Blood, He strengthened on the Day of Pentecost by a special power, given from heaven. For, having solemnly installed in his exalted office him whom He had already nominated as His Vicar, He had ascended into Heaven; and sitting now at the right hand of the Father He wished to make known and proclaim His Spouse through the visible coming of the Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of fire. ⁴¹ For just as He Himself when He began to preach was made known by His Eternal Father through the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him in the form of a dove, ⁴² so likewise, as the Apostles were about to enter upon their ministry of preaching, Christ our Lord sent the Holy Spirit down from Heaven, to touch them with tongues of fire and to point out, as by the finger of God, the supernatural mission and office of the Church.

Quam autem sanguine suo condidit Ecclesiam, eam Pentecostes die peculiari virtute, caelitus delapsa, roboravit. Siquidem, in excelso suo munere sollemniter eo constituto, quem suum iam antea designaverat Vicarium, caelum ascenderat; ac sedens ad Patris dexteram, Sponsam suam adspectabili Spiritus Sancti adventu; cum sonitu flaminis vehementis ignitisque linguis (cfr. Act. 2, 1-4), manifestare ac promulgare voluit. Nam, sicut ipse, cum concionandi munus inchoaret, ab Aeterno Patre suo per Spiritum Sanctum, sub specie columbae descendentem manentemque super eum (cfr. Luc. 3, 22: Marc, I, 10), manifestatus est; ita pariter, dum Apostoli sacrum concionandi officium inituri erant, Christus Dominus suum e caelo demisit Spiritum, qui eosdem per flammeas linguas attingens, supernam Ecclesiae missionem supernumque munus veluti divino digito indicaret.

34. That this Mystical Body which is the Church should be called Christ’s is proved in the second place from the fact that He must be universally acknowledged as its actual Head. “He,” as St. Paul says, “is the Head of the Body, the Church.” ⁴³ He is the Head from whom the whole body perfectly organized, “groweth and maketh increase unto the edifying of itself.” ⁴⁴

Secundo autem loco, hoc mysticum Corpus, quod est Ecclesia, Christi nomine insigniri ex eo evincitur, quod ipse eiusdem Caput reapse sit ab omnibus habendus. « Ipse, ut inquit Paulus, est Caput Corporis Ecclesiae » (Col. 1, 18). Ipse est Caput, ex quo totum Corpus congruo ordine compositum, succrescit et augmentum facit in aedificationem sui (cfr. Eph. 4, 16 coll. Col.II, 19).

35. You are familiar, Venerable Brethren, with the admirable and luminous language used by the masters of Scholastic Theology and chiefly by the Angelic and Common Doctor, when treating this question; and you know that the reasons advanced by Aquinas are a faithful reflection of the mind and writings of the Holy Fathers, who moreover merely repeated and commented on the inspired word of Sacred Scripture.

Exploratum habetis, Venerabiles Fratres, quibus luculentissimis sententiarum luminibus Scholasticae Theologiae Magistri, ac praecipue Angelicus Communisque Doctor, hac de re disputaverint; vobisque profecto est cognitum prolata ab eo argumenta sanctorum Patrum placitis fideliter respondere, quae ceteroquin nihil aliud referebant edisserendoque commentabantur, nisi divina Sacrarum Litterarum eloquia.

36. However for the good of all We wish to touch on this point briefly. And first of all it is clear that the Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin is to be called the head of the Church by reason of His singular pre-eminence. For the Head is in the highest place. But who is in a higher place than Christ God, who as the Word of the Eternal Father must be acknowledged to be the “firstborn of every creature?” ⁴⁵ Who has reached more lofty heights than Christ Man who, though born of the Immaculate Virgin, is the true and natural Son of God, and in virtue of His miraculous and glorious resurrection, a resurrection triumphant over death, has become the “firstborn of the dead?” ⁴⁶ Who finally has been so exalted as He, who as “the one mediator of God and men” ⁴⁷ has in a most wonderful manner linked earth to heaven, who, raised on the Cross as on a throne of mercy, has drawn all things to Himself, ⁴⁸ who, as the Son of Man chosen from among thousands, is beloved of God beyond all men, all angels and all created things? ⁴⁹

Libet tamen Nobis heic in communem utilitatem id presse attingere. Ac principio perspicuum est Dei Beataeque Virginis Filium peculiarissima quadam excellentiae ratione Ecclesiae Caput esse vocandum. Caput enim in sublimi locatum est. Quis autem est altiore loco locatus, quam Christus Deus, qui utpote Aeterni Patris Verbum, « primogenitus omnis creaturae » (Col. 1, 15) haberi debet? Quisnam elatiore in vertice positus, quam Christus homo, qui e Virgine labis experte natus, verus naturalisque Dei Filius est, et ob prodigialem gloriosamque anastasim, qua ex triumphata morte surrexit, « primogenitus mortuorum » (Col. I, 18; Apoc. 1, 5) exsistit? Quisnam denique excelsiore in culmine collocatus quam ille, qui utpote « unus . . . mediator Dei et hominum » (1 Tim. 11, 5), mirando prorsus modo terram cum coelo coniungit; qui exaltatus in Cruce, veluti in misericordiae solio, omnia traxit ad semet ipsum (cfr. Io. 12, 32); quique, filius hominis electus ex miriadibus, plus quam omnes homines, omnes angeli, omnesque creatae res a Dei diligitur? (cfr. S. Cyr. Alex. Comm. in Io. 1, 4— Migne PG 73 col. 69; S. Thom. Iª q. 20 a. 4 ad I).

37. Because Christ is so exalted, He alone by every right rules and governs the Church; and herein is yet another reason why He must be likened to a head. As the head is the “royal citadel” of the body ⁵⁰ - to use the words of Ambrose - and all the members over whom it is placed for their good ⁵¹ are naturally guided by it as being endowed with superior powers, so the Divine Redeemer holds the helm of the universal Christian community and directs its course. And as to govern human society signifies to lead men to the end proposed by means that are expedient, just and helpful, ⁵² it is easy to see how our Savior, model and ideal of good Shepherds, ⁵³ performs all these functions in a most striking way.

Quia vero Christus tam sublimem occupat locum, iure meritoque ipse solummodo est, qui Ecclesiam regit atque gubernat; proptereaque hac quoque de causa capiti adsimulari debet. Siquidem, quemadmodum caput — ut Ambrosii verbis utamur—est «arx regalis» corporis (Hexaëm. 6, 55—Migne PL 14 col. 265), ab eodemque, utpote potioribus dotibus praedito, omnia membra, quibus superponitur ut consulat (cfr. S. Aug. De Agon. Christ. 20, 22 — Migne PL 40 co1. 301), natura ipsa diriguntur, ita Divinus Redemptor universae Christianorum reipublicae clavum tenet eiusque gubernacula moderatur. Ac quandoquidem hominum coetum regere nihil est aliud, nisi utili eos providentia, idoneis opibus rectisque rationibus ad assignatum finem perducere (cfr. S. Thom. I q. 22 a. 1-4), facile cernere est Servatorem nostrum, qui bonorum Pastorum forma et exemplar exsistit (cfr. Io. 10, 1-18; I Petr. 5, 1-5), haec omnia mirando prorsus exercere modo.

38. While still on earth, He instructed us by precept, counsel and warning in words that shall never pass away, and will be spirit and life ⁵⁴ to all men of all times. Moreover He conferred a triple power on His Apostles and their successors, to teach, to govern, to lead men to holiness, making this power, defined by special ordinances, rights and obligations, the fundamental law of the whole Church.

Ipse enim, cum in terris commorabatur, legibus, consiliis, monitis, per eiusmodi verba nos docuit, quae numquam transibunt, quaeque cuiusvis aetatis hominibus spiritus erunt et vita (cfr. Io. 6, 63). Ac praeterea triplicem potestatem Apostolis eorumque successoribus impertiit; docendi nempe, regendi, ad sanctitudinem ducendi homines; quam quidem potestatem peculiaribus praeceptis, iuribus officiisque praefinitam, primariam legem statuit totius Ecclesiae.

39. But our Divine Savior governs and guides the Society which He founded directly and personally also. For it is He who reigns within the minds and hearts of men, and bends and subjects their wills to His good pleasure, even when rebellious. “The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord; whithersoever he will, he shall turn it.” ⁵⁵ By this interior guidance He the “Shepherd and Bishop of our souls,” ⁵⁶ not only watches over individuals but exercises His providence over the universal Church, whether by enlightening and giving courage to the Church’s rulers for the loyal and effective performance of their respective duties, or by singling out form the body of the Church - especially when times are grave - men and women of conspicuous holiness, who may point the way for the rest of Christendom to the perfecting of His Mystical Body. Morever from Heaven Christ never ceases to look down with especial love on His spotless Spouse so sorely tried in her earthly exile; and when He sees her in danger, saves her from the tempestuous sea either Himself or through the ministry of His angels, ⁵⁷ or through her whom we invoke as Help of Christians, or through other heavenly advocates, and in calm and tranquil waters comforts her with the peace “which surpasseth all understanding.” ⁵⁸

Sed directo etiam per se divinus Servator noster conditam ab se societatem moderatur ac dirigit. Ipse enim regnat in mentibus animisque hominum et ad beneplacitum suum vel rebelles inflectit ac compellit voluntates. « Cor regis in manu Domini, quocumque voluerit inclinabit illud » (Prov. 21, 1). Quo quidem interno moderamine non modo ipse, ut « pastor et episcopus animarum nostrarum » (cfr. Petr. 2, 25), singulorum curam habet, sed universae quoque prospicit Ecclesiae; sive quando eius rectores ad munia cuiusque sua fideliter fructuoseque obeunda illuminat atque corroborat; sive, quando — in gravioribus praesertim rerum adiunctis —, viros ac mulieres, sanctitatis fulgore enitentes, e gremio Ecclesiae Matris excitat, ut ceteris christifidelibus exemplo sint ad mystici sui Corporis incrementum. Huc accedit quod e caelo Christus intemeratam Sponsam, heic in terris exsilio laborantem, peculiari semper amore respicit; cumque eam periclitantem cernit, vel per se ipsemet, vel per angelos suos (cfr. Act. 8, 26; 9, 1-19; 10, 1-7; 12, 3-10), vel per eam, quam Auxilium Christianorum invocamus, aliosque caelestes praestites, et tempestatis fluctibus eripit, ac sedato tranquillatoque mari, pace ea solatur, « quae exsuperat omnem sensum » (Phil. 4, 7).

40. But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden ⁵⁹ or extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth. You know, Venerable Brethren, that after He had ruled the “little flock” ⁶⁰ Himself during His mortal pilgrimage, Christ our Lord, when about to leave this world and return to the Father, entrusted to the Chief of the Apostles the visible government of the entire community He had founded. Since He was all wise He could not leave the body of the Church He had founded as a human society without a visible head. Nor against this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads. For Peter in view of his primacy is only Christ’s Vicar; so that there is only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth. After His glorious Ascension into Heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; ⁶¹ and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.

Non est tamen reputandum eius regimen modo non conspicuo (cfr. Leo XIII Satis cognitum: A.A.S. XXVIII p. 725) vel extraordinario tantum absolvi; cum contra, adspectabili quoque ordinariaque ratione, Divinus Redemptor per suum in terris Vicarium Corpus suum mysticum gubernet. Norunt enim omnes, Venerabiles Fratres, Christum Dominum, postquam per hoc mortale iter «pusillum gregem » (Luc. 12, 32) per se ipse perspicibili modo rexisset, mox hunc mundum relicturum ac rediturum ad Patrem, totius ab se conditae societatis adspectabile regimen Apostolorum Principi commisisse. Siquidem, ut sapientissimus erat, constitutum ab se sociale Ecclesiae corpus nequaquam sine conspicuo capite relinquere poterat. Neque ad rem eiusmodi infitiandam asservari potest per statutum in Ecclesia iurisdictionis primatum, mysticum eiusmodi Corpus gemino instructum fuisse capite. Est enim Petrus, vi primatus, nonnisi Christi vicarius, atque adeo unum tantum primarium habetur huius Corporis Caput, nempe Christus : qui quidem arcana ratione Ecclesiam per sese gubernare non desinens, adspectabili tamen modo per eum, qui suam in terris personam gerit, eandem regit Ecclesiam, iam post gloriosam suam in caelum Ascensionem non in se solo, sed in Petro quoque tamquam in perspicuo fundamento aedificatam. Unum solummodo Caput constituere Christum eiusque Vicarium, Decessor noster imm. mem. Bonifacius VIII per Apostolicas Litteras Unam Sanctam sollemniter docuit (cfr. Corp. Iur. Can. Extr. comm. 1, 8, 1), idque subinde Successores eius iterare non desiere unquam.

41. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it.

Periculoso igitur in errore ii versantur, qui se Christum Ecclesiae Caput amplecti posse existimant, licet eius in terris Vicario fideliter non adhaereant. Sublato enim adspectabili hoc Capite, ac diffractis conspicuis unitatis vinculis, mysticum Redemptoris Corpus ita obscurant ac deformant, ut ab aeternae quaerentibus salutis portum iam nec videri, neque inveniri queat.

42. What we have thus far said of the Universal Church must be understood also of the individual Christian communities, whether Oriental or Latin, which go to makeup the one Catholic Church. For they, too, are ruled by Jesus Christ through the voice of their respective Bishops. Consequently, Bishops must be considered as the more illustrious members of the Universal Church, for they are united by a very special bond to the divine Head of the whole Body and so are rightly called “principal parts of the members of the Lord;” ⁶² moreover, as far as his own diocese is concerned, each one as a true Shepherd feeds the flock entrusted to him and rules it in the name of Christ. ⁶³ Yet in exercising this office they are not altogether independent, but are subordinate to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although enjoying the ordinary power of jurisdiction which they receive directly from the same Supreme Pontiff. Therefore, Bishops should be revered by the faithful as divinely appointed successors of the Apostles, ⁶⁴ and to them, even more than to the highest civil authorities should be applied the words: “Touch not my anointed one!” ⁶⁵ For Bishops have been anointed with the chrism of the Holy Spirit.

Quae autem Nos heic de universali Ecclesia diximus, id de peculiaribus etiam asseverari debet christianorum communitatibus, cum Orientalibus, tum Latinis, ex quibus una constat ac componitur Catholica Ecclesia: quandoquidem et ipsae a Christo Iesu proprii uniuscuiusque Episcopi voce potestateque reguntur. Quamobrem sacrorum Antistites non solum eminentiora universalis Ecclesiae membra habendi sunt, ut qui singulari prorsus nexu iunguntur cum divino totius Corporis Capite, atque adeo iure vocantur « partes membrorum Domini primae » (S. Greg. Magn. Moral. 14, 35, 43 — Migne PL 75 col. t o6 z); sed, ad propriam cuiusque Dioecesim quod spectat, utpote veri Pastores assignatos sibi greges singuli singulos Christi nomine pascunt ac regunt (cfr. Conc. Vat. Const. de Eccl. cap. 3); id tamen dum faciunt, non plane sui iuris sunt, sed sub debita Romani Pontificis auctoritate positi, quamvis ordinaria iurisdictionis potestate fruantur, immediate sibi ab eodem Pontifice Summo impertita. Quapropter, ut Apostolorum ex divina institutione successores (cfr. Cod. Iur. Can. can. 329, I), a populo venerandi sunt; ac magis quam huius mundi moderatoribus, etiamsi altissimis, illud Episcopis, utpote Spiritus Sancti chrismate ornatis, convenit effatum: «Nolite tangere Christos meos »( I Paral. 16, 22, Ps. 104, 15).

43. That is why We are deeply pained when We hear that not a few of Our Brother Bishops are being attacked and persecuted not only in their own persons, but - what is more cruel and heartrending for them - in the faithful committed to their care, in those who share their apostolic labors, even in the virgins consecrated to God; and all this, merely because they are a pattern of the flock from the heart ⁶⁶ and guard with energy and loyalty, as they should the sacred “deposit of faith” ⁶⁷ confided to them; merely because they insist on the sacred laws that have been engraved by God on the souls of men, and after the example of the Supreme Shepherd defend their flock against ravenous wolves. Such an offence We consider as committed against Our own person and We repeat the noble words of Our Predecessor of immortal memory Gregory the Great: “Our honor is the honor of the Universal Church; Our honor is the united strength of Our Brethren; and We are truly honored when honor is given to each and every one.” ⁶⁸

Itaque summo Nos maerore afficimur, cum Nobis affertur, non paucos e Nostris in Episcopatu Fratribus, idcirco quod facti sint forma gregis ex animo (cfr. 1 Petr. 5, 3), ac sacrum sibi traditum « fidei depositum » (cfr. I Tim. 6, 20) strenue, ut addecet, fideliterque custodiant; idcirco quod sanctissimas leges urgeant, in animis hominum divinitus insculptas, ac sibi creditum gregem, supremi Pastoris exemplo, adversus rapaces Iupos tutentur, non modo in semetipsos illatas insectationes vexationesque perpeti, sed — quod crudelius ipsis graviusque est — in oves etiam suis curis commissas, in apostolici laboris socios, ac vel in ipsas virgines Deo sacratas. Eiusmodi Nos iniuriam, utpote Nobismet ipsis inustam reputantes, Decessoris Nostri imm. rec. Gregorii Magni grandiloquam sententiam iteramus : Honor Noster universalis Ecclesiae est honor; honor Noster solidus Fratrum Nostrorum est vigor; ac tunc Nos vere honorati sumus, cum singulis quibusque debitus honor non negatur (cfr. Ep. ad Eulog. 30 — Migne PL 77 col. 933).

44. Because Christ the Head holds such an eminent position, one must not think that he does not require the help of the Body. What Paul said of the human organism is to be applied likewise to the Mystical Body: “The head cannot say to the feet: I have no need of you.” ⁶⁹ It is manifestly clear that the faithful need the help of the Divine Redeemer, for He has said: “Without me you can do nothing,” ⁷⁰ and according to the teaching of the Apostle every advance of this Mystical Body towards its perfection derives from Christ the Head. ⁷¹ Yet this, also, must be held, marvelous though it may seem: Christ has need of His members. First, because the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff, who in turn must call on others to share much of his solicitude lest he be overwhelmed by the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by the prayers of the Church. Moreover as our Savior does not rule the Church directly in a visible manner, He wills to be helped by the members of His Body in carrying out the work of redemption. That is not because He is indigent and weak, but rather because He has so willed it for the greater glory of His spotless Spouse. Dying on the Cross He left to His Church the immense treasury of the Redemption, towards which she contributed nothing. But when those graces come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of sanctification with His Church, but He wills that in some way it be due to her action. This is a deep mystery, and an inexhaustible subject of meditation, that the salvation of many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the cooperation of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of families, a cooperation which they must offer to our Divine Savior as though they were His associates.

Nec tamen putandum est, Christum Caput, cum tam sublimi in loco sit positum, opem non requirere Corporis. Etenim de mystico quoque hoc Corpore illud asseverandum est, quod Paulus de humana concretione asseverat :« Non potest dicere . . . caput pedibus: non estis mihi necessarii » (I Cor. 12, 21). Liquido utique patet christifideles divini Redemptoris ope omnino egere, cum ipse dixerit :« Sine me nihil potestis facere » (Io. 15, 5), et cum ex Apostoli sententia, omne mystici huius Corporis incrementum in aedificationem sui ex Christo Capite sit (cfr. Eph. 4, 16; Col. 2, 19). Attamen hoc quoque retinendum est, quamvis mirandum prorsus videatur, Christum nempe requirere membra sua. Idque primo quidem, quatenus Iesu Christi persona a Summo geritur Pontifice, qui ne pastoralis officii onere obruatur, alios non paucos in sollicitudinis suae parmtes vocare debet, ac cotidie est totius comprecantis Ecclesiae adiutorio relevandus. Ac praeterea Servator noster, prout ipse per se non adspectabili modo Ecclesiam regit, a mystici vult sui Corporis membris adiuvari in exsequendo Redemptionis opere. Quod tamen non ex eius indigentia debilitateque accidit, sed ex eo potius quod ipsemet ad maiorem intemeratae suae Sponsae honorem rem ita disposuit. Dum enim in Cruce emoriens, immensum Redemptionis thesaurum Ecclesiae suae, nihil ea conferente, dilargitus est; ubi de eiusmodi thesauro distribuendo agitur, id efficiendae sanctitatis opus non modo cum incontaminata sua Sponsa communicat, sed ex eius etiam opera vult quodammodo oriri. Tremendum sane mysterium, ac satis numquam meditatum : multorum nempe salutem a mystici Iesu Christi Corporis membrorum precibus voluntariisque afflictationibus, ab iisdem hac de causa susceptis, pendere, et ab adiutrice Pastorum ac fidelium, imprimisque patrum matrumque familias opera, quam iidem divino Servatori nostro quasi sociam praestare debeant.

45. To the reasons thus far adduced to show that Christ our Lord should be called the Head of the Society which is His Body there may be added three others which are closely related to one another.

In praesens autem rationibus modo expositis, quibus eruitur Christum Dominum socialis sui Corporis Caput esse vocandum, tres aliae adiciendae sunt, quae et ipsae intimis nexibus divinciuntur.

46. We begin with the similarity which we see existing between Head and body, in that they have the same nature; and in this connection it must be observed that our nature, although inferior to that of the angels, nevertheless through God’s goodness has risen above it: “For Christ,” as Aquinas says, “is Head of the angels; for even in His humanity He is superior to angels... Even as man He illumines the angelic intellect and influences the angelic will. But in respect to similarity of nature Christ is not Head of the angels, because He did not take hold of the angels - to quote the Apostle - but of the seed of Abraham.” ⁷² And Christ not only took our nature; He became one of our flesh and blood with a frail body that could suffer and die. But “If the Word emptied himself taking the form of a slave,” ⁷³ it was that He might make His brothers according to the flesh partakers of the divine nature, ⁷⁴ through sanctifying grace in this earthly exile, in heaven through the joys of eternal bliss. For the reason why the only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father willed to be a son of man was that we might be made conformed to the image of the Son of God ⁷⁵ and be renewed according to the image of Him who created us. ⁷⁶ Let all those, then, who glory in the name of Christian, look to our Divine Savior as the most exalted and the most perfect exemplar of all virtues; but let them also, by careful avoidance of sin and assiduous practice of virtue, bear witness by their conduct to His teaching and life, so that when the Lord shall appear they may be like unto Him and see Him as He is. ⁷⁷

Initium sumimus ex invicem conformata ratione, quam inter Caput et corpus intercedere videmus, cum eiusdem naturae exsistant. Quam ad rem animadvertendum est naturam nostram, quamvis inferior sit angelica, ex Dei tamen bonitate angelorum naturam evincere :« Christus enim, ut dicit Aquinas, est Caput angelorum. Nam Christus praeest angelis etiam secundum humanitatem . . . Item etiam secundum quod homo angelos illuminat et in eis influit. Quantum autem ad naturae conformitatem, Christus non est Caput angelorum, quia non angelos apprehendit, sed — secundum Apostolum — semen Abrahae »(Comm. in Ep. ad Eph. cap. I lect. 8; Hebr. 2, 16-17). Nec solum naturam nostram apprehendit Christus, sed in fragili etiam, patibili mortalique corpore consanguineus noster factus est. At si, Verbum « semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens » (Phil. 2, 7), hoc ea quoque de causa egit, ut suos secundum carnem fratres consortes faceret divinae naturae (cfr. 2 Petr. I, 4), cum in terrestri exsilio per sanctitatis effectricem gratiam, tum in caelesti patria per sempiternam assequendam beatitatem. Idcirco enim Aeterni Patris Unigenitus filius hominis esse voluit, ut nos conformes efficeremur imagini Filii Dei (cfr. Rom. 8, 29), ac renovaremur secundum imaginem illius, qui creavit nos (cfr. Col. 3, 10). Ii igitur omnes, qui christiano nomine gloriantur, non modo divinum Servatorem nostrum, veluti excelsum perfectissimumque virtutum omnium exemplar intueantur, sed per sollertem etiam peccatorum fugam sanctimoniaeque exercitionem studiosissimam, ita eius doctrinam ac vitam suis moribus exprimant, ut cum Dominus apparuerit, in gloria similes ei fiant, videntes eum sicuti est (cfr. I Io. 3, 2).

47. It is the will of Jesus Christ that the whole boy of the Church, no less than the individual members, should resemble Him. And we see this realized when, following in the footsteps of her Founder, the Church teaches, governs, and offers the divine Sacrifice. When she embraces the evangelical counsels she reflects the Redeemer’s poverty, obedience and virginal purity. Adorned with institutes of many different kinds as with so many precious jewels, she represents Christ deep in prayer on the mountain, or preaching to the people, or healing the sick and wounded and bringing sinners back to the path of virtue - in a word, doing good to all. What wonder then, if, while on this earth she, like Christ, suffer persecutions, insults and sorrows.

Quemadmodum autem singula membra sibi adsimulata vult Christus, ita totum etiam Ecclesiae Corpus. Quod profecto evenit, cum ipsa, Conditoris sui vestigiis insistens, docet, regit, divinumque sacrificium immolat. Ipsa praeterea, dum evangelica consilia amplectitur, Redemptoris paupertatem, obedientiam, virginitatemque in se refert. Ipsa per multiplicia variaque instituta, quibus veluti monilibus ornatur, Christum quodammodo commonstrat, vel in monte contemplantem, vel concionantem ad populos; vel sanantem aegros et saucios, ac peccatores ad frugem bonam convertentem, vel denique bene facientem omnibus. Nihil igitur mirum si eadem, quamdiu hisce in terris degit, insectationibus quoque, vexationibus doloribusque, Christum imitando, afficiatur.

48. Christ must be acknowledged Head of the Church for this reason too, that, as supernatural gifts have their fullness and perfection in Him, it is of this fullness that His Mystical Body receives. It is pointed out by many of the Fathers, that as the head of our mortal body is the seat of all the senses, while the other parts of our organism have only the sense of touch, so all the powers that are found in Christian society, all the gifts, all the extraordinary graces, attain their utmost perfection in the Head, Christ. “In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell.” ⁷⁸ He is gifted with those supernatural powers that accompany the hypostatic union, since the Holy spirit dwells in Him with a fulness of grace than which no greater can be imagined. To Him has been given “power over all flesh”; ⁷⁹ “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him” ⁸⁰ abundantly. The knowledge which is called “vision” He possesses with such clarity and comprehensiveness that it surpasses similar celestial knowledge found in all the saints of heaven. So full of grace and truth is He that of His inexhaustible fullness we have all received. ⁸¹

Ac praeterea idcirco Ecclesiae Caput habendus est Christus, quod supernorum munerum plenitudine perfectioneque cum praestet, ex eiusmodi plenitudine mysticum eius Corpus haurit. Sicut enim — quod plures Patres animadvertunt mortalis nostri corporis caput sensibus omnibus pollet, dum ceterae concretionis nostrae partes tactu solummodo fruuntur, ita quae in societate christiana virtutes sunt, quae dona, quae charismata, ea omnia in eius Capite Christo perfectissime renident. « In ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem inhabitare » (Col. I, 19). Eum superna ea munera exornant, quae hypostaticam unionem comitantur: siquidem in eo Spiritus Sanctus habitat cum tali gratiarum plenitūdine, ut maior intellegi nequeat. Ei data est « potestas omnis carnis » (cfr. Io. 17, 2); uberrimi in eo sunt « omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae » (Col. 2, 3). Eaque etiam, quam visionis scientiam vocant, ita in eo viget ut tam ambitu quam claritate beatam id genus scientiam prorsus exsuperet sanctorum omnium caelitum. Ac denique tam ipse est plenus gratiae et veritatis, ut de inexhausta plenitudine eius nos omnes accipiamus (cfr. Io. I. 14-16).

49. These words of the disciple whom Jesus loved lead us to the last reason why Christ our Lord should be declared in a very particular way Head of His Mystical Body. As the nerves extend from the head to all parts of the human body and give them power to feel and to move, in like manner our Savior communicates strength and power to His Church so that the things of God are understood more clearly and are more eagerly desired by the faithful. From Him streams into the body of the Church all the light with which those who believe are divinely illumined, and all the grace by which they are made holy as He is holy.

Haec autem illius discipuli verba, quem singulari caritate diligebat Iesus, ad extremam edisserendam rationem Nos movent, e qua quidem peculiari quodam modo evincitur Christum Dominum mystici sui Corporis Caput esse asseverandum. Sicut scilicet nervi in omnes nostri corporis artus e capite diffunduntur, iisdemque sentiendi seseque movendi facultatem impertiunt, ita Servator noster vim virtutemque suam in Ecclesiam immittit, qua fit ut res divinae et illustrius a christifidelibus cognoscantur et appetantur avidius. Ex eo profluit in Ecclesiae Corpus omnis lux, qua credentes divinitus illustrantur, omnisque gratia, qua sancti fiunt, sicut ipse sanctus est.

50. Christ enlightens His whole Church, as numberless passages from the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers prove. “No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him” ⁸² Coming as a teacher from God ⁸³ to give testimony to the truth ⁸⁴ He shed such light upon the nascent apostolic Church that the Prince of the Apostles exclaimed: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life”; ⁸⁵ from heaven He assisted the evangelists in such a way that as members of Christ they wrote what they had learned, as it were, at the dictation of the Head. ⁸⁶ And as for us today, who linger on in this earthly exile, He is still the author of faith as in our heavenly home He will be its finisher. ⁸⁷ It is He who imparts the light of faith to believers; it is He who enriches pastors and teachers and above all His Vicar on earth with the supernatural gifts of knowledge, understanding and wisdom, so that they may loyally preserve the treasury of faith, defend it vigorously, and explain it and confirm it with reverence and devotion. Finally, it is He who, though unseen, presides at the Councils of the Church and guides them. ⁸⁸

Universam Ecclesiam suam illuminat Christus; quod quidem ex pene innumeris Sacrarum Litterarum sanctorumque Patrum locis comprobatur. « Deum nemo vidit unquam : unigenitus Filius, qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit » (cfr. Io. I, 18). Veniens a Deo magister (cfr. Io. 3, 2), ut testimonium perhiberet veritati (cfr. Io. 18, 37), primaevam Apostolorum Ecclesiam ita sua luce illustravit, ut Apostolorum princeps exclamaret: «Domine, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes » (cfr. Io. 6, 68): Evangelistis e caelo ita adfuit, ut tamquam membra Christi illud operati sint, quod veluti dictante Capite cognoverunt (cfr. S. Aug. De cons. evang. I, 35, 54 — Migne PL 34 col. 1070). Atque etiam hodie nobis, hoc in terrestri exsilio commorantibus, est auctor fidei, sicut in patria consummator (cfr. Hebr. 12, 2). Ipse est qui in fideles lumen fidei infundit; ipse qui Pastores et Doctores, imprimisque suum in terris Vicarium, supernis scientiae, intellectus, sapientiaeque donis divinitus ditat, ut fidei thesaurum fideliter adservent, strenue defendant, pie diligenterque explicent atque corroborent; ipse denique est, qui, etsi non visus, Ecclesiae Conciliis praesidet atque praelucet (cfr. S. Cyr. Alex. Ep. 55 de Symb — Migne PG 77 col. 293).

51. Holiness begins from Christ; and Christ is its cause. For no act conducive to salvation can be performed unless it proceeds from Him as from its supernatural source. “Without me,” He says, “you can do nothing.” ⁸⁹ If we grieve and do penance for our sins if, with filial fear and hope, we turn again to God, it is because He is leading us. Grace and glory flow from His inexhaustible fulness. Our Savior is continually pouring out His gifts of counsel, fortitude, fear and piety, especially on the leading members of His Body, so that the whole Body may grow ever more and more in holiness and integrity of life. When the Sacraments of the Church are administered by external rite, it is He who produces their effect in souls. ⁹⁰ He nourishes the redeemed with His own flesh and blood and thus calms the turbulent passions of the soul; He gives increase of grace and prepares future glory for souls and bodies. All these treasures of His divine goodness He is said to bestow on the members of His Mystical Body, not merely because He, as the Eucharistic Victim on earth and the glorified Victim in heaven, through His wounds and His prayers pleads our cause before the Eternal Father, but because He selects, He determines, He distributes every single grace to every single person “according to the measure of the giving of Christ.” ⁹¹ Hence it follows that from our Divine Redeemer as from a fountainhead “the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, into the edifying of itself in charity.” ⁹²

Sanctitatis auctor est atque effector Christus. Nullus siquidem salutaris actus haberi potest, qui ex eo, tamquam e superno fonte, non profluat. «Sine me, inquit, nihil potestis facere » (cfr. Io. 15, 5). Si, ob admissa perpetrata, animi dolore paenitentiaque movemur, si filiorum timore ac spe ad Deum convertimur, ipsius semper virtute ducimur. Gratia et gloria ex inexhausta eius plenitudine oriuntur. Eminentiora praesertim mystici sui Corporis membra, consilii, fortitudinis, timoris pietatisque donis Servator noster continenter munerat, ut totum Corpus magis in dies magisque vitae sanctitate integritateque augeatur. Et quando Ecclesiae Sacramenta externo ritu administrantur, ipsemet effectum in animis operatur (cfr. S. Thom. 3ª q. 64 a. 3). Itemque ipse est, qui redemptos nutriens propria carne et sanguine, concitatos ac turbidos animi motus sedat; ipse est, qui gratias auget assequendamque animorum corporumque gloriam praeparat. Quos quidem divinae bonitatis thesauros, mystici sui Corporis membris non modo idcirco impertire dicendus est, quod eos, tam eucharistica hostia in terris, quam clarificata in coelis, ostensione vulnerum precumque effusione a Patre Aeterno efflagitat, sed idcirco etiam quod singulis singulas gratias « secundum mensuram donationis Christi » (Eph. 4, 7), eligit, determinat, distribuit. Ex quo consequitur ut a Divino Redemptore, tamquam ex capitale fonte vim hauriens, « totum corpus compactum et conn;exum per omnem iuncturam subministrationis, secundum operationem in mensuram uniuscuiusque membri, augmentum corporis faciat in aedificationem sui in caritate » (Eph. 4, 16; cfr. Col. 2, 19).

52. These truths which We have expounded, Venerable Brethren, briefly and succinctly tracing the manner in which Christ our Lord wills that His abundant graces should flow from His fulness into the Church, in order that she should resemble Him as closely as possible, help not a little to explain the third reason why the social Body of the Church should be honored by the name of Christ - namely, that our Savior Himself sustains in a divine manner the society which He founded.

Quae supra exposuimus, Venerabiles Fratres, modum presse breviterque explanantes, quo Christus Dominus ex divina plenitudine sua in Ecclesiam vult ubera sua dona influant, ut eadem sibimet ipsi quam maxime adsimuletur, haud parum profecto conferunt ad tertiam illam edisserendam rationem, ex qua etiam eruitur cur sociale Ecclesiae Corpus nomine Christi decoretur: quae quidem in eo ponitur, quod Servator noster ab se conditam societatem ipse divinitus sustentat.

53. As Bellarmine notes with acumen and accuracy, ⁹³ this appellation of the Body of Christ is not to be explained solely by the fact that Christ must be called the Head of His Mystical Body, but also by the fact that He so sustains the Church, and so in a certain sense lives in the Church, that she is, as it were, another Christ. The Doctor of the Gentiles, in his letter to the Corinthians, affirms this when, without further qualification, he calls the Church “Christ,” ⁹⁴ following no doubt the example of his Master who called out to him from on high when he was attacking the Church: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” ⁹⁵ Indeed, if we are to believe Gregory of Nyssa, the Church is often called simply “Christ” by the Apostle; ⁹⁶ and you are familiar Venerable Brethren, with that phrase of Augustine: “Christ preaches Christ.” ⁹⁷

Ut acute subtiliterque Bellarminus (cfr. De Rom. Pont. I, 9; De Concil. 2, 19) animadvertit, haec Corporis Christi nominatio non ex eo solummodo explicanda est, quod Christus mystici sui Corporis Caput est dicendus, sed ex eo etiam quod ita Ecclesiam sustinet, et ita in Ecclesia quodammodo vivit, ut ipsa quasi altera Christi persona exsistat. Quod quidem gentium Doctor ad Corinthios scribens affirmat, cum, nihil aliud adi.iciens, « Christum » Ecclesiam vocat (cfr. I Cor. 12, 12), ipsum profecto Magistrum imitatus, qui eidem Ecclesiam insectanti adclamaverat ex alto :« Saule, Saule, cur me persequeris? » (cfr. Act. 9, 4; 22, 7; 26, 14). Quin immo si Nysseno credimus, saepius ab Apostolo Ecclesia « Christus » nuncupatur (cfr. S. Greg. Nyss. De vita Moysis — Migne PG 44 col. 385); nec ignotum vobis est, Venerabiles Fratres, illud Augustini effatum : « Christus Christum praedicat » (cfr. Serm. 354, I—Migne PL 39 col. 1563).

54. Nevertheless this most noble title of the Church must not be so understood as if that ineffable bond by which the Son of God assumed a definite human nature belongs to the universal Church; but it consists in this, that our Savior shares prerogatives peculiarly His own with the Church in such a way that she may portray, in her whole life, both exterior and interior, a most faithful image of Christ. For in virtue of the juridical mission by which our Divine Redeemer sent His Apostles into the world, as He had been sent by the Father, ⁹⁸ it is He who through the Church baptizes, teaches, rules, looses, binds, offers, sacrifices.

Nobilissima tamen eiusmodi appellatio non ita accipienda est, ac si ineffabile illud vinculum, quo Dei Filius concretam assumpsit humanam naturam, ad universam pertineat Ecclesiam ; sed in eo posita est, quod Servator Noster bona maxime sibi propria ita cum Ecclesia sua communicat, ut haec secundum totam vitae suae rationem, tam adspectabilem quam arcanam, Christi imaginem quam perfectissime exprimat. Nam per iuridicam, ut aiunt, missionem qua Divinus Redemptor Apostolos in mundum misit, sicut ipse missus erat a Patre (cfr. Io. 17, 18 et 20, 21), ipse est, qui per Ecclesiam baptizat, docet, regit, solvit, ligat, offert, sacrificat.

55. But in virtue of that higher, interior, and wholly sublime communication, with which We dealt when We described the manner in which the Head influences the members, Christ our Lord wills the Church to live His own supernatural life, and by His divine power permeates His whole Body and nourishes and sustains each of the members according to the place which they occupy in the body, in the same way as the vine nourishes and makes fruitful the branches which are joined to it. ⁹⁹

Ea vero altiore donatione, interna ac sublimi prorsus, quam supra attigimus, Capitis scilicet rationem describentes inlluendi in membra sua, Christus Dominus Ecclesiam superna sua vita vivere iubet, totum eius Corpus divina virtute sua permeat. et singula membra secundum locum, quem in Corpore occupant, eo fere modo alit ac sustentat, quo cohaerentes sibi palmites vitis nutrit facitque frugiferos (cfr. Leo XIII Sapientiae Christianae: A. S. S. XXII p. 392 : Satis cognitum: Ibidem XXVIII p. 710).

56. If we examine closely this divine principle of life and power given by Christ, insofar as it constitutes the very source of every gift and created grace, we easily perceive that it is nothing else than the Holy spirit, the Paraclete, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who is called in a special way, the “Spirit of Christ” or the “Spirit of the Son.” ¹⁰⁰ For it was by this Breath of grace and truth that the Son of God anointed His soul in the immaculate womb of the Blessed Virgin; this Spirit delights to dwell in the beloved soul of our Redeemer as in His most cherished shrine; this Spirit Christ merited for us on the Cross by shedding His Own Blood; this Spirit He bestowed on the Church for the remission of sins, when He breathed on the Apostles; ¹⁰¹ and while Christ alone received this Spirit without measure, ¹⁰² to the members of the Mystical Body He is imparted only according to the measure of the giving of Christ from Christ’s own fulness. ¹⁰³ But after Christ’s glorification on the Cross, His Spirit is communicated to the Church in an abundant outpouring, so that she, and her individual members, may become daily more and more like to our Savior. It is the Spirit of Christ that has made us adopted sons of God ¹⁰⁴ in order that one day “we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face may be transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” ¹⁰⁵

Quodsi divinum hoc, a Christo datum, vitae virtutisque principium attente consideramus, prout ipsum fontem constituit cuiusvis doni gratiaeque creatae, facile intellegimus illud nihil aliud esse nisi Paraclitum Spiritum, qui a Patre Filioque procedit, quique peculiari modo « Spiritus Christi » seu « Spiritus Filii » dicitur (Rom. 8, 9; 2 Cor. 3, 17; Gal. 4, 6). Hoc enim gratiae veritatisque Flamine Filius Dei in ipso intaminato Virginis sinu animam suam ornavit; hic Spiritus in deliciis habet in almo Redemptoris animo tamquam in templo suo dilectissimo habitare; hunc Spiritum proprio effuso cruore Christus nobis in Cruce promeruit; hunc denique super Apostolos efflans, Ecclesiae ad peccata remittenda largitus est (cfr. Io. 20, 22); ac dum Christus solummodo hunc Spiritum non ad mensuram accepit (cfr. Io. 3, 34), membris tamen mystici Corporis non nisi secundum mensuram donationis Christi ex ipsius Christi plenitudine impertitur (cfr. Eph.1, 8; 4, 7). Ac postquam Christus in Cruce clarificatus est, eius Spiritus cum Ecclesia uberrima effusione communicatur, ut ipsa eiusque singula membra magis in dies magisque Servatori nostro adsimulentur. Spiritus Christi est, qui nos adoptivos Dei filios effecit (cfr. Rom. 8, 14-17; Gal. 4, 6-7), ut aliquando « omnes revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eandem imaginem transformemur a claritate in claritatem » (cfr. 2 Cor. 3, 18).

57. To this Spirit of Christ, also, as to an invisible principle is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the Body are joined one with the other and with their exalted Head; for He is entire in the Head, entire in the Body, and entire in each of the members. To the members He is present and assists them in proportion to their various duties and offices, and the greater or less degree of spiritual health which they enjoy. It is He who, through His heavenly grace, is the principle of every supernatural act in all parts of the Body. It is He who, while He is personally present and divinely active in all the members, nevertheless in the inferior members acts also through the ministry of the higher members. Finally, while by His grace He provides for the continual growth of the Church, He yet refuses to dwell through sanctifying grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body. This presence and activity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is tersely and vigorously described by Our predecessor of immortal memory Leo XIII in his Encyclical Letter Divinum Illud in these words: “Let it suffice to say that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit her soul.” ¹⁰⁶

Huic autem Christi Spiritui tamquam non adspectabili principio id quoque attribuendum est, ut omnes Corporis partes tam inter sese, quam cum excelso Capite suo coniungantur, totus in Capite cum sit, totus in Corpore, totus in singulis membris; quibus pro diversis eorum muneribus atque officiis, pro maiore vel minore, quo fruuntur spiritualis sanitatis gradu, diversis rationibus praesens est atque adsistit. Ille est, qui caelesti vitae halitu in omnibus corporis partibus cuiusvis est habendus actionis vitalis ac reapse salutaris principium. Ille est, qui licet per se ipse in omnibus membris habeatur, in iisdemque divinitus agat, in inferioribus tamen etiam per superiorum ministerium operatur; ille denique est, qui dum Ecclesiae nova semper in dies, sua afflante gratia, incrementa parit, membra tamen, a Corpore omnino abscissa, renuit sanctitatis gratia inhabitare. Quam quidem Iesu Christi Spiritus praesentiam operationemque sapientissimus Decessor Noster imm. mem. Leo XIII Encyclicis Litteris Divinum illud per haec verba presse nervoseque significavit :« Hoc affirmare sufficiat, quod cum Christus Caput sit Ecclesiae, Spiritus Sanctus sit eius anima »(A. S. S. XXIX p. 650).

58. If that vital principle, by which the whole community of Christians is sustained by its Founder, be considered not now in itself, but in the created effects which proceed form it, it consists in those heavenly gifts which our Redeemer, together with His Spirit, bestows on the Church, and which He and His Spirit, from whom come supernatural light and holiness, make operative in the Church. The Church, then, no less than each of her holy members can make this great saying of the Apostle her own: “And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me.” ¹⁰⁷

Si vero vitalem illam vim virtutemque, qua tota Christianorum communitas a Conditore suo sustentatur, iam non in semet ipsa, sed in creatis, qui inde oriuntur, effectibus spectamus, in caelestibus ea muneribus consistit, quae Redemptor noster una cum Spiritu suo Ecclesiae impertit, unaque cum Spiritu suo, supernae lucis dator sanctitatisque effector, operatur. Ecclesia igitur haud aliter ac sancta eius omnia membra, grandem hanc Apostoli sententiam sibi sumere potest : « Vivo autem : iam non ego; vivit vero in me Christus » (Gal. 2, 20).

59. What We have said concerning the “mystical Head” ¹⁰⁸ would indeed be incomplete if We were not at least briefly to touch on this saying of the same Apostle: “Christ is the Head of the Church: He is the savior of his Body.” ¹⁰⁹ For in these words we have the final reason why the Body of the Church is given the name of Christ, namely, that Christ is the Divine Savior of this Body. The Samaritans were right in proclaiming Him “Savior of the world;” ¹¹⁰ for indeed He most certainly is to be called the “Savior of all men,” even though we must add with Paul: “especially of the faithful,” ¹¹¹ since, before all others, He has purchased with His Blood His members who constitute the Church. ¹¹² But as We have already treated this subject fully and clearly when speaking of the birth of the Church on the Cross, of Christ as the source of life and the principle of sanctity, and of Christ as the support of His Mystical Body, there is no reason why We should explain it further; but rather let us all, while giving perpetual thanks to God, meditate on it with a humble and attentive mind. For that which our Lord began when hanging on the Cross, he continues unceasingly amid the joys of heaven: “Our Head,” says St. Augustine, “intercedes for us: some members He is receiving, others He is chastising, others cleansing, others consoling, others creating, others calling, others recalling, others correcting, others renewing.” ¹¹³ But it is for us to cooperate with Christ in this work of salvation, “from one and through one saved and saviors.” ¹¹⁴

Haec Nostra de « Capite mystico »(cfr. S. Ambros. De Elia et ieiun. 10, 36-37 et In Ps. 118 Serm. 20, 2 — Migne PL 14 col. 710 et 15 col. 1483} facta eloquia imperfecta quidem manerent, si non paucis saltem attingeremus hanc eiusdem Apostoli sententiam :« Christus Caput est Ecclesiae: Ipse Salvator Corporis eius » (Eph. 5, 23). Hisce enim verbis postrema indicatur ratio, cur Corpus Ecclesiae Christi nomine donetur. Est nempe Christus huius Corporis divinus Servator. Ipse enim iure meritoque a Samaritanis praedicatur « Salvator mundi » (Io. 4, 42); immo absque ullo dubio dicendus est « Salvator omnium »; quamvis cum Paulo sit addendum :« maxime fidelium » (cfr. 1 Tim. 4, 10). Prae aliis videlicet omnibus, membra sua, quae Ecclesiam constituunt, acquisivit sanguine suo (Act. 20, 28). Haec tamen, cum supra de Ecclesia e Cruce orta, de Christo lucis datore effectoreque sanctitatis, deque eodem mystici sui Corporis sustentatore, enucleate satis scripserimus, non est cur amplius explanemus, sed cur potius omnes, immortales grates agentes Deo, demisso intentoque animo meditemur. Quod autem Servator noster, olim e Cruce pendens, inchoavit, id perpetuo continenterque in caelesti beatitate peragere non desinit :« Caput nostrum, ait Augustinus, interpellat pro nobis: alia membra recipit, alia flagellat, alia mundat, alia consolatur, alia creat, alia vocat, alia revocat, alia corrigit. alia redintegrat » (Enarr. in Ps. 85, 5— Migne PL 37 col. 1085). Nos autem omnes Christo in salutifero hoc opere debemus sociam praestare operam, « qui ex uno et per unum salvamur et salvamus » (S. Clem. Alex. Strom. 7, 2 — Migne PG 9 col. 413). 

60. And now, Venerable Brethren, We come to that part of Our explanation in which We desire to make clear why the Body of Christ, which is the Church, should be called mystical. This name, which is used by many early writers, has the sanction of numerous Pontifical documents. There are several reasons why it should be used; for by it we may distinguish the Body of the Church, which is a Society whose Head and Ruler is Christ, from His physical Body, which, born of the Virgin Mother of God, now sits at the right hand of the Father and is hidden under the Eucharistic veils; and, that which is of greater importance in view of modern errors, this name enables us to distin guish it from any other body, whether in the physical or the moral order.

Iam nunc, Venerabiles Fratres, ad illud edisserendum gradum faciamus, per quod quidem in sua luce ponere cupimus Christi Corpus, quod est Ecclesia, mysticum esse appellandum. Appellationem eiusmodi, quae iam in plurium aetatis veteris scriptorum usu habetur, haud pauca Summorum Pontificum documenta comprobant. Non autem una de causa haec vox adhibenda est; quandoquidem per illam sociale Ecclesiae Corpus, cuius Christus Caput est ac moderator, internosci potest a physico eius Corpore, quod e Deipara Virgine natum nunc ad patris dexteram sedet, velisque Eucharisticis delitescit; ac discerni item potest, quod ob hodiernos errores maioris momenti est, a naturali quovis corpore sive physico, sive, ut aiunt, morali.

61. In a natural body the principle of unity unites the parts in such a manner that each lacks in its own individual subsistence; on the contrary, in the Mystical Body the mutual union, though intrinsic, links the members by a bond which leaves to each the complete enjoyment of his own personality. Moreover, if we examine the relations existing between the several members and the whole body, in every physical, living body, all the different members are ultimately destined to the good of the whole alone; while if we look to its ultimate usefulness, every moral association of men is in the end directed to the advancement of all in general and of each single member in particular; for they are persons. And thus - to return to Our theme - as the Son of the Eternal Father came down from heaven for the salvation of us all, He likewise established the body of the Church and enriched it with the divine Spirit to ensure that immortal souls should attain eternal happiness according tot he words of the Apostle: “All things are yours; and you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” ¹¹⁵ For the Church exists both for the good of the faithful and for the glory of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent.

Dum enim in naturali corpore unitatis principium ita partes iungit, ut propria, quam vocant, subsistentia singulae prorsus careant; contra in mystico Corpore mutuae coniunctionis vis, etiamsi intima, membra ita inter se copulat, ut singula omnino fruantur persona propria. Accedit quod, si totius et singulorum membrorum mutuam inter se rationem consideramus, in physico quolibet viventi corpore totius concretionis emolumento membra singula universa postremum unice destinantur, dum socialis quaelibet hominum compages, si modo ultimum utilitatis finem inspicimus, ad omnium et uniuscuiusque membri profectum, utpote personae sunt, postremum ordinantui. Itaque — ut ad rem nostram regrediamur — sicuti Aeterni Patris Filius ob sempiternam omnium nostrum salutem de caelo descendit, ita Corpus Ecclesiae condidit divinoque Spiritu ditavit ad immortalium procurandam assequendamque animarum beatitatem, secundum illud Apostoli :« Omnia enim vestra sunt; vos autem Christi; Christus autem Dei » (1 Cor. 3, 28; Pius XI Divini Redemptoris: A. A. S. 1937 p. 8o). Ut enim Ecclesia in bonum conformatur fidelium, ita in Dei et quem ipse misit Christi Iesu gloriam destinatur.

62. But if we compare a mystical body with a moral body, it is to be noted that the difference between them is not slight; rather it is very considerable and very important. In the moral body the principle of union is nothing else than the common end, and the common cooperation of all under the authority of society for the attainment of that end; whereas in the Mystical Body of which We are speaking, this collaboration is supplemented by another internal principle, which exists effectively in the whole and in each of its parts, and whose excellence is such that of itself it is vastly superior to whatever bonds of union may be found in a physical or moral body. As We said above, this is something not of the natural but of the supernatural order; rather it is something in itself infinite, uncreated: the Spirit of God, who, as the Angelic Doctor says, “numerically one and the same, fills and unifies the whole Church.” ¹¹⁶

Quodsi mysticum comparamus cum morali, ut aiunt, corpore, tum etiam animadvertendum est non leve quiddam interesse, sed aliquid summi momenti inter utrumque summaeque gravitatis. In hoc enim, quod morale vocant, nihil aliud est unitatis principium, nisi finis communis, communisque omnium in eundem finem per socialem auctoritatem conspiratio; dum in mystico, de quo agimus, Corpore conspirationi huic internum aliud adiungitur principium, quod tam in universa compage, quam in singulis eius partibus reapse exsistens virtuteque pollens, talis est excellentiae, ut ratione sui omnia unitatis vincula, quibus vel physicum vel morale corpus copuletur, in immensum prorsus evincat. Hoc est, ut supra diximus, aliquid non naturalis, sed superni ordinis, immo in semet ipso infinitum omnino atque increatum: Divinus nempe Spiritus, qui, ut ait Angelicus, « unus et idem numero, totam Ecclesiam replet et unit » (De Veritate q. 29 a. 4 c).

63. Hence, this word in its correct signification gives us to understand that the Church, a perfect society of its kind, is not made up of merely moral and juridical elements and principles. It is far superior to all other human societies; ¹¹⁷ it surpasses them as grace surpasses nature, as things immortal are above all those that perish. ¹¹⁸ Such human societies, and in the first place civil Society, are by no means to be despised or belittled; but the Church in its entirety is not found within this natural order, any more than the whole man is encompassed within the organism of our mortal body. ¹¹⁹ Although the juridical principles, on which the Church rests and is established, derive from the divine constitution given to it by Christ and contribute to the attaining of its supernatural end, nevertheless that which lifts the Society of Christians far above the whole natural order is the Spirit of our Redeemer who penetrates and fills every part of the Church’s being and is active within it until the end of time as the source of every grace and every gift and every miraculous power. Just as our composite mortal body, although it is a marvelous work of the Creator, falls far short of the eminent dignity of our soul, so the social structure of the Christian community, though it proclaims the wisdom of its divine Architect, still remains something inferior when compared to the spiritual gifts which give it beauty and life, and to the divine source whence they flow.

Recta igitur vocis huius significatio non mentem revocat, Ecclesiam, quae perfecta genere suo societas haberi debet, non ex socialibus solummodo ac iuridicis elementis rationibusque constare. Ea nimirum longe praestantior est quam quaelibet aliae hominum communitates (cfr. Leo XIII Sapientiae christianae: A. S. S. XXII p. 392); quibus quidem sic antecedit, ut gratia naturam exsuperat, rebusque caducis omnibus immortalia sunt praestabiliora (cfr. Leo XIII Satis cognitum: A. S. S. XXVIII p. 724). Id genus communitates, imprimisque Civilis Societas, utique non spernendae sunt, nec parvi habendae; verumtamen in earum rerum ordine non tota Ecclesia est, sicut in mortalis corporis nostri concretione, non totus homo (cfr. Ibidem p. 710). Quamvis enim iuridicae rationes, quibus Ecclesia etiam innititur atque componitur, ex divina oriantur a Christo data constitutione, ad supernumque finem assequendum conferant, id tamen, quo christiana societas ad gradum evehitur, qui omnem naturae ordinem prorsus evincit, Redemptoris nostri Spiritus est, qui ceu fons gratiarum, donorum, ac charismatum omnium, perpetuo et intime Ecclesiam replet et in ea operatur. Siquidem, quemadmodum mortalis nostri corporis compages mirificum utique est Creatoris opus, sed quam longissime distat ab excelsa animi nostri dignitate: sic socialis christianae reipublicae structura, quamvis divini Architecti sui sapientiam praedicet, aliquid tamen inferioris omnino ordinis est, ubi cum spiritualibus donis comparatur, quibus eadem ornatur ac vivit, cum eorumque divino fonte.

64. From what We have thus far written, and explained, Venerable Brethren, it is clear, We think, how grievously they err who arbitrarily claim that the Church is something hidden and invisible, as they also do who look upon her as a mere human institution possession a certain disciplinary code and external ritual, but lacking power to communicate supernatural life. ¹²⁰ On the contrary, as Christ, Head and Exemplar of the Church “is not complete, if only His visible human nature is considered..., or if only His divine, invisible nature..., but He is one through the union of both and one in both ... so is it with His Mystical Body” ¹²¹ since the Word of God took unto Himself a human nature liable to sufferings, so that He might consecrate in His blood the visible Society founded by Him and “lead man back to things invisible under a visible rule.” ¹²²

Ex iis, quae adhuc, Venerabiles Fratres, vobis scribendo explanandoque persecuti sumus, omnino patet gravi eos in errore versari, qui ad arbitrium suum quasi latentem minimeque conspicuam fingant Ecclesiam ; itemque qui eam perinde habeant atque institutum quoddam humanum cum certa quadam disciplinae temperatione externisque ritibus, at sine supernae vitae communicatione (cfr. Ibidem p. 710). Dum contra, sicut Christus Ecclesiae Caput et exemplar, «non omnis est, si in eo vel humana dumtaxat spectetur natura visibilis. . ., vel divina tantummodo natura invisibilis. . . , sed unus est ex utraque et in utraque natura . . .: sic Corpus eius mysticum » (cfr. Ibidem p. 710), quandoquidem Dei Verbum humanam naturam assumpsit doloribus obnoxiam, ut adspectabili societate condita et divino sanguine consecrata, « per visibilem gubernationem ad invisibilia homo revocaretur » (S. Thom. De Veritate q. 29 a. 4 ad 3).

65. For this reason We deplore and condemn the pernicious error of those who dream of an imaginary Church, a kind of society that finds its origin and growth in charity, to which, somewhat contemptuously, they oppose another, which they call juridical. But this distinction which they introduce is false: for they fail to understand that the reason which led our Divine Redeemer to give to the community of man He founded the constitution of a Society, perfect of its kind and containing all the juridical and social elements - namely, that He might perpetuate on earth the saving work of Redemption, ¹²³ - was also the reason why He willed it to be enriched with the heavenly gifts of the Paraclete. The Eternal Father indeed willed it to be the “kingdom of the Son of his predilection;” ¹²⁴ but it was to be a real kingdom in which all believers should make Him the entire offering of their intellect and will, ¹²⁵ and humbly and obediently model themselves on Him, Who for our sake “was made obedient unto death.” ¹²⁶ There can, then, be no real opposition or conflict between the invisible mission of the Holy spirit and the juridical commission of Ruler and Teacher received from Christ, since they mutually complement and perfect each other - as do the body and soul in man - and proceed from our one Redeemer who not only said as He breathed on the Apostles “Receive ye the Holy Spirit,” ¹²⁷ but also clearly commanded: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you;” ¹²⁸ and again: “He that heareth you, heareth me.” ¹²⁹

Quapropter funestum etiam eorum errorem dolemus atque improbamus, qui commenticiam Ecclesiam sibi somniant, utpote societatem quandam caritate alitam ac formatam, cui quidem — non sine despicientia — aliam opponunt, quam iuridicam vocant. At perperam omnino eiusmodi distinctionem inducunt: non enim intellegunt divinum Redemptorem eadem ipsa de causa conditum ab se hominum coetum, perfectam voluisse genere suo societatem constitutam, ac iuridicis omnibus socialibusque elementis instructam, ut nempe salutiferum Redemptionis opus hisce in terris perennaret (Conc. Vat. Sess. IV Const. dogm. de Eccl. prol.); et ad eundem finem assequendum caelestibus eam voluisse donis ac muneribus a Paraclito Spiritu ditatam. Eam utique Aeternus Pater voluit « regnum Filii dilectionis suae » (Col. 1, 13); attamen reapse regnum, in quo nimirum credentes omnes plenum praestarent intellectus voluntatisque suae obsequium (Conc. Vat. Sess. IV Const. de fide cath. cap. 3), ac demisso obedientique animo ei sese confirmarent, qui pro nobis « factus est obediens usque ad mortem » (Phil. 2, 8). Nulla igitur veri nominis oppositio vel repugnantia haberi potest inter invisibilem, quam vocant, Spiritus Sancti missionem, ac iuridicum Pastorum Doctorumque a Christo acceptum munus; quippe quae, ut in nobis corpus animusque — se invicem compleant ac perficiant, et ab uno eodemque Servatore nostro procedant, qui non modo divinum afflato halitum dixit :« Accipite Spiritum Sanctum » (Io. 20, 22), sed etiam clara voce imperavit: «Sicut misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos » (Io. 20, 21); itemque :« Qui vos audit, me audit » (Luc. 10, 16).

66. And if at times there appears in the Church something that indicates the weakness of our human nature, it should not be attributed to her juridical constitution, but rather to that regrettable inclination to evil found in each individual, which its Divine Founder permits even at times in the most exalted members of His Mystical Body, for the purpose of testing the virtue of the Shepherds no less than of the flocks, and that all may increase the merit of their Christian faith. For, as We said above, Christ did not wish to exclude sinners from His Church; hence if some of her members are suffering from spiritual maladies, that is no reason why we should lessen our love for the Church, but rather a reason why we should increase our devotion to her members.

Quodsi in Ecclesia aliquid cernitur, quod humanae arguit conditionis nostrae infirmitatem, id quidem non iuridicae est eius constitutioni attribuendum, sed lamentabili potius singulorum ad malum proclivitati, quam idcirco divinus eius Conditor in altioribus etiam mystici sui Corporis membris esse patitur, ut et ovium Pastorumque virtus comprobetur, et in omnibus increscant christianae fidei promerita. Christus enim, ut supra diximus, ex constituto a se coetu seclusos noluit peccatores; si igitur nonnulla membra spiritualibus morbis laborant, non est cur erga Ecclesiam nostrum minuamus amorem, sed cur potius erga eius membra pietatem adaugeamus.

Certainly the loving Mother is spotless in the Sacraments by which she gives birth to and nourishes her children; in the faith which she has always preserved inviolate; in her sacred laws imposed on all; in the evangelical counsels which she recommends; in those heavenly gifts and extraordinary grace through which with inexhaustible fecundity, ¹³⁰ she generates hosts of martyrs, virgins and confessors. But it cannot be laid to her charge if some members fall, weak or wounded. In their name she prays to God daily: “Forgive us our trespasses;” and with the brave heart of a mother she applies herself at once to the work of nursing them back to spiritual health.

Utique absque ulla labe refulget pia Mater in sacramentis, quibus filios procreat et alit; in fide, quam nulla non tempore intaminatam servat; in legibus sanctissimis, quibus omnes iubet, consiliisque evangelicis quibus admonet; in coelestibus denique donis et charismatis, per quae innumera parit, inexhausta sua fecunditate (cfr. Conc. Vat. Sess. III Const. de fide catholica cap. 3) martyrum, virginum confessorumque agmina. Attamen eidem vitio verti nequit, si quaedam membra vel infirma vel saucia languescant, quorum nomine cotidie ipsa Deum deprecatur :« Dimitte nobis debita nostra », quorumque spirituali curae, nulla interposita mora, materno fortique animo incumbit.

When, therefore, we call the Body of Jesus Christ “mystical,” the very meaning of the word conveys a solemn warning. It is a warning that echoes in these words of St. Leo: “Recognize, O Christian, your dignity, and being made a sharer of the divine nature go not back to your former worthlessness along the way of unseemly conduct. Keep in mind of what Head and of what Body you are a member.” ¹³¹

Cum igitur « mysticum » Iesu Christi Corpus nuncupamus, per ipsam huius vocis significationem gravissime admonemur. Quae quidem monita in hisce S. Leonis verbis quodammodo resonant :« Agnosce, o Christiane, dignitatem tuam, et divinae consors factus naturae, noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conversatione redire. Memento cuius Capitis et cuius Corporis sis membrum » (Serm. 21, 3 - Migne PL 14 col. 192-193).

67. Here, Venerable Brethren, We wish to speak in a very special way of our union with Christ in the Body of the Church, a thing which is, as Augustine justly remarks, sublime, mysterious and divine; ¹³² ut for that very reason it often happens that many misunderstand it and explain it incorrectly. It is at once evident that this union is very close. In the Sacred Scriptures it is compared to the chaste union of man and wife, to the vital union of branch and vine, and to the cohesion found in our body. ¹³³ Even more, it is represented as being so close that the Apostle says: “He (Christ) is the Head of the Body of the Church,” ¹³⁴ and the unbroken tradition of the Fathers from the earliest times teaches that the Divine Redeemer and the Society which is His Body form but one mystical person, that is to say to quote Augustine, the whole Christ. ¹³⁵ Our Savior Himself in His sacerdotal prayer did not hesitate to liken this union to that wonderful unity by which the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. ¹³⁶

Placet in praesens, Venerabiles Fratres, peculiarissimo modo verba facere de nostra cum Christo in Ecclesia Corpore coniunctione, quae si — ut iure meritoque Augustinus ait (cfr. S. Aug. Contra Faust. 21, 8 - Migne PL 42 co1. 392) — res grandis est, arcana atque divina, hac eadem tamen de causa saepenumero contingit, ut a nonnullis perperam intellegatur atque explicetur. Imprimis patet eam arctissimam esse : nam in Sacris Litteris non modo casti connubii vinculo adsimulatur, et cum vitali palmitum vitisque unitate, nostrique corporis compagine comparatur (cfr. Eph. 5, 22-23; Io. 15, 1-5; Eph. 4, 16); sed etiam tam intima exhibetur, ut — secundum illud Apostoli :« Ipse ( Christus) est Caput Corporis Ecclesiae » (Col. I, 18) — perantiqua perpetuoque a Patribus tradita documenta doceant, divinum Redemptorem cum suo sociali Corpore unam dumtaxat constituere mysticam personam, seu ut Augustinus ait: Christum totum (cfr. Enarr. in Ps. 17, 51 et 90, 2, I— Migne PL 36 col. 154 et 37 col. 1159). Quin immo ipse Servator noster in sacerdotali sua oratione eiusmodi coagmentationem cum miranda illa unitate, qua Filius est in Patre et Pater in Filio, conferre non dubitavit (Io. 17, 21-23).

68. Our union in and with Christ is first evident from the fact that, since Christ wills His Christian community to be a Body which is a perfect Society, its members must be united because they all work together towards a single end. The nobler the end towards which they strive, and the more divine the motive which actuates this collaboration, the higher, no doubt, will be the union. Now the end in question is supremely exalted; the continual sanctifying of the members of the Body for the glory of God and of the Lamb that was slain. ¹³⁷ The motive is altogether divine: not only the good pleasure of the Eternal Father, and the most earnest wish of our Savior, but the interior inspiration and impulse of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts. For if not even the smallest act conducive to salvation can be performed except in the Holy Spirit, how can countless multitudes of every people and every race work together harmoniously for the supreme glory of the Triune God, except in the power of Him, who proceeds from the Father and the Son in one eternal act of love?

Nostra autem, quae in Christo est et cum Christo compages, primo loco ex eo constat, quod cum christiana respublica ex Conditoris sui voluntate sociale exsistat perfectumque Corpus, idcirco in ea copulatio insit oportet membrorum omnium ob eorum in eundem finem conspirationern. Quo autem nobilior est finis, ad quem haec conspiratio contendit, quo divinior est fons ex quo eadem procedit, eo excelsior procul dubio evadit unitas. Iam vero altissimus finis est: continuata nempe ipsius Corporis membrorum sanctificatio in gloriam Dei et Agni, qui occisus est (Apoc. 5, 12-13). Fons autem divinissimus: non modo scilicet Aeterni Patris placitum, studiosaque Servatoris nostri voluntas, sed internus etiam Sancti Spiritus in mentes animosque nostros afflatus atque appulsus. Si enim ne minimus quidem actus, qui ad salutem conducat, elici potest, nisi in Spiritu Sancto, quomodo possunt innumerae cuiusvis gentis, cuiusvis stirpis multitudines in supremam unius trinique Numinis gloriam communi consilio conspirare, nisi ex illius virtute, qui a Patre Filioque uno aeternoque efflatur amore?

69. Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the practical observance of the same laws. Above all, it is absolutely necessary that the Supreme Head, that is, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, be visible to the eyes of all, since it is He who gives effective direction to the work which all do in common in a mutually helpful way towards the attainment of the proposed end. As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name ¹³⁸ should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community.

Quoniam vero, ut supra diximus, sociale eiusmodi Christi Corpus ex Conditoris sui voluntate adspectabile esse debet, conspiratio illa membrorum omnium extrinsecus etiam sese manifestet opus est, cum per eiusdem fidei professionem, tum per eorundem communionem sacrorum, per eiusdemque participationem sacrificii, tum denique per actuosam earundem legum observantiam. Idque praeterea omnino necessarium est, ut in oculis omnium conspicuum adsit supremum Caput, a quo mutua invicem adiutrix omnium opera ad propositum assequendum finem efficienter dirigatur: Iesu Christi dicimus in terris Vicarium. Quemadmodum enim divinus Redemptor Paraclitum misit veritatis Spiritum, qui suas partes agens (cfr. Io. 14, 16 et 26), arcanam sumeret Ecclesiae gubernationem, ita Petro eiusque Successoribus mandavit, ut suam in terris gerentes personam perspicibilem quoque christianae reipublicae moderationem agerent.

70. These juridical bonds in themselves far surpass those of any other human society, however exalted; and yet another principle of union must be added to them in those three virtues, Christian faith, hope and charity, which link us so closely to each other and to God.

Iuridicis autem hisce vinculis, quae iam ratione sui sufficiunt, ut cuiusvis alius, etsi supremae, humanae societatis nexus longe exsuperentur, alia necesse est accedat unitatis ratio ob tres illas virtutes, quibus nos inter et cum Deo arctissime copulamur: christianam inquimus fidem, spem caritatemque.

71. “One Lord, one faith,” ¹³⁹ writes the Apostle: the faith, that is, by which we hold fast to God, and to Jesus Christ whom He has sent. ¹⁴⁰ The beloved disciple teaches us how closely this faith binds us to God: “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.” ¹⁴¹ This Christian faith binds us no less closely to each other and to our divine Head. For all we who believe, “having the same spirit of faith,” ¹⁴² are illumined by the same light of Christ, nourished by the same Food of Christ, and live under the teaching authority of Christ. If the same spirit of faith breathes in all, we are all living the same life “in the faith of the Son of God who loved us and delivered himself for us.” ¹⁴³ And once we have received Christ, our Head, through an ardent faith so that He dwells within our hearts, ¹⁴⁴ as He is the author so He will be the finisher of our faith. ¹⁴⁵

Siquidem « unus Dominus, ut admonet Apostolus, una fides » (Eph. 4, 5) ea nimirum fides, qua uni Deo adhaeremus et ei, quem misit, Iesu Christo (cfr. Io. 17, 8). Quam intime vero hac fide obstringamur Deo, verba discipuli docent, quem Iesus peculiari modo diligebat :« Quisquis confessus fuerit, quoniam Iesus est Filius Dei, Deus in eo manet et ipse in Deo » (I Io. 4, 15). Nec minus inter nos et cum divino Capite nostro christiana hac fide copulamur. Nam quotquot credentes sumus, «habentes... eundem spiritum fidei » (2 Cor. 4, 13) eadem Christi luce collustramur, eodem Christi pabulo enutrimur, eademque Christi auctoritate et magisterio regimur. Quodsi idem in omnibus fidei spiritus virescit, omnes quoque eandem vitam « in fide vivimus Filii Dei, qui dilexit nos et tradidit semet ipsum pro nobis » (cfr. Gal. 2, 20); et Christus Caput nostrum vivida fide in nobis susceptus et habitans in cordibus nostris (cfr. Eph. 3, 17), sicut fidei nostrae est auctor, ita erit et consummator (cfr. Hebr. 12, 2).

72. As by faith on this earth we hold fast to God as the Author of truth, so by Christian hope we long for Him as the fount of blessedness, “looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God.” ¹⁴⁶ It is because of this universal longing for the heavenly Kingdom that we do not desire a permanent home here below, but seek for one above, ¹⁴⁷ and because of our yearning for the glory on high that the Apostle of the Gentiles did not hesitate to say: “One Body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling;” ¹⁴⁸ nay rather that Christ in us is our hope of glory. ¹⁴⁹

Sicut autem per fidem hisce in terris Deo ut veritatis fonti adhaeremus, ita eum christianae spei virtutem appetimus ut fontem beatitatis, « exspectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei » (Tit. 2, 13). Ob commune autem illud caelestis Regni desiderium, quo heic manentem civitatem habere renuimus, sed futuram inquirimus (cfr. Hebr. 13, 14), supernamque gloriam, anhelamus, gentium Apostolus dicere non dubitavit :« Unum Corpus et unus Spiritus, sicut vocati estis in una spe vocationis vestrae » (Eph. 4, 4); immo Christus in nobis veluti spes gloriae residet (cfr. Col. 1, 27).

73. But if the bonds of faith and hope, which bind us to our Redeemer in His Mystical Body are weighty and important, those of charity are certainly no less so. If even in the natural order the love of friendship is something supremely noble, what shall we say of that supernatural love, which God infuses in our hearts? “God is charity and he that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him.” ¹⁵⁰ The effect of this charity - such would seem to be God’s law - is to compel Him to enter into our loving hearts to return love for love, as He said: “If anyone love me..., my Father will love him and we will come to him and will make our abode with him.” ¹⁵¹ Charity then, more than any other virtue binds us closely to Christ. How many children of the Church, on fire with this heavenly flame, have rejoiced to suffer insults for Him, and to face and overcome the hardest trials, even at the cost of their lives and the shedding of their blood. For this reason our Divine Savior earnestly exhorts us in these words: “Abide in my love.” And as charity, if it does not issue effectively in good works, is something altogether empty and unprofitable, He added immediately: “If you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love; as I have also kept my Father’s commandments and do abide in His love.” ¹⁵²

At si fidei et spei nexus, quibus cum Divino Redemptore nostro in mystico eius Corpore iungimur, magnae sunt gravitatis maximique momenti, non minoris profecto gravitatis efficientiaeque sunt vincula caritatis. Namque, si etiam in rerum natura aliquid praestantissimum est amor, ex quo vera amicitia ducitur, quid de superno illo amore dicendum, qui ab ipso Deo in animos infunditur nostros? « Deus caritas est, et qui manet in caritate, in Deo manet et Deus in eo »( 1 Io. 4, 16). Quae quidem caritas id efficit quasi ex constituta a Deo lege, ut in nos amantes eum redamantem descendere iubeat, secundum illud :« Si quis diligit me . . ., et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus » (Io. 14, 28). Caritas igitur omni alia virtute arctius nos coniungit cum Christo, cuius caelesti ardore inflammati, tot Ecclesiae filii gavisi sunt pro eo contumeliam pati, et ad supremum usque vitae halitum sanguinisque effusionem, quaelibet, etsi maxime ardua, obire atque evincere. Quapropter divinus Servator noster hisce verbis vehementer nos adhortatur :« Manete in dilectione mea ». Et quandoquidem caritas ieiuna res est ac prorsus vacua, si bonis operibus non panditur et quodammodo efficitur, idcirco haec continuo subiungit : « Si praecepta mea servaveritis, manebitis in dilectione mea; sicut et ego Patris mei praecepta servavi et maneo in eius dilectione »(Io. 15, 9-10).

74. But, corresponding to this love of God and of Christ, there must be love of the neighbor. How can we claim to love the Divine Redeemer, if we hate those whom He has redeemed with His precious blood, so that He might make them members of His Mystical Body? For that reason the beloved disciple warns us: “If any man say: ‘I love God’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God loveth his brother also.” ¹⁵³ Rather it should be said that the more we become “members one of another” ¹⁵⁴ “mutually careful, one for another,” ¹⁵⁵ the closer we shall be united with God and with Christ; as, on the other hand, the more ardent the love that binds us to God and to our divine Head, the closer we shall be united to each other in the bonds of charity.

Huic tamen erga Deum, erga Christum amori caritas in proximos respondeat oportet. Siquidem quomodo asseverare possumus divinum nos Redemptorem diligere, si eos oderimus, quos ipse ut mystici sui Corporis membra faceret, pretioso suo sanguine redemit? Quamobrem ita ille nos admonet, quem prae ceteris Christus dilexit Apostolus :« Si quis dixerit quoniam diligo Deum, et fratrem suum oderit; mendax est. Qui enim non diligit fratrem suum, quem videt, Deum, quem non videt, quomodo potest diligere? Et hoc mandatum habemus a Deo, ut qui diligit Deum, diligat et fratrem suum » (1 Io. 4, 20-21). Immo id etiam est affirmandum, eo magis nos fore cum Deo, cum Christo coniunctos, quo magis futuri simus alter alterius membra (Rom. 12, 5), pro invicem sollicita (1 Cor. 12, 25); sicut ex altera parte, eo magis nos fore inter nos cohaerentes caritateque copulatos, quo flagrantiore amore ad Deum divinumque Caput nostrum adstricti fuerimus.

75. Now the only-begotten Son of God embraced us in His infinite knowledge and undying love even before the world began. And that He might give a visible and exceedingly beautiful expression to this love, He assumed our nature in hypostatic union: hence - as Maximus of Turin with a certain unaffected simplicity remarks - “in Christ our own flesh loves us.” ¹⁵⁶

Nos autem Unigenitus Dei Filius, iam ante mundi exordium, aeterna infinitaque cognitione sua perpetuoque amore amplexus est. Quem quidem amorem, ut adspectabili ac miranda prorsus ratione patefaceret, nostram sibi in hypostaticam unitatem adiunxit naturam; qua fit — quod candida quadam simplicitate Maximus Taurinensis animadvertit — ut « in Christo caro nostra nos diligat » (Serm. 29 —Migne PL 57 col. 594).

But the knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of which we were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, exceed all that the human intellect can hope to grasp. For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the Mother of God, when He began to enjoy the Beatific Vision, and in that vision all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love. O marvelous condescension of divine love for us! O inestimable dispensation of boundless charity! In the crib, on the Cross, in the unending glory of the Father, Christ has all the members of the Church present before Him and united to Him in a much clearer and more loving manner than that of a mother who clasps her child to her breast, or than that with which a man knows and loves himself.

Eiusmodi vero amantissima cognitio, qua divinus Redemptor a primo Incarnationis suae momento nos prosecutus est, studiosam quamlibet humanae mentis vim exsuperat; quandoquidem per beatam illam visionem, qua vixdum in Deiparae sinu exceptus, fruebatur, omnia mystici Corporis membra continenter perpetuoque sibi praesentia habet, suoque complectitur salutifero amore. O mira erga nos divinae pietatis dignatio; o inaestimabilis ordo immensae caritatis! In praesepibus, in Cruce, in sempiterna Patris gloria omnia Ecclesiae membra Christus sibi conspecta sibique coniuncta habet longe clarius, longeque amantius, quam mater filium suum in gremio positum, quam quilibet semetipsum cognoscit ac diligit.

76. From all that We have hitherto said, you will readily understand, Venerable Brethren, why Paul the Apostle so often writes that Christ is in us and we in Christ. In proof of which, there is this other more subtle reason. Christ is in us through His Spirit, whom He gives to us and through whom He acts within us in such a way that all the divine activity of the Holy Spirit within our souls must also be attributed to Christ. ¹⁵⁷ “If a man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” says the Apostle, “but if Christ be in you..., the spirit liveth because of justification.” ¹⁵⁸

Ex hucusque allatis facile cernitur, Venerabiles Fratres, cur Paulus Apostolus tam frequenter scribat Christum esse in nobis, nosque esse in Christo. Quod quidem subtiliore quoque ratione comprobatur. Est nempe Christus in nobis, ut supra enucleate satis exposuimus, per Spiritum suum, quem nobiscum communicat, et per quem ita in nobis operatur, ut quaecumque divina a Spiritu Sancto in animis peraguntur, etiam a Christo ibi peracta dicantur oporteat (cfr. S. Thom. Comm. in Ep. ad Eph. cap. 2 lect. 5). «Si quis Spiritum Christi non habet, inquit Apostolus, hic non est eius : si autem Christus in vohis est . . ., spiritus vivit propter iustificationem » (Rom. 8, 9-10).

77. This communication of the Spirit of Christ is the channel through which all the gifts, powers, and extra-ordinary graces found superabundantly in the Head as in their source flow into all the members of the Church, and are perfected daily in them according to the place they hold in the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Thus the Church becomes, as it were, the filling out and the complement of the Redeemer, while Christ in a sense attains through the Church a fulness in all things. ¹⁵⁹ Herein we find the reason why, according to the opinion of Augustine already referred to, the mystical Head, which is Christ, and the Church, which here below as another Christ shows forth His person, constitute one new man, in whom heaven and earth are joined together in perpetuating the saving work of the Cross: Christ We mean, the Head and the Body, the whole Christ.

Ex eadem autem Spiritus Christi communicatione efficitur, ut, cum omnia dona, virtutes et charismata, quae in Capite excellenter, uberrime efficienterque insunt, in omnia Ecclesiae membra deriventur, et in iis secundum locum quem in mystici Iesu Christi Corpore occupant, in dies perficiantur, Ecclesia veluti plenitudo constituatur et complementum Redemptoris; Christus vero quoad omnia in Ecclesia quodammodo adimpleatur (cfr. S. Thom. Comm. in Ep. ad Eph. cap. I lect. 8). Quibus quidem verbis ipsam attigimus rationem, cur, secundum Augustini placita, iam breviter indicata, Caput mysticum, quod Christus est, et Ecclesia, quae hisce in terris veluti alter Christus eius personam gerit, unum novum hominem constituant, quo in salutifero Crucis opere perpetuando caelum et terra iungantur : Christum dicimus Caput et Corpus, Christum totum.

78. For indeed We are not ignorant of the fact that his profound truth - of our union with the Divine Redeemer and in particular of the indwelling of the Holy spirit in our souls - is shrouded in darkness by many a veil that impedes our power to understand and explain it, both because of the hidden nature of the doctrine itself, and of the limitations of our human intellect. But We know, too, that from well-directed and earnest study of this doctrine, and from the clash of diverse opinions and the discussion thereof, provided that these are regulated by the love of truth and by due submission to the Church, much light will be gained, which, in its turn will help to progress in kindred sacred sciences. Hence, We do not censure those who in various ways, and with diverse reasonings make every effort to understand and to clarify the mystery of this our wonderful union with Christ. But let all agree uncompromisingly on this, if they would not err from truth and from the orthodox teaching of the Church: to reject every kind of mystic union by which the faithful of Christ should in any way pass beyond the sphere of creatures and wrongly enter the divine, were it only to the extent of appropriating to themselves as their own but one single attribute of the eternal Godhead. And, moreover, let all hold this as certain truth, that all these activities are common to the most Blessed Trinity, insofar as they have God as supreme efficient cause.

Profecto non sumus nescii, arcanae huic intellegendae explicandaeque doctrinae — quae circa nostram versatur cum Divino Redemptore coniunctionem, peculiarique modo circa Spiritus Sancti in animis inhabitationem — multa obstare velamina, quibus arcana eadem doctrina ob inquirentium mentis debilitatem quasi quadam caligine obvolvatur. At novimus etiam ex recta adsiduaque huius rei pervestigatione, atque ex variarum opinionum conflictu sententiarum concursu, si modo veritatis amor ac debitum Ecclesiae obsequium eiusmodi inquisitionem dirigant, pretiosa scatere atque exsilire lumina, quibus in sacris quoque id genus disciplinis profectus reapse habeatur. Non eos igitur improbamus, qui diversas vias rationesque ingrediantur ad tam altum attingendum et pro viribus collustrandum mirandae huius nostrae cum Christo coniunctionis mysterium. Verumtamen id omnibus commune atque inconcussum esto, si a germana velint doctrina, a rectoque Ecclesiae magisterio non aberrare : omnem nempe reiciendum esse mysticae huius coagmentationis modum, quo christifideles, quavis ratione ita creatarum rerum ordinem praetergrediantur, atque in divina perperam invadant, ut vel una sempiterni Numinis attributio de iisdem tamquam propria praedicari queat. Ac praeterea certissimum illud firma mente retineant, hisce in rebus omnia esse habenda Sanctissimae Trinitati communia, quatenus eadem Deum ut supremam efficientem causam respiciant.

79. It must also be borne in mind that there is question here of a hidden mystery, which during this earthly exile can only be dimly seen through a veil, and which no human words can express. The Divine Persons are said to indwell inasmuch as they are present to beings endowed with intelligence in a way that lies beyond human comprehension, and in a unique and very intimate manner which transcends all created nature, these creatures enter into relationship with Them through knowledge and love. ¹⁶⁰ If we would attain, in some measure, to a clearer perception of this truth, let us not neglect the method strongly recommended by the Vatican Council ¹⁶¹ in similar cases, by which these mysteries are compared one with another and with the end to which they are directed, so that in the light which this comparison throws upon them we are able to discern, at least partially, the hidden things of God.

Animadvertant quoque necesse est, hac in causa de occulto mysterio agi, quod in hoc terrestri exsilio, velamine quolibet detectum, omnino introspici, humanaque lingua significari numquam possit. Inhabitare quidem Divinae Personae dicuntur, quatenus in creatis animantibus intellectu praeditis imperscrutabili modo praesentes, ab iisdem per cognitionem et amorem attingantur (cfr. S. Thom. Iª q. 43 a. 3), quadam tamen ratione omnem naturam transcendente, ac penitus intima et singulari. Ad quam quidem intuendam ut parumper saltem accedamus, non illa via ac ratio neglegenda est, quam Vaticana Synodus (Sess III Const. de fide cath. cap. 4) in id genus rebus valde commendat; quae quidem ad hauriendam lucem contendens, qua Dei arcana paullisper saltem internoscantur, id assequitur, mysteria eadem inter se comparans et cum supremo fine, quo dirigantur.

80. Therefore, Our most learned predecessor Leo XIII of happy memory, speaking of our union with Christ and with the Divine Paraclete who dwells within us, and fixing his gaze on that blessed vision through which this mystical union will attain its confirmation and perfection in heaven says: “This wonderful union, or indwelling properly so-called, differs from that by which God embraces and gives joy to the elect only by reason of our earthly state.” ¹⁶² In that celestial vision it will be granted to the eyes of the human mind strengthened by the light of glory, to contemplate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in an utterly ineffable manner, to assist throughout eternity at the processions of the Divine Persons, and to rejoice with a happiness like to that with which the holy and undivided Trinity is happy.

Opportune igitur sapientissimus Decessor Noster fel. rec. Leo XIII, cum de hac nostra cum Christo coniunctione deque Divino nos inabitante Paraclito loqueretur, ad beatam illam visionem oculos convertit, qua aliquando in caelis haec eadem mystica copulatio consummationem suam perfectionemque consequetur. « Haec mira coniunctio, inquit, quae suo nomine inhabitatio dicitur, conditione tantum seu statu ab ea discrepat, qua caelites Deus beando complectitur » (cfr. Divinum illud: A. S. S. XXIX p. 653). Qua quidem visione, modo prorsus ineffabili fas erit Patrem, Filium Divinumque Spiritum mentis oculis superno lumine auctis contemplari, divinarum Personarum processionibus aeternum per aevum proxime adsistere, ac simillimo illi gaudio beari, quo beata est sanctissima et indivisa Trinitas.

81. It seems to Us that something would be lacking to what We have thus far proposed concerning the close union of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ with its Head, were We not to add here a few words on the Holy Eucharist, by which this union during this mortal life reaches, as it were, a culmination.

Quae autem hactenus de arctissima hac mystici Iesu Christi Corporis cum Capite suo coniunctione proposuimus, imperfecta Nobis viderentur, si heic pauca saltem de Sanctissima Eucharistia non adiiceremus, qua eiusmodi coniunctio hac in mortali vita velut ad culmen adducitur.

82. By means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ our Lord willed to give the faithful a striking manifestation of our union among ourselves and with our divine Head, wonderful as it is and beyond all praise. For in this Sacrifice the sacred minister acts as the viceregent not only of our Savior but of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. In this act of Sacrifice through the hands of the priest, by whose word alone the Immaculate Lamb is present on the altar, the faithful themselves, united with him in prayer and desire, offer to the Eternal Father a most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the needs of the whole Church. And as the Divine Redeemer, when dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the Eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so “in this clean oblation” ¹⁶³ He offers to the heavenly Father not only Himself as Head of the Church, but in Himself His mystical members also, since He holds them all, even those who are weak and ailing, in His most loving Heart.

Voluit siquidem Christus Dominus ut haec miranda, ac numquam satis exornata laudibus coagmentatio, qua inter nos et cum divino Capite nostro iungimur, per Eucharisticum Sacrificium peculiari modo credentibus manifestaretur. In eo enim sacrorum administri non solum Servatoris nostri vices gerunt, sed totius etiam mystici Corporis singulorumque fidelium; itemque in eo christifideles ipsimet immaculatum Agnum, unius sacerdotis voce in altari praesentem constitutum, communibus votis precibus que consociati, per eiusdem sacerdotis manus Aeterno Patri porrigunt, gratissimam quidem laudis placationisque hostiam pro totius Ecclesiae necessitatibus. Et perinde ac divinus Redemptor, in Cruce moriens, semet ipsum, ut totius humani generis Caput, Aeterno Patri obtulit, ita idem « in hac oblatione munda » (Mal. I, II) non modo semet ipsum, ut Ecclesiae Caput, caelesti Patri offert, sed in semet ipso mystica etiam sua membra, quippe qui eadem omnia, debiliora quoque et infirmiora, in Corde suo amantissime includat.

83. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is itself a striking and wonderful figure of the unity of the Church, if we consider how in the bread to be consecrated many grains go to form one whole, ¹⁶⁴ and that in it the very Author of supernatural grace is given to us, so that through Him we may receive the spirit of charity in which we are bidden to live now no longer our own life but the life of Christ, and to love the Redeemer Himself in all the members of His social Body.

Eucharistiae vero sacramentum, dum vivida et mira prorsus unitatis Ecclesiae imago exsistit, quandoquidem consecrandus panis ex multis granis oriens in unum coalescit (cfr. Didache 9, 4) — nobis ipsum supernae gratiae auctorem impertit, ut illum ex eo caritatis Spiritum hauriamus, quo non iam nostram, sed Christi vitam vivere iubeamur, et in omnibus socialis sui Corporis membris Redemptorem ipsum diligamus.

84. As then in the sad and anxious times through which we are passing there are many who cling so firmly to Christ the Lord hidden beneath the Eucharistic veils that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor persecution, nor the sword can separate them from His love, ¹⁶⁵ surely no doubt can remain that Holy Communion which once again in God’s providence is much more frequented even from early childhood, may become a source of that fortitude which not infrequently makes Christians into heroes.

Si igitur in tristissimis, quibus hodie angimur, rerum adiunctis, plurimi habeantur, qui Christo Domino, Eucharisticis velis delitescenti, ita adhaereant, ut nec tribulatio, nec angustia, nec fames, nec nuditas, nec periculum, nec persecutio, nec gladius eos separare queant ab eius caritate (cfr. Rom. 8, 35), tum procul dubio sacra Synaxis, non sine providentis Dei consilio, postremis hisce temporibus in frequentiorem usum inde a pueritia restituta, illius fortitudinis fons evadere queat. quae haud raro christianos etiam heroas excitare ac fovere possit.

85. If the faithful, Venerable Brethren, in a spirit of sincere piety understand these things accurately and hold to them steadfastly, they will the more easily avoid those errors which arise from an irresponsible investigation of this difficult matter, such as some have made not without seriously endangering Catholic faith and disturbing the peace of souls.

Haec sunt, Venerabiles Fratres, quae, si Christifideles pie ac recte intellegant diligenterque retineant, facilius ab illis etiam erroribus cavere possunt, qui ex difficilis huius causae investigatione, per arbitrium a quibusdam peracta, non sine magno catholicae fidei discrimine animorumque perturbatione scateant.

86. For there are some who neglect the fact that the Apostle Paul has used metaphorical language in speaking of this doctrine, and failing to distinguish as they should the precise and proper meaning of the terms the physical body, the social body, and the Mystical Body, arrive at a distorted idea of unity. They make the Divine Redeemer and the members of the Church coalesce in one physical person, and while they bestow divine attributes on man, they make Christ our Lord subject to error and to human inclination to evil. But Catholic faith and the writings of the holy Fathers reject such false teaching as impious and sacrilegious; and to the mind of the Apostle of the Gentiles it is equally abhorrent, for although he brings Christ and His Mystical Body into a wonderfully intimate union, he nevertheless distinguishes one from the other as Bridegroom from Bride. ¹⁶⁶

Non enim desunt, qui haud satis considerantes Paulum Apostolum translata tantummodo verborum significatione hac in re fuisse locutum, nec peculiares ac proprias corporis physici, moralis, mystici significationes, ut omnino oportet, distinguentes, perversum aliquod inducunt unitatis commentum; quandoquidem divinum Redemptorem et Ecclesiae membra in physicam unam personam coire et coalescere iubent, et dum hominibus divina attribuunt, Christum Dominum erroribus humanaeque in malum proclivitati obnoxium faciunt. A qua quidem doctrinae fallacia quemadmodum catholica fides sanctorumque Patrum praecepta prorsus abhorrent, ita pariter gentium Apostoli mens ac sententia omnino refugit, qui, quamvis Christum eiusque mysticum Corpus mira inter se coagmentatione coniungat, alterum tamen alteri, ut Sponsum Sponsae, opponit (cfr. Eph. 5, 22-23).

87. No less far from the truth is the dangerous error of those who endeavor to deduce from the mysterious union of us all with Christ a certain unhealthy quietism. They would attribute the whole spiritual life of Christians and their progress in virtue exclusively to the action of the Divine Spirit, setting aside and neglecting the collaboration which is due from us. No one, of course, can deny that the Holy spirit of Jesus Christ is the one source of whatever supernatural powers enters into the Church and its members. For “The Lord will give grace and glory” as the Psalmist says. ¹⁶⁷ But that men should persevere constantly in their good works, that they should advance eagerly in grace and virtue, that they should strive earnestly to reach the heights of Christian perfection and at the same time to the best of their power should stimulate others to attain the same goal, - all this the heavenly Spirit does not will to effect unless they contribute their daily share of zealous activity. “For divine favors are conferred not on those who sleep, but on those who watch,” as St. Ambrose says. ¹⁶⁸ For if in our mortal body the members are strengthened and grow through continued exercise, much more truly can this be said of the social Body of Jesus Christ in which each individual member retains his own personal freedom, responsibility, and principles of conduct. For that reason he who said: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me” ¹⁶⁹ did not at the same time hesitate to assert: “His (God’s) grace in me has not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they: yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” ¹⁷⁰ It is perfectly clear, therefore, that in these false doctrines the mystery which we are considering is not directed to the spiritual advancement of the faithful but is turned to their deplorable ruin.

Nec minus a veritate aberrat periculosus eorum error, qui ex arcana omnium nostrum cum Christo coniunctione insanum quemdam, ut aiunt, quietismum deducere conantur; quo quidem spiritualis omnis Christianorum vita eorumque ad virtutem progressio Divini Spiritus actioni unice attribuuntur, ea nempe seclusa ac posthabita, quae a nobis eidem praestari debet socia, ac veluti adiutrice opera. Nemo profecto infitiari potest Sanctum Iesu Christi Spiritum unum esse fontem, ex quo superna omnis vis in Ecclesiam in eiusque membra profluat. Etenim « gratiam et gloriam, ut Psaltes ait, dabit Dominus » (Ps. 83, 12). Attamen, quod homines in sanctitatis operibus constanter perseverent, quod in gratia in virtuteque alacri animo proficiant, quod denique non modo ad christianae perfectionis apicem strenue contendant, sed ceteros quoque ad eam assequendam pro viribus excitent, haec omnia caelestis Spiritus operari non vult, nisi iidem homines cotidiana actuosaque navitate suas partes agant. « Non enim dormientibus, ait Ambrosius, divina beneficia, sed observantibus de feruntur » ( Expos. Evang. sec. Luc. 4, 49 — Migne PL 15 col. 1626). Namque, si in mortali nostro corpore haud intermissa exercitatione membra roborantur ac vigescunt, multo profecto magis id contingit in sociali Iesu Christi Corpore, in quo singula membra propria cuiusque libertate, conscientia agendique ratione fruuntur. Quam ob rem, qui dixit: « Vivo autem, iam non ego : vivit vero in me Christus » (Gal. 2, 20); idem asservare non dubitavit: «Gratia eius (hoc est Dei) in me vacua non fuit, sed abundantius illis omnibus laboravi : non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum » ( 1 Cor. 15, 10). Omnino igitur perspicuum est fallacibus hisce doctrinis mysterium, de quo agimus, non in spiritualem christifidelium profectum, sed in eorum ruinam miserrime verti.

88. The same result follows from the opinions of those who assert that little importance should be given to the frequent confession of venial sins. Far more important, they say, is that general confession which the Spouse of Christ, surrounded by her children in the Lord, makes each day by the mouth of the priest as he approaches the altar of God. As you well know, Venerable Brethren, it is true that venial sins may be expiated in many ways which are to be highly commended. But to ensure more rapid progress day by day in the path of virtue, We will that the pious practice of frequent confession, which was introduced into the Church by the inspiration of the Holy spirit, should be earnestly advocated. By it genuine self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted, the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself. Let those, therefore, among the younger clergy who make light of or lessen esteem for frequent confession realize that what they are doing is alien to the Spirit of Christ and disastrous for the Mystical Body of our Savior.

Quod ex falsis etiam eorum placitis evenit, qui asseverant non tanti esse faciendam frequentem admissorum venialium, ut aiunt, confessionem, cum praestet potius generalis illa confessio, quam singulis diebus Sponsa Christi cum filiis suis sibi in Domino coniunctis, per sacerdotes faciat ad altare Dei accessuros. Pluribus utique modis, iisque summopere laudandis, ut probe nostis, Venerabiles Fratres, haec admissa expiari possunt; sed ad alacriorem cotidie per virtutis iter progressionem faciendam maxime commendatum volumus pium illum, non sine Spiritus Sancti instinctu ab Ecclesia inductum, crebrae confessionis usum, quo recta suis ipsius cognitio augetur, christiana crescit humilitas, morum eradicatur pravitas, spirituali neglegentiae torporique obsistitur, conscientia purificatur, roboratur voluntas, salutaris animorum moderatio procuratur, atque ipsius sacramenti vi augetur gratia. Ii igitur animadvertant, qui inter iuvenis cleri ordines frequentioris confessionis aestimationem minuant atque extenuent, rem se aggredi a Christi Spiritu alienam, ac mystico Servatoris nostri Corpori funestissimam.

89. There are others who deny any impetratory power to our prayers, or who endeavor to insinuate into men’s minds the idea that prayers offered to God in private should be considered of little worth, whereas public prayers which are made in the Name of the Church are those which really matter, since they proceed from the Mystical Body of Christ. This opinion is false; for the divine Redeemer is most closely united not only with His Church, which is His Beloved Spouse, but also with each and every one of the faithful, and He ardently desires to speak with them heart to heart, especially after Holy Communion. It is true that public prayer, inasmuch as it is offered by Mother Church, excels any other kind of prayer by reason of her dignity as Spouse of Christ; but no prayer, even the most private, is lacking in dignity or power, and all prayer is of the greatest help to the Mystical Body in which, through the Communion of Saints, no good can be done, no virtue practiced by the individual members, which does not redound also to the salvation of all. Neither is a man forbidden to ask for himself particular favors even for this life merely because he is a member of this Body, provided he is always resigned to the divine will; for the members retain their own personality and remain subject to their own individual needs. ¹⁷¹ Moreover, how highly all should esteem mental prayer is proved not only be ecclesiastical documents, but also by the custom and practice of the saints.

Sunt praeterea nonnulli, qui precibus nostris omnem veri nominis impetrandi vim denegant, vel qui in hominum mentes insinuare conantur supplicationes ad Deum privatim admotas parvi esse faciendas, cum publicae potius, Ecclesiae nomine adhibitae, reapse valeant, quippe quae a mystico proficiscantur Iesu Christi Corpore. Perperam id quidem : nam divinus Redemptor non modo Ecclesiam suam, utpote Sponsam dilectissimam, sibi coniunctissimam habet, sed in eadem singulorum quoque fidelium animos, quibuscum percupit, postquam praesertim ad Eucharisticam mensam accesserint, quam intime colloqui. Et licet publica comprecatio, utpote ab ipsa Matre Ecclesia procedens, ob Sponsae Christi dignitatem prae qualibet alia excellat : attamen preces omnes, vel privatissime prolatae, nec dignitate nec virtute carent, et ad totius etiam mystici Corporis utilitatem, multopere conferunt; in quo quidem nihil bene, nihil recte a singulis membris perfici potest, quod per Sanctorum Communionem in universorum quoque salutem non redundet. Neque singuli homines prohibentur, idcirco quod huius Corporis sunt membra, quominus peculiares quoque gratias, vel ad praesentem vitam quod attinet, servata tamen divinae voluntati obtemperatione, sibimet ipsis petant: manent enim iidem sui iuris personae, et singularibus suis obnoxii necessitatibus (cfr. S. Thom. 2ª 2^ae q. 83 a. 5 et 6). Caelestium vero rerum meditationem quanti debeant facere omnes, non solummodo Ecclesiae documentis, sed omnium etiam sanctitate praestantium usu atque exemplo comprobatur.

90. Finally, there are those who assert that our prayers should be directed not to the person of Jesus Christ, but rather to God, or to the Eternal Father through Christ, since our Savior as Head of His Mystical Body is only “Mediator of God and men.” ¹⁷² But this certainly is opposed not only to the mind of the Church and to Christian usage, but to truth. For to speak exactly, Christ is Head of the universal Church as He exists at once in both of His natures ¹⁷³ moreover He Himself has solemnly declared: “If you shall ask me anything in my name, that I will do.” ¹⁷⁴ For although prayers are very often directed to the Eternal Father through the only-begotten Son, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice - in which Christ, at once Priest and Victim, exercises in a special manner the office of Mediator - nevertheless not infrequently even in this Sacrifice, prayers are addressed to the Divine Redeemer also; for all Christians must clearly know and understand that the man Jesus Christ is also the Son of God and God Himself. And thus, when the Church Militant offers her adoration and prayers to the Immaculate Lamb, the Sacred Victim, her voice seems to re-echo the never-ending chorus of the Church Triumphant: “To him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb benediction and honor and glory and power forever and ever.” ¹⁷⁵

Non desunt postremo, qui dicunt supplicationes nostras non ad ipsam Iesu Christi personam, sed ad Deum potius, vel ad aeternum Patrem per Christum esse dirigendas, cum Servator noster, prout mystici sui Corporis Caput, « mediator Dei et hominum » (1 Tim. 2, 5) solummodo sit habendus. Attamen id non solum Ecclesiae menti adversatur Christianorumque consuetudini, sed veritati etiam offendit. Christus enim, ut proprie accurateque loquamur, secundum utramque naturam una simul, totius Ecclesiae est Caput (cfr S. Thom. De Veritate q. 29 a. 4 e); ac ceteroquin ipse sollemniter asseveravit :« Si quid petieritis me in nomine meo, hoc faciam » (Io. 14, 14). Et quamvis in Eucharistico praesertim Sacrificio — in quo Christus, cum sacerdos ipsemet et hostia sit, conciliatoris munere peculiari modo fungitur — orationes ad aeternum Patrem per Unigenitum suum plerumque admoveantur, nihilo secius non raro, ac vel in ipsa litatione, ad Divinum quoque Redemptorem preces adhibentur; quandoquidem Christianis omnibus cognitum clareque perspectum esse debet hominem Christum Iesum eundem esse Dei Filium, ipsumque Deum. Atque adeo, dum militans Ecclesia intaminatum Agnum sacratamque Hostiam adorat ac precatur, triumphantis videtur Ecclesiae voci quodammodo respondere, perpetuo canentis :« Sedenti in throno et Agno : benedictio et honor et gloria et potestas in saecula saeculorum» (Apoc. 5, I3).

91. Venerable Brethren, in Our exposition of this mystery which embraces the hidden union of us all with Christ, We have thus far, as Teacher of the Universal Church, illumined the mind with the light of truth, and Our pastoral office now requires that We provide an incentive for the heart to love this Mystical Body with that ardor of charity which is not confined to thoughts and words, but which issues in deeds. If those who lived under the Old Law could sing of their earthly city: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten; let my tongue cleave to my jaws if I do not remember thee, if I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy,” ¹⁷⁶ how much greater then should be the joy and exultation that should fill our hearts who dwell in a City built on the holy mountain of living and chosen stones, “Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.” ¹⁷⁷ For nothing more glorious, nothing nobler, nothing surely more honorable can be imagined than to belong to the One, Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, in which we become members of One Body as venerable as it is unique; are guided by one supreme Head; are filled with one divine Spirit; are nourished during our earthly exile by one doctrine and one heavenly Bread, until at last we enter into the one, unending blessedness of heaven.

Postquam, Venerabiles Fratres, in huius commentatione mysterii, quod arcanam omnium nostrum amplectitur cum Christo coniunctionem, ut universalis Ecclesiae Magister, mentes veritatis luce collustravimus, pastorali muneri nostro consentaneum ducimus animis quoque stimulos adiicere ad mysticum eiusmodi Corpus incensa illa caritate adamandum, quae non modo cogitatione verbisque, sed dedita etiam opera proferatur. Si enim Veteris Legis sectatores de terrestri Civitate sua haec cecinere :« Si oblitus fuero tui, Ierusalem, oblivioni detur dextera mea: adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui; si non preposuero Ierusalem in principio laetitiae meae », (Ps. 136, 5-6), quanto cum maiore gloria effusioreque gaudio idcirco nobis exsultandum est, quod Civitatem inhabitamus ex vivis et electis lapidibus exstructam in monte sancto, « ipso summo angulari lapide Christo Iesu » (Eph. 2, 20; 1 Petr. 2, 4-5). Siquidem nihil gloriosius, nihil nobilius, nihil profecto honorificentius cogitari potest, quam sanctam, catholicam, apostolicam Romanamque Ecclesiam participare, qua unius tam venerandi Corporis membra efficimur, ab uno dirigimur tam excelso Capite; ab uno perfundimur Divino Spiritu; una denique doctrina unoque Angelico Pane hoc in terreno exsilio enutrimur, eo usque dum tandem aliquando una sernpiternaque in caelis beatitate fruamur.

92. But lest we be deceived by the angel of darkness who transforms himself into an angel of light, ¹⁷⁸ let this be the supreme law of our love: to love the Spouse of Christ as Christ willed her to be, and as He purchased her with His blood. Hence, not only should we cherish exceedingly the Sacraments with which holy Mother Church sustains our life, the solemn ceremonies which she celebrates for our solace and our joy, the sacred chant and the liturgical rites by which she lifts our minds up to heaven, but also the sacramentals and all those exercises of piety by which she consoles the hearts of the faithful and sweetly imbues them with the Spirit of Christ. As her children, it is our duty, not only to make a return to her for her maternal goodness to us, but also to respect the authority which she has received from Christ in virtue of which she brings into captivity our understanding unto the obedience of Christ. ¹⁷⁹ Thus we are commanded to obey her laws and her moral precepts, even if at times they are difficult to our fallen nature; to bring our rebellious body into subjection through voluntary mortification; and at times we are warned to abstain even from harmless pleasures. Nor does it suffice to love this Mystical Body for the glory of its divine Head and for its heavenly gifts; we must love it with an effective love as it appears in this our mortal flesh - made up, that is, of weak human elements, even though at times they are little fitted to the place which they occupy in this venerable body.

Ne autem a tenebrarum angelo decipiamur, transfigurante se in angelum lucis (cfr. 2 Cor. 11, 14), haec sit amoris nostri suprema lex ut nempe Christi Sponsam, qualem eam Christus voluit suoque sanguine acquisivit, diligamus. Non modo igitur sacramenta, quibus Ecclesia pia Mater nos alit; non modo sollemnia, quibus nos solacio laetitiaque afficit, ac sacra cantica et liturgici ritus, quibus mentes nostras ad caelestia erigit, carissima nobis sint oportet, sed et sacramentalia, quae dicimus, atque varia illa pietatis exercitia, quibus eadem fidelium animos Spiritu Christi suaviter imbuit et consolatur. Nec solummodo officium nobis est maternam eius erga nos pietatem, ut filios addecet, rependere, sed acceptam etiam a Christo auctoritatem eius revereri, quae in captivitatem redigit intellectus nostros in obsequium Christi (cfr. 2 Cor. 10, 5); atque adeo eius legibus eiusque de moribus praeceptis, nonnumquam naturae nostrae a primaeva innocentia lapsae durioribus, obtemperare iubemur; itemque rebellans, quod gerimus, corpus voluntaria castigatione cornpescere; quin immo interdum a iucundis etiam rebus, neque iis noxiis, abstinere admonemur. Nec satis est mysticum hoc Corpus diligere, divino Capite caelestibusque dotibus insigne; sed actuoso etiam amore idem prosequi debemus, prouti in mortali manifestatur carne nostra, ex humanis nempe infirmisque elementis constans, etsi minus eadem nonnum quam ei loco congruunt, quem in venerando illo Corpore occupant.

93. In order that such a solid and undivided love may abide and increase in our souls day by day, we must accustom ourselves to see Christ Himself in the Church. For it is Christ who lives in His Church, and through her, teaches, governs, and sanctifies; it is Christ also who manifests Himself differently in different members of His society. If the faithful strive to live in a spirit of lively faith, they will not only pay due honor and reverence to the more exalted members of this Mystical Body, especially those who according to Christ’s mandate will have to render an account of our souls, ¹⁸⁰ but they will take to their hearts those members who are the object of our Savior’s special love: the weak, We mean, the wounded, and the sick who are in need of material or spiritual assistance; children whose innocence is so easily exposed to danger in these days, and whose young hearts can be molded as wax; and finally the poor, in helping whom we recognize as it were, through His supreme mercy, the very person of Jesus Christ.

Ut autem solidus eiusmodi atque integer amor in animis resideat nostris, in diesque augeatur, assuescamus necesse est in Ecclesia ipsum Christum videre. Christus est enim, qui in Ecclesia sua vivit, qui per eam docet, regit, sanctitatemque impertit; Christus quoque est qui varie sese in variis suis socialibus membris manifestat. Ubi igitur vivido hoc fidei spiritu christifideles omnes vere reapse conitentur, tum profecto non solum altiora mystici huius Corporis membra, eaque praesertim a quibus est ex divini Capitis mandato ratio aliquando reddenda de animabus nostris (cfr. Hebr. 13, 17), honore debitoque obsequio prosequentur, sed ea etiam sibi cordi habebunt, erga quae Servator noster peculiarissimo amore affectus est: infirmos dicimus, saucios et aegrotos, qui vel naturali, vel superno medicamine indigent; pueros, quorum innocentia tam facile hodie periclitatur, quorumque animula ut cera effingitur; pauperes denique, in quibus iuvandis ipsa Iesu Christi persona miseratione summa agnoscenda est.

94. For as the Apostle with good reason admonishes us: “Those that seem the more feeble members of the Body are more necessary; and those that we think the less honorable members of the Body, we surround with more abundant honour.” ¹⁸¹ Conscious of the obligations of Our high office We deem it necessary to reiterate this grave statement today, when to Our profound grief We see at times the deformed, the insane, and those suffering from hereditary disease deprived of their lives, as though they were a useless burden to Society; and this procedure is hailed by some as a manifestation of human progress, and as something that is entirely in accordance with the common good. Yet who that is possessed of sound judgment does not recognize that this not only violates the natural and the divine law ¹⁸² written in the heart of every man, but that it outrages the noblest instincts of humanity? The blood of these unfortunate victims who are all the dearer to our Redeemer because they are deserving of greater pity, “cries to God from the earth.” ¹⁸³

Ut enim iure meritoque Apostolus admonet :« Multo magis quae videntur membra Corporis infirmiora esse, necessariora sunt; et quae putamus ignobiliora membra esse Corporis, his honorem abundantiorem circumdamus » (1 Cor. 12, 22-23). Quam quidem gravissimam sententiam Nos in praesens, pro altissimi conscientia officii, quo obstringimur, iterandam reputamus, dum magno cum maerore cernimus corpore deformes, amentes patriisque morbis infectos, utpote molestum societatis onus, vita interdum privari; idque a quibusdam efferri quasi novum humanae progressionis inventum, communique utilitati maxime consentaneum. At quisnam cordatus non videat hoc non tantum naturali divinaeque legi (cfr. Decret. S. Officii 2 dec. 1940: A. A. S. 1940 p. 553) in omnium animis inscriptae, sed altioris etiam humanitatis sensibus acerrime adversari? Horum igitur sanguis, qui sunt Redemptori nostro idcirco cariores, quod maiore sunt miseratione digni, «clamat ad Deum de terra» (cfr. Gen. 4, 10).

95. In order to guard against the gradual weakening of that sincere love which requires us to see our Savior in the Church and in its members, it is most fitting that we should look to Jesus Himself as a perfect model of love for the Church.

Ne autem sincera illa caritas, qua in Ecclesia eiusdemque membris Servatorem nostrum cernere debemus, pedetemptim languescat, valde opportunum est ipsum Iesum, veluti supremum erga Ecclesiam amoris exemplar intueri.

96. And first of all let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Savior shed His Blood precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and might constrain them to unite in one body, however widely they may differ in nationality and race. True love of the Church, therefore, requires not only that we should be mutually solicitous one for another ¹⁸⁴ as members and sharing in their suffering ¹⁸⁵ but likewise that we should recognize in other men, although they are not yet joined to us in the body of the Church, our brothers in Christ according to the flesh, called, together with us, to the same eternal salvation. It is true, unfortunately, especially today, that there are are some who extol enmity, hatred and spite as if they enhanced the dignity and the worth of man. Let us, however, while we look with sorrow on the disastrous consequences of this teaching, follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who are of a different nation or race, ¹⁸⁶ but even our enemies. ¹⁸⁷ While Our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, We extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and the depth of the charity of Christ, ¹⁸⁸ which neither diversity of race or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or unjust, destroy.

Et primum quidem huius amoris amplitudinem imitemur. Una profecto est Christi Sponsa, nempe Ecclesia; attamen divini Sponsi amor tam late patet, ut neminem excludens, universum hominum genus in sua Sponsa amplectatur. Hac scilicet de causa sanguinem suum Servator noster effudit, ut omnes homines, natione ac stirpe seiunctos, Deo reconciliaret in Cruce, eosdemque in unum Corpus coalescere iuberet. Verum igitur Ecclesiae amor postulat non solum ut in ipso Corpore simus alter alterius membra pro invicem sollicita (cfr. Rom. 12, 5; 1 Cor. 12, 25), quae gloriante alio membro gaudeant, patienti compatiantur oporteat (cfr.1 Cor. 12, 26), sed etiam ut alios homines nobiscum nondum in Ecclesiae Corpore coniunctos, fratres agnoscamus Christi secundum carnem, una nobiscum ad eandem aeternam salutem evocatos. Utique, proh dolor, hodie praesertim non desunt, qui simultatem, odium livoremque superbe iactent, veluti quiddam extollens atque efferens humanam dignitatem, humanamque virtutem. Nos tamen, dum funestos huius doctrinae fructus dolentes cernimus, pacificum Regem nostrum sequamur, qui nos docuit non solum eos amare, qui non ex eadem gente, neque ex eadem stirpe sint orti (cfr. Luc. 10, 33-37), sed vel ipsos inimicos diligere (cfr. Luc. 6, 2-35; Matth. 5, 44-48). Nos, suavissima Apostoli gentium sententia perfusis animis, cum eodem canamus quae sit longitudo, latitudo, sublimitas, profundum caritatis Christi (cfr. Eph. 3, 18); quam quidem nec generis morumque diversitas diffringere, nec immensi oceani tractus imminuere, nec bella denique, vel iusta vel iniusta de causa suscepta, dissolvere possunt.

97. In this gravest of hours, Venerable Brethren, when bodies are racked with pain and souls are oppressed with grief, every individual must be aroused to this supernatural charity so that, by the combined efforts of all good men, striving to outdo each other in pity and mercy - We have in mind especially, those who are engaged in any kind of relief work - the immense needs of mankind, both spiritual and corporal, may be alleviated, and the devoted generosity, the inexhaustible fruitfulness of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, may shine resplendently throughout the whole world.

Gravissima hac hora, Venerabiles Fratres, qua tot dolores corpora lacerant maeroresque animos, ad hanc supernam caritatem excitari omnes oportet, ut collatis omnium bonorum viribus - eorum praesertim recordamur, qui cuiusvis generis consociationibus ad suppetias occurrendum dant operam - tam ingentibus animi corporisque necessitatibus mira pietatis misericordiaeque contentione subveniatur ; atque adeo mystici Iesu Christi Corporis studiosa largitas et inexhausta fecunditas ubique gentium refulgeant.

98. As the vastness of the charity with which Christ loved His Church is equalled by its constant activity, we all, with the same assiduous and zealous charity must love the Mystical Body of Christ. Now from the moment of His Incarnation, when he laid the first foundations of the Church, even to His last mortal breath, our Redeemer never ceased for an instant, though He was the Son of God, to labor unto weariness in order to establish and strengthen His Church, whether by giving us the shining example of His holiness, or by preaching, or conversing, or gathering and instructing disciples. And so We desire that all who claim the Church as their mother, should seriously consider that not only the clergy and those who have consecrated themselves to God in the religious life, but the other members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ as well have, each in his degree, the obligation of working hard and constantly for the building up and increase of this Body. We wish this to be borne in mind especially by members of Catholic Action who assist the Bishops and the priests in their apostolic labours - and to their praise be it said, they do realize it - and also by those members of pious associations which work for the same end. There is no one who does not realize their energetic zeal is of the highest importance and of the greatest weight especially in the present circumstances.

Quandoquidem autem caritatis amplitudini, qua Christus dilexit Ecclesiam, actuosa in eo respondet caritatis constantia, nos quoque omnes adsidua studiosaque voluntate mysticum Christi Corpus adamemus. Porro nulla assignari potest hora, qua Redemptor noster ab Incarnatione sua, cum primum Ecclesiae fundamentum posuit, usque ad mortalis vitae exitum, et fulgentibus sanctitudinis suae exemplis, et concionando, colloquendo, convocando, constituendoque, ad Ecclesiam aut formandam aut confirmandam, ad fatigationem usque, licet Dei Filius, non laboraverit. Cupimus igitur, ut omnes, quotquot Ecclesiam agnoscunt veluti matrem, sedulo perpendant, non modo sacrorum administris, iisque dumtaxat, qui Deo mancipati religiosae vitae se dederint, sed ceteris quoque mystici Iesu Christi Corporis membris, pro sua cuiusque parte, officium esse impense diligenterque adlaborandi ad aedificationem et incrementum eiusdem Corporis. Quod ut peculiari modo animadvertant optamus — quod ceteroquin laudabiliter faciunt — ii, qui in Catholicae Actionis agminibus militantes, sacrorum Antistitibus ac sacerdotibus in apostolatus munere adiutricem operam navant; iique etiam, qui in piis sodaliciis ad eundem finem auxiliariam opem praestant. Quam quidem eorum omnium sollertem navitatem, in praesentibus rerum condicionibus, summi esse momenti, maximaeque gravitatis, nemo est qui non videat.

99. In this connection We cannot pass over in silence the fathers and mothers of families to whom our Savior has entrusted the youngest members of His Mystical Body. We plead with them most earnestly, for the love of Christ and the Church, to take the greatest possible care of the children confided to them, and to protect them from the snares of every kind into which they can be lured so easily today.

Neque heic praeterire silentio possumus patres matresque familias, quibus Servator noster tenerrima sui mystici Corporis membra concredidit; enixe igitur eos ob Christi Ecclesiaeque amorem compellamus, ut sibi demandatae suboli cura diligentissima prospiciant; eamque ab insidiis omne genus, quibus tam facile hodie illaqueatur, praecavere iubeant.

100. Our Redeemer showed His burning love for the Church especially by praying for her to His heavenly Father. To recall but a few examples: everyone knows, Venerable Brethren, that just before the Crucifixion He prayed repeatedly for Peter, ¹⁸⁹ for the other Apostles, ¹⁹⁰ for all who, through the preaching of the holy Gospel would believe in Him. ¹⁹¹

Peculiari autem modo Redemptor noster suum erga Ecclesiam flagrantissimum amorem piis ostendit supplicationibus, ad caelestem Patrem pro eadem admotis. Siquidem — ut haec solummodo in memoriam revocemus — omnes norunt, Venerabiles Fratres, eum, mox Crucis patibulum subiturum, incensissimas effudisse preces pro Petro (cfr. Luc. 22, 32), pro ceteris Apostolis (cfr. Io. 17, 9-19), pro omnibus denique, qui per divini verbi praedicationem eidem essent credituri (cfr. Io. 17, 20-23).

101. After the example of Christ we too should pray daily to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest. ¹⁹² Our united prayer should rise daily to heaven for all the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ; first for Bishops who are responsible in a special way for their respective dioceses; then for priests and religious, both men and women, who have been called to the service of God, and who, at home and in the foreign missions, are protecting, increasing, and advancing the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer. No member of this venerated Body must be forgotten in this common prayer; and let there be a special remembrance of those who are weighed down with the sorrows and afflictions of this earthly exile, as also for the suffering souls in Purgatory. Neither must those be neglected who are being instructed in Christian doctrine, so that they may be able to receive baptism without delay.

Quod quidem nos Christi exemplum imitantes, cotidie Dominum messis adprecemur, ut mittat operarios in messem suam (cfr. Matth. 9, 38; Luc. 10, 2); ac cotidie omnium nostrum comprecatio ad caelestia evehatur omniaque commendet mystici Iesu Christi Corporis membra. Inprimisque sacrorum Antistites, quibus peculiaris cuique suae Dioecesis cura demandata est; ac sacerdotes dein religiososque viros ac mulieres, qui in sortem Dei vocati, cum apud suos, tum in exteris etiam ethnicorum regionibus divini Redemptoris Regnum tutantur, adaugent, provehunt. Nullius autem membri huius venerandi Corporis haec communis supplicatio obliviscatur; eosque praesertim reminiscatur, qui vel terrestris huius incolatus doloribus angustiisque premuntur, vel vita functi piaculari igne purificantur. Neque eos praetermittat, qui christianis praeceptis instruuntur, ut quam primum lustralis aquae lavacro expiari queant.

102. Likewise, We must earnestly desire that this united prayer may embrace in the same ardent charity both those who, not yet enlightened by the truth of the Gospel, are still outside the fold of the Church, and those who, on account of regrettable schism, are separated from Us, who though unworthy, represent the person of Jesus Christ on earth. Let us then re-echo that divine prayer of our Savior to the heavenly Father: “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” ¹⁹³

Ac vehementer cupimus, ut eis quoque communes hae preces incensa caritate prospiciant, qui vel nondum Evangelii sint veritate collustrati, neque in securas Ecclesiae caulas ingressi; vel a Nobis, qui licet immerentes Iesu Christi personam hisce in terris sustinemus, ob miserum fidei unitatisque discidium seiuncti sint. Quam ob rem, divinam illam Servatoris nostri ad caelestem Patrem orationem geminemus :« Ut omnes unum sint, sicut tu, Pater in me et ego in te, ut et ipsi in nobis unum sint, ut credat mundus, quia tu me misisti » (Io. 17, 21).

103. As you know, Venerable Brethren, from the very beginning of Our Pontificate, We have committed to the protection and guidance of heaven those who do not belong to the visible Body of the Catholic Church, solemnly declaring that after the example of the Good Shepherd We desire nothing more ardently than that they may have life and have it more abundantly. ¹⁹⁴ Imploring the prayers of the whole Church We wish to repeat this solemn declaration in this Encyclical Letter in which We have proclaimed the praises of the “great and glorious Body of Christ” ¹⁹⁵ and from a heart overflowing with love We ask each and every one of them to correspond to the interior movements of grace, and to seek to withdraw from that state in which they cannot be sure of their salvation. ¹⁹⁶ For even though by an unconscious desire and longing they have a certain relationship with the Mystical Body of the Redeemer, they still remain deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be enjoyed in the Catholic Church. Therefore may they enter into Catholic unity and, joined with Us in the one, organic Body of Jesus Christ, may they together with us run on to the one Head in the Society of glorious love. ¹⁹⁷ Persevering in prayer to the Spirit of love and truth, We wait for them with open and outstretched arms to come not to a stranger’s house, but to their own, their father’s home.

Hos etiam, qui ad adspectabilem non pertinent Catholicae Ecclesiae compagem, ut profecto nostis, Venerabiles Fratres, inde ab inito Pontificatu, supernae Nos commisimus tutelae supernoque regimini, sollemniter adseverantes nihil Nobis, Boni Pastoris exemplum sequentibus, magis cordi esse, quam ut vitam habeant et abundantius habeant (cfr. Litt. Enc. Summi Pontificatus : A. A. S. 1939 p. 419). Quam quidem sollemnem adseverationem Nostram per Encyclicas has Litteras, quibus « magni et gloriosi Corporis Christi» (S. Iren. Adv. Haer. 4, 33, 7 - Migne PG 7 col. 1076) laudes praedicavimus, imploratis totius Ecclesiae precibus, iterare cupimus, eos singulos universos amantissimo animo invitantes, ut internis divinae gratiae impulsionibus ultro libenterque concedentes, ab eo statu se eripere studeant, in quo de sempiterna cuiusque propria salute securi esse non possunt (cfr. Pius IX Iam vos omnes 13 sept. 1868: Act. Conc. Vat. C. L. 7, 10); quandoquidem, etiamsi inscio quodam desiderio ac voto ad mysticum Redemptoris Corpus ordinentur, tot tamen tantisque caelestibus muneribus adiumentisque carent, quibus in Catholica solummodo Ecclesia frui licet. Ingrediantur igitur catholicam unitatem, et Nobiscum omnes in una Iesu Christi Corporis compagine coniuncti, ad unum Caput in gloriosissimae dilectionis societate concurrant (cfr. S. Gelas. I Epist. 14 — Migne PL 59 col. 89). Numquam intermissis ad Spiritum dilectionis et veritatis precibus, eos Nos elatis apertisque manibus exspectamus, non tamquam alienam, sed propriam paternamque domum adituros.

104. Though We desire this unceasing prayer to rise to God from the whole Mystical Body in common, that all the straying sheep may hasten to enter the one fold of Jesus Christ, yet We recognize that this must be done of their own free will; for no one believes unless he wills to believe. ¹⁹⁸ Hence they are most certainly not genuine Christians ¹⁹⁹ who against their belief are forced to go into a church, to approach the altar and to receive the Sacraments; for the “faith without which it is impossible to please God” ²⁰⁰ is an entirely free “submission of intellect and will.” ²⁰¹ Therefore, whenever it happens, despite the constant teaching of this Apostolic See, ²⁰² that anyone is compelled to embrace the Catholic faith against his will, Our sense of duty demands that We condemn the act. For men must be effectively drawn to the truth by the Father of light through the spirit of His beloved Son, because, endowed as they are with free will, they can misuse their freedom under the impulse of mental agitation and base desires. Unfortunately many are still wandering far from the Catholic truth, being unwilling to follow the inspirations of divine grace, because neither they ²⁰³ nor the faithful pray to God with sufficient fervor for this intention. Again and again We beg all we ardently love the Church to follow the example of the Divine Redeemer and to give themselves constantly to such prayer.

At si cupimus non intermissam eiusmodi totius mystici Corporis comprecationem admoveri Deo, ut aberrantes omnes in unum Iesu Christi ovile quam primum ingrediantur, profitemur tamen omnino necessarium esse id sponte libenterque fieri, cum nemo credat nisi volens (cfr. S. Aug. In Io. Ev. tract. 26, a— Migne PL 30 col. 1607). Quam ob rem si qui, non credentes, eo reapse compelluntur ut Ecclesiae aedificium intrent, ut ad altare accedant, sacramentaque suscipiant, ii procul dubio veri christifideles non fiunt (cfr. S. Aug. Ibidem); fides enim sine qua « impossibile est placere Deo » (Hebr. 11, 6) liberrimum esse debet « obsequium intellectus et voluntatis » (Conc. Vat. Const. de fide cath. cap. 3). Si igitur aliquando contingat ut, contra constantem Apostolicae huius Sedis doctrinam (cfr. Leo XIII Immortale Dei: A. S. S. XVIII pp. 174-175; Cod. Iur. Can. c. 1351), ad amplexandam catholicam fidem aliquis adigatur invitus, id Nos facere non possumus quin, pro officii Nostri conscientia, reprobemus. At quoniam homines libera fruuntur voluntate, ac possunt etiam, animi perturbationibus pravisque cupidinibus impulsi, sua libertate abuti, idcirco necesse est, ut a Patre luminum per Spiritum dilecti Filii sui ad veritatem efficaciter pertrahantur. Quodsi multi adhuc, proh dolor, a catholica veritate aberrant, nec divinae adspiranti gratiae volentes concedunt, id non modo idcirco evenit, quod ipsimet (cfr. S. Aug. Ibidem) sed quod etiam christifideles preces hac de causa incensiores ad Deum non admovent. Quas quidem Nos ut omnes, erga Ecclesiam amore flagrantes, ac divini Redemptoris exemplum secuti, continenter adhibeant, iterum atque iterum adhortamur.

105. And likewise, above all in the present crisis, it seems to Us not only opportune but necessary that earnest supplications should be offered for kings, princes, and for all those who govern nations and are thus in a position to assist the Church by their protecting power, so that, the conflict ended, “peace, the work of justice” ²⁰⁴ under the impulse of divine charity may emerge from out this raging tempest and be restored to wearied man, and that holy Mother Church “may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and chastity.” ²⁰⁵ We must plead with God to grant that the rulers of nations may love wisdom, ²⁰⁶ so that the severe judgment of the Holy spirit may never fall on them: “Because being ministers of His Kingdom you have not judged rightly, not kept the law of Justice, nor walked according to the will of God; horribly and speedily will he appear to you; for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. For to him that is little, mercy shall be granted; but the mighty shall be mightily tormented. For God will not except any man’s person, neither will he stand in awe of any man’s greatness; for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all. But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty. To you, therefore, O Kings, these are my words, that you may learn wisdom and not fall from it.” ²⁰⁷

Idque etiam, in praesentibus potissimum rerum adiunctis, non tam opportunum quam necessarium esse videtur, ut nempe pro Regibus ac Principibus, pro iisque omnibus, qui populorum gubernacula moderantes, externa tutela sua Ecclesiae auxiliari queant, incensae fundatur preces, ut rebus recto ordine compositis, « opus iustitiae pax » (Is. 32, 17), divina afflante caritate, fatigato humano generi, e teterrimis huius tempestatis fluctibus emergat, ac pia Mater Ecclesia quietam ac tranquillam vitam agere possit in omni pietate et castitate (cfr. 1 Tim. 2, 2). A Deo est efflagitandum, ut diligant sapientiam omnes, qui praesunt populis (cfr. Sap. 6, 23), ita quidem ut gravissima haec Sancti Spiritus sententia in eos numquam cadat :« Interrogabit Altissimus opera vestra et cogitationes scrutabitur, quoniam, cum essetis ministri regni illius, non recte iudicastis, nec custodistis legem iustitiae, neque secundum voluntatem Dei ambulastis. Horrende et cito apparebit vobis quoniam iudicium durissimum his, qui praesunt, fiet. Exiguo enim conceditur misericordia, potentes autem potenter tormenta patientur. Non enim subtrahet personam cuiusquam Deus, nec verebitur magnitudinem cuiusquam; quoniam pusillum et magnum ipse fecit, et aequaliter cura est illi de omnibus; fortioribus autem fortior instat cruciatio. Ad vos ergo, Reges, sunt hi sermones mei, ut discatis sapientiam et non excidatis » (Ibidem 6, 4-10).

106. Moreover, Christ proved His love for His spotless Bride not only at the cost of immense labor and constant prayer, but by His sorrows and His sufferings which He willingly and lovingly endured for her sake. “Having loved His own...He loved them unto the end.” ²⁰⁸ Indeed it was only at the price of His Blood that He purchased the Church. ²⁰⁹ Let us then follow gladly in the bloodstained footsteps of our King, for this is necessary to ensure our salvation: “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His Resurrection.” ²¹⁰ and “if we be dead with him, we shall live also with Him.” ²¹¹ Also our zealous love for the Church demands it, and our brotherly love for the souls she brings forth to Christ. For although our Savior’s cruel passion and death merited for His Church an infinite treasure of graces, God’s inscrutable providence has decreed that these graces should not be granted to us all at once; but their greater or lesser abundance will depend in no small part on our own good works, which draw down on the souls of men a rain of heavenly gifts freely bestowed by God. These heavenly gifts will surely flow more abundantly if we not only pray fervently to God, especially by participating every day if possible in the Eucharistic Sacrifice; if we not only try to relieve the distress of the needy and of the sick by works of Christian charity, but if we also set our hearts on the good things of eternity rather than on the passing things of this world; if we restrain this mortal body by voluntary mortification, denying it what is forbidden, and by forcing it to do what is hard and distasteful; and finally, if we humbly accept as from God’s hands the burdens and sorrows of this present life. Thus, according to the Apostle, “we shall fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in our flesh for His Body, which is the Church.” ²¹²

Non modo autem impense laborando constanterque precando, Christus Dominus suum erga intaminatam Sponsam patefecit amorem, sed per dolores etiam angoresque suos libenter pro ea amanterque toleratos. « Cum dilexisset suos, . . . in finem dilexit eos » (Io. 13, 1). Ac non nisi sanguine suo Ecclesiam acquisivit (cfr. Act. 20, 28). Hisce igitur cruentis Regis nostri vestigiis, ut nostra salus in tuto collocanda postulat, volentes ingrediamur :« Si enim complantati sumus similitudini mortis eius, simul et resurrectionis erimus » (Rom. 6, 5) et « si commortui sumus, convivemus » (2 Tim. 2, 11). Id postulat quoque tum Ecclesiae, tum earum etiam, quas eadem Christo procreat, animarum germana actuosaque caritas. Quamvis enim Servator noster per acerbos cruciatus acerbamque mortem infinitum prorsus gratiarum thesaurum Ecclesiae suae meruerit, harum tamen gratiarum munera, ex providentis Dei consilio, nobis per partes dumtaxat impertiuntur; earumque maior vel minor ubertas haud parum a nostris quoque pendet recte factis, quibus eiusmodi caelestium donorum imber, sponte a Deo datus, super hominum attrahatur animos. Qui quidem caelestium gratiarum imber uberrimus profecto erit, si non modo incensas adhibebimus ad Deum preces, Eucharisticum praesertim Sacrificium vel cotidie, si potest, pie participando, si non modo per christianae caritatis officia tot indigentium aegritudines relevare conabimur, sed si caducis etiam huius saeculi rebus non peritura bona praeoptabimus, itemque si mortale hoc corpus voluntaria afflictatione cohibebimus, eidem illicita denegando atque aspera etiam imponendo et ardua; ac si denique praesentis huius vitae labores doloresque veluti e Dei manibus demisso animo suscipiemus. Ita enim, secundum Apostolum, « adimplebimus ea, quae desunt passionum Christi, in carne nostra, pro Corpore eius, quod est Ecclesia » (cfr. Col. 1, 24).

107. As We write these words there passes before Our eyes, alas, an almost endless throng of unfortunate beings for whom We shed tears of sorrow; sick, poor, disabled, widows, orphans, and many not infrequently languishing even unto death on account of their own painful trials or those of their families. With the heart of a father We exhort all those who from whatever cause are plunged in grief and anguish to lift their eyes trustfully to heaven and to offer their sorrows to Him who will one day reward them abundantly. Let them all remember that their sufferings are not in vain, but that they will turn to their own immense gain and that of the Church, if to this end they bear them with patience. The daily use of the offering made by the members of the Apostleship of Prayer will contribute very much to make this intention more efficacious and We welcome this opportunity of recommending this Association highly, as one which is most pleasing to God.

Quae dum scribimus, paene infinita, proh dolor, ante oculos Nostros obversatur miserorum multitudo, quibus dolenter inlacrimamur: infirmos dicimus, pauperes, artubus mutilos, in viduitate vel orbitate degentes, ac plurimos etiam ob proprias vel suorum acerbitates haud raro ad mortem usque oblanguescentes. Omnes igitur, qui quavis de causa in maestitia in angoreque iacent, paterno adhortamur animo, ut fidentes ad caelum respiciant, suasque aerumnas ei offerant, qui aliquando iisdem uberem est mercedem redditurus. Ac meminerint omnes non inanem esse dolorem suum, sed sibimet et Ecclesiae etiam esse admodum profuturum, si iidem, in hunc finem erecti, eum sint patienter toleraturi. Ad quod quidem propositum aptius efficiendum multum profecto multumque confert cotidiana sui ipsius Deo oblata devotio, quae membris in usu est piae illius sodalitatis, quam ab orationi apostolatu vocant; quant quidem sodalitatem utpote Deo gratissimam, Nobis cordi est heic summopere commendare.

108. There never was a time, Venerable Brethren, when the salvation of souls did not impose on all the duty of associating their sufferings with the torments of our Divine Redeemer. But today that duty is more clear than ever, when a gigantic conflict has set almost the whole world on fire and leaves in its wake so much death, so much misery, so much hardship; in the same way today, in a special manner, it is the duty of all to fly from vice, the attraction of the world, the unrestrained pleasures of the body, and also from worldly frivolity and vanity which contribute nothing to the Christian training of the soul nor to the gaining of Heaven. Rather let those weighty words of Our immortal predecessor Leo the Great be deeply engraven upon our minds, that by Baptism we are made flesh of the Crucified: ²¹³ and that beautiful prayer of St. Ambrose: “Carry me, Christ, on the Cross, which is salvation to the wanderers, sole rest for the wearied, wherein alone is life for those who die.” ²¹⁴

Quodsi nullo non tempore ob animarum salutem procurandam, cum divini Redemptoris cruciatibus nostri sunt dolores consociandi, id hodie potissimum, Venerabiles Fratres, omnibus officium esto, dum ingens belli conflagratio paene universum terrarum orbem incendit, ac tot mortes, tot miserias, tot aerumnas parit; itemque hodie peculiari modo omnibus officium esto sese a vitiis, ab illecebris saeculi ab affrenatisque corporis voluptatibus abstinere, atque ab ea etiam terrenarum rerum inanitate vanitateque, quae nihil ad animum christiano more excolendum, nihil ad caelum assequendum attineant. Ea potius mentibus nostris inculcanda sunt gravissima immortalis Decessoris Nostri Leonis Magni verba, adseverantis nos baptismate factos esse Crucifixi carnem (cfr. Serm. 63, 6; 66, 3 - Migne PL 54 col. 357 et col. 366); ac pulcherrima illa S. Ambrosii precatio: « Porta me, Christe, in Cruce, quae salutaris errantibus est, in qua sola est requies fatigatis, in qua sola vivent, quicumque moriuntur » (In Ps. 118 22, 30 — Migne PL 15 co1. 1521).

109. Before concluding, We cannot refrain from again and again exhorting all to love holy Mother Church with a devoted and active love. If we have really at heart the salvation of the whole human family, purchased by the precious Blood, we must offer every day to the Eternal Father our prayers, works and sufferings, for her safety and for her continued and ever more fruitful increase. And while the skies are heavy with storm clouds, and exceeding great dangers threaten the whole of human Society and the Church herself, let us commit ourselves and all that we have to the Father of Mercies, crying out: “Look down, we beseech Thee, Lord, on this Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ did not hesitate to be betrayed into the hands of evil men and to undergo the torment of the Cross.” ²¹⁵

Antequam scribendi finem facimus, temperare Nobis non possumus quin itenim atque iterum adhortemur omnes, ut piam Matrem Ecclesiam studiosa actuosaque caritate diligant. Pro eius incolumitate ac felicioribus auctioribusque incrementis preces, labores angoresque nostros cotidie Aeterno Patri offeramus, si reapse universae hominum familiae, divino sanguine redemptae. nobis cordi est salus. Ac dum caelum coruscantibus infuscatur nubibus, magnaque discrimina in universum hominum consortium in ipsamque Ecclesiam ingruunt, nos nostraque omnia, misericordiarum Patri committamus supplicantes: « Respice, quaesumus, Domine, super hanc familiam tuam, pro qua Dominus noster Iesus Christus non dubitavit manibus tradi nocentium et Crucis subire tormentum »(Off. Maior. Hebd.).

110. Venerable Brethren, may the Virgin Mother of God hear the prayers of Our paternal heart - which are yours also - and obtain for all a true love of the Church - she whose sinless soul was filled with the divine spirit of Jesus Christ above all other created souls, who “in the name of the whole human race” gave her consent “for a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and human nature.” ²¹⁶ Within her virginal womb Christ our Lord already bore the exalted title of Head of the Church; in a marvelous birth she brought Him forth as the source of all supernatural life, and presented Him newly born, as Prophet, King and Priest to those who, from among Jews and Gentiles, were the first to come to adore Him. Furthermore, her only Son, condescending to His mother’s prayer in “Cana of Galilee,” performed the miracle by which “his disciples believed in Him.” ²¹⁷ It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother’s rights and her mother’s love were included in the holocaust. Thus she who, according to the flesh, was the mother of our Head, through the added title of pain and glory became, according to the Spirit, the mother of all His members. She it was through her powerful prayers obtained that the spirit of our Divine Redeemer, already given on the Cross, should be bestowed, accompanied by miraculous gifts, on the newly founded Church at Pentecost; and finally, bearing with courage and confidence the tremendous burden of her sorrows and desolation, she, truly the Queen of Martyrs, more than all the faithful “filled up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ...for His Body, which is the Church”; ²¹⁸ and she continues to have for the Mystical Body of Christ, born of the pierced Heart of the Savior, ²¹⁹ the same motherly care and ardent love with which she cherished and fed the Infant Jesus in the crib.

Efficiat, Venerabiles Fratres, haec Nostra paterna vota, quae vestra, etiam profecto sunt, ac veracem erga Ecclesiam amorem omnibus impetret Deipara Virgo, cuius sanctissima anima fuit, magis quam ceterae una simul omnes a Deo creatae, divino Iesu Christi Spiritu repleta; quaeque consensit «loco totius humanae naturae », ut « quoddam spirituale matrimonium inter Filium Dei et humanam naturam » haberetur (S. Thom. 3ª q. 80 a. I). Ipsa fuit, quae Christum Dominum, iam in virgineo gremio suo Ecclesiae Capitis dignitate ornatum, mirando partu utpote caelestis omnis vitae fontem edidit; eumque recens natum, iis qui primum ex Iudaeorum ethnicorum gentibus adoraturi advenerant, Prophetam, Regem, Sacerdotemque porrexit. Ac praeterea Unigena eius, eius maternis precibus « in Cana Galileae » concedens, mirabile signum patravit, quo «crediderunt in eum discipuli eius » (Io. 2, 11). Ipsa fuit, quae vel propriae, vel hereditariae labis expers, arctissime semper cum Filio suo coniuncta, eundem in Golgotha, una cum maternorum iurium maternique amoris sui holocausto, nova veluti Eva, pro omnibus Adae filiis, miserando eius lapsu foedatis, Aeterno Patri obtulit; ita quidem, ut quae corpore erat nostri Capitis mater, spiritu facta esset, ob novum etiam doloris gloriaeque titulum, eius membrorum omnium mater. Ipsa fuit, quae validissimis suis precibus impetravit, ut divini Redemptoris Spiritus, iam in Cruce datus, recens ortae Ecclesiae prodigialibus muneribus Pentecostes die conferretur. Ipsa denique immensos dolores suos forti fidentique animo tolerando, magis quam Christifideles omnes, vera Regina martyrum, « adimplevit ea quae desunt passionum Christi . . . pro Corpore eius, quod est Ecclesia » (Col. 1, 24); ac mysticum Christi Corpus, e scisso Corde Servatoris nostri natum (cfr. Off. Ssm-i Cordis in hymmo ad vesp.), eadem materna cura impensaque caritate prosecuta est, qua in cunabulis puerulum Iesum lactentem refovit atque enutrivit.

111. May she, then, the most holy Mother of all the members of Christ, ²²⁰ to whose Immaculate Heart We have trustfully consecrated all mankind, and who now reigns in heaven with her Son, her body and soul refulgent with heavenly glory - may she never cease to beg from Him that copious streams of grace may flow from its exalted Head into all the members of the Mystical Body. May she throw about the Church today, as in times gone by, the mantle of her protection and obtain from God that now at least the Church and all mankind may enjoy more peaceful days.

Ipsa igitur, omnium membrorum Christi sanctissima Genitrix (cfr. Pius X Ad diem illum : A.S.S. XXXVI p. 453), cuius Cordi Immaculato omnes homines fidenter consecravimus, et quae nunc in caelo corporis animique gloria renidet, unaque simul cum Filio suo regnat, ab eo efflagitando contendat, ut uberrimi gratiarum rivuli ab excelso Capite in omnia mystici Corporis membra haud intermisso ordine deriventur; itemque praesentissimo patrocinio suo, sicut anteactis temporibus, ita in praesens Ecclesiam tueatur, eique atque universae hominum communitati tandem aliquando tranquilliora a Deo tempora impetret.

112. Confiding in this sublime hope, from an overflowing heart We impart to you, one and all, Venerable Brethren, and to the flocks entrusted to your care, as a pledge of heavenly graces and a token of Our special affection, the Apostolic Benediction.

Qua Nos superna spe freti, caelestium gratiarum auspicem, peculiarisque Nostrae benevolentiae testem, vobis singulis universis, Venerabiles Fratres, ac gregibus unicuique vestrum concreditis, Apostolicam Benedictionem effuso animo impertimus.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s on the twenty-ninth day of June, the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 1943, the fifth of Our Pontificate.

Datum Romae, apud Sanctum Petrum, die XXIX mensis Iunii, in festo Ss. Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, anno MDCCCCXXXXIII, Pontificatus Nostri quinto.

PIUS XII

PIUS PP. XII