Caput XXVII
The Church's Hidden Strength
The Church endures by divine strength, and the faithful are called to perceive this power with the eyes of the mind rather than outward appearances.
The holy Church's own authority will endure, and the wickedness of the empire will be brought down upon it. To the faithful, however, concerning this same Church it is said: Set your hearts on his strength (Ps. XLVII, 14). That is, not according to what appears outwardly, but with the eyes of the mind they should examine what strength resides within it. For the one who promised is always present: Behold, I am with you (Matt.✦ XXVIII, 20), etc.
Declaring God's Presence
The faithful are to declare God's presence, and every holy bishop remains spiritually present in the see once held bodily.
And so it follows there: That you may declare that this is God (Psal. XLVII, 14, 15). But every holy bishop, in the sees they once held bodily, is believed to be present always in spiritual presence.
Saint Gregory's Living Presence
A wicked man who desecrated Saint Gregory's spring was seized by the saint's spiritual attendants and died, proving Gregory's abiding presence in his monastery.
And if you like, this point too can be illustrated with an example. In that life of Saint Gregory used by the Romans, many wonders are clearly recorded as having happened after his death through his presence in that monastery of his — the one he mentions in his homilies. A wicked man named Dominic seduced a certain nun and brought her to stay near that monastery for his own purposes. When the guest quarters lacked a latrine, the wretch took away beams that had lined the spring of Saint Gregory and fitted them into a latrine. When he was sleeping in that same place the following night, he was seized and bound by two men acting as his attendants. When he asked why they were binding him and pushing him so roughly, they said: 'On account of the prostitute, the holy pope orders you to be brought before the court.' As it happened, Pope John had set out the day before against the Saracens. The accused man, remembering his absence, said: 'Lord, the pope is not in the city right now — how could he have ordered me to be bound?' But they said: 'If Pope John has left, Saint Gregory remains here. As he customarily made his rounds of the city, when he came here he found the walls of his spring torn apart by you on account of that harlot.' That man, roused from sleep, was already burning with inward fevers; he died on the twelfth day. He proved with his dying breath what Zechariah — the one who was in charge of the monastery — had scorned when he rejected the rebuke: that Gregory was present in that place, investigating each matter one by one, something Zechariah had never suspected.
Read the original Latin
Manebit ergo sanctae Ecclesiae sua potestas, et impietas imperii erit super eum. Fidelibus autem de eadem Ecclesia dicitur: Ponite corda vestra in virtute ejus (Psal. XLVII, 14). Id est non secundum quod foris apparet, sed mentalibus oculis quae virtus in ea sit introspectent: semper namque praesto est ille qui promisit: Ecce ego vobiscum sum (Matth. XXVIII, 20), etc. Unde et illic sequitur: Ut enarretis quoniam hic est Deus (Psal. XLVII, 14, 15). Sed et sancti quique pontifices sedibus suis quas aliquando corporaliter tenuerunt, spiritali praesentia semper adesse creduntur.
Quod etiam si placet exemplo monstretur. In illa divi Gregorii vita, qua Romani utuntur, multa mirabilia per praesentiam ejus post transitum in illo suo monasterio, cujus in homiliis meminit, patrata manifeste declarantur, e quibus unum est. Quidam nefarius nomine Dominicus quamdam sanctimonialem a se corruptam juxta illud monasterium sibi conduxit, cumque hospitio latrina deesset, trabeculas, quae fontem sancti Gregorii senserant, infelix abstulit, et latrinam aptavit. Cum sequenti ibidem nocte dormiret, comprehensus est a duobus quasi cubiculariis atque ligatus: quos cum interrogaret cur se ligarent et tam crudeliter impellerent: Propter fornicariam, inquiunt, te sanctus papa jubet in audientiam duci. Forte tunc Joannes pontifex Romanus pridie contra Saracenos perrexerat: cujus absentiam reus ille recordatus, dominus, inquit papa, nunc in urbe non est, et quomodo me ligari jussit? At illi dixerunt: Si papa Joannes hinc abiit, sanctus Gregorius hic remansit, qui more solito urbem perlustrans cum hic veniret, septa sui fontis a te propter meretriculam reperit dissipata. Ille excitus cum jam internis febribus arderet duodecimo die expiravit. Qui Zachariae quidem qui monasterio praeerat objurgationem contempserat, sed Gregorium loco esse praesentem atque singula quaeque perscrutantem, quod non suspicabatur, moriendo probavit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.28.20 — teaching them to observe everything I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
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