MYSTICI CORPORIS

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

OF

POPE PIUS XII

ON

THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST

Vatican Translation as Printed by

Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana

With Discussion Club Outline

National Catholic Welfare Conference

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington 5, D. C.



Discussion Club Outline by

REV. EDGAR SCHMIEDELER, O.S.B., Ph.D.

Outline Copyright, 1943

by

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE CONFERENCE

17



ENCYCLICAL LETTER

OF HIS HOLINESS

PIUS XII

BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE

POPE

TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN

PATRIARCHS PRIMATES ARCHBISHOPS BISHOPS

AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES

ENJOYING PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

ON THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST

AND OUR UNION IN II WITH CHRIST

VENERABLE BRETHREN

Health and Apostolic Benediction

INTRODUCTION

1. 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.

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 bom 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.
8

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,

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.

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 to 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 inor-

dinate 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.

4



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

towards 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 contem-

plate her divinely-given unity—by which all men of every race are united
to Christ in the bond of brotherhood—they wiH 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.

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. Dur-

ing 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 in the teeth

of a raging tempest. This is a testimony to the wonderful union exist-

ing among Christians
;
but it also proves that, as Our paternal love em-

braces 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.

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. As

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 corner-stone, 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

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 Chris-

tian piety. This, it would seem, is chiefly because a revived interest in

the sacred liturgy, the more widely spread custom of frequent Com-

munion, and the more fervent devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

practised today, have brought many souls to a deeper consideration of the

unsearchable riches of Christ which are preserved in the Church. More-

over recent pronouncements on Catholic Action, by drawing closer the

bonds of union between Christians and between them and the ecclesias-

tical 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.

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 natural-

ism, 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.

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. Mys-

teries revealed by God cannot be harmful to men, nor should they re-

main 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 form its

proper object.”
6

6



11. After pondering all this long and seriously before God We con-

sider 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 definitively the many

errors current with regard to this matter.

FIRST PART

THE CHURCH IS THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST

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, in-

fected 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

the Word of the Eternal Father with the same divine love assumed human

nature from the race of Adam—but 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 accord-

ing 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

7



mankind, so in the same way throughout the centuries He makes use
of the Church that the work begun might endure. 11

13. If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ

—which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church 12—we
shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the

expression “the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ”—an expression which
springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teach-

ing of the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers.

THE CHURCH IS A BODY

One, Undivided, Visible

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 “pneumatolo-

gical” as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they

differ from each other in their profession of faith, are united by an in-

visible bond.

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.

Constituted Organically and Hierarchically

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 mem-

bers, 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 con-

stituted by the coalescence of structurally united 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 every one members one of another.”
16

8



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 chrismatic gifts—though mem-
bers gifted with miraculous powers will never be lacking in the Church.

That those who exercise sacred power in this Body are its first and 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 offices, its 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 coun-

sels, pass their lives either activelv 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 who live in the state of holy matrimony.

Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in these our days : fathers

and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism,

and in particular those members of the laitv who collaborate with the

ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer

occupy an honourable, 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.

Endowed with Vital Means of Sanctification,

That Is, with Sacraments

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 mem-

bers. Similarly the Saviour 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

9



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.

19. Nor is that all
;
for in the Holy Eucharist the faithful are nour-

ished 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 alwavs God’s will that

by the holy anointing she restore health to this 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.

20. For the social needs of the Church Christ has provided in a par-

ticular way by the institution of two other Sacraments. Through Matri-

mony, 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 coun-

sels, and to strengthen them with all other supernatural helps.

21. In this connection it must he borne in mind that, as God at the

beginning of time endowed man’s body with most ample power to sub-

ject 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 countless dangers and to fill not

only the whole world but the realms of heaven as well.

Composed of Individual Members

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 there-

fore 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 there-

fore 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.

10



Not Excluding Sinners

23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just be-

cause 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 happi-
ness. It is owing to the Saviour’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 prompt-

ings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and

penance for their sins.

24. Let everyone then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical mem-
bers 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

THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST

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 Saviour of this Mystical Body.

Christ Was the Founder of the Body

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

11



Cross; and He manifested and proclaimed it when He sent the Holy

Ghost as Paraclete in visible form on His disciples.

(
a
)
By preaching the Gospel

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 ap-

pointed their Chief and His Vicar on earth
;

25 He made known to them

all things whatsoever He had heard from His Father
;

28 He also deter-
mined that through Baptism 27 those who should believe would be in-

corporated 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 Sacri-

fice and Sacrament of the Eucharist.

(

b

) By suffering on the Cross

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 Saviour 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

former, it is now that it is . . . moulded, 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 rea-

sons on which it is based.

29. And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testa-

ment 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 Saviour 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 hand-

writing of the Old Testament to the Cross,33 establishing the New Testa-

ment 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 Syna-

gogue to the Church, from 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 bot-

tom
”

12



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 Saviour exercises fully the office itself of Head in His Church.

“For it was through His triumph on the Cross,” according to the teach-

ing 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 Saviour 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 mem-

bers of His Mystical Body
;
for they would not have been united 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.

31. But if our Saviour, by His death, became, in the full and com-

plete 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 di-

vinely 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 fulness 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 instru-

ment 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

13



of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on

them an abundance of heavenly graces.

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

(c) By promulgating the church on the day of PENTECOST

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.

Christ is the Head of the Body

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

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 reflec-

tion of the mind and the writings of the holy Fathers, who moreover

merely repeated and commented on the inspired word of Sacred Scrip-

ture.

(a ) By reason of his pre-eminence

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

14



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 be-

yond all men, all angels and all created things ?
49

(

b

)
By reason of government

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 ex-

pedient, just and helpful, 52 it is easy to see how our Saviour, model and

ideal of good Shepherds,
53 performs all these functions in a most striking

way.

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.

Invisibly and Extraordinarily

39. But our Divine Saviour 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.” 65 By this

interior guidance He, the “Shepherd and Bishop of our souls,” 56 not

only watches over individuals but exercises His providence over the uni-

versal 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 from 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 Mysti-

15



cal Body. Moreover 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,67 or through her

whom we invoke as the Help of Christians, or through other heavenly
advocates, and in calm and tranquil waters comforts her with the peace

“which surpasseth all understanding/’ 68

Visibly and Ordinarily Through the Roman Pontiff

40. But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden 69 or
extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Divine 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, en-

trusted 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 juris-

diction established in the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads.

For Peter in virtue 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 pred-

ecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter

Unam Sanctam
;

61 and his successors have never ceased to repeat the

same.

41. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who be-

lieve 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.

In Each Particular Church Through the Bishops

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 make up 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 illus-

16



trious 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 exer-

cising this office they are not altogether independent, but are subordinate

to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although enjoying the ordi-

nary 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 ones.” 65 For Bishops have been anointed

with the chrism of the Holy Spirit.

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 labours, 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 honour is the honour of the Universal Church; Our

honour is the united strength of Our Brethren; and We are truly
honoured when honour is given to each and every one.” 68

( c ) By reason of mutual need

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 Mysti-

cal 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 Re-

deemer, for He has said : “Without me you can do nothing,” 70 and ac-
cording 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, marvellous 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. More-

over as our Saviour does not rule the Church directly in a visible man-

17



ner, He wills to be helped by the members of His Body in carrying out

the work of redemption. This 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 treas-
ury 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 cooper-

ation which they must offer to our Divine Saviour as though they were

His associates.

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 closelv related to one another.

(

d

) By reason of similarity

46. We begin with the similarity which we see existing between
Head and body, in that they have the same nature

;
and in this connec-

tion 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 simi-

larity 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.70 Let all those, then, who glory in

the name of Christian, look to our Divine Saviour 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

47. It is the will of Jesus Christ that the whole body of the Church,

no less than the individual members, should resemble Him. And we

18



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 differ-

ent 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.

(e) Bv reason of plentitude

48. Christ must be acknowledged Head of the Church for this rea-

son too, that, as supernatural gifts have their fulness and perfection in

Him, it is of this fulness 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 wis-

dom and knowledge are in Him” 80 abundantly. The knowledge which

is called “vision” He possesses with such clarity and comprehensive-
ness 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

(/) By reason of communication of grace and power

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 move,

in like manner our Saviour 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.

In Enlightening

50. Christ enlightens His whole Church, as numberless passages

from the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers prove. “No man hath

19



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 apos-
tolic 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 learnt, as it were, at the dictation of the Head.80

And 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 pre-

serve the treasury of faith, defend it vigorously, and explain 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

In Sanctifying

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 Saviour

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 in 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 Re-

deemer 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,

unto the edifying of itself in charity.”
02

Christ is the Support of the Body

52. These truths which We have expounded, Venerable Brethren,

20



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 honoured by the name of Christ—namely, that our Saviour
Himself sustains in a divine manner the society which He founded.

53.

As Bellarmine notes with acumen and accuracy,93 this appella-

tion 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

(a) By reason of her juridical mission

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 Saviour 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.

( b ) By reason of the spirit of christ

55.

But in virtue of that higher, interior, and wholly sublime com-
munication, 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 per-
meates 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



56. If we examine closely this divine principle of life and power

given by Christ, in so far 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 Saviour. 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 trans-

formed into the same image from glory to glory.”
105

(
c ) Who is the soul of the mystical Body

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 super-

natural 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 prede-

cessor 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.”
108

58. If that vital principle, by which the whole community of Chris-

tians is sustained by its Founder, be considered not now in itself, but in

the created effects which proceed from it, it consists in those heavenly

gifts which our Redeemer, together with His Spirit, bestows on the

22



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

Christ is the Saviour 0} the Body

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

Saviour 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 Saviour of this Body. The Samaritans were right in

proclaiming Him “Saviour of the world”
;

110
for indeed He most certainly

is to be called the “Saviour of all men,” even though we must add with

Paul : “especially of the faithful,”
111

since, before all others, He has pur-

chased 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 saviours.” 114

THE CHURCH IS THE “MYSTICAL” BODY OF CHRIST

60. And now, Venerable Brethren, We come to that part of Our
explanation in which We desire to make dear 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 im-

portance in view of modern errors, this name enables us to distinguish

it from any other body, whether in the physical or the moral order.

23



The Mystical Body and the Physical Body

61. In a natural body the principle of unity unites the parts in such

a manner that each lacks its own individual subsistence
;
on the contrary,

in the mystical Body the mutual union, though intrinsic, links the mem-
bers 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 estab-
lished the body of the Church and enriched it with the divine Spirit to

ensure that immortal souls should attain eternal happiness according

to the 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.

The Mystical Body and the Moral Body

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 cooper-

ation of all under the authority of society for the attainment of that end

;

whereas in the Mystical Body of which We are speaking, this collabora-
tion is supplemented by another internal principle, which exists effec-

tively 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

63. Hence, this word in its correct signification gives us to under-

stand 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 of man is encompassed

within the organism of our mortal body.
119 Although the juridical prin-

24



ciples, 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 Chris-

tians 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, al-

though 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 com-

munity, 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.

The Juridical Church and the Church of Charity

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 possessing 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 consid-

ered . . . , 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

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 men 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 pre-

dilection ;”
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

25



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

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. 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 graces

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. 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

SECOND PART

THE UNION OF THE FAITHFUL WITH CHRIST

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 but

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

20



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 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 Saviour 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

Social and Juridical Bonds

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 per-

fect 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 Saviour, 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?

69. Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be
visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally mani-

fest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same

sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the prac-

tical 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 Para-

clete, 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.

The Theological Virtues

70. These juridical bonds in themselves far surpass those of any

other human society, however exalted
;
and yet another principle of union

27



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.

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

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 King-

dom, 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

73. But if the bonds of faith and hope, which bind us to our Re-

deemer 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 friend-

ship is something supremely noble, what shall we say of that super-

natural love, which God infuses into 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.” 161 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

Saviour 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 also have kept my
Father’s commandments and do abide in his love.”

152

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Love of Our Neighbour

74. But, corresponding to this love of God and of Christ, there must

be love of the neighbour. How can we claim to love the Divine Re-
deemer, 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

hateth 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 command-

ment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother.” 158

Rather it should be said that the more we become “members one of an-

other,”
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.

Christ Embraces Us With Infinite Knowledge and Undying Love

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 But the knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of

which we were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, ex-

ceed 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.

The Church is the Fulness of Christ

76. From all that We have hitherto said, you will readily under-
stand, 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 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,”

29



says the Apostle, “but if Christ be in you . . . , the spirit liveth because

of justification.”
158

77. This communication of the Spirit of Christ is the channel

through which all the gifts, powers, and extraordinary 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 be-

comes, 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.

The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

78. For indeed We are not ignorant of the fact that this 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 reason-
ings 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, in so far as they have God as

supreme efficient cause.

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 compre-

30



hension, 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.

80. Therefore, Our most learned predecessor Leo XIII of happy

memory, speaking of our union with Christ and with the Divine Para-

clete who dwells within us, and fixing his gaze on that blessed vision

through which this mystical union will attain its confirmation and per-

fection 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.

The Holy Eucharist the Symbol of Unity

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.

82. By means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ our Lord willed

to give to the faithful a striking manifestation of our union among our-

selves and with our divine Head, wonderful as it is and beyond all praise.

For in this Sacrifice the sacred minister acts as the vicegerent not only

of our Saviour 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.

83. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is itself a striking and won-

31



derful 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.

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 frpm His love,165 surely no doubt can remain that Holy

Communion which once again in God’s providence is much more fre-

quented even from early childhood, may become a source of that fortitude

which not infrequently makes Christians into heroes.

THIRD PART

PASTORAL EXHORTATION

(I) ERRORS TOUCHING THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

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.

False Mysticism

86. For some there are 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 mem-

bers 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

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False Quietism

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 as 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 perfec-

tion 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 favours 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 laboured 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.

Frequent Confession

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 ex-

piated 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 advo-

cated. 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

33



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

Saviour.

Prayer, Public and Private

89. There are others who deny any impetratory power to our

prayers, or who endeavour 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

Jesus 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

practised by individual members, which does not redound also to the

salvation of all. Neither is a man forbidden to ask for himself particular

favours 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 by ecclesiastical documents but also by the custom and

practice of the saints.

Prayers to Christ

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 Saviour, 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 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

34



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 honour and glory and power for ever and

ever.”
175

(II) EXHORTATION TO LOVE THE CHURCH

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 incen-
tive for the heart to love this Mystical Body with that ardour 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 corner-stone.”
177 For nothing more glorious, nothing

nobler, nothing surely more honourable can be imagined than to belong

to the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, in which we be-
come 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.

With An Undivided Love

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 pur-

chased her with His blood. Hence not only should we cherish exceed-

ingly 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

35



Thus wc 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.

Through Which We See Christ in the Church

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 honour 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 Saviour’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 moulded as wax
;
and finally

the poor, in helping whom we recognize, as it were, through His supreme

mercy, the very person of Jesus Christ.

94. For as the Apostle with good reason admonishes us: “Much

more those that seem to be the more feeble members of the Body are

more necessary, and such as we think to be the less honourable members

of the Body, about these we put 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 prog-

ress, 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.”
18S

36



Let Us Imitate the Love of Christ for the Church

95. In order to guard against the gradual weakening of that sincere

love which requires us to see our Saviour in the Church and in its mem-

bers, it is most fitting that we should look to Jesus Himself as the perfect

model of love for the Church.

(a) With an all-embracing love

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 with-

out exception. Our Saviour 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 of the same

Body, rejoicing in the glory of the other 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 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

the trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or

unjust, destroy.

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 fruit-

fulness of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, may shine resplendently

throughout the whole world.

(b) With zealous activity

98. As the vastness of the charity with which Christ loved His

37



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 labour unto weariness in
order to establish and strengthen the 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 who work for the same end. There is no one who does not

realize that their energetic zeal is of the highest importance and of the

greatest weight especially in the present circumstances.

99. In this connection We cannot pass over in silence the fathers
and mothers of families to whom our Saviour 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.

(
c
)
By continual prayer

100. Our Redeemer showed His burning love for the Church espe-

cially 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

For the Members of the Church

101. After the example of Christ we too should pray daily to the

Lord of the harvest to send labourers 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 advanc-

ing the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer. No member of this venerated

38



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 Purga-

tory. Neither must those be neglected who are being instructed in

Christian doctrine, so that they may be able to receive baptism without

delay.

102. Likewise, We most earnestly desire that this united prayer
may embrace in the same ardent charity both those who, not yet enlight-

ened by the truth of the Gospel, are still without 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 Saviour 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.”
ies

For Those Who Are Not Yet Members of the Church

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.

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

39



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 teach-

ing of this Apostolic See,
202

that anyone is compelled to embrace the

Catholic faith against his will, Our sense of duty demands that We con-
demn 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 im-

pulse of mental agitation and base desires. Unfortunately many are still

wandering far from Catholic truth, being unwilling to follow the inspira-

tions of divine grace, because neither they
203 nor the faithful pray to God

with sufficient fervour for this intention. Again and again We beg all
who ardently love the Church to follow the example of the Divine Re-

deemer and to give themselves constantly to such prayer.

For Rulers

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 this severe

judgment of the Holy Spirit may never fall on them: “Because being

ministers of his kingdom you have not judged rightly, nor 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 is 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 pun-

ishment is ready for the more mighty. To you, therefore, O Kings, are
these my words, that you may learn wisdom and not fall from it.” 207

(d ) Filling up those things that are wanting

OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST

106. Moreover, Christ proved His love for His spotless Bride not

only at the cost of immense labour 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

40



Church.
209 Let us then follow gladly in the blood-stained footsteps of

our King, for this is necessary to ensure our salvation : “For if we have

been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also 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 Saviour’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 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 abun-

dantly 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 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

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 infre-

quently 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 efficac-

ious and We welcome this opportunity of recommending this Association
highly, as one which is most pleasing to God.

108. There never was a time, Venerable Brethren, when the sal-

vation of souls did not impose on all the duty of associating their suffer-

ings with the torments of our Divine Redeemer. But today that duty is

clearer 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

41



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

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, pur-

chased by the precious Blood, we must offer every day to the Eternal

Father our prayers, works and sufferings, for her safety and for her con-

tinued 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 be-

seech Thee Lord, on this Thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ

did not hesitate to be betraved into the hands of evil men and to undergo

the torment of the Cross.”
215

CONCLUSION

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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, and 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 marvellous 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 most intimately

united with her Son, ofifered 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 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 who through her powerful

42



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 deso-

lation, 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 Mys-

tical Body of Christ, born of the pierced Heart of the Saviour,219 the

same motherly care and ardent love with which she cherished and fed

the Infant Jesus in the crib.

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 last the Church and all mankind may enjoy more peaceful

days.

112. Confiding in this sublime hope, from an overflowing heart We
impart to you, one and all, Venerable Brethren, and to the flocks en-

trusted to your care, as a pledge of heavenly graces and a token of Our

special affection, the Apostolic Benediction.

113.

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.

PIUS PP. XII

43





REFERENCES
1. Cf. Col. I, 24.

2. Acts, XX, 28.

3. Cf. 1 Peterf IV, 13.

4. Cf. Eph.y II, 21-22; I Peter

,

II, 5.

5. Sessio III; Const, de fide cath.y c. 4.

6. Kotn.y V, 20.

7. Cf. II Peter, I, 4.

8. n, 3.

9. /o&«, in, 16.

10. Cf. John, I, 12.

11. Cf. Vat. Council, Const . Eccl., prol.

12. Cf. ibidemt Const . /We ce/A., c. 1.

13. Col.y I, 18.

14. Rom., XII, 5.

15. Cf. A. S. S., XXVIII, p. 710.

16. Rom., XII, 4.

17. I Cor., XII, 13.

18. Cf. Eph.y IV, 5.

19. Cf. Matth.y XVIII, 17.
20. Cf. Matth.y IX, 11; Mark

,

II, 16; Luke, XV, 2.

21. August., Epist.y CLVII, 3, 22: Migne, P. L., XXXIII,

686 .

22. August., Serm., CXXXVII, 1: Migne, P. L., XXXVIII,

754.

23. Encycl. Divinum Illud: A. A. S., XXIX, p. 649.

24. John, XVII, 18.

25. Cf. Matth., XVI, 18-19.

26. John, XV, 15; XVII, 8 and 14.

27. Cf. John, III, 5.

28. Cf. Gen., Ill, 20.

29. Ambrose, In Luc, II, 87: Migne, P. L., XV, 1585.

30. Cf. Matth., XV, 24.

31. Cf. St. Thos., I-II, q. 103, a. 3, ad 2.

32. Cf. Eph., II, 15.

33. Cf. Col., II, 14.

34. Cf. Matth., XXVI, 28; I Cor., XI, 25.

3 5. Leo the Great, Serm., LXVTII, 3: Migne, P. L., LIV,

374.

36. Jerome and Augustine, Epist. CXII, 14 and CXVI,

16: Migne, P. L., XXII, 924 and 943; St. Thos.,

I-II, q. 103, a. 3, ad 2; a. 4, ad 1; Council of Flor.

t>ro Jacob.: Mansi, XXXI, 1738.

45



37. Cf. 11 Cor., Ill, 6.

38. Cf. St. Thos., Ill, q. 42, a. 1.

39. Cf. De pecc. orig., XXV, 29: Migne, P. L., XLIV, 400.

40. Cf. Eph., II, 14-16.

41. Cf. Acts, n, 1-4.

42. Cf. Luke, III, 22; Mark, I, 10.

43. Col., I, 18.

44. Cf. Eph., IV, 16; Col., II, 19.

43. Col., I, 15.

46. Col., I, 18; Apoc., I, 5.

47. I Tim., II, 5.

48. Cf. John, XII, 32.

49. Cf. Cyr. Alex., Comm, in loh. I, 4: Migne, P. G.,

LXXIII, 69; St. Thos., I, q. 20, a. 4, ad 1.

50. Hexaem., VI, 55: Migne, P. L., XIV, 265.

51. Cf. August., De agon. Christ., XX, 22: Migne, P. L.,

XL, 301.

52. Cf. St. Thos., I, q. 22, a. 1-4.

53. Cf. John X, 1-18; I Peter, V, 1-5.

54. Cf. John, VI, 63.

55. Proverbs, XXI, 1.

56. Cf. 1 Peter, II, 25.

57. Cf. Acts, VIII, 26; IX, 1-19; X, 1-7; XII, 3-10.

58. Philipp., IV, 7.

59. Cf. Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum: A. S. S., XXVIII, 725.

60. Luke, XII, 32.

61. Cf. Corp. lur. Can., Extr. comm., I, 8, 1.

62. Gregory the Great, Moral., XIV, 35, 43: Migne,

P. L., LXXV, 1062.

63. Cf. Vat. Council, Const, de Eccl., Cap. 3.

64. Cf. Cod. lur. Can., can. 329, 1.

65. I Paral., XVI, 22; Ps., CIV, 15.

66. Cf. 1 Peter, V, 3.

67. Cf. 1 Tim., VI, 20.

68. Cf. Ep. ad Eulog., 30: Migne, P. L., LXXVII, 933.

69. 1 Cor., XII, 21.

70. John, XV, 5.

71. Cf. Eph., IV, 16; Col, II, 19.

72. Comm, in ep. ad Eph., Cap. 1, lect. 8; Hebr., II,

16-17.

73. Philipp., II, 7.

74. Cf. 11 Peter, I, 4.

75. Cf. Rom., VIII, 29.

46



76. Cf. Col., Ill, 10.

77. Cf. I John, III, 2.

78. Col., I, 19.

79. Cf. John, XVII, 2.

so. Col., n, 3.

81. Cf. John, I, 14-16.

82. Cf. John, I, 18.

83. Cf. John, III, 2.

84. Cf. John, XVIII, 37.

8 5. Cf. John, VI, 68.

86. Cf. August., De cons, evang., I, 35, 54: Migne. P. L.

XXXIV, 1070.

87. Cf. Hehr., XII, 2.

88. Cf. Cyr. Alex., Ep. 55 de Symb.: Migne, P. G.,

LXXVII, 293.

89. Cf. John, XV, 5.

90. Cf. St. Thos., Ill, q. 64, a. 3.

91. Eph., IV, 7.

92. Eph., IV, 16; cf. Col., II, 19.

93. Cf. De Rom. Pont., I, 9; De Concil., II, 19.

94. Cf. 1 Cor., XII, 12.

95. Cf. Acts, IX, 4; XXII, 7; XXVI, 14.

96. Cf. Greg. Nyss., De vita Moysis: Migne, P. G.

XLIV, 385.

97. Cf. Serm., CCCLIV, 1: Migne, P. I., XXXIX, 1563.

98. Cf. John, XVII, 18, and XX, 21.

99. Cf. Leo XIII, Sapientiae Christianae: A. S. S., XXII

392; Satis Cognitum: ibidem, XXVIII, 710.

100. Rom., VIII, 9; 11 Cor., Ill, 17; Gal, IV, 6.

101. Cf
.
John, XX, 22.

102. Cf. John, III, 34.

103. Cf. Eph., I, 8; IV, 7.

104. Cf. Rom., VIII, 14-17; Gal., IV, 6-7.

105. Cf. 77 Cor., Ill, 18.

106. A. S. S., XXIX, p. 650.

107. Gal., II, 20.

108. Cf. Ambrose, De Elia et ieiun., 10, 36-37, et In Psalm

118, serm. 20, 2: Migne, P. L., XIV, 710 et XV,

1483.

109. Eph., V, 23.

110. John, IV, 42.

111. Cf. 7 Tim., IV, 10.

112. Acts, XX, 28.

47



113. Enarr. in Ps., LXXXV, 5; Migne, P. L., XXXVII,
1085.

114. Clem. Alex., Strom., VM, 2; Migne, P. G., IX, 413.

115. 1 Cor., HI, 23; Pius XI, Dtvmi Redemptoris: A. A. S.,

1937, p. 80.

116. De Veritate, q. 29, a. 4, c.

117. Cf. Leo Xm, Sapientiae Christianae: A. S. S., XXII,

p. 392.

118. Cf. Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum: A. S. S., XXVIII,

p. 724.

119. Cf. Ibidem, p. 710.

120. Cf. Ibidem, p. 710.

121. Cf. Ibidem, p. 710.

122. St. Thos., De Veritate, q. 29, a. 4, ad 9.

123. Vat. Council, Sess. IV, Const, dogm. de Eccl., prol.

124. Col., I, 13.

125. Vat. Council, Sess. Ill, Const, de fide Cath., Cap. 3.

126. Philipp., II, 8.

127. John, XX, 22.

128. John, XX, 21.

129. Luke, X, 16.

130. Cf. Vat. Council, Sess. Ill, Const, de fide Cath.,

Cap. 3.

131. Serm., XXI, 3: Migne, P. L., LIV, 192-193.

132. Cf. August., Contra Faust., 21, 8: Migne, P. L.,

XLII, 392.

133. Cf. Eph., V, 22-23; John

,

XV, 1-5; Eph., IV, 16.

134. Col., I, 18.

135. Cf. Enarr. in Ps., XVII, 51, and XC, II, 1: Migne,

P. L., XXXVI, 154, and XXXVII, 1159.

136. John, XV11,21-23.
137. Apoc., V, 12-13.

138. Cf. John, XIV, 16 and 26.

139. Eph., IV, 5.

140. Cf. John, XVn, 3.

141. I John, IV, 15.

142. II Cor., IV, 13.

143. Cf. Gal., n, 20.

144. Cf. Eph., m, 17.

145. Cf. Htbr., XII, 2.

146. Tit., II, 13.

147. Cf. Hebr., Xm, 14.
148. Eph., TV, 4.

149. Cf. Col., I, 27.

48



150. I John

,

IV, 16.

151. John, XIV, 28.

152. John, XV, 9-10.

153. I John, IV, 20-21.

154. Rom., XII, 5.

155. 1 Cor., XII, 25.

156. Serm. XXIX: Migne, P. L., LVII, 594.

157. Cf. St. Thos., Comm, in Ep. and Eph., Cap. II, lect. 5.

158. Rom., VIII, 9-10.

159. Cf. St. Thos., Comm, in Ep. ad Eph., Cap. I, lect. 8.

160. Cf. St. Thos., I, q. 43, a. 3.

161. Sess. Ill, Const, de fid. Cath., Cap. 4.

162. Cf. Divtnum Illud: A. S. S., XXIX, p. 653.

163. Mai., I, 11.

164. Cf. Didache, IX, 4.

165. Cf. Rom., VIII, 3 5.

166. Cf. Eph., V, 22-23.

167. Ps., LXXXIII, 12.

168. Expos. Evang. sec. Luc., IV, 49: Migne, P. L., XV,

1626.

169. Gal., II, 20.

170. 1 Cor., XV, 10.

171. Cf. St. Thos., n-II, q. 83, a. 5 et 6.

172. 1 Tim., II, 5.

173. Cf. St. Thos., De Veritate, q. 29, a. 4, c.

174. John, XIV, 14.

175. Apoc., V, 13.

176. Ps., CXXXVI, 5-6.

177. Eph., n, 20; 7 Peter, II, 4-5.

178. Cf. 11 Cor., XI, 14.

179. Cf. 11 Cor., X, 5.

180. Cf. Hebr., XIII, 17.

181. 1 Cor., XII, 22-23.

182. Cf. Decree of Holy Office, 2 Dec. 1940: A. A. S.,

1940, p. 553.

183. Cf. Gen., IV, 10.

184. Cf. Rom., XII, 5; 7 Cor., XII, 25.

185. Cf. 7 Cor., XII, 26.

186. Cf. Luke, X, 33-37.

187. Cf. Luke, VI, 27-3 5; Matth., V, 44-48.
188. Cf. Eph., Ill, 18.

189. Cf. Luke, XXII, 32.

190. Cf. John, XVII, 9-19.

191. Cf. John , XVII, 20-23.

49



192. Cf. Matth., IX., 38; Luke

,

X, 2.

193. John, XVII, 21.

194. Cf. Litt. enc. Summi Pontificatus: A. A. S., 1939,

p. 419.

195. Iren., Adv. Haer., IV, 33, 7: Migne, P. G., VII, 1076.

196. Cf. Pius IX, lam Vos Omnes
,

13 Sept. 1868: Act.

Cone. Vat., C. L. VII, 10.

197. Cf. Gelas. I, Epist. XIV: Migne, P. L., LIX, 89.

198. Cf. August., In Ioann. Ev. tract., XXVI, 2: Migne,

P. L., XXX, 1607.

199. Cf. August., Ibidem.

200. Hebr., XI, 6.

201. Vat. Council, Const, de fide Cath., Cap. 3.

202. Cf. Leo XIII, Immortale Dei: A. S. S. XVIII, pp.

174-175; Cod. Iur. Can., c. 13 51.

203. Cf. August., Ibidem.

204. Is., XXXII, 17.

205. Cf. I Tim., II, 2.

206. Cf. Wis., VI, 23.

207. Ibidem

,

VI, 4-10.

208. John, XIII, 1.

209. Cf. Acts

,

XX, 28.

210. Rom., VI, 5.

211. II Tim., II, 11.

212. Cf. Col., I, 24.

213. Cf. Serm., LXIII, 6; LXVI, 3: Migne, P. L., LIV,

3 57 and 366.

214. In Ps ., 118, XXII, 30: Migne, P. L., XV, 1521.

215. Office for Holy Week.

216. St. Thos., Ill, q. 30, a. 1, c.

217. John, II, 11,

218. Col., I, 24.

219. Cf. Vesper hymn of Office of the Sacred Heart.

220. Cf. Pius X, Ad Diem Ilium: A. S. S., XXXVI, p. 453

DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE
Section One

1. Why did Pope Pius XII elect to write his encyclical on

the Mystical Body of Christ? ( 1 )
*

2. What is the first observation His Holiness makes re-

garding the Mystical Body? (3)

3. Why, according to the Supreme Pontiff, should the pres-

* The numbers refer to paragraph numbers in the text.

50



ent time be particularly fitting for calling attention to the doc-

trine of the Mystical Body? (4)

4. The Pope seems confident that this doctrine will also

prove acceptable and useful to those outside the fold. Why?

(5)

5. How does Pius XII relate the writing of this encyclical

to the Jubilee of his Episcopal consecration and his patron,

Eugene I? (6,7)

6. What does the Holy Father give as the chief reason for

writing the encyclical? Elaborate. (8)

7. What three errors regarding the doctrine of the Mystical

Body does His Holiness mention? Explain their meaning. (9)

8. Should these errors induce us to fight shy of this doc-

trine? (10)

9. Why does the doctrine of the Mystical Body bring the
thought of grace to mind? (12)

10. The Church, says Pius XII, is something definite and

perceptible to the sense. What false teaching to the contrary

does he mention? (14)

11. In stating that its multiplicity of members is charac-

teristic of the body, what application does the Pope mike in

regard to the Church? (151

12. Being a body, the Church nas an organic structure.

What, specifically, does this imply or entail? (16, 17)

Section Two

13. As the human body is given means to provide for its

life and breath so too has the Church means to provide for

its needs. What are these means? Explain. (18, 19, 20)

14. Who are included in the membership of the Church?

(22, 23, 24)

15. The Church is not only a body, but is the Body of

Christ. What is the basis of this assertion? (25, 26)

16. Show in detail how Christ is the founder of the social

Body of the Church. (27, 28)

17. Why is it said that the Church was formed from the
side of our Lord on the Cross? (29, 30)

18. Through Christ’s blood the church was endowed with

the fullest communication of the Holy Spirit. How does
the encyclical develop this point? (31)

19. If Christ founded the Church by His blood on the

Cross, what did He do for the Church on Pentecost Day? (33)

51



Section Three

20. The Church is Christ’s because He founded it. What

is a second reason for this? (34)

21. Why is Christ called the Head of the Church? (36)
22. Christ is likened to a head because He rules and gov-

erns the Church. Explain. (37)

23. State the various ways in which Christ guides the

Church. (38, 39)

24. What does Pius XII say in the encyclical of the Pope

as the Church’s visible head? (40)

25. What error regarding the Pope as visible head of the

Church does he indicate? (41)

26. What does Pius XII show the position of the Bishops

in the Church to be? (42)

27. What explanation does His Holiness offer for the fact

that the Bishops and even those sharing in their apostolic

labors are attacked and persecuted. (43)

28. If Christ is head of the Church why is there any need

for the help of the Body? (44)

29. Explain each of the following three additional reasons

for calling Christ the head of the Church: (a) The fact of

similarity existing between the Head and Body in that they

have the same nature; (b) The fact that the whole Body of

the Church no less than the individual members should bear

resemblance to Christ; (c) The fact that it is from Christ

that the Church receives supernatural gifts. (46, 47, 48)

30. A final reason given in the encyclicals why Christ
should be declared the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church,

is found in the following analogy or similitude: As in ourselves

the nerves reach from the head to all parts of the body giving

them power to feel and move, so our Saviour communicates

power to the Church by enlightening the mind and conferring

grace. Elaborate both points. (49, 50, 51)

Section Four

31. The social Body of the Church should be honored by

the name of Christ not only because He is its Head but also

because He sustains it in a divine manner. Explain how He

sustains the Church? (52, 53, 54)

32. What does the encyclical say of the Holy Spirit, the

Paraclete in relation to the Church? (56)

33. What is the meaning of the words of Pope Leo XIII,

"as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit her

soul?” (57, 58)

52



34. What is the basis for the statement in the encyclical,

that Christ is the Saviour of the Body? (59)

35. Why is the term "Mystical” applied to the Church,
the Body of Christ? (60)

36. How does the Mystical Body differ from a natural
body? (61)

37. How does a mystical body differ from a moral body?

(62)

38. Show how the Church greatly surpasses all human

societies. (63)

39. Describe the "imaginary church” that the Holy Father

says some erroneously conjure up. (65)

40. How is one to account for the evils at times found in
the Church? (66)

Section Five

41. Give some proofs, based on authority, for the closeness

of the union of the faithful with Christ, in the Body of the

Church. (67)

42. What other proof of our union in and with Christ is

given in the encyclical? (68)

43. How is the unity of all the members of the Church

made externally manifest? (69)

44. Explain how the three virtues of faith, hope and char-

ity are a principle of union in the Church. (71, 72, 73, 74)

45. Explain what is meant by the saying of St. Paul that

Christ is in us and we in Christ. (76, 77)

46. The truth of our union with the Divine Redeemer

and of the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within our souls is a mys-

tery. Should we on that account neglect its study? What

particular error does the encyclical warn against regarding

this mysterious truth? (78, 79)

47. In what great doctrine of the Church does the union

of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ with its Head reach, as

it were, a climax? Explain. (80, 81, 82, 83)

Section Six

48. What results from failure to distinguish correctly be-

tween the physical and the social Body of Christ? (8 5)

49. What is meant by quietism and from what does it

spring? (87)

50. What does the Holy Father say in his encyclical re-

garding frequent confession? (88)

53



51. What does His Holiness say regarding public and pri-
vate prayer? (89)

52. What does he say of directing our prayers to the person
of Christ? (90)

53. Show how specifically, according to the encyclical,

we can show our love for the Church. (92)
54. What practical results will show themselves if we

accustom ourselves to see Christ in the Church? (93)

5 5. Has this any bearing on present day theories and prac-

tices? (94)

Section Seven

56. How can we today imitate the breadth of Christ’s love
for the Church and its constant activity? (96, 97, 98, 99)

57. To whom does the Holy Father say our prayers should

extend as he urges us to imitate Christ’s love for the Church

oy praying for it as He did? (100, 101, 102)
58. What declaration does Pius XII direct to those who are

not members of the Catholic Church? (103)

59. Explain what the Holy Father means by stating that

"no one believes unless he wills to believe.” (104)

60. What does His Holiness say with regard to prayers in

the present crisis? (105)

61. What does the Supreme Shepherd urge in the encyclical

with regard to sufferings and mortifications? (106)

62. What appeal does Pius XII address to the great number

of unfortunates of various kinds found in the world today?

(107)

63. What particular duties does His Holiness say the times

impose on all? (108)

64. What particular appeal does the Pontiff make with

regard to the Church before concluding? (109)

65. What is the substance of the Holy Father’s appeal to

the Blessed Virgin, and why is the appeal directed to her?

(
110

)

Section Eight

66. Review and summarize chief points in the encyclical.

54





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