COMMUNION OF SAINTS. - Article of the Apostles' Creed.
I. FORMULA OF THE CREED
The clause "sanctorum communionem" was inserted into the Apostles' Creed around the 5th century; whether it was first in Gaul or elsewhere is not certain. In the East the addition was never accepted. The principal sources for the history of this insertion are: Nicetas of Remesiana (east of Niš, in Serbia), d. after 414, who wrote Explanatio Symboli habita ad competentes (PL 52, 871), and Faustus of Riez (in Provence), d. after 485, author of Duae homiliae de Symbolo (Aug. and G. L. Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der alten Kirche, 3rd ed., Breslau 1897, § 61).
From an examination of these documents and of those of the 5th and 6th centuries it appears that the word sanctorum is ordinarily of the masculine gender, not neuter: that is, it does not mean the holy things, namely the Sacraments, but the saints in the specific sense of the saints of heaven, besides those of earth, that is, the Christians, called saints by St. Paul (cf. O. Procksch, s. v. ἄγιος, in G. Kittel, Theologisches Wörterbuch, I, Stuttgart 1932, pp. 109-10) and by the ecclesiastical literature of the first centuries. The introduction of this formula into the Creed does not seem to be attributable to a reaction against the doctrines of Novatian, of Vigilantius or of the Donatists (cf. A. D'Alès, Saints, in DFC, IV, coll. 1152-56; J. De Ghellinck, Patristique et moyen-âge, I, Les recherches sur les origines du Symbole des Apôtres, Brussels 1946, p. 100).
II. NATURE OF THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
"The communion of saints means that all the faithful, forming one body in Jesus Christ, profit from all the good that is and is done in that body itself, that is, in the universal Church, provided they are not hindered from it by attachment to sin." This definition is answer 122 of the catechism that goes under the name of Pius X. At other times this source will be resorted to. The communion of saints thus resolves itself into the law of solidarity, whereby the goods of one become the goods of all those who belong to the Church.
The Church is the mystical body of Christ (v.). From its unity solidarity flows.
1. Data of Scripture
Solidarity already appears in the Old Testament: the salvation of Sodom depends on ten righteous men (Gen. 18, 23-33); the victory of the Hebrew people against the Amalekites at Rephidim is connected with the suppliant raised hands of Moses (Ex. 17, 8-16); original sin itself is an indication of the solidarity of all men with Adam, since in him all sinned (Rom. 5, 12).
In the New Testament, the synoptics especially (cf. Mt. 3, 2; 4, 23; 9, 35; 13, 1-53; 21, 43; Mk. 1, 14; Lk. 1, 32, 33; 16, 16) describe to us the kingdom founded by Christ, a kingdom foretold by the prophets (cf. Is. 9, 6, 7; Dan. 2, 44; 7, 14), to which all men must belong, where solidarity is cemented by charity, implored by Jesus in his priestly prayer (Jn. 17, 21-24), extended, in the springtime of the Church, to the communion of material goods (Acts 4, 32-37). But the hagiographer who more than any other has emphasized solidarity is St. Paul. The Church, as he often teaches (for example, Eph. 1, 23; Col. 1, 24), is the body of Christ; the faithful put on Christ, are inserted into Christ; "in Christ Jesus" is his preferred, characteristic expression, repeated no fewer than 164 times (F. Prat, La théologie de St Paul, II, 28th ed., Paris 1941, pp. 476-77). In this body, though endowed with a manifold variety of gifts, ministries, and operations, there shines forth the unity wrought by the Spirit (I Cor. 12, 4-12). From this unity solidarity springs: "There are indeed many members and one body. The eye cannot say to the hand: I have no need of you; or likewise the head to the feet: you are not necessary to me... And if one member suffers, all the members suffer together; and if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice together" (ibid., 12, 20-22, 26). "The ear - comments St. Augustine - sees in the eye, the eye hears in the ear... Thus when the ear says: the eye sees for me, the eye says: the ear hears for me, the eyes and the ears say: the hands work for us" (In Ps. 130, n. 6: PL 37, 1707).
The applications that the Apostle makes of this solidarity in the Church are not few: he becomes weak if anyone is weak and burns with anger and grief if anyone is scandalized (II Cor. 11, 29); the Christian husband sanctifies his unbelieving wife and the believing wife sanctifies her pagan husband (I Cor. 7, 14); almsgiving in some way eliminates the inequality existing among the disciples, with the rich giving the poor the surplus of their temporal goods and the poor repaying the rich in goods of a higher order (II Cor. 8, 13-15); the Apostle asks the prayers of his correspondents for himself, for all the saints (that is, the faithful) (Rom. 15, 30; Eph. 6, 18-19), indeed "for all men, for kings and for all who are in high station, so that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life with all piety and honesty. This indeed is good and acceptable to our Savior God, who wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2, 1-5). The prayer of the faithful is useful not only to the living, but also benefits the dead: therefore the Apostle, grateful for the benefits received from the deceased Onesiphorus, a Christian of Ephesus, prays for him "that the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day" (II Tim. 1, 18). St. James too recommends mutual prayer: "pray for one another that you may be saved; the intense prayer of the righteous man can do much" (5, 16).
2. Data of Tradition
There is perhaps no doctrine more widespread in patristic literature than that of the mystical body of Christ. It was so popular that the Fathers spoke of it in their homilies and, rather than expounding it, presupposed it as already known and made practical applications of it. The immediate consequence of this doctrine was the unity, the union of brothers, the "communio," which was revealed in participation in the Eucharist and in epistolary exchange; excommunication, on the other hand, was the breaking of these relationships, either of a member of the community with the other members and the bishop, or of the bishops among themselves. The center of this "communio" is the church of Rome (cf. L. Hertling, Communio und Primat, in Miscellanea historiae pontificiae, VII, Rome 1943, pp. 1-48).
a) Apostolic Fathers. - Traces of the bonds that united the faithful of the Church are found in the letter of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, in the Shepherd of Hermas, in the letter of St. Polycarp to the Philippians, in the epistle of Barnabas, in the doctrine of the twelve Apostles, but especially in the letters of St. Ignatius M. For him the Church is the brotherhood, charity, the agape, ἡ ἀγάπη (cf. Ad Trall., 13, 1; Ad Philadelph., 11, 2; F. X. Funk, Patres Apostolici, I, Tübingen 1901, pp. 250, 274); and the Church of Rome presides over charity, over the brotherhood (Ad Rom., inscr.; F. X. Funk, ibid., p. 252), it is "she who presides over the agape" (cf. I. Schuster "She who presides over the Agape" in a Priscillian fresco of the 2nd century, in La Scuola Cattolica, 77 [1949], pp. 130-32). This brotherhood is made fruitful by a network of mutual prayers among the Churches (Eph., 21, 2; Magn., 14; Rom. 9, 1; F. X. Funk, ibid., pp. 230, 240, 262) and of this fruitfulness the fruits received by the Church of Antioch are noted (Smyrn., XI, 1, 3; Polyc., VII, 1; F. X. Funk, ibid., pp. 284, 292). Ignatius on several occasions commends himself to the prayers of the faithful (for example, Rom. 4, 2; F. X. Funk, ibid., p. 256) and offers himself as a victim for the Ephesians (Eph. 8, 1; F. X. Funk, ibid., p. 220). Nor does he forget to have prayers said for heretics and for all men (Smyrn., 4, 1; Eph., X, 1; F. X. Funk, ibid., 278, 320).
b) Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. - Very few references relating to our subject are found in the apologetic literature of the 2nd century, which was engaged in other questions. The writers of the 3rd century are richer; in the East the two Alexandrian masters Clement and Origen, in the West the two Africans Tertullian and St. Cyprian, in whom is emphasized the social efficacy not only of prayer but also, in those times of persecution, of martyrdom. Origen and Tertullian also present solidarity in evil (in lib. Jesu Nave, hom. V, n. 6: PG 12, 851 C; De paenit., c. X: PL 1, 1245 B). Clement describes to us with accuracy the apostle St. John ready to give his life in order to obtain the conversion of a leader of robbers: "I will give an account for you to Christ. If it were necessary, I would willingly endure death for you, as the Lord died for us. I will give my life in place of yours" (Quis dives solvetur, 42: PG 9, 649 C).
c) Fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries. - The golden age of patristic literature is also the time of full maturity for the doctrine of the communion of saints, which indeed received its formula in the Creed around the 5th century. Its representatives in the East are the Cappadocians, St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Epiphanius of Salamis, but more than all of them, for its practical applications, St. John Chrysostom. An enthusiast of St. Paul and, following in his footsteps, a preacher of the mystical body of Christ, which he sees as a giant who sits at Rome and knows the Indians to be a member of his (in Io. hom. 65: PG 59, 361), he could not be disinterested in the close bond that binds the various members of this body. He therefore treats of almsgiving (cf. E. Mersch, Le corps mystique du Christ, I, Louvain 1933, pp. 406-13), of the various forms of apostolate to which the laity too, men and women, are called (cf. S. Tromp, De corpore Christi mystico et actione catholica ad mentem s. Iohannis Chrysostomi, in Gregorianum, 13 [1932], pp. 321-72), and he exhorts us to weep for the sinner: he has sinned and shall I weep? yes, «because we are united together as the body and the members; in the body, although the foot be wounded, we see the head, which bows down to the earth» (De poenitentia, hom. 1: PG 49, 280). Among the Western Fathers the foremost, even above St. Ambrose and St. Jerome, is St. Augustine. No one indeed is more filled than he with the doctrine of the mystical body, which quite frequently becomes the object of his sermons and his writings. Against the Pelagian system, which suppresses in Christianity two mysteries of solidarity, original sin and the Redemption, St. Augustine shows that everything in Christianity is reduced to two masses, to two bodies, to two men. There is solidarity in evil: all sinned in Adam; solidarity in good prevails: the mystical body of Christ (E. Mersch, op. cit., II, pp. 60-67). In this «total Christ» solidarity unites heaven to earth and the faithful of earth among themselves: the martyrs indeed in heaven intercede for us (In ps. 85, n. 24: PL 37, 1099); we are the fruit of their labor (Serm., 280, In nat. mart. Perpetuae et Felicitatis, I, n. 6: PL 38, 1283); he who labors rests in him who leads a quiet life, and the latter in him leads an active life «Unum enim corpus sub uno capite sumus, ut et vos in nobis negotios, et nos in vobis otiosi simus, quia si patitur unum membrum, compatiuntur omnia membra, et si glorificatur unum membrum, congaudent omnia membra» (Ad Eudoxium, ep. 48, 1: PL 33, 187). In the Augustinian wake are other Latin Fathers.
d) Scholastic theologians. - The doctrinal tradition of the mystical body continues among the scholastics, though under another form and with less robustness than among the Fathers. This does not prevent, however, discussion of the solidarity resting on the unity of the mystical body, as in William of Auxerre, Alexander of Hales, St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas (cf. E. Mersch, op. cit., II, pp. 272-79). Denis the Carthusian (d. 1471), who in his copious works gathered medieval thought, treats of the mystical body of Christ and of the solidarity that unites its various members. He also speaks of the hierarchical theory, handed down by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in which is admitted the unity that binds the celestial hierarchy with the ecclesiastical one and a beneficent influence that descends from the one into the other (cf. F. M. Bauduc, L'Illuminatrice nelle opere di Dionigi il Certosino, in Marianum, 10 [1948], pp. 191-210). The same hierarchical theory is also found quite widespread in St. Bonaventure (cf. L. Di Fonzo, Doctrina s. Bonaventurae de universali mediatione B. V. M., Rome 1938, pp. 198 ff.).
e) Ancient monuments. - The Church militant is considered as a great spiritual family, whose members are called and are «brothers», who have in common their origin, their end, their name, their faith, the Sacraments, worship, the martyrs, the saints; they pray for one another and help one another; the martyrs and confessors who are in chains intercede for the penitents. This spiritual commerce also crosses the frontiers of earthly life: Abercius asks for prayers for himself in his epitaph. The living raise acclamations and vows for their deceased brothers, as is read in many inscriptions: peace, in peace, peace to you, peace to your spirit, peace in eternity, in the Lord and in peace, in peace with the saints, your soul in refreshment, eternal light to you, may you live in God, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in peace, in eternity, among the saints, with the martyrs, always in God, rise again in Christ (cf. R. S. Bour, Communion des saints d'après les monuments de l'antiquité chrétienne, in DThC, III, col. 462). At other times they are prayers properly so called that the faithful address to God, to the angels, to the martyrs for their deceased; sometimes they bury them near the remains of the martyrs; they offer the divine Sacrifice, they visit the tombs praying and performing good works in suffrage for their dead. And the dead take an interest in the living, who commend themselves to them to obtain favors. Nor is it thought that the blessed of heaven are strangers to the lot of the deceased, but that they take a lively and efficacious interest in it.
The blessed are also in close union with the faithful of earth and become patrons of individuals, especially for the moment of death and of the Judgment, and of cities. The faithful hold in great esteem the powerful greatness of the saints, special friends of Christ. From such esteem blossom various practices of veneration and worship: devotional medals are worn, images are reproduced, vows are made, inscriptions, mosaics, altars, oratories, churches are dedicated, feasts are established, their anniversary is solemnly celebrated, the liturgy is offered in their sanctuaries. The angels also have a part in this worship.
There is also a whole flowering of prayers addressed to the saints, to implore a prosperous voyage, a remembrance before God, the granting of one's prayers, assistance at the moment of the Judgment, Paradise for oneself and for others (cf. R. S. Bour, ibid., coll. 454-80).
f) Excellent confirmation is given by the liturgy and indulgences.
III. SUBJECT
All the parts of the body are united and in mutual communication. The Church is the mystical body, of which Christ is the head. There is therefore solidarity and mutual communication of the head (v. CORPO MISTICO) and of the members.
"He is outside the communion of saints who is outside the Church, that is, the damned, the unbelievers, the Jews, the heretics, the apostates, the schismatics and the excommunicated" (Catechism of Pius X, no. 124). On the other hand, those who are in the communion of saints are all who are in the Church militant, triumphant and suffering. Therefore sinners are not excluded from the communion of saints, although they do not participate in it fully (cf. Catechism of Trent, part 1, ch. 10, no. 26; P. Gasparri, Catechism for Adults, Brescia 1934, p. 79). "The blessed in Heaven and the souls in Purgatory are also in the communion of saints, because, united among themselves and with us by charity, the former receive our prayers and the latter our suffrages, and all of them repay us with their intercession before God" (Catechism of Pius X, no. 123).
IV. OBJECT
The communicable spiritual treasure is constituted by the contribution of the Head and of the members of the mystical body.
a) Contribution of the Head. — Christ the Redeemer made satisfaction for all our sins with a satisfaction that was condign, superabundant and infinite; he merited for us justification and all supernatural gifts; he prayed (John 17:6-26) and continues to pray for us (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1); he left to the Church, which he instituted, as means of holiness and eternal salvation: true faith, sacrifice, the Sacraments; he gave us (which is a new title for us) his own mother (John 19:26-27). Such an interpretation "perpetuo sensit Ecclesia" (Leo XIII in the encyclical "Adiutricem populi" in Acta S. Sedis, 28 [1895-1896], p. 130; cf. J. Leal, B. V. omnium spiritualis mater ex Io. 19, 26-27, in Verbum Domini, 27 [1949], pp. 65-73).
b) Contribution of the members. — The mystical members of Christ the Redeemer are also, in their own way, redemptive and complete in their flesh "what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church" (Col. 1:24). This contribution is supplied by their works and prayers.
In the good works of the just one can distinguish a threefold value: satisfactory, condignly meritorious ("de condigno"), congruously meritorious ("de congruo"): v. MERITO.
Now then: 1) the satisfactory value can be communicated to others, whether the deceased (for example, with the "heroic act of charity" [v.]), or the living (for example, the confessor can grant that another perform part of the satisfaction instead of and on behalf of the penitent). In indulgences too there is an application of this doctrine, because they are "the remission before God of temporal punishment due for sins already forgiven as regards the guilt, which the ecclesiastical authority grants from the treasury of the Church, for the living by way of absolution, for the dead by way of suffrage" (CIC, can. 911). By the will of the Church "no one who acquires indulgences can apply them to other living persons; on the other hand, all indulgences granted by the Roman pontiff are applicable to the souls in Purgatory, unless it is established otherwise" (CIC, can. 930); 2) the condignly meritorious value is strictly personal and incommunicable; the only exception is the merits of Christ, head of the Church; 3) the congruously meritorious value: a) that of the just is communicable; indeed, according to Suárez, the just can merit "de congruo" for another as much as he can merit for himself and something more. This something more is the first grace, which no one can merit for himself (De gratia, L. 12, c. 38, n. 21); b) that the congruously meritorious value of the sinner is communicable is not at all improbable (cf. H. Quilliet, Congruo [de], in DThC, III, coll. 1144-45). However, the act of compulsion (infallible congruous merit) must be excluded, since, belonging to justification, it can only be personal and incommunicable.
A special consideration is due to prayer, understood here in the specific sense of petition, which is a asking, a begging of God. Like any good work it can have that threefold value of which we have spoken; but if it is considered in its characteristic aspect of petition, it possesses, when made with the proper conditions, an infallible efficacy, resting on the divine promises (Luke 11:9; John 16:23). Leaving aside the question debated among theologians, whether such infallibility of prayer holds only for the one who prays and not in favor of others for whom one may pray, it is certain that prayer for others is always most useful (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1-5; James 3:16).
The sacramentals confirm the communicable efficacy of the Church's prayer. Finally, the apostolate, to which in some measure all the faithful are called by the very solidarity of the mystical body, is nothing other than a communication, a radiation of good; from the first apostolate, when Jesus sent the Eleven to evangelize the world (Matt. 28:19-20), down to the apostolate of various forms, accessible to all: apostolate of prayer, of action (Catholic Action, the good press, good example, etc.), of suffering.
Good works exercise a beneficial altruistic influence even without an explicit altruistic intention of the one performing them. "This catholic force of expansion, in the works of Christians, is not an accidental addition, it does not require an explicit intention nor a new intervention of Grace. It comes, in the work itself, from that very thing which makes the work possible, because that very thing, which makes the member live, makes it live in the unity of all the members. Whatever they do, they are joined within with all the other members, communicating through the root, according to the magnificent expression of St. Thomas" (E. Mersch, op. cit., II, p. 275). "Even without thinking of it, the saints have expiated for the whole Church. For, notes Cajetan, the intention of Christ was to suffer for the whole Church in general, the passion of Christ being a universal cause of salvation. Therefore the intention of the saints was to suffer beyond their own expiation, for the whole Church. The passion of the saints, in fact, and that of the Savior are both of the same manner, something common and for all, because the passion of the saints is the completion of the passion of Christ" (ibid., p. 273). This does not mean that the explicit offering for others is useless: it is always useful, being an act of exquisite charity; sometimes also necessary, when the altruistic destination were in favor of determined persons or purposes (cf. A. Taverna, Sull'efficacia che l'offerta delle opere buone dà alle nostre preghiere, in Messaggero del S. Cuore, 56 [1920], pp. 271-73).
Automatically whoever is in the Church participates in some way in these common goods (it is the consequence of solidarity, that is, of the unity of the mystical body of Christ), although in a different measure, depending on the dispositions of the receiving subject and on the laws of the divine economy.
The supernatural world too is traversed by waves of light, of sound, of life, which souls mutually transmit to one another, because, in this order of providence, they are saved in a social manner. Therefore the doctrine of the C. dei s., if on the one hand it is of great comfort, imposes on the other no small responsibilities. By this doctrine can be illuminated the problem of suffering, the importance of the contemplative Orders (cf., for example, Lettere di s. Gemma Galgani, Rome 1941, letter 83: to Fr. Germano, pp. 215-20), the reparatory character of devotion to the Sacred Heart, ascetics, sociology and the theology (as it is said today) of history.
V. ERRORS
Before the 16th century the doctrine of the Communion of Saints had had adversaries only as regards some of its practical applications, for example, of the cult of the saints (Vigilantius); but in Protestant individualism it met with opposition to its very dogmatic principle. It is very significant in this regard that Protestantism had its beginning precisely from the struggle against indulgences. Luther, while retaining the formula "sanctorum communionem," empties it of its most characteristic content, leaving it the simple meaning of the Christian community. Calvin was more generous in this regard and departed less from Catholic doctrine. The Anglican church drew near on various occasions now to Lutheran doctrine, now to Calvinist, now to Catholic (cf. P. Bernard, ibid., coll. 447-50, 430-31). Modern liberal and rationalist Protestants have disconcerting assessments of the doctrine of the C. d. s.: it appears to them a return to pagan superstitions (M. Nicolas, Le Symbole des Apôtres, Paris 1867, p. 249), a purely mechanical system of justification (A. Vigué, Communion des saints, in Encyclopédie des sciences religieuses, III, Paris 1878, p. 286), even something immoral, a clever mixture of Pelagianism and magic, of unbelief and superstition (J. A. Dorner, Histoire de la théologie protestante, trans. A. Paumier, Paris 1870, pp. 12, 28). "This practice of having recourse to the saints and the martyrs," writes A. Harnack, "had already existed for a long time, but Gregory has the merit of having reduced it to a system, and at the same time of having provided it with abundant material both through his dialogues and through his other writings. A veritable host of 'mediators' came to interpose themselves between God and men: the angels, the saints and Christ; and men began already from that time to calculate cunningly what each of them could do for them, which of them would be the best for them. The uncertainty about God, the perverse monastic humility, the terror of hearts unreconciled and therefore with the whole weight of their sins, all contributed to throw Christians into the arms of purely pagan superstitions, introducing the 'mediators' into dogmatics" (Manuale di storia del dogma, Italian trans., V, Mendrisio 1914, p. 345).
The exposition given of the traditional Catholic doctrine is already a sufficient refutation of such erroneous judgments.
Bibliography
S. Tommaso, In Symbolum Apostolorum expositio, a. 10; In IV Sent. d. 20, q. unica, a. 2, questione, 3; Sum. Theol., Suppl., s. q. 13, a. 2; Catechismus Trident., parte 1°, c. 10, 23-27; N. Alessandro, Theologia dogmatica-moralis secundum ordinem catechismus Concilio Tridentini, I, Parigi 1759, pp. 109-11; J. P. Kirsch, Die Lehre von der Gemeinschaft der Heiligen, Magonza 1900; H. Hurter, Theologiae dogmaticae compendium, III, Innsbruck 1903, pp. 668-95; H. Ramière, L'apostolat de la prière, 9° ed., Tolosa 1945, pp. 14-27; 230-38; J. F. Sollier, Communion of Saints, in Cath. Enc., IV, pp. 171-74 (con bibl.); P. Bernard, Communion des Saints, son aspect dogmatique et historique, in DThC, III, coll. 429-54 (con bibl.); R. S. Bour, Communion des Saints d'après les monuments de l'antiquité chrétienne, ibid., coll. 454-480 (con bibl.); H. B. Swete, The Holy Catholic Church, The Communion of Saints. A study in the Apostoles' Creed, Londra 1916, pp. 147-60; A. D'Alès, Saints, in DFC, IV, coll. 1145-1156 (con bibl.); J. Rivière, Communion des Saints, in Dict. pratique des connaissances religieuses, II, coll. 330-33 (con bibl.); F. Prat, La théologie de St Paul, II, 28° ed., Parigi 1941, pp. 355-359; J. De Ghelinck, Patristique et moyen âge, I. Les recherches sur les origines du Symbole des Apôtres, Bruxelles 1946, p. 100; E. Boudet, Réflexions sur la solidarité des hommes avec le Christ, in Nouvelle revue théol., 71 [1949], pp. 589-592; R. Pinz, Gesù Cristo nei nostri fratelli, trad. it., Torino 1926 (opera di volgarizzazione).