107. nam. This word ( for ) depends upon nothing to be found in any MS.; moreover, the transition is so abrupt, that it seems almost certain that some connecting passage has been lost. Hence the asterisks. St. Optatus having discussed the nature of the Endowments, and having proved that they belong to the Catholic Church alone, proceeds to discuss their number, and to argue that they are five, not (as Parmenian had alleged) six.
108. Cant. vii, 2.
109. St. Optatus looked upon these Endowments as something external to the Body of Christ. He regarded what we now call the Notes, or Marks, of the Church as two. The true Church is One and Catholic (of world-wide extension). When the Church of Christ has been thus identified, as the Church which is One and is Everywhere ( ubique), Optatus agrees with Parmenian as to her five Endowments, but explains them very differently. According to the mind of Optatus they are: (1) First and foremost----Union with the Chair of Peter (Cathedra); (2) Apostolic Succession (Angelus); (3) The Spirit of sonship (Spiritus); (4) The Baptismal Font, or perhaps the True Faith (Fons); (5) The Seal of the Faith----the Creed (Sigillum). These Endowments are distinctive and characteristic of Catholicism. They are gifts from God ab extra bestowed upon His Bride the Church. It can be proved to-day that the One Church, which is not merely local, but is scattered through all the nations, still possesses these 'Endowments,' e.g. is still in union with the See of Peter ('Cathedra Petri quae nostra est'; cf. note 2, p. 86). On the other hand, it will be seen immediately that any religious body out of communion with the Catholic Church is without one at least of these Endowments, e.g. has not the Cathedra Petri, from which unhappily it is severed.
110. non potest arbor a ramo concidi. G has 'non potest esse arbor ramus concisus' ('nor can the branch which has been cut off be the tree'). This reading is adopted by Du Pin, as being ad mentem scriptoris. But we are not free to choose an easy reading in G against an unexpected, and therefore harder, reading in the other MSS.
111. apud quos et Symbolum Trinitatis est. This means the Creed which expresses Faith in the Trinity. St. Optatus has in the preceding chapter written of the ' Sigillum: id est Symbolum Catholicum .' Cf. also St. Augustine's work De Fide et Symbolo.
112. per Cathedram Petri, quae nostra est, per ipsam et ceteras dotes apud nos esse.
113. The Donatists held that Catholic priests who had been guilty of the wickedness of Betrayal, thereby had lost their sacerdotal powers, and especially that their Bishops could not ordain validly. As a result they dared to deny that the Eucharist consecrated by Catholics was the Body of Christ, and were even guilty of the horrible sacrilege of casting It to dogs (cf. ii, 19).
114. Other than the sin of Traditio.
115. quod, si sacerdos in peccato sit, solae possint dotes operari.
116. et huius Sanctae Ecclesiae constituta est Persona. Persona means first a mask, and thence a representative. There can be no doubt that St. Optatus is here referring to St. Peter, or his successor in the See of Rome, as the Representative of the Church. This is made clear by the fact that he is giving a summary of the arguments which he has already brought forward in his book. Now amongst these arguments the representative character of St. Peter and of his Cathedra has, as we have just seen, taken a leading place. Again, no alternative explanation of Persona in this passage has ever been suggested. Further, it is well known that St. Augustine adopted this traditional view, and in several passages has written of St. Peter as representing the whole Catholic Church in his own person: e.g. Gestat enim Petrus Ecclesiae plerumque personam (Sermo de Verb. Evangel. Matt. lxxiv. 10); Petrus a petra cognominatus beatus, Ecclesiae figuram portans, apostolatus principatum tenens etc. ( Sermo lxxvi. ut supra); Petrus in multis locis Scripturarum apparet quod personam gestet Ecclesiae (Sermo cxlix. 7 de Verbis Act. cap. x); Nam et ipsum Petrum, cui commendavit oves suas quasi alter alteri, unum Secum facere volebat, ut sic ei oves commendaret, ut esset Ille Caput, ille figuram Corporis portaret, id est, Ecclesiae, et tanquam sponsus et sponsa essent duo in carne una (Sermo de Pastoribus in Ecclesia, xlvi. 30 etc., etc.).
117. cuius dotes apud illam ubique sunt. ' The Endowments of the Church are with her everywhere.' Therefore, the Chair of Peter (according to the expressed mind of Optatus the chief of the Endowments) is with the Catholic Church (as well as the others----the local Bishop, the Holy Spirit, the Faith and the Creed) wherever she may be, in whatever part of the world. This See is the first and typical See, with which all Catholic Bishops are in communion ubique. It was idle then for Parmenian to appeal to his Cathedra. It was not the 'Cathedra unica'; it was not ubique. If in all parts of the world there are Cathedras, if Italy and Asia have succession of Bishops as well as Africa, and if in Africa there are now rival Cathedras, the question arises: 'Which is the true Cathedra? Where is the true Church?' To this Optatus gives the answer: That is the true Cathedra in every place on which is seated a Bishop in communion with the original Cathedra at Rome; there also is the true Church, for 'the Catholic Church is the Church which is scattered over the whole world and her Endowments are with her everywhere.'
118. The Donatist argument may be stated as follows in syllogistic form:
Bishops and Priests guilty of the crime of Betrayal can no longer use validly the power of their Orders;
But you Catholics have been guilty of this crime of Betrayal;
Therefore ...
To this Optatus here replies to the Major Premise, ' Transeat (let it pass, for the sake of argument), but to the Minor Premise, Nego Minorem. We never were Betrayers, and we always condemned the sin of Betrayal.'
119. de sanctis eius membris ac visceribus tacuisti.
120. Nominibus Trinitatis, id est Personis Trinitatis. (Cf. v, 3 'aqua sancta quae de Trium Nominum fontibus inundat.') St. Optatus now passes to the question of the One Baptism conferred in the Name of the Trinity. One of the chief crimes of the Donatists consisted in the repetition of Baptism administered by Catholics.
121. Professio [ fidei ] quae apud acta conficitur Angelorum. Tertullian had stated that an Angel was present at Baptism ( De Baptismo, vii, 5, 6), and St. Augustine has written (De Symbolo ad Catech.) ' Videte, dilectissimi, quia hanc professionem vestram in curiam profertis Angelorum.' These last words are an echo of those of Optatus in the text.
122. nova indoles.
123. The metaphor is of the Marriage of the Trinity with the Profession of Faith, producing a seed, a germ. Cf. S. Leo, Serm. 4 de Nativ. Domini: ' Aqua baptismatis instar est uteri virginalis, eodem Spiritu Sancto replente fontem, qui replevit et Virginem.'
124. ratio baptismatis.
125. aut area conclusas.
126. cuius hortum in angustias cogitis.
127. mendacium . . . quo cotidie a vobis sacrificia condiuntur.