comprobari, quæ licet ab Expositoribus aliter declarentur, non
incongrue tamen ad nostrum intentum possunt aptari. Prima est Psalmi
77., v. 24. et 25., ubi habetur: =panem Angelorum manducavit homo,
panem cœli dedit eis=. Hic loquitur David de Manna, qua cibatus fuit
Populus Israel toto tempore quo peregrinus fuit in deserto. Quærendum
ergo venit, quo sensu Manna dici possit =panis Angelorum=. Scio
quidem plerosque Doctores exponere hunc passum in sensu mystico,
aientes in Manna figuratam esse =Sacram Eucharistiam=, quæ vocatur
=panis Angelorum=, quia Angeli fruuntur visione Dei, qui per
concomitantiam in Eucharistia reperitur.
90. Our doctrine can also be confirmed by the testimony of the Holy
Scriptures, which, however diversely construed by commentators, are
yet capable of adaptation to our proposition. First, Psalm 77, v. 24
and 25, it is said: “_The Lord had given them of the bread of heaven;
man did eat angels’ food._” David here alludes to Manna, which fed
the People of Israel during the whole time that they wandered in the
wilderness. It will be asked in what sense it can be said of Manna that
it is the _Bread of Angels_. I am aware that most Doctors construe
this passage in a mystical sense, saying that Manna figures the Holy
Eucharist, which is styled the _bread of Angels_, because Angels enjoy
the sight of God who, by concomitance, is found in the Eucharist.
91. Sed hæc expositio aptissima est quidem, et quam amplectitur Ecclesia
in officio =Sanctissimi Corporis Christi=, sed in sensu spirituali
est. Ego autem quæro sensum litteralem: neque enim in illo Psalmo
David loquitur prophetice de futuris, sicut facit in aliis locis,
ut proinde facile non sit sensum litteralem habere; sed loquitur
historice de præteritis. Ille enim Psalmus, ut patet legenti, est pura
anacephalestis, seu compendium omnium beneficiorum, quæ contulit Deus
Populo Hebræo ab egressu ipsius de Ægypto, usque ad tempus Davidis, et
in eo versu loquitur de Manna Deserti, ut proinde quæratur quomodo, et
quo sensu Manna vocetur Panis Angelorum.
91. A most proper construction assuredly, and which is adopted by the
Church in the office of the _Most Holy Body of Jesus-Christ_; but it
is in a spiritual sense. Now, what I want, is the literal sense; for,
in that Psalm, David does not speak, as a prophet, of things to be,
as he does in other places where a literal sense is not easily to be
gathered; he speaks here as a historian, of things gone by. That Psalm,
as is evident to whoever reads it, is a pure anacephalæosis, or summing
up of all the benefits conferred by God on the Hebrew People from the
exodus from Egypt to the days of David, and the Manna of the Wilderness
is spoken of in it; how, and in what sense is it styled the Bread of
Angels? that is the question.
92. Scio alios, Lyran., Euthim., Bellarm., Titelman., Genebrard., in
Psal. 77. v. 24. et 25., interpretari Panem Angelorum Panem ab Angelis
paratum, seu Angelorum ministerio a Cœlo demissum; Hugonem autem
Cardinalem Panem Angelorum exponere: quia ille cibus hoc efficiebat
in Judæis, quod in Angelis efficit cibus illorum, pro parte: Angeli
enim non incurrunt infirmitatem. Voluerunt enim expositores Hebræi,
ut etiam asseverat Josephus, quod Judæi in Deserto vescentes manna,
nec senescerent, nec ægrotarent, nec lassarentur; proinde illa esset
tanquam panis, quo vescuntur Angeli, qui nec senio, nec ægritudine, nec
lassitudine unquam laborant.
92. I am aware that others look upon the Bread of Angels as bread
prepared by Angels, or sent down from Heaven by the ministry of Angels.
But Cardinal Hugo explains that qualification by saying that that
food partly produced the same effect upon the Jews, which the food of
Angels produces upon the latter. Angels, in fact, are not liable to
any infirmity; on the other hand Hebrew commentators, and Josephus
himself, assert that whilst in the Wilderness, living upon Manna, the
Jews neither grew old, nor sickened, nor tired; so that Manna was like
unto the bread that Angels feed upon, who know neither old age, nor
sickness, nor fatigue.
93. Istas quidem expositiones recipere æquum est, utpote tantorum
Doctorum aucthoritate suffultas. Facessit tamen difficultatem, quod
ministerio Angelorum Hebræis non minus parata fuere columna nubis,
et ignis, coturnices, et aqua de petra, quam manna; nec tamen ista
dicta fuere columna, aqua, aut potus Angelorum. Cur ergo potius vocari
deberet manna, quia parata ministerio Angelorum, =Panis Angelorum=,
quam =Potus Angelorum= aqua eorumdem ministerio saxo educta? Insuper
in sacra Scriptura panis dum dicitur =panis alicujus=, dicitur =panis
ejus= qui illo vescitur, non ejus qui illum parat, aut fabricat, et de
hoc infinita habemus exempla in sacra Scriptura: ut =Exod.= c. 23. v.
25. =Benedicam panibus tuis, et aquis=; lib. 2. =Reg.= c. 12. v. 3.
=De pane illius comedens=; =Tob.= c. 4, v. 17. =Panem tuum cum egenis
comede=; et v. 18. =Panem tuum super sepulturam Justi constitue=;
=Ecclesiast.= c. 11. v. 1. =Mitte panem tuum super transeuntes aquas=;
=Isai.= c. 58. v. 7. =Frange esurienti panem tuum=; =Jerem.= c.
11. v. 19. =Mittamus lignum in panem ejus=; =Matth.= c. 15. v. 26.
=Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum=; =Luc.= c. 11. v. 3. =Panem
nostrum quotidianum.= Ex quibus locis patenter habetur, quod panis
dicitur ejus qui eo vescitur, non vero, qui ipsum conficit, affert,
aut parat. Commode igitur in loco citato Psalmi accipi potest =Panis
Angelorum=, cibus quo vescuntur Angeli non quidem incorporei (isti
enim materiali cibo non egent), sed corporei, ista nempe rationalia
animalia, de quibus hucusque disseruimus, degentia in aere, et quæ
ratione tenuitatis suorum corporum, ac rationalis naturæ, quam maxime
ad Angelos immateriales accedunt, ut proinde nuncupentur.
93. These interpretations should indeed be received with the respect
due to the authority of such eminent Doctors. There is however one
difficulty in this: that, by the ministry of Angels, the pillars of
the cloud and fire, the quails, and the water from the rock were
provided for the Hebrews, no less than the Manna; and yet they were not
styled the pillar, the water or the beverage of Angels. Why therefore
should Manna be called _Bread of Angels_, because provided by their
ministry, when the qualification _Beverage of Angels_ is not given to
the water drawn from the rock likewise by their ministry? Besides,
in Holy Scripture, when it is said of bread that it is the _bread of
somebody_, it is always the _bread of him_ who feeds on it, not of him
who provides or makes it. Of this there are numberless instances: thus,
_Exodus_, ch. 23, v. 25: “_That I may bless thy bread and thy water_;”
_Kings_, book 2, ch. 12, v. 3: “_Eating of his bread_;” _Tobit_, ch.
4, v. 17: “_Give of thy bread to the hungry_,” and v. 18: “_Pour out
thy bread on the burial of the Just_;” _Ecclesiasticus_, ch. 11, v.
1: “_Scatter thy bread over the flowing waters_;” _Isaiah_, ch. 58,
v. 7: “_Deal thy bread to the hungry_;” _Jeremiah_, ch. 11, v. 19:
“_Let us put wood into his bread_;” _Matthew_, ch. 15, v. 26: “_It is
not meet to take the children’s bread_;” _Luke_, ch. 11, v. 3: “_Our
daily bread_.” All those passages clearly show that, in Scripture, the
bread of somebody is the bread of him who feeds upon it, not of him
who makes, brings or provides it. In the passage of the Psalm we have
quoted, _Bread of Angels_ may therefore easily be taken to mean the
food of Angels, not incorporeal indeed, since these require no material
food, but corporeal, that is to say of those rational animals we have
discoursed of, who live in the air, and, from the subtlety of their
bodies and their rationality, approximate so closely to immaterial
Angels as to fall under the same denomination.
94. Ducor, quia cum animalia sint, et ideo generabilia et
corruptibilia, egent cibo, ut restauretur substantia corporea, quæ
per effluvia deperditur; vita enim sentientis non consistit nisi in
motu partium corporearum quæ fluunt, ac refluunt, acquiruntur, ac
deperduntur, ac iterum reparantur; quæ reparatio fit per substantias
spirituosas, materiales tamen, attractas a vivente, tum per aeris
inspirationem, tum per fermentationem cibi, per quam substantia illius
spiritualizatur, ut rationatur doctissimus Ettmullerus, =Instit. Medic.
Physiolog.=, c. 2.
94. I deduce that, being animals, consequently reproducible through
generation and liable to corruption, they require food for the
restoration of their corporeal substance wasted by effluvia: for the
life of every sensible being consists in nothing else but the motion
of the corporeal elements which flow and ebb, are acquired, lost and
recruited by means of substances spirituous, yet material, assimilated
by the living thing, either through the inhalation of air, or by the
fermentation of food which spiritualizes its substance, as shown by the
most learned Ettmuller (_Instit. Medic. Physiolog._, ch. 2).
95. Quia autem eorum corpus tenue est, tenui pariter, et subtili eget
alimento. Hinc est quod sicut odoribus aliisque substantiis vaporosis,
ac volatilibus suæ naturæ contrariis læduntur ac fugantur, ut constat
ex historiis recitatis supra, nº 71. et 72., ita paribus rebus sibi
convenientibus delectantur, et aluntur. Porro “=manna non est aliud,
quam halitus aquæ, terræque, solis calore exacte attenuatus et coctus,
a frigore secutæ noctis in unum coactus, densatusque=,” ut scribit
Cornelius; manna dico, quam demissam de cœlo comederunt Hebræi, quæ
toto cœlo differt a manna nostrate, quæ in medicinis adhibetur; nam
hæc, ut scribit Ettmullerus Schroder. =Dilucid. Physiolog.=, c. 1. =de
Manna=, fol. m. 154., “=nihil aliud est, quam succus quarumdam arborum
tenuis, vel earum transsudatio, quæ nocturno tempore permixta cum rore,
matutino tempore superventu caloris solis coagulatur, et inspissatur=.”
Manna autem Hebræorum diversis orta principii calore solis non
coagulabatur, sed vice versa liquefiebat, ut patet ex Scriptura,
=Exod.= c. 16. v. 22. Manna ergo Hebræorum utpote constans ex halitibus
tenuibus terræ et aquæ, profecto tenuissimæ erat substantiæ, utpote,
quæ a sole solvebatur, et disparebat; optime ergo potuit esse talium
animalium cibus, ita ut diceretur a David =Panis Angelorum=.
95. But, their body being subtile, equally subtile and delicate must
be its food. And, just as perfumes and other vaporous and volatile
substances, when adverse to their nature, offend and put them to
flight, as testified by what we related above (N^{rs} 71 and 72), in
the like manner, when agreeable, they delight in and feed upon them.
Now, as is written by Cornelius, “_Manna is nothing but an emanation
of water and earth, refined and baked by the heat of the sun, and
then coagulated and condensed by the cold of the following night_;”
of course, I am speaking of the Manna sent down from Heaven for the
nourishment of the Hebrews, and which differs all in all from nostrate
or medicinal manna; the latter, in fact, according to Ettmuller
(_Dilucid. Physiol._, ch. 1), “_is merely the juice or transudation of
certain trees which, during the night, gets mixed up with dew, and, the
next morning, coagulates and thickens in the heat of the sun_.” The
manna of the Hebrews, on the contrary, derived from other principles,
far from coagulating, liquefied in the heat of the sun, as is shown
by Scripture, _Exodus_, ch. 16, v. 22. The manna of the Hebrews was
therefore undoubtedly of a most subtile substance, consisting as it did
of emanations of earth and water, and being dissolved by the sun and
made to disappear: consequently, it may very well have been the food
of the animals we are speaking of, and thus have been truly called by
David _Bread of Angels_.
96. Alia auctoritas habetur in Evangelio Joannis, in quo, =Johannes=,
c. 10. v. 16., ita dicitur: =Alias oves habeo, quæ non sunt ex hoc
ovili, et illas oportet me adducere, et vocem meam audient, et fiet
unum ovile, et unus Pastor=. Si quæramus quænam sint oves, quæ non sunt
ex hoc ovili, et qualenam sit ovile de quo loquitur Christus Dominus,
respondent communiter Expositores unum ovile Christi esse Ecclesiam, ad
quam perducendi erant per prædicationem Evangelii Gentiles, qui erant
oves alterius ovilis, ab ovili Hebræorum: opinantur enim Synagogam esse
Christi ovile, quia dicebat David, =Psal. 94.= v. 9: =Nos populus ejus
et oves pascuæ ejus=; et quia Messias promissus fuerat Abraham et David
oriturus ex eorum semine, et a populo Hebræo expectatus, et a Prophetis
qui Hebræi erant vaticinatus, et ejus adventus, conversatio, passio,
mors et resurrectio in sacrificiis, cultu, et ceremoniis Hebræorum
legis erant præfigurata.
96. We have another authority in the Gospel according to St John, ch.
10, v. 16, where it is said; “_And other sheep I have, which are not
of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd._” If we inquire what are
those sheep which are not of that fold, and what the fold of which the
Lord Christ speaketh, we are answered by all Commentators that the
only fold of Christ is the Church to which the preaching of the Gospel
was to bring the Gentiles, sheep of another fold than that of the
Hebrews. They are, in fact, of opinion that the fold of Christ was the
Synagogue, because David had said, Psalm 95, v. 7: “_We are the people
of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand_”, and also because Abraham
and David had been promised that the Messiah should be born of their
race, because he was expected by the Hebrew people, foretold by the
Prophets who were Hebrews, and that his advent, his acts, his passion,
death and resurrection were prefigured in the sacrifices, worship and
ceremonials of the Hebrew law.
97. Sed salva semper Sanctorum Patrum, ac aliorum Doctorum reverentia,
non videtur talis expositio ad plenum satisfacere. Habemus enim quod
de fide est a principio mundi Ecclesiam Fidelium extitisse unam, usque
ad finem sæculi duraturam. Cujus Ecclesiæ caput est mediator Dei et
hominum Christus Jesus, cujus contemplatione creata sunt universa, et
omnia per ipsum facta. Fides enim unius Dei Trini (quamvis non ita
explicite), et Verbi Incarnatio revelata fuit primo homini, et ab
ipso edocti ejus filii, et ab iis descendentes. Hinc est quod quamvis
plerique homines ad idolatriam deflexerint, ac veram fidem deseruerint,
multi tamen veram fidem a patribus sibi traditam retinuerunt, et legem
naturæ servantes in vera Ecclesia Fidelium permanserunt, ut observat
Cardinalis Toletus in =Job=, c. 10. v. 16., et apparet in Job, qui
inter Gentiles Idolatras sanctus fuit. Quamvis autem Deus populo Hebræo
speciales favores contulerit, peculiaremque legem, ac ceremonias illi
præscripserit, ac a Gentilibus segregaverit, non tamen ad eam legem
Gentes tenebantur, nec fideles Hebræi aliam Ecclesiam constituebant ab
Ecclesia Gentilium, qui fidem unius Dei et Messiæ venturi profitebantur.
97. But, saving always the reverence due to the Holy Fathers and other
Doctors, that explanation does not seem quite satisfactory. For it
is an article of belief that the Church of the Faithful has been the
only one in existence from the beginning of the world, and will thus
endure to the end of time. The head of that Church is Jesus-Christ,
the mediator between God and men, by whose contemplation all things
were made and created. Indeed, the faith in the divine Trinity, though
less explicitly, and the Incarnation of the Word were revealed to the
first man, and by him taught his children, who, in their turn, taught
them their descendants. And thus, although most men had strayed into
idolatry and deserted the true faith, many kept the faith they had
received from their fathers, and observing the law of nature, stayed
in the true Church of the Faithful, as is noticed by Cardinal Tolet
in reference to Job, who was a saint among idolatrous Gentiles. And,
although God had conferred especial favours upon the Hebrew people,
prescribed for them peculiar laws and ceremonials, and separated them
from the Gentiles, yet those laws were not obligatory on the Gentiles,
and the faithful Hebrews did not constitute a Church different from
that of the Gentiles who professed their faith in one God and the
coming of the Messiah.
98. Hinc est, quod etiam ex Gentilibus fuere, qui Christi adventum,
et alia Christianæ fidei dogmata prophetarunt, ut patet de =Balaam=,
=Mercurio Trismegisto=, =Hydaspe=, ac =Sibyllis=, de quibus loquitur
Lactantius, lib. 1. c. 6., ut scribit Cardinalis Baronius in =Apparatu
Annal.= nº 18. Et quod Messias erat a Gentilibus expectatus habet
Isaias in pluribus locis, et luculentum testimonium de hoc est
prophetia Patriarchæ Jacob de Messia, quæ sic ait, =Gen.= c. 49. v. 10:
=Non auferetur sceptrum de Juda, et dux de femore ejus, donec veniat
qui mittendus est, et ipse erit expectatio Gentium=. Item Prophetia
Aggæi, c. 2. v. 8: =Movebo omnes Gentes, et veniet desideratus cunctis
gentibus=, quem locum explicans Cornelius a Lap. in Aggæ. c. 2. v.
8. § =Denique gentes=, ait: “=Gentes ante Christum credentes in Deum
lege naturæ, æque ac Judæi expectabant ac desiderabant Christum=.”
Pariter Christus ita se prodidit, et manifestavit Gentibus, sicut
Judæis: si enim in ipsius nativitate per Angelum ejus notitia data
fuit Pastoribus, per stellam miraculosam ad sui adorationem vocavit
Magos, qui cum essent Gentiles fuerunt primitiæ Gentium in Christo
agnoscendo, et adorando, ut ait S. Fulgentius, =Sermon. 6. de Epiph.=,
sicut Pastores fuerunt primitiæ Judæorum. Itidem manifestatio adventus
Christi per prædicationem (non quidem Apostolorum) prius facta est
Gentilibus, quam Judæis; siquidem ut scribit Ven. Mater Soror Maria
de Agreda, in =Vita J. C. et B. M. V.=, p. 1. l. 4. c. 26. n. 664:
“=Quando B. M. Virgo cum S. Joseph portavit Puerum Jesum in Ægyptum,
fugiendo Herodis persecutionem, mansit ibi per septennium: quo tempore
ipsa Beatissima Virgo prædicavit Ægyptiis veri Dei fidem, et Filii
Dei in carne humana adventum=.” Ulterius in Christi nativitate multa
fuere prodigia non solum in Judæa, sed in Ægypto, ubi corruerunt
idola, ac oracula conticuere; Romæ, ubi fons olei scaturiit; visus
globus aurei coloris de cœlo in terram descendere; apparuere tres
soles; ac contra naturam circulus variegatus ad modum iridis solis
discum circumscripsit; in Græcia, ubi oraculum Delphicum obmutuit,
et interrogatus Apollo ab Augusto ipsi sacrificante in proprio
palatio, ubi eidem aram extruxerat, de causa silentii sui, respondit,
ut referunt Nicephorus, l. 1 c. 17., Suidas, verbo =Augustus=, et
Cedrenus, =Compend. Histor.=:
=Me puer Hebræus, Divos Deus ipse gubernans,
Cedere sede jubet, tristemque redire sub orcum;
Aris ergo dehinc tacitis abscedito nostris.=
Et multa alia acciderunt prodigia, quibus prænunciabatur Gentilibus
Filii Dei adventus, quæ ex variis Aucthoribus recitat Baronius,
=Apparat. Annal. Eccles.= nº 24. et seq., et Cornelius in =Aggæ.= c.
2. v. 8.
98. And thus it came to pass that even among the Gentiles there were
some who prophesied the advent of Christ and the other dogmas of the
Christian faith, to wit _Balaam_, _Mercurius Trismegistus_, _Hydaspes_,
and the _Sibyls_ mentioned by Lactantius, book 1, ch. 6, as written by
Baronius, _Apparat. Annal., nº 18_. That the Messiah was expected by
the Gentiles is shown by many passages of Isaiah, and plainly testified
by the prophecy of Jacob, the Patriarch, thus worded, Genesis, ch. 49,
v. 10: “_The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from
between his feet, until Shiloh (he who is to be sent) come, and unto
him shall the gathering of the people be._”--Likewise in the prophecy
of Haggai, ch. 2, v. 8: “_I will shake all Nations, and the desire of
all Nations shall come_”; which passage is thus commented by Cornelius
a Lapide: “_The Gentiles before the advent of Christ, who believed in
God and observed the law of nature, expected and desired Christ equally
with the Jews._” Christ himself disclosed and manifested himself to the
Gentiles as well as to the Jews; for, at the same time as the Angel
apprized the shepherds of his nativity, by means of the miraculous star
he called the Magi to worship him, who, being Gentiles, were the first
among the Nations, as the shepherds among the Jews, to acknowledge
and worship Christ (_Vide_ St Fulgentius, _Sermon 6, upon Epiphany_).
In like manner, the advent of Christ was made known by preaching (I
am not speaking of the Apostles) to the Gentiles before it was to the
Jews. As is written by the Venerable Mother, Sister Maria of Agreda,
in her _Life of Jesus-Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary_: “_When the
Blessed Virgin Mary, fleeing with St Joseph, from the persecution of
Herod, carried the Infant Jesus into Egypt, she tarried there seven
years; and, during that time, the Blessed Virgin herself preached to
the Egyptians the faith of the true God and the advent of the Son of
God in human flesh._” Besides, the nativity of Christ was attended by
numerous prodigies, not only in Judæa, but also in Egypt, where the
idols tumbled and the oracles were hushed; in Rome, where a spring
of oil gushed out, a gold-coloured globe was seen to descend from
the skies on earth, three suns appeared, and an extraordinary ring,
variegated like a rainbow, encircled the disc of the sun; in Greece,
where the oracle of Delphi was struck dumb, and Apollo, asked the
reason of his silence by Augustus, who was offering up a sacrifice in
his own palace where he had raised an altar to him, answered:
“_A Hebrew child, who sways the Gods, and himself a God,
Bids me quit my seat and return to the infernal regions;
Depart therefore from our altars, henceforward mute._”
There were many more prodigies warning the Gentiles of the advent of
the Son of God: they have been collected from various Authors, by
Baronius, and are to be found in his _Apparat. Annal. Eccles._, and
Cornelius, _Commentary upon Haggai_.
99. Ex istis patet, quod etiam Gentiles pertinebant ad ovile Christi
idem, ad quod spectabant Judæi, puta ad Ecclesiam eamdem fidelem;
igitur non potest recte dici, quod illa verba Christi: =Alias oves
habeo, quæ non sunt ex hoc ovili=, accipienda sint de Gentilibus,
qui communem cum Hebræis habuerunt de Deo fidem, de Messia spem,
prophetiam, expectationem, et signa, et prædicationem.
99. From all this it is clear that the Gentiles also belonged, like
the Jews, to the fold of Christ, that is, to the same Church of
the Faithful; it cannot therefore be correctly said that the words
of Christ: “_Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold_”, are
applicable to the Gentiles, who had, in common with the Hebrews, the
faith in God, the hope, prophecy, expectation, prodigies and preaching
of the Messiah.
100. Dico igitur quod nomine =aliarum ovium= commode possunt
intelligi Creaturæ istæ rationales, sive animalia, de quibus hucusque
disseruimus. Cum enim, ut diximus, capaces sint beatitudinis, et
damnationis, et Christus Jesus sit mediator Dei, et hominum, immo
totius rationalis creaturæ (creaturæ enim rationales, quæ beatitudinem
consequuntur, hanc obtinent intuitu meritorum Christi per ab eo sibi
collatam gratiam, sine qua nequit beatitudo obtineri), debuit omnis
rationalis creatura de eo venturo spem habere, sicut de uno Deo
fidem, et de ipsius in carne nativitate, et de præceptis legis gratiæ
manifestationem. Istæ igitur erant oves, quæ non erant =ex hoc ovili
humano=, et quas adducere Christum oportebat, et quæ ejus vocem nempe
notitiam de ipsius adventu, et de evangelica doctrina, quantum per se,
tum per Apostolos Christus erat manifestaturus, audire debebant, et
ex iis ac hominibus in cœlo beatificatis fieri =unum ovile, et unus
Pastor=.