on Heresy and Heretics
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
is highly respected as an author and teacher in the Roman Catholic Church. He
wrote on nearly the entire range of theology and philosophy. His main works
were Summa contra Gentiles and Summa Theologiae. He was
canonized as a Catholic saint in 1323, proclaimed a doctor of theology in
1567, and named patron of Catholic schools and education on January 28, 1880.
Here from Summa Theologiae is Thomas Aquinas'
definition of a heretic:
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[2] R.O. 3 Para. 1/1
Reply OBJ 3: As Augustine says (Ep. xliii) and we find it stated in the
Decretals (xxiv, qu. 3, can. Dixit Apostolus): "By no means should we
accuse of heresy those who, however false and perverse their opinion may be,
defend it without obstinate fervor, and seek the truth with careful anxiety,
ready to mend their opinion, when they have found the truth," because,
to wit, they do not make a choice in contradiction to the doctrine of the
Church.
Accordingly, certain doctors seem to have differed either in matters the
holding of which in this or that way is of no consequence, so far as faith
is concerned, or even in matters of faith, which were not as yet defined by
the Church; although if anyone were obstinately to deny them after
they had been defined by the authority of the universal Church, he would be
deemed a heretic.
This authority resides chiefly in the Sovereign Pontiff. For we read [*Decret.
xxiv, qu. 1, can. Quoties]: "Whenever a question of faith is in
dispute, I think, that all our brethren and fellow bishops ought to refer
the matter to none other than Peter, as being the source of their name and
honor, against whose authority neither Jerome nor Augustine nor any of the
holy doctors defended their opinion."
Hence Jerome says (Exposit. Symbol [*Among the supposititious works of
St. Jerome]): "This, most blessed Pope, is the faith that we have been
taught in the Catholic Church. If anything therein has been incorrectly or
carelessly expressed, we beg that it may be set aright by you who hold the
faith and see of Peter. If however this, our profession, be approved by the
judgment of your apostleship, whoever may blame me, will prove that he
himself is ignorant, or malicious, or even not a catholic but a
heretic."
So according to Thomas Aquinas, the issue at stake is the defined doctrines
and dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. If you knowingly contradict the Papacy
and doctrines as the Pope defines them, then you are a classed as a heretic.
Following are four possible observations about tolerating heretics...
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Thes. Para. 1/1
Whether heretics ought to be tolerated?
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Obj. 1 Para. 1/1
OBJ 1: It seems that heretics ought to be tolerated. For the Apostle says
(2 Tim. 2:24,25): "The servant of the Lord must not wrangle . . . with
modesty admonishing them that resist the truth, if peradventure God may give
them repentance to know the truth, and they may recover themselves from the
snares of the devil." Now if heretics are not tolerated but put to
death, they lose the opportunity of repentance. Therefore it seems contrary
to the Apostle's command.
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Obj. 2 Para. 1/1
OBJ 2: Further, whatever is necessary in the Church should be tolerated.
Now heresies are necessary in the Church, since the Apostle says (1 Cor.
11:19): "There must be . . . heresies, that they . . . who are
reproved, may be manifest among you." Therefore it seems that heretics
should be tolerated.
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Obj. 3 Para. 1/1
OBJ 3: Further, the Master commanded his servants (Mt. 13:30) to suffer
the cockle "to grow until the harvest," i.e. the end of the world,
as a gloss explains it. Now holy men explain that the cockle denotes
heretics. Therefore heretics should be tolerated.
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] OTC Para. 1/1
On the contrary, The Apostle says (Titus 3:10,11): "A man that is a
heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: knowing that he, that
is such an one, is subverted."
And now, Thomas Aquinas' opinion on what should be done with heretics ...
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Body Para. 1/2
I answer that, With regard to heretics two points must be observed: one,
on their own side; the other, on the side of the Church. On their own side
there is the sin, whereby they deserve not only to be separated from
the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by
death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith which
quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports temporal life.
Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned
to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for
heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only
excommunicated but even put to death.
Aquin.: SMT SS Q[11] A[3] Body Para. 2/2
On the part of the Church, however, there is mercy which looks to the
conversion of the wanderer, wherefore she condemns not at once, but
"after the first and second admonition," as the Apostle directs:
after that, if he is yet stubborn, the Church no longer hoping for his
conversion, looks to the salvation of others, by excommunicating him and
separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the
secular tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death.
For Jerome commenting on Gal. 5:9, "A little leaven," says:
"Cut off the decayed flesh, expel the mangy sheep from the fold, lest
the whole house, the whole paste, the whole body, the whole flock, burn,
perish, rot, die. Arius was but one spark in Alexandria, but as that spark
was not at once put out, the whole earth was laid waste by its flame."
Submission to their alleged authority has always been the primary concern
of the Roman Catholic Church. History well documents the bloodshed that
resulted from thinking like that demonstrated above, when people dared to read
the Bible for themselves and follow its precepts and doctrines without
interference from the Catholic Church, even daring to reject the
pronouncements and decrees of the Pope himself. The death of these martyrs of
the faith at Catholic hands is also recorded prophetically in the Bible-
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration.
Here is the above section of
Summa Theologica online
at the New Advent Catholic Supersite.
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