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Throughout the Summa we find the lineaments of a treatise on the
Church, a treatise which became an actuality against Protestant
errors. But this later mode of treatment, being predominantly
exterior and apologetic, led to a disregard for the theological
treatment, properly so called, of the inner constitution of the
Church. Such a treatise has its normal place after the treatise on
Christ the Redeemer and His sacraments. [987] Here lies the
road pointed out by St. Thomas.
In his treatise on Christ's grace of headship [988] he calls
the Church the mystical body, which includes all men in the measure of
their participation in the grace that comes from their Savior.
[989] .
In his treatise on faith [990] he finds in the Church a
doctrinal authority that is plenary and infallible, extending even, as
in canonizing her saints, not merely to dogmatic truths, but also to
dogmatic facts. The pope has this power in its fullness, and can
even, against heretics, define the exact meaning of the articles of
faith.
He compares the relation between Church and state to that between soul
and body. [991] The Church has power to annul the authority of
unbelieving or apostate princes, a power extending to excommunication.
[992] This normal pre-eminence of the Church derives from her
superior goal, in virtue of which princes themselves are bound to obey
the sovereign pontiff as vicar of Jesus Christ.
In the fifteenth century the disciples of St. Thomas clung closely
to the saint's formulas. Special distinction here belongs to
Torquemada, [993] whose work is a careful study of the notes of
the Church, of the union in the mystical body between head and
members, of the Church's indirect power in matters temporal.
[994] .
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