Regarding the Mercy with Which Our Mother Church Treats the Jews, and Will Continue to Treat Them, and How Far Its Obligations Extend
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN REGARDING THE MERCY WITH WHICH OUR MOTHER CHURCH TREATS THE JEWS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO TREAT THEM, AND HOW FAR ITS OBLIGATIONS EXTEND In spite of the fact that, as it has been stated, the Jews are extremely ungrateful for the benefits that they have received from both God and men, our Mother the Church nevertheless has treated them well and always will. This is because it is waiting, and will continue to wait, until the time of the great persecution that the aforesaid Church shall experi- ence, which is when the Antichrist, who is to be born in the town of Babylon, shall come forth, as Saint Jerome states in chapter 11 of his com- mentary on Daniel. Speaking about the Antichrist, he says: Qui nasciturus est de Populo Iudæorum, & de Babylone venturus (“He shall be born amongst the Jewish people”).1 Many others agree with the aforesaid doc- tor, as you shall be able to read in Vincent de Beauvais’ Espejo Moral (book 2, distinción 13, part 2).2 He shall be born to Jewish parents since it was not just that he should be born to Old Christians who are free of the sin of infidelity and even less to a noble people whose good blood is normally matched with generous thoughts. Instead he shall come from conversos and Jews and their descendants. The Father of the Church Saint Peter Chrysologus3 states in his sermon 111: Parentibus vitium est, filiorum 1 This passage comes from Saint Jerome’s commentary on Daniel 11:25–6. Saint Jerome, Commentariorum in Danielem Prophetam ad Pammachium et Marcellam, Liber Unus, ed. J-P. Migne, in Patrologia Latina, Vol. 25 (Paris, 1884), col. 567: “Nostri autem secundum supe- riorem sensum interpretantur omnia de Antichristo, qui nasciturus est de populo Judaeorum, et de Babylone venturus, primum superaturus est regem Aegypti, qui est unus de tribus corni- bus, de quibus antea jam diximus”. Saint Jerome makes a similar claim in his commentary on Daniel 4:24. 2 Vincent de Beauvais (c. 1190–c. 1264), whose name was hispanicized as Vicente Belvacense, was a Dominican friar and famous as the author of the three-part Speculum Maius (“The Great Mirror”) a popular encyclopedia that was printed in numerous editions during the early modern period. The Speculum Morale (“The Moral Mirror”) was added in the fourteenth century as a fourth part and was not the work of Beauvais. The reference provided by Torrejoncillo is erroneous due to an error committed either by Torrejoncillo or the typesetter. The correct reference should be to book two, Distinción 1, Part two. See Bibliotheca Mvndi sev Specvli Maioris Vicentii Bvrgvndi. Tomvs Tertivs qvi Specvlvm Morale Inscribitvr (Douai, 1624), cols. 758–762. 3 Saint Peter Chrysologus (c. ad 380–c. 450) was bishop of Ravenna in Italy between ad 433 and c. 450. <UN> <UN> 274 chapter fourteen exitium, numquid in semine tota arbor? Vitium ergo seminis, vitium est totius arboris (“The sin of the father is the death of his son. Moreover, just as the seed is comprised and enclosed within the tree, so it is with the father. In his sins are contained those that his children will commit”).4 Consequently, one can say that such characteristics and evil inclinations as the Antichrist shall possess are clearly derived from Jewish and con- verso ancestors with vile and base thoughts and in whose lineage are found many judaizers who were burnt after having been penanced on various occasions by the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition. The unanimous judgment of the Holy Fathers is the one explicitly expressed by Saint Jerome in his gloss on chapter 11 of the Book of Daniel: Consurgere debet Antichristus de modica gente; id est, de populo Iudæorum (the Antichrist shall be born from a vile people, that is the Jewish people).5 Saint Hippolytus6 claims the same in the prayer de consummatione mundi. Ex Hebræis (he states) ortus est Christus, hic quoque Antechristus nascetur ex Iudæis. Moreover, Saint Gregory affirms in book 31 of his Morales7 that the Antichrist shall come from the tribe of Dan and Saint Jerome states that by order of the Devil he shall be conceived as a result of condemned for- nication.8 Saint Isidore says the same.9 Saint Ambrose maintains that just as there were twelve apostles and one who betrayed Jesus so out of the twelve tribes there will be arise one man who persecutes the Church (see 4 For a full modern translation of this sermon into English see George E. Ganss, Saint Peter Chrysologus. Selected Sermons and Saint Valerian Homilies, Volume 1, The Fathers of the Church Vol. 17 (Washington D.C., 1953), 175–180. 5 This passage comes from Saint Jerome’s commentary on Daniel 11:21–4. Saint Jerome, Commentariorum in Danielem Prophetam ad Pammachium et Marcellam, Liber Unus, ed. J-P. Migne, in Patrologia Latina, Vol. 25 (Paris, 1884), col. 566. 6 Saint Hippolytus of Rome (ad 170–235) was a famous theologian and martyr of the early church. His Oratio de consummatione mundi ac de Antichristo, & Secundo aduentu Domini nostri Iesu Christi, was printed in numerous editions during the sixteenth and sev- enteenth centuries (Cologne, 1563; Paris, 1557 and 1656). 7 Pope (and Saint) Gregory I (c. ad 540–604) was Pope from 590 until his death. A refer- ence to Saint Gregory’s commentary on the Book of Job, known in Latin as the Moralia in Job, book XXXI, chap. 43. The Tribe of Dan was one of the tribes of Israel. 8 Torrejoncillo provides no detailed reference but appears to be referring to Saint Jerome’s commentary on Daniel 7:8, in which he refers to the Antichrist as the filius perdi- tionis (“son of perdition”). See Saint Jerome, Commentariorum in Danielem Prophetam ad Pammachium et Marcellam, Liber Unus, ed. J-P. Migne, in Patrologia Latina, Vol. 25 (Paris, 1884), col. 531. 9 Saint Isidore of Seville (c. ad 560–636) was an archbishop of Seville during the Visigothic period and instrumental in the conversion of the Arrian Visigoths to Catholicism. Torrejoncillo does not explicitly refer to any of Saint Isidore’s works though he may have been referring to chapter XXVIII of Saint Isidore’s Sentences. See Saint Isidore, Sententiarum de summo bono lib. III (Antwerp, 1566), fols. 35r–36r (De Antichristo & eius signis). <UN> <UN>.