Song of Solomon 6:9

This one church is also intended in the Song of Songs, when the Holy Spirit says, in the person of the Lord: "My dove, my perfect one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her." Can one who does not keep this unity of the church believe that he keeps the faith? Can one who resists and struggles against the church be sure that he is in the church? For the blessed apostle Paul gives the same teaching and declares the same mystery of unity when he says, "There is one body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God."

But that the Church is one, the Holy Spirit declares in the Song of Songs, saying, in the person of Christ, "My dove, my undefiled, is one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her." Concerning which also He says again, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring sealed up, a well of living water." But if the spouse of Christ, which is the Church, is a garden enclosed; a thing that is closed up cannot lie open to strangers and profane persons. And if it is a fountain sealed, he who, being placed without has no access to the spring, can neither drink thence nor be sealed. And the well also of living water, if it is one and the same within, he who is placed without cannot be quickened and sanctified from that water of which it is only granted to those who are within to make any use, or to drink.

"My dove, my perfect one, is one." The Lord's words in the gospel explain this more clearly … that in the diversity of their lives' activities, they should not be divided in their choices of the good. Rather, they should all be one, united into a single good through the unity of the Holy Spirit.… All will look to the same goal, and every evil will be destroyed. God will be all in all, and all persons will be united together in fellowship of the Good, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever.

Of this church which keeps the faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit says in the Canticles, "My dove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one." He then who receives this faith in the church let him not turn aside in the council of vanity, and let him not enter in with those who practice iniquity.

"My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her." Now the mother of whom this is said is the heavenly Jerusalem.

"For as regards the fact that to preserve the figure of unity the Lord gave the power to Peter that whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed," it is clear that that unity is also described as one dove without fault. Can it be said, then, that to this same dove belong all those greedy ones, whose existence in the same Catholic church Cyprian himself so grievously bewailed? For birds of prey, I believe, cannot be called doves, but rather hawks. How then did they baptize those who used to plunder estates by treacherous deceit and increase their profits by compound usury, if baptism is only given by that indivisible and chaste and perfect dove, that unity which can only be understood as existing among the good? Is it possible that, by the prayers of the saints who are spiritual within the church, as though by the frequent lamentations of the dove, a great sacrament is dispensed, with a secret administration of the mercy of God? [Thus] their sins also are loosed who are baptized, not by the dove but by the hawk, if they come to that sacrament in the peace of Catholic unity.

My dove is one, my perfect one. There are indeed sixty queens, because there are many faithful souls around the world who, having accepted the knowledge of the word, take on the task of multiplying the offspring of the Church for the reception of the heavenly kingdom. There are also eighty concubines, because there are also souls who, focused on earthly matters, engage in doctrine, and although they themselves succumb to carnal lures, nevertheless generate spiritual offspring for God by preaching. And there are maidens without number, because countless bands of Christian people are found, who, although not yet suitable for the office of governance and teaching, nevertheless obediently and faithfully offer the devotion of their faith and works to the service of the Holy Church, namely the bride of Christ. But above all these, that is, both true and feigned members of the Church, rightfully excels the universal Church itself, which in its same faithful members from the beginning to the consummation of the age, from the rising to the setting of the sun, and from the north and the sea praises the name of the Lord. Of which praise it is most beautifully said: My dove is one, my perfect one. It is indeed one, because it does not accept the division of schism; it is one, because not one was collected before the law, another under the law, another under grace, another from the circumcision, another from the uncircumcision; but just as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, that is, one catholic multitude of all the elect everywhere, and in every place of the world, and in every age, subject to the same one God and Father. From which Luke teaches it is called catholic, saying: The churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were built up, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied (Acts IX). For what is in Latin here, is in Greek catholos. From which it is clearly evident that the Church is called catholic because it is built up in all parts of the world in one peace, in one fear of the Lord, and is filled with the same comfort of the Holy Spirit. From which unity of the Spirit, it is also rightly called a dove: for the Spirit descended upon the Lord in the form of a dove, showing both its simplicity and the Lord's upon whom it descended. Because the Lord made His Church a participant in the spirit of simplicity, He rightly calls it His dove, rightly also calls it perfect, not only because it is formed from all the people of the righteous but also because it is perfected by the reception of all virtues and divine gifts. It is the one chosen by its mother, the mother who brought it forth. The mother and progenitor of the present Church is the one about whom the Apostle says: "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother" (Gal. IV); which is rightly and justly called our mother, because every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights (James I). Hence it is also said in the Apocalypse of John: "And he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Apoc. XXI). For the holy city Jerusalem descends from heaven from God, because whatever good the present Church knows, does, hopes for; it receives all this from above, either through the King of heaven Himself or through the ministries of the heavenly citizens. Therefore, it is rightly chosen by its mother who brought it forth, since of course that heavenly city approves only those from human society who serve God in unity of faith and love. Otherwise, the Donatists, or any others who separate themselves from the unity of the Catholic Church, whether by open dissension or profane action, are, because they refuse to have the perfection of the simplicity of the dove, separated from the lot of the chosen in judgment and placed on the left side. The name of mother and progenitor of the Church can be most fittingly understood by the grace of the Holy Spirit, through whom the Church itself is born to God and consecrated, because, in Hebrew, the spirit is called in the feminine gender. The Lord Himself teaches that this should be rightly called the Church's mother and progenitor, saying: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John III). And immediately, distinguishing spiritual birth from carnal birth, He added: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit" (John III). To this mother and progenitor, the one dove of Christ is rightly chosen and perfect, because, leaving behind all the crowds of schismatics, the one Church, which He now nourishes and keeps in the unity of Catholic peace, is then uplifted by spiritual grace to the joys of the heavenly homeland.

The daughters saw her and acclaimed her most blessed, etc. It seems here that the same daughters are mentioned as the maidens previously named, because while here he brings daughters, queens, and concubines to the forefront, he had earlier mentioned queens, concubines, and maidens together. Therefore, great praise is due to the Catholic unity, which both the mother by grace, who bore them, chose perpetually, and the daughters whom she begot and nurtured to God by the Spirit. As soon as they saw it, that is, as they learned of her chaste life and heard of the gifts of the inheritance promised to her, they rightfully never cease to bless her. And both queens and concubines extol her with just praises, that is, whether these who are truly part of her kingdom or those souls who adhere to her in name only, but are earthly in hope and mind, all certainly acknowledge that she is worthy of eternal praise, understanding for sure that nothing of true and unshakable good can be found without her company. Indeed, since before the end of the world, Judea too is to be gathered to the grace of its Redeemer, and will also praise that same perfection of the holy Church along with others, it is fittingly added from the voice of the Synagogue itself, marveling...

Our mother is the regenerating grace, in which one dove is chosen, because she chooses only those who remain in simplicity and are not torn from unity. For indeed many of the faithful, while they focus on the same thing, while they nourish one another with one desire for Christ, while having one heart and one soul they bind themselves together in charity, form one body from many members. And all living in the simplicity of unity, they constitute one dove. She alone is called perfect and chosen by her mother, because outside this Church of which we speak, no one is nurtured to perfection, no one to life, except through this one alone by the fostering of grace.

The daughters of Sion are the daughters of the Church, who, while they contemplate eternal life in this flesh, are raised up from the pilgrim Church to the reigning Church. The daughters of Sion see the dove and proclaim her most blessed: because holy souls, when they behold the virtues of the Church, burst forth in praise and yearn for her blessedness. For the holy Church is nourished by grace as its mother, while she is instructed by faith, fed on the flesh of her Bridegroom, washed by his blood, and fattened on divine Scripture. Strengthened by such nourishments, she conquers demons, suffocates vices, tames the flesh, fortifies the spirit, and awaits life. Whoever beholds all these things rightly rises at once into admiration and pronounces her most blessed, because he sees to what great glory she rises through so many virtues. The concubines also praise her along with the queens; because even if false preachers contradict by their works, nevertheless in their words they set forth to the people the same things as the true ones do. Of such the Truth himself says: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Matt. 15, from Isa. 27). This he openly reveals when he says again: "For they say, and do not do" (Matt. 23:3). Of whom it is also said through the apostle Paul: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him" (Tit. 1:16). But holy men confess God by both words and deeds; because what they believe they do, and to the good things they do, they also draw others by their words and examples. By their virtues adversaries are stirred to faith, while they admire in them both the devotion of faith and the constancy of works. Whence also the Synagogue is raised to faith, when she contemplates with admiration what the merits of faith are in the Church.

Contemplate what a glory is hers who compares herself to heaven, even to that heaven who is so much more glorious as he is divine. This is no rashness, taking her comparison from whence her origin comes. For if she compares herself to the tents of Kedar because of her body drawn from the earth, why should she not glory in her likeness to heaven because of the heavenly origin of her soul, especially since her life bears witness to her origin and to the dignity of her nature and her homeland? She adores and worships one God, just like the angels; she loves Christ above all things, just like the angels; she is chaste, just like the angels, and that in the flesh of a fallen race, in a frail body that the angels do not have. But she seeks and savors the things that they enjoy, not the things that are on the earth. What can be a clearer sign of her heavenly origin than that she retains a natural likeness to it in the land of unlikeness, than that as an exile on earth she enjoys the glory of the celibate life, than that she lives like an angel in an animal body? These gifts reveal a power that is more of heaven than of earth. They clearly indicate that a soul thus endowed is truly from heaven. But Scripture is clearer still: "I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne saying: 'Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell among them.'" But why? In order to win a bride for himself from among men. How wonderful this? He came to seek a bride, but did not come without one. He sought a bride, but she was with him. Had he then two brides? Certainly not. "My dove is only one," he says. Just as he wished to form one flock of the scattered flocks of sheep, that there might be one flock and one shepherd, so, although from the beginning he had for bride the multitude of angels, it pleased him to summon the Church from among men and unite it with the one from heaven, that there might be but the one bride and one Bridegroom. The one from heaven perfects the earthly one; it does not make two. Hence he says: "My perfect one is only one." Their likeness makes them one, one now in their similar purpose, one hereafter in the same glory.