Catena Aurea on Matthew
The Golden Chain on Matthew
Dedication
To the most holy and reverend father, Lord Urban IV, by divine providence Pope. I, brother Thomas of Aquino, of the Order of Friars Preachers, devoutly and reverently kiss your holy feet.
The font of wisdom, the only-begotten Word of God, presiding in the highest, through whom the Father made everything wisely, and smoothly arranged it, at the end of time decided to take flesh, so that under the garment of a bodily nature our human gaze could view his splendor, which it could not reach when he was in the heights of divine majesty. Certainly, he spread his rays, the evidence of his wisdom, on all the works which he created. But he impressed his image in a more privileged way on human souls, and still more expressed this image in the hearts of those who love him, according to his great munificence. But what is the soul of man in such immense creation, that it could perfectly comprehend the traces of divine wisdom? Moreover, the light of wisdom that had been infused in men was obscured by the darkness of sin and the fog of temporal occupations. Moreover, the stupid hearts of some were so darkened that they turned the glory of God into useless idols, doing things that were improper, and falling into a damnable mentality.
But divine wisdom, which had made man to enjoy himself, would not allow him to have no experience of himself. So he entered human nature totally, assuming it to himself in a wonderful way, so that he could call wandering man back totally to himself. The first prince of apostles merited to see by faith the brightness of this wisdom, covered with the cloud of mortality, and he constantly, fully, and without error testified to it, saying, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. O blessed testimony, which flesh and blood did not reveal, but the heavenly Father. This testimony gives foundation to the Church on earth, opens the way to heaven, merits the power to forgive sins, and the gates of hell do not prevail against it. You, the rightful heir to this faith and testimony, most holy father, whose mind is religiously watchful, to let the light of such great wisdom pervade the hearts of the faithful, and refute the madness of heretics, which are rightly called the ‘gates of hell’.
Certainly if, according to Plato’s opinion, the nation is blessed whose rulers are occupied with wisdom, that wisdom which in fact the stupidity of the human intellect often mixes with errors, how much more blessed must the Christian people under your rule be reckoned, since you devote such great concern for that wisdom, which God’s wisdom clothed in bodily limbs taught by words and demonstrated by works? Because of this zeal for wisdom, it pleased your holiness to commission me to expound the Gospel of Matthew. I did so according to my ability, scouring different books of the doctors, to make a continuous commentary. The words of some authors are few, where I usually added from the Glosses. In this case, I headed such quotations under the title of ‘Gloss’.
As for quotations from the holy doctors, I mention the name of each, and the books from which the quotations come, except where this was unnecessary. For instance, in mentioning Jerome, with no reference to a book, you can infer that it is his commentary on Matthew. The same holds for the others, except for the commentary of Chrysostom on Matthew, where the commentary had to be mentioned to distinguish it from his sermons.
In quoting the testimony of the saints, much had to be omitted, both to avoid being over-long, and to make the meaning clearer, or to change the order of the commentary to fit the Scriptural text. Sometimes I just summarized the meaning, not quoting verbatim, especially in the sermons of Chrysostom, because the translation was bad.
My intention in this work was to present not merely the literal meaning, but also the mystical meaning, and sometimes also to refute errors and confirm the Catholic truth. This seemed necessary, because especially in the Gospel the form of Catholic faith is transmitted, as well as the whole rule of Christian life. I hope therefore that the present work does not seem too long for anybody. I could not pursue all the material without summarizing, nor explain the opinions of so many saints if I abbreviated too much.
Therefore, may your holiness receive this work, presented to your judgment for discussion and correction. It is the fruit of your sollicitude and my obedience. Since it originated from your precept and its final judgment is reserved to you, let the rivers return to their source.
Prologue
Isaiah 40:9–10
Go up to the top of the mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with might, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: cry aloud, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God; behold the Lord God shall come with power, and his arm shall have dominion; lo, his reward is with him.
The Prophet Isaiah, a manifest preacher of the Gospel, briefly expressing the loftiness, the name, and the substance of the Gospel doctrine, addresses the evangelic teacher in the person of the Lord, saying, go up to the top of the mountain, etc.
The name "Gospel"
But to make our beginning with the title, the Gospel.
Augustine, against Faustus, ii, 2. The word, ‘Evangelium,’ (Gospel,) is rendered in Latin ‘bonus nuntius,’ or ‘bona annuntiatio,’ (good news). It may indeed be used on all occasions whenever any good is announced; but it has come to be appropriated to the announcement of the Savior. Those who have related the birth, deeds, words, and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, are properly styled Evangelists.
Chrysostom, homil. on Matt., i, 2. For what is there that can equal these good tidings? God on earth, man in heaven; that long war ceased, reconciliation made between God and our nature, the devil overthrown, death abolished, paradise opened. These things, so far beyond our merits, are given us with all fullness; not for our own toil or labor, but because we are beloved of God.
Augustine, on true religion, xvi. Whereas God in many ways heals the souls of men, according to the times and the seasons which are ordained by his marvellous wisdom, yet has he in no way more beneficently provided for the human race, than when the very Wisdom of God, the only Son of one substance and coeternal with the Father, stooped to take upon him perfect man, and The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Hereby he made manifest how high a place among creatures had human nature, in that he appeared to men as very man.
Pseudo-Augustine, serm. ix on the Nativity. God was made man, that man might be made God.
Gloss. This part of the glad tidings that should be preached, the prophet foretells saying, Behold your God, etc.
Leo, epist. xxviii, to Flavian, 3. For this emptying of himself, by which the invisible made himself visible, and the Creator and Lord of all things chose to become one of us mortal creatures, was a stooping of his mercy, not a failing of his power.
Gloss. Therefore that the Lord should not be supposed to be present in such a way as that there should be any thing lost of his power, the prophet adds, The Lord shall come with power.
Augustine, on Christian doctrine, i, 12. Come, not by passing through the regions of space, but by showing himself to men in the flesh.
Leo, serm. on the passion of the Lord, xix, 3. By the unspeakable power of God, it was wrought, that while very man was in the inviolable God, and very God in passible flesh, there was bestowed upon man, glory through shame, immortality through punishment, life through death.
Augustine, on merit and the forgiveness of sins, ii, 30. For blood that was without sin being shed, the bond of all men’s sins was done away, by which men were before held captive by the devil.
Gloss. Therefore because men, having been delivered from sin by virtue of Christ suffering, became the servants of God, it follows, And his arm shall have dominion.
Leo, serm. on the passion, x. In Christ then was given us this wonderful deliverance, that on our passible nature the condition of death should not abide, which his impassible essence had admitted, and that by that which could not die, that which was dead might be brought to life.
Gloss. And thus through Christ is opened to us the entrance of immortal glory, concerning which it follows, Lo, his reward is with him; that, namely, of which himself speaks, Your reward is abundant in heaven (Matt 5:12).
Augustine, against Faustus, iv, 2. The promise of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven belongs to the New Testament; in the Old Testament are contained promises of temporal things.
Matter of the Gospel teaching
Gloss. So then evangelic teaching delivers to us four things concerning Christ; the divinity that takes upon it, the humanity that is taken upon it, his death by which we are delivered from bondage, his resurrection by which the entrance of a glorious life is opened to us. On this account it is represented in Ezekiel under the figure of the four animals.
Gregory, homil. on Ezek., iv. The only-begotten Son of God was himself verily made man; himself condescended to die as the sacrifice of our redemption as a calf; he rose again through the power of his might, as a lion; and as an eagle he ascended aloft into heaven.
Gloss. In which ascension he showed manifestly his divinity; Matthew then is denoted by the man, because he dwells chiefly on the humanity of Christ; Mark by the lion, because he treats of his resurrection; Luke by the calf, because he insists on his priesthood; John by the eagle, because he describes the sacraments of his divinity.
Ambrose, comm. on Luke, pref. And it has happened well that we set out with delivering the opinion that the Gospel according to Matthew is of a moral kind, for morals are the peculiar province of man. The figure of a lion is ascribed to Mark, because he begins with an assertion of his divine power, saying, The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God (Mark 1:1). The figure of the eagle is given to John, because he has described the miracles of the divine resurrection.
Gregory, homil. on Ezek., iv. These things the commencement of each of the Gospel books testifies. Because he opens with Christ’s human generation, Matthew is rightly designated by a man; Mark by a lion, because he begins with the crying in the desert; Luke by a calf, because he begins with a sacrifice; because he takes his beginning from the divinity of the Word, John is worthily signified by an eagle.