Works › Commentary on the Apocalypse of Blessed John
Volume 38 · pp. 606–608
Chapter VIII: second trumpet, third trumpet, and the beginning of the fourth
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« Et mortua est tertia pars creaturae eorum quae habebant animas in mari, etc. »
Per hoc intelliguntur carnales viventes in deliciis carnis. Mare enim spumosum est: et sicut dicit Hieronymus: venter mero aestuans, cito spumat in luxuriam.
« Et tertia pars navium interiit. » Per naves intelliguntur cupidi et avari, qui navigant mare ut sic possint suae cupiditati satisfacere. Quia vero quidam praedictorum peccatorum poenitent manifeste, quidam occulte, quidam vero numquam: ideo per tertiam partem maris, et per tertiam partem creaturae, et per tertiam partem navium intelliguntur.
Vel sic, ut per mare intelligatur gentilitas. Prima pars hujus est illi qui fidem receperunt, et confessi sunt. Secunda pars, illi qui receperunt, sed confessi non sunt. Tertia pars sunt illi qui nec receperunt, nec confessi sunt. Est ergo sensus: « Et tertia pars maris, » id est, gentilitas, « facta est sanguis, » scilicet persequens crudeliter Apostolos, et effundens sanguinem eorum.
« Et mortua est tertia pars creaturae eorum quae habebant animas in mari. » Nota: Per hanc creaturam habentem animam in mari, signantur sapientes mundi, ut Philosophi qui propter suam discretionem videntur animas in mundo habere, et magis rationales judicantur. Inde dicuntur creatura mundi. Ad Roman. I, 20: Invisibilia Dei a creatura mundi, id est, a Philosophis, etc. Horum fuerunt tres partes. Quidam fuerunt dispositi ad credendum per bona naturalia, ut Dionysius. Alii per doctrinam Apostolorum. Alii nec sic, nec sic: et illa tertia pars est mortua in errore suo, vel in effusione sanguinis fidelium.
« Et tertia pars navium interiit. » Nota: Per naves intelliguntur aliorum rectores ut principes. Horum sunt tres partes. Quidam doctrinam Evangelicam receperunt, et Ecclesiam dotaverunt. Alii receperunt, sed hoc non fecerunt. Alii nihil horum fecerunt: et ista tertia pars interiit primo interitu peccati, postea interitu aeternae mortis.
10. « Et tertius Angelus tuba cecinit: et cecidit de caelo stella magna, ardens tamquam facula, et cecidit in tertiam partem fluminum, et in fontes aquarum.
11. Et nomen stellae dicitur Absinthium: et facta est tertia pars aquarum in absinthium, et multi hominum mortui sunt de aquis, quia amarae factae sunt. »
Haec est tertia tuba, quae secundum Bedam significat haereticos ab Ecclesia recedentes, et Scripturam corrumpentes. Postquam enim diabolus non potuit fideles pervertere sive subvertere per persecutiones, misit haereticos qui multos subvertunt.
“And the third part of the creatures that had souls in the sea died, etc.”
Through this are understood carnal people living in the delights of the flesh. For the sea is foamy, and, as Jerome says, a belly boiling with unmixed wine soon foams into lust.
“And the third part of the ships perished.” By ships are understood the covetous and avaricious, who navigate the sea so that thus they may be able to satisfy their covetousness. But because some of the aforesaid sinners repent manifestly, some secretly, and some never, therefore they are understood by the third part of the sea, by the third part of the creature, and by the third part of the ships.
Or thus, so that by the sea Gentility is understood. The first part of this consists of those who received the faith and confessed it. The second part, those who received it but did not confess it. The third part consists of those who neither received it nor confessed it. Therefore the sense is: “And the third part of the sea,” that is, Gentility, “became blood,” namely by cruelly persecuting the Apostles and pouring out their blood.
“And the third part of the creatures that had souls in the sea died.” Note: By this creature having a soul in the sea are signified the wise of the world, as Philosophers, who because of their discretion seem to have souls in the world and are judged more rational. Hence they are called the creature of the world. Romans I, 20: The invisible things of God from the creature of the world, that is, from the Philosophers, etc. There were three parts of these. Some were disposed to believing through natural goods, as Dionysius. Others through the teaching of the Apostles. Others neither in this way nor in that; and that third part is dead in its error, or in the shedding of the blood of the faithful.
“And the third part of the ships perished.” Note: By ships are understood rulers of others, such as princes. Of these there are three parts. Some received the evangelical teaching and endowed the Church. Others received it but did not do this. Others did none of these things; and that third part perished first by the destruction of sin, afterward by the destruction of eternal death.
10. “And the third Angel sounded the trumpet; and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many human beings died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”
This is the third trumpet, which according to Bede signifies heretics withdrawing from the Church and corrupting Scripture. For after the devil was not able to pervert or subvert the faithful through persecutions, he sent heretics who subvert many.
Et dicuntur hic quinque. Primo, quod ad vocem Praedicatorum princeps haereticorum cecidit ab Ecclesia. Secundo, dicitur ubi, ibi, « Et cecidit in tertiam partem. » Tertio, ponitur nomen ipsius, ibi, V. 11: « Et nomen stellae. » Quarto, ostendit effectum consequentem casum, ibidem, « Et facta est tertia pars aquarum. » Quinto, quod ex amaritudine secuta est mors hominum, ibidem, « Et multi hominum mortui. »
Unde dicit: « Et tertius Angelus, » id est, tertius ordo Praedicatorum. Hi fuerunt Doctores qui Apostolis et martyribus successerunt, et Scripturam exposuerunt: « tuba cecinit, » id est, aperte praedicavit: « et cecidit de caelo stella magna, » id est, diabolus qui est princeps haereticorum. Isa. XIV, 12: Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, Lucifer, qui mane, etc.? « Et stella, » non quia jam luceat, sed propter primam conditionem in qua luxit. Item, « magna, » quia caeteris praeclarior fuit: « ardens » igne invidiae, « tamquam facula. » Nota: Facula ardendo foetorem emittit, et alios illuminando seipsam consumit: sic diabolus tentando homines et inflammando emittit vitiorum foetorem, et spiritualiter consumit seipsum.
Vel, « Cecidit de caelo, » ad litteram quando superbivit. Sed de isto casu non intelligitur hic, sed de secundo, qui, supple, Angelo tertio canente, ab Ecclesia expulsus fuit. Ecclesia enim est caelum. Isa. LXVI, 1: Caelum sedes mea.
Vel sic: « Et tertius Angelus, » id est, tertius ordo Praedicatorum, « tuba cecinit, » id est, aperte praedicavit: « et cecidit, » lapsu erroris, « de caelo, » id est, de consortio fidelium, « stella » haereticorum « magna, » id est, coetus haereticorum nocte lucens, id est, errans, et errores docens. Vel ad litteram, nocte docens. Joan. III, 20: Qui male agit, odit lucem. Vel, « Stella magna, » id est, haeresiarcha qui stella dicitur propter scientiam apparentem, « magna, » propter sequentium multitudinem, « ardens » igne invidiae contra Ecclesiam, « tamquam facula, » non sicut vera stella. Facula illuminando seipsam consumit, et quidquid consumit in carbonem convertit sive redigit: sic haeresiarcha et se consumit alios docendo, et in nigredinem peccati convertit eos. Nahum, II, 10: Facies omnium eorum sicut nigredo ollae.
And five things are said here. First, that at the voice of the Preachers the prince of heretics fell from the Church. Second, it is said where, there, “And it fell upon the third part.” Third, his name is set down, there, V. 11: “And the name of the star.” Fourth, he shows the effect following the fall, in the same place, “And the third part of the waters became.” Fifth, that from bitterness the death of human beings followed, in the same place, “And many human beings died.”
Hence he says: “And the third Angel,” that is, the third order of Preachers. These were the Doctors who succeeded the Apostles and martyrs and expounded Scripture: “sounded the trumpet,” that is, preached openly; “and a great star fell from heaven,” that is, the devil, who is the prince of heretics. Isaiah XIV, 12: How have you fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who rose in the morning, etc.? “And a star,” not because he now shines, but because of the first condition in which he shone. Likewise, “great,” because he was brighter than the others; “burning” with the fire of envy, “like a torch.” Note: A torch emits a stench while burning and consumes itself while illuminating others; so the devil, by tempting and inflaming human beings, emits the stench of vices and spiritually consumes himself.
Or, “he fell from heaven,” literally, when he became proud. But this fall is not understood here, but the second, by which, supply, when the third Angel sounded, he was expelled from the Church. For the Church is heaven. Isaiah LXVI, 1: Heaven is my seat.
Or thus: “And the third Angel,” that is, the third order of Preachers, “sounded the trumpet,” that is, preached openly; “and there fell,” by a fall of error, “from heaven,” that is, from the fellowship of the faithful, “a great star” of heretics, that is, a company of heretics shining by night, that is, erring and teaching errors. Or literally, teaching by night. John III, 20: He who does evil hates the light. Or, “a great star,” that is, a heresiarch, who is called a star because of apparent knowledge, “great” because of the multitude of followers, “burning” with the fire of envy against the Church, “like a torch,” not like a true star. A torch consumes itself by illuminating, and whatever it consumes it turns or reduces into coal; so the heresiarch consumes both himself and others by teaching, and turns them into the blackness of sin. Nahum II, 10: The faces of all of them like the blackness of a pot.
« Et cecidit in tertiam partem fluminum. »
Nota: Flumina sunt sacrae Scripturae. Psal. XCII, 3: Elevaverunt flumina vocem suam, scilicet, in Praedicationibus. Horum fluminum sunt tres partes. Prima est textus Veteris Testamenti, et Novi Testamenti. Secunda, dicta Apostolorum. Tertia, expositiones Sanctorum: et in istam partem ceciderunt haeretici, quia Sanctorum expositiones non recipiunt. Vel, prima pars est Vetus Testamentum, secunda Novum, tertia neutrius: et in hanc ipsi cadunt. Item, tres partes sunt tres expositiones. Prima litteralis, secunda spiritualis, tertia perversa: et in hanc cadunt ipsi.
« Et in fontes aquarum. » Nota: Fontes aquarum sunt quatuor Evangelia, in quibus origo fidei comprehenditur, quae ipsi depravant. Psal. X, 4: Quae perfecisti destruxerunt.
« Et nomen stellae, etc. »
Bene dicit nomen: quia nomen habet, quod sit lucens, et non rem.
« Dicitur Absinthium, » tum quia amaritudinem perturbationis inducit in Ecclesia: tum quia seductum per eam in amaritudinem mortis spiritualis perducitur. Vel, « Absinthium, » quia cibum sacrae Scripturae reddit amarum. I ad Corinth. V, 6: Modicum fermentum totam massam corrumpit. Vel, « Absinthium, » quia veritatis dulcedinem dimittunt, et in amaritudinem mendacii cadunt.
« Et facta est tertia pars aquarum, » id est, illa in qua haereticus cadit, « absinthium, » quia perversa expositio totam reddit amaram Scripturam.
« Et multi homines mortui sunt de aquis, » id est, de usu earum, hoc est, Scripturarum infectarum, « quia amarae factae sunt, » scilicet, per malas expositiones haereticorum. Mixtum enim est fel haereticae pravitatis. Unde: « Mortui sunt multi hominum, » scilicet, spiritualiter. Jerem. IX, 15: Ecce ego cibabo populum istum absinthio, et potum dabo eis aquam fellis, id est, permittam cibari et potari istis aquis.
« Et quartus Angelus tuba cecinit: et percussa est tertia pars solis, et tertia pars lunae, et tertia pars stellarum, ita ut obscuraretur tertia pars eorum, et diei non luceret pars tertia, et noctis similiter. »
“And it fell upon the third part of the rivers.”
Note: Rivers are the sacred Scriptures. Psalm XCII, 3: The rivers lifted up their voice, namely in preachings. Of these rivers there are three parts. The first is the text of the Old Testament and of the New Testament. The second, the sayings of the Apostles. The third, the expositions of the Saints; and into that part the heretics fell, because they do not receive the expositions of the Saints. Or, the first part is the Old Testament, the second the New, the third neither; and into this they themselves fall. Likewise, the three parts are three expositions: the first literal, the second spiritual, the third perverse; and into this they themselves fall.
“And upon the fountains of waters.” Note: The fountains of waters are the four Gospels, in which the origin of faith is comprised, which they themselves corrupt. Psalm X, 4: The things you have perfected, they have destroyed.
“And the name of the star, etc.”
He rightly says name, because it has the name that it is shining, and not the reality.
“It is called Wormwood,” both because it brings the bitterness of disturbance into the Church, and because one seduced by it is led into the bitterness of spiritual death. Or, “Wormwood,” because it makes the food of sacred Scripture bitter. 1 Corinthians V, 6: A little leaven corrupts the whole mass. Or, “Wormwood,” because they leave the sweetness of truth and fall into the bitterness of falsehood.
“And the third part of the waters became,” that is, that into which the heretic falls, “wormwood,” because perverse exposition renders the whole Scripture bitter.
“And many human beings died from the waters,” that is, from the use of them, that is, of the infected Scriptures, “because they were made bitter,” namely through the evil expositions of heretics. For the gall of heretical depravity has been mixed in. Hence: “Many human beings died,” namely spiritually. Jeremiah IX, 15: Behold, I will feed this people with wormwood, and I will give them water of gall to drink, that is, I will permit them to be fed and given drink by these waters.
“And the fourth Angel sounded the trumpet; and the third part of the sun was struck, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the third part of the day did not shine, and similarly of the night.”
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