A study of Pope Innocent III’s treatise De quadripartita specie nuptiarum

Abstract

De guadripartita specie nuptiarum is one of three theological treatises written by Innocent III, the other two being De contemptu mundi (De miseria conditionis humanae) and De missarum mysteriiis (De sacro altaris mysterio). De guadripartita is a work of scholastic theology based upon standard biblical exegesis and for the most part concerns mystical ecclesiology dealing with Christ and the Church and God and the soul. The purpose of the treatise was, as Innocent stated in the prologue, to discuss the marriage of the Sponsus (Christ) and the Sponsa (Church), to point out the analogies between carnal and spiritual marriage, and especially to expound Psalm 44.

The Roman Church is an office, the office of the head of the universal Church. By assuming the office of pope (bishop of Rome) the pope obtains the power of ruling not only the Roman Church, but also the universal body of which the Roman Church is the head. By marrying the Roman Church, the pope obtains the power to govern the universal Church and to act as the vicar of Christ. When the pope assumes his office of bishop of Rome he marries the Roman Church and obtains the sovereignty which is embodied in that office. The marriage metaphor is thus used by the medieval papacy in general, and Innocent III in particular, to express a theory of government, the government of the universal Church. Innocent III, therefore, uses the marriage metaphor throughout both the treatise De quadripartita specie nuptiarum and the sermon De guatuor speciebus desponsationum to express not only the intimate nature of the relationships between the Word and human nature, God and the just soul, and Christ and the Church; but also a hierocratic theory of papal government of the Church.