Compiled from the eight-volume English translation (The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide, Edinburgh/London: John Grant, 1887–1908) and from the nineteen-volume Latin critical edition (Commentarii in Sacram Scripturam, Lyon/Paris: Pelagaud & Lesne, 1835–1847). All English passages are quoted verbatim from the translation. All Latin passages are translated fresh from the original, with the Latin quoted immediately above each translation.
Preface: The Shape of the Corpus
Cornelius à Lapide (1567–1637), born Cornelis Cornelissen van den Steen, was a Flemish Jesuit exegete and professor of Scripture at Louvain and Rome. His Commentaria in Sacram Scripturam — covering the entire Bible except Job and the Psalms — is the most comprehensive Catholic verse-by-verse commentary ever produced, running to over twenty folio volumes and drawing on the entire weight of patristic, scholastic, and rabbinical learning. It remained the standard Jesuit reference commentary for two centuries and was reprinted continuously into the twentieth century.
His adversus Judaeos material operates in nine registers:
- Deicide and Christicide — the crucifixion as the Jews‘ defining crime, described repeatedly with the technical terms deicidium and christicidium, applied both to the Jews of Jerusalem and, by extension, to mortal sin as such.
- Collective and hereditary guilt — the cry His blood be upon us (Matt. 27:25) treated as a binding self-imprecation whose consequences persist in the condition of the Jewish people to Lapide’s own day.
- Divine punishment through dispersion — the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the scattering of the Jews throughout all nations, their condition as “the dregs of all nations,” and their permanent exile interpreted as a directly proportionate chastisement for the Christicide.
- The Synagogue of Satan — the formal designation of the post-Pentecost Jewish community as the synagoga Satanae (Apoc. 2:9), applied also to Jerusalem after its abandonment by God.
- Supersessionism — the kingdom of God formally transferred from the Jews to the Gentiles; the Church substituted for the Synagogue; the bondwoman Hagar cast out with her son Ishmael; the veil of the Temple rent and all its mysteries “handed over to the Gentiles.”
- Jewish blindness, obstinacy, and perfidy — caecitas, obstinatio, and perfidia as the standard theological vocabulary for the post-Passion condition of the Jewish people; the hardening as both punishment and ongoing fact.
- The Jews as enemies of Christians — direct citation of St. Jerome’s identification of the Jews as “enemies of Christians” (Gal. 4); the Jews who “killed the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and are adversaries to all men” (1 Thess. 2:15) cited with full commentary.
- Criticism of Talmudic traditions — the Talmudists’ “nugatory triflings,” the charge that the Jews removed the Book of Wisdom from their canon because its prophecies of Christ were too transparent.
- The Jews and the Antichrist — the Jews who rejected Christ will receive Antichrist; their blindness and punishment to endure until they worship him in Babylon at the end of the world.
Sixty-three verified passages are presented below, ordered thematically. For each English passage, the source volume and text being commented on are given, followed by the quotation and a brief note. For each Latin passage, the Latin original is quoted first, then a translation, then a note.
I. “Christicidae et Deicidae” — Deicide and Christicide: The Defining Crime
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIII (Commentary on the Four Gospels: St. Matthew, Vol. III of the English ed.)
“Ye serpents, &c. . . . the damnation of hell, wherewith I will condemn you in the day of judgment as Christicides and Deicides. He calls the Scribes serpents and vipers, because of their serpentine disposition, and wish to slay Himself and His Apostles.”
Note: Lapide applies the technical terms Christicidae and Deicidae (“Christ-slayers” and “God-slayers”) as the formal legal description under which Christ will condemn the Scribes at the Last Judgment. The terms are Lapide’s own, employed across dozens of passages in the Commentary.
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIV (Vol. III)
“S. Chrysostom assigns as the reason of this most dreadful destruction of the Jews, the awful nature of their crime, by which they crucified their own Messiah, Christ, the Son of God. Wherefore, from this destruction and unceasing desolation of the Jewish nation, you may prove to the Jews that Christ has come already, and that it is He whom they have slain. For God has never punished any other crime, either among the Jews or any other nation, so fearfully as He has punished this, their Christicide and Deicide. Whence rightly, Aucior Imperfecti, ‘Until Christ, although the Jews were sinners, yet they were accounted as sons, and as sons they were punished. But after the Lord was crucified they ceased to be sons, and were treated as enemies, and as such were rooted out, without any hope of salvation. For inasmuch as they had committed a crime, the like whereof had never been committed, nor yet would be committed again, so there came upon them such a sentence as never has been passed, nor ever will be passed upon any others.'”
Note: The Auctor Operis Imperfecti (pseudo-Chrysostom) is cited for the definitive formula: after the Crucifixion, the Jews ceased to be sons of God and were henceforth treated as enemies, rooted out without hope of salvation. Lapide endorses this without qualification.
Source: Commentary on Luke XI.30 (Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Vol. XXXI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Nullum aliud crimen Deus unquam tam atrociter punivit apud Judaeos vel alias gentes, sicut punivit punitque assidue Judaeos, propter hoc christicidium et deicidium. Unde recte auctor Imperfecti: Usque ad Christum, Judaei etsi peccatores, ut filii sunt habiti, et ut filii castigati: crucifixo Domino, desierunt esse filii, et facti sunt hostes, et ut tales eradicati absque ulla salutis spe reliqua.“
Translation
“God has never punished any other crime so fiercely, either among the Jews or any other nation, as He has punished and continues to punish the Jews on account of this Christicide and Deicide. Hence rightly the Author of the Incomplete Work: ‘Until Christ, although the Jews were sinners, they were accounted as sons, and as sons they were punished. But after the crucifixion of the Lord, they ceased to be sons, and became enemies, and as such were rooted out without any remaining hope of salvation.'”
Note: This passage from the Luke commentary repeats the formula verbatim, confirming it as one of Lapide’s fixed convictions rather than an incidental remark. The permanent, ongoing character of the punishment — punitque assidue (“punishes continually”) — is explicit.
Source: Commentary on St. John I (Commentary on the Four Gospels: St. John, Vol. VI of the English ed.)
“It is the greatest contempt of God, the greatest ingratitude, the greatest hatred of God, the greatest offence to Him. It is Christicide, nay Deicide. For if God could be killed, sin would be the weapon.“
Note: Here Lapide uses the deicide vocabulary not specifically of the Jews but of mortal sin as such — sin being the notional weapon by which God could theoretically be destroyed. This is his most precise theological formulation of the term.
Source: Commentary on Galatians III (Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. VIII of the English ed.)
“He alone bore and expiated our sin, for what is sin but Christicide or Deicide? You will read too in this book, in the wounds and blood of Christ, that it was love of you which formed and coloured Him so.”
Source: Commentary on Isaiah (Moral Reflection) (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Quartum, peccatum est deicidium; peccatum enim est unicum virus, unicus pugio, quo Deus opt. max. posset e medio tolli, si quid esset quod inexhaustum illud vitae atque essentiae pelagus e medio tollere posset.“
Translation
“The fourth consideration: sin is deicide; for sin is the one poison, the one dagger, by which God Almighty could be removed from the midst of things, if anything existed that could remove that inexhaustible sea of life and being from the midst.”
Source: Commentary on Jeremiah II (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Part II, Vol. XV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Peccatum est christicidium: nullo enim pretio, nisi sanguine et morte Christi, elui et expiari potuit.“
Translation
“Sin is Christicide; for it could be expiated and atoned for by no price but the Blood and death of Christ.”
Source: Commentary on Micah VII (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Part II, Vol. XXVIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Peccatum est quasi quoddam deicidium, imo vere et proprie fuit christicidium; nullo enim pretio, nisi sanguine et morte Christi, elui et expiari potuit.“
Translation
“Sin is as it were a certain Deicide — nay, truly and properly was Christicide; for it could be expiated and atoned for by no price but the Blood and death of Christ.”
Source: Commentary on the Book of Wisdom XIX (Commentary on the Book of Wisdom, Vol. XX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Sic in passione Christi coeli et elementa, quasi indignantia creatorem suum occidi, commota et concussa sunt; ac, nisi Deus illa continuisset, suis telis et fulminibus afflassent deicidas Judaeos.“
Translation
“Thus in the Passion of Christ the heavens and the elements, as though indignant that their Creator was being slain, were moved and shaken; and had not God restrained them, they would have struck down with their bolts and thunderbolts the deicidal Jews (deicidas Judaeos). Hence S. Dionysius, on seeing the miraculous eclipse of the sun, cried out: ‘Either the God of nature suffers, or the fabric of the world is dissolving.'”
Source: Commentary on Isaiah XXIV (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Sol Judais Christicidis indignans, radios suos subtraxit; luna prce dolore astuat, exhorret, abidit sese nubem induens, fralris exemplo, splendorem suum indignis largiri dedignatur.“
Translation
“The sun, indignant at the Christ-slaying Jews (Judaeis Christicidis indignans), withheld its rays; the moon in pain seethes with distress, shrinks back, hides itself by putting on a cloud — following the example of its brother [the sun] — disdaining to lavish its brightness upon the unworthy.”
Source: Commentary on Zechariah V (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Part I, Vol. XXVII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Plene et plane impleta fuit per parricidium, imo deicidium quo Christum Dominum occiderunt, juxta illud Christi Matth. 23.32: Et vos implete mensuram patrum vestrorum, scilicet occidendo me, Deum et Messiam vestrum, ut impleta mensura vestrorum scelerum, veniant vestri carnifices Titus et Romani qui extremo et aeterno excidio vos plectant.“
Translation
“It was fully and completely filled up by the parricide — nay, the Deicide — by which they slew Christ the Lord, according to that word of Christ, Matt. 23.32: And do you also fill up the measure of your fathers — that is, by slaying Me, your God and Messiah — so that, the measure of your crimes being filled up, your destroyers Titus and the Romans may come and punish you with final and eternal destruction.”
Source: Commentary on Zechariah XII.10 — Meditation on the Last Judgment (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Part II, Vol. XXVIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ite ergo, sacrilegi. Ite, deicidae, cum Lucifero in ignem aeternum.“
Translation
“Go then, sacrilegious ones. Go, deicides, with Lucifer into the eternal fire.“
Note: This is Christ’s address to the Scribes and chief priests at the Last Judgment in Lapide’s elaborate dramatisation. The condemned are addressed with the full technical term deicidae and consigned to hell with Satan.
II. “Sanguis ejus super nos” — “His Blood Be Upon Us”: Collective Guilt
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXVII (Vol. III of the English ed.)
“Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Let the guilt thou fearest be transferred from thee to us. If there be any guilt, may we and our posterity atone for it. But we do not acknowledge any guilt, and consequently, as not fearing any punishment, we boldly call it down on ourselves. And thus have they subjected not only themselves, but their very latest descendants, to God’s displeasure. They feel it indeed even to this day in its full force, in being scattered over all the world, without a city, or temple, or sacrifice, or priest, or prince, and being a subject race in all countries. It was, too, in punishment for Christ’s crucifixion that Titus ordered five hundred Jews to be crucified every day at the siege of Jerusalem, as they crowded out of the city in search of food, ‘so that at last there was no room for the crosses, and no crosses for the bodies’ (Joseph. B.J., vi. 12). ‘This curse,’ says Jerome, ‘rests on them even to this day, and the blood of the Lord is not taken away from them,’ as Daniel foretold (ix. 27).”
Note: Lapide makes the curse hereditary, permanent, and presently visible — scattered, without city or temple or priesthood or prince. S. Jerome’s formula (“the blood of the Lord is not taken away from them”) is cited as confirming authority.
Source: Commentary on Psalm LVIII.13–14 (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets with the Psalms, Vol. XXXII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Explicat causam dispersionis Judaeorum: propter delictum oris eorum, id est, propter sermonem labiorum ipsorum quo dixerunt Joan. 19: Non habemus Regem nisi Caesarem; et, Sanguis ejus super nos et super filios nostros, Matth. 27. Deus enim juste illis tribuit quod sibi imprecati sunt. Sed illa occasio fuit exitii; vera autem causa fuit superbia, qua Dei Filium contempserunt.“
Translation
“[The Prophet] explains the cause of the dispersion of the Jews — on account of the sin of their mouth, that is, on account of the words of their lips by which they said, John 19: We have no king but Caesar; and His blood be upon us and upon our children, Matt. 27. God justly gave them what they had imprecated upon themselves. But that was only the occasion of their ruin; the true cause was the pride by which they despised the Son of God.”
III. “Dispersi Judaei miserrimi” — The Destruction and Dispersion: Divine Retribution
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXVII (Vol. III of the English ed.)
“But a retaliatory punishment was inflicted on the Jews; for as they delivered up Christ to Pilate, so were they in turn delivered up to be destroyed by Titus and Vespasian.“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIV (Vol. III)
“They shall fall by the edge of the sword, i.e., they shall be slain by the swords of the Romans. Josephus asserts that, besides innumerable others slain in all parts of Judæa, there fell in the siege of Jerusalem alone 1,100,000 souls, who died by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.“
“And they shall be carried captive among all nations. The same writer says that 97,000 Jews were taken captive at that time.”
“Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled — until the end of the world. Jerusalem, after being razed to the ground and laid desolate by Titus, shall be no longer the capital city of the Jews, but shall belong to the Gentiles, and after that to the Christians, and after that to the Saracens and the Turks, as it is at present. And this state of things shall continue until the end of the world.“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIV (Vol. III)
“Josephus adds (Bell. 7.16) that Titus recognized this vengeance of God, and attributed the capture of Jerusalem, not to his own power, but to Him. For entering into the captured city, when he saw the height and solidity of the bulwarks and towers, he exclaimed, ‘It is evident that God has helped us to fight. It was God Himself who cast down the Jews from those mountains. For what power of man, or what machines, would have been able to do so?’“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIV (Vol. III) — On the attempted rebuilding of the Temple under Julian the Apostate
“S. Cyril of Jerusalem rightly confuted the Jews, who, at the instigation of Julian the Apostate, set about rebuilding the Temple. He predicted that all their labour would be in vain, because Christ had declared out of Daniel that the desolation of Jerusalem and of the Temple would continue unto the end of the world. And he was a true seer. For fire coming down from Heaven consumed all the tools of the workmen. And a great earthquake tore up the foundation-stones and dispersed them, and destroyed the adjacent buildings. On the following night, impressions of the sign of the cross, shining like rays of the sun, appeared impressed upon the garments of the Jews, which by no efforts were they able to efface.“
Source: Commentary on Isaiah XLIX (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Faeces Israel. Jam enim Judaei ita abjecti, exsules et miseri sunt, ut videantur esse faeces omnium gentium, et mundi quisquiliae.“
Translation
“The dregs of Israel. For now the Jews are so cast down, exiled, and wretched, that they appear to be the dregs of all nations and the refuse of the world (faeces omnium gentium, et mundi quisquiliae).”
Source: Commentary on Isaiah VI (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Eorum caecitas et durities huc evadet, ut gens tota desoletur, nec ante cessabit donec omnes eorum urbes vastantur a Tito et Vespasiano, a quibus Judaei vel occidentur, vel fuga aut captivitate in totum orbem dispergentur. Ego Dominus ablegabo Judaeos a sua patria; faciamque eos extorres, ut toto orbe vagentur.“
Translation
“Their blindness and hardness shall lead to this: that the whole nation shall be desolated, nor shall it cease before all their cities are laid waste by Titus and Vespasian, by whom the Jews shall either be slain, or dispersed throughout the whole world by flight or captivity. I, the Lord, shall banish the Jews from their homeland, and shall make them wanderers and strangers throughout the whole world.“
Source: Commentary on Isaiah VI (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Part II, Vol. XV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Adrianus Judaeos iterum rebellantes majore clade quam Titus affecit, et pene delevit, adeo ut edicto prohibuerit fugitivos ad terram suam regredi, eamque aspicere: unde sic dispersi Judaei miserrimi, ostentui et derisui fuerunt, sunt et erunt, uti praedicit hic Isaias.“
Translation
“Hadrian afflicted the Jews who rebelled again with a greater destruction than Titus, and nearly destroyed them, going so far as to forbid the fugitives by edict to return to their land or even look upon it: and so these most wretched scattered Jews were, are, and shall be a spectacle and an object of derision (dispersi Judaei miserrimi, ostentui et derisui fuerunt, sunt et erunt), as Isaiah here predicts.”
Source: Commentary on Ecclesiasticus XXIV (Commentary on Ecclesiasticus, Vol. X of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Haec fuit poena scelerato Caino a Deo inflicta, Genes. 4.12: Vagus et profugus eris super terram; et Judaeis Christicidis psal. 108.10: Nutantes transferantur filii ejus, et mendicent, et ejiciantur de habitationibus suis.“
Translation
“This was the punishment inflicted by God upon the wicked Cain, Gen. 4.12: A wanderer and a fugitive shalt thou be upon the earth; and upon the Christ-slaying Jews (Judaeis Christicidis), Ps. 108.10: Let his children be wandering and begging; let them be cast out of their dwellings.“
Source: Commentary on Acts I.19 (Commentary on Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse, Vol. XXIV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ager ipse jugis esset homicidii, imo Christicidii eorum monumentum; ut, quoties agrum sanguinis nominarent, toties sanguinis Christi a se occisi recordarentur, ait S. Chrysost.; scirentque hunc sanguinem non alio, quam suo sanguine expiandum, uti factum a Tito et Romanis.“
Translation
“The field itself should be a perpetual monument of their homicide — nay, their Christicide (Christicidii eorum monumentum) — so that as often as they named the Field of Blood, they would be reminded of the Blood of Christ slain by them, and would know that this blood was to be expiated by nothing other than their own blood, as was done by Titus and the Romans.”
Source: Commentary on Acts I.20 (Vol. XXIV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Impia parricidarum, imo Christicidarum civitas, puta Jerusalem, in qua ipsi se care quasi inexpugnabiles commorantur, capiatur, succendatur et desoletur a Tito et Romanis.“
Translation
“The impious city of the parricides — nay, the Christicides (impia parricidarum, imo Christicidarum civitas), namely Jerusalem, in which they ensconce themselves as though in an impregnable stronghold, shall be captured, burned, and desolated by Titus and the Romans.”
Source: Commentary on Josue VI (Commentary on Josue, Judges, Ruth, and Kings, Vol. XXV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Judaei occiderunt Christum, ut ejus nomen delerent, et correptiones effugerent; sed per hoc magis ejus nomen auxerunt, et ultimum per Titum excidium incurrerunt.“
Translation
“The Jews killed Christ in order to delete His name and escape His reproofs; but by this they only increased His name the more, and incurred their own final destruction by Titus.“
IV. “Synagoga Satanae” — The Synagogue of Satan
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXIII (Vol. III of the English ed.)
“Behold your house is left unto you desolate. That is, the Temple, says S. Jerome and Theophylact; but more correctly, the city of Jerusalem and the whole region of Judea, which, as the punishment of such black ingratitude, was to be laid waste by the Romans under Titus. There is an allusion to Jer. xii. 7, ‘I have left my house, I have forsaken my inheritance.’ For when Jerusalem was forsaken by God, it became the Synagogue of Satan, and so the prey of the Roman eagles under Titus and Vespasian, who partly slew the Jews, partly led them away captive, and partly scattered them over the whole world.“
Source: Commentary on St. John X (Commentary on the Four Gospels: St. John, Vol. V of the English ed.)
“The thief and robber of the sheep — as for instance a heretic or schismatic, a Scribe or Pharisee, or especially a false-Christ — comes to carry off the sheep (i.e., the faithful) from God and the Church, whose property they are, to hand them over to the Synagogue of Satan, and there kill them by heresy and sin, and cast them into hell.“
Source: Commentary on St. John XI (Vol. V)
“Caiaphas with the whole council of the Sanhedrim proclaimed Jesus to be guilty of death as a false Messiah. This was an error in the Faith. Wherefore their Synagogue then ceased to be the Church of God, and began to be the Synagogue of Satan which denied and slew the Christ which was sent by God.“
Source: Commentary on St. John X (Vol. V)
“And that consequently the Synagogue of the Pharisees was not the Synagogue of God, but of Satan. Whereas the true Church of God is the Christian Church which Christ founded and substituted for the Jewish Church.“
Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse II.9 (Commentary on Acts and Apocalypse, Vol. XXIX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Blasphemaris, id est injuria lacesseris, et non fidelis et pius, sed quasi legis et Judaismi hostis, utpote Christi assecla, impius et execrandus existimaris ac diceris a Judaeis, qui se veros esse religionis Deique cultores mentiuntur. Hi enim non sunt veri Judaei, id est Deum confitentes et colentes, uti fuerunt Judas, a quo dicti sunt Judaei, aliique patres eorum, quia hi Christum persequuntur. Nam, ut ait Apostolus Rom. 2.28: Non qui in manifesto, Judaicus est; sed qui in abscondito, Judaicus est. Prima enim Christianorum persecutio a Judaeis, et per Judaeos, qui Gentiles contra Christianos accendebant, et suscitata.“
Translation
“You are blasphemed — that is, attacked with insult, and regarded and called not faithful and pious but as an enemy of the Law and of Judaism, being a follower of Christ, impious and execrable — by the Jews, who falsely pretend to be true worshippers of God. For they are not true Jews, that is, confessors and worshippers of God, as Judah was, from whom they are called Jews, and as their other forefathers were — because these persecute Christ. For as the Apostle says, Rom. 2.28: He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but he who is one inwardly. For the first persecution of the Christians was raised by the Jews, and through the Jews, who stirred up the Gentiles against the Christians.“
V. “Ablatum a vobis regnum Dei” — Supersessionism: The Kingdom Transferred
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXI (Vol. II of the English ed.)
“‘You, O ye Scribes, are disobedient sons to God your Father, for ye persecute Me His Only Begotten Son sent by Him. Ye, too, are the husbandmen of the vineyard, who will kill Me its Heir. Lastly, ye are the builders of the Synagogue, who reject Me as a stone; but God will make Me the basis and foundation of His Church, because He will take it away from you, and transfer it to the Gentiles, who will eagerly receive and worship Me, and so will be endowed by Me with grace and glory.’ For all the parables of Christ have this end in view — that they may signify the rejection of the Jews and the election of the Gentiles, because the Jews rejected Christ, Whom the Gentiles accepted.“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXVII (Vol. III) — on the rending of the Temple veil
“S. Leo says, ‘There was then so clear a change made from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from the many sacrifices to the One Victim, God Himself, that when our Lord gave up the ghost the veil was violently and suddenly rent asunder.’ And S. Jerome, ‘The veil of the temple was rent, and all the mysteries of the Law, which before were kept secret, were then laid open, and handed over to the Gentiles.’“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXVII (Vol. III)
“S. Cyril, Theophylact, and Euthymius say [the veil was rent] to show that the temple was indignant that the Priests, who should have been the first to acknowledge Christ, had denied and slain Him. And that it thus foretold, and threatened, as it were, that they were to be deprived of their Priesthood. ‘For then,’ says S. Cyril, ‘Israel fell utterly away from the grace of God when it so madly and impiously slew its Saviour.’“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XII (Vol. II)
“Yea, he will deprive them of Church, kingdom, priesthood, and country; and, as profane and perfidious, they will wander in misery over the whole earth. Thus SS. Jerome and Hilary and Euthym. explain.”
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXI (Vol. II)
“This stone rejected by the Jews is made by God the Head of the corner. The Scribes, Priests, and Pharisees, as the builders of the Synagogue — i.e., of the Jewish Church — cast Christ from it as a worthless stone; indeed, as being hurtful to it, they condemned and killed Him.“
Source: Commentary on Galatians IV (Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. VIII of the English ed.)
“From Hagar, the bondwoman, i.e., from the Synagogue, he begat Ishmael, the bondservant, i.e., Moses and the Jews, who were under subjection to the Old Law. To them Abraham was a lofty father, giving the law in thunder from the heights of Sinai. On the other hand, Abraham, i.e., God, begat from Sarah, the freewoman, i.e., the Church, Isaac, laughter, who represented Christ and His followers, heirs of the promises.”
“So it is now. As formerly Ishmael mocked and persecuted Isaac, so now have the Jews mocked and crucified Christ, the King of liberty, and are still pursuing with bitter hatred His followers. The ejection of Hagar and Ishmael would typify the rejection of the Jewish Synagogue, and its exclusion from the blessings of the Church, for persecuting Christ and His followers. Christians, as freemen, are inheritors of Abraham’s blessing, while the Jews are shut out from it, because they are envious bondmen, persecutors of Christian freemen, just as Ishmael was forbidden to share with Isaac the paternal roof. The bondman was driven away from the freeman.”
Source: Commentary on Galatians III (Vol. VIII)
“If it were to be taken in the former sense, the prophecy would have failed of fulfilment, for all the nations of the earth have not been blessed in Abraham’s posterity, if by them we are to understand the Jewish people; on the contrary, the Jews are for a reproach, and a curse among the Gentiles.“
Source: Commentary on Romans VIII (Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. XII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Spiritus timoris est spiritus servilis, quem acceperunt Judaei, ut quasi servi legi obedirent. Spiritus ergo timoris est ipse timor Judaeis a Deo injeclus, qui eos quasi servos agebat et impellebat, ad implendum id, quod praeceptum erat; quique eos cohibebat ab opere externo contra legem patrando; sed internam cupiditatem compescere et evellere non poterat.“
Translation
“The spirit of fear is the servile spirit which the Jews received, so that they obeyed the law as slaves (ut quasi servi legi obedirent). The spirit of fear therefore is that very fear injected into the Jews by God, which drove and impelled them as though they were slaves to fulfil what was commanded; and which restrained them from outwardly transgressing the law — but could not subdue or uproot the interior concupiscence.”
Source: Commentary on Canticles I.6 (Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Canticles, and Wisdom, Vol. IX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“S. Ambros. hunc versum accipit de Synagoga relicta, et ad tempus rejecta a Christo, cum scilicet Evangelium a Judaeis incredulis transtulit ad Gentes. Dicit ergo Synagoga Judaeorum, inquit S. Ambros.: Nolite refugere me, quia fusca sum; ideo fusca sum, quia sol me reliquit justitiae, qui ante illuminare consueverat; amisi colorem vultus mei, obtusa facta est acies oculorum meorum, quibus ante solem videbam. In tenebris ambulo; quia diem Christi nescio.“
Translation
“S. Ambrose takes this verse as spoken by the Synagogue, abandoned and for a time rejected by Christ, when He transferred the Gospel from the unbelieving Jews to the Gentiles. The Synagogue of the Jews says therefore, according to S. Ambrose: Do not flee from me because I am dark; I am dark because the sun of justice, who was accustomed to illuminate me before, has left me; I have lost the colour of my face, the keenness of my eyes is dulled, with which I once saw the sun. I walk in darkness, because I do not know the day of Christ.“
VI. “Obstinata malitia Judaeorum” — Jewish Blindness, Obstinacy, and Perfidy
Source: Commentary on Matthew XII (Vol. II of the English ed.)
“God will punish you with utter destruction by Titus, and will cause you to be without God, without Messiah, without law, or temple, or sacrifice, and without faith — yea, that ye shall think your own perfidy and blindness to be the true faith and the true light.“
Source: Commentary on Matthew XIII (Vol. II)
“The meaning is: Christ, in speaking parabolically, did not intend absolutely to blind them, but only to permit what was the consequence of His parables — namely, that the Jews, being blinded with envy and lust, although they saw so many miracles of Christ, and heard His heavenly wisdom, yet would not believe, nor understand what they saw and heard, but would be as though they had neither seen nor heard.“
Source: Commentary on Isaiah VI (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ex hac Judaeorum excaecatione omnino fiet, ut non videant, non intelligant, ac consequenter ut non convertantur ac sanentur. Quantamdiu hac poena excaecationis Judaei mei populares punientur? Eorum caecitas et durities quae meam iram inflammat, huc evadet, ut gens tota desoletur.“
Translation
“From the blinding of the Jews it will altogether come to pass that they shall not see, shall not understand, and consequently shall not be converted and healed. How long shall my countrymen the Jews be punished with this penalty of blindness? Their blindness and hardness which inflames My wrath shall lead to this: that the whole nation shall be desolated.“
Source: Commentary on Isaiah L (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Causa vera ergo est durities et obstinata malitia Judaeorum. Ita S. Hieron. Cyrill. et Orig. in Matth. 26.“
Translation
“The true cause, therefore, is the hardness and obstinate malice of the Jews (durities et obstinata malitia Judaeorum). So S. Jerome, Cyrill., and Orig. on Matt. 26.”
Source: Commentary on Lamentations III.65 (Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Vol. XXI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Punivit Deus juste Judaeos excaecatione et obduratione, quia repulerunt Christum pro se, in humanitate laborantem, afflictum, et patientem: ex eo enim eum magis amare et colere debuissent, quo magis indigna pro eis suscepit; quia ergo hoc non fecerunt, sed a Christo laborante aversi sunt, hinc juste a Deo excaecati et obdurati sunt.“
Translation
“God justly punished the Jews with blinding and hardening, because they rejected Christ labouring and suffering for them in His humanity. For from that very fact they ought to have loved and honoured Him the more, the more unworthy the things He endured for them; but because they did not do this, and turned away from the labouring Christ, God therefore justly blinded and hardened them (juste a Deo excaecati et obdurati sunt).”
Source: Commentary on Matthew XII (Vol. II)
“The Pharisees and Scribes denote the Jews, who seemed to worship God, but really despised Him, since they despised Christ who was sent by Him, and hardened their hearts in this perfidy.“
Source: Commentary on St. John XVIII (Commentary on St. Mark and the Passion, Vol. III)
“This fall of Judas and his followers signified the comparable fall of the Jews, who would be obstinate in their unbelief, and well-nigh incapable of salvation.“
Source: Commentary on St. John XV (Vol. VI of the English ed.)
“They hated Me gratis (Vulg.), i.e. without a cause, without My fault, and therefore wickedly and unjustly. For I have given them no other cause of hate, but supremest love. And thus there followed that which David and Isaias foretold would be, viz. that the Jews would without a cause pursue Christ with hate.“
VII. “Hostes Christianorum” — The Jews as Enemies of Christians and of Christ
Source: Commentary on Galatians IV (Vol. VIII of the English ed.)
“Jerome says: ‘Hagar shows by its meaning that the Old Covenant would not be for ever; Sinai, that it would be a temptation; Arabia, that it would perish; Ishmael, as the name of one who heard only the commandments of God but did not do them, a rough man, a man of blood, the enemy of his brethren, that the Jews would be hard and harsh, enemies of Christians, hearers only of the law, and not doers.‘”
Source: Commentary on 1 Thessalonians II.14–16 (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, Vol. XXIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin text (Scripture + commentary)
“15. Qui et Dominum occiderunt Jesum, et Prophetas, et nos persecuti sunt, et Deo non placent, et omnibus hominibus adversantur: 16. prohibentes nos Gentibus loqui ut salvae fiant, ut impleant peccata sua semper: pervenit enim ira Dei super illos usque in finem.“
“Extrema, perpetua et implacabilis ira Dei pervenit in Judaeos, quia scilicet a Deo destinati sunt, et jam vicini exitio praesenti per Titum (vigesimo enim anno ab hac scripta epistula Judaeam evertit Titus) et aeterno gehennae per Christum. Haec ira et ultio Dei in Judaeos duplex est; prior culpae, eorum scilicet in peccatis excaecatio, obduratio, reprobatio: posterior poenae: excidium videlicet praesens, et aeternum, ut dixi, gehennae incendium.“
Translation
“15. Who both killed the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are adversaries to all men: 16. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath of God is come upon them to the end.“
“The extreme, perpetual, and implacable wrath of God has come upon the Jews, inasmuch as they are appointed by God and are now near to their present destruction by Titus (for Titus overthrew Judaea twenty years after this Epistle was written), and to their eternal destruction in Gehenna. This twofold wrath and vengeance of God upon the Jews is twofold: the first is the punishment of their guilt, namely their blinding, hardening, and reprobation; the second is the punishment of their penalty, namely their present destruction and the eternal fires of Gehenna.”
Source: Commentary on Acts VII.51 (Commentary on Acts and Apocalypse, Vol. XXIV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Dura cervice, id est: duri, cervicosi, inflexiles, pervicaces estis in resistendo Christo et Evangelio. Persistere in sua pertinacia et perfidia persequendi Christum et Christianos, ipsumque Stephanum occidendi. Duros ergo dure increpat. Secundo, ut ostenderet zelum in Christum Christique fidem, insectando Judaeorum incredulitatem et perfidiam. Unde S. August. serm. 1. de Sanctis, docet S. Stephanum hic significare se perfecto odio odisse non Judaeos, sed Judaeorum pervicaciam.“
Translation
“Stiffnecked — that is: you are hard, stiffnecked, unyielding, and obstinate in resisting Christ and the Gospel, persisting in your obstinacy and perfidy in persecuting Christ and the Christians and killing Stephen himself. He therefore rebukes the hard with harshness. Secondly, to manifest his zeal for Christ and Christ’s faith, by attacking the unbelief and perfidy of the Jews. Hence S. Augustine, serm. 1 de Sanctis, teaches that S. Stephen here signified that he hated not the Jews, but the obstinacy of the Jews (Judaeorum pervicaciam) with a perfect hatred.”
Source: Commentary on Acts V.32 (Vol. XXIV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ac proinde et vobis, licet Christicida sitis, se communicabit, si in Christum credatis.“
Translation
“The Holy Ghost will communicate Himself even to you, though you are Christicides (licet Christicida sitis), if you believe in Christ.”
Source: Commentary on the Book of Wisdom II.14 (Commentary on the Book of Wisdom, Vol. XX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Haec etiam nunc est causa pertinacis odii Judaeorum omnium in Christum, quod scilicet audire et concoquere nequeant se esse filios et haeredes eorum, qui suum Messiam filium Dei occiderunt; hanc enim infamiam tanti sacrilegii, imo deicidii, sibi aspergi, ferre nequeunt.“
Translation
“This is even now the cause of the persistent hatred of all the Jews for Christ: namely, that they cannot hear and stomach the fact that they are the sons and heirs of those who slew their Messiah, the Son of God. For they cannot bear to have the infamy of so great a sacrilege — nay, of Deicide (imo deicidii) — imputed to them.”
Source: Commentary on St. John XIV.28 (Vol. VI of the English ed.)
“Christ adds this because He saw that the Apostles were sad at His departure, and faint-hearted on account of the hatred of the Jews, and the battles which were impending.”
Source: Commentary on St. John XVI.4 (Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Vol. XXXI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Quia vobiscum eram. Hactenus haec de persecutionibus vobis imminentibus vobis non dixi, quia dum vobis aderam, ego omnia Judaeorum odia, maledicta et maleficia a vobis averti, et in me excepi.“
Translation
“Because I was with you. Until now I have not spoken to you of these impending persecutions, because while I was present with you, I turned away from you, and received into Myself, all the hatreds, curses, and malefactions of the Jews (omnia Judaeorum odia, maledicta et maleficia a vobis averti, et in me excepi).”
Source: Commentary on Luke IX.21 (Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Vol. XXXI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Judaei scandalizati fuissent, si Apostoli praedicassent ipsum esse Messiam et Deum, eisque dixissent: Abite cum Christo vestro in malam crucem, qui nos facilis Christicidas et Deicidas, uti jam Christianis dicunt Judaei.“
Translation
“The Jews would have been scandalised if the Apostles had preached that He was Messiah and God, and would have said to them: Away with your Christ to ruin — who makes us Christicides and Deicides, as indeed the Jews say to Christians now (uti jam Christianis dicunt Judaei).”
Note: Lapide here makes an explicit reference to the practice of Jews in his own day (the early seventeenth century) calling Christians “Deicides” as a term of abuse — thereby documenting contemporary Jewish-Christian hostility in his own time.
VIII. “Talmudistae” — Criticism of Talmudic Traditions
Source: Commentary on Matthew XV (Vol. II of the English ed.)
“All this becomes obvious from the Talmudists, who in the book called, The Hundred Benedictions, declare that the hands must be previously washed and wiped, or else the bread which is eaten is judged to be unclean. And water must be presently poured three times upon the hands, first washing the fingers, and then the whole hand. Lastly, it is necessary that in this ablution the left hand should act as a servant to the right. Such were their nugatory triflings. Moreover, the Pharisees, as S. Justin testifies, were called Baptists… But this is to live the life of ducks and fishes, rather than of men.“
Source: Commentary on the Book of Wisdom, Prooemium (Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Canticles, and Wisdom, Vol. IX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Isidor. olim librum hunc hebraice exstitisse, fuisseque in canone Hebraeorum, sed a posterioribus Judaeis Christicidis abrasum ex eo, et abolitum, legique vetitum, eo quod nimis aperta de Christo, ac Judaeorum contra Christum insidiis et machinationibus oracula continerel.“
Translation
“Isidore adds that this book [of Wisdom] once existed in Hebrew and was in the canon of the Hebrews, but was expunged from it and abolished by the later Jews, who were Christ-slayers (Judaeis Christicidis), and its reading was forbidden, because it contained too open oracles concerning Christ and the plots and machinations of the Jews against Christ.”
Source: Commentary on 1 Corinthians XII (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, Part I, Vol. VII of the English ed.)
“S. Paul says this to the Corinthians, partly because of the Jews, who to this day are declared to say in their Synagogues, Cajetan says, ‘May Jesus and the Christians be accursed’; partly, also, and even more, because of the Gentiles, among whom the Corinthians were living.”
Note: Lapide here cites Cajetan’s testimony that in the early sixteenth century the Jews formally cursed Jesus and Christians in their Synagogues — a reference to the birkat ha-minim (“blessing of the heretics”), which is the twelfth of the Eighteen Benedictions.
IX. “Reprobatio Judaeorum” — The Reprobation of Israel and the Calling of the Gentiles
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXI (Vol. II of the English ed.)
“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”
“You, O ye Scribes, are disobedient sons to God your Father, for ye persecute Me His Only Begotten Son sent by Him. Ye, too, are the husbandmen of the vineyard, who will kill Me its Heir. Lastly, ye are the builders of the Synagogue, who reject Me as a stone; but God will make Me the basis and foundation of His Church, because He will take it away from you, and transfer it to the Gentiles.”
Source: Commentary on Isaiah LX (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Magnae audaciae fuit, apud Judaeos praedicare Gentium vocationem et Judaeorum reprobationem; adeoque Origen. et alii censent hanc fuisse causam mortis et martyrii Isaiae.“
Translation
“It was an act of great boldness to preach among the Jews the calling of the Gentiles and the reprobation of the Jews (Judaeorum reprobationem); and accordingly Origen and others hold that this was the cause of the death and martyrdom of Isaiah.”
Source: Commentary on Romans IX (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, Vol. XII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Apostolus hoc cap. et seqq. agit de gratia justificante, quam per fidem Christi adeptae sunt Gentes, a qua Judaei exclusi sunt propter incredulitatem. Judaei postponentur et servient Christianis. Jacob dilexi, Esau odio habui, hoc est, Christianos credentes dilexi, Judaeos incredulos odio habui.“
Translation
“The Apostle in this chapter and those following speaks of justifying grace, which the Gentiles obtained through faith in Christ, from which the Jews were excluded on account of their unbelief (a qua Judaei exclusi sunt propter incredulitatem). The second antithesis: The Jews shall be subordinated and shall serve the Christians (Judaei postponentur et servient Christianis). The third: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated, that is, I have loved the believing Christians, but I have hated the unbelieving Jews.”
Source: Commentary on Luke III (Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, Vol. XXXI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Minatur ergo Joannes Pharisaeis reprobationem Judaeorum, ac vocationem et subrogationem Gentium; quae paulo post facta est a Christo. Christus enim Pharisaeos et Judaeos ob incredulitatem rejecit a familia Abrahae, id est ab Ecclesia fidelium, ac consequenter a regno Dei, eosque addixit morti et gehennae; Gentes vero ob fidem Ecclesiae suae inseruit, easque coelo destinavit.“
Translation
“John therefore threatens the Pharisees with the reprobation of the Jews and the calling and substitution of the Gentiles (reprobationem Judaeorum, ac vocationem et subrogationem Gentium), which shortly afterwards came to pass through Christ. For Christ rejected the Pharisees and the Jews on account of their unbelief from the family of Abraham, that is, from the Church of the faithful and consequently from the kingdom of God, and consigned them to death and Gehenna; but the Gentiles, on account of their faith, He ingrafted into His Church, and destined them for Heaven.”
Source: Commentary on the Apocalypse VI (Commentary on Acts and Apocalypse, Vol. XXIX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Quinta sigillum pertinet ad Martyres; sextum ad Judaeorum reprobationem, et Gentium vocationem; septimum autem ad Antichristum.“
Translation
“The fifth seal pertains to the Martyrs; the sixth to the reprobation of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles (ad Judaeorum reprobationem, et Gentium vocationem); and the seventh to Antichrist.”
X. “Filios Christicidarum” — The Jews as a Living Monument of Their Crime
Source: Commentary on Zechariah V.6 (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Part I, Vol. XXVII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ita Judaei sunt oculus universae terrae: omnes enim eos aspiciunt ut Christicidarum filios, qui portant culpam et poenam patrum suorum, eorumque sceleris magnitudinem in sua desolatione ubique ostendunt, inquit Rupert.“
Translation
“Thus the Jews are the eye of the whole earth: for all behold them as the sons of the Christicides (omnes eos aspiciunt ut Christicidarum filios), who bear the guilt and punishment of their fathers, and everywhere display in their own desolation the greatness of their crime, says Rupert.”
Source: Commentary on Isaiah VI (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Part II, Vol. XV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Gens Judaica ita multiplicans se post excidium Titi, rursum post 50. annos ab Adriano Imp. ita vastabitur, ut quasi e decem vix unus relinquatur; Adrianus Judaeos iterum rebellantes majore clade quam Titus affecit, et pene delevit, adeo ut edicto prohibuerit fugitivos ad terram suam regredi, eamque aspicere: unde sic dispersi Judaei miserrimi, ostentui et derisui fuerunt, sunt et erunt, uti praedicit hic Isaias.“
Translation
“Hadrian afflicted the Jews who rebelled again with a greater destruction than Titus, and nearly destroyed them, going so far as to forbid the fugitives by edict to return to their land or even look upon it: and so these most wretched scattered Jews were, are, and shall be a spectacle and an object of derision (dispersi Judaei miserrimi, ostentui et derisui fuerunt, sunt et erunt), as Isaiah here predicts.”
Source: Commentary on Jeremiah XII (Commentary on the Four Major Prophets, Vol. XIII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Caedes Christi major fuit sceleribus Judaeorum veterum: unde ob eam Judaei dispersi sunt ad omnes ventos, quod hic ait Propheta.“
Translation
“The slaying of Christ was greater than the crimes of the former Jews: and on account of it the Jews were dispersed to all the winds (Judaei dispersi sunt ad omnes ventos), which the Prophet here declares.”
Source: Commentary on Psalm LIX.14–15 (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets with the Psalms, Vol. XXXII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Post eversionem Hierosolymae, Evangelio Christi per orbem terrarum praedicato, dispersi Judaei viderunt ubique Deum verum coli, idola confringi, Psalmos Davidicos cani: ita didicerunt, Deum non solum Judaeorum Deum esse, sed etiam Gentium.“
Translation
“After the overthrow of Jerusalem, with the Gospel of Christ preached throughout the world, the dispersed Jews saw everywhere the true God being worshipped, idols being broken, the Psalms of David being sung; and thus they learned that God was not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.“
Source: Commentary on Zechariah XI.14 (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Vol. XXXII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Post Christum proprie a Tito et Romanis dissoluta est germanitas, id est fraterna unitas et societas Judae et Israel; hancque Titus plane dissolvit et evertit, ac Judaeos patria expulit, et toto orbe dispersit. Adeo enim tunc soluta fuit eorum germanitas et cognatio, ut ipsi eam ignorent, nesciantque ex qua tribu aut familia sint oriundi.“
Translation
“After Christ, it was properly by Titus and the Romans that their brotherhood and unity was dissolved and overturned; Titus expelled the Jews from their homeland and dispersed them throughout the whole world (Judaeos patria expulit, et toto orbe dispersit). So completely was their kinship and descent then dissolved that they themselves do not know it, and cannot tell from what tribe or family they are sprung.”
XI. “Antichristum recipient” — The Jews and the Antichrist
Source: Commentary on St. John V (Commentary on the Four Gospels: St. John, Vol. V of the English ed.)
“Wherefore by the just judgment of God it shall come to pass, that if another, who is really a false prophet, shall come to you, one who is not sent by God, but who shall come in his own name, i.e., in his own authority, falsely boasting himself to be the Messiah, such an one ye will receive. Another therefore will be that Antichrist whom the Jews will receive, though they rejected Christ. To this apply the words of Paul (2 Thes. ii. 10), ‘Therefore God shall send upon them the working of error, that they may believe a lie, that all may be judged, who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity.'”
Source: Commentary on 2 Thessalonians II (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, Vol. XII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Judaeorum caecitas, poena et desolatio durabit, donec in Babylone quasi stabili et firmo loco ac regno suo Antichristum regnantem adorent.“
Translation
“The blindness, punishment, and desolation of the Jews shall endure (Judaeorum caecitas, poena et desolatio durabit) until, in Babylon as it were in their settled and firm seat and kingdom, they adore the reigning Antichrist.”
Source: Commentary on Zechariah V.11 (Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Part I, Vol. XXVII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Talento plumbi, quo omnino clausa est amphora, significari diuturnitatem supplicii et exsilii Judaeorum, scilicet illud duraturum usque ad finem mundi: porro amphoram portari in terram Sennaar, quia illorum caecitas et poena durabit, donec ipsi in Babylone Antichristum colant et adorent.“
Translation
“The lead talent by which the vessel is entirely sealed signifies the long duration of the punishment and exile of the Jews — namely, that it shall endure even unto the end of the world. Furthermore, the vessel is carried into the land of Sennaar, because their blindness and punishment shall endure until, in Babylon, they adore and worship the reigning Antichrist (illorum caecitas et poena durabit, donec ipsi in Babylone Antichristum colant et adorent).”
XII. “Judaei servi et hostes” — Further Notable Passages
Source: Commentary on Matthew XXVI (Vol. III of the English ed.) — on the price of Christ
“This was the price at which a slave, who had been killed, was estimated, according to the law in Exod. xxi. 32. Thus the life of Christ was valued by Judas and the Jews at the same price as that of a slave.“
Source: Commentary on Proverbs XXX (Commentary on Proverbs of Solomon, Vol. XI of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Ancilla quae dominam suam expulit, est terrena Jerusalem, propter frequentes captivitates, quas apud gentes perpessa est, appellata omnium serva vel ancilla; haec autem ejecit dominam suam, sacram nimirum Christi Dei carnem, deicida et dominicida effecta.“
Translation
“The handmaid who drove out her mistress is earthly Jerusalem, which, on account of the frequent captivities she endured among the nations, was called the servant or handmaid of all; and she drove out her mistress — namely, the holy flesh of Christ, God — having become deicidal and lord-slaying (deicida et dominicida effecta).”
Source: Commentary on the Epistle of St. James V (Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, Vol. XXIX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Non Judaeis Christicidis; nisi quia, cum Beda dicat ad eos quoque indirecte extendi sermonem, pontifices Hierosolymis agentes proprie occiderint Christum; tamen id fecerunt per plebem coram Pilato clamantem: Crucifige, crucifige eum: plebs autem haec collecta erat ex Judaeis toto orbe dispersis.“
Translation
“Not [addressed] to the Christ-slaying Jews — unless because, as Bede says, the speech extends to them also indirectly; for the chief priests in Jerusalem properly killed Christ; yet they did this through the crowd clamouring before Pilate: Crucify him, crucify him: and this crowd was assembled from Jews dispersed throughout the whole world.“
Source: Commentary on 1 Kings (1 Samuel) II (Commentary on Josue, Judges, Ruth, and Kings, Vol. XIV of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Illi enim in eis nascentem quasi Deum Christumque occidunt; ac proinde sunt quasi Deicidae et Christicidae.“
Translation
“For in them they slay, as it were, the newborn God and Christ; and therefore they are as it were Deicides and Christicides (quasi Deicidae et Christicidae).”
Note: Said of those who scandalize new converts in the faith — Lapide extends the deicide vocabulary to anyone who spiritually destroys a soul in which Christ was being born.
Source: Commentary on Romans IX (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, Vol. XII of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Quasi vero soli Judaei hostes Christi infensissimi, illud Christianis negligentibus per tot annorum centurias tam studiose custodierint.“
Translation
“As if the Jews, those most bitter enemies of Christ (soli Judaei hostes Christi infensissimi), would have preserved it so diligently for negligent Christians across so many centuries.”
Note: Said ironically, in refuting the claim that Sebastian Münster obtained an authentic Hebrew Matthew from the Jews — Lapide’s point being that the Jews, as Christ’s bitterest enemies, would never have preserved a genuine Hebrew Gospel.
Source: Commentary on Genesis XXXIX (Commentary on the Pentateuch, Vol. XXX of the Latin ed.) — translated from Latin
Latin
“Quid enim est peccatum? Est cadaver, est lepra, est cloaca foedissima: est monstrum naturae rationalis: est offensa et laesio divinae majestatis: est reatus ignis aeterni; est deicidium, est christicidium.“
Translation
“For what is sin? It is a corpse, it is a leprosy, it is a most foul sewer; it is a monster of rational nature; it is an offence and an injury to the Divine Majesty; it is the guilt of eternal fire; it is Deicide, it is Christicide (est deicidium, est christicidium).”
Sources
All English passages are quoted from the eight-volume English translation of The Great Commentary (Commentaria in Sacram Scripturam) by Cornelius à Lapide, S.J. (1567–1637), published by John Grant (Edinburgh/London, 1887–1908). All Latin passages are translated from the nineteen-volume critical edition published by Pelagaud & Lesne (Lyon/Paris, 1835–1847). Scanned originals of both editions are available at the Internet Archive: