Moon and Church

Luna vero quam congruenter significet Ecclesiam, memini me promisisse in hoc psalmo consideraturum. Duae sunt de luna opiniones probabiles: harum autem quae vera sit, aut non omnino, aut difficillime arbitror posse hominem scire. Cum enim quaeritur unde lumen habeat, alii dicunt suum habere, sed globum eius dimidium lucere, dimidium autem obscurum esse; dum autem movetur in circulo suo, eamdem partem qua lucet, paulatim ad terras converti, ut videri a nobis possit, et ideo prius quasi corniculatam apparere. Nam et si facias pilam ex dimidia parte candidam, et ex dimidia obscuram; si eam partem quae obscura est ante oculos habeas, nihil candoris vides, et cum coeperis illam candidam partem ad oculos convertere, si paulatim facias, primo cornua candoris videbis, deinde paulatim crescit, donec tota pars candens opponatur oculis, et nihil obscurae alterius partis videatur: quod si perseveres adhuc paulatim convertere, incipit obscuritas apparere, et candor minui, donec iterum ad cornua redeat, et postremo totus ab oculis avertatur, ac rursus obscura illa pars sola possit videri: quod fieri dicunt, cum lumen lunae videtur crescere usque ad quintam decimam lunam, et rursus usque ad tricesimam minui, et redire ad cornua, donec penitus nihil in ea lucis appareat. Secundum hanc opinionem luna in allegoria significat Ecclesiam, quod ex parte spiritali lucet Ecclesia, ex parte autem carnali obscura est: et aliquando spiritalis pars in bonis operibus apparet hominibus; aliquando autem in conscientia latet, ac Deo tantummodo nota est, cum solo corpore apparet hominibus; sicut contingit, cum oramus in corde, et quasi nihil agere videmur, dum non ad terram, sed sursum corda habere iubemur ad Dominum. Alii autem dicunt non habere lunam lumen proprium, sed a sole illustrari; sed quando cum illo est, eam partem ad nos habere qua non illustratur, et ideo nihil in ea lucis videri; cum autem incipit ab illo recedere, illustrari ab ea etiam parte quam habet ad terram, et necessario incipere a cornibus, donec fiat quinta decima contra solem; tunc enim sole occidente oritur, ut quisquis occidentem solem observaverit, cum eum coeperit non videre, conversus ad Orientem, lunam surgere videat; atque inde ex alia parte cum ei coeperit propinquare, illam partem ad nos convertere, qua non illustratur, donec ad cornua redeat atque inde omnino non appareat; quia tunc pars illa quae illustratur, sursum est ad coelum, ad terram autem illa quam radiare sol non potest. Ergo et secundum hanc opinionem, luna intellegitur Ecclesia, quod suum lumen non habeat, sed ab unigenito Dei Filio, qui multis locis in sanctis Scripturis allegorice sol appellatus est, illustratur. Quem nescientes et cernere non valentes haeretici quidam, ad istum solem corporeum et visibilem, quod commune lumen est carnis hominum atque muscarum, sensus simplicium conantur avertere, et nonnullorum avertunt, qui quamdiu non possunt interiorem lucem veritatis mente contueri, simplici fide catholica contenti esse nolunt, quae una parvulis salus est, et quo uno lacte ad firmitatem solidioris cibi certo robore pervenitur. Quaelibet ergo duarum istarum opinionum vera sit, congruenter accipitur allegorice luna, Ecclesia. Aut si in istis obscuritatibus, magis negotiosis quam fructuosis exercere animum aut non libet, aut non vacat, aut animus ipse non valet, satis est lunam popularibus oculis intueri, et non quaerere obscuras causas, sed cum omnibus et incrementa eius et complementa et detrimenta sentire. Quae si propterea deficit ut renovetur, etiam ipsi imperitae multitudini demonstrat Ecclesiae figuram, in qua creditur resurrectio mortuorum. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, Enarratio in Psalmum X

In how fitting a manner the moon signifies the Church I remember that I promised I was going to consider in this Psalm. There are two probable opinions concerning the moon, but of which of these is the true I think it either impossible or very difficult for a man to know. For when we ask whence she has light, some say that it is her own, but that of her globe half is bright, and half dark, and while she revolves on her circuit, that part which shines gradually turns toward the earth so that it can be seen by us, and therefore initially it appears horned. For if you make half a part of a sphere bright and a half dark, and if you have the part which is dark before the eyes, you will see nothing of the bright part, and when you begin to turn the bright part to the eyes, if you do so gradually, first you will see the bright horns, which will grow little by little until the whole bright part is before the eyes and nothing of the dark part is to be seen, which if we yet persevere in turning the sphere slowly, changes by little by little, and the dark part begins to appear and the bright part becomes less, until it returns to horns again, and then it is hidden completely from sight, and again the dark part is all that can be seen. And this is what happens they say when the light of the moon appears to grow to the fifteenth of the month and then it lessens to the thirtieth day and it returns to horns, until no light at all appears in it. According to this opinion the moon in allegory signifies the Church, which in her spiritual part is bright, but in her carnal part is dark, and sometimes the spiritual part is seen in the good works of men, but sometimes it is hidden in the conscience, and to God alone it is known, since body alone appears to men, as happens when we pray in our hearts and it appears that we do nothing while not to earth but to the Lord we are commanded to lift up our hearts. Others say that the moon does not have her own light but is illuminated by the sun, and when she is with the sun that part is turned to us which is not illuminated and we see no light in her, and when from the sun she begins to withdraw the part that is illuminated comes before the earth, and necessarily this begins with the horns, until the fifteenth day when she is opposite the sun, for then with the sun setting she rises, as anyone may see at sunset, and when the sun begins to disappear, turned to the east, one may see the moon rise, and from then she begins to come near the sun, turning to us that part which is not illuminated, and she returns gradually to horns and then is completely obscured, because then the part which is illuminated is turned outward to the heavens and that which is toward the earth the sun cannot illuminate. According to this other opinion, then, the moon is understood to be the Church, because she has no light of her own but is illuminated by the only begotten Son of God, who in many places of Sacred Scripture is allegorically named the Sun. Whom, being ignorant of and incapable of discerning, certain heretics try to turn the minds of the simple to this corporeal and visible sun, which is the common light of the flesh of men and flies, and some they do turn to it, who while they cannot perceive with the mind the inner light of truth, will not be content with the simple Catholic faith, which is the only safety to little ones, and by which milk alone they can come to certain strength in the firmness of more solid food. Whichever, then, of these two opinions is true, the moon in allegory is suitably understood as the Church. Or, if in these obscurities, troublesome rather than edifying, there be either no pleasure, or no leisure to exercise the mind, or if the mind itself is not capable, it is enough to look on the moon with ordinary eyes, and not to seek out obscure causes, but with all to observe her waxings and and wanings and fullness. For she who wanes that she may be renewed, even to the untutored multitude displays the image of the Church, in which the resurrection of the dead is believed. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms, from Psalm 10