Viperei exedunt ceu matris viscera foetus,
Sic quos ipsa suo fovit alumna sinu,
Roditur heu! nimium sanctorum Ecclesia multis,
At non eventu nec ratione pari.
Vipera nam salva infelix prole interit, illis
Haec contra extinctis non peritura manet.[1]

As the vipers’ young eat the entrails of the mother, so the church of the saints, alas! is consumed [lit. gnawed] by many whom she herself cherished as a nourisher in her bosom, but not with the same outcome or procedure. For the wretched viper is destroyed with its offspring safe, whereas the church on the other hand remains, indestructible, when they are destroyed.