As several people have pointed out, the idea of a visible and invisible church
derives from Augustine and possible earlier from Tyconius.Generally the
invisible church is seen as the 'true' church - heretical groups in the 12th and
13th did make this distinction, their own group of course being the true church,
the visible roman church being the false church.However the idea was also used
by some anti-heretical polemicists from the same period (eg Moneta of Cremona)
who could use the distinction to explain why certain, apparently pious, groups
were secretly heretics and thus not members of the invisible church, while
outwardly members of the visible church.
Congar's name has been mentioned - the following work of his might be useful:
L'ecclesiologie du haut moyen age, de Saint Gregoire le Grand a la desunion
entre Byzance et Rome (Paris, 1968)
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