Bonaventure

Articulus Unicus. De missione visibili Spiritus sancti.

Quaestio I. Quid sit missio visibilis.

Circa primum proceditur sic.

Ostenditur primo, quod visibilis missio non est aliud quam apparitio exterior.

1. Augustinus¹ dicit, quod « tunc Spiritus sanctus vel Filius mittitur, cum ex tempore cuiusquam mente percipitur »: ergo tunc visibiliter mittitur, cum visibiliter percipitur; sed visibiliter percipitur, cum apparet in creatura visibili: ergo visibilis missio non est aliud quam apparitio.

2. Item, hoc ipsum videtur per simile, quia mitti invisibiliter non est aliud quam per effectum invisibilem invisibiliter manifestari: ergo mitti visibiliter non est aliud quam per creaturam visibilem manifestari: hoc autem non est aliud quam visibiliter apparere: ergo etc.

3. Item, hoc iterum videtur exemplo, quia Spiritus sanctus in columbae specie dicitur missus ad Filium, sicut dicit Augustinus, et habetur in littera²; sed tunc non fuit facta aliqua donatio Filio, quia plenus fuit semper Spiritu sancto: sed solum exterior apparitio: ergo etc.

Sed contra:

1. Quod missionis visibilis non sit tota ratio ipsa apparitio visibilis, videtur, quia³ Pater in subiecta creatura apparuit, et tamen non di-

citur visibiliter missus: ergo plus est missio quam apparitio. Maior patet, quia Augustinus dicit secundo de Trinitate⁴: « Temerarium est dicere, Deum Patrem Prophetis et Patribus per aliquas visibiles formas nunquam apparuisse ».

2. Item, Filius et Spiritus sanctus in veteri Testamento multoties apparuerunt visibiliter, et tamen tempore illo neuter dicitur visibiliter missus, sicut dicit Augustinus tertio de Trinitate⁵, ubi hanc quaestionem movet: ergo etc.

3. Item, omne quod visibiliter apparet, est corporale, cum sensu percipiatur; sed Deus, cum sit simplex, est omnino incorporalis: si ergo ad Deum non spectat visibiliter apparere, ergo si visibiliter mittitur, missio visibilis non est apparitio. Si dicitis, quod non apparet in se, sed in effectu; contra: sic apparet in omni creatura et semper et ubique: ergo secundum hoc visibiliter mittitur in omni creatura semper et ubique, quod stultum est dicere.

4. Item, ubi est missio, ibi est manifestatio personae, ut dicit Augustinus⁶: sed per solam apparitionem nunquam est manifestatio, nisi adsit revelatio: ergo de ratione missionis visibilis non tantum est apparitio, sed etiam revelatio: ergo apparitio non est tota ratio.

Conclusio.

Missio visibilis est apparitio, in qua manifestatur divinae personae emanatio et inhabitatio.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod missio visibilis praesupponit missionem tanquam superius, et superaddit differentiam, quae est visibile. Missio autem communiter dicta, ut dictum⁷ fuit supra in praecedenti distinctione, praesupponit circa missum emanationem et superaddit manifestationem. Et quoniam manifestatio emanationis, secundum quam attenditur missio, non fit nisi super eum, quem Spiritus sanctus inhabitat per effectum gratiae inhabitantis, hinc est, quod missio de ratione generali dicit manifestationem emanationis et inhabitationis.

Haec autem differentia visibilis, superadveniens missioni, contrahit ipsam quantum ad principale significatum, quod est manifestatio: ideo dicit manifestationem cum apparitione, sive apparitionem manifestantem personae emanantis inhabitationem⁸ vel personae inhabitantis emanationem.

Unde concedo, quod visibilis missio est apparitio; sed haec non est tota ratio, sed apparitio, in qua manifestatur divina persona non tantum ut operans, sed etiam ut inhabitans, nec tantum ut inhabitans, sed etiam ut emanans, quasi⁹ ab alio veniens. Per primum excludit apparitionem Dei in qualibet creatura, per secundum apparitionem in veteri Testamento, per tertium apparitionem Patris, quia Pater non apparuit ut emanans sive ab alio veniens. Filius vero vel Spiritus sanctus in veteri Testamento non apparuit ut inhabitans, sed ut se inhabitaturum praemonstrans; unde Angelus apparebat in illis creaturis in persona Dei. Et hoc probat Augustinus in libro tertio de Trinitate¹⁰ dicens: « Constat firmitate auctoritatis et probabilitate rationis, cum antiquis Patribus dicitur Deus apparuisse, voces illas ab Angelis esse factas ». Et adducit auctoritates Apostoli ad Galatas tertio¹¹: Lex ordinata per Angelos; et ad Hebraeos secundo¹²: Si enim qui per Angelos dictus est sermo etc. Nec tamen dico, quod ista sit ratio, quare non est missus, quia apparitio fiebat ministerio angelico; quia sicut dicit Augustinus quarto de Trinitate¹³, probabile est, quod illa columba, in qua apparuit Spiritus sanctus, secundum ministerium Angeli moveretur. Unde idem in quarto libro de Trinitate¹⁴ in fine dicit: « Super hoc aliquid invenire difficile est, et temere affirmare non expedit. Quomodo tamen ista sine rationali vel intellectuali creatura potuerint fieri, non video ».

Ad argumenta in oppositum:

Ad 1, 2. Et ita patet, quod non quaelibet apparitio est missio, patet etiam responsio ad duas rationes primas.

Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur tertio, quod non sit apparitio, quia Deus est invisibilis; dicendum, quod apparere est dupliciter: vel in se, et sic convenit corporali; vel in alio, et hoc dupliciter: vel sicut causa in effectu, vel sicut signatum in signo; et hoc tertio modo missio est apparitio: et secundum hunc modum non convenit omni creaturae.

Ad 4. Ad illud quod ultimo obiicitur, quod apparitio non est manifestatio; dicendum, quod cum dicitur: missio[^15] est manifestatio, non intelligitur actu, sed habitu, quia aliquid fit vel ostenditur, in quo potest personae emanatio manifestari, et hoc quidem de se importat apparitio.

Ad rationes pro parte affirmativa:

Ad 1. Ad illud autem quod obiicitur in contrarium, quod praecise sit apparitio; dicendum, quod non accipit totam rationem missionis, quia mitti non est tantum mente percipi, sed mente percipi ut ab alio emanans et in aliquo inhabitans.

Ad 2. Similiter ad illud: mitti invisibiliter est manifestari per effectum invisibilem; dicendum, quod manifestari non dicit totam rationem.

Ad 3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod in missione Spiritus sancti in specie columbae non fuit nisi apparitio; dicendum, quod quamvis non fuerit ibi donatio Spiritus sancti, fuit tamen manifestatio prius dati et tunc inhabitantis in Christo et quiescentis et ab alio procedentis, et ita tota et perfecta ratio missionis; sed ex hoc non sequitur, quod qualiscumque apparitio sit missio visibilis; omnis tamen visibilis missio est apparitio.

Article Unique. On the visible mission of the Holy Spirit.

Question I. What the visible mission is.

Concerning the first [point], we proceed thus.

It is shown first, that the visible mission is nothing other than an exterior apparition.

1. Augustine¹ says that "the Holy Spirit or the Son is then sent, when he is perceived by the mind of someone in time": therefore he is then visibly sent, when he is visibly perceived; but he is visibly perceived, when he appears in a visible creature: therefore the visible mission is nothing other than an apparition.

2. Likewise, this same point is seen by similitude, because to be sent invisibly is nothing other than to be invisibly manifested through an invisible effect: therefore to be sent visibly is nothing other than to be manifested through a visible creature: but this is nothing other than to appear visibly: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, this is seen again by example, because the Holy Spirit is said to have been sent in the form of a dove to the Son, as Augustine says, and as is held in the littera²; but at that time no donation was made to the Son, because he was always full of the Holy Spirit: but only an exterior apparition: therefore etc.

On the contrary:

1. That the visible apparition itself is not the whole account of the visible mission appears, because³ the Father appeared in a subject creature, and yet is not said to be visibly sent: therefore the mission is more than the apparition. The major is clear, because Augustine says in the second [book] of On the Trinity⁴: "It is rash to say that God the Father never appeared to the Prophets and Fathers through any visible forms".

2. Likewise, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament many times appeared visibly, and yet at that time neither is said to have been visibly sent, as Augustine says in the third [book] of On the Trinity⁵, where he raises this question: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, everything which appears visibly is corporeal, since it is perceived by sense; but God, since he is simple, is altogether incorporeal: if therefore it does not pertain to God to appear visibly, then if he is visibly sent, the visible mission is not an apparition. If you say, that he does not appear in himself, but in an effect; on the contrary: thus he appears in every creature and always and everywhere: therefore on this account he is visibly sent in every creature always and everywhere, which it is foolish to say.

4. Likewise, where there is mission, there is manifestation of the person, as Augustine says⁶: but through apparition alone there is never manifestation, unless there be also revelation: therefore the account of visible mission is not only apparition, but also revelation: therefore apparition is not the whole account.

Conclusion.

The visible mission is an apparition, in which the emanation and indwelling of a divine person are manifested.

I respond: It must be said that the visible mission presupposes mission as something prior, and superadds the difference, which is visible. Now mission, taken commonly, as was said⁷ above in the preceding distinction, presupposes in the one sent an emanation and superadds manifestation. And since the manifestation of the emanation, according to which the mission is reckoned, does not occur except upon him whom the Holy Spirit indwells through the effect of indwelling grace, hence it is that mission, as to its general account, names the manifestation of an emanation and an indwelling.

Now this difference visible, supervening upon mission, contracts mission as to its principal signification, which is manifestation: hence it names manifestation with apparition, that is, an apparition manifesting the indwelling of an emanating person⁸, or the emanation of an indwelling person.

Whence I concede that the visible mission is an apparition; but this is not the whole account, but [it is] an apparition, in which a divine person is manifested not only as operating, but also as indwelling, and not only as indwelling, but also as emanating, as if⁹ coming from another. By the first [clause] he excludes the apparition of God in any creature whatsoever; by the second the apparition in the Old Testament; by the third the apparition of the Father, because the Father did not appear as emanating or as coming from another. The Son indeed or the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament did not appear as indwelling, but as foreshowing himself as one about to indwell; whence the Angel appeared in those creatures in the person of God. And this Augustine proves in the third book of On the Trinity¹⁰ saying: "It stands by the firmness of authority and by the probability of reason, that when God is said to have appeared to the ancient Fathers, those voices were made by Angels". And he adduces the authorities of the Apostle, to the Galatians chapter three¹¹: The law was ordained by Angels; and to the Hebrews chapter two¹²: For if the word spoken by Angels etc. Nor however do I say, that this is the reason why he was not sent, namely because the apparition was made by angelic ministry; because as Augustine says in the fourth [book] of On the Trinity¹³, it is probable that that dove, in which the Holy Spirit appeared, was moved according to the ministry of an Angel. Whence the same in the fourth book of On the Trinity¹⁴ at the end says: "Concerning this it is difficult to discover anything, and it is not expedient to assert rashly. Yet how these things could have come to pass without a rational or intellectual creature, I do not see".

To the arguments on the contrary:

To 1, 2. And so it is clear, that not every apparition is mission, and the answer is also clear to the two first arguments.

To 3. As to what is objected in the third, that it is not an apparition, because God is invisible; it must be said, that to appear is twofold: either in itself, and thus it pertains to the corporeal; or in another, and this in two ways: either as a cause in an effect, or as a signified thing in a sign; and in this third way the mission is an apparition: and according to this mode it does not pertain to every creature.

To 4. As to what is objected last, that apparition is not manifestation; it must be said, that when it is said: mission[^15] is manifestation, it is not understood in act, but in habit, because something is made or shown, in which the emanation of a person can be manifested, and this indeed apparition of itself imports.

To the arguments for the affirmative:

To 1. As to what is objected on the contrary, that it is precisely apparition; it must be said, that this does not take up the whole account of mission, because to be sent is not only to be perceived by the mind, but to be perceived by the mind as emanating from another and indwelling in someone.

To 2. Similarly to that: to be sent invisibly is to be manifested through an invisible effect; it must be said, that to be manifested does not state the whole account.

To 3. As to what is objected, that in the mission of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove there was nothing but apparition; it must be said, that although there was not there a donation of the Holy Spirit, there was nevertheless a manifestation of the one already given and then indwelling in Christ and resting and proceeding from another, and thus the whole and perfect account of mission; but from this it does not follow, that any apparition whatsoever is a visible mission; nevertheless every visible mission is an apparition.