Dist. 4, Art. 2, Q. 2
Book III: On the Incarnation of the Word · Distinction 4
Quaestio II. Utrum beata Virgo Maria meruerit Christum concipere, an conceptio illa fuerit solum ex munere gratiae divinae.
Secundo quaeritur de conceptione Christi in comparatione ad meritum beatae Virginis Mariae, et est quaestio, utrum meruerit beata Virgo Maria Christum concipere, an fuerit conceptio illa solum ex munere divinae gratiae. Et quod beata Virgo meruerit Christum concipere, ostenditur:
1. (Fundamenta.) Per illud quod dicitur Lucae primo1: Beata, quae credidisti; quoniam perficientur in te quae dicta sunt tibi a Domino; sed annuntiata erat conceptio a Domino: ergo ideo concepit, quia credidit. Sed constat, quod fides sive credulitas non fuit causa efficiens conceptionis: ergo fuit causa meritoria.
2. Item, in collecta, quae dicitur communiter ab Ecclesia2: « Omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosae Virginis Mariae corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu sancto cooperante praeparasti » etc. Et ex hoc colligitur, quod beata Maria meruit et quod digna fuit: ergo meruit merito condigni concipere.
3. Item, Bernardus quinto de Consideratione ad Eugenium3, tractans illud Matthaei decimo tertio: Simile est regnum caelorum fermento etc., dicit, quod « mulier fuit Sapientia, quae fermento fidei beatae Virginis in incarnatione tria sata commiscuit, novum, antiquum, aeternum: novum in animae creatione de nihilo, antiquum in assumtione corporis de natura Adam, aeternum in unione divinitatis ». Ergo fides beatae Virginis aliquo modo cooperata est in ista commixtione; sed non quantum ad principium solum effectivum: ergo per modum meriti.
4. Item, beata Virgo aut habuit gratiam sufficientem4, praeparantem ipsam ad conceptionem Filii Dei, aut non. Si sic; sed gratia sufficienter praepa- p. 107 rans facit mereri illud, ad quod praeparat, merito condigni: ergo videtur, quod beata Virgo ex illa gratia meruit conceptionem Filii Dei, cum ea bene usa fuerit. Si non; aut ergo caruit illa gratia sufficienter praeparante, quia ipsam non potuit recipere, aut quia eam noluit Deus, vel non potuit dare; sed non, quia non potuit Deus, vel noluit dare, cum sit omnipotens et vellet sine dubio sibi idoneum habitaculum praeparare. Si quia Virgo non potuit recipere: ergo multo minus potuit Filium Dei concipere, ad cuius conceptionem gratia illa praeparabat. Quodsi omnia ista sunt inconvenientia, relinquitur primum, videlicet quod beata Virgo meruit conceptionem Christi per gratiam sibi datam.
Sed contra: 1. (Ad oppositum.) Augustinus in Enchiridio, et habetur in littera5: « Modus, quo natus est Christus de Maria sicut filius, et de Spiritu sancto non sicut filius, insinuat nobis gratiam Dei, qua homo nullis praecedentibus meritis in ipso exordio naturae suae, quo coepit esse, Verbo Dei copularetur »: ergo videtur, quod nulla merita praecesserunt conceptionem Christi vel incarnationem.
2. Item, maius est meritum totius Ecclesiae quam singularis personae: ergo si incarnatio non cadit sub merito totius Ecclesiae6, nec sub merito Virginis Mariae.
3. Item, quod cadit sub merito non tenet plene rationem gratuiti — nam si gratia est ex meritis, iam non est gratia, sicut dicit Apostolus ad Romanos7 — sed Filii Dei incarnatio ad maximam pertinuit gratiam, secundum quod dicit Augustinus: ergo videtur, quod eius conceptionem non meruit beata Virgo Maria.
4. Item, hoc est inaestimabilis dignationis, quod Filius Dei aeterni efficiatur filius unius pauperculae mulieris: ergo non fuit ex aequitate vel iustitia retributionis, igitur nec ex merito Virginis.
Conclusio. Maria non merito condigni, sed tantum merito congrui et post annuntiationem etiam dignitatis potuit mereri concipere Filium Dei.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod est loqui de merito (Triplex meritum.) secundum triplicem gradum et differentiam. Est enim meritum congrui, in quo8 peccator dicitur gratiam sibi mereri, cum ad gratiam se disponit: et est meritum digni, quo scilicet vir iustus orat pro alio et meretur exaudiri; et est meritum condigni, quo quis ex tanta caritate meretur tantam gloriam9.
Dico igitur, quod beata Virgo Maria concipere (Conclusio 1.) Filium Dei ante incarnationem meruit merito congrui, quoniam prae sua nimia puritate et humilitate et benignitate idonea erat, ut efficeretur Dei Mater. Post annuntiationem vero, (Conclusio 2.) postquam consensit, et Spiritus sanctus in copiositate gratiae in eam descendit, non solum habuit congruitatem, sed dignitatem; et ex tunc meruit non solum merito congruitatis, sed dignitatis obumbrari et impraegnari virtute Altissimi10. Sed merito condigni non potuit (Conclusio 3.) mereri concipere Filium Dei, pro eo quod hoc excedit omne meritum, et etiam, quia erat ipsius meriti gloriosae Virginis fundamentum. Sive enim dicamus, Deum fieri hominem, sive dicamus, mulierem fieri matrem Dei, utrumque est supra statum, qui debetur creaturae; et ideo tam hoc quam illud fuit benignitatis et gratiae. Et propterea, sicut dixi, quod gratiam primam potest mereri iustus peccatori merito dignitatis, non merito condigni, ne gratia perderet11 rationem gratiae; sic potest concedi, quod beata Virgo non tantum merito congrui, sed merito dignitatis meruit conceptionem, quia per copiosam gratiam Spiritus sancti ad conceptionem illam non solum congrua, sed etiam digna fuit12.
Ex his patere possunt rationes et auctoritates, quae ad utramque partem adducuntur. (Notandum.) Nam rationes, quae ad primam partem adducuntur, currunt de merito secundum primam, vel secundam acceptionem. Rationes, quae ad secundam partem adducuntur, currunt de merito tertio13.
1. (Solutio oppositorum.) Ad illud tamen verbum, quod dicitur de littera14, dicendum, quod non privantur simpliciter merita, sed praecedentia merita, et hoc non in quocumque, sed in natura assumta, quia non habuit merita ad unionem praecedentia; quia simul concepta et assumta fuit et formata, sicut ostensum fuit supra15.
2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod maius est meritum totius Ecclesiae quam Virginis Mariae; dici potest, quod ratio illa non cogit, quia maius est meritum Patrum16 quam Virginis extensive, nec tamen p. 108 oportet quod intensive; quia beata Virgo, postquam, annuntiatione audita ab Angelo, sanctificata fuit a Spiritu sancto, tanto munere gratiae est impleta, ut aliquid digne posset mereri, quod non possent, si omnes alii Sancti essent congregati simul.
3. 4. Ad alia duo non oportet respondere, quoniam procedunt secundum tertiam viam, sicut apparet. Nam dignitas nihil aufert liberalitatis gratiae nec benignitatis misericordiae; immo simul cum illis manet, sicut intuenti apparet17.
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Question II. Whether the Blessed Virgin Mary merited to conceive Christ, or whether that conception was solely from the gift of divine grace.
Secondly, inquiry is made concerning the conception of Christ in comparison to the merit of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the question is whether the Blessed Virgin Mary merited to conceive Christ, or whether that conception was solely from the gift of divine grace. And that the Blessed Virgin merited to conceive Christ is shown:
1. (Arguments.) Through that which is said in Luke 11: Blessed art thou that hast believed, for the things shall be accomplished in thee that were spoken to thee by the Lord; but the conception had been announced by the Lord: therefore she conceived for this reason, because she believed. But it is established that faith or belief was not the efficient cause of the conception: therefore it was the meritorious cause.
2. Likewise, in the collect which is commonly said by the Church2: « Almighty, eternal God, who, the Holy Spirit cooperating, didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mary, that she might merit to be made a worthy dwelling-place for thy Son » etc. And from this it is gathered that blessed Mary merited and that she was worthy: therefore she merited by the merit of condignity to conceive.
3. Likewise, Bernard in the fifth book On Consideration to Eugenius3, treating that text of Matthew 13: The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven etc., says that « the woman was Wisdom, who by the leaven of the faith of the Blessed Virgin in the incarnation mingled three measures, the new, the old, the eternal: the new in the creation of the soul out of nothing, the old in the assumption of a body from the nature of Adam, the eternal in the union of the divinity ». Therefore the faith of the Blessed Virgin cooperated in some manner in that mingling; but not as regards the merely effective principle: therefore by way of merit.
4. Likewise, the Blessed Virgin either had sufficient grace4, preparing her for the conception of the Son of God, or not. If so; but grace sufficiently prepar- p. 107 ing makes one merit that for which it prepares, by the merit of condignity: therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin from that grace merited the conception of the Son of God, since she used it well. If not; then either she lacked that sufficiently-preparing grace because she could not receive it, or because God did not will it, or could not give it; but not because God could not, or would not, give it, since he is omnipotent and would without doubt wish to prepare for himself a fitting dwelling-place. If because the Virgin could not receive it: then much less could she conceive the Son of God, for whose conception that grace was preparing. But if all these are unfitting, the first remains, namely that the Blessed Virgin merited the conception of Christ through the grace given to her.
On the contrary: 1. (To the opposite.) Augustine in the Enchiridion, and it is had in the text5: « The manner in which Christ was born of Mary as a son, and of the Holy Spirit not as a son, suggests to us the grace of God, by which a man, with no preceding merits, in the very beginning of his nature, in which he began to be, was joined to the Word of God »: therefore it seems that no merits preceded the conception of Christ or the incarnation.
2. Likewise, the merit of the whole Church is greater than that of a single person: therefore if the incarnation does not fall under the merit of the whole Church6, neither does it fall under the merit of the Virgin Mary.
3. Likewise, that which falls under merit does not fully hold the character of the gratuitous — for if grace is from merits, then it is no longer grace, as the Apostle says to the Romans7 — but the incarnation of the Son of God pertained to the greatest grace, according to what Augustine says: therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin Mary did not merit his conception.
4. Likewise, this is of inestimable condescension, that the Son of the eternal God should be made the son of one poor little woman: therefore it was not from equity or the justice of retribution, and therefore not from the merit of the Virgin.
Conclusion. Mary, not by the merit of condignity, but only by the merit of congruity, and after the annunciation also by the merit of worthiness, was able to merit to conceive the Son of God.
I respond: It must be said that one may speak of merit (The threefold merit.) according to a threefold degree and difference. For there is the merit of congruity, by which8 a sinner is said to merit grace for himself, when he disposes himself toward grace: and there is the merit of worthiness (digni), by which, namely, a just man prays for another and merits to be heard; and there is the merit of condignity, by which one out of such great charity merits such great glory9.
I say therefore that the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Conclusion 1.) before the incarnation, merited to conceive the Son of God by the merit of congruity, since by her exceeding purity and humility and kindness she was fit to be made the Mother of God. But after the annunciation, (Conclusion 2.) after she had consented, and the Holy Spirit descended upon her in the abundance of grace, she had not only congruity but worthiness; and from then she merited, not only by the merit of congruity but of worthiness, to be overshadowed and made pregnant by the power of the Most High10. But by the merit of condignity she could not (Conclusion 3.) merit to conceive the Son of God, for the reason that this exceeds all merit, and also because it was the foundation of the merit itself of the glorious Virgin. For whether we say that God is made man, or whether we say that a woman is made the Mother of God, each is above the state which is due to a creature; and therefore both this and that were of kindness and of grace. And therefore, as I said, that a just man can merit the first grace for a sinner by the merit of worthiness, not by the merit of condignity, lest grace should lose11 the character of grace; so it can be granted that the Blessed Virgin merited the conception not only by the merit of congruity, but by the merit of worthiness, because through the copious grace of the Holy Spirit she was, for that conception, not only congruous but also worthy12.
From these things can be made clear the reasons and authorities which are adduced for either side. (Note.) For the reasons which are adduced for the first side run upon merit according to the first or second acceptation. The reasons which are adduced for the second side run upon merit in the third sense13.
1. (Solution of the opposing arguments.) To that word, however, which is said from the text14, it must be said that merits are not denied absolutely, but preceding merits, and this not in anyone whatever, but in the assumed nature, because it did not have merits preceding the union; for it was at the same time conceived and assumed and formed, as was shown above15.
2. To that which is objected, that the merit of the whole Church is greater than that of the Virgin Mary; it can be said that that reasoning is not conclusive, because the merit of the Fathers16 is greater than that of the Virgin extensively, yet it is not p. 108 necessary that it be so intensively; because the Blessed Virgin, after, having heard the annunciation from the Angel, she was sanctified by the Holy Spirit, was filled with so great a gift of grace that she could worthily merit something which all the other Saints could not, if they were gathered together at once.
3. 4. To the other two there is no need to respond, since they proceed according to the third way, as is apparent. For worthiness takes away nothing of the liberality of grace nor of the kindness of mercy; rather it remains together with them, as is apparent to one who considers17.
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- Vers. 45. — Superius pro solum ex codd. K P Q Z bb ex solo.Verse 45. — Above, for solum ex ("solely from") codices K P Q Z bb read ex solo.
- In Completorio post antiphonam Salve Regina.In Compline, after the antiphon Salve Regina.
- Cap. 10. n. 22. seq., sed fusius ibi quam hic in arg. Cfr. Serm. 2. de Nativ. Domini, n. 4. Locus Script. est Matth. 13, 33. — Ante in incarnatione non pauci codd. erronee repetunt quae.Chapter 10, n. 22 ff., but more fully there than here in the argument. Cf. Sermon 2 on the Nativity of the Lord, n. 4. The scriptural passage is Matthew 13:33. — Before in incarnatione not a few codices erroneously repeat quae.
- Cod. K sufficienter.Codex K reads sufficienter ("sufficiently").
- Hic c. 2.Here chapter 2.
- Cfr. quaest. praeced. — Pro cadit cod. N cadebat.Cf. the preceding quaestion. — For cadit codex N reads cadebat.
- Cap. 11, 6. — Dictum August., quod habetur in eius libr. XIII. de Trin. c. 19. n. 24, vide supra pag. 29, nota 1. Cfr. X. de Civ. Dei, c. 29. n. 1. — Pro pertinuit cod. Z pertinet.Chapter 11:6. — The saying of Augustine, which is found in his book XIII On the Trinity, c. 19, n. 24, see above, p. 29, note 1. Cf. On the City of God, book X, c. 29, n. 1. — For pertinuit codex Z reads pertinet.
- Pro in quo codd. G H L T aa et quo, codd. F K U V Z quo.For in quo codices G H L T aa also read quo, and codices F K U V Z read quo.
- Cfr. II. Sent. d. 27. a. 2. q. 2. et 3. — Pro gloriam cod. G gratiam. Mox pro ante incarnationem Vat. ante annuntiationem.Cf. II Sentences, d. 27, a. 2, q. 2 and 3. — For gloriam codex G reads gratiam. Shortly after, for ante incarnationem the Vatican edition reads ante annuntiationem.
- Respicitur Luc. 1, 35: Virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi. — Paulo ante pro sed dignitatem cod. bb sed etiam [edd. et] dignitatem.Reference is made to Luke 1:35: The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. — A little before, for sed dignitatem codex bb reads sed etiam [the editions: et] dignitatem.
- Pro perderet Vat. substituit perdat, interiectis paulo ante inter non et merito condigni verbis tantum merito congrui, licet iustus non possit ipsam primam gratiam mereri peccatori. Pro ne gratia non pauci codd. et edd. 1, 2 ne igitur vel ne ergo, cod. U ne sic.For perderet the Vatican edition substitutes perdat, having inserted a little before, between non and merito condigni, the words tantum merito congrui, licet iustus non possit ipsam primam gratiam mereri peccatori ("only by the merit of congruity, although a just man cannot merit that first grace for a sinner"). For ne gratia not a few codices and editions 1, 2 read ne igitur or ne ergo, codex U ne sic.
- Vat. sola, paulo superius vocibus meruit conceptionem adiectis verbis Filii Dei, hic superflue addit: Quamvis eandem conceptionem Verbi divini numquam meruerit merito condigni, ne tantum beneficium incarnationis Filii Dei perderet rationem gratiae benignitatis et misericordiae.The Vatican edition alone, a little above having added to the words meruit conceptionem the words Filii Dei, here superfluously adds: Although she never merited that same conception of the divine Word by the merit of condignity, lest so great a benefit of the incarnation of the Son of God should lose the character of the grace of kindness and of mercy.
- Edd. 1, 2 apponunt modo, Vat. adiungit modo accepto.Editions 1, 2 add modo, the Vatican edition adds modo accepto.
- Ita fere omnes codd., cod. bb quod obiicitur de littera, edd. quod adducitur in littera.So nearly all the codices; codex bb reads quod obiicitur de littera, the editions read quod adducitur in littera.
- Dist. 3. p. II. a. 3. q. 2.Distinction 3, part II, a. 3, q. 2.
- Cod. K Ecclesiae.Codex K reads Ecclesiae ("of the Church").
- Vide scholion ad praecedentem quaest.See the scholion to the preceding quaestion. ---