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Dist. 15, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 6

Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 15

Textus Latinus
p. 357

Quaestio VI. Utrum bona opera extra caritatem facta valeant ad tolerabiliorem poenam.

Sexto et ultimo quaeritur, utrum bona opera valeant ad tolerabiliorem poenam extra caritatem1. Et quod sic, videtur.

1. Augustinus dicit de talibus operibus in Enchiridio6, quod « ad hoc eis prosunt, ut tolerabilior sit damnatio ».

2. Item, ratione videtur: quia probatum est supra7, quod aliquid meretur illo opere: ergo esto, quod statim moriatur post illud; ergo cum non sit irremuneratum et non praemietur in collatione boni8: ergo saltem in diminutione mali.

3. Item, « declinare a malo semper vitat poenam, quamvis non semper consequatur palmam9 »; sed melius est bonum facere: ergo multo fortius vitabit poenam.

4. Item, peccatum aggravatur ex sequenti eventu et gravius punitur, ut patet in peccato otii: ergo peccatum, quod reddit hominem magis otiosum ad bonum, magis punitur: ergo illud, post10 quod fiunt bona opera, minus, et ita etc.

Contra: 1. Augustinus in Enchiridio11 dicit, Pro pane damnatis non prodesse suffragia Ecclesiae; sed ista sunt potentiora, cum sint ex caritate, quam opera extra caritatem facta: ergo illa multo minus prosunt.

2. Item, si merentur remissionem poenae, aut intensione, aut duratione. Non duratione, quia poena est infinita. Si intensione; sed quantum ad hoc est finita: ergo tantum possunt multiplicari bona opera, quod nulla erit poena.

3. Item, tantae culpae debetur tanta poena; sed opera bona extra caritatem facta non immutant nec minuunt culpam: ergo nec poenam12.

Quaeritur igitur, ad quid valeant huiusmodi bona.

p. 358
Conclusio. Opera facta extra caritatem ad multa valent et etiam ad tolerabiliorem poenam, sed tantum ex consequenti.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod huiusmodi opera bona extra caritatem facta, quando bona fiunt intentione, valent ad multa: ad temporalium multiplicationem, Isaiae primo1-2: Si volueritis et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis. Ad temporalis poenae diminutionem, tertii Regum vigesimo primo: Nonne vidisti Achab coram me humiliatum? Idcirco non inducam etc. Ad gratiae impetrationem, sicut Rahab, Iosue sexto, invenit gratiam propter opera, quae fecit nuntiis. Ad bonae vitae assuefactionem, Threnorum tertio: Bonum est viro, cum portaverit iugum etc. Ad peccati resistentiam, quia peccatum trahit suo pondere ad aliud, Ecclesiastici tertio: Ignem ardentem exstinguit aqua, et eleemosyna resistit peccatis. Ad tolerabiliorem poenam aeternam, sicut dicit Augustinus, quod valet, « ut tolerabilior sit damnatio ».

Sed illud diversimode intelligitur a diversis. Quidam enim dicunt, quod facit poenam tolerabiliorem non mutando poenam, sed fortificando subiectum. — Sed hoc non est congruum dicere, quod virtus aliqua detur damnato propter opera illa, quae facit mitius sustinere: quia aut daretur ad semper, aut ad tempus; et utrumque est inconveniens. Illa enim virtus aut est naturalis, aut gratuita, quorum neutrum facile est intelligibiliter assignare2.

Aliqui dicunt, quod valent ad remissionem poenae vermis, quia non tantum habebunt remorsum conscientiae, quantum si nulla opera bona fecissent. — Sed illud non valet, quia remorsus conscientiae erit secundum quantitatem culpae, sicut et ignis: ergo si non valet ad ignem, nec ad vermem3.

Ideo tertio modo dicendum, quod valent ad tolerabiliorem damnationem ex consequenti4, quia impediunt, culpam factam aggravari, et etiam retrahunt hominem a peccati frequentia et ab intensione libidinis et contemptus; quia non ex tanta libidine peccat qui aliquando opera bona facit, sicut qui Dei obliviscitur. Et ad vermem: quia minus cruciabitur et minorem habebit remorsum, quam si opera illa non fecisset, non de illa culpa, quam commisit, sed de malis, quae commisisset, et de bonis, quae omisisset, si illa opera bona non fecisset. — Et ita intelligendum est de eo qui statim moritur; et de eo qui magis moritur, quam neget Christum; et de consimilibus5.

His visis, patet responsio ad utramque partem. Rationes enim ad primam partem procedunt de poena, quam posset incurrere, si illa opera negligeret. Rationes vero ad oppositum procedunt de poena, quae debetur culpae iam factae. Et sic patet totum circa hoc.

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English Translation

Question VI. Whether good works done apart from charity avail toward a more tolerable punishment.

Sixth and last it is asked, whether good works avail toward a more tolerable punishment apart from charity.1 And that they do seems to be the case.

1. Augustine says of such works in the Enchiridion6, that "they avail to this, that the damnation may be more tolerable."

2. Likewise, it seems so by reason: for it was proved above7 that something is merited by such a work; therefore, granted that a man dies immediately after it; then, since it is not unrewarded and is not rewarded in the bestowal of a good8, it is therefore rewarded at least in the diminution of an evil.

3. Likewise, "to turn aside from evil always avoids punishment, although it does not always attain the palm9"; but it is better to do good: therefore it will all the more strongly avoid punishment.

4. Likewise, sin is aggravated by its consequent outcome and is more gravely punished, as is plain in the sin of idleness: therefore the sin which renders a man more idle toward the good is more gravely punished; therefore that after10 which good works are done is punished less, and so on.

On the contrary: 1. Augustine in the Enchiridion11 says that, In the matter of bread, the suffrages of the Church do not profit the damned; but those are more powerful, since they are from charity, than works done apart from charity: therefore those latter profit much less.

2. Likewise, if they merit a remission of punishment, it is either by intensity or by duration. Not by duration, because the punishment is infinite. If by intensity—but in this respect it is finite: therefore good works can be so multiplied that there would be no punishment.

3. Likewise, to so great a fault so great a punishment is owed; but good works done apart from charity neither change nor diminish the fault: therefore neither the punishment.12

It is asked therefore toward what such good works avail.

Conclusion. Works done apart from charity avail toward many things, and even toward a more tolerable punishment, but only as a consequence.

I respond: It must be said that such good works done apart from charity, when they are done with a good intention, avail toward many things: toward the multiplication of temporal goods, Isaiah one1-2: If you are willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. Toward the diminution of temporal punishment, Third Kings twenty-one: Have you not seen Ahab humbled before me? Therefore I will not bring etc. Toward the obtaining of grace, just as Rahab, Joshua six, found grace because of the works which she did for the messengers. Toward habituation to a good life, Lamentations three: It is good for a man, when he has borne the yoke etc. Toward resistance to sin, because sin draws by its own weight toward another, Ecclesiasticus three: Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms resists sins. Toward a more tolerable eternal punishment, as Augustine says, that it avails "that the damnation may be more tolerable."

But this is understood in diverse ways by diverse persons. For some say that it makes the punishment more tolerable not by changing the punishment, but by strengthening the subject. — But it is not fitting to say this, that some power is given to the damned on account of those works which makes him bear it more mildly: because it would be given either forever or for a time; and each is unacceptable. For that power is either natural or gratuitous, neither of which is easy to assign intelligibly.2

Some say that they avail toward a remission of the punishment of the worm, because they will not have as much remorse of conscience as if they had done no good works. — But this does not hold, because the remorse of conscience will be according to the quantity of the fault, as also the fire is: therefore if it does not avail against the fire, neither against the worm.3

Therefore it must be said in a third way, that they avail toward a more tolerable damnation as a consequence4, because they prevent the fault committed from being aggravated, and they also draw a man back from the frequency of sin and from the intensity of lust and contempt; for he does not sin out of so great a lust who sometimes does good works, as one who forgets God. And against the worm: because he will be tormented less and will have less remorse than if he had not done those works—not concerning the fault which he committed, but concerning the evils which he would have committed, and the goods which he would have omitted, had he not done those good works. — And so it is to be understood of him who dies immediately; and of him who rather dies than denies Christ; and of like cases.5

These things seen, the answer to each side is plain. For the reasons for the first side proceed from the punishment which he could incur, if he were to neglect those works. But the reasons for the opposite proceed from the punishment which is owed to the fault already committed. And thus the whole matter concerning this is plain.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 1
    Vide II. Sent. d. 28. a. 2. q. 1. — De merito congrui et condigni cfr. ibid. d. 27. a. 2. q. 2. — Superius pro contumelia cod. Y concupiscentia.
    See II. Sent. d. 28. a. 2. q. 1. — On merit of congruity and of condignity cf. ibid. d. 27. a. 2. q. 2. — Above, for contumelia ("contempt") cod. Y reads concupiscentia.
  2. 1-2
    Vers. 19. — Seq. textus est III. Reg. 21, 29, ubi pro Idcirco Vulgata quia igitur humiliatus est mei causa, quae verba cod. H particulae idcirco praemittit. — Tertius est Ios. 6, 25: Rahab vero... fecit Iosue vivere... eo quod absconderit nuntios etc. — Quartus est Thren. 3, 27, et quintus Eccli. 3, 33.
    For the Respondeo: Verse 19. — The following text is III. Kings 21:29, where for Idcirco the Vulgate reads quia igitur humiliatus est mei causa ["because therefore he is humbled for my sake"], which words cod. H prefixes to the particle idcirco. — The third [citation] is Jos. 6:25: And Rahab... Joshua saved alive... because she had hid the messengers etc. — The fourth is Lam. 3:27, and the fifth Sir. 3:33.
  3. 2
    Cfr. infra d. 46. a. 1. q. 1. — Superius post quae facit cod. K (I a secunda manu) addit ut poenam possit. Subinde pro aut est codd. H bb aut esset.
    Cf. below d. 46. a. 1. q. 1. — Above, after quae facit cod. K (and I by a second hand) adds ut poenam possit. Then for aut est codd. H bb read aut esset.
  4. 3
    Vide infra d. 50. p. II. a. 2. q. 3. — Pro ergo si codd. I K ergo sicut, et verbis nec ad in cod. I secunda manus praemisit ita.
    See below d. 50. p. II. a. 2. q. 3. — For ergo si codd. I K read ergo sicut, and before the words nec ad in cod. I a second hand prefixed ita.
  5. 4
    Codd. S T Y addunt: et ad hoc per consequens valent ad tolerabiliorem damnationem et ad ignem et ad vermem [cod. Y omittit et ad vermem].
    Codd. S T Y add: and to this as a consequence they avail toward a more tolerable damnation and against the fire and against the worm [cod. Y omits and against the worm].
  6. 5
    Vide scholion ad 3. quaest.
    See the scholion at question 3 [of this article].
  7. 6
    Cap. 110. n. 29: Quibus autem prosunt aut ad hoc prosunt, ut sit plena remissio, aut certe, ut tolerabilior fiat ipsa damnatio. Cfr. infra lit. Magistri, d. XLV. c. 2. — Sola Vat. huic arg. subnectit alterum ex August. sumtum, ad quod in fine quaest. respicere videtur S. Bonav.: « Item Augustinus, libro de Patientia [c. 26. n. 23.]: Haereticus et schismaticus tolerando supplicia, ne Christum neget, tolerabilius hic in inferno habebit ». Sed locum integrum exhibet Magister in lit. c. 7.
    Chapter 110, n. 29: But to those whom they profit, they either profit toward this, that there may be full remission, or at least that the damnation itself may become more tolerable. Cf. below the Master's text, d. XLV, c. 2. — The Vatican edition alone appends to this argument another [text] taken from Augustine, to which St. Bonaventure seems to look at the end of the question: "Likewise Augustine, in the book On Patience [c. 26, n. 23]: The heretic and schismatic, by enduring torments lest he deny Christ, will here in hell have a more tolerable [lot]." But the Master gives the passage in full in the text, c. 7.
  8. 7
    Quaest. praeced. — Mox pro aliquid codd. G R aliquis.
    The preceding question. — Just below, for aliquid codd. G R read aliquis.
  9. 8
    Secundum Glossam in Ps. 33, 16. Vide tom. III. pag. 815, nota 7.
    According to the Gloss on Ps. 33:16. See vol. III, p. 815, note 7.
  10. 9
    Edd. propter.
    The editions read propter ("on account of").
  11. 10
    Cap. 110. n. 29. Cfr. infra lit. Magistri, d. XLV. c. 2, et Comment. d. 46. a. 1. q. 1.
    Chapter 110, n. 29. Cf. below the Master's text, d. XLV, c. 2, and the Commentary, d. 46, a. 1, q. 1.
  12. 11
    Codd. I K addunt quantum ad hoc, edd. in.
    Codd. I K add quantum ad hoc ("in this respect"); the editions read in.
  13. 12
    Vide supra q. 3.
    See above, question 3.
Cited by

1 place in the Opera Omnia citesthis question. Derived from Quaracchi’s own apparatus, never tagged by hand.

Whether through the suffrages of the Church any mitigation is granted to the damned
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 46
supra d. 15. p. I. q. 6.

2 further references address the article or printed page this question belongs to, rather than the question itself.

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