Dist. 20, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 6
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 20
Quaestio VI. Utrum locus purgatorii sit superius, an inferius, an in medio.
Sexto et ultimo quaeritur de loco, in quo animae puniuntur hac poena. Et quaeritur, utrum locus ille sit superius, an inferius, an in medio.
Et quod in loco superiori, videtur sic.
1. Animae illae iustae erutae sunt de potestate tenebrarum1, quoniam hoc dicitur de omnibus viris iustis, et de illis maxime verum est, quos non possunt ad malum pertrahere; sed ipse diabolus est princeps aeris huius: ergo videtur, quod illae animae supra hunc aerem sint elevatae: ergo videtur, quod locus purgatorius animarum sit in sphaera ignis sursum.
2. Item, in corporalibus situs sequitur pondus, et cum habet in se inclinationes diversas, sequitur naturam praedominantis: ergo a simili in spiritibus locatio sequitur pondus spirituum; sed «pondus spiritibus est amor»10: ergo si in spiritibus praedominatur amor castus, qui tendit sursum; videtur, p. 526 quod spiritus absolutus a corpore, si habeat caritatem, quamvis aliquid habeat cremabile, debeat esse sursum.
3. Item, purgatorium est via media transeundi a statu viae in statum patriae; sed status viae est circa locum terrestrem, status patriae est intra locum supracaelestem: ergo cum via sit media ad terminum, videtur, quod purgatorium sit in medio inter caelum et terram. Sed medium illud sursum est et maxime competens sphaerae ignis1b: ergo etc.
Sed quod sit in loco inferiori, scilicet infernali, videtur.
1. Primo auctoritate Gregorii in Dialogo2: «Una eademque vis irruens bonos probat, purgat et eliquat; malos vero condemnat, devastat et exterminat»: ergo videtur, quod idem sit puniens, et idem etiam sit locus purgandorum et damnandorum.
2. Item, hoc videtur per simile: quia limbus sanctis Patribus fuit loco purgatorii; sed constat, quod limbus aut fuit infernus, aut iuxta infernum; quod patet per articulum fidei3 «Descendit ad inferos»; dicitur etiam, quod exspoliavit principatus et potestates, ad Colossenses secundo: ergo etc.
3. Item, ratione videtur: quia locus poenae est locus ignobilis, sicut locus gloriae est nobilis; et iterum, culpae, in quantum huiusmodi, locus debetur inferior; sed locus purgatorius est poenalis, locus etiam purgatorius est debitus ratione culpae: ergo debet esse ignobilis. Sed locus quanto superior, tanto nobilior, et quanto inferior, tanto minus nobilis: ergo etc.
Sed quod sit in medio, videtur.
4. Hugo de sancto Victore4: «Probabile est, quod in his locis puniantur, in quibus culpam commiserunt»; sed culpam commiserunt hic in medio: ergo etc.
5. Item, hoc ipsum videtur exemplo: in quarto Dialogorum5 narrat Gregorius de Paschasio, quod Germanus episcopus, vir sanctus, eum in quibusdam balneis invenit, ad quae iverat ipse episcopus consilio medicorum; et Paschasius iampridem mortuus ibi puniebatur et post eius adiutorio liberatus est, signo dato eidem episcopo, si post trigesimum diem non inveniretur ibidem.
6. Item, hoc etiam videtur ratione: quoniam status purgatorius est status medius inter statum gloriae et statum damnationis aeternae: ergo in medio inter utrumque deberet esse: ergo nec superius nec inferius, sed in medio circa nos.
Conclusio.
Purgatorii locus probabiliter secundum legem communem est inferius, est etiam medius secundum dispensationem divinam.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod istud a Sanctis determinatum non est, nec rationes multum efficaces ad hanc materiam adduci valent de facili, pro eo quod licitum est hic varie sentire; et secundum tres partes propositi problematis inventi sunt diversi diversa sentire, innitentes rationibus iam tactis. Quidam enim dixerunt, quod locus est sursum, quidam, quod deorsum sub terra, quidam, quod ibi, ubi peccaverunt. — Sed si dixerimus, quod omnino sursum sit, repugnabit ratio et auctoritas et revelatio, quia frequenter plures circa nos pati inventi sunt. Si dixerimus, quod omnino deorsum, idem inconveniens sequitur. Si dixerimus, quod ubi peccaverunt, illud omnino incredibile, vel improbabile videtur, ut omnes animae, quae Parisius peccaverunt, Parisius puniantur.
Quid ergo dicendum? Sane potest dici, quod est determinare locum purgatorium dupliciter: vel secundum legem communem, vel secundum dispensationem divinam. Si secundum legem communem; sicut limbus inferius fuisse credendus est, non superius6, sic locus purgatorius. Et talis locus competit punitioni, talis etiam locus competit satisfacienti sive ei qui affligitur merito foeditatis culpabilis. Hic autem locus pars inferni creditur a quibusdam propter illud verbum Gregorii, quod sub eodem igne electus purgatur, et damnatus crematur, in quarto Dialogorum7. — Si autem loquamur secundum dispensationem specialem; sic diversis diversa loca concessa sunt, vel propter eorum celeriorem liberationem, ut possint aliis suam indigentiam revelare, sicut docet exemplum de Paschasio; vel propter nostram instructionem, ut aliquando recogitemus magnam post hanc vitam poenam infligi peccantibus; vel propter alicuius Sancti impetrationem, sicut legitur, quod sanctus Patritius impetravit cuidam, quod puniretur in quodam loco in terra; ex quo fabulose ortum est, quod ibi esset purgatorium8; et sic sunt diversa loca. p. 527 Concedendum igitur est, quod locus purgatorius erit, ut in iis potissimum locis singulae [animae] poenam sustinere credantur, in quibus culpam commiserunt.
[Concedendum igitur est, quod locus purgatorii] rius est inferius secundum legem communem; est etiam medius secundum dispensationem; superius in sphaera ignis non est aliquo istorum modorum, sed qui hoc cogitat moveri videtur secundum phantasticam fictionem.
1. Ad illud ergo quod obiicitur, quod est in superiori, quia sumus eruti de potestate tenebrarum; dicendum, quod inferius existentes etiam ereptae esse possunt animae, quia satanas non regnat nisi in mundanis per conversationem, non per localem inhabitationem.
2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod corpus sequitur naturam praedominantis; dicendum, quod motus animae sursum vel deorsum non est secundum suum desiderium, sed secundum divinum iudicium, quod est movens supremum; et quia illud iudicium decrevit eam affligere ad tempus, et hoc competit loco deorsum, scilicet punitio et afflictio: ideo patet illud, quod non sequitur naturam praedominantis nisi9b iuxta regulam supremi moventis.
3. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod est via; dicendum, quod est via retardans, et eo quod est retardans, aliquo modo est obliquans; et quia aliquo modo obliquat, ideo non oportet, quod recte sit in medio; et tunc esset via recta et velox, nunc est tardior. Et sic patet illud.
Rationes vero ad alia duo membra, etsi non sint multum efficaces: tamen, quia verum concludunt, concedendae sunt.
Ad illud quod ultimo obiicitur, quod illud medius est, ergo in medio debet esse; dicendum, quod plus sapit naturam unius extremi pro eo, quod punitur ibi non pro eo quod habet de iustitia, sed de culpa. Unde cum non sit nisi duplex meritum, scilicet bonum et malum, secundum legem communem solum debet esse locus duplex correspondens retributioni utriusque: unus nobilis, qui est supremus, alter ignobilis, qui est infimus; et propter hoc, ut dicit Gregorius, vocatur infernus, quasi inferius, vel infra nos sive sub nobis.
The scholion of the Articulus Unicus (§ I–VII) is rendered in full with Quaestio I (chunk `bon-sent-IV-d20-p1-a1-q1`); its §VII (de loco purgatorii) and the De 6. list address the present question. Scholion Articuli Unici (§ I–VII) cum Quaestione I plene redditur; § VII (de loco purgatorii) hanc quaestionem respicit.
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Question VI. Whether the place of purgatory is above, or below, or in the middle.
Sixth and last, the question is asked about the place in which souls are punished with this penalty. And the question is whether that place is above, or below, or in the middle.
And that it is in a higher place seems to be the case thus.
1. Those just souls have been rescued from the power of darkness1, since this is said of all just men, and is most true of those whom they cannot drag down to evil; but the devil himself is the prince of this air: therefore it seems that those souls are raised above this air: therefore it seems that the place of purgatory for souls is on high in the sphere of fire.
2. Likewise, in bodily things position follows weight, and when a thing has within itself diverse inclinations, it follows the nature of the predominant one: therefore by a similitude in spirits location follows the weight of spirits; but «for spirits weight is love»10: therefore if in spirits chaste love predominates, which tends upward, it seems p. 526 that a spirit released from the body, if it have charity, although it have something combustible, ought to be on high.
3. Likewise, purgatory is the middle way of passing over from the state of the wayfarer into the state of the homeland; but the state of the wayfarer is around the earthly place, the state of the homeland is within the supercelestial place: therefore since the way is intermediate to the terminus, it seems that purgatory is in the middle between heaven and earth. But that middle is on high and most befitting the sphere of fire1b: therefore etc.
But that it is in a lower place, namely the infernal one, seems to be the case.
1. First, by the authority of Gregory in the Dialogue2: «One and the same force, breaking in, proves, purges, and refines the good; but the wicked it condemns, lays waste, and exterminates»: therefore it seems that the same thing is what punishes, and likewise the same is the place both of those to be purged and of those to be damned.
2. Likewise, this seems to be the case by a similitude: because limbo was for the holy Fathers in place of purgatory; but it is agreed that limbo either was hell, or was next to hell; which is clear from the article of faith3 «He descended to hell»; it is also said that he despoiled the principalities and powers, to the Colossians, chapter two: therefore etc.
3. Likewise, it seems by reason: because the place of penalty is an ignoble place, just as the place of glory is noble; and again, to fault, insofar as it is such, a lower place is owed; but the place of purgatory is penal, and the place of purgatory is also owed by reason of fault: therefore it ought to be ignoble. But the higher a place, the nobler, and the lower, the less noble: therefore etc.
But that it is in the middle seems to be the case.
4. Hugh of Saint Victor4: «It is probable that they are punished in those places in which they committed the fault»; but they committed the fault here in the middle: therefore etc.
5. Likewise, this very thing seems to be the case by example: in the fourth book of the Dialogues5 Gregory relates concerning Paschasius that Germanus the bishop, a holy man, found him in certain baths, to which the bishop himself had gone by the counsel of physicians; and Paschasius, who had died long before, was being punished there and was afterward freed by his aid, a sign having been given to that bishop if he should not be found there after the thirtieth day.
6. Likewise, this too seems to be the case by reason: since the purgatorial state is a middle state between the state of glory and the state of eternal damnation: therefore it ought to be in the middle between the two: therefore neither above nor below, but in the middle around us.
Conclusion.
The place of purgatory, probably according to the common law, is below; it is also in the middle according to divine dispensation.
I respond: It must be said that this has not been determined by the Saints, nor can reasons very effective on this matter easily be brought forward, for the reason that it is permitted here to hold various views; and according to the three parts of the proposed problem various men have been found to hold various things, relying on the reasons already touched upon. For some have said that the place is above, some that it is below under the earth, some that it is there where they sinned. — But if we should say that it is altogether above, reason and authority and revelation will be against it, since frequently more souls have been found suffering around us. If we should say that it is altogether below, the same inconvenience follows. If we should say that it is where they sinned, that seems altogether incredible, or improbable, that all the souls who sinned at Paris should be punished at Paris.
What then is to be said? It can rightly be said that the place of purgatory may be determined in two ways: either according to the common law, or according to divine dispensation. If according to the common law, then just as limbo is to be believed to have been below, not above6, so the place of purgatory. And such a place befits the punishment, and such a place also befits the one making satisfaction or the one who is afflicted by the merited foulness of fault. But this place is believed by some to be a part of hell, on account of that saying of Gregory, that under the same fire the elect is purged and the damned is burned, in the fourth book of the Dialogues7. — But if we speak according to the special dispensation, then to diverse souls diverse places have been granted, either for the sake of their swifter liberation, that they may reveal their need to others, as the example of Paschasius teaches; or for the sake of our instruction, that we may sometimes consider that a great penalty is inflicted on sinners after this life; or for the sake of some Saint's impetration, as one reads that Saint Patrick obtained for a certain man that he should be punished in a certain place on earth; from which it arose, by way of fable, that purgatory was there8; and so there are diverse places. p. 527 It must therefore be granted that there will be a place of purgatory, such that souls are believed to undergo their penalty most of all in those places in which they committed the fault.
[It must therefore be granted that the place of purgatory] is below according to the common law; it is also in the middle according to dispensation; above, in the sphere of fire, it is in none of these ways, but whoever thinks of it as moving thither seems to follow a fantastic fiction.
1. To that, then, which is objected, that it is above, because we have been rescued from the power of darkness; it must be said that souls existing below can also be rescued, because Satan does not reign except over worldly things by association, not by local inhabitation.
2. To that which is objected, that the body follows the nature of the predominant; it must be said that the motion of the soul upward or downward is not according to its own desire, but according to the divine judgment, which is the supreme mover; and because that judgment decreed to afflict it for a time, and this befits the lower place, namely punishment and affliction: therefore that is clear, that it does not follow the nature of the predominant except9b according to the rule of the supreme mover.
3. To that which is objected, that it is a way; it must be said that it is a way that delays, and by the very fact that it delays, it in some manner makes oblique; and because it in some manner makes oblique, therefore it is not necessary that it be exactly in the middle; and then it would be a way straight and swift, whereas now it is slower. And so that is clear.
But the reasons for the other two members, although they are not very effective, nevertheless, because they conclude what is true, must be granted.
To that which is objected last, that it is a middle state, therefore it ought to be in the middle; it must be said that it savors more of the nature of one extreme, for the reason that one is punished there not for what one has of justice, but for what one has of fault. Hence, since there is only a twofold merit, namely good and evil, according to the common law there ought to be only a twofold place corresponding to the retribution of each: one noble, which is the highest, the other ignoble, which is the lowest; and on account of this, as Gregory says, it is called hell (infernus), as though "lower" (inferius), or beneath us or under us.
The scholion of the Articulus Unicus (§ I–VII) is rendered in full with Question I (chunk `bon-sent-IV-d20-p1-a1-q1`); its §VII (on the place of purgatory) and the De 6. list address the present question.
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- 1Col. 1, 13. — Inferius respicitur Eph. 2, 2, ubi Apostolus diabolum nominat «principem potestatis aëris huius».Col. 1:13. — Below, reference is made to Eph. 2:2, where the Apostle names the devil «the prince of the power of this air».
- 1bVide tom. II. pag. 321, nota 4.See vol. II, p. 321, note 4.
- 2Etiam S. Thom. (hic d. 21. q. 1. a. 1. quaestiunc. 2.) allegat Gregorium; e codd. nostris codd. IK recte August. in de Civ. Dei (lib. I. c. 8. n. 2.); sed quia infra in corp. omnes codd. et edd. exhibent Gregorium, nihil mutavimus. — Pro irruens cod. bb urens, edd. puniens.St. Thomas too (here d. 21, q. 1, a. 1, little-question 2) cites Gregory; among our codices, codd. IK rightly [read] Augustine in On the City of God (bk. I, c. 8, n. 2); but because below in the body all codices and editions exhibit Gregory, we have changed nothing. — For irruens [breaking in] cod. bb [reads] urens [burning], the editions puniens [punishing].
- 3In Symbolo Apostolorum. — Seq. locus est Col. 2, 13: Et exspolians principatus et potestates. Cfr. III. Sent. d. 22. q. 4.In the Apostles' Creed. — The following passage is Col. 2:13 [recte 2:15]: And despoiling the principalities and powers. Cf. III Sent., d. 22, q. 4.
- 4Lib. II. de Sacram. p. XVI. c. 4: Et fortassis probabile etc.On the Sacraments, bk. II, p. XVI, c. 4: And perhaps it is probable etc.
- 5Cap. 40. — Codd. et edd. pro Germanus falso Cyprianus.Chapter 40. — Codices and editions, for Germanus, [read] falsely Cyprianus.
- 6Vide infra d. 45. a. 1. q. 1. seq. — Vat. pro sicut posito sic, omittit non superius, substituens subinde ut sit pro sic. Inferius pro culpabilis cod. Y culpae.See below, d. 45, a. 1, q. 1 and following. — The Vatican edition, for sicut [as] putting sic [thus], omits non superius [not above], substituting thereupon ut sit [that it be] for sic. Below, for culpabilis [culpable] cod. Y [reads] culpae [of fault].
- 7Cfr. supra nota 2.Cf. note 2 above.
- 8Videtur respici Henrici Saltariens. (1130) tr. de Purgat. S. Patritii, in quo agitur de quodam loco in Ilibernia (Reglis) S. Patritii.Reference seems to be made to Henry of Saltrey's (1130) treatise On the Purgatory of St. Patrick, in which there is discussion of a certain place in Ireland (Reglis), St. Patrick's [Purgatory].
- 9bEaedem sic. Idem recurrit paulo inferius.The editions thus. The same recurs a little below.
- 10Secundum August. et Bernard.; cfr. tom. III. pag. 639, nota 3. — Superius post et cum Vat. cum uno alteroque cod. supplet corpus.According to Augustine and Bernard; cf. vol. III, p. 639, note 3. — Above, after et [and], with the Vatican edition together with one or another codex, supply corpus [body].