Dist. 44, Part 1
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 44
Pars I.
Cap. I. De aetate et statura resurgentium.
Solent autem nonnulli percontari et quaerere, an in eadem aetate et statura corporis omnes resurrecturi sint. — Quidam putaverunt, omnes resurrecturos secundum mensuram aetatis et staturae Christi, ideo quia Apostolusn1 ait: Donec occurramus omnes in virum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi. — Sed his verbis non eadem resurgentibus assignatur statura, sed aetas. «Omnes enim in eadem aetate resurgent, in qua Christus mortuus est et resurrexit, cuiuscumque aetatis mortui fuerint»; virum autem posuit, non ut distingueret sexum, sed ut significaret perfectionem virium, quam tunc habebunt; sed non omnes eandem staturam corporis obtinebunt. Unde Augustinusn2: «Non, ait, in mensuram corporis vel staturae, sed aetatis, quia unusquisque suam recipiet mensuram corporis, quam vel habuit in iuventute, etiam si senex obiit, vel fuerat habiturus, si ante est defunctus. Aetas vero erit illa, ad quam pervenit Christus, scilicet iuvenilis, ut circa triginta annos». Triginta enim duorum annorum et trium mensium erat aetas Christi, in qua mortuus est et resurrexit. «Non est autem fas dicere, quod in resurrectione accedat corpori magnitudo, quam nec habuit hic nec erat habiturum diu vivendo, nec maiora corpora redigenda sunt ad modum dominici corporis. Periret enim multum de illis corporibus, cum nec periturus sit capillus, ut ait Dominus: Capillus de capite vestro non peribit».
Cap. II. Quod resurget quidquid fuit de substantia et natura corporis, etsi non in eadem parte corporis.
«Non enim perit Deo terrena materies, de qua mortalium creatur caro; sed in quemlibet pulverem cineremve solvatur, in quoslibet halitus aurasque diffugiat, in quamcumque aliorum corporum substantiam, vel in ipsa elementa vertatur, in quorumcumque animalium, etiam hominum cibum carnemque mutetur, illi animae in puncto temporis redibit, quae illam primitus, ut homo fieret, cresceret, viveret, animavit1». «Ipsa ergo terrena materies, quae, discedente anima, fit cadaver, non ita resurrectione reparabitur, ut ea quae dilabuntur et in alias atque alias rerum species vertuntur, quamvis ad corpus redeant, unde dilapsa sunt, ad easdem quoque corporis partes, ubi fuerunt, redire necesse sit. Alioquin, si capillis redit quod tam crebra tonsura detraxit, si unguibus quod toties dempsit2 exsectio, immoderata et indecens cogitantibus resurrectionem carnis, et ideo non credentibus occurrit informitas. Sed quemadmodum, si statua cuiuslibet solubilis metalli igne liquesceret, vel contereretur in pulverem, vel confunderetur in massam, et eam vellet artifex rursum ex illius materia et quantitate reparare; nihil interesset ad eius integritatem, quae particula materiae cui membro statuae redderetur, dum tamen totum, ex quo constituta fuerat, restituta resumeret. Ita Deus, mirabiliter atque ineffabiliter artifex, de toto, quo caro nostra constiterat, eam mirabili celeritate restituet; nec aliquid attinebit ad eius redintegrationem, utrum capilli ad capillos redeant, et ungues ad ungues; an quidquid eorum perierat, mutetur in carnem et in partes alias corporis revocetur; curante artificis providentia, ne quid indecens fiat». «Indecorum quippe aliquid ibi non erit, sed quidquid futurum est, hoc decebit, quia nec futurum est, si non decebit».
Cap. III. Quod sine omni deformitate resurgent.
Hoc autem in corporibus Sanctorum intelligendum est, de quibus consequenter adiungit: «Resurgent igitur Sanctorum corpora sine ullo vitio, sine ulla deformitate, sicut sine ulla corruptione, onere, difficultate; in quibus tanta facilitas, quanta felicitas erit; propter quod et spiritualia dicta sunt, cum procul dubio corpora sint futura, non spiritus3». — Ex his apparet, quod una aetas erit omnium resurgentium, scilicet iuvenilis, statura vero diversa, scilicet quam quisque habuit in iuvenili aetate, vel erat habiturus, si ante est defunctus. Nec de substantia, de qua hominis caro creatur, aliquid peribit, sed omnium particularum ante dispersarum collectione redintegrabitur naturalis substantia corporis. Sanctorum quoque corpora sine omni vitio fulgida sicut sol resurgent, praecisis cunctis deformitatibus, quas hic habuerunt.
Cap. IV. Utrum reproborum corpora cum deformitatibus resurgant, quas hic habuerunt.
De reprobis autem quaeri solet, an cum deformitatibus hic habitis resurgant. Hoc autem Augustinus4 non asserit, sed dubium relinquit, ita inquiens: «Quicumque ab illa perditionis massa, quae per Adam facta est, non liberantur per Christum, resurgent quidem etiam ipsi, unusquisque cum sua carne, sed ut cum diabolo eiusque angelis puniantur. Utrum vero ipsi cum vitiis et deformitatibus suorum corporum resurgant, quaecumque in eis gestarunt, inquirendo laborare quid opus est? Non enim fatigare nos debet incerta eorum habitudo vel pulcritudo, quorum erit certa et sempiterna damnatio». — Ecce, non definit, an tunc habeant deformitates, quas hic habuerunt, reproborum corpora.
Pars II.
Cap. V. Quod non consumentur malorum corpora, quae tunc ardebunt.
Si vero quaeritur de corporibus malorum, quomodo in igne ardeant et non consumantur; Augustinus5 variis exemplis astruit, et sempiternis ignibus ea ardere et non consumi illa combustione; sicut animus, cuius praesentia corpus vivit, et dolorem pati potest et mori non potest. Hoc enim erit tunc etiam in corporibus damnatorum, quod nunc esse scimus in animis omnium.
Cap. VI. Si daemones corporali igne cremabuntur.
Quaeri etiam solet, an daemones corporali igne ardeant. — Ad quod Augustinus respondens6 ait: «Cur non dicamus, quamvis miris veris tamen modis, etiam spiritus incorporeos posse poena corporalis ignis affligi, si spiritus hominum, etiam ipsi incorporei, et nunc potuerunt includi corporalibus membris et tunc poterunt corporum suorum vinculis insolubiliter alligari»? «Gehenna illa, quae stagnum ignis et sulphuris dicta est, corporeus ignis erit et cruciabit p. 906damnatorum corpora, hominum, vel daemonum, sed solida hominum, aerea daemonum. Unus enim utrisque ignis erit, ut Veritas ait». De quo igne si quaeritur, qualis vel ubi sit; Augustinus sic respondet: «Ignis aeternus cuiusmodi sit et in qua mundi vel rerum parte futurus sit, hominem scire arbitror neminem, nisi forte cui Spiritus divinus ostendit».
Cap. VII. Si animae sine corporibus sentiant ignem materialem.
Cum autem constet, animas igne materiali in corporibus cruciandas; quaeri solet, an interim ante resurrectionem corporum animae defunctorum reproborum materiali igne crementur. — De hoc Iulianus1, Toletanae Ecclesiae episcopus, Gregorii dicta secutus, ita scripsit: «Si viventis hominis incorporeus spiritus tenetur in corpore, cur non post mortem etiam corporeo igne teneatur? Teneri autem per ignem spiritum dicimus, ut in tormento ignis sit videndo atque sentiendo. Quod autem non solum videndo sed etiam experiendo anima ignis tormentum patiatur; ex Evangelio colligitur, ubi Veritatis voce dives mortuus dicitur in inferno sepultus; cuius anima, quod in igne teneatur, insinuat, cum Abraham deprecatur dicens: Mitte Lazarum, ut intingat extremum digiti sui in aquam, ut refrigeret linguam meam, quia crucior in hac flamma. Dum ergo peccatorem divitem damnatum in ignibus Veritas perhibet, quis sapiens reproborum animas teneri ignibus neget»? praecipue cum humanam animam corporis similitudinem habere doceat Augustinus2, ita inquiens: «Profiteri, animam habere posse similitudinem corporis et corporalium omnino membrorum, quisquis renuit, potest negare, animam esse, quae in somnis videt, vel se ambulare vel sedere vel huc atque illuc gressu vel etiam volatu ferri; hoc sine quadam similitudine corporis non fit: proinde, si hanc similitudinem etiam apud inferos gerit, non corporalem, sed corpori similem; ita etiam in locis videtur esse non corporalibus, sed corporalium similibus, sive in requie, sive in doloribus». In Cassiani3 etiam voluminibus legitur, quod «non sint otiosae atque nihil non sentiant, cum dives ille in inferno se flamma cruciari clamat». «Unde probatur, animas defunctorum non solum suis sensibus non privari, sed nec istis affectibus, scilicet spe, tristitia, gaudio ac metu, carere et ex his quae sibi in illo generali examine reservantur, quiddam eas iam incipere praegustare».
Cap. VIII. De abortivis fetibus et monstris.
Illud etiam investigari oportet, si abortivi fetus et monstra resurgent, et qualia. — De quo Augustinus4 ita ait: «Occurrit de abortivis fetibus quaestio, qui iam nati sunt in uteris matrum, sed non ita, ut iam possint renasci. Si enim resurrecturos eos dixerimus; de his qui iam formati sunt, tolerari potest utcumque quod dicitur. Informes vero quis non proclivius perire arbitretur, sicut semina, quae concepta non fuerunt»? «Scrupulose quidem inter doctores quaeri ac disputari potest, quando incipit homo in utero vivere; an sit quaedam vita occulta, quae nondum motibus viventis appareat. Negare enim, vixisse puerperia, quae ideo membratim exsecantur, ut eiiciantur ex uteris praegnantium, ne matres etiam, si mortua ibi relinquantur, occidant, impudentia nimia videtur. Ex quo autem incipit homo vivere, ex illo utique iam mori potest; mortuus vero, ubicumque illi mors potuit evenire, quomodo ad resurrectionem non pertineat, reperire nequeo». «Neque enim et monstra, quae nascuntur et vivunt, quantumlibet cito moriantur, aut resurrectura negabuntur, aut ita resurrectura credenda sunt; sed potius correcta emendataque natura. Absit enim, ut illum bimembrem, quem nuper natum in oriente fratres fidelissimi, qui cum viderunt, retulerunt, et sanctus Hieronymus scriptum reliquit, ut unum hominem duplicem, ac non potius duos, quod futurum erat, si gemini nascerentur, resurrecturos existimemus. Ita et cetera, quae nimia deformitate monstra dicuntur, ad humanae naturae figuram resurrectione revocabuntur».
---
Part I.
Ch. I. On the age and stature of those who rise.
Now some are wont to inquire and ask whether all will rise in the same age and stature of body. — Certain persons have supposed that all will rise according to the measure of the age and stature of Christ, on this ground, because the Apostlen1 says: Until we all attain unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ. — But by these words it is not the same stature that is assigned to those who rise, but the same age. «For all will rise in the same age in which Christ died and rose again, of whatever age they may have died»; but he set down a man not to distinguish sex, but to signify the perfection of powers which they will then have; yet not all will obtain the same stature of body. Whence Augustinen2: «Not, he says, in the measure of body or of stature, but of age; because each one will receive his own measure of body, which he either had in youth, even if he died an old man, or would have had, if he was carried off before. But the age will be that to which Christ attained, namely the youthful, about thirty years». For the age of Christ was thirty-two years and three months, in which he died and rose again. «But it is not lawful to say that in the resurrection there accrues to the body a magnitude which it neither had here nor was going to have by living long, nor are greater bodies to be reduced to the measure of the Lord's body. For much of those bodies would perish, since not even a hair is to perish, as the Lord says: A hair of your head shall not perish».
Ch. II. That whatever was of the substance and nature of the body will rise again, even if not in the same part of the body.
«For the earthly matter from which the flesh of mortals is created does not perish for God; but though it be dissolved into any dust or ash whatever, though it scatter into any breaths and breezes, though it be turned into the substance of any other bodies whatever, or into the very elements, though it be changed into the food and flesh of any animals whatever, even of men, in a point of time it will return to that soul which first animated it, that a man might come to be, and grow, and live1». «That earthly matter, therefore, which, when the soul departs, becomes a corpse, will not be so restored in the resurrection that those things which slip away and are turned into other and other kinds of things must, although they return to the body from which they slipped away, of necessity return also to the same parts of the body where they were. Otherwise, if to the hairs there returns what such frequent shearing has taken away, if to the nails what cutting has so often removed2, an excessive and unseemly deformity presents itself to those who ponder the resurrection of the flesh, and therefore do not believe it. But just as, if a statue of any meltable metal were to melt in the fire, or were ground to dust, or were confounded into a mass, and the craftsman wished to restore it again from the material and quantity of the same; it would make no difference to its integrity which particle of matter were rendered to which member of the statue, provided only that the whole, from which it had been constituted, being restored, it should take up again. So God, the wondrously and ineffably skilled craftsman, will restore it with wondrous swiftness from the whole of which our flesh had consisted; nor will it matter at all to its reintegration whether hairs return to hairs, and nails to nails; or whether whatever of them had perished be changed into flesh and recalled into other parts of the body; the craftsman's providence taking care that nothing unseemly be done». «For nothing unbecoming will be there, but whatever is to be, this will be fitting, since it is not to be, if it will not be fitting».
Ch. III. That they will rise without any deformity.
But this is to be understood of the bodies of the Saints, concerning which he consequently adds: «The bodies of the Saints, therefore, will rise without any defect, without any deformity, as also without any corruption, burden, or difficulty; in which there will be as great facility as felicity; on account of which they are also called spiritual, though beyond doubt they will be bodies, not spirits3». — From these things it appears that there will be one age of all who rise, namely the youthful, but a diverse stature, namely the one which each had in his youthful age, or was going to have, if he was carried off before. Nor will anything perish of the substance from which the flesh of man is created, but by the collection of all the particles previously dispersed the natural substance of the body will be reintegrated. The bodies of the Saints too will rise without any defect, shining like the sun, with all the deformities cut away which they had here.
Ch. IV. Whether the bodies of the reprobate rise with the deformities they had here.
But concerning the reprobate it is wont to be asked whether they rise with the deformities had here. This, however, Augustine4 does not assert, but leaves in doubt, thus speaking: «Whosoever are not freed by Christ from that mass of perdition which was made through Adam, will indeed rise themselves also, each with his own flesh, but so as to be punished with the devil and his angels. But whether they rise with the vices and deformities of their bodies, whatever they bore in them, what need is there to labor by inquiring? For the uncertain condition or beauty of those whose damnation will be certain and everlasting ought not to weary us». — Behold, he does not determine whether the bodies of the reprobate then have the deformities which they had here.
Part II.
Ch. V. That the bodies of the wicked, which will then burn, will not be consumed.
But if it is asked concerning the bodies of the wicked, how they burn in the fire and are not consumed; Augustine5 establishes by various examples that they both burn in everlasting fires and are not consumed by that combustion; just as the soul, by whose presence the body lives, both can suffer pain and cannot die. For this will then be in the bodies of the damned which we now know to be in the souls of all.
Ch. VI. Whether the demons will be burned by bodily fire.
It is also wont to be asked whether the demons burn in bodily fire. — To which Augustine, answering6, says: «Why should we not say that, although in wondrous yet true ways, even incorporeal spirits can be afflicted by the pain of bodily fire, if the spirits of men, even they themselves incorporeal, were both able now to be enclosed in bodily members and will then be able to be bound inseparably by the chains of their bodies»? «That Gehenna, which is called the pool of fire and brimstone, will be a bodily fire and will torment p. 906the bodies of the damned, of men, or of demons—but the solid bodies of men, the airy bodies of demons. For there will be one fire for both, as the Truth says». And if it is asked concerning this fire, of what sort or where it is; Augustine answers thus: «Of what kind the eternal fire is, and in what part of the world or of things it is to be, I think no man knows, unless perhaps to whom the divine Spirit reveals it».
Ch. VII. Whether souls without bodies feel material fire.
But since it is agreed that souls are to be tormented by material fire in bodies; it is wont to be asked whether meanwhile, before the resurrection of bodies, the souls of the deceased reprobate are burned by material fire. — Concerning this Iulianus1, bishop of the Church of Toledo, following the sayings of Gregory, wrote thus: «If the incorporeal spirit of a living man is held in the body, why should it not after death also be held by bodily fire? But we say that the spirit is held by the fire so that it is in the torment of the fire by seeing and by feeling. But that the soul suffers the torment of the fire not only by seeing but also by experiencing; is gathered from the Gospel, where by the voice of the Truth the rich man who died is said to be buried in hell; whose soul intimates that it is held in the fire, when it beseeches Abraham, saying: Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, that he may cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Since therefore the Truth affirms that the rich sinner was damned in the fires, what wise man would deny that the souls of the reprobate are held by the fires»? especially since Augustine2 teaches that the human soul has a likeness of the body, thus speaking: «Whoever refuses to profess that the soul can have a likeness of the body and of bodily members altogether, can deny that it is the soul which sees in dreams, or is borne to walk or to sit or hither and thither by a step or even by flight; this does not happen without a certain likeness of the body: accordingly, if it bears this likeness even among those below, it is not bodily, but like a body; so also it is seen to be in places not bodily, but like bodily ones, whether in rest or in pains». In the volumes of Cassian3 too it is read that «they are not idle nor perceive nothing, since that rich man in hell cries out that he is tormented by the flame». «Whence it is proved that the souls of the deceased are not only not deprived of their senses, but neither lack these affections, namely hope, sadness, joy, and fear, and that from those things which are reserved for them in that general examination, they already begin to foretaste something».
Ch. VIII. On abortive fetuses and monsters.
That too must be investigated, whether abortive fetuses and monsters will rise, and of what kind. — Concerning which Augustine4 speaks thus: «There occurs a question about abortive fetuses, which have already been born in their mothers' wombs, but not in such a way that they could yet be reborn. For if we say that they will rise; concerning those who are already formed, what is said can somehow be tolerated. But who would not more readily judge that the unformed perish, like seeds which were not conceived»? «It can indeed be scrupulously inquired and disputed among the learned when a man begins to live in the womb; whether there is a certain hidden life which does not yet appear by the movements of the living. For to deny that those infants have lived, which are for that reason cut out limb by limb, so that they may be cast out from the wombs of the pregnant, lest the mothers too be killed if the dead be left there, seems excessive shamelessness. But from the point at which a man begins to live, from that point assuredly he can already die; and once dead, wherever death was able to befall him, how he should not pertain to the resurrection, I am unable to discover». «For neither will the monsters which are born and live, however quickly they die, either be denied to be going to rise, or be believed to rise in such a state; but rather with their nature corrected and amended. For far be it that we should suppose that two-bodied one—recently born in the East, whom most faithful brethren, who saw him, reported, and holy Jerome left in writing—will rise as one double man, and not rather as two, which would have been the case if twins had been born. So too the rest, which by excessive deformity are called monsters, will be recalled by the resurrection to the figure of human nature».
---
- n1Eph. 4, 13. Seq. locus est Haymonis ibid.Eph. 4:13. The following passage is Haymo's, at the same place.
- n2Libr. XXII. de Civ. Dei, c. 15. (secundum sensum); verbotenus apud Lyranum in Glossa ad Eph. 4, 13. Seq. locus est citt. locis Augustini et Glossae, ubi citatur Luc. 12, 21.Book XXII of The City of God, c. 15 (according to the sense); word for word in Lyra in the Gloss on Eph. 4:13. The following passage is from the cited places of Augustine and of the Gloss, where Luke 12:21 is cited.
- 1Totum hoc cap. (etiam duo seqq.) sumtum est ex August., Enchirid. c. 88. 89. 90. n. 23.This whole chapter (and the two following) is taken from Augustine, Enchiridion cc. 88, 89, 90, n. 23.
- 2Ita etiam originale; edd. depressit, male solutis siglis; deinde pro informitas codd. et edd., exceptis 6, 8 et Vat., male infirmitas, refragante etiam originali.So also the original [reads dempsit]; the editions read depressit, the abbreviation-marks being wrongly resolved; then for informitas the codices and editions, except 6, 8 and the Vatican, wrongly [read] infirmitas, the original too gainsaying it.
- 3Ibid. c. 91. n. 23.Ibid., c. 91, n. 23.
- 4Ibid. c. 92. n. 23.Ibid., c. 92, n. 23.
- 5Libr. XXI. de Civ. Dei, c. 3. — Infra ante in corporibus codd. (non vero Erf.) et plurimae edd. omittunt etiam; deinde pro damnatorum codd. A E et edd. 4, 5, 9 damnandorum.Book XXI of The City of God, c. 3. — Below, before in corporibus, the codices (but not the Erfurt one) and most editions omit etiam; then for damnatorum the codices A E and editions 4, 5, 9 [read] damnandorum.
- 6Loc. cit. c. 10. n. 1. Seq. locus ibid. n. 2, ubi respicitur Apoc. 20, 9, et Matth. 25, 41. Tertius ibid. XX. c. 16.At the place cited, c. 10, n. 1. The following passage is at the same place, n. 2, where Apoc. 20:9 and Matth. 25:41 are alluded to. The third passage is at the same work, Book XX, c. 16.
- 1Libr. II. Prognosticon, c. 17; cfr. Gregor., IV. Dialog. c. 28. seq. Ibi citatur Luc. 16, 22-24. — Superius pro crementur codd. A B D E concrementur; infra post sentiendo Vat. et edd. 6, 8 [addunt] puniatur, omittentes sit.Book II of the Prognosticon, c. 17; cf. Gregory, Dialogues IV, c. 28 f. There Luke 16:22-24 is cited. — Above, for crementur the codices A B D E [read] concrementur; below, after sentiendo the Vatican and editions 6, 8 [add] puniatur, omitting sit.
- 2Libr. XII. de Gen. ad lit. c. 33. n. 62; cfr. Iulian, loc. cit. c. 16.Book XII of On Genesis according to the Letter, c. 33, n. 62; cf. Iulianus, at the place cited, c. 16.
- 3Collatio I. c. 14, et apud Iulian., loc. cit. c. 15. Seq. locus ibid., parum inferius.Conference I, c. 14, and in Iulianus, at the place cited, c. 15. The following passage is at the same place, a little below.
- 4Enchirid. c. 85; seq. locus est ibid. c. 86, tertius c. 87. n. 23.Enchiridion c. 85; the following passage is at the same place, c. 86, the third at c. 87, n. 23. [The Augustine passages on abortive fetuses/monsters are drawn, per Augustine himself, from The City of God XXII, c. 13; the Enchiridion citation is the Quaracchi editors' locus for the linked passages.] ---