Dist. 45, Art. 1, Q. 1
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 45
Articulus I. De receptaculis animarum exutarum.
Quaestio I. De receptaculis animarum ante adventum Christi.
Note on the apparatus numbering. Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page, so the notes below are labelled by page: notes 3 through 9 of page 939, then notes 1 through 4 of page 940. Notes 1 and 2 of page 939 are anchored in the preceding divisio chunk; notes 5 and 6 of page 940 are anchored in Quaestio II.
Circa primum proceditur sic, et quod ante Christi adventum descenderant ad infernum, ostenditur:
1. Primo per vetus testamentum. Ita dixit patriarcha Iacob Genesis quadragesimo secundo3: Deducetis canos meos cum dolore ad inferos; et Genesis trigesimo septimo: Descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum: ergo etc.
2. Item, Iob decimo septimo4: In tenebris stravi lectulum meum, infernus domus mea est; et constat, quod iustus erat: ergo etc.
3. Item, hoc ipsum ostenditur etiam per novum testamentum: quia dicitur in Symbolo5: « Descendit ad inferos »; constat, quod non nisi ad ereptionem iustorum: iusti ergo descendebant.
4. Item, Actuum secundo6: Quem Deus suscitavit, solutis doloribus inferni: ergo omnes alii detinebantur in inferno.
5. Item, debitum originalis peccati nondum erat solutum, ergo nec homo de potestate diaboli ereptus: ergo quantumcumque esset iustus, poterat ipsum diabolus trahere deorsum.
Sed contra:
1. Infernus est locus debitus malis et iniustis; sed ante adventum Christi multi mortui sunt boni et iusti: ergo illi non descendebant in infernum.
2. Item, unaquaeque anima habet locari secundum exigentiam meritorum: ergo cum viri sancti ante adventum Christi multum distarent ab impiis quantum ad meritum, ergo etiam quantum ad locum.
3. Item, « in inferno nulla est redemptio7 »: ergo si iusti descenderunt ad infernum, videtur, quod nunquam fuerunt inde liberati; quod manifeste falsum est.
4. Item, sicut patet ex Lucae decimo sexto8, chaos magnum firmatum erat inter Lazarum et divitem, ut non possent mutuo ad se transire: ergo videtur, quod in locis distantibus erant.
5. Item, Augustinus duodecimo super Genesim ad litteram9: « Videmus, inferorum mentionem non esse factam in requie pauperis, sed in supplicio divitis ». Et iterum idem: « Nondum inveni et adhuc requiro, nec mihi occurrit, inferos alicubi in bono posuisse Scripturam: non autem nisi in bono accipiendum sinum Abrahae »: ergo si sancti Patres in sinum Abrahae portantur, sicut Dominus ipse de Lazaro testatur, patet etc.
Conclusio
Conclusio. Infernus dicitur tum locus infimus cum poena sensus et damni, tum locus inferior cum sola poena damni, scilicet limbus, qui est vel limbus parvulorum, vel limbus Patrum sive sinus Abrahae.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod infernus dicitur locus poenarum et locus, qui est inferior tum ratione status, qui vilis est, tum ratione situs. Potest ergo infernus denominari a suo summo; et tunc dicitur infernus locus, in quo est maxima poena et locus infimus; et iste non competit nisi damnatis, qui puniuntur poena sensus et sine spe inferius1 proiiciuntur. Potest iterum appellari locus inferior, in quo quis punitur poena damni; et iste dicitur limbus2. Et in hunc descendebant ante Christi adventum sancti Patres, et descendunt nunc parvuli non baptizati.
Sed attendendum, quod Patres fuerunt in parte superiori, et parvuli in parte inferiori. Et ratio huius est, quia isti habent carentiam visionis sine exspectatione; illi habebant cum exspectatione, et ideo, quia in parte superiori erant et visionem Dei exspectabant, non tantum in limbo, sed in sinu Abrahae dicebantur esse. Ille ergo locus dicebatur infernus, et quia inferior et quia aliquo modo locus erat miseriae; limbus, quia erat poena carentiae; sed sinus Abrahae3, quia erat exspectatio gloriae. — Et ita infernus non sonat nisi in malum, qualitercumque accipiatur; sinus autem Abrahae in bonum, et hoc, quia est ibi requies aut per privationem mali, aut per collationem omnis boni; et sic est locus gloriae4.
Ad argumenta:
Et per hanc distinctionem patet responsio ad utramque partem. Rationes enim ad primam partem procedunt de inferno large dicto et secundum situm; rationes vero ad oppositum de inferno dicto proprie et secundum poenam, sicut patet discurrenti per singulas.
I. Constat, spiritus animasque separatas non esse circumscriptive in loco; nihilominus communiter docetur, eisdem deputata esse a Deo diversa loca, statui et meritis eorum congruentia, ut satis apparet ex s. Scriptura. Communiter etiam distinguuntur quinque receptacula, quorum unum, scil. limbus Patrum, post adventum Christi cessavit. Distinguitur enim limbus Patrum a limbo puerorum, si non secundum locum, saltem secundum qualitatem, quia Patres antiqui testamenti, deleta culpa originali et personali, viventes in fide, spe et caritate, habebant quidem ante satisfactionem a Christo completam impedimentum visionis beatificae, sed non nisi ex parte naturae, ut dicit S. Thomas, dum in pueris ab originali peccato non liberatis insuper est impedimentum ex parte personae. — Terminus sinus Abrahae communiter dicitur de limbo Patrum, sed interdum adhibetur etiam de completa requie Sanctorum, ut observat cum nostro auctore S. Thom. (hic q. 1. a. 2. quaestiunc. 1. ad 2.). — Alias etiam quaestiones circa haec receptacula S. Thomas exhibet hic q. 1. a. 1. 2. 3; Suppl. q. 69. a. 1-9.
De 1. et 2. quaestione praeter S. Thomam: B. Albert., de hac et seqq. qq. supra d. 44. a. 4. 5. — Petr. a Tar., hic q. 1. a. 1-3. — Richard. a Med., hic a. 1. q. 1. 2. — Dionys. Carth., hic q. 1.
II. In solutione 2. quaestionis S. Bonav. docet, nunquam damnatas animas ante iudicium exire ex loco tormentorum; sed S. Thom. (hic q. 1. a. 1. quaestiunc. 3; Suppl. q. 69. a. 3.) dicit: « Hoc etiam credi potest, quod aliquando de damnatis contingat, quod ad eruditionem hominum et terrorem permittuntur viventibus apparere ».
De eadem quaestione praeter laudatos: Petr. a Tar., loc. cit. — Richard. a Med., hic a. 1. q. 3.
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Article I. On the abodes of souls that have been stripped [of the body].
Question I. On the abodes of souls before the coming of Christ.
Concerning the first the procedure is thus; and that before Christ's coming they had descended to hell is shown:
1. First, from the Old Testament. Thus said the patriarch Jacob, Genesis forty-two3: You will bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the nether world; and Genesis thirty-seven: I shall go down to my son, mourning, into hell: therefore etc.
2. Likewise, Job seventeen4: In the darkness I have made my bed, hell is my house; and it is agreed that he was just: therefore etc.
3. Likewise, this same thing is shown also through the New Testament: because it is said in the Creed5: « He descended into hell »; and it is agreed that this was for nothing other than the deliverance of the just: therefore the just were descending.
4. Likewise, Acts two6: Whom God raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell: therefore all the others were being detained in hell.
5. Likewise, the debt of original sin had not yet been paid, therefore neither was man snatched from the power of the devil: therefore however just he might be, the devil could drag him downward.
On the contrary:
1. Hell is the place due to the wicked and the unjust; but before the coming of Christ many died good and just: therefore those were not descending into hell.
2. Likewise, each and every soul must be placed according to the requirement of its merits: therefore, since holy men before the coming of Christ stood far apart from the impious as regards merit, therefore also as regards place.
3. Likewise, « in hell there is no redemption7 »: therefore if the just descended to hell, it seems that they were never freed from there; which is manifestly false.
4. Likewise, as is clear from Luke sixteen8, a great chasm was fixed between Lazarus and the rich man, so that they could not pass across to one another: therefore it seems that they were in places far apart.
5. Likewise, Augustine, in the twelfth [book] On Genesis according to the Letter9: « We see that mention of the nether world is not made in the rest of the poor man, but in the punishment of the rich man ». And again the same: « I have not yet found, and I still seek, nor has it occurred to me, that Scripture has anywhere set the nether world in a good sense: but the bosom of Abraham is to be taken in no way except in a good sense »: therefore if the holy Fathers are carried into the bosom of Abraham, as the Lord himself testifies concerning Lazarus, it is clear etc.
Conclusion
Conclusion. "Hell" is said both of the lowest place, with the punishment of sense and of loss, and of the lower place with the punishment of loss alone, namely limbo, which is either the limbo of infants or the limbo of the Fathers, that is, the bosom of Abraham.
I respond: It must be said that hell is called a place of punishments, and a place which is lower both by reason of its state, which is base, and by reason of its situation. Hell can therefore be named from its highest point; and then "hell" is called the place in which there is the greatest punishment, and the lowest place; and this belongs to none but the damned, who are punished with the punishment of sense and are cast down below1 without hope. Again it can be called the lower place, in which someone is punished with the punishment of loss; and this is called limbo2. And into this the holy Fathers descended before Christ's coming, and unbaptized infants descend now.
But it must be noted that the Fathers were in the upper part, and the infants in the lower part. And the reason for this is that the latter have the lack of the vision without expectation; the former had it with expectation, and therefore, because they were in the upper part and were awaiting the vision of God, they were said to be not merely in limbo, but in the bosom of Abraham. That place, then, was called hell, both because it was lower and because in some way it was a place of misery; limbo, because it was a punishment of lack; but the bosom of Abraham3, because there was an expectation of glory. — And so "hell" sounds only toward evil, in whatever way it be taken; but "the bosom of Abraham" toward good, and this because there is rest there, either through the privation of evil or through the conferral of every good; and thus it is a place of glory4.
To the arguments:
And through this distinction the answer to both sides is clear. For the reasons for the first side proceed concerning hell taken broadly and according to situation; but the reasons for the opposite, concerning hell taken properly and according to punishment, as is clear to one who runs through them one by one.
I. It is agreed that separated spirits and souls are not circumscriptively in a place; nevertheless it is commonly taught that diverse places have been assigned to them by God, places congruent with their state and merits, as sufficiently appears from Sacred Scripture. Commonly, too, five abodes are distinguished, one of which, namely the limbo of the Fathers, ceased after the coming of Christ. For the limbo of the Fathers is distinguished from the limbo of children, if not according to place, at least according to quality, because the Fathers of the Old Testament, their original and personal guilt having been blotted out, living in faith, hope and charity, did indeed have, before the satisfaction completed by Christ, an impediment to the beatific vision, but only on the side of nature, as St. Thomas says, whereas in children not freed from original sin there is in addition an impediment on the side of the person. — The term bosom of Abraham is commonly said of the limbo of the Fathers, but is sometimes applied also to the complete rest of the Saints, as St. Thomas observes along with our author (here q. 1, a. 2, quaestiuncula 1, ad 2). — Other questions as well concerning these abodes St. Thomas sets out here q. 1, a. 1, 2, 3; Suppl. q. 69, a. 1–9.
On the 1st and 2nd question, besides St. Thomas: Bl. Albert, on this and the following questions, above d. 44, a. 4, 5. — Peter of Tarantaise, here q. 1, a. 1–3. — Richard of Middleton, here a. 1, q. 1, 2. — Denis the Carthusian, here q. 1.
II. In the solution of the 2nd question St. Bonaventure teaches that damned souls never go out from the place of torments before the judgment; but St. Thomas (here q. 1, a. 1, quaestiuncula 3; Suppl. q. 69, a. 3) says: « This too can be believed, that it sometimes happens with the damned that they are permitted to appear to the living for the instruction and terror of men ».
On the same question, besides those already praised: Peter of Tarantaise, loc. cit. — Richard of Middleton, here a. 1, q. 3.
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- 3Vers. 38. — Seq. locus ibid. 37, 35.Verse 38. — The following passage, ibid. 37, 35.
- 4Vers. 13: Si sustinuero, infernus domus mea est, et in tenebris stravi lectulum meum.Verse 13: If I wait, hell is my house, and in the darkness I have made my bed.
- 5Scilicet Apostolorum. — Inferius pro ereptionem cod. F extractionem (cfr. III. Sent. d. 22. q. 4. seqq.), et pro descendebant cod. E descenderant.Namely, of the Apostles [the Apostles' Creed]. — Below, for ereptionem codex F reads extractionem (cf. III Sent. d. 22, q. 4 ff.), and for descendebant codex E reads descenderant.
- 6Vers. 24.Verse 24.
- 7Breviar. Roman. in Officio defunctor. III. Noct. Resp. ad lect. 7, et Bernard., Serm. 42. de Diversis, n. 5.Roman Breviary, in the Office of the Dead, Third Nocturn, Responsory to lesson 7; and Bernard, Sermon 42 On Various Subjects, n. 5.
- 8Vers. 26.Verse 26.
- 9Cap. 33. n. 63. (respicitur Luc. 16, 22.). — Seq. locus est ibid. n. 64. Textus originalis substituit quaero pro requiro, et post Scripturam prosequitur: dumtaxat canonicam. Non autem in bono accipiendum sinum Abrahae... nescio, utrum quisquam possit audire etc.Chapter 33, n. 63 (Luke 16:22 is referred to). — The following passage is ibid. n. 64. The original text substitutes quaero for requiro, and after Scripturam it continues: only the canonical [Scripture]. But that the bosom of Abraham is not to be taken except in a good sense... I do not know whether anyone can hear etc.
- 1Fere omnes codd. et ed. 1 inferius, cod. M evasionis.Nearly all the codices and edition 1 read inferius; codex M reads evasionis.
- 2Du Cange, Glossarium etc., recensens etymologiam huius vocis limbus, refert, quod aliqui putant sic appellatum, quod is locus sit veluti limbus inferorum i. e. ora inferorum, quemadmodum etiam dicitur limbus Angliae i. e. ora Angliae. — Aliquanto inferius post visionis codd. R X supplent Dei.Du Cange, Glossarium etc., in reviewing the etymology of this word limbus, reports that some think it is so called because that place is as it were the limbus [hem] of the nether regions, i.e. the shore of the nether regions, in the same way as one also says limbus Angliae, i.e. the coast of England. — Somewhat further below, after visionis, codices R and X supply Dei.
- 3Petr. Comestor, Histor. scholast. in Gen. c. 87: Erat enim tunc in inferno quidam locus Beatorum, longe semotus a locis poenalibus, qui ob quietem et separationem ab aliis sinus dicebatur, sicut sinum maris dicimus. Et dictus est etiam sinus Abrahae, quia etiam Abraham ibi erat etc.Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica on Genesis, c. 87: For there was then in the nether world a certain place of the Blessed, far removed from the places of punishment, which on account of its quiet and its separation from the others was called a bosom [sinus], as we speak of a bosom of the sea. And it was also called the bosom of Abraham, because Abraham too was there, etc.
- 4Vide supra d. 1. p. II. dub. 3.See above, d. 1, p. II, dub. 3. ---