Bonaventure

QUAESTIO II.

Utrum defunctis prosint suffragia facta per malos.

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body above and the English translation. Quaracchi restarts footnote numbering on each printed page; this chunk occupies a single printed page and therefore carries one series, notes 1–12 of page 945, labelled page-qualified for that page.

Secundo quaeritur, utrum prosint suffragia facta per malos. Et quod non, videtur.

1. Ioannis nono¹: Scimus, quia peccatores Deus non exaudit: ergo si non prodest oratio, quam Deus non exaudit; patet etc. Quodsi dicas, quod verbum illud non est verum, quia a caeco, non ab Evangelista dictum est; contra: hoc non solvit, quia Isaiae primo²: Cum multiplicaveritis orationes, non exaudiam. Manus enim vestrae plenae sunt sanguine; Glossa: Sanguine, id est «peccato»: ergo si omnis peccator et malus est talis, videtur, quod suffragia facta per malos non prosint.

2. Item, Gregorius³: «Cum is qui displicet, ad intercedendum mittitur, irati animus ad deteriora provocatur»: ergo potius obsunt, quam prosint.

3. Item, ratione videtur: quia nullum opus est satisfactorium, nisi quod fit ex radice caritatis⁴; sed illud non fit sic, quod fit a malo: ergo non satisfacit.

4. Item, iste peccator non est membrum Ecclesiae: ergo nullam habet connexionem cum illo qui mortuus est: ergo opus eius omnino est alienum ab ipso defuncto, ergo nihil ei facit.

5. Item, si malus faceret pro se, nihil sibi prodesset: ergo pari ratione non prodest alii, si faceret pro illo, quia unusquisque efficacius meretur sibi quam alii⁵.

Contra:

1. Sacramenta Ecclesiae aeque bona sunt, cum dispensantur per bonos et malos: ergo Missa mali sacerdotis ita prodest ut boni⁶.

2. Item, quando servus, existens extra caritatem, dat eleemosynam ad imperium domini, meretur dominus, ac si servus bene⁷ daret: ergo similiter in proposito, cum ille, pro quo fit, sit in caritate, valet ei.

3. Item, ratione videtur: quia Dominus sua largitate reputat opus factum ab alio, ac si fiat ab eo, pro quo fit; sed⁸ ille est in caritate: ergo etc.

4. Item, quando aliquis facit alicui eleemosynam, etsi dans sit extra caritatem, tamen recipiens potest mereri in recipiendo, si recipit ex caritate; sed iste mortuus suffragia vivorum recipit⁹ ex caritate: ergo etc.

CONCLUSIO.

Suffragia pro mortuis, exceptis operibus sacramentalibus, si fiant pure a malis, non prosunt, nisi concomitetur caritas viri iusti.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod quidam dicunt generaliter, quod suffragia Ecclesiae prosunt, sive a bonis fiant, sive a malis. Et ratio huius est, quia tam boni quam mali faciunt secundum doctrinam Ecclesiae et faciunt pro eo qui est in caritate, et ubi deficit caritas facientis, supplet caritas Ecclesiae dictantis et mortui suscipientis. — Sed non credo, breviter, quod oratio peccatoris aliquid mereatur apud Deum nisi solum dispositive, quia disponit ad meritum. Opus enim formam recipit a proximo agente, sicut aqua a vase continente, non a fonte; similiter corona valorem et pulcritudinem habet a gemmis et ab auro, et non a quatuor elementis.

Et ideo distinguendum, quod suffragia facta aut sunt opera sacramentalia, ut celebratio Missae; et tunc, quia opera Dei sunt, ratione contenti prosunt, sive fiant a bonis, sive a malis. Aut sunt alia opera, et hoc dupliciter: aut enim fiunt pure a malis, sicut aliquis malus orat et se affligit pro aliquo; et tunc non credo, quod valeant defunctis. Aut fiunt a malis ad imperium alicuius boni, ut ipsius defuncti vel amici eius, de re, quae illius est, ut¹⁰ eleemosyna; vel ad consortium alterius, ut quando duo legunt Psalterium, unus existens in caritate, alter non; et in aliis operibus, ut quando datur eleemosyna iusto, ut oret pro mortuo; et tunc valent ratione caritatis boni hominis coniunctae.

Et sic solvuntur rationes ad utramque partem. Concedendum enim, quod non prosunt secundum quod fiunt a malis tantum; concedendum nihilominus, quod prosunt, si concomitatur caritas viri iusti. — Sed tamen ultima ratio non valet, quia defunctorum non¹¹ est suffragia recipere, sed Dei est acceptare et ex hoc eis parcere; sed non acceptat nisi preces bonorum. Et sic manifesta sunt obiecta ad utramque partem¹².

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QUESTION II.

Whether suffrages made by the wicked profit the dead.

Secondly it is asked whether suffrages made by the wicked profit. And that they do not, seems [to be the case]:

1. In John, chapter nine¹: We know that God does not hear sinners: therefore if a prayer which God does not hear is of no profit; it is evident, etc. But if you say that that saying is not true, because it was said by the blind man, not by the Evangelist; on the contrary: this does not solve [the difficulty], because in Isaiah, chapter one²: When you multiply prayers, I will not hear. For your hands are full of blood; the Gloss: With blood, that is, «with sin»: therefore if every sinner and wicked man is such, it seems that suffrages made by the wicked do not profit.

2. Likewise, Gregory³: «When he who displeases is sent to intercede, the mind of the angered one is provoked to worse things»: therefore they rather hurt than profit.

3. Likewise, it seems by reason: because no work is satisfactory except that which is done from the root of charity⁴; but that which is done by a wicked man is not so done: therefore it does not make satisfaction.

4. Likewise, this sinner is not a member of the Church: therefore he has no connection with him who has died: therefore his work is altogether alien to the dead man himself, therefore it does nothing for him.

5. Likewise, if a wicked man were to act on his own behalf, it would profit him nothing: therefore by parity of reasoning it does not profit another, if he were to act on that other's behalf, since each one merits more efficaciously for himself than for another⁵.

On the contrary:

1. The Sacraments of the Church are equally good when they are dispensed by the good and by the wicked: therefore the Mass of a wicked priest profits just as [that] of a good one⁶.

2. Likewise, when a servant, being outside charity, gives an alms at his master's command, the master merits, as if the servant had given well⁷: therefore likewise in the case proposed, since he for whom it is done is in charity, it avails him.

3. Likewise, it seems by reason: because the Lord in his largesse reckons a work done by another as if it were done by him for whom it is done; but⁸ that one is in charity: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, when someone gives an alms to another, even if the giver is outside charity, nevertheless the recipient can merit in the receiving, if he receives out of charity; but this dead man receives⁹ the suffrages of the living out of charity: therefore etc.

CONCLUSION.

Suffrages for the dead, sacramental works excepted, if they are made purely by the wicked, do not profit, unless the charity of a just man accompanies [them].

I respond: It must be said that some say generally that the suffrages of the Church profit, whether they are made by the good or by the wicked. And the ground of this is that both the good and the wicked act according to the doctrine of the Church, and act on behalf of one who is in charity; and where the charity of the doer is lacking, the charity of the Church that prescribes [it] and of the dead man who receives [it] supplies [what is wanting]. — But I do not believe, in brief, that the prayer of a sinner merits anything with God except only dispositively, because it disposes toward merit. For a work receives its form from the proximate agent, as water [does] from the vessel containing [it], not from the spring; likewise a crown has its value and beauty from the gems and from the gold, and not from the four elements.

And therefore a distinction must be made: that suffrages made are either sacramental works, such as the celebration of the Mass; and then, because they are works of God, they profit by reason of what they contain, whether they are made by the good or by the wicked. Or they are other works, and this in two ways: for either they are made purely by the wicked, as when some wicked man prays and afflicts himself on someone's behalf; and then I do not believe that they avail the dead. Or they are made by the wicked at the command of some good person, such as the dead man himself or a friend of his, out of a thing which belongs to that [good person], as¹⁰ an alms; or [they are made] for the fellowship of another, as when two read the Psalter, the one being in charity, the other not; and [so] in other works, as when an alms is given to a just man that he may pray for the dead man; and then they avail by reason of the conjoined charity of the good man.

And thus the reasons on both sides are resolved. For it must be granted that they do not profit insofar as they are made by the wicked alone; it must nonetheless be granted that they do profit, if the charity of a just man accompanies [them]. — But nevertheless the last reason does not hold, because it does not belong to the dead¹¹ to receive suffrages, but it belongs to God to accept [them] and from this to spare them; but he does not accept save the prayers of the good. And thus the objections on both sides are made manifest¹².

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