Bonaventure

Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page, so this chunk carries two per-page sequences. Footnote labels here are page-qualified: notes 6 through 9 of printed page 950, then notes 1 through 3 of printed page 951. Notes 1 through 5 of page 950 anchor in the preceding quaestio, and notes 4 through 8 of page 951 anchor in the dubia that follow; neither set is rendered here.

Quaestio III. Utrum utile sit nobis rogare Sanctos.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum utile sit nobis rogare Sanctos. Et quod non, videtur:

1. Quia iste qui convertitur ad rogandum Sanctos, aut est dignus exaudiri, aut non. Si est dignus, etiam sine Sanctis exaudietur; si non est dignus, etiam cum Sanctis non exaudietur, nec Sancti rogabunt pro ipso: ergo etc.

2. Item, oratio est species latriae; sed « latria est cultus soli Deo debitus⁶ »: ergo oratio debet fieri soli Deo. — Si dicas, quod est species non tantum latriae, sed etiam duliae; ergo si magis debemus honorare maiores, videtur, quod male facit qui instantius rogat minores; et hoc videtur stultitia, quia maiores Sancti, ut beata Virgo, potentiores sunt in conspectu Dei.

3. Item, Deus est nobis misericordior et praesentior quam aliquis Sanctus; sed stultus esset qui posset adire regem et inveniret eum benigniorem quam principem, qui, relicto rege, adiret principem: ergo etc.

4. Item, Sancti sunt nobis absentes; sed stultus est qui absenti loquitur: ergo stultus est qui a Sanctis aliquid petit. Forte dices, quod ipsi vident in Deo; contra: Angeli portant petitiones⁷; sed si lucerent in Verbo, frustra portarent: ergo etc.

Contra:

1. Nos debemus Sanctos Dei honorare; sed qui orat aliquem ipsum honorat: ergo etc.

2. Item, plus possunt Sancti in curia Dei quam aliqui principes in curia regis; sed sapientiae est, volentem⁸ impetrare in curia regis deprecari principes: ergo etc.

3. Item, hoc facit communiter Ecclesia; et constat, quod non errat: ergo etc.

Conclusio.

Deus decrevit et voluit, quod Sanctos rogaremus.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod Deus decrevit et voluit, quod Sanctos rogaremus, triplici ex causa, scilicet propter nostram inopiam, Sanctorum gloriam et Dei reverentiam. — Propter inopiam in merendo, ut ubi nostra non suppeterent merita, patrocinentur aliena; propter inopiam in contemplando, ut qui non possumus summam lucem aspicere in se, aspiciamus in Sanctis; propter inopiam in amando, quia miser homo se magis sentit affici circa unum Sanctum quam etiam circa Deum. Ideo compassus nostrae inopiae voluit, nos rogare Sanctos. — Ac per hoc patet primum: quia ille qui ante erat indignus, rogat Sanctos, ut eorum patrocinio efficiatur dignus⁹.

Secunda causa est Sanctorum gloria: quia Deus vult Sanctos suos glorificare, vult per eos

miracula facere in¹ corporibus et salutem in animabus, ut ipsos laudemus; et hoc non tantum per supremos Sanctos, sed etiam infimos; unde sicut aliquis sanatur corporaliter invocando Linum et non invocando Petrum, alius e converso: sic et spiritualiter. — Et sic patet secundum, quia Deus vult, honorem duliae omnibus Sanctis dari.

Tertia causa est Dei reverentia, ut peccator, qui Deum offendit, quasi non audeat Deum in propria persona adire, sed amicorum patrocinium implorare. — Et sic patet tertium obiectum, quia bonum est aliquando a Deo resilire ob reverentiam.

4. Ad illud autem quod obiicitur, quod sunt absentes; dicendum secundum Magistrum², quod revelantur a Verbo eatenus, qua expedit saluti nostrae. — Et quod dicitur de Angelis, quod offerunt Deo petitiones nostras; hoc dicitur, quia ipsum consulunt super petitionibus nostris, ut sciant, qualiter erga nos debeant ministrare. — Si autem quaeratur, qualiter quis invocet beatum Petrum, cum sit mortuus; dicendum, quod invocatur spiritus Petri; et quoniam spiritus habet esse gloriosum et perfectum: ideo, ne videamur eius gloriam diminuere, synecdochica locutione quod est totius attribuimus parti, vel locutionem, quam dirigimus ad animam, attribuimus toti. Et sic patet illud³.

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Question III. Whether it is useful for us to entreat the Saints.

Thirdly it is asked whether it is useful for us to entreat the Saints. And that it is not seems the case:

1. Because that man who turns to entreating the Saints either is worthy to be heard or not. If he is worthy, he will be heard even without the Saints; if he is not worthy, he will not be heard even with the Saints, nor will the Saints entreat on his behalf: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, prayer is a species of latria; but « latria is the worship due to God alone⁶ »: therefore prayer ought to be made to God alone. — If you say that it is a species not only of latria but also of dulia; then, if we ought rather to honor the greater, it seems that he does ill who more insistently entreats the lesser; and this seems folly, since the greater Saints, such as the blessed Virgin, are more powerful in the sight of God.

3. Likewise, God is more merciful and more present to us than any Saint; but a man would be foolish who, being able to approach the king and finding him kinder than the prince, should leave the king aside and approach the prince: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, the Saints are absent from us; but he is foolish who speaks to one who is absent: therefore he is foolish who asks anything of the Saints. Perhaps you will say that they see [it] in God; on the contrary: the Angels carry up our petitions⁷; but if they were shining in the Word, they would carry them in vain: therefore etc.

On the contrary:

1. We ought to honor the Saints of God; but he who prays to someone honors him: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the Saints can do more in the court of God than any princes can in the court of the king; but it belongs to wisdom that one wishing⁸ to obtain [something] in the king's court should entreat the princes: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, the Church commonly does this; and it is established that she does not err: therefore etc.

Conclusion.

God has decreed and willed that we should entreat the Saints.

I respond: It must be said that God has decreed and willed that we should entreat the Saints, for a threefold cause, namely on account of our neediness, the glory of the Saints, and the reverence of God. — On account of neediness in meriting, so that where our own merits should not suffice, those of others may plead for us; on account of neediness in contemplating, so that we who cannot look upon the highest light in itself may look upon it in the Saints; on account of neediness in loving, because wretched man feels himself more affected toward one Saint than even toward God. Therefore, having compassion on our neediness, he willed that we should entreat the Saints. — And by this the first [objection] is plain: because he who before was unworthy entreats the Saints, that by their patronage he may be made worthy⁹.

The second cause is the glory of the Saints: because God wills to glorify his Saints, he wills through them

to work miracles in¹ bodies and salvation in souls, that we may praise them; and this not only through the highest Saints, but also through the lowest; whence, just as one man is healed bodily by invoking Linus and not by invoking Peter, and another the other way round: so also spiritually. — And thus the second [objection] is plain, because God wills that the honor of dulia be given to all the Saints.

The third cause is the reverence of God, so that the sinner, who has offended God, may as it were not dare to approach God in his own person, but rather implore the patronage of his friends. — And thus the third objection is plain, because it is sometimes good to draw back from God out of reverence.

4. But to that which is objected, that they are absent; it must be said, according to the Master², that things are revealed [to them] by the Word so far as is expedient for our salvation. — And as to what is said of the Angels, that they offer our petitions to God; this is said because they consult him concerning our petitions, that they may know how they ought to minister toward us. — But if it be asked how anyone invokes blessed Peter, since he is dead; it must be said that the spirit of Peter is invoked; and since the spirit has a glorious and perfect being: therefore, lest we seem to diminish his glory, by a synecdochic manner of speech we attribute to the part what belongs to the whole, or the speech which we direct to the soul we attribute to the whole. And thus that [objection] is plain³.

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