Bonaventure

On the footnote numbering. Quaracchi restarts its footer numbering on every printed page, so this chunk carries three independent sequences: notes 1–2 of page 936, notes 1–5 of page 937 and notes 1–5 of page 938. They are given page-qualified labels below so that no two definitions collide.

Cap. I. De diversis animarum receptaculis post mortem.

Praeterea sciendum est, quod omnes animae, ut ait Augustinus¹, «cum de saeculo exierint, diversas habent receptiones: bonae habent gaudium, malae tormenta. Sed cum facta fuerit resurrectio, et bonorum gaudium amplius erit, et malorum tormenta graviora, quando cum corpore torquebuntur». — Ex his ostenditur, quod maius erit gaudium Sanctorum in resurrectione et post, quam fuerit ante; et quod diversa receptacula habebunt animae Sanctorum. De quibus idem Augustinus ait: «Tempus, quod inter hominis mortem et ultimam resurrectionem interpositum est, animas abditis receptaculis continet, sicut unaquaeque digna est vel requie, vel aerumna, pro eo quod sortita est in carne, dum viveret».

Cap. II. De suffragiis defunctorum.

«Neque negandum est, ut ait Augustinus, defunctorum animas pietate suorum viventium relevari, cum pro illis sacrificium Mediatoris² offertur, vel eleemosynae fiunt in Ecclesia. Sed eis haec prosunt, qui, cum viverent, ut haec sibi postea possent prodesse, meruerunt. Est enim quidam vivendi modus, nec tam bonus, ut non requirat ista post mortem, nec tam malus, ut ei non prosint ista post mortem; est vero talis in bono, ut ista non requirat; et est rursus talis in malo, ut nec his valeat, cum haec vita transierit, adiuvari. Quocirca hic omne meritum comparatur, quo possit post hanc vitam quispiam gravari, vel relevari. Nemo autem speret, quod hic neglexit, cum obierit, apud Deum promereri. Non igitur ista quae pro defunctis commendandis frequentat Ecclesia, illi apostolicae sunt adversa sententiae, qua dictum est: Omnes astabimus ante tribunal Christi, ut referat unusquisque, secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, scilicet bona vel mala; quia etiam hoc meritum sibi quisque, cum in corpore viveret, comparavit, ut possint ei ista prodesse; non enim omnibus prosunt. Et quare non? Nisi propter differentiam vitae, quam quisque gessit in corpore. Cum ergo sacrificia, sive altaris, sive quarumcumque eleemosynarum, pro baptizatis omnibus offeruntur, pro valde bonis gratiarum actiones sunt, pro non valde malis propitiationes sunt. Sed pro valde malis, etiamsi nulla sunt adiumenta mortuorum, tamen qualescumque vivorum consolationes sunt. Quibus vero prosunt vel ad hoc prosunt, ut sit plena remissio, vel certe ut tolerabilior sit ipsa damnatio». «Orationibus ergo sanctae Ecclesiae et sacrificio salutari et eleemosynis, quae pro eorum spiritibus offeruntur, non est dubium mortuos

adiuvari, ut cum eis misericordius agatur a Domino, quam eorum peccata meruerunt. Hoc enim a Patribus traditum tota observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in communione corporis et sanguinis Christi defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorentur, oretur, ac pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur. Non est igitur ambigendum, ista prodesse defunctis, sed talibus, qui ita vixerunt ante mortem, ut possint eis haec utilia esse post mortem. Nam qui sine fide operante per dilectionem eiusque Sacramentis de corpore exierunt, frustra illis a suis huiusmodi pietatis officia impenduntur, cuius, dum hic essent, pignore caruerunt, non misericordiam sibi thesaurizantes, sed iram. Non ergo mortuis nova merita comparantur, cum pro eis aliquid boni operantur sui, sed eorum praecedentibus consequentia ista redduntur. Nam istam quisque finiens vitam, nisi quod in ea meruerit, non poterit habere post eam». — Ecce, quibus et qualiter prosint illa quae pro defunctis frequentat Ecclesia: mediocriter malis suffragantur ad poenae mitigationem; mediocriter bonis ad plenam absolutionem, qui non habent tantae perfectionis merita, ut non indigeant iuvari per pauperes, quorum est regnum caelorum, quos sibi fecerunt amicos de mammona iniquitatis; quorum tanta est perfectio, ut his adiutoriis non indigeant, quales sunt Apostoli et Martyres. Ut enim ait Augustinus¹: «Iniuria est pro Martyre orare in Ecclesia, cuius nos debemus orationibus commendari; pro aliis autem defunctis oratur».

Cap. III. De officiis sepulturae.

De pompis vero exsequiarum idem Augustinus² ita dicit: «Pompa funeris, agmina exsequiarum, sumptuosa diligentia sepulturae vivorum sunt qualiacumque solatia, non adiutoria mortuorum. Si aliquid prodest impio sepultura pretiosa, oberit pio vilis vel nulla. Praeclaras exsequias in conspectu hominum purpurato illi diviti exhibuit turba famulorum, sed multo clariores in conspectu Domini ulceroso illi pauperi ministerium exhibuit Angelorum, qui eum extulerunt non in marmoreum tumulum, sed in Abrahae gremium». «Sit tamen cura mortuos sepeliendi et sepulcra construendi, quia haec in Scripturis sanctis inter bona opera deputata sunt, nec solum in corporibus Patriarcharum aliorumque Sanctorum, sed etiam in ipsius Domini corpore qui ista fecerunt laudati sunt. Impleant igitur haec homines erga suos officia postremi muneris et sui humani lenimenta moeroris. Verum illa quae adiuvant spiritus defunctorum, scilicet oblationes, orationes multo observantius procurent».

Cap. IV. De duobus aeque bonis, quorum alter post mortem plura habet auxilia.

Solet moveri quaestio de duobus, uno divite, altero paupere, pariter, sed mediocriter bonis, qui praedictis suffragiis indigent et meruerunt pariter post mortem iuvari; pro altero vero, id est pro divite, speciales et communes fiunt orationes multaeque eleemosynarum largitiones, pro paupere vero non fiunt nisi communes orationes. Quaeritur ergo, an tantum iuvetur pauper paucioribus subsidiis, quantum dives amplioribus. Si non pariter iuvatur, non ei redditur secundum merita, meruit³ enim pariter iuvari, quia pariter boni exstiterunt; si vero tantum suffragii consequitur, quantum dives; quid contulerunt diviti illa specialiter pro eo facta? — Sane dici potest, non ei magis valuisse generalia et specialia, quam pauperi sola generalia suffragia. Et tamen profuerunt diviti specialia, non quidem ad aliud vel maius aliquid, sed ad idem, ad quod generalia, ut ex pluribus et diversis causis unum perciperetur emolumentum. — Potest tamen dici aliter, illa plura subsidia contulisse diviti celeriorem absolutionem, non pleniorem.

Cap. V. Quibus suffragiis iuvabuntur in fine reperti.

Sed iterum quaeritur de aliquo mediocriter bono, qui, talibus indigens suffragiis, in ipso consummationis saeculi articulo cum reliquis⁴ migrabit, si salvus fuerit. Pro eo non offertur ulterius sacrificium vel oratio vel eleemosyna, nec habebat tantae perfectionis merita, quae his suffragiis non egerent. Nunquid ergo salvabitur? — Existimo, eum, quasi per ignem transeuntem, salvari meritis et intercessionibus caelestis Ecclesiae, quae pro fidelibus semper intercedit voto et merito, donec impleatur Christus.

Cap. VI. Quomodo Sancti et glorificati vel Angeli audiunt preces supplicantium et intercedunt pro eis.

Sed forte quaeris: nunquid preces supplicantium Sancti audiunt, et vota postulantium in eorum notitiam perveniunt? — Non est incredibile, animas Sanctorum, quae in abscondito faciei Dei⁵ veri luminis illustratione laetantur, in ipsius contemplatione ea quae foris aguntur, intelligere, quantum vel illis ad gaudium, vel nobis ad auxilium pertinet. Sicut enim Angelis, ita et

Deo assistunt Sancti, quibus petitiones nostrae innotescunt in Verbo Dei, quod contemplantur. Unde et dicuntur Angeli orationes et vota nostra offerre Deo, non quia eum doceant, sed quia eius voluntatem super eis consulunt. Unde Augustinus¹: «Angelis, qui sunt apud Deum, innotescunt petitiones nostrae, ut quodam modo eas offerant Deo et de his consulant, et quod Deo iubente, implendum esse cognoverint, hoc nobis vel evidenter, vel latenter reportent. Unde et Angelus hominibus ait: Cum oraretis, orationem vestram obtuli Deo». «Ad omnia quidem scienda sufficit Deo sua perfectio; habet tamen nuntios, id est Angelos, non qui ei quae nescit, annuntient — non enim sunt ulla, quae nesciat — sed bonum eorum est de operibus suis eius consulere veritatem, et hoc est, quod ei dicuntur nonnulla nuntiare, non ut ipse ab eis discat, sed ut ab eo ipsi per Verbum eius sine corporali sono. Nuntiant² etiam quod voluerit, ab eo missi ad quos voluerit, totum ab illo per illud Verbum eius audientes, id est in eius veritate invenientes, quid sibi faciendum, quid, quibus et quando nuntiandum sit. Nam et nos, orantes eum, non eum docemus, quia novit, ait Verbum eius, Pater vester, quid vobis necessarium sit, priusquam petatis ab eo. Nec ista ex tempore cognovit, sed futura omnia temporalia atque in eis etiam, quid et quando ab illo petituri fueramus, et quos et de quibus rebus vel exauditurus, vel non exauditurus esset, sine initio ante praescivit». «Non ergo dicitur Angelus³ orationes nostras offerre Deo, quasi Deus tunc noverit, quid velimus et quo indigeamus, quae omnia, antequam fiant, sicut et postquam facta sunt, novit; sed quia necesse habet rationalis creatura temporales causas ad aeternam veritatem referre, sive petendo, quid erga se fiat, sive consulendo, quid faciat».

Si autem Angeli a Deo per Verbum eius discunt petitiones nostras, et quid de his implendum sit et quid non; cur non credamus, et animas Sanctorum Dei faciem contemplantium in eius veritate intelligere preces hominum, et quae implendae sint, vel non? Inde est, quod Deus dicitur exaudire preces quorundam, non solum, quando effectui mancipat, sed etiam, quando innotescit curiae Angelorum et sanctarum animarum, quid inde futurum sit, vel non; et quod cognoscunt in Dei voluntate esse, volunt et ipsi. Adeo enim supernae Veritati⁴ addicti sunt, ut nihil praeter eius voluntatem queant velle. Intercedunt igitur ad Deum pro nobis Sancti et merito, dum eorum merita suffragantur nobis, et affectu, quia vota nostra cupiunt impleri; quod tamen non faciunt, nisi in voluntate Dei implenda didicerint. Oramus ergo, ut intercedant pro nobis, id est, ut merita eorum nobis suffragentur, et ut ipsi velint bonum nostrum, quia, eis volentibus, Deus vult, et ita fiet. — Ex praemissis constat, quod cum quibusdam misericordius agit Deus, quam aliqua⁵ eorum peccata meruerint, scilicet cum mediocriter malis, qui suffragiis Ecclesiae iuvantur.

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Chapter I. On the diverse abodes of souls after death.

Furthermore it must be known that all souls, as Augustine says¹, «when they have gone forth from the world, have diverse receptions: the good have joy, the evil torments. But when the resurrection has taken place, both the joy of the good will be greater, and the torments of the evil heavier, when they shall be tormented together with the body». — From these things it is shown that the joy of the Saints will be greater in the resurrection and after it than it was before; and that the souls of the Saints will have diverse abodes. Concerning which the same Augustine says: «The time which is interposed between a man's death and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden abodes, according as each is worthy either of rest or of hardship, in view of what it obtained by lot in the flesh while it lived».

Chapter II. On the suffrages for the dead.

«Nor is it to be denied, as Augustine says, that the souls of the departed are relieved by the piety of their own living kin, when the sacrifice of the Mediator² is offered for them, or alms are given in the Church. But these things profit those who, while they lived, merited that these things should afterwards be able to profit them. For there is a certain manner of living neither so good that it does not require these things after death, nor so evil that these things cannot profit it after death; but there is one such in good that it does not require them; and there is again one such in evil that it cannot be helped by them when this life has passed. Wherefore every merit whereby anyone can be burdened or relieved after this life is procured here. But let no one hope to obtain from God after he has died what he neglected here. Therefore those things which the Church performs for commending the departed are not contrary to that apostolic sentence in which it is said: We shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may render an account according to the things which he has done through the body, namely good or evil; because each one procured for himself this merit also, while he lived in the body, so that these things might be able to profit him; for they do not profit all. And why not? Except because of the difference of the life which each led in the body. When, therefore, sacrifices, whether of the altar or of alms of any kind whatever, are offered for all the baptized, for the very good they are thanksgivings, for the not very evil they are propitiations. But for the very evil, even though they are no helps to the dead, they are nevertheless consolations of some sort for the living. And those whom they do profit, they profit unto this: that there may be full remission, or at least that the damnation itself may be more tolerable». «By the prayers, therefore, of holy Church and by the saving sacrifice and by the alms which are offered for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are

to be helped, so that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than their sins have deserved. For the whole Church observes this, handed down from the Fathers, that for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place at the sacrifice itself, prayer be made, and that it be commemorated that it is offered for them also. There is therefore no room for doubt that these things profit the departed, but only such as have so lived before death that these things can be of use to them after death. For as to those who have gone forth from the body without faith working through love and without His Sacraments, in vain are offices of piety of this sort bestowed upon them by their own, since, while they were here, they lacked the pledge of it, treasuring up for themselves not mercy, but wrath. Therefore no new merits are procured for the dead when their own do something good for them, but these things are rendered as consequences of what went before. For no one, ending this life, will be able to have after it anything except what he has merited in it». — Behold, for whom and in what manner those things profit which the Church performs for the departed: for the moderately evil they avail unto the mitigation of punishment; for the moderately good, unto full absolution — those, that is, who do not have merits of such perfection that they need no help from the poor, whose is the kingdom of heaven, whom they have made for themselves friends of the mammon of iniquity; whose perfection is so great that they need not these helps, such as are the Apostles and the Martyrs. For as Augustine says¹: «It is an injury to pray for a Martyr in the Church, to whose prayers we ourselves ought to be commended; but for the other departed prayer is made».

Chapter III. On the offices of burial.

But concerning the pomps of funerals the same Augustine² speaks thus: «The pomp of a funeral, the throngs of the obsequies, the costly care of burial are solaces of whatever sort for the living, not helps for the dead. If a costly burial profits the impious at all, a cheap one or none at all will harm the pious. A crowd of servants displayed splendid obsequies in the sight of men for that rich man clothed in purple, but far more splendid in the sight of the Lord was the ministry of the Angels displayed for that ulcerous poor man, who bore him not into a marble tomb, but into Abraham's bosom». «Let there be, nevertheless, care for burying the dead and for constructing sepulchres, because these things are reckoned in the holy Scriptures among good works, and those who did these things were praised not only in the bodies of the Patriarchs and of the other Saints, but even in the body of the Lord Himself. Let men therefore fulfil these offices of the last service toward their own, and these soothings of their human grief. But let them procure with far greater diligence those things which help the spirits of the departed, namely oblations and prayers».

Chapter IV. On two equally good men, of whom one has more helps after death.

A question is wont to be raised about two men, one rich, the other poor, equally but moderately good, who need the aforesaid suffrages and have equally merited to be helped after death; but for the one, that is, for the rich man, both special and common prayers are made and many bestowals of alms, whereas for the poor man only common prayers are made. It is asked, therefore, whether the poor man is helped as much by fewer aids as the rich man by more. If he is not equally helped, it is not rendered to him according to his merits, for he merited³ to be equally helped, since they were equally good; but if he obtains as much of suffrage as the rich man, what did those things specially done for the rich man confer upon him? — It can soundly be said that the general and the special suffrages did not avail him more than the general suffrages alone availed the poor man. And yet the special ones did profit the rich man — not indeed unto something else or something greater, but unto the same thing unto which the general ones availed, so that from more and diverse causes one benefit might be received. — Yet it can be said otherwise, that those more numerous aids conferred upon the rich man a swifter absolution, not a fuller one.

Chapter V. By what suffrages those found at the end will be helped.

But again a question is raised about someone moderately good who, needing such suffrages, will pass over at the very moment of the world's consummation with the rest⁴, if he shall be saved. For him no sacrifice or prayer or alms is offered any longer, nor did he have merits of such perfection as would have no need of these suffrages. Will he then be saved? — I judge that he, as one passing through fire, is saved by the merits and intercessions of the heavenly Church, which always intercedes for the faithful by desire and by merit, until Christ be fulfilled.

Chapter VI. How the Saints and the glorified, or the Angels, hear the prayers of suppliants and intercede for them.

But perhaps you ask: do the Saints hear the prayers of suppliants, and do the desires of petitioners come to their knowledge? — It is not incredible that the souls of the Saints, who rejoice in the hiding of God's face⁵ by the illumination of the true light, understand in the contemplation of Him those things which are done outwardly, so far as pertains either to their joy or to our help. For just as the Angels, so also

the Saints stand before God, to whom our petitions become known in the Word of God which they contemplate. Hence the Angels too are said to offer our prayers and vows to God, not because they teach Him, but because they consult His will concerning them. Whence Augustine¹: «To the Angels, who are with God, our petitions become known, so that in a certain manner they may offer them to God and consult Him about them, and that what they shall have learned must be fulfilled at God's bidding, this they may report back to us either evidently or hiddenly. Whence the Angel also says to men: When you prayed, I offered your prayer to God». «For knowing all things God's own perfection indeed suffices; yet He has messengers, that is, Angels, not such as would announce to Him things He does not know — for there are none which He does not know — but their good is to consult His truth concerning their own works, and this is what is meant by saying that they announce certain things to Him: not that He should learn from them, but that they should learn from Him through His Word without bodily sound. They announce² also what He has willed, being sent by Him to whom He has willed, hearing the whole from Him through that Word of His, that is, finding in His truth what they are to do, and what and to whom and when they are to announce it. For we too, in praying to Him, do not teach Him, because your Father knows, says His Word, what is necessary for you before you ask Him. Nor did He come to know these things in time, but without beginning He foreknew beforehand all future temporal things, and in them also what and when we were going to ask of Him, and whom and concerning what matters He would hear or not hear». «The Angel is therefore not said³ to offer our prayers to God as though God then came to know what we will and what we need — all which things He knows before they come to be, just as He knows them after they have been done; but because the rational creature must needs refer temporal causes to the eternal truth, whether by asking what is to be done toward itself, or by consulting what it is to do».

But if the Angels learn from God through His Word our petitions, and what of these is to be fulfilled and what not, why should we not believe that the souls of the Saints too, contemplating the face of God, understand in His truth the prayers of men, and which of them are to be fulfilled and which not? Hence it is that God is said to hear the prayers of certain persons not only when He carries them into effect, but also when it becomes known to the court of the Angels and of the holy souls what will come of it and what will not; and what they know to be in God's will, they too will. For they are so devoted to the supernal Truth⁴ that they can will nothing beside His will. The Saints therefore intercede with God for us both by merit, inasmuch as their merits avail for us, and by affection, since they desire our vows to be fulfilled; which nevertheless they do not do unless they have learned that it is to be fulfilled within God's will. We pray, therefore, that they may intercede for us, that is, that their merits may avail for us, and that they themselves may will our good, since, when they will, God wills, and so it will come to pass. — From the foregoing it is clear that with certain persons God deals more mercifully than any⁵ of their sins have deserved, namely with the moderately evil, who are helped by the suffrages of the Church.

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