Bonaventure

The numbered footnotes below are page-qualified: all eleven are notes 1–11 of printed page 1043. Quaracchi restarts footnote numbering on every printed page, so the labels carry the page number to keep them unique within this file. The markers stand at the same positions in the Latin body and in the English translation.

Quaestio III. Utrum in damnatis sint tenebrae spirituales quoad actum memorandi.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum in damnatis sint tenebrae quantum ad actum memorandi. Et quod sic, videtur:

1. Per illud quod dicitur Ecclesiastici undecimo¹: Malitia unius horae oblivionem facit luxuriae maximae: ergo maiorem oblivionem facit aeterna poena, et sic patet etc.

2. Item, hoc videtur per illud quod dicitur in littera²: « Exteriores tenebrae intelligi possunt quaedam malignitas odii et quaedam oblivio Dei, quae tunc excrescent ».

3. Item, hoc videtur ratione: quia recte oblitus est qui non habet copiam memorandi; sed damnati non habent copiam memorandi; unde dicit Augustinus in littera³, quod « quia nimio dolore premuntur, adeo stupescunt et terrentur, ut interim mentem in aliam cogitationem non ferant »: ergo etc.

4. Item, damnati erunt subiecti tempori, secundum illud Psalmi⁴: Erit tempus eorum in saecula, et aliis infirmitatibus: ergo videtur, quod ex longitudine temporis possint omnium oblivisci, sicut nunc videmus in nobis.

Contra: 1. Imago non tolletur a damnatis; sed imago consistit in memoria, intelligentia et voluntate respectu Dei⁵: ergo saltem Dei habebunt memoriam.

2. Item, constat, quod non habent remorsum nisi de peccatis praeteritis; sed de nullo habent remorsum, nisi de quo cogitant: ergo cogitant de peccatis praeteritis, ergo et eorum memorantur.

3. Item, hoc videtur per illud quod damnati dicent, Sapientiae quinto⁶: Dicent intra se, poenitentiam agentes: hi sunt quos aliquando habuimus in derisum: ergo rememorabuntur praeteritorum.

4. Item, Abraham dixit diviti⁷: Recordare, quod recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala; sed hoc non dixisset, si non potuisset recordari: ergo etc.

Conclusio

In damnatis sunt tenebrae spirituales, ut non recordentur sive Dei sive aliorum ad consolationem et itineris directionem, sed tantum ad moerorem et confusionem.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod ad hoc facile est respondere, si revocatur ad mentem distinctio praecedens⁸: quoniam est recordatio aliquorum ad moestitiam et dolorem et confusionem, aliquorum ad itineris directionem, aliquorum ad consolationem. Secundam et tertiam non habebunt damnati, nec respectu Dei nec respectu aliorum, quia non erit eis memoria Dei, vel ut convertantur sive revertantur ad ipsum, aut ut delectentur in ipso. Vigebit tamen in eis actus memoriae quantum ad primum, scilicet desolationem, quia semper habebunt memoriam peccatorum, quae commiserunt, et Dei, quem offenderunt, ad suam confusionem. — Nec hoc repugnabit poenis: quia poenae exteriores ducent ad cogitandum interius suum demeritum⁹; et ita recordatio illa non est eis via lucis, sed tenebrarum, nec ponet hominem in statu bono vel in Deo, sed potius elongabit a Deo et a vero lumine.

Et sic patent rationes ad utramque partem. — Verumtamen illud argumentum, quod facit de tempore et passibilitate damnatorum, non valet: quia, sicut corpora passibilia erunt immortalia, ita, etsi anima sit subiecta variationi passionum, adeo tamen erit actus memorandi conversus ad ea quae spectant ad poenam, et adeo sine intermissione, quod non poterit anima oblivisci. — Et illud magis patebit ultimo¹⁰, cum agetur de verme. Haec autem sufficiant ad praesens, quibus intellectis, satis patet littera¹¹.

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Question III. Whether in the damned there are spiritual darknesses as to the act of remembering.

Thirdly it is asked, whether in the damned there are darknesses as to the act of remembering. And that there are, it seems:

1. From that which is said in Ecclesiasticus, chapter eleven¹: The malice of one hour makes forgetfulness of the greatest luxury: therefore eternal punishment makes a greater forgetfulness, and so it is clear, etc.

2. Likewise, this seems from that which is said in the text²: « The exterior darknesses can be understood as a certain malignity of hatred and a certain forgetfulness of God, which shall then grow up ».

3. Likewise, this seems by reason: because he is rightly said to have forgotten who has not the resource of remembering; but the damned have not the resource of remembering; whence Augustine says in the text³, that « because they are pressed by excessive grief, they are so stupefied and terrified that meanwhile they do not bear their mind into any other thought »: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, the damned will be subject to time, according to that of the Psalm⁴: Their time shall be for ever, and to other infirmities: therefore it seems that from the length of time they can forget all things, as we now see in ourselves.

On the contrary: 1. The image will not be taken away from the damned; but the image consists in memory, intelligence and will with respect to God⁵: therefore at least of God they will have memory.

2. Likewise, it is agreed that they have remorse only for past sins; but they have remorse for nothing except that of which they think: therefore they think of past sins, and therefore they also remember them.

3. Likewise, this seems from that which the damned shall say, Wisdom, chapter five⁶: They shall say within themselves, doing penance: these are they whom we once had in derision: therefore they shall be reminded of things past.

4. Likewise, Abraham said to the rich man⁷: Remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and Lazarus likewise evil things; but he would not have said this, if he could not have remembered: therefore etc.

Conclusion

In the damned there are spiritual darknesses, so that they remember neither God nor others unto consolation and the direction of the journey, but only unto sorrow and confusion.

I respond: It must be said that to this it is easy to reply, if the preceding distinction is called back to mind⁸: since there is a remembering of some things unto sadness and grief and confusion, of some unto the direction of the journey, of some unto consolation. The second and the third the damned will not have, neither with respect to God nor with respect to others, because there will not be for them a memory of God, either that they might be converted or turn back to him, or that they might take delight in him. Yet the act of memory will be vigorous in them as to the first, namely desolation, because they will always have the memory of the sins which they committed, and of God, whom they offended, unto their own confusion. — Nor will this be repugnant to the punishments: because the exterior punishments will lead to thinking inwardly upon their own demerit⁹; and thus that remembering is for them not a way of light, but of darkness, nor will it set a man in a good state or in God, but rather will remove him far from God and from the true light.

And so the reasons on both sides are clear. — Nevertheless that argument which is made from the time and the passibility of the damned is not valid: because, just as passible bodies will be immortal, so, even if the soul is subject to the variation of the passions, yet the act of remembering will be so turned toward those things which pertain to punishment, and so without intermission, that the soul will not be able to forget. — And that will appear more fully at the last¹⁰, when the worm is treated of. But let these things suffice for the present; and these being understood, the text is sufficiently clear¹¹.

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