Bonaventure

Articulus II. De verme, qui est in damnatis.

Consequenter quantum ad secundum articulum quaeritur de verme, qui erit in damnatis. Et circa hoc tria quaeruntur.

Primo quaeritur, utrum damnati habeant vermem materialem sive corporalem.

Secundo, utrum sit in eis vermis spiritualis.

Tertio quaeritur, utrum vermis ille sit invariabilis.

Quaestio I. Utrum damnati habeant vermem materialem.

Quantum ergo ad primum proceditur sic, et ostenditur, quod vermis ille sit materialis.

1. Ecclesiastici septimo⁴: Vindicta carnis impii ignis et vermis; et Iudith ultimo: Dabit ignem et vermes in carnes eorum: ergo si in carne non est nisi vermis materialis, patet etc.

2. Item, damnati resurgent cum poenalitatibus et deformitatibus⁵: ergo habebunt corpora putrefactibilia, sicut nunc habent; sed ex corpore putrefactibili generantur vermes: ergo etc.

3. Item, poena vermis semper annectitur poenae ignis, velut in pluribus locis Scripturae⁶ patet; sed ignis non tantum est spiritualis, sed etiam materialis: ergo videtur similiter, quod vermis. Igne enim punitur corpus et anima, ergo similiter et verme: ergo videtur, quod sit materialis.

Contra: 1. Isaiae decimo quarto⁷ dicitur de diabolo: Operimentum tuum erunt vermes; sed constat, quod diabolus non habet vermem materialem: ergo etc.

2. Item, nullus vermis materialis est immortalis, cum habeat formam corruptibilem; sed vermis ille non moritur, sicut dicitur ultimo⁸ Isaiae: ergo etc.

3. Item, vermis materialis et in sua corrosione⁹ et in sua origine aliquid minuit de substantia corporis: ergo si corpus illud non est minuibile, non est circa illud talis vermis.

4. Item, ibi erit multo intensior ignis, quam sit hic; sed vermes in isto igne non possunt vivere: ergo nec in illo poterunt. — Si tu dicas, quod hoc est per miraculum; ergo tunc, cum non patiantur ab igne, videntur habere corpora gloriosa et incorruptibilia. — Si dicas, quod renascuntur; quaero: quomodo? cum non sit ibi solis latio, et maxime putrefactibilia per virtutem supracaelestem habeant generari¹⁰.

Conclusio

Vermis ille non est materialis, sed spiritualis.

Respondeo: Dicendum, quod Augustinus vigesimo de Civitate Dei¹ ponit circa hoc duas opiniones. Quidam enim voluerunt intelligere, vermem illum esse materialem propter verbum Scripturae; alii vero, rationem sequentes, voluerunt dicere, quod vermis ille sit spiritualis. Et horum opinionem dicit sibi magis placere; et ex quo sibi magis placet, et nobis similiter debet placere². — Unde concedendae sunt rationes, quod vermis ille non sit materialis.

Ad argumenta pro parte affirmativa:

Ad 1. Ad illud quod obiicitur in contrarium per similitudinem ignis, dicendum, quod sicut ignis materialis affligendo corpus affligit et punit animam ei unitam; sic vehemens dolor et remorsus sive tristitia animae redundat in corpus, quia spiritus tristis desiccat ossa³. Quoniam igitur erit in damnatis magnus conscientiae remorsus et dolor, ita etiam, ut redundet haec moestitia in carnem; ideo vere dixit Scriptura, quod daret Deus vermem in carnem eorum, et expressit multum ad terrorem carnalium, qui magis horrent poenam carnis quam animae. — Vel posset dici, quod caro ibi dicitur opus carnale, hoc est opus peccati, ex quo generatur vermis spiritualis⁴.

Ad 2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod habebunt deformitatem; dicendum, quod verum est, sed non putrefactionem.

Ad 3. Ultimum solutum est de igne, quia ignis ab exteriori procedit ad intima, vermis ab intimis ad exteriora; et ideo ignis est materialis, sed vermis spiritualis.

Nota de apparatu. Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page. The numbered notes below are therefore labelled by page: notes 4–10 of page 1050 and notes 1–4 of page 1051. Notes 1–3 of page 1050 anchor in the preceding chunk (p2-a1-q3); notes 5–7 of page 1051 anchor in the following chunk (p2-a2-q2).

Article II. On the worm which is in the damned.

Next, as regards the second article, inquiry is made concerning the worm which will be in the damned. And about this three things are asked.

First it is asked whether the damned have a material or corporeal worm.

Second, whether there is in them a spiritual worm.

Third it is asked whether that worm is invariable.

Question I. Whether the damned have a material worm.

As regards the first, then, one proceeds thus, and it is shown that that worm is material.

1. Ecclesiasticus, chapter seven⁴: The vengeance on the flesh of the impious is fire and worm; and Judith, the last chapter: He shall give fire and worms into their flesh: therefore, if in the flesh there is nothing but a material worm, it is clear, etc.

2. Likewise, the damned will rise again with penalties and deformities⁵: therefore they will have putrefiable bodies, as they now have; but from a putrefiable body worms are generated: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, the punishment of the worm is always joined to the punishment of fire, as is clear in many places of Scripture⁶; but the fire is not only spiritual, but also material: therefore it seems likewise concerning the worm. For by fire both body and soul are punished, therefore likewise also by the worm: therefore it seems that it is material.

On the contrary: 1. In Isaiah, chapter fourteen⁷, it is said of the devil: Thy covering shall be worms; but it is established that the devil does not have a material worm: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, no material worm is immortal, since it has a corruptible form; but that worm does not die, as is said in the last chapter⁸ of Isaiah: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, a material worm, both in its gnawing⁹ and in its origin, diminishes something of the substance of the body: therefore, if that body is not diminishable, there is not about it such a worm.

4. Likewise, there the fire will be much more intense than it is here; but worms cannot live in this fire: therefore neither will they be able to live in that one. — If you say that this is by miracle; then, since they do not suffer from the fire, they seem to have glorious and incorruptible bodies. — If you say that they are born again, I ask: how? since there is there no motion of the sun, and things chiefly putrefiable have to be generated by a supracelestial power¹⁰.

Conclusion

That worm is not material, but spiritual.

I respond: It must be said that Augustine, in the twentieth book of the City of God¹, sets down two opinions about this. For some wished to understand that that worm is material, on account of the word of Scripture; others, however, following reason, wished to say that that worm is spiritual. And he says that the opinion of these latter pleases him more; and since it pleases him more, it ought likewise to please us². — Hence the reasons are to be conceded, that that worm is not material.

To the arguments for the affirmative part:

To 1. To that which is objected to the contrary by the likeness of fire, it must be said that, just as material fire, by afflicting the body, afflicts and punishes the soul united to it, so vehement pain and remorse or sadness of the soul overflows into the body, because a sorrowful spirit dries up the bones³. Since, therefore, there will be in the damned a great remorse of conscience and pain, so much so that this sadness overflows into the flesh, therefore Scripture truly said that God would give a worm into their flesh, and expressed it forcefully for the terror of carnal men, who dread the punishment of the flesh more than that of the soul. — Or it could be said that "flesh" is there called the carnal work, that is, the work of sin, from which the spiritual worm is generated⁴.

To 2. To that which is objected, that they will have deformity, it must be said that this is true, but not putrefaction.

To 3. The last has been solved concerning the fire, because fire proceeds from without to what is innermost, the worm from what is innermost to what is without; and therefore the fire is material, but the worm spiritual.