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Dist. 50, Part 2

Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 50

Textus Latinus
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## Pars II.

Cap. III. Si damnatorum animae notitiam habent eorum quae hic fiunt.

Praeterea quaeri solet, si reproborum animae, quae nunc in inferno cruciantur, notitiam habeant eorum quae circa suos in hac vita geruntur; et si aliquo modo doleant super infortuniis suorum carorum. — Hanc quaestionem Augustinus2 commemorat, ex parte eam explicans, ex parte vero insolutam relinquens. Ait enim: « Quaeret aliquis, an ullus dolor tangat mortuos de his quae in suis post mortem contingunt, vel quomodo ea quae circa nos aguntur, noverint spiritus defunctorum. Cui respondeo, magnam esse quaestionem nec in praesenti disserendam. Verumtamen breviter dici potest, quod est cura mortuis de suis caris, ut de divite legitur, qui, dum tormenta apud inferos pateretur, levavit oculos ad Abraham et inter alia dixit: Habeo enim quinque fratres; mitte aliquem ex mortuis, ut testetur illis, ne et ipsi veniant in hunc locum tormentorum. Habent enim mortui curam de vivis, quos sciunt vivere, quia nec in locis poenarum vident eos, ubi dives sine fratribus erat, nec in requie beatorum, ubi Lazarum et Abraham, quamvis longe, agnoscebat. Non tamen ideo consequens est, eos scire quae circa suos caros aguntur hic, vel laeta, vel tristia ».

Cap. IV. De Lazaro et divite.

Si quis autem quaerat, quomodo intelligatur quod de Lazaro et divite legitur; audiat Augustini3 responsum dicentis: « Si quis putat, animas corpore exutas locis corporalibus contineri, cum sint sine corpore; non deerunt qui faveant et divitem sitientem in loco fuisse corporali contendant, ipsamque animam corpoream praeparasse linguam et stillam de Lazari digito cupiisse. Sed melius est dubitare de occultis quam litigare de incertis. Divitem in supplicio, pauperem in refrigerio esse, non dubito. Sed quomodo intelligatur lingua divitis, digitus Lazari, flamma inferni, sinus Abrahae et eiusmodi, vix a mansuetis, a contentiosis nunquam invenitur ».

Cap. V. Si boni et mali invicem se vident.

Quaeri solet etiam, utrum vicissim se videant illi qui sunt in inferno, et illi qui sunt in gloria. — Sicut Sancti tradunt, et boni malos, et mali bonos vident usque ad iudicium; post iudicium vero boni videbunt malos, sed non mali bonos. Unde Gregorius4: « Infideles in imo positi ante diem iudicii fideles super se in requie attendunt, quorum gaudia post contemplari non possunt ».

Cap. VI. De chaos inter bonos et malos.

Sed cum Sancti malos in tormentis videant, nonne aliqua compassione erga eos moventur? Nonne eos de tormentis liberari cupiunt? — Recole illud evangelicum, quod Abraham diviti respondit: Inter vos et nos chaos magnum firmatum est, ut hi qui volunt hinc ad vos transire, non possint, neque inde huc transmeare. Quid est illud chaos inter bonos et malos, nisi hinc iustitia, inde iniquitas, quae nullatenus sociari valent? Adeo enim Sancti iustitiae Dei addicti sunt, ut nulla compassione ad reprobos transire valeant, nulla pro eis inter Sanctos fiat intercessio. — Quomodo ergo inde volunt aliqui transire ad illos, sed non possunt? Quia, si Dei iustitia admitteret, non fieret eis molesta liberatio illorum. — Vel ita dicuntur velle et non posse, non quia velint et non possint, sed quia, etsi vellent, non possent eos iuvare. De hoc ita Gregorius5 ait: « Sicut reprobi a poenis ad gloriam Sanctorum transire volunt et non possunt; ita iusti per misericordiam mente ire volunt ad positos in tormentis, ut eos liberent; sed non possunt, quia iustorum animae, etsi in naturae suae bonitate misericordiam habent, iam tunc auctoris sui iustitiae coniunctae, tanta rectitudine constringuntur, ut nulla ad reprobos compassione moveantur ».

Cap. VII. Utrum visa impiorum poena minuat, vel augeat Bonorum gloriam.

Postremo quaeritur, an visa poena reproborum decoloret gloriam Beatorum, an eorum beatitudini proficiat. — De hoc ita Gregorius6 ait: « Apud animum iustorum non fuscat beatitudinem aspecta poena reproborum, quia, ubi iam compassio miseriae non erit, minuere Beatorum laetitiam non valebit. Et licet iustis sua gaudia sufficiant, ad maiorem tamen gloriam vident poenas malorum, quas per gratiam evaserunt; quia qui Dei claritatem vident, nihil in creatura agitur quod videre non possint ». « Non est autem mirandum, si Sancti iam immortales reprobos videant

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mentis intelligentia, cum Prophetae adhuc mortales videre haec omnia meruerunt. Egredientur ergo electi, non loco, sed intelligentia vel visione manifesta, ad videndum impiorum cruciatus; quos videntes non dolore afficientur, sed laetitia satiabuntur, agentes gratias de sua liberatione, visa impiorum ineffabili calamitate ». Unde Isaias1, impiorum tormenta describens et ex eorum visione laetitiam bonorum exprimens, ait: Egredientur, « electi scilicet », et videbunt cadavera virorum, qui praevaricati sunt in me. Vermis eorum non morietur, et ignis non exstinguetur, et erunt usque ad satietatem visionis omni carni, id est electis. Laetabitur enim iustus, cum viderit vindictam.

Epilogus.

Haec de pedibus Sedentis super solium excelsum, quos Seraphim duabus alis velabant2, scriptori, etsi non auditori, commemorasse sufficiat, qui a facie exorsus sedentis, per media ad pedes usque, Via duce, pervenit.

EXPLICIT QUARTUS ET ULTIMUS LIBER SENTENTIARUM.

Nota de numeratione. Quaracchi restarts its footnote numbering on every printed page, so the apparatus below is labelled by page. Page 1034 carries six notes in all: note 1 anchors in the closing paragraph of Lombard's Pars I and is rendered in the preceding chunk, while notes 2 through 6 anchor here. Page 1035 carries two registers: the two notes of the littera register, both of which anchor here, and a separate register headed Notae ad commentarium whose single note belongs to Bonaventure's commentary, which begins lower on the same page and is rendered in the following chunk.

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English Translation
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## Part II.

Chap. III. Whether the souls of the damned have knowledge of the things that are done here.

Moreover it is wont to be asked whether the souls of the reprobate, who are now tormented in hell, have knowledge of the things that are done concerning their own in this life; and whether they in any way grieve over the misfortunes of their dear ones. — Augustine2 recalls this question, explaining it in part, but in part leaving it unresolved. For he says: « Someone will ask whether any grief touches the dead concerning those things which befall their own after death, or how the spirits of the departed know the things that are done about us. To him I answer that it is a great question and not to be discussed at present. Nevertheless it can briefly be said that the dead have care for their dear ones, as is read of the rich man who, while he was suffering torments among those below, lifted up his eyes to Abraham and among other things said: For I have five brothers; send someone from the dead, that he may bear witness to them, lest they too come into this place of torments. For the dead have care for the living, whom they know to be living, since they see them neither in the places of punishment, where the rich man was without his brothers, nor in the rest of the blessed, where he recognized Lazarus and Abraham, though far off. Yet it does not follow on that account that they know what is done here about their dear ones, whether glad or sad ».

Chap. IV. On Lazarus and the rich man.

But if anyone asks how what is read of Lazarus and the rich man is to be understood, let him hear the answer of Augustine3, who says: « If anyone thinks that souls stripped of the body are contained in bodily places, since they are without a body, there will be no lack of those who would favour him and contend that the thirsting rich man was in a bodily place, and that the soul itself, being corporeal, had prepared a tongue and had desired a drop from Lazarus's finger. But it is better to doubt about hidden things than to quarrel about uncertain ones. That the rich man is in torment and the poor man in refreshment, I do not doubt. But how the rich man's tongue, Lazarus's finger, the flame of hell, Abraham's bosom and the like are to be understood, is scarcely found out by the gentle, and never by the contentious ».

Chap. V. Whether the good and the wicked see one another.

It is also wont to be asked whether those who are in hell and those who are in glory see one another in turn. — As the Saints hand down, both the good see the wicked and the wicked the good up to the judgement; but after the judgement the good will see the wicked, but not the wicked the good. Whence Gregory4: « The unbelieving, set in the lowest place, before the day of judgement look upon the faithful above them in rest, whose joys afterwards they cannot contemplate ».

Chap. VI. On the chasm between the good and the wicked.

But since the Saints see the wicked in torments, are they not moved by some compassion towards them? Do they not desire that they be freed from their torments? — Recall that saying of the Gospel which Abraham answered the rich man: Between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who wish to pass from here to you cannot, nor pass over from there to here. What is that chasm between the good and the wicked, if not justice on this side and iniquity on that, which can in no way be joined together? For the Saints are so bound over to God's justice that by no compassion can they pass over to the reprobate, and no intercession is made for them among the Saints. — How then do some wish thence to pass over to those, but cannot? Because, if God's justice allowed it, the freeing of them would not be burdensome to them. — Or they are said in this way to will and not to be able, not because they will and cannot, but because, even if they willed, they could not help them. On this Gregory5 speaks thus: « Just as the reprobate wish to pass over from their punishments to the glory of the Saints and cannot, so the just out of mercy wish to go in mind to those set in torments, that they may free them; but they cannot, because the souls of the just, even though in the goodness of their own nature they have mercy, being already then joined to the justice of their Author, are constrained by so great a rectitude that they are moved by no compassion towards the reprobate ».

Chap. VII. Whether the sight of the punishment of the impious lessens or increases the glory of the Good.

Lastly it is asked whether the sight of the punishment of the reprobate discolours the glory of the Blessed, or profits their beatitude. — On this Gregory6 speaks thus: « In the mind of the just the punishment of the reprobate, when beheld, does not darken their beatitude, because, where there will no longer be compassion for misery, it will not be able to lessen the gladness of the Blessed. And although their own joys suffice for the just, yet unto a greater glory they see the punishments of the wicked, which they have escaped through grace; because those who see the brightness of God — nothing is done in creation which they cannot see ». « Nor is it to be wondered at if the Saints, now immortal, see the reprobate

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by the understanding of the mind, since the Prophets, still mortal, merited to see all these things. The elect will therefore go forth, not in place, but by understanding or by manifest vision, to see the torments of the impious; and seeing them they will not be affected with grief, but will be filled with gladness, giving thanks for their own deliverance, at the sight of the unspeakable calamity of the impious ». Whence Isaiah1, describing the torments of the impious and expressing from the sight of them the gladness of the good, says: They shall go forth, « the elect, that is », and shall see the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against me. Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be unto the fullness of the sight of all flesh, that is, of the elect. For the just man shall rejoice when he shall see the vengeance.

Epilogue.

Let it suffice to have recalled these things concerning the feet of Him who sits upon the lofty throne, whom the Seraphim veiled with two wings2 — for the writer, even if not for the hearer — who, having begun from the face of the One seated, has come, through the middle parts, all the way to the feet, with the Way for his guide.

HERE ENDS THE FOURTH AND LAST BOOK OF THE SENTENCES.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 2
    Enarrat. in Ps. 108. n. 17.
    Enarration on Psalm 108, n. 17.
  2. 3
    Libr. VIII. de Gen. ad lit. c. 5. n. 9.
    On Genesis to the Letter, Book VIII, c. 5, n. 9.
  3. 4
    Libr. II. Homil. in Evang. homil. 40. n. 2.
    Homilies on the Gospel, Book II, homily 40, n. 2.
  4. 5
    Loc. cit. n. 7.
    The place cited, n. 7.
  5. 6
    Loc. cit. n. 8. — Pro fuscat solae edd., excepta 1, obfuscat, refragante etiam originali. — Deinde sequitur Glossa in Isai. 66, 24, apud Lyranum.
    The place cited, n. 8. — For fuscat the editions alone, except the first, read obfuscat, the original text likewise being against it. — Then follows the Gloss on Isaiah 66:24, in Lyra.
  6. 1
    Loc. cit. cum Glossa interlineari; deinde Ps. 57, 11.
    The place cited, together with the interlinear Gloss; then Psalm 57:11.
  7. 2
    Isai. 6, 1. seqq. — Pro sufficiat codd. A B C E et ed. 1 sufficit.
    Isaiah 6:1ff. — For sufficiat codices A B C E and the first edition read sufficit. ---
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