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Pars 1, Cap. 2

Breviloquium · Pars I: De Trinitate Dei

Textus Latinus
p. 210

Capitulum II. Quid tenendum est de trinitate personarum et unitate essentiae.

Primo igitur de Trinitate Dei tria consideranda sunt, scilicet qualiter unitas substantiae et naturae simul stet cum pluralitate personarum7; secundo, qualiter cum pluralitate apparitionum; tertio, qualiter cum pluralitate appropriatorum.

De pluralitate igitur personarum in unitate8 naturae hoc dictat recta fides esse tenendum, scilicet quod in unitate naturae sunt tres personae, Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus, quarum prima a nulla est, secunda a sola prima per generationem, tertia a prima et secunda per spirationem sive processionem;

p. 211

ita quod trinitas personarum non excludit ab essentia divina summam unitatem, simplicitatem, immensitatem, aeternitatem, incommutabilitatem, necessitatem et etiam primitatem; quin potius includit summam fecunditatem, caritatem, liberalitatem, aequalitatem, germanitatem, conformitatem et inseparabilitatem; quae omnia sana fides intelligit esse in beatissima Trinitate1.

Ratio autem huius veritatis haec est: quia fides, cum sit principium cultus Dei et fundamentum eius quae secundum pietatem est doctrinae2, dictat, de Deo esse sentiendum altissime et piissime. Non autem sentiret altissime, si non crederet, quod Deus posset se summe communicare; non sentiret piissime, si crederet, quod posset et nollet; et ideo, ut altissime et piissime sentiat, dicit, Deum se summe communicare, aeternaliter habendo dilectum et condilectum, ac per hoc Deum unum et trinum.

Huic autem fidei, in quantum dictat, de Deo piissime sentiendum esse, attestatur tota sacra Scriptura, quae dicitur doctrina secundum pietatem: quia Deum fatetur habere prolem, quam summe diligit, Verbum sibi coaequale, quod « ab aeterno genuit, in quo cuncta disposuit3 »; per quod cuncta produxit et gubernat; per quod etiam carnem factum pro summa benignitate hominem redemit pretiosissimo eius sanguine redemptumque cibavit; per quod etiam in fine mundi, summam misericordiam impertiendo, ab omni miseria liberabit, ut per Christum omnes electi sint filii summi Patris, in quo erit omnis pietatis consummatio et Dei ad nos, et e converso.

In quantum autem fides dictat, de Deo sentiendum altissime, non tantum attestatur ei sacra Scriptura, verum etiam omnis creatura, iuxta quod dicit Augustinus decimo quinto de Trinitate, capitulo quarto4: « Neque enim divinorum librorum tantummodo auctoritas praedicat, esse Deum, sed omnis quae nos circumstat, ad quam nos etiam pertinemus, universa ipsa rerum natura proclamat, se habere praestantissimum Conditorem, qui nobis mentem rationemque naturalem dedit, qua viventia non viventibus, sensu praedita non sentientibus, intelligentia non intelligentibus, immortalia mortalibus, impotentibus potentia, iniustis iusta, speciosa deformibus, bona malis, incorruptibilia corruptibilibus, immutabilia mutabilibus, invisibilia visibilibus, incorporalia corporalibus, beata miseris praeferenda iudicamus. Ac per hoc, quoniam rebus creatis Creatorem sine dubitatione praeponimus, oportet, ut eum et summe vivere et cuncta sentire atque intelligere, et mori et corrumpi mutarique non posse, nec corpus esse, sed spiritum omnipotentissimum, iustissimum, speciosissimum, optimum beatissimumque fateamur ». — Ecce, in his duodecim includuntur altissimae nobilitates divini esse. Sed post, ut ipse ostendit5, haec duodecim reducuntur ad tria, scilicet aeternitatem, sapientiam et beatitudinem; et haec tria ad unum, scilicet ad sapientiam, in qua includuntur mens generans, Verbum proles et amor nectens utrumque, in quibus fides dictat beatissimam consistere Trinitatem. Et quoniam summa sapientia ponit Trinitatem, ponit etiam nihilominus omnes prius habitas nobilissimas conditiones, videlicet unitatem, simplicitatem et ceteras consequentes; necesse est, omnes praedictas nobilitates divini esse simul stare cum beatissima Trinitate.

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English Translation

Chapter II. What is to be held concerning the trinity of persons and the unity of essence.

First, then, concerning the Trinity of God three things are to be considered: namely, how the unity of substance and of nature stands together with the plurality of persons7; second, how it stands with the plurality of apparitions; third, how it stands with the plurality of appropriations.

Concerning the plurality of persons in the unity8 of nature, then, right faith dictates that this is to be held: namely, that in the unity of nature there are three persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, of whom the first is from none, the second from the first alone by generation, the third from the first and the second by spiration or procession;

so that the trinity of persons does not exclude from the divine essence the highest unity, simplicity, immensity, eternity, immutability, necessity, and also primacy; but rather includes the highest fecundity, charity, liberality, equality, kinship, conformity, and inseparability — all of which sound faith understands to be in the most blessed Trinity1.

Now the reason for this truth is this: since faith, being the principle of the worship of God and the foundation of that doctrine which is according to godliness2, dictates that of God we must think most highly and most devoutly. But it would not think most highly, if it did not believe that God could communicate himself in the highest degree; it would not think most devoutly, if it believed that he could and would not; and therefore, that it may think most highly and most devoutly, it says that God communicates himself in the highest degree, eternally having a beloved and a co-beloved, and through this that God is one and three.

Now to this faith, insofar as it dictates that of God we must think most devoutly, the whole of sacred Scripture bears witness, which is called doctrine according to godliness: for it confesses that God has an offspring whom he loves in the highest degree, a Word coequal to himself, which « he begot from eternity, in which he disposed all things3 »; through which he produced and governs all things; through which also, having been made flesh, out of the highest kindness he redeemed man by his most precious blood and fed him once redeemed; through which also at the end of the world, imparting the highest mercy, he will free him from all misery, so that through Christ all the elect may be sons of the most high Father — in which will be the whole consummation of godliness, both of God toward us and conversely.

But insofar as faith dictates that of God we must think most highly, not only does sacred Scripture bear witness to it, but also every creature, according to what Augustine says in the fifteenth book On the Trinity, chapter four4: « For not only does the authority of the divine books proclaim that God is, but all that surrounds us, to which we ourselves also belong, the very universal nature of things proclaims that it has a most excellent Founder, who gave us a mind and natural reason by which we judge that living things are to be preferred to non-living, things endowed with sense to things without sense, things with intelligence to things without intelligence, immortal to mortal, powers to things powerless, just to unjust, beautiful to deformed, good to evil, incorruptible to corruptible, immutable to mutable, invisible to visible, incorporeal to corporeal, blessed to wretched. And through this, since without doubt we set the Creator above created things, it must be that we confess him both to live in the highest degree and to perceive and understand all things, and to be unable to die or be corrupted or changed, and not to be a body, but a spirit most omnipotent, most just, most beautiful, best, and most blessed ». — Behold, in these twelve are included the highest nobilities of the divine being. But afterward, as he himself shows5, these twelve are reduced to three: namely, eternity, wisdom, and beatitude; and these three to one, namely to wisdom, in which are included the generating mind, the Word as offspring, and the love binding both together — in which faith dictates that the most blessed Trinity consists. And since the highest wisdom posits the Trinity, it nonetheless posits also all the most noble conditions held previously, namely unity, simplicity, and the rest that follow; therefore it must be that all the aforesaid nobilities of the divine being stand together with the most blessed Trinity.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 7
    De hoc c. 2-4; de secundo c. 5; de tertio c. 6-9.
    On this, chapters 2–4; on the second, chapter 5; on the third, chapters 6–9.
  2. 8
    R addit substantiae et, B H divinae.
    R adds substantiae et; B H have divinae.
  3. 1
    Cfr. supra Quaest. de mysterio Trinitatis, et I. Sent. d. 2. per totam.
    Cf. above, the Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, and Book I of the Sentences, d. 2, throughout.
  4. 2
    Epist. I. Tim. 6, 3. — Post Ratio autem A addit ad intelligentiam, et pro quia fides cum pluribus aliis codd. substituit fides enim [D F addunt nostra]. Inferius pro et nollet E S sed nollet, A B D F H ibi legunt: si crederet, eum posse, sed [A et] nolle, ideoque ut etc.
    First Epistle to Timothy 6:3. — After Ratio autem A adds ad intelligentiam, and for quia fides, together with several other codices, it substitutes fides enim [D F add nostra]. Further below, for et nollet E S have sed nollet; A B D F H read there: si crederet, eum posse, sed [A et] nolle, ideoque ut etc.
  5. 3
    Ita Glossa ordinaria in Ps. 61, 12; cfr. tom. III. pag. 245, nota 4. — Inferius pro gubernat A S et 2 regit, F H Q regit et gubernat, et pro ut... sint Vat. et 3 et... sunt.
    So the Ordinary Gloss on Psalm 61:12; cf. tom. III, p. 245, note 4. — Further below, for gubernat A S and 2 have regit, F H Q regit et gubernat; and for ut... sint the Vatican edition and 3 have et... sunt.
  6. 4
    Num. 6. Textus originalis, quem Vat. 1 et 3 sequuntur, videamus pro iudicamus. Post circumstat D F H I K L M O P et 2 supplent creatura, et inferius permulti codd. et 2 omittunt naturalem.
    Number 6. The original text, which the Vatican edition, 1 and 3 follow, has videamus for iudicamus. After circumstat D F H I K L M O P and 2 supply creatura, and further below very many codices and 2 omit naturalem.
  7. 5
    Cap. 5. seq. n. 7-10. — Pro divini esse, quod plures codd. et 2 omittunt, Vat., 1 et 2 essentiae divinae. Mox pro reducuntur E S possunt reduci; A B Q post divini esse prosequuntur quae tamen possunt ad tria reduci. Inferius pro proles edd., excepta 2, nascens.
    Chapter 5 following, nn. 7–10. — For divini esse, which several codices and 2 omit, the Vatican edition, 1 and 2 have essentiae divinae. Shortly after, for reducuntur E S have possunt reduci; A B Q after divini esse continue quae tamen possunt ad tria reduci. Further below, for proles the editions, except 2, have nascens. ---
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