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Pars 7, Cap. 2

Breviloquium · Pars VII: De statu finalis iudicii

Textus Latinus
p. 282

Capitulum II. De antecedentibus ad iudicium, cuiusmodi est poena purgatoria.

Deinde in speciali circa statum finalis iudicii consideranda sunt quaedam sicut praeambula, quaedam sicut concomitantia, quaedam sicut consequentia. Praeambula autem sunt duo, scilicet poena purgatoria et suffragia ecclesiastica3.

Primo igitur de poenis purgatoriis hoc tenendum est, quod ignis purgatorius est ignis corporalis, quo tamen spiritus iustorum, qui in hac vita non impleverunt poenitentiam et satisfactionem condignam, affliguntur secundum plus et minus, secundum quod plus vel minus de cremabili secum ex hac vita traxerunt. — Affliguntur autem minus graviter quam in inferno, et gravius quam in hoc mundo; non tamen ita graviter, quin semper sperent et sciant, se in inferno non esse, licet forte pro poenarum magnitudine hoc aliquoties non advertant. — Hac autem afflictione ab igne corporali inflicta purgantur spiritus a reatibus et scoriis et etiam reliquiis peccatorum; quibus sufficienter expurgatis, immediate evolant et introducuntur in gloriam paradisi4

Ratio autem ad intelligentiam praedictorum haec est: quia, cum primum principium, eo ipso quod primum, sit optimum et perfectissimum, et eo ipso quod optimum, sit summe amativum boni et summe detestativum mali; sicut summa bonitas non patitur, quod bonum remaneat irremuneratum, sic etiam pati non debet, quod malum remaneat impunitum5. Quoniam igitur viri iusti aliquando decedunt, qui poenitentiam in hac vita non totaliter impleverunt; cum meritum vitae aeternae in eis non possit remanere irremuneratum, et vitium culpae non possit remanere impunitum, ne perturbetur pulcritudo ordinis universi: necesse est, quod ipsi finaliter praemientur; necesse est etiam, quod iidem temporaliter puniantur secundum suarum culparum exigentiam et reatum. — Et quia culpa commissa et offensiva fuit maiestatis divinae et damnificativa Ecclesiae et deformativa imaginis divinae, menti nostrae impressae, maxime si fuit culpa mortalis, et venialis etiam disponit ad hoc; et de offensa requiritur punitio, de damno vero agenda est satisfactio, et de deformatione requirenda est expurgatio: hinc est, quod necesse est, quod poena illa sit iuste punitiva, digne satisfactoria et sufficienter expurgativa.

Primum igitur, quoniam poena illa debet esse iuste punitiva; et spiritus, qui, contempto bono aeterno et summo, se subiecit infimo, iuste debet inferioribus subiici, ut ab eis suscipiat poenam, ex quorum occasione perpetravit culpam, et ratione quorum et Deum contempsit et se ipsum vilem fecit: hinc est, quod ordo divinae iustitiae exigit, ut spiritus ab igne materiali habeat puniri; ut, sicut secundum ordinem naturae anima unitur corpori, ut influat vitam, sic uniatur igni materiali secundum ordinem iustitiae ut punibile punienti, a quo suscipiat poenam6. — Et quia viri iusti, qui sunt in gratia, non sunt digni nisi poena transitoria; et tanto maiori digni sunt poena, quanto maiora commiserunt peccata et minorem egerunt poenitentiam: hinc est, quod ab igne materiali puniuntur temporaliter, quidam tamen diutius, quidam vero brevius, quidam acerbius, quidam levius, secundum quod reatus exigit offensarum. « Necesse enim est, ut dicit egregius doctor Augustinus7, quod tantum urat dolor, quantum haeserat amor ». Tanto enim difficilius quis p. 283 purgatur, quanto medullis cordis eius intimius amor inhaeserat mundanorum.

Amplius, quoniam poena illa debet esse satisfactoria; et satisfactio respicit libertatem voluntatis et statum viae; potissime cum ibi iam non sit status merendi, et poenae illae minime teneant rationem voluntarii: necesse est, quod illud quod deficit ex parte libertatis in voluntate sustinente, suppleatur in acerbitate ex parte poenae. — Quia vero gratiam habent qui purgantur, quam quidem ultra perdere non possunt; hinc est, quod nec a tristitia penitus absorberi nec in desperationem incidere nec in blasphemiam possunt nec volunt aliquatenus prosilire; ac per hoc, licet graviter puniantur, longe tamen aliter et mitius quam in inferno; et statum etiam illum indubitanter sciunt alium esse quam istum, in quo sunt illi1 qui in inferno irremediabiliter cruciantur.

Postremo, quia poena illa debet esse expurgatoria; et purgatio illa est spiritualis: necesse est, vel quod ignis ille spiritualem habeat virtutem divinitus sibi datam, vel, ut magis credo2, ipsa virtus gratiae interius habitantis, adiuta a poena extrinseca, ipsam animam iam pro offensis punitam et a reatuum onere alleviatam purget purgatione sufficienti, ut iam nulla remaneat dissimilitudo ad gloriam. — Et quoniam tales spiritus dispositi sunt in summo ad deiformitatem gloriae suscipiendam in se; cum ianua sit aperta et purgatio consummata, necesse est, illos spiritus evolare, in quibus est caritatis ignis sursum levans, et nihil retardans ex parte impuritatis animae vel reatus. Nec enim decet divinam misericordiam seu iustitiam, ut amplius differat gloriam, cum inveniat3 receptaculum idoneum, et magna sit poena in dilatione praemiorum, nec amplius puniri debeat spiritus iam purgatus.

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English Translation

Chapter II. On the things antecedent to the judgment, of which sort is purgatorial punishment.

Next, in particular, concerning the state of the final judgment certain things are to be considered as preambles, certain as concomitants, certain as consequents. Now the preambles are two, namely purgatorial punishment and ecclesiastical suffrages3.

First therefore, concerning purgatorial punishments this must be held: that the purgatorial fire is a corporeal fire, by which nevertheless the spirits of the just, who in this life have not fulfilled penance and condign satisfaction, are afflicted according to more and less, according as they have drawn with them out of this life more or less of what is combustible. — But they are afflicted less grievously than in hell, and more grievously than in this world; yet not so grievously but that they always hope and know that they are not in hell, although perhaps, because of the magnitude of the punishments, they sometimes do not advert to this. — And by this affliction inflicted by the corporeal fire the spirits are purged from their liabilities and from the dross and also from the relics of sins; and when these have been sufficiently expurgated, they immediately fly forth and are led into the glory of paradise4

Now the reason for the understanding of the aforesaid is this: since the first principle, by this very fact that it is first, is the best and most perfect, and by this very fact that it is best, is supremely loving of the good and supremely detesting of evil; just as the highest goodness does not suffer that the good remain unrewarded, so neither ought it to suffer that evil remain unpunished5. Since therefore just men sometimes depart who have not wholly fulfilled penance in this life; since the merit of eternal life cannot remain unrewarded in them, and the vice of fault cannot remain unpunished, lest the beauty of the order of the universe be disturbed: it is necessary that they themselves be finally rewarded; it is necessary also that the same be temporally punished according to the requirement of their faults and their liability. — And because the fault committed was offensive of the divine majesty and damaging to the Church and deformative of the divine image impressed upon our mind, most of all if it was a mortal fault, and the venial also disposes to this; and for the offense punishment is required, for the damage satisfaction must be made, and for the deformation expurgation must be sought: hence it is that it is necessary that that punishment be justly punitive, worthily satisfactory and sufficiently expurgative.

First therefore, since that punishment ought to be justly punitive; and the spirit which, having despised the eternal and highest good, subjected itself to the lowest, justly ought to be subjected to lower things, so that it may receive punishment from those by occasion of which it perpetrated the fault, and by reason of which it both despised God and made itself vile: hence it is that the order of divine justice requires that the spirit have to be punished by material fire; so that, just as according to the order of nature the soul is united to the body that it may pour in life, so it may be united to material fire according to the order of justice as the punishable to that which punishes, from which it may receive punishment6. — And because just men who are in grace are not deserving save of a transitory punishment; and they are deserving of so much the greater punishment as they have committed the greater sins and done the lesser penance: hence it is that by the material fire they are punished temporally, some however longer, some indeed more briefly, some more bitterly, some more lightly, according as the liability of their offenses requires. « For it is necessary, as the excellent doctor Augustine says7, that the pain burn as much as the love had clung ». For so much the more difficultly is one p. 283 purged, as the love of worldly things had clung the more intimately to the marrow of his heart.

Further, since that punishment ought to be satisfactory; and satisfaction regards the freedom of the will and the state of the way; especially since there is there no longer the state of meriting, and those punishments in no way hold the character of the voluntary: it is necessary that what is lacking on the part of freedom in the will that undergoes them be supplied in the bitterness on the part of the punishment. — But because those who are purged have grace, which indeed they can no longer lose; hence it is that they can neither be utterly absorbed by sadness nor fall into despair, nor can they nor will they in any way break out into blasphemy; and through this, although they are grievously punished, yet it is far otherwise and more mildly than in hell; and they know without doubt that that state also is other than this, in which are those1 who in hell are tormented beyond remedy.

Lastly, because that punishment ought to be expurgatory; and that purgation is spiritual: it is necessary either that that fire have a spiritual power divinely given to it, or, as I rather believe2, that the very power of the grace dwelling within, aided by the extrinsic punishment, purge with a sufficient purgation the soul itself, now punished for its offenses and lightened of the burden of its liabilities, so that no unlikeness to glory any longer remain. — And since such spirits are disposed in the highest degree to receive in themselves the deiformity of glory; when the gate is open and the purgation consummated, it is necessary that those spirits fly forth, in whom is the fire of charity lifting them upward, and nothing retarding them on the part of the soul's impurity or of liability. For it does not befit the divine mercy or justice to defer glory any longer, when it finds3 a fit receptacle, and there is great punishment in the deferring of rewards, nor ought a spirit already purged to be punished any longer.

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Apparatus Criticus
  1. 3
    De quibus in hoc et seq. cap. De concomitantibus c. 4. 5, de consequentibus c. 6. 7. — Mox pro poenis purgatoriis edd. poena purgatorii. Subinde ex I K M O P Q V et 2 substituimus tamen pro tantum.
    On which [see] in this and the following chapter. On the concomitants, c. 4 and 5; on the consequents, c. 6 and 7. — Shortly after, for poenis purgatoriis the editions have poena purgatorii. Thereupon, from I K M O P Q V and edition 2, we have substituted tamen for tantum.
  2. 4
    De hoc cap. vide IV. Sent. d. 20. p. I. per totam. — Pro quibus sufficienter purgatis P a quibus sufficienter purgati, et pro reliquiis S sordibus; post corporali 1 addit eis.
    On this chapter see IV Sent. d. 20, p. I, throughout. — For quibus sufficienter purgatis P reads a quibus sufficienter purgati, and for reliquiis S sordibus; after corporali edition 1 adds eis.
  3. 5
    Cfr. tom. IV. pag. 356, nota 6. et supra pag. 224, nota 8. — Inferius pro viri iusti I K L O U multi.
    Cf. tom. IV, p. 356, note 6, and above, p. 224, note 8. — Below, for viri iusti I K L O U read multi.
  4. 6
    Vide IV. Sent. d. 44. p. II. a. 3. q. 2. — Vat., 1 et 3 post ut influat vitam addunt ipsi corpori. Aliquanto superius pro inferioribus, quod exhibent B I K L M O P V, alii codd. et edd. inferiori; verbo contempsit S praefigit offendit sive.
    See IV Sent. d. 44, p. II, a. 3, q. 2. — The Vatican edition and editions 1 and 3, after ut influat vitam, add ipsi corpori. Somewhat above, for inferioribus, which B I K L M O P V exhibit, the other codices and the editions read inferiori; before the word contempsit S prefixes offendit sive.
  5. 7
    Libr. XXI. de Civ. Dei, c. 26. n. 4. — Paulo ante pro levius B Q et 2 lenius.
    On the City of God, book XXI, c. 26, n. 4. — Shortly before, for levius B and Q and edition 2 read lenius.
  6. 1
    I L O alium, quam sit eorum. Superius pro mitius B G K minus. Inferius pro est spiritualis L M et 2 debet esse spiritualis, et pro adiuta a I K L M N O U V adiuncta ei.
    I L O read alium, quam sit eorum. Above, for mitius B G K read minus. Below, for est spiritualis L M and edition 2 read debet esse spiritualis, and for adiuta a I K L M N O U V adiuncta ei.
  7. 2
    Cfr. IV. Sent. d. 21. p. I. a. 2. q. 1. et a. 1. q. 2.
    Cf. IV Sent. d. 21, p. I, a. 2, q. 1, and a. 1, q. 2.
  8. 3
    Ed. 1 differant... inveniant. Pro seu P Q et 2 vel.
    Edition 1 reads differant... inveniant. For seu P Q and edition 2 read vel. ---
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