Chapter 2

Since his soul, then, was thus united to God it is small wonder the Brethren saw him rapt in ecstasy and with his face bathed in tears as he stood in choir and sang the _Antiphon_ wont to be sung according to the Dominican Office for Compline during Lent: "_Ne projicias nos in tempore senectutis: cum defecerit virtus nostra, ne derelinquas nos Domine_."[18]

In the year 1274 the Saint was summoned by Pope Gregory X. to the Council about to be held at Lyons. He set out, taking with him his _Treatise against the Errors of the Greek Schismatics_, for the great question which the Pope had at heart was the settlement of the Schism between the East and the West. But the Council was never to see Thomas, for he fell ill when traversing the Campagna, and though he was able to reach the Cistercian Abbey of Fossa Nuova he reached it only to die. "_This is my rest for ever and ever_," he said as he entered the gates. "_Here will I dwell, for I have chosen it._" And here, as he lay dying, he expounded to the monks who stood round that most sublime of all the Books of the Bible, the _Canticle of Canticles_: "_Behold, my Beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.... I sleep, and my heart watcheth; the voice of my Beloved Who is knocking!... My Beloved to me and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies: till the Day break and the shadows retire!_"

As the time of his summons drew on he asked for the Holy Viaticum. And, in the words of William of Tocco, "when It was brought with devout reverence by the Abbot and the monks, he prostrated himself on the ground, weak indeed in body but mighty in spirit, and so came to meet his Lord with tears."

And when the priest asked him--as it is the custom to ask all Christians at death touching their faith in this mighty Sacrament--whether he believed that That Consecrated Host was the True Son of God, Who came forth from the Virgin's womb, Who hung upon the tree of the Cross, Who died for us and rose again on the third day:--with clear voice, with full attention, and with tears, he replied: "If fuller knowledge than that of faith could be had in this life touching this Sacrament, in that knowledge I reply that I believe it to be true, and that I know for certain that This is True God and Man, the Son of God the Father and of the Virgin Mother: so I believe in my heart and so I confess in word." After some other devout expressions he received the Sacred Host, and then said: "I receive Thee, the Price of my soul's redemption, for love of Whom I have studied, watched, and toiled; Thee have I preached and taught; nought contrary to Thee have I ever said, neither do I obstinately hold to any opinion of mine own. If, however, I have said ought wrongly concerning this Sacrament, I submit it all to the correction of the Holy Roman Church in Whose obedience I now pass from this life!" "O Blessed Teacher! who ran so swiftly in the race, who fought so manfully in the strife, who could so well say with the Apostle: '_I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; as for the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice_'; and such indeed had he truly won by his study of inspired doctrine."[19]

O Sancte Thoma! Scholarum Patrone, Fidem invictam, Charitatem fervidam, Vitam castissimam, Scientiam veram, A Deo nobis obtine. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

* * * * *

No one who is at all familiar with the writings of S. Thomas can be surprised to find many extracts from S. Augustine in the following pages. For Augustine and Thomas are one. Their respective styles are different, but their thoughts and teachings are the same on the great essential points of theological teaching. Cardinal Aguirre has well said: "Owing to the clearness and acuteness of his angelic mind S. Thomas sheds a flood of light on many most obscure matters, and brings out very clearly even the most profound teachings contained in the works of the Fathers, especially in those of S. Augustine. I speak simply from my own experience, but I am certain that many another has felt the same: in controverted matters, if we look merely at the text of S. Augustine, we are brought face to face with a flood of difficulties which seem well-nigh insoluble; but the difficulty disappears and the solution becomes clear the moment we set to work to find out what was S. Thomas's teaching on the question; for he is the surest and the easiest interpreter of S. Augustine."[20]

And indeed Augustine is a deep well! "_Man shall come to a deep heart!_" he was fond of saying, and those words of the Psalmist might stand for a motto at the head of his works. Traditionary art represents him with his heart in his hand, and the sentiment is true, for "great-hearted" is the epithet which best suits him, and those who use these pages for meditation or spiritual reading will find that whereas S. Thomas teaches how we ought to pray, S. Augustine makes us pray; not in vain had he studied and taught rhetoric for so many years!

This likeness between the two great Saints forms the theme of one of the _Responsories_ for the Office for S. Thomas in the Dominican Breviary. It is based on a famous vision. "There appeared to me as I watched in prayer," said Brother Albert of Brescia in his deposition, "two revered personages clothed in wondrous splendour. One of them wore a mitre on his head, the other was clad in the habit of the Friars Preachers. And this latter bore on his head a golden crown; round his neck he wore two rings, one of silver, the other of gold; and on his breast he had an immense precious stone, which filled the church with light. His cloak, too, was sewn with precious stones, and his tunic and his hood were of snowy white. And the one who wore the mitre said to me: 'Brother Albert, why art thou thus filled with wonder? Thy prayers are heard; for--listen: I am Augustine, the Doctor of the Church, and I am sent to thee to tell thee of the doctrine and of the glory of Brother Thomas of Aquin who is here with me. For he is my son; he in all things has followed my doctrine and that of the Apostles, and by his teaching he has illumined the Church of God. This is signified by the precious stones which you see, and especially by the one he carries on his breast, for it signifies the upright intention which he ever had in view in his defence of the faith and which he showed in his words. These precious stones, then, and especially that great one, signify the many books and works that he wrote, and they show that he is equal to me in glory save only that in the aureola of Virginity he surpasseth me.'"[21]

Cardinal Cajetan, from whose famous Commentary on the _Summa_ we have occasionally quoted, is unfortunately too little known. Born in 1469, and dying in 1534, he was the contemporary of Luther and the Reformers, and, as was to be expected, their most formidable opponent. A great student, a man of prayer as well as a man of action, his was the striking figure of the early portion of the sixteenth century. But his was a bold and independent mind, and he was not afraid to advance views which, though now commonly accepted, brought his works into a certain disfavour. This is especially to be regretted in the case of his Commentaries on the Bible. A thorough Greek scholar, possessing no mean acquaintance with Hebrew, he deserves, by reason of the clearness and precision of his thought, the title of "Prince of Commentators." Here, however, we are concerned with the devotional rather than with the critical aspect of his writings, and the reader will gain from some of Cajetan's terse and pithy comments a very great deal of instruction.

In conclusion, a few words may be desirable regarding the method of S. Thomas.

S. Thomas divides his _Summa Theologica_ into three main parts. The _First Part_ treats of _God, the Exemplar_.[22] The _Second_, of _man made to the image of God_;[23] the _Third_, of _God Incarnate_, of His _Sacraments_ by which we attain to union with Him in this life, and of _Eternal Life_ to which we attain ultimately by our resurrection. Here we are solely concerned with the _Second part_.[24] It is subdivided into two portions, known as the _Prima Secundæ_ and the _Secunda Secundæ_ respectively, or as the _First_ and _Second_ portions of the _Second part_. In the _Prima Secundæ_ the Saint treats of the _principles of Morals_--namely, of man's ultimate end and of the habits, acts, and principles by which he attains it. In the _Secunda Secundæ_, after having laid in the _Prima Secundæ_ the foundations of Moral Theology, he proceeds to treat of the _individual virtues_, firstly of the Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity; then of the Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. Under each of these heads he treats of the _Gifts_ corresponding to each Virtue, of the _vices_ opposed to them, and of the _Precepts_ regarding them.[25] Apropos of the Cardinal Virtue of Justice, he treats of the Moral Virtue of _Religion_, which is comprised under Justice, since Religion may be defined as the offering to God the worship which is His due, _Question_ LXXXI. He then treats of _Devotion_, _Question_ LXXXII., and then of _Prayer_, _Question_ LXXXIII. These three _Questions_ we here present in an English dress.

After these Treatises on individual virtues, he passes to the consideration of those virtues which concern, not men as a whole, but only _certain classes of men_.[26] And first of all he treats of those _Gifts_ which are bestowed upon certain men not so much for their own benefit as for the good of others--viz., of Prophecy, of Ecstasy, of the Gift of Tongues, and of the Gift of Miracles. He then discusses the two kinds of _operations_ or "lives"--the _active_, namely, and the _contemplative_--which find a place in the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church. These treatises in reality constitute a commentary on 1 Cor. xii. 4-11. _Question_ CLXXIX., _On the Division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative_, is here given; as also _Question_ CLXXX., _On the Contemplative Life_; _Question_ CLXXXI., _On the Active Life_; _Question_ CLXXXII., _On the Comparison of the Active with the Contemplative Life_.

S. Thomas then proceeds to treat of _various states of life_--viz., of the state of perfection, of the Episcopal and of the Religious state. Only one question raised in this connection concerns us here: _Whether_, namely, _Contemplative Religious Orders are superior to Active Orders?_ (_Question_ CLXXXVIII. 6).

Each _Question_ is, as will be seen from the _Table of Contents_, divided into _Articles_.

The framework of what is termed an "article" of the _Summa_ is familiar to those who use that work, but it may not be amiss to explain S. Thomas's method in brief fashion. Each "article" is couched in the form of a question, thus: _Has contemplation its joys?_ And the Saint at once sets forth in succession three, sometimes more, arguments which seem to militate against the view he himself holds. These are commonly known as the _objections_. He then gives us a short paragraph opening with the words: _Sed contra_, or _But on the contrary_; and in this paragraph he gives some authority, generally that of Holy Scripture or one of the Fathers, for the view he is going to hold. This paragraph is generally known from its opening words as the _Sed contra_; there is no argument in it save from authority. He then proceeds to discuss the question from the standpoint of pure reason. This portion is known as the _Corpus articuli_, or _Body of the Article_, and in it the Saint presents his reasoning in clear, precise fashion. It will be apparent, of course, that many questions cannot be answered with a categoric _yes_ or _no_, but the precise sense in which certain terms in the discussion are to be used has to be clearly ascertained; according to the diverse ways in which they may be understood the answer will be affirmative or negative. It is important for those not familiar with S. Thomas' works to grasp this point; they must not, for instance, presume that because the opening "objections" seem to uphold one point of view S. Thomas is therefore going to hold the precise opposite. A good example of this will be found in the Article: _Ought we to pray to God alone?_

In the Treatises here presented the argument, though clear and precise, is hardly what we should call subtle, and this for the simple reason that the subject-matter does not call for subtle treatment. But what cannot fail to strike the most cursory reader is the tone of submission to authority and to the teachings of the Fathers which characterizes every page: "_Summe veneratus est sacros Doctores_," says Cajetan, "_ideo intellectum omnium quodammodo sortitus est_."[27] And the natural corollary of this is the complete self-effacement of the Saint. The first person is conspicuous by its absence all through the _Summa_, though the reader of the following pages will find one exception to this rule.

And the more we study these Articles of S. Thomas the more we marvel; the thought is so concentrated and yet so limpid in its expression, that as we read it it seems as though no one could ever have thought otherwise. But read it, and then try to reformulate the line of argument which you have been following with such ease--and your mind halts, your tongue stammers! It is one thing to understand the thought when expressed, quite another to think such thoughts and express them. Hence the declaration made by Pope John XXII. when the question of the holy Doctor's canonization was brought forward: "Such teaching," he exclaimed, "could only have been due to miracle!" And on the following day in the Consistory: "He has brought greater light to the Church than all other Doctors; by one year's study of his writings a man may make greater profit than if he spend his whole life studying the writings of others!"[28]

The reader will sometimes feel inclined to smile at the quaint etymologies which occur now and again. But he must remember that these are given by the Saint for what they are worth. It was not a philological age, and S. Thomas made use of the _Book of Etymologies_ drawn up in the seventh century by S. Isidore of Seville.

Besides the writings of S. Augustine, two Patristic works are cited with considerable frequency by S. Thomas in these pages: the _Opus Imperfectum_ of S. Chrysostom on S. Matthew's Gospel, and the works of Denis the Areopagite. The former is almost certainly not the work of S. Chrysostom, but rather of an Arian writer towards the close of the sixth century.[29] The writer known as Denis the Areopagite, owing to his being traditionally identified with S. Paul's convert at Athens, probably wrote about the close of the fifth century. Few works of Mystical Theology exercised a greater influence on the writers of the Middle Ages.[30] A word must also be said about the _Gloss_ to which S. Thomas so often refers, and which he quotes as an authority. The term "Gloss" was applied to the brief running commentaries on the Bible which were in vogue in the Middle Ages. These brief paraphrases were also known as _Postillæ_, and they were frequently written in between the lines of the text of the Bible, whence the name _Interlinear Gloss_; or in the margins, whence the name _Marginal Gloss_. The _Glossa Ordinaria_, as it is called, is the best known of these commentaries. It is usually attributed to Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of S. Gall, who died in 849; but it is probable that Strabo took down his Commentary from the lips of Rabanus Maurus, a monk of the Abbey of Fulda, and afterwards its abbot. Rabanus was a most prolific writer, and has left Commentaries on nearly all the Books of the Bible. Even when Abbot he reserved to himself the Chair of Scripture;[31] he had had the great advantage of living for a time in Palestine. Another Biblical scholar to whom the _Glossa Ordinaria_ of S. Thomas's time apparently owed much, was Hugo à S. Caro, the Dominican Provincial in France, and afterwards Cardinal-Priest of S. Sabina. It was under his direction that the first Concordance of the Bible was formed, in which task he is said to have had the assistance of five hundred Friars.[32] He owes his title of Glossator to his well-known _Postillæ_, or Brief Commentaries on the whole Bible. The _Glossa Interlinearis_ is due to Anselm, a Canon of Laudun, who died in 1117. Another famous Glossator was Nicolas de Lyra, a Franciscan who died in 1340--some sixty-six years, that is, subsequent to S. Thomas. Lastly, we should mention Peter the Lombard, commonly known as _The Master of the Sentences_, from his four books of _Sentences_, in which he presented the theological teaching of the Fathers in Scholastic fashion. This treatise became the Scholastic manual of the age. To him is due a Gloss on the Psalter and on Job, as well as a series of brief notes on the Epistles of S. Paul taken from the writings of the chief Fathers, S. Ambrose, S. Jerome, S. Augustine, etc. And the authority accorded to these Glosses in general is due to the fact that they constituted a running Commentary taken from the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.

THE BREVIARY HYMN TO S. AUGUSTINE.

Magne Pater Augustine Preces nostras suscipe, Et per eas Conditori Nos placare satage, Atque rege gregem tuum Summum decus præsulum.

Amatorem paupertatis Te collaudant pauperes: Assertorem veritatis Amant veri judices: Frangis nobis favos mellis, De Scripturis disserens.

Quæ obscura prius erant Nobis plana faciens, Tu de verbis Salvatoris Dulcem panem conficis, Et propinas potum vitæ De Psalmorum nectare.

Tu de vita clericorum Sanctam scribis Regulam, Quam qui amant et sequuntur Viam tenent regiam, Atque tuo sancto ductu Redeunt ad Patriam.

Regi regum salus, vita, Decus et imperium: Trinitati laus et honor Sit per omne sæculum: Qui concives nos adscribat Supernorum civium. Amen.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _The Ascent of Mount Carmel by S. John of the Cross._ Prefatory Essay on the Development of Mysticism in the Carmelite Order, by Benedict Zimmerman, O.C.D., pp. 13-17. (London: Thomas Baker, 1906.)

[2] Valgornera, O.P., _Mystica Theologia D. Thomæ_, ed. Berthier. 2 Vols. Turin, 1890-91.

[3] "In ætate tam tenera et scibilium nescia, qui necdum se scire poterat, miro modo Deum adhuc nesciens, divino ductus instinctu scire quærebat. De quo futurum erat, ut, dum sic anxius maturius Deum præ aliis quæreret, clarius præ ceteris, quæ scire futurus erat, scriberet, quæ de Deo, ipso donante, studiosius et citius inveniret" (William of Tocco, _Vita B. Thomæ_ in the _Bollandists_, March 7, No. 5). This William of Tocco had seen and heard S. Thomas, and in 1319 took a prominent part in the Saint's canonization (see _Bollandists_, p. 653).

[4] Bernard Guidonis, _Boll._, No. 7, p. 659, note.

[5] _Boll._, Nos. 12 and 76.

[6] _Ibid._, No. 11.

[7] _Boll._, p. 661.

[8] _Ibid._, p. 662.

[9] _Boll._, p. 668.

[10] _Boll._, pp. 668 and 710.

[11] _Boll._, No. 53.

[12] _Ibid._, p. 671.

[13] _Boll._, p. 668.

[14] _Boll._, p. 672.

[15] Ps. xlvii.

[16] _Boll._, p. 672.

[17] _Boll._, p. 669.

[18] _Ibid._, p. 667; _cp._ Ps. lxx, 20.

[19] _Boll._, p. 675.

[20] Touron, _Vie de S. Thomas d'Aquin_, Paris, 1740, p. 353.

[21] _Boll._, p. 706; _cp._ p. 665.

[22] _Prol._ to Ia., IIdæ.

[23] _Prol._ to III. _Pars._

[24] _Prol._ to IIa., IIdæ.

[25] _Prol._ to IIa. IIdæ.

[26] _Prol._ to _Qu._ CLXXI. of the IIda., IIdæ.

[27] _Comment._ on IIa., IIæ., cxlviii. 4.

[28] _Boll._, p. 680.

[29] See Bardenhewer, _Patrologie_, i. 319.

[30] Smith and Wace, _Dict. of Christian Biography_, i. 847.

[31] Fabricius, _Bibliotheca Latina_, _s.v._ Walafridus and Rabanus.

[32] _Ibid._, _s.v._ Hugo à S. Caro.

QUESTION LXXXI

OF THE VIRTUE OF RELIGION

I. Does the Virtue of Religion Direct a Man To God Alone? S. Augustine, _sermon_, cccxxxiv. 3 " _on Psalm_ lxxvi. 32 _sermon_, cccxi. 14-15 II. Is Religion a Virtue? III. Is Religion One Virtue? IV. Is Religion a Special Virtue Distinct From Others? V. Is Religion One of the Theological Virtues? VI. Is Religion To Be Preferred To the Other Moral Virtues? VII. Has Religion, Or Latria, Any External Acts? S. Augustine, _of Care for the Dead_, V. VIII. Is Religion the Same As Sanctity? Cardinal Cajetan, on the Distinction Between Sanctity and Religion

I

Does the Virtue of Religion direct a Man to God Alone?

Cicero says[33]: "Religion offers internal and external reverence to that Superior Nature which we term the Divine."

S. Isidore says[34]: "A religious man is, as Cicero remarks, so called from _religion_, for he is occupied with and, as it were, reads through again and again (_relegit_) the things that concern Divine worship." Thus religion seems to be so called from reading again (_religendo_) things concerning Divine worship; for such things are to be repeatedly revolved in the mind, according to those words of Proverbs iii. 6: _In all thy ways think on Him._ At the same time _religion_ might be said to be so called because "we ought to choose again (_re-eligere_) those things which through our negligence we have lost," as S. Augustine has noted.[35] Or perhaps it is better derived from "binding again" (_religando_); thus S. Augustine says[36]: "Let religion bind us once more to the One Almighty God."

But whether religion be so called from frequent _reading_, or from _fresh election_ of Him Whom we have negligently lost, or from _rebinding_, it properly implies a certain relation to God. For it is He to Whom we ought to be especially _bound_ as our indefectible principle; to Him must we assiduously direct our _choice_ as our ultimate end; He it is Whom we negligently lose by sin and Whom we must regain by believing in Him and by professing our faith in Him.

But some deny that religion directs a man to God alone, thus:

1. S. James says[37]: _Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation; and to keep oneself unspotted from this world._ But _to visit the fatherless and widows_ indicates relation to our neighbour, and _to keep oneself unspotted from this world_ refers to ourselves. Hence religion is not confined to our relationship with God.

But religion has two sorts of acts. Some belong to it properly and immediately, those acts, namely, which it elicits and by which man is directed to God alone, as, for instance, to offer Him sacrifice, to adore Him, etc.

But there are other acts which religion produces through the medium of the virtues which it controls, directing them, that is, towards reverence to God; for that virtue which is concerned with the end directs those virtues which have to do with the means to the end. And in this sense _to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation_ is said to be an act of religion because commanded by it, though actually elicited by the virtue of mercy. Similarly _to keep oneself unspotted from this world_ is an act commanded by religion, though elicited by temperance or some other virtue.

2. S. Augustine says[38]: "Since according to the genius of the Latin speech--and that not merely of the unlearned, but even of the most learned--religion is said to be shown towards our human relatives and connexions and intimates, this word 'religion' cannot be used without some ambiguity when applied to the worship of God; hence we cannot say with absolute confidence that religion is nought else but the worship of God." Religion, then, is not limited to our relation to God, but embraces, our neighbour as well.