Whether After Christ, It Was Proper to the Blessed Virgin to Be
Sanctified in the Womb?
Objection 1: It would seem that it was proper for the Blessed Virgin,
after Christ, to be sanctified in the womb. For it has been said (A.
4) that the Blessed Virgin was sanctified in the womb, in order that
she might be worthy to be the mother of God. But this is proper to
her. Therefore she alone was sanctified in the womb.
Obj. 2: Further, some men seem to have been more closely connected
with Christ than Jeremias and John the Baptist, who are said to have
been sanctified in the womb. For Christ is specially called the Son
of David and of Abraham, by reason of the promise specially made to
them concerning Christ. Isaias also prophesied of Christ in the most
express terms. And the apostles were in converse with Christ Himself.
And yet these are not mentioned as having been sanctified in the
womb. Therefore it was not befitting that either Jeremias or John the
Baptist should be sanctified in the womb.
Obj. 3: Further, Job says of himself (Job 31:18): "From my infancy
mercy grew up with me; and it came out with me from [my mother's]
womb." Nevertheless we do not for this reason say that he was
sanctified in the womb. Neither therefore are we bound to say that
Jeremias and John the Baptist were sanctified in the womb.
_On the contrary,_ It is written of Jeremias (Jer. 1:5): "Before thou
camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee." And of John the
Baptist it is written (Luke 1:15): "He shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost, even from his mother's womb."
_I answer that,_ Augustine (Ep. ad Dardan.) seems to speak dubiously
of their (Jeremias' and John the Baptist's) sanctification in the
womb. For the leaping of John in the womb "might," as he says,
"signify the great truth," viz. that the woman was the mother of God,
"which was to be made known to his elders, though as yet unknown to
the infant. Hence in the Gospel it is written, not that the infant in
her womb believed, but that it 'leaped': and our eyes are witness
that not only infants leap but also cattle. But this was unwonted
because it was in the womb. And therefore, just as other miracles are
wont to be done, this was done divinely, in the infant; not humanly
by the infant. Perhaps also in this child the use of reason and will
was so far accelerated that while yet in his mother's womb he was
able to acknowledge, believe, and consent, whereas in other children
we have to wait for these things till they grow older: this again I
count as a miraculous result of the divine power."
But since it is expressly said (of John) in the Gospel that "he shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb"; and of
Jeremias, "Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified
thee"; it seems that we must needs assert that they were sanctified
in the womb, although, while in the womb, they had not the use of
reason (which is the point discussed by Augustine); just as neither
do children enjoy the use of free will as soon as they are sanctified
by baptism.
Nor are we to believe that any others, not mentioned by Scripture,
were sanctified in the womb. For such privileges of grace, which are
bestowed on some, outside the common law, are ordered for the
salvation of others, according to 1 Cor. 12:7: "The manifestation of
the Spirit is given to every man unto profit," which would not result
from the sanctification of anyone unless it were made known to the
Church.
And although it is not possible to assign a reason for God's
judgments, for instance, why He bestows such a grace on one and not
on another, yet there seems to be a certain fittingness in both of
these being sanctified in the womb, by their foreshadowing the
sanctification which was to be effected through Christ. First, as to
His Passion, according to Heb. 13:12: "Jesus, that He might sanctify
the people by His own blood, suffered without the gate": which
Passion Jeremias foretold openly by words and by symbols, and most
clearly foreshadowed by his own sufferings. Secondly, as to His
Baptism (1 Cor. 6:11): "But you are washed, but you are sanctified";
to which Baptism John prepared men by his baptism.
Reply Obj. 1: The blessed Virgin, who was chosen by God to be His
Mother, received a fuller grace of sanctification than John the
Baptist and Jeremias, who were chosen to foreshadow in a special way
the sanctification effected by Christ. A sign of this is that it was
granted to the Blessed Virgin thenceforward never to sin either
mortally or venially: whereas to the others who were thus sanctified
it was granted thenceforward not to sin mortally, through the
protection of God's grace.
Reply Obj. 2: In other respects these saints might be more closely
united to Christ than Jeremias and John the Baptist. But the latter
were most closely united to Him by clearly foreshadowing His
sanctification, as explained above.
Reply Obj. 3: The mercy of which Job speaks is not the infused
virtue; but a certain natural inclination to the act of that virtue.
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