Produced by Charlene Taylor, Ted Garvin, David King, and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
ON PRAYER AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
BY
S. THOMAS AQUINAS
BY THE
VERY REV. HUGH POPE, O.P., S.T.M.
AUTHOR OF "THE CATHOLIC STUDENT'S 'AIDS' TO THE BIBLE," ETC.
WITH A PREFACE BY
VERY REV. VINCENT McNABB, O.P., S.T.L.
R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW
1914 _All rights reserved_
Nihil Obstat.
J.P. ARENDZEN, D.D.,
Censor Deputatus.
Imprimatur.
EDM. CAN. SURMONT,
Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii,
_Die 20 Septembris, 1913._
"Te Trina Deitas unaque poscimus
Sic nos Tu visita, sicut Te colimus:
Per Tuas semitas duc nos quo tendimus,
Ad lucem, quam inhabitas!"
S. Thomas's Hymn for Matins on the
_Feast of Corpus Christi_.
PREFACE
The present generation in the fervour of its repentance is like to cast
off too much. So many false principles and hasty deductions have been
offered to its parents and grandparents in the name of science that it
is becoming unduly suspicious of the scientific method.
A century ago men's minds were sick unto death from too much science and
too little mysticism. To-day the danger is that even the drawing-rooms
are scented with a mysticism that anathematizes science.
At no time since the days of S. Thomas was the saint's scientific method
more lacking. Everywhere there is need for a mystic doctrine, which in
itself is neither hypnotism nor hysteria, and in its expression is
neither superlative nor apostrophic, lest the hungered minds of men die
of surfeit following on starvation.
The message and method of S. Thomas are part of that strange rigidity of
the thirteenth century which is one of the startling paradoxes of the
ages of faith. It is surely a consolation that these ages of a faith
which moved mountains, or at least essayed to remove the Turk, were
minded to express their beliefs in the coat of mail of human reason! The
giants of those days, who in the sphere of literature were rediscovering
verse and inventing rhyme, and who in every sphere of knowledge were
bringing forth the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, were not so
blinded by the white light of vision as to disown the Greeks. They made
the _Ethics_ of Aristotle the four-square walls of the city of God; they
expressed the mysteries of the Undivided Three in terms of the
Syllogism. Thus they refused to cut themselves off from the aristocracy
of human genius. They laid hands--but not violent hands--on the heritage
of the ages. No philosophers have ever equalled their bold and
lowly-minded profession of faith in the solidarity of human reason. For
this cause S. Thomas, who is their spokesman, has now become an absolute
necessity of thought. Unless the great Dumb Ox is given a hearing, our
mysticism will fill, not the churches, but the asylums and the little
self-authorized Bethels where every man is his own precursor and
messiah.
That S. Thomas is to be accepted as a master of mysticism may be judged
from the following facts in the life of a mystic of the mystics, S. John
of the Cross:
"It has been recorded that during his studies he particularly relished
psychology; this is amply borne out by his writings. S. John was not
what one could term a scholar. He was, however, intimately acquainted
with the _Summa_ of S. Thomas Aquinas, as almost every page of his works
proves.... He does not seem to have ever applied himself to the study of
the Fathers.... As has already been stated, the whole work (_The Ascent
of Mount Carmel_) is based upon the view S. Thomas Aquinas takes of the
essence and operations of the senses and of the faculties of the soul,
and upon his treatise on the virtues."[1]
S. Thomas hardly needs an imprimatur after six centuries of full trust.
But in the hard matters of mysticism, which he has treated as a scholar
should, it is reassuring to know that he has the approval, not only of
the scholars, but of the mystics.
VINCENT McNABB, O.P.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
QUESTION LXXXI
OF THE VIRTUE OF RELIGION
QUESTION LXXXII
OF DEVOTION
QUESTION LXXXIII
OF PRAYER
SUPPLEMENT--QUESTION LXXII
OF THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS WHO ARE IN HEAVEN
QUESTION CLXXIX
OF THE DIVISION OF LIFE INTO THE ACTIVE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE
QUESTION CLXXX
OF THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
QUESTION CLXXXI
OF THE ACTIVE LIFE
QUESTION CLXXXII
OF THE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ACTIVE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
QUESTION CLXXXVI
ON THE RELIGIOUS STATE
INDEX
INDEX OF TEXTS QUOTED OR EXPLAINED
INTRODUCTION
The pages which follow call for little introduction. S. Thomas has left
us no formal treatise on Mystical Theology, though his teachings on this
subject have been collected from his various works and combined to form
such a treatise. Especially noteworthy is the work of the Spanish
Dominican Valgornera.[2] No such synthesis has been attempted here. We
have simply taken from the _Summa Theologica_ the treatises on
_Religion_, on _Devotion_, _Prayer_, and the _Contemplative Life_, and
presented them in an English dress. When occasion offered we have added
to each portion appropriate passages from S. Augustine, S. Thomas's
master, and more rarely from the _Commentary_ on the _Summa_ by the
illustrious Cardinal Cajetan.
And we have been led to do this for several reasons. The Mystical life
is the life of union with God, and it is based essentially on Prayer and
Contemplation. But prayer and contemplation, though simple in
themselves, are yet fraught with difficulties and dangers unless we be
wisely guided. And as Father Faber shrewdly says: when we ask for
instruction in these things, let us by all means make appeal to those
whose names begin with S--let us, in other words, go to God's Saints.
And the reason is simple: these Saints are no mere idle sign-posts who
point the way but stand still themselves; they themselves have been
where they would have us go; they speak from no mere theoretical
knowledge; they themselves have tasted and seen that the Lord is sweet!
Further, it would have been easy to cull from S. Thomas's writings the
salient points of his teaching on these points, and to have presented
them in an attractive form. But had we done so the teachings of the
Saint would have lost much of their force, and readers might well have
doubted at times whether they really had before them the mind of S.
Thomas or that of the translator. It is preferable to read the Bible
than what men have said about the Bible. Unfortunately, it is the
fashion nowadays to consider S. Thomas's writings "out of date"! If the
perusal of these pages shall have induced some few at least to go to the
original and study it for themselves they will have more than fulfilled
the translator's desires.
Another reason which has weighed much with the translator and encouraged
him to undertake this task has been the suddenly awakened interest in
Mysticism and Mystical studies during the last decade. It has become the
fashion to talk about Mysticism, even to pose as Mystics, and--need it
be said?--those who talk the most on such subjects are those who know
the least. For those who have entered into the secret of the King are
ever the most reticent on such matters. At the same time we may welcome
this recent development, if only as a set-off against the Spiritualism
and occultism which have played such havoc with souls during a space of
over fifty years. The human soul, "naturally Christian," as Tertullian
would say, is also naturally Divine in the sense that, as S. Augustine
so often insists, no rest is possible for it save in God. Now those who
are familiar with the _Summa Theologica_ are aware that _Union with God_
is its keynote, or rather is the dominant note which rings out clear
again and again with its ever-repeated _Sursum Corda_! It is this that
gives such special value to the treatises here presented on Prayer and
the Contemplative Life. They flow from the pen of one who was literally
steeped in God and Divine things, and who is speaking to us of things
which he had himself tasted and seen. It is this that gives such
simplicity and charm to the whole of his teaching. He is not
experimenting; he is not speaking of theories; he is portraying to us
what was his everyday life.
Perhaps one of the commonest errors regarding the Spiritual life is the
confusion between the ordinary and the extraordinary ways of God. For
how many does not the Contemplative Life mean the life of ecstasy and
vision with which we are familiar in the lives of the Saints? For S.
Thomas, on the contrary, the Contemplative Life is but the natural life
of a man who is serving God and who devotes a certain portion of his
time to the study and contemplation of Divine things. Ecstasy and vision
he treats of in another place. They occupy a sphere apart. They belong
to God's extraordinary dealings with favoured souls, and while they
presuppose prayer and contemplation on the part of those so visited they
themselves form no integral part of the Contemplative Life; indeed, they
are the exception. Hence in these pages we shall find nought touching
Supernatural manifestations, such as visions, ecstasies, and
revelations; but we shall find what is of far greater use to us--a
Catechism on Devotion, Prayer, and Contemplation.
* * * * *
The main features of the Life of S. Thomas of Aquin are known to most of
those who are likely to read this book. His life at first sight seems of
such an even tenor that there is but little to record. Yet when we
penetrate beneath the surface we realize that he lived in stirring days,
and that his short span of fifty years was passed in the full light of
the world of the thirteenth century. Thomas was born in the beginning of
the year 1225 in the castle of Rocca-Secca, the ancestral home of the
Counts of Aquino, in the kingdom of Sicily. His future glory was
foretold to his mother, the Countess Theodora, by a hermit of that
neighbourhood who also foretold that his parents would endeavour to make
him a monk in the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, but that God had
other designs for him, since he was to be a Friar Preacher, a member of
the Order of the great S. Dominic who had just gone to his reward. The
prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. At the early age of five years he
was sent to the Abbey to be educated among the young nobles of the day,
as was then the custom. Even thus early he showed a remarkable maturity
of character, and his biographer, William of Tocco, dwells with delight
on the calm reserve of his childish days and on that eager seeking after
God which was to be his future glory.[3]
From Monte Cassino Thomas passed to Naples to complete his studies. Here
he became conscious of his vocation, and offered himself to the
Dominicans. The Prior of the convent at Naples at that time was Father
John of S. Julian, who later became Patriarch of Jerusalem[4]; he gave
the habit of the Order to Thomas, who was then but fourteen years of
age. His parents were indignant at this step, and did all in their power
to shake his determination. Fearing their recourse to the violent
methods then so common, the Dominicans sent Thomas to the convent of
Santa Sabina at Rome. But S. Thomas's brothers, at their mother's
bidding, seized upon the young man and carried him off in his religious
habit to his mother who kept him imprisoned for nearly two years.[5]
During this time of anxiety nothing disturbed the Saint's equanimity,
and he made good use of his time by studying the Bible, the _Book of the
Sentences_--the Theological Manual of those days--and also Aristotle's
philosophical treatises. It was at this time that the diabolical attempt
upon his virtue was made--an attempt which the Saint resisted
effectually; in reward for his constancy he was miraculously girded with
a cincture by two Angels from Heaven.[6] Failing in their attempt to
shake his determination, his brothers permitted him to escape, and he
returned to the convent at Naples in 1245. Thence he was sent by his
superiors to Rome, and shortly afterwards to Paris and Cologne to study
under Blessed Albert the Great. At Cologne he led the life of a simple
student, a life of recollection, prayer, and study. But his
extraordinary talents could not long remain hid. The post of Bachelor in
the famous House of Studies at Paris was vacant, and at the suggestion
of Cardinal Hugo a S. Caro, himself a Dominican, S. Thomas was appointed
by the Master-General of the Order to the vacant post. This was a blow
to the Saint's humility, but he accepted it under obedience. The
impression made by his teaching was extraordinary, and the words of
William of Tocco on this point are worth transcribing: "Erat enim novos
in sua lectione movens articulos, novum modum et clarum determinandi
inveniens, et novas reducens in determinationibus rationes: ut nemo qui
ipsum audisset nova docere, et novis rationibus dubia definire
dubitaret, quod eum Deus novi luminis radiis illustrasset, qui statim
tam certi c[oe]pisset esse judicii, ut non dubitaret novas opiniones
docere et scribere, quas Deus dignatus esset noviter inspirare." This
novelty in method was evidently remarkable, but, while provoking the
attacks of some, it attracted an immense crowd to his lectures, and this
not simply by reason of the novelty which characterized them, but by
reason of the supereminent sanctity of the teacher. "Dilectus Deo!"
cries out his biographer. "Qui scientiam tribuit; et acceptus hominibus,
quibus quasi novis radiis veritatis illuxit."[7]
In 1253 or 1254 Thomas was, again much against his will, created Master
in Sacred Theology, and the remaining twenty years of his life were
wholly devoted to teaching, studying, and preaching, whether at Paris or
at Naples. Dignities and honours were frequently offered him, but he
succeeded in avoiding them all. He felt that his vocation was to study
and teach. And since his teaching was to be of things Divine, he felt
that he must needs be absorbed in such things, and that his life must be
wholly spent with God. This feature of his life is insisted on by his
biographers: "Men ever saw him of joyful mien, gentle and sweet, not
occupying himself with worldly affairs, but ever given to study, to
reading, to writing, and to prayer for the enlightening of the
faithful."[8] Thus we are told that when Brother Reginald, who had been
Blessed Thomas's companion, returned from Fossa Nuova to Naples after
the Master's death to resume the lectures he had been giving there, he
burst into tears as he stood before the Brethren, and said: "Brothers, I
was forbidden by my Master to reveal during his life the marvels I had
seen. One of those marvels was that his knowledge, which so wondrously
surpassed that of other men, was not due to any human skill, but to the
merits of his prayers. For whenever he would study, or dispute, or read,
or write, or dictate, he would first betake himself to prayer in secret,
and there with many tears would implore light wherewith to search
rightly into the secret things of God. And by the merits of such prayer
it came to pass that, whereas previous to his prayer he had been in
doubt about the subject of his study, he always returned from it
illumined. And when any doubtful point occurred to him before he had had
recourse to prayer, he went to pray, and what had previously been
obscure was then Divinely made clear to him."[9]
Truly characteristic of our Saint are those three petitions he was wont
to make: that he might never learn to love things of earth; that he
might never change his state of life; that God would reveal to him the
state of his brother Reginald, who had been put to death, unjustly, as
Thomas thought, by the Emperor Frederic. All three petitions were
granted, two of them, as he himself told Brother Reginald on his
deathbed, by the Blessed Virgin herself. "She appeared to him," says
William of Tocco, "and assured him regarding his life and his knowledge,
promised him, too, that God would grant him whatsoever he should ask
through her intercession, and told him, moreover, that he would never
change his state of life."[10]
The following story is well known, but is too illustrative of the
Saint's character to be omitted: A dispute had arisen in the University
of Paris regarding the Accidents of the Holy Eucharist, and the Doctors
of the University decided to leave the decision with S. Thomas. The
responsibility was great, but the Saint according to his custom betook
himself to prayer and then wrote his answer to the difficulty. "But
since he would not dare," says William of Tocco, "to expound his opinion
in the Schools before the Masters of the University without first
consulting Him of Whom he was treating and to Whom he had prayed that he
might teach correctly, he came to the altar and there spread out the
pages he had written before Him; then, lifting up his hands to the
Crucifix, he prayed and said: 'O Lord Jesus Christ, Who art most truly
contained in this wondrous Sacrament and Who as Supreme Artificer ever
wondrously workest, I seek to understand Thee in this Sacrament and to
teach truly concerning Thee. Wherefore I humbly pray Thee that if what I
have written spring from Thee, and be true concerning Thee, then Thou
wouldest enable me to declare it and clearly expound it. But if I have
written ought which is not in harmony with Thy Faith and which accords
not with the Mysteries of this Sacrament, then I pray Thee that nought
may proceed from my mouth which deviates from the Catholic Faith.' Then
those who watched saw on a sudden Christ standing before the Saint and
on the paper he had written, and they heard Him say: 'Well hast thou
written of Me in this Sacrament of My Body, and well and truly hast thou
answered the question put to thee, as far, that is, as it can be
understood by man in this life, or expressed in human words.'"[11]
And it was ever the same throughout his life: in God he sought God.
Hence his incessant meditation on the Holy Scriptures; hence his
diligent study of the writings of the Fathers of the Church. "Master,"
said a band of his students to him as they looked on Paris spread before
them--"Master, see what a lovely city Paris is! Would you not like to be
its owner?" And with a Saint's simplicity he replied: "Far rather would
I have the Homilies of Chrysostom on S. Matthew! For if this city were
mine then the task of governing it would take me away from the
contemplation of things Divine and deprive my soul of its
consolations!"[12]
And his companion Reginald has told us how he studied to know the things
of God. For he tells us that when the Saint was occupied with his
Commentary on Isaias and could not arrive at any satisfactory
explanation of a certain passage he gave himself up to fasting and
prayer. Then one night Reginald heard voices in the Saint's cell, and
whilst he wondered what this might mean at that hour, S. Thomas came to
him and said: "Reginald, get up, light a candle, and take the book in
which you have been writing upon Isaias and make ready to write once
more." Then Reginald wrote whilst the Saint dictated as though he were
reading out of a book, with such facility did he speak. And then, at
Reginald's insistent petition, he said to him: "My son, you have seen
the affliction under which I have been of late owing to this passage of
Isaias which I have just been expounding, and you know how I besought
God with tears that I might understand it. God, then, this very night
had pity upon me, and sent His Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul whom I
had prayed to intercede for me, and they have most fully explained it
all!"[13] How gladly would one know what passage of Isaias it was which
was thus Divinely interpreted!
And so this truly marvellous life went on till the end drew near. Day by
day he ascended the steps of the altar, his face bathed in tears; day by
day he returned to his work more and more illumined regarding the
_Mysterium Fidei_, and with his soul still more closely knit to its
Maker. His ecstasies became more frequent, and in one of these he was
told that the close of his life was at hand. For it was at San Severino,
not far from Salerno, that he fell into so prolonged an ecstasy that his
sister who was present appealed to Reginald to know what had happened to
her brother. Even Reginald was astonished. "He is frequently rapt in
spirit," he said, "but never before have I seen him thus abstracted!"
"Then," says William of Tocco, "Master Reginald went to him, and,
plucking him by the cloak, roused him from this deep sleep of
contemplation. But he sighed and said: 'My son Reginald, I tell thee in
secret, and I forbid thee to reveal it to anyone during my life, the
close of my writing has come; for such things have been revealed to me
that all I have written and taught seems to me of small account. Hence I
hope in my God that as there is an end to my writing, so too will
speedily come the end of my life.'"[14]
And S. Thomas was ready for the end, for not long previously, when he
was in the convent at Naples and was praying in the Church, there
appeared to him Brother Romanus, whom he had left teaching at Paris.
Brother Thomas said to him: "Welcome! Whence dost thou come?" But
Romanus said to him: "I have passed from this life, and I am allowed to
come to thee by reason of thy merits." Then Brother Thomas, summoning up
his courage, for he had been much disturbed by the sudden apparition,
said to him: "If it be pleasing to God, I adjure you by God to answer my
questions. First: How does it stand with me? and are my works pleasing
to God?" And the other answered: "Thou art in a good state, and thy
works are pleasing to God." Then the Master continued: "And what of
thyself?" And Romanus answered: "I am in Eternal Life, but I was in
Purgatory sixteen days because of some negligence of which I was guilty
in the affair of a will which the Bishop of Paris entrusted to me for
speedy execution; but I, through mine own fault, was tardy in executing
it." Lastly S. Thomas asked: "What about that question we have so often
discussed together: Do the habits we have acquired here abide with us
when we are in our Fatherland?" But the other replied: "Brother Thomas,
I see God, and you must ask me nought further on that question." But
Thomas at once said: "Since you see God, tell me whether you see Him
with or without any intermediate image?" But Romanus replied: "_As we
have heard, so we have seen in the City of our God_,"[15] and forthwith
disappeared. But the Master remained astonished at that marvellous and
unwonted apparition, and filled with joy at his favourable replies. "O
Blessed Teacher!" ejaculates William of Tocco, who has left us this
account, "to whom Heaven's secrets were thus familiar, to whom Heaven's
citizens came with such sweet familiarity to lead him to those heavenly
shores!"[16]
Nor was this the only warning. For just as in earlier years at Paris he
had received Divine commendation for his writings, so now again at
Naples. For Brother Dominic of Caserta tells us that at Naples he
watched S. Thomas praying at night. He saw him, he says, absorbed in
prayer, and then lifted up into the air about the height of two cubits
from the ground. And whilst for a long space he marvelled at this, he
suddenly heard this voice from the Crucifix: "Thomas, well hast thou
written of Me! What reward wilt thou have from Me for all thy labour?"
But he replied: "Lord, none save Thyself!" At that time the Saint was
engaged upon the _Third Part_ of the _Summa_, and was treating of the
Passion and Resurrection of Christ. But after arriving at that point he
wrote but little more by reason of the marvels that God had wondrously
revealed to him.[17]
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 Secundae_ and the _Secunda
Secundae_ respectively, or as the _First_ and _Second_ portions of the
_Second part_. In the _Prima Secundae_ 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 Secundae_,
after having laid in the _Prima Secundae_ 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 _Postillae_, 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 a 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 _Postillae_, 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 praesulum.
Amatorem paupertatis
Te collaudant pauperes:
Assertorem veritatis
Amant veri judices:
Frangis nobis favos mellis,
De Scripturis disserens.
Quae obscura prius erant
Nobis plana faciens,
Tu de verbis Salvatoris
Dulcem panem conficis,
Et propinas potum vitae
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 saeculum:
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. Thomae_, ed. Berthier. 2
Vols. Turin, 1890-91.
[3] "In aetate tam tenera et scibilium nescia, qui necdum se scire
poterat, miro modo Deum adhuc nesciens, divino ductus instinctu scire
quaerebat. De quo futurum erat, ut, dum sic anxius maturius Deum prae
aliis quaereret, clarius prae ceteris, quae scire futurus erat, scriberet,
quae de Deo, ipso donante, studiosius et citius inveniret" (William of
Tocco, _Vita B. Thomae_ 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., IIdae.
[23] _Prol._ to III. _Pars._
[24] _Prol._ to IIa., IIdae.
[25] _Prol._ to IIa. IIdae.
[26] _Prol._ to _Qu._ CLXXI. of the IIda., IIdae.
[27] _Comment._ on IIa., IIae., 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 a 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.
But it is only by an extension of the name "religion" that it is
made to embrace our relations towards our human kin, it is not
according to the proper signification of the word. Hence S.
Augustine prefaced the words quoted from him above with the
remark: "Religion, strictly speaking, seems to mean, not any
kind of worship, but only that of God."
3. Further, _latria_ seems to come under religion. But S. Augustine
says[39]: "_Latria_ is interpreted as service." But we ought to serve
not God only, but our neighbour as well: _By charity of the spirit serve
one another._[40] Religion, then, implies relation to our neighbour.
But since a slave implies a master, it follows that where there
exists a peculiar and special title of dominion there also will
be found a peculiar and special ratio of servitude. It is clear,
however, that dominion belongs to God in a peculiar and special
fashion, since He it is Who has made all things and Who holds
the chief rule over all things. Consequently a special kind of
service is due to Him. And this service is by the Greeks
designated _latria_, which is, in consequence, properly
comprised under "religion."