Whether Simony Is an Intentional Will to Buy or Sell Something
Spiritual or Connected with a Spiritual Thing?
Objection 1: It would seem that simony is not "an express will to buy
or sell something spiritual or connected with a spiritual thing."
Simony is heresy, since it is written (I, qu. i [*Can. Eos qui per
pecunias]): "The impious heresy of Macedonius and of those who with
him impugned the Holy Ghost, is more endurable than that of those who
are guilty of simony: since the former in their ravings maintained
that the Holy Spirit of Father and Son is a creature and the slave of
God, whereas the latter make the same Holy Spirit to be their own
slave. For every master sells what he has just as he wills, whether
it be his slave or any other of his possessions." But unbelief, like
faith, is an act not of the will but of the intellect, as shown above
(Q. 10, A. 2). Therefore simony should not be defined as an act of
the will.
Obj. 2: Further, to sin intentionally is to sin through malice, and
this is to sin against the Holy Ghost. Therefore, if simony is an
intentional will to sin, it would seem that it is always a sin
against the Holy Ghost.
Obj. 3: Further, nothing is more spiritual than the kingdom of
heaven. But it is lawful to buy the kingdom of heaven: for Gregory
says in a homily (v, in Ev.): "The kingdom of heaven is worth as much
as you possess." Therefore simony does not consist in a will to buy
something spiritual.
Obj. 4: Further, simony takes its name from Simon the magician, of
whom we read (Acts 8:18, 19) that "he offered the apostles money"
that he might buy a spiritual power, in order, to wit, "that on
whomsoever he imposed his hand they might receive the Holy Ghost."
But we do not read that he wished to sell anything. Therefore simony
is not the will to sell a spiritual thing.
Obj. 5: Further, there are many other voluntary commutations besides
buying and selling, such as exchange and transaction [*A kind of
legal compromise--Oxford Dictionary]. Therefore it would seem that
simony is defined insufficiently.
Obj. 6: Further, anything connected with spiritual things is itself
spiritual. Therefore it is superfluous to add "or connected with
spiritual things."
Obj. 7: Further, according to some, the Pope cannot commit simony:
yet he can buy or sell something spiritual. Therefore simony is not
the will to buy or sell something spiritual or connected with a
spiritual thing.
_On the contrary,_ Gregory VII says (Regist. [*Caus. I, qu. i, can.
Presbyter, qu. iii, can. Altare]): "None of the faithful is ignorant
that buying or selling altars, tithes, or the Holy Ghost is the
heresy of simony."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 18, A. 2) an act is evil
generically when it bears on undue matter. Now a spiritual thing is
undue matter for buying and selling for three reasons. First, because
a spiritual thing cannot be appraised at any earthly price, even as
it is said concerning wisdom (Prov. 3:15), "she is more precious than
all riches, and all things that are desired, are not to be compared
with her": and for this reason Peter, in condemning the wickedness of
Simon in its very source, said (Acts 8:20): "Keep thy money to
thyself to perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money."
Secondly, because a thing cannot be due matter for sale if the vendor
is not the owner thereof, as appears from the authority quoted (Obj.
1). Now ecclesiastical superiors are not owners, but dispensers of
spiritual things, according to 1 Cor. 4:1, "Let a man so account of
us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the ministers
of God."
Thirdly, because sale is opposed to the source of spiritual things,
since they flow from the gratuitous will of God. Wherefore Our Lord
said (Matt. 10:8): "Freely have you received, freely give."
Therefore by buying or selling a spiritual thing, a man treats God
and divine things with irreverence, and consequently commits a sin of
irreligion.
Reply Obj. 1: Just as religion consists in a kind of protestation of
faith, without, sometimes, faith being in one's heart, so too the
vices opposed to religion include a certain protestation of unbelief
without, sometimes, unbelief being in the mind. Accordingly simony is
said to be a "heresy," as regards the outward protestation, since by
selling a gift of the Holy Ghost a man declares, in a way, that he is
the owner of a spiritual gift; and this is heretical. It must,
however, be observed that Simon Magus, besides wishing the apostles
to sell him a grace of the Holy Ghost for money, said that the world
was not created by God, but by some heavenly power, as Isidore states
(Etym. viii, 5): and so for this reason simoniacs are reckoned with
other heretics, as appears from Augustine's book on heretics.
Reply Obj. 2: As stated above (Q. 58, A. 4), justice, with all its
parts, and consequently all the opposite vices, is in the will as its
subject. Hence simony is fittingly defined from its relation to the
will. This act is furthermore described as "express," in order to
signify that it proceeds from choice, which takes the principal part
in virtue and vice. Nor does everyone sin against the Holy Ghost that
sins from choice, but only he who chooses sin through contempt of
those things whereby man is wont to be withdrawn from sin, as stated
above (Q. 14, A. 1).
Reply Obj. 3: The kingdom of heaven is said to be bought when a man
gives what he has for God's sake. But this is to employ the term
"buying" in a wide sense, and as synonymous with merit: nor does it
reach to the perfect signification of buying, both because neither
"the sufferings of this time," nor any gift or deed of ours, "are
worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed
in us" (Rom. 8:18), and because merit consists chiefly, not in an
outward gift, action or passion, but in an inward affection.
Reply Obj. 4: Simon the magician wished to buy a spiritual power in
order that afterwards he might sell it. For it is written (I, qu. iii
[*Can. Salvator]), that "Simon the magician wished to buy the gift of
the Holy Ghost, in order that he might make money by selling the
signs to be wrought by him." Hence those who sell spiritual things
are likened in intention to Simon the magician: while those who wish
to buy them are likened to him in act. Those who sell them imitate,
in act, Giezi the disciple of Eliseus, of whom we read (4 Kings
5:20-24) that he received money from the leper who was healed:
wherefore the sellers of spiritual things may be called not only
"simoniacs" but also "giezites."
Reply Obj. 5: The terms "buying" and "selling" cover all kinds of
non-gratuitous contracts. Wherefore it is impossible for the exchange
or agency of prebends or ecclesiastical benefices to be made by
authority of the parties concerned without danger of committing
simony, as laid down by law [*Cap. Quaesitum, de rerum Permutat.;
cap. Super, de Transact.]. Nevertheless the superior, in virtue of
his office, can cause these exchanges to be made for useful or
necessary reasons.
Reply Obj. 6: Even as the soul lives by itself, while the body lives
through being united to the soul; so, too, certain things are
spiritual by themselves, such as the sacraments and the like, while
others are called spiritual, through adhering to those others. Hence
(I, qu. iii, cap. Siquis objecerit) it is stated that "spiritual
things do not progress without corporal things, even as the soul has
no bodily life without the body."
Reply Obj. 7: The Pope can be guilty of the vice of simony, like any
other man, since the higher a man's position the more grievous is his
sin. For although the possessions of the Church belong to him as
dispenser in chief, they are not his as master and owner. Therefore,
were he to accept money from the income of any church in exchange for
a spiritual thing, he would not escape being guilty of the vice of
simony. In like manner he might commit simony by accepting from a
layman moneys not belonging to the goods of the Church.
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