Benedictio nuptiarum
Utinam uxoris scientia et sollertia arte Latine
id mariti praestet semper--
Utinam ea usque irrideat ei,
et semper poenitet--
Et ergo impensam librorum suorum
semper ignoscat.
Showing posts with label purgatory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purgatory. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Benedictio nuptiarum
Our worthy and esteemed Faber was married two days ago and consequently may not post for some time as he adjusts to his new duties. I offer both Mr and the new Mrs Faber my heartiest congratulations. At the end of my Best Man speech I offered a toast in English which I here present in its original form:
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Exempla pro Fabrum
I. DE DIABOLO QUI DUXIT UXOREM CUIUS LITIGIA NON POTERAT SUSTINERE
Audivi quod quidam daemon in specie hominis cuidam diviti homini serviebat et, cum servitium eius et industria multum placerent homini, dedit ei filiam suam in uxorem et divitias multas. Illa autem omni die ac nocte litigabat cum mario suo nec eum quiescere permittebat. In fine autem anni dixit patri uxoris suae: "Volo recedere et in patriam meam redire." Cui pater uxoris ait: "Nonne multa tibi dedi ita quod nihil desit tibi? Quare vis recedere?" Dixit ille: "Modis omnibus volo repatriare." Cui socer ait: "Ubi est patria tua?" Ait ille: "Dicam tibi et veritatem non celabo; patria mea est infernus, ubi numquam tantam discordiam vel molestiam sustinui quantam hoc anno passus sum a litigiosa uxore mea. Malo esse in inferno quam amplius cum ipsa commorari." Et hoc dicto ab oculis eorum evanuit.
II. DE BACHONE QUI PENDEBAT IN QUADAM VILLA
Aliquando transivi per quandam villa in Francia, ubi suspenderant pernam seu bachonem in platea hoc conditione ut, qui vellet iuramento firmare quod uno integro anno post contractum matrimonium permansisset cum uxore ita quod de matrimonio non paenituisset, bachonem haberet. Et cum per decem annos ibi perpendisset non est una solus inventus qui bachonem lucraretur, omnibus infra annum de matrimonio contracto paenitentibus.
III. EXEMPLUM CONTRA MALITIAM MULIERUM ET DE ILLO CUI PATER DEDIT UXOREM
Ecce quam pauci hodie uxoribus suis adhaerent fide et dilectione sicut instituit Dominus noster Iesus Christus qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Ut autem de malitia filiarum Evae aliquid subdam, nolui sub silentio praeterire quod audivi de quodam iuvene, qui rogabat patrem suum ut ei duas uxores daret. Cumque vehementer instaret dedit ei pater unam, promittens quod in fine anni daret alteram. Illa vero adeo primo anno maritum afflixit quod non poterat sustinere sed mallet mori quam vivere. Cumque pater finito anno diceret filio: "Vis habere secundum uxorem?" respondit ille: "Si una me afflixit fere usque ad mortem, quomodo duas ferre possem?" Accidit autem in civitate illa ut caperetur maleficus et latro pessimus, qui multos de civitate illa spoliaverat et occiderat. Cumque cives convenirent et quaereret iudex a singulis ut quilibet consilium suum daret quomodo latro ille magis torqueri valeret, quibusdam dicentibus; "Distrahatur caudis equorum et suspendatur," aliis dicentibus: "Igne cremetur," ceteris vero consulentibus ut vivus excoriaretur, cum perventum fuisset ad illum qui malam habebat uxorem, respondit: "Date illi uxorem meam; non video qualiter ipsum magis affligere valeatis."
Audivi quod quidam daemon in specie hominis cuidam diviti homini serviebat et, cum servitium eius et industria multum placerent homini, dedit ei filiam suam in uxorem et divitias multas. Illa autem omni die ac nocte litigabat cum mario suo nec eum quiescere permittebat. In fine autem anni dixit patri uxoris suae: "Volo recedere et in patriam meam redire." Cui pater uxoris ait: "Nonne multa tibi dedi ita quod nihil desit tibi? Quare vis recedere?" Dixit ille: "Modis omnibus volo repatriare." Cui socer ait: "Ubi est patria tua?" Ait ille: "Dicam tibi et veritatem non celabo; patria mea est infernus, ubi numquam tantam discordiam vel molestiam sustinui quantam hoc anno passus sum a litigiosa uxore mea. Malo esse in inferno quam amplius cum ipsa commorari." Et hoc dicto ab oculis eorum evanuit.
II. DE BACHONE QUI PENDEBAT IN QUADAM VILLA
Aliquando transivi per quandam villa in Francia, ubi suspenderant pernam seu bachonem in platea hoc conditione ut, qui vellet iuramento firmare quod uno integro anno post contractum matrimonium permansisset cum uxore ita quod de matrimonio non paenituisset, bachonem haberet. Et cum per decem annos ibi perpendisset non est una solus inventus qui bachonem lucraretur, omnibus infra annum de matrimonio contracto paenitentibus.
III. EXEMPLUM CONTRA MALITIAM MULIERUM ET DE ILLO CUI PATER DEDIT UXOREM
Ecce quam pauci hodie uxoribus suis adhaerent fide et dilectione sicut instituit Dominus noster Iesus Christus qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Ut autem de malitia filiarum Evae aliquid subdam, nolui sub silentio praeterire quod audivi de quodam iuvene, qui rogabat patrem suum ut ei duas uxores daret. Cumque vehementer instaret dedit ei pater unam, promittens quod in fine anni daret alteram. Illa vero adeo primo anno maritum afflixit quod non poterat sustinere sed mallet mori quam vivere. Cumque pater finito anno diceret filio: "Vis habere secundum uxorem?" respondit ille: "Si una me afflixit fere usque ad mortem, quomodo duas ferre possem?" Accidit autem in civitate illa ut caperetur maleficus et latro pessimus, qui multos de civitate illa spoliaverat et occiderat. Cumque cives convenirent et quaereret iudex a singulis ut quilibet consilium suum daret quomodo latro ille magis torqueri valeret, quibusdam dicentibus; "Distrahatur caudis equorum et suspendatur," aliis dicentibus: "Igne cremetur," ceteris vero consulentibus ut vivus excoriaretur, cum perventum fuisset ad illum qui malam habebat uxorem, respondit: "Date illi uxorem meam; non video qualiter ipsum magis affligere valeatis."
Friday, January 25, 2008
Bonaventure on Satisfaction and Guilt in Purgatory
A prominent clerical member of the Catholic blogophere asked me a question today about a passage in St Bonaventure's Breviloquium in which he mentions making satisfaction in Purgatory. Since my answer involved doing a bit of research I thought I should make the fruits of it available for all to see who care.
Most of the time when you want St B to clarify or expand on something you need to go to his Sentences Commentary. I've just done so, and here's what I find: In IV Sent. Dist. XV. Pars II. Art. I Q.I St Bonaventure asks what satisfaction is. After a discussion of various definitions he says the following:
My hasty translation:
"For complete satisfaction two things are required, namely to correct (or repair) one's present state on account of past guilt, and to summon up a firm intention for the future. The first means to root out the causes of sin. For one can repair one's past guilts in no better way than by removing them with sorrow and punishment, by cutting out those things which, by following them with [inordinate] love, caused one to sin. The second means not to indulge in suggestions which arise [to repeat the sin]."
In purgatory, of course, one is punished with both sorrow and pain for past guilt. The second condition may not be as relevant since the will is fixed after death, i.e. I don't think Bonaventure would admit that a soul in purgatory would be capable of further sin, so the intention to avoid sin may or may not be superfluous.
Also, perhaps, of interest on the matter: IV Sent. Dist. XXI. Pars. I. Art. II. Q. I: Whether in purgatory after this life there is accomplished some purgation from some sin or only from punishment. That is, are sins actually remitted in purgatory or is it only that we make satisfaction for already-forgiven sins there? In the article St Bonaventure admits that it's a very common opinion that sins are not forgiven after death, "that sins are remitted only according to their status or [unfulfilled] punishment and are purified (*purgantur*) only according to the dross [that is, the nasty effects left behind in the soul by sin] or aftereffects (*sequela*)." According to St B many theologians of his day thought this; but he says, "But although this opinion is very reasonable (*multum rationi consona*), nevertheless the authorities of the Saints seem to expressly contradict it." Especially, St Gregory the Great in his "Dialogue" says that some sins are forgiven after this life, and St Isidore explicitly says that some sins committed after baptism are forgiven through purgatorial fire. Bonaventure also cites Matthew 12:32. St B concludes from their words that in purgatory some sins are remitted, not merely according to punishment, but also according to guilt.
So, he says, although some people think otherwise, this is the opinion of Peter Lombard and of "multitudinous" authoritative Saints. "It should be said therefore that some sins, namely venial ones, can be and are remitted not only in this life (*in hoc saeculo*), but also in purgatory, when someone passes over with venial sins [unconfessed or unrepented], when the final grace given at death had not deleted them, and therefore he needs help." For instance, if someone dies without receiving the sacraments just before death and has not made a perfect act of contrition for the venial sins since his last confession, he can die with venial sins on his conscience and these still need to be forgiven. Since the soul is dead and the time of merit has passed, he cannot ask for further grace and therefore needs external help. Since there are no sacraments after death, the purgatorial fire can act in their place to not only remove the dross and aftereffects of various sins from the soul, but also to remove the guilt of unrepented venial ones. "And this is possible because, as it was shown in the preceding problem, for the removal of venial sins it suffices that free choice conform itself with grace, nor is it necessary that it help it [i.e. no actual effort of the will or positive contrition is required, but only not to provide an obstacle]." If you die with unrepented mortal sins, though, it's too late.
Sorry for no Latin passages on that last question, but I need to get back to work.
Most of the time when you want St B to clarify or expand on something you need to go to his Sentences Commentary. I've just done so, and here's what I find: In IV Sent. Dist. XV. Pars II. Art. I Q.I St Bonaventure asks what satisfaction is. After a discussion of various definitions he says the following:
ad satisfactionem completam duo requiruntur, scilicet emenda praesens pro culpa praeterita et propositum firmum invitando futuram; et ista duo tangit in hac notificatione. Quantum ad emendam pro culpa perpetrata dicit: peccatorum causas excidere. Non enim potest pro culpa melius emenda fieri quam ea a se cum dolore et poena praecidendo removere, qua cum amore sequendo peccavit. Quantum ad firmum propositum de futuro dicit: et suggestionibus aditum non indulgere.
My hasty translation:
"For complete satisfaction two things are required, namely to correct (or repair) one's present state on account of past guilt, and to summon up a firm intention for the future. The first means to root out the causes of sin. For one can repair one's past guilts in no better way than by removing them with sorrow and punishment, by cutting out those things which, by following them with [inordinate] love, caused one to sin. The second means not to indulge in suggestions which arise [to repeat the sin]."
In purgatory, of course, one is punished with both sorrow and pain for past guilt. The second condition may not be as relevant since the will is fixed after death, i.e. I don't think Bonaventure would admit that a soul in purgatory would be capable of further sin, so the intention to avoid sin may or may not be superfluous.
Also, perhaps, of interest on the matter: IV Sent. Dist. XXI. Pars. I. Art. II. Q. I: Whether in purgatory after this life there is accomplished some purgation from some sin or only from punishment. That is, are sins actually remitted in purgatory or is it only that we make satisfaction for already-forgiven sins there? In the article St Bonaventure admits that it's a very common opinion that sins are not forgiven after death, "that sins are remitted only according to their status or [unfulfilled] punishment and are purified (*purgantur*) only according to the dross [that is, the nasty effects left behind in the soul by sin] or aftereffects (*sequela*)." According to St B many theologians of his day thought this; but he says, "But although this opinion is very reasonable (*multum rationi consona*), nevertheless the authorities of the Saints seem to expressly contradict it." Especially, St Gregory the Great in his "Dialogue" says that some sins are forgiven after this life, and St Isidore explicitly says that some sins committed after baptism are forgiven through purgatorial fire. Bonaventure also cites Matthew 12:32. St B concludes from their words that in purgatory some sins are remitted, not merely according to punishment, but also according to guilt.
So, he says, although some people think otherwise, this is the opinion of Peter Lombard and of "multitudinous" authoritative Saints. "It should be said therefore that some sins, namely venial ones, can be and are remitted not only in this life (*in hoc saeculo*), but also in purgatory, when someone passes over with venial sins [unconfessed or unrepented], when the final grace given at death had not deleted them, and therefore he needs help." For instance, if someone dies without receiving the sacraments just before death and has not made a perfect act of contrition for the venial sins since his last confession, he can die with venial sins on his conscience and these still need to be forgiven. Since the soul is dead and the time of merit has passed, he cannot ask for further grace and therefore needs external help. Since there are no sacraments after death, the purgatorial fire can act in their place to not only remove the dross and aftereffects of various sins from the soul, but also to remove the guilt of unrepented venial ones. "And this is possible because, as it was shown in the preceding problem, for the removal of venial sins it suffices that free choice conform itself with grace, nor is it necessary that it help it [i.e. no actual effort of the will or positive contrition is required, but only not to provide an obstacle]." If you die with unrepented mortal sins, though, it's too late.
Sorry for no Latin passages on that last question, but I need to get back to work.
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