Section VII: The Angels’ “Where,” § 49
SECTION VII: ON THE “WHERE” OF ANGELS
The “where” of angels.
§ 49. The Scholastics treat the “where” (which Scaliger calls ubietas [“whereness”], Exerc. 359, sect. 5) of angels in various ways. Thomas ([ST,] part 1, q. 52, art. 1): “Equivocally an angel is in a place. A body is in a place by being attached to a place according to a contact of a dimensional quantity, which does not exist in angels but which is according to power [virtualis]. Therefore, through the application of angelic power [virtus] to a place in some way, an angel is said to be in the place.” Thomas is followed by Ferrarius (Cont. gent., bk. 3, ch. 68) and Capreolus (Sent., part 2, dist. 2, q. 1, art. 1). However, these are rightly opposed by Scotus (Sent., part 2, dist. 2, q. 6), Richard (Sent., part 1, dist. 37, q. 1), and Biel (Sent., part 2, dist. 2, q. 2, art. 4). Scaliger follows them when he writes (loc. cit.): “An angel is in his ‘where’ not through his activity [operatio] but by definition, in this way: he is there; he is not here. You see, activity is not a condition that necessarily accompanies beings, but a ‘where’ is a circumstance necessary to all beings with the exception of God. If an angel were in his ‘where’ through his activity, he could not practice another activity in the same ‘where,’ but the ‘where’ would differ according to different activities. But now, he can exercise many activities according to his ‘where’ without moving,” etc.
§ 50. They also ask: Can two angels be in one and the same place? Thomas denies this ([ST,] part 1, q. 52, art. 3). However, Occam more correctly affirms this (Quodlibet., part 1, q. 4), for there was even a legion of angels in one man [Mark 5:9]. Angels are not in a “where” by circumscription but by designation. Therefore what keeps many from being in one “where”?
They ask: Can an angel move from one “where” to another instantaneously? In this case Thomas answers correctly ([ST,] part 1, q. 53, art. 3) that such a move requires a period of time, but we cannot perceive that time because it is not the same as the time that measures the movement of the sky. In his resolution of this question, Biel distinguishes between “an adequate and an inadequate place” for an angel (Sent., part 2, dist. 2, q. 3, art. 3). If anyone desires more such questions about the “where” of angels, he should go to the Scholastics themselves.