CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
SENSE PERCEPTION
The reductio proper begins with sense perception in which St. Bonaventure finds hidden footprints which lead to God. In the consideration of the medium, the exercise, and the delight of perception, he sees an analogy to the eternal generation and In carnation of the Word, the pattern of human life, and the union of the soul with God1.
We have seen that through the gates of the five senses the knowledge of all things in the material world enters the soul. Not only do the senses perceive their proper sensible objects which are light, sound, smell, taste and the four primary qualities which are known by touch, but also the common sensibles such as number, magnitude, figure, rest, and motion2. Seeing also that everything which is moved is moved by something else, the senses which reveal to us the motions of the bodies in the universe around us lead us on to a knowledge of spiritual motions as from effects to a knowledge of their causes3.
As regards the medium of perception, we have seen that it is in virtue of the radio-active power of light, the substantial form of every substance4, that the luminous body may project its form at a distance and thus reveal its presence and its nature, provided, of course, that there be a sensible organ to receive the impression5.
By means of these forms or species, material objects make their way into the soul, not as substances in their external reality but through a likeness generated first in the medium6, then in the external organ, proceeding from the external to the internal organ and finally to the apprehensive faculty. This apprehended species generated in the medium, impressed upon the organ and leading
1 Cf. De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 8. t. V, p. 322. Cf. supra pp. 48, 50.
2 Cf. Itiner., 2. 3, t. Y, p. 300.
3 "Dum per hos quinque sensus motus corporum apprehendimus, manuducimur ad cognitionem motorum spiritualium tanquam per effectum in cognitionem causarum." Ibid.
4 Cf. supra p. 67.
5 Ibid.
6 "Deus dedit virtutem hanc cuilibet rei, ut gignat similitudinem suam et ex naturali fecunditate." In Hexaem., XI, 23, t. V, p. 383.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
to a knowledge of its principle or object reminds us of the Un created Light which generates its Likeness or Splendor, coequal, consubstantial, and co-eternal7.
And "when the fulness of time was come, God sent His Son, made of woman, and made under the law: That He might redeem them who were under the law; that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4). Faith teaches us that the purpose of the Incarnation of the Son of God was to restore the divine likeness lost in Adam's fall8; to deify us by sanctifying grace which trans forms the soul of man and impresses upon it a likeness to the Son of the Most High so that we may come to a contemplation of God within ourselves. Hence it is that St. Bonaventure says that He
Who is the "Image of the Invisible God and the Splendor of His glory and the Figure of His Substance", who is everywhere present by virtue of His first generation, also generates a likeness of Himself. Like an object that lights up the entire medium, He unites Himself by the grace of union to the creature of a rational nature in much the same way as a species attaches itself to a sense-organ, so that by this union He may lead us back to the Father as Ultimate Source and Object9. If, then, all known objects have the power of generating their own likeness, they manifestly proclaim that in them, as in so many mirrors, may be discerned the eternal generation of the Word, the Image and the Son, eternally emanating from God the Father10.
If we consider the exercise of sense perception, we shall see therein the pattern of human life11. We have seen that each sense perceives a special quality to the exclusion of all others, that it
7 "Nam cum species apprehensa sit similitudo genita et deinde ipsi organo impressa et per illam impressionem in suum principium, scilicet in obiectum cognoscendum, ducat; manifeste insinuat, quod ilia lux aeterna generat ex se similitudinem seu splendorem coaequalem, consubstantialem et coaetemalem." Itinerarium, 2. 7, t. V, p.301.
"Unde secundum quod obiectum gignat similitudinem suam, sic repraesentat generationem aeternam; secundum quod intentio earn oculo unit, sic repraesentat incamationem Verbi." In Hexaem., XI. 23, t. Y, p. 383.
8 Cf. In Hexaem., VII. 9, t. V, p. 367; II Sent., 30, 1, 1, concl. t. II, p. 715.
9 "Sicut obiectum in toto medio suam generat similitudinem, per gratiam unionem unitur, sicut species corporali organo, individuo rationalis naturae, ut per illam unionem nos reduceret ad Patrem sicut ad fontale principium et obiectum." Itiner., 2. 7, t. Y, p. 301. "Gratia oritur a Patre luminum per Verbum incamatum . . . Nobilis influentia quae a Deo incarnato habet originem." De Donis S. S., I, 8, t. V, p. 458.
"Nullum etiam magis decet reducere ad divinam conformitatem, quam eum qui est imago Patris." Brevil., 4. 2, t. V, p. 243.
10 Itiner., 2. 7, t. V, p. 301.
11 De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 9, t. V, p. 322. Cf. supra p. 30.
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avoids an object in which there is imperfection or unsuitability and that it does not appropriate the object of any other sense. In this orderly exercise of the external senses, we see the orderly and virtuous exercise of the internal senses in their effort to reconstruct God's image in the soul. Like the external senses, the internal senses apply themselves to their proper object and this by the exercise of prudence12 which inclines the intellect to choose what is most suitable for the attainment of its ultimate end13. As faith holds the first place among the theological virtues, so does prudence rank first among the moral virtues. Though residing in the intellect, it is directed toward immediate action.
Based, as it is, on the principles of the natural law, it leads to the performance of actions morally good14. By concerning itself with all the details of life, regulating man's thoughts, motives, affections, and sentiments, this virtue works in opposition to the vice of negligence, a kind of impotence to begin goods works. Since the knowledge of virtue precedes its exercise, St. Bonaventure says that prudence should be preferred to all the virtues and here he agrees with St. Bernard who calls it the auriga virtutum15.
Just as the external senses avoid an object in which there is imperfection or unsuitability16, so do the internal senses refrain from evil by the exercise of temperance. This virtue, given to bridle the concupiscible appetite in which it resides, moderates those passions which are concerned with corporal delights according to the sense of taste and touch in the use of food and drink and of what appertains to procreation17. It has for its material object the pleasures themselves; for its formal object, their conformity with the dictates of right reason. By this virtue we differ from the 12 "Prudentia est bonorum et malorum scientia et utrorumque discretio, cuius partes sunt memoria, intelligentia, providentia. " In Hexaem., VI. 16, t. V, p. 363.
13 "Iste intellectus prudentialis est, quo instruitur homo secundum dictamen divinae legis ad cognoscendum, quid evitandum, quia omne malum; quid exsequendum, quia omne bonum; et quid exspectandum, quia summum bonum." De Donis S. S., VIII. 8, t. V, p. 495.
14 "Quaedam autem scientia est, quae consistit in intellectu sive ratione, in quantum inclinat affectum ad operationem; et haec fundata est super principia iuris naturalis, quae ordinantur ad rectitudinem et honestatem vitae; et huiusmodi est scientia prudentiae-virtutis."
Ill Sent., 35, 2, t. Ill, p. 776.
15 "Et quia in perfecto exercitio virtutis cognitio praecedit, sic prudentia omnibus aliis habet praeponi. Et sic praemittit earn Bernardus ad Eugenium dicens, quod non tantum est virtus, verum etiam auriga virtutum." Ill Sent., 33, 6, t. Ill, p. 731.
16 Cf. supra p. 31.
17 "Temperantia est rationis in libidinem aliosque animi motus non rectos firma et moderata dominatio." In Hexaem., VI, 15, t. V,
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brutes and are rendered like to angels; by it we check carnal vices18, restrain fleeting pleasures, kindle holy desires, regulate the entire man, and prepare within us an abode and mansion for the Divine Word.
As each sense appropriates only those objects which rightfully belong to it and ascribes to itself only those impressions which it has received by means of its own particular organs, so do the internal senses, operating in submission to a higher power, exercise the virtue of humility, thereby overcoming pride which St. Bonaventure calls the source of all sin19, a double root, namely, a debasing fear and a passionate love20; a triple incitement to all that is in the world: namely "the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life"21. As a ray which falls perpendicularly on a shining surface is reflected back to the light whence it came, so does humility, grounded on selfknowledge, refer to God the glory accruing from His gifts22. This virtue is the height of evangelical perfection and the very essence of Christian perfection23, for it is the gate of wisdom, the corner stone of justice, and the dwelling-place of grace24. It leads to wisdom because it teaches the nothingness of man and the great ness of God25. It is the corner-stone of justice because it inclines
18 "Augustinus dicit, et habetur in littera, quod . . . temperantia est in coercendis delectationibus pravis." Ill Sent., t. Ill, p. 726.
"Temperantia (excludit) omnem libidinum repugnantiam, secundum quod dicit Augustinus, et Magister tangit in littera. Ibid., p. 727.
19 Brevil., 3. 9, t. V, p. 238.
20 "Quia vero nullus contemnit principium summum, vel eius perceptum per se, nisi per hoc, quod aliquid aliud ab ipso vel vult acquirere, vel timet perdere: hinc est, quod necesse est, omne peccatum actuale originem trahere a duplici radice, scilicet timore et amore; quae radices sunt malorum." Ibid.
21 "Triplex fomentum, secundum tria, quae sunt in mundo, scilicet concupiscentia carnis, concupiscentia oculorum et superbia vitae." Brevil., 3. 9, t. V, p. 238.
22 "Quod si radius perpendiculariter cadat super corpus tersum et politum; necesse est, quod per eandem viam repercutiatur. Influxus gratiae est sicut radius perpendicularis; dico de gratia gratum faciente, quia gratia gratis data est sicut radius incidentiae; necesse est igitur, quod qui gratiam Dei vere suscipit, quod gloriam Deo reddat." De
Donis S. S., I, 9, t. Y, p. 459.
23 "Summa totius christianae perfectionis in humilitate consistit, cuius actus est exterior et interior vilificatio sui." De perf. evang., Quaest.
I, concl. t. V, p. 120 b.
24 "Totius enim christianae perfectionis versatur circa tria, scilicet circa gratiam, iustitiam et sapientiam, secundum quae tria dicitur
Christus esse via, veritas et vita." Ibid. "Bona via humilitatis, qua veritas reperitur, caritas acquiritur, generationes sapientiae participantur." Ibid., p. 121 a.
25 "Ille vere sapiens est, qui veraciter recognoscit suam et aliorum nihilitatem et primi principii sublimitatem." Ibid.
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man to render to every one and especially to God the honor which is His due26. It is the dwelling-place of grace and for this very reason, it is the acme of all evangelical perfection27.
Although humility is an interior virtue residing in the will, there is also an exterior humility which we should practice in imitation of our Saviour who for our example "took the form of a servant and humbled Himself"28. It is only by the acceptance of humiliation that we can attain the virtue of humility which St. Bernard calls the framework of the whole spiritual edifice.
Thus from the orderly exercise of the external senses, we may learn how to maintain the symmetry of a Christian life. "Every irregularity", says St. Bonaventure, "springs from negligence, from concupiscence, or from pride." The present moral condition of our bodily nature is, then, the chief motive for practicing exterior mortification. To hold the senses in check is to forestall temptation and deprive evil of its power. By the exercise of the virtues of prudence, temperance, and humility, the spirit gains strength over the flesh and, like the eagle, wings its flight from the dull earth to the high paths of heaven.
If we consider the delight following the apprehension of an object suitable and proper to the sense, we shall see therein the union of the soul with God. The sense delights in the object per ceived through its abstract similitude, either by reason of its beauty as in vision, or by reason of its sweetness as in smell and hearing, or by reason of its wholesomeness as in touch and taste29.
All delight has its source in proportion30. Taken as "form", proportion is discovered in the resultant impression which is one of beauty, for beauty is nothing but an harmonious arrange ment of parts. In the light of its operative capacity, proportion is found in sweetness since the force of its impact does not immo derately affect the recipient. As regards the act of impression, the required proportion is present when it answers the need of the subject affected, as in the case of taste and touch. According
26 "Iustitiae 'reddere unicuique quod suum est'." Ill Sent., 33, 1, 6, 1, t. Ill, p. 728. "Quoniam ergo initium totius iustitiae est cultus et honor divinus, et hie exhibetur ab humilibus; hinc est, quod totius iustitiae radix et fundamentum est humilitas." De perf. evang., q. 1, t. V, p. 121.
27 "Quia ergo humilitas est habitaculum gratiae, hinc est, quod in ipsa consistit summa totius perfectionis evangelicae." Ibid.
28 "Ut tamen homo propter defectum exemplaris non negligeret humiliari, placuit Deo assumere formam servi et in ilia humiliari, contemni et vilificari, ut ceteri ex tanto exemplari inflammarentur ad vilificationem sui perfectam." De perf. evang. q. 1, n, 12, t. V, p. 124.
29 Cf. supra p. 30.
30 "Omnis autem delectatio est ratione proportionalitatis." Itiner., 2. 5, t. V, p. 300.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
to this threefold way, sensible things by means of similitudes enter into the soul of man and produce the fruition of delight31.
This likeness of things sensible, coming to the soul by appre hension and delighting with its sweetness, its harmony, and its fragrance sends the soul to the First Image of God as to the Foun tain of all beauty, sweetness, harmony, fragrance, and of every thing that is agreeable to the human spirit. In Him is the most perfect harmony and proportion of beauty shared co-equally by Him with the Father. With Him, too, is a power of healing suf ficient for every need on the part of the apprehending soul. If "delight is the union of the consonant with its like''32, if the Image of God alone contains the ultimate essence of all beauty, sweetness, harmony, fragrance, and wholesomeness, and if there alone is their fulness enjoyed and all needs satisfied, it follows that in God alone will the soul find full and true delight33.
After the virtues of faith, hope, and charity have purified, enlightened and perfected the soul thus restoring the spiritual senses lost by sin, man experiences within himself the presence of a higher knowledge, and transcendent spiritual joys. Like the fruits of the Holy Ghost, these spiritual sensations are not added habits or gifts but acts, mental perceptions which the soul ex periences on the contemplation of truth34. They reside in the intellect and will, for it is by these two powers that the experi mental knowledge of God is acquired35. "The soul that has faith and hope in Christ and is filled with love for the Word of the Father, incarnate, uncreated and inspired, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has set out upon his quest in a threefold manner. By faith in Christ, the Uncreated Word and Splendor of the Father, the soul regains the mystical senses of hearing and vision: hearing, to listen to the words of Christ, and vision, to contemplate the splendor of His light. By the virtue of hope, the soul longs for the coming of 31 "Et sic per oblectationem delectabilia exteriora secundum triplicem rationem delectandi per similitudinem intrant in animam."
Ibid., 301.
32 "Sed delectatio est coniunctio convenientis cum convenienti."
I Sent., 1, 3, 1, t. I, p. 38. "Ad hanc apprehensionem, si sit rei con venientis, sequitur oblectatio." Itiner., 2. 5, t. V, p. 300.
33 "Manifeste videri potest, quod in solo Deo est fontalis et vera delectatio, et quod ad ipsam ex omnibus delectationibus manuducimur requirendam." Itiner., 2. 8, t. V, p. 301.
34 "Sensus vero spirituals dicunt perceptiones mentales circa veritatem contemplandam.'' Brevil., 5. 6, t. V, p. 260.
35 "Quilibet enim illorum sensuum, sicut vult Bernardus, radicem habet in intellectu et affectu, pro eo quod cognitionem experimentalem dicant. Sed quidam se magis tenent ex parte intellectus, ut visus et auditus; quidam ex parte affectus, ut odoratus, gustus et tactus. Ill
Sent., 13, 1, t. Ill, p. 292.
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the inspired Word and in loving desire experiences the sweet odor of Christ. Finally, by love for Christ, enbracing the Incarnate
Word, the soul feels in return a heavenly delight and recaptures the mystical senses of taste and touch36."
Though St. Bonaventure does not explicitly state that the spiritual senses depend on the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the beatitudes, he implies it when he states that they represent the completion and perfection of former habits of sanctifying grace possessed by the soul37. Thus spiritual vision is the result of faith, the gift of understanding, and purity of heart which is the cor responding beatitude; taste and touch, of charity, the gift of wisdom, and the highest of the beatitudes, peace38.
The attainment of peace brings with it superabundant delight39 which the spiritual senses experience in the possession of their object, the Word Uncreated, Inspired, and Incarnate. ''Spiritual vision," writes the Seraphic Doctor in his Breviloquium, ''ex periences the perfect Beauty of Him Who is the eternal Splendor of the Father; hearing, the perfect harmony which bursts forth from the Uncreated Word; taste, the ineffable sweetness which flows from Him Who is Wisdom as well as the Uncreated Word and the Splendor of the Father; smell, the delightful fragrance which is wafted from Him Who is the Inspired Word present in our hearts; and finally, touch, perfect delight in the embrace of the Incarnate Word dwelling among us and giving Himself to us in the most ardent love which makes our soul pass in ecstasy and rapture from this world to the Father40." According to the Itinerarium, however, two senses, taste and touch, perceive the sweet ness of the Word made flesh: ''When in love of Christ the soul embraces the Incarnate Word, it recovers the senses of taste and touch41." Thus in ecstatic raptures of devotion, the soul
36 Itiner., 4. 3, t. V, p. 306.
37 "Ideo ad ista tria genera habituum adduntur fructus et spiritnales sensus, qui non dicunt novos habitus, sed habituum praecedentium exprimunt perfectum statum et usum." Ill Sent., 34, 1, 1, 1, t. Ill, p. 737. ''Ad has beatitudines propter sui perfectionis et plenitudinem duodecim fructus Spiritus et quinque spirituales sensus consequuntur; qui non dicunt novos habitus, sed status delectationum et usus spiritualium speculationum, quibus replentur et consolantur spiritus virorum iustorum." Brevil., 5. 6, t. V, p. 258.
38 "Intellectus disponit ad cordis munditiam; nam speculatio veritatis mundat cor nostrum ab omnibus phantasiis. Sapientia disponit ad pacem; nam sapientia iungit nos summo vero et bono, in quo est finis et tranquillitas totius nostri rationalis appetitus." Ibid., p. 259.
39 ''Pace adepta, necessario sequitur superabundans delectatio spiritualis." Ibid.
40 Ibid.
41 "Dum caritate complectitur Verbum incarnatum, . . . recuperat gustum et tactum." Itiner., 4, 3. t. V, p. 306.
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perceives Christ and finds consolation and peace in the experi mental knowledge of His Divinity and Humanity42.
Behold how the Wisdom of God lies hidden in sense per ception43. The object acting on the bodily sense by the species to which it gives rise is a figure of the eternal generation of the Son, the Image of the Father, the Uncreated Light. Just as corporeal light causes an assimilation of the knowing subject with the sensible object, so does the Uncreated Light engender grace by means of which we are brought back to the Father.
THE MECHANICAL ARTS
St. Bonaventure next turns to the mechanical arts wherein he analyzes the operation of workmanship in its production, its effect and its advantages, a consideration of which three phases brings to mind the eternal generation and Incarnation of the Word, the pattern of human life, and the union of the soul with God.
As regards the production of the work, we have seen that every work of art is produced according to an exemplar or model in the mind of the artist1. As a masterpiece exists and, in a certain sense, lives in the artist's mind before it is produced, so do all creatures
42 "Via autem est Christus, qui dicit Joannis decimo: 'Ego sum ostium, per me si quis introierit, salvabitur et ingredietur et egredietur et pascua inveniet'. Ingredietur intra se, et egredietur extra se et supra se; vel ingredietur, ad contemplationem Divinitatis, et egredietur ad contemplationem humanitatis.'" Sermo 4, Dom. II post Pasch, t. IX, p. 303. "Et optime iungit ista duo, visionem et pacem, quia illi soli idonei sunt ad contemplationem, qui habent pacem." Ibid. "Nam per senas alas illas recte intelligi possunt sex illuminationum suspensiones, quibus anima quasi quibusdam gradibus vel itineribus disponitur, ut transeat ad pacem per ecstaticos excessus sapientiae christianae. Via autem non est nisi per ardentissimum amorem Crucifixi, qui adeo Paulum ad tertium caelum raptum transformavit in Christum." Itiner., Prol. 3, t. V, p. 295.
43 "Ex his visibilibus consurgit ad considerandum Dei potentiam, sapientiam et bonitatem ut entem, viventem et intelligentem, mere spiritualem et incorruptibilem et intransmutabilem." Itiner., I, 13, t. V, p. 299 a. "Sed quoniam circa speculum sensibilium non solum contingit contemplari Deum per ipsa tamquam vestigia, verum etiam in ipsis, in quantum est in eis per essentiam, potentiam et praesentiam; et hoc considerare est altius quam praecedens: ideo huiusmodi consideratio secundum tenet locum tamquam secundus contemplationis gradus, quo debemus manuduci ad contemplandum Deum in cunctis creaturis, quae ad mentem nostram intrant per corporales sensus."
Itiner. c. 2, n. 1, t. V. p. 299-300.
1 "Idea est eorum naturaliter fiunt exemplar aeternum." This is Plato's concept of the idea—a model or archetype, immaterial, im mutable, eternal, existing in a pure state independent of its imperfect likeness in the sensible world." Cf. St. Bonaventure, Opera Omnia, t. I, n. 7, p. 600. "Dicendum, quod illud intelligitur de agente ad
9 St. Bonaventure, De Reductione
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exist, as it were, and live in the Creator's mind before they are created. From all eternity the mind of God conceived a likeness of Himself and of all which He can and will do* 2. This likeness of Himself is His Son, His perfect expression, the ars quaedam omnipotentis et sapientis Patris by Whom all things were made3.
Since the created world is the manifestation of the thought of God, it is fitting that there should be represented there not only the shadow and vestige or footprint of the Creator but also a creature whose resemblance to its model would be impressed in the very nature of its being, a creature made to the image and likeness of God4. Man alone was created with a knowing mind and a loving heart that knowing and loving all things in God, he might in love and praise refer them to their Beginning and their Last End5.
The soul of man is not only a vestige but it is an image of the Trinity, for it is endowed with three natural faculties — memory, understanding, and will by means of which, with the assistance of divine grace, it may take possession of God6. Possessed of sanctifying grace, the soul of the first man was a likeness of God, for the Holy Ghost dwelt within him7. With the image of God in exemplar, quod ab ipso exemplari dirigitur et regulatur, sicut est agens creatum." De Scientia Christi, III. 4, t. Y, p. 14.
2 "Pater enim, ut dictum est, similem sibi genuit, scilicet Verbum sibi coaeternum, et dixit similitudinem suam, et per consequens expressit omnia, quae potuit." In Hexaem. I. 16, t. V, p. 332.
3 "Once hath God spoken: One Word hath He, the only-begotten God. In that word are all things, because by the Word were all things made." Cf. St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 61, 12. Migne, P. L., t. 36, col. 743.
4 "Creatura enim comparatur ad Deum in ratione vestigii, imaginis et similitudinis. In quantum vestigium, comparatur ad Deum ut ad principium; in quantum imago, comparatur ad Deum ad obiectum; sed in quantum similitudo, comparatur ad Deum ut ad donum infusum." De Scientia Christi, Q. IV, concl., t. V, p. 24.
5 Quia primum principium fecit mundum sensibilem ad declarandum se ipsum, videlicet ad hoc, quod per ilium tanquam per speculum et vestigium reduceretur homo in Deum artificem amandum et laudandum." Brevil., 2, 11, t. V, p. 229. "Ipsa autem creatura rationalis, quia de se nata est laudare et nosse, . . . nata est ordinari in Deum immediate." II Sent., 16, 1, 1, concl., t. II, p. 394 b. Cf. also Aug. de vera relig. c. 44, n. 82, Migne, P. L., t. 34, c. 159.
6 "Item, est creatura ad imaginem Dei facta; . . . ilia est memoria, intelligentia et voluntas in quibus relucet Trinitas." In Hexaem. II.
27, t. V, p. 340. "Deiformis est creatura rationalis, quae potest redire super originem suam per memoriam, intelligentiam et voluntatem."
De Donis S. S., III. 5, t. V, p. 469 a. "Capax eius est et particeps esse potest, scil. per cognitionem et amorem." Christus unus omnium magister, n. 16, t. V, p. 571 b.
7 "Et ideo omnis creatura est vestigium, quae est a Deo; omnis est imago, quae cognoscit Deum; omnis et sola est similitudo, in qua habitat Deus." De Scientia Christi, q. 4, concl., t. V, p. 24 b.
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his understanding and His likeness in his will, man's whole being was directed to God. In the book of nature spread out before him, he could read the handwriting of the Eternal Wisdom and know things in the threefold manner of their existence: namely, in sensible matter, in the mind, and in their eternal Exemplar8.
For this threefold knowledge of things as they exist in matter, in the intellect, and in God, man needs a triple vision, as Hugh of St. Victor says, the bodily eye, the mental eye, and the eye of contemplation. With the bodily eye man sees the world and the things that are in the world; with the eye of reason, the mind and the things that are in the mind; with the eye of contemplation,
God and the things that are in God. Thus, with the bodily eye, he sees the things that are without; with the mental eye, the things that are within; with the eye of contemplation, the things that are above9.
Man was happy in Paradise but not with that perfect happiness which consists in the sight of the Divine Being, for all who see God face to face are so firmly established in His love that they can never sin. His knowledge of God was midway, as it were, between the knowledge which we have of Him in this world and that which we shall have of Him in heaven. He saw God in the light of con templation.
"Turning his back on the true light to pursue the mutable good, Adam found himself deprived of his pristine rectitude and the whole human race through original sin inherited mental ignorance which marred the Divine image and carnal concupiscence which destroyed the Divine likeness. Blinded and bent down, man sits in darkness and sees not the light of heaven, unless he be strength ened against concupiscence by grace with justice and against ignorance by knowledge with wisdom10." And for this reason the Eternal and Invisible became visible and took flesh that He might lead us back to the Father for "no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him".
Thus in the production of every work of art there is contained an analogy to the Son of God begotten of the Father from all eternity and made Man in the fulness of time.
8 "Et ideo in statu innocentiae, cum imago non erat vitiata, sed deiformis affecta per gratiam, sufficiebat liber creaturae, in quo seipsum exerceret homo ad contuendum lumen divinae sapientiae; ut sic sapiens esset, cum universas res videret in se, videret in proprio genere, videret etiam in arte, secundum quod res tripliciter habent esse, scilicet in materia vel natura propria, in intelligentia creata et in arte aeterna."
Brevil., 2, 12, t. V, p. 230 b.
9 Ibid.
10 Itiner., I, 7, t. V, p. 298.
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St. Bonaventure then passes on to the effect of the workman ship or the work of art itself which he says should be beautiful, useful, and enduring. To make the or do vivendi as set forth in revelation harmonize with the effect of mechanical workmanship, he brings forth Aristotle's three requisites for virtue and shows that they can make our spiritual workmanship beautiful, useful, and enduring11. "We must understand," he says, "will, and unceasingly toil12."
Turned from its true object and weakened by its original defection toward mere creatures, the soul needs the grace of God to set the intellect and will in order13. "Only by grace, faith, and an understanding of the Sacred Scriptures," says St. Bonaventure,
"can the mind of man be purified, enlightened, and fitted for heavenly contemplation14." Accepting the directing hand of God, man must first pray, then live holily, and, thirdly, he must look long and attentively at the manifestations of truth and so, per severing in good, rise step by step until he beholds his Eternal
Spouse on Holy Sion15.
11 "Scientia reddit opus pulcrum, voluntas reddit utile, perseverantia reddit stabile." De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 13, t. V, p. 323. Cf. supra
P32.
12 "Iuxta haec tria necesse est reperiri tria in ordine vivendi, scilicet 'scire, velle et impermutabiliter sive perseveranter operari'."
Ibid. For these three requisites for virtue, cf. Aristotle, II Ethic, c. 4 and X Ethic, c. 9. Comparing works of art with works of virtue, Ari stotle says that "works of art have their merit in themselves so that it is enough if they are produced with a certain quality of their own; but acts done in conformity with the virtues are not done justly or temperately unless the agent is in a certain state of mind when he does them: first, he must choose with knowledge; secondly, he must deli berately choose the act, and choose it for its own sake; and, thirdly, the act must spring from a fixed and permanent disposition of character."
13 "Gratia fundamentum est rectitudinis voluntatis et illustrationis perspicuae rationis." Itiner., 1, 8. t. V, p. 298. "Impossibile est quod homo resurgat a culpa nisi recreatur in vita gratuita . . . Solus igitur qui fuit principium creativum est et principium recreativum. "
Brevil., 5. 3, t. V, p. 255.
14 "Qui quidem oculus contemplationis actum suum non habet perfectum nisi per gloriam, quam amittit per culpam, recuperat autem per gratiam et fidem et Scripturarum intelligentiam, quibus mens humana purgatur, illuminatur et perficitur ad caelestia contemplanda."
Brevil., 2. 12, t. V, p. 230.
15 "Sic primo orandum est nobis, deinde sancte vivendum, tertio veritatis spectaculis intendendum et intendendo gradatim ascendendum, quousque veniatur ad montem excelsum, ubi 'videatur Deus deorum in Sion'." Itiner., I, 8, t. V, p. 298 a. Here St. Bonaventure stresses the importance of persevering in good even to the end, for in the final grace of perseverance is contained the efficacy of all grace. Cf. II Sent.,
43, 2, 2, concl., t. II, p. 990 a; II Sent., 43, 1, 1, 2, t. II, p. 983. "They shall go from virtue to virtue." Psalm 83: 8.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
Among the ramifications of grace, it is the gift of understanding which is given as the specific remedy for the healing of this malady of our fallen nature. St. Bonaventure says so explicitly: "Under standing is the door to the intellectual operations16." And there can be no doubt that he is referring to a gift superadded by God to the knowledge we acquire by way of experience and natural interpretation. The Seraphic Doctor has expressed his thought in clearest terms: "However extensive the natural judgment and experience of man, they do not suffice without the illumination received through the divine influence17." The gift of understanding consists in an extraordinary insight, a special enlightenment that renders the mind capable of penetrating deeply into the super natural truths that faith teaches and that the gift of knowledge has already permitted us to discern with greater clearness18.
Although it does not disparage the natural faculties, it does not consist in the gift of intellect or reason; it is the power of penetrat ing the hidden meaning of mysteries19. In this bright illumination, the soul clearly understands the world20. God's shadow, vestige and image now observed therein invite it to be united to its First
Principle. With the gifts of the Holy Ghost finally operative in it, the soul attains to the height of contemplation and once more becomes the image of God which it was in Paradise21.
By the use of the three appetitive qualities, St. Bonaventure shows the similarity between the fruit of human and spiritual workmanship. In the production of a work of art, he says, every artificer seeks praise, advantage, or delight — three aims which correspond to bonum honestum, conjerens, et delectabile22.
16 "Intellectus est ianua considerationum scientialium." De Donis S, S., VIII, 6, t. V, p. 495.
17 "Et quantumque homo habeat naturale iudicatorium bonum et cum hoc frequentiam experientiae, non sufficiunt, nisi sit illustratio per divinam influentiam." De Donis S. S., VIII. 15, t. V, p. 496.
18 "Iste intellectus, qui est ianua considerationum scientialium, partim est a dictamine naturae, id est a lumine interiori; partim ex frequentia experientiae, sicut a lumine exteriori; et partim ex illustratione lucis aeternae, sicut a lumine superiori." De Donis S. S., VIII. 12, t. V, p. 496.
19 "Alius est intellectus, qui est ianua considerationum scientia lium, de quo dicitur in Ecclesiastico (1: 26) 'In thesauris sapientiae intellectus'; hoc est dicere, quod thesauri absconditi scientiae vel consistunt in cognitione 'causarum altissimarum', vel 'conclusionum', vel 'principiorum'. Et oportet fodere per studium veritatis, ut homo ad istum thesaurum perveniat." Ibid.
20 "Ut discrete consideretur mundus ab anima. Nam in anima est sicut quaedam manus scribens." In Hexaem., 22, 35, t. V, p. 442.
21 In Hexaem., 2. 32, t. V, p. 342.
22 De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 14, t. V, p. 323. Cf. supra p. 34.
DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
Desire is for the most part directed toward that which most deeply moves it23. In order that the appetite may enjoy the power of choosing among all the possible objects of desire, reason is necessary. God's purpose, then, in endowing His masterpiece man with a rational soul was that he might recognize in his Creator a bonum honestum, conferens et delectabile and thereby praise Him, serve Him, find delight in Him and be at rest. Now the will can find its delight and take its rest only in that which it actually possesses or hopes to possess24. There is within man's heart an innate longing for happiness, the presence of which desire must allow for its satisfaction. This satisfaction is attained only by the possession of the highest and ultimate end, the Supreme Good25.
The goodness of the end resides in its intrinsic perfection; the higher in dignity it is in the order of being, the more eminent and ultimate it will be in the order of ends. Just as rectitude of the intellect, the object of which is the true, consists in the conformity of the intellect to the thought of God, so does rectitude of the will, the object of which is the good, consist in its conformity to the perfection of God. Now conformity of the intellect is acquired by knowledge of truth; conformity of the will, by love26. To love is to be transformed into the likeness of the person loved27. The sole end wherein man's will finds its complete satisfaction is
Uncreated Love, that is God. Our end, then, is to enjoy God; it is by charity that we love God; that charity, therefore, constitutes our end28.
23 "Desiderium autem principaliter est illius quod maxime ipsum movet." Jtiner., 3. 4, t. V, p. 305.
24 "Voluntas nec delectatur nec quietatur nisi in eo, quod habet per spem vel in re." I Sent., 2, 1, t. V, p. 36. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." I Cor. 5, 7.
25 "Maxime autem movet quod maxime amatur; maxime autem amatur esse beatum: beatum autem esse non habetur nisi per optimum et finem ultimum: nihil igitur appetit humanum desiderium nisi quia summum bonum, vel quia est ad illud, vel quia habet aliquam effigiem illius. Tanta est vis summi boni, ut nihil nisi per illius desiderium a creatura possit amari." Itiner., 3. 4, t. V, p. 305.
26 "Tunc autem (intellectus) aequatur, quando actualiter se convertit ad veritatem . . . Tunc autem (voluntas) conformatur, cum ad ipsam convertitur diligendo." II Sent., Prooem., t. II, p. 4.
27 "Unde Hugo: 'Scio, anima mea, quod, dum aliquid diligis, in eius similitudinem transformaris.'" Ibid.
28 "Quia nata est anima percipiendum bonum infinitum, quod Deus est, ideo in eo solo debet quiescere et eo frui." I Sent., 1, 3, 2, t. I, p. 41. "Omnis bona voluntas ad hoc ordinatur ut homo fruatur Deo, et ad hoc quod habeat Deum; sed non fruimur Deo nec habemus ipsum nisi per caritatem; ergo habere caritatem non est aliud quam habere
Deum: si ergo omnis bona voluntas est ordinata ad hoc quod habeat Deum, videtur quod finis omnis bonae voluntatis sit ipsa caritas."
II Sent., 38, 1, 2, fund. 3m, t. II, p. 883.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
As the gift of understanding brings purity of heart by which the soul may see God, so does the gift of wisdom unite it with the Supreme Truth and Good in which it finds its rest29. In this quiescence all the appetites of the soul are satiated; the rational, because it adheres to the Supreme Truth; the concupiscible, because it is united to Supreme Goodness; the irascible, because it enjoys the supreme power and high dignity to which it aspired.
As the gift of understanding is the contemplation of the mind that discerns and penetrates, so the gift of wisdom is the ex perimentation of the heart that possesses and delights in its possession. The end of wisdom is that perfect charity which is consummated here on earth in the divine union. It brings the soul in perfect harmony with God of Whom it is said: "My delights were to be with the children of men" (Prov. 8:31). In vertice est unitio amoris . . . Unde patet, quod non est tota beatitudo in intellectiva30. In this state the soul is wholly passive. St. Bonaventure calls it a "sleep" wherein all intellectual operations have ceased31; a darkness wherein the soul is flooded with light32. Inflamed with divine love and rendered Godlike by grace, in this close union the soul feels and experiences those things which can be neither spoken nor written, the ineffable delights which God has prepared for those who love Him33.
Behold how the Divine Wisdom lies hidden in the knowledge of the mechanical arts. The work of art produced according to an exemplar in the mind of the artist is a figure of the perfect Image of the Father, His eternal Son, by Whom all things were made,
Who came to earth that by His grace He might illumine the mind of His masterpiece, man, and thus lead him back to the Father.
29 "Nam sapientia iungit nos summo vero et bono, in quo est finis et tranquillitas totium nostri rationalis appetitus." Brevil., 5. 6, t. V,
P259.
30 In Hexaem. II, 29, t. V, p. 341.
31 "Unde cum mens in ilia unione coniuncta est Deo, dormit quodam modo et quodam modo vigilat." In Hexaem., II, 30, t. V, p. 341. "Iuvat autem nos ad veniendum ad ilium somnum superferri omnibus sensibus, omnibus operationibus intellectualibus." Ibid., t. II,
32, t. V, p. 342.
32 "Dicitur tenebra, quia intellectus non cap it; et tamen amma summe illustratur." Ibid.
33 "Unde cum mens in ilia unione coniuncta est Deo, dormit quodam modo, et quodam modo vigilat et silentium omnibus aliis potentiis imponit; et tunc homo alienatus est a sensibus et in ecstasi positus et audit arcana verba quae non licet homini loqui (Epist. II.
Cor. 12:4) quia tantum sunt in affectu. Unde cum exprimi non possit nisi quod concipitur nec concipitur nisi quod intelligitur, et intellectus silet; sequitur quod quasi nihil possit loqui et explicare." In Hexaem., II,
30, t. V, p. 341. We are justified in our interpretation of "unio" in the mystical sense because St. Bonaventure says "in unione sponsi et sponsae". Cf. supra p. 40.
DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
RATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
By the same method of reasoning is Divine Wisdom to be found in the illumination of rational philosophy, the main purpose of which is concerned with speech. In the act of speaking, the delivery or the qualities of the speech, and its purpose or effect upon the hearer, St. Bonaventure again finds an analogy to the eternal generation and Incarnation of the Son of God, the pattern of human life, and the union of the soul with God.
In the consideration of the speaker, the Seraphic Doctor sees the Word eternally conceived by the Father and made man in time. Aristotle defines words as "articulate sounds of the human voice, signs or symbols manifesting the ideas of the mind"1. For St. Bonaventure, a "word" is an expressed and expressive likeness conceived by the knowing mind when it reflects upon itself or upon another object2. In the consideration of speech, then, we must first posit an intelligence which, in taking possession of an object to apprehend its nature, "conceives" the representation of the object. Since the image conceived is a likeness of the object, we may say that all knowledge is an assimilation3. The resemblance conceived in the mind is the word4. Whether the intelligence conceives a likeness of itself or of some other object, whether it expresses its concept interiorly or exteriorly makes little difference; it is the resemblance expressed by the thought that constitutes the word and when we give expression of the thought to others, we are simply conferring upon the image in the mind an outward form, which is called the spoken word5.
Intellect, then, is a generative power. The intellect of man generates thoughts. These thoughts, when expressed, are called
"words". God's intellect is not distinct from His Essence. His Thought, embracing from all eternity the fullest knowledge of His infinite self, generated what Sacred Scripture calls "the Word", or His eternal Son6. "The depths were not as yet and I was already conceived" (Prov. 8:24). From all eternity, then, Christ knew x Aristotle, I Periherm., c. 1.
2 "Verbum autem non est aliud quam similitudo expressa et expressiva, concepta vi spiritus intelligentis, secundum quod se vel aliud intuetur." I Sent., 27, 2, 2, concl. t. I, p. 488 a.
3 "Mens autem concipit intelligendo, et intelligendo aliud concipit simile alii, intelligendo se, concipit simile sibi, quia intelligentia assimilatur intellecto." I Sent., 27, 2, 1, concl., t. I, p. 482 b.
4 "Mens igitur dicendo se apud se concipit per omnia simile sibi; et hoc est verbum conceptum." Ibid.
5 "Loqui ad se nihil aliud est quam aliquid mente concipere . . .
Alio modo dicere ad alterum est conceptum mentis exprimere; et huic dicere respondet verbum prolatum." Ibid.
6 "Nam sicut Filius per modum naturae procedit per omnia Patri similis, sic verbum intellectus a mente procedit per modum naturae per
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
Himself to be God, the possessor of true divinity. He is Himself the Word, the Wisdom, the Son, the Light, the Life and the Beauty in the Godhead. As the Wisdom of the Father He was the Book of Life, in Whom already existed the pattern of all God's creation and of His communications with His creatures in their boundless abundance and manifold beauty, and according to this Pattern, the Father created all things* * * * * * 7.
The second Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the 'Word" by comparison with the intellectual word of man. What is called by philosophers "the word" is not the "word" pronounced outwardly, nor the word clothed in language in our mind before we pronounce it, but the very thought conceived by the intellect. The word in us comes from the soul: it remains in the soul; still it is something distinct from the soul; it is an image begotten by the soul. The Word of God comes from the Father. The Father, seeing Himself, begets not a mere idea nor a mere image, but another Person, a substantial image of Plimself, distinct in Person, one in substance.
The Word remained in the Father, not locatively, because God is not a body, nor circumscribed by space, but spiritually, because
God is a Spirit. As the inner word of the mind takes the form of the voice that it may be known to other intelligences, and still does not depart from the mind of the person conceiving it, so did the Eternal Word, that He might be known by mortal man, assume flesh and "the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us" and yet He remained in the bosom of the Father8.
St. Bonaventure then compares the qualities of congruitas, veritas et ornatus in the human word and in a virtuous life. As omnia ei simile et aequale; unde dicitur mentis conceptus." I Sent., 27,
2, 4, t. I, p. 490. "Aeternaliter manativum, quia aeternaliter manat Verbum de Patre, sicut verbum nostrum nascitur de mente. Cum autem mens se intelligit, sui ipsius speciem in se gignit; et si aeterno se intelligeret, ab aeterno suam speciem generaret. Idem enim est species, quae de mente gignitur et verbum quod de mente nascitur. Quia ergo nunquam fuit Deus, quin se intelligeret; nunquam fuit Deus, quin
Verbum diceret, nunquam fuit Pater, quin Filium generaret." Sermones de Tempore, In Nativitate Domini, Sermo II, t. IX, p. 107.
7 "Et quia in ipso vis conceptiva concipit similitudinem, omnia circumplectentem sub intuitu uno sive aspectu, concipit sive generat unum Verbum quod est similitudo Patris imitativa et similitudo rerum exemplativa et similitudo operativa; et ita tenet quasi medium, et dicitur Pater operari per Verbum; et ulterius ipsi Verbo attribuitur, quod sit Dei virtus et Deo sapientia." I Sent., 27, 2, 2, concl., t. I, p. 485.
8 "Tertio nota, quod verbum assumendo voces, ita exit in publicum, quod non relinquit suum mentale domicilium; sic Christus venit in carnem, quod non relinquit suum fontale principium: Joannis decimo quarto: Non creditis, quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est." Sermones de Tempore, In Nativitate Domini, Sermo II, t. IX, p. 107. Cf. supra
P34-
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speech should possess three essential qualities — propriety, truth, and ornament, so should our exterior acts be regulated by modesty9, rendered beautiful by purity of heart10, and adorned by purity of intention* 11.
Since man has God for efficient, formal or exemplary, and final cause, he must have ingrained within his very being and will a certain modus, species, et ordo which show his relation to God as causa efficiens, exemplaris, et finalis12. These three terms — modus, species et ordo, which form the corner-stone of St. Bonaventure's ethics13, are equivalent to unum (modus), verum (spe cies), bonum (ordo)u. Though man was made to perform all his actions in God, like God and for God according to an innate sense of measure, form, and order15, the human will, weakened by the fall, may fail to act propter Deum so that it may act propter se, thus destroying the proper modus, species et ordo, and this is sin16.
9 "Let your modesty be known to all men: the Lord is nigh"
(Phil. 4:5).
10 "He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend" (Prov. 22:11).
11 "The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be simple, thy whole body will be lightsome" (Matt. 6:22).
12 "Et ideo est tertius modus dicendi praedictis rationabilior, quod modus, species et ordo considerantur in eadem re secundum diversas comparationes sive relationes ad idem. Attenduntur enim in unaquaque creatura, secundum quod ipsa est vestigium Creatoris; quod quidem vestigium consistit in comparatione creaturae ad Creatorem secundum triplex genus causae, sicut in primo libro dictum fuit, ita quod modus attenditur secundum comparationem creaturae ad Crea torem in ratione causae efficientis, species in ratione causae exemplaris, et ordo in ratione causae finalis." II Sent., 35, 2, 1, concl., t. II, p. 829.
"Quod et fecit, cum creaturam finxit, qui dedit esse, vivere, intelligere, et velle; quae quidem, quia a summo bono fuit secundum triplicis causae habitudinem; oportuit, quod haberet in sua substantia et voluntas modum, speciem et ordinem." Brevil. 3. 1, t. V, p. 231.
13 On this question, consult II Sent., 35, 2, 1, t. II, pp. 828-830.
Cf. August., IV de Gen. ad lit., c. 3, n. 7; de Natura boni, c. 3; lit. Magistri, c. 4. Cf. Fr. Nolkensmeier, Ethische Grundfragen bei Bonaventura, passim.
14 "Nec ens per se cognosci potest, nisi cognoscatur cum suis condicionibus, quae sunt: unum, verum, bonum." Itiner., c. 3, n. 3, t. Y, p. 304 a. "Ad illud vero quod obiicitur, quod modo, speciei et ordini respondent unitas, veritas et bonitas, dicendum est, quod verum est, prout in illis tribus consideratur generalis ratio vestigii; prout autem in ipsis attenditur corruptio mali culpae, quae consistit circa voluntatem, haec tria habent considerari in bono, secundum quod bonum est, sicut in praecendenti problemate patuit." II Sent., 35, 2, 2, conch, t. II, p. 832.
15 "Nata ergo fuit agere omnia opera sua a Deo et secundum Deum et propter Deum, et hoc secundum modum, speciem et ordinem sibi insitum." Brevil. 3. 1, t. V, p. 231.
16 "Et hoc est peccatum, quod est modi, speciei et ordinis corruptivum." Ibid.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
"Where a man falls, there must he lie, unless someone comes to raise him up17." Sinful man, entangled in a world of sense cannot come to the contemplation of his own soul and of the Eternal Truth within him without the intervention of Truth itself18. Becoming
Incarnate, the Divine Word translates into human actions in language accessible to our minds the perfection of the Father, whose image we are to become by the practice of Christian virtue.
"Our exterior," says St. Bonaventure, "should be modest and reserved." "Let your modesty be known to all men" (Phil. 4:5).
The modest man knows neither excess nor defect19. By this gift of the Holy Ghost, all his actions, movements, gestures, dress, and manner are ordered in accordance with the demands of decency, moral integrity, and regular observance so that he will be of the number of those of whom the Apostle speaks: "But let all things be done decently and according to order" (I Cor. i4:4o)20. This restraint and penance tend to develop the spiritual man and free him from the bonds of sensuality21, thus restoring the original modus of the soul.
Purity of heart restores the original species of the soul. "O, how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory" (Wis. 4:1). Modesty should order not only our words and deeds but also our hearts and affections. Purity of heart wins the divine grace and friendship as it is written in the Book of Proverbs: "He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips shall have the king for his friend"
(22:11). Where there is purity of heart, there is purity of speech and there, too, is the grace and friendship of God which preserves man from the slavery of sin and the loss of his soul22. "Blessed
17 "Ubi quis cediderit, necesse habet ibidem recumbere, nisi apponat quis et adiiciat ut resurgat." Itiner., 4, 2, t. Y, p. 306.
18 Ibid.
19 '"Modestia, secundum Augustinum, libro de Beata Vita, dicta est a modo, in quo nec plus nec minus est;' unde qui nec est superfluus neque diminutus vir est modestus." Opusc. XVII Sermo super reg.
Fratrum Minorum, t. VIII, p. 440.
20 "Super illud ad Galatas quinto: 'Fructus spiritus est modestia,'
Glossa: Modestus est modestum animum servat et qui modum in dictis et factis servat." Ibid. "Ad modestiam honestatis per regulationem, ordinationem et compositionem actuum, motuum, gestuum, vestimentorum seu habituum, membrorum et sensuum, iuxta quod moralis honestas et regularis observantia id exposcit, ut merito sis de illorum numero, quibus Apostolus dicit: Omnia honeste et secundum ordinem fiant in vobis." Opusc. VII, De Regimine Animae, n. 8, t. VIII, p. 130.
21 "Quinta dispositio est arctitudo modestiae in utendis; nam illis solis datur gratia, qui restringunt concupiscentiam . . . omnem fluxum concupiscentiae per modestiam refrenare." Sermones de B. Virgine
Maria, Sermo 5, t. IX, p. 681.
22 "Nam cordis modestia et munditia principaliter impetrat divinam gratiam et amicitiam secundum quod scribitur Proverbiorum
140 DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
are the clean of heart for they shall see God." Faith reaches an extraordinary degree of intensity in souls that have soared above the emotions and passions that disturb mankind. Purified from all earthly tastes and desires, their contemplation of God is not blurred or dimmed in this valley of tears, for even here below when the sight of the intellect is purified by the gift of understand ing, God can, in a certain sense, be seen23.
The ordo of our exterior actions should be regulated by purity of intention. By "intention" we mean the direction of a faculty towards an object wherein it wishes to rest24. Such an act implies a knowledge of the object, the turning of the will towards it, and the happiness which comes with the satisfaction of the desire.
The term "intention", then, represents a conjoint act of the reason and the will25. We may define it as an act of the will eliciting, freely commanding and moving, directed by reason to an end.
An intention is right only when it has as its object God, the Supreme Good, to Whose honor and glory all things are to be referred26.
But before we can make God the end of our lives we must know that He exists and we must know Him not only as the Author of nature but as Sacred Scripture has revealed Him to us, that is, by faith. The will possesses rectitude only when it loves God for His own sake and above all things and this is through charity.
The intention, then, must be directed by faith and charity: faith brightening the eye of the understanding, charity guiding the step of the will27. vigesimo secundo: 'Qui diligit cordis munditiam propter gratiam labiorum suorum habebit amicum regem,' quasi dicat: ubi est munditia cordis ibi est munditia oris. Et haec munditia ubi est subsequitur gratia et amicitia divina quae liberant hominem a servitute peccati et damnatione aeterna et praesenti infamia." Sermones de B. Virgine Maria,
Sermo 5, t. IX, p. 681.
23 " Quoniam autem status in optimo est vel limpidam cognitionem, vel per tranquilla, affectionem; hinc est, quod sunt duae ultimae beatitudines, scilicet munditia cordis ad Deum videndum et pax mentis ad perfecte fruendum." Brevil., V, 6. t. V, p. 259.
24 "Cum enim dico intendo in hoc, intendere dicit conversionem potentiae ad aliquid tanquam ad finem ultimum, quern intendit assequi et cui vult copulari." II Sent., 38, 2, 2, concl., t. II, p. 893.
25 "Sic implicat duarum potentiarum actus coniunctos ad unum perficiendum, quod non posset facere actus unius actu alterius." Ibid.
26 "Rursus, sine cognitione sumrni Boni non potest esse recta intentio — hoc solum fit recta intentione nullus actus virtutis recte incedit." Ill Sent., 23, 1, 1, concl. t. Ill, p. 471. "Quia vero (homo) per similitudinem natus est in Deum immediate tendere, ideo omnes creaturae irrationales ad ipsum ordinantur, ut mediante ipso in finem ultimum perducantur." II Sent., 15, 2, 1, concl., t. II, p. 383 a.
27 "Et quantum ad haec duo intentio dirigi habet fide et caritate: fide clarificante oculum intellectus, et caritate rectificante pedem affectus." II Sent., 38, 2, 2, t. II, p. 893.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
In the harmonious blending of these three characteristics, an upright intention, a pure heart, and an unassuming exterior,
St. Bonaventure finds the pattern of a Christian life.
The Seraphic Doctor then passes on to the purpose of speech: namely, to express a thought, to teach, and to persuade — a threefold purpose for the attainment of which there is need of union of the soul with God.
St. Augustine says that nullus potest aliquid addiscere, nisi Deus doceat. This statement, as St. Bonaventure explains28, does not imply that all knowledge is infused knowledge but that the created light, reason, can function only by the aid of the Un created Light which illumines every man who comes into the world. It is Christ who is said to dwell in the inner man; He is the immutable Power and the eternal Wisdom of God Who teaches every rational soul29. Man may use words as symbols for the expression of his thoughts, but teaching is the work of the incorruptible Truth Himself who is the one true, the one internal
Teacher30. Hence St. Augustine says that "He that teacheth hearts hath His chair in heaven"31. He alone can teach the truth who has the truth within him. God is the Source of knowledge, the Fountain of Wisdom, the Way, the Truth, and the Life32. "In Him was life and the life was the light of men" (Jn. 1:4). "That was the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (Jn. 1:9). He came into the world that He might publish the truth33 as He Himself has said: "For this was I bom, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony of the truth" (Jn. 18:37). We are divinely begotten by grace. Christ is
28 "Hoc enim non dicitur, quia omnis cognitio sit infusa, sed quia lumen creatum non potest perficere operationem suam absque cooperatione luminis increati, per quod illuminatur omnis homo, qui venit in hunc mundum." II Sent., 28, 2, 3, concl., t. II, p. 690.
29 Cf. St. Augustine de Magistro, Libr. I, c. 11, n. 38, Migne, P. L., t. 32, 1216.
30 St. Augustine, Contra Epistolam Manichaei, c. 36, n. 41, Migne, 42, 202.
31 "Et constat secundum Augustinum et alios Sanctos, quod 1 Christus habens cathedram in caelo docet interius'; nec aliquo modo aliqua veritas sciri potest nisi per illam veritatem. Nam idem est principium essendi et cognoscendi. Si enim scibile in quantum scibile per veritatem immutabilem, inconcussam, incoangustatam." In Hexaem.,
I, 13, t. V, p. 331.
32 "'Unus est magister vester, Christus,' Matthei vigesimo tertio.
In verbo isto declaratur, quod est fontale principium illuminationis cognoscitivae, Christus videlicet, . . . ipse est, qui est origo omnis sapientiae . . . 'Ipse enim est via, veritas et vita,' Joannis decimo quarto."
Sermo IV, Christus unus omnium magister, 1, t. V, p. 567.
33 "Necessarium est, ut ille solus scire faciat, qui veritatem novit et habet in se veritatem." In Hexaem., 12, 5. t. V, p. 385.
DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
within every human soul shedding His divine light upon the darkness of our minds34. If we are to know God, God Himself must be present in the soul as really as the idea of a thing we understand is in the mind. The only adequate idea or image of God, equal to the Godhead Himself in all things, is the Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who, as St. Paul says, "is the brightness of His glory and the figure of His sub stance" (Hebri:3). This word is the eternal revelation of the splendors of the Divinity, the "light in which we shall see light".
He is the light of divine Wisdom by which the soul penetrates the mysteries of faith35 and, under the influence of grace and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, especially the gifts of understanding and wisdom, finds rest in the possession of truth and peace in the love of the Sovereign Good36. In this state the soul experiences in the highest degree the ecstasies of love which are the result of close union of the soul with God37, Behold how the wisdom of God lies hidden in rational philo sophy. The outward expression of the mental concept is a figure of the Word Eternal become Incarnate, the Source of truth Who by His grace enlightens man and brings him back to the Father.
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
By the same method of reasoning, that is, by the analogy of proportion, does St. Bonaventure find the wisdom of God hidden in natural philosophy, a branch of science which is concerned principally with formal causes as they exist in matter, in the mind, and in the Divine Wisdom. Considering these formal principles in the order of their philosophical arrangement, we find the intellectual or abstract forms intermediary, as it were, between the seminal and the ideal forms1. The innumerable material sub34 "Nam ilia veritas simpliciter incommutabilis perspicue videri non potest nisi ab illis qui intrare possunt ad intimum silentium mentis."
De Scientia Christi, Q. IV, 23-26, t. V, p. 27. "Ipse enim intimus est omni animae et suis specibus clarissimis refulget super species intellectus nostri tenebrosas." In Hexaem., 12, 5, t. V, p. 385.
35 "Lux scilicet divinae sapientiae, quae Christus est. . . Sine hac luce nemo potest sacramenta fidei penetrare." Sermo IV, Christus unus omnium magister, t. V, p. 568.
36 Brevil., 5. 5, t. V, p. 258.
37 "Sed cognitio viae multos habet gradus. Cognoscitur enim Deus in vestigio, cognoscitur et in effectu gratiae, cognoscitur etiam per intimam unionem Dei et animae, iuxta quod dicit Apostolus: 'Qui adhaeret Deo unus spiritus est.' Et haec est cognitio excellentissima, quam docet Dionysius, quae quidem est in ecstatico amore et elevat supra cognitionem fidei secundum statum communem." Ill Sent., 24, 4, t. Ill, p. 5311 "Certum est, quod notitia veritatis rerum triformis est, secundum quod sunt formae concretae, formae abstractae, et formae separatae.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
stances of nature are the result of the development of certain active forces or seminal principles with which God from the very beginning endowed matter. Wherever these forms are present they engender other forms* 2. Intellectual forms, likewise, conceive or engender the inner word of the mind in the thought in which they appear3. "If such productivity," says St. Bonaventure,
"characterizes the creature, with greater reason should we expect to find it in the Creator," in Whom exist the ideal principles of all things4. Thus, the mind of God, knowing Himself from all eternity, expressed within Himself by a wholly internal act the Son or the Eternal Word, the perfect reproduction of Himself, for which reason St. Augustine calls Him the ars omnipotentis Dei5. By Him were all things made6. The act by which the Father thinks Him self, knows Himself, and expresses Himself, would not be an integral image of Himself if it did not represent, not only the infinite being of God, but also all the possibilities which are con tained in Him virtually. So the Word is both the representation of God and the model, the Exemplar of all things as well7.
Take another argument of the same kind, says St. Bonaventure:
The highest possible degree of perfection in the universe cannot be attained if the appetite for the form which works upon matter does not result in the union of the rational soul with the material body; in no other way can the desire of matter for its ultimate form be satisfied. Some may object that the soul, already composed of matter and form, and therefore a complete substance, cannot come into another composition with the body. Although the rational soul is composed of matter and form, explains St. Bona venture, nevertheless, it has the desire to complete the corporeal nature, just as the organic body is composed of matter and form
Formas concretas considerat physicus, formas abstractas metaphysicus et formas separatas mathematicus." De Donis S. S., 4, 9, t. V, p. 475.
Cf. supra pp. 26, 87.
2 Cf. supra pp. 50, 51.
3 "Verbum dicitur vel generatur, quando mente similitudo vel imago alicuius cognoscibilis concipitur; et verbum illud respicit, quod respicit similitudo concepta." I Sent., 27, 2, 2, t. V, p. 485.
4 "Dicendum quod generatio ponenda est in divina esse. Et huius ratio potissima est, ut credo, quia omnia natura est communicabilis."
I Sent., 9, 1, t. I, p. 181 a.
5 "Tanquam verbum perfectum, cui non desit aliquid, et ars quaedam omnipotentis atque sapientis Dei, plena omnium rationum viventium incommutabilium; et omnes unum in ea, sicut ipsa unum de uno, cum quo unum." VI. de Trinitate, c. 10, n. n, Migne, P. L., t. 42. 931.
6 ''Verbum est omnia originans, quia per ipsum omnia fecit."
In Ascens. Dom., sermo 1, t. IX, p. 316 a. "Exivit (Christus) a Patre ut Verbum universa principians, quia est fontalissima virtus." Ibid.,
P3i57 In Hexaem., I. 13, t. V, p. 331.
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and, nevertheless, has the desire to receive the soul. In this way the theory of the plurality of forms explains the composition of man, and in no way hinders the union of the soul with the body8.
So, too, continues the Seraphic Doctor, would the highest perfection be lacking in the universe if the nature which contains the seminal principles, the nature which contains the intellectual principles, and the nature which contains the ideal principles were not united in one single person and this is what took place in the Incarnation of the Son of God. "I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Apoc. 1:8). Thus all natural philosophy bespeaks the Word of God begotten in the beginning before all time but become Incarnate in the fulness of time. What more wise and fitting than that for the perfection of the universe there should be a union of the beginning and the end namely, the Word of God, the Principium of all things, withman, the last of creation. What more benevolent than that God to save a servant should take the form of a servant9 ? Just as the first man, the ornament of the material world, was made on the sixth day, so it was fitting that the Second Man, Christ, the perfection of the redeemed world Who united in Himself the first and the last, namely, God and clay, should come toward the end of time which St. Bonaventure calls the time of grace or the New Testament — an age suited for the exercise of wisdom and the transition from a state of turmoil to peace10. And that He might be known, loved, and imitated by man who was flesh, the V crbum caro factum est that through Him man might be brought back to God* 11.
In the consideration of the effect of causality, St. Bonaventure sees the pattern of a Christian life. In the natural order, generation by seminal causes takes place in generative and corruptible matter by the beneficent light of the heavenly bodies. The sun placed high in the heavens gives light to the moon and the stars and by its life-giving heat makes the plants, seeds, and trees live and 8 II Sent., 17, 1, q. 2 ad 6, t. II, p. 415.
9 "Et hoc non poterat fieri nisi per Deum in forma servi." Brevil., 4. 1, t.y, p. 241.
10 ''Sic secundus homo, totius mundi reparati complementum, in quo primum principium coniungitur cum ultimo, scilicet 'Deus cum limo' fieret in fine temporum, hoc est in sexta aetate, quae est aetas apta exercitium sapientiae et ad enervationem concupiscentiae et ad transitum a statu turbinis ad quietem;" Brevil., 4. 4, t. V, p. 245 a.
Cf. In Hexaem. XXVI. 11, t. V, p. 405.
11 "Ideo ad eripiendum hominem de hoc statu "Verbum caro factum est", ut ab homine, qui caro erat, et cognosci posset et amari et imitari ac per hoc et homo Deum cognoscens et imitans remediaretur a morbo peccati." Brevil., 4. 1, t. V, p. 241.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
blossom; its power extends even beneath the earth where it produces all kinds of metals12. "By reason of the pressure, move ment, and union of elements caused by their power and heat,'' says St. Bonaventure13, "the heavenly bodies aid in the production of minerals, vegetables, animals, and the human body." By combining contraries in a very unequal proportion, they concur in the formation of minerals; in less unequal proportion, in the formation of vegetables; in nearly equal proportion, in the for mation of animals; in equal proportion in the formation of the human body which is suited for the most noble form, the rational soul, by which man lives, feels, and thinks and by which he may, after the manner of the circle, be brought back to his Beginning in Whom he finds his peace and joy14. This union of the soul with the body that it informs takes place by an influence from above, thus recalling to mind the influence of God's grace descending upon the soul to give it life15. As light assimilates the forms which it penetrates, so does the knowledge of God that divine illumination sheds upon the soul render it perfect16. The Incarnate
Word, the Son of God made man, is to become the Author of our divine generation. He is the light of the soul17 Who by His grace awakens the seminal principles of the virtues still dormant in it and enables them to bear their fruits. As the sun, the chief of the luminaries, rules the whole day with continuous splendor; as the moon by reflected light rules the night; and as the stars, keeping their order and always turning in the orbit, adorn the heaven of heavens; so, too, the soul, if it is to perform living works, must receive from Christ the light of His infused grace18, seek the 12 "Per virtutem autem et calorem influunt ad productionem eorum quae ex elementis generantur." Brevil., 2, 4, t. V, p. 221. "In fluunt etiam quantum ad effectivam productionem rerum generabilium et corruptibilium, scilicet mineralium, vegetabilium, sensibilium et corporum humanorum." Ibid.
13 Ibid. Cf. also Itiner., II. 2, t. V, p. 300.
14 "Quasi ad modum circuli intelligibilis reducatur ad suum principium, in quo perficiatur et beatificetur." Brevil., loc. cit.
15 "Quomodo enim actus verus reformationis et vivificationis erit in anima, nisi sit aliqua forma complens, a qua anima informetur ? . . .
Unde inter omnia corporalia maxime assimilatur gratiae Dei luminis influentia." II Sent., 26, 2, t. II, p. 636.
16 " Quemadmodum, cum per sensus corporum discimus corpora, fit eorum aliqua similitudo in animo nostro; ita cum Deum novimus, fit aliqua similitudo Dei; ilia notitia tarn inferior est, quia in inferiore natura est." I Sent., 3, 1, 1, 1, t. I. p. 70.
17 "Sicut ergo solus (Deus) earn (animam) proprie illuminat, sic earn solus proprie vivificat." Dominica III Adventus, Sermo XIV, t. IX, p. 73.
18 "Sicut sol transiens per duodecim signa dat vitam, sic sol sapientalis, in nostrae mentis hemisphaerio radians et transiens, per has duo10 St. Bonaventure, De Reductione
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protection of the Virgin Mary, the Queen of heaven, who is "fair as the moon" (Cant. 6:10) and imitate the virtues of the saints who shine like stars in the firmament19.
If we consider the medium of the union in formal causes, we shall see therein the union of the soul with God. Just as the plant can germinate and fructify only if air, heat, and rain penetrate the soil; just as the body receives life from the soul only by means of the moisture, warmth, and vital energy or breath of life20, so can the soul be united with God only if it be bedewed with tears of compunction and filial love, spiritualized by contempt of the world, and enkindled with the desire of heaven and its Beloved
Spouse.
Sin is the paralysis of the soul21; sanctifying grace is its life. As the natural life supposes the existence of faculties for acting, so, too, the supernatural life, which functions through sanctifying grace and the infused graces, the virtues of faith, hope and charity, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and the beatitudes22. It is the gift of knowledge which moistens the soul with tears of compunction.
Scientia parit luctum23. This gift tends to make us saints by con forming our conduct to that of the Saviour, the model and mirror of justice24 ... "He who says he lives in Him must walk as He has walked" (I Jn. 2:6). Seeing itself so far from the perfection of its Divine Model, the soul gives way to tears most pleasing to our
Lord26. The gift of piety, a disposition to serve God with tenderness decim partes virtu turn ordinat vitam nostram; et quantumcumque homo habet alias scientias, nisi habeat virtutes, non habet vitam; sicut, quantumcumque habeas stellas, nisi habeas solem in duodecim signis, non habebis diem." In Hexaem., VI. 19, t. V, p. 363.
19 "Digne renovari debet interius in affectibus et exterius in sacris moribus et operibus, ut inveniantur in eo signa salvationis per conformationem ad Christum solem et Matrem lunam et Apostolos stellas."
Sermones de Tempore, Dominica I Adv. Sermo XI, t. IX, p. 35.
20 "Vide Alfredus Anglicus, De Motu Cordis, c. 7: 'Eo (calore) utens anima . . . cibum in humores, sanguinem in spiritum permutat.'"
Opera Omnia, t. IV, p. 907, n. 9. t. II, p. 424, n. 3 contains a reference to Aristotle, De Longitudine et brevitate vitae, c. 3 (c. 5) where he says that the warm humidity there is the cause of life and augmented size.
"Augmenti enim calida humiditas causa et vitae," and to Avicenna, Canon. I, Fen. 1. doctr. 3. c. 1 where he says that warmth is conducive to life, moisture to growth. In doctr. 6, c. 3 he states that cold causes a kind of paralysis and death and checks all activity.
21 "Peccatum quod est paralysis spiritualis in mente." Sermones de Tempore, Dom. XVIII post Pentecosten, Sermo I, t. IX, p. 423.
22 Brevil., 5. 4, t. V, p. 256.
23 De Donis S. S., 4. 22, t. V, p. 478.
24 Epistola de Imitatione Christi, t. VIII, 499 seqq.
25 "Qui veram habet scientiam et novit Deum et videt, se non ambulare recte nec perfecte, in continuo dolore est, quia videt, quod dissipentur eius affectus et cogitationes . . . Videt homo strages corporum,
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
and devotion, makes us love what the gift of knowledge makes us know, Christ the God-Man, the Model of perfection26. From this gift flow a love of meditation on the life of Christ, particularly on His Passion27, and sentiments of compunction which reunite the soul to Christ Whom it has lost by sin28.
It is only after we have hved the life of Christ Crucified that we can rise with Christ, lift up our eyes, and detach ourselves from earthly things29. "Therefore if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth''
(Col. 3:1). The gift of understanding, like an inspiration, a divine ray that sends its light on the supernatural truths and causes them to shine brightly, in a certain manner, from within, spiritualizes the soul by contempt of the world. "Raising its gaze above and beyond itself, seeking, as it were, the light of God's countenance, the soul finally finds Him in His own reflected light. In contem plation of the First and Highest Principle of all and of Jesus Christ, the Mediator of God and man, the soul experiences contact with spiritual things so sublime that any comparison with created things becomes impossible, and so deeply mysterious that all intellectual keenness is unavailing. By means of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Door, and the Ladder, the soul is swept up not only beyond the wonders of creation but out of its very self and above itself30."
On the cross Christ taught us to despise the wisdom of the world, and, ascending into heaven, He taught us to seek the wisdom of God and to love the Fountain of life31. It is only when the soul is enkindled with the desire of heaven and ardent love of God that it can attain to the mystic union32. In this state, the reasoning faculty ceases to function and the soul's deep affection dolet multum. Qui igitur videt strages animanim, quomodo potest se abstinere a lacrymis ? Dolor iste multum placet Deo." De Donis S. S.,
4. 22, t. V, p. 478 a.
26 III Sent., 35, 2, t. Ill, p. 776 b.
27 "Nukus scit quantum valet compassio Christi. Nihil est, quod tantum exstinguit tentationes et elationem, quam quod mens custodiatur in compassione doloris Christi." De Donis S. S., 6. 19, t. V, p. 487.
28 "Et sicut Magdalena offendendo perdidit Deum; ita, quando ungebat pedes Christi et caput, invenit ipsum. Videte, quod quilibet vestrum habeat illud unguentum, ut pie afficiatur ad Deum et poeniteat et a peccato sibi caveat." De Donis S. S., 6, 21, t. V, 487.
29 "Sublevandus est, et hoc supra omne sensibile, imaginabile et intelligibile." Opusc. I De Triplici Via, c. 1. 3, t. VIII, p. 7.
30 Itiner., 7. 1, t. V, p. 312.
31 "In cruce docuit sapientiam mundi spernere, et in caelum vadens docuit sapientiam Dei appetere et fontem vitae diligere." De Donis S. S.,
9. 4. t. V, p. 500.
32 "Inflammandus est, et hoc ex conversione, affectionis super amorem Sponsi." Opusc. I De Triplici Via, c. 1. 3, t. VIII, p. 7.
10*
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is centered in God and transformed, as it were, into Him. "So mysterious and sublime is this experience, that he alone who has experienced it can understand it. No one receives it unless he desires it and this desire comes only to him whose whole being is inflamed with the fire of the Holy Ghost sent by Christ upon the earth33."
Behold how the wisdom of God lies hidden in natural philo sophy. As seminal causes introduced in matter engender other forms therein; as intellectual forms engender the word or internal speech in the thought in which they appear; so, too, do the ideal principles, which subsist in God, effect the begetting of the Son by the Father. Just as the rain, air, and warmth penetrate the soil and make the plant germinate and fructify, so does grace entering the soul awaken the seminal causes of the virtues lying dormant therein and enable them to bear their fruits34.
MORAL PHILOSOPHY
In the consideration of moral philosophy which deals with rectitude or general justice* 1, St. Bonaventure likewise discovers the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture. The first definition of "right" is borrowed from Plato: "That is right or straight the middle of which is not out of line with its extreme points2." God is perfect rectitude, the Beginning and End of all things. There must be in Him, then, an intermediary of His own nature so that there may be one Person who produces, another Who is produced, and an intermediary who both produces and is produced3. "By the Father is the Son begotten; by Both is the Holy Spirit breath ed forth. Yet the Holy Ghost is ever with the Father and the Son and never abandons either4." Thus, the Son is an intermediary, as it were, between the Father and the Holy Ghost.
33 Itiner., 7. 4, t. V, p. 312.
34 "Quod autem seminaria virtutum quantum ad habitus substratos sint plantata in natura mentis rationalis, expresse potest haberi ab Augustino in multis locis, et a Bernardo . . . et in aliis locis plurimis."
Ill Sent., 23, 2, 5, ad 6, t. Ill, p. 500 b. Cf. also III Sent., 33, 5, t. Ill, p. 722 b ff.
1 St. Anselm defines "justice" as rectitude of the will. "Sciendum quoque est quia justitia non potest esse nisi in voluntate, si justitia est rectitudo voluntatis propter se servata." De Conceptu Virginali et
Originali Peccato, c. 3, Migne, P. L., t. 158, 435.
2 "Plato in Parmen. says: 'Rectum vero illud, cuius medium extremis utrisque e regione est.'" Cf. II Sent., t. II, p. 4, editors' foot note 11.
3 "Istud est medium personarum necessario: quia, si persona est quae producit et non producitur, et persona, quae producitur et non producit, necessario est media quae producitur et producit. Haec est ergo veritas sola mente perceptibilis." In Hexaem., I. 14, t. V, p. 332.
4 "Quia Filius missus est a Patre, et Spiritus Sanctus ab utroque.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
In any substance, the origin is the principle; the exemplar, the medium; and the final cause, the end. In God, the Father is the Principle; the Holy Ghost, the End; the Son, the Medium, for He is the Eternal Word, the Exemplar by means of Whom the Father expressed all things and brought all things into being.
Hence this Medium is Truth, the only Truth by which any truth can be known* * 5. An intermediary is necessary, says St. Bonaventure, in the going forth and in the return of things6; in the going forth, as Exemplar, it influences the one producing; in the return, as the Book of Life, it influences the one returning7. As creatures went forth from God by the Word of God, so for a perfect return, it was necessary that the Mediator between God and man be not only God but also man so that He might lead man back to God. "For there is one God, and one mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim 2:5). No one is more fitted to be a medium than a person who produces and is produced, that is the central one of the Three Persons; no one is better fitted to bring man back to the knowledge of God than the Word by which the Father expressed Himself; no one is better fitted to restore the divine conformity than He who is the image of God; no one is better fitted to restore man to the sonship of God than
God's own natural Son. Consequently, no one is better fitted to become the son of man than the Son of God Himself8. In the Incarnation, the First Principle of all things was united to the last of creation; the human was joined with the divine; man born in the fulness of time, of a Virgin, was linked with the Eternal9.
By taking flesh and dwelling among us, Christ has become the qui tamen semper est cum eis et nunquam recedit ab eis." Itiner., 6. 6 t. V, p. 3x1.
5 "Unde illud medium veritas est; . . . nec aliquo modo aliqua veritas sciri potest nisi per illam veritatem." In Hexaem., I. 13, t. V,
P331'
6 "Necesse est etiam ponere medium in egressu et regressu rerum."
De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 23, t. V, p. 325. Cf. supra p. 38.
7 "(Deus) est igitur liber vitae respectu rerum ut redeuntium; exemplar, ut exeuntium." Brevil., I. 8, t. V, p. 216. "Ratio respicit finem, idea formam, exemplar efficientem, sapientia cognitionem, sicut ars operationem. Unde in quantum efficiens, scit, qualiter debeat operari; secundum dicitur sapiens; in quantum vero potest operari, cum vult, dicitur artifex." Alexander of Hales, Summa Theologica, p. 1, 23, 4, 1, p. 258.
8 "Ac per hoc nullum magis decet fieri filium hominis quam ipsum Filium Dei." Brevil., 4. 2, t. V, p. 243.
9 "Quod in ipso principium primum iunctum est cum postremo, Deus cum homine sexto die formato, aeternum iunctum est cum homine temporali, in plenitudine temporum de Virgine nato." Itiner., 6. 5, t. V, p. 311. "Corporali tamen et longinquae communicat mediate quia lex divinitatis haec est, ut infima per media reducantur ad summa."
Brevil., 2, 9. t. V, p. 226,
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Center of heaven and earth. He is the Mediator by which the soul may be united to God in this life and the source of eternal happiness in heaven10.
In another sense, says St. Bonaventure, that is called "right" which is conformed to rule, and here we have the basis of a virtuous life. "Be not conformed to this world," says Sacred Scripture,
"but be reformed in the newness of your mind: that you may prove what is the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God* 11." Since perfect rectitude requires conformity to the will of God which is rectissima, it was necessary that the divine will be made known to man12. And since there is one degree of rectitude required for salvation and another required for perfection, God gave a threefold sign of His divine will in His commandments, prohibitions, and counsels13.
The commandments of God, the first and immutable law of all justice14, regulate our dealings with the Creator and with the creature, for which reason they were engraved on two tablets of stone15. On the first tablet are contained the commandments ordering our relations with God. The Uncreated Being, the Source, the exemplary and final cause of all things, possesses power, wisdom, and goodness — three perfections characteristic of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity: power, of the Father; wisdom, of the Son; goodness, of the Holy Ghost. The sovereign majesty of the Father must be humbly adored; the sovereign truth of the Son must be firmly believed; the sovereign goodness of the Holy Ghost must be sincerely loved. And if we are to do these things according to the eternal will of God, it was necessary that there be on the first tablet three commandments correspond10 "Incipiendum est a medio, quod est Christus . . . Unde ab illo incipiendum necessario, si quis vult venire ad sapientiam christianam."
In Hexaem., I, io, t. V, p. 330. "Agnus Dei in media aquarum est Filius Dei, Filius dico, qui est media persona a qua omnis beatitudo."
In Hexaem., I, 38, t. V, p. 335.
11 Rom. 12:2.
12 "Ft quia rectissima est, nullus potest esse rectus, nisi conformetur ei; nullus autem potest ei conformari, nisi voluntas ilia innotescat sibi: oportuit ergo voluntatem divinam ut regulam rectitudinis notificari nobis." Brevil., I. 9, t. V, p. 218.
13 "Rectitudo autem quaedam esse necessitatis, ethaec est in faciendo bonum necessarium et declinando malum; quaedam est pevfectionis, et haec est in supererogando ultra debitum; et secundum hoc innotescit nobis per triplex signum, scilicet praeceptionem, prohibitionem et con silium." Ibid.
14 "Et quoniam perfectio vitae in duobus consistit, videlicet in multitudine habituum gratuitorum et in impletione divinorum mandatorum." Ill Sent., d. 23, t. Ill, p. 469 a.
15 "Secundum quod anima rationalis habet ordinari ad Creatorem et ad creaturam, secundum hoc est duplex tabula, in qua lex Dei est scripta." De decern praeceptis, 5. 2, t. V, p. 523.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
ing to the humble adoration, faith, and charity which we owe to God16. In conformity with this image of the Blessed Trinity, a threefold ray descends upon the human mind enlightening man as to the sentiments which he should entertain towards his neighbor in as much as he is the likeness of the three Divine Persons17.
The positive law of God is a reflection of the wisdom, truth, and goodness of God, the ordo vivendi. The order of our life is right when it is in accordance with this higher order which directs it18, with the law engraven in the mind, and with the written law of the decalogue which is nothing else than a copy of the eternal law. "If thou wilt enter eternal life, keep the commandments"
(Matt. 19:17), says our Lord, and this is the rectitudo necessitatis.
There is likewise a rectitudo perfectionis to which our Lord invites souls when He says: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Christ, the model of perfection, has performed deeds which only the perfect can imitate; they are the works of counsel or of supererogation19, the evangelical virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience which characterize the religious state20. According to the Seraphic
Doctor, charity is the root and bond of perfection21. But charity has three degrees: the first consists in the observance of the commandments; the second, in the practice of the counsels; the third, in the enjoyment of eternal delight. If we follow the rule which God has given us, we shall attain our end, eternal happiness, for this is the essence of all perfection, the conformity of the human will with the divine22.
16 "In prima, dico, tabula continentur mandata ordinantia nos ad Deum; Deus autem est Trinitas, Pater, et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus.
Patri attribuitur maiestas, Filio veritas, et Spiritui Sancto bonitas. In Patre est summa maiestas humiliter adoranda; in Filio est summa veritas fideliter asserenda; in Spiritu Sancto est summa bonitas sincere amanda. Sed si ista tria ex aetema ordinatione debemus facere, tunc necesse est, in prima tabula esse tria mandata secundum ista tria appropriata tribus personis divinis." Ibid., 1, 22, t. V, p. 510 a.
17 "Descendit de caelis triplex radius in mentem secundum tria mandata primae tabulae." In Hexaem., 21, 8, t. V, p. 432 b. "Haec tria ille sol imprimit in supremam partem animae." Ibid.
18 "Alio modo dicitur rectum quod dirigenti se conformatur. Et secundum hoc in consideratione rectitudinis conspicitur ordo vivendi.
Ille enim recte vivit, qui dirigitur secundum regulas iuris divini. . .
Et tunc est rectus ordo vivendi, in quo nulla obliquitas potest reperiri."
De Reduc. art. ad Theol., n. 24, t. V, p. 235 ab. Cf. supra p. 40.
19 Cf. Apol. paup., c. 2, 8, t. VIII, p. 241.
20 Sermo II in Dominica II post Pasca, t. IX, p. 296-300.
21 "Sciendum est igitur, quod radix, forma, finis, complementum et vinculum perfectionis caritas est." Apol. paup., 3. 2, t. VIII, p. 244.
22 "Et in hoc vere perfectio consistit, cum quis voluntatem libertatis pro ipso donat, quae est impretiabile bonum, quo nihil maius ab homine dari potest." Quest, disp. De evang. perf., IV. 2, t. V, p. 186.
DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
If we consider the third definition of the term "right"—dicitur rectum cuius summitas est sursum erecta, we shall see therein the union of the soul with God. "God made man right" (Eccles. 7:30).
In conformity with the soul ever tending heavenward, the body of man is upright in stature, his head raised on high, the uprightness of his position ever bearing witness to the righteousness of his soul23. "Iniquity is a vice of the heart, not of the flesh," says
St. Bernard. "It is in your spiritual portion, not in the solid clay, that the likeness of the soul must be preserved or restored24."
Since happiness is nothing else but the enjoyment of the Supreme Good, and Since the Supreme Good is above us, no one can be happy who does not rise above himself25. "This rising up of man," continues the Saint in the Itinerarium, "is to be understood of the mind and heart and not of the body and, since it is a question of reaching above himself, man must be helped by a supernatural strength which comes with prayer26." The cardinal virtues provide the full equipment of determinations necessary for the right ordering of man's operations: prudence exercises his intellectual faculty; temperance regulates the concupiscible appetite; fortitude, the irascible appetite; and justice regulates all his actions with regard to God and his neighbor. These moral and natural virtues, however, are utterly vain and useless unless ennobled and trans formed by the free gift of the theological virtues27 which rectify the powers of the soul and order them directly to the Blessed
Trinity, according to the prerogatives which are characteristic of the three Divine Persons. Faith directs to the Sovereign Truth by means of an act of assent; hope conducts to the Supreme
Reward by the sentiments of expectation and confidence that it inspires; charity unites the soul to Infinite Goodness by desire and love28. When the spiritual faculties, memory, understanding
23 "Ut autem conformaretur animae sursum tendenti ad caelum, habuit rectitudinem staturae et caput sursum erectum; ut sic corporalis rectitudo mentali rectitudini attestaretur." Brevil., 2. 10, t. V, p. 228.
24 Cf. Sermones in Cantica, Sermo 24, n. 5, Migne, P. L., t. 183.
896.
25 "Cum beatitudo nihil aliud sit, quam summi boni fruitio; et summum bonum sit supra nos: nullus potest effici beatus, nisi supra semetipsum ascendat, non ascensu corporali, sed cordiali." Itiner., c. 1, t. V, p. 296.
26 Ibid.
27 "Secundo modo est de consideratione theologorum, quia sic habet aspectum ad divinam gratiam, cuius gratiae cognitio est per fidem catholicam, sine qua omnia opera hominum vana sunt, etsi etiam videantur laudabilia." II Sent., 25, dub. 1, t. II, 607 b.
28 ". . . ita quod fides dirigit in summe verum credendo et assentiendo, spes in summe arduum innitendo et exspectando, caritas in summe bonum desiderando et diligendo." Brevil., 5. 4, t. V, p. 256.
THE "REDUCTIO" PROPER
and will, have been directed to their proper object, the soul by that very fact becomes deijorm and in it once more is readily seen the image of God29.
Thus restored to the image of the Blessed Trinity by the grace of the Holy Ghost, rectified in its powers by the virtues, cured of its wounds by sacramental grace, started along the way of perfection by the gifts and beatitudes, guided in all its ways by the commandments of God, the soul finally recovers the lost faculty of contemplation30 and the spiritual senses by which it clings to God in the peace of ecstasy31. Under the influence of the heavenly light, the soul advances along the way that leads to peace through the ecstatic transport of Christian wisdom32. This road to final peace is none other than the fervent love of Christ
Crucified which so transformed St. Paul that when caught up to the third heaven he could say: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me33." In this state of mental transport, which is reached onty through desire, the soul in the splendor of lofty thought turns the eye of the mind directly and intently upon the rays of divine light34. Thus charity has the power of uniting the soul to God and transforming it into Him35. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (I Cor 6:17).
Behold how the wisdom of God lies hidden in moral philosophy.
In Plato's definition of rectitude, we see a figure of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who, though God, became man, that by His grace He might lead man back to the Father.
29 "Deiformis est creatura rationalis, quae potest redire super originem suam per memoriam, intelligentiam et voluntatem." De Donis
S. S., Ill, 5, t. V, p. 469. "Creatura Deum sicut obiectum habere non potest, quin eum capiat per memoriam, intelligentiam et voluntatem."
Brevil., 2. 12, t. V, p. 230 ab.
30 Brevil., 2, T2, t. V, p. 230.
31 Itiner., 4. 3, t. V, p. 306.
32 "Nam per senas alas illas recte intelligi possunt sex illiminationum suspensiones, quibus anima . . . disponitur, ut transeat ad pacem per ecstaticos excessus sapientiae christianae." Itiner., Prolog. 3, t. V, p. 295.
33 "Via autem non est nisi per ardentissimum amorem Crucifixi, qui adeo Paulum ad tertium caelum raptum transformavit in Christum."
Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 I Sent., 17, 1, 1, 1 ad 8, t. I, p. 295.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
St. Bonaventure has proved his thesis. As a perfect theologian— dogmatist, moralist, and mystic, he has discovered in the various departments of secular knowledge the mystic meanings of Sacred
Scripture and has shown how each branch by means of analogies and illustrations contributes to the better understanding of the mistress-science. Beautiful in subordination to it and shining with a reflected light, they become unsteady and misshapen when separated from the sunlight of Revelation, the source of Sacred
Scripture, the alpha and the omega, the center towards which all knowledge naturally tends, the unifying principle which orders man's relations with nature, with his fellow-man, and with God1.
Theology is the queen of the sciences — the rule, thq measure, the ultimate interpretation, and harmony of them all. With a light far more distinct and beautiful than the natural light, the light of Sacred Scripture illumines the attributes of God and reveals the central place our Divine Lord holds in creation. Christ is the center2; on His Divinity rests the whole faith; on His
Incarnation and death, the restoration of creation destroyed by the fall of man. As the sun is the center of the macrocosm, the source of life and heat in the material world; as the heart is the center of the microcosm, the source from which the life-giving blood courses through the veins and arteries, so has the Word become the center of heaven and earth by taking flesh and dwelling among us3. He is the Mediator by Whom the soul is united to God in this life; He is the Truth by which we arrive at Christian wisdom4, for in Him are contained all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge5. As the Word and only-begotten Wisdom of the Father
1 "Unde quemadmodum de omnibus entibus, in quantum reducuntur ad unum primum ens, est una scientia et unus liber, sic de omnibus rebus et signis, in quantum reducuntur ad unum, quod est alpha et omega, est una scientia." I Sent., Prooem., q. i, t. I, p. 8.
2 "Circa secundum nota, quod incipiendum est a medio, quod est Christus." In Hexaem., I. io, t. V, p. 330.
3 In Hexaem., I. 19, 20, t. V, p. 332.
4 "Ipse enim mediator Dei et hominum est, tenens medium in omnibus, ut patebit. Unde ab illo incipiendum necessario, si quis vult venire ad sapientiam christianam." Ibid., I, 10, t. V, p. 330.
5 "Propositum igitur nostrum est ostendere, quod in Christo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae Dei absconditi, et ipse est medium omnium scientiarum." In Hexaem., I, 11, t. V, p. 331.
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158 DE REDUCTIONE ARTIUM AD THEOLOGIAM
and as the God-Man, He is the source of all knowledge of God and of all salvation. Whoever desires to return to the Father must return by and through Him.
"Lord, I come from you and by you I return to you." In the Reductio, St. Bonaventure has found the answer to the third problem of his metaphysics, the return to God by Divine illu mination. As often as the Seraphic Doctor speaks of the light which descends upon man and guides his steps back to the Father of lights, so often does he reveal the center towards which his own thought, his will, his whole being tended. His entire life was as the title of this little book, a constant adaptation of all knowledge to the knowledge and love of God. All along the luminous path, in all nature, in all science, he has discovered traces of Divine Wisdom6, hidden footprints, images, and like nesses of the Blessed Trinity which lead the soul of man back to its First Beginning and its Last End. In thus reconstructing every science and the whole universe with a view to the unique peace of love, St. Bonaventure has attained the purpose and end of all knowledge, namely: "the strengthening of faith, the honor of God, the formation of character, and the consolation derived from the union of the soul with its Divine Spouse — a union which takes place through charity, to the attainment of which all Sacred Scripture and, consequently, every illumination from above is directed, a charity without which all knowledge is vain, for no one comes to the Father except through the Holy Ghost who teaches us all truth, who is blessed forever and ever7."
6 "Ista sapientia diffusa est in omni re, quia quaelibet res secundum quamlibet proprietatem habet regulam sapientiae et ostendit sapientiam divinam." Col. in Hexaem., II, 21, t. V, p. 340 a. ". . . et sic patet, quod totus mundus est sicut unum speculum plenum luminibus praesentibus divinam sapientiam et sicut carbo effundens lucem." Ibid. II. 27, t. V. p. 340 b. "Totus enim mundus quasi liber quidam, in quo Creator potest cognosci per eius potentiam, sapientiam, bonitatem, relucentes in creaturis." Comm, in sap. XIII, vers. V, t. VI, p. 193 b.
7 De Reduo. art. ad Theol., n. 26, t. V, p. 325. Cf. supra p. 40.
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