Question I: What a state is, and of how many kinds

STATUS (state), as a particular condition of life, and as it were accepted at Tully pro Balbo, can thus be described with D. Thom.: A state is a certain moral, or spiritual condition of life, pertaining to some liberty, or subjection, or servitude, with a certain immobility.

HENCE all conditions of life are states, as that one be rich, or poor. Although states are various, nevertheless we treat only those which look to some particular perfection; and indeed a state properly has perfection, as D. Bonavent. notes in 2. dist. 4. dub. 3. litt.

AND since a state brings immobility, hence, although the state of the married, of virgins, and of widows is everywhere called a state by the Doctors, especially by D. Bonavent., they are nevertheless not properly states, because they lack immobility, except when widowhood, and virginity is a vow. But the state of the married is not now treated; partly because I shall deal with it in part 3 of the Tract. on matrimony, partly because here states having a special perfection are being treated.

IN many ways states are divided. First on the side of actions, and offices, which are various. Whereby one is the state of Bishops; another of Religious; another of Laics, of whom the Saintly Doctor treats most excellently de Ecclesiast. Hierarchia, and lib. 1. Pharetrae. In these there are various offices, and grades.

SECONDLY states are divided on the side of persons, who are constituted in some state pertaining to perfection. Here, indeed, one is the state of Beginners; another of Proficients; another of the Perfect, whom the Saintly Doctor pursues learnedly with the outstanding assertions of the holy Fathers lib. 1. Pharetrae, from cap. 33, and D. Thom. art. 4.

THE state of Beginners consists in continual combat against vices, as D. Bonav. teaches c. 33. l. 1. lib. Pharetrae, from D. Gregory homil. 17. on Ezech., and Bernard serm. 4. on the Assumption of the B. Virgin.

THE state of Proficients is, the impulse of the passions somehow conquered, to toil in the fashioning of virtues. Of which there are marvelous things which the Saintly Doctor reports from the Fathers cap. 34.

THE state of the perfect is that of those who, aflame with the ardor of CHARITY, live a tranquil life with God without great labor. This D. Bonaventure pursues at length with the golden sayings of the saints cap. 35.

But these three states are explained thus by D. Bonavent. c. 36, and D. Thom. art. 4.: spiritual states consist in human endeavor, which, like other things, since they have a beginning, a middle, and an end, require the Beginning of perfection, the Middle, and the Summit, confirmed by proportionate works.

YOU OBJECT first. To begin, to advance, and to be perfected pertain altogether to the same thing: Therefore there is one state of all these. The antecedent is clear from the holy Fathers: Bernard serm. 3. and 4. on the Canticle, Jerome in the Prologue on the books of Solomon, Gregory everywhere in the Morals, especially lib. 24. cap. 7, lib. 25. cap. 3, and homil. 10. and 14. on Ezech., Isidore de summo bono, lib. 2. cap. 7. sent. 7, and others in D. Bonavent. loco cit. of the Pharetra, whom Valentia disp. 10. quaest. 1. puncto 2 cites.

It is answered first with D. Bonavent. cap. 36, from D. Gregory himself, 24. moral. cap. 7, that these are diverse modes, which distinguish the states of spiritual men for diverse times.

It is answered second with the same D. Bonavent. there, from D. Ber. serm. 3. de assumptione, that these three states are enumerated in respect of diverse persons, so that beginners are diverse from proficients; and he distinguishes them by their diverse life, so that Beginners are expressed in Lazarus: Proficients in Martha: the Perfect in Mary. Both answers are good, but the first better, as Valentia notes.

YOU OBJECT second. State implies immobility; but these modes imply it not.

Valentia answers first that immobility is taken not as to mode, but as to the essence of the state; these, however, are three modes of the state. He adds second that these modes are also states, because we do not easily pass from beginners to proficients.

A weighty question confronts us with the heretics concerning the various men of the Church, who constitute various states: for there are first, as I said, the states of Laics, Clerics, and Religious, and of Bishops, which the Saintly Doctor pursues at length lib. 1. Pharetrae.

AGAIN the state of Laics is divided into the married, widows, and virgins. Of these the Saintly Doctor in Pharetra lib. 1. The state of Clerics into those constituted in Minor Orders, Subdeacons, Deacons, and Priests, who are not intersected by various states, but hold various grades, and perform various offices.

THE Episcopal state is divided into Bishops, Archbishops, Primates, Patriarchs, Cardinals, and the Pontiff.

THE state of Religious is various: For some cultivate the active life; others the contemplative; others the mixed. Of those, some busy themselves with corporal works of mercy, others with spiritual. The contemplative either live in solitude, and are called Anchorites, or in society, and the congregation of many brothers, and are called Cenobites. These again either attend properly to themselves alone, nor by institute serve in clerical functions, and are called Monks. Others by force of their institute are assigned to clerical offices, and functions, and are called Clerics. Both again either by institute live on begging, enjoy the privileges of Mendicants, and are called Mendicants: or without begging are nourished from revenues, and are called non-Mendicants. Finally both obtain various appellations according to the reason of their founder: Some Augustinians; others Benedictines; others Franciscans: others Dominicans, and so of the rest, whom Tannetus disp. 6. quaest. 1. dub. 1, and D. Thom. q. 183. art. 2. and 3, and more fully q. 188 recites. More broadly D. Bonav. lib. 1. Pharetrae, and in the Apologies for Religious, and serm. 22. Hexaëm., where he pursues the Institutes of all.

FURTHERMORE the diversity of offices, and so of ministers, arises in the Church from the difference of administrations, and actions, which are necessary by Divine Institution, in order that the faithful be led to beatitude.

AND indeed such actions are three, generally speaking, namely: The dissemination of the word of God through preaching: The administration of the Sacraments; and the Governance, or rule of souls.

WHICH three actions are rightly reduced to those three Hierarchical acts which S. Dionysius c. 5. and 6. de Eccl. Hierarch. has, namely to Purify, to Illuminate, and to Perfect; for the Preaching of the Divine word pertains to purification: Illumination, as Dionysius himself says, to the administration of the Sacraments, by which the splendor of grace is communicated to the faithful: but to Perfect pertains to those who rule, especially to Bishops, whom S. Dionysius calls Perfectors. Of these at length the Saintly Doctor lib. 1. Pharatra, and de Eccl. Hierarch., and serm. 22. Hexaëmeronis.

AND indeed to the office of preaching are destined in a special way the Preachers of the word of God in the Church, of whom I shall treat below, the only sub-question. But to the administration of the sacraments various ministers attend according to the various grades, which are contained in the sacrament of order.

FINALLY the governance is divided into various grades, for among Priests some are Parish priests, others Archpriests, others Provosts, others Archdeacons, others Primicerii, others Abbots. Again the state of Bishops has more, of Bishops, of Metropolitans, of Patriarchates: which grades are recited cap. Perlectis, 25. dist.¹ The supreme Governor, however, is the Roman Pontiff, as I showed p. p. Tract. 1. in the Theological places, from the Saintly Doctor in serm. 20. and 22. Hexaëmeronis. ¹ N. Editor's note: the print reads 'Qui gradus tesenuntur' — a garbled verb (perhaps 'recensentur', 'are recited'); kept as printed in the Latin, corrected from the OCR transcription's 'teseruntur' to the scan reading 'tesenuntur'.

THE end of this whole ordination, and diversity, is the consummation of the saints, according to the Apostle Ephes. 4., that is, the Charity of God, by which the faithful are joined with God, and as Dionysius says lib. Eccl. Hierarch., and D. Bonaventure there, they are perfected, and made like God, as the Apostle expounds, Coloss. 1: Teaching in all wisdom, that we may make every man perfect in Christ Jesus; in which labor, etc.

AGAINST this array of camps rush the phalanxes of heretics. First they detest the state of Religious. Then they give the office of preaching to all. Both errors they ascribe to the Waldenses AEneas Sylvius lib. 1. de origine Bohem., and others. Following them were Wycliffe, John Hus, and Luther, who also denies the variety of grades, and the sacrament of order lib. de capt. Babylonica.

They execrate especially the Ecclesiastical power, which they proclaim tyrannical, and usurped by the Roman Pontiff, and the Bishops.

I refuted these errors Tom. 1. p. p. de locis Theol. and the Tract. on laws. Now let us show the diversity of these states in the Church, most useful.

I ASSERT therefore first: That variety of states in the Church is most congruous, and most pleasing to God.

It is proved first from D. Bonav. serm. 10. Hexaëmer. For the Church is nothing else than an orderly, and harmonious ordination of camps, as is said Cant. 7: What shall you see in the Sulamite, but the choirs of camps? And in camps there is a hierarchical ordination, that soldiers serve under Decurions; these under centurions; those under Leaders, and all serve under one Emperor.

It is proved second from S. Bonav. there, and serm. 21. The Church is as it were a firmament, in which there are various stars; the planets are of six magnitudes, among which are the Moon, and the Sun, from which the others, hanging therefrom, receive greater, or lesser light according to their capacity. Hence it is said Cant. 6: Who is she that goes forth, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?

It is proved third from the Saintly Doctor serm. 20. and 21. Hexaëmer., and in 4. dist. 24. art. 2. quaest. 1. The Church militant is like the triumphant; for it is said Heb. 9. that these things, which are in the Church, are patterned from those which are in the celestial Jerusalem: but in the triumphant there are Hierarchical orders of various office, and ministry, some preceding others; some teaching, illuminating, and perfecting others: Therefore also in our Church. This argument the whole of serm. 22. pursues at length. Therefore the Church is that woman seen Apoc. 12, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, as the Saintly Doctor observes serm. 20. and 22. and 23. loco cit.

But that this city may be recognized as like to the supernal Jerusalem of the Church, that celestial one appeared to John descending from heaven. The corner stone compares, and joins both, and the image of this one is described by D. Paul to the Galatians. See the Saintly Doctor serm. 23. For the Apostle calls these celestial exemplars Heb. 9. and 10., and S. Dionysius cap. 1. de caelest. Hier. says the distinction of the celestial orders is expressed by the Divine goodness in the various priests, and orders of this Church, as the Saintly Doctor demonstrates at length in the sermon cited, and the opusc. de Eccles. Hierarchia.

¶ It is confirmed from the Saintly Doctor in the sermons cited, for the ancient Church was a figure of ours, as the Apostle often discourses 1. Cor. 9. Heb. loco cit.; but in the ancient one there were various orders of men ministering: Therefore.

¶ Moreover Christ instituted the governance of His Church as a Monarchy, that the Apostles, unequal, together with all others be subject to Peter, as is said Matth. 16. Ioan. 21., which I showed most broadly p. p. Tract. 1. disp. 4. and 5., and Turrianus elegantly pursues lib. 1. de Hierarch. ord. cap. 6. and 10. But that this Hierarchy of Orders was instituted, to last until the end of the world, I showed there. For the Church is always one body, as is said 1. Cor. 12. Rom. 12.; but in a body there is a head, from which the other members draw life, and sense; so therefore here, as I discoursed diffusely there, and the Saintly Doctor discourses serm. 22., where it draws its principality of members from the Head, although the heart is called the prince of members by the Philosopher. The same argument he has in 4. dist. 24.

¶ It is proved from the Saintly Doctor in the places cited by the authority of the Fathers, from whom I shall report some: Contemplate what it is to preside over the holy people, and consider how great a thing it is to labor over the divine sacraments. It is adduced in Pharetra lib. 1. cap. 20. from D. Augustine de singularitate clericorum: But it is noted in the margin to be in Pamelius, as a saying of S. Cyprian.

Jerome in Sophoniam cap. 3: He that desires a bishopric, he says, desires a good work. See what he said: work, not dignity. But if he has looked only at dignity, he will quickly fall, from Pharetra, lib. 1. cap. 19.

D. Augustine in Dial. ad Oros. quaest. 65: Let him know that he is not a bishop who desires to preside, not to profit; and lib. 19. de civitate, cap. 19: Bishop is a name of work, not of honor. For Scopos in Greek we can say in Latin to superintend, that he may understand that he is not a bishop who has desired to preside, not to profit, from Pharetra loco citato.

D. Ambrose de dignitate sacerd. cap. 3: As the episcopal grade is higher than the others, so, if it slides through negligence, the fall is graver: from Pharetra, loco citato.

D. Gregory in the Pastoral, part 2. cap. 1: The action of the Prelate ought so to transcend the action of the people as the life of the Shepherd is wont to differ from the flock. For he must studiously strive to measure himself by what necessity of the rectitude to be held he is bound, under whose estimation the people is called a flock.

D. Dionysius lib. de Eccl. Hier. cap. 5: Because the priestly distinctions are images of divine actions, most ornate, and without confusion, indicating the innate splendors of the order of divine operations, they are distinguished into the first, and middle, and last holy actions, and orders by pontifical discretion. The opusc. de Eccl. Hierar. often inculcates this sentiment.

S. Ignatius epist. ad Smyrnenses: All things be well ordered among you which are commanded in Christ: let the Laics be subject to the Deacons; the Deacons to the Priests, the Priests to the Bishop; the Bishop to Christ, as He to the Father. The sermons of the Hexaëmeron cited order this sentiment.

S. Gregory Nazianzen Apolog. 1: God has constituted these in the Churches, that some be fed, and receive rule (to whom it is useful), and be directed to the office both by speech, and by work; others on the contrary fulfill the office of Pastors, and Masters for the order, and perfection of the Church.

And in the oration to the citizens, struck with fear, addressing the Princes thus: You also the law of Christ subjects to my power, and my tribunals. For we too exercise rule, indeed so much the more excellent, and perfect. The sermons of the Hexaëmer. cap. 1 prove this dictum gravely.

D. Isidore de offic. Eccles. lib. 2. cap. 5: To the Bishop, when he is consecrated, a staff is given, that at its indication he may rule, or correct the subject people, or sustain the infirmities of the weak, from Pharetra lib. 1. c. 19.

¶ It is proved indeed by reason from the Saintly Doctor, indicated at the beginning of the opusc. de Eccl. Hierar., and D. Thom. here, art. 2. For as it was fitting that the perfection of God, who is the cause of the universe, be participated in diversely by various, and unequal creatures, that it might the more perfectly be made known; since indeed the invisible things of God are seen, being understood, by those things that are made, Rom. 1., and by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature the Creator of them may be known, as is said Sap. 6.: So it is fitting that the multiple grace in Christ, the universal head of the Church, be participated, and shown in the various members of the Church, according to Ephes. 4.: Some he gave apostles, some evangelists, etc. unto the consummation of the saints. The Saintly Doctor pursues this reason at length in serm. 20 of the Hexaëmer.

¶ The second reason is D. Thom. loco cit., and D. Bonavent. serm. 22. Hexaëmer.: for this makes for the ornament of the Church, and its beauty; as in an ordered, and peaceful city there are various subordinate offices; so also here. Hence it is called beautiful, as Jerusalem, Cant. 6., because it is likened to Jerusalem by the disposition of the hierarchical grades.

¶ A third reason is drawn hence from D. Thom., and D. Bonavent. For as in an ordered city the citizens, and chief men more excellently execute those things which pertain to its best administration, and conservation by various ministries, offices, etc., so also in the Church, where various offices are distributed harmoniously, the orders are diverse. But how these come about, the Saintly Doctor elegantly discourses in serm. 22. cited.

¶ I ASSERT second, that rightly in the Church there are those three states, of the Married, of Religious, and of Bishops. So the Saintly Doctor in the places cited, especially serm. 21. For all are praised by God. The first Matth. 19.: What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. The second Matth. 19.: There are eunuchs, etc. He that can take, let him take. The third indeed is had Ephes. 4.: Some he gave apostles; but these were Bishops, as is said Act. 20.: He placed you bishops to rule the Church of God: but Christ intimates the obligation of this state Ioan. 10., as the Saintly Doctor discourses on that place, and de Eccl. Hier., and in 4. dist. 24. part. 2. art. 2. quaest. 3.

¶ The holy Fathers have much on these. D. Augustine in Psalm. 131. says they were signified by that triple kind of men, of which Christ speaks Luke 17.: Two shall be in the field, Two in the bed, Two at the mill. For those, who are in the field, he says, signify Prelates, who labor in the vineyard of the Lord, of whom the Apostle 1. Cor. 3.: Neither he that planteth is anything; nor he that watereth, etc. But those, who are in the bed, signify Religious, devoted to quiet contemplation. Finally those grinding are the married, wrapped in cares, as Valentia reports disp. 20. q. 1. puncto 3., and D. Bonav. expounds p. p. Hierar. Eccl. c. 1. at the end.

S. BERNARD serm. ult. of the vigils of the Nat., and serm. primo Nat., and D. Gregory lib. 1. moral. cap. 13. compare these to the three men, of whom Ezech. 14.: Noe, Daniel, and Job; so that in Daniel, who led a celibate life, Religious are signified: in Noe, who governed the ark, Prelates; by Job, who had children, and abounded in wealth, the Married; as Valentia notes disp. 10. quaest. 2. puncto 1. from D. Bonavent. de Eccl. Hier. part. 1. cap. 1., toward the end.

The Saintly Doctor likewise explains with the sentences of the holy Fathers the three states named above, of Virgins, Widows, and Married Women, lib. 1. Pharetrae, from cap. 38. to 42., which see, differing most excellently.

I ASSERT third: That it is expedient that in the Church there be sacred ministers, separated from laics.

It is proved from the Saintly Doctor first in 4. dist. 24. part. 1. art. 2. quaest. 1. and 2., because every wise institutor disposes the things to be done by proportionate means: But Christ is the most wise institutor of the Church ordered to a supernatural end by proportionate means: Therefore he instituted also sacred dispensers of these means, which, since they are Sacraments, ought not to be exposed to the hands of all, lest they come into contempt.

It is confirmed from the Saintly Doctor quaest. 3., for the Evangelical law is holier than the ancient one, and has things more sacred, and Sacraments more divine; but in the old testament there were holy ministers, as is had in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronom. 10. Hence 2. Paral. 29. Ezechias says: The Lord hath chosen you, that you may stand before him, and minister to him, and worship him, and burn incense to him.

THEREFORE if God instituted the Church congruously for His religious worship, he constituted also sacred ministers in sacred functions. This reason even the Pagans acknowledged. Hence Aristotle 6. Polit. says: There ought to be in the Republic those who have the care of the Gods. Hence Exodi 18. Jethro, priest of Madian, said to Moses: Be you to the people in those things that pertain to God, that you may refer what is said to him: and show the people the ceremonies, and rite of worship, as the Saintly Doctor observes in Bibl. pauperum, cap. 21.

I ASSERT fourth, that it is necessary also that select persons be deputed to sermons. It is of faith from the Council of Constance sess. 8., and this is decreed in the Council of Trent sess. 24. cap. 4. de reformatione, that no one preach without the approbation of the Bishop. Leo the Great epist. 60. and 61. took care that no one preach besides priests. Hence D. Hieron. epist. 2. ad Nepotianum, in D. Bonavent. lib. 1. Phar. cap. 15.: The mouth of the priest of Christ concur with his mind; and in the Lateran Council under Innocent III. can. 3. and in the 6th General Synod can. 64. Laics usurping that office are excommunicated. These things the Saintly Doctor indicates in the place to be cited in the questions.

HENCE D. Ambrose lib. de Virginibus, in D. Bonavent. in Phar. lib. 1. cap. 14.: He who teaches ought to excel him who is taught.

AND D. Jerome in Mich. lib. 2. cap. 2.: If we are in the place, and order of the Apostles, let us not only imitate their speech, but also their conversation, in D. Bonavent. lib. cit. Phar. cap. 15.

It is proved second from D. Bonavent. in quaest. ad regulam, quaest. 2., for Christ did not send all indifferently to preach, but some, to whom he imparted the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and tongues. Therefore also to live from the Gospel is conceded to those elected for this office; the argument is had 1 Cor. 9. and 2. Tim. 3.; because all are not apt to expound the scriptures, and to hand on the Divine precepts; Therefore Holy mother Church, from whom is every spiritual law, the canons, etc., decreed that some learned, and apt men be destined for this office, as I showed above. The same he indicates in the Apologetic Little Book, against those who oppose the Order of the Friars Minor, quaest. 2.

It is confirmed from D. Bonav. quaest. 4. ad 9. Lucae; for God of old chose some for sermons, as Moses, and Jeremias, who even refused it as insufficient: but God willed to make them fit by His gifts.

THEREFORE he complains Jerem. 23.: They ran, when I had not sent them, namely to preach, and Paul Rom. 10.: How shall they preach, unless they be sent? and Christ Ioan. 7.: I came not of myself, but he sent me. These things the Saintly Doctor, which the others adduce to prove this, especially Alphonsus de Castro summa de haeres. v. Praedicatio, Valentia disp. 10. quaest. 1. puncto 3., and among all the same D. Bonavent. ad 9. Lucae, whence he observes that Isaias dared not preach unless sent: Behold me, send me, cap. 6.

I ASSERT fifth, that there ought also to be in the Church the power of spiritual governance, to which even secular Princes obey. This I treated more broadly p. p. tract. 1. in the proemial disputations, and I shall treat again part 3 of the Tract. on Penance, in the disputation on the power of the keys.

Of this Anacletus treats epist. 1., Alexand. I. epist. 1., Pope Gelas. epist. 4. ad Anastasium, Imperatorem, and it is reported 96. dist. can.: There are indeed two, Emperor Augustus, by which this world is ruled, the royal authority, and the authority of Pontiffs.

YOU OBJECT first. The Apostle 1 Cor. 14. wishes all to prophesy, and to speak with tongues: and 2. Cor. 6. he speaks to all in the same sense.

It is answered, that he wishes all indeed to be made fit, yet not without approbation. So D. Bonavent. ad 9. Lucae: but the approbation resides with the Roman Pontiff, and the Bishops, as the Council of Trent also declares.

YOU OBJECT second. In the primitive Church Bishops, and Priests were not distinguished, as D. Hieron. asserts in cap. 3. epist. ad Titum, where he says: this difference was introduced not so much by the dispensation of divine truth, as by the custom of the Church.

I SUPPOSE D. Jerome acknowledged the difference between Bishops, and Priests, as is clear from epist. ad Evagrium, and Francis Turrianus proves lib. 1. de Hierarchicis ordinationibus, who observes that D. Jerome in the place cited said only that the same person was Bishop, and priest, because they were few; therefore the Bishop fulfilled the office also of a Parish priest, etc. But afterward Bishops, and priests were constituted separately, and the other orders dispersed variously, as the Saintly Doctor also answers in 4. dist. 24. q. 1. ad 3. art. 2.

CASTRO verb. Episcopus admits no exposition of this, but makes D. Jerome err. This is altogether absurd to me, since D. Jerome was counsellor to Pope Damasus, at the time when all the ancient statutes of the Church were best known in that court, as the Saintly Doctor observes serm. 16. Hexaëmer. For who will tell me that Jerome did not know that Timothy was declared Bishop above the priests by Paul 1. cap. 5., and that from that Aërius was condemned, because he denied this pre-eminence, as is had in D. Augustine lib. de haeres. cap. 53.? Or who will say that Jerome, most skilled in the Greek tongue, did not know the etymology of Episcopus from Epi, which is above? as D. Bonavent. teaches 4. dist. 24. part. 2. art. 2. quaest. 3.