Doubt — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Doubt IV: When we are bound to die for the salvation of souls
IT IS CERTAIN that in many cases we are bound to undergo death for the salvation of souls, according to John 3: And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Quando nam teneamur pro salute animarum mori.
CERTUM est, in multis casibus nos teneri mortem pro salute animarum subire, iuxta id Ioan. 3. Et nos debemus pro fratribus animas ponere.
IT IS PROVED by St. Bonaventure on John 15, from those words of Christ: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love than this no man hath, than that a man lay down his life for his friends. St. Augustine confirms this in tractate 84 on John. And he observes with St. Gregory, homily 27 on the Gospels, that under the name of friends, in the precept of charity, even enemies are included.
PROBATUR a D. Bonavent. ad 15. Ioannis, illis Christi verbis: Hoc est praeceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem, sicut dilexi vos. Maiorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, quam ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis. Id confirmat ex D. Augustino tract. 84. in Ioannem. Observat autem cum D. Gregorio homil. 27. in Evangelia, nomine amicorum, in dilectionis praecepto, etiam inimicos includi.
That this is a precept, Christ himself asserts, when he adds: You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. Secondly, for the defense of the honor of FAITH, we are bound to face death.
Hoc autem esse praeceptum, asserit Christus, qui etiam addit: Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis. Secundo ad fidei honorem tuendum, tenemur mortem obire.
IT IS PROVED by St. Bonaventure on Luke 9: For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty. He also cites 1 Kings 2: Whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify: but they that despise me, shall be ignoble, that is, on the day of judgment. For God spoke thus, threatening eternal destruction to Heli, who had not reproved the horrible sins of his sons. Ecclesiasticus 4 adds the same: For the sake of thy soul be not ashamed to speak the truth. Hence also in Romans 1 the Apostle says: I am not ashamed of the Gospel.
PROBATUR a D. Bonavent. ad illud Lucae 9. Qui me erubuerit, et meos sermones: hunc filius hominis erubescet, cum venerit in maiestate sua. Affert etiam id, primo Reg. 2. Quicumque glorificaverit me, glorificabo eum: qui autem contemnunt me, erunt ignobiles, idest, in die iudicii. Haec enim locutus est Deus, exitium minitans aeternum Heli, qui peccata horribilia filiorum non reprehenderat. Addit etiam id Ecclesiastici 4. Pro anima tua ne confundaris dicere verum. Ideo et Rom. 1. ait Apostolus: Non erubesco Evangelium.
From these passages the Saintly Doctor shows that a learned man is bound to speak if ignominy threatens Christ, as for instance if heretics were from this to boast that their sects are the true ones, and that the Christian Catholic Religion is false. So too Sayrus, Book 7, cap. 9, num. 17; Toletus, Book 5 of the Summa, cap. 16; Soto, Book 5 on Justice, question 1, article 7; Fagundez, Book 5, cap. 12, num. 10.
His locis eruit S. Doctor teneri virum doctum loqui, si Christo immineat ignominia, veluti si haeretici hinc glorientur, suas sectas esse veras; et Christianam Catholicam esse falsam Religionem. Ita etiam Sayrus Lib. 7. cap. 9. num. 17. Tolet. Lib. 5. summa, cap. 16. Sotus Lib. 5. de Iust. quaest. 1. art. 7. Fagundez Lib. 5. cap. 12. num. 10.
THE PRECEPT of confessing the faith, certainly, at that time most of all compels, as is said in Romans 10: For, with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, as he implies in the Dieta, title two, chapter three, and as I said in disputation 1, question 16.
PRAECEPTUM sane confitendae fidei tunc maxime cogit, ut dicitur Rom. 10. Corde creditur ad iustitiam: ore autem confessio fit ad salutem, ut innuit in Dieta, titulo secundo, cap. tertio, et dixi disput. 1. quaestione 16.