Question VII: Whether charity is the most excellent of the virtues

I assert that Charity is the most excellent of the Virtues.

It is proved by D. Bonaventure first in 3. dist. 23. dub. 6. from 1 Corinth. 13. where it is said: And the greater of these is Charity. He gives the reason, because it alone is the mother, giving the form of virtue to the other virtues for merit, and giving them life, as S. Ambrose says in the epistle to the Romans.

It is proved secondly by D. Bonaventure in 3. dist. 36. dub. 3. and in 1. dist. 17. dub. 4. and art. un. dist. 36. quaest. 6. because it is the form of the other virtues, as I shall show in the following question: It is the bond of perfection. Coloss. 3. It is the end of the law. 1 Timothy 1. Hence in Matth. 22. it is said: This is the great first commandment. For although in Rom. 13. it is said: He that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law, S. Thomas answers 3. dist. 36. dub. 5. that the Love of God is contained in it, or that it is contained in the love of God, to which it is ordered.

It is proved thirdly by D. Bonaventure first dist. 17. p. 1. dub. 6. for D. Augustine 15. de Trinitate, cap. 17. and serm. 35. de Tempore, and tract. 5. in 1. epist. Ioan. says that charity alone distinguishes between the children of the kingdom and the children of perdition, and that it is the precious evangelical Pearl.

It is proved fourthly by S. Bonaventure here, with the reason which D. Thomas also uses art. 6. That virtue is the most excellent of all which regards God under the most excellent formal aspect: Such a virtue is Charity, which regards God as good in himself, which is the most excellent aspect according to our manner of understanding: Therefore. He pursues the same argument in dist. 15. p. 1. dub. 4. and with him Tanner disp. 2. quaest. 2. dub. 1. num. 23.

It is proved fifthly by S. Thomas 3. dist. 34. p. 1. quaest. 3. from that text 1 Corinth. 12. Yet I show unto you a more excellent way. The Gloss indicates the reason brought forward: I show you a way of going to God, that is, Charity. He adduces the same in dist. 26. quaest. 5. adding that: The greater of these is Charity, 1 Cor. 13.

S. Thomas runs through the excellence of Charity with brilliance in the Diaeta, tit. 5. cap. 2. and proves it from that text 1. Cor. 13. And now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greater of these is charity. Apoc. 3. I counsel thee to buy gold tried in the fire; for charity is among the virtues as gold is among the metals. See, I beseech you, S. Thomas, who shows it compared in the Scriptures with many noble things. See also the Pharetra, lib. 2. cap. 25. where he gathers many most excellent things from the Fathers. Read the same in lib. 5. Compendii Theologiae from cap. 23. to 27. which is an Encomium of Charity. And in the de septem Itineribus aeternitatis, the fourth Journey.

Observe, that it is called the wedding garment, of which Matth. 22. speaks, and he who lacked it was cast out, as D. Bonaventure saw in the Diaeta, tit. 5. cap. 2. after the middle; for so it is expounded by the Fathers, as Valencia also notes disp. 31. quaest. 1. p. 3. So D. Gregory homil. 18. in Evangelia. Indeed Christ, who is the bridegroom, has it; but he has not faith, which the Sectarians wrongly understand by that wedding garment.

You will object first. Scripture ascribes to faith the power of justifying, as is seen in the Apostle to the Romans and Galatians, and it is called the foundation of the spiritual edifice. Hebr. 11. Charity is its cause.

S. Thomas answers dist. 31. quaest. 1. ad 1. and dist. 23. passim, that faith is called the foundation of the rude edifice, which rises and is erected through Hope, and is made firm in Charity. Moreover, justification is ascribed to faith as a disposition for grace, and form to charity, as I shall show in dist. 36. quaest. 6.