Palladium theologicum, Tomus quintus: De virtutibus

On the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING.

Faith is followed by understanding, which penetrates those things which, covered with shadows, are proposed to be believed, and, with the help of reason, makes the things believed in a certain way seen; hence the Holy Doctor quaest. 3. ad 1. says that Understanding is related to Faith as Wisdom to charity; for the latter deals about eternal things according to eternal reasons in order to the vision of truth; the former is occupied about the same things, according to the same reasons too, but in order to the taste of love; science differs from those because it is occupied about creatures through created reasons, as I shall say below.

But since it is clear that Understanding is implied together with faith, since faith only simply assents, and captivates the mind into its service: but Understanding proceeds further, and is as it were a knowledge by vision, as the Seraphic Doctor says in Diaeta, tit. 6. cap. 3. de Dono Intellectus, therefore I shall treat of this by doubts.

Whether UNDERSTANDING is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

I ASSERT. It is proved from St. Bonaventure in the places alleged, especially de Dono intellectus, cap. 2. and St. Thomas art. 1. Understanding imports a certain intimate cognition; for to understand is said as it were to read within, and this is clear to one considering the difference between the cognition of the Intellect and of the senses; for sensitive cognition is occupied about sensible things outside; but intellectual cognition, as nobler and subtler, penetrates even to the interior quiddities of things, because the object of the intellect is whatever is, from Aristotle 3. de anima, text. 37. Whence human cognition begins from sense, nor is it perfected unless it arrives at the Intellect, which truly knows what a thing is. For it is said in the book de spiritu, et anima, cap. 11. that: Whatever the senses perceive outwardly, the imagination represents inwardly, reason investigates, the intellect judges, intelligence comprehends, and leads to contemplation, which memory preserves. But it must be adverted that intellect is sometimes taken as it is the natural power of the soul, and thus the author of the Book de Spiritu, et anima speaks of it, while he says, that the intellect is the power of the soul by which it perceives invisible things, with which Aristotle de anima concurs. And this intellect is for the most part blinded: Whence Psal. 81. They did not know, nor understand. Sometimes the Intellect is taken as the intellectual virtue, or the habit of the first natural principles, which subsist beneath the light of the intellect, as is clear from Aristotle 6. Eth. cap. 6. But neither of these is the Gift of the Holy Spirit, although it is from God, and accordingly even from the Holy Spirit.

Since however man is ordered to beatitude as to a supernatural end, as appears from his image; therefore one must posit an intellect, or some light, as the supernatural habit of supernatural principles, which are the articles of faith, and in consequence the operation of certain [virtues] which are ordered to the end, because: Faith works through love, as the Apostle says Galat. 5. and this supernatural light is called the gift of Understanding, which names a certain excellence of cognition, penetrating supernatural things, which cannot be had by natural light.

But it is DESCRIBED in the book de spiritu, et anima, loc. cit. Intelligence is that power of the soul which is immediately subjoined to God: for it discerns the highest truth itself.

AGAIN it is defined there cap. 37. The Intellect is that power of the soul by which, as far as is possible to man, the Divine things are known, for penetrating the heavenly secrets, which cannot be penetrated except through his spirit, who also searches the deep things of God. Whence the Apostle says 1. Cor. 2. But to us God has revealed by his Spirit, who searches all things, even the deep things of God. This is St. Bonaventure literally, and almost St. Thomas.

The Holy Doctor proves the same thing by the testimonies of the Scriptures, and of the Fathers. Prima Ioan. 2. The anointing of the Spirit teaches us. Ioan. 16. When the Paraclete shall come, he will teach you all truth. He proves the same in Diaeta loc. cit. from 2. Timot. 2. The Lord will give you understanding in all things. He proves the same in 3. dist. 34. p. 1. art. 2. quaest. 2. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, and of understanding.

St. Bonaventure elegantly discourses on the most noble and delightful cognition which the Gift of understanding communicates, under the metaphor of a banquet, de septem donis, cap. 7. Where he first asserts that by the gift of Understanding celestial dishes are set forth, and he reports St. Gregory lib. 1. Moral. cap. 32. saying: Understanding prepares a banquet in its day: because in that it penetrates what is heard, refreshing the heart, it illuminates its shadows: Therefore in the penetration of the things heard, the truth having been found, the mind is refreshed. The reason is, because it does not suffice the mind to taste the coverings of truths, but the kernel. Since therefore the gift of Understanding, according to Gregory, penetrates all the coverings of divine truth, both in the Scriptures and in doctrine, it reaches even to the intimate truth to be tasted, by a certain intellectual experience, which belongs to the most perfect, as Bernard says in Cantica; therefore the gift of Understanding refreshes the mind most sweetly. Speaking of this taste of experience, Bernard in the book de amore Dei cap. 10. says: The taste of the experience of the Scriptures, and of the Sacraments of God, which is in Christ, gives us sense, that we may understand the Scriptures. Whence the Lord after the resurrection opened the sense of the disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures, at the end of Luke. See the Seraphic Doctor delighting divinely in this bread having all savor of sweetness, Sap. 16. For he feeds them with the bread of life, and understanding. Eccles. 15.

Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING can exist together with FAITH.

I ASSERT. It is proved from St. Thomas here, and St. Bonaventure de 7. donis, cap. 7. by that of Luke at the end: He opened their sense, that they might understand the Scriptures. I shall prove the same in the following doubt.

It is PROVED from St. Bonaventure loc. cit. by the discourse of the Lincolnian upon the beginning of the Mystical Theology, which he uses as St. Thomas does, because the gift of Understanding raises [the mind] to the senses of the Scriptures, and the understanding of the Mysteries, in a manner proportioned to the way; yet where God does not seem to be [seen] without Symbols, even in the anagogic senses, not to mention the literal, allegorical, and moral; for he still enters with Moses into the cloud, as is said Exodus 24.

THEN he proves it, because this gift raises the mind as much as is necessary for merit; Therefore it is said Luke 10. Moreover one thing is necessary; and accordingly, as much as it does not detract from faith in the way, it raises the mind, as necessary for the ordinary mode of merit.

Which doctrine of St. Thomas solves the objections of those striving [to prove] that the gift of understanding, as clearly showing the object of faith, is repugnant to be shown.

Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING consists in the contemplation of the Creator and of creatures.

QUAERIT the holy Doctor what the proper act of the gift of Understanding is, and what its object. He supposes, moreover, that knowledge of God can be had in three ways. First, by a simple and immediate assent, and this belongs to faith. Second, by the assistance of reason, namely by perceiving the instinct of the Holy Spirit, whereby one is led to the assent of faith. ¶ Third, by a simple intuition, and this belongs to that beatitude which consists in the cleanness of heart, whose prerogative it is to see God.

Since, therefore, the reasons, or motives, by which one is helped toward understanding the things believed, are taken not only from the conditions of the Creator, but also from the conditions of spiritual creatures, which among creatures hold a closer assimilation to the Creator; hence it is that the gift of Understanding, whose act is to be raised up to the contemplation of the Supreme Truth by a light that not only makes one assent, but also to understand the things believed through fitting reasons, is directed not only to the contemplation of the creative essence, but also of spiritual creatures.

From these considerations he deduces what the act and the object of the gift of Understanding are. Its object, indeed, is the eternal True, insofar as it is intelligible, not only according to its proper conditions, but also according to the properties of creatures that are like God, as the Master says. But its act is to contemplate the very Truth believed, so that it may be believed more devoutly and loved more ardently.

Whence it follows that its act is speculative, because it looks to the assent of faith, but also practical, because it looks to the articles as ordered to Charity; for faith works through love, as the Apostle says, Gal. 5. Therefore the gift of Understanding extends itself to certain things to be done, not indeed so as to be principally occupied with them; but insofar as in our actions we are ruled by the eternal reasons, in the beholding and consulting of which, according to Aug. 12 de Trin. cap. 7., the soul adheres to the superior reason, which is perfected by the gift of understanding, as St. Thomas also teaches. The holy Doctor confirms this with St. Thomas, from that Psalm 110: Intellectus bonus omnibus facientibus eum — a good understanding to all that do it.

He ASSERTS, therefore, that the object of this Gift is the CREATOR, even as He shines forth in spiritual creatures, which are the Images of God.

It is PROVED from the holy Doctor, first, from the Master in littera, saying that Understanding concerns not only eternal things, but also things invisible and spiritual, arisen in time.

SECOND, from St. Dionysius, cap. 1. de coelesti hierarchia, circa medium, where he has: It is impossible that, so long as we are on the way, the divine ray shine forth upon us unveiled; but the creature that is spiritual is that veil showing God in an image: Therefore, if the understanding is directed to the Creator, it must also be directed to the knowledge of the creature.

THIRD. There is no perfect love of God unless God is loved in Himself and in His image: Therefore likewise there is no perfect gift of Understanding unless God is known through it both as to His conditions and as to the conditions of the creatures that are like Him.

FOURTH, Understanding and Faith belong to the same mind, according to St. Gregory 1. Moral. cap. 18., who says that: God gives understanding when He enlightens the mind concerning the things heard; but Faith regards not only the divine essence in itself, but also in its comparison with the creature: Therefore the gift of Understanding is ordered to the contemplation of both. See the holy Doctor in Dicta loc. cit., where he opens the Books in which the CREATOR is read in creatures, which Gulielmus imitates in his discourses, written in Italian.

You will OBJECT first. The gift of Wisdom is concerned with eternal things: but the gift of Science is concerned with created things, according to St. Aug. 12. de Trinitate, cap. 14. Therefore either the gift of Understanding is superfluous, or its act is not concerned with those two.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS that the gifts of Wisdom and of Understanding are concerned with eternal things in different ways: for the gift of Wisdom regards eternal things according to the eternal reasons, insofar as those eternal reasons are the way to the taste and experimental knowledge of divine sweetness; but the gift of Understanding deals with eternal things according to the eternal reasons, which are the way to the knowledge of the truth, whereby it is thus rendered by the Holy Spirit mobile toward perceiving the truths of faith. Hence St. Bernard appropriates the gift of Understanding to faith: but the gift of Wisdom he appropriates to Charity, whose prerogative it is to dispose one to the tasting of God.

SIMILARLY the gift of Science is concerned with created things in a different way; for it regards being according to created reasons, whence it deals also with bodily creatures, which have the character of a vestige: but the gift of Understanding deals only with creatures according to the eternal reasons. And therefore it is concerned only with spiritual creatures, in which the eternal reasons shine forth as in an image.

You will OBJECT secondly. Wisdom and Science differ, because the latter is concerned with temporal things, but the former with eternal things. Therefore the gift of Understanding cannot be concerned with both these opposite characters, which are the objects of diverse good habits.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS by denying the consequence; because Wisdom and Science, as I have said, are concerned with those objects as opposites; but the gift of Understanding regards created things as ordered to the eternal reasons, and the one is on account of the other, and thus they are one object. Hence the holy Doctor deduces that the gift of Understanding is below wisdom and above science, and thus in the middle.

You will OBJECT thirdly. Either the gift of Understanding consists in knowing only, or in knowing and being affected. If the first: Therefore it is not meritorious, because a cognitive act is not meritorious. If the second: Therefore it does not differ from Wisdom.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS that Wisdom and the gift of Understanding are related in different ways; for the former consists in the experience of divine sweetness, the latter in a knowledge extended to practice, as a way to the taste; just as the knowledge of faith is ordered to the delight, or love, of Charity, which indeed paves the way to infused wisdom, since it is founded upon the assent of faith, and moreover orders it to the taste of wisdom. Nevertheless, in the gift of Understanding too there is a certain delight in the truth, which is a kind of beatitude. To this he recalls in Dicta ad Psal. 33. Gustate, et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus — Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet. To taste belongs to wisdom; to see, to understanding; and he cites St. Gregory, homil. 19. in Ezech. The sum of this difference is that the gift of Understanding is properly penetrative; but the gift of Wisdom is properly savoring.

You will OBJECT fourthly. If the gift of Understanding regards creatures, so that from them it may rise to the knowledge of God, it must regard not only spiritual but also bodily creatures; for in these also the Divine Goodness shines forth.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS that in bodily creatures the goodness of God shines forth only obscurely, as in a vestige, but in spiritual things more clearly, as in an image; and because the gift of understanding concerns a contemplation clearer than is the knowledge of faith, hence it is that it regards only those creatures in which God shines forth more clearly; but these are those which have the character of an image.

You will OBJECT fifthly. Gifts that are combined with one another are concerned with the same thing: such is the gift of Understanding, which is combined with the gift of Wisdom: Therefore. But the gift of Wisdom is concerned only with eternal things, therefore also the gift of Understanding.

The holy Doctor ANSWERS that, because the gift of Wisdom consists in taste, but the gift of Understanding in the light of reason, and affection ascends higher than reason, and union than knowledge, as St. Dionysius says, hence it is that the gift of Wisdom has not so much need of the assistance of creatures as the gift of Understanding has. Therefore the latter is concerned also with creatures, as assistances for ascending to God. And so, when it is said that gifts which are combined with one another have the same object, this is true of the principal object, not of the assisting one.

You will object sixthly. The gift of Understanding is concerned with creatures insofar as they lead to the knowledge of the Creator: Therefore it contemplates God through a mirror: Therefore it does not differ from Faith.

The holy Doctor answers that faith and the gift of Understanding contemplate God in a mirror in different ways; for there are various degrees of the cognition of one who contemplates. Faith, therefore, renders one able to assent to the articles of faith immediately, though preceded by the knowledge, through creatures, of that which is signified by such a name. Thus it moves one to assent to the article of the Trinity, though preceded by the knowledge of the number three. But the gift of Understanding further illuminates one to know the motive on account of which the Trinity ought to be posited in the Divinity; namely, because it sees in the rational creature the going forth of the Word from the mind by the way of generation, and of Love from both, by the way of connection. And so the reason is evident why there ought to be diverse habits.

From these considerations you have what the object of the gift of Understanding is, and what its act, and what the difference of this gift from the other habits.

Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING is present in all who have grace, and whether in these alone.

I ASSERT first that Understanding is in all who have sanctifying grace.

It is proved from St. Bonav. in Diaeta from that Psalm 110: Intellectus bonus omnibus facientibus eum — a good understanding to all that do it.

It is proved from the holy Doctor de septem donis, cap. 1. from the progress of our conversion, as assigned by the Council of Trent sess. 6. et 14., from which he also deduces the order of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit; for, as St. Anselm says, lib. de simil. cap. 130.: First the Holy Spirit makes the mind fear through the gift of Fear; and compassionate with itself through the gift of Piety; and He manifests the things that are to be done through the gift of Science, and carries them out firmly through the gift of Fortitude; these three gifts belong to the appetitive power, and in this they differ from the gift of Understanding, which belongs first to the intellective power, according to St. Thomas, art. 6., and concerning those He makes us consult through the gift of Counsel, whereby there is an application of means to individual works, as St. Thomas says. Then the Holy Spirit kindles the mind to understand why this and that should be done, so that the affection of charity may follow: for this follows the perfect discovery of the truth; and this is from the understanding. Therefore even natural understanding itself is called, 3. de anima, text. 18., a Light penetrating to the innermost essences; nor indeed can the will be rightly ordered to the good unless some knowledge of the truth pre-exists, because the object of the will is the good understood, as is said in 3. de anima, text. 34. et 49. From these things it follows that the gift of Understanding is given together with grace, as the ultimate disposition to wisdom, or the Divine Savor. Therefore St. August., lib. 2. de doctrina christiana, cap. 7., speaking of the seven gifts, says of the gift of Understanding: After the fifth step, namely the gift of Counsel, through which the soul is raised up from the appetite for the filth of lower things, it ascends to the sixth step, that is, to the gift of understanding, where it cleanses that very eye by which God can be seen by those who die to this world; who see insofar as they die to the world.

The holy Doctor observes, however, cap. 4., that a threefold truth is irradiated by the gift of Understanding: the truth of cognition, by showing us the faith of Christ to be most true: the truth of operation, by showing the most perfect operation; and the truth of love, by showing us charity. But the Holy Spirit works this revelation through the gift of Understanding, while He raises up, purifies, and inflames the mind from earthly things. For an earthly and animal affection impedes the understanding from understanding spiritual things, because: The animal man perceiveth not those things that are of the Spirit of God, as is said in 1 Corinth. 2. From these things it follows that the gift of Understanding is in the just, who have a right will through charity, which presupposes a right understanding; and that it is given in the ultimate preparation for charity, but not to sinners in the composite sense; for of these (the holy Fathers say), Psalm 81: They have not known nor understood, they walk on in darkness.

And although the actual gift of Understanding is convertible with Faith, which is also in sinners; nevertheless, as it is a habitual gift, it is only in him who has a right cognition and a direction of the will toward the end, as St. Bonav. says, ad 3.

But that it is given in the ultimate disposition to grace is proved by that John 6: Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me. But we learn this through the Understanding, as St. Gregory teaches, primo Moral. cap. 32. Therefore whoever has understanding comes to Christ through grace that makes one pleasing. Hence this passage is not rightly cited here by St. Thom. art. 5. to prove that this gift of God is not present except in those already established in grace; for these do not come to Christ, but have come.

What is the necessity and utility of the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING.

The holy Doctor begins, cap. 3., to enumerate the necessity and utilities of this gift.

The first necessity indeed is for the faith to make manifest the hidden truths, veiled by so many Scriptures and Sacraments, since the human understanding without supernal light cannot reach out to apprehend them. He proves this from Richard, lib. 3. de contempl. cap. 6. Hence St. August., lib. de spiritu, et anima, cap. 36.: By this light man can acknowledge that he was created to the image of God, and therefore capable of God, and therefore that God is trine and one, as the Son from the Father; and the Holy Spirit from both; and in a like manner from the understanding the Will; and from both the memory, and the word from the understanding; and from both love. See the Seraphic Doctor.

He proceeds, cap. quarto, to describe by what manner the truths of the divine Scriptures shine forth upon us through the gift of understanding; as is said, 1 John 2: The anointing of the Holy Spirit teacheth.

In the fifth chapter he shows by what manner the veils of the Sacraments are revealed through the gift of understanding.

In the sixth chapter he shows by what manner the spiritual day appears through this gift, as I shall say below.

In the seventh chapter he demonstrates that the spiritual banquet is prepared by this gift. See the holy Doctor; for it does not please me to transcribe whole chapters verbatim hither.

Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING corresponds to the sixth beatitude, namely, Blessed are the clean of heart, etc.

St. Bonav. de 7. donis, cap. 3. and St. Th. here, together with St. August. lib. 1. de serm. Domini in monte, cap. 9., assert that it does.

It is proved from the Seraphic Doctor, cap. 4. de dono Intellectus. As the light of the sun is related to the seeing of sensible things, and to the purifying of the air, so is Understanding related to the vision of spiritual things; but the cleanness of the air arises from the solar light, so that the Sun itself is clearly seen, and in the absence of this light the air is darkened, and as it were sullied: Therefore. To this the holy Doctor adduces that Psalm 81: They have not known nor understood, they walk on in darkness, where the cause of the soul's being darkened is referred back to a defect of Understanding. Then the holy Doctor assigns three degrees of the cleanness of heart, which are as it were the morning, the midday, and the evening of Understanding.

The first degree is when, through the Gift of Understanding, being recalled to our interior self, with the light of compunction we wipe away all the stains and darknesses of sins, and there shines upon us a certain twilight of divine light, whence may arise the morning cleanness of heart, which corresponds to the morning of understanding.

The second degree is a certain excess of light and fervor of heart, penetrating all the veils that overshadow the rays of truth, illuminating, strengthening(?) and inflaming the mind with clarity and at the same time with charity: And hence is born the midday of Understanding, and the midday cleanness of heart.

The third degree is when this fervent clarity declines toward evening, the Lord nevertheless remaining as the fount of all clarity and fervor; Hence at once the sleep of contemplation is begun, and the nocturnal delights are celebrated, with the lamps of divine splendor lit on every side; see the Seraphic Doctor himself, saying marvelous things about these, beyond human understanding, through several chapters.

Whether to the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Spirit, Faith.

The holy Doctors assert that to the gift of Understanding there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Spirit, faith, and they prove it; Since, indeed, the Theological and Divine truths, which are revealed to us by faith for salvation, are veiled beneath the veil of many figures, the obscurity of prophecies, and the diversity of expositions, it was necessary that another supernatural light be superadded, causing the certitude of the former, penetrating with a certain experimental clarity to the inner veils, and in a certain way making one see what faith made one believe; whence it is said, John 10(13): Unless you believe, you shall not Understand; for these the Seraphic Doctor cites St. Bernard, serm. 33. in cantica, where he discoursed most excellently on the correspondence of faith and understanding as follows: Truth is set before me, but in a Sacrament. The Angel is fed on the fatness of the wheat, and I must meanwhile be content with the naked grain beneath a certain rind of the Sacrament, with the husk of the flesh, with the chaff of the letter, with the veil of faith. And these are such things as, when tasted, bring death, if they do not receive from the first-fruits of the Spirit however little a seasoning, which comes about through the gift of Understanding; and he adds: In all these things faith is rich to me, understanding poor: but is savor not given to the understanding and to the faith, since the one is in merit, the other in reward.¹ See the Seraphic Doctor, cap. quinto de dono Intellect.