Palladium theologicum, Tomus quintus: De virtutibus

On the internal effects of CHARITY: JOY, PEACE, and MERCY.

Among the chief internal effects of Charity are enumerated Joy, Peace, and Mercy. And indeed, since a man is sometimes made sluggish in the pursuits of devotion and virtue because of weariness of Divine things, it is necessary that he be made eager and agile toward them by the affection of joy, whereby he may take delight in good works and loathe evil. Likewise, since man, being changeable amid many things, is troubled while he wavers on the sea of this world, Charity makes him tranquil and serene with Peace, subjecting the flesh pacified to the Spirit, and the spirit appeased to God. Similarly, from Charity is born Mercy, whereby a man reckons the miseries of others as his own, and either relieves them corporally or compassionates them spiritually; for since Charity is above all unitive, it transfers into itself all things of one's neighbours, whether good or evil, and strives to rejoice in them or to drive them away; wherefore mercy is twofold, as will be said below, in figure of which Solomon made a twofold little door of olive wood at the entrance of the Oracle, as the Seraphic Doctor has it, in Diaeta, tit. 7. cap. 4. But these things must be inquired into further.

On Joy.

First, the Soul, adorned with the stole of Charity, brightens into the affection of Joy; wherefore, before his other effects, joy must above all be treated; and since the kind of gladness is manifold, that Joy which is the true offspring of Charity must be distinguished from the others.

JOY is not taken here for the passion of the sensitive appetite, which is called delight, of which D. Bonaventure treats in 3. dist. 26. quaest. 1. and art. 2. quaest. 1.

JOY is taken rather as it is a diffusion of the mind in some good, and this is true only if it is of the true good, which is God, as the Saintly Doctor says, collat. 75. on John; and that it is an effect of life in the Lord, which is Charity, the Saintly Doctor proves from Philip. 3. Rejoice in the Lord always, and 17. of John, that your Joy may be full; for there, after Christ had prayed the Father that the disciples be one in God, he adds: That your Joy may be full, and that they may have my Joy fulfilled in themselves. He admonishes that this Joy is to be fulfilled, when it is said: Enter into the Joy of thy Lord, where we are not commanded to rejoice, or to receive Joy, but to enter into infinite joy, comprehending us. See the Saintly Doctor on 16. and 17. of John, and sermons 4. and 5. on the Nativity, distinguishing wonderfully concerning all the Joys, but especially concerning Joy as an effect of Charity, where he heaps up very many authorities on all of them from the Scriptures. Therefore this Joy is an act elicited by the virtue of Charity, which is therefore called its fruit, Galat. 5. The fruit of the Spirit is, Joy, etc., as the Saintly Doctor notes, 3. part. Centil. sect. 6., and Lib. 5. Compendii Theol. cap. 57.; and Gregory of Valentia diss. 3. quaest. 6. puncto 1., and Tannerus diss. 2. quaest. 4. dub. 1. num. 17.

That this Joy is perfect in the fatherland, and cannot grow, just as Charity does not grow, S. Bonaventure admonishes in 2. dist. 11. art. 2. quaest. 2. argument 1. for the opposite, with a response.

In this life, however: Joy is to do justice, as is said Proverb. 21., and therefore even the contrite penitent ought to rejoice, because he has found God; yet the Joy that he has lost that good is mixed with bitterness. So D. Bonaventure in 4. dist. 16. part. 2. dub. 10.

It surely has not of itself weariness, because it is born of wisdom. Therefore it is said, Sap. 8. Her conversation has no bitterness, nor her company any weariness, but joy and Joy, according to Ecclesiasticus 1.: He will give pleasantness and Joy, and cap. 5.: He heaped up for him pleasantness and exultation. All of which the Saintly Doctor observes on those words of Sap. 8. He is saddened, therefore, insofar as something occurs repugnant to the participation of the divine good, whether in us or in our neighbours, whom we love as ourselves, as D. Thom. teaches, art. 2.; Tannerus num. 18.

THEREFORE this Joy cannot be fulfilled in this life, the Saintly Doctor concludes on those words of John 15., That my Joy may be in you, and your Joy may be filled, and in nearly that whole chapter. The reason is, because there cannot be perfect rest while there is motion; but in this life we are always in motion, as D. Thom. says, art. 3. Therefore John 16.: A woman, when she gives birth, has sadness; and you therefore now indeed have sadness, and Christ was sad unto death, Luke 22., as the Saintly Doctor observes on those passages.

That it is NOT a virtue, D. Thomas shows in the cited article, from the enumeration of the parts.

It is PROVED from S. Thom., because Joy is not an operative habit, but is an act toward which the habit inclines, which is called Charity. For the same habit inclines to loving, to desiring the beloved, and to rejoicing in him; and therefore the habit of Joy is not distinct from the habit of Charity, because every virtue rejoices in exercising its acts, as D. Bonaventure teaches, 3. dist. 26. quaest. 2. ad 4.; but it agrees especially with Charity, which has for its object the good, insofar as the good delights through the habit.

The state of the MOST PURIFIED mind is Peace; wherefore it is granted to the peaceable more than to others to be the sons of God, as the Seraphic Doctor notes in comp. Theol. lib. 5. cap. 54., because although mercy assimilates a man to God most of all as regards exterior things, yet as regards interior things, he is assimilated more by Peace.

PEACE is described by the Saintly Doctor in the opusc. de septem Donis, on the Gift of fear, cap. 4., from D. Augustine, serm. 167. de tempore: Peace is the serenity of the mind, the tranquillity of the soul, the simplicity of the heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of Charity. By these he shows that peace consists in consent and simplicity, which is the perfect unity of the affections in the true and entire good, as D. Thom. also says, art. 1. But it differs from Concord; because this is the union of hearts and wills in one, as D. Bonav. says, 3. p. centil. sect. 44., and in the opusc. declaring the terms of Theology, near the end. But there can be an evil concord, as D. Bonav. notes in Pharetra, in the place cited.

From the justice of Kings arises the Peace of peoples, as Caesarius of Arles says, homil. 22., on that word of Luke 17., the Kingdom of God is within you, as gathered by D. Bonaventure in the place cited, de septem donis. The reason is, because they are two sisters: Justice and Peace have kissed, Psalm 44.

That THIS is an effect of Charity, the Saintly Doctor shows in Lib. 4. Pharetrae, and D. Greg. in the registry, lib. 7. indic. 11., and lib. 4. indic. 13. cap. 80., and Lib. 7. indic. 2. cap. 27.

He describes it there from D. Augustine, serm. 57. de verbis Domini: Peace is placid to all; it does not seek what is another's, it assigns its own; it teaches to love what it knows not how to hate. It knows not how to be exalted, it knows not how to be inflated. Therefore he who receives it, let him hold it; he who has lost it, let him seek it back; he who has missed it, let him look for it: since he who shall not be found in it is cast off by the Father, disinherited by the Son, and none the less is made a stranger by the Holy Spirit. He continues from D. Augustine, Lib. 1. de civit. cap. 13.: The testament of God, and the inheritance, is peace, that it may be possessed by concordant partners, not divided by litigants; from which he deduces that the opposite of peace is dissension, and therefore the Apostle says it withers away, first Corinth. 14.: God is not of dissension, but of peace.

The Saintly Doctor shows the same there from D. Augustine, lib. 19. de civitate, cap. 12.: Wars are waged with the intention of peace (he says), because those who wish wars wish nothing else than to conquer. But victory is the subjection of those who resist; and when that has been done, there will be peace.

See the Saintly Doctor there, citing other Fathers saying wondrous things.

Hence he shows, on 2. Luke, that peace is not without Charity, from those words: And on earth peace to men of good will, that is, to the just. Because there is no peace for the wicked, as it is said: Isaiah 57. On the contrary, to the just it is said, Philip. 4.: And the Peace of God, which surpasses all sense, keep your hearts. Therefore upon the poor, contrite of heart, and trembling at my words, says the Lord, Isaiah 66.: I will cause to flow upon him a river of peace. See the Seraphic Doctor there, uttering most excellent things. The Saintly Doctor observes there, and on 24. Luke, that it is so precious that Christ was called the Apostle of peace: Coming, he evangelized peace to you, Ephes. 2.; He himself also is called our Peace, who made both one, Ephes. 1.; And pacifying through his blood, whether the things that are on earth, or the things that are in heaven, Coloss. 1. See the Saintly Doctor on 24. Luke on those words: Peace be to you.

But the Saintly Doctor shows in the passages alleged that for peace it is necessary that there be no dissension with others, and with oneself. S. Thom. is of the same mind here, and Tannerus disp. 2. quaest. 4. dub. 1. num. 20., and commonly.

And this S. Augustine seems to have indicated, Lib. 19. de civit. cap. 13., where, describing peace, he says it is the tranquillity of order, because all things are ordered. D. Dionysius indicates the same, cap. 11. de divin. nominibus, saying: Peace is the unitive of all things, and operative of consent. But if he consent with others, not with himself, he will have concord, not peace; since peace indeed includes concord, and adds the consent of the appetitions within the same man himself. Yet broadly peace is called ordered concord, by D. Augustine, Lib. 19. de civitate Dei, cap. 13.

Further (says Valentia, punct. 2.) not every kind of entire consent and union of appetitions is the peace of which we speak; but it must be consent in the true good, as the Saintly Doctor shows in that Isa. 57.: there is no peace for the wicked, Jerem. 6.: Saying peace, peace, and there is no peace.

S. Bonaventure, de gradibus virtutum, cap. 13., enumerates three degrees of the one union, or unity, constituting peace: Another degree of Peace (he says) is when the flesh is subjected to the spirit, or to reason, rendering itself difficult toward all evils to be perpetrated, as it is said: Rom. 6. Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you obey the concupiscences thereof; and cap. 7.: I myself serve with the mind the Law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin. A higher, when the flesh is subjected to the spirit, exhibiting itself prompt for the doing of all good: I chastise my body, etc., first Corinth. 9. The highest, when the spirit is subjected to God, observing every ordering in all the powers of the soul thoroughly. This last degree is kept in heaven.

Likewise, a high degree is to spare inferiors if they have exceeded in something, and to console them kindly if they have fallen into any affliction. A higher is to converse kindly with equals, so as to do them the good which he would justly wish done to himself. The highest, to conform one's own will to the will of superiors in all things.

Likewise a high degree is to trouble no one by deeds; a higher, to trouble no one by words, or in any other way, when absent. The highest, to give no one a just occasion of trouble.

Likewise he ascends into the high degree of peace who does not publish the evils of his neighbours. Into a higher degree, he who does not diminish the goods of his neighbours, nor blacken them, nor twist them, but extols them. Into the highest ascends he who compassionates their defects, and congratulates them from the heart upon their progress.

See the same Saintly Doctor, de Donis Spiritus sancti, and de Dono Timoris, cap. 4., recounting the degrees of Peace.

But how peace is an effect of Charity: whether it is an act of it, or a relation following the act of Charity, is a question of a name, as Valentia says. For Cajetan says it is a relation following, which is the union of the appetitions, or tranquillity, as D. Augustine used to say, 19. de civit. cap. 13. But D. Thom., art. 4., seems altogether to will it to be an act, concerning which there is an external precept, Mark 9.: Have peace among you; but in either way Peace seems an effect of Charity, as Valentia says. For it signifies also the foundation of that relation, which is to will the same and not to will the same, which is an act of Charity, as Tannerus admonishes, disp. 2. quaest. 4. dub. 1. num. 23.

Hence you will see what S. Dionysius wills, cap. 11. de Divinis nominibus, teaching that Peace is the unitive of all things, and operative of consent.

But no other virtue is necessary for producing peace than Charity, because, Charity being had, the union of all the affections is easily had entire, since no other difficulty remains on account of which new virtues are necessary.

From these you have that peace is reckoned under diverse reasons, both among the Beatitudes, Matth. 5., and among the fruits of the Spirit, Galat. 5. For it is a kind of beatitude, inasmuch as it is an act of a perfect virtue, for instance of Charity, or the state of that virtue itself, in which there is delight in God without contradiction from the flesh, the world, and the devil; or if there is any, it is ineffectual, as D. Bonaventure teaches, Lib. 5. Compend. Theol. cap. 54. But it is a fruit, inasmuch as it is a certain ultimate good which has pleasantness, or delight, as S. Bonavent. says, loco cit. cap. 57., and D. Thom. art. 4. ad 1., and Valentia disp. 3. quaest. 6. puncto 2. near the end.

It follows also that there is nothing which does not in its own way seek peace, as D. Thom. teaches, art. 2., and D. Augustine shows, Lib. 19. de civitate, cap. 12., as gathered by D. Bonavent. loco cit. Phaeratrae. The reason is, because every thing, in the manner suitable to its nature, seeks the good, and wills to obtain the perfection congruent to itself without any repugnance; and thus with no appetite resisting. That itself is, to have peace. And D. Augustine hints at this reason, saying: As there is no one who does not will to rejoice, so there is no one who does not will to have peace; doubtless because one then rejoices when he possesses the good with quiet and tranquillity, and thus with peace. Therefore Christ, leaving us that precious treasure, and commending it, often repeats, Mark 9. Luke 24. John 14. and 20.

Lastly, it follows that peace is not without cause so greatly commended in the Scriptures, for nothing is more desirable than to possess a good tranquilly. Wherefore the Angels, at the Nativity of Christ, wishing to announce the greatest good to men, announced: Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to men, as D. Bonaventure elegantly pursues, ad 2. Lucae. For therefore, as I said, Christ himself was made the Apostle, announcer of peace, acquiring it with his blood, as the Apostle says in the places cited above. And our Gospel is the Gospel of peace, as it is said, Isaiah 52.

Hence he taught that form of saluting: Peace be to you, Luke 24. and John 20., as S. Bonaventure elegantly pursues on those passages. Where he also shows at what price he redeemed it: For the discipline of our peace was upon him, Isaiah 53.; thus with his life he acquired this infinite treasure, so that, giving peace, he might take away the greatest evil, which is that of dissension. For it is said, Ephes. 2.: God of peace, not of dissension, as I noted above also.

Further, the Apostle hands down the rule for obtaining peace, Galat. 6.: But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world; and whosoever shall follow this rule, peace upon them.

S. Bonaventure interprets this rule to be the rule of the Friars Minor, inasmuch as it commands the entire abnegation of self, as he pursues at length in the exposition, in whose Prologue he places the place of these words of the Apostle: But to me, etc., as above.

Further, see the excellent praises of Peace in D. Bonavent. in Diaeta, tit. 7. cap. 6., where he shows it to be the Idiom of heaven, which the Angels, and Christ, used.

On Mercy.

What MERCY is.

Mercy is defined by D. Bonaventure, 3. part. Centil. sect. 44.: Mercy is the virtue by which the innermost heart is moved over the calamity of the afflicted. This virtue thinks nothing human foreign to itself; it reckons the losses, or the goods, of others as its own.

It is drawn out from D. Augustine, 19. de civit. cap. 5., where he defines, or describes, it thus: Mercy is compassion for another's misery in our heart, whereby, if we can bring help, we are compelled.

Valentia thus describes Mercy from D. Thom. art. 1., D. Augustine in the place cited, and Aristotle 2. Rhet. cap. 8.: Mercy is pain, or sorrow, over an involuntary evil of another, reckoned as one's own, and in some way against the dignity of the miserable person, whom the one merciful wills to relieve, as far as lies in him, and as he conveniently can.

It is called a Virtue by D. Bonaventure; for it is a virtue distinct from Charity, as the Apostle teaches, Coloss. 3., where he first teaches: Put on the bowels of Mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience; but soon after says: Above all these things, have Charity.

It is proved, because it has a peculiar object, namely the evil of another, and the calamities of the afflicted, as able to be relieved by our works. But this is the reason of a peculiar object, and it begets a peculiar difficulty in the act of mercy in efficacious execution. For indeed, in efficaciously relieving another's misery, there remains a principal difficulty even in one having Charity.

Observe, however, that in the description of the last-mentioned mercy it is placed that it is sorrow over another's misery; for, as Damascenus teaches, 2. de fide, cap. 14., Mercy is a certain species of pain, or sorrow, over the evil of one's neighbour indeed, but reckoned as one's own.

It is said to be over an involuntary evil; for misery consists in suffering involuntarily; just as Beatitude, to which misery is opposed, consists in this, that one have those goods which he wills, according to that word of Augustine, Lib. 13. de civit. cap. 4.: Blessed is he who has whatever he wills, and wills no evil. Yet that misery need not be altogether involuntary; for we can have mercy on a sinner, as D. Thomas teaches, art. 1. ad 1., from the opinion of D. Gregory, homil. 34. in Evangelia.

Then it is said to be over the evil of another reckoned as one's own. For sorrow and pain are over one's own evil: whence the motive of mercy must touch one in some way regarding oneself, as D. Thom. teaches, art. 2. Whence, when the Saintly Doctor, in the explanation of the terms of Theology, near the end, describes mercy: Mercy is compassion for the misery and need of one's neighbour; he does not intend to hand down a definition, but to explain the term; otherwise he would have added: for the miseries of one's neighbour, as one's own.

What kind of Virtue MERCY is, and of what sort.

The Saintly Doctor discourses most excellently on Mercy in the passages alleged. But he shows first that Mercy is a peculiar and distinguished Virtue, which is occupied with the miseries of one's neighbour to be relieved, with that affection as if they were one's own; as D. Thom. also says, art. 1. and 3.

Then he prefers it to the other virtues, especially the more distinguished ones.

Indeed, first he prefers it to Penitence, because this immolates the body; but that, the soul. For bodily exercise, that is, penance, is profitable to little. But piety is profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, as is had, first Timothy 4.

Secondly it surpasses Justice: therefore it frees the guilty, Matth. 5.: Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain Mercy. From Matth. 6.: If you will forgive men their sins, and your heavenly Father will forgive you your sins. Luke 6.: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Proverb. 19.: He that is merciful to the poor lends to the Lord. He also brings this as an argument, because in God Mercy exalts itself above judgment, James 2., and Psalm. 144.: His tender mercies are over all His works. But he hints that this avails only in him who has no superior, as D. Thom. says, art. 4.

But he shows especially that for some reason it is more excellent than Charity. The reason is, which D. Thom. also uses. For Charity only loves, and thus, as it were finite, is contained in the other, tending toward the good through love: but Mercy, overflowing its banks, pours itself out, communicating itself to inferior agents, and therefore bears not only the goods of one's neighbours, but most willingly also their evils.

Second Corinth. 11.: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not inflamed? Therefore mercy, considered in itself, surpasses Charity.

But this doctrine can be accommodated to Charity, and Mercy in two ways. In one way, as they are certain good habits, that is, virtues, which are found adequately in man according to their rationes: but inadequately also in God, the formalities being prescinded, namely of habit, which they call imperfections; and in this sense Charity and mercy are compared in themselves, and according to the perfection which it exacts in itself, without respect to object or subject, and considering only the ratio of the act. In this sense Valentia says D. Thomas spoke; for he compares these virtues as they are habits, of which one is for loving, the other for relieving, as Tannerus notes, disp. 2. quaest. 4. dub. 2. num. 31.

Secondly they can be considered, not as they are habits, but in the most abstract reason, inasmuch as mercy is relieving of misery: but Charity is the faculty of loving God; and in this way, say Cajetan and Bannes, D. Thomas is to be understood, that Mercy indeed, in its most abstract perfection, is better than Charity: For that which consists in relieving the misery and defects of the needy ought to be pure act, not a certain potentiality, or lack; otherwise it will not be able to reduce need to act; and in this sense it resplends in God, who is pure infinite act, who can fill all defects and potentialities.

As to D. Bonav., I judge that he spoke in both senses. In the former indeed, because he compares the habit of Charity, and others, with the habit of mercy in general, as is evident from the examples alleged above. But in this latter sense; because he brings some examples of the mercy of God from the Scriptures indicating it, as we have seen. Therefore in both ways mercy, considered in itself, seems more perfect.

Truly, however, if both are considered in order to the subject, Charity is better in him who is not the highest, inasmuch as the highest perfection stands in union with the highest good; but if it is the highest good, then the greatest perfection is to diffuse goodness to all inferiors. See the Saintly Doctor, also giving the motives by which we are moved to mercy, loco cit. The first motive is to consider the miserable to be of our nature. Whence Matth. 23.: For all you are brethren, and Isa. 58.: When you shall see one naked, cover him, and despise not your own flesh. The second motive of mercy is one's own need and misery; for man, considering his own misery, compassionates that of another, whence Ecclesiasticus 31.: Learn from yourself what things are for your neighbour.

The third motive is the unity of Christ and his members, and the love in it, that he reckon as done to himself, or poured out for them, what is done, Matth. 25.: What you have done to one of the least of mine, etc. At the end he enumerates the fourteen works of mercy. See him there, uttering wondrous things.