Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus I: Demonstratio Christiana

1. Notion. Miracles are designated by various names in the sacred Scriptures, according as they are considered under different aspects, namely the ontological, teleological and psychological. They are called: powers, deeds (δυνάμεις, ἔργα) under the ontological aspect, because they proceed from the omnipotent God; signs (σημεῖα) under the teleological aspect, because they manifest the divine will and religion; prodigies, portents, wonders (τέρατα, θαυμάσια) under the psychological aspect, because they excite admiration.

It is in this last respect that the word miracle itself is taken. For miracle (miraculum) is so called from wondering (mirari). Now we wonder when we see an effect whose cause we do not know. And in this broadest sense St. Augustine¹ calls a miracle "whatever hard or unusual thing appears beyond the hope or power of the one wondering".

Very many effects of this kind, however, excite the admiration of some men only, whereas to others they appear in no way wonderful. Thus the unlearned marvel at an eclipse of the sun or at electrical phenomena, whereas all learned men would marvel if things happened otherwise. Hence such effects are not wonderful in themselves and consequently are not strictly miraculous.

In the strict sense a miracle is a sensible work effected by God beyond the natural order.

2. Explanation. a) A sensible work. In itself, that is, ontologically, a miracle can exist, although it is not perceived by the senses. Psychologically and teleologically, however, it must be a sensible work. Psychologically, namely, it belongs to a miracle to excite admiration. But it cannot excite admiration unless it is in some way apprehended by the senses. Moreover, teleologically a miracle must be a sign of the divine will and especially a seal of revelation. But it is not a seal unless it is sensible.

Hence the miracles of faith are called miracles only improperly, e. g. the Incarnation, Transubstantiation, the working of the sacraments. For these effects are not perceived by the senses and therefore do not become known immediately to reason either, but are known by faith alone.²

Psychic miracles already have more of the sensible character of miracles. For extraordinary effects which affect a man's intellect (intellectual miracles, e. g. infused knowledge; the gift of tongues; prophetic knowledge) or his will (moral miracles, e. g. the sudden conversion of a sinner; the heroic virtues of the Saints) are manifested at least to the internal senses of that man who is the subject of the miracle. Indeed, sometimes they are even sensibly manifested to other men in a mediate way, e. g. prophetic knowledge by the fulfilment of the prophecy; the conversion of Paul by the light sent forth from heaven, the voice of Christ perceived, Saul's body prostrate on the ground, his eyes blinded, his conduct changed. Wherefore these works are commonly numbered among miracles.³

Immediately, however, only the phenomena of the physical world are subject to sense experience. Hence physical miracles (the healing of the sick; the raising of the dead; the calming of the storm, etc.) most fully deserve the name of miracles.

b) A work is called extraordinary, not insofar as it happens rarely⁴ nor insofar as it exceeds the forces of nature, but insofar as it is done beyond the order of things created and established by God. For God has established a mode according to which phenomena happen constantly and uniformly. But if some effect does not follow this order, it is called miraculous; if, on the other hand, it comes to pass according to this order of things, it is not miraculous, even if it is produced directly by God Himself.

For this reason neither the creation of things out of nothing at the beginning of time, nor the continual creation and infusion of the soul into the disposed body, nor the sustaining and feeding of all animals, nor the governance of the whole world, nor the special providence besought by the prayers of men are numbered among miracles. But it is a miracle if God creates even now a grain of sand, or if with five loaves He feeds five thousand men, or if He heals the sick man with a word alone, or raises the dead.

This is the principal and most essential property of miracle, namely, that it be an effect beyond the order of nature. For its two other properties, sensibility namely and divine causality, miracle has in common with many other events; but it belongs to miracle alone that it be beyond the course of nature. Moreover, the sensibility of the miraculous effect is not required for its own sake, but only for our sake, namely, that miracle may become for us a sign or criterion; divine causality, however, as will presently appear, necessarily underlies the praeternatural effect. Wherefore miracle is sometimes defined simply as: a praeternatural effect.

c) A divine work, or one effected by God. For from the fact that the miraculous effect is beyond the natural order it follows: 1°. That visible creatures can work no miracles. For the creatures of the visible world are possessed of merely natural forces. But natural forces are able to produce only natural effects. Therefore neither irrational beings nor rational men can perform miracles.

2°. That pure spirits can work only relative miracles. In the opinion of almost all who concede that these spirits exist, angels, both good and bad, far surpass by their power the whole visible world. They are endowed with an extraordinary keenness of intellect and strength of will in regard to things both supernatural and natural. And although they are pure spirits, yet by a special motive power they are able to move bodies from place to place. This is established by reason and by history. By reason: for the highest of the lowest reaches the lowest of the highest; in bodies, however, local motion is the highest, and therefore angels, who are above bodies, can at least produce this motion in them. Moreover, for the harmonious unity and governance of the world it is necessary that spirits be able to have some connexion and fellowship with corporeal things; but with local motion excluded, spirits can do nothing at all in corporeal things.⁵ By history: the Angel carried Habacuc to Babylon, Philip to Azotus; he rolled back the stone from Christ's sepulchre, loosed Peter's chains; angels, taking on and moving bodies, accompanied Tobias, appeared to Abraham, Lot, Daniel, Mary, Joseph, and performed many similar things.⁶

This motive power of the angels is increased by their supreme perspicacity, invisibility, swiftness and compenetrability. Hence spirits are able to transfer bodies of immense bulk, both heavenly and earthly, in the briefest time and over the longest stretch of places; to divert the forces of gravity, cohesion and others; to excite the phenomena of light, heat, electricity; to penetrate and pass through, to besiege and possess bodies; to cause infirmities, and again to heal diseases that are naturally curable, by seeking out and applying suitable remedies; to produce apparitions by presenting objects to the external senses, or by exciting phantasms in the internal senses; to apply active things to passive, and whatever else is contained in or obtained by motion.

Therefore angels can work wonderful things, which wholly surpass the order of nature known and accessible to us, and which are consequently miracles with respect to us, that is, relative miracles. In themselves, however, or absolutely, these works are not praeternatural. For whatever and however angels act, they always act in a manner that befits the natural order. For the natural order is nothing else than the constant action or will of God to produce the same effects under the same circumstances; but it is repugnant that any creature should intercept this will or action of God.⁷

3°. That God alone can work absolute miracles. This is evident a priori. For absolute miracles are done beyond the order of the whole of created nature. But only the creator, lord and governor of the world surpasses the natural order.⁸

In fact it is established a posteriori that no miracles of this kind have been performed except by the direct intervention of God. Nowhere do we read of the dead recalled to life, of weak organs healed by the mere nod of the will, of the elements subdued by the command of a voice, except in the name of God.

Scripture attributes the power of working miracles to God alone: "The Lord alone does great wonders".⁹

In a twofold way, however, can God bring about miracles: immediately and mediately. Immediately, if He uses no created cause to produce the effect; mediately, if He uses some creature as an instrument.

The instrumental cause, likewise, is either ministerial, or moral, or physical. Ministerial (simply instrumental), which acts in the name and by the command of God, its own intervention being excluded (e. g. Balaam's ass); moral (impetratory, meritorious), which moves God to act (e. g. miracles obtained through the intercession of the Saints); physical, which really influences the effect (e. g. the deaf and dumb man healed by the touch of Jesus). All creatures can be ministerial causes of miracles;¹⁰ the moral causes are the good angels and holy men; the physical cause is the humanity of Christ, since it is the instrument of the Word united to Himself.¹¹ In whatever way, however, the instrumental causes cooperate, God alone is the principal or efficient cause of miracles.

3. Refutation. The doctrine thus far set forth concerning the nature of miracles is in harmony with the whole of sacred Scripture,¹² with Christian tradition and with Catholic theology.¹³ A contrary notion of miracle is proposed only by those authors who, keeping the name, deny miracle in reality. And indeed:

a) Monists and deists think a miracle is a merely natural effect, which appears praeternatural and supernatural to credulous ignorance. Thus Spinoza defines a miracle as "a work of nature, whose natural cause we cannot explain by the example of another familiar thing".¹⁴ According to Locke a miracle is "a sensible operation, which, exceeding the comprehension of the spectator and believed to be contrary to the course of nature, is judged by him to be divine".¹⁵ Monists and deists cannot concede a miracle in the true sense of the word. For the former deny the existence of God, the latter God's power over the world. Hence a fortiori they deny praeternatural works performed by God. With these adversaries, however, we have no concern. Every dispute about miracle presupposes the existence of a personal God and the natural influence of God upon the world.

b) Rationalists call miracles effects of divine providence. Wegscheider, the father of theological rationalism, calls miracles "wonderful events, which, under God's direction, were so disposed that they stirred the spectators to recognize a certain efficiency of divine providence, and moved them to give faith to the teacher of a new religion".¹⁶ Unjustly, however. For the works of providence are miraculous only insofar as they are done by God intervening in a praeternatural manner, e. g. if God, moved by the prayers of men, heals the sick man instantly, no natural means being employed.

c) Neorationalists, i. e. radical and liberal Protestants as well as Modernists, call miracles all events in which we experience God, or which by subjective faith we attribute to God. According to Mart. Rade, the birth of offspring to pious parents, the flight of the machine to the aeronaut are miracles, if through these events they intimately feel God and refer them to God.¹⁷ "Miracles," says Ziller, "spring from religious feeling and experience ... The miracle is produced by faith".¹⁸ It is evident that by such a definition all objective truth of miracle, and consequently miracle itself, is taken away.

d) Positive Protestants, namely the "mediating theologians" (Vermittlungstheologen) and the "orthodox", judge miracles to be effects of a higher natural order, not, however, of the praeter- and supernatural order. Strauss himself already derides the "mediating" theologians, because they strive to explain the Gospel miracles by the merely imaginary powers of a higher nature.¹⁹ Most of the orthodox define a miracle as "a natural event, whose laws are not yet known".²⁰ Therefore almost all non-Catholics agree in this, that they do not understand miracle as an effect beyond the order of nature. Whether, then, they attack miracles or defend them, they reject the miracle in the true sense of the word; nay, they declare it impossible.²¹