Summa summae S. Thomae sive compendium theologiae

D. Thomas, qq. 106 et 107.

You will ask 1° whether the angels speak.

I answer in the affirmative¹.

It is evident 1° from Scripture. Isa., VI, 3, it is said: Seraphim cried one to another. Daniel., VIII, 16: And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai, and he called, and said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. In the Epist. canon. Iudae, 9: When Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses..., he said: The Lord command thee. And the Apostle, I ad Cor., XIII, 1: If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels.

It is also established by reason; because the angels compose a society or commonwealth which is governed intellectually. But without speech, neither society nor governance can subsist. And this reason holds also for separated souls.

You will ask 2° how the angels speak.

I answer that one angel speaks to another through the ordering or direction of his concepts toward the other².

Proof. To speak to another is nothing other than to manifest a concept of the mind to another. But one angel manifests to another the concept of his mind, by this, that he orders and directs it, as something to be manifested, toward the other. Therefore. — The minor, in which the difficulty lies, is proved in two ways: 1° The angelic concept is manifested by that through which the obstacle by which its manifestation was being hidden and impeded is removed. But, once the said ordering and direction have been posited, an obstacle of this kind is removed. Therefore. — Proof of the minor. In us, the interior concept of the mind is closed off, as it were, by a twofold obstacle: first indeed, by the will itself, which can retain the concept of the mind within, or direct it outward; second, by the grossness of the body, whence it comes about that, when the will orders a concept to be manifested to another, it is not at once known by the other, but a sensible sign must be employed. But this second obstacle does not apply in the angel, and the first ceases through the voluntary direction of the concept to be manifested to another. Therefore.

Proof 2° of the first minor³. The angel, through innate species, without any other impression or action of the object upon him, is by nature such as to understand whatever pertains to him and is placed within the sphere of his natural knowability, otherwise he would not be, by his own nature, perfect in knowable being. But by this, that one angel directs his concept toward another, wishing to manifest and communicate it to him, he brings it about that this concept is among the things pertaining to that other; because he thus wills it to be communicated to him, and to pertain to him, and consequently to be within the sphere of his natural knowability. Therefore, once this direction has been posited, the concept of the one speaking is manifested to him.

You will ask 3° whether an angel can speak to another at any distance whatever.

I answer in the affirmative⁴. It is evident 1° from Scripture. Luc., XVI, 24, where the rich feaster, placed in hell, was speaking to Abraham, who was in the limbo of the Fathers. 2° by reason, because angelic speech consists in

an intellectual operation. But intellectual operation is entirely independent of place and time; for even our own intellectual operation is through abstraction from the here and now, except accidentally, on the part of the phantasms. Therefore.

You will ask 4° whether the higher angels illumine the lower. I answer in the affirmative⁵.

Proof. To illumine is nothing other than to manifest the truth — not simply (for that is done through speech), but with mastery and teaching, that is, in an artful manner, by disposing and fitting the things to be understood, or the truths, so that by the force of such a disposition the other may be able to perceive them; for then one is, as it were, clarifying and illumining the mind of the other for the perceiving of the truth. But since the higher angels have more universal species, and understand more perfectly, more subtly, and more loftily than the lower, they can divide and unfold these more universal and more perfect concepts, and thus fit them to the understanding of the lower and communicate them to them: this is to illumine. But that they do this is evident, because the more agents are established in the participation of the divine goodness, the more they strive to pour forth their perfections into others, after the likeness of the divine goodness, which communicates itself to all. Therefore the angels, who are in the fullest participation of the divine goodness, impart to their subjects whatever they participate from God.

[You will ask 5° in what illumination and speech differ.

I answer that they differ, 1°, because, as we have already said, illumination takes place by way of mastery and teaching, strengthening the intellect; speech, by the simple manifestation of a concept. And hence, 2°, for illumining it is required that a truth previously unknown be manifested; for speech it suffices that there be a manifestative direction of a concept, whether it concern a thing unknown or known — for angels, like us, can speak of things known; whether it concern matters pertinent or impertinent; whether with the intention of teaching or

of learning, as when angels speak to God, and a disciple to a master⁶. 3° Illumination is the manifestation of a truth as it depends on the first truth, which alone is the light and rule of truth, as if you should say: « Heaven was created by God. » But to speak is to open one's own concept, whether the truth of it depends on God, or on the freedom of a creature, as if you should say: « I wish to do this, or to learn it, » and it can be false. From which you have that every illumination is speech, but not every speech is illumination.

Whence you will conclude that a lower angel does not illumine a higher⁷; because, although a lower angel speaks to a higher, manifesting to him his concepts, he nevertheless does not do this by way of illumination and mastery, by dividing, distinguishing, and fitting his concepts to the capacity of the higher, and strengthening his intellect, since he is of an inferior and more imperfect light.

You will ask 6° whether the good angels illumine the demons.

I answer⁸ that through the holy angels many things concerning the divine mysteries are revealed to the demons, when divine justice requires that certain things be done through the demons, either for the punishment of the wicked, or for the exercise of the good: just as in human affairs the assessors of a judge reveal his sentence to the executioners. Revelations of this kind, however, if they are compared with the angels who reveal them, are illuminations, because they order them to God; but on the part of the demons they are not illuminations, because they do not order them to God, but to the fulfillment of their own iniquity. Now for true illumination it is required that the manifestation of truth be ordered to God, without which there is nothing but darkness.]