Pars 5, Cap. 6
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/5/q/bon-brev-p5-c6
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### Chapter VI. *On the branching of grace into the habits of the beatitudes, and consequently of the fruits and the senses.*

Concerning the branching of grace into the habits of the *beatitudes*, these things are to be held: that the *beatitudes* are seven, which the Savior enumerates in the sermon on the mount — namely, *poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, hunger for justice, mercy, cleanness of heart* and *peace*. — Upon these beatitudes, by reason of their perfection and fulness, there follow twelve *fruits of the Spirit* and five *spiritual senses*; which do not name new *habits*, but *states* of delight and *uses* of spiritual contemplations, by which the spirits of just men are filled and consoled.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: since the reparative principle is most perfect and most perfectly reparative and reformative through the gratuitous gift, therefore the gift of grace flowing from it liberally and abundantly must branch out even to the habits of the perfections, which, because they draw near to the end, are by a right name called after the name of the *beatitudes*; and their *sufficiency, number* and *order* are gathered from the *integrity of perfection*, from the *modes of the perfections* and from the *dispositions toward perfection*.

First, then, for the *integrity of perfection* there is necessarily required a perfect *withdrawal from evil*, a perfect *advance in good* and a perfect *rest in what is best*. Now since *evil* proceeds either from the swelling of pride, or from the rancor of malice, or from the languor of concupiscence, therefore, for a perfect removal from this threefold kind of evil, three beatitudes are necessary: namely, *poverty of spirit*, which removes from the evil of swelling; *meekness*, which removes from the evil of rancor; and *mourning*, which removes from the evil of lust and of the languor belonging to concupiscence. — But because a perfect *advance in good* is measured according to the imitation of God, and *all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth*, hence it is

that the beatitude answering to these two ways is twofold: namely, *hunger*, or zeal, for *justice*, and *the affection of mercy*. — And since *rest in what is best* is either through limpid knowledge or through tranquil affection, hence it is that there are two final beatitudes: namely, *cleanness of heart* for seeing God, and *peace of mind* for perfectly enjoying him.

Second, likewise, if the *modes of the perfections* be considered, the habits of the beatitudes must be seven. For there is a perfection of *religious life*, of *prelacy* and of *interior holiness*. Now for the perfection of *religious life* there is necessarily required the renunciation of private good, the acceptance of a brother's good and the desire of the eternal good; the first is done through *poverty of spirit*, the second through *meekness of affection*, the third through *the bitterness of mourning*. — For the perfection of *prelacy*, on the other hand, two things are necessarily required: namely, *zeal for justice* and *the affection of mercy*; for *mercy and truth preserve the king*. According to these two the government of prelacy in the Church militant must be ordered. — And for the perfection of *interior holiness* there is necessarily required *purity of conscience* and the tranquillity of the whole soul through *the peace of God* which surpasses all human understanding.

Third, if the *preambular dispositions* be considered, the beatitudes must be seven. For *fear* makes one withdraw from evil and from the occasion of evil; and because *the root of all evils is covetousness*, therefore *fear* disposes toward *poverty of spirit*, in which humility is joined together with poverty, so that the perfect man may thus be removed from the fount of all fault, namely from pride and covetousness. And hence it is that *poverty of spirit* is the foundation of the whole of evangelical perfection. Whence he who wishes to come to the summit of perfection must first lay this foundation, according to that word of Matthew, chapter nineteen: *If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast* — behold, perfect *poverty*, which retains nothing at all for itself — *and follow me*: behold, *humility*, which brings it about that a man, denying himself, takes up his cross and follows Christ, who is the most principal foundation of the whole of perfection. Fear therefore disposes toward poverty of spirit. — *Piety*, in turn, toward *meekness*; for one who is affectionately disposed toward another neither provokes him nor is provoked by him. — *Knowledge* disposes toward *mourning*, since through knowledge we recognize that we have been banished from the state of blessedness into this valley of misery and of tears. — *Fortitude*, in turn, disposes toward *hunger for justice*; for one who is brave holds to justice so eagerly that he would rather be parted from bodily life than from justice. — *Counsel* disposes toward *mercy*; for God counsels nothing in Scripture more than the doing of mercy, which he accounts above all holocausts. — *Understanding* disposes toward *cleanness of heart*; for the contemplation of truth cleanses our heart of all phantasms. — *Wisdom* disposes toward *peace*; for wisdom joins us to the highest true and good, in which is the end and the tranquillity of our whole rational appetite.

And when this peace has been attained, there necessarily follows a superabundant spiritual delight, which is contained in the *twelvefold number of the fruits*, to signify the *superabundance* of the delights. For twelve is an *abundant* number, in which is signified the exuberance of the spiritual charisms which the holy soul enjoys and delights in; and then a man is fit for contemplation and for the beholding and the embraces of the bridegroom and the bride, which have to come about according to the *spiritual senses*, by which is *seen* the supreme beauty of Christ the bridegroom under the aspect of *Splendor*; is *heard* the supreme harmony under the aspect of *the Word*; is *tasted* the supreme sweetness under the aspect of *Wisdom*, which comprehends both, namely the Word and the Splendor; is *smelled* the supreme fragrance under the aspect of *the Word inspired* in the heart; is *touched* the supreme suavity under the aspect of *the Word incarnate*, dwelling among us bodily and rendering himself to us palpable, kissable, embraceable by that most ardent charity which makes our mind pass over, through ecstasy and rapture, *out of this world to the Father*.

From the things said, therefore, it is manifestly gathered that the habits of the *virtues* dispose principally toward the exercise of the active life; the habits of the *gifts*, toward the leisure of the contemplative; and the habits of the *beatitudes*, toward the perfection of both. But the *fruits of the Spirit*, which are *charity, joy, peace, patience, longanimity, goodness, benignity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, chastity*, name the delights that follow upon

perfect works. And the *spiritual senses* name the mental perceptions concerning the truth to be contemplated. Which contemplation was in the Prophets through *revelation*, as regards a threefold vision — namely the corporeal, the imaginative and the intellectual; while in the other just it is found through *speculation*, which begins from sense and comes through to imagination, and from imagination to reason, from reason to intellect, from intellect to intelligence; and from intelligence to wisdom, or knowledge that exceeds, which begins here on the way but is consummated in everlasting glory.

And in these degrees consists *Jacob's ladder, whose summit touches heaven*; and *the throne of Solomon*, on which sits the King most wise and truly peaceful and loving, as a bridegroom most beautiful *and altogether desirable*; *upon whom the Angels desire to look*, and toward whom the longing of holy souls sighs, *as the hart longs for the fountains of waters*. And by this most fervent longing, after the manner of fire, our spirit is not only made agile for the ascent, but by a certain *learned ignorance* is caught up above itself into darkness and excess, so that it not only says with the bride: *In the odor of thy ointments we will run*, but also sings with the Prophet: *And the night is my illumination in my delights.* And that nocturnal and delightful illumination no one knows save him who has tasted it, and no one tastes it save through grace divinely given, and it is given to none save to him who exercises himself toward it; therefore the exercises of merits are next to be considered.

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