Coll. 20
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/11/d/20/q/bon-hex-c20
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### COLLATION XX.
#### *On the fourth vision, namely that of the understanding suspended through contemplation: the first treatment, which treats in general of the threefold object of this contemplation, or of the contemplation of the heavenly hierarchy, of the Church militant, and of the human mind made hierarchic.*

### Summarium

*Introduction, 1. — This understanding answers to the fourth day, on which the lights were made, 2. — The threefold object of contemplation, answering to the light of the sun, of the moon and of the stars, 3. — Part I. On the first object, or on the consideration of the heavenly hierarchy. This consideration is likened to the light of the sun for a threefold reason, 4. — First, because of the brightness of surpassing purity; it is confirmed*

*from Scripture, 5. 6. — Second, because of the brightness of resplendent limpidity, 7. — In the contemplative soul, as in a mirror, there are described in a wonderful manner the world, every heavenly spirit, and the supersubstantial ray itself, 8. — Third, because of the brightness of the life-giving enkindling; the four states in souls, 9. — On perfect contemplation, 10. 11. — Epilogue of Part I, 12. — Part II. On the second object, or on the consideration of the Church militant. This is understood through the moon's light, for a threefold reason, 13. — First, because of the half-dark or symbolic refulgence, 14. 15. — Second, because of the transporting or ecstatic refulgence: of the moon, how it wondrously waxes and wanes; it signifies the active and the contemplative life, 16-19. — Third, because of the ordered refulgence, 20. — Epilogue, 21. — Part III. On the third object, or on the consideration of the human mind made hierarchic, and on the contemplation concerning these three objects. This consideration is understood through the stars; the threefold radiation, 22. — Abiding radiation, 23. — Comely radiation, 24. — Joyous radiation, 25. — Epilogue of the preceding, 26. — Scripture on the contemplative man contemplating these three, 27. 28. — Certain things in the Apocalypse are set out, 29. — On the contemplative order in the sixth age, 30.*

1. *And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, and let them divide the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And God made two great lights: a greater light, to rule the day, and a lesser light, to rule the night, and the stars. And he set them in the firmament of heaven, to shine upon the earth; and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day*. It has been said above that *God gave Daniel understanding of all visions;* and on that occasion the six visions were distinguished, answering to the works of the six days. — Now we must speak of the fourth, namely of the understanding *suspended through contemplation.* — But it must be understood that no one has this vision unless he be *a man of desires*, nor can he have it save through a great desire. Whence the Psalm: *Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet.* First he says *taste.* For taste is not sweet unless there go before it an appetite for the thing to be tasted, or for the receiving of the thing to be tasted.

2. Now this understanding suspended through contemplation is given to be understood through the work of the *fourth day,* on which the lights were made. And that soul alone is suspended through contemplation which has the sun and the moon and the stars in its own firmament. Consider, if there were no sun and moon and stars in the firmament, what would the world be? It would be nothing but a certain dark mass, since even the night with the light of the stars is still dark and horrible. So it is with the soul. For the soul that has not the grace of contemplation is like a firmament without lights; but the soul that has it is a firmament adorned with lights. And as a heaven not having these lights differs from a heaven having them, so a soul not having them differs from a soul disposed to this; whence it differs as an Angel from a beast. Bestial is the man who lacks these and has his face bent down to the earth like an animal; but full of lights he is wholly angelic.

3. On the fourth day God made the sun and the moon and the stars, because this vision is principally about three things: about the luminous consideration of the *heavenly hierarchy,* about the luminous consideration of the *Church militant,* about the luminous consideration of the *human mind made hierarchic.* For unless the soul gaze upon the supernal monarchy, and behold the descent of the Church militant from it, and its own hierarchic adornment, it will never be contemplative; but then it will have the light *of the sun, of the moon* and *of the stars.* The first consideration is compared to the light *of the sun,* the second to the light *of the moon,* the third to the light *of the stars.* Happy is that soul which beholds *itself* as *adorned* and conformed to that Jerusalem, and *the hierarchy illumined,* namely the angelic, and *the hierarchy illumining,* namely the divine principate of the persons.

4. The luminous consideration, therefore, of the *heavenly monarchy* is likened to the light *of the sun* for a threefold reason: because of the brightness of *surpassing purity,* because of the brightness of *resplendent limpidity,* because of the brightness of *the life-giving enkindling.* These three that consideration has.

5. By reason of the first it is of the highest dignity and excellence, having purity and being far removed from every dreg of corruption. Of this purity Ecclesiasticus: *As the sun rising in the highest places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house.* These words are fitting to the eternal wisdom and to the mind illumined by the eternal wisdom. For it is like the sun *in the highest places,* not because of position — since the sun is not higher than all the planets — but the *sun* is called *highest* by reason of its *highest purity, actuality* and

*luminosity;* whence it is, according to Isidore, « as it were alone shining ». This is the eternal wisdom, which everywhere *reacheth because of her cleanness.* — But it is compared to *a good wife,* not because of anything feminine or effeminate that is in it, but because in the eternal wisdom there is the character of fecundity for conceiving, producing and bringing forth whatever belongs to the universality of laws. For all the exemplar reasons are conceived from eternity in the womb or matrix of the eternal wisdom, and most of all those of predestination. Whence, because from eternity it *conceived* the reasons of predestination, it cannot but love us; and as from eternity it conceived, so in time it *produced* or bore, and afterwards, suffering in the flesh, it *travailed.* And the understanding can understand this, and it has the highest contemplation.

6. This consideration, therefore, is of that *most pure being;* and it is most pure because *most simple,* and most simple because *supremely one.* Therefore it is said to Israel, to the contemplative man: *Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one*. — Likewise the contemplative soul is understood through that woman; and contemplative souls are called *daughters of Jerusalem,* because *shapely* and *fruitful.* And shapeliness is fecundity, because the more lights they conceive, the more shapely they are; whence: *Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God*. Whence through purity, not through reasoning, must one enter into contemplation. And therefore *his converse is with the simple;* who have minds pure, not blinded through supervening malice. Souls, therefore, which are *shapely* and *fruitful* are called *daughters of Jerusalem* and are understood through *the sun* by reason of shapeliness, and through *the woman* by reason of fecundity.

7. Second, it is compared to *the sun* because of the brightness of *resplendent limpidity;* where there is greater brightness, there is greater clarity and limpidity; whence Ecclesiasticus: *The sun, giving light, hath looked upon all things, and full of the glory of the Lord is his work.* Whence Gregory: « What is there that they should not see, who see him that seeth all things »? — The soul of blessed Benedict was rightly contemplative, which saw the whole world in one ray of the sun. He himself had not studied much nor had he books, because in his thirteenth year he had left the world and lay hidden among the thickets with the beasts, like a wild creature; whence the shepherds even believed him to be a wild beast. And, as Gregory says, the world was not narrowed into one ray of the sun, but his mind was enlarged, who saw all things in him by whose greatness every creature is narrow and small and slight. Whence in Wisdom: *As the least grain of the balance is the whole world before thee, and as a drop of the morning dew.* Of this resplendence, in the book of Wisdom: *For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars; being compared with the light, she is found before it.*

8. Consider that in the contemplative soul the whole *world* is described, and every heavenly *spirit,* which has in itself the whole world described; there is described also the *supersubstantial ray*, which contains both the whole world and every spirit. Therefore in the contemplative soul there are wonderful lights and a wonderful beauty. So then the *world,* beautiful from the highest to the lowest, from the beginning to the end, described in the soul, makes a mirror; and every spirit is a mirror: and so in the soul there is a wonderful numerousness, the highest order, the highest proportionality. Beautiful, therefore, is the universality of *spirits,* because as often as there shines in the soul thus the disposition of the world and of the blessed spirits and of the supersubstantial ray, so often is there in it a wonderful refulgence; and from this it is *more beautiful than the sun.* Again, the *ray,* which contains every disposition and represents all contemplations, is in the soul, and in it the soul is absorbed through the transformation of the mind into God; and therefore the soul is above *all the order of the stars.*

9. Third, this consideration is compared to *the sun's light* because of the brightness of *the life-giving enkindling.* For the sun's ray is for giving life, not for consu-

ming, save by accident and by reason of some disposition. Of this enkindling heat Ecclesiasticus: *The sun in his aspect, showing forth at his going out, an admirable vessel, the work of the Most High. At noonday he burneth the earth, and in the sight of his burning heat who shall be able to abide? Thrice as much the sun burning the mountains, breathing out fiery beams, and shining with his rays he blindeth the eyes.* — He means to say that, when that sun is looked upon, that sun so shows forth the things that are with him and in him, and rises above the hemisphere of our mind, which *at noonday burneth, and in the sight of his burning heat none shall be able to abide.* — For souls not lifted up are as it were in *winter;* but those which are raised to a middling contemplation are as it were in *spring;* but those which are raised to ecstatic transports are as in *summer* and take the *autumn* fruits, because they rest. For then, in *autumn,* they gather the fruits and keep and celebrate the solemnities in autumn. But where does he burn at noon? When he is at his greatest strength, that is, in heaven.

10. For this is perfect contemplation; and those enkindlings and burnings which that sun sends into those souls that have mental transports, no one can explain. For if, according to the Apostle, the *groanings* are *unspeakable* with which *the Spirit asketh for us,* what are the transports? what the burnings? Whence: *Which of you shall be able to dwell with everlasting burnings?* — And truly *the sun burneth threefold,* because the eternal sun irradiates and enkindles that *hierarchic* earth and this *human* one with a threefold or triform love, and bears both upward into God: *the former* through *holding, vision* and *fruition; the latter* through *charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith*; the hierarchy, I say, the heavenly one, set in place according to the three hierarchies.

11. But how is it that this ray *blindeth,* when rather it ought to *illumine*? But this blinding is the highest illumination, because it is in the sublimity of the mind, beyond the searching of the human intellect. There the intellect *is darkened,* because it cannot search out, because it transcends every searching power. There is, therefore, there an inaccessible darkness, which nevertheless illumines the minds that have lost their curious searchings. And this is what the Lord said, that he dwells *in a cloud;* and in the Psalm: *He made darkness his covert.*

12. This, then, is the luminous consideration of the heavenly hierarchy. For these three, therefore, it is called *the sun.* Of this may be taken what is written in the first book of Machabees: *The sun shone upon the shields of gold, and the mountains glittered from them like lamps of fire.* The *shields* are the eternal reasons of the eternal predestinations, which have the character of armour and the character of incorruptible brightness. *The eternal sun,* namely the eternal wisdom, *shineth upon the shields,* when God lifts up the contemplative mind to take in the brightness of the eternal truth and of those reasons; and *the mountains glitter,* because that sun through those reasons, as through shields of gold, illumines the *mountains,* that is, the spirits established in eternity and in sublimity, who receive first the *eastern* rays by a primary infusion, the *southern* by a perfect illustration, the *western* by a final retention. These rise threefold from the sun and shine *like lamps of fire,* because there is there the greatest enkindling. And in this is the whole account of contemplation, because never does a shining ray come in contemplation but that it is also enkindling. And therefore in the Canticle Solomon speaks after the manner of love and after the manner of a song, because to those brightnesses one cannot come save through love.

13. Likewise, contemplation consists in the luminous consideration of *the Church militant.* This consideration is understood through the *moon's* light; for he who knows not this can comprehend nothing. Whence the heaven is not adorned unless it have *a greater light* and *a lesser light*. Whence John saw *the city Jerusalem* not only standing, but even *descending from God,* formed and adorned. For as the sun's ray through the moon illumines the night, so the divine ray through the Church illumines the contemplative soul itself. For the divine ray in the *heavenly* hierarchy has no shadow, as the sun's light has no darkness in itself or in its source; but in the moon, which has darkness, it is not simply clear. So it is in the Church militant, in which the ray is in figures and in enigmas. — But the Church militant is compared to *the moon* because of the *half-dark* or symbolic refulgence, because of the *transporting* or ecstatic refulgence, and because of the *ordered* refulgence.

14. The first *refulgence,* then, in the Church is *symbolic,* through the symbols of the Sacraments and of the figures, through which the Church runs its course from the beginning to the end. Of this Ecclesiasticus: *The moon in all things in her season, a declaration of times and a sign of the world.* He says, then, that the moon is the manifestation of the times and after the manner of a signing; and this is in the Church through symbols; because « otherwise it is not possible for the divine ray to shine

upon us, save as anagogically veiled round about with a variety of sacred veils », according to Dionysius.

15. Whence we can see the moon, not the sun, because the sun's ray is tempered to us through the moon. So the ray of eternity cannot be gazed upon in itself; but if we gaze upon that ray as it is in the Church, veiled through the Sacraments and the figures, we can gaze upon it, which shows us the things that have been *done,* the things *to be done,* the things that *are in eternity:* the things that have been *done,* through allegory; the things *to be done,* through tropology; the things *in eternity,* through anagogy. For we understand in some manner the doctrine of the figures, of which the old testament and the new also is full; as appears through the Apostle, that the passion of Christ was both *truth* and *figure,* and likewise the *resurrection.* — And therefore the figures are not yet explained; but when the moon shall be full, then there will be the opening of the Scriptures, and the book will be opened, and the seven seals will be loosed, which are as yet not opened. — Believe me, then we shall see as it were by a full moon, when our lion of the tribe of Juda shall rise and open the book, when the passions of Christ shall be consummated, which now the body of Christ suffers. For a Herod must arise, under whom Christ shall be mocked, and Peter imprisoned.

16. Likewise, it is compared to the moon because of the *transporting refulgence.* Ecclesiasticus: *From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that decreaseth in her consummation. The month is called after her name, increasing wondrously in her consummation.* He says two things of the moon: both that it wondrously *increases* in its consummation and wondrously *diminishes.* And this is true whether in *conjunction* with the sun or in *opposition:* in *opposition* it comes about thus; for when it is in full opposition to the sun, then it is farther from him than it can be, and then it is less illumined according to truth than at any other time whatsoever. — And this is proved thus. There is a rule in perspective, that when a luminous body is greater than the opaque spherical body which it illumines, then the nearer body approaches to body, the more is the opaque body illumined, because the base of the luminous body is greater, and the angle of the rays greater; but when it is farther off, then the angle is smaller, and the base attains less of the opaque body. But when it is in full opposition, then it is at the greatest distance: therefore then it is less illumined according to truth, but more according to appearance, because then it is called *a full moon.*

17. Likewise, at *conjunction* it is the contrary, because, since it is at the greatest nearness that it can be, then it is more illumined according to truth and less according to appearance, because then we see nothing of the moon. — Therefore, whether the *consummation* be understood in respect of *opposition* or in respect of *conjunction,* both are true: both that it *wondrously increases* and *wondrously diminishes in the consummation.*

18. The moon, which *increases* and *diminishes,* signifies man in the *active* and the *contemplative* life, as does the morning star, which sometimes goes before the sun, and then signifies the *contemplative* life; and sometimes follows, and then signifies the *active* life. — This moon is the Church, giving itself to contemplation and to action. When it gives itself to contemplation, then it is supremely illumined with heavenly brightnesses; but when it gives itself to action, then it is less illumined; and no man lives who is not diminished when he gives himself to action, except Christ, who was perfect both in action and in contemplation. Whence no wise man ever came down to action, above all to the action of those who preside, save by a certain necessity; because, according to Gregory in the Pastorals, « he who abounds in virtues comes unwillingly, but he who lacks virtues comes not even when compelled ». Why? because from this that light is diminished which is of the greatest illumination, namely of contemplation.

19. But on the contrary, as the bride desires the bridegroom, and matter form, and the base the beautiful; so the soul desires to be united through the transport of contemplation; and then, when the hemisphere of the soul is wholly full of lights, then the man outwardly becomes wholly deformed, then the man becomes without speech. Whence then that word in the Canticle has its truth: *Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath discoloured me,* because then it is most of all joined to the inward illuminations; whence in Exodus: *Since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am become of a more hindered and a slower tongue.* Likewise Jacob, that is, Israel, a strong man, was strengthened in wrestling with the Angel, yet the sinew of his thigh shrank, and he was made lame, because this contemplation makes

the soul appear vile to men, when it is joined to the highest sun. — This is Esther, who seeks not women's ornament, but is content with natural beauty and seeks not those harlot's adornings. — And he said: for I say to you that never can he who wishes to appear come to contemplation.

20. Third, it is compared to the moon because of the *ordered refulgence.* Ecclesiasticus: *The vessel of the camps shineth in the firmament of heaven;* it is said of the moon. For all things which are in the Church are, by reason of order, *ordered* and robust or indissipable and *joyous.* — Because of the first it is said: *The vessel of the camps in the firmament of heaven,* because it is *terrible as an army set in array*. *What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps?* Because this whole order is for *fighting* against the whole host of enemies. — Likewise, it has *joyousness;* therefore he says *it shineth.* And this is *glory,* which is shapeliness with joyousness; whence also the rich show their glory, going about in the glory of garments and in gladness, as at weddings and feasts.

21. This is the second part of contemplation, namely to consider the Church according as it is *overclothed* with figures and contemplations, and according as it is *illumined by the sun,* and according as it is *ordered for fighting;* and so the moon is had in the firmament of the soul, as it is considered through *symbolic* theology, through *mystical* theology, through theology *properly so called.*

22. The third part of contemplation is in the consideration of *the human mind made hierarchic;* and this is understood *through the stars* or through the light of the stars, which indeed has an *abiding, comely* and *joyous* radiation. The soul which has these three is made hierarchic.

23. Of the *abiding* radiation, which is in the soul made hierarchic, it is said in the book of Judges: *The stars, remaining in their order and course, fought against Sisara.* For as the stars are fixed in heaven, so must the contemplative be fixed and abiding, not wavering, nor having tremulous eyes, but eagle's eyes. Whence Dionysius: He that has eyes, namely of the searching of reason, must be fixed, abiding with a starry fixity. But he does not abide unless he have a *course* and an *order,* the order, namely, of the hierarchic degrees and of the virtues, and afterwards run unceasingly through them *from virtue to virtue*; and this is to fight against the devil. For a mind fixed in the stability of the hierarchic degrees and of the virtues is not idle, but the man *sleeps* outwardly and *watches* inwardly; and this belongs to men of vigour, established unweariedly. These considerations make souls robust.

24. Likewise, it has a *comely* radiation. Whence Ecclesiasticus: *The beauty of heaven is the glory of the stars. The heavens* are the heavenly souls, beautiful, comely; but in the *glory of the stars,* namely in the glorious refulgence, which consists in a comely consideration. Whence it must be abiding in God, growing *from virtue to virtue,* so that it may attend most attentively to those brightnesses, so that, if it sleep, its heart may watch clear-sightedly. For there are many who love beauty; but beauty is not in outward things, but only the image of it; the true beauty, however, is in that beauty of wisdom.

25. Third, it is likened to the light of the stars because of the *joyous* radiation. Baruch: *The stars have given light in their watches and rejoiced; they were called and they said: Here we are; and with joyousness they have shined forth to him that made them.* To these the soul is compared, when it is called by God through inspiration, and itself runs through desire; in the Psalm: *I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven;* because from the joy in those illuminations is born *a light that never faileth.* The Psalm: *Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast founded;* which shine with an *abiding, contemplative* and *hierarchic* radiation; but it must be with strength, with comeliness, with joyousness. Whence in the Canticle: *Thou art beautiful, my love, sweet and comely:* because *joyous,* therefore *sweet;* because *comely,* therefore *beautiful;* because *abiding,* therefore *terrible as an army set in array.*

26. God, therefore, made on the fourth day the sun and the moon and the stars, because God gave to the soul that it should have the consideration *of itself* and *of the Church militant* and *of the hea-*

*venly monarchy.* In the Canticle: *Who is she that cometh up as the morning rising, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in array. The morning* is when it rises to the consideration *of itself; the moon,* to the consideration *of the Church militant; the sun,* when it is absorbed into God; and from these it is *terrible as an army set in array.*

27. Of the contemplative man it is said, in praise of Simon the son of Onias, in Ecclesiasticus: *As the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full in her days shineth, and as the sun when it shineth; so did he shine in the temple of God, as the rainbow shining among the clouds of glory.* — *A star,* in the consideration *of his own adornment,* but *in the midst of a cloud* because of humility, which is necessary to the contemplative man; let him not be as Lucifer, but rather let him say: *For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord; O my God, enlighten my darkness*. — *As the moon,* through the consideration *of the Church militant,* considering its beginning, its middle and its end. Whence illumination is not had save when the Church is considered according to its own times; Rachel shall yet conceive and bring forth, and Benjamin shall be born. — *As the sun he shone,* namely when it is raised in the contemplation of God. — And then it is like *a full moon,* when it receives those most beautiful and resplendent splendours from that resplendent light; and then such a soul is *as a rainbow,* because a reconciler of God and man, as Moses bore the lights from God to the people.

28. Of this John in the Apocalypse: *I saw a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.* The first vision is of the candlesticks and of the son of man and of the seven stars; the second, of the seven seals; the third, of the Angels sounding the trumpet; the fourth, when *the temple was opened, and a great sign appeared* concerning the woman clothed. In the first is manifested the brightness of the order of *those who preside;* in the second, the brightness of *those who fight,* as of the martyrs; in the third, the brightness of *those who teach,* through the blast of the trumpet; in the fourth, the brightness of *those who contemplate,* who have the sun and the moon and the stars. — From the consideration of the heavenly monarchy it is *clothed with the sun,* because that is the principal thing. — But when the soul comes down to the consideration *of the Church militant,* it has *the moon under its feet,* not for treading upon, but because it founds and supports itself upon the Church. For the soul is not contemplative unless it be supported by the Church as upon a base. — After the consideration *of the hierarchic illuminations* it is as it were having *twelve stars. The stars* are the twelve mysteries to be unsealed, which are signified through the twelve signings in time to come, which are the signings of the elect.

29. Note that the twelve signings are under *the sixth seal* and under *the sixth Angel*, and the measuring of the city and the showing of the city and the opening of the book; and to the sixth Angel, namely of Philadelphia, which is interpreted, *preserving the inheritance,* it was said concerning *the key of David,* and of whom it is said: *He that shall overcome, I will write upon him my name and the name of the city of the new Jerusalem* — see, that he had not yet made mention of the city — that is, I will give the knowledge of the Scriptures to that sixth Angel; but *his belly shall be made bitter, and in his mouth it shall be sweet as honey.* And this order is understood through John, to whom it was said: *So I will have him to remain till I come.*

30. And he said that by the malignities of those who bark it must needs be fulfilled in this sixth age, in which God made *man to his own image and likeness*. And he added: *See your vocation,* for it is great. And he said that by their malignities God *will give judgment to the poor,* that they may be *judging the twelve tribes of Israel;* and in this life contemplation is due to such men. Contemplation cannot be save in the highest simplicity; and the highest simplicity cannot be save in the greatest poverty; and this belongs to this order. The intention of blessed Francis was to be in the highest poverty. — And he said that we have gone far back from our own state, and therefore God permits us to be afflicted, that through this we may be brought back to the state which ought to have the land of promise. Great things

did God promise to Israel, and great men out of them were chosen, as his Apostles. — The Jews were blinded, these were illumined; but they gave themselves to the flesh; some wish to give the purses to Christ. — Note also that few entered the land of promise; and they *who melted the heart of the people* did not enter in.

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