Dist. 29
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/1/d/29/q/bon-sent-I-d29-littera
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### DISTINCTION XXIX.

#### Cap. I. *On the [name] principle.*

There is, moreover, another name noting a manifold relation, namely *principle*. For *principle* is always said in relation to something. And the Father is called principle, and the Son principle, and the Holy Spirit principle; but in different ways. For the Father is called principle in relation to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Whence Augustine in the fourth book *On the Trinity* says: "The Father is the principle of the whole divinity, or, if it is better said, of the deity, because He Himself is from no one. For He has nothing from which He is or from which He proceeds"; but from Him both the Son is begotten and the Holy Spirit proceeds. He is therefore not called the principle of the whole deity in the sense that He is the principle either of Himself or of the divine essence, but because He is the principle of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in each of whom the whole divinity is. The Son is called principle in relation to the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is not called principle except in relation to creatures; in relation to which also the Father is called principle, and the Son, and the Trinity itself together, and each single person is called the principle of creatures. "The Father therefore is principle without principle; the Son [is] principle from a principle; the Holy Spirit [is] principle from both, that is, from the Father and the Son."

#### Cap. II. *That the Father is from eternity the principle also of the Son, but the Holy Spirit is not [eternally principle].*

And the Father from eternity is the principle of the Son, and the Father and the Son [are] the principle of the Holy Spirit, since the Son is from the Father, and the Holy Spirit from both. But the Holy Spirit is not from eternity a principle, but began to be [principle], because He is not called principle except in relation to creatures. When therefore creatures began to be, the Holy Spirit also began to be the principle of them. Likewise also the Father and the Son began to be, with the Holy Spirit, one principle of creatures, since creatures began to be from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and these three are called not three, but one principle of all creatures, because they are the principle of things in one and the same way. For things are not from the Father in one way and from the Son in another, but altogether in the same way. And so the Apostle, understanding that this Trinity is one principle of things, says: *From Him and through Him and in Him are all things.* "But when we hear that all things are from God," as Augustine says in *On the Nature of the Good*, "we ought to understand all natures whatever, and all things which are naturally. For from Him are not the sins, which do not preserve nature but vitiate it, [and] which are born from the will of those who sin." Of all things therefore which are naturally, the one principle is the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit, and this began to be. But from eternity the Father is the principle of the Son by generation, and the Father and the Son are one principle of the Holy Spirit. Whence Augustine in the fifth book *On the Trinity* thus says: "He is called *Father* relatively, and likewise He is called *principle* relatively. But *Father* is said in relation to the Son, but *principle* in relation to all things which are from Him. And the Son also is called principle. For when it was said to Him, *Who art Thou?*, He answered: *The Principle, who also speak unto you.* But is He then a principle of the Father? Rather, He wished to show Himself to be Creator, when He said that He was a principle, just as the Father is a principle of the creature, since from Him are all things. But when we say both that the Father is a principle and that the Son is a principle, we do not say two principles of the creature, since the Father and the Son together are one principle in relation to the creature, just as [they are] one Creator. But if whatever remains in itself and begets or works something is the principle of that thing which it begets or of that which it works, we cannot deny that even the Holy Spirit is rightly called a principle, since we do not separate Him from the appellation of *Creator*: for it is written of Him that He works, and certainly remaining in Himself He works. For He is not changed and turned into any one of the things which He works. The Holy Spirit therefore is one principle in relation to the creature with the Father and the Son, not two or three principles." Behold, Augustine plainly shows that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one principle of created things, that is, that they are principle in one and the same way; and he sufficiently set forth that way, since namely they all work, and since these three work in like manner, they are therefore called one principle.

#### Cap. III. *How the Father [is] principle of the Son, and He with the Son [is principle] of the Holy Spirit.*

Then in the same book he continuously shows how the Father is called principle in relation to the Son, and He Himself with the Son in relation to the Holy Spirit, saying that the Father is therefore the principle of the Son because He begot Him, and that the Father and the Son are the principle of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit proceeds or is given from both. For he speaks thus: "If the begetter is principle in relation to that which is begotten, the Father is principle in relation to

the Son, since He begot Him. But whether the Father is also principle in relation to the Holy Spirit, since it is said: *He proceeds from the Father*, is no small question. For if it is so, He will now be principle not only of that thing which He begets or makes, but also of that which He gives and which proceeds from Him. If therefore that which is given or which proceeds has a principle from which it is given or proceeds, it must be confessed that the Father and the Son are the principle of the Holy Spirit, not two principles. But just as the Father and the Son are called, in relation to the creature, relatively one Creator and one Lord, so relatively in relation to the Holy Spirit [they are] one principle. But in relation to the creature the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one principle, just as [they are] one Creator and one Lord." Behold, you have it that the Father is called the principle of the Son because He begot Him. By that notion therefore by which He is Father, by that He is called principle of the Son, that is, by generation, according to which He is also called the *author* of the Son. Whence Hilary in the fourth book *On the Trinity* says: "By the very [fact] by which He is called *Father*, He is shown the author of Him whom He begot, having that name [such] that it may be understood neither to have proceeded from another, and from which He who has been begotten is taught to have subsisted," "The Church knows one unbegotten God; she knows the only-begotten Son of God. She confesses the Father free from origin; she confesses also the origin of the Son [to be] from a beginning — not Himself from a beginning, but from One without beginning; not through Himself, but from Him who is from no one — born from eternity, taking, namely, His nativity from the paternal eternity. The profession of faith is here set forth, but the rationale of the profession is not yet expounded"; and therefore [it is] to be sought, namely how it is to be understood, what he says, that the origin of the Son is *from a beginning*, and that He Himself is not *from a beginning*, but from One without beginning. Adding this, he in any case determined how he meant *beginning*, saying that the origin of the Son is from a beginning, as if he said: do not understand it thus, that the origin of the Son is from a beginning, as though the Son Himself has a beginning, but [it means] that He Himself is from One without beginning, that is, from the Father, from whom are all things. For although the Son is principle from a principle, it is nevertheless not to be conceded that the Son has a principle. And although the Son is principle from a principle and the Father is principle, not from a principle, the principle from a principle is not a principle without principle, just as the Son is not the Father; nor yet two principles, but one, just as the Father and the Son [are] not two creators, but one Creator.

#### Cap. IV. *Whether the Father and the Son are principle of the Holy Spirit by the same notion.*

Now the Father and the Son are one principle not only of creatures, as has been said above, but also of the Holy Spirit; therefore it is wont to be asked whether the Father is principle of the Holy Spirit by the same notion as the Son, or whether there is one notion by which the Father is called principle of the Holy Spirit, and another by which the Son [is]. — *To which we say*: since the Father is called principle of the Holy Spirit, and the Son [also is] — because the Holy Spirit proceeds or is given from both, nor does He proceed or is given from the Father otherwise than from the Son — it can soundly be understood that the Father and the Son are called principle of the Holy Spirit by the same relation or notion. — But if it is asked what that notion is which *principle* there denotes, we have no name for it, but it is not paternity itself or filiation, but rather a certain notion which is of the Father and of the Son, by which from eternity the Father and the Son are one principle of the Holy Spirit. But *donor*, as has been said before, is said of the Father or of the Son in time, just as the Holy Spirit [is called] *gift* or *donated*.

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