Dist. 10, Art. 1, Q. 2
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/2/d/10/q/bon-sent-II-d10-a1-q2
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### Question II. *Whether it belongs to all the Angels to be sent.*

Secondly it is asked whether it belongs to all the Angels to be sent. And it seems that it does not.

*The grounds.* 1. Daniel, chapter seven: *Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten times* etc.: therefore there a distinction is made between those who minister and those who stand by: therefore it does not belong to all to minister, therefore neither to be sent.

2. Likewise, Dionysius in the book *On the Angelic Hierarchy*: «Those upper hosts never withdraw from the innermost things, since those which are preeminent never have the use of an outward office».

3. Likewise, it seems [so] by reason. The act of ministering is farther distant from the act of contemplating than [one] ministry [is] from [another] ministry — and this is plain, because according to the first difference the distinction of hierarchies is made, [and] according to the second the distinction of orders is made — if, then, the ministries are distinguished according to the diverse orders, so that one order does not assume the ministry of another order, it seems that some orders of Angels so attend upon contemplation that they are neither sent nor go out to the completing of ministries.

4. Likewise, the ordering in the angelic hierarchy is greater than [the ordering] in the ecclesiastical [hierarchy]; but in the ecclesiastical [hierarchy] some are so intent on contemplation that [they are] not [intent] on action: therefore much more strongly does it seem [so] in the heavenly Jerusalem: therefore it does not belong to all the Angels to be sent.

*To the opposite.* To the opposite it is argued thus: 1. First, by authority, to the Hebrews, chapter one: *They are all ministering spirits, sent into ministry for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation.*

2. Likewise, Isaiah, chapter six: *There flew to me one of the Seraphim*: therefore someone of the order of the Seraphim was sent to Isaiah the prophet; but it is established that the order of the Seraphim is the highest order: therefore, if that one is sent, it seems that all the others are sent.

3. Likewise, it seems [so] by reason. So greatly did God love our salvation that he sent the Son and the Holy Spirit; but he did nothing except what was fitting: therefore, if mission to us is no derogation to the Son, it seems that it is no derogation to any Angel: therefore it seems to befit all.

4. Likewise, from among men [some] are taken up into all the orders of the Angels: therefore, if every Angel ought to procure the restoration of his own order, and God ought to send [him] for this, it seems that all the Angels are at some time sent to us.

5. Likewise, the eminent charity of the Angels makes them be solicitous about our salvation, and through this come to us by divine command: if, then, in the highest orders there is the greatest charity, it seems that they most of all procure our salvation: therefore God ought most of all to send them to us.

6. Likewise, charity is readier to help than wickedness is to harm: therefore, if we are assailed by the Angels who fell from all the orders, much more strongly does it seem that we are helped by the Angels persisting [in good] from the individual orders: therefore, if they are sent for this, that they may help us, the point is clear, etc.

### Conclusion

> By exterior mission only the lower Angels are sent to us; but by interior mission the higher are sent to the lower, and indeed for our sake.

**I respond:** To this it must be said that, as the Master says in the text, there were diverse opinions on account of the diverse authorities, which seem in this matter to be contrary to one another. Hence some, adhering to certain [authorities] and understanding them according to the letter, but expounding the others, formed for themselves various opinions.

*Opinion 1.* For some said that only the Angels of the lowest hierarchy are sent to us; and they say that Dionysius held this, and that this is not against the Apostle, because that distribution which the Apostle makes is to be understood as being accommodated, when he says: *They are all ministering* etc.; for it is understood of those who are of the lowest hierarchy.

But because this exposition does not accord with the sense and intention of the Apostle — for he wishes here to prove that Christ is nobler than all the Angels, not only the lower but the higher — *Opinion 2.* therefore there is a second opinion, that it belongs to all the Angels to be sent, which relies on that authority of the Apostle. And this opinion says that the word of the Apostle is not contrary to the word of Dionysius, who says that the upper hosts are not sent — either because they are not sent so frequently, or because it does not befit them by office to be sent in the way it does the Angels of the lower hierarchy.

But because this exposition of the word of Dionysius seems to be quite far-fetched — since he himself says that «they never have the use of an outward office» — and since it must be believed as beyond doubt that in this matter both the word of the Apostle and the word of Dionysius are true, *Opinion 3.* therefore there is a third manner of speaking, which by a distinction saves both words and brings [them] back to concord and draws out from the two the express truth. For a distinction must be made in mission. For there is exterior mission, which is to us; and there is interior mission, which is to the Angels, but for our sake. If we speak of exterior mission, *Conclusion 1.* then it does not befit all the Angels, because it does not befit the upper hosts, as Dionysius says, «because those which are preeminent never have the use of an outward office»; in which he signifies that he understands [it] of exterior mission, which is to us. But if we understand [it] of interior mission, which is to the Angels for our sake, *Conclusion 2.* then to be sent befits all, since the higher are sent to the middle, and the middle to the lowest, while by revealing they purge and illuminate the things which are expedient for us; and all this is for our sake; and therefore the Apostle pointedly says: *Sent for the sake of those*; he does not say: *sent to those*. — Therefore the arguments showing that it does not belong to all to be sent to us are to be conceded.

*The solution of the opposing arguments.* 1. And the reply to the word of the Apostle is now plain from what has been said.

2. But to that which is objected from the sixth [chapter] of Isaiah, it must be said that the Angel sent to him is not called one of the Seraphim because he was of the highest order, but because he was being sent to kindle his lips; and this reply is taken from Dionysius in the book *On the Angelic Hierarchy*.

3. To that which is objected — that mission befits the Son, therefore [it befits] any angelic order — it must be said that it does not hold. For mission is either for redeeming and for saving, or it is for ministering. The first is of such great dignity that it can befit no other than God alone; but the second is not of such great dignity that it should befit the highest host.

4, 5, 6. To that which is objected — that all the orders of the Angels will be restored through men — it must be said, both to this and to the two following [arguments], that in truth all the Angels are for our help, and all help us either mediately or immediately, whether in ministering revelations or in conveying and offering our prayers. For while the upper hosts reveal to the lower hosts the things which are necessary for us, and while together with them they intercede for us before God and lay out our petitions to God — not that they may instruct God, but that they may make our petitions, by their fiery affections, acceptable to God, just as advocates by becoming speeches defend and adorn the cause of others — without doubt they furnish us great aid, and so they work toward the restoration of their own orders, and nonetheless they follow the solicitude of charity and more efficaciously help us than the others assail [us].

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