Dist. 2, Part 2, Art. 1, Q. 1
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/2/q/bon-sent-II-d2-p2-a1-q1
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### ARTICLE I.

### *On the nature of the empyrean heaven in itself.*

### Question I. *Whether the empyrean heaven exists, and of what kind it is.*

It is asked, therefore, first concerning the empyrean heaven as to the quality of [its] nature, and it is asked whether the empyrean heaven exists, and, if it exists, of what kind it is. And that it exists, it seems.

1. In every genus the mobile presupposes the immobile, because everything flowing terminates at something fixed; but the body of the starry heaven is mobile: therefore above it of necessity one must posit a further body, which is *immobile*; and this I call the empyrean. *If you say* that [this] is not required, because circular motion is around a place and does not require immobility except on the part of the center; *on the contrary*: the whole heaven moves;

then therefore I ask concerning the outermost surface of the heaven, whether it moves; it is established that [it does] so; but everything mobile is in a place, because «a place would not be sought, were there not motion»: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, in every genus the multiform presupposes the uniform, just as the many presuppose the one; but the starry heaven is multiform: therefore beyond and above it there is a *uniform* body; and this we call the empyrean: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, in every genus in which there is something lowest and something intermediate to posit, there is something highest to posit; but grade in bodies is reckoned according to the grades of the transparent and of light; but a body is found wholly opaque, like earth, and wholly opaque throughout: therefore if there is a completion in bodies, there must be a body wholly and throughout *luminous*; and this I call the empyrean: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, the dwelling ought to correspond to the dweller: therefore since some dark place is owed to the damned, then by the opposite it seems that a bright [place] is owed to the Blessed.

**On the contrary:**

1. That it does not befit the universe that it be a *uniform* body, seems [so], because the principal bodies of the world were created ordered and adorned: therefore since adornment consists in greater distinction and the addition of beauty, it is impossible that that body be uniform.

2. Likewise, light diffuses itself according to every difference of position, therefore upward and downward; but the light of the sun is of the greatest diffusion among the bodies of the world: therefore it diffuses itself upward, since it has no obstacle. Therefore since it does not behave always uniformly — now it illumines one part of the empyrean, now another: therefore that body is not uniform in luminosity, as it seems.

3. Likewise, that it does not befit there to be any *immobile* heaven, seems [so], because every heaven is necessarily of spherical figure, as the Philosopher proves, and the truth of the matter is [so]; but a spherical figure is apt for motion entirely: therefore every heaven, by the very fact that it is a heaven, is mobile: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, what is nearer to the mover moves more quickly and more swiftly; but the highest body is such: therefore not only to be moved, but also to be moved most swiftly, befits it.

5. Likewise, it belongs to [the] nobility in a heaven that it be moved — whence the first orb, namely that of the starry heaven, moves more swiftly, and the reason for this is that it may be assimilated to its mover — but the higher some body [is], the nobler and the more like the mover and the more mobile [it is]: therefore if the empyrean is beyond the firmament, it is therefore not immobile.

### Conclusion

> The empyrean heaven exists, and indeed [it is] uniform, immobile, and perfectly luminous.

**I respond:** It must be said that although the Saints speak little of this heaven, because it is hidden from our senses, and the philosophers [speak of it] still less, nevertheless one must posit that there is an empyrean heaven, as Scripture itself says: *In the beginning God created heaven and earth*. Strabus expounds [this] of the empyrean, and he proves this by the following text, since the firmament and the watery heaven were made on the second day. And Damascene expounds it [thus]: *In the beginning God created heaven*, that is, «without stars, of spherical form».

That heaven must also be posited because a threefold reason of end persuades [it]. One is the *perfection of the universe*, another is on account of the *motion of the firmament*, and the third [and] principal is on account of the *dwelling of blessed man*. And since the end imposes necessity on the things which are for the end, on account of the *perfection* *of the universe* it is necessary that it be *uniform*, because, since [if] it were a non-uniform luminous heaven, were it not uniform, the universe would not be complete. On account of the *motion of the firmament* it must be posited *immobile*, so that the motion of the mobile may take place around the immobile, namely the center, and within a containing immobile and locating [body], namely the empyrean.

On account of the *dwelling of blessed man* it must be posited of perfect *luminosity*, so that the dwelling may be congruous to its dweller. — From these [things], therefore, it is gathered why it was made and of what disposition it is among the other heavens, namely *uniform, immobile, and of perfect luminosity*.

1. To what is objected, that it is not uniform because adorned; it must be said that the light itself, on account of its nobility, is its own adornment; since therefore that body is luminous throughout, it needs no other adornment. — Or it can be said that, just as that [starry] heaven is adorned with *stars*, so this [empyrean is adorned] with the Angels, who are as it were the stars of the empyrean heaven, according to that [text] of Job thirty-eight: *When the morning stars praised me.* And again, its *stars* will be the blessed men, and as it were its *sun* will be the Lamb of God.

2. To what is objected, that the sun diffuses light into the empyrean itself; it must be said that it does not belong to that body to receive light, at least from things below. And the reason for this is the limitation of power on the part of the sun, because nothing acts beyond the term set for it by God. Hence, just as fire stops when it reaches the horizon, nor goes further, and earth [stops] when it reaches the center; so the sun's rays are not extended beyond the firmament, because [the sun] is the lamp of this visible orb. — Another reason is that a greater influence absorbs a lesser one; and therefore so great is the influence of that heaven that a lesser one does not reach it, just as a candle does not illumine the sun.

3. 4. To what is objected, that it is mobile because spherical and near; it must be said that for motion a spherical figure does not suffice, but there is also necessary, as some say, a containing place; and [this] seems reasonable. There is also necessary, without doubt, an effect, or the utility of the mobile or of another. Since therefore that heaven is not in another, and since it is uniform throughout, by its motion it would do nothing; and therefore it is immobile. Likewise, since it is uniform, it does not have [the property] to be moved, because it does not have right and left. — But the first reason concerning immobility does not have much necessity, since circular motion, according to the Philosopher, does not require a place *in which*, but [a place] *around which*. The second, concerning utility, likewise, because the same could be said of the watery [heaven]; in the same way concerning the third. Moreover, right and left are in the heaven not by reason of a diversity of parts, but by reason of the influence of the mover; and that is proved easily enough, because right and left do not change, although all the parts of the heaven change.

And therefore the reason why it does not move is that God infuses nothing into it toward motion, but only toward rest; and just as the influence of God moves the firmament, so it brings the empyrean to rest. — But the reason for this is that that place is a region deputed for those who are in every way in [a state of] stability and rest; and so it is clear that it does not approach the mover more [in so far] as it is *mover*, but [in so far] as it is *stabilizing*. — From this reason, namely because it is [there] so that it may be the place of the Blessed, its threefold property is taken, namely *immobility, uniformity*, and *luminosity*. And this is the more catholic reason, because even the motion of the starry heaven is only on account of the service of wayfaring man; whence, the number of the elect being completed, there will be no further revolution. But the philosophical reasons which are assigned concerning the motion of the heaven, among the faithful have more of vanity than of truth, if one looks diligently.

5. As to what he objects concerning assimilation, it can be answered that that cause is null, but [the cause is] the filling-up of the number of the elect. — Or it must be said that there is an assimilation in *being*, and there is an assimilation in *causing*. The saying of the Philosopher does not have truth in the first way, because God and the mover of the heaven is immobile; but [it has truth] in the second way, because by its motion it is the cause of generation. Since therefore the empyrean would not be assimilated in *causing*, if it were moved, and would be less similar in *being*; therefore it must be said simply that it is immobile. And so all [the objections] are clear.