Dist. 9, Art. 1, Q. 5
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/9/q/bon-sent-II-d9-a1-q5
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### Question V. *Whether the assumption of those to be saved is made into each of the orders of Angels.*

Fifthly it is asked concerning the restoration of the orders; and it is asked whether the assumption of those to be saved is made into each of the orders of Angels. And that it is so, [thus] it seems.

1. *The fundamenta.* On that [verse] of the Psalm: *You will appoint them princes over all the earth*, the Gloss says: «He chose the poor, so that he might exalt to the orders of heaven, which are made up of men and Angels».

2. Likewise, on that [verse] of Joshua, chapter one: *Every place which the sole of your foot shall have trodden* etc., the Gloss says: «If I shall have been able to conquer the devil, if I shall have merited that God crush him under my feet, I shall consequently have his place in heaven»: therefore, if the devil was of the most excellent order, as was shown above in distinction six, it seems that man can ascend to the supreme order of Angels.

3. Likewise, the ruin of the Angels must be restored, or the heavenly city will remain incomplete; but it is not restored from angels, because the fall of the angels is irreparable: therefore it will be restored from good men.

4. Likewise, the distinction of the orders comes principally from the gifts of graces; but in this present life we see that some are assimilated to the Seraphim in the use of grace, some to the Cherubim, and so concerning the others: therefore, if God repays each one according to what he has merited, it seems that men ought to be assumed into the diverse orders of Angels, and the orders of the Angels restored from them.

**On the contrary:**
*To the opposing [arguments].* 1. The unity in the heavenly Jerusalem is greater than [the unity] in the Church militant; but now in this present life the order of men does not admit within its unity what is diverse in nature: therefore it seems, since man differs in species from an Angel, that one order ought not to be made up of Angels and men.

2. Likewise, just as *order* denotes a certain difference among those who are of diverse orders, so it posits an agreement among those who are of the same order, which is clear from the very definition of *order*; but man differs more from an Angel than the lowest order differs from the supreme: if therefore an Angel of a superior order and [an Angel] of the lowest cannot be placed in the same order, much less can the same order be made up of men and Angels.

3. Likewise, a body is never raised up to the dignity of a spirit: therefore a human body ought never to be placed where an angelic spirit is placed, since it is always less worthy, however glorious: if therefore those who agree in an order agree in the placement of seats, it seems that the same order cannot be made up of men and Angels.

4. Likewise, an Angel excels the soul in natural capacity; but grace is given to the Angels according to the capacity of their nature, as was said above, and the Master says so in the text: therefore, since grace cannot be given to souls above their capacity, souls and Angels can never be made equal in gratuitous [gifts]: therefore neither can the same order be constituted from them.

### Conclusion

> Just as from each of the orders some have fallen, so also each of the orders will be restored through men.

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing it must be noted, *Two things are noted beforehand.* that, as was said before, two things concur for the perfection of an order, namely nature and grace: nature as the *foundation* and disposition, but grace as the *completion* and consummation. And because a thing is then said to be *in a certain respect* when it is in the disposition alone, [and] then to be *absolutely* when it is in its perfection; since the demons and the Angels agree in their natural [endowments], the demons are sometimes said to have been of the diverse orders of Angels, although they were never fully in any order; hence this is understood *in a certain respect*, not *absolutely*. — *The ground on the part of man.* But because men can be elevated to the eminence of grace and glory in which the Angels are, the same order can be constituted from men and Angels, because, although they do not agree in *nature*, they are nevertheless assimilated and made equal in *this grace*; and in this manner the ruin of the Angels is repaired. — *An objection.* And if you object that there cannot be conformity in perfection where there is no agreement in the antecedent disposition; it must be said that this has no place in the matter at hand, because that is true of the disposition of necessity, but not of the disposition of mere congruity. — *Conclusion.* It must therefore be granted that, just as from each of the orders some have fallen, so also each of the orders will be restored through men, as the first arguments show.

*Solution of the opposing [arguments].* 1. To that, then, which is objected to the contrary — that man does not admit a thing of another species into the ecclesiastical unity — it must be said that it is not alike, because man can find no animal like himself in a conformity of reason; but man and Angel agree in the participation of reason, and, what is more, in the deiformity of glory. And therefore they can come together into the same fellowship and into the order of the same fellowship, since the unity of wills is greater than [that] of faces and contributes more to the preserving of the unity of peace and of fellowship and of order.

2. To that which is objected — that man differs more from an Angel etc. — it must be said that this is true of the difformity which is opposed to the unity of nature; but it is not true of the difformity which is opposed to the unity of grace in state and dignity; and the unity of an order regards the latter more than the former. And therefore that [argument] is not valid.

3. To that which is objected — that a body is not raised up to the dignity of a spirit — it must be said that this is true; but nevertheless from this it does not follow that it ought not to be placed with the Angels. For just as in the state of the way and of merit the soul follows the place of the body and dwells on earth, although it is born to be on high; so, on the contrary, in the state of the fatherland and of reward the body follows the place of the spirit and will be there where the spirit itself is born to be — not for its own sake, but for the sake of that to which it is joined; and therefore it is placed in the same seats with the angelic spirits, to whose dignity the human spirit has been raised up through grace.

4. To that which is objected — that an Angel has a greater capacity than the soul — it must be said that that argument is calumnious, both as to the *greater* and as to the *assumption*. *Note.* For although an Angel exceeds the soul in its natural [endowments] according to the comparison of creature to creature; nevertheless, according to the comparison to the supreme Trinity, of which both Angel and soul are the image, there need be no precellence, since we see human nature exalted rather than angelic — both through the grace of union in Christ, and also through the grace of comprehension in the blessed Virgin. — *A noteworthy explanation.* But suppose that this proposition still held truth, there still remains a doubt regarding the assumption. For when it is said that the Angels received grace according to the capacity of their natural [endowments], it is not to be understood precisely, as though they received so much that they could not receive more, because this could not easily be proved either by authority or by reason; but it is understood thus, that to those having better natural [endowments] more was given of grace than to those having lesser ones, although both these and those could receive more. And from this it does not follow that the human soul cannot ascend to equality with the Angels; on the contrary, it must without doubt be believed that it can, since in Christ and the blessed Virgin we see it to precel.