Dist. 9, Art. 1, Q. 7
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-q7
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### Question VII. *Whether the orders of Angels are only nine, or more.*

Seventhly it is asked concerning those orders of the Angels as to number; and it is asked whether there is a fixed condition in the nine-fold [number], or whether the number is extended as far as the ten-fold [number]. And that it is so, [thus] it seems.

1. *The fundamenta.* As is had in Luke, chapter fifteen, in the parable of the drachma, man is understood by the tenth drachma; but it is not called the tenth drachma except in respect of the nine-fold [number], which is in the Angels: therefore if the tenth drachma has been found again, it seems that to the nine orders a tenth order has been added.

2. Likewise, if an Angel had never sinned, man would have been made and would have come to beatitude; but he would not have been taken up to restore the orders of the Angels: therefore if he were not to lack an order, he would be placed in some order. But whether in one or in several, a further order would be added to the nine orders. If therefore the city Jerusalem has been perfectly restored through Christ, it seems that there is no fixed condition of the orders in the nine-fold [number], but rather that at least a tenth order is added to them.

3. Likewise, the first proportion is found in numbers; and because all things produced are [produced] according to a due proportion, all things are said to be produced according to numerical accounts, both by Augustine and by Boethius. If therefore the city of the supernal Jerusalem is a most perfect city and best proportioned, it seems that the number of its orders and grades will not stop short of that number in which there is perfection and a fixed condition; but this is not the nine-fold [number], but the ten-fold: therefore it seems that it is extended at least as far as the ten-fold [number].

4. Likewise, the most blessed Virgin Mary in the fatherland will not be without an order: since therefore she is above all the orders, she will by herself constitute an order: therefore it seems that there are there more than nine orders.

**To the opposite:**
*To the opposite* it is argued thus: 1. Every order is reduced to some hierarchy; but there are only three hierarchies, as is clear from the sufficiency assigned earlier: the supreme, the middle, and the lowest, and each of them is sufficiently completed by a threefold order: therefore it does not seem that there ought to be more.

2. Likewise, the Trinity is manifested in all creatures according to more and less, but it ought most of all to be manifested in the Blessed; but the number most expressive of the Trinity is that which consists in a trinity reflected upon itself, as are three threes: therefore it seems that in such a number the orders of the Blessed have been instituted by the supreme Trinity.

3. Likewise, the distinction of the orders is according to the gifts of the graces; but there is no gift of grace in men which is not in the Angels: therefore men will constitute no order beyond the orders of the Angels. But those are only nine: therefore it does not seem that a greater number is to be posited.

4. Likewise, if an order of men is posited by itself beyond the orders of the Angels assigned, since in every order of Angels there are [some] of men, then men would be distinguished according to ten grades: therefore it seems that the order in men is of a more perfect number than in the blessed spirits. Which does not seem [right], since they by nature are nearer and more like to God, and on this account ought to be constituted in the most noble perfection of order and number.

### Conclusion

> It seems probable that to the nine orders of the Angels there is added a tenth order, of imperfect men, but [men] saved by the merits of Christ.

**I respond:** It must be said to this that, because the aforesaid arguments are only of *congruity*, and authorities upon this are not found expressed, *To be noted.* upon this matter there are various opinions.

*First opinion.* For some have wished to say that all men would be taken up into the orders of the Angels, and that there would be in that supernal Jerusalem only nine orders: and thus it was fitting that there should be an express configuration to the supramundane hierarchy, which consists in the Trinity; and if the Angels had stood [firm], [men] would have been taken up into their orders, just as they now are taken up. In this, however, there is a difference, that then that taking-up would be only the *beatification* of men, but now it is the *beatification* of men and the *repair*, by a certain equivalence, of the fall of the Angels. Nor do the arguments adduced to this stand in the way, because they are only of *congruity*; nor [does] that which is objected concerning the blessed Virgin, because just as a special privilege is not to be reduced to the common law, so the singular prerogative which is in the blessed Virgin is not to be numbered with the distinction of the orders, which is according to the common law. — *It is probable.* And this opinion seems probable enough.

*Second opinion.* Nevertheless, because the gospel text seems to sound thus, when it calls man the tenth drachma, and Anselm seems to hint at this in the book *On the Fall of the Devil*, it seems to others more probable that men by themselves constitute in common one order, which they call the tenth, in respect of the nine orders of the Angels. For it is not fitting, as they say, that men be taken up into the orders of the Angels, except those who in this life have been like to them. But those are the virgins, who neither are given in marriage nor marry; therefore they say that virgins alone are taken up into the orders of the Angels, and that from these alone is the angelic fall repaired, on account of the fact that virginity is much akin to the Angels. — *It is not proven.* But this position does not seem to be fitting, both because by the tenth drachma not only the corrupt but also virgin men are understood; and also because many corrupt in flesh are preferred to many virgins, as the blessed Mary Magdalene and Peter the apostle are without doubt superior to many other virgins, both male and female.

*Third opinion and conclusion.* And so there is still a third position, that above the nine orders of the Angels a tenth order will be added, [composed] of those who in this life did not attain to so great an excellence of merits as to be exalted into the orders of the Angels; but, saved by the merits of Christ, they hold the tenth grade, just as for their salvation the sun of justice, Christ, descended through ten grades, which was signified in the miracle done for Hezekiah, in the fourth [book] of Kings, chapter twenty. — *The reasons.* And this position seems to be probable enough, both on account of the imperfection of the merits which many have on the way, and also on account of the perfection of the elect as to number, which will be in the supernal Jerusalem. But the greatest perfection consists in the ten-fold [number], as will be said below, when there will be a treatment of the decalogue, or of tithing. And therefore we can sustain this position, because the signification of tithing and the finding of the tenth drachma and the descent of the sun through ten grades and the perfection of the ten-fold [number] itself render it probable.

*Solution of the opposing [arguments].* 1. To that, then, which is objected — that every order is in some hierarchy — it must be said that, just as beyond the angelic hierarchy there is now to be posited an ecclesiastical hierarchy, so beyond those angelic hierarchies it will be [right] to understand that in the tenth grade there is saved at once the account of an order and of a hierarchy: of a hierarchy, I say, by comparison of [its members] to one another, because they will not have an altogether equality; but of an order, by comparison to the superior orders.

2. To that which is objected concerning the express representation of the supreme Trinity, it must be said that, just as a unit added to the nine-fold [number] does not destroy the nine-fold [number], but preserves it and leads it to a more perfect number; so the tenth order, constituted of men, does not take away the representation of the supreme Trinity from the angelic spirits, but, that express representation being preserved, makes for the greater perfection of the supernal city.

3. To that which is objected — that the distinction is according to the gifts of the graces — it must be said that it is not according to the gifts alone, but according to the gifts as to *state*. But below all the states of the orders of the Angels it is still [right] to understand a more lowly state in men, and so a tenth order, although it may come about, from the divine kindness and bounty, that men be made equal in grace to the Angels, to whom they are inferior by nature.

4. To that which is objected — that then there will be a greater perfection in men — it must be said that it is false, because this is not on account of a greater *perfection*, but on account of a greater *removal* from God. For the lowest order of all is the most distant from God, just as the first most of all draws near; and because man is born to be distant from God by more grades than an Angel, although by the divine mercy he has been made more near to Him: therefore he holds the tenth place, so that thus it may be shown that an Angel excels man by nature, [and] it may also be shown none the less how much God has taken man into His inmost being through mercy.