Dist. 13, Art. 2, 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/3/d/13/q/bon-sent-III-d13-a2-q2
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### Article II. *On the grace of the Head.*
### Question II. *Whether the grace of the Head is other than the grace of the singular person and of the union.*

Secondly, inquiry is made about the grace of the Head with respect to its difference, namely whether it is other than the grace of the singular person and the grace of the union. And that it is other, it seems.

1. Commonly, according to the doctors, in Christ a difference of grace is wont to be posited, namely the grace of the singular person, the grace of the union, and the grace of the Head: if therefore the division ought to be made through opposites, or at least through disparates, it seems that this difference of grace is distinct from the others.

2. Likewise, the grace of the Head is communicated to others; but the grace of the singular person, or of the union, Christ does not communicate to others, because they regard him alone: therefore they are different graces.

3. Likewise, that it is other than the grace of the singular person, it seems, because, granted that the humanity be separated from the divinity, nevertheless the grace of the singular person still remains; but the grace of the Head does not remain, nor the grace of the union: therefore the grace of the Head differs from the grace of the singular person.

4. Likewise, that it is other than the grace of the union, it seems, because the grace of the union had neither being nor efficacy except in the fullness of times, whereas the grace of the Head had its effect in the Saints from the beginning: therefore it is necessary that they differ from one another.

**On the contrary:** 1. In a single soul there is one grace making-pleasing, just as there is one life: therefore if the soul of Christ is one, either the grace of the Head is not grace-making-pleasing, or it does not differ from the grace of the union and of the singular person. But it is grace-making-pleasing: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the habit of knowledge by which one knows in himself, and by which he is able to teach others as a master, is the same: therefore by parity of reasoning the habit of grace by which one is perfected in himself and united to God, and by which he flows into the members and is united to them, is the same; but the first habit of grace is called the grace of the singular person and of the union, while the second is called the grace of the Head: therefore the grace of the Head and of the union are one grace with the grace of the singular person.

3. Likewise, that man is Head of the Church by the very fact by which he is assumed by the Word into unity of person; but this is through the grace of the union: therefore the grace of the union and of the Head are one grace. The minor is manifest; the major is proved through what is said to the Ephesians, first chapter: *Him he gave as head* etc.; the Gloss: «No greater gift could God bestow on men than that he should make his Word, through which he founded all things, their head, so that he might be the Son of God and the Son of man, one God with the Father, one man with men». From this it is expressly had that that man is Head by that whereby he was assumed by the Word of God into unity of person.

4. Likewise, «what is said by superabundance belongs to one alone»; but «the grace of the union is the highest grace», as Augustine says in the thirteenth book *On the Trinity*, and as is had at the beginning of the preceding distinction: «In things arisen through time» etc.; the grace of the Head is the highest, as is had in the authority cited above: therefore the grace of the Head does not differ from the grace of the union.

5. Likewise, that neither [is it other] than the grace of the singular person, it seems: for Christ is Head according to that grace, according to which there is in him the integrity and perfection of the senses; and this is according to the grace of the singular person: therefore etc.

6. Likewise, Christ is Head according to that grace according to which he made satisfaction for us and merited for us that grace, as to motion and sense, should be derived to us; but this was according to the grace of the singular person, since the merit is regarded with respect to it: therefore the same as before.

> **Conclusion.** The grace of the Head, according to diverse comparisons, either differs from the grace of the union and of the singular person, or is the same, but as a habit does not import another habit, but other comparisons.

**I respond:** For an understanding of the foregoing it must be noted that the grace of the singular person properly names a habit according to which the soul is like God and acceptable. But the grace of the union is said in three ways, as was said above. For in one way the grace of the union is called the grace that makes the union; and thus it names the divine essence, which alone is the cause of that union. In another way the grace of the union is called the grace disposing to the union by congruity; and thus it names a created quality, namely a habit of the soul. In a third way the grace of the union is said, that is, the union itself freely made; and thus it names the relation itself.

According to this it must also be understood that the grace of the Head can be taken in these three ways. In one way it can name the effective principle of sense and of spiritual motion in the members of Christ; and thus it names God himself and, by appropriation, the Holy Spirit. In another way it names that which disposes, by way of merit and preparation, to the influx of motion and sense with respect to any member whatever; and thus it names the habit of Christ's soul, through which Christ merited for us. In a third way the grace of the Head can be called the gratuitous presidency itself, which God freely made when he set his Word over us, as a head over members. In all these ways, in diverse authorities of the Saints and in Glosses, the grace of the Head is found to be taken.

If therefore the grace of the Head and of the union names the effective principle of that conjunction and of our spiritual sanctification; thus they name the same thing and are the same as to their principal signification, namely God himself, or the Holy Spirit; and there is a difference only as to the connotation, because the grace of the union connotes an effect about Christ, the grace of the Head an effect about the members of Christ; and they differ from the grace of the singular person, as the uncreated from the created, as the divine essence from the habit of grace which it infuses. — But if the grace of the union and of the Head be called the gratuitous union and presidency itself; thus they are diverse relations and comparisons, which nevertheless are not founded upon one thing and another, but upon the same. For that man is Head of other men by the very thing by which he is united to the Word of God. And in this way the grace of the union and of the Head differs from the grace of the singular person, as that to which a disposition is ordained differs from the disposition itself. For the grace of the singular person by its perfection renders that nature fit to be united to God, and through this is set before the other Saints, as a head over the members. — But if the grace of the union and of the Head be called a habit disposing to the union and to the making-sensible of others, as the grace of the singular person is called a habit making the soul's assimilation to God; in this way this threefold grace is not threefold by reason of a diversity of habits, but by reason of the diverse comparison of the same habit. For that habit is called the grace of the singular person, inasmuch as it disposes to assimilation to God and inasmuch as it makes the soul deiform, and through this very thing it consequently disposes to the personal union, and is called the grace of the union; and consequently through this very thing it disposes to the redundance or influx of motion and sense into the other members of Christ, and thus it is called the grace of the Head. — And thus it is plain that the grace of the Head, inasmuch as it is a habit, does not differ from the grace of the singular person, or of the union, according to a diversity of habits, but according to a multiplicity of comparisons. — Hence the reasons for this side are to be granted.

1. To that, then, which is first objected to the contrary, that in Christ a grace is posited according to a threefold difference; it must be said that that division is not given on the basis of a difference of grace as to a diversity of habits, but as to a diversity of comparisons and respects, or of effects following one upon another, which do not essentially diversify the habits.

2. To that which is objected, that the grace of the Head is communicated; it must be said that the grace of the Head is not communicated to others in such a way that it is to them the grace of the Head, but in such a way that it has efficacy about others; and this indeed without doubt belongs to the grace of the singular person and of the union, since by reason of it he merited for us and made satisfaction for us. But although the grace of Christ, said in whatever way, has efficacy in us, nevertheless its efficacy in us is not given to be understood under whatever name, but only through this name, which is the grace of the Head. For thus it is named on account of the virtue and efficacy of influencing.

3. To that which is objected, that the grace of the singular person would remain if the assumed nature were laid aside, but not the grace of the Head; it must be said that this is true; but from this it does not follow that the grace of the Head differs from it by essence; but it is true that it states a certain comparison and efficacy, which, I say, would not be found after the separation. For the grace of the Head, which is regarded in the influx and presidency of Christ with respect to others, in the natural order presupposes the union, by reason of which that man ineffably surpasses the rest.

4. To that which is objected, that the grace of the union has efficacy only at the end of times; it must be said that if the efficacy of the grace of the union be regarded in this, that it renders the soul of Christ fit for the union, it is true that it had efficacy only in the fullness of times. But if the efficacy of the grace of the union be regarded inasmuch as it is believed by others, who are justified through that faith, thus it had efficacy from the beginning, and by this very thing it can be called the grace of the Head. And thus it is plain that the grace of the Head, according to one of its acceptations, which is more common, according to the essence of the habit does not differ from the others, but only according to comparison, as has been seen.