Dist. 3, Part 1, 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/3/q/bon-sent-III-d3-p1-a2-q2
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### Question II. *Whether in the first sanctification the tinder of concupiscence was extinguished in the Virgin.*

Secondly it is asked whether in the first sanctification the tinder of concupiscence was extinguished in the Virgin. And that it was, it seems:

1. In Luke, chapter one, it is said to her by the Angel: *Hail Mary, full of grace;* therefore, before the coming of the Son of God she was filled with grace and full of divine love; but where there is concupiscence in any way, there the grace of God cannot be full: it seems therefore that in the Virgin's first sanctification the tinder of concupiscence was entirely extinguished.

2. Likewise, wherever there is the tinder, there is a necessity toward some venial sin: therefore, since there was in her no necessity of sinning, because in her there was no fault; therefore it seems that the tinder of concupiscence was entirely extinguished in her.

3. Likewise, the tinder renders him in whom it is difficult toward the good; but in the blessed Virgin there was no difficulty toward the good: therefore it seems that after the first sanctification there did not remain in her the vice of concupiscence.

4. Likewise, if *so much* grace lessens the tinder, and a greater grace lessens it more, and a perfect grace simply extinguishes it; but to the glorious Virgin in her very sanctification perfect grace was first conferred: therefore concupiscence was entirely extinguished in her.

**On the contrary:** 1. Damascene says, and it is had in the text: « After the Virgin's consent the Holy Spirit came upon her beforehand according to the word which the Angel had said to her, purifying her »; but he did not purify her from fault: therefore he purified her from the consequence of original sin; but this is the tinder of concupiscence: therefore, etc.

2. Likewise, the Master in the text: « Mary too the Holy Spirit, coming beforehand, wholly purified and freed from the tinder of sin, either by entirely extinguishing the tinder itself, or by attenuating it »; this he says of the second sanctification: therefore before it the tinder was not extinguished.

3. Likewise, Bernard in a certain homily: « In the Virgin's purpose it was to flee the company of all men, lest the silence of her prayer should be disturbed, or her virginal chastity be tempted »: therefore it seems that, an occasion having been taken from without, depraved concupiscence could be aroused in her: therefore it was not entirely extinguished.

4. Likewise, if the tinder of concupiscence had been entirely extinguished in her, then the second sanctification would not have been opportune: if therefore it was opportune, it seems that something of the tinder of concupiscence remained in her.

### Conclusio

> In the first sanctification of the blessed Virgin the tinder was lulled to sleep, but in the second it was extinguished.

**Respondeo:** It must be said that concerning this question there is a threefold manner of speaking.

For some have wished to say that neither in the first nor in the second sanctification was the tinder of concupiscence extinguished in her, but only lulled to sleep according to more and less: because the tinder has its cause in the flesh; whence it does not have a direct opposition to grace according to essence, but according to inclination: therefore, if the grace is great, the tinder inclines less, although by that grace its essence is not destroyed. Since therefore in the Virgin the grace was great in the first sanctification and very great in the second; hence it is that in the first it was lulled to sleep, and in the second more lulled to sleep, although it was not entirely extinguished or emptied out. — But since the flesh of Christ was taken from the flesh of the Virgin, and in Christ too there was no concupiscence of the tinder; since the flesh of Christ ought to be assimilated to the flesh of the Virgin after the Virgin's sanctification, just as the flesh of others is assimilated to the flesh of their parents; it seems that the Holy Spirit, coming a second time upon her, utterly extinguished the tinder. And thus the aforesaid opinion does not seem to have probability.

The second manner of speaking is that both in the first and in the second sanctification the tinder was extinguished in her, but in one way and another. For in the first it was extinguished insofar as it regards the person; in the second, insofar as it regards the nature. In the first sanctification, therefore, she was cleansed so that she might never sin; but in the second she was cleansed so that she might send forth the seed of holy offspring without sin, not only mortal, but also venial. In the first sanctification too the tinder was extinguished insofar as it renders one prone to evil; in the second, insofar as it renders him difficult toward the good. — But this is difficult to understand, because by this very fact, that we are prone to evil, we are difficult toward the good. How then can it be extinguished as to proneness to evil, while it remains as to difficulty toward the good? — Again, how can it be understood that the tinder can be extinguished insofar as it regards the person, and yet not be extinguished insofar as it regards the nature, since there is one tinder there, thus compared in diverse ways, and extinction means the eradication of the tinder itself? It does not seem in every way intelligible how the tinder is extinguished in the first sanctification, and yet nonetheless remains with respect to the propagating of offspring. For if it is extinguished, then it does not remain in any way, unless perhaps one take extinction in a broad sense for the removal of the inclination to evil with respect to the person in whom it is. And thus perhaps the aforesaid position is understood, which I believe to be sufficiently probable and reasonable.

But the third manner of speaking is, namely, that in the first sanctification the tinder was lulled to sleep in the Virgin; in the second it was extinguished and eradicated. For the tinder is rooted in the flesh and ascends up to the mind. In the first sanctification of the Virgin so much grace of perfection was conferred that it overflowed into her sensuality in such abundance that it so repressed the tinder that it never had any effect toward inciting. But in the second sanctification — in which the Holy Spirit not only descended into the mind, but also into the flesh, and worked from the flesh, marvelously fashioning from it flesh without stain — he left her flesh immaculate, rooting out from it both the tinder and all concupiscence. And this is what the words of Bernard, the Master, and Damascene convey, as is plain in the authorities adduced in opposition. — Whence the reasons proving that in the first sanctification the tinder was not entirely extinguished are to be granted.

*To 1.* To that which is objected, that the Virgin Mary was full of grace in the first sanctification; it must be said that she was full in one way in the first sanctification, in another in the second. In the first she was full, according to what was expedient for merit; in the second, according to what was expedient for conceiving the Son of God. And therefore the first sanctification regarded the Virgin according to the soul; but the second regarded the Virgin wholly, according to what the Master says: « Mary wholly the Holy Spirit, coming beforehand » etc.

*To 2. 3.* To that which is objected, that the tinder impels to a necessity of sinning venially, and to a difficulty toward the good; it must be said that this is true where the tinder is in its vigor, where it is not repressed by a grace moving toward the contrary; and therefore it has no place in the Virgin, where there was perfect grace, calming her soul and her powers. And thus the response to those two is plain.

*To 4.* To that which is objected concerning the perfection of grace, it must be said that grace, which directly regards the soul, lessens the tinder as to inclination, but it is not necessary that it lessen it as to the root; and therefore it does not follow that by the perfection of that grace the tinder of concupiscence is uprooted, but only that its inclination is lulled to sleep. And this indeed must be granted as true.