Dist. 3, Part 1, Art. 2, Q. 3
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-q3
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### Question III. *Whether in the second sanctification the power of sinning was taken from the Virgin.*

Thirdly it is asked, whether in the second sanctification the power of sinning was taken from her. And that it was, it seems:

1. *First*, by Ambrose in the book *On the Virginity of the Blessed Virgin*: « It was impossible that the womb of the Virgin, which the Son of God consecrated by dwelling in it, should be defiled by intercourse of another's union »; but a like account holds of the other kinds of sins: therefore it seems that by no other kind of sin could she be stained after the conception of the Son of God.

2. Likewise, it would be a reproach to Christ if he had a sinful mother: if therefore no affront can be done to Christ, it seems that after his conception there could be no fault in the blessed Virgin.

3. Likewise, if the blessed Virgin could sin, she could persevere in sin, and so she could be damned: if therefore it is altogether impossible that the Mother of God and Queen of heaven be damned in hell: therefore also that from which it follows, namely the thing posited—that she could sin—[is impossible]: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, the Mother of Christ was more worthy from the fact that she was made the Mother of God than is any Angel in heaven: if therefore the good Angels are confirmed in grace, much more also is the Mother of God: therefore etc.

**Sed contra:** 1. Luke, chapter two: *And thy own soul a sword shall pierce*; treating this word Damascene says: « The sorrows which the Virgin escaped in giving birth, these she sustained in the passion of Christ, so that a sword pierced her soul »: therefore her soul was troubled in the passion of Christ, and so disturbed: if therefore she could be disturbed, it seems that she could be drawn to a venial sin.

2. Likewise, Augustine in the *Questions on the New and Old Testament*, treating that text *And thy own soul a sword shall pierce*, says thus: « This indeed signified that Mary, through whom the mystery of the incarnation was accomplished, would doubt, yet would not remain in doubt »: if therefore, after she bore the Son of God, she could doubt in faith, she could sin.

3. Likewise, the power of dying follows upon the power of sinning; but the blessed Virgin Mary could die after the conception: therefore it seems that she could sin.

4. Likewise, the impossibility of sinning belongs to the state of the comprehensor; but the blessed Virgin, from the fact that she bore the Son of God, was not placed outside the state of the wayfarer: therefore it seems that the power of sinning was not taken from her.

### Conclusio

> The blessed Virgin, after the conception of the Son of God, could not sin—not on account of the loss of any power, but on account of the confirmation of her power in the good and the removal of defect.

**Respondeo:** It must be said that in the second sanctification there was given to the Virgin not only sanctifying grace, but also grace confirming her in the good; and this, because she was so joined to her Son that she would in no way allow herself to be separated from him.

On account of which the degrees of the divine benefits are to be noted. For Christ, who was the Holy of Holies, had the faculty of avoiding every sin and the impossibility of committing any sin. But the other sons of men have difficulty in avoiding sin and necessity toward committing it; and this indeed belongs to all who are begotten from the mass of sin. From this mass, then, the Virgin Mary was freed in the first sanctification, and she was freed also in the second; but in the first she was conformed to the others who are sanctified; in the second she was made conformed to the Son whom she bore. — For in the first sanctification there was given to her the power and faculty of avoiding every mortal sin; there was given also the faculty of avoiding the frequency of venial sins; there was given moreover the faculty of avoiding every sin, not only particularly, but also universally. — And in these three degrees the three degrees of sanctifications appear, namely those of John the Baptist, of Jeremiah, and of Mary. For the first condition was Jeremiah's; the second indeed John's; but this triple [condition was] of the Virgin Mary, who came nearer to the purity of the Son by the merit of her life.

But when she bore the Holy of Holies in her womb, then she was sanctified conformably to her Son, not only as to the power for sin, but also as to the impossibility of falling into any sin. Hence, just as it was impossible, on account of the honor of her Son, that she should have another son; so it was impossible that she should ever afterward have sin. Just as it was likewise impossible that the virginity of the flesh in which the Son of God had dwelt should be violated; so it was impossible that the holiness of the mind should be stained by any fault. — To the witness of which avails that which certain Jews assert, that this was a marvel in the Virgin Mary, that, although she was most beautiful, yet she was never coveted by any man. Nor is that testimony of unbelievers to be despised; for it is fitting to have testimony from those who are without.

Therefore the arguments are to be granted which show that the blessed Virgin Mary could not sin after the conception of the Son of God, not on account of the loss of any power, but on account of the confirmation of power and the removal of defect.

*Ad 1.* To that, then, which is objected first, that the blessed Virgin was disturbed; it must be said that that immensity of grief is not referred to the rational part of the soul, but to the sensible. Hence *soul* stands there for that part by which she is turned toward the body; hence she was not disturbed according as disturbance bespeaks a disorder in the rational part.

*Ad 2.* To that which is objected from the authority of the *Questions on the New and Old Testament*, that the blessed Virgin doubted; it must be said that it is not established that that book is Augustine's, because there are many things there which do not seem to be the words of Augustine. — Nevertheless, lest we seem to seek flight, it can be said that there is a doubt arising from *weakness of faith*, and there is a certain doubt arising from *immensity of wonder*, by which a man is said to doubt when he is amazed and becomes, as it were, wholly beside himself from the contemplation of a marvelous thing. And in this way it is to be understood that the Virgin doubted, not on account of a defect of faith. For it is to be believed without doubt that the Virgin Mary always stood firm, so that in her faith found a solid foundation. Hence, while the disciples did not believe and doubted, she was the one in whom the faith of the Church remained solid and unshaken; and therefore on the day of the Sabbath the whole Church holds solemnity in her honor.

*Ad 3.* To that which is objected, that she could die: it must be said that the case is not alike, because it was not fitting that the Son of God should have an immortal mother, since he himself was mortal, but it would be very unfitting if he had a sinful mother; although Jerome says that only sinful women are reckoned in the genealogy of the Savior; for this is not on account of sin, but on account of some special deed, on account of which those women are mentioned in Scripture. And in them that prophecy is fulfilled, as that of Isaiah, chapter sixteen: *Send forth the lamb, O Lord, the ruler of the earth* etc., and by *the rock of the desert* Ruth is understood, as Jerome says. Yet whatever may be the case concerning the remote forebears, there is no doubt to anyone concerning the Mother of God, but that she ought to be such as could not be reproached for sin, since it would have been to the disgrace of Christ.

*Ad 4.* To that which is objected concerning the impossibility of sinning, it must be said that it is true so far as concerns the common law; but nothing prevents that by special grace there be granted to someone in the wayfaring state what is commonly given to others in the fatherland, and especially to that person who, while dwelling on earth, was the queen of those who rejoice in the heavens.

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