Dist. 4, Art. 3, 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/4/q/bon-sent-III-d4-a3-q2
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### Question II. *Whether that cooperation of the blessed Virgin was natural or miraculous.*

Secondly it is asked whether that cooperation of the blessed Virgin was natural or miraculous. And that it was natural, it seems:

*(To the contrary view.)*
1. Every operation or generation by reason of which the one begotten is called a natural son is natural; but Christ is the natural son of the blessed Virgin: therefore it seems that the blessed Virgin cooperated naturally in his conception.

2. Likewise, when a man stirs up and aids the power of the woman, she is not deprived of her own natural act: therefore if the power of the Holy Spirit made her fruitful far more perfectly than the power of the male seed would have made her fruitful, then it did not take away the act of her generative power, but perfected it. And if this is true, then the Virgin cooperated naturally.

3. Likewise, if someone operates according to a power divinely conferred upon him, that operation is called natural, not miraculous, on the ground that the natural powers of all things are divinely conferred upon them, and an operation issuing from an intrinsic power is natural and is exercised naturally, unless it issue forth voluntarily; but the generative power was conferred upon her, and it did not cooperate with the acting power voluntarily: therefore it seems that she cooperated by a natural power.

4. Likewise, there is less aptitude in a dead man for the works that belong to a living man than there is in the Virgin with respect to a pregnant woman; but if God makes a living man from a dead one, the operations that follow are natural to him, as in Lazarus, who naturally ate and did other things: therefore by like reasoning, indeed by a much stronger one, it seems that that operation of the Virgin was natural, after the power of generating had been conferred upon her.

**On the contrary:**
*(The grounds.)*
1. No natural operation is miraculous, since they are divided as opposites; but the conception of the Son of God by the Virgin was miraculous: therefore it does not seem that it was natural.

2. Likewise, nothing that comes about naturally is new, on the ground that everything of that kind has been preceded in its like; but the conception of Christ by the Virgin was something new, as is said in Jeremiah, chapter thirty-one: *The Lord shall make a new thing upon the earth.*

3. Likewise, the natural is that which is the same among all; but the manner of conceiving of the blessed Virgin was not only not the same among all, but indeed is nowhere found except in her: therefore it seems that that operation was not natural, but miraculous.

4. Likewise, if any power operates, while that remains which is incompatible with it by nature, its operation is not natural, but miraculous; but virginity is incompatible with the generation of offspring by nature: therefore if the Virgin Mary conceived while remaining a virgin, it seems that that operation is to be attributed not to nature, but rather to miracle.

### Conclusion.

> The cooperation of the glorious Virgin toward the conception was in one way natural, and in another way — and to a great degree — supernatural.

*(Axiom.)*
**I respond:** It must be said that the generative power in the Virgin was stirred up by the Holy Spirit, and was elevated above its own capacity. It was stirred up so that it might be able to prepare the matter for the conception, according to what belongs to the female sex; but it was elevated above nature, since the power of preparing the matter was given to her in the way that befitted so noble and so perfect a conception. And therefore the Virgin Mary had a power above nature and a power according to nature; and the power above nature was conferred in her sanctification; and both were, at the time of that conception, constituted in the fullness of their operation. *(First conclusion.)* And therefore the operation or cooperation was partly, in a certain way, natural, and in a certain way above nature. — *(A parallel.)* And there is a parallel: if God were to give me the power to understand one thing and the power to understand many things at once; it would be partly natural in this, that I understood one thing, and partly above nature in this, that the understandings of those two things cannot stand together by nature. So too in the present case it must be understood, that it was consonant with nature for the Virgin to supply sufficient humor for the conception, as much as the female sex supplies; but that she should supply by herself alone as much as a woman joined to a man supplies, this was above nature, and therefore wonderful and unusual. It must therefore be granted that that operation was not natural altogether, but rather had something above nature — indeed had much above nature — because this was, among all wonders, the chief wonder: namely, that the virginal womb should be at once whole and fruitful. — *(Second conclusion.)* Hence the reasons which show this are to be granted.

**To the arguments for the affirmative side:**
*(Solution of the opposing arguments.)*
*To 1.* To that, then, which is objected first, that Christ was a natural son; it must be said that an operation above nature does not exclude a natural operation. Hence, although she conceived him miraculously, he can nonetheless, on account of the natural operation concurring, be called a natural son, to show the truth of the generation.

*To 2.* To that which is objected, that when a man stirs up the power in a woman, he does not take away from her her natural power; it must be said that this is true; nor did the Holy Spirit take away the natural operation from the Virgin, in the way it befitted her to have it in so noble a conception. *(To be noted.)* In this, however, there is no parallel, because the man does not give a new power of conceiving to the woman, nor elevate her above nature, but stirs up and aids her to go forth into the operation due to her. It is not so in the present case, because to the Virgin herself a power above nature was conferred. Hence the blessed Virgin was able to do something which no woman was ever able to do.

*To 3.* To that which is objected, that when one operates through some power given to oneself, one operates naturally; it must be said that sometimes a power is given for an act consonant with nature, sometimes a power is given for an act exceeding the bound of nature. *(A distinction to be noted.)* When a power is given for an act consonant with nature, then, even though the conferring of that power is miraculous, the operation is nonetheless natural, as if the power of seeing were given to a blind man. But when a power is given for an act exceeding the bounds of nature, then not only is the conferring of the power miraculous, but the going-forth of that power into act is also miraculous, as if the power of speaking were given to an ass, and the power of seeing to a stone. And since for a virgin, while remaining a virgin, to conceive is above the bounds of nature; hence it is that, however much power be conferred upon her, never-

*(A double miracle here.)* theless the operation is still miraculous. — Hence there was here a double miracle, namely in the conferring of the power, and in the operation itself. But in the impregnation of barren women, such as Sarah and Elizabeth, there was a miracle only in the restoration of the power, in this that the barren woman was made fruitful there, but there was no miracle in the carrying-out, because barrenness and fruitfulness did not remain together, but rather fruitfulness took away barrenness. But this was singularly wonderful, that the fruitfulness of the Virgin Mary did not take away virginity, nor did virginity exclude fruitfulness.

*To 4.* To that which is objected last, the response is already evident from the dead man brought to life. For although for a dead man to be brought to life is above nature, nonetheless from the moment he has been brought to life, to exercise the operation of nature is not wonderful, because this in no way is repugnant to nature; but it is not so in the Virgin conceiving.

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