Dist. 9, Art. 1, Q. 5
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/9/q/bon-sent-III-d9-a1-q5
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### Question V. *Whether latria is to be shown to the members of Christ.*

Fifth, it is asked whether *latria* is to be shown to the members of Christ. And that it is so, it seems:

1. (*To the opposite.*) *First*, by the authority and example of Abraham himself, who, in Genesis the eighteenth chapter, saw three men and adored one, and Augustine explains that those men were Angels; yet nonetheless in them he adored God and offered them the adoration of latria: therefore if God dwells in the members of Christ, it seems that the cult of *latria* ought to be shown to them.

2. Likewise, in the Apocalypse it is said that John fell on his face to adore the Angel, and there it is said that the Angel did not permit it; either, then, John wished to adore with the adoration of *latria*, or of *dulia*. If of *latria*: then since John acted rightly and is not censured as an idolater, the adoration of *latria* can be shown to a rational creature: therefore if Angels and the members of Christ are of equal dignity, it seems that the cult of *latria* is to be shown to the members of Christ. If you say that John wished to adore with the adoration of *dulia*; *on the contrary*: dulia is owed to the good Angels: therefore the Angel did wrong in that he forbade the adoration which was owed; but if Angels never do wrong, it remains that the preceding member [of the disjunction] is true.

3. Likewise, God is to be adored with the adoration of *latria* in his holy temple, according to what the Psalm says: *I will enter into thy house and will adore*, etc.; but every member of Christ is a temple of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said in the first to the Corinthians, chapter three: therefore every member of Christ is to be adored with the adoration of *latria*.

4. Likewise, the true body of Christ is referred to the mystical body of Christ as a sign to the thing signified: therefore if the thing signified is nobler than the sign, the mystical body of Christ is more or equally noble as the true body of Christ; but the true body of Christ is adored with *latria*: therefore also the mystical body of Christ.

5. Likewise, the head of a king and the other members are adored with the same adoration; but Christ is the head of the Church and is adored with an adoration that is *latria*: therefore also his other members.

6. Likewise, every member of Christ is an image of Christ, and not only an image, but also an image made like [him] through grace; but « the honor of an image, as Damascene holds, is referred to the prototype »: therefore if the prototype is adored with the adoration of *latria*, it seems that the members of Christ also [are], in whom there is found the image of nature and the likeness of grace.

**On the contrary:** 1. (*Foundations.*) We are not members of Christ except as to [his] humanity: therefore if *latria* is the cult owed to God, it seems that *latria* is not to be communicated to the members of Christ.

2. Likewise, the members of Christ have fellowship with one another; but the adoration of *latria* posits a relation and degree of lordship and servitude between the one adoring and the one adored: therefore it does not seem that one member ought [to render] to another the cult of *latria*.

3. Likewise, a lord and a servant are not to be venerated with the same adoration and honor; but the members of Christ are subjected to the servitude of Christ and of God: therefore they ought not to be adored with the adoration of *latria*.

4. Likewise, there is greater authority and power in an evil prelate than in a good subject, therefore greater reverence is owed to him; but it is established that the adoration of *latria* is not owed to an evil prelate: therefore much less to a subject, who is a member of Christ.

### Conclusion.

> The cult of latria is in no way to be shown to the members of Christ.

**Respondeo:** (*Conclusion.*) It must be said that without doubt the cult of *latria* is not to be shown to the members of Christ; for the reason that we are members of Christ according to [his] human nature; and we are members in such a way that nevertheless the character of a member does not take away the character of servitude nor posit an equality of dignity. And since *latria* is owed to the Creator by reason of his majesty and excellence; hence it is that the cult of *latria* does not befit the members of Christ. For the head is far distant from the body by reason of the divinity united [to it]. — Hence the reasons adduced for this side are to be conceded.

**To the arguments for the affirmative side:**

*To 1.* (*Solution of the opposing arguments.*) To that which is objected, that Abraham adored three Angels; it must be said that those Angels were also rational creatures, and yet they appeared to Abraham for the representation of the Trinity; and both of these were known to Abraham. And (*Note.*) insofar as they were *rational creatures*, Abraham showed them not the adoration of *latria*, but the reverence of *dulia* and the ministry of honor. But insofar as they were a *sign of the Trinity*, Abraham showed the cult of *latria*, not insofar as [they were] a sign, but to the thing signified itself; for it was for this that they specially appeared. But it is not so concerning the members of Christ, since, even if the Trinity can be known in them, they nevertheless do not represent [it] thus by a special institution or divine mission; and therefore *latria* is not to be shown to them, neither as to that which they are, nor as to that which is understood through them.

*To 2.* To that which is objected, that John wished to adore the Angel; it must be said that he did not wish to adore him with the adoration of *latria*, but of *dulia*. And as to what he objects, that he ought not to have forbidden him; it must be said (*Threefold reason.*) that on the contrary [he ought], for a threefold reason. The *first* indeed is on account of the dignity of John himself, who was more excellent than many Angels. The *second* is on account of the avoidance of error, lest anyone should from this believe that Angels ought to be adored with the adoration of *latria*. The *third* reason is on account of the manifestation of the exaltation of the dignity of the human race. For the human race was exalted through Christ above the angelic nature. Hence (*Note.*) although the Angels in the Old Testament permitted themselves to be adored with *dulia* by men; in the New, nevertheless, after the glorification of human nature in Christ, they do not permit that nature to be subjected to them which they see to sit at the right hand of the Father; and this is the special reason of blessed Gregory.

*To 3.* But to that which is objected, that God is to be adored in [his] temple; it must be said that it is otherwise with a temple built by man and with a temple sanctified by the Holy Spirit; because that temple is only inductive toward another and instituted for the sake of something else, so that in itself it has no character by which it ought to be adored, but only by reason of that which is worshiped in it; but it is not so with the temple of the faithful soul. For it has something in itself, by reason of which it can be capable and a participant of honor.

*To 4.* To that which is objected concerning the mystical body, that it is nobler, etc.; (*Note.*) it must be said that if we speak of the true body of Christ, inasmuch as it is united to the Deity, it must be said that that statement does not hold true, but rather it is much nobler than the mystical body. For the mystical body is not united to the Divinity in unity of person, as the true body of Christ is; and therefore so great an excellence of honor is not to be shown to it. And if (*Note.*) you object that the thing signified is nobler than the sign; it must be said that this is true when the thing signified is the cause of the sign. But it is not so in the case at hand. Moreover, the body of Christ is not said to be a sign, except insofar as it lies hidden under the Sacrament and by reason of the very species that contain [it] and appear to the senses.

*To 5.* To that which is objected, that the head of a king and the other members are adored with the same adoration; it must be said that it is not similar, because the head of a king with the other members is simply of the same nature; but Christ, who is our head, besides the human nature, in which he shares with us, has a divine nature, in which he super-excels every creature: and therefore by reason of that, such honor befits him as it is fitting to show to no creature.

*To 6.* To that which is objected, that in a member of Christ there is a being-made-like [him] through grace; it must be said that it is true; nevertheless from this it does not follow that it ought to be adored with the adoration of *latria*, as in a sculpted image

and this, because that image does not offer itself only as leading toward another, but as a rational and excellent thing and worthy of honor; and therefore the honor shown to it is not totally referred to the prototype, that is, to the principal thing figured, as in a sculpted image. Hence, on account of a twofold danger joined [to it], both on the part of the one adoring and on the part of the one adored, God ought not to be adored with *latria* in the image which is man, namely lest the one adored grow proud and be exalted through empty glory, as if that honor were paid and rendered to himself; and lest the one adoring fall into idolatry by looking only at the human form.