Capitula
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/4/d/0/q/bon-sent-IV-capitula
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# HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE FOURTH BOOK.

### Distinction I.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacraments.

**II.** What a Sacrament is.

**III.** What a sign is.

**IV.** In what a sign and a Sacrament differ.

**V.** Why the Sacraments were instituted.

**VI.** On the difference between the Sacraments of the old law and of the new.

**VII.** On circumcision.

**VIII.** What remedy those had who lived before circumcision.

**IX.** On the institution of circumcision and its cause.

**X.** On little ones who died before the eighth day, on which circumcision was performed.

### Distinction II.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacraments of the new law. On baptism.

**II.** On the difference between the baptism of John and that of Christ.

**III.** What profit the baptism of John had.

**IV.** Whether that baptism was a Sacrament.

**V.** On the form of John's baptism.

### Distinction III.

**Chap. I.** What baptism is.

**II.** On the form of baptism.

**III.** That the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ.

**IV.** Whether baptism can be conferred in the name of the Father.

**V.** On the institution of baptism.

**VI.** Why it is done in water only.

**VII.** On immersion, how often it ought to be done.

**VIII.** When circumcision lost its force.

**IX.** On the cause of the institution of baptism.

### Distinction IV.

**Chap. I.** On those who receive the Sacrament and the reality, and the reality and not the Sacrament, and the Sacrament and not the reality.

**II.** On those who approach feignedly.

**III.** How that saying is to be understood: As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.

**IV.** That the passion supplies the place of baptism, and faith and contrition.

**V.** What baptism profits those who approach with faith.

**VI.** What is remitted in baptism to the just.

**VII.** Of what reality baptism is the Sacrament, which the just man receives.

### Distinction V.

**Chap. I.** That baptism is equally good given by a good man or by an evil one.

**II.** On the power of baptism and on the ministry.

**III.** What power of baptism it was that Christ could have given to his servants and did not give.

### Distinction VI.

**Chap. I.** To whom it is permitted to baptize.

**II.** Whether those baptized by heretics are to be rebaptized.

**III.** That no one is baptized in his mother's womb.

**IV.** Whether there is baptism when the words are corruptly pronounced.

**V.** On him who is immersed in sport.

**VI.** On the response of the sponsors.

**VII.** On catechism and exorcism.

### Distinction VII.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacrament of confirmation.

**II.** That it cannot be conferred except by the highest priests.

**III.** What the virtue of this Sacrament is.

**IV.** Whether this Sacrament is more worthy than baptism.

**V.** Whether it can be repeated.

### Distinction VIII.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacrament of the altar.

**II.** That a figure of this Sacrament went before it in the old Testament, as also of baptism.

**III.** On the institution of this Sacrament.

**IV.** On the form.

**V.** Why Christ gave this Sacrament to the disciples after other food.

**VI.** On the Sacrament and the reality.

**VII.** That the reality of the Sacrament is twofold.

### Distinction IX.

**Chap. I.** On the two modes of eating.

**II.** On the error of those who say that the body of Christ is taken by the good only.

**III.** On the understanding of certain ambiguous words.

### Distinction X.

**Chap. I.** On the heresy of those who say that the body of Christ is not on the altar save in a sign.

**II.** On the testimonies of the Saints, by which it is proved that the true body of Christ is on the altar.

### Distinction XI.

**Chap. I.** On the mode of the conversion.

**II.** How the body of Christ is said to be confected from the substance of bread.

**III.** Why it is taken under another species.

**IV.** Why under a twofold species.

**V.** Why water is mingled.

**VI.** What kind of body Christ gave to the disciples at the supper.

### Distinction XII.

**Chap. I.** Wherein those accidents are grounded.

**II.** On the breaking and the parts.

**III.** On the confession of Berengarius.

**IV.** What those parts signify.

**V.** Whether Christ is immolated on the altar daily, and whether that is a sacrifice which is performed by the priest.

**VI.** On the cause of the institution.

### Distinction XIII.

**Chap. I.** Whether this Sacrament is confected by heretics or by the excommunicate.

**II.** What makes a man a heretic, and what a heretic is.

### Distinction XIV.

**Chap. I.** On penance, and whence penance is so called.

**II.** What penance is.

**III.** What it is to repent.

**IV.** On solemn and unrepeatable penance.

**V.** That sins are often remitted through penance.

### Distinction XV.

**Chap. I.** That one entangled in many sins cannot truly repent of one unless he repent of all.

**II.** For what causes scourges befall.

**III.** On the Egyptians and the Sodomites, who are said to be punished temporally lest they should perish eternally.

**IV.** On the kinds of almsgiving.

**V.** What alms is.

**VI.** Whether those who remain in mortal sin and give large alms ought to be said to make satisfaction.

**VII.** Whether the good works which are done by certain evil men avail unto the merit of life, when they have been converted to good.

### Distinction XVI.

**Chap. I.** On the three things to be considered in penance, namely compunction, confession, satisfaction.

**II.** What true satisfaction is.

**III.** What false satisfaction is.

**IV.** On the three actions of penance.

**V.** On the multitude of venial sins, which weighs as one great sin.

**VI.** On satisfaction for venial sins.

### Distinction XVII.

**Chap. I.** Whether sins are remitted without confession.

**II.** Whether it suffices to confess to God alone.

**III.** That it does not suffice to confess to God alone, if one is able to confess to a priest.

**IV.** Whether it suffices to confess to a layman.

**V.** For what confession avails.

### Distinction XVIII.

**Chap. I.** On the remission which the priest bestows.

**II.** On the keys.

**III.** On the use of the keys.

**IV.** Whether a priest can remit or retain sin.

**V.** How priests remit sin, or retain it.

**VI.** How priests bind, or loose from sins.

**VII.** How that saying is to be understood: Whatsoever you shall loose, and so on.

**VIII.** What the interior darkness and the interior stain are.

### Distinction XIX.

**Chap. I.** When these keys are given, and to whom.

**II.** Whether grace is transfused through the unworthy to the worthy.

**III.** How this is to be understood: I will curse your blessings.

**IV.** What manner of man an ecclesiastical judge ought to be.

### Distinction XX.

**Chap. I.** On those who repent at the end.

**II.** On those who do not complete their penance.

**III.** On him upon whom an indiscreet priest enjoins penance.

**IV.** That satisfaction is not to be imposed on the dying, but made known to them.

**V.** That penance is not to be denied, nor reconciliation, in a case of necessity.

**VI.** That a presbyter is not to reconcile anyone without consulting the bishop, save in a case of necessity.

**VII.** Whether the offering of him is to be received who, hastening to penance, is forestalled by death.

### Distinction XXI.

**Chap. I.** On the sins which are remitted after this life.

**II.** On those who build gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble.

**III.** On the purgatorial fire, by which some are purged more quickly, others more slowly.

**IV.** What it is to build wood, hay, stubble.

**V.** What it is to build gold, silver, precious stones.

**VI.** That a man truly repents even if not of every venial sin.

**VII.** What a general confession is.

**VIII.** That no one ought to confess sins which he has not committed.

**IX.** On the punishment of a priest who makes public the sins of the one confessing.

### Distinction XXII.

**Chap. I.** Whether sins once remitted return.

**II.** What the Sacrament is and what the reality.

### Distinction XXIII.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacrament of extreme unction.

**II.** On the three kinds of unction.

**III.** By whom this Sacrament was instituted.

**IV.** On the repetition of this Sacrament.

### Distinction XXIV.

**Chap. I.** On the ecclesiastical orders, how many they are.

**II.** Why there are seven.

**III.** What kind of men are to be admitted to the clergy.

**IV.** On the crown and tonsure.

**V.** On lectors.

**VI.** On doorkeepers.

**VII.** On exorcists.

**VIII.** On acolytes.

**IX.** On subdeacons.

**X.** On deacons.

**XI.** On presbyters.

**XII.** Which are called sacred orders.

**XIII.** What is called an order.

**XIV.** On the names of dignity and office.

**XV.** On the bishop.

**XVI.** On the pontiff.

**XVII.** On the order of bishops.

**XVIII.** On the seer (*vates*).

**XIX.** On the cantor.

### Distinction XXV.

**Chap. I.** On those ordained by heretics.

**II.** On simony, as it is called, and what it is.

**III.** On those who are ordained by simoniacs knowingly, or not.

**IV.** On those who say that they buy the corporeal things and not the spiritual.

**V.** On the distinction of simoniacs.

**VI.** On those who are ordained under compulsion by heretics or by simoniacs.

### Distinction XXVI.

**Chap. I.** On the Sacrament of marriage.

**II.** On its institution and its cause.

**III.** Whence marriage is contracted according to precept and according to indulgence.

**IV.** In what ways indulgence is understood.

**V.** That marriage is good.

**VI.** Of what reality marriage is the Sacrament.

### Distinction XXVII.

**Chap. I.** What things are to be considered in marriage.

**II.** What marriage is.

**III.** On the consent which effects marriage.

**IV.** When marriage begins to be.

**V.** On the opinion of certain men who say that there is no marriage before carnal union.

**VI.** That a betrothed woman can choose a monastery without her betrothed's consent.

**VII.** That a married man cannot profess continence without his spouse's consent.

**VIII.** On adulterous marriages.

**IX.** That "husband" and "wife" are understood in many ways.

**X.** Which betrothed woman is a widow when the betrothed man has died, and which is not.

### Distinction XXVIII.

**Chap. I.** Whether consent concerning the future, even confirmed by an oath, makes a marriage.

**II.** On the things which pertain to the substance and to the seemliness of the Sacrament.

**III.** Whether that consent which makes matrimony is about carnal union, or about cohabitation, or about something else.

**IV.** Why woman was formed from the side of man.

### Distinction XXIX.

**Chap. I.** That there is no lawful consent where there is coercion.

### Distinction XXX.

**Chap. I.** On the error which voids consent.

**II.** On the marriage of Mary and Joseph.

**III.** On the final cause of marriage.

**IV.** That an evil end does not defile the Sacrament.

### Distinction XXXI.

**Chap. I.** On the three goods of marriage.

**II.** On the twofold separation.

**III.** On those who procure the poisons of sterility.

**IV.** When those are homicides who procure abortion.

**V.** On the excusing of intercourse, which is done through the goods of marriage.

**VI.** On the indulgence which the Apostle makes.

**VII.** On the evil of incontinence.

**VIII.** On the delight of the flesh, whether it is a sin or not.

### Distinction XXXII.

**Chap. I.** On the paying of the carnal debt.

**II.** On continence to be kept by common consent.

**III.** When there is to be a ceasing from intercourse.

**IV.** At what times marriages are not to be celebrated.

### Distinction XXXIII.

**Chap. I.** On the diverse laws of marriage.

**II.** Whether John's virginity is to be preferred to Abraham's chastity.

**III.** What the custom of marriage was under the Law.

**IV.** Who was then permitted to have several wives, and who not.

### Distinction XXXIV.

**Chap. I.** On lawful persons.

**II.** On the frigid, whether they are to be separated or not.

**III.** On those who, hindered by sorceries, are unable to come together.

**IV.** On the mad.

**V.** On those who sleep with two sisters.

**VI.** That a wife is not to be put away for any blemish of body.

### Distinction XXXV.

**Chap. I.** On the right of husband and wife.

**II.** That a man cannot put away a fornicatress unless he himself be free of fornication, and conversely.

**III.** On the reconciliation of those who are separated on account of fornication.

**IV.** On those who before their coming together defiled themselves by adultery.

### Distinction XXXVI.

**Chap. I.** On slaves.

**II.** On the union of a slave and a handmaid of different masters.

**III.** On the man who makes himself a slave, that he may be divided from his wife.

**IV.** On the age of those contracting.

### Distinction XXXVII.

**Chap. I.** In which orders matrimony cannot be contracted.

**II.** On the slayers of their own spouses.

### Distinction XXXVIII.

**Chap. I.** On vows.

**II.** On the difference of vows.

**III.** On those who return after a long captivity.

### Distinction XXXIX.

**Chap. I.** On disparity of worship.

**II.** On the marriage of a believer and an unbeliever, and of two unbelievers.

**III.** On spiritual fornication, on account of which a spouse can be dismissed.

**IV.** For what sins separation may be made, or not.

**V.** Whether it is permitted to a believer to marry another, or not.

**VI.** Whether there is marriage among unbelievers.

**VII.** That the marriage is lawful.

### Distinction XL.

**Chap. I.** On carnal kinship.

**II.** On the computation of the degrees of consanguinity.

**III.** Why seven degrees are computed.

**IV.** On the disputation of Gregory held with the English.

### Distinction XLI.

**Chap. I.** On the degrees of affinity.

**II.** On the various traditions concerning affinity.

**III.** Whether there is marriage between those who are divided by a known consanguinity.

**IV.** On whose testimony marriages are to be dissolved.

**V.** What fornication is.

**VI.** What defilement (*stuprum*) is.

**VII.** What adultery is.

**VIII.** What incest is.

**IX.** What rape is.

### Distinction XLII.

**Chap. I.** On spiritual kinship.

**II.** Who are spiritual sons.

**III.** On the union of spiritual or adoptive and natural children.

**IV.** On the union of children who were born before the compaternity, or after.

**V.** Whether it is permitted to anyone to marry two co-mothers, the one after the other.

**VI.** Whether husband and wife may together hold the child.

**VII.** On second and third and further marriages.

### Distinction XLIII.

**Chap. I.** On the condition of the resurrection and of the judgment.

**II.** On the voice of the trumpet.

**III.** On the middle of the night.

**IV.** On the books which shall then be opened.

**V.** On the memory of the elect, whether it shall then retain past evils.

**VI.** On those who are found alive.

**VII.** How Christ is understood to be the judge of the living and the dead.

### Distinction XLIV.

**Chap. I.** On the age and stature of those who rise.

**II.** That whatever was of the substance and nature of the body shall rise, even if not in the same part of the body.

**III.** That they shall rise without any deformity.

**IV.** Whether the bodies of the reprobate shall rise with the deformities which they had here.

**V.** That the bodies of the evil shall not be consumed, which shall then burn.

**VI.** Whether the demons shall be burned by a corporeal fire.

**VII.** Whether souls without bodies feel a material fire.

**VIII.** On aborted foetuses and monsters.

### Distinction XLV.

**Chap. I.** On the diverse receptacles of souls after death.

**II.** On the suffrages for the dead.

**III.** On the offices of burial.

**IV.** On two equally good men, of whom the one has more helps after death.

**V.** By what suffrages those found at the end shall be helped.

**VI.** How the Saints and the glorified, or the Angels, hear the prayers of suppliants and intercede for them.

### Distinction XLVI.

**Chap. I.** Whether a mitigation of punishment is granted to the very wicked.

**II.** On the hidden judgment of God.

**III.** On the justice and the mercy of God.

**IV.** Why certain works are said to be of God's justice, certain of his mercy or goodness.

**V.** How all the ways of the Lord are said to be mercy and truth.

### Distinction XLVII.

**Chap. I.** On the sentence of the judgment.

**II.** That the Saints shall judge, and how.

**III.** On the ranks of those who shall be at the judgment.

**IV.** On the order of the judgment and the ministry of the Angels.

**V.** Whether after the judgment the demons shall be set over men to punish them.

### Distinction XLVIII.

**Chap. I.** On the form of the judge.

**II.** What the form of a servant shall appear to be.

**III.** Why Christ is said to be about to raise up bodies according to the form of a servant.

**IV.** On the place of the judgment.

**V.** On the quality of the luminaries and of time after the judgment.

### Distinction XLIX.

**Chap. I.** On the difference of the mansions in heaven and in hell.

**II.** Whether anything is there known by anyone which not all understand.

**III.** On the parity of joy.

**IV.** Whether the beatitude of the Saints is greater after the judgment.

### Distinction L.

**Chap. I.** Whether the evil shall sin in hell.

**II.** Why they are called the exterior darkness.

**III.** Whether the souls of the damned have knowledge of the things which are done here.

**IV.** On Lazarus and the rich man.

**V.** Whether the good and the evil see one another.

**VI.** On the chaos between the good and the evil.

**VII.** Whether the sight of the punishment of the wicked lessens or increases the glory of the good.

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