Dist. 18, Part 1, Art. 2, Q. 1
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/18/q/bon-sent-IV-d18-p1-a2-q1
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### Article II. *On the power of binding and loosing in the penitential forum.*

Next, with regard to the second article, inquiry is made concerning the power of binding and loosing in the penitential forum, about which two questions are asked:

First, whether this power has power over the fault.

Second, whether it has power over the punishment.

### Question I. *Whether the power of the keys has power over the fault.*

Concerning the first, one proceeds thus: that it has power over the fault.

1. In John, chapter twenty: *Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven* etc.: therefore it seems that it has power over sins.

2. Likewise, the Sacrament of penance is a remedy against actual mortal [sin], just as baptism is against original [sin]: therefore, just as by the power of baptism original [sin] is destroyed, so by the power of penance is actual [sin]; but the power of penance consists principally in the keys: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, a just man by the merit of his life can obtain first grace for another, to whom the office of mediator has not been committed; but to the priest the office of mediator has been committed through the office of the keys: therefore much more strongly can the priest obtain grace: therefore also [can he] forgive sins.

4. Likewise, it is commonly conceded that the Sacrament of baptism destroys every fault, and yet in this nothing is taken away from the divine power; but a rational spirit is receptive of greater power than water: therefore it seems that, without any incongruity, it can be said that the priest, by the power of the keys, ministerially absolves from the fault.

**On the contrary:** 1. In Matthew, chapter nine, when the Lord had said, *Son, your sins are forgiven you,* at once they said: *This man blasphemes;* but they did not believe [him] to blaspheme on any other account than that to forgive sins belongs to God alone: therefore not to the priest.

2. Likewise, Augustine and Gregory say that in the raising of Lazarus the resuscitation of the sinner is signified; but Lazarus was first given life by the Lord before he was handed to the disciples to be loosed: therefore the priest's absolution avails nothing before a man is given life through grace and raised from the death of fault: therefore the priest has no power over the fault.

3. Likewise, it is of equal power to baptize inwardly and to absolve from mortal fault; but God ought not to communicate the power of baptizing *inwardly,* lest hope be placed in man: therefore by parity of reasoning neither the power of absolving from actual [sin].

5. Likewise, in no way does remission of fault come about except through grace; but to give grace belongs to infinite power, as was shown in the preceding [matters]: therefore etc.

### Conclusio

> The keys of the Church extend to the destruction of the fault by way of beseeching and obtaining, but, properly speaking, that is, by way of acting and imparting, they do not extend over the fault.

**I respond:** For the understanding of the foregoing, it must be noted that on this matter there is a twofold manner of speaking according to different doctors.

For some have wished to say that there are two ways to speak of the power of the keys: either as it operates in the intention of confessing, or in the *act* of confession. If as it operates in the intention of confessing; then, since that intention is contained in contrition, and in contrition the fault is first destroyed, in this way the power of the keys extends in a certain manner to destroying the fault. For one cannot be justified from the fault unless he intends to confess to the priest. But if we speak of the power as it operates in the act of absolving; then it has no power over the fault, because one who approaches absolution worthily approaches contrite and raised: and so the fault is already remitted to him. — But this manner of speaking, although it may appear probable, nevertheless has on its surface an illusion: first, because the Sacrament of baptism is not said to operate before a man is baptized, otherwise it would have operated from the beginning; by parity of reasoning neither does the key. — Likewise, each thing has more power in *fact* than in intention alone: if therefore in intention it destroys the fault, how much more when it is exhibited in *the fact itself?* — And again, it is possible that someone approach absolution *attrite,* as he approaches baptism; why then will not attrition become contrition, since he is not feigning?

And therefore there is another manner of speaking, that one who holds the key, through the power of the key, is mediator of God to man and of man to God. Hence through him the sinner ascends to God, and thus the priest is the mouth of the sinner, that is, one speaking on the sinner's behalf; through him God descends to man, and thus the priest is the angel of God, indeed a mouth, in that he himself *separates the precious from the vile*. — In respect of his ascending, he stands in the manner of an inferior and a suppliant; in respect of his descending, in the manner of a superior and a judge. According to the first manner he can obtain grace, and for this he is suitable; according to the second manner he can reconcile to the Church. And therefore, as a signification of this, in the form of absolution a beseeching is set first, in the deprecatory mode, and absolution is added in the indicative mode; and the beseeching obtains grace, but the absolution presupposes [it]. For never would the priest absolve anyone of whom he did not presume that he was absolved by God.

If therefore it be asked whether the power of the keys extends to destroying the fault; it must be said that it can well extend [to it] by way of beseeching and obtaining; and that is signified in the blessing of the priests, in Numbers, chapter six; but by way of imparting, no. Since therefore power, of itself, sounds by way of acting and imparting; hence it is that the power of the keys, *properly speaking,* does not extend

over the fault. And the reasons adduced for this are to be conceded.

1. To that which is objected concerning John, it must be said that either that is said of remission with respect to manifestation, or only with respect to the punishment.

2. To that which is objected, that the Sacrament of penance is against the disease of actual [sin]; it must be said that the Sacrament of penance is taken as it comprehends the *inward reality,* namely contrition, in that manner by which « in the perfection of penance three [things] concur, namely contrition, confession, and satisfaction ».

3. To that which is objected, that the just man obtains grace; it must be said that this is true, yet he does not *bestow* [it]; and the priest can well [act] there, so as to obtain grace for the sinner, but he himself does not *give* it, but another, and therefore to Him alone is the absolution from the fault attributed.

4. To that which is objected concerning the Sacrament of baptism, it must be said that baptism destroys the fault through grace, but of that [grace] it is not the *efficient* cause, as was shown above, but the *divine power.* And baptism is said to remit sins by reason of the *inward reality,* which God alone infuses; likewise also the Sacrament of penance. But the power of the key denotes a power of the *rational creature* and does not concern *grace,* but that which is *outward;* because the key is outside, in the priest, and therefore it is not attributed to it *in that way.* For if *cleansing* were attributed to it, since this cannot be understood by way of *informing,* it would be understood by way of *effecting.*