Dist. 20, Part 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/20/q/bon-sent-IV-d20-p1-littera
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### Part I.

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

It is also to be known that the time of penance is right up to the last moment of life. Whence Leo the Pope: «No one is to be despaired of, while he is constituted in this body, because sometimes what is deferred through the diffidence of [his] age is accomplished by maturer counsel». Augustine, however, writes thus concerning those who defer penance: «If anyone placed in the last necessity wishes to receive penance and does receive it and is at once reconciled and departs hence; I confess to you, we do not deny him what he asks, but we do not presume that he goes hence well; whether he go hence secure, I know not. We can give penance, but not security. Do I say: he will be damned? But neither do I say: he will be freed. Do you wish therefore to be freed from doubt? Do penance while you are healthy. If you so do, I tell you that you are secure, because you did penance at the time when you were able to sin. If you wish to do penance when you can no longer sin, [your] sins have dismissed you, not you them». Likewise: «There are two things: either you are pardoned, or you are not pardoned; which of these will befall you, I know not: therefore hold the certain and let go the uncertain». But why did Augustine say this, since the penance that is done at the end is called in the Psalm the evening sacrifice «which was more acceptable under the Law», and since, on whatever day God be invoked, He is present, and at whatever hour the sinner has groaned and been converted, he shall live and not die? But Augustine said those things on account of those who protract penance until the end of life and then seem to repent not from the love of God, but from the fear of death, as if from necessity. Whence the same, as it were disclosing why he had said the foregoing, says: «Let no one wait until he cannot sin. For let him seek the liberty of choice, that he may be able to blot out the things committed, not necessity; charity, not only fear, because man does not live in fear alone. Whom therefore it grieves [to repent] late, it behooves not only to fear the judge, but to love [Him], because without charity no one can be saved. Let Him therefore not only be feared for the penalty, but be loved for the glory. If this conversion happen to anyone even at the end, one is not to despair of his remission. But since rarely if ever is a conversion so just, one is to fear concerning the late penitent, especially when the children whom he unlawfully loved are present, [and] wife and world call him to themselves. A late penance is wont to deceive many. But since God is always powerful, He is always able even in death to help those whom He pleases. Since therefore fruitful penance is the work not of man but of God; He can inspire it whenever His mercy wills, and reward out of mercy those whom He could damn out of justice. But since there are many things which impede and draw back the languishing [man], it is most perilous and near to ruin to protract the remedy of penance to death. But great is he, if any there be, to whom God then inspires true penance». «But even if, [being] thus converted, he live in life and not die; we do not promise that he will escape all penalty. For first he must be purged by the fire of purgation who has deferred to another age the fruit of conversion. But this fire, although it be not eternal, is yet wondrously grievous; for it exceeds every penalty that anyone ever suffered in this life. Never in the flesh was so great a penalty found, although the Martyrs suffered marvelous torments; and how great punishments have the wickedly unjust often endured»! — From these things it is sufficiently shown how perilous it is to defer penance until the end of life. Yet if even then true penance be had, it frees the man and obtains life for the dead, not however so that he feel no penalty, unless perhaps the vehemence of [his] groaning and contrition be so great as to suffice for the punishment of the fault.

«Although therefore it be difficult that there be true penance then, when it comes so late, when torment binds the limbs, and pain oppresses the sense, so that man can scarcely think anything; yet better is late than none». «For penance, if it comes in the last gasp of life, heals and frees». «Very late was the thief's penance, but the indulgence was not late». But «although the thief merited pardon at the end for every crime, yet he did not give to the baptized authority for sinning and persevering».

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

But if it is asked concerning those who do not complete their penance in this life, whether they are to pass through fire, so that there they may as it were complete what they did less [here]; I say that the same is to be held of these as of those who repent at the very end. For if the contrition of heart and the upbraiding of the fault be so great as to suffice to punish the sin; free from other penalties they pass to life, even if the penance was unfinished, because they perfectly repented and groaned in heart. But those who are not so contrite in heart and groan for sin; if they depart before the completion of penance, they will feel the purgatorial fire and will be more grievously punished than if they had here fulfilled the penance; for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For God, since He is merciful and just, out of mercy pardons the penitent, not reserving the sin for eternal penalty out of justice, yet does not leave the fault unpunished. For either man punishes, or God. But man punishes by repenting, God by exacting the penalty. And there is interior and exterior penance. If therefore the interior penitence be so great as to be a sufficient avenging of the sin; God, who knows this, exacts no further penalty from him who so repents. But if the interior penitence does not suffice for the avenging of the sin, nor is the exterior penance fulfilled; God, who knows the modes and measures of sins and penalties, adds a sufficient penalty. «Let each one therefore study so to correct [his] faults, that it be not necessary to endure penalty after death. For certain mortal sins become venial in penance, yet are not at once healed. For often the sick man would die if he were not treated; yet, [though] treated, he is not at once healed: he languishes [though] going to live, who before was going to die. But he who dies impenitent dies wholly and is eternally tormented. For if he were always to live, he would always sin».

### Part II.

### Chap. III. *On him to whom an indiscreet priest enjoins penance.*

But if it is asked concerning him who has fulfilled the satisfaction enjoined, which through the ignorance or negligence of the priest was not condign to the sin, whether departing from life he be free from all penalty; I answer the same that I said above concerning him who did not complete [his] penance, that if there be so much lamentation of interior grief as to suffice for the avenging of the sin, he is wholly freed; but if the interior grief together with the penalty enjoined does not suffice, God will add penalty. But that the interior grief sometimes suffices for the avenging of the sin; we have a sure proof in that thief, who by contrition of mind and confession alone, as soon as he was converted, merited to enter paradise. But because the dispensers of the Church do not weigh the quantity of contrition, to whom it is not given to understand the secrets of hearts; they establish laws of penance for all, whether grieving more or less for the sin. Their zeal ought to tend chiefly to this, that they may know, as far as is lawful, the grief of the heart, and according to its measure enjoin satisfaction. Whence Augustine: «In the action of penance, where such a thing has been committed that he who committed it is separated even from the body of Christ; not so much is the measure of time to be considered as of grief: For God does not despise a contrite and humbled heart. But because for the most part the grief of one heart is hidden from another and does not come into the knowledge of others except through words or any other signs whatsoever, since it is in the presence of Him to whom it is said: My groaning is not hidden from Thee; rightly are times of penance established by those who preside in the Churches, that satisfaction be made also to the Church, in which the sins themselves are remitted; for outside her indeed they are not remitted. For she has received the Holy Spirit as a pledge, without whom no sins are remitted». Likewise Jerome: «The canons therefore do not prefix the measure of time in performing penance plainly enough for each crime, so as to say of each [case] how each thing is to be amended; but rather establish that it is to be left to the judgment of an understanding priest, because with God the measure of time avails not so much as [that] of grief, nor the abstinence so much from foods as the mortification of vices. And therefore they bid the times of penance to be shortened according to the faith and conduct of the penitents and to be lengthened for negligence; yet for certain faults the modes of penance are imposed».

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

It is also wont to be asked whether the law of satisfaction is to be imposed on the dying. Concerning which Theodore the bishop of Canterbury in his penitential thus says: «From the sick placed in danger of death a pure confession of sins is to be sought, yet the quantity of penance is not to be imposed on them, but made known, and with the prayers of friends and the bestowals of alms the weight of penance is to be lightened, if perchance they depart. But if they recover, let them diligently observe the mode of penance imposed by the priest». But upon others, according to the quality of the sin, penance is to be decreed at the judgment of those presiding. Whence Leo the Pope: «The times of penitence, with moderation kept, are to be established by your judgment, according as you have perceived the souls of the converted to be devout. Likewise also you ought to have regard for [their] aged years and to consider the necessities of any perils or sicknesses».

### Chap. V. *That penance or reconciliation is not to be denied in necessity.*

It is also to be known that in time of necessity penance or reconciliation is not to be denied to penitents. Whence Leo the Pope: «To those who in time of necessity and the urgent pressure of imminent peril implore the help of penance and of reconciliation forthwith, neither is satisfaction to be forbidden nor reconciliation to be denied, because to the mercy of God we can set neither measures nor define times». «But if they are so weighed down by some sickness that they cannot signify under the present [circumstance] what a little before they were asking; the testimonies of the faithful standing around will have to profit them, and at the same time let them obtain the benefit of penance and of reconciliation». Likewise Julius the Pope: «If a presbyter deny penance to the dying, he will be guilty of [their] souls, because the Lord says: When he shall be converted, then shall he be saved. For true confession can be at the last time, because God is the inspector not only of the time, but also of the heart, as the thief proves».

### Chap. VI. *That a presbyter may not reconcile anyone, without consulting the bishop, except in necessity.*

Yet a presbyter ought not to reconcile a penitent, without consulting the bishop, unless the last necessity compel [it]. Whence in the Council of Carthage: «A presbyter, without consulting the bishop, may not reconcile a penitent, unless, the bishop being absent, the last necessity compel [it]. Of whatever penitent the crime is public, such as has stirred up the whole city, let the hand be laid upon him before the apse, that is, the entrance of the church». Likewise: «Aurelius the bishop said: If anyone be placed in danger and seek to be reconciled to the divine altars; if the bishop be absent, the presbyter ought to consult the bishop and so reconcile the imperiled one by his command». But without consulting the bishop, a presbyter cannot reconcile the excommunicated or those publicly doing penance. Whence in the second Council of Carthage it was established, «that chrism, or the reconciliation of penitents and the consecration of maidens, be not done by presbyters». Likewise: «Let it not be lawful for a presbyter to reconcile anyone in a public Mass». Yet the consecration of maidens, with the bishop consulted, can be done by a presbyter. Whence in the second Council of Carthage: «A presbyter, without consulting the bishop, may not consecrate virgins, and let him never make chrism». As by the bishop's command a presbyter can consecrate virgins, so also reconcile penitents.

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

But if it is asked concerning him who, hastening to penance, could not find a priest and so departed, whether his offering is to be received; we say that it is. Whence in the Council of Epaon: «If anyone has died who was not confessed, and has a good testimony, and could not come to a priest, but death forestalled him at home or on the way, let his kinsmen make an offering for him at the altar and give a redemption for captives».

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