Dist. 24, 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/24/q/bon-sent-IV-d24-p1-a2-q1
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### Article II. *On the Sacrament of order in general.*

Next, as to the second article, inquiry is made concerning the Sacrament of order in general, about which four things are asked. First it is asked, whether there is order in the Church. Second, whether it is a Sacrament. Third, whether it is a Sacrament proper to the new law. Fourth, whether it is a single Sacrament.

### Question I. *Whether there is order in the Church.*

As to the first, one proceeds thus, and it is shown that there is order in the Church:

1. First, through what is said in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians, chapter twelve, that the Church is like an organic body; but an organic body, for its perfection, necessarily requires an ordering: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, this is seen in Exodus, chapter twenty-five: *See all things, and make them according to the exemplar which was shown to thee on the mountain*: therefore the Church militant ought to imitate the triumphant; for, as the Apostle says, all these things are exemplars of the heavenly ones. If, then, in the Church triumphant there is order, as among the Angels, it is evident, etc.

3. Likewise, the Church is constituted of a twofold wall, namely the lay and the clerical; but in the lay wall there is order, as emperor, king, duke, count, tribune, centurion, and decurion — all these bespeak order: if, then, the Church wages war with a spiritual warfare, it seems that it too ought to be *as an army set in array*.

4. Likewise, wherever there is a multitude, either it is confused, or it is reduced to order for governance: therefore if in the ecclesiastical multitude confusion is necessarily avoided, it is necessary that order be set there.

**On the contrary:** 1. Wherever there is order, there is distinction; but as is said in [the Epistle] to the Galatians, chapter three: *We are all one in Christ* — to be understood of all the faithful — therefore there does not seem to be order there.

2. Likewise, wherever there is order, there is determinate prelacy and subjection; but in the Church everyone ought to reckon himself the lowest, as is said in [the Epistle] to the Philippians, chapter two: *In humility esteeming others as superiors to yourselves* etc.; Luke, chapter twenty-two: *Whoever wishes to be greater among you* etc.

3. Likewise, where there is order, there is prelacy and dominion, and where this is, there is some subjection and servitude; but all the faithful *are called into liberty*, as is said in [the Epistle] to the Galatians, chapter five: therefore among the faithful in the Church there is no order.

4. Likewise, if there is order, then either it is according to *goods of nature*, or according to *goods of fortune*, or according to *gifts of grace*. If according to *goods of nature*: then he ought to be superior who is the more industrious and the stronger; and this is false. If according to *goods of fortune*: then he is superior who is the richer and more powerful. If according to *gifts of grace*; but no one knows who has more or less of grace: therefore no one knows who is subject, or who is prelate: therefore it does not seem that there is any order.

> **Conclusion.** *That order is necessary in the Church is proved by a twofold reason.*

**I respond:** It must be said that order is necessary in the Church for a twofold reason, namely on account of beauty and on account of rectitude. — For since there is a great multitude in the Church, unless there were order, confusion would manifestly appear, and this is the disfigurement of a multitude. Hence every wise man, who by that very fact that he is wise is a lover of beauty, does not produce many things without order; and in this most of all appears the wisdom of God, which among all His works is manifested in the constitution of the Church. — Order is also necessary on account of rectitude. For a multitude, when it is in a state in which it can go astray, errs if it has no leader nor ruler, as is said in Third Kings, the last [chapter]: *I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd*. Since, therefore, the multitude of the Church is in a state in which it can go astray, it needs a head and governance; and since one cannot suffice for all nor for all things: therefore it was necessary to

distribute the ecclesiastical offices and powers according to more and less, that the Church might be ruled and directed without error. — And the reasons for this are to be granted.

1. To that, then, which is objected concerning unity, it must be said that just as in our body there is to be considered a nature through which there is unity and agreement, and a nature according to which there is distinction or difference — the first is the composition, the second is the organization — so it is in the body which is the Church. For through the nature of charity we are all united, but through the other gifts of graces, which the Apostle enumerates in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians, chapter twelve, we are distinguished and ordered.

2. To that which is objected, that everyone ought to reckon himself inferior; it must be said that to reckon oneself inferior is twofold: either as to *merit of life*, or as to *office*. As to *merit of life*, since no one knows of what merit he is, he ought thus to reckon himself inferior; but as to *office* it is not necessary, and in this respect order is regarded.

3. To that which is objected concerning liberty, it must be said that this liberty does not exclude *subjection*, since the Apostle himself says in [the Epistle] to the Hebrews, the last [chapter]: *Obey your prelates in all things*; but it excludes the *shame of servitude*, in which is he who is a slave of sin, and so it does not exclude order. — Or it must be said that to be subject to another is twofold, namely by *fear* and by *love*. He who is subject by love walks in the liberty of the spirit as a son; he who is [subject] out of fear is in a certain manner a slave; and in the good and the just there is no subjection through fear, but through love; and such subjection and prelacy and order in no way prejudices liberty.

4. To that which is asked, according to which gifts order is regarded; it must be said that it is according to the *gifts of grace freely given*, which indeed is a power deputed to some office; and of this we are certain with a certitude of probability, and this stands and is not varied, even when the *grace that makes pleasing* withdraws; for although the grace that makes pleasing renders one worthy, such grace *freely given* places one in an order and grade. And thus the whole is evident.