Dist. 44, Part 1, Art. 1, Q. 2
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/44/q/bon-sent-IV-d44-p1-a1-q2
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### Question II. *Whether those things rise again which pertain to superfluity, such as the intestines, hair, and nails.*

Secondly, inquiry is made concerning those things which pertain to superfluity, such as the intestines, hair, and nails — whether they rise again. And that the *intestines* rise again is proved.

1. In the Second [book] of Maccabees, chapter fourteen, it is said that Razias *cast them forth, beseeching the Almighty to restore them to him.*

2. Likewise, if man had stood [firm], he would have been translated to immortality without any corruption; but man was created with intestines: therefore he would have had them in glory; but now he has [in glory] those things which he would have had: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, there is another reason for this: because, if they did not rise again, the belly would remain empty, and if this [were so], [it would be] imperfect; but there is no imperfection there: therefore etc.

Likewise, concerning the *hair*.

4. In Luke twenty-one: *A hair of your head shall not perish;* and again, in Matthew ten: *They are all numbered.*

5. Likewise, by reason it seems [so]: because the privation of hair and nails belongs to the imperfection of nature, therefore the having [of them] belongs to perfection; but everything that belongs to the perfection of nature ought to rise again: therefore etc.

6. Likewise, hair is bestowed by nature for adornment; but the bodies of the elect ought to rise again with every adornment: therefore etc.

**On the contrary:** That the *intestines* do not rise again seems [to be the case]:

1. Because they are impure, [being] for the reception of superfluity; but there such superfluity will not exist: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the intestines will be either *empty* or *full*. If *empty*, then imperfect; if *full*, then unclean: since therefore none of these befits the state of glory, it is evident etc.

Likewise, that neither does the *hair* rise again seems [so]:

3. Because they are from a smoky superfluity; but there will be no superfluity of vapors there: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, by reason it seems [so]: because, just as leaves are on a tree, so is hair on the head; but when the fruit has been brought to maturity, the leaves cease: therefore the hair also [ceases], since man has now come to the fruit of glory.

5. Likewise, this can be proved because they do not belong to the truth of nature.

6. Likewise, because the body would be deformed if all the hairs rose again; for the length of the hair would be extended too much.

7. Likewise, hair does not live, and a sign of this is that it is cut without pain; but what does not live ought not to rise again, since resurrection is unto life: therefore etc.

### Conclusion
> *There shall rise again in the body even those things which pertain to integrity and comeliness.*

**I respond:** It must be said that, as has been said, there shall rise again in the body not only what belongs to its necessity, but also what belongs to integrity and to comeliness and beauty. Since therefore the *hair* pertains to comeliness, and the *nails* [also], this is evident because baldness is an imperfection of nature; and therefore I say that they shall rise again. Likewise the *intestines* also belong to the beauty of nature; whence Augustine in the book *On the City of God*: «In the interior organs, which now seem to have no comeliness, the beauty of reason shall so delight, that it be preferred, according to the judgment of the mind, to every apparent form that pleases the eyes».

1. To that, then, which is objected — that they will not have a use — it must be said that this is true of the *imperfect* use which they now have; but they will have a *perfect* [use], which is to delight the sight of the understanding in so beautiful a harmony, in which the soul shall praise the wisdom of the Creator.

2. To that which is objected — [that] they will be either *empty* or *full* — it must be said that they will be *full*, yet not with superfluity, but with noble spirits and humors, which shall render the whole body more agile.

3. To that which is objected — that hair belongs to superfluity — it must be said that superfluity is threefold: one with respect to the *whole body and the species*, as is the superfluity of impurity; and this will not be there. Another is the superfluity with respect to the *whole body* in which it is, but not with respect to *the propagation of another*, such as semen; and this likewise will not be there, and this is the superfluity of residue. A certain [superfluity] is with respect to *one part*, yet in another it is not superfluous, but seemly and most fittingly placed; and such is the superfluity from which hair [comes], because that matter is not necessary to the stomach, yet is well placed in the head and beard.

4. 5. 6. 7. To that which is objected — that trees shed their leaves — it must be said that if trees were bound always to preserve their comeliness, they would never shed their leaves; but now they do not preserve it, like those who rise again: and therefore it is not similar. — To the other three, it is to be resolved by distinguishing the threefold truth of nature, and living according to the threefold difference, as was said in the preceding problem.

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