Dist. 45, Art. 2, 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/45/q/bon-sent-IV-d45-a2-q2
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### QUESTION II.
### *Whether suffrages made by the wicked profit the dead.*

Secondly it is asked whether suffrages made by the wicked profit. And that they do not, seems [to be the case]:

1. In John, chapter nine: *We know that God does not hear sinners*: therefore if a prayer which God does not hear is of no profit; it is evident, etc. *But if you say* that that saying is not true, because it was said by the blind man, not by the Evangelist; *on the contrary*: this does not solve [the difficulty], because in Isaiah, chapter one: *When you multiply prayers, I will not hear. For your hands are full of blood*; the Gloss: *With blood*, that is, «with sin»: therefore if every sinner and wicked man is such, it seems that suffrages made by the wicked do not profit.

2. Likewise, Gregory: «When he who displeases is sent to intercede, the mind of the angered one is provoked to worse things»: therefore they rather hurt than profit.

3. Likewise, it seems *by reason*: because no work is satisfactory except that which is done from the root of charity; but that which is done by a wicked man is not so done: therefore it does not make satisfaction.

4. Likewise, this sinner is not a member of the Church: therefore he has no connection with him who has died: therefore his work is altogether alien to the dead man himself, therefore it does nothing for him.

5. Likewise, if a wicked man were to act on his own behalf, it would profit him nothing: therefore by parity of reasoning it does not profit another, if he were to act on that other's behalf, since each one merits more efficaciously for himself than for another.

**On the contrary:**

1. The Sacraments of the Church are equally good when they are dispensed by the good and by the wicked: therefore the Mass of a wicked priest profits just as [that] of a good one.

2. Likewise, when a servant, being outside charity, gives an alms at his master's command, the master merits, as if the servant had given well: therefore likewise in the case proposed, since he for whom it is done is in charity, it avails him.

3. Likewise, it seems *by reason*: because the Lord in his largesse reckons a work done by another as if it were done by him for whom it is done; but that one is in charity: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, when someone gives an alms to another, even if the giver is outside charity, nevertheless the recipient can merit in the receiving, if he receives out of charity; but this dead man receives the suffrages of the living out of charity: therefore etc.

### CONCLUSION.

> *Suffrages for the dead, sacramental works excepted, if they are made purely by the wicked, do not profit, unless the charity of a just man accompanies [them].*

**I respond:** It must be said that some say generally that the suffrages of the Church profit, whether they are made by the good or by the wicked. And the ground of this is that both the good and the wicked act according to the doctrine of the Church, and act on behalf of one who is in charity; and where the charity of the doer is lacking, the charity of the Church that prescribes [it] and of the dead man who receives [it] supplies [what is wanting]. — But I do not believe, in brief, that the prayer of a sinner merits anything with God except only *dispositively*, because it disposes toward merit. For a work receives its form from the proximate agent, as water [does] from the vessel containing [it], not from the spring; likewise a crown has its value and beauty from the gems and from the gold, and not from the four elements.

And therefore a distinction must be made: that suffrages made are either *sacramental works*, such as the celebration of the Mass; and then, because they are works of God, they profit by reason of what they contain, whether they are made by the good or by the wicked. Or they are *other works*, and this in two ways: for either they are made *purely by the wicked*, as when some wicked man prays and afflicts himself on someone's behalf; and then I do not believe that they avail the dead. Or they are made by the wicked *at the command of some good person*, such as the dead man himself or a friend of his, out of a thing which belongs to that [good person], as an alms; or [they are made] for *the fellowship of another*, as when two read the Psalter, the one being in charity, the other not; and [so] in other works, as when an alms is given to a just man that he may pray for the dead man; and then they avail by reason of the conjoined charity of the good man.

And thus the reasons on both sides are resolved. For it must be granted that they do not profit insofar as they are made by the wicked alone; it must nonetheless be granted that they do profit, if the charity of a just man accompanies [them]. — But nevertheless the last reason does not hold, because it does not belong to the dead to receive suffrages, but it belongs to God to accept [them] and from this to spare them; but he does not accept save the prayers of the good. And thus the objections on both sides are made manifest.

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