Dist. 49, Part 2, Art. 1, 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/49/q/bon-sent-IV-d49-p2-s2-a1-q1
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### SECTION II.
#### *On the glory of the body in particular.*

Next there is inquiry concerning the second principal article, namely concerning the glory of the body in particular, which consists in four dowries. And concerning this, according as there are four dowries, four things are principally asked.

*First*, there is inquiry concerning the dowry of impassibility.
*Second*, concerning the dowry of clarity.
*Third*, concerning the dowry of subtlety.
*Fourth*, concerning the dowry of agility.

### ARTICLE I.
#### *On the dowry of impassibility.*

Concerning the first, two things are asked. *First* it is asked whether the body is passible from within. *Second*, whether it is passible by a passion coming from without.

### QUESTION I.
#### *Whether the glorified body is passible from within.*

As to the first, then, one proceeds thus, and it is shown that it is not passible from within.

1. Augustine, in the twenty-second book *On the City of God*: «There will be absent from our bodies every deformity, every infirmity, every corruption».

2. Likewise, it seems so *by reason*: because the passion of the body saddens the soul; for *the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul*; but the joy of beatitude is unmixed with sadness: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, if it were to suffer inwardly, then at some time it would be corrupted; but the soul rejoices in its union to the body, and the joy of beatitude is perpetual and secure; but this would not be so, if it were dissoluble: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, the glorified soul is the most perfect of all forms; but the case is such that some form is so noble that it wholly terminates the appetite of its matter, as the form of the fifth body: therefore much more strongly does the glorified soul terminate the appetite of its body. But a form terminating the appetite of matter makes it incorruptible: therefore etc.

**On the contrary:** 1. Everything composed of contraries is corruptible and passible; but the glorified body is of this sort: therefore etc. — If you say that the contraries do not remain, because contraries are not according to substance but according to qualities, and they remain according to substance, not according to qualities; on the contrary: «From glorified bodies, as Augustine says, the vices will be taken away, and the nature will be preserved»; but the elemental qualities are natural to them: therefore they will remain. — If you say that they remain according to essence, not according to act; on the contrary: each thing is nobler when it is joined to act than when it is not: therefore etc. — If you say that that act belongs to imperfection; on the contrary: it is impossible for several elements to come to the constitution of one body except through mixture, therefore it is necessary that the elements be mixed; but where there is mixture, there is necessarily mutual action and passion and a breaking of the qualities; and where these are, the elements are in their acts: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, the glorified body will be of a nobler complexion than now; but the nobler the complexion of any elemented and animated body is, the more passible it is; which is plain, because the body of an animal is more passible than that of a plant, and that of a man than that of a brute animal: therefore the glorified body will be more passible than it is now.

3. Likewise, the elements are mixed in that body: therefore either equally or unequally. If unequally — but unequal commixture is a road to dissolution — therefore that body will be dissoluble and passible. If equally, then either by a punctual equalization or short of it. If by a punctual equalization: then all bodies would be of the same complexion and nobility; which is not true. If not punctually: then one exceeds the other in some way in power; but excess generates in some way conflict and strife, and this generates dissolution: therefore etc.

4. Likewise, either there will be *heat* in the body, or *not*. If *not*, then neither will there be operation of the soul, since the operation of motion and of sense and of life is by means of heat. But if *there is heat there* — heat needs fuel, since it belongs to it to consume; but everything that needs fuel is corruptible and passible: therefore etc.

### Conclusion

> *Glorified bodies will be incorruptible from within; yet the elements remain in them according to substance, qualities, and two operations only.*

**I respond:** It must be said that all agree in this, that those bodies are incorruptible and indefectible; but they take the ground of it from different causes.

For some say that the elements are in the glorified body according to *substance*, not according to *qualities*; and therefore, because «nothing is contrary to substance», and where there is no contrariety there is neither conflict nor dissolution; therefore etc. — But this has been disproved, because the nature ought to remain.

Others say that they are there according to *qualities*; but the qualities neither act nor are acted upon, and this by the divine power working marvellously. — And this too has been disproved, because, if they are mixed, it is established that they are broken and mutually act and are acted upon.

A third group say that they are there according to *substance* and *qualities* and *acts*. Yet nevertheless the *acts* now *are in the mixture itself*, but afterwards *not*, because in them the celestial nature dominates, which wholly reconciles the elements and as it were absorbs the elemental nature and transfers the whole body into a celestial nature; whence a celestial place and incorruptibility are due to it. — But that is doubtful, how the celestial nature should belong to the composition of our body; for it does not seem to be composed except out of the four elements.

And therefore it must be said otherwise, that the elements remain in that body according to *substance* and *qualities* and *operations*. But it must be noted that operation is fourfold: one as regards *constitution*, and this is the operation of mixture; another as regards *conservation*, and this is the ministerial conveying of vital heat through the body; the third is that of conflict, *ordering toward dissolution*; the fourth is that of external impression, through which *the operation of some element is intensified and conflict arises*. The first two operations will remain; the second two will not remain, which order toward dissolution; and therefore the body will be indissoluble.

But the reason why they do not remain is threefold. The first is the tempered mixture, breaking contrariety; the second is the quieting of the elemental appetites; the third is the conservation of the soul flowing in. And by reason of the first they do not fight, by reason of the second they cannot fight, by reason of the third they must be at rest.

**To the arguments:**

*To 1.* To that, then, which is objected, that what is composed of contraries is dissoluble; it must be said that this ought to be understood when the contraries have contrary and unbounded appetites.

*To 2.* To that which is objected, that a body of nobler complexion suffers more easily; it must be said that this is not true, speaking simply, but rather the contrary, because it is of stronger power, and it has place in man only by reason of the penalties inflicted.

*To 3.* To that which is objected, whether [the equalization is] at a point; it must be said that this is not required; nor yet do they mutually fight, because neither prevails, although in some way it exceeds. Moreover, it does not seek to multiply itself nor to be divided from the other; and therefore, even if it exceeds, it does not corrupt the other.

*To 4.* To that which is objected concerning heat, it must be said that from an unequal complexion is born an elemental consuming heat, but from an equal complexion a celestial conserving heat; and therefore, because the elements will then be perfect and duly tempered, the vital heat will be assimilated to the celestial nature; and therefore it will neither consume nor need fuel.