Works › The Mariale: Questions on “Missus est”
Volume 37 · pp. 138–139
Question 81 and the response to Questions 70-81
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QUAESTIO LXXXI.
Quomodo fuerint fructus in B. Virgine?
Post haec quaeritur, quomodo fuerunt fructus in beatissima Virgine, qui quidem distinguuntur secundum statum continentiae, trigesimus, sexagesimus, centesimus.
Et videtur, quod illos non potuit habere excellentius: quia trigesimus non excellit trigesimum, nec sexagesimus sexagesimum, nec centesimus centesimum 1.
Responsio ad Quaestiones LXX, LXXI, etc., de beatitudinibus.
Ad haec solventes dicimus, quod istae beatitudines determinantur secundum actus perfectionis viae, et secundum statum viae: et propter hoc evacuabuntur in patria, ubi non est paupertas, nec luctus, nec esuries, etc.
Item, Concedimus, quod beatissima Virgo habuit omnes istas sicut probatum est, sed excellentius omni viatore, concedentes omnia quae opposita sunt de paupertate et similiter de mititate.
Quod autem objicitur de Moyse, dicendum quod erat mitissimus in generatione sua, vel respectu praecedentium, vel respectu contemporaneorum suorum, vel quod beatissima Virgo non cadit in numerum cum aliis: quia non est una de omnibus, sed est una super omnes.
Concedimus etiam, quod beatissima Virgo habuit omnes aureolas et omnia dona gratuita omnium aliorum sanctorum. De aureola martyrum, Bernardus: "Longe eam plusquam martyrem censemus, in qua passionis sensum compassionis superavit affectus." Item, De omnibus aureolis simul, Bernardus super illud: In plenitudine sanctorum detentio mea 2: "Cui nec puritas Angelorum, nec fides Patriarcharum defuit, nec spes Prophetarum, nec Apostolorum zelus, nec constantia martyrum, nec sobrietas confessorum, nec castitas virginum, nec conjugatorum foecunditas." Ex hac auctoritate patet, quod beatissima Virgo proprietates gratuitas aliorum superavit et eas excellentius habuit. Rationes in contrarium positas, per contrarias rationes credimus sufficienter solutas.
QUESTION 81.
How fruits were in the blessed Virgin.
After these things inquiry is made how the fruits were in the most blessed Virgin, which are distinguished according to the state of continence: thirtieth, sixtieth, hundredth.
And it seems that she could not have them more excellently, because the thirtieth does not surpass the thirtieth, nor the sixtieth the sixtieth, nor the hundredth the hundredth 1.
Response to Questions 70, 71, etc., concerning the beatitudes.
Resolving these things, we say that these beatitudes are determined according to acts of the perfection of the way and according to the state of the way; and on account of this they will be emptied in the homeland, where there is no poverty, nor mourning, nor hunger, and so forth.
Likewise, we grant that the most blessed Virgin had all these things, as was proved, but more excellently than every wayfarer, granting all the things that are opposed concerning poverty and similarly concerning mildness.
But concerning what is objected about Moses, it must be said that he was most meek in his generation, either with respect to those preceding or with respect to his contemporaries, or that the most blessed Virgin does not fall into number with others, because she is not one of all, but is one above all.
We also grant that the most blessed Virgin had all the aureoles and all the gratuitous gifts of all the other saints. Concerning the aureole of martyrs, Bernard says: "We judge her by far more than a martyr, in whom the affection of compassion surpassed the sense of suffering." Likewise, concerning all the aureoles together, Bernard says on that saying, My detention is in the fullness of the saints 2: "She to whom neither the purity of Angels, nor the faith of Patriarchs, nor the hope of Prophets, nor the zeal of Apostles, nor the constancy of martyrs, nor the sobriety of confessors, nor the chastity of virgins, nor the fruitfulness of the married was lacking." From this authority it is clear that the most blessed Virgin surpassed the gratuitous properties of others and had them more excellently. We believe that the arguments set down to the contrary are sufficiently solved by the contrary arguments.
Ad aliud quod ultimo objicitur de fructibus, dicimus quod illos habuit excellentius omnibus viatoribus, duplici de causa. Una, quia habuit eos simul, utpote virgo, vidua, conjugata. Altera, quia unumquemque excellentius habuit: in trigesimo enim fructu qui debetur conjugatis, per denarium gloriae aeternae perfectio designatur. Per trinarium tria bona conjugii, scilicet fides, proles, sacramentum, per quae conjugati tendunt ad vitam aeternam: illa autem tria habuit excellentius beata Virgo, ut probatum est supra: ergo habuit fructum trigesimum omnibus excellentius. Item, In sexagesimo per denarium signatur perfectio gloriae aeternae, in senario sex opera misericordiae, per quae tendunt viduae ad vitam aeternam: illa autem opera misericordiae fuerunt excellentius in beatissima Virgine omni viatore: ergo habuit fructum sexagesimum excellentius universis. Centesimus fructus seu numerus qui constat ex denario in se ducto, vitam angelicam in terris significat, per quam tenditur ad societatem Angelorum in caelis: vitam vero angelicam habuit beatissima Virgo excellentius universis.
Et sic patet qualiter beatissima Virgo omnes beatitudines et omnes aureolas et hujusmodi fructus in summo habuit: ergo, etc.
To the other thing that is last objected concerning the fruits, we say that she had them more excellently than all wayfarers for a twofold cause. One is that she had them together, as virgin, widow, and married woman. The other is that she had each one more excellently. For in the thirtieth fruit, which is owed to the married, the perfection of eternal glory is designated by the denary. By the ternary are designated the three goods of marriage, namely faith, offspring, and sacrament, through which the married tend to eternal life. But the blessed Virgin had those three things more excellently, as was proved above; therefore she had the thirtieth fruit more excellently than all. Likewise, in the sixtieth, by the denary is signified the perfection of eternal glory, and in the senary the six works of mercy through which widows tend to eternal life. But those works of mercy were in the most blessed Virgin more excellently than in every wayfarer; therefore she had the sixtieth fruit more excellently than all. The hundredth fruit or number, which consists of the denary multiplied by itself, signifies angelic life on earth, through which one tends to the society of Angels in heaven. But the most blessed Virgin had angelic life more excellently than all.
And thus it is clear in what way the most blessed Virgin had all the beatitudes and all the aureoles and fruits of this kind in the highest degree; therefore, and so forth.
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