Question Six
Whether the punishment which souls sustain in Purgatory is voluntarily assumed
It is asked whether so great a punishment of Purgatory is voluntarily assumed by those who are purged there.
To this it first appears that an affirmative answer should be given.
For those who exist in Purgatory possess an upright heart. But as Ambrose says, one who possesses an upright heart conforms his will to the divine will. The Lord wills that they be purged. Therefore they too will themselves to be purged.
Likewise, every wise person wills that without which his end cannot be attained, and every sick person wills that by which he is healed. But those existing in Purgatory are wise and sick. Therefore they will to be there so that glory may be acquired, and they will that punishment so that they may be healed.
If perhaps you say—as certain persons have perhaps said—that the perception of pain is so great that the whole exercise of reason is absorbed and they cannot deliberate about either the one thing or the other, it is said that this is false and contrary to what Gregory says in Book IV of the Dialogues. For they would not know that they were to be liberated, nor would they seek the suffrages which they frequently seek, as is evident there concerning many persons.
It is argued to the contrary. No one seeks to be liberated from a punishment which he sustains voluntarily. But those who are in Purgatory seek to be liberated from it, as is evident in Book IV of the Dialogues. Therefore they do not sustain that punishment voluntarily.
It is answered according to Lord Bonaventure, who says that a punishment is called voluntary in three ways.
In one way, because it is assumed by a will which commands it, as is penitential punishment.
In another way, because it is sustained by a will which accepts it, as is the punishment of martyrs.
In a third way, there is a punishment which is sustained by a will which tolerates it—for example, a punishment which is present in suffering while its opposite is desired. Thus, when one who loves and desires health falls ill, he indeed sustains the punishment as inflicted by God as by a physician, and nevertheless strives to be liberated from it. In this latter respect it possesses the character of the voluntary only minimally.
In this manner the punishment of Purgatory is voluntary. For one who is to be purged there voluntarily sustains it for three reasons, as Peter of Palude says.
First, because they know it to be inflicted and willed by God. They therefore do not murmur, as good sons do not murmur against their father’s scourges; rather, it pleases them to be afflicted for as long as it pleases God.
Second, because they know the scourges to have been justly imposed. Hence because charity rejoices in truth, they will to suffer justly in this manner.
Third, because they know that they cannot be saved otherwise. Hence, from love of the good for which they hope, they will to be afflicted in this manner for its sake.
Albert and Thomas, however, say in Book IV that something is called voluntary in two ways.
In one way, by an absolute will. In this sense no punishment is voluntary, because the character of punishment consists in its being contrary to the will.
In another way, something is called voluntary by a conditional will, just as cauterization is voluntary for the sake of obtaining health. In this manner the punishment of Purgatory is called voluntary.
Through this the solution to the objections is evident. These things are from Lord John of Torquemada upon distinction 25, chapter Qualis.
Addition
The passage of Lord Bonaventure cited above is in Book IV, distinction 20, part 1, question 3.
Perhaps the author touched upon this difficulty because Lord Augustine, in Book XIV of The City of God, chapter 15, said what punishment is: the soul’s disagreement with those things which happen to us against our will.
But as to the manner in which punishment is voluntary in the souls of the faithful being purged, see Gabriel Biel, Book IV, distinction 14, question 1, article 3, doubt 1.