The Impeccability of the Angels Regarding Their Natural End

THE IMPECCABILITY OF THE ANGELS REGARDING THEIR NATURAL END FEW who make an intelligent study of St. Thomas' tract on the angels in the Summa Theologiae can set it aside without having acquired a new awe for the genius of its author. Taking as his starting-point little more than a tangle of half-truths proposed by non-Christian philosophers on the separated substance and a mass of disorganized references to the angels scattered throughout the writings of the Fathers, St. Thomas was nonetheless able to sift what was true, order what was haphazard, and, by dint of his own metaphysical and theological acumen, add to this data not only scientific order, but new profundity. This work of St. Thomas will be our chief guide in examining St. Thomas' theology of the angels as it bears upon the question of impeccability regarding their purely natural end. The traditional interpretation of the great commentators of St. Thomas has been attacked by many outstanding Thomistic scholars.1 It is our task to re-examine the pertinent texts of St. Thomas and his commentators on this question and endeavor to show the solid position of the conclusions of classical Thomism in the architectonic scheme of the entire synthesis of St. Thomas. Although at first this subject may seem to be an over-refinement of scholastic subtlety, its investigation necessitates a thorough understanding not only of the entire treatise De Angelis but also of the vital question of the nature of free will. Freedom in man is an elusive thing; immersed as it is in matter, the human will is extremely difficult to study, as modern psychology has so keenly demonstrated. In the angel, however, we are faced with the same problem of finite liberty, 1 Notably: J. Maritain, Chas. Journet, F. de Blic, Phillippe de la Trinite. The various opinions of these writers will be considered later in this paper. 409 410 RAYMOND E. MARIEB but stripped of the complications and obscurities arising from matter. By studying the angels we can better understand ourselves , as well as go through them to God. THE PROBLEM The question of the angels' ability or inability to sin can raise a host of problems. For instance, one might ask what kind of sin an angel could commit, and a compilation of the Fathers' opinions on this point could fill a volume. Again, the question might arise which was so dear to the older commentators : whether through God's absolute power there could be created an intellectual creature who per se would be absolutely impeccable.2 None of these topics will be treated here, except perhaps in passing. Our formal inquiry will be limited to demonstrating this thesis: there exists de facto intellectual creatures (angels) who per se prima, directly and immediately are incapable of sinning as regards their natural end taken alone (praecise sumptum) .3 We use the terms per se prima, directly and immediately because we do not deny that the angels could sin against their natural end ex consequenti, indirectly and mediately. One sins in the former way by willing something that is contrary to the good of nature, or God as he is the natural end. Lying and stealing are examples of this manner of sinning. On the other hand, one can sin per se primo, etc., against his supernatural end and therefore consequently, indirectly and mediately sin against his natu~al end. One can sin against his natural end indirectly, even though it were impossible for him to sin directly against it. By definition, the supernatural order cannot be connatural to any creature.4 It is this complete lack of proportion between • An excellent summary of the pros and cons in this matter may be found in the Salmanticenses, Cursua Thevlvgicua (Paris: Victor Palme, 1877), vol. IV, disp. 9, dub. 1. "Ibid. ' " Ecclesia Catholica definivit supernaturale ... praecise: quod est supra omnem THE IMPECCABILITY OF THE ANGELS 411 the supernatural order and the creature's natural powers and exigencies that explains the radical peccability of all creatures with respect to that higher order.5 Obviously, then, any creature can sin directly against the supernatural good. In doing so, however, he necessarily sins against his...