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The Church has defined nothing on this point, but from
the various names used in Sacred Scripture it appears
that there is a hierarchy of angels, for example,
"Whether thrones or dominations or principalities or
powers,"[1200] and in the Old Testament the
angels are distinguished and subordinated into seraphim,
cherubim, angels, and archangels. From this it is
certain that the angels are not different only in number,
which theologians commonly admit.
St. Thomas holds that all the angels differ in species;
this is denied by Scotus. In agreement with St.
Thomas, the Thomists generally admit that there cannot
be two angels of the same species. The reason is that
those things that are of the same species and differ in
number are the same in form and different with regard to
matter, since an act is not multiplied except by the
potency in which it is received. Thus two perfectly
similar drops of water are two by reason of the matter in
which their specific forms are received. But the angels
are not composed of matter and form. Therefore it is
impossible that there be two angels of the same species.
That is to say, according to many Thomists, that this
is intrinsically impossible, or intrinsically repugnant,
and not only extrinsically by reason of the end, as, for
example, the annihilation of some blessed soul, which
never happens but is still not intrinsically repugnant.
Confirmation. If whiteness were separated from matter,
it would be unique. By a similar argument the unicity and
infinity of God are apodictically proved, namely,
because God, who is pure act, is not received in
matter, or unreceived subsistent being.[1201]
In the question, "Concerning spiritual creatures"
(a. 8), St. Thomas says: "If the angel is a
simple form apart from matter, it is impossible to imagine
that there are many angels in the same species." In
another place he says: "We cannot understand that any
separated form is anything but one of one
species."[1202] He also shows that the separated
human soul is individuated by the transcendental relation
to its body, which will rise again, while the substance
of the angel has no relation to a body which it is to
inform.[1203] Hence there cannot be two angels of
the same species. It is not enough to have recourse to
the thisness (haecceitas) of the angel, as Scotus did,
for the question arises, whence does it come that in the
same species one nature is this as distinct from that.
This difference can come only from matter.
The principle of numerical multiplication within the same
species must be intrinsic and substantial. But Scotus
implies that this can happen without matter marked by
quantity or without a relation to such matter. Therefore
in the angels, in which there is no matter, there can be
no numerical multiplication. Nor can this multiplication
be explained by some supernatural addition, since this
would be extrinsic to the substance of the angel, which is
supposed to be already constituted.
If God were to annihilate the archangel Michael and then
create him again, he would be the same Michael with the
same essence, the same existence once more produced and
received in the same essence. Moreover, even if it were
possible to have two angels of the same species
successively (by annihilation and a second creation), it
would not follow that there were two angels of the same
species at the same time. The principle remains that an
act cannot be multiplied except by the potency in which it
is received.
According to St. Thomas, all angels differ in species
according to the different grades of intellectual nature,
according to intellectual power, and sometimes, like the
birds, the angels have a stronger or weaker visual power.
In the same way the seven colors of the rainbow and the
seven notes in the scale are distinguished.
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