CHAPTER XXVI: QUESTION 49 THE CAUSE OF EVIL

[1068] St. Thomas on Dionysius, De div. nom., chap. 4, lect. 22

[1069] St. Augustine, Contra Julianum, Bk. 1, chap. 9.

[1070] cf. De malo, q. 2, a. 3. St. Thomas gives these three reasons why evil cannot have a cause per se.

1. since everything that is desirable has the nature of good, evil cannot be intended per se; that which is not intended per se is an effect per accidens. Thus no one does any evil without intending some good, at least a sensible good.

2. Because every agent acts in a manner similar to itself and thus tends to produce per se a good similar to itself. Thus fire produces fire, heat produces heat, but the conflagration follows per accidens.

3. Because every cause per se has a certain and definite order to its effect, and that which results according to this order is not evil. Thus the weight of bodies is good for the cohesion of the universe, although per accidens it may happen that someone falls from a roof.

[1071] Aristotle, Metaphysica, Bk. V, chap. 2, lect. 3.

[1072] St. Thomas, De malo, q. 1, a. 3 ad 14

[1073] ibid., q. 1, a. 3 ad 15

[1074] "It happens that the evil which is a defective good is the cause of evil; but this is so because the first cause of evil is not evil but good. Therefore there are two ways in which evil is caused by the good. The first way is when the good is the cause of evil inasmuch as it is defective; the second way is inasmuch as the good is a cause per accidens, or when it produces an opposite form" (De malo, q. 1, a. 3).

[1075] Ibid., q. 1, a. 3

[1076] ibid

[1077] ibid., ad 10, 14 f.

[1078] Eccles. 1:15.

[1079] cf. Summa Theol., Ia, a. 49, a. 3 ad 5; q. 63, a. 9 ad I; Ia IIae, q. 71, a. 2 ad 3; de malo, q. 1, a. 5 ad 16; and the references under malum, no. 37 in the Tabula aurea.

[1080] Summa Theol., Ia, q. 23, a. 7 ad 3

[1081] Contra Gentes, Bk. IV, chap. 52

[1082] Bossuet, Sermon pour la profession de Mad. de la Valliere.

[1083] Summa Theol., IIIa, q. 1, a. 3 ad 3

[1084] Rom. 5:20

[1085] Ibid., 5:17

[1086] Summa Theol., IIa IIae, q. 30, a. 1

[1087] II Cor. 4:7, 11

[1088] Summa Theol., Ia IIae, q. 68

[1089] ibid., Ia, q. 50, a. 3

[1090] ibid., q. 63, a. 9

[1091] Dan. 7:10

[1092] Isa. 45:6 f.

[1093] St. Augustine, Liber octoginta trium quaest., q. 21

[1094] Summa Theol., Ia IIae, q. 79, a. 1

[1095] Deut. 32:4

[1096] Rom. 9:14

[1097] Jas. 1:13

[1098] I John 3:8

[1099] Wisd. 9 25

[1100] ibid., 14:9

[1101] Osee 13 9

[1102] Denz., no. 816

[1103] ibid., nos. 316, 318

[1104] ibid., no. 322

[1105] ibid., no. 804

[1106] St. Augustine, De natura et gratia, chap. 43

[1107] Denz., no. 1092.

[1108] cf. St. Thomas, Commentarium in Matt., V, 31

[1109] St. Thomas, De malo, q. 1, a. 3.

[1110] cf. replies to second and third difficulties in this article

[1111] Summa Theol., Ia IIae, q. 79, a. 1

[1112] Ibid., Ia, q. 19, a. 9; cf. De malo, q. 1, a. 5

[1113] Summa Theol., Ia. q. 19, a. 9.

[1114] ibid., Ia, q. 22, a. 2, ad 3

[1115] Ibid., Ia IIae, q. 79, a. 2

[1116] John 13:27

[1117] cf. third objection of this article

[1118] Summa Theol., Ia, q. 22, a. 2 ad 2

[1119] St. Thomas, Sent., I, d. 40, q. 4, a. 2, no. 3

[1120] "It must be said that the effect does not follow unless all the causes concur; by the defect of one a negation of the effect follows. I say therefore that the cause of grace as active is God, and as receiving is the soul itself, after the manner of subject and matter..... It is not necessary that every defect occur on the part of the agent; it may occur on the part of the recipient, and such is the ease in this proposition" (Liber Sententiarum, I, d. 40, q. 4, a. 2 ad 3).

[1121] Summa Theol. Ia, q. 47, a. 3, 4

[1122] Ibid., Ia IIae, q. 113, a. 8 ad 1

[1123] Denz., no. 804

[1124] St. Augustine, op. cit., chap. 26, no. 29

[1125] Summa Theol., Ia, q. 21, a. 4

[1126] Ibid

[1127] Ibid., Ia IIae, q. 79, a. 1.

[1128] Ibid., Ia, q. 21, a. 4.

[1129] St. Augustine, op. cit., chap. 43, no. 50

[1130] Denz., no. 804

[1131] Summa Theol., Ia, q. 20, a. 3

[1132] Phil. 2:13

[1133] I Cor. 4:7

[1134] Denz., no. 318

[1135] "Il faut captiver nos intelligences devant l'obscurite divine du mystere de la grace, et admettre deux graces, dont l'une (la suffisante) laisse notre volente sans excuse devant Dieu, et dont l'autre (l'efficace) ne lui permet pas de se glorifier en elle-meme." Bossuet, OEuvres completes (Paris, 1845), I, 643

[1136] I Cor. 1:31

[1137] Eph. 2:8 ff.

[1138] St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night, II, chap. 17 f

[1139] Summa Theol., Ia, q. 19, a. 9

[1140] Ibid., ad 1

[1141] Ibid., q. 5, a. 3; q. 48, a. 3.

[1142] Ibid., q. 48, a. 3

[1143] Aristotle, Ethica, Bk. IV, chap. 5

[1144] cf. St. Thomas, Supplementum, q. 82, 86, 91.

[1145] cf. St. Thomas, Commentarium in Joan., XV, 2; in Matt., X, 38; in Job; see also Tabula aurea, under tribulationes. St. Gregory, in Job; St. John Chrysostom, Homilia 1

[1146] John 15:1 f

[1147] Ibid., 1:8

[1148] Apoc. 22:11

[1149] Col. 1:6

[1150] Ps. 83:8

[1151] Rom. 8:17f

[1152] Luke 24:26

[1153] Acts 14:21

[1154] II Tim. 2:11 f.

[1155] Luke 9:23

[1156] Matt. 10:38.

[1157] Gal. 4:14

[1158] Ibid., 5:24

[1159] II Cor. 11:29

[1160] Gal. 2:19 f.

[1161] Ibid., 6:14.

[1162] I Cor. 2:2

[1163] Ibid., 1:18.

[1164] cf. II Thess.; Heb. 10

[1165] cf. St. Thomas' Commentarium in Job, chaps. I, 4, 7, 21

[1166] cf. St. Thomas, Commentarium in Ps. 36

[1167] cf. St. Thomas, Commentarium in Job, chap. 21

[1168] Rom. 8:28

[1169] II Cor. 12:7

[1170] Ibid., 12:6

[1171] Ibid., 12:9

[1172] Tob 2:3

[1173] I Cor. 15:19

[1174] Heb. chap. 11.

[1175] Jas. 5:17

[1176] Heb. 12:6

[1177] I Cor. 4:12 f.; cf. St. John Chrysostom, Consolationes ad Stagir., III