PL 38 · cols. 935–938

Augustine, Sermones 172-178 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermons CLXXII–CLXXIII

SERMO CLXXII De verbis Apostoli, I Thess. cap. IV, 12, Nolumus autem

Sermon 172 On the words of the Apostle, 1 Thess. 4:12, But we do not wish

Editors' notes and page, col. 935

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CLXXII› · call in col 935 Emendatus ad ar. bn. cl. cb. f. fs. g. l. lr. m. pr. r. rm. vd. Am. Er. Par. Lov.

Corrected against the manuscripts ar. bn. cl. cb. f. fs. g. l. lr. m. pr. r. rm. vd. and the Amerbach, Erasmus, Paris and Louvain editions.

(printed under page 474)

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CLXXII› · call in col 935

Alias, de Verbis Apostoli 32.

Formerly numbered On the Words of the Apostle 32.

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vos ignorare, fratres, de dormientibus, ut non contristemini, sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent. Et de operibus misericordiae, quibus mortui adjuvantur.

you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, so that you may not be saddened, even as the others who have no hope. And on the works of mercy by which the dead are helped.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Tristitia de mortuis, qualis prohibetur. Admonet nos beatus Apostolus, ut de dormientibus, hoc est, mortuis charissimis nostris, non contristemur, sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent, spem scilicet resurrectionis et incorruptionis aeternae. Nam ideo et dormientes eos appellat Scripturae veracissima consuetudo, ut cum dormientes audimus, evigilaturos minime desperemus. Unde etiam cantatur in Psalmo: Nunquid qui dormit, non adjiciet ut resurgat (Psal. XL, 9)? Est ergo de mortuis eis qui diligunt, quaedam tristitia quodam modo naturalis. Mortem quippe horret, non opinio, sed natura. Nec mors homini accideret, nisi ex poena quam praecesserat culpa. Quapropter si animalia quae ita creata sunt, ut suo quaeque tempore moriantur, mortem fugiunt, diligunt vitam; quanto magis homo, qui sic fuerat creatus, ut si vivere sine peccato voluisset, sine termino viveret? Hinc itaque necesse est ut tristes simus, quando nos moriendo deserunt quos amamus: quia etsi novimus eos non in aeternum relinquere nos mansuros, sed aliquantum praecedere secuturos; tamen mors ipsa quam natura refugit, cum occupat dilectum, contristat in nobis ipsius dilectionis affectum. Ideo non admonuit Apostolus, ut non contristemur; sed, non sicut caeteri qui spem non habent. Contristamur ergo nos in nostrorum mortibus necessitate amittendi, sed cum spe recipiendi. Inde angimur, hinc consolamur: inde infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit: inde dolet humana conditio, hinc sanat divina promissio.

Chapter I. — 1. What kind of sadness about the dead is forbidden. The blessed Apostle admonishes us not to be saddened about those who sleep, that is, about our most dear dead, even as the others who have no hope, namely the hope of the resurrection and of eternal incorruption. For it is for this reason that the most truthful usage of Scripture calls them sleepers, so that when we hear of sleepers we may by no means despair of their awakening. Hence it is also sung in the Psalm: Shall he who sleeps not rise again? (Ps. 40:9). There is therefore, in those who love, a certain sadness about the dead that is in a manner natural. For it is not opinion but nature that shudders at death. Nor would death befall man, except as the punishment that guilt had preceded. Therefore, if animals, which were so created that each dies in its own time, flee death and love life, how much more man, who had been so created that, had he willed to live without sin, he would have lived without end? Hence, therefore, it is necessary that we be sad when those whom we love forsake us by dying: for although we know that they are not leaving us to stay [away] for ever, but are going a little ahead of us who are to follow; yet death itself, which nature shuns, when it seizes a loved one, saddens in us the very affection of love. Therefore the Apostle did not admonish us not to be saddened, but not [to be saddened] as the others who have no hope. We are saddened, then, at the deaths of our own by the necessity of losing [them], but with the hope of receiving [them] back. On the one side we are distressed, on the other we are consoled: on the one side weakness afflicts, on the other faith restores: on the one side the human condition grieves, on the other the divine promise heals.

CAPUT II. — 2. Orationes et sacrificium ac eleemosynae pro defunctis. Proinde pompae funeris, agmina exsequiarum, sumptuosa diligentia sepulturae, monumentorum opulenta constructio, vivorum sunt qualiacumque solatia, non adjutoria mortuorum. Orationibus vero sanctae Ecclesiae, et sacrificio salutari, et eleemosynis, quae pro eorum spiritibus erogantur, non est dubitandum mortuos adjuvari; ut cum eis misericordius agatur a Domino, quam eorum peccata meruerunt. Hoc enim a patribus traditum, universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur, oretur, ac pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur. Cum vero eorum commendandorum causa opera misericordiae celebrantur, quis eis dubitet suffragari, pro

Chapter II. — 2. Prayers and the sacrifice and alms for the departed. Accordingly, the pomp of a funeral, the throngs at the obsequies, costly care over burial, the opulent construction of monuments, are consolations of some sort for the living, not aids for the dead. But it is not to be doubted that the dead are helped by the prayers of holy Church, and by the saving sacrifice, and by the alms which are given out for their spirits, so that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than their sins have deserved. For this, handed down by the fathers, the whole Church observes: that for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their place at the sacrifice itself, prayer is made, and it is recalled that it is offered for them also. But when works of mercy are performed for the sake of commending them, who would doubt that these aid them, for

Editors' notes and page, col. 936

Footnotes

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Sic Mss. Editi vero, qui diliguntur.

So the manuscripts. The printed editions, however, have who are loved.

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(a) ‹anchor: call not visible in the page-foot image (the note concerns Sermo CLXXII as a whole)› · call in col 936

De sermonis hujus integritate dubitandi ansam praebet Florus (qui est Beda Vulgatus) ad I Thess. IV: quando praemisso hocce titulo, « Ex sermone de iisdem verbis Apostoli, » quo nonnisi fragmentum dari significatur, id nihilominus totum subjicit, quod hic habetur. Auget vero dubitationem, cum ibidem post hunc ipsum sermonem proxime adjungit subsequentis sermonis cap. 3 fragmentum in haec verba, « Item ex eodem Sermone. Non tantum ait, Ut non « contristemini, » etc. Sic nimirum habetur in veteri codice Corbeiensi : ubi nunc tamen in Bedae editis est, « Item ex serm. 2, de eadem lectione. Non tantum ait, Ut non « contristemini, » etc.

Florus (who is the commonly so-called Bede) on 1 Thess. 4 gives occasion to doubt whether this sermon is complete: for after setting this title, "From the sermon on the same words of the Apostle," by which only a fragment is signified to be given, he nonetheless sets down the whole of what is found here. And the doubt grows, since in the same place, immediately after this very sermon, he adds a fragment of chapter 3 of the following sermon in these words: "Likewise from the same Sermon. He does not only say, That ye be not sorrowful," etc. So indeed it stands in the old Corbie manuscript; whereas in the printed editions of Bede it now reads: "Likewise from sermon 2, on the same reading. He does not only say, That ye be not sorrowful," etc.

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quibus orationes Deo non inaniter allegantur? Non omnino ambigendum est, ista prodesse defunctis; sed talibus qui ita vixerint ante mortem, ut possint eis h⟨ae⟩c utilia esse post mortem. Nam qui sine fide quae per dilectionem operatur (Galat. V, 6), ejusque Sacramentis, de corporibus exierunt, frustra illis a suis hujusmodi pietatis impenduntur officia, cujus, dum hic essent, piguore caruerunt, vel non suscipientes, vel in vacuum suscipientes Dei gratiam, et sibi non misericordiam thesaurizantes, sed iram. Non ergo mortuis nova merita comparantur, cum pro eis boni aliquid operantur sui, sed eorum praecedentibus consequentia ista redduntur. Non enim actum est, nisi cum hic viverent, ut eos haec aliquid adjuvarent, cum hic vivere destitissent. Et ideo istam finiens quisque vitam, nisi quod meruit in ipsa, non poterit habere post ips⟨a⟩m.

whom prayers are not presented to God in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that these things profit the dead; but only such as have so lived before death that these things can be useful to them after death. For those who have departed from their bodies without the faith which works through love (Gal. 5:6), and without its Sacraments, have offices of piety of this kind expended on them by their own people in vain, since, while they were here, they lacked its pledge, either not receiving the grace of God, or receiving it in vain, and storing up for themselves not mercy, but wrath. So no new merits are procured for the dead when their own people do something good on their behalf, but these things are rendered as consequences of what they had done before. For it was not brought about, except while they were living here, that these things should help them in some way when they had ceased to live here. And therefore each person, in ending this life, will not be able to have after it anything except what he merited in it.

3. Luctus et ⟨o⟩fficia defunctis exhibenda. Permittantur itaque pia corda charorum de suorum mortibus contristari dolore sanabili, et consolabiles lacrymas fundant conditione mortali; quas cito reprimat fidei gaudium, qua creduntur fideles, quando moriuntur, paululum a nobis abire, et ad meliora transire. Consolentur eos etiam fraterna obsequia, sive quae funeribus exhibentur, sive quae dolentibus adhibentur, ne sit justa querela dicentium, Sustinui qui simul contristaretur, et non fuit; et consolantes, et non inveni (Psal. LXVIII, 21). Sit pro viribus cura sepeliendi et sepulcra construendi: quia et haec in Scripturis sanctis inter bona opera deputata sunt: nec solum in corporibus Patriarcharum aliorumque sanctorum, et humanis cadaveribus quorumcumque jacentium; verum etiam in ipsius Domini corpore praedicati atque collaudati sunt, qui ista fecerunt. Impleant haec homines erga suos officia postremi muneris, et sui humani lenimenta moeroris. Verum illa quae adjuvant spiritus defunctorum, oblationes, orationes, erogationes, multo pro eis observantius, instantius, abundantius impendant, qui suos carne, non spiritu mortuos, non solum carnaliter, sed etiam spiritualiter amant.

3. The mourning and offices to be shown to the dead. Let the loving hearts of dear ones, then, be permitted to be saddened at the deaths of their own with a healable grief, and let them shed consolable tears in accordance with their mortal condition; and let the joy of faith quickly check these tears, the faith by which the faithful are believed, when they die, to go away from us for a little while and to pass over to better things. Let brotherly services also console them, whether those shown at funerals or those offered to the grieving, lest there be the just complaint of those who say, I waited for one who would grieve together with me, and there was none; and for comforters, and I found none (Ps. 68:21). Let there be care, as far as one's strength allows, for burying and for building tombs: for these things too are reckoned among good works in the holy Scriptures: and not only in the case of the bodies of the Patriarchs and of other saints, and of the human corpses of any who lay [unburied]; but also in the case of the very body of the Lord those who did these things were proclaimed and praised. Let men fulfil these offices of the last service towards their own, and the solaces of their own human sorrow. But those things which help the spirits of the dead, offerings, prayers, almsgivings, let those who love their own who are dead in the flesh, not in the spirit, not only carnally but also spiritually, expend for them much more attentively, more earnestly, more abundantly.

SERMO CLXXIII. De eisdem verbis Apostoli, I Thess. cap. IV, v. 12-17.

Sermon 173. On the same words of the Apostle, 1 Thess. ch. 4, vv. 12-17.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. In defunctorum exsequiis quid recogitandum. Quando celebramus dies fratrum defunctorum, in mente habere debemus, et quid sperandum, et quid timendum sit. Secundum hoc enim sperandum est, quoniam pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus (Psal. CXV, 15): secundum hoc autem timendum est, quia mors peccatorum pessima (Psal. XXXIII, 22). Ideoque propter

Chapter I. — 1. What is to be reflected upon at the funeral rites of the dead. When we celebrate the days of our departed brethren, we ought to keep in mind both what is to be hoped and what is to be feared. For on the one hand it is to be hoped, because precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps. 115:15): on the other hand it is to be feared, because the death of sinners is most evil (Ps. 33:22). And therefore on account of

Editors' notes and page, col. 937

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CLXXIII› · call in col 937 Emendatus ad omnes Mss. et Edd. in sermone praecedenti modo designatos.

Corrected against all the manuscripts and editions designated in the preceding sermon.

(printed under page 475)

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CLXXIII› · call in col 937

Alias, de Verbis Apostoli 33.

Formerly numbered On the Words of the Apostle 33.

(printed under page 475)

(b) ‹anchor: cap. IV, 12-17› · call in col 937

In manuscriptis inscribitur, « De celebritate defunctorum atque resurrectione mortuorum : » qui titulus apprime convenit cum sermonis exordio, sed hoc nescimus an vere sit Augustini. Suspicamur additum ab iis qui sermonem in ista celebritate legendum instituerunt. Quippe si non fallit Florus in Ms. Corbeiensi, altera pars hujusce sermonis, quam ipse ad I Thess. IV refert, excerpta est ex eodem sermone, ex quo sermo superior.

In the manuscripts it is headed "On the commemoration of the departed and the resurrection of the dead": a title that suits the sermon's opening exactly, but we do not know whether this is truly Augustine's. We suspect it was added by those who appointed the sermon to be read at that commemoration. For if Florus in the Corbie manuscript is not mistaken, the second part of this sermon, which he cites on 1 Thess. 4, is excerpted from the same sermon as the preceding one.

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spem, In memoria aeterna erit justus: propter timorem, Ab auditu malo non timebit (Psal. CXI, 7). Erit enim auditus quo nullus sit pejor, quando dicetur sinistris, Ite in ignem aeternum. Ab hoc auditu malo justus non timebit. Erit enim ad dexteram inter illos quibus dicetur, Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum (Matth. XXV, 41, 34). In hac autem vita, quae media ante summa bona et ante summa mala ducitur, in medio bonorum malorumque mediorum, id est, in neutra parte summorum; quia et bona quaecumque hic fuerint homini, in comparatione bonorum aeternorum nulla sunt; et mala quaecumque in hac vita experitur homo, in comparatione ignis aeterni nec comparanda sunt: in hac ergo medietate vitae, illud quod audivimus nunc ex Evangelio, tenere debemus, Qui credit, inquit, in me, licet moriatur, vivit. Et vitam pronuntiat, et mortem non negat. Qui credit in me, licet moriatur, vivit Quid est, licet moriatur, vivit? Licet moriatur corpore, vivit spiritu. Deinde adjungit: Et qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in aeternum (Joan. XI, 26, 25). Certe licet moriatur; quomodo, si non morietur? Sed licet moriatur ad tempus, non morietur in aeternum. Sic ista solvitur quaestio, ut non sint inter se contraria verba veritatis, et possint instruere affectum pietatis. Ergo licet corpore morituri simus, vivimus si credimus.

hope, The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance; on account of fear, He shall not fear the evil hearing (Ps. 111:7). For there will be a hearing than which none is worse, when it will be said to those on the left, Depart into the eternal fire. Of this evil hearing the just man shall have no fear. For he will be at the right hand among those to whom it will be said, Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom (Matt. 25:41, 34). But in this life, which is passed as a middle state before the highest goods and before the highest evils, in the midst of middling goods and evils, that is, on neither side of the highest, because whatever goods a man may have here are nothing in comparison with the eternal goods, and whatever evils a man experiences in this life are not even to be compared with the eternal fire: in this middle stretch of life, then, we ought to hold fast what we have just heard from the Gospel, He who believes, He says, in Me, though he die, lives. He both declares life and does not deny death. He who believes in Me, though he die, lives. What does it mean, though he die, lives? Though he die in body, he lives in spirit. Then He adds: And he who lives and believes in Me shall not die for ever (John 11:26, 25). Certainly, though he die; how so, if he shall not die? But though he die for a time, he shall not die for ever. Thus this question is resolved, so that the words of truth are not contrary to one another and can instruct the affection of piety. Therefore, although we are to die in body, we live if we believe.

CAPUT II.— 2. Resurrectionis fides, solatium in morte charorum. Mors poena peccati. Est autem fides nostra maxime discreta ab omni fide Gentilium in resurrectione mortuorum. Hanc enim illi omnino non recipiunt: quia ubi recipiant, non habent. A Domino enim praeparatur voluntas hominis, ut sit fidei receptaculum (Prov. VIII, 35, sec. LXX). Dicit Judaeis Dominus: Sermo meus non capit in vobis (Joan. VIII, 37). Ergo in his capit, in quibus invenit quod capiat. In his enim invenit quod capiat sermo qui capit, quos Deus pollicendo non decipit. Ille enim qui quaerit ovem perditam (Luc. XV, 4), et quam quaerit novit, et ubi quaerat, et quomodo ejus membra dispersa colligat, et in unam salutem redigat, et ita restituat ut eam ulterius non perdat. Consolemur ergo nos invicem, et in his sermonibus nostris. Potest non dolere cor humanum defuncto charissimo: melius tamen cum dolet sanatur cor humanum quam non dolendo fit inhumanum. Maria Domino cohaerebat, et mortuum fratrem dolebat. Sed quid miraris quia Maria dolebat tunc, cum ipse Dominus flebat? Movere autem quemvis potest, quomodo flebat mortuum, se continuo jubente victurum (Joan. XI)? Non mortuum flebat, quem ipse suscitavit; sed mortem, quam sibi homo peccando comparavit. Si enim peccatum non praecessisset, sine dubio mors

Chapter II. — 2. Faith in the resurrection, a solace at the death of dear ones. Death the penalty of sin. Now our faith is most sharply distinguished from every faith of the Gentiles in the resurrection of the dead. For they do not receive this at all, because they have nowhere to receive it. For the will of man is prepared by the Lord, that it may be a receptacle of faith (Prov. 8:35, according to the Septuagint). The Lord says to the Jews: My word finds no room in you (John 8:37). Therefore it finds room in those in whom it finds something to hold it. For the word that finds room finds something to hold it in those whom God does not deceive in promising. For He who seeks the lost sheep (Luke 15:4) knows both which one He seeks, and where to seek it, and how to gather its scattered members and bring them back into one salvation, and so to restore it that He does not lose it any more. Let us therefore console one another, even in these words of ours. It is possible for the human heart not to grieve when one most dear has died; yet it is better that the human heart be healed while it grieves than that it become inhuman by not grieving. Mary clung to the Lord, and grieved for her dead brother. But why do you wonder that Mary grieved then, when the Lord Himself wept? Yet it may move anyone to ask how He wept for a dead man who was presently to live again at His own command (John 11)? He did not weep for the dead man, whom He Himself raised; but for death, which man procured for himself by sinning. For if sin had not gone before, without doubt death

Editors' notes and page, col. 938

Footnotes

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Forte, nec computanda sunt.

Perhaps and they are not to be reckoned.

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(2) ‹anchor: in unam salutem redigat› · call in col 938

Sic manuscripti. At editi, in unam salutem reducat. An forte pro, in unum ovile reducat?

So the manuscripts. But the printed editions have lead back into one salvation. Or perhaps for lead back into one fold?

(printed under page 475)

(a) ‹anchor: ulterius non perdat› · call in col 938

Reliquum sermonis, si excipias clausulam, « Sufficiant haec pauca, » etc., habetur in Collectione Flori, sed alio sententiarum ordine. Nam ejus excerptum ab istis verbis incipit, cap. 3, « Non tantum ait, Ut non contristemini, » etc.; postque verba, « Per illam transivit et Dominus; » subjungit, « Consolemur ergo nos, » etc.

The rest of the sermon, except the closing sentence "Let these few words suffice," etc., is found in the Collection of Florus, but with the sentences in a different order. For his excerpt begins with these words in ch. 3, "He does not only say, That ye be not sorrowful," etc.; and after the words "Through it the Lord also passed," he adds "Let us therefore console one another," etc.

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