Chapter III.
On the antecedents to judgment, of which kind are the suffrages of the Church.
Concerning the suffrages of the Church, this must be held: that the suffrages of the Church profit the dead—suffrages, I say, which the Church performs for the dead, such as sacrifices, fasts, alms, and other prayers and penances voluntarily assumed for the more swift and easy expiation of their sins.
They profit the dead, however, not any whatsoever, but the "moderately good," namely those who are in purgatory—not the "very wicked," namely those who are in hell, nor the "very good," namely those who are in heaven; rather, conversely, the merits and prayers of these latter aid the Church Militant, whose members the Blessed obtain many benefits for. — They profit, moreover, in greater or lesser degree either according to the diversity of merits in the dead, or according to the charity of the living, which is more solicitous for some than for others; and this either for the mitigation of punishments or for swifter liberation, according as the dispensation of supernal providence shall see to be more expedient for them.
The reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: since the First Principle, being supremely good, and therefore of the highest severity against evil, ought equally to be of the highest gentleness toward good; and therefore, since by reason of the severity of justice the just, in whom there is guilt of fault, ought to be tormented after this life in purgatory, they ought also by reason of the gentleness of mercy to be relieved and to have aid and protection, especially because they are established in misery and can no longer help themselves by their own works and merits. Therefore the governance of divine providence ought to have disposed that suffrages be conferred upon them by those who are able, while preserving however the rectitude of justice, from which the sweetness of divine mercy neither ought nor can dissent nor be in any way separated. Since therefore the rectitude of justice requires the conservation of divine honor, the governance of the universe, and the quality of human merit: therefore the supreme providence of the supernal and First Principle has disposed that these suffrages avail the departed according to the sweetness of mercy and the rectitude of justice, which preserves the dignity of divine honor, the governance of the universe, and the quality of human merit.
First, therefore, since in suffrages of this kind there must be preserved justice, which is chiefly conserving of divine honor: and the divine honor nonetheless requires that satisfactory and penal works be rendered to him for sins: hence it is that suffrages must be made through those works by which satisfaction is most especially made and honor is recompensed to God. Since, therefore, of this kind there are three parts of satisfaction: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, and the sacrifice of the altar, in which the honor due to God is most greatly rendered on account of the pleasing nature of him who is offered in that sacrifice: hence it is that the suffrages of the Church consist in satisfactory works of this kind and most especially in the celebration of Masses: as Gregory intimates in the fourth book of the Dialogues, that some have been most swiftly freed from great punishments through the benefits of Masses. And on this account the pomp of funeral rites and the care of burial and things of this kind ought not to be counted among the suffrages of the Church. For which reason Saint Augustine also says in the book On the Care to Be Had for the Dead, that "the care of the funeral, the arrangement of the burial, and the pomp of the obsequies are more consolations for the living than aids for the dead."
Furthermore, since there must be preserved justice conserving the order and governance of the universe: and this requires that in the communication of influences there be preserved the order and correspondence between those from which and into which those influences flow; and on this account what is lower ought not to influence that which is above, nor that which is removed by every manner of distance: hence it is that the suffrages of the Church cannot avail for those who are in hell, because they are entirely separated from the mystical body of Christ; whence no spiritual influence reaches them nor benefits them, just as the influence of the head does not benefit members amputated from the body. — Hence it is also that they do not benefit the Blessed, because they are altogether superior according to their state, and already existing at the terminus they cannot ascend to higher things; but rather conversely they benefit us and their prayers — for they merited this also while in the flesh — therefore the divine order has disposed that prayers be offered even to the Saints of God themselves, so that they too may aid us in obtaining divine benefits. Therefore ecclesiastical suffrages do not benefit them, but rather theirs benefit us.
It remains, therefore, that they benefit only the just, who are in purgatorial punishments. For they, by reason of punishment and inability to help themselves, are inferior to the living, but by reason of justice they are joined to the other members of the Church; so that the merits of the holy Church can deservedly aid them on account of this correspondence and order.
Finally, since justice must be preserved in these matters, which weighs the requirement of merits; hence it is that those suffrages which are offered in common for the dead, although they avail all the good according to their measure, nevertheless avail more for those who merited more that such suffrages would benefit and avail them while they were in the state of wayfaring. But those suffrages which are offered specifically for certain persons: because the intention of the one offering is right and proceeds according to God, and the ecclesiastical institution is without doubt not void, therefore they avail more for those for whom they are determinately offered, although they are also communicated to others in some way. Nor, however, can they aid others as much as that principal person, because, although they are spiritual, nevertheless divine justice requires a greater amendment for a greater fault and more amendments for more faults. Hence the example of a light, which equally illuminates those seated at one table, does not hold, because suffrages of this kind ought rather to be likened to redemptive payments than to such diffusive influences. - But how much they determinately avail for each person, He has to define with certitude whose office it is to attend to the weight and number and measure in offenses and punishments and suffrages.