Folio 346

Paul V, 1605-1621

printed p. 314 · pdf p. 346

to a decree of January 24, 1622, "from the case of that sick person, to whom on the very point of death upon petitioning for confession and after signs of repentance were given, and reported to a priest who is coming, absolution is given, although (the circumstances) contain conflicting reason, no controversy can arise over the spoken decree of Clement VIII."1

Leo XI 1605

PAUL V 1605-1621

The Aids or Efficacy of Grace2

[From the formula for ending disputes sent to the superior generals of the Order of Preachers and of the Society of Jesus, Sept. 5, 1607]

1090. In the matter of aids [de auxiliis] the right is granted by the Supreme Pontiff not only to the disputants but also to the consultors of returning to their countries and their homes; and it is added that this will be so that His Holiness may promulgate at an opportune time the declaration and conclusion which were awaited. But it was most seriously forbidden by the same Most Holy Lordship that in treating this question anyone either qualify the position opposite his own or note it with any censure. Even more he desires that they in turn abstain from harsh words indicating bitterness of mind.3

Gregory XV 1621-1623     Urban VIII 1623-1644

  1. For this and other documents on this subject, see R. de Scorraille, Francois Suarez II, Parisiis, 1912, 110—114. ↩

  2. Theod. Eleutherius (Meyer) S.J., Historia controversiarum de divinae gratiae auxiliis, Antwerp., 1705, 724 a; cf. Jas. Hyac. Serry, O. Pr., Historia Congregationum de auxiliis divinae gratiae, Antwerp., 1709, 587 f.; G. Schneemann, S.J., Controversiarum de div. gratiae liberique arbitrii Concordia initia et progressus, Friburgi, 1881, 292 f. When a sharp controversy had arisen between Dominicans and the Jesuit fathers on the aids of grace, whether indeed grace is efficacious from within (from the efficacy of connection with consent) and consists of physical predetermination, as the most reverend Preachers said, or whether the infallibility of divine predestination to grace depends on an intermediate knowledge, Clement VIII established a Congregation on aids to put an end to the strife, which for nine whole years, 1598-1607, sweated over a solution of the case. Finally, when Paul V was in power, after endless disputations were held by the most celebrated theologians of both parties, an end was imposed upon the strife by the Highest Supreme Pontiff. ↩

  3. Furthermore Paul V (decree of the Holy Office, Dec., 1611) prohibited the publication of books on the subject of aids, even under the pretext of commenting on St. Thomas, or in any other way, without first having been proposed to the Holy Inquisitor. Urban VIII reinforced this (through the decrees of the Holy Inquisitor on the days of May 22, 1625 and August 1, 1642) by adding the penalties of deprivation of the faculty  ↩