Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Church That Is in Purgatory · Book II: On the Circumstances of Purgatory
Chapter 11: That the fire of purgatory is bodily
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Ecclesia quae est in Purgatorio, Book II, the third general controversy. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
As to the first, the common opinion of the theologians is that it is a true and proper fire, and of the same species as our elementary fire. This opinion is not indeed of faith, because it has nowhere been defined by the Church; indeed in the Council of Florence the Greeks had openly professed that they did not place fire in purgatory, and yet in the definition made in the last session it is defined that there is a purgatory, no mention being made of fire. Yet it is a most probable opinion. First, on account of the consent of the scholastics, which cannot be despised except rashly. Second, on account of the authority of Gregory, book 4 of the Dialogues, chapter 29, where he expressly asserts that the fire by which souls are punished is bodily. Nor does it stand in the way that in book 15, chapter 14, of the Morals he says that the fire of hell is incorporeal; for it is an error of the copyists, who put incorporeal for corporeal, as is plain from what follows, for he at once says that it burns bodily. Third, on account of Augustine, who inclines to the same opinion, book 21, chapter 10, of the City of God. Fourth, because in Scripture everywhere the punishment of the ungodly is called fire; and the rule of the theologians is that the words of the Scriptures are taken properly when nothing absurd follows. Fifth, because the bodies of the damned will be punished by fire after the resurrection, as is plain in Matthew 25, Depart into everlasting fire; but bodies cannot be burned except by bodily fire. But the fire of the bodies of the damned and of the spirits without a body is the same; for in the same place it is said: which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Sixth, because in Wisdom 11 it is said: By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented; but men often sin by inordinately desiring sensible delights; therefore they ought to be punished by sensible objects; the fire, then, by which they are punished is sensible. Seventh, this is confirmed by the eruptions of fire on Mount Etna and in other places, of which we spoke in chapter 6.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
C.\Pl'T XI. /(jnem pnrijalorii cssc corporeuni. Quanlum ad primum, coramunis senlenlia theo- logorum est , verum et proprium esse ignera , el cjusdera speciei cum nostro elemenlari. Quae scn- lenlia non est quidem de Gde , quia nusquam ab Ecclesia deUnita est ; immo in concilio llorentino Graeci aperlc professi fuerant,se non poncre ignem in purgalorio , cl tamen in dermilionem facln scs- sionc ult. dclinitur. purgatorium essc, nuilii meu- tionc iguis liabila.Tamcn est sentenlia probabilis- sima. nn l)E PURGATOUIO Primo : Propler consciisum scholiislicorum, qui non polosl nisi temere conlemni. Secunilo: Propter Gregorii auctoritatera , lib. 4. dialofjor. cnp. 29. ubi cliserte asserit . ignem, qno puniuntur animae, csse corporenm. Neque obstal, quod lib. 15. cap. 14. moralium, dicil, i^niem ge- hennaeesse incorporenm: est enim mendiim scri- plorum, qui posuerunt incorporeum pro corporc- um, ul palel c.\ sequenlibus,dicit enim slalim cor- poraliler nrere. Terlio: Propter Aujfuslinum.qui in eandem sen- tcnliam propendet, lib. 21. cap. 10. de Civil. Dei. Quarlo : Quia in Scriptura passim poena impio- rum vocalur ignis ; et rcgula theologorum esl , ut verba Scriplurarum accipianlur proprie,quando ni- hil absur(ii si;quitur. Quinto : Quia corpora damnatorum.punienlur i- gne post resurrectioncm. ut patel Mallh. 25. Ite in ignem aclcrnum: at corpora non possunt uri,nisi igne corporeo. Est aulem idem ignis corporum damnatorum, et spirituum corpore vacanlium:nara ibidem dicilur : Qui paralus est diabolo et ange- lis ejus. Scxto: Quia Sapient. 11. dicilur : Per quae pec- cat quis, per haec ct torquelur ; sed homines pec- cant saepe sensibilia oblectamenla inordiiuUe cu- piendo : ergopiiniri debent sensibilibus objeclis; ignisigitur quo puninnlur, sensibilis est. Septirao:Id confirmatur e\ eruplion'bus ignis in inonle Aelhna , aliisque locis , de quibus diximns cap. 6.