Praying for the damned: Augustine, Gregory and the reason against it

Again, Augustine, City of God 21, chapter 24, treating this same matter, first sets out the evidencesevidencia: evidence of the disciples of Origen, who argue: if by the Lord’s precept men on the way ought to love and pray for their enemies (as is clear in Matthew 5), much more the blessed, in greater charitycaritas: charity and more fit to be heard, were praying for them continually; and consequently they must finally be heard.¹ Hence they gloss all scripture on perpetual damnationdampnacio: damnation to mean "that men are worthy to suffer such things if God’s mercy be not present, not (they say) that they are going to suffer such things; but as no one of sound faith has said this, so neither will anyone say it."² "Otherwise," he says, "there would now be no reason why the churchecclesia: church should not now pray also for the devil 525and his angels. This therefore the reason by which it comes about that the church does not now pray for the evil angels, whom it knows to be its enemies: that same reason is the one by which it will come about that in that judgment, then, it does not pray even for men to be tormented with eternal fire, although a man be of perfect holiness. For it now prays for those whom it has as enemies in the human race for this reason, that it is the time of fruitful penance. Hence it prays (as the apostle says) that God may give them repentance, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive according to his will."³ "Finally," he says, "were it so certain about some that it knew who they are who, although they are set in this life, are yet predestined to go into the eternal fire with the devil, it would no more pray for them than for him." From these it is clear that no one would pray specially for one whom he knows to be, perpetually before the time of the prayer, damned forever.⁴ Again, blessed Gregory, Morals 34, chapter —, says the same teachingsentencia: CONTEXTUAL: teaching / sentence as Augustine: "Where is it, they say, that they are saints, if they will not pray for their enemies whom they see burning? But we answer: they pray for their enemies at the time when they can turn their hearts to fruitful penance. But how will prayer then be made for them, when they can no longer be changed from iniquity to the works of justice? There is therefore the same reason why prayer is not made then for these damned men as there is now why prayer is not made for the devil himself." And he infers many like things there.⁵ And the reason of all these holy doctors stands in this: no one ought to pray God specially to obtainimpetrare: obtain (by request) something which he knows it would then be unreasonable for God to grant him and impossible for him to acquire for himself; now so it would be with anyone knowingly praying for the beatification of a man whom he knows God has ordained to perpetual damnation; therefore the conclusionconclusio: conclusion.⁶ The minor is clear from this, that the one praying would not only know such a prayer to be in vain, but would be knowingly contrary to the divine will, and consequently unfit to say from the heart the prayer which Christ taught, Matthew 6:10: "Thy will be done in heaven and on earth." How, I ask, does he humbly subject his will to the divine will, who sees clearly that it is fair and useful that it be done so by divine ordinanceordinacio; ordinancia: ordinance; of the sacrament, ordination, and that the opposite would be harmful and shameful, and yet presses that God should do that which in fact would be unreasonable?⁷ For it would be just as if he asked God to change his purpose and eternal ordinance, or to better the world infinitely beyond what he has decreed, or as if he were to pray that God not permit some evil to be done which is already past. But Peter, Matthew 16:23, was called Satan for such a contrary petition by him who says, John 17:9: "I pray not for the world" (that is, for the foreknownprescitus, -i: the foreknown, whose damnation is with the world), and from whom John says: "There is a sin unto death. For that I say not that any man ask", 1 John, last chapter, 16.⁸ And this is the reason why the blessed ask only for the worthy, whom they behold God wills to help; for otherwise they would be most wretched, or languidly frustrated of their petition, or else they would pray in vain, against their own will, for that which they […] desire; which would be a great doubleness in them.⁹

Therefore it is clear that whatever the faithful man has duly prayed tends effectually to this, that God do in all things that which will seem expedient to him. And so all 527due prayers are really thanksgivings, by which, confessing the immensity of his merciful benevolence, we say: "Thy will be done everywhere. Nor is it lawful for us to ask anything else, except if and insofar as it shall please thee."¹⁰ And this is the reason why a good life is the best prayer; for God cannot be awakened or bent by our prayers; therefore it is necessary to pray for the living and the dead, so that out of charity we may merit for ourselves and be made worthy to share our merit with others. And God distributes according to their capacity and not according to our assignmentlimitacio (ad officium): assignment, since prayer is often made for dead men who do not share in the suffragesuffragia: suffrages from it but are punished,¹¹ as is clear of many superiorsprepositi: superiors of the church who forbid the law of priests, as the decree hints, C. 21 q. 3 Ciprianus, where it is said thus: "If anyone had done this, let no prayer be made for him, nor let the sacrifice be celebrated for his falling asleep. For they do not deserve to be named in the prayer of the priests before the altar of God who wish to summon priests and ministers from the altar."¹² Nor does the gloss avail that says this was said only to terrify, because so it would be said of every law that sounds a penalty. Therefore let the bishopsepiscopus; dominus episcopus: bishop; the lord bishop and lordsdominus; dominari: lord; to exercise lordship / to lord it beware who, by omission of correction or by commission of continuitycontinuacio: continuity, draw priestssacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter from the clerical life to the world, since those who die without satisfaction ought not to be redeemed, even if they had any number of chantriescantaria: chantry;¹³ as the decree of Jerome says, C. 12 q. 2 In presenti seculo: "When," he says, "we come before the tribunal of Christ, neither Job nor Daniel nor Noah [can] ask for anyone, but every one must bear his own burden."¹⁴ 528But that the teachings of the saints may appear more clearly in part, it is objectedinstatur; obicitur: it is objected in many ways that one is to pray specially for the damned. First, because one is to pray for these living foreknown, whether they are friends in grace according to present justicesecundum presentem iusticiam: according to present justice or enemies, damnable according to present injustice. Since therefore they are damned for their time, it seems that one must pray for the damned, even though they are known to be such, both because the one praying knows all things in general, and also because he knows in particular, for its time, that such a foreknown man is damned.¹⁵ But that sophismsophisma: sophism does not solve the difficulty in which it is asked whether a wayfarerviator: wayfarer praying for the dead ought to pray, for the same time, for one damned, for which time he knows particularly and distinctly that he is then damned to perpetual punishment. And against this the reasons go, and evidences are counterfeitedsophisticare (transitive): to counterfeit to give colour tocolorare: give colour to its opposite.¹⁶