were to see Him in Galilee; yet He
showed Himself first to them when they were assembled together in the
room out of fear. (Nor is there any breaking of a promise here, but
rather a hastened fulfilling out of kindness)" [*Cf. Catena Aurea in
Luc. xxiv, 36]: "afterwards, however, when their minds were
comforted, they went into Galilee. Nor is there any reason to prevent
us from supposing that there were few in the room, and many more on
the mountain." For, as Eusebius [*Of Caesarea; Cf. Migne, P. G.,
xxii, 1003] says, "Two Evangelists, Luke and John, write that He
appeared in Jerusalem to the eleven only; but the other two said that
an angel and our Saviour commanded not merely the eleven, but all the
disciples and brethren, to go into Galilee. Paul makes mention of
them when he says (1 Cor. 15:6): 'Then He appeared to more then five
hundred brethren at once.'" The truer solution, however, is this,
that while they were in hiding in Jerusalem He appeared to them at
first in order to comfort them; but in Galilee it was not secretly,
nor once or twice, that He made Himself known to them with great
power, "showing Himself to them alive after His Passion, by many
proofs," as Luke says (Acts 1:3). Or as Augustine writes (De Consens.
Evang. iii): "What was said by the angel and by our Lord--that He
would 'go before them into Galilee,' must be taken prophetically. For
if we take Galilee as meaning 'a passing,' we must understand that
they were going to pass from the people of Israel to the Gentiles,
who would not believe in the preaching of the apostles unless He
prepared the way for them in men's hearts: and this is signified by
the words 'He shall go before you into Galilee.' But if by Galilee we
understand 'revelation,' we are to understand this as applying to Him
not in the form of a servant, but in that form wherein He is equal to
the Father, and which He has promised to them that love Him. Although
He has gone before us in this sense, He has not abandoned us."
_______________________

FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 55, Art. 4]

Whether Christ Should Have Appeared to the Disciples "in Another
Shape"?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ ought not to have appeared to
the disciples "in another shape." For a thing cannot appear in very
truth other than it is. But there was only one shape in Christ.
Therefore if He appeared under another, it was not a true but a false
apparition. Now this is not at all fitting, because as Augus