sion would hold if it were a question of the order of
Nature: "a thing must be before it is such (_prius est esse quam esse
tale_)"; and therefore the soul must be, before it is sanctified. But
if St. Thomas held for a posteriority of time, no matter how short,
we ask how it was that he did not perceive the fallacy of the
argument, since it might be neither before nor after, but in the very
instant of, animation.

The question is answered thus: St. Thomas as a Doctor of the Church
and in matters which were not then _de fide,_ is a witness to the
expression of the faith of his time. Hence his line of argument
coincides with, because it follows, that of St. Bernard, Peter
Lombard, Alexander of Hales, Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure. It was
not likely that St. Thomas would differ from the great masters of his
time, who failed to understand that the grace of redemption might at
the same time be one of preservation and prevention. Nor is it likely
that St. Thomas had any reliable information about the movement* in
progress at that time towards a belief in the Immaculate Conception.
[*Principally in England, where, owing to the influence of St. Anselm
(1109), the doctrine was maintained by Eadmer (1137). Nicolas of St.
Albans (1175), Osbert of Clare (1170), Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of
Lincoln (1253), William of Ware (1300), who was the master of Duns
Scotus (1308)]. No doubt he knew something of it, but the names of its
promoters would have weighed little with him as against those of
Bernard, Albert, Peter, Alexander, and Bonaventure. And it must not be
forgotten that among those who upheld the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception, not a few ascribed the privilege as being absolute and not
one of preservation and Redemption. Hence it is that St. Thomas
insists on two things: (1) that the Mother of God was redeemed, and
(2) that the grace of her sanctification was a grace of preservation.
And, be it remarked in conclusion, these two points, so much insisted
on by St. Thomas, are at the very basis of the Catholic doctrine of
the Immaculate Conception.
_______________________

QUESTION 27

OF THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
(In Six Articles)

After the foregoing treatise of the union of God and man and the
consequences thereof, it remains for us to consider what things the
Incarnate Son of God did or suffered in the human nature united to
Him. This consideration will be fourfold. For we shall consider:
(1) T