her, Gregory (Hom. x in Ev.) calls an angel a rational
animal. But every animal is composed of body and soul. Therefore
angels have bodies naturally united to them.

Obj. 3: Further, life is more perfect in the angels than in souls.
But the soul not only lives, but gives life to the body. Therefore
the angels animate bodies which are naturally united to them.

_On the contrary,_ Dionysius says (Div. Nom. iv) that "the angels
are understood to be incorporeal."

_I answer that,_ The angels have not bodies naturally united to
them. For whatever belongs to any nature as an accident is not found
universally in that nature; thus, for instance, to have wings,
because it is not of the essence of an animal, does not belong to
every animal. Now since to understand is not the act of a body, nor
of any corporeal energy, as will be shown later (Q. 75, A. 2), it
follows that to have a body united to it is not of the nature of an
intellectual substance, as such; but it is accidental to some
intellectual substance on account of something else. Even so it
belongs to the human soul to be united to a body, because it is
imperfect and exists potentially in the genus of intellectual
substances, not having the fulness of knowledge in its own nature,
but acquiring it from sensible things through the bodily senses, as
will be explained later on (Q. 84, A. 6; Q. 89, A. 1). Now whenever
we find something imperfect in any genus we must presuppose something
perfect in that genus. Therefore in the intellectual nature there are
some perfectly intellectual substances, which do not need to acquire
knowledge from sensible things. Consequently not all intellectual
substances are united to bodies; but some are quite separated from
bodies, and these we call angels.

Reply Obj. 1: As was said above (Q. 50, A. 1) it was the opinion of
some that every being is a body; and consequently some seem to have
thought that there were no incorporeal substances existing except as
united to bodies; so much so that some even held that God was the
soul of the world, as Augustine tells us (De Civ. Dei vii). As this
is contrary to Catholic Faith, which asserts that God is exalted
above all things, according to Ps. 8:2: "Thy magnificence is exalted
beyond the heavens"; Origen, while refusing to say such a thing of
God, followed the above opinion of others regarding the other
substances; being deceived here as he was also in many other points,
by following the opinions