Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ worked miracles unfittingly on irrational creatures. For brute animals are more noble than plants. But Christ worked a miracle on plants as when the fig-tree withered away at His command (Mt. 21:19). Therefore Christ should have worked miracles also on brute animals.

Objection 2: Further, punishment is not justly inflicted save for fault. But it was not the fault of the fig-tree that Christ found no fruit on it, when fruit was not in season (Mk. 11:13). Therefore it seems unfitting that He withered it up.

Objection 3: Further, air and water are between heaven and earth. But Christ worked some miracles in the heavens, as stated above (Article 2), and likewise in the earth, when it quaked at the time of His Passion (Mt. 27:51). Therefore it seems that He should also have worked miracles in the air and water, such as to divide the sea, as did Moses (Ex. 14:21); or a river, as did Josue (Josue 3:16) and Elias (4 Kgs. 2:8); and to cause thunder to be heard in the air, as occurred on Mount Sinai when the Law was given (Ex. 19:16), and like to what Elias did (3 Kgs. 18:45).

Objection 4: Further, miraculous works pertain to the work of Divine providence in governing the world. But this work presupposes creation. It seems, therefore, unfitting that in His miracles Christ made use of creation: when, to wit, He multiplied the loaves. Therefore His miracles in regard to irrational creatures seem to have been unfitting.

On the contrary, Christ is "the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24), of whom it is said (Wis. 8:1) that "she ordereth all things sweetly."

I answer that, As stated above, Christ's miracles were ordained to the end that He should be recognized as having Divine power, unto the salvation of mankind. Now it belongs to the Divine power that every creature be subject thereto. Consequently it behooved Him to work miracles on every kind of creature, not only on man, but also on irrational creatures.

Reply to Objection 1: Brute animals are akin generically to man, wherefore they were created on the same day as man. And since He had worked many miracles on the bodies of men, there was no need for Him to work miracles on the bodies of brute animals. and so much the less that, as to their sensible and corporeal nature, the same reason applies to both men and animals, especially terrestrial. But fish, from living in water, are more alien from human nature; wherefore they were made on another day. On them Christ worked a miracle in the plentiful draught of fishes, related Lk. 5 and Jn. 21; and, again, in the fish caught by Peter, who found a stater in it (Mt. 17:26). As to the swine who were cast headlong into the sea, this was not the effect of a Divine miracle, but of the action of the demons, God permitting.

Reply to Objection 2: As Chrysostom says on Mt. 21:19: "When our Lord does any such like thing" on plants or brute animals, "ask not how it was just to wither up the fig-tree, since it was not the fruit season; to ask such a question is foolish in the extreme," because such things cannot commit a fault or be punished: "but look at the miracle, and wonder at the worker." Nor does the Creator "inflict" any hurt on the owner, if He choose to make use of His own creature for the salvation of others; rather, as Hilary says on Mt. 21:19, "we should see in this a proof of God's goodness, for when He wished to afford an example of salvation as being procured by Him, He exercised His mighty power on the human body: but when He wished to picture to them His severity towards those who wilfully disobey Him, He foreshadows their doom by His sentence on the tree." This is the more noteworthy in a fig-tree which, as Chrysostom observes (on Mt. 21:19), "being full of moisture, makes the miracle all the more remarkable."

Reply to Objection 3: Christ also worked miracles befitting to Himself in the air and water: when, to wit, as related Mt. 8:26, "He commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm." But it was not befitting that He who came to restore all things to a state of peace and calm should cause either a disturbance in the atmosphere or a division of waters. Hence the Apostle says (Heb. 12:18): "You are not come to a fire that may be touched and approached , and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm."

At the time of His Passion, however, the "veil was rent," to signify the unfolding of the mysteries of the Law; "the graves were opened," to signify that His death gave life to the dead; "the earth quaked and the rocks were rent," to signify that man's stony heart would be softened, and the whole world changed for the better by the virtue of His Passion.

Reply to Objection 4: The multiplication of the loaves was not effected by way of creation, but by an addition of extraneous matter transformed into loaves; hence Augustine says on Jn. 6:1-14: "Whence He multiplieth a few grains into harvests, thence in His hands He multiplied the five loaves": and it is clearly by a process of transformation that grains are multiplied into harvests.

Articulus 4

Argumentum 1

Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod inconvenienter fecerit christus miracula circa creaturas irrationales. Bruta enim animalia sunt nobiliora plantis. Sed christus fecit aliquod miraculum circa plantas, puta cum ad verbum eius est siccata ficulnea, ut dicitur Matth. XXI.

Ergo videtur quod christus etiam circa animalia bruta miracula facere debuisset.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, poena non iuste infertur nisi pro culpa. Sed non fuit culpa ficulneae quod in ea christus fructum non invenit, quando non erat tempus fructuum. Ergo videtur quod inconvenienter eam siccaverit.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, aer et aqua sunt in medio caeli et terrae. Sed christus aliqua miracula fecit in caelo, sicut supra dictum est.

Similiter etiam in terra, quando in eius passione terra mota est. Ergo videtur quod etiam in aere et aqua aliqua miracula facere debuerit, ut mare dividere, sicut fecit Moyses; vel etiam flumen, sicut fecerunt iosue et elias; et ut fierent in aere tonitrua, sicut factum est in monte sinai quando lex dabatur, et sicut elias fecit, III Reg. XVIII.

Argumentum 4

Praeterea, opera miraculosa pertinent ad opus gubernationis mundi per divinam providentiam. Hoc autem opus praesupponit creationem. Inconveniens ergo videtur quod christus in suis miraculis usus est creatione, quando scilicet multiplicavit panes.

Non ergo convenientia videntur fuisse eius miracula circa irrationales creaturas.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod christus est dei sapientia, de qua dicitur, Sap. VIII, quod disponit omnia suaviter.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, miracula christi ad hoc ordinabantur quod virtus divinitatis cognosceretur in ipso ad hominum salutem. Pertinet autem ad virtutem divinitatis ut omnis creatura sit ei subiecta. Et ideo in omnibus creaturarum generibus miracula eum facere oportuit, et non solum in hominibus, sed etiam in irrationabilibus creaturis.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod animalia bruta propinque se habent secundum genus ad hominem, unde et in eodem die cum homine facta sunt. Et quia circa corpora humana multa miracula fecerat, non oportebat quod circa corpora brutorum animalium aliqua miracula faceret, praesertim quia, quantum ad naturam sensibilem et corporalem, eadem ratio est de hominibus et animalibus, praecipue terrestribus. Pisces autem, cum vivant in aqua, magis a natura hominum differunt, unde et alio die sunt facti. In quibus miraculum christus fecit in copiosa piscium captura, ut legitur Luc. V et Ioan. Ult., et etiam in pisce quem Petrus coepit et in eo invenit staterem. Quod autem porci in mare praecipitati sunt, non fuit operatio divini miraculi, sed operatio Daemonum ex permissione divina.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod, sicut chrysostomus dicit, super Matth., cum in plantis vel brutis aliquid tale dominus operatur, non quaeras qualiter iuste siccata est ficus, si tempus non erat, hoc enim quaerere est ultimae dementiae, quia scilicet in talibus non invenitur culpa et poena, sed miraculum inspice, et admirare miraculi factorem.

Nec facit creator iniuriam possidenti, si creatura sua suo arbitrio utatur ad aliorum salutem, sed magis, ut Hilarius dicit, super Matth., in hoc bonitatis divinae argumentum reperimus. Nam ubi afferre voluit procuratae per se salutis exemplum, virtutis suae potestatem in humanis corporibus exercuit, ubi vero in contumaces formam severitatis constituebat, futuri speciem damno arboris indicavit.

Et praecipue, ut chrysostomus dicit, in ficulnea, quae est humidissima, ut miraculum maius appareat.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod christus etiam in aqua et in aere fecit miracula quae sibi conveniebant, quando scilicet, ut legitur Matth. VIII, imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas magna.

Non autem conveniebat ei qui omnia in statum pacis et tranquillitatis revocare venerat, ut vel turbationem aeris, vel divisionem aquarum faceret.

Unde apostolus dicit, Heb. XII, non accessistis ad tractabilem et accessibilem ignem, et turbinem et caliginem et procellam.

Circa passionem tamen, divisum est velum, ad ostendendum reserationem mysteriorum legis; aperta sunt monumenta, ad ostendendum quod per eius mortem mortuis vita daretur; terra mota est et petrae scissae, ad ostendendum quod lapidea hominum corda per eius passionem emollirentur, et quod totus mundus virtute passionis eius erat in melius commutandus.

Ad 4

Ad quartum dicendum quod multiplicatio panum non est facta per modum creationis, sed per additionem extraneae materiae in panes conversae.

Unde Augustinus dicit, super Ioan., unde multiplicat de paucis granis segetes, inde in manibus suis multiplicavit quinque panes.

Manifestum est autem quod per conversionem grana multiplicantur in segetes.