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 GRACE

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GRACE

learning in the fifteenth century, just as he made use of the Magi caravan to depict its lavish display and luxury in dress. His principal work is in the Campo Santo at Pisa: on its northern wall he painted twenty- three subjects, twenty-one of which are taken from the Old Testament, beginning with " Noe's discovery (or invention) of wine ", and ending with the " Visit of the Queen of Sheba ", a wonderful Biblical epic. During his sojourn at Pisa he found time to paint many other subjects: the principal one is the " Glory of St. Thomas Aquinas", now in the Louvre. It was. however, in fresco that Gozzoli won for himself an immortal name among Florentine painters. He had the honour of restoring narrative painting to the place it had won for itself in the fourteenth century. Benozzo was a lover of nature, a skilful landscapist, an adept at rep- resenting animal life, and clever in the u.<e of ornament. His lively imagination revels in brilliant costumes and

Among the three fundamental ideas — sin, redemption, and grace — grace plays the part of the means, indis- pensable and Divinely ordained, to effect the redemp- tion from sin through Christ and to lead men to their eternal destiny in heaven. Before the Council of Trent, the Schoolmen seldom used the term gratia actualis. preferring aiiJiVium speciale, molio dirina, and similar designations; nor did they formally distinguish actual grace from sanctifying grace. But, in conse- quence of modern controversies regarding grace, it has become usual and necessary in theology to draw a sharper distinction between the transient help to act (actual grace) and the permanent state of grace (sanc- tifying grace). For this reason we adopt this distinc- tion as our principle of division in the following expo- sition of the Catholic doctrine.

I. AcTU.\L Gr.\ce. — It derives its name, actual, from the Latin acttirdi.< (ad actum), for it is granted by

Portrait of Hlmselk (JozzuLi, Details of Frescx>es, Palazzo Riccardi. Florence

splendid architectural detail. Imperfections due to negligence are occasionally met with in his work, also excess of detail and awkwardness of grouping. These faults arise from the exuberance of his talent and are more than counterbalanced by the wonderful quality of his work. Benozzo remained true to the chaste ideals of his master, yet was able to combine in his work the sincerity, the skill, and the veraciousness of a charming storj'-teller. Pisan gratitude voted Benozzo a tomb in the " gallerj' " of the Campo Santo he had so magnificently decorated.

Crowe and CA^■ALCASELLE. ,4 Hvitortj of Painting in Italy (London, 1S64-1S66), III, 498 sqq.: Vasari. Le Vile de piu eccdlmti pittori. ed. Sanson (Florence. 18781. III. 45-68; GiUDlci. Gazette des Beaux-Arls (May. 1859); Rio, De UArt Chretien (Paris, 1874), II, 478 sqq,; Faucon in UArt (1881 and 1883); Mt-NTZ, Histoire de Vart pendant la Renaissance (Paris. 1891), II. 617-628: Scpino, /( Campo Santo di Pisa (Florence. 1896). 191-297; Sortais. Le Mailre el VEleve: Fra Angelica el Benozzo Gozzoli (Paris. 1906), 155-256.

Gaston Sortais.

Grace (gratia, Xapn), in general, is a supernatural gift of Ciod to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holi- ness. Eternal salvation itself consists in heavenly bliss resulting from the intuitive knowledge of the Triune Goti, who to the one not endowed with grace "inhab- iteth light inaccessible" (I Tim., vi, 16). Christian grace is a fundamental idea of the Christian religion, the pillar on which, by a special ordination of God, the majestic edifice of Christianity rests in its entirety. VL— 44.

God for the performance of salutary acts and is present and disappears with the action itself. Its opposite, therefore, is not possible grace, which is without use- fulness or importance, but habitual grace, which causes a state of holiness, so that the mutual relations be- tween these two kinds of grace are the relations be- tween action and state, not those between actuality and potentiality. Later, we shall discu.ss habitual grace more fully under the name of sanctifying or justifying grace. As to actual grace, we have to examine: (1) its Nature; (2) its Properties. The third, and difficult, question of the relationship between grace and liberty shall be reserved for discussion in the article Grace, Controversies on.

(1) Xature of Actual Grace. — To know the nature of actual grace, we must consider both the compre- hension and the exten.sion of the term. Its compre- hension is exhibited to us by (a) its definition; its extension, by the complete enumeration of all Divine helps of grace; in other words, by (b) the logical division of the idea, inasmuch as the sum of all the particulars represents, in every science, the logical extent of an idea or term.

(a) The definition of actual grace is based on the idea of grace in general, which, in Biblical, classical, antl modern language, admits of a fourfold meaning. In the fii'st place, subjectively, grace signifies good will, benevolence; then, oljjectively, it designates every favour which proceeds from this benevolence and, conseciuently, every gratuitous gift (donutn gra- tuilum, bencficiwti). In the former (subjective) sense.