Theological Theses · §1508 · Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu

Vows to Saints are common; Thomas’s escape: the Saint-promise is vow-matter, the God-promise is the formal vow

Saint-vows (especially Marian) are everyday Roman praxis—yet vows are latria-acts.

Thomas’s patch: the Saint gets promise-matter; God alone gets the formal vow (tacitly guaranteeing fulfillment).

Latin

XXVIII. Ad cultum quoque Sanctorum pertinere volunt Doctores Ecclesiae Romanae vota quae illis nuncupantur. In ea enim Ecclesia, valde usitatum est, nuncupare vota Sanctis, ac praesertim Beatae Virgini, quod licite fieri Doctores illius pertendunt. Verum cum Theologi votum ponant inter actus religionis soli Deo debitos, inde nascitur difficultas, quomodo ergo Sanctis vota fieri possint absque Idololatria. Ad hoc juxta doctrinam Thomae respondendum est, vota proprie Sanctis non fieri. Nam vota quae Sanctis fieri dicuntur includere duas promissiones: Unam quae fit Sanctis, & illam non esse formaliter votum, sed materiam voti: alteram vero quae Deo fit, & vere est votum. Nempe qui Virgini aliquid promittit, & tacite promittit Deo, se impleturum promissionem Virgini factam, & haec secunda promissio est vere votum.

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About this text

Louis Le Blanc, a Reformed professor at Sedan, sets out theology in theses argued against Rome: Scripture, faith, grace, free choice, good works and the saints.

This volume holds the Theses on Theology I–XLIII and On Faith I–XXII, in eighteen sections.

Louis Le Blanc de Beaulieu (1614–1675) was minister and professor of theology at the Academy of Sedan, the Reformed school on France's eastern border. His Theses were disputed by students over many years and collected in a London folio (1675).

The Theological Theses range across the whole Reformed system — Scripture, God, predestination, grace, and justifying faith — in the crisp thesis-and-proof form of the seventeenth-century schools.

Date1675 AD (Sedan theses; London collection)

No modern English.

Reference

ESTC R17887; Wing L802. IA bub_gb_eOkHAW4G0-wC (+ EEBO 1675 for gap leaves).

Printed text used

Translated from Latin (Pitt 1675) (Latin)
Also checked PDF of the 1675 (Latin)
Also checked pdftotext of De Theologia pages (Latin)
Also checked DjVu machine-read text of the 1675 (Latin)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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