purgator}-, he replies, otAj per accident, inasmuch as the priest may change the purgatorial pmiishment into a temporal one, i. e. into an exercise of penance. Just so reason Bonaventura (lib. iv, dist. xviii, art. ii) and Albert the Great {Comment, lib. iv, dist. xviii, art. xiii), the for- mer often in the verj' words of Alexander.
Upon this basis Thomas Aquinas completed the doc- trine of the Komish Church on the power of the keys. As Thomas generally distinguishes in ecclesiastical " pow- er" between potestas ordinis and jwtestas jurisdictionis (Supi)l. part iii, Summce, qu. 20, a. 1, resp.), so there ex- ists also a twofold " key," namely, clavis 07-dinis and cluvis jurisdictionis (qu. 19, art. 3). The keys of the Church themselves are the power to remove the obsta- cle interposed by sin, and thus make admission to heaven possible (qu. 17, art. 1). The clavis ordinensis, so called because the priest receives it at ordination, directly opens heaven to the person by the forgiveness of sins (sacra- mental absolution), while the clavis jurisdictionis only indirectly causes this result, namely, by the intercession of the Church through excommunication and absolu- tion in the ecclesiastical forum. It is therefore not in a strict sense a clavis caeli, but simply quadam dispositio ad ipsam (qu. 19, art. 3). To the acts of clavis jurisdic- tionis belong furthermore also the grant of indulgence (qu. 25, art. 2, ad 1 m.). Only the clavis ordinis is of a sacramental nature (ibid.) ; hence also laymen and dea- cons may possess and exercise the clavis jimsdiciionis, like the judges inforo ecclesice, for instance, the arch- deacons (quest. 19, art. 3) and the papal legates (quest. 26, art. 2). On the other hand, the use of the sacra- mental clavis ordinis necessarily presupposes the posses- sion of the clavis jurisdictionis, as the priest receives at ordination simply the authority to forgive sins, while for the exercise of it a definite circle of men (so to speak, the material or the object of the power of the keys), who are subjected to his jurisdiction ("plebs subdita per ju- risdictionem," qu. 17, art. 2, ad 2 m.), is necessar}\ The clavis o?-dinis can therefore not be exercised until after the possession of the clavis jurisdictionis (qu. 20, art. 1 and 2) ; and, vice-versa, a bishop may, by the withdrawal of the clavis jurisdictionis, deprive a schismatic, heretic, excommunicated, suspended, or degraded person of his inferiors (subjects), as well as of the possibility of exer- cising the clavis ordinis (qu. 19, art. C).
The sacramental power of the keys (clavis ordinis) comes into practice in priestly absolution, and it is par- ticularly due to Thomas Aquinas that in the Ki>mish doctrine this power of the keys has gained so much im- portance, that all parts of the sacrament of penance se- cure their unity in it. Thomas himself argues that God alone relieves of guilt and eternal punishment on condi- tion of mere contrition ; but this contrition can only as- sure the heart and afford evidence of forgiveness when followed by the fidness of love (as an attendant oi fides formata^, and furthermore must be accompanied with a desire for sacramental confession and absolution. To him who thus repents, guilt and eternal punishment are already remitted before confession, because in the con- comitant desire, while repenting, to subject himself to the power of the keys, the latter at once exerts its influ- ence {in voto existit, although not in actu se exercet^. If such a person comes into the penance-chair, the grace showered upon him is greatly increased (augetur gra- tia) by the exercise (in actu) of the jwwer of the keys. But if contrition does not sufHciently fill the sinner's heart (for want of love, as is frequently the case in the simple attritio), and therefore his disposition docs not admit the actual exercise of the power of the keys, then the latter supplements his disposition by removing any still existing hinderance to the inpouring of sin-forgiv- ing grace, provided he does not himself bar all access to his heart. In all these relations the priest has that place in the sacrament of penance which water holds in the sacrament of baptism ; the former is instrumenium animcitum, as the latter is instrumentum inanimaium. His power, whether simply in vuto requested or in actu
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exerted, makes way for the overflowing stream of mer- cy, and secures the necessary disposition for its recep- tion {ibi(/. qii. 18, art. 1 and 2). The power of the keys is consecjuently the red thread whicli is threaded at con- trition, drawn through penance, and becomes visible to the outwaril eye also in absolution. It gives the real form, tlic frame that secures to all acts of penance (which by it lirst become partes sacrameiiti, and receive a sacramental character) their inner connection, and supplies to all what is still needed for their completion (comp.qu. 10, art. 1). This is manifest in the effects of absolution by the power of the keys ; for example (ac- cording to qu. 18, art. 2), temporal punishment is remit- ted (just the opinion of Kichard of St.Yictor). Yet this is not completely done as in baptism, but only so in part; the portion still remaining must be atoned for by the personal satisfactions of the penitent, by his prayer, by almsgiving, by fasting to the fulness of the measure meted out by the priest (qu. 18, art. 3). The imposi- tion of satisfactions Thomas calls binding, i. c. obliging to atone for punishments still in reserve. The satisfac- tions have the twofold object of appeasing divine jus- tice and of counteracting any tendency in the soul to sin. Punishment stiU in reserve (poena; satisfactoriaj) again can be remitted in virtue of the clavis jurisdic- tionis by means of indulgence (qu. 25, art. 1), which in the forum of God has the same value as in that of the Churcli ; and this, according to the idea of substituting satisfaction on which it rests, may be of benefit even to souls in purgator}\