EVANGELICAL BEATITUDES. — Proclamations (Mt. 5:3–10) that open the “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt. 5–7), addressed by Jesus to the “disciples” and the multitude. With these eight exclamatory statements, the Master enunciates the essential theme of “Christian spirit opposed to Jewish spirit” (F. Prat, p. 269), declaring blessed (“beati”)—and admitting to the Kingdom of God—those whom the world rejects; thus He offers a new and unheard-of solution to the eudaimonistic problem. Although St. Augustine, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas, A. Tostado, and a few others, recognized only seven (uniting the first and last), and some (adding vv. 11–12) find nine (as in the “Catechism” of the Russian Church edited by Filaret Drozdov, St. Petersburg 1823) or ten (F. Delitzsch), St. Ambrose and the majority of exegetes correctly count eight beatitudes. The Lucan beatitudes are “the theme of all Jesus’ teaching” (M.-J. Lagrange, p. 80; cf. Bossuet, 19th day).
The declarative exclamation beginning with “beati” (Heb. *’ašrê*, “beatitudes of...”) recurs in the Old Testament (Deut. 33:29; 1 Sam. 10:8; Job 5:17; Prov. 3:13, 18, and six other times; Eccl. 10:17; Isa. 30:18; 32:20; 56:2; Dan. 12:12), especially in the Psalms (Ps. 1:1, and twenty-five other times). The Septuagint renders it as *makários*; hence *makários* (Rom. 4:6, 9; Gal. 4:15) signifies a “proclamation of happiness” in praise of someone. In the New Testament, similar beatitudes recur: Mt. 11:6; 13:16; 16:17; 24:46; Lk. 11:28; 12:37–38, 43; 14:15; Jn. 20:29; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 3:14; 4:14; Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14. Even today, Eastern Christians call the beatitudes “macarisms.” The Arabic Diatessaron interprets the initial adjective “beati” in an adverbial sense: “vival” (E. Preuschen, *Tatians Diatessaron aus dem Arabischen*, Heidelberg 1926, pp. 86–87).
The beatitudes have a messianic character: Jesus proclaims the “good news” of the coming of the Kingdom of God (Mt. 4:17), understood as a reign of justice, listing the members who by right belong to II. The Lucan beatitudes enunciate the conditions for entering the Kingdom of God, considered in its double phase—present and future, initial and final. They are necessary requirements for entering the happiness of the Kingdom. Their exclusive character (B. Lanwer, p. 156; cf. pp. 94, 99, 106) is clear from Lk. 6:24–26 and other New Testament passages (Mt. 10:38; 16:24; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:17–18; 1 Cor. 1:26–28; 2 Tim. 3:12): the fortunate of this world will not receive their reward in heaven (Mt. 5:12; 6:1–2, 5; Lk. 6:23), since they have already received it here below. In the phase of arduous earthly development, the Kingdom advances amid the contrast between its ideal of justice and the sordid reality of cynical injustice, culminating in the order where peace and happiness are assured. In laying the foundations of the Kingdom of the spirit, opposed to the reigning Kingdom of matter, Jesus includes the outcasts and the oppressed of the world. Here the Gospel paradox reaches its climax. Although the concepts are embryonic in prophetic literature (cf. Isa. 29:19; 35:4; 61:1) and in the Psalms, the beatitudes, as a whole, possess a unique originality, boldness, and power sufficient to overturn humanity’s moral perspective. Reversing and privileging (cf. Mt. 19:30; 20:16), the beatitudes announce to those who have no hope in the world and live in abandonment to God the new order, the new morality, the new happiness. Beatitude is the effect of wisdom (Prov. 3:13; 8:34; A. Robert, in *Revue biblique*, 43 [1934], pp. 61–62).
Each of the eight beatitudes is a rhythmic maxim (*māšāl*), consisting of a present-tense praise (Lk. 6:21 *in isto sul* the verses) and a promised category that, while referring to the future (the first and last have *ἐσται*, which must have been absent in the primitive Aramaic form), confers a present right and certainty that, through faith and hope, transports the afflicted into happiness (cf. Rom. 5:3–5; Heb. 11:1). Each proposition consists of two cola: an oxymoron followed by an apodosis introduced by *ὅτι* (more assertive, like the Hebrew *kî*, with the sense of *γάρ*), which explains and justifies the protasis. The apodosis presents, in addition to an indirect clarification of the subjects declared blessed, the recompense (not properly a reward) of joy and glory, based on the double law of retribution or “contrapasso” for pleasures enjoyed and sufferings endured: cf. Lk. 16:25 and 2 Cor. 4:17. Some (F. Prat, pp. 270, 273) distinguish the beatitudes into two series: the first four would embrace the Kingdom as both present and future, the last four only as future. But all eight beatitudes are strictly parallel, founded on the same ideal and aiming at the same goal, though they present different aspects. The subject is one, the object is one in all (“*Unum autem praemium, quod est Regnum caelorum, pro his gradibus varie nominatum est*”: St. Augustine, *De serm. Domini in monte*, I, 4). Each beatitude could stand as a complete program and implicitly includes the others. This explains why Lk. 6:20–22 recounts only four beatitudes (the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 8th of Mt.), followed by four woes that, mirroring them, interpret them through antithesis.
The first beatitude essentially contains the other seven, as is clear from its subject and object or term. It summarizes the entire itinerary from tribulation to the Kingdom. The interpretation—controversial in particular applications—of the first beatitude therefore depends on that of the others. “*Beati pauperes!*” (Tertullian, *Adv. Marc.*, IV, 14: “*Beati mendici*”) because they (οἱ πτωχοὶ) are the intended recipients of the Gospel of the Kingdom (Mt. 11:5; Lk. 4:18). *Πτωχός* in the Septuagint corresponds to the Hebrew *’ašrê* (34 times) or *’ānāw* (4 times), more rarely (10 times) to *’ebhyon*, which also translates πένης. Stronger than πένης (“poor” in the sense of one unable to meet life’s needs), *πτωχός* is the “indigent” oppressed by hardships within a society that despises and rejects him (cf. Mt. 11:28). In the Psalms (where *πτωχός* = *’ānāw* 19 times), the *’aniyyîm* are contrasted with the *rēšā’îm* (“wicked”), namely the rich and powerful who oppress them (Ps. 11:1–6); God promises these outcasts refuge and support (Ps. 9:13–19; 33:7; 34:10; Isa. 57:15) and the Messiah will deliver them (Ps. 72:2–4, 12–14) from the tyranny of the magnates, who represent and arbitrate the law that tramples them: He will be their redeemer and vindicator (*gō’ēl*: Isa. 43:1; 44:22, etc.; Ps. 72:14). Jesus introduces into the Kingdom of happiness the vast multitude of the poor, exploited and deceived by the cunning and greedy minorities of the powerful (Isa. 29:20–21). Since the rich, militant slaves of triumphant matter, have formed a kingdom and a happiness here below, Jesus chooses the destitute (cf. Lk. 14:21), relegated to the margins of society, without means or human aid, and glorifies the poor man who endures all the consequences of poverty: oppression, insults, deceit. It is clear that this refers to actual poverty, the kind that alarms and scandalizes the worldly-minded; Lk. 6:24 adds a woe to the rich: Jesus is opposed to the rich because He combats the world, whose splendor and power are at odds with the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 1:26–28) and will be annihilated (Jn. 16:33; Rev. 18:10–19). Jesus, who was utterly poor (Mt. 8:20; Lk. 9:58), glorifies and demands poverty (Mt. 19:21; Lk. 12:33; 18:22) in exchange for the Kingdom (Mt. 13:44–46), since wealth, the pivot of earthly power, is both the effect and cause of sin (Mt. 6:24; Lk. 16:9–13; cf. Eccl. 31:8–9). Mt. 5:3 (not Lk. 6:20) includes the qualification.
Blessed are the poor in spirit (“properly a locative”: G. Bonaccorsi, p. 3), “in spirit,” which does not limit but intensifies the sense of πτωχός; it is not a matter of the poor only “in spirit,” i.e., metaphorically, but of those inwardly afflicted by hardship and sorrow, as is clear from the constant use of πνεῦμα (Heb. riah) in similar expressions (Is. 57:15; 66:2; Ps. 33:19; the same sense of lebh “heart” in Ps. 108:16): it is full poverty, piercing even to the innermost depths of the soul (though St. Jerome interprets: “He added ‘spirit’ so that you might understand humility, not poverty”; and St. Augustine, with the majority of the Fathers, thinks likewise). While those who abound in material goods are excluded from salvation (Lk. 16:25; 18:25; Mt. 19:21, 24), to the poor “belongs the Kingdom of heaven (Mt.) or of God (Lk.)”: it is the only verb in the present tense, as in the last beatitude, because the Kingdom already exists and is open to the elect. In the six intermediate beatitudes, the verb is in the future, since they enunciate particular realizations of the Kingdom after the trial of life; the seven subsequent beatitudes are suggestive variations on the double theme of tribulation, the Kingdom, one leading to the other.
The 2nd beatitude (“Blessed are the meek,” oi πραεῖς), placed in the 3rd position in most Greek manuscripts, substantially reproduces the 1st. Apart from the proclamation “blessed,” it is a quotation of Ps. 36:11. In the Septuagint, τράχος translates “aná” (46 times) and “anáva” (7 times); the distinction between πτωχός and πραεῖς, as between ‘anáva, is minimal in biblical language, where these terms generally carry an ethical-religious meaning of modesty and patience ready to endure injustices without reacting, trusting in God. The “meek” (F. Prat translates “the humble”) are the insignificant whom no one reckons with, resigned to their humiliating and bitter fate. Harmless and innocent by necessity, like children—for open or hidden violence is the prerogative of the world’s masters—these men, who can hope for nothing except from God, “shall inherit the land” promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:7-8; Deut. 4:38) and to the people of Israel (Ex. 3:8, 17). This land, flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 13:5; 33:3), represents the messianic Kingdom.
The 3rd beatitude concerns “those who mourn” (oi πενθοῦντες; 6:21 oi κλαίοντες “those who weep”), crushed by sorrow (from repentance: St. John Chrysostom: PG 57, 225 sq.), not merely from mourning the death of loved ones, as St. Augustine thought (PL 34, 1232). Jesus glorifies suffering for its salutary effects: it redeems by expiation, purifies by detachment, and liberates by freeing from the world. The sadness amid the laughter of the world’s revelers, shunned and hated by Jews and pagans alike, will be transformed into joy (Jn. 16:20-22; 2 Cor. 7:10; 1 Pt. 2:19; Rev. 7:17; 21:4). The Messiah comes to console the afflicted (Is. 61:2 ‘ābhelîm’, Septuagint τοὺς πενθοῦντας; cf. Is. 25:8). As a condition of eternal happiness, Christ’s cross already brings “peace and joy” (cf. Mt. 10:38; 16:24; Lk. 9:23, 27; 1 Cor. 1:17 sq.; Gal. 6:14).
The 4th beatitude extols “those who hunger and thirst,” i.e., the indigent tormented by need; the addition in Mt. 5:6 (omitted in Lk. 6:21), “for righteousness,” deepens and enriches but does not alter the concept: at the root of the suffering of the anguished faithful lies an ardent, even if unspoken, aspiration for moral order, which the powerful, who hold exclusive control over the means of physical life, disrupt. The debilitating physical privation is heightened by inner distress. “They shall be satisfied”: the recompense was assured (Jer. 31:25) in the messianic kingdom for those who had labored (Is. 49:10; 55:1-2 “without money”; cf. Sir. 51:33; Rev. 22:17). The expression is spiritually evocative, for in the Bible “hunger and thirst” often denote the desire for heavenly goods (Is. 56:1; Jer. 31:25; Amos 8:11; Ps. 41:2-3; 106:9), which God will fully satisfy.
The 5th beatitude has as its subject “the merciful” (oi ἐλεήμονες). Ἐλεήμων ἔστω alone, in the New Testament, of Jesus in Heb. 2:17; the Septuagint renders with this term the double divine attribute hannún and rāhûm (Vulg. misericors et miserator) of Ex. 34:6; Ps. 110:4, etc. Whoever, like God, forgives wrongs received, whoever imitates Jesus “by compassion” (Heb. 2:17; Col. 3:12) with the poor by sharing and alleviating their physical and moral sufferings (not merely through almsgiving, as St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Leo the Great understand) “shall obtain mercy” from God, entering the Kingdom. Literally, the equation between deed and reward is expressed; but in reality, God’s gift far surpasses human merit (2 Cor. 4:17).
The 6th beatitude addresses “the pure in heart” (oi καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ), those who are upright and free from sin “within,” in contrast to the formal, external legality on which the elite rely (Mt. 23:25-28); beyond chastity, here is inculcated the genuine innocence of life, the sincere correspondence to all moral obligations. Already Ps. 23:4 (cf. 50:12) demands “a pure heart” for those who would live in God’s presence, and Ps. 73:1 affirms that God’s favorites are “the pure in heart” (bārê lēḇāḇ); “heart” here is a way of expressing that ethical reality is possessed and lived, not merely apparent or verbal. The object of the beatitude is “they shall see God”; it is the supreme happiness promised to “the upright” and “innocent” (Ps. 11:7; 17:15; cf. 15:11), who are “the pure in heart.” This “vision of God” characterizes the Kingdom founded by Jesus (Jn. 14:6-11, 19-23) and will culminate in eternal glory (1 Cor. 13:12; 1 Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:4).
The 7th beatitude glorifies “the peacemakers” (οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί). Εἰρηνοποιός (hapax in biblical Greek) etymologically corresponds to pacificus; it is one who loves peace (in the broad Semitic sense, including “safety” and “salvation”) and radiates it around himself. Since peace is the fruit of justice (Is. 33:17; Bar. 5:4), the “peacemaker,” who is the true just one, opposes injustice (Prov. 10:10 LXX). The messianic Kingdom is the kingdom of full peace (Is. 9:6-7; 11:6-9; 54:10; Ezek. 34:25; Christ inaugurated peace and is “our peace” (Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 1:20 εἰρηνοποιός), bringing the gospel of peace to the world (Eph. 6:15). A prerogative of these gentle warriors of “the Prince of Peace”: “they shall be called” (and truly shall be, according to the Semitic conception that identifies the name with the individual entity) “sons of God.” For God is “the God of peace” (Rom. 15:33; 16:20; 1 Cor. 14:33; 2 Cor. 13:11; etc.), and whoever is “a son of peace” (Lk. 10:6) resembles and belongs to Him. The elect shall be, in the age to come, “sons of God” (Lk. 20:36); even now they enjoy divine sonship because “the love of God” is in their hearts (Rom. 5:2b, 5; 8:14; 1 Jn. 3:1; 4:8, 16), and after Jesus’ teaching, εἰρήνη cannot be conceived without ἀγάπη.
The last beatitude reconnects with the 1st (St. Bernard: PL 183, 135), with a pronounced character of inclusio that makes the group of beatitudes a rhythmic stanza in itself. “Those persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (“righteousness” in biblical language is the most generic term indicating moral perfection: virtue, religion, goodness of life) are all those who withdraw from the world to attain the life and light of God; the world, not recognizing them as its own, hates them, as it hates Christ (Mt. 10:16-22; 24:9; Jn. 15:18-25; 16:2; 1 Jn. 3:13). The two following verses, which take up and apply the second person to this beatitude, then the entire Sermon on the Mount, all evangelical doctrine and history, the experience and preaching of the Apostles, up to the Apocalypse, are the development of this beatitude, which summarizes (like the 1st) the entire octave of the beatitudes. Earthly reality is terrifying; but for its victims, the highest and most radiant revenge is at hand: the Kingdom of God.
Theology has always accepted the beatitudes, which have nourished Christian souls, spurring them to detachment from the world, renunciation, and mortification, based on faith, hope, and charity. Various Fathers and Doctors have not forced themselves to deduce from the beatitudes a thematic synthesis.
St. Ambrose (Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, V, 62 sq.: PL 15, 1649-55) expounds the four beatitudes of Luke 6:20-26 as degrees “per quos ab ultimis ad superiora possumus ascendere” and links them to the four cardinal virtues, as well as the eight beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-10 (where each virtue is subdivided into two branches), noting in them a ladder that ascends from initial misery to eternal glory (herein lies the difference between the first and the eighth beatitude: for beginners and for the perfected). St. Chromatius of Aquileia (PL 20, 331-37) derives from each beatitude corresponding virtues to be practiced. St. Leo the Great (Homily 95, De gradibus ascensionis ad beatitudinem: PL 54, 460-66) sees in the eight beatitudes eight moral stages (“gradus felicissimae ascensionis”) that lead to eternal rest “in tranquillissima Dei pace,” or rather eight aspects of Christian perfection. Among the Greeks, St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his eight homilies on the beatitudes (PG 44, 1194-1302), applies them to ethics and asceticism, emphasizing both the active and contemplative aspects. St. John Chrysostom (PG 57, 223-30) sees in the beatitudes the Christian virtues, expounding the degrees of each: the first beatitude imposes humility, the principle of all perfection; the afflicted are penitents, thus developing a hunger for justice or holiness, through which every good is achieved in relation to God and neighbor.
In the Middle Ages, the patristic interpretation of the beatitudes continued to develop, enriched by applications, sometimes based on allegorism, to Christian, clerical, or monastic life. St. Bernard, in Sermo I in festo omnium sanctorum (PL 183, 453-62; cf. references in De conversione et clericos, 7-22; PL 182, 841-56, and in Sermo II in Circumcisione Domini: PL 183, 135), sees in the beatitudes as many virtues, arranged not hierarchically but rather chronologically in relation to the ascetic expression of monks: voluntary poverty is a remedy for pride, meekness or obedience is a remedy for the rebellion of sin, the third beatitude concerns “contritio spiritus et assiduitas lacrymarum,” the fourth the desire for perfection, the fifth almsgiving, the sixth the struggle against concupiscence and sin through the double “remedy” of prayer and confession, the seventh fraternal charity, and the eighth martyrdom enacted in the cloister. Dante (Purg. XII, 110: pauperes spiritu = the humble; 15, 38; 17, 68 sq.; 19, 50; 23, 5-6; 27, 8) applies the beatitudes to the virtues by which the elect are guided to the heavenly reward. Ludolph of Saxony (Vita Christi, part 1, ch. 33, Venice 1566, pp. 155-62), St. Bernardino of Siena (nine Advent sermons on the beatitudes: Opera, III, 117, 1745, pp. 18-68), like all ascetic preachers and writers up to the present day, explain the eight beatitudes as “the fundamental principles of Christian morality,” “the general maxims of Christian morality and perfection” (M. Meschler, Méditations sur la vie de N. S. Jésus-Christ, translated from German, I, Paris 1892, pp. 425 and 427).
A theological-mystical systematization was given by St. Augustine, grafting it onto the common ethical-ascetic interpretation. From the number “seven” (the last beatitude is identified with the first), the Emperor deduces that the beatitudes are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2-3), but in reverse order, from the first, which corresponds to the fear of God, to the last (“peacemakers”), which encompasses wisdom (De sermone Domini in monte, I, 3-4; PL 34, 1234; and more briefly in Sermo 347: PL 38, 1524 sq., and De doctrina christiana, II, 7; PL 34, 39). He concludes his work De sermone Domini in monte (II, 2; PL 34, 1308) by recalling the equation: seven beatitudes = seven “operations” of the Holy Spirit. The parallelism between the “Spirit of Yahweh” and the redemption of the oppressed can be better founded on Isaiah 42:1 (48:6); 61:1; Ezekiel 37:14.
St. Augustine, however, was well aware of and adopted the simply moral-ascetic explanation of the beatitudes (Sermo 53; Epistola 130, 3-5; De sermone Domini in monte, I, 1-2, where he sees in the first beatitude humility, in the second charity, etc.). This is also found in the new Sermon (already listed by Possidius) discovered in Vienna and edited by G. Morin (1922), in a manuscript from the 13th century; here the beatitudes are insistently called eight.
The Augustinian mystical theory is reproduced by St. Bede (In Matthaei Evangelium expositio, I, 1; PL 92, 24-25), who, however, follows St. Ambrose for Luke 6:20-26 (PL 92, 401-405), by St. Peter Damian (PL 144, 411-415), and by Hugh of St. Victor (PL 175, 763 sq.). St. Thomas Aquinas gives it a more systematic arrangement. Having established that the just man is moved by the Holy Spirit, which, through its gifts (habits), disposes him to follow its supernatural impulses (Summa theologiae, I-II, q. 68), the beatitudes are the “acts” that result from them (loc. cit., q. 69, a. 1), acts specifically identical to those arising from the infused moral virtues but differing in the manner in which they are produced and in a higher degree of objective perfection. By coordinating them with the goods pursued, the Angelic Doctor establishes the hierarchy of the “seven” beatitudes: the first three oppose false goods, the next two constitute the active life and dispose one to true happiness, and the last two form the contemplative life and “either are the final beatitude itself or some beginning of it, and therefore are not placed among the beatitudes as merits but as rewards” (loc. cit., q. 69, a. 3). To the beatitudes he subordinates (op. cit., II-II, q. 139, a. 2, ad 3) the twelve fruits (v.) of the Holy Spirit, which are more common “acts” of virtue: “more is required for the notion of beatitude than for that of fruit... Hence all beatitudes can be called fruits, but not conversely” (op. cit., I-II, q. 70, a. 2). The eighth beatitude summarizes all the preceding ones and does not correspond to a special gift (loc. cit., q. 69, a. 3, ad 5 and a. 4, ad 2). As for the parallelism between the beatitudes and the gifts, St. Thomas adheres to the theory of St. Augustine (op. cit., II-II, q. 19, a. 12) but rejects any exclusive concordist approach: the beatitudes correspond to the seven gifts “not singly to singly, but several to one and one to several” (op. cit., I-II, q. 69, a. 3; II-II, q. 121, a. 2 and q. 139, a. 2), if one considers not only the motives (motiva) of the beatitudes (as St. Augustine does) but also their object, according to the intimate “convenientia proprie rationis ad invicem” between the gifts and the beatitudes (op. cit., I-II, q. 69, a. 3, ad 3). He also admits the moral interpretation (the virtues) of St. Ambrose (op. cit., I-II, q. 69, a. 3, ad 6).
Similarly, St. Bonaventure posits the gifts of the Holy Spirit at the root of the beatitudes: virtues dispose one to the active life, gifts to the contemplative life, and the beatitudes to the perfection of both (Breviloquium, pars V, cap. 6). This doctrine has been handed down in the treatises of Peraldus (Summa de virtutibus et vitiis, I, 5) and St. Antoninus (Summa theologica, IV, tit. 7, cap. 5-6) and down to our own day with E. Nieremberg, M. J. Scheeben, and B. Froget; some today prefer to omit it, considering that it “practically reduces to the exercise of certain more important virtues, considered from the particular viewpoint of leading to true beatitude” (J. de Guibert). Leo XIII (encyclical Divinum illud munus, May 9, 1897) makes the beatitudes depend on the gifts of the Holy Spirit as “indices and heralds of everlasting beatitude” (Leonis XIII Acta, XVII, Rome 1898, p. 148).
S. Augustine (De Sermone Domini in monte, II, 11; PL 34, 1286), after explaining the Pater, added: “It seems to me that the number seven of these petitions corresponds to the seven b., from which the entire present discourse originated, and to each b. he refers the petitions in order; the artistry leads him to unite tears with the gift of knowledge and the fulfillment of God’s will, then the gift of fortitude with daily bread.” S. Peter Damian imitates him (PL 144, 415). S. Thomas notes that “Augustinus adopts seven petitions to the gifts and beatitudes” and quotes his text at length (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83 ad 9, ad 3), but does not insist on this connection. More than from the abstract doctrine of the theological virtues, the b. find their integral commentary in the living realization of the saints. A clarion call of ideal struggle, a challenge launched by the unarmed but fearless spirit against the dominating material order, the final announcement of the reversal of human values proclaimed by the Prophets for the “day of Jahweh,” they inaugurate and explain “the scandal of the cross” (1 Cor 1, 23). In vain do the “respectable” cling to the passing age and strive, with ingenious glosses, to sweeten and “adapt to the times” the Gospel of the b. Only the small band of obscure heroes who follow Jesus to full victory over the world savor, in silent love and torment, perfect joy (Mt 11, 23–30; Lk 10, 21; 12, 32; Jn 16, 20–22, 32–33; 2 Cor 4, 6–18; 5, 14–18; 6, 2–10 and cf. 7, 4–6: Paul experiences in himself the divine paradox, which is not of words, of the b.).
Non-Catholics: C. W. Votaw, op. cit., pp. (1–44) 14–22; O. Baumgarten, Bergpredigt und Kultur der Gegenwart, Tübingen 1921; K. Bornhäuser, Die Bergpredigt: Versuch einer zeitgemäßen Auslegung, Gütersloh 1923, pp. 18–37; H. Windisch, Der Sinn der Bergpredigt: Ein Beitrag zum geschichtlichen Verständnis der Evangelien und zum Problem der richtigen Exegese, Leipzig 1929, 2nd ed. 1937, pp. 8–10, 18, 63, 96–103, 143–86; J. Resewski, Die Makarismen bei Mt. und Lk., ihr Verhältnis zueinander und ihr historischer Hintergrund, in Studia theologica (Riga), 1 (1935), pp. 157–69.
On parallels in the ancient world: G. L. Dirichlet, De veterum macarismis, Giessen 1914. On Jewish parallels: G. Friedlander, The Jewish sources of the Sermon on the mount, London 1911, pp. 11–28, 91, 166–81; H. L. Strack and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum N. T. aus Talmud und Midrasch, I, Munich 1922, pp. 180–232; P. Fiebig, Jesu Bergpredigt. Rabbinische Texte zum Verständnis der Bergpredigt, Göttingen 1924; G. Kittel, Die Bergpredigt und die Ethik des Judentums, in Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie, 2 (1924–25), pp. 555–64; C. G. Montefiore, Rabbinic literature and Gospel teaching, London 1930, pp. 1–35, 274; J. Isaac, Jésus et Israël, Paris 1948, pp. 134–39. The Scandinavian school insists on dependence on pre-Christian Judaism: J. Pedersen, Israel, I, Copenhagen 1920 (cf. English trans. 1926, pp. 263–335), and II, ibid. 1934; S. Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien, I (Await and the individual lament psalms) II–VI, Oslo 1921–24; H. Birkeland, Ani und Anav in den Psalmen, ibid. 1933; to whom A. Caussé, Les pauvres d'Israël, Strasbourg 1922, and Du groupe ethnique à la communauté religieuse, Paris 1937, pp. 243–76, associate themselves. Against the “mania of finding rabbinic parallels and antecedents for Jesus’ sayings... in themes of such un-Jewish, if not anti-Jewish, tone”: J. Bonsirven, Les Juifs et Jésus, Paris 1937, pp. 108–10, 158 (pp. 57–59: the distortions).
II. Ethical-ascetical interpretation. Catholics: J.-B. Bossuet, Méditations sur l'Evangile, days 1–10; C. Gay, Les béatitudes évangéliques, Paris 1880; H. Bolo, Les béatitudes évangéliques, ibid. 1806; F. Lavallée, Béatitudes, Lyons 1927; G. Semeria, Le b. évangélique, Milan 1928; N. Ciriaci, Le b. del Vangelo, Naples 1929; G. Perardi, La dottrina cattolica, part 4 (Virtù e peccati), II, Turin 1935, pp. 5–75; T. Kranich, Die acht Seligkeiten und der moderne Mensch, Beuron 1937; A. Portaluppi, Commento alle b., Rome 1942; E. Prosperini, Le b. in famiglia (Conferenze alle madri), ibid. 1942; Anon., En marge des béatitudes (Dialogues bibliques), in Dieu vivant, fasc. III (1945), pp. 91–102. Non-Catholics: A. Schmithener, Die Seligpreisungen unseres Herren praktisch ausgelegt, Tübingen 1908; J. Müller, Die Bergpredigt, verständlich und vergegenwärtigt, 3rd ed., Munich 1911 (6th ed. 1920), pp. 38–99; H. Foston, The Beatitudes and the converts, London 1911; M. Devine, The religion of the Beatitudes: A study of Christ’s teaching, ibid. 1918; L. Cordier, Jesus und das Glück: Betrachtungen über die Seligpreisungen, Herborn 1923; J. Burr, The Crown of the character, London 1932; C. H. S. Matthews, The way to Happiness, ibid. 1934; M. Wateyn-Williams, The Beatitudes in the modern world, ibid. 1935; F. W. Borham, The heavenly Octave, ibid. 1935; R. E. Roberts, The Happy heart: A study in the Beatitudes, ibid. 1936; G. Vann, The divine pity: A study in the social implications of the Beatitudes, New York 1946.
III. Theological-mystical interpretation. Catholics: A. Gardell, Béatitudes évangéliques, in DTHC, II, cols. 515–17 (cf. IV, col. 1764); id., “Beati pauperes...”, in La vie spirituelle, Dec. 1932, pp. 234–38; Feb. 1933, pp. 204–26; Apr. 1933, pp. 30–39; Jan. 1934, pp. 20–32; F. Cayré, La contemplation augustinienne, Paris 1927, pp. 52–63; M.-D. Roland-Gosselin, Le sermon sur la montagne et la théologie thomiste, in Revue des sciences phil. et théol., 17 (1928), pp. 201–34; E. Gilson, Béatitudes dans l'Evangile, in La vie intellectuelle, 25 March 1933, pp. 357–69; M. J. Scheeben, Le meraviglie della grazia divina, Italian trans., Turin 1933, p. 250 ff.; D. Buzby, Béatitudes, in DSP, I, cols. 1298–1310; B. Froget, L'ablation dello Spirito Santo nelle anime giuste secondo la dottrina di s. Tommaso d'Aquino, Italian trans., Turin 1937, pp. 428–33; R. Garrigou-Lagrange, La carità perfetta e le b., in Vita cristiana, 10 (1918), pp. 11–27; J. de Guibert, Leçons de théologie spirituelle, Toulouse 1946, p. 158 ff. (note).
BEATO (beatus), saint: V. SETTE FONDATORI DELL'ORD.