Sometimes it gets a little odd...
"According to Augustine's City of God, original sin has deprived man of the ability to, and I quote, 'Have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing' (XIV: 24)."
-Matt
I knew that Joseph Pujol (http://tinyurl.com/rp3my) was full of wind, but I did not know that he was full of grace!
ReplyDeleteErm... I just had a read at the passage in question, and I'm sorry to report that we aren't quite as odd as all that. ;) Augustine is actually saying that some people can do that even now, along with all sorts of other rare and remarkable faculties (like being able to wiggle their ears or move their scalps backwards and forwards).
ReplyDeleteThe Latin: "Nonnulli ab imo sine paedore ullo ita numerosos pro arbitrio sonitus edunt, ut ex illa etiam parte cantare videantur."
The context is that if it weren't for original sin, man's generative organs would be subject to his will just as other faculties are, he's saying that, since some people have such remarkable command over their bodies that they can do these sorts of things even in our weakened state after the fall from grace, how can we doubt that, before the fall, man had the same kind of control over his generative faculties without being subject to lust?
The Latin: "Cum itaque corpus etiam nunc quibusdam, licet in carne corruptibili hanc aerumnosam ducentibus vitam, ita in plerisque motionibus et affectionibus extra usitatum naturae modum mirabiliter serviat: quid causae est, ut non credamus ante inoboedientiae peccatum corruptionisque supplicium ad propagandam prolem sine ulla libidine servire voluntati humanae humana membra potuisse?"
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI should not be surprised that St. Augustine had something to say about farting, and yet I am!