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The City of God

Chapter 11.--Whether the Angels that Fell Partook of the Blessedness Which the Holy Angels Have Always Enjoyed from the Time of Their Creation.

And since these things are so, those spirits whom we call angels were never at any time or in any way darkness, but, as soon as they were made, were made light; yet they were not so created in order that they might exist and live in any way whatever, but were enlightened that they might live wisely and blessedly. Some of them, having turned away from this light, have not won this wise and blessed life, which is certainly eternal, and accompanied with the sure confidence of its eternity; but they have still the life of reason, though darkened with folly, and this they cannot lose even if they would. But who can determine to what extent they were partakers of that wisdom before they fell? And how shall we say that they participated in it equally with those who through it are truly and fully blessed, resting in a true certainty of eternal felicity? For if they had equally participated in this true knowledge, then the evil angels would have remained eternally blessed equally with the good, because they were equally expectant of it. For, though a life be never so long, it cannot be truly called eternal if it is destined to have an end; for it is called life inasmuch as it is lived, but eternal because it has no end. Wherefore, although everything eternal is not therefore blessed (for hell-fire is eternal), yet if no life can be truly and perfectly blessed except it be eternal, the life of these angels was not blessed, for it was doomed to end, and therefore not eternal, whether they knew it or not. In the one case fear, in the other ignorance, prevented them from being blessed. And even if their ignorance was not so great as to breed in them a wholly false expectation, but left them wavering in uncertainty whether their good would be eternal or would some time terminate, this very doubt concerning so grand a destiny was incompatible with the plenitude of blessedness which we believe the holy angels enjoyed. For we do not so narrow and restrict the application of the term "blessedness" as to apply it to God only, ¹ though doubtless He is so truly blessed that greater blessedness cannot be; and, in comparison of His blessedness, what is that of the angels, though, according to their capacity, they be perfectly blessed?

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XI: An eius beatitudinis, quam sancti angeli ab initio sui semper habuerunt, etiam illos spiritus, qui in ueritate non steterunt, participes fuisse credendum sit.

Quae cum ita sint, nullo modo quidem secundum spatium aliquod temporis prius erant spiritus illi tenebrae, quos angelos dicimus; sed simul ut facti sunt, lux facti sunt; non tamen tantum ita creati, ut quoquo modo essent et quoquo modo uiuerent; sed etiam inluminati, ut sapienter beateque uiuerent. ab hac inluminatione auersi quidam angeli non obtinuerunt excellentiam sapientis beataeque uitae, quae procul dubio nonnisi aeterna est aeternitatisque suae certa atque secura; sed rationalem uitam licet insipientem sic habent, ut eam non possint amittere, nec si uelint. quatenus autem, antequam peccassent, illius sapientiae fuerint participes, definire quis potest? in eius tamen participatione aequales fuisse istos illis, qui propterea uere pleneque beati sunt, quoniam nequaquam de suae beatitudinis aeternitate falluntur, quomodo dicturi sumus? quandoquidem si aequales in ea fuissent, etiam isti in eius aeternitate mansissent pariter beati, quia pariter certi. neque enim sicut uita, quamdiucumque fuerit, ita aeterna uita ueraciter dici poterit, si finem habitura sit; siquidem uita tantummodo uiuendo, aeterna uero finem non habendo nominata est. quapropter quamuis non, quidquid aeternum, continuo beatum sit - dicitur enim etiam poenalis ignis aeternus - , tamen si uere perfecteque beata uita nonnisi aeterna est, non erat talis istorum, quandoque desitura et propterea non aeterna, siue id scirent, siue nescientes aliud putarent; quia scientes timor, nescientes error beatos esse utique non sinebat. si autem hoc ita nesciebant, ut falsis incertis ue non fiderent, sed utrum sempiternum an quandoque finem habiturum esset bonum suum, in neutram partem firma adsensione ferrentur: ipsa de tanta felicitate cunctatio eam beatae uitae plenitudinem, quam in sanctis angelis esse credimus, non habebat. neque enim beatae uitae uocabulum ita contrahimus ad quasdam significationis angustias, ut solum deum dicamus beatum; qui tamen uere ita beatus est, ut maior beatitudo esse non possit, in cuius conparatione, quod angeli beati sunt summa quadam sua beatitudine, quanta esse in angelis potest, quid aut quantum est?