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| | SUMMA THEOLOGICA: Is an aureole due to martyrs? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) |
 | | Wherefore, just as a special crown, which we call an aureole, is due to the most perfect victory whereby we triumph over the concupiscences of the flesh, in a word to virginity, so too an aureole is due to the most perfect victory that is won against external assaults. |
 | | Consequently an aureole is due to the difficulty of suffering pains of touch, for instance, from blows and so forth, rather than to the difficulty of bearing internal sufferings, by reason of which, however, one is not properly called a martyr, except by a kind of comparison. |
 | | Consequently the aureole is due to such injuries only as are inflicted on a person's own body and are of a nature to cause death. |
| www.newadvent.org /summa/509606.htm (2271 words) |
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