Summary Of The Summa Of St. Thomas, or Compedium Of Theology - Volume IV - Charles René Billuart

This fourth volume continues Billuart’s systematic summary of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, turning from general moral principles to the life of grace and the means by which human beings are elevated toward their supernatural end.

The work focuses on grace as a gratuitous divine gift that heals fallen nature and elevates it to participation in the divine life. Billuart explains the necessity of grace for salvation, its effects on the soul, and its relationship to free will, merit, and justification. He carefully preserves Aquinas’s teaching on the harmony between divine causality and human cooperation.

A significant portion is devoted to the sacraments as instruments of grace instituted by Christ. The volume examines their nature, efficacy, and role in the sanctification of the faithful, presenting them as visible signs that confer invisible grace in an ordered and efficacious manner.

Throughout, Billuart maintains a clear and rigorous scholastic structure, aiming to present the Thomistic doctrine of grace and sacramental theology in a concise yet faithful form, suitable for study and doctrinal formation.