Coronation of the Virgin and the Heavenly Hosts by Jacobello del Fiore
In order that one know the inferior orders, it is necessary to know the angelic order. Still, St. Thomas affirms that it is possible for God to create beings ab eterno. Were they to exist, these non-existent beings would form a determined order, and the inferior orders, including that of the angels, would be subordinate to this order.
Therefore, there is a level between God and creation that exists metaphysically in the realm of possibility, but that was not created.
Let us imagine that, in an aristocratic republic, an artist is asked to design a coat of arms for various nobles of the republic.
Coat of Arms of John of Austria
He thinks in the following manner: I am going to imagine how the coat of arms of this republic would be if it had a king, and thus will I design it. Then, I will design the coats of arms of the nobility in function of it.
As it had no king, the coat of arms of the king does not exist in the heraldry of the republic. But in the artist’s conception it existed, and the other coats of arms were disposed in function of it. He who wants to know the other coats of arms well must know that ideal, albeit unmade, coat of arms, that exists only as a design.
The Coat of Arms given to St. Joan of Arc and her family by King Charles VII of France.
A good book on heraldry would include this coat of arms saying: all the coats of arms that exist are a participation in this one that doesn’t exist.
[Thus, those beings created ab eterno] constitute an order that doesn’t exist save in the realm of thought, yet these are the standard that does truly exist.Something of the organizing principles of these beings governs the inferior beings. These principles exist in God, and as such they have a [rector?] effect over the inferior beings.
Coat of Arms Austria-Hungary
God caused this ideal order to be reflected and to be realized (by way of reflection) in one way or another here on earth.
The consideration of the beings created ab eterno gives us a lesson in supremacy. Meaning, it gives us a much higher and more complete idea of supremacy itself, that is God, an idea most capable of filling our soul.
