Of Rebel Angels

Abstract

St. Anselm explains the fall of the rebel angels as resulting from their inordinate or disordered willing. God created each angel with free will as the fundamental ability to choose between alternatives.1 He also instilled within each angelic will two volitional capacities: that of desiring justice for itself (affecio iustitiae), which Anselm identifies with loving God for His own sake, and that of desiring what is beneficial for themselves (affectio commodi), which Anselm identifies with happiness.2 Thus in the primordial situation before they had chosen anything, the angels could choose between desiring justice for itself and desiring happiness for themselves. Since they knew that loving God for Himself is the highest creaturely good, they knew that they ought to desire justice rather than happiness.3 The good angels were those who chose justice instead of happiness; the evil angels were those who chose happiness instead of justice.4 God then rewarded the good angels with the highest happiness, eternal blessedness; and He punished the evil angels with the worst degree of misery, eternal damnation. Once the good angels were blessed with the highest happiness, they had no reason to abandon justice for happiness alone, and hence they could no longer sin.5