Editing Limbo (section)

===Medieval theologians===
In the later Medieval period, some theologians continued to hold Augustine's view. In the 12th century, [[Peter Abelard]] (1079–1142) said that these infants suffered no material torment or positive punishment, just the pain of loss at being denied the beatific vision. Others held that unbaptised infants suffered no pain at all: unaware of being deprived of the [[beatific vision]], they enjoyed a state of natural, not supernatural happiness. This theory was associated with but independent of the term "Limbo of Infants", which was coined about the year 1300.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html#_ftn41 Study by the International Theological Commission], 22 April 2007, 21–25]</ref>

If heaven is a state of supernatural happiness and union with [[God]], and Hell is understood as a state of torture and separation from God then, in this view, the Limbo of Infants, although technically part of hell (the outermost part, ''limbo'' meaning 'outer edge' or 'hem') is seen as a sort of intermediate state.

The question of Limbo is not treated in the parts of the {{lang|la|[[Summa Theologica]]}} by [[Thomas Aquinas]], but is dealt with in an appendix to the supplement added after his death compiled from his earlier writings.<ref>[[s:Summa Theologiae/Supplement to the Third Part/EDITOR'S NOTE|Summa Theologiae, Supplement to the Third Part, EDITOR'S NOTE]]</ref> The Limbo of Infants is there described as an eternal state of natural joy, untempered by any sense of loss at how much greater their joy might have been had they been baptised:

{{blockquote|Every man who has the use of free-will is adapted to obtain eternal life, because he can prepare himself for grace whereby to merit eternal life; so that if he fails in this, his grief will be very great, since he has lost what he was able to possess. But children were never adapted to possess eternal life, since neither was this due to them by virtue of their natural principles, for it surpasses the entire faculty of nature, nor could they perform acts of their own whereby to obtain so great a good. Hence, they will nowise grieve for being deprived of the divine vision; nay, rather will they rejoice for that they will have a large share of God's goodness and their own natural perfections. Nor can it be said that they were adapted to obtain eternal life, not indeed by their own action, but by the actions of others around them, since they could be baptised by others, like other children of the same condition who have been baptised and obtained eternal life: for this is of superabundant grace that one should be rewarded without any act of one's own. Wherefore the lack of such a grace will not cause sorrow in children who die without Baptism, any more than the lack of many graces accorded to others of the same condition makes a wise man to grieve.|{{lang|la|Summa Theologica}}, Supplement 1 to the Third Part, article 2<ref>[[s:Summa Theologiae/Appendix/Question 1|''Summa Theologica'', Supplement 1 to the Third Part, article 2]]</ref>}}

The natural happiness possessed in this place would consist in the perception of God mediated through creatures.<ref>Feingold, Lawrence. ''The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas and His Interpreters.'' 2nd edition. Ave Maria: Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University. 2010.</ref> As stated in the International Theological Commission's document on the question:

{{blockquote|text=Because children below the age of reason did not commit actual sin, theologians came to the common view that these unbaptized children feel no pain at all or even that they enjoy a full, though only natural, happiness through their mediated union with God in all natural goods (Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus).<ref>[http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7529&CFID=79131013&CFTOKEN=19869646 The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised], 23</ref>}}

The afterdeath life cartography that runs through Christian thought from [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] to Aquinas is thus composed of five real and physical places: Paradise, Limbo of Patriarchs, Limbo of the Infants, Purgatory and Hell. <ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.rmoa.unina.it/1513/1/RM-LeGoff-Aldila.pdf|title=Aldilà|author=[[Jacques Le Goff]]|page=7|language =it|publisher=[[University of Naples]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706192052/http://www.rmoa.unina.it/1513/1/RM-LeGoff-Aldila.pdf|archive-date=July 6, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>