What is predestination? – Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

Dec 15, 2025

Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., a Dominican theologian and President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, dives deep into the hopeful doctrine of predestination. He unpacks its roots in God's eternal plan and emphasizes the interplay between divine grace and human freedom. Drawing upon St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, Fr. Legge articulates how grace enhances freedom, allowing us to love the highest good. He also explores the nuances of predestination in relation to evil, showcasing its complex metaphysical dimensions.

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INSIGHT

Love Is The Foundation Of Predestination

Predestination is rooted in God's love as the plan to lead creatures to supernatural beatitude.
Losing sight of God's love leads to misunderstanding Aquinas' doctrine of predestination.

INSIGHT

Predestination Exists In God Alone

Predestination is an eternal reality in God, not a judgment about our present experiences.
We cannot infer our own predestination from inner feelings because predestination refers to God's plan.

INSIGHT

Predestination Is Only For The Good

Predestination concerns only eternal life and never aims at evil or sin.
Condemnation has a different explanation rooted in creaturely defection, not predestination.

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Fr. Dominic Legge explains predestination as a profoundly hopeful Catholic doctrine rooted in God’s eternal, loving plan to give grace and lead rational creatures freely to the supernatural end of the beatific vision, drawing especially on Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine.

This lecture was given on September 5th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

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About the Speakers:

Fr. Dominic Legge is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He is an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.L. from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Keywords: Actual Grace, Augustine On the Predestination of the Saints, Divine Providence, Exitus Reditus and Final End, Grace and Human Free Will, Human Freedom, Predestination and Eternal Life, Problem of Evil, Rational Creatures and Beatific Vision, Saint Catherine of Siena