Subdoubt II: On necessity excusing from fasting

THE NECESSITY excusing from fasting is reckoned when one cannot attend to a work necessary for himself or his own, or even highly useful, while at the same time fasting, as is evident from the doctrine of St. Thomas art. 4. Caietani there, Valentia disp. 9. quaest. 2. puncto 5. St. Bonaventure in spec. cap. 3. Thus are excused those who by their own labor, incompatible with it, must acquire their food.

BUT all things must be prudently weighed: the kind of craft, the artisan's complexion, etc. Therefore some seem to me senselessly to define as excused shoemakers, tailors, smiths, barbers, and the other artisans, indiscriminately. Rightly does Bassaeus num. 2. establish a judging conscience: whether the labor be sufficient, or a just necessity of necessary labor, as the Saintly Doctor says loco citato.

SHOEMAKERS are excused by Azor part. 1. lib. 7. cap. 17. quaestio 8. Lessius lib. 4. cap. 2. dub. 6. num. 45. Reginaldus Tom. 1. lib. 4. cap. 17. sect. 2. Bonacina de legibus, disp. ultim. quaest. 1. punct. ultim. Layman lib. 4. tom. 8. cap. 3. for the effort is great. Better does Villalobos tom. 1. tract. 23. diffic. 14. refer it to prudent judgment. For the craft is little laborious, and it can be that many are not impeded; others indeed are impeded, which must be judged from the age, strength, etc., of the laborer.

COMMONLY tailors and barbers are not excused, in Diana resol. 8. among whom is also Villalobo difficult. 3. Ioan. de la Cruz in rect. part. 1. praecep. 3. art. 4. dub. 9. and others who excuse potters, silversmiths, weavers, fullers, masons, painters, curriers; yet not painters, tailors, and barbers, because these crafts are not so laborious. Tannerus subscribes numero 102. citing Lessius dub. 6. Toletus lib. 6. cap. 6.

THEM, however, Ledesma excuses 24. quaest. 17. art. 3. dub. 9. Fagundez praecep. 4. lib. 1. cap. 8. num. 15. and he proves it by the privilege of Eug. IV., which seems to excuse all artisans; but that it does not excuse all, Bassaens observes, Diana resol. 8. with Reginaldo Tom. 1. lib. 4. cap. 17. num. 116.

CONCERNING diggers, smiths, and the like, for some intervening day on which they do not labor, it is thought to be defined by the judgment of the prudent, Medina lib. 1. cap. 24. §. 10. Sylvius 2. 2. quaest. 187. art. 4. Villalobos sum. tom. 1. tract 23. diff. 9.

BUT Diana judges absolutely resol. 9. that such men are not bound if one or two intervening days are assigned to the fast, because they need to restore their strength; and so think also Ioan. de la Cruz part. 1. praecep. 3. art. 4. dub. 9. Azor tom. 1. lib. 7. cap. 17. quaesito 8. Fagundez praecep. 4. lib. 1. cap. 8. num. 16. and others.

THEY ASK also concerning Procurators and Advocates, whom some excuse if the labor be unremitting and they themselves so weak that they cannot otherwise satisfy their office. See Dian. resol. 12. So also Diana excuses scribes laboring all day part. 4. tract. 4. resol. 130. Pasqualig. disp. 335.

THAT which many say — that only those workmen are bound who are at the same time able to fast — seems Scrupulous to Fernando part. 2. cap. 8. §. 2. Fagundez praecep. 4. lib. 1. cap. 6. num. 16. and Diana resol. 13.

THEY HAVE SPOKEN also of Preachers hired for pay. But many think they are bound, in Diana resol. 11. but I do not see why they should be excused if not led by pay; yet if for pay, they should not be excused, since on both sides the labor is the same, even assumed, as I suppose, for the utility of the peoples. Therefore they teach that in either case they are excused, Bonacina tract. de legibus, disp. ultim. quaest. 1. punct. ult. Filliucius tom. 2. tract. 27. part. 2. cap. 6. num. 124. Lessius lib. 4. cap. 1. dub. 6. num. 44. Diana loco cit.

HE EXCUSES also musicians, Sancius disp. 49. Diana loco cit. if they cannot otherwise sing; and clerics for taking eggs in order to restore a melodious voice.

IT IS DIFFICULT for me to define concerning those who are wearied by no necessity, indeed by unremitting labors; for many loosen the reins, saying: The precept binds only those whom it finds powerful, not those whom it finds impotent. So Bonacina tract. 1. dub. 2. quaest. 8. punct. 1. num. 16. Lublin. p. p. v. Ieiun. num. 19. Diana p. p. tract. 9. resol. 40. et 52. Sancius select. disp. 54. num. 14. Layman lib. 4. tract. 8. cap. 3. Sanchez lib. 5. consil. cap. 1. dub. 7. Pasqualig. disp. 317. Quoad laborantes inaniter.

AS TO those who weary themselves for a base end, there are those who excuse them, even if they foresaw the impotency. So Medina lib. 1. sum. cap. 23. Diana loc. cit. Resol. 40. Bonacina num. 16. Sancius disp. 54. Bassaeus num. 7.

I REFUTE the opinion of these with this reasoning, with Navar. cap. 21. num. 17. Bonacina num. 16. Layman num. 5. Who does something, as licit, which is against the law standing in its vigor, cheats the law, and therefore sins. Such are these men with regard to the law of fasting: Therefore. The major is conceded by the adversaries. The minor is proven. For at that point at which they labor, they are bound to the law, and they cast it aside for the time of execution, like one who would drink the Breviary so as not to say the office.

I prove secondly: He who destroys the end of the law by refusing the means enjoined is guilty. Such are these. For the end of the law is the ordering of the soul, not only through maceration, but through the acts of the virtue of Abstinence. St. Bonaventure teaches this in speculo animae, cap. 3. saying that necessary labor is required.

THERE REMAIN those undertaking journeys on foot, whom the Doctors commonly excuse, in Bonacin. punct. ult. Bassaeum num. 7. But how long the journey should be, Rodriquez tom. 2. 99. reg. quaest. 100. art. 3. establishes at six leagues. Others at seven Italian miles; better, with Bassaeo and others, I shall say that the journey must be weighed: if arduous through places, the time, if it exceeds by heat or rigor, especially the strength of the traveler must be pondered. See Pasqualigum decif. 313. Many will that the journey be such that it cannot at least conveniently be postponed; so Angles flor. quaest. 6. de ieiun. diff. 10. Lessius lib. 4. cap. 2. num. 456.

OTHERS deny this condition; for Eug. IV. also declares that those exercising laborious crafts are excused, even if they be rich and could refrain from labor. So Sanc. disp. 54. num. 21. Pasqualig. decis. 314. Medin. lib. 1. instr. c. 14. §. 10.