Question I: What piety is, and what kind of virtue

THE Saintly Doctor notes, in book 3 here, and dist. 9, article 2, question 1, ad 3, from D. Augustine, book 10, de civitate, cap. 1, and in other places, that Piety is taken in many ways.

FIRST, indeed, it signifies the worship of God, and the very virtue of Religion, by which God is worshiped, which the Greeks call EUSEBIA. On this account, wishing to commend someone for his Religion, we call him pious.

SECOND, it signifies the virtue of mercy, as Hugh also writes, de claustro, and D. Bonaventure, de dono Pietatis, and D. Gregory, book 1, moral. cap. 2. S. Augustine gives the reason for this, at the place cited, because the works of mercy are commanded by God in a special manner, whence it has come about by custom that God himself is called pious.

THIRD, it signifies the special gift of the Holy Spirit, as you have in Isaiah 11.

MOREOVER, in another way it is taken here for the Virtue by which due worship is rendered to one's country, parents, kindred, and fellow citizens. The Saintly Doctor defines it thus, part 3 of the Summa contra Gentiles, sect. 42, and Opusc. declaratorio terminorum Theol., and in the Compend. Theol. verit., book 5, cap. 37, from Cicero, book 2, de Inventute: Piety is that by which dutiful service and diligent worship are rendered to those joined by blood and to a benevolent country.

The REASON is the one Tanner gives, disp. 6, question 1, dub. 1, from D. Bonaventure, book 3, dist. 35: because natural law dictates affection toward one's principle, in a special way, and therefore by a special virtue. Just as we are moved toward God in a special way, as our principle, by the virtue of Religion. For parents and country are those from whom we have arisen and been nourished, secondary principles for us after God.

IN the worship of parents, indeed, is included the honor due to ascendants and the other kindred, since they belong to our parents either as principles, or as effects, or as joined to them, as S. Bonaventure teaches, in the places cited, from Aristotle, book 8, Eth. cap. 12. Likewise, in the worship of one's country is included the worship of all fellow citizens and of all the friends of the country.

THIS virtue is an eminent potential part of Justice, as the Saintly Doctor teaches, sect. 1 of D. Thom., art. 3, and others, since it is directed to a special object, namely, to parents and country, as principle begetting and governing. For although to love all belongs to Charity; yet affection toward parents under this aspect is the special Virtue of Piety. So also, although legal justice is directed to the country as the common good; yet insofar as it is the principle of our being and lasting, it belongs to the special virtue of Piety.

The duty of this virtue is of itself indeed to render to parents, and therefore to country, and so to fellow citizens, honor and reverence; but per accidens, and in a case of necessity, also the duty of aid and sustenance. So D. Thomas, art. 102, ad 1, D. Bonaventure, sermon 5, on the ten commandments, and commonly in Fagundez on the fourth commandment. He proves both from the fourth precept of the Decalogue, Honor thy Father and thy Mother, which Christ explains, Matthew 15, reproaching the Pharisees for hindering sons from sustaining their parents. And Cicero taught this above, in the definition of Piety, where he says the object of Piety is the duty which is referred to the service of aid, and the worship, which is directed to reverence; for as D. Augustine says above, we are said to worship those men whom we frequent with honorific remembrance or presence.

The reason of D. Bonaventure, in the cited sermon, is that if we are bound by Charity to come to the aid of others in necessity; much more are we bound in a special way to aid parents, and others joined to us by blood, and our benevolent country.

Parents indeed are bound to lay up treasure for their children, not children for their parents, as the Apostle says, 2 Corinth. 12, because children ought to succeed their parents; yet in sustaining parents out of necessity, the obligation of children toward parents is greater.

But the Saintly Doctor brings forward a most excellent reason, in the cited sermon, from Ecclesiasticus 13, where it is said: He that feareth God shall honor his father and mother, and shall serve them as a master them that begat him, since indeed children are parts precisely of their parents, the whole is more owed to them than to each part the whole. The Saintly Doctor gravely proves this from Ephesians 6, where he says that it pertains to justice: Children, obey your parents: for this is just. Where, with the Apostle, he observes that he is called to the first commandment in promise, because to him is promised a long dwelling on the earth, whereas with the other precepts no promise of any good is added. Longevity, moreover, does not sound merely length of days (for many good sons die), but value, as the Saintly Doctor says, at the place cited, as it is said in Ecclesiasticus 3, as below.

The Saintly Doctor shows the same also from that passage of Ecclesiasticus 3: Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his life: He that honoreth his father shall enjoy his children, and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard. He that honoreth his father shall live a long life: and he that obeyeth his father shall be a comfort to his mother. He that feareth the Lord, honoreth his parents, and shall serve them as masters them that begat him. In work, and word, and all patience honor thy father, that a blessing may come upon thee from God, and his blessing may remain in the latter end. See the Saintly Doctor, at the place cited, expounding these things most excellently.

He adds, however, that if the service of parents draws us away from the worship owed to God, then the worship of parents is no longer to be insisted upon against the worship of God, as Christ also taught, Luke 14, and there the Saintly Doctor comments most excellently: If anyone comes to me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple; and the same is found in Matthew 10. Whence in praise of James and John it is said, Matthew 4, that they, leaving their nets and their father, followed Christ; and in praise of the Levites, Deuteronomy 33: Who said to his father, and to his mother: I know you not; and to his brethren: I see you not: and their children they knew not. These kept thy word, and observed thy covenant, as the Saintly Doctor observes, on chapter 9 of Luke, toward the end, on these words: Suffer the dead to bury their dead.

The Saintly Doctor also brings forward that saying of D. Jerome, epistle 1, to Heliodorus: Go forth, trampling underfoot thy father, go forth, trampling underfoot thy mother, and fly to the standard of the Cross: The highest kind of piety is to have been cruel in this matter. The reason of the Saintly Doctor is that we are more bound to worship God than our parents, and we must obey God rather than men, Acts 5.

Yet that he infers the same — that we must often omit some spiritual goods for the sake of aiding parents, and that we are not bound to enter religion, because this is a good of counsel; but to aid parents in necessity is a precept, as the Saintly Doctor teaches, on chapter 1 of the Rule, and S. Thomas here, art. 4.

Here certain questions occur, which I shall resolve. I shall set forth, however, that the name of son in Greek Φίλος indicates Philo, that is, friend.

For since children are held to exhibit three things to their parents: Love with reverence, Obedience, and Beneficence, or, as D. Bonaventure says, in the cited sermon, a threefold honor is owed to parents, of Reverence, Obedience, and Beneficence; from this threefold head they contract special obligations.

As to the first, they are bound to love their parents in a singular way, not only inwardly, but also outwardly, so that hatred toward parents, or contempt, is a graver sin than toward others; for they offend not only against charity, but also against piety. Therefore this circumstance is to be explained in confession, just as one who killed his father would be bound to explain that circumstance. So D. Bonaventure, serm. cit., Bass., V. Filius 2, Toletus, book 5 of the summa, c. 1, Navarre, in manuali lat. c. 24, Azor, tract. 2, lib. 2, cap. 2, question 2, Sylvester, V. filius, question 22, Tabiena, there, question 26, Fagundez, lib. 4, c. 2. They are also bound to behave reverently toward them.

As to the second, they are bound to obey their parents in their governance.

As to the third, they are bound to come to their aid in necessities; but many doubts can occur in these matters.