Question XXXVIII: Whether a man ought out of charity to love his mother more than his father

I assert, that the Father is to be loved more per se, on the side of the object and of the principle.

It is proved by St. Thomas, because charity follows ordered nature; but ordered nature is borne more toward its chief principle, from which it has its being, and to which it is more closely joined: Therefore also grace. But the chief principle of nature is the Father: Therefore. Per accidens, however, more is often owed to the Mother, who loves more, and sometimes endures more in rearing her son.