Chapter VII — On Traditions

I. Tradition, taken generally, is doctrine which is communicated to another either by voice or by writing, as St. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2: Hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle. Taken more strictly, tradition is doctrine communicated by the living voice. If we regard the author, one is divine, another human. If the matter, one comprehends faith and morals, another discipline, rites, and ceremonies. Again, one is necessary, another free; one immutable and perpetual, another mutable and temporary; one, finally, universal, another particular.

II. Divine tradition is the doctrine of God, not written, but revealed by God to our forefathers, and communicated to their successors from ear to ear. This tradition is wont to be called Dominical, because it was communicated by Christ the Lord to the Apostles, and by these to their successors. Of this kind is the tradition concerning the number of the Sacraments, and concerning the perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary. Another is the apostolic, which the Apostles, at the dictation of the Holy Spirit, received and communicated to the Church without writing, as the Council of Trent teaches, Session 4.

III. The Heretics of every age have almost all denied the divine and apostolic traditions, that they might the more freely publish their errors. The Heretics of the latest age, the Lutherans and Calvinists, have raged against the traditions beyond the rest, inasmuch as these cut their throats. All Catholics teach that besides the written word there are apostolic-divine traditions, and they prove it by the testimonies both of the divine Scriptures and of the Fathers. The divine Scriptures are ready to hand: Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee (Deuteronomy 32). Again, Ecclesiasticus, chapter 8: Let not the discourse of the ancients escape thee, for they have learned of their fathers. St. Paul says to the Thessalonians, chapter 2: Therefore, brethren, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word, or by our epistle.

IV. In every state of the Church the divine traditions have obtained. From Adam to Moses there was no written law. Whence did the holy Patriarchs — Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the others — learn the worship of God, the rites of the sacrifices, and the mysteries of Religion? Whence did they draw their doctrine concerning the creation of the world, the coming of the Messias, the remedy of original sin, and the future state? From the written word? There was then none. Therefore from the word delivered from mouth to mouth, from ear to ear. After the Mosaic law the divine traditions likewise obtained, as is evident from the testimonies adduced. Did not the Jews believe by divine tradition that the holy books were enrolled in the canon? Christ the Lord sent his Apostles, instructed by his voice alone, to preach his divine law through the whole world. For the space of many years they promulgated this new law without a written word. Matthew consigned his Gospel to letters when he had resolved to go to preach to the gentiles, and after the preaching he had made to the Hebrews. Let the Lutherans and Calvinists explain to us by what doctrine the Church of Christ was governed before the Evangelists delivered the Gospels in writing, and Paul with the other Apostles wrote his epistles. Not, assuredly, by written doctrine. Therefore by doctrine handed down.¹ The testimonies of the Fathers I pass over for brevity's sake.

¹ See Tome 1, Apparatus, Book 3, Dissertation 3.