§ 1. On the Necessity of Faith as Regards the Internal Act

425. PRINCIPLES. I. The internal act of faith is necessary for all adults for justification by necessity of means. It is established from Scripture (Epistle to the Hebrews 11:6): Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder to those seeking him. And from Trent (Sess. 6, c. 6): "Without faith justification never happens to anyone." God does not justify adults unless through their own acts they tend into him.

Nor does faith in desire, or faith improperly or broadly so called, suffice;¹ for faith properly so called (according to Trent, Sess. 6, c. 8) "is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification," and consequently it presupposes nothing in which its desire would be included. Suarez judges this conclusion so certain (disp. 12, s. 2, n. 101) that he denies it can be rejected without error in faith. Yet from this it cannot be inferred that there are men who are in an impossibility, properly so called, of obtaining salvation. For "to him doing what is in him, God does not deny grace."

Whence St. Thomas (de Verit., XIV, a. 11, ad 1): "If someone," he says, "nurtured in forests or among brute animals..., should follow the guidance of natural reason in desiring good and fleeing evil, it must most certainly be held that God would either reveal to him by internal inspiration the things which are necessary to be believed, or would direct some preacher of the faith to him, as he sent Peter to Cornelius." Cf. St. Alph., Gran mezzo della pregh., P. II, c. 4.

426. II. The act of faith is necessary for all by necessity of precept. It is established from Scripture (Mark 16:16): He that believes not shall be condemned. Likewise from the twofold proposition condemned by Innocent XI, namely the 16th: "Faith is not considered to fall under a special precept, and according to itself"; and the 17th: "It is enough to elicit the act of faith once in life."

This obligation of eliciting the act of faith can be either on account of faith itself or on account of another obligation. Concerning the former St. Alphonsus speaks thus: "It is certain," he says, "that man is bound by the natural law to turn himself to God through faith, hope, and charity, and therefore to elicit acts of those virtues, since each virtue lives by its acts" (II, 6).

Hence the PRECEPT OF FAITH urges: 1. Per se, that is, independently from every other circumstance: a) at the beginning of spiritual life, that is, when someone, for example a boy or a non-Catholic, shall have known both those things which must be believed and the obligation of believing (cf. n. 436); likewise when some truth to be believed is proposed by the Church; b) more often in life, at least once in the year, as Doctors admit with sufficient probability (II, 7); c) in the article or danger of death, as is more commonly taught, because then we are especially bound to tend into God as our ultimate end (II, 5; H. Ap., IV, 13; Conf. dir., IV, 6).

2. Per accidens, that is, from a peculiar circumstance: a) when a grave temptation against faith is pressing, which cannot otherwise be conquered; b) when a precept must be fulfilled which requires faith, for example of penance, of profession of faith, of communion, etc.; c) after a lapse into heresy or faith denied; because the injury inflicted upon the First Truth must be repaired. Thus all (II, 5).

Take note: 1. We are never strictly bound to recite the customary formulas of the act of faith. A man who lives Christianly (at least by fulfilling the paschal precept) sufficiently satisfies the precept of faith (and of hope), because in him who has already learned and believed generally the truths to be held by faith, implicit or exercised acts suffice, such as to pray, to adore the crucifix, to sign oneself with the sign of the cross (II, 7). Cf. Ferreres, I, 188.

2. A heretic, so long as he judges his own sect to be more credible, or equally credible, and Catholics to reject and persecute the word of God, is not bound to believe, because the faith is not yet sufficiently proposed to him, and he would act imprudently. Cf. n. 441.

3. "If a doubt about his sect should arise for someone, he is bound to inquire further and to ask light from God: but if he neglects this, he sins against faith. But if afterwards our faith is sufficiently proposed to him, he is bound to embrace it" (II, 9).

427. Questions. QUAER. 1. What things are to be known and explicitly believed BY NECESSITY OF MEANS?

Resp. 1. They are two: a) that God is; b) that he is the rewarder of good, and avenger of evil. For the Apostle (Heb. 11:6) says: He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder to those seeking him. It is established also from the 22nd proposition condemned by Innocent XI, which said: "Only faith in one God seems necessary by necessity of means, but not explicit faith in him as rewarder" (II, 2; Exam. Ord., n. 131).

2. As regards the mysteries of the Most Holy TRINITY and of the INCARNATION and DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST, there is controversy. The first opinion, sufficiently probable, denies that these must be explicitly believed, supported by this reason: that, after the promulgation of the Gospel had been made, the condition of those who have heard nothing of Christ was not changed for the worse; whence now, as formerly, those can be saved who believe with explicit faith in God as rewarder, and with implicit faith in the Redeemer. Thus very many more recent authors with Lugo, Sylvius, etc. - But the second opinion, which seems more probable to St. Alphonsus, affirms; because many texts of Sacred Scripture and of the Holy Fathers seem to require faith in Christ, so that man may be united to his Redeemer and be justified through this union. Thus more commonly the ancient theologians.

This opinion is favored (especially for practice) by the response of the Congregation of the Holy Office, which, having been asked whether an adult who was in the article of death and who promised that, after health was recovered, he would learn the truths of faith, could be baptized, wrote back, on January 25, 1703: "the promise does not suffice; but the missionary is bound to explain to the adult, even dying, who is not altogether incapable, the mysteries of faith which are necessary by necessity of means, as are chiefly the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation." This decree was renewed on March 30, 1898 (Mon. eccl., X, P. II, p. 30).

Finally, for practice, the 64th proposition condemned by Innocent XI urges: "A man is capable of absolution, however much he may labor under ignorance of the mysteries of faith; and even if, through negligence even culpable, he does not know the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

From these things conclude: 1. The CONFESSARIUS sins by absolving (outside the case of necessity) one who is ignorant of the aforesaid mysteries, since he exposes the sacrament to danger of nullity. Therefore he ought either first to instruct a penitent of this kind, or to dismiss him until he shall have been instructed. But it is better briefly to teach him, and to elicit with him acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition (Prax., n. 22). 2. A PENITENT who notices that his confession, on account of such ignorance, was probably valid, but also probably null, is bound, after having been taught those mysteries, to repeat the confession. The reason is that "with respect to him who has certainly gravely sinned, the obligation of fulfilling confession not only probably, but certainly valid, always urges and possesses antecedently" (cf. n. 83). Thus St. Alphonsus (II, n. 2, at the end), reforming his former opinion. See ed. G., I, p. 298.

Note. Invincible ignorance concerning the aforesaid mysteries can scarcely be found among us. If someone exists so dull that he cannot grasp them, he is rather to be assimilated to an infant (Aertnys, II, tr. 1, n. 4; Tanquerey, II, n. 438).

QUAER. 2. What things are to be believed or known BY NECESSITY OF PRECEPT?

Resp. "Explicitly, by necessity of precept, there ought to be known and believed, at least in substance, as St. Charles Borromeo teaches (Instr. ad Conf.): the Apostles' Creed; the Lord's prayer and the angelic salutation; the precepts of the Decalogue and of the Church; the sacraments which are necessary to anyone, such as baptism, Eucharist, and penance; for concerning the others it suffices to have implicit faith, since explicit faith is necessary only for those who receive them" (H. Ap., IV, 3; Conf. dir., IV, 2).

Hence: 1. They sin (mortally or venially, according to the gravity of the matter) who neglect to learn the aforesaid things;² likewise pastors who do not teach these things to their sheep, as also parents and other Superiors who do not teach them to their children or subjects, either by themselves or through others. 2. He who is ignorant of the aforesaid things even inculpably can indeed be absolved the first time, provided that, after being admonished, he firmly proposes to learn them. But if afterwards he has altogether neglected to fulfill the obligation, he must be treated as a recidivist (cf. n. 1829). 3. He who neglects to learn the same by memory sins venially. But this light obligation chiefly urges the uneducated, because otherwise they can scarcely have sufficient knowledge of them (II, 3; Prax., n. 22).