§ 1. On the Order of Charity Between Ourselves and Neighbor

The order of those to be loved is generally expressed thus: God, our soul, the soul of neighbor, our body, the body of neighbor.

481. PRINCIPLES. I. After God, each one is bound, absolutely speaking, to love himself more than neighbor. Whence that common axiom: Charity well ordered begins from oneself. It is established 1. from natural inclination, which grace perfects; 2. from the words of Christ: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. From these words it is gathered that the love of a man toward himself is as the exemplar of the love which is to be had toward another. But the exemplar is rather than the exemplified (2.2, q. 26, a. 4).

"But the mode of love is assigned when it is said: as thyself; which must not be understood as regards this, that someone should love neighbor equally to himself, but SIMILARLY to himself. And this in a threefold way: first indeed, on the part of the end, namely that someone love neighbor on account of God, so that thus the love of neighbor may be HOLY; second, on the part of the rule of love, namely that someone not condescend to neighbor in some evil, but only in goods, ... so that thus the love of neighbor may be JUST; third, on the part of the reason of love, namely that someone not love neighbor on account of his own usefulness or delectation, but for the reason that he wills good to neighbor, ... so that thus love of neighbor may be TRUE; for when someone loves neighbor on account of his own usefulness or delectation, he does not truly love neighbor, but himself" (2.2, q. 44, a. 7).

482. II. In those things alone necessary for salvation, this principle is to be applied to each one absolutely, that is, without any exception. For the order of charity, and the obligation of preferring oneself, is preserved in this, that each one wills more to himself than to another his own end, that is, the supreme and uniquely necessary good (Valentia, t. 3, disp. 3, q. 4).

Whence it is never licit to sin in order to consult the salvation of neighbor, neither gravely nor lightly; nor to expose oneself to danger of sinning, unless the danger by some reason becomes remote (cf. n. 375).

Hence: 1. Someone can deprive himself of spiritual goods not necessary for salvation, on account of the spiritual or bodily good of neighbor, for example by deferring entrance into Religion in order to provide for a parish, or to feed parents or children (II, 26; IV, 78).

2. Someone can per se, and from the motive of virtue, immolate his own life for preserving another's. "To hand oneself over to death on account of a friend," says St. Thomas (3 Sent., D. 29, a. 5, ad 3), "is the most perfect act of virtue: whence the virtuous man desires this act more than his own bodily life." It was said that this is licit per se; for per accidens it is sometimes not licit, for example if someone is necessary to children, wife, parents. Cf. n. 753.

483. III. By order of charity we are sometimes bound to procure the good of neighbor, our own good being put after it. It is said by order of charity; for from the title of justice, piety, or office, peculiar obligations can intervene, to be discussed in their own places (2.2, q. 26, a. 5).

But in order that the obligations of charity may be defined more precisely, certain RULES can be established. Yet these have force only with the required conditions posited: that is, a) that equally certain hope of success is present; b) that another is not present who can and wishes to help; c) that a graver evil is not feared from it (II, 27).

RULE 1. In extreme public necessity (that is, of one's own community), even temporal, each one is bound to undergo any inconvenience whatsoever, indeed even loss of life.

This is clear from this, that a member is ordered to the body, a part to the whole, a private person to the community. Hence, a private man is bound to expose his own life to danger for saving the life of a man who is necessary to the Republic. Likewise, in war it is not licit for a citizen, not even for the sake of avoiding death, to indicate to the enemy means by which he can capture the city, etc. (2.2, q. 26, a. 3).

RULE 2. In extreme private spiritual necessity, neighbor must be helped even with danger of life; in the same bodily necessity, he must be helped with great inconvenience.

St. Augustine declares the first thus (de Mendacio, c. 6, n. 9): "A Christian will not hesitate to lose his temporal life for the eternal life of neighbor; for this example went before, that the Lord himself should die for us. For to this he says: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I also have loved you." Whence, if neighbor would not be saved without our help, that saying urges (1 John 3:16): And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The second is clear from this, that the obligation of doing good to neighbor urges when he is placed in necessity (n. 482 and 485, 2); and consequently it urges the more, the greater the necessity is: yet without our being bound, for saving neighbor, to cast ourselves into the same necessity.

Hence: 1. You are bound, with danger of your life, to baptize an infant about to die; likewise, to absolve a dying man habituated in sins, if he is so uneducated that he does not know how to elicit an act of contrition. A mother is bound to undergo a dangerous operation so that the infant can be extracted and baptized. 2. You are not bound to save the life of a private person with your greatest inconvenience. Thus, for example, you can, but are not bound from charity to, protect the life of an innocent person with fear of enmities, of public justice, etc. (III, 390).

RULE 3. In grave necessity, whether spiritual or temporal, neighbor must be helped from charity with only middling inconvenience.

The reason is that when neighbor absolutely can free himself from danger, charity does not seem to oblige us to assist him with great difficulty, since he is not constituted in a case of strict necessity.

Hence: 1. You are not bound, with danger of life, reputation, or fortune, to draw others, even those proximately about to die, back from sins from which they can free themselves by themselves. Nor are you bound to sail for converting the Indians, since there are others who can do this, and otherwise the fruit is uncertain. - Yet you are bound from charity to come to the aid of a neighbor laboring under grave necessity of soul, if you can without grave inconvenience, and hope for fruit.

2. A simple priest is not bound, with danger of life, to minister sacraments to one constituted in grave necessity, unless it is a public necessity, for example in time of plague or war, and the people is destitute of every priest. For then extreme necessity is presumed to be present for several. Likewise, if someone spreads heresy somewhere, you are bound with danger of life to impede him, if you can do this efficaciously, and no one else impedes him (II, 27).

RULE 4. In common or ordinary necessity of either order, neighbor must be helped with light inconvenience.

Indeed one must help; but with light inconvenience, because neighbor himself can fairly easily extricate himself from that necessity; or also because it is not too troublesome to him. Nor are you bound to help all those placed in common necessity: for this would be impossible, or at least too grave.