Article — Noldin, Summa of Moral Theology
Article Third. On the Precept of Internal Faith
13. Things to be premised concerning the precepts themselves of faith. 1. The precept of faith concerns both the internal act and the external act; each is twofold: negative, of not denying the faith either interiorly or exteriorly; and affirmative, of eliciting interiorly an act of faith and of confessing the faith exteriorly. This precept of external faith is both divine and ecclesiastical.
The obligation of eliciting an act of faith sometimes exists per se, or by reason of faith itself; sometimes it exists accidentally, or by reason of another precept which cannot be fulfilled without an act of faith, for example, of receiving Holy Communion. He who violates the former obligation commits a sin against faith; he who violates the latter sins only against that virtue which cannot be exercised without an act of faith.
In order that the faithful may satisfy the precept of faith, it is not necessary that the act of faith be formal, but virtual faith suffices, such as pious faithful very frequently elicit, provided the mysteries of faith have been proposed to them as revealed by God, for example, when they recite the Apostolic Symbol, make the sign of the cross, pray, hear Mass, frequent the sacraments: for all these things suppose or include an act of faith.
14. Whether it exists and when it obliges. 1. There exists a divine precept gravely obliging one to elicit acts of faith. In Sacred Scripture this precept is often enjoined: He who has not believed will be condemned;1 he who does not believe is already judged;2 and this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.3 But it is clear that this precept is grave: for condemnation is the punishment of mortal sin.4
- Since an affirmative precept does not oblige always, but only at certain times, it is now asked how often and when the internal act of faith must be elicited. An affirmative precept which at the same time does not determine the time at which it obliges is judged to oblige when it is understood to be necessary; and there are five times at which the precept of eliciting an act of faith urges per se:
a. When divine revelation has been sufficiently proposed to a man.
a. As soon as divine revelation has been sufficiently proposed, an act of faith is necessary: for reverence toward the infallible authority of God demands that man believe at once when something is proposed to him as revealed by God and to be believed; otherwise the authority of God would be judged to be contemned. Just as we ought immediately to show reverence to a king appearing to us, so we ought immediately to believe God speaking to us. Besides this, when man has attained the use of reason, he is bound to place the beginning of spiritual life, that is, to tend to God, the supernatural ultimate end of his life, through the observation of the commandments; but this cannot happen without an act of faith at least virtually elicited.
b. The truths of faith are judged to have been sufficiently proposed to those who certainly know that their revelation has been made by God and know the obligation of believing. Therefore the children of the Christian faithful are bound to elicit an act of faith as soon as they have perfectly attained the use of reason and have been so instructed in faith that they apprehend the mysteries of faith as revealed by God; but unbelievers and heretics are bound to this, together with entrance into the Catholic Church, when first the truths of faith have been so proposed to them that they certainly know them as revealed by God and know the obligation of believing them.5
c. If anywhere the political power forbids conversion to the true faith before a certain year of age, the sixteenth or eighteenth, the law is impious, and it is not permitted to him who has been persuaded of the truth of the Catholic religion to defer the profession of faith longer on account of civil law. Pastors of souls are bound to admit to the profession of faith those who seek to be gathered into the bosom of the Church, notwithstanding any temporal evil of their own or of another. But to avoid evils which from the civil law threaten both the parish priest and the one to be converted, it can be permitted that by mutual consent the conversion be deferred until the legal age, or that the conversion already completed be hidden until that age, if it is now very near.
b. More often in life, because faith is very necessary for conserving the spiritual life. Apart from the beginning of spiritual life, another determinate time cannot indeed be assigned at which the divine precept of eliciting an act of faith obliges; nevertheless it cannot be denied that it obliges several times. Therefore the faithful are indeed to be earnestly exhorted to elicit acts of faith frequently; but they are not easily to be accused of sin on account of an omitted act of faith.
Some authors affirm that faith must be elicited at a determinate time, and some indeed at least once a year, others once a month, others on each Sunday and feast.6 To confirm this opinion of theirs they appeal to two propositions condemned by Innocent XI, of which one (17) is this: It is enough to elicit an act of faith once in life; but the other (65) reads thus: It suffices to have believed those mysteries, namely of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation, once. Yet the authors who establish these precepts add that they are satisfied through the use of faith, namely, by the fact that faith is exercised through the observation of other precepts.
But from the condemned propositions we have only this: that there exists a precept of eliciting an act of faith more than once, or more often, in life; but how often and when it must be elicited is altogether indeterminate; and an indeterminate precept cannot urge at a determinate time. Besides, the faithful will rarely sin formally against this precept: for those who live as Christians satisfy it abundantly through the exercise of faith; but others do not advert to the obligation of believing. Therefore it is not necessary that the confessor question penitents about an act of faith elicited from time to time, whether they had been diligent or negligent in exercising religion.
c. After a lapse into heresy or after a denial of faith: for he who has lost faith ought again to adhere to God through faith.
d. When a temptation against faith urges which is hoped to be overcome only through an act of faith.
If a temptation against faith urges, by the virtue itself of faith we are bound to fight against the temptation in order to preserve this faith; therefore as often as an act of faith is the only means of overcoming the temptation, we are bound to elicit it from the precept of faith. Yet outside the article of death it will rarely happen that a temptation against faith can be overcome only through an act of faith, and this all the more because temptations against faith are generally overcome more efficaciously if we do not struggle against them directly, but turn the mind to other objects.
e. When a new definition or a new article of faith is proposed: for God speaking is to be believed. Hence, if some new dogma is proposed, it does not suffice not to deny it by suspending assent, but it must be believed by internal assent.
There are some who, with St. Alphonsus (n. 7), say that the precept of eliciting an act of faith also urges per se in the article of death, because then we are most of all bound to tend into God, the ultimate end; and besides this, if the precept of communion then obliges, the precept of faith also obliges. But it cannot be proved with certainty that faith is necessary at that time, unless a vehement temptation against faith urges. And indeed, he who is said to be bound in death to elicit faith is either in the state of grace or in the state of sin: if the first, the necessity of faith does not appear, unless otherwise the temptation against faith cannot be overcome; if the second, faith is indeed necessary, but not per se from the virtue of faith, but accidentally from the obligation of reconciling oneself with God, which cannot happen without faith at least virtually elicited. And as regards Holy Communion, there indeed exists a precept of receiving the Holy Eucharist in death on account of the particular necessity of this sacrament in the last struggle, but a precept of eliciting an act of faith in death cannot be brought forward.
1 Mark 16:16.
2 John 3:18.
3 1 John 3:23.
4 This proposition (16) was condemned by Innocent XI: faith is not judged to fall under a special precept and according to itself.
5 An unbeliever or heretic is not indeed bound to believe so long as he does not certainly know the truth of the Christian faith, but he is bound to inquire into the true faith: for where eternal salvation is at stake, it is not permitted to rest before the certain way of obtaining it has been found. Therefore this proposition (4) was condemned by Innocent XI: An unbeliever not believing, led by a less probable opinion, will be excused from infidelity; that is, so long as his sect appears probable to the unbeliever, even if less probable than the Christian religion, he indeed is not bound to believe, but neither can he licitly remain tranquil in his sect, since he is bound to inquire further until he has arrived at certain knowledge of the truth.
6 Cf. St. Alphonsus, bk. 2, n. 7.
15. When it obliges accidentally. Accidentally the obligation of eliciting an act of faith urges: a. when other obligations which require faith must be fulfilled; thus the faithful cannot hear Mass, nor receive the sacraments, etc., unless an act of faith is supposed, which is virtually elicited; b. when a grave temptation against another virtue urges, and this temptation cannot be overcome without an act of faith: for everyone is bound to use the necessary means for avoiding sin.