On the Virtue of Faith

614. Presupposing the things which we wrote in Dogmatic Theology concerning the object and act of faith, here we will weigh moral questions:

I. Concerning the nature and excellence of faith;

II. Concerning its necessity;

III. Concerning sins against faith;

IV. Concerning the means of making progress in faith.

615. Divine faith, of which we are treating, must be distinguished both from natural science and from human faith. Natural science, such as Philosophy, is concerned with truths which can be acquired by the light of reason alone, and rests upon intrinsic evidence, which is attained by a deductive or inductive method. Human faith rests upon the testimony of men, and gives us those cognitions which we cannot attain from the intrinsic evidence of things or by our own investigation; thus historical sciences rest upon human testimony. But divine faith is concerned with things divinely revealed, and we assent to them not on account of the intrinsic evidence of the things, nor on account of the testimony of men, but on account of the authority of God Himself revealing.

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 2, a. 1-2; Suarez, De fide, disp. I and VII; Lugo, De Virtute fidei, disp. XV, and others whom we cited in Synopsis Theologiae Dogmaticae, De Fide, p. 10; Newman, University Sermons; idem, Grammar of Assent; whose doctrine concerning the nature and genesis of faith H. Bremond arranged in the work: Newman, Psychologie de la Foi, Paris, Bloud, 1905.

Yet human faith, or the propensity which is in us to accept testimony as one of the sources for investigating truth, is an excellent disposition toward divine faith; for, "if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater."² For who of sound mind, and free from prejudices, can reject the testimony of God, when he already admits the existence of God infinitely wise and truthful? Therefore the natural propensity of believing men, innate in us, is as it were a preparation for receiving the gift of divine faith.³

² 1 John 5:9.

³ M. d'Hulst, Confer., 1892, 3rd Conf., p. 91.

These things being laid down, we shall briefly gather together what elsewhere⁴ we have already written concerning the definition of faith, the conditions for the act of faith, and its genesis.

⁴ Synop. Th. Dogmat., De Fide, nn. 19-26 and 102-119.

616. 1. Definition. (A) Faith, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is described as "the substance of things to be hoped for, the argument of things not appearing."⁵ The Vatican Council professes the same,⁶ that it is "a supernatural virtue, by which, with the grace of God inspiring and assisting, we believe that the things revealed by Him are true, not on account of the intrinsic truth of the things perceived by the natural light of reason, but on account of the authority of God Himself revealing, who can neither be deceived nor deceive." From this a definition of faith can be drawn, either as a habit or as an act.

⁵ Heb. 11:1. This description Dante expounds poetically, La Divina Commedia, Paradiso, canto 24. From the Pauline definition it follows that faith is concerned with things to be hoped for, namely those which pertain to our supernatural beatitude.

⁶ Sess. III, cap. 3, Denzing., n. 1638.

(B) Faith, as a habit, is usually defined: a supernatural and theological virtue infused, disposing the mind, that is, the intellect and the will, to assent firmly, under the influence of actual grace, on account of the divine authority, to all things revealed by God.⁷ - But the act of faith can be defined: the act by which the intellect, at the command of the will assisted by grace, firmly assents, on account of the authority of God, to all things divinely revealed.

⁷ Recently this definition was attacked because it is not sufficiently psychological, nor does it sufficiently show how supernatural faith rests upon the natural faculty of believing; and therefore this other definition was proposed: the natural faculty supernaturally transmuted by God through grace, disposing the mind to assent firmly, etc. (Pichegut, in Rev. du Clerge francais, t. XXIX, Dec. 1901, pp. 72-76). But this natural faculty supernaturally transmuted presents a very obscure concept: for in what does a transmutation of this kind consist? - Moreover the classical definition, which rests upon the Vatican Council, can be explained psychologically: for it is already signified clearly enough that the virtue of faith is inserted in the intellect and will, with the grace of God cooperating, and in the declaration of the definition, especially where the act of faith is treated, the psychological process of faith can be described. - Concerning the controversies had on this matter between Pichegut and Gayraud, Guillemant, Le Bras, see Rev. du Clerge francais, t. XXIX, pp. 206, 320, 537, 636.

617. 2. Conditions for faith. These are required from a threefold head, namely on the part of the object, of the subject, and of God:

(a) On the part of the object: the revelation of some truth; otherwise nothing could be believed by divine faith; - the proposition of this truth, or its manifestation made to those to whom God did not immediately reveal it; - motives of credibility, or reasons and proofs by which it can be judged with moral certainty that some truth has been revealed, and therefore is credible and to be believed. But that moral certitude is sufficient which excludes a prudent fear of erring.

(b) On the part of the subject: the absence of prejudices; for, especially in a moral matter, nothing more clouds and blinds the intellect than judgments formed a priori without sufficient foundation, such as, for example, these or like ones: a miracle is impossible; preternatural facts cannot be demonstrated; - besides this, a pious affection for believing is desired. For since the truths of faith are often obscure, and are especially opposed to human passions, the intellect, by a certain natural instinct, is prone to deny them, unless it is gently inclined by the will.

(c) On the part of God, there is required actual grace, which precedes man, illumines his intellect so that he may more easily perceive the force of the motives of credibility, and moves the will so that it commands the assent of the intellect. For faith is a truly supernatural act, a special gift of God which is truly gratuitous: "No one, however, can consent to the evangelical preaching, as is necessary for obtaining salvation, without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who gives to all sweetness in consenting to and believing the truth."⁸

⁸ Vatican Council, sess. III, cap. 3, apud Denzing., n. 1640.

618. 3. Concerning the genesis of faith. These things being laid down, it can be understood how regularly the act of faith, by a logical process, is elicited by an adult who has not yet embraced the Christian faith. We suppose him to be rightly disposed, so that he is prepared to receive the truth, even when opposed to prejudices or passions; otherwise he will scarcely be able to grasp the force of the arguments. (a) First, he must recognize naturally the existence of God and His infallible truthfulness, either by reasoning, namely by considering the arguments which are set forth in the Philosophical Lectures, or by other natural means, for example, the authority of parents or of more learned men, who propose these truths. For cognition of this kind the natural concurrence of God is sufficient of itself. (b) Afterward, conscious of his own inability to discover all the truths whose knowledge he needs in order to order life rightly, the fact of revelation is investigated, with the help of history and criticism, by considering the motives of credibility, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, which are set forth in the Treatise on True Religion, especially the arguments by which the divinity of Christ's mission is proved. These motives, especially if all are reviewed together attentively and sincerely, generate moral certitude, which excludes a prudent fear of erring. For this also the natural concurrence of God is sufficient of itself, although God is accustomed to assist both the intellect and the will in this study by preternatural help; hence it is very expedient that the help of God be sought by frequent prayer. (c) From this twofold consideration there can now be formed a speculative judgment concerning the possibility and the obligation of believing, or, as they say, concerning credibility and credendity. For if God, infallibly truthful, has revealed certain truths, we are bound to give assent to them. Such a judgment in itself is natural; but, since it is the proximate and positive preparation for the act of faith itself, our faculties are now in fact aided by supernatural grace to form it. (d) There follows upon this an act of the will commanding the assent of the intellect; for since the matter is one in itself not evident, and one which moreover is established only with moral certainty, a certainty excluding prudent doubt, it is necessary that the will command this prudent assent of the intellect. From this there is elicited an act of implicit faith, or the practical judgment of the intellect assenting in a general way to all the truths revealed by God, on account of the authority of God revealing. This is truly an act of supernatural faith, elicited by the intellect, under the command of the free will, with the grace of God exciting and cooperating, which illumines the intellect and moves the will: it is therefore a free act, and, the requisite conditions being posited, meritorious. (e) Afterward it remains to be investigated which, in species, are the truths revealed by God, so that they may be believed explicitly. Now one of the truths manifested by Christ is the infallible authority granted to the Church, for authoritatively proposing the truths to be believed: supernatural assent to this truth is an act of explicit faith, elicited by the intellect, under the command of the will and the influence of grace. This being accomplished, the way will now be easy for believing explicitly whatever the infallible Church shall have proposed as of faith.

619. Faith, especially that which is joined to confidence and works through charity, contributes greatly indeed to private and public good.

⁹ Lacordaire, 12th Conference; Largent, Une station de Careme, Paris, 1881, p. 33; Bouquillon, De virt. theologicis, nn. 198-204; M. d'Hulst, Confer. 1892, pp. 123-129; Gay, Vie et Vertus chret., Paris, 1876, t. I, l. III, De la Foi, pp. 142-155.

1. To private good. For (A) faith, taken in a general way, according to Trent,¹⁰ is deservedly called "the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God and to come to the fellowship of His sons." It is, namely, the beginning of salvation; for we cannot use the means necessary for salvation unless we have known them; nor are we able to know them except through faith, since they are supernatural: by faith we know God as the ultimate supernatural end, - Christ as Redeemer and mediator, - and all things instituted by Christ for obtaining justification and for increasing and preserving grace. Hence, according to the Apostle,¹¹ the just man lives by faith, is justified by faith, and is saved through faith. Therefore faith is truly the foundation of the whole spiritual building, and as it were the cornerstone without which it cannot stand. It is rightly also called the root of the whole of justification; for as the root not only sustains the tree, but also supplies sap to it, by which it brings forth leaves and fruit, so faith not only sustains spiritual life, but also nourishes it, while it pours into us, as it were, the various and pious affections of fear, hope, and others like these, as a certain sap, from which the fruits of charity spring up.

¹⁰ Trent, sess. VI, cap. 8 (Denzing., n. 683).

¹¹ Rom. 1:17; 5:1; Gal. 3:11; 1 Cor. 15:1-2, etc.

620. (B) If it is considered insofar as it perfects the intellect, it is as it were a new light superadded to the light of reason, by which we are able to attain truths inaccessible to human reason; for, as was said in the Treatise on True Religion, nn. 142-145, there are many problems of the moral order, and indeed of the greatest moment, which the human mind left to itself cannot solve, especially concerning man's origin, nature, ultimate end, and the means necessary for attaining it. Now to all these questions faith gives an answer that is certain, consonant with reason, and adapted to the intelligence of all; thus it frees us from manifold doubt and error, and is as it were a lighthouse showing the path of the right way, amid the rocks of errors, and the port of salvation toward which we tend.

621. (C) With regard to the will, faith is deservedly called a perennial fountain of strength and consolation. (a) Of strength indeed; which the Apostle splendidly declares: after describing the excellent deeds done by the Fathers with faith assisting, he adds these things:¹ "Who through faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises... recovered strength from weakness, became mighty in war."

¹ Heb. 11:33-34; let the whole chapter be read.

In truth faith sets before our eyes whatever God has done for our salvation, with what charity He loved us from eternity, how He adopted us as sons, and delivered His Only-begotten Son for the salvation of sinners; - how many and how great benefits Christ bestowed upon us, what torments He willingly suffered to redeem us, what means He benignly instituted for our sanctification, with what unfailing love He follows after us while hidden on the altar; - what eternal rewards or torments are prepared for us, according as we have acted well or badly. Now all these things, and many others which faith suggests, stir men in the best way possible to the love of God and of neighbor, and add new strength to them, so that, despising the vanities of the world and spurning the enticements of pleasures, they may pursue the good strenuously and constantly.

(b) Faith likewise offers the greatest consolation amid the miseries of life; for if every creature groans, by the example of Christ suffering and dying on the cross, and also by the hope of future goods, pains are lightened not a little: "Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ... And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience trial; and trial hope... If, however, we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us... And we know that to them that love God all things work together unto good."²

² Rom. 5:1-4; Rom. 8:17-18; Rom. 8:28.

This indeed appears most of all when we lose parents, relatives, and intimately beloved friends: "And we will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have slept through Jesus."³ For through death "life is changed, not taken away, and, the house of this earthly dwelling being dissolved, an eternal dwelling in the heavens is prepared."⁴ Meanwhile, by force of the communion of saints, we remain intimately joined to departed friends: we pray for them detained in purgatory, and they, having entered heaven, now secure concerning their immortality, become solicitous for our salvation and intercede for us.⁵

³ 1 Thess. 4:12.

⁴ Missale, Proper for Gaul, Preface for the dead.

⁵ How great a consolation faith offers to the afflicted is eloquently declared by Bougaud, Le Christianisme et les temps presents, t. I, ch. XI sq.; Gay, op. cit., l. XIII, De la douleur chretienne; H. Perreyve, La journee des malades; Ctesse de Flavigny, L'Annee des malades, Paris, 1905.

622. (D) From this it follows that faith is very meritorious, for this is the most excellent homage of our mind, by which we freely subject at once both will and intellect to divine authority. For since the things to which we assent are not evident, but for the most part difficult to believe, and are also opposed to the passions, especially to pride, pleasure, and egotism, it is necessary that our will gently and strongly incline the intellect not only to consider attentively the motives of credibility, but also to offer assent humbly to revealed truths; and no one fails to see that this is very meritorious.

From this also it is gathered that faith is as it were the dawn and foretaste of the beatific vision; for by faith we believe those things which through the light of glory we shall contemplate, and, although we perceive the same things only obscurely, we give certain and firm assent on account of the authority of God, who can neither be deceived nor deceive. Therefore of Christians much more than of the patriarchs it can be said: "All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers upon the earth."⁶

⁶ Heb. 11:13.

623. 2. To public or social good. (A) Since society is an association of families, it cannot flourish without rightly ordered families. Moreover, it is established no less historically than psychologically that families are not stable except where the unity and indissolubility of marriage flourish.⁷ Now Christian faith teaches and fosters both of these, and through the centuries has furnished the greatest security to families. But when faith decreases, divorces are soon multiplied, family bonds are broken, and from this society is weakened.

⁷ Synop. Theol. Dogmat., De Matrimonio, n. 45 and nn. 58-63.

624. (B) Society, moreover, cannot long and peacefully stand without the constant exercise of justice, by which his own is rendered to each, and of charity, which inclines citizens to give mutual help to one another. Now Christian faith constantly inculcates and inspires these virtues, as will be said below; but when faith is diminished, and all the more when faith is removed, the very notion of the just and equitable is gradually obscured, charity languishes and grows cold; soon quarrels, dissensions, and struggles of parties are increased; the rich become harsher toward the poor, and the poor envy the richer and pursue them with hatred, as lamentable experience today establishes; and thus the foundations of society seem to totter.⁸ - Philosophers indeed, both ancient and modern, have sought the norm of the just and equitable, and the foundation of charity, or, as they say, of altruism and solidarity, in various systems, but in vain, as we have shown above, On the Ultimate End, nn. 33-64.

⁸ To the point M. d'Hulst, op. cit., pp. 127-128: "Everyone agrees today that, without justice and without love, the earth would be a hell. There remains, therefore, only one question to resolve: where is the guarantee of justice? where is the source of love? The despisers of Christianity promise us that they will find both the one and the other in the scientific education of instincts. But, since the time when they keep repeating this promise, we see growing among their authentic disciples only the ferocity of egoism and the cult of force. And yet society still lives on the remains of the Christian inheritance. What will it be when it has finished dissipating it? One of those who call our faith an illusion was admitting it recently, mixing a blasphemy with his admission: 'Religious persons,' he said, 'live on a shadow.' This is the blasphemy; here is the admission: 'We, we live on the shadow of a shadow. On what will people live after us?' (Renan, Preface des Feuilles detachees.)" Taine proves the same from those things which happened at the time of the French Revolution: faith having indeed been rejected, the cruelty and lust of pagans soon flourished. (Les origines de la France contemporaine: le Regime moderne, t. II, pp. 118-119.)

625. State of the question. (A) Once man's elevation to the supernatural state has been posited, revelation becomes necessary for manifesting the means conducing to this end; but once revelation has been posited, faith becomes necessary for salvation, as the Vatican Council teaches:² "Since man depends wholly upon God as upon his Creator and Lord, and created reason is entirely subject to uncreated Truth, we are bound to render to God revealing the full obedience of intellect and will by faith... But because without faith it is impossible to please God and to come to the fellowship of His sons, therefore justification has never befallen anyone without it, nor will anyone attain eternal life unless he has persevered in it unto the end." It afterward thus defines this obligation of believing: "If anyone shall say that human reason is so independent that faith cannot be commanded to it by God, let him be anathema."

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 2, aa. 3-8; Suarez, De Fide, disp. 12-12; Lugo, disp. XII-XIV; Billuart, De Fide, disp. 3; St. Alphonsus, lib. III, tr. I, De praecepto fidei; Lequeux, op. cit., nn. 145-169; Bouquillon, op. cit., nn. 156-197; Merit, La Foi, Tours, Cattier, 1886, pp. 187-264; Pesch, nn. 426-465.

² Vatican Council, sess. III, cap. 3 and can. 1 de Fide, apud Denzing., nn. 1638, 1642, 1657.

626. (B) But something can be necessary in two ways, namely by necessity of means and by necessity of precept. (a) That is necessary by necessity of means which is a means, and indeed a necessary means, of justification, and therefore without which, even if it is inculpably omitted, salvation cannot be obtained; in this case, therefore, neither ignorance nor inability can excuse. But something can be necessary by necessity of means in two ways: intrinsically, when by its nature it is ordered as a necessary means to salvation, so that it cannot be supplied by another, for example, the love of God; extrinsically, when it is required for salvation only by the free institution of God, so that, if God wills, it can be supplied by other means: for example, Baptism of water.

(b) That is necessary by necessity of precept which is so prescribed that it cannot be freely omitted without sin; therefore if it is culpably omitted, it is a cause of damnation; but if it is inculpably omitted, on account of ignorance or inability, salvation can be obtained without it. Now that faith is necessary both by necessity of means with respect to some objects, and by necessity of precept with respect to others, will be established from what is to be said.

627. Faith, as an infused habit, is altogether necessary by necessity of means for salvation, as can be gathered from what has already been said. For without the grace of justification no one can be saved, as is clear from the Treatise on Grace; moreover, in the present order of things, justification is not conferred without the infusion of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity (On the Virtues, n. 597); therefore he who lacks the habit of faith by that very fact lacks sanctifying grace.

But the question is concerning the act of faith, and indeed with regard to adults: for infants and others lacking the use of reason, if through baptism they have received the infused habit of faith, are saved without an act of faith, of which they are incapable.³ Therefore concerning adults it must be asked whether and what they are bound to believe by necessity of means.

³ Concerning the state of children who die without baptism, it was said in Tr. de Deo Creante, nn. 201-205.

628. I. Thesis: For adults some act of theological faith is absolutely necessary for justification, and therefore for obtaining salvation. It is certain.

1. Trent clearly teaches this; for concerning sinners it says: "They are disposed to this justice when, aroused and assisted by divine grace, conceiving faith from hearing, they are freely moved toward God." Afterward it adds that the instrumental cause of justification is the sacrament of baptism, "which is the sacrament of faith, without which justification has never befallen anyone." Finally it declares the matter more openly in these words: "But when the Apostle says that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that sense which the perpetual consensus of the Church has held and expressed: namely, that we are said to be justified by faith because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all justification: without which it is impossible to please God and to come to the fellowship of His sons."⁴

⁴ Trent, sess. VI, cap. 6, 7, 8, apud Denzing., nn. 680, 681, 683.

629. 2. Scripture hands down the same thing in various ways: (a) it asserts that faith is the beginning and foundation of human salvation; thus Christ, in His discourse to Nicodemus, says:⁵ "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life"; likewise, when He sends the Apostles into the world, He addresses them thus: "Preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned."⁶ Hence the deacon Philip replies to the eunuch asking for baptism:⁷ "If you believe with all your heart, you may"; and the Apostles require faith in Christ from the newly converted; thus the jailer at Philippi asks Paul and Silas: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? But they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your house."⁸ - (b) It declares that works of the law and natural works are insufficient without faith: this the Apostle expressly and often inculcates, especially in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians: "For we account a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law... But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ."⁹ - (c) Finally it is asserted that faith is a necessary means to spiritual life and to pleasing God: "But My just man lives by faith; but if he withdraws himself, My soul shall not be pleased with him... But without faith it is impossible to please God; for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder to those who seek Him."¹⁰

⁵ John 3:14-15.

⁶ Mark 16:15-16.

⁷ Acts 8:37. This text, however, is lacking in some manuscripts.

⁸ Acts 16:30-31.

⁹ Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16.

¹⁰ Heb. 10:38; 11:6.

630. 3. It is confirmed by reason, once man's elevation to a supernatural end has been supposed. For since an end of this kind so exceeds our powers that we cannot even know it naturally, and moreover the means for attaining it, such as Christ's sacrifice and the sacraments instituted by Him, transcend the natural vision of the mind, it was necessary that all these things be known by faith. - Moreover the end toward which we tend is the perfect vision of God; now it was fitting that we should be led by the hand toward this perfect knowledge through faith, which is as it were an inchoate vision of divine things, insofar as it makes us sharers in divine knowledge:¹¹ for, relying upon divine testimony, we believe those things which He Himself sees, and which we shall afterward see.

¹¹ "Faith... joins man to divine knowledge through assent" (St. Thomas, De Veritate, q. XIV, a. 8).

631. 1. It is certain that it is necessary by necessity of means explicitly to believe in God existing and rewarding.

(A) This is declared. Indeed we are bound in a general way to believe all those things which God has revealed; and he who would deliberately deny one truth which he knows to have been divinely revealed would by that very fact be a heretic, as will be explained below. But besides this certain truths must be believed explicitly, or in themselves, in their own proper concept; nor is it enough to believe them implicitly, that is, insofar as they are contained in other truths explicitly believed.

(B) It is proved. (a) The existence of God and His providence with regard to the remuneration of the good and the evil must be explicitly believed, according to that saying of the Apostle:¹² "For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder to those who seek Him." - Moreover, by Innocent XI, March 2, 1679, this proposition (22) was condemned: "Only faith in one God seems necessary by necessity of means, but not explicit faith in the Rewarder."¹³ Therefore explicit faith in both truths is necessary.

¹² Heb. 11:6.

¹³ Denzing., n. 1039; Viva, on this proposition.

(b) This indeed is consonant with right reason. For since God is our ultimate end both in the natural and in the supernatural order, we cannot attain Him unless we know His existence. - Some indeed say that this is sufficient; for, as soon as we know that God is the highest good, we can proceed to an act of perfect charity and contrition, and thus be justified. But, given man's nature and imperfection, he in fact does not arrive at perfect contrition except through fear and hope, namely by considering God as the supreme rewarder, who justly renders punishments to the evil and rewards to the good, according to the laws of equity.

632. (C) But it is asked in what sense we must believe in God the rewarder.

(a) With regard to the existence of God, many Thomists say that there is required faith in God as He is the author of the supernatural order, but not faith in God as He is the author of the natural order; for we know this truth by reason, and moreover what is certainly and evidently known cannot be believed.¹⁴ Yet many others, such as Suarez, Lugo,¹⁵ etc., hold that faith in God as He is the author of the natural order is necessary, or insofar as He is endowed with those perfections which can be known by the natural light: for we can believe by faith what we already know by reason, and moreover St. Paul requires this faith.

¹⁴ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 1, aa. 4-5; Gonet, Clypeus, De fide, disp. I, art. 5-6; Salmanticenses, De Fide, disp. III, dub. 2; Berthier, De locis theolog., n. 504.

¹⁵ Suarez, De Fide, disp. III, sect. 8, and disp. XII, sect. 3, n. 4; Lugo, disp. XII, sect. 5, n. 123; Pesch, n. 445. - Cf. Synop. Theol. Dogmat., De Fide, nn. 129-132.

In truth the Apostle makes no distinction, but teaches only that God must first be believed as existing, afterward as rewarding. Moreover he is treating of supernatural faith, namely of that which is the substance of things to be hoped for, the argument of things not appearing,¹⁶ and therefore of that which rests not upon human reasoning, but upon divine testimony. But for this faith it is not required that there be a distinct concept of supernaturality, which cannot be demanded from the common people; rather, it is enough that the believer understand that these truths are in some way divinely proposed, whether through external revelation or through an internal manifestation made to conscience.

¹⁶ Heb. 11:1. - Which M. d'Hulst thus explains, Confer. 1892, pp. 113-114: "The second domain of faith is the natural truths which serve as a basis for revelation. Man first discovers them by the effort of his reason, if he is capable of this effort. But, when faith has supervened, it shows him these same truths under a new light, as forming part of divine teaching; and what was matter for reasoning becomes an object of belief. Such are the teachings relating to the existence of God, to His perfections, to the immortality of the human soul... For the cultivated mind, these truths are therefore illumined by a double light, one which comes from nature, the other which is kindled at the hearth of grace."

633. Therefore that faith in the broad sense, resting upon natural discourse, which takes its origin from the testimony and knowledge of creatures, insofar as they manifest the invisible attributes of God, is not sufficient. For this proposition (23) was condemned by Innocent XI, March 2, 1679: "Faith in the broad sense from the testimony of creatures, or from a similar motive, suffices for justification."¹⁷ For faith arising from the knowledge of creatures alone cannot rise up to the supernatural end, nor beget supernatural charity, which is especially necessary for salvation.

¹⁷ Denzing., n. 1040; Viva, on this proposition.

634. Corollary. From this it is understood how God provides for the salvation of those who live among pagans, where they have heard nothing of evangelical faith. According to St. Thomas and theologians commonly, if some pagan "were to follow the guidance of natural reason in the pursuit of good and the flight from evil, it must most certainly be held that God would either reveal to him by internal inspiration those things which are necessary to be believed, or would direct some preacher of the faith to him, as He sent Peter to Cornelius."¹ And indeed God, who once spoke to the patriarchs and to others outside the Jewish people, can without difficulty speak inwardly to those who are rightly disposed, so that they understand themselves to be instructed by the supreme Deity.

¹ St. Thomas, De Veritate, q. 14, a. 11, ad 1.

635. 4. It is controverted whether explicit faith in the Most Holy Trinity and in Christ the Redeemer is necessary by necessity of means.

(A) It is commonly held that, before the coming of Christ, it was not necessary by necessity of means explicitly to believe the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and of the incarnate Word; for these had not yet been sufficiently revealed to men, as is clear from what was said in the Treatise on the Triune God, nn. 29-36.

(B) But some, supported by the authority of St. Augustine and St. Thomas,² think that, after the fall of Adam, it was necessary for justification by necessity of means explicitly to believe in some mediator, by whose merits salvation could be obtained. They allege the words of Scripture: "For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved";³ and from this they infer that no one can be saved without faith in Christ, or in some mediator.

² St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei, lib. XVIII, cap. 47, P. L., XLI, 610; St. Thomas, II-II, q. 2, a. 7; Bouquillon, n. 169. - You may see the whole controversy set forth apud Perrone, De virtutibus fidei, spei et carit., Ratisbon, 1865, nn. 344-379.

³ Acts 4:12; cf. 1 Cor. 11:11.

636. (C) Nevertheless today, as more probable, many theologians teach that explicit faith in the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation, or even of Christ the mediator, is not necessary by necessity of means.⁴ For (a) so grave a necessity ought not to be established without a compelling reason; but this reason is lacking. For when the Apostle speaks of the necessity of faith, in the place cited above, he speaks only of faith in God the rewarder; moreover the acts of faith, hope, charity, and penance required for justification can be elicited without faith in the Trinity and Incarnation; as soon as we believe that God is, and indeed that He is supremely good and perfect, rendering to each according to his works, there is now nothing to prevent the acts necessary for justification from being elicited. Therefore, from the nature of the thing, even after the supernatural end has been posited, faith in the Trinity and the Incarnation is not absolutely required; if it is necessary, this is only by the positive will of God; but this will has not been clearly manifested. (b) Moreover, if this faith is required, the salvation of those who have heard nothing of the Gospel becomes morally impossible, that is, of more than half of the human race; for an extraordinary light would be necessary for pagans to be instructed concerning this twofold mystery, the existence of which most do not suspect.

⁴ Suarez, disp. XII, sect. 4.

Therefore we think it more probable that this explicit faith is not required. But the texts of Scripture concerning the necessity of faith in Christ can be understood of necessity of precept, or of implicit necessity of means, or even in this sense, that no one is saved except through the merits and satisfactions of Christ.

637. Corollary. In practice, since here the question is of a thing necessary for salvation, the safer part must be followed. Therefore: (a) all those who have the care of souls must diligently teach the faithful committed to them not only God existing and rewarding, but also God triune and the Word incarnate and Redeemer. Yet it is not required that a scientific knowledge of these mysteries be handed on to the simple, of which they are incapable; it is enough that it be taught that there are three persons in God, distinct and equal, namely the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that these three are one God, - and that the second person of the Trinity, or the Son of God, made man, redeemed us by His death.

638. (b) Regularly those who labor under ignorance of these mysteries, even invincible ignorance, are neither to be baptized nor absolved;⁵ but, in a case of extreme necessity, if time for instructing the catechumens is lacking, they are to be baptized absolutely, because, where there is question of requisites not for the valid but only for the fruitful reception of baptism, no condition should be placed; if they survive, they should be diligently instructed. But penitents are to be absolved under condition if they are capable, and, if they survive, they must be instructed and absolved again. For on the one hand, where there is question of means necessary for salvation, the safer part must be chosen, and on the other hand, in a case of necessity, where certain remedies are lacking, probable remedies must be used (above, nn. 388-389).

⁵ Hence the Holy Office, Jan. 25, 1703, declared that "a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even one dying, who is not altogether incapable, the mysteries of Faith which are necessary by necessity of means, as are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation" (Collect. P. F. n. 549). This was declared concerning an adult in relation to baptism; but the same reason applies with regard to absolution. - It is established besides from the condemnation by Innocent XI of this proposition 64: "A man is capable of absolution, however much he labors under ignorance of the mysteries of faith, and even if through negligence, even culpable negligence, he does not know the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ." (Denzing., n. 1081; Viva, on this proposition.)

(c) When there is question of the semi-foolish or the very ignorant, an act of faith in God one and triune, and in Christ the Redeemer, should be suggested to them before they are absolved, so that the validity of the absolution may become safer.

Two things are prescribed: an internal act of faith, and an external profession of faith; concerning these we must speak separately.

639. There is given a divine precept of believing the truths revealed by God, at once negative and positive. Insofar as it is negative, it forbids revealed truths sufficiently proposed and known to be rejected or called into doubt; insofar as it is positive, it obliges us to elicit acts of faith at times. We shall speak concerning the existence and extension of this precept, and also concerning the time at which it obliges.

640. 1. Existence. There is given a divine precept of explicitly eliciting internal acts of faith concerning the principal truths revealed by God.

(a) This Christ Himself taught, when He sent the apostles into the world:¹ "Preach the Gospel to every creature: he who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned"; from which it is clear that faith in the Gospel preached by the apostles, no less explicitly than baptism, is necessary for salvation. The apostles held the same, among whom John equates the precept of faith with the precept of charity:² "And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He has given commandment to us": for there it is a question of explicit faith in Christ.

¹ Mark 16:16.

² 1 John 3:23.

(b) And indeed by the very fact that God reveals something, He commands that faith be given to Himself; for he who, revelation having been certainly known, refuses faith, cannot fail to inflict an injury upon the wisdom and truthfulness of God, whether by doubting revealed things or by denying them. - Moreover, if he is unwilling to assent to them, he withdraws himself from the supreme dominion of God. For man is not more independent of the Creator with regard to the intellect than with regard to the will, and therefore God can demand from us the assent of the intellect no less than the obedience of the will.

641. 2. Extension. Here there is question of those things which are to be believed explicitly by all, not of those things which must be known by the more learned, especially by God's ministers, according to their office. In a general way the faithful must explicitly believe whatever is required for feeling and acting as Christians, and therefore, besides the truths necessary by necessity of means enumerated above:

(a) The principal truths which are contained in the Apostles' Creed:³ for there, in a brief and simple way, are set forth the principal articles by which Catholics are distinguished from infidels and heretics, namely those which formerly were proposed to catechumens before the reception of baptism. Indeed articles of this kind gradually increased, but substantially they are already contained in the Scriptures, and the Church by her infallible authority proposes all these to be believed by us.

³ Concerning the Creed we spoke in the Treatise on Theological Sources, nn. 17-18. Today it is not admitted that the individual articles are to be ascribed to individual apostles; the Creed is called Apostles' because the apostles themselves handed down the substance of the dogmas which it comprises. The very word Symbolum Apostolorum is found for the first time in the letter of the Council of Milan to Siricius, toward the end of the fourth century (Migne, P. L., t. XVI, 1125); before that, the confession of faith which catechumens and the faithful professed was called the rule of faith, doctrine, tradition, watchword. How the brief formula of faith in the Trinity, which was recited before baptism, was successively enlarged, so that sprouting heresies might be forestalled, is declared by the authors cited by us (loc. cit.), and besides by S. Baumer, Das apostoliche Glaubensbekenntniss, Mainz, 1893; A. E. Burn, An Introduction to the Creeds, London, 1899; Sanday, Recent Research on the Origin of the Creed, in Journal of Theological Studies, Chicago, Oct. 1899 and Oct. 1901; Semeria, Dogma, Gerarchia e Culto, Rome, 1902; Ermoni, Histoire du Credo, Paris, Bloud, 1903; Vacandard, Etudes de critique, Paris, 1905, pp. 3-68; Vacant, Diction. de Theol., t. I, p. 1660.

The divine precept indeed is not concerned with the very words of the Creed, as they are read today, but with the substance of the dogmas which are expressed by these words. It is altogether expedient that the very words themselves be faithfully committed to memory and recited daily: for thus the truths expressed by these words are retained more effectively. But probably no precept, whether divine or ecclesiastical, is given concerning this.⁴

⁴ Yet, according to St. Alphonsus and Lehmkuhl, I, n. 280, the faithful are bound under venial sin, from custom, to retain the Creed itself by memory.

642. (b) The principal precepts of the Decalogue: for these comprise the principal natural and divine rules of morals; and, since the obligation of observing them is incumbent upon Christians, first they must know and believe them. - The precepts of the Church, as merely ecclesiastical and not revealed, are not indeed an object of faith, but they must be known, so that they can be fulfilled.

(c) The domestic prayer, at least very probably, because it comprises those things which Christ taught us to ask, and which are more necessary for salvation. Besides this, it must be known under grave obligation that prayer in general is necessary for salvation. It is also required that each faithful person know how to elicit acts of faith, hope, and charity; to retain a definite formula by memory is altogether expedient. - The Angelic Salutation, or Hail Mary, is indeed of great profit, and it helps to recite it piously; but we are not bound to know it or to believe it explicitly.

(d) The sacraments necessary for all, namely baptism, penance, and the Eucharist: for since all Christians are bound to receive these, they must believe those things which are required for their worthy reception. With regard to the other sacraments, those who receive them are first bound to know and believe the things revealed concerning them.

643. From this it follows that those sin who neglect to learn the aforesaid truths; - and also parents and pastors who, neither by themselves nor by others, do not instruct their children or subjects concerning these things: for they do not fulfill a grave duty.⁵

⁵ Pius X recently urged the fulfillment of this duty, Encycl. Acerbo nimis, Apr. 15, 1905 (Acta S. Sedis, t. XXXVII, p. 613), where, among other things, he established these things, p. 623: "All pastors, and generally all who have the care of souls, on Sundays and feast days, through the space of a whole hour, shall instruct boys and girls from the catechism booklet concerning those things which each must believe and do in order to obtain salvation.... In all and individual parishes there shall be canonically established an association commonly called the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. In it pastors, especially where the number of priests is small, will have lay helpers in handing on catechesis.... In larger cities, and especially in those where universities of studies, lyceums, and gymnasia are open, schools of religion shall be founded for instructing in the truths of faith and the institutions of Christian life the youth who frequent public schools, where no mention at all is made of religious matters." - Let the whole letter be attentively read and faithfully put into execution.

Hence also confessors ought not absolve penitents ignorant of these truths, unless these seriously and sincerely wish to learn them; otherwise they are not rightly disposed, since they are unwilling to fulfill a grave precept.

644. 3. Concerning the time at which the precept of faith obliges. That precept obliges either of itself or by accident:

(A) Of itself, or by force of the precept itself of believing: (a) When some revealed truth has been sufficiently proposed, or when the obligation of believing is manifested to the conscience with moral certainty; likewise when a new definition is proposed, for example, when the decrees of the Vatican Council were promulgated.

The same is to be said concerning children of the faithful, who, having attained the use of reason, have been so instructed in faith that they clearly perceive that such and such a truth has been divinely revealed; and concerning infidels and heretics, as soon as it is morally certain to them that the Catholic religion was instituted by God. For the reverence and obedience which we must offer to God demands that we believe as soon as something is shown with moral certainty to be divinely revealed; otherwise His infallible authority is contemned. Therefore those sin who put off for a long time the act of faith and entrance into the Church after they have clearly perceived the obligation of believing. - But those who apprehend the motives of credibility only probably are not indeed bound to believe immediately, but they must pray, and at the same time seriously inquire, so that the truth may shine more clearly before their eyes: for God does not deny light and grace to those rightly disposed.

645. (b) Often in life, although the times cannot or should not be determined more particularly.⁶ This indeed is clear from the propositions 17 and 65 condemned by Innocent XI: "It is enough to elicit an act of faith once in life. - It suffices to have believed those mysteries (of the Trinity and Incarnation) once." - Some indeed said that acts of faith must be elicited on feast days, others once a year: but nothing certain can be defined on this matter. Besides, this seems of little utility; for, morally speaking, it cannot happen that a Christian man, who has embraced and retained the Christian faith, does not repeat acts of faith often, whether explicitly, - or implicitly, by exercising supernatural works, resisting temptations, or fulfilling other precepts, which can scarcely be observed without some act of faith.

⁶ Denzing., nn. 1034 and 1082; Viva, on proposition 1 condemned by Alexander VII.

646. (c) Probably in the article of death, because then especially we are bound to tend toward God, the ultimate supernatural end. Yet some say that then an act of faith is not necessary of itself, but only if a grave temptation against faith urges.

(d) After the denial of some truth of faith; for he who has become a heretic or apostate must turn himself to God by a positive act of faith. - The same is to be said if a temptation against faith urges which cannot be overcome except through an act of faith; often, however, the temptation is more effectively driven away by diverting the mind to other things.

(e) For repelling those temptations which cannot be overcome without an act of faith, for example, temptations against faith or hope.

647. (B) By accident, or by force of other precepts; namely, as often as we are bound to elicit an act of faith, as often as this is necessary for observing another precept which then obliges: for he who is bound to some end is bound also to use the means necessary for attaining it. This obligation is had: (a) when someone prepares himself for justification, which cannot be obtained without an act of faith; (b) when the precept of hope and charity urges: for neither can be fulfilled without an act of faith; (c) when a grave temptation against some virtue urges, and cannot otherwise be conquered without an act of faith.

We shall speak concerning the existence and extension of this precept.

648. 1. Existence: There exists a divine precept of externally professing faith at times.

This Christ indeed taught:⁷ "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I also will confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But he who shall deny Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father who is in heaven." Paul inculcates the same:⁸ "For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

⁷ Matt. 10:32-33; cf. Luke 9:26; 12:8-9.

⁸ Rom. 10:10.

And rightly; for he who, believing in his heart, fears externally to profess faith: (a) is exposed to the danger of losing faith: for by this voluntary omission the firm assent to revealed things is diminished, and little by little doubts arise; on the other hand, by open confession internal faith is strengthened not a little. (b) He commits irreverence toward God, since, on account of vain fear, he refuses to offer the reasonable service owed to the supreme Lord: for by that very fact he seems to prefer human judgments to divine wisdom. (c) Moreover he is guilty of cowardice; for he who is not ashamed to act against his own persuasion of soul by that very fact shows that he is not a man, but a weak immature person, who is deterred by vain fears from fulfilling his duty. (d) Finally he shows himself an unworthy citizen of the Church; for since the Church is a visible society, which demands the visible union of her members, he who does not externally profess faith weakens this external unity, - and is compared to a soldier who is ashamed to defend the banner of his fatherland.

649. 2. Extension. That precept, insofar as it is affirmative, demands confession of faith at times; and insofar as it is negative, forbids that faith ever be denied.

(A) The affirmative precept of professing faith obliges, according to St. Thomas,¹ when "by the omission of this confession the honor due to God would be withdrawn, and also the utility to be bestowed upon neighbors":

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 3, a. 2.

(a) When the honor due to God demands it, namely if, from the omission of this profession, God is dishonored or deprived of the honor due to Him. Thus if someone is questioned publicly or privately by public authority, in a cause of faith, for example, whether he is Catholic, or what he thinks concerning such and such an article of faith, he must confess his faith without hesitation and ambiguity, even with danger to life: this indeed the honor of God demands, and in these circumstances silence would be equivalent to denial of faith. Therefore this proposition 18 was condemned by Innocent XI: "If someone is questioned by public power, I counsel him to confess the faith frankly, as glorious to God and faith; to be silent, I do not condemn as sinful in itself."² For although public power has no right to question concerning faith, but only concerning things pertaining to the temporal good of society, yet the faithful person is bound to respond, on account of the honor of God, and in order to avoid scandal, lest from silence it be inferred that the true faith has been denied. Yet make exception if silence, from the circumstances, indicates constancy in faith clearly enough. - The same must be said if someone is questioned, in hatred of the faith, even by a private person, at least in those circumstances in which silence would be equivalent to denial of faith.

² Denzing., n. 1035; Viva, on this proposition.

But if only by a general edict it is commanded that the faithful present themselves before the magistrates, or betray themselves as Catholics by a certain sign, they are not bound to obey; for their silence cannot be held as a denial of faith, when they are not questioned in particular.

650. (b) When the spiritual utility of neighbor demands it: for from charity we are bound to prevent, insofar as this can be done, lest the neighbor incur great spiritual harm. Therefore a profession of faith is necessary whenever, from its omission, someone is turned away from faith or delayed, or is deprived of some great spiritual advantage, provided that the good of neighbor cannot otherwise be provided for; for example, if from such omission the newly converted or the weak in faith would be scandalized.

(c) At times in life: for since we are bound to adhere visibly to the Church, we must at times manifest this adhesion by external profession of faith. But for this it is sufficient to fulfill Christian duties which imply this profession, such as the reception of the sacraments, attendance at Mass, etc.

651. N.B. Besides the divine precept, there is present an ecclesiastical precept imposed upon certain persons, in determined circumstances, of making a profession of faith according to the formula which is called Piana.³ In a general way those are bound to make this who are promoted to some dignity or ecclesiastical office or to the subdiaconate, as is explained in the Code, c. 1324, cited at the end of the work.

³ Which profession of faith, together with the oath prescribed by Pius X to drive away the danger of modernism, must be made by: (a) professors of universities and seminaries, every year; (b) clerics to be initiated into major orders; (c) priests destined for hearing confessions and sacred preachers; (d) pastors, canons, beneficiaries before entering possession of the benefice; (e) diocesan officials and judges; (f) superiors and teachers of religious families. Cf. A.A.S., Sept. 9, 1910.

652. (B) The precept of confessing faith, insofar as it is negative, forbids that faith ever be denied, even externally. For he inflicts injury upon God not only who interiorly embraces heresy, but also who externally denies faith, and by deed or word simulates himself to be a follower of a false religion: for although he believes internally, he commits a grave lie, and for the most part gives scandal to others. - Yet there is a difference between denying and concealing faith: the former is never permitted, the latter for a grave cause is permitted in certain circumstances.

653. (a) Whoever by words or deeds denies faith universally, or some article of faith, is guilty of grave sin. 1) By words, for example, he who denies that he is Catholic, or that he believes in the supreme authority of the Roman Pontiff; or affirms that he is a rationalist, positivist, Protestant, Mohammedan. 2) By deeds, by exercising actions which of themselves or from circumstances imply denial of faith, for example, to kneel before idols or to burn incense, to communicate in the supper of heretics, to use circumcision as a religious rite (but not as a means of preventing certain diseases); or by using garments or other signs which, from usage and custom, indicate adhesion to some sect,⁴ for example, if someone were to wear the insignia of Freemasons, so that he would seem to have given his name to this sect. But it is not prohibited to use garments, for example, the Turkish cap, which are distinctive of a people rather than of a religious sect. - Likewise to enter the temples of heretics from curiosity, or in order to fulfill a civil office, is by no means considered an external denial of faith; otherwise, if such entrance bears before it the appearance of cooperation in divine rites, and seems to signify denial of faith.⁵ - Therefore in one word, all things must be avoided which, from all the circumstances, seem to imply denial of faith.

⁴ Thus, in the decree of the S. C. of Prop. Fide, Feb. 19, 1774 (Collectanea, n. 1653), it is declared: "Therefore in the first place, the deceitful manner of acting of those cannot be excused from the mark of simulated infidelity, who, while on more solemn days they are present at the sacrifice of the Mass, fearing the presence of Turks standing by out of curiosity, never at all uncover the head, nor sign themselves with the sign of the cross, and abstain from the other acts of the Catholic religion, which are wont to be openly exercised by others who are reckoned by the Christian name; and those acting thus obtain this, that they are regarded as followers of Mohammedan superstition." - Thus also in the first centuries, the Church regarded as guilty of very grave fault the libellatici, who, although they had not sacrificed to idols, obtained with money certificates from magistrates by which it was declared that they had fulfilled the commands of the emperor.

⁵ Thus it once happened in England, when Catholics by royal edict were compelled, under very grave penalties, to be present at the prayers and sermons of Protestants. Then Paul V wrote to them, Sept. 22, 1606: "We are compelled to admonish you and call upon you, that in no way should you approach the temples of heretics, or hear their sermons, or communicate with them in rites, lest you incur the wrath of God."

654. (b) But it is permitted to conceal or dissimulate faith, when the precept of confessing faith does not urge, and moreover there is a grave reason: for this is not evil of itself, and therefore is permitted for a grave cause.

Thus if some Catholic passes through places of infidels or heretics, he can eat meats on prohibited days, if he seriously fears (which today rarely occurs) lest, having been recognized as a Catholic, he should undergo some grave harm; for this eating of itself does not signify denial of faith; otherwise, however, if someone were urged to eat meats in contempt of faith or of the Church: for in these circumstances, it would seem to be a denial of faith.⁶ - Likewise he can use those garments which are distinctive of a people rather than of religion, as was said above.

⁶ "Besides, it is not without grave fault that the same secretly believing persons, when on days consecrated to ecclesiastical fast or abstinence they recline at the tables of the Turks, eat foods forbidden on those days by the Church, or pretend to eat them; for this simulation cannot be presumed to have been done with any other intention than that they may be seen as in no way bound by the laws of Christians, but may be thought plainly Mohammedans among Mohammedans." (S. C. de Prop. F., Feb. 19, 1774, Collectanea, n. 1653.)

All the more is it permitted to flee persecution, unless there is question of pastors of souls whose presence is necessary for the salvation of their subjects: for these, when the parish cannot otherwise be provided for, must lay down their life for their sheep.

We shall speak both concerning the sins themselves and concerning their causes.

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 10-12; Suarez, disp. XV-XXIII; Lugo, disp. XVIII-XXV; Billuart, diss. V; St. Alphonsus, lib. III, nn. 17-19; Lequeux, nn. 173-178; Ball. P., nn. 73-108; Muller, §8-11; Noldin, nn. 27-42.

655. One can sin against faith by omission and commission.

(a) By omission, not only by omitting the prescribed act of faith, as was said above, n. 640; but also by omitting due diligence in learning the truths necessary to be known, n. 643, or in seeking the solution of difficulties which are proposed against faith. Yet by this sin the infused habit of faith is not lost, but there is incurred the danger of eliciting an act contrary to faith, by which the habit itself would be lost.

(b) By commission, and indeed in two ways: by excess, by accepting or handing on to others through rash credulity as revealed what has not been revealed, for example, by believing private revelations without sufficient reason, by proposing one's own opinions as dogmas of faith, not without great scandal of the faithful and of unbelievers;² - by defect, especially in a threefold way, namely by heresy, apostasy, and infidelity, concerning which it is necessary to discuss separately. These three sins formerly were called by the general name of infidelity:³ by these indeed the habit of faith is lost, when they are committed knowingly and willingly.

² Therefore these words of St. John must be kept before the mind (1 John 4:1): "Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

³ We say nothing concerning schism; when it is nothing else than a secession from legitimate authority, it is indeed opposed to obedience and charity, but not to faith; but when, as usually, it denies the infallibility of the Supreme Pontiff or another defined truth, it is joined with heresy, and then concerning it one must say what we hand down concerning heresy.

656. 1. Notion. Heresy (Greek hairesis, selection) designates a sect which selects certain truths and rejects others; in the ecclesiastical sense, it signifies error in faith.

(A) Heresy properly so called, or formal heresy, is a voluntary and pertinacious error of a baptized man against some truth of the Catholic faith. Hence for heresy properly so called several conditions are required:

(a) That he who falls into it has been validly baptized; if he has in no way received baptism, for example, if he is still a catechumen, he is not a heretic in the forum of the Church, although in the forum of God he is held as such; for the Church does not judge concerning those who have not yet entered the body of the Church through baptism. - But if someone has been baptized invalidly, he is held not as a heretic, but as an infidel.

(b) A voluntary and pertinacious error, that is, a false judgment of the intellect by which some truth of faith is knowingly and willingly denied or positively called into doubt. Therefore he who, from levity, fear, or some other motive, denies a truth of faith only externally, by speech or work, while faith is retained internally, is not truly a heretic, although he can be held as such in the external forum; likewise he who is agitated by doubts and remains uncertain is not properly a heretic, because he does not render a judgment: otherwise, however, if he positively judges some dogma to be doubtful. - For pertinacity it is not required that someone be admonished several times and persevere long in his obstinacy, but it is enough that knowingly and willingly he denies assent to a truth sufficiently proposed, whether this is done from pride, or from desire of contradicting, or from another cause. Therefore he is not pertinacious who denies a truth of faith from ignorance, even vincible and affected ignorance, provided he is so prepared that he would give assent if he knew it as revealed and defined.

(c) Against some truth of the Catholic faith, that is, a truth divinely revealed and proposed as such by the Church, by either solemn or ordinary magisterium. Therefore he is not a heretic who denies a truth which many recognize as revealed, but which has not yet been proposed by the Church; nor all the more he who rejects a theological conclusion, or a truth indeed proposed by the Church, but not as revealed: in which case an error is indeed incurred rashly, but not against faith. It was said against some truth: for if all are rejected, then it is not heresy but apostasy.

657. (B) Material heresy, or involuntary heresy, is that which proceeds from ignorance, without pertinacity of the will, and exists in him who is prepared to submit himself to the authority of God revealing and to the infallible judgment of the Church, as soon as he shall know that such a truth has been divinely revealed.

(a) Many Protestants and schismatics are materially heretics, who, having been born in heresy or schism, have conceived no serious doubt concerning the truth of their religion, because the Catholic religion has either in no way, or insufficiently, been proposed to them. Converts testify that there are not a few, even among the more learned themselves, who persevere in good faith, as do those who have frequented heretics.⁴

⁴ Thus, when a Catholic priest on a certain day wondered how learned men could believe in good faith that the Anglican sect was the true Church, Manning, a Protestant minister converted to the Catholic faith, said: "You are in a profound error. It is only after much time, prayer, and study that many minds, the best and the most gifted, but born in heresy, come to understand that their church is not the true one. When you propose to someone, even one very intelligent, a riddle of which you yourself have the solution, you are astonished to see your interlocutor hesitate, search, and not find a solution which seems to you of childish simplicity. Give him the explanation sought; he himself will be astonished at not having found it at once. So it is with the most instructed heretic and one of the best faith; he can study and pray for a long time without being enlightened; and it is only at a certain moment, marked by grace, that he discovers the truth, and is astonished that he had not recognized it earlier." (Apud Abbe de Broglie, Les fondements intellectuels de la Foi, Paris, Bloud, 1905, p. 223, note 1.)

658. (b) Likewise certain Catholics, instructed only imperfectly in religion and living among non-Catholics, sometimes in good faith deny certain defined truths, because they do not clearly perceive that these are revealed. - But whether they can depart from the Catholic Church without formal sin against faith is controverted.

Some deny it, because, on the one hand, there is no just cause of calling faith into doubt, and, on the other, God deserts no one unless He is first deserted, and therefore assists Catholics by His grace lest they fall into heresy. Others affirm it; for there are younger Catholics who, insufficiently instructed and strengthened in faith, hear many things against the Catholic religion from heretics or rationalists which they are not able to solve; thus little by little and insensibly they conceive some doubts, and soon lose faith in the authority of the Church, without, however, having formally committed grave sin against faith, because they find no one who sufficiently solves the difficulties proposed.

659. If it is permitted to open our mind in so difficult a matter, we indeed think that no one can depart from the true faith once received without some fault, at least of imprudence;⁵ but this fault is not always mortal, nor against faith, and therefore does not necessarily expel the habit of faith. We judge this to be the mind of the Vatican Council; for the Vatican Council says:⁶ "For the most benign Lord both arouses and assists those who are erring by His grace, so that they may be able to come to the knowledge of the truth; and those whom He has translated from darkness into His admirable light, He confirms by His grace in this same light, not deserting unless He is deserted. Wherefore the condition of those is by no means equal who have adhered to Catholic truth through the heavenly gift of faith, and of those who, led by human opinions, follow a false religion; for those who have received faith under the magisterium of the Church can never have any just cause for changing, or for recalling this same faith into doubt." From these words two things may be gathered: (a) that God assists us by His grace so that we may persevere in faith, so that, if we faithfully cooperate with divine help, we are able to retain it; (b) that no objectively just cause exists for recalling faith into doubt or for denying it.

⁵ He is guilty of imprudence, for example, who, little instructed in religion, does not hesitate to frequent non-Catholics and to hear them, who reads journals and books attacking faith, and does not have recourse to a learned priest when doubts against faith occur.

⁶ Vatican Council, sess. III, cap. 3, Denzing., n. 1642.

Yet we observe, after Granderath,⁷ that it was not defined by the Council that it can never happen that a Catholic man, without formal sin against faith, may call into doubt the divinity of the Church or fall away from her. For the Vatican Council here wished only to condemn the error of Hermes, who taught that there is an objectively just cause of doubting, indeed recommended doubt to the learned, as is openly declared by the very writers of the schema proposed to the Fathers of the Council: "Nor, moreover, in the proposed declaration of doctrine and condemnation of error is that touched upon which some older theologians do not hesitate to concede, that it can happen by accident, and in certain circumstances, that the conscience of some rude Catholic man may be so led into invincible error, that he embraces some heterodox sect without formal sin against faith; in which hypothesis he would not lose faith, nor would he be a formal heretic, but a material one (Tanner, de fide, q. 2, dub. 5, n. 139; Platelius, de fide, n. 61). These things indeed, unless they are explained most cautiously, are disputed dangerously; but they are very alien from the heresy which is proposed to the sacred Council to be examined."

⁷ Granderath, Constitut. C. Vaticani explicatae, 1892, p. 61; cf. Vacant, op. cit., t. II, nn. 731-737.

660. 2. The malice of heresy. Heresy properly so called, or voluntary heresy, like apostasy and infidelity, is a most grave sin, of itself graver than all other sins, one excepted, hatred of God; for to deny the assent owed to God revealing implies a certain contempt of divine authority. Besides, heresy radically tears out not only habitual grace, but also the habit of faith, which is the root of justification.⁸

⁸ Those guilty of formal heresy are absolute Liberals, who profess the full independence of the State from the Church (De Ecclesia, n. 910); and also Modernists who embrace the whole system condemned by Pius X or some opinions of this system which are truly heretical. Cf. Motu proprio, Nov. 18, 1907 (A. S. S., t. XL, p. 723).

Therefore the Church strikes with excommunication latae sententiae, reserved in a special way to the Pontiff, "all apostates from the Christian faith and all and individual heretics, by whatever name they are reckoned and of whatever sect they may exist, and those believing them, and their receivers, favorers, and generally any defenders of them."⁹ To incur this excommunication, it is necessary that heresy, conceived internally, be manifested externally by word, writing, or deed, because the Church does not judge concerning merely internal things; but it is not required that this manifestation be made before others, nor that the heretic join himself to some sect.

⁹ Constit. Apostolicae Sedis, 1869, § I, n. 1.

661. 3. Corollary: concerning doubt in faith. (A) With regard to Catholics. When doubt occurs concerning a truth of faith, the mind can hold itself in different ways: (a) if the will does not consent to the doubt, but promptly repels it, it performs a meritorious act; if it shows itself negligent in repelling it, without danger of consent, it sins only venially. (b) If someone doubts concerning an article of faith from ignorance, prepared to assent as soon as he shall know that the matter is revealed, he commits no sin of heresy, but sins or does not sin according as the ignorance is vincible or invincible. (c) He who doubts concerning an article sufficiently proposed by a merely negative doubt, that is, who suspends judgment, without positively consenting to the doubt, - for example, because he wishes to divert the mind to other things, or to inquire into the motives by which he may be more sweetly inclined to believing, etc., - is not properly a heretic, because he does not render a false judgment, but only abstains from judging; yet sometimes he acts imprudently, and falls into the danger of positively doubting. (d) He who deliberately and positively doubts concerning some article of faith sufficiently proposed by the Church, and known as such, is truly a heretic, because he positively and erroneously judges that this article is not certain, and consequently that the Church errs while proposing the same article to our faith.

662. (B) With regard to non-Catholics. Most non-Catholics recognize private judgment as the proximate norm of faith, for detecting revealed truths contained in the sacred Scriptures. These indeed cannot, without sin, doubt concerning the authority of God revealing, or of the books which they recognize as inspired. But when there is question of such and such a truth to be believed, they are not bound to accept the authority of ministers or synods, since they do not admit their infallibility. Therefore, according to their principles, they can conceive some doubts concerning such and such a truth, indeed concerning the truth of their own sect. But when doubt has arisen, they are bound seriously to investigate the truth, and at the same time to pray that they may be able to discover and embrace the truth. If they purposely neglect this duty, they commit a sin more or less grave according to the degree of negligence. Not a few are deterred from further inquiry by an innate contempt of the Church; but others by fear of temporal harms which they foresee they will suffer from conversion; to these must be recalled these words of Christ:¹ "And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

¹ Matt. 10:28.

663. 1. Concerning apostasy in general. Apostasy (apo, histemi, I depart) is a total withdrawal from the Christian faith received through baptism. It therefore differs from heresy in this, that it rejects the whole faith, while heresy denies only one or certain truths. Yet for someone to be an apostate it is not necessary that he pass over to a false religion, for example, Judaism or Mohammedanism; but it is enough that, after having received baptism, he externally bids farewell to the Christian faith, by slipping, namely, into deism, positivism, atheism, indifferentism, etc. If a catechumen, not yet baptized, who had conceived faith in his mind, deserts it totally, he will indeed be an apostate before God, who looks upon the heart, but not before the Church, to which he had not yet been externally joined.

Those things which we said concerning the malice and penalties of heresy are true also concerning apostasy, since it radically tears out the foundation of faith, and recedes farther from God than heresy. But among apostates, those are certainly worse and more pernicious who withdraw more fundamentally from the Christian faith, such as atheists, positivists, monists, or materialists, whose number increases day by day.

664. 2. Concerning apostasy by adhesion to Masonic sects.² But among these Masons (francs-macons, free-masons) stand out, who, scattered through the whole world, not only defend naturalism, but show themselves the most hostile enemies of the Christian name, and promote with all their strength the universal apostasy of nations from the faith.³

² Deschamps and C. Jannet, Les societes secretes et la societe, Paris, 1880; Copin-Albancelli, La franc-maconnerie et la question religieuse, Paris, 1892; P. Nourrisson, Le club des Jacobins sous la troisieme Republique, Paris, 1900; idem, Les Jacobins au pouvoir, Paris, 1904; Prache, La petition contre la franc-maconnerie; Goyau, La Fr. Maconnerie en France, Paris, 1904; M. Le Francois, Le Plan Maconnique, Lille, 1905, where you will also find other works cited, p. 145.

³ The origin of this sect is very obscure. It is certain that it flourished in England already in the year 1717, and was very swiftly propagated in the principal regions of Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century. But also around the end of the preceding century certain Masonic assemblies had been held in Scotland and Sweden. It is very probable that these sects arose from associations of workers who gave their labor to constructing buildings: in the sixteenth century men were enrolled in these associations who were not workers, but furnished patronage to them; among these, however, there were found some who, imbued with philosophical and religious errors, changed the nature and character of these associations. Cf. Gyr, La Franc-maconnerie, Paris, 1859, pp. 238-250; Findel, Les principes de la franc-maconnerie.

(A) In order that they may more easily deceive the incautious, they declare themselves patrons of philanthropy, democracy, and the fraternal solidarity of all, and defenders of workers and the oppressed: "They have readily on the tongue zeal for a more cultivated civility, charity for the poorer people: they claim that they wish only to seek better things for the multitude, and to share with as many as possible the advantages which are had in civil society."⁴ Besides, they skillfully accommodate themselves to the morals and opinions of different nations:⁵ where the Christian religion has many and strenuous followers, they do not openly attack Christianity, but advocate a liberal form of religion; elsewhere they favor deism and acknowledge God as the Great Architect; but in some regions, as in France, they openly favor atheism. Everywhere, however, they veil their purposes with the seal of secrecy, and manifest them not to all associates, but only to a few initiates, so that many Masons are entirely ignorant of them. Yet all by oath promise blind obedience to the leaders,⁶ and thus, unknowingly, cooperate toward a most evil end.

⁴ Thus Leo XIII, Encycl. Humanum genus, concerning the sect of Masons, Apr. 20, 1884. Concerning secret societies in the United States of America, cf. Council of Baltimore III, nn. 244-245.

⁵ This is openly established from the Masonic convention held at Geneva in the year 1902; thus it is read in the periodical Revue maconnique l'Acacia, Dec. 1902: "It is certain that Masonry is not understood everywhere in the same way. The Anglo-Saxons have made of it an aristocratic and conservative confraternity from the double political and religious point of view... As for Latin Masonry, it owes its distinctive character to the struggle which it sustains against Catholicism." - In the French general convention, in the year 1903, F. Mayoux said: "We say that a Freemason can be a materialist, yes; that he can be a positivist, yes; that he can be a deist, a spiritualist, yes; but that he be Catholic, Protestant, or Jew, never, never, never. (Applause.) I know well that, in past centuries, there were priests who formed part of Freemasonry, I know well that even today Freemasonry raises to its highest functions dignitaries of Protestant and Jewish churches, but that, my brothers, is the past." (Apud P. Nourrisson, Les Jacobins au pouvoir, pp. 249-250.)

⁶ Concerning this oath Leo XII said, Constit. Apost. Quo graviora, Mar. 13, 1825: "That nefarious oath, which has already been mentioned, and which must be sworn even in that lower enrollment, is sufficiently of itself, so that you may understand that it is unlawful even to be enrolled in those lesser grades."

665. (B) That this end is the overthrow of Christianity is established from the open declarations of the leaders, at least in those regions where they have become more daring.⁷ In order to pursue this more securely, first indeed with all their strength they take care that neutral schools be instituted by the State, by which the way is prepared for indifferentism and naturalism; afterward, however, they endeavor gradually to overthrow religious schools by various vexations, indeed they wish that the education of the young be committed to the State alone; finally they take care that in public schools positivism or agnosticism be taught.⁸ By means of denunciation, they gradually remove Christians from public functions and offices.⁹ They tear apart the foundations of the family by promoting divorce and free union.¹⁰ They do not hesitate to favor the disturbance of society, joining forces with socialists, so that they may be able to obtain the votes of workers.¹¹

⁷ For recently, May 30, 1904, F. Leon Martin, in the convention of Masons of the Parisian region, said: "Freemasonry must pursue the dechristianization of France, by ceaselessly extending its moral and philosophical influence." (Compte-rendu, p. 31.) - Cf. A. Leroux, La Franc-Maconnerie sous la 3e Republique, t. I, pp. 168, 173; that these places, where the existence of God is denied, were excerpted from genuine Masonic documents, F. Mouret, our colleague, had as certain and established, who himself examined these texts.

⁸ How impious doctrines of this kind are scattered in schools, colleges, and universities was set forth by G. Goyau, L'Ecole d'aujourd'hui, Paris, 1899. - In reality books are already used in certain schools, written by Masons, in which it is asserted that neither the existence of God nor the immortality of the soul can be demonstrated.

⁹ M. Le Francois, Le plan Maconnique, Lille, 1905, pp. 108-118.

¹⁰ Thus, in the Masonic Ritual, by F. Blatin, p. 20, it is read: "The spouses will understand by this symbol (a glass rod which is broken before their eyes), that their union can be voluntarily and legally broken by them, just as this rod has just been. We do not admit, among free citizens, indissoluble bonds and contracts without a resolutory clause." (Ap. M. Le Francois, op. cit., pp. 54-55.)

¹¹ Thus, in the year 1896, F. Rouanet, addressing Masons, said: "If Masonry wishes to continue its role, it will be socialist. Masonry has killed God and emptied Heaven, but if Heaven is empty, the earth is not yet yours. Neither God nor Master, such will soon be the Masonic formula." (Ap. M. Le Francois, op. cit., p. 134.) Likewise, in the general convention in the year 1900, F. Bedarride asserted "that in socialism alone, and socialism applied in its integrity, is found the key of the social question... the logical conclusion and the only consequent crowning of the ideas of solidarity of universal Masonry." (Ap. Nourrisson, Les Jacobins, p. 32.)

Indeed not all, nor everywhere, openly pursue all these things; but experience establishes that they gradually become more daring, and publicly manifest what before they had conceived in mind, but had carefully dissembled.¹²

¹² You will find many examples of this dissimulation in the conventions of Masons; thus, for example, first they advocate neutral education, lest they offend the ears of deists, but a little afterward they declare that the same ought to be anti-religious, indeed atheistic, and therefore they earnestly demand that the name of God be banished from all books which are handed to pupils. (Cf. M. Le Francois, op. cit., pp. 10-13.)

From these things it is gathered that one of the principal causes of apostasy is the adhesion of the young to Masonic sects: as soon as they have given their name to secret societies, they fall into the danger of withdrawing totally from faith, and indeed permanently; for they fear lest, if they return to faith, they be punished with dreadful penalties as violators of an oath.

Therefore deservedly they incur the excommunication latae sententiae reserved to the Supreme Pontiff: "those giving their name to the Masonic or Carbonarian sect or to other sects of the same kind, which plot against the Church or legitimate powers either openly or secretly, and also those furnishing any favor whatsoever to the same sects, and those not denouncing their hidden chiefs and leaders, until they shall have denounced them."¹³

¹³ Bull Apostolicae Sedis, § II, n. 4. - Besides Masons and Carbonarians, the Fenians are subject to this excommunication, from the decree of the Holy Office, Jan. 12, 1870, nihilists and anarchists, and probably socialists properly so called, insofar as they plot against the Church and legitimate powers.

666. Therefore with all their strength priests and upright laymen should strive to turn the young away from entering secret societies of this kind, by opportunely revealing "what are the arts of societies of this kind in flattering and enticing, and what is the depravity in their opinions, and the turpitude in their actions."¹⁴ But in order that they may be removed from these more effectively, honorable societies are to be instituted everywhere: for since strength and consolation are found together in associations, and in our days adolescents are prone to joining leagues, it is altogether necessary that honorable societies be opposed to depraved societies.¹⁵ In France especially, where Masons, although few in number, rule everything today, the Catholic religion will not be able to flourish again unless the faithful and priests, vain complaints being altogether put aside, join forces and strenuously and constantly institute the good combat against the most hostile haters of the Christian name.¹⁶

¹⁴ Leo XIII, Encycl. Humanum genus, which should be read wholly and attentively.

¹⁵ To the point Council of Baltimore III, n. 257: "For the young, because they are exposed to greater dangers, we wish greater care to be spent; accordingly we establish that in every parish or mission, where a sufficient number of them is found, special societies for them be instituted by the rector and fostered by every effort." In reality in most places societies of this kind have been instituted, for example, in the United States the society called Knights of Columbus, in France Le Sillon, L'Assoc. cath. de la jeunesse francaise, etc.

¹⁶ That hope is in Masons of overthrowing the Catholic religion, and of openly preaching their wicked errors in our churches, is established from this declaration of F. Blatin, in the convention of 1883 (Bul. du G. Orient, p. 645): "In these edifices, raised on all sides to religious superstitions and priestly supremacies, perhaps we shall be called in our turn to preach our doctrines, and instead of the clerical psalmodies which still resound there, it will be the gavels, the batteries, and the acclamations of our Order, which will make their broad vaults and vast pillars resound." The same words F. Masson uttered, Feb. 25, 1884, as can be read apud Bull. Mac. de la grande Loge symbolique, t. V, p. 63.

667. Infidelity taken broadly is any defect of internal faith, and under this respect it also comprises heresy and apostasy. Taken strictly, insofar as it is distinguished from heresy and apostasy, it is the lack of faith in those who have not been baptized, and who therefore have not received the habit of faith.

(a) There are merely negative infidels, namely those who have heard nothing concerning the faith, or to whom faith has not been sufficiently proposed, so that they are not conscious of the obligation of believing. These certainly do not sin: nothing is willed unless it has been known beforehand. Hence deservedly this proposition 68 of Baius was condemned by Pius V, Oct. 1, 1567: "Purely negative infidelity in those to whom Christ has not been preached is a sin."¹

¹ Apud Denzing., n. 948. - In our days there are many infidels of this kind, not only among foreign nations, but also among Christian nations, especially in great cities; many, I say, were not baptized, nor have they heard anything concerning the Catholic religion except that it is hostile to all progress and liberty.

668. (b) But there are others who have heard of the Christian faith, and at the same time have had the opportunity of inquiring further concerning its truth, but have knowingly and willingly neglected this; their infidelity is called privative, and of itself is gravely culpable, because in a matter of such great moment they are bound to inquire seriously. Yet certain persons are excused from grave sin if they are not conscious of this grave obligation.

(c) There are also those to whom the Christian faith has been sufficiently proposed, with motives of credibility accommodated to their intelligence, so that they understood the obligation of believing, and who nevertheless denied assent. Their infidelity is called positive, and it is a grave sin, because it includes contempt of God revealing and rejection of the means necessary for salvation: "He who does not believe shall be condemned."²

² Mark 16:16.

Therefore it is of the greatest moment to adhere to those associations which furnish preachers to infidels, by whom they may be able to be converted to the true faith. To bring help to these by alms, prayers, and other opportune means is a work supremely pleasing to God and especially efficacious for not only preserving but also increasing faith.

669. That many today, whether learned or unlearned, fall into infidelity among all Christian nations, lamentable experience establishes.³ Therefore it is useful to inquire concerning the causes which induce loss of faith, so that the remedies for unbelief may be more easily detected. Now causes of this kind are of two kinds: some are internal, arising from dispositions of soul; others are external, or arising from the very state of present-day society.

³ To the point Msgr. Mignot, L'Apologetique contemporaine, apud Revue du Clerge francais, t. XXIV, 1900, p. 581: "One must not be deceived by appearances: true faith, we do not say religiosity, diminishes every day. Externally, one still seems believing, one still calls oneself Catholic, Protestant; in reality, one is scarcely so any longer except by habit, family tradition, in a homeopathic dose. And then we live in an atmosphere saturated with unbelief. Even in our most Christian populations, in the best preserved milieus, true faith has lost part of its influence over minds." Cf. Gayraud, La Crise de la Foi, 2nd ed., Paris, Bloud, 1901.

Since faith is elicited by the intellect under the influence of the will, with grace assisting, difficulties of believing can arise from this threefold head.

670. (A) Concerning intellectual causes. In order to preserve faith safely and reasonably, knowledge of the motives of credibility is necessary; but these are unknown by many, and rejected by others on account of prejudices.

(a) Many lose faith because of ignorance, because, while they attentively read the works of unbelievers, they pass over the books of apologists; thus they cannot solve the difficulties proposed against faith, and soon slip into infidelity. Therefore there must be inculcated upon laymen the necessity of inquiring from the more learned the solution of difficulties, and upon priests the necessity of studying, so that they may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict; but let them beware lest they hand down as dogmas those things which have not yet been proposed by the infallible magisterium of the Church: for not a few are deterred from faith on account of the opinions of certain theologians, which are presented as truths of faith.⁴

⁴ Those indeed understand this who read through books written by modern unbelievers; cf. A. D. White, Warfare of Science and Theology, New York, in French, Histoire de la lutte entre la Science et la Theologie, Paris, Guillaumin, 1899.

(b) Besides, the mind of modern men, imbued with many prejudices, perceives the force of the motives of credibility with difficulty. Not a few, namely, favoring Kantianism, proclaim the autonomy of reason, and denounce revelation as something extrinsic and unworthy of human reason. Others, trusting more than is right in the methods of positivists, reject miracles, as not proved by sufficiently constant experience or observation,⁵ or, as others say, because they are repugnant to modern consciousness.⁶ - There are indeed other motives for believing, which are drawn from the fact that the legitimate aspirations of the intellect, of the will, and of our whole soul are fulfilled only in the Christian religion; but this argument, which pleases some, is accepted only by those who are rightly disposed, who thirst for truth and justice, and who seek divine consolation.

⁵ "Pride of mind is therefore often the great obstacle to believing. One does not resign oneself to relying upon the testimony of another when one has explored all the mysteries of nature, from the resolution of nebulae to the role of microbes... Too intelligent to be frankly materialists, many of our scholars take shameful refuge in the mists of agnosticism; as if, because we cannot know everything, we could know nothing at all. From this results, as we have said, a general tendency no longer to believe in miracles, to identify the miracle with the unexplained: which is still a new form of agnosticism." (Mignot, loc. cit., p. 584.)

⁶ "If we no longer admit the miracle, it is not only because it is produced only when one believes in it, it is because it is rejected by consciousness even more than it is denied by science. Far from being proof, henceforth the miracle is a reason to put in doubt and to submit to examination the truths which one pretends to support by this singular authority." (Seailles, Les affirmat. de la conscience, p. 34.)

Therefore apologists must offer not only one argument or another, but diverse arguments adapted to diverse minds. First of all these principles must often be recalled to memory: in a moral and religious matter, only moral certitude is to be expected; very probable arguments produce moral certitude when all taken together conspire toward the same end.⁷ Likewise it must be shown that by revelation the light of reason and legitimate autonomy are not destroyed, but perfected.⁸

⁷ "It is necessary then, in our opinion, to proceed by accumulation of proofs, by a view of the whole. One resists one proof, perhaps two or three: one does not resist a hundred, unless one is biased. If we arrive at certitude by the congeries probabilitatum, as they say, much more surely shall we arrive there by the congeries probationum. By a singular inconsistency, one would wish to demand in religious questions a certitude which one does not have in the things of ordinary life. Why this difference?" (Mignot, loc. cit., p. 578.)

⁸ F. Dubois, apud Rev. du Cl. francais, t. XXXIX, 1904, pp. 113-136.

671. (B) Concerning moral causes, or on the part of the will. In order to believe it is necessary that the will move the intellect to assenting to revealed truths (above, n. 618). But the will, which wishes to remain independent, not rarely does not command the assent of faith, because, on the one hand, it bears with difficulty the authority of God, and, on the other, it desires to indulge the passions, which the Christian religion restrains. This disposition is often increased by abuse of the democratic spirit, which pervades the minds of many, and incites some to shake off the yoke of any authority whatsoever, not only civil but also divine: hence by a certain natural instinct they abhor a religion which rests upon authority. Moreover, because the love of pleasure insinuates itself more and more into all orders of citizens,⁹ they naturally flee a religion which preaches self-denial and mortification of the passions to all: how much more easily would arguments in favor of revelation be admitted, if, as happens in mathematical truths, they in no way stood in the way of lusts!

⁹ "To do what pleases, to move as one likes, to satisfy all one's needs, according to the order in which they present themselves and their degree of intensity, this is to enjoy, this is to be happy. On the contrary, not to do what pleases, not to move according to one's liking, not to satisfy one's needs, this is to suffer, this is to be unhappy... To live, to be happy, to be free, is all one." Thus many conceive the moral life, as can be seen apud Seailles, Les affirmat. de la conscience moderne, pp. 130-131.

Therefore it must be inculcated upon these that no society, civil or religious, can subsist without some authority, and that a reasonable submission to legitimate authority is the most efficacious means for avoiding the tyranny of many; but that the passions do not contribute to true happiness except insofar as they are ordered to the good, and that in the Christian religion all helps are found for moderating and rightly ordering the passions.

672. (C) Since faith cannot be acquired and preserved without the grace of God, not a few fall away from it because, trusting too much in their own powers, they neglect to pray. The necessity of prayer for overcoming temptations against faith must frequently be recalled to their memory: "I believe, Lord; help my unbelief... Increase our faith."¹⁰

¹⁰ Mark 9:23; Luke 17:5. - Nor is prayer less necessary for obtaining faith when it has been lost, as M. d'Hulst splendidly explains, Confer. 1892, p. 110: "I believe, Lord, come to the aid of my unbelief! How many poor souls could repeat this cry of distress and confidence! I believe, that is to say I see that it is necessary to believe; the trials of life have instructed me; my failing reason has not been able to resolve the problems which torment me. I have looked toward those who believe, I have envied their happiness. I have opened the Gospel and I thought I recognized my Savior. I have listened to the great voice of the Christian centuries and I have been moved by their testimony. But between this inclination to believe and the final abdication of my doubt; between these reasons for believing and this voluntary gift of my mind and my heart which is called faith, I feel that there is an abyss to cross, that it depends upon me to cross it, and I do not yet dare. Credo, Domine, adjuva incredulitatem meam. Ah! Gentlemen, I beg you, seize upon this prayer; God will hear it, He will answer it by the gift of faith."

673. There are many extrinsic causes today which concur in diminishing and utterly overthrowing faith:

(A) Neutral education handed down in schools, colleges, and universities, which often begets indifferentism, and sometimes irreligiosity. Almost everywhere on earth in our days very many schools are found in which nothing is taught concerning the Christian religion, indeed nothing concerning the Supreme Deity.¹ Thus the way is prepared not only for religious indifferentism, but also for atheism. For the authority and dignity of religion is greatly diminished among the young, when it is wholly banished from the course of studies. But neutrality cannot long be preserved in schools; in historical and moral matters, the opportunity of speaking about religion presents itself many times, namely in order to attack and mock it.²

¹ Things have come to such a point in France that from certain schools books have been expelled in which the name of God can be read; indeed expurgated editions of classical books are printed, in which the name of God is wholly banished. (M. Le Francois, op. cit., p. 19, note 1.)

² In France, the matter has today become certain. For in the work written by J. Payot, Cours de Morale... destine aux Maitres de l'Enseignement primaire et de l'Enseignement secondaire, aux ecoles normales d'Instituteurs et d'Institutrices..., Paris, Colin, 1904, the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are already called into doubt, pp. 189-213. Other books, for the use of children, diffuse the same errors into many schools. Cf. Goyau, L'Ecole d'aujourd'hui.

674. (B) The reading of books attacking faith. That there are innumerable books and journals in which the mysteries of our faith are denied or mocked, there is no one who is ignorant; they are the more dangerous insofar as they are written in a more elegant style and with a more scientific apparatus, and are adapted not only to the intelligence of the learned but also of the simple. Many Catholics, drawn by curiosity, read them, and begin to conceive doubts against revealed truths; very few take care to solve these doubts by reading Catholic books; moreover, difficulties are more easily proposed than solved.

675. Therefore deservedly these are prohibited by the Church:

"Books of apostates, heretics, schismatics, and any writers whatsoever defending heresy or schism, or overthrowing in any way the very foundations of religion... books of non-Catholics which treat professedly of religion, unless it is established that nothing is contained in them against Catholic faith;

"Books in which God, or the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Saints, or the Catholic Church and its worship and sacraments, or the Apostolic See is disparaged...; works in which the concept of the inspiration of sacred Scripture is perverted, or its extension is too greatly restricted...

"Books which establish duel, suicide, or divorce as lawful, which deal with Masonic sects or other societies of the same kind, and contend that these are useful and not pernicious to the Church and civil society, and which defend errors proscribed by the Apostolic See...

"Daily papers, sheets, and periodical booklets which purposely attack religion or good morals are to be held proscribed not only by natural, but also by ecclesiastical law. But let Ordinaries take care, where there is need, opportunely to warn the faithful concerning the danger and harm of reading of this kind."³

³ Leo XIII, Constit. Officiorum ac munerum, Jan. 25, 1897, nn. 2, 3, 11, 14, 21. For the understanding of these, one may read Vermeersch, De prohibitione et censura librorum, 2nd ed., Tournai, 1898; Gennari, La costituzione Officiorum, Naples, 1898; G. Peries, L'Index, Paris, 1898; A. Boudinhon, La nouvelle legislation de l'Index, Paris, 1899.

But in order that the faithful may be kept away more efficaciously from the reading of depraved books, it is necessary that Catholic books be recommended for them to read, accommodated to the capacity of each, distinguished no less by elegant style than by solidity of doctrine.

676. (C) Frequenting heretics, apostates, and infidels. For today, in most regions, Catholics live among non-Catholics, haters of our faith, and have frequent and sometimes intimate relations with them, whether in colleges and academies, or in workshops, in political life, indeed in family life. Therefore erroneous opinions, or conversations in which truth is mixed indiscriminately with errors, are often heard. From this not a few begin to waver in faith: for when they hear difficulties moved against religion by men by no means ignorant, and moreover do not know what to answer, certain persons easily doubt concerning the truth of religion, or bid farewell to it altogether.⁴

⁴ In France the difficulty is increased by the secularization, as they say, of all institutions. To the point Msgr. Mignot, loc. cit., pp. 581-582: "The secularization of the State in all its services, the willed absence of every religious character in the official world contributes in large part to the weakening of beliefs. Religion is regarded as a purely personal and individual affair; the nation as nation has none. On leaving childhood, the young man, if he has not received strong convictions in the family, since he has not even been spoken to of God in his school stage, will fatally undergo the deleterious action of his surroundings. Far from being sustained, encouraged, strengthened by examples, his faith will go on weakening every day."

Therefore it is necessary to instruct the faithful in such a way that, whatever they read or hear, they may remain unmoved in faith.⁵ Therefore they are to be warned that they seriously apply themselves to the study of religion, and have recourse to the more learned, especially priests, when difficulties occur which they themselves cannot solve.

⁵ Therefore worthy of all praise are pastors who have special sermons for fortifying the faith of men against present-day objections. Cf. Gibier, Confer. aux hommes, Les objections contemporaines contre la religion, Paris, 1902 and 1903.

677. But the Church, in order to avert or at least remove the danger which arises from communication with heretics and infidels, has made special laws concerning this matter, which it helps to explain briefly.

The general principle is that communication with heretics or infidels in civil and social matters is not prohibited, the danger of perversion being removed;⁶ but active communion in sacred things is forbidden, insofar as it implies an external profession of false religion. - Again, communication with infidels is more strictly prohibited than with heretics, because their worship is altogether false and superstitious. - Finally, in regions in which Catholics have already for a long time lived mixed with heretics, many things are tolerated which are strictly prohibited in other regions, for example, in Italy, where heretics are beginning to spread their errors: for there the danger of perversion is much greater. - Let us set forth certain particulars.

⁶ Formerly it was forbidden that Christians live with Jews in the same house, or be present at the same banquet, use a Jewish physician, or serve Jews, etc.; but these things have fallen into disuse, and today one must attend only to the danger of perversion.

678. (a) Concerning the attendance of heretics and infidels at Catholic offices. These can indeed enter our churches, and there hear sermons and attend Mass, because good fruit is hoped for from this; but, from the decree of the Holy Office, June 8, 1859, "it is unlawful in sacred functions to invite heretics into the choir, to chant alternately, to give them the peace, sacred ashes, candles and blessed palms, and other external worship of this kind, which are rightly and deservedly considered indications of an interior bond and agreement, both in the active sense, namely by giving similar things to them, and in the passive sense, by receiving them from them in their sacred rites."⁷ Likewise it is not permitted to allow them to sing in the musical choir,⁸ or to carry torches or lights at liturgical functions.⁹

⁷ Apud Collectanea S. C. Prop. F., n. 1843. - What is said there and in the following concerning heretics is to be applied to schismatics, since in fact they are heretics.

⁸ Holy Office, May 1, 1889, apud Collectanea, n. 1851.

⁹ Ibid., n. 1840.

679. (b) Concerning the attendance of Catholics in the sacred rites of heretics. Scandal and the danger of perversion being removed, Catholics may enter the temples of heretics for the sake of mere curiosity, without any communication in sacred things; for "to enter the temples of heretics is an act indifferent of itself, which becomes evil only from a depraved end or from circumstances. Namely it becomes evil: 1) if someone goes to them with the intention of assisting at the sacred functions of heretics; 2) or even without such intention, if the very entrance into the churches of heretics carries or seems to carry some communication with these same heretics in divine things, and hence offers an occasion of scandal; 3) or if such entrance has been commanded by a heretical government, as a protestation of the same faith and religion between Catholics and non-Catholics; 4) or if either is commonly held as a token of one and the same communion of Catholics and non-Catholics."¹⁰ - Therefore of itself it is not permitted to be present at the sermons of heretics, unless there is question of learned men, who wish to hear them in order to know and refute the errors scattered there. - Nor is it permitted in the temples of heretics, when they exercise false worship there, to play the organ or sing; for this would be active communication in sacred things.¹¹

¹⁰ Holy Office, Jan. 13, 1818, apud Collectanea, n. 1833.

¹¹ Holy Office, July 8, 1889, apud Collectanea, n. 1854.

With regard to the funerals of heretics, it is permitted to be present at them by material attendance, for the sake of a civil duty, on account of a grave reason, and provided that there is no communication in sacred rites and ceremonies.¹² - With regard to pastors and priests, the Holy Office declared, March 30, 1859 and May 8, 1889, that "a pastor, as pastor, cannot be present at funerals of non-Catholics: but if he assists only civilly, without sacred vestments and without any communication in the sacred rite with heretics, it can be tolerated, provided that it is notoriously established that there was a bond of kinship or friendship between the pastor and the deceased non-Catholic."¹³

¹² Holy Office, Jan. 13, 1818, apud Collectanea, n. 1833.

¹³ Collectanea, n. 1852.

680. (c) Concerning simultaneity. It is not permitted to allow heretics to celebrate their rites in Catholic churches, nor that Catholics perform sacred rites in their temples; for this is the same as consenting to their heretical rites, or at least providing Catholics an occasion of communicating with non-Catholics in sacred matters.¹ - Yet, for a very grave cause, especially for more easily promoting the conversion of schismatics and infidels by consideration of the sacred ceremonies, sometimes missionaries are permitted the faculty of celebrating Mass by the Catholic rite upon altars in the temples of heretics or schismatics, "so that the same altars serve only as bare tables, and are arranged after the manner of Catholics with a consecrated stone, linens, the image of the Most Holy Crucified One, candlesticks, and other necessary furnishings for the use of the sacrifice of the Most Holy Mass in the aforesaid rite."²

¹ Holy Office, May 10, 1753, apud Collect., n. 1816.

² Holy Office, Apr. 12, 1704, apud Collect., n. 1808; cf. n. 1853.

681. (d) Concerning participation in the sacraments. It is not permitted for Catholic parents to allow their children to be baptized by a heretical minister; if this cannot be avoided without grave inconvenience, let them hold themselves passively. Absolutely it is not permitted to them, "neither by themselves nor by others, to perform the office of sponsor in baptisms which are administered by heretics to the children of heretics."³

³ Holy Office, May 10, 1770, apud Collect., n. 1825.

With regard to weddings, it is indeed permitted to attend the wedding feast, but regularly Catholics ought not be present at weddings celebrated before a minister by a heretical rite; yet "it can be tolerated that Catholics be present at weddings of this kind for the sake of civil duty only, scandal and any danger of perversion being removed, and also contempt of ecclesiastical authority being absent."⁴ But it is not permitted there to perform the function of witness or groomsman, because this is active cooperation in a heretical rite.

⁴ Holy Office, Jan. 14, 1874, apud Collect., n. 1848.

Concerning mixed marriages, or marriages with infidels, or weddings celebrated before a heretical minister, we spoke in the Treatise on Matrimony, nn. 237-253 and 366-371.

682. (e) Concerning disputation with heretics. Public disputations, that is, those which are held on a fixed day and hour, before a multitude and judges of the controversy, are to be avoided: "Let Catholics beware lest they have disputations or conferences, especially public ones, with non-Catholics, without the permission of the Holy See or, if the case urges, of the local Ordinary."⁵

⁵ Code, can. 1325, § 3.

Therefore the Holy See frequently prohibited that disputations of this kind be held without the permission of the Apostolic See, or at least of the Bishop, when recourse to the Supreme Pontiff cannot be had.⁶ - But private disputations, before a few hearers, are permitted to clerics when some fruit is hoped for in the hearers, and moreover the clerics are skilled and instructed with sufficient doctrine. But even private disputations are not permitted to laymen by common law, because generally it is presumed that they are not sufficiently instructed in matters of faith. Today, however, this prohibition has fallen into disuse, especially where errors rage; therefore, if laymen are learned and capable of turning back sophisms, they can privately refute heretics and infidels.

⁶ Cf. Decretal., lib. V, c. 2 Quicumque, de Haereticis, in Sexto; Collectanea, n. 1674. - Perrone, op. cit., n. 570, says that these disputations are sometimes useful, "because, even if the disputant grows hardened, fruit is at least hoped for from the hearers, either from the conversion of some, or from the confirmation of Catholics, or even from the lesser boldness of heretics." St. Thomas had gone before (Comment. in II Timoth., c. 2, lect. 2): "But should someone not dispute without contention before the people concerning faith? I answer: a distinction must be made on the part of the hearers, because either they are being solicited by infidels, and then public disputation is useful, because through this the simple become more instructed when they see those erring refuted; but if they are not solicited by infidels, then disputation is not useful, but dangerous."

Besides, today there are not rarely held conferences, as they say, contradictory conferences, in which learned laymen, before a multitude, set forth and defend, with happy outcome, religious, moral, and social truths, with certain adversaries nevertheless contradicting. This indeed is to be left to the prudent judgment of Ordinaries: for it belongs to them to judge when and under what conditions disputations of this kind can be called lawful and opportune.⁷

⁷ The S. C. assigned to extraordinary affairs declared that disputations with socialists are subject to the same rules, Jan. 27, 1902, apud Acta S. Sedis, t. XXXVIII, p. 407; cf. Canoniste, t. XXV, p. 335; Etudes, Aug. 20, 1905, p. 480; Ami du Clerge, Apr. 27, 1905, p. 354.

The conditions commonly required are these: (a) that the defender of Catholic truth be so firm in faith that he incurs no danger of falling into heresy; (b) that he be suited to set forth and defend the truth, so that the faith of the hearers is not weakened; (c) that there be founded hope that from this great utility will arise for the faithful or for adversaries.

683. (D) Concerning cooperation in matters pertaining to faith. Today, in mixed societies in which Catholics live together with infidels or heretics, there are many occasions of cooperating in matters pertaining to false religion. And certainly every formal, or intentional, cooperation is unlawful; but cooperation merely material can be lawful on account of a proportionately grave cause. It will not be beside the matter to set forth certain particular cases.

(a) Concerning the building of heterodox temples. With regard to the temples of heretics, we have an instruction of the Holy Office, given Jan. 14, 1818, to the Apostolic Vicar of Kentucky, and confirmed July 7, 1864.⁸ To the question "whether it is permitted to build churches or synagogues of heretics," the answer was: "They are not to be disturbed, provided that scandal is not present, nor that it is in contempt of religion. But let the bishop take care that the artisans be opportunely instructed by missionaries and confessors... Namely they are bound to abstain from the work: 1) where a work of this kind is commonly held for a sign protesting false religion; 2) or something is contained in it which of itself directly and uniquely expresses reprobation of Catholic worship, and approbation of the condemned worship of heretics; 3) or it is established that Catholic artisans are driven to or called to the work by heretics in contempt of the Catholic religion. - Moreover, although outside these cases they are to be left in good faith, yet they are always to be warned lest they intend to cooperate with the worship of heretics." Here there is question of workmen; but if the question is of architects, a graver cause is required for them lawfully to construct a heretical temple, because the cooperation is more proximate.

⁸ Collectanea, n. 1845.

With regard to Mohammedan temples, Catholics likewise are not to be disturbed, "provided that they act compelled by fear of grave evil, and do not intend to cooperate with the superstitions of Mohammedans."⁹

⁹ S. C. de Prop. F., apud Collect., n. 1733.

684. But if there is question of temples or altars of idols, the Holy See has declared many times that this is not permitted, even to avoid death: "The Japanese faithful cannot, in order to avoid danger of death or exile, build altars or temples for idols or cooperate in their building."¹⁰ The reason seems to be that, in the individual cases proposed, the erection of a temple was considered to be a sign protesting false religion. Therefore, if in some case the cooperation were merely material, and were not held as approbation of the worship of idols, it could be tolerated for a very grave reason.

¹⁰ S. C. de Prop. F., apud Collect., n. 1697; cf. nn. 1700, 1704, 1706, 1748.

685. It was also asked whether it is lawful for Catholics to contribute money for the building of heretical temples; the Sacred Penitentiary answered (in the year 1822): "Affirmatively, but only for freeing themselves and their temples from that inconvenient and scandalous simultaneity with Protestants."¹¹ From this it follows that this cooperation is not intrinsically evil, but can be permitted on account of a very grave cause. The Sacred Congregation, in the aforesaid case, alleged only one cause, because perhaps, in this case, there was no other which seemed sufficient; but grave authors¹² say that this is also permitted whenever a very grave reason is present, for example, lest a merchant's shop be utterly deserted by Protestants; which indeed we judge probable; and in fact many Catholic merchants act thus in mixed regions. - It is also permitted, by way of tribute, to pay monies which are in fact expended on idolatries, provided it is established, from circumstances or from open declaration, that Catholics do not consent to false superstitions.¹³

¹¹ Bucceroni, Enchiridion, ad n. 192.

¹² Konings, n. 313; Genicot, n. 237; Noldin, n. 122.

¹³ Holy Office, Apr. 21, 1847, ad 4, apud Collect. I, n. 742.

686. From the same principle the question must be solved whether it is lawful to sell utensils or works of art for adorning a non-Catholic temple. When these can have a good or indifferent use, for example, benches, organs, bells, it is permitted to sell them on account of a grave reason. But if the question is of idols, which are destined not for adorning gardens or houses, but for superstitious worship, it is for the most part altogether unlawful, and can be tolerated only from a very grave and most urgent cause.

687. (b) Concerning the erection and support of non-Catholic schools and orphanages. Since the end of these institutions is not directly religious, a lesser cause is required than where there is question of temples. Yet, in order that scandal may be removed, money must be granted to non-Catholics not as followers of a sect, but as fellow-citizens; and care must be taken lest money thus contributed be used for perverting Catholics.

688. (c) Concerning calling a heretical minister to a dying person. It had been asked of the Holy Office whether nuns, taking care of a hospice in which non-Catholics are received, can call a heretical minister, if Protestants ask for one, so that they may receive from him the helps and consolations of religion. It was answered, on March 15, 1848, "according to the things set forth, it is not permitted; let them hold themselves passively." This decree indeed was confirmed Dec. 16, 1898, but at the same time it was declared that nothing prevents the minister from being called through a non-Catholic person;¹⁴ moreover a non-Catholic person can be made more certain concerning the state of the dying person. - But if the minister does not come, a Catholic priest or nun can arouse the dying person, being in good faith, so that he may elicit an act of contrition, and thus prepare himself for a Christian death.

¹⁴ Apud Ami du Clerge, t. XXI, 1899, p. 497.

It is not enough to avoid sins against faith; he who is truly Christian strives with all his strength to progress in faith daily. We shall briefly describe what means are to be used for this end.

⁴ Scaramelli, Directorium asceticum, Tr. IV, art. 1, c. 4-5; Gay, op. cit., Tr. III, De la foi; Msgr. Lelong, Confer. sur les vertus sacerdotales, Paris, Tequi, 1901, 3rd Conf.

689. 1. Since faith is a gift of God, prayer is required first of all, especially for a twofold reason: for obtaining heavenly light, without which we cannot rightly understand eternal truths; and for fostering the pious affection of the will by which the mind is sweetly inclined to offer firmer assent to revealed truths and to taste them spiritually. Like the Apostles, let us frequently say: "Increase our faith."² This indeed seems more opportune either at the time when temptation against faith urges, or when an occasion presents itself of exercising faith more vividly, for example, in tribulations, in anxieties.

² Luke 17:5.

690. 2. Since faith is more vivid, other things being equal, the more fully revealed truths are known, it is of great profit, for strengthening it, to read the sacred Scriptures, as they are explained by the Church and the Fathers, - and also books in which Christian dogmas are declared no less substantially than lucidly. For as the reading of depraved books is very dangerous, so on the contrary the pious reading of the Scriptures is apt to increase faith: for there we find the very word of God, and if we read it in the spirit in which it was written, the mind of God is manifested to us, and the assent given to it is truly an act of faith.³ It must be read constantly⁴ with simplicity of heart, seeking nothing except the divine mind, wishing nothing except to live conformably to it, according to that saying: he painted by his acts the page which he had read. - Yet it must be read furnished with commentaries, in which the sense is declared from the works of the Fathers and the best interpreters of today.⁵ Nor should books be omitted in which the excellent deeds of those who lived according to faith are narrated;⁶ for by their examples faith is nourished and increased not a little.

³ "Many Catholics would think they were inclining toward Protestantism if they read the Bible. What an aberration! One is Protestant when one seeks in the Bible, arbitrarily interpreted, the rule of faith; one is Catholic when one seeks in the Bible, interpreted by the Church, the food of Christian thought, the nourishment of the soul; for the Bible is the word of God; it is the bread of the soul, says the Savior." (M. d'Hulst, Confer. 1892, p. 120.)

⁴ Jerome writes concerning Nepotian (Ep. 60, P. L., XXII, 595): "And by constant reading and long meditation, he had made his breast the library of Christ." - Experience establishes that the reading of the Gospel is no less delightful than useful, not only to clerics, but also to workers.

⁵ Thus, for example, the commentaries edited by Fr. Rose and others in the collection Pensee chretienne, or the French translation by Crampon.

⁶ In French there is the collection, edited by H. Joly, namely Les Saints; in English, Lives of the Saints, under the care of the Fathers of the Oratory.

To pious reading is equated the hearing of sermons in which the truths of faith are set forth; indeed the word of God uttered by mouth has greater force and efficacy, provided that sacred orators preach Christ, and not themselves.

691. 3. But the most efficacious means is the exercise of faith itself. For although faith properly is not increased, as a supernatural habit, except by divine operation (above, n. 602), facility of eliciting acts is acquired by exercise (n. 603). Therefore he progresses much in it who lives by faith, and therefore rightly orders judgments, words, and works according to the light of faith.⁷ For as man is distinguished from beasts by reason, so the Christian is distinguished from pagans by faith; and as by frequent exercise of reason man is perfected, so the more frequently and intensely faith is exercised, the more perfect is the Christian.

⁷ Therefore, in the prayer at Prime, we say daily: "Deign, O Lord God, King of heaven and earth, today to direct and sanctify, rule and govern our hearts and bodies, our senses, words, and acts in Thy law."

(A) According to the light of faith and the doctrine and examples of Christ, we must think rightly and judge concerning all things. Daily experience establishes that there are many Christians who judge concerning riches, honors, and pleasures according to the maxims of worldly men. St. Bernard refutes these by the example of Christ being born in poverty and humility:⁸ "The judgment of the world is not such: either He (Christ) is deceived, or the world errs. But it is impossible for divine wisdom to be deceived. Deservedly therefore both the prudence of the flesh (for it also is death) is an enemy to God;⁹ and also the prudence of the world is named foolishness.¹⁰ What then? Christ indeed, who is not deceived, chose what is more troublesome to the flesh. Therefore that is better, that more useful, that rather to be chosen: and whoever teaches or advises otherwise must be guarded against as against a seducer."

⁸ Sermon 3 in Nativit., n. 1, P. L., CLXXXIII, 123.

⁹ Rom. 8:7.

¹⁰ 1 Cor. 3:19.

What Bernard writes concerning poverty and mortification is true of the rest: namely, we must judge concerning all things and events, tribulations, persecutions, and anxieties, as Christ Himself would judge: But what would Christ say to these things? For we are not truly Christians if we assent to worldly fallacies contrary to the Gospel.

692. (B) Therefore also, in speeches and conversations, we must speak according to the Gospel. But how many Christians accommodate themselves to the prejudices of the world, approving what Christ reproved, and esteeming less what He Himself praised?

Thus, while He Himself calls blessed the poor in spirit, the meek of heart, those who suffer persecution, do not many call happy those who glory in riches and to whom all things turn out prosperously? The true Christian is not ashamed of the Gospel, but manfully, without boasting, speaks concerning all things and events according to the sayings of Christ Himself, and thus daily progresses in true faith.

693. (C) But especially he manifests the same virtue by his works: for he lives not according to flesh and blood, but according to the spirit, seeking nothing except to cling to the footsteps of Christ. Therefore he works the good not that he may be seen by men, but that he may please God; without ostentation he performs prayer, almsgiving, and other Christian works, not from a desire of vain glory, but from a supernatural motive.

Rising in the morning, he signs himself with the sign of the cross, and joyfully offers all his actions to God through Christ. If he prays, he asks in the name of Christ whatever he needs, mindful of that word: "Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you."¹¹ If one must obey a superior, he places the image of Christ upon his superior, according to that saying: "He who hears you hears Me."¹² If the poor person must be assisted, he furnishes alms or other help to him as to Christ, according to that saying:¹³ "As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me." If he is vexed by various temptations and afflictions, he trusts in Christ: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."¹⁴ In one word, he does all things with Christ, and through Him and in Him, and thus grows daily in faith and at the same time in good works: "He who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit."¹⁵

¹¹ John 16:23.

¹² Luke 10:16.

¹³ Matt. 25:40.

¹⁴ Phil. 4:13.

¹⁵ John 15:5.

694. 4. But the final means consists in cooperating strenuously for protecting and propagating faith in others.

For today it is permitted to no Christian to rest in tranquil possession of faith. For enemies rising up on every side fiercely attack the Christian religion; many burn with zeal for utterly overthrowing the Church, and the words of Christ have already been fulfilled: "I came not to send peace, but the sword."¹⁶ Therefore nothing remains except to fight the good fight of faith, defending faith not only in ourselves but in others, indeed, when occasion is given, exhorting and urging others to embrace our religion. This will be a work of gratitude toward God, who, by freely giving the light of faith, has given us the greatest and precious gift; a work of charity toward others, who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and indeed the most excellent one, since, from what was said above, faith is the beginning and root of all justification; and also a work of charity toward ourselves, since God is accustomed to reward zeal of this kind by strengthening the faith of those who preach the Gospel to others.

¹⁶ Matt. 10:34; cf. Luke 12:51.

Therefore "through patience let us run to the contest proposed to us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith."¹⁷

¹⁷ Heb. 12:1-2.