III. On the Utility and Method of Revealing the Mysteries of Life

186. - III. On the utility and method of revealing the mysteries of life.

By the name mystery of life we here comprehend the process of human generation, sins against chastity, and venereal diseases.

Is the explanation of these mysteries or is it not to be commended as a part of the discipline of chastity (de l'éducation de la chasteté)? This is the question, and today it is disputed with such force in books, writings, and speeches that it has seemed proper to propose at somewhat greater length a question so greatly agitated.

Wherefore, after certain historical notices, we shall allege and weigh the arguments brought forward on each side and the opinions, so that thereafter we may be permitted to put forth our conclusion concerning this matter more prudently.

187. - In the first centuries of the Church, as the Reverend Father Ruiz Amado himself observes ¹, Christian children could not have lacked instruction in sexual matters. For they were not prohibited from attending pagan schools, in which mythological fables and classical writers were explained ².

¹ La educacion de la castidad.

² Cf. Tertullian, De idololatria, chapter 10 (M. 1, 675).

Yet at the end of the fifth century, Julianus Pomerius records that "it had been decreed by the ancients that none of the young should read the book of Genesis, and likewise part of the prophet Ezekiel or the Song of Songs, and other such things in which the generations and deeds and names of certain women are written.... Lest perhaps, being still carnal, they should receive these spiritual things according to the flesh; and should not consider the virtues which those women signify, but should perish by thinking carnally about the women themselves" ³.

³ De vita contemplativa, book 3, chapter 6 (M. 59, 483).

What the subsequent practice was in concealing the mysteries of life is not altogether evident; this, however, can be affirmed: there was no pedagogical solicitude concerning this matter through the seventeenth century inclusive. The question is not even touched upon in Fénelon's Traité de l'éducation des filles, nor in the Lettres et entretiens de Madame de Maintenon. In the eighteenth century, however, J. J. Rousseau, in the famous work Émile, book 4, testifies that in his time it was often asked whether it was preferable to satisfy children who asked about sex or to deceive them with little frauds. He judges it useful to soul and body that a man become conscious of his sex only late; wherefore he counsels that, if it can be done, parents should repel the first questions about this matter, yet abstain from every lie. If it appears that an answer must be given, let the answer be simple, brief, and certain. But if you doubt whether ignorance can persevere until the sixteenth year of age, let the son be instructed before his tenth year ⁴. Thus he seems to have been the very first to examine the question.

⁴ Didot edition, 1793, p. 374 ff.

If the formal examination of the question has so recent an origin, and if we know little about the practices formerly received, then that Catholic tradition from which some contemners of sexual pedagogy would wish to argue is fictitious.

At almost the same time at which Rousseau was writing, several so-called philanthropists of Germany - Basedow, Campe, and Salzmann - proposed applying open explanations of these matters as a remedy for the corrupted morals of young persons; physicians such as Tissot (1759) and Peter Frank (1780) also began to commend this.

Discussion of these things then ceased for a sufficiently long period, until, a few years ago, similar efforts against the spreading excesses of young persons were attempted among the Protestant parties of America and Germany. In France also, a certain association named the Société de prévoyance sanitaire et morale was founded by Senator Bérenger and Professor Fournier; it planned to institute lectures on venereal disease for the use of lycées and colleges.

Hence pamphlets of the "Sex-series" were disseminated in almost every language; they bear titles generally such as these: What Every Boy, Every Girl, Every Adolescent, Every Young Man or Marriageable Daughter, Every Adult, and All Spouses Ought to Know. In addition, many writings, including those of Catholics, concerning the cultivation of purity are circulated everywhere.

The German bishops took little pleasure in the general rule by which it was said that the ignorance of adolescents was to be dispelled; while several bishops of France praised works which commended a prudent, though not common or collective, method of explanation. In Spain the pamphlets of Sylvanus Stall and Wood-Allen gave occasion for a great controversy. But on January 18, 1908, the Sacred Congregation of the Index wrote back to the Bishop of Barcelona concerning two books, Lo que debe saber el niño, written by Sylvanus Stall, and Lo que debe saber la niña, written by Miss Wood-Allen: "It is by no means fitting that in Spain the adolescent age should be educated and formed according to the rules contained in the aforesaid books; but it is necessary that those same books be taken from the hands of the faithful, especially of adolescents" ⁵. In Belgium, the Bishop of Bruges also disapproved the use of this method. At Liège, however, the Reverend Knoch, then a professor at the major seminary, wrote the pamphlet L'éducation de la chasteté, in which he imitated rather closely a pamphlet published in Austria by Fathers Gatterer and Kraus, S.J.

⁵ Cf. Vermeersch, Periodica De religiosis et Missionariis, vol. 4, no. 250, p. 165.

188. - II. Arguments customarily adduced by the patrons and adversaries of the explanation that is to be made.

A. Arguments of the supporters.

1. All knowledge is useful of itself. But there is no reason why we should be ashamed of a faculty given by God. (Thus non-Catholics especially speak.)

2. This knowledge is necessary in order that a boy may perceive the reasons for his obligations and may become formally chaste. Thus the Reverend Fathers Gillet, O.P., and Castillon, S.J.

3. The Church conceals neither the Virgin's giving birth in the Hail Mary, nor, among the commandments, the sixth, by which adultery and lust are forbidden, and the ninth, by which carnal desires are forbidden.

4. In many ways, even by the very phenomena which are observed by accident or with deliberate intention in his own body or that of another, an adolescent is impelled to ask about sex, the passions, and generation. Unless the parents themselves satisfy him in an honorable manner, since that is the age of restless curiosity, he will seek light elsewhere, that is, in books or among friends, who sometimes offer themselves spontaneously. Not infrequently these are corrupt, and they certainly will give information about these matters only in a manner which teaches nothing about the most noble end of these functions, about the most exalted counsels of divine Providence, or about the duties joined to them - in brief, nothing which elevates the mind. Thus the boy or adolescent will be deprived of every positive formation in purity, but, in a most grave and delicate matter, will be left to himself and to companions of his own age. No sane person can approve, however, that young persons should be left to themselves in these matters while they are growing up ⁶.

⁶ Cf. Gemelli, Non moechaberis, p. 18.

5. Nor is it necessary to reflect long upon the things which today are exposed to everyone's sight in streets and shops, or upon the things which are narrated in books and newspapers and read by all, in order clearly to perceive that no reasonable hope of prolonged ignorance can be entertained concerning many adolescents.

6. Knowledge prudently supplied will render, or can render, modesty itself more conscious, more attentive, and more meritorious.

7. Nor are the adolescents few in number who, having experienced pleasure from some accident, for example from riding a horse, or from a nocturnal dream, or at the instigation of a companion, begin to indulge it, and soon, in ignorance, commit material sins in such a manner that through ignorance they contract a habit which is already pernicious and obstinate in itself. There are also others who, terrified by a nocturnal pollution whose nature they do not know, begin thence to fear for their health and remain in anxious dread for so long that they bear the injuries of dejection throughout their whole life. For it happens that a certain class of charlatans deceives them and, through prolonged medical treatment, both confirms them in their fears and fleeces them of their money ⁷.

⁷ A trustworthy witness relates that in America he saw a very great number - more than a thousand - of letters sent by fearful adolescents to a society which, while promising secret consultations, abused their innocence.

8. It is also certain that many adolescents of both sexes have joined an awareness of sexual matters with the most innocent morals. Approved witnesses affirm a fortunate, or at least not harmful, experience of instruction in many cases.

B. Arguments of the adversaries.

1. Knowledge of sexual matters, after original sin, has become dangerous. For it prepares temptations which younger persons are not yet able to bear. By declarations of this kind, while one curiosity is allayed, another is aroused, namely, to see the things which have been described and to experience the things which have been narrated.

2. No positive utility is present in this explanation ⁸, so that the question can concern only the prevention of an imprudent and impudent disclosure.

⁸ Thus the Reverend Father Ruiz Amado, op. cit.

3. The sense of modesty is blunted by these declarations; shamefastness is diminished.

4. We have long since been taught by common sense that the demon of impurity is to be conquered by fleeing, not by attacking.

5. We are taught by the Church that these matters are to be treated circumspectly. Cf. the Roman Catechism: "In explaining this very matter of adultery, let the pastor be exceedingly cautious and prudent, and let him mention in veiled words a matter which calls for moderation rather than copiousness of speech. For it is to be feared that, while he strives to explain at excessive length and fullness the ways in which men depart from the prescription of this law, he may perhaps fall into a discussion of those things from which matter for exciting lust rather than a means of extinguishing it is accustomed to arise" ⁹.

⁹ Chapter VII, On the Sixth Commandment.

6. Everywhere, among civilized peoples, matters pertaining to generation are covered with some veil; everywhere various devices, indeed lying formulas, have been invented to conceal these things from children.

7. Nor are there lacking, even today, those who have gathered the fruit of a happy innocence from their ignorance, while moral ruin seems sometimes to have followed disclosure.

189. - III. Examination of the arguments.

It seems worthwhile that we weigh these arguments in an even balance. The reader, however, will observe that we have passed over in silence those who so celebrate the honorableness of the sexual apparatus and of conjugal use that they call all things decorous and attribute the custom of using marriage in secret to vulgar error. We need no longer deal with "Naturalists" of this kind. From what was said above, their arguments, rejected by common sense itself, have already been fully refuted.

Care must be taken only that we do not unduly disparage the work of generation, which God blessed even after the flood, and therefore after original sin; that would indeed accord poorly with our regeneration in Christ and with the words of Paul concerning mixed marriages. For the Apostle wrote these things: "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the faithful wife; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy" ¹⁰.

¹⁰ 1 Corinthians 7:14.

Let us say instead that a function given for holy ends is now possessed and exercised in such a manner as to furnish us with this cause for shame.

Equity further demands that we take care not to impute to honorable men, even if they are non-Catholics, errors which they have by no means professed, merely because their counsels please us less. He who speaks temperately has greater authority for persuading; nor are false or rash accusations rendered honorable even by a good end.

To come now to the former series of arguments: in the first argument, by which all knowledge is called useful of itself, too much hope seems to be placed in the illumination of the intellect alone, although most persons acknowledge that the necessity of educating the will has also been confirmed by modern experiments.

Nor do we know any Catholic writer who would not bring forward these or similar words with the Protestant professor Foerster ¹¹: "To know the right way is by no means sufficient of itself; but we must also be taught how we are truly to tread that way." All knowledge is indeed useful of itself, but in varying degrees of utility, and it can do harm per accidens. And that per accidens can occur so frequently in the concrete circumstances of persons that, because of the slight utility of the knowledge and the great danger of its evil use, ignorance is to be desired and preferred for those persons. Indeed, with Bucceroni ¹², who marks this as a theological error, we judge it wholly alien to the truth to say that knowledge of sexual matters directly and formally assists chastity.

¹¹ Lebenskunde.

¹² Casus morales, vol. 2, Appendix VI, De puritatis educatione.

To the second argument we shall concede that formal or conscious chastity is to be preferred to material chastity; but if knowledge brings with it a danger of depravity, we ought to prefer one materially chaste to one formally wicked.

Concerning the third argument, we shall observe that the brief statements contained in the Hail Mary and in the formulas of the commandments have been so worn by long use that they have lost every power of exciting curiosity ¹³; therefore, no argument for fuller and clearer explanations can be gathered from them.

¹³ Experience testifies to this. For ignorant adolescents assign words which they do not understand to mysterious formulas of faith, whose explanation they do not seek because they seem to contain nothing alluring to nature.

The things proposed in the following arguments, however, are worthy of attentive consideration, nor do we judge them to be false. But they do not demonstrate the suitableness of an explanation made to all concerning everything.

Concerning the other series of arguments, these observations occur to us.

We judge it altogether true that disclosures made to the unprepared can be full of danger. The first reason, therefore, proves the necessity of prudence.

But we cannot understand how, by the second reason, all utility is denied to that knowledge of the mysteries of life. And indeed, is it useless for a man to acquire for himself the merit of conscious virtue and to be able not only to believe, but himself to understand and ponder, the grave malice of lust? Is it useless for a son to know the intimate bond of nature by which he is bound to his parents, and to learn to venerate them as the true authors of his being and to love them with grateful affection? Is it useless for a daughter, once she has grasped her noble and laborious mission, to begin to lead her life more seriously and cautiously, and not to be wholly occupied with frivolous matters? Is it useless for a Christian believer to be able rightly to conceive the fundamental mystery of the Incarnation, and the dignity and privileges of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Is it useless for an educator to have the means of efficaciously instructing his pupils about the true meaning of life and the serious duties to be fulfilled?

Does not that levity and frivolity of mind which is sometimes not undeservedly cast against unmarried young women in the world have at least this partial cause: that, remaining ignorant of their duty and vocation for too long, they were captured by vanities before they could meditate upon their own dignity and person? Furthermore, in our days, when doubt is so audacious and little is sworn upon the word of a master, do we not all perceive how expedient it is to hand down the intrinsic reasons of things, lest we seem to prescribe arbitrary rules, easily despised today, for caring for the body and restraining the senses, and to impute tyrannical wills to the most provident God?

From the manner in which an explanation is proposed, the sense of modesty can be blunted, but it can also be increased when its cause is disclosed. This had to be said concerning the third argument.

As for the appeal to common sense by which we are warned that temptations of impurity are to be conquered by flight rather than by attack, we observe first that temptations are one thing and knowledge prudently supplied is another. But this is the proper force and meaning of the praised proverb: while there are passions, for example anger, which it is permissible and even expedient to summon as it were to combat, so that we may learn to repress their deliberately aroused impulse, it is not permissible deliberately to stir up in this manner, outside marriage, the venereal sense, which exists primarily not for the utility of one's own person but for the good of the species. Its allurements, moreover, are such that, when a temptation presses, the danger of consent is more prudently removed by diverting the mind. But the same thing is customarily advised concerning temptations against the faith. Are we not nevertheless warned at the same time that, after the temptation has withdrawn, we should strive to untie the doubts that have arisen by means of more perfect knowledge? Is ignorance of the things of faith to be commended for the sake of security? Although, for just causes, even the occasions of temptation must sometimes be approached.

Moreover, the Roman Catechism treats only of a public explanation of sins, so that the passage has little bearing upon our matter.

But the practice of civilized peoples and the fruit sometimes gathered from ignorance prove that an inconsiderate explanation is to be avoided; they do not refute the utility of a circumspect declaration.

190. - IV. Diversity and concord of opinions.

From the opposing arguments, you would wrongly conclude that upright writers so belong to two contrary parties that some praise and commend every explanation, while others condemn every explanation. On the contrary, several opinions, diverse not only in genus and inclination but also sufficiently varied within the same genus, correspond to the aforesaid reasons. This variety of expression furnishes an occasion for confusion and error. Hence it happens that the fault of some is rather inequitably turned into a reproach of the whole class. For among those who write in favor of disclosure, some proclaim an exposition that is technical or scientific, simultaneous - that is, one which embraces the three things together: generation, sins with perversions, and venereal diseases - and deliberately delivered either commonly or collectively in schools, or through pamphlets from the "Sex-series"; while others - thus morally all Catholics - commend only an explanation that is simple or destitute of scientific apparatus, successive, and prudently given to individuals either in writing or orally, according as the case or age counsels. But those who stand on the opposing side do not deny that disclosure is sometimes opportune and necessary; some will judge this necessity to be present more readily than others.

To declare the same thing a little more definitely: non-Catholics, with few exceptions, exhort to complete disclosure with a more confident mind than Catholic writers, nor do they shrink from public explanations. The reason for this readiness is partly that they pursue a certain delicate modesty with less perfect cultivation and honor; partly that, deprived of intimate communication and direction in the sacrament of penance, they do not have the means of exploring accurately what each soul requires for itself; and partly that the kind of adolescents observed by them differs considerably from the kind to which Catholics intend to adapt their counsels.

Catholics themselves, however, are in less disagreement than the first appearance of the controversies would lead one to say. For all disapprove of a simultaneous, technical, and public explanation in itself. Nor is there any Catholic who does not hold that, besides the instruction of the mind, the education of the will is necessary. Nor is there any who does not proclaim disclosure to be necessary at times.

But by different paths they arrive at sufficiently similar conclusions.

For some speak thus: we approve a prudent, gradual, and discreet explanation, but reject one that is superfluous; nor are we those who wish to disturb by an inopportune disclosure the simple candor of anyone who appears neither disturbed nor solicitous about the matter nor exposed to danger. Others, however, proceed from this beginning: we do not will disclosure unless it is shown to be useful or necessary for cutting off dangers or calming curiosity. And so the opinions of Catholics scarcely differ among themselves except in this manner: some posit the communication of knowledge in recto, and silence in obliquo; others, however, posit silence in recto, and disclosure in obliquo.

Nevertheless, they do not agree among themselves as to the moment at which a disclosure foreseen as necessary may be given more opportunely. Some - thus Fonssagrives, whom Castillon favors - judge it better that knowledge concerning generation and the passions be handed down before puberty, since it seems that it can then be received with a more tranquil mind and that the adolescents themselves will approach future struggles better instructed and prepared. Others, with whom we rather agree, take less pleasure in this anticipated knowledge. For this spontaneous explanation easily begets curiosity and expectation which can occupy the mind and stir the body more quickly. They seem to us to violate the canon or rule approved by all: One must strive that the mind be detained as little as possible in turning over these matters.

Since, in the end, Catholics are separated from one another by slight disagreement, it will easily happen that you cannot yet gather the true mind of a writer from the few words of his conclusion. Thus, for example, the Reverend Father Gemelli begins ¹⁴ and ends ¹⁵ his exposition of the question in such a way that you would call him strongly opposed to disclosure. But at the same time he renders the patrons of disclosure detractors of modesty as "a certain atavistic residue, as it were, from religious principles" ¹⁶, so that all Catholics ought surely to agree with him in attacking an opinion of this kind; yet in this matter he praises as writing exceedingly well Oppenheim, who in the place cited advocates the instruction of mature adolescents in sufficiently open words ¹⁷, and Fonssagrives, who, as we said just now, judges that disclosure is to be placed before puberty. Wherefore we think that the learned man is to be numbered among the supporters rather than the adversaries of gradual instruction.

¹⁴ Non moechaberis, pp. 111, 113.

¹⁵ Ibid., p. 117.

¹⁶ Ibid., p. 111.

¹⁷ Ibid., pp. 114-115, note.

We cannot deny, however, and we grieve, that certain persons sin by a manner of speaking that is too absolute and pretend that they are guardians of an ancient Catholic tradition which is neither demonstrated to have existed nor can easily be reconciled with the circumstances of the age in which sacred virgins were the glory and ornament of the Church, or with the very epistles of St. Jerome to the virgin Eustochium, or with several texts of the sacred liturgy, since this is accustomed to harm not a little the desirable concord of good men.

But this nearly concordant opinion of Catholics also gives us courage to say, concerning this very delicate matter, humbly indeed but more confidently, what pleases us, since we finally articulate a sufficiently common doctrine.

We should also like this to be observed: most writers who write about the matter with the best intention attend almost only to those select Catholic adolescents of honorable condition who complete secondary studies in Catholic institutes; but they pass over the multitude of those who, on account of their very social condition, are little aided by their parents and, after elementary school, are assigned indiscriminately with others to learn or practice a craft in workshops. Yet the greatest account must be taken of that people by us Christians, and in this "democratic" age.

V. - Conclusions.

This question is so complex and has so many aspects that, unless one chooses to speak either confusedly or too absolutely, we cannot solve it in one continuous treatment. Therefore, having divided the argument, we shall state, by several distinct assertions or conclusions, both concerning the things to be explained and concerning the manner and method, what we judge to be true and easily admitted by most persons.

191. - 1. General summary conclusion. There are today so many men eminent in authority who defend the suitableness of some fitting and moderate explanation of the mysteries of life; and the wretched state of morals, which is not recent, renders moral progress so desirable, that it can be affirmed without hesitation that there is a place for sexual pedagogy, and you would judge that serious controversy remains only about the manner and opportune time.

Ribbing ¹⁸ says that sexual pedagogy is "a discipline which strives constantly to assist or to be at hand for the adolescent, so that at each stage it may supply in a suitable manner the necessary and opportune knowledge concerning sexual matters; and at the same time the art of communicating that knowledge in such a way that it may induce a healthy, pure, and moral sexual life."

¹⁸ In Moll, Handbuch, etc., p. 976.

But we think that we can conclude in a brief formula from what beginning or principle we proceed in giving counsels: Natural ignorance is not to be destroyed of itself, nor is artificial ignorance to be procured. We approve an explanation of sexual matters not which increases but which diminishes solicitude concerning these matters. We approve these formulas because the former savors of confidence in the paternal providence of God, while the latter is consonant with the received rule by which we ought to strive that continent persons, such as younger persons ought to be by reason of their age itself, should occupy their mind as little as possible with sexual matters. Nicolay confirms the former in these words: "We consider clumsy the procedure which consists in wishing to raise boys in an... artificial ignorance" ¹⁹.

¹⁹ In the praised work Des enfants mal élevés, p. 112, no. X.

192. - 2. Concerning the matters to be handed down gradually, this must first be observed. Of the three objects - the process of generation, sins with perversions, and venereal diseases:

An explanation of perversions pertains rather to a technical presentation, which is useless for laypersons and can harmfully disturb the imagination of women.

Likewise, there is no utility in explaining venereal diseases before the age at which illicit commerce with the other sex, especially with prostitutes, is to be feared.

The necessity of admonishing about the gravity and nature of certain sins is most closely connected with the state of conscience and the habits observed. It can happen, however, that this admonition ought to precede an explanation of generation.

A disclosure of the maternal office - of procreation from the body of a dear parent, of the long period during which the child is borne not without cares and discomforts, and of his then being brought forth by laborious birth and nourished with maternal milk - appears most efficacious for generating and increasing that affection of piety which is unknown not even to barbarians and which proves so greatly beneficial both to the offspring, to the esteem of the female sex, and to the whole of society. For already from the very conception, gestation, and birth of the offspring, the mother is shown to be worthy of love by an almost irresistible instinct; while the father is rendered worthy of love and confidence less from his active participation in the conception of the offspring than from the providence which he subsequently exercises toward the mother and the children.

193. - 3. Concerning girls who have left the boarding school, this also seems sufficiently evident: it is greatly to be desired that, when they have left the boarding school and are preparing to enter the world, as they say, daughters of honorable condition should then at least, unless they have already learned the matter before, be clearly instructed about human generation either by their mother or by another trustworthy person; and at the same time it appears worthwhile that, unless they have been endowed with a higher vocation, lectures should be given to them even expressly in a higher school about the end, burdens, and sanctity of legitimate love. In this matter we sufficiently approve the various counsels handed down by the noble lady d'Adhémar ²⁰.

²⁰ Nouvelle éducation de la femme, by the Vicomtesse d'Adhémar, part 2, chapters 3 and 4.

For not a few who lead a secular life consume their days in frivolous matters, indeed in vain dreams and dangerous friendships; some appear modest and fearful in a childish manner, others freer through inconsiderate familiarity; they begin to burn with imprudent love toward young men who are little worthy, ignorant of their own rights and ignorant of the manner in which they may fittingly bear a worthy yoke. Hence marriages are contracted which bring them slight hope of a happy and Christian life.

I do not know whether this general norm of conduct could ever have been handed down to young married women who inquired: "Do whatever your husband shall ask." But in present circumstances, when daughters are so often given in marriage to men who honor neither Christ nor morals, that a young man, unless he is known to be distinguished by exceptional gifts and piety, should be proposed as the teacher of conjugal life - this is certainly too much. How many girls piously and delicately formed thence judge themselves compelled to serve foul concupiscences, and, in place of chaste embraces, have found foul carnal commerce and an abject life without decorum, without mutual esteem, empty of merits, and full of wearisome disgust!

In the absence of a school, let certain books be furnished which chastely and clearly explain the ends, dignity, rights, and duties of Christian marriage ²¹.

²¹ Excellent counsels are contained in Father Hoppenot, S.J., Petit catéchisme du mariage, except that he presents in too obscure a manner what is permissible and what is forbidden between spouses. It would perhaps be better if works of this kind had both a physician and a theologian as authors; certain things could be written more securely and would possess greater authority.

194. - 4. On fables. It is also sufficiently agreed that lies are to be avoided. Wherefore Chauvin himself, who attacks disclosures rather strongly, has these words: "Let us resolutely set aside every lie. Above all, the child must not be deceived. His father and his mother most often appear to him as two superior beings, 'two impeccable angels,' according to the expression of Father Gratry: knowing everything and able to do everything. What a misfortune if they were to lose in part a confidence so sweet and so necessary to the success of their mission!" ²².

²² De la préservation morale de l'enfant, p. 70.

Rousseau condemned these lies ²³; Foerster condemns them in Switzerland, Ribbing in Sweden ²⁴, and Renault in Belgium ²⁵.

²³ Émile.

²⁴ In Moll, Handbuch, etc., p. 980.

²⁵ La pureté, p. 41.

Therefore, the foolish fables by which children are said to have sprung from a mysterious plant in a distant region, to have been brought by ship and then exposed for sale in the market, or to have been placed in the hands of their parents by a certain stork, are altogether to be disapproved. It is true, before children begin to ask about these matters, let them learn some formula which is to be explained afterward, yet which is true: "Children have been given to their parents by God the Creator as a blessing of their union."

But what if a boy asks about the origin of infants?

You will observe that a boy asks in two ways. Through his thoughtlessness, a boy, led to it by some accidental occasion, sometimes poses questions which he himself forgets once the occasion has passed; at other times, however, he asks because he has his mind occupied with these things. Questions of the former kind are to be disregarded, with the answer deferred to a more opportune time; but the others are to be satisfied. Wherefore, if he asks in such a way that he seems to pursue the matter mentally by questioning, let the mother disclose his maternal origin to him.

Such an explanation is one which, as Ribbing himself observes ²⁶, allows the mind to remain content for a long time of itself; for, if you add the blessing given by God to marriage, it seems adequate; it is free of every danger of sensuality; indeed, it is useful for increasing the affection of love and confidence with which the boy regards his mother. Once the information has been received, into what words does the boy spontaneously break forth? Several others, following Ernst, relate this ²⁷: "When I had finished" - these are the words of the mother who had explained the matter - "I felt two little arms encircle my neck, and my little boy press himself against me with a 'Dear, dear Mama, how I love you!' His childlike affection was transformed little by little into attentions, cares, and respect, which he has always lavished upon me since. While he was still very little, I accustomed him always to address himself to me when he wished to know or understand something."

²⁶ Loc. cit.

²⁷ For example, Chauvin, op. cit., p. 76.

195. - 5. Let the mother not hesitate to indicate the true reason for the menstrual flow which her daughter has experienced.

But to a son asking about nocturnal pollution, either parent will say that it is natural. Having obtained this occasion, they will repeat the admonition that, also for preserving his strength intact, he should abstain from touches that are insufficiently modest; and that, if he has any doubts, he should question either his parents or his confessors about them.

196. - 6. What is to be said about sins? Let both the confessor, through prudent questioning or from indications in the accusation, and the parents, through attentive observation, as it were accompany the pubescent son. But if any suspicion of either depraved touching or a troubled conscience should deservedly arise, let them give him courage to disclose his doubts and admonish him concerning the obligation of chastity. According to the disposition and age of the son, they will see whether or not the intrinsic rationale of the sin is now to be explained.

197. - 7. There seems to be no reason why a discussion of venereal diseases should be instituted before the humanities have been completed; but it is well that the merit and excellence of chastity, and the injuries of impurity, both physical and moral, be spoken of strongly and even openly in a discourse, in an explanation of the catechism, or when another occasion has been seized.

198. - After the humanities have been completed, it seems that fuller knowledge concerning human generation is to be given spontaneously even to those who do not know: both lest a chaste adolescent incautiously run into dangers, and lest he be mocked because of ingenuous and candid words and thus, conscious of his ignorance, be compelled to act more timidly with his companions and be unable to develop a manly spirit. Furthermore, the chaste young man is then at an age at which, his strength having been established, this knowledge can be called harmless, and at which it is fitting that he learn to pursue virtue with a deliberate mind. Nor does anything prevent - indeed, it is expedient - that certain things concerning venereal diseases should then be mingled in, as a secondary reason on account of which dishonorable embraces are to be avoided.

And thus we have now spoken of the gradual explanation of the mysteries of life.

199. - As for the manner and method:

1. With all Catholics and most prudent writers, a collective or common exposition of the matter in elementary schools (primaires) and middle-grade schools is to be disapproved in itself: both because instruction of this kind cannot be adapted to the variety of pupils, who differ in quality or virtue, cultivation, strength, and necessity; because pupils are thereby almost invited, which is the worst thing, to discuss these matters among themselves after school; and because a prudent exposition presupposes in the teacher an authority and skill which are by no means present in all.

2. Before the humanities have been completed, pamphlets such as the Sex-series, in which the matters are presented rather fully, even with a right intention, are not to be handed to pupils. For why should we now give full knowledge when only partial knowledge, according to the necessity of each, is opportune? Would we not thus again violate the golden rule approved by all: Care must be taken that, during studies, solicitude concerning sexual matters be as slight as possible ²⁸?

²⁸ Ribbing himself, in Moll, Handbuch, etc., p. 896, warns that writings concerning sexual matters, even those composed with the best intention, should not be given to boys to read at the age at which they ought to attend schools.

But pamphlets written wisely and in a Catholic manner can be very useful:

a) For parents, that they may be better instructed in their duties. To them may be commended, for example, Ernst, Elternpflicht, and also the works written by Foerster; for although he is a Protestant, he is imbued with an almost Catholic spirit.

b) For those about to marry, that they may be well instructed concerning conjugal life and its connected obligations. They can be assisted, for example, by the work of Dr. Surbled, La vie à deux - except for the obscure passage about the first copulation "to be prepared little by little" - and by the already cited work of Father Hoppenot, Petit catéchisme du mariage.

c) For adolescents who attend universities. They can use, for example, Guibert, La pureté; Guitton, S.J., De la chasteté. Also to be commended to them are the Lettres à un jeune homme of Father Lacordaire, O.P.

In the pamphlet L'éducation de la pureté. Faut-il parler? Que dire? Comment le dire?, by a Father of the Society of Jesus, a young man who knows nothing and is at that age or in that condition in which all things seem to have to be disclosed to him at once will find a brief, clear, yet decently written exposition of sexual matters.

3. But it pertains both to parents and to the confessor or director of a soul to provide in this matter for the need or utility of private persons. If anyone else should judge it expedient that someone's ignorance be dispelled, let it not be done without the parents' consent; otherwise, they could rightly complain that their province had, as it were, been usurped, and several have in fact complained. But let those who are not yet priests act with the greatest caution; and unless they are governed by the counsel of one much more prudent, for example a superior, let them be silent about these matters and not solicitous.

But private information should be brief, simple, and without apparatus; for apparatus could give occasion for various suspicions. Let the higher end of the functions be treated, and let the adolescent be admonished not to communicate such things to his companions.

It is not necessary to have recourse to written methods concerning these matters. It is enough to attend to a few things. Let the mother, for example, not omit to mention her pains in childbirth, and let her celebrate the wonderful Providence of God.

In explaining generation itself, let the first comparison be taken from plants rather than from brute animals. And in adducing animals it will be useful to emphasize the differences rather than the similarities; but chiefly to show how greatly bestial instinct differs from human love. And one must dwell upon explaining the parts which belong to God, so that it may be thoroughly known why the procreation of a married human being is holy of itself.

200. - But the things said thus far apply chiefly to adolescents who are educated in Catholic secondary schools.

But what is to be said of the others? What of the poor who, in workshops, almost necessarily associate with less good companions and hear their foul conversations?

These are accustomed to be ignorant of nothing concerning the mysteries of life, so that they are rather to be admonished about the vices to be avoided. If any are nevertheless found to be ignorant, it is better that they be taught about the matter.

"It does not appear doubtful to me that a preliminary initiation, not scientific and complete, but individual, prudent, conducted with tact and gravity by a person provided with moral authority, and presenting the mystery of the origins of life in the beauty of the providential plan, will most often, under such conditions, be a force and a benefit.

"It will be a calming influence upon the sensibility and upon the imagination. It will offer noble souls - and they are found everywhere - a higher sphere in which they may escape, at least in part, the surrounding coarseness and sensuality." Thus Chauvin himself, op. cit., p. 88.

We think it especially expedient for these that, even publicly, in schools or youth associations, they be advanced toward the consideration of higher things. Let them learn to admire the work of God in the multiplication of plants; let them become more certain of and be imbued with human dignity; let them know how to flee depraved companions according to their powers; and through positive associations let the good become accustomed to assist the good and to strengthen the fragile. For nothing will benefit them so much as an office assumed of exercising some apostolate for purity.

Therefore, neither here does a public explanation of human generation which is formal or direct seem to pertain to the discipline of purity.

201. - There remains, therefore, this universal conclusion. For enlightening the mind, deterring from dishonor, and exciting the love of chastity, many things can be handed down openly even in schools for boys. But nowhere does the cultivation of chastity command or counsel a public declaration of the mysteries of life, at least so far as concerns the rationale of carnal commerce and human generation. According to age, place, and circumstances, the pupils will be presumed either ignorant of these matters or experienced in them, but they will not be taught them formally in playgrounds or schools.

Nor do we place the hope of purity in disclosure itself as such; but, when prudently made, we admit it as a non-principal part of sexual pedagogy rightly understood, which proposes to assist adolescents by a more ordered method: so that more than now may reach mature age without moral shipwreck. And we approve opportune indications which: a) forestall the disclosures of evil counselors; b) prevent young persons from bearing a mind disturbed by physiological phenomena; c) turn those more exposed and more mature away from illicit commerce; d) raise marriageable girls above the dissipation and dangers of trifles; e) introduce a stronger bond of confidence and love between parents and children; f) render conscious virtue stronger and procure a better understanding of the dignity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the benefit of the Incarnation.

Thus we judge that we have proceeded by a middle way. Lehmkuhl confirms this middle way by his authority in these words: "It is disputed what ought or is fitting to be done concerning the instruction of sons and daughters about the sexual matter, since premature knowledge of these things can be dangerous and can induce sinful inquiry and easily render the incautious exposed to dangers and seduction. This instruction is surely to be given in diverse ways according to diverse circumstances, and is to be left to the vigilance and prudence of parents, lest there be sin toward one side or the other. Although it is fitting that parents communicate to them the general knowledge that the parents are those who gave life to their children, when, after their full use of reason, the occasion presents itself, nevertheless knowledge about the sexual and venereal matter itself, to be given soberly and briefly, is to be deferred until the time when they begin to mature sexually; nor, generally, are they to be left long in ignorance beyond that time. But the purer the education of the mind and the more removed from lubricious imaginations, and the more the cultivation of the body is alien to all softness but rather joined with a moderate hardness, the more happily can holy ignorance of sexual matters be prolonged, and the longer is the puberty of the body itself delayed" ²⁹.

²⁹ Theologia moralis, I, 942.