Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume I › Book II. On the Exercise of the Christian Life, or on the Cultivation of the Virtues › Treatise II. On the Cultivation of the Moral Virtues › Dissertation I. On the Precepts of the Decalogue › Part II. On the Second Precept of the Decalogue › Section II. On the Vow

Chapter — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Chapter I. On the Notion, Division, and Morality of a Vow

639.

I. Notion. A vow strictly so called is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible and better good (can. 1307, § 1). It is said:

  1. Promise, that is, the giving of faith, from which an obligation of faith arises. Therefore a vow differs from a mere proposal or will of doing something; indeed, a promise of doing something can be composed with the proposal of not doing it.

  2. Deliberate and free; these will be explained more opportunely soon.

  3. Made to God; a promise made to the Saints, if it rests in them, is not a vow strictly so called or an act of latria, but of dulia or hyperdulia. Nevertheless the promises which are said to be made to the Saints, as it seems, are commonly vows strictly so called, because for the most part they are made to God alone in honor of a Saint, or at least are primarily referred to God (St. Alphonsus, III, 194; cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 88, a. 5, ad 3).

  4. Concerning a possible and better good; these also will soon be clarified.

VowsWhat a vow is

640.

II. Division. A vow is divided:

  1. Into public and private. A public vow is one which is accepted in the name of the Church by a legitimate ecclesiastical Superior; otherwise it is private.

  2. Into solemn and simple. A solemn vow is one which has been recognized by the Church as such; otherwise it is simple.

  3. Into reserved and non-reserved. A reserved vow is one whose dispensation only the Apostolic See can grant; otherwise it is non-reserved.

  4. Into personal, real, and mixed, according as an action of the one vowing, or some thing, or both together, for example alms to be distributed by the one vowing, is promised.

  5. Into explicit and implicit, according as it is emitted in proper terms, or is contained in another act or vow, or is judged annexed to it.

  6. Into perpetual and temporary.

  7. Into absolute and conditional, according as someone obliges himself absolutely, or dependently on some condition: either a condition suspensive of the obligation, as if someone vows entrance into Religion if he recovers health; or resolutory, as if someone vows entrance into Religion unless his sister enters marriage (St. Alphonsus, III, 195).

VowsWhat a vow is

641.

III. Morality. A vow is an honorable act. This is established against Wyclif; likewise against Luther and Calvin, who hold as honorable only vows concerning things already otherwise prescribed; finally against those who at least disapprove religious vows.3 But the honorableness of a vow is clear: 1. from Sacred Scripture, which commends the making of vows both expressly4 and by narrating the examples of holy persons;5 2. from the fact that a vow, by inducing an obligation, confirms the will in good.

1 Cf. Waffelaert, Confessarius rite institutus ad impugnandam blasphemiam; Aertnys, De imprecatione "Deus damnet"; Brahm, Dissertatio de formula: G. v. d., Deus damnet me.

2 Cf. Kirchberg, De voti natura, obligatione, honestate.

3 Letter of Leo XIII, Testem benevolentiae, January 22, 1899.

4 Ps. 75:12.

5 Gen. 28:20; Acts 18:18.

VowsWhat a vow is