What servile work is

268. Distinction of works. 1. A threefold kind of works is distinguished: servile, liberal, and middle or common.

Those are called servile which are ordered to the advantages of the body, are exercised chiefly by bodily labor, and were anciently accustomed to be done by slaves, as to plow, dig, sow.

Those are called liberal which are ordered to the utilities of the mind, are exercised chiefly by the powers of the soul, and were accustomed to be done by free men, as to read, teach, study.

Those are called common which serve partly the advantages of the soul, partly of the body, and were exercised promiscuously both by free men and by slaves, as to hunt, play, make a journey.

a. It is clear that servile and liberal works are distinguished from each other from the very end of the work, but not from the intention of the one working, nor from the delay of time, nor from the fatigue of the body; wherefore a servile work does not cease to be servile and prohibited because it is done gratis, or for recreation, or from a holy end, or only for a brief time; and, by equal reason, a liberal work remains liberal and licit, even if it is exercised for pay and profit or from an evil end. Hence, for example, to sew garments is servile, even if with little labor, and to make a journey on foot is liberal or common, even if it is performed with great labor.

b. Which works are servile and which liberal is, indeed, in many cases manifest from their nature; but in others this does not depend upon the nature of the work alone, but much must also be deferred to the custom and estimation of men. Therefore it can happen that a work which in itself is servile is, from the usage and estimation of the faithful, licit; moreover, that what in one place is licitly performed is prohibited in another on feast days.

2. To these are added forensic works, by whose name a twofold kind of actions is designated: a. judicial actions; and b. civil actions or markets; for each is signified by the name of forum: the place where judgments are held, and the place where markets are held.

269. The precept of abstaining from certain works. 1. On Sundays and feasts the following are prohibited: a. servile works, and indeed for the whole day from midnight up to midnight, but not liberal nor common works;¹ b. forensic works: for although these works are not servile, nevertheless they are prohibited by special law,² because on account of the excessive distractions which they bring and on account of the contentions and discords which they are accustomed to cause, they impede religious quiet and application of the mind to divine things.

2. The precept of abstaining from servile and forensic works is of its kind grave. According to the opinion now received, labor of about two hours constitutes grave matter, so that it is a grave sin to labor, whether continuously or interruptedly, when labor much exceeds two hours, that is, two and a half hours, in very servile labor, and labor which extends to about three hours if the labor is of lesser bodily exertion. But in forensic works the gravity of matter is taken not so much from delay of time as from the quality of the work, as if a case were publicly conducted.

He who on a feast day commands six servants to labor for an hour does not sin gravely by himself, because the works of the servants, whether they labor simultaneously or successively, are not joined to form grave matter; but he would sin gravely who on a feast day commanded one servant several times to labor up to grave matter.³

¹ C. Omnes 1, De feriis (II, 9).

² Ibid.

³ St. Alphonsus, n. 206.

270. Servile, liberal, and common works. a. Certainly servile are: rural works, as to plow, dig, sow, reap, etc.; mechanical arts, as the works of masonry, smithery, carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, weaving, sculpture, typography, etc.; labors of workers in factories, mines, foundries, etc.; light manual labors, even if they are done with slight fatigue of the body, as to make rosaries, scapulars, artificial flowers, etc.; likewise to pluck roses, peel fruits, etc.

b. Certainly liberal are works of letters and arts: to devote oneself to the study of letters, to teach, even for pay, to sing, to play musical instruments, to draw (Zeichnen), to write, transcribe, dance, etc.

c. Those which are certainly common are not prohibited, even if they are done with great fatigue of the body: to make a journey on foot, by horse, by carriage, by ship; likewise to hunt, to catch birds, to fish with a hook or reed or small nets, but not with large nets with great apparatus and great labor.

Since to make a journey in whatever way is licit on feast days, all those things also are licit which are necessary for obtaining this end, even if by their nature, as rowing, they are servile. Therefore in our time those labors are licitly undertaken which are necessary for transporting travelers either by railroad or by steamship.

d. There are several works whose character is doubtful: in judging these, attention must be given both to the nature of the work and especially to the custom, whether universal or particular, of the region. And so:

To draw, that is, to draw up plans of buildings (Entwurfe, Bauplane ausarbeiten), is licit, since it is a liberal work, in which the mind is exercised more than the body.

Sculpting is a liberal and licit art only if the matter is one of the final perfection of the work; otherwise, by the common estimation of men, it pertains to the mechanical arts.

To paint with a brush (malen) seems to be a liberal work, because it is ordered more to expressing the conceptions of the mind than to laboring; therefore it is licit to paint on feast days, excepting those actions which are done with much labor, as to mix colors, prepare panels, whitewash walls, and generally those things which constitute the daily labor of craftsmen during the week.

To embroider (sticken) does not seem to be a servile work.¹ Therefore it can be permitted where this work is taken up occasionally and incidentally; but it cannot be permitted where it constitutes daily labor. Other manual works of women, as to knit or crochet (stricken, hakeln), are of themselves servile and prohibited.

Photography seems to be a middle work, excepting the apparatus which is prerequisite and requires much labor.

Typography is certainly a mechanical art; therefore the printing of books is prohibited on feast days, unless necessity excuses, as in the printing of newspapers which must appear daily. Nevertheless there are some who permit the setting of type, unless it is done in a public workshop by many, because it is similar to transcription, which is not prohibited.²

Milling is not licit, since it is a servile work; yet if the mill is driven by wind or water and therefore moderate labor of men is required, with custom acceding, it can be permitted.

¹ St. Alphonsus, n. 281.

² St. Alphonsus, n. 279.

271. Judicial actions. All judicial acts which are done with judicial stir are prohibited, whether the cause is civil or criminal, whether secular or ecclesiastical; but actions which are done without stir are not prohibited.

a. Judicial stir is said to be required in the exercise of contentious jurisdiction, namely where a judicial process is instituted, but not in the exercise of voluntary jurisdiction, as is to dispense, absolve, etc.

b. The prohibited judicial acts, in which the judicial stir itself consists, are: to summon the parties, examine witnesses, demand a judicial oath, pronounce or execute sentence. Actions which are done without stir are these: to consult an advocate, inform a judge, interpose an appeal, etc. Judicial actions are not only prohibited, but also annulled; but markets are only prohibited.¹

¹ C. Conquestus 5, De feriis (II, 9).

272. Civil actions or markets. By this name two things are prohibited: public fairs and the act of trading, that is, contracts of buying, selling, leasing, etc. Hence by law not only all markets, both annual and weekly, but also all contracts of buying, selling, leasing are interdicted. But from present-day custom those things which follow are to be observed.

a. Annual fairs (Jahrmarkte), in which things are sold which the day before are brought to the place of the fair, are licit on feast days where the custom exists.

Weekly markets (Wochenmarkte) are prohibited;¹ wherefore if a feast day falls on the day of markets, these ought to be anticipated or transferred after the feast day; yet if the magistrate establishes otherwise, the faithful are excused on account of necessity.

Public sales by auction are not licit; nevertheless in some places they are tolerated after the divine offices have been completed, on account of the greater concourse of buyers.

Private sales, not only of those things which pertain to daily use but also of other things, even if they require much time, are licit by custom; but sales in public shops are prohibited. Wherefore merchants ought to close shops on feast days, unless a contrary custom prevails somewhere. For in very many places a custom has prevailed of opening shops for a time, both so that those things may be sold which are required for daily use, and in favor especially of those buyers who are unable to approach shops on other days.

b. Solemn contracts of selling, buying, leasing, etc., namely those which are made with instruments drawn up by notaries and with public authority, are prohibited on feast days, unless by contrary custom they are licit.

Private contracts of selling, etc., which are made without public instruments by private authority, are permitted by universal custom; thus everywhere on feast days workers are hired, beasts of burden are bought, horses are sold, houses are leased, etc.; indeed, according to the testimony of St. Alphonsus (n. 286), custom bears that contracts are celebrated even through instruments, as betrothals, sales, testaments, etc.

From these things it is now gathered what must be said about the acts of notaries. Namely, contracts of selling, leasing, etc., on feast days are of themselves prohibited under the name of market; gradually by custom it has come about that contracts of this sort without instruments and without the public authority of a notary were licitly entered into; finally custom has effected that contracts can be celebrated even with instruments drawn up by notaries, provided judicial stir is not required.

¹ Constit. Ab eo tempore of Benedict XIV, 5 Nov. 1745, n. 26.

IN order that all, and especially the poor, may have the opportunity of fulfilling their religious duties, the Church has forbidden servile work to be done on Sunday. Servile work is the rougher and harder sort of manual labour which is done by common workmen and labourers, and which used to be done by slaves. It comprises ploughing, digging, building, sewing, and similar occupations. It is distinguished from liberal and from mixed work. Liberal work is done mainly by the intellect, and comprises writing, studying, painting, and so forth. Mixed work comprises a class of occupations which are neither exclusively liberal nor servile, but which are done indifferently by all conditions of men. In this class are hunting, fishing, travelling, and similar occupations. Of these only servile work is forbidden on Sundays, and in determining what is servile work, and therefore forbidden, we must consider not only the nature of the work itself, but also the way in which it is done, the light in which it is commonly regarded, and other circumstances. Thus it is usually held that although the rougher work of the sculptor is servile and unlawful, the more delicate is liberal and may be done on a Sunday. Similarly, fishing with rod and line is not unlawful, but going out to sea with a fishing-smack and plying the trade in the ordinary working-day way is forbidden. In the same way one who lives by photography should not ply his trade on a Sunday, but it would not be wrong for an amateur to do the same work on that day by way of recreation and amusement.

This part of the precept of keeping the Sunday holy also binds under pain of grave sin. If, however, the matter be light, the doing of a little servile work on a Sunday will be only a venial sin, and none at all if there be good reason for it. According to the common opinion, it would be necessary to work for well over two hours at something which is forbidden in order to commit a grave sin. Still longer time would be required for a mortal sin in doing servile work of a lighter kind, which had for it some sort of excuse on the ground that it helps on the cause of religion and charity. Making rosary beads or scapulars belongs to this category.

What works are prohibited on a feast day? - On a feast day all servile works, that is, labors, are prohibited. Thus the doctors commonly from C. 1, de Feriis.

A servile work is one which is chiefly exercised by bodily powers, immediately serves the convenience of the body, and regularly is usually done by servants. Therefore a servile work depends not only on the intrinsic nature of the work, but also and especially on the custom and estimation of men. A servile work is contradistinguished from a liberal work, which depends especially on the powers of the soul, immediately serves the convenience of the soul, and regularly is usually done by masters. But there is a middle work between servile and liberal, which can serve the convenience both of the soul and of the body, and is usually done both by servants and by masters. Of the first kind are plowing, sewing, and other mechanical works; of the second are studying, teaching, writing, singing, and other liberal works; but of the third kind are hunting, fishing, making a journey, and similar common works.

A work which of its own nature is liberal does not become servile because it is done for gain; nor does that which of its own nature is servile become liberal because it is done without pay. The same must be said whether the work is done with this or that pious, vain, or base intention. It is also irrelevant whether it is done with fatigue and labor or not; whether for a brief or long time, for contracted wages, or for the sake of recreation, etc., because none of these changes the nature of the work. Of its own nature; for since in fact in this matter the common opinion and estimation of men has very great force, as is drawn from the very definition of servile work, hence it happens that the extrinsic element of gratuity of the work, for example, can sometimes be present, at least so that there be some greater reason for excusing. And thus also to fish, for example, if it is done for the sake of recreation with a rod or light net, is usually held common and is permitted; although it is judged servile and is not licit if it is done for acquiring gain with great apparatus and labor. L. 272-274, 278; Struggl 7; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 122, a. 4 ad 3; E. M.

You will resolve: It is licit on a feast day not only to write, but also to transcribe, even if this is done for wages, and whether someone writes with a pen or with the American machine commonly in use. It is probably also licit on a feast day for printers to arrange type, because the work seems to pertain to the mind in the same way as the preceding writing, although it is done with greater bodily fatigue. But if it is exercised in a public workshop by many, by reason of the base apparatus and common estimation, it is held as servile work. Moreover, scandal can easily also be present. But the printing of books is altogether illicit, as being a work altogether servile. L. 278, 279, 292; Struggl 8; Laymann 3.

It is sufficiently probable that it is licit on a feast day to paint, and much more to draw, yet excluding great apparatus and labor, for example, mixing colors, planing boards, etc. For if the action is not liberal, it certainly is a middle action, and common to servants and free persons, while we often commonly observe noble men not blushing to learn and exercise this art of painting. Hence girls are also excused who with a needle reproduce images on cloth; and likewise those exercising the photographic art, unless it is done with base apparatus. But to sculpt, says St. Alphonsus, is commonly, at least in the estimation of men, numbered among the mechanical arts. "Yet Sporer excepts when goldsmiths sculpt very delicate things in moderate matter, in which almost no labor of the body, but the whole labor of mind and skill, intervenes." Struggl 8; L. 280, 283; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 212, a. 4 ad 3. "It is licit on a feast day to hunt, to catch birds, and to fish, without great apparatus and for the sake of recreation. The reason is that similar things, with greater apparatus and labor set aside, are not servile works, but common to masters and servants. Indeed similar things, if they are done without great apparatus, are also licit from custom, even if they are done for the sake of gain. But if they are done with great apparatus and labor, they are servile and illicit." Struggl 8; L. 283.

It is licit on a feast day to make a journey on foot, by bicycle, horse, carriage, automobile, ship, litter, railway, airplane, dirigible, etc. The reason for this is that making a journey is not a servile work, but natural and common to all men. Thus the doctors commonly; and besides, universal custom so has it. Moreover, by this very fact that it is licit to make a journey on a feast day in the aforesaid ways, it is also licit to perform the works which are necessary and conducive to this, as for example, to prepare horses, to join a carriage, to carry a litter, and to draw oars in water. The reason is that the accessory follows the nature of its principal. Struggl 8; L. 275.

Sanchez grants that it is licit to grind on feasts "if it is a mill which is driven by water or wind; but not if it is driven by beasts, and in which great labor and occupation is required. From which doctrine Tamburini, n. 14, and La-Croix, n. 578, sufficiently probably infer that when the cooperation and application of man is moderate, it is not illicit, at least gravely, even to grind with beasts." L. 277. Likewise distillation is licit if, without base apparatus and not in a public workshop, it is done for physical experiment, or without fatigue of the body. L. 328.

What is grave matter in servile work? - For mortal sin labor less than two hours does not suffice. This is proved: 1. because even two hours are in reality a moderate part of the day, as being a twelfth. 2. Because theologians commonly think so. Struggl 12; L. 305.

What more determinately is grave matter in servile work performed on feast days? - If the works greatly fatigue the body and are very servile, such as cutting stones, digging earth, etc., according to the more probable and more common opinion, it is not a mortal sin unless someone labors much beyond two hours, say two and a half hours, or at least somewhat more than two hours, or certainly completes two hours, which limits of time St. Alphonsus, n. 305, H. A. 25, La-Croix 594, etc., generally establish as commonly received. Nor indeed are there lacking theologians who require three hours, speaking generally, for grave fault. "It seems hard," says Busembaum cited by St. Alphonsus, n. 305, "to condemn as mortal if someone spends two or three hours."

If the works are lighter and not very servile, for example, making artificial flowers, a greater space of time is required for grave matter than in laborious and very servile works, as St. Alphonsus, n. 282, hands down. If, in carrying out servile works, another excusing element enters in, for example, necessity in those laborious works, piety in other lighter works, by making scapulars, for example, or rosaries, then as a greater reason for permitting such works is present, so also there is a greater reason for permitting them for a greater space of time. L. 293; H. A. 25. But this must be noted as to these lighter works: that piety can favor them only when they are undertaken merely without pay and merely for fostering piety. For if they are done for wages, now those works are altogether servile, as being mercenary, nor does piety raise them to pious works. And this is confirmed by the common custom and sense of the faithful.

You will resolve: As to those who drive carts or loaded beasts on a feast day, "the more probable opinion, at least today, judges that it is altogether licit not only to continue a journey begun, but also to begin one. The reason is that in such labor muleteers do not spend a notable time; and, if sometimes it is notable, they are excused either on account of avoiding grave harm, or on account of public utility, or finally because universal custom is present, which Mazzotta deservedly asserts to be present. And he says the same about sailors." L. 276.

He who on a feast day commands six servants to labor for an hour, more probably does not per se sin gravely, because the works of the servants, whether they labor simultaneously or successively, do not coalesce into one in order to form grave matter. And indeed each one sins only venially, if no cause is present excusing them. L. 306.

354. • Three kinds of works must be distinguished: 1. servile works, or works of the body ¹, which are accustomed to be done by servants or hirelings; 2. liberal works, or works of the mind, which are ordinarily exercised by free persons; 3. common or natural works, which are done indiscriminately by all. Forensic works also are distinguished, which pertain to the judicial forum or to the market. - St. Alphonsus, n. 272.

¹ Understand by works of the body those which both serve the utility of the body and are exercised by the powers of the body rather than of the mind. But works of the mind are those which are performed rather by the powers of the mind and tend rather to cultivating the mind. Yet this distinction does not contribute very much to defining what is lawful or not lawful. For in this matter much must be deferred to custom, by which it also happens that things which are lawfully performed in one place are not without reproach and offense in another.

Meanwhile this must generally be laid down in advance, that the character of a servile work must be drawn neither from the intention, nor from the profit received, nor indeed from the fatigue of the body. Thus to plow another's field will be servile, although it is done from mere charity and entirely gratuitously; on the contrary, playing the organ or dancing will not be servile, however long and laborious, nor transcription prolonged for the whole day for the sake of profit.

355. Principles. - I. Properly so-called servile works are prohibited per se under grave obligation to all the faithful on whole feast days, that is, through the whole natural day, from midnight to midnight. This is clear from canon law, c. 3, de Feriis, from custom and the perpetual practice of the Church ².

² Nevertheless the Church, as a benign mother, that she might reconcile divine worship with the temporal utility of the faithful, has from time to time indulged in some places that on certain feast days servile works could be exercised after Mass had been heard. - See St. Alphonsus (lib. 3, n. 268).

II. Forensic works also are prohibited, namely forensic actions which are held with judicial apparatus, such as to interrogate the parties, to hear witnesses and advocates, to render sentence, etc. Thus from canon law, ibid. ³. Yet except if sometimes a criminal cause already begun cannot be interrupted without grave inconvenience or damage. - St. Alphonsus, n. 284.

³ Indeed from canon law (c. Conquestus 5, De Feriis) judicial acts held on a feast day are declared void.

Moreover, both the cause of necessity, as the Author adds, and also that of piety excuses. Causes of necessity are had: 1. if a thing or action would perish with time; 2. when the debtor is suspected of flight, squandering, or deterioration of the thing concerning which he is to be sued; 3. if the litigating parties, as poor and rustic men generally are, cannot appear or be called into court on other days without notable inconvenience; 4. if proceedings must be taken against robbers, and there is danger in delay (from L. Provinciarum 10, C. De Feriis), lest the "betrayal of the counsels" of criminals, as the law has it, be delayed; 5. if, on account of the atrocity of the crime, for the example and terror of others, it would be of public interest that the delinquent be publicly punished in a great concourse of people; 6. when there is danger of public or private damage, spiritual or corporal; because damage of this sort imposes moral necessity, and necessity has no law.

But by reason of piety and mercy, on feast days there can be expedited: 1. causes concerning food, prisoners, wards, widows, the poor, and the miserable; because in works of mercy a distinction of days is not to be had, as the gloss has at the final chapter, h.t., v. Pietas; 2. when otherwise, if cognizance of the cause were deferred, a pious cause would suffer inconvenience; because the highest reason is that which acts on behalf of Religion; 3. when piety and observance toward one's homeland requires this; 4. if the cause is matrimonial, and danger of incontinence is present unless judgment is made on feast days concerning the validity of the marriage and of the impediment; 5. on any holiday whatsoever, those things can be expedited which pertain to peace and concord; whence at the same time transactions and pacts can also be made. - Thus Schmalzgrueber (lib. 2, tit. 9, n. 52-55).

III. By the same law markets, fairs, public sales, and other similar things which are done with noise are prohibited. Nevertheless fairs appointed for a certain day are excepted, by reason of generally received custom, if they fall on a feast day. - Thus Benedict XIV declared, Const. Ab eo tempore, etc. - See St. Alphonsus, n. 286.

IV. Liberal works, common works, and some works which seem servile but are required for daily use, sustenance, necessity, and the disposition of the body, clothing, or house, are lawful; such as to cook foods, make beds, sweep the house, and other things which either cannot conveniently be deferred or anticipated, or are not accustomed to be so ⁴. Thus from common practice and the sense of all.

⁴ Here a subtle inquiry must be avoided, whether in matters of this sort something perhaps can be anticipated or deferred, lest we decline to empty observances of Judaism.

356. Resolves. - 1. Rural works are prohibited on feast days, such as to plow, dig up the earth, sow, reap, tend vines, etc. Likewise the works of mechanical arts, for example masonry, smithing, carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, roofing, etc. Likewise most works which serve the typographic art. They probably except the setting of characters. - Elbel, n. 401. - Laymann. - Sporer. - Tamburini. - St. Alphonsus, n. 282.

2. Likewise it is not lawful to make certain things which require light labor and which are accustomed to be made by Nuns, for example rosaries, scapulars, wax images, artificial flowers, etc.; because these in common usage are numbered among servile works. Yet since these labors and other similar ones are rather light, and do not greatly occupy the mind nor greatly fatigue the body, according to several authors they can be permitted, provided they are not prolonged beyond two hours. Similarly the same Doctors excuse maidservants who are occupied in plucking roses or peeling apples, even when urgent necessity is excluded. - Thus Elbel, n. 408, Bonacina, Filiucci, etc. - But it seems rather that it must be said that in these works a greater space of time is required for lethal fault to be present. Thus St. Alphonsus opines, n. 282. - Yet they are not to be charged with any fault who spend a short time in such occupations ⁵.

⁵ Here you have examples of opinions which, not without reason, you may think can scarcely, or not even scarcely, be reduced to common and received principles. For what does the fatigue of the body or the occupation of the mind contribute to the question of servile work? Is it that because the body is very lightly fatigued and the mind is occupied in nothing while spinning or knitting stockings with the hands, the work will be called less servile? Besides, if the work is not servile, why will it be permitted for only two hours? But if it is servile, why will it be free from fault to spend two hours on it? Therefore these things are better explained by reason of custom, which teaches the practice of observing precepts, and indeed legitimately establishes it.

But as regards scapulars or rosaries, another element enters besides, namely piety, if these labors are undertaken gratuitously and in a manner directed to fostering piety. In this matter custom and the sense of the faithful contradict the principle which we touched on above, namely that it makes no difference whether something is done gratuitously or for the sake of profit. For here there holds what, according to the sense of the faithful, must also be admitted concerning sacred vestments or certain ornaments of the Church to be made on a feast day: that these things are lawful if done gratuitously and for the honor of God; not lawful if they are done by an artisan for pay. And the reason is that in the one case a mere work of piety appears, but in the other by no means.

3. By received custom, foods, drinks, shoes, candles, cloth for making clothes, and other things of this sort are lawfully sold and bought in public shops. Yet merchants ought to close their shops ⁶, so that they may show that they distinguish the Lord's day from other days.

⁶ In these things also custom claims very much for itself, and there is varied necessity according to varied places, and from this also varied diocesan laws congruent with the necessities of the place.

4. Houses, horses, cattle, and other merchandise, whether present or absent, whether in small or in great quantity, are lawfully sold and bought, even if notable time is spent on this, provided these things are done among private persons ⁷.

⁷ The precept of not celebrating contracts, concerning which St. Alphonsus, lib. 3, n. 286, mentions a decree of St. Pius V and of the Congregation of Rites, has been derogated by custom, as Schmalzgrueber well observes (lib. 2, tit. 9, n. 23). Indeed St. Alphonsus notes (l.c.) that custom allows contracts not only to be celebrated privately, but also by instruments, provided they do not require judicial noise, for example testaments, instruments of betrothals, of sales, etc.; although he observes that in some places Notaries are accustomed to seek a general license for this, which otherwise is commonly granted. But again, also in these matters the customs of each place will have to be considered.

5. Public sales under the spear, after the divine Offices have been performed, are also tolerated in some places; because on other days there would be fewer persons coming together, etc. Likewise it is tolerated that merchants of things of small moment, in French petits merciers, carry goods from one place to another, show them, and sell them. - Bouvier.

357. Questions. - Q. 1. Whether it is lawful to write or transcribe on a feast day?

Resp. to the first. It is affirmed, because this work is wholly liberal, since in it the mind chiefly acts. - Thus all.

Resp. to the second. It is affirmed, also more probably, because to transcribe, like to write, is ordered to instructing the mind. - Thus commonly with St. Alphonsus, n. 279, against Billuart and others.

Hence 1. it is also lawful to sketch out the designs of craftsmen and builders, and to form musical notes. - Elbel, n. 400, and others.

2. Likewise it is also permitted to correct books, whether this is done by deleting lines, or by placing glued paper over them. For although this may seem servile, nevertheless it is accessory, since it is done accidentally by the one correcting. - Elbel, n. 401, etc.

Q. 2. Whether it is lawful to sculpt or to paint?

Resp. to the first. No, per se, because sculpture is commonly held among the mechanical arts. - St. Alphonsus, n. 281; Hom. apost., n. 10. - Yet probably an exception must be made if there is question only of the perfection of the work.

Resp. to the second. It is disputed.

The first opinion affirms, because painting is a liberal art, or at least midway between liberal and servile arts; for it is something very similar to writing, provided nevertheless that the painting is done without great labor, such as would be had by mixing colors, preparing panels, etc. - Thus Laymann, Azor, Sporer, etc.

The second opinion denies, because it cannot be called a liberal action, since it is not directed, as writing is, to cultivating the mind, and because to paint is almost the same as to sculpt, which is a servile work. - Thus the Salamancans, Sanchez, Suarez, etc. - St. Alphonsus, n. 280, rightly calls each opinion probable ⁸.

⁸ The probability of the first opinion, which affirms, is freely conceded even by those authors who followed the negative opinion: and therefore it is certain that it is not clear that that work is servile and prohibited.

Yet something in this matter also seems to have to be deferred to common sense, which exhibits custom, the best interpreter of laws. Now the common sense of the faithful, while it generally does not condemn the work of painting as servile, nevertheless abhors that apparatus which displays the hired labor of an artisan, especially in decorating walls with some ornament, as they say.

358. • Q. 3. Whether it is lawful to paint images with a needle?

Resp. It is disputed. Many excuse it: for this is referred more to exercising ingenuity than to laboring. - St. Alphonsus, n. 281. - Sporer, n. 45, etc.

Q. 4. Whether it is lawful to hunt and to fish?

Resp. It is affirmed. Because these are not servile works, and they are tolerated by custom, provided they are not done with great labor, exertion, noise, or apparatus. - St. Alphonsus, n. 283, and others commonly against a few.

Q. 5. Whether it is lawful to make a journey on foot, by horse, by carriage? - Likewise whether it is lawful to lead a carriage or laden beasts?

Resp. to the first. It is affirmed, as is plainly clear from universal practice. The opposite opinion must be left behind as antiquated, says St. Alphonsus, n. 275, after Roncaglia. Likewise it is lawful to use a litter carried by men, where such a custom flourishes. - St. Alphonsus, ibid.

Resp. to the second. It is disputed, outside the case of necessity. The opinion now more probable affirms that it is lawful, not only for continuing a journey begun, but also for beginning it, provided that for loading the carriage an immense and long labor is not required; yet from this labor there easily excuses either the cause of avoiding grave damage, or of procuring public utility, or custom, which perhaps has prevailed in a contrary direction in some place. - St. Alphonsus, n. 276.

Q. 6. Whether it is lawful to grind on a feast day?

Resp. It is affirmed more probably, if the mill is turned by water or wind, because little or almost no labor of men is required. But otherwise if it is driven by beasts, unless the cooperation of the man is slight. - St. Alphonsus, n. 277. - Lacroix, n. 578. - Tamburini, etc.

359. • Q. 7. Whether it is lawful for barbers to shave the beard on a feast day?

Resp. It is affirmed. The reason is drawn: 1. from general custom ⁹; 2. because for the most part only on feast days do workmen, and especially rustics, seek the shops so that their beard may be shaved. Therefore if barbers did not furnish their work to those requesting it, these men would be left to their great detriment. - Thus Viva, Tamburini, Gousset, Bouvier, etc.

⁹ ** Here what St. Alphonsus (lib. 3, n. 290) has concerning these customs is not to be omitted. "It must be noted," he says, "concerning custom, what Viva says, namely that a probable custom suffices for excusing; for, as the Salamancans say with Salas, Granada, etc., the saying of one distinguished doctor, even a modern one, who adduces a custom, suffices. But Mazzotta well observes that in doubt concerning custom the precept possesses, whence a dispensation must be sought; otherwise, if it is probable that the custom is present." Therefore in this place he seems to depart from that principle which they call of possession, concerning which see also the observations of the VV. above in the note to Q. 5, n. 79.

Q. 8. What matter is grave in a work performed on feast days?

Resp. Many require at least three hours. St. Alphonsus, n. 305, after bringing forward several opinions, inclines more to the opinion of Lacroix, generally concluding that the more common and more probable opinion now is that it is not mortal unless one works at least much beyond two hours, say two and a half hours. - And in Homo apostolicus, n. 25, he adds with Mazzotta that even a greater space of time is excused by some necessity. He adds, n. 307, that in forensic and judicial matters the quantity of matter is not drawn from the quantity of time, but from the quality of the work.

Q. 9. Whether he sins gravely who on a feast day commands six servants to work for an hour?

Resp. No, more probably per se, whether the servants work simultaneously or successively, because the works of the servants are not united into one, and each sins only venially; therefore the master inducing them to a work forbidden under venial fault sins only venially. - St. Alphonsus, n. 306, and others more commonly.

1038. On Sundays and feast days, servile and forensic works are prohibited, throughout the whole day from midnight to midnight, and indeed of themselves under grave sin. Matter is judged grave when labor is prolonged beyond two hours.

1. So that it may be better understood what servile works are, theologians are accustomed to distinguish a threefold genus of works: (a) servile, so called because they were formerly exercised by servants, are those which are performed chiefly by bodily labor and are immediately ordered to the utility of the body, such as plowing, digging, sewing; (b) liberal, so called because they were accustomed to be exercised by free men, are those which proceed chiefly from the mind and regard the cultivation of the soul, such as reading, teaching, singing, playing the organ; (c) common, or intermediate, which were done indiscriminately by servants and free men, and serve either the body or the soul, for example, making a journey, hunting, playing.

1039. (A) But what works are servile in species must be defined not from the intention of the worker, the length of time, or bodily fatigue, but from the nature itself of the work, custom, and the estimation of prudent men.

Thus the following are certainly servile: rural works, such as plowing, sowing, digging, collecting the harvest; - mechanical works, for example, the exercise of the tailor's, shoemaker's, or blacksmith's art; - industrial works in factories, mines; - certain manual works, even if they demand modest labor, for example, making rosaries, scapulars, or artificial flowers, picking roses, peeling apples. - On the contrary, those works are not forbidden which are done daily on account of some necessity, such as cooking foods, making beds, sweeping the house, etc.

But there are many works whose character remains doubtful in itself, and can be determined only from circumstances and custom: - to sculpt is a liberal and licit work if there is question of the final perfection of the work, but is held as mechanical work if wood or marble is first cut. - To paint with a brush is a liberal work when there is question of a truly artistic painting, but a servile work if walls are painted, as is done by ordinary workmen. To embroider can be held as a liberal work if it is done for the sake of recreation, or for avoiding idleness, but as servile if directly for the sake of gain. - To fish is not prohibited if it is done for the sake of recreation, otherwise when it is exercised for gain. - To set type, if it is done privately, seems to certain persons a liberal work, because it does not differ much from writing, but it is servile when in a workshop, for the sake of gain. - To grind is in itself a servile work, but if the mill is driven by wind, water, or steam, with slight labor of man, it is held by some as licit.

In these and other works of this kind, in our judgment, all those ought to be held as prohibited which, from common estimation, are judged to be the exercise of a lucrative art, which of itself turns the mind away from the sanctification of Sunday.

Certainly liberal are works which regard the cultivation of letters, sciences, or liberal arts, even if they are exercised for pay, such as teaching, writing, transcribing, drawing, singing, playing the organ or other musical instruments, etc. - Certainly common, and therefore not prohibited in themselves, are these and similar works: making a journey on foot, on horseback, by carriage, ship, railroad; hunting, bird-catching, fishing with a hook or small nets for the sake of recreation, etc. - These works are licit in themselves, unless from common persuasion they are held as prohibited; but to be occupied in the same for the whole day, so that Sunday is in no way sanctified, is a grave sin.

3. In regard to Sunday rest the Church forbids:

a) Servile labor (opera servilia), i. e., the rough and harder sort of manual work which is ordinarily done by common workmen and which used to be done by slaves. This prohibition is based on the very object for which the Sunday observance was instituted. The day could not be devoted to the service of God were men to engage in their usual pursuits.¹⁴

¹⁴ Lev. XXIII, 25; Ex. XX, 8 sqq.—Cat. Rom., P. III, c. 4, qu. 21: “By these words we are first instructed altogether to avoid whatever things can hinder divine worship. For it can easily be perceived that every kind of servile work is prohibited, not indeed because it is shameful or evil in its own nature, but because it draws our mind away from divine worship, which is the end of the precept.”

Any work that is in itself servile, retains this characteristic even if performed for pleasure or to while away the time.’ Contrariwise, any occupation that is not in itself servile, does not become such if performed for material gain or accompanied by bodily fatigue, for the intention of the doer does not change the nature of the work.¹⁵

¹⁵ H. Busembaum, S.J., Medulla Theol. Mor., l. III, tr. 3, c. 1, dub. 1, resp. I, n. 1: “Whether it is done for profit or recreation, with this or that intention—pious, vain, or shameful—is irrelevant to the nature of servile work.”—Ibid., n. 2: “It is likewise irrelevant whether it is done with fatigue and labor or not, whether for a short or a long time, etc., because none of these things changes the nature of the work.”

Opposed to servile labor, and consequently permitted on Sundays, are (1) the so-called opera liberalia or artes liberales, i. e., all work predominantly intellectual and aiming at the development of the mind, such as reading, writing, instructing others, etc.; (2) the so-called opera media sive communia, mixed work which serves both the bodily and the spiritual interests of man, such as traveling, fishing, hunting, etc.; (3) do- mestic labors (opera domestica) that cannot be postponed or performed in advance, such as cooking food, feeding cattle, and so forth.

In determining what is servile work and therefore forbidden, says Fr. Slater, “we must consider not only the nature of the work itself, but also the way in which it is done, the light in which it is commonly regarded, and other circumstances. Thus it is usually held that although the rougher work of the sculptor is servile and unlawful, the more delicate is liberal and may be done on a Sunday. Similarly, fishing with rod and line is not unlawful, but going out to sea with a fishing smack and plying the trade in the ordinary working-day way is forbidden. In the same way one who lives by photography should not ply his trade on a Sunday, but it would not be wrong for an amateur to do the same work on that day by way of recreation and amusement.”¹⁶

¹⁶ A Manual of Moral Theology, I, 264 sq.

The exercise of the barber’s trade is generally regarded as licit on Sunday because it appertains to the necessary care of the body. Barbers are not, however, on that account dispensed from hearing Mass. One compelled to stay away from Mass would be bound in conscience to look for another position and meanwhile would be excused from hearing Mass only in case obedience to the law of the Church would be likely to cost him his job.

It is to be regretted that so many men are now-a-days compelled to work on Sunday, often under conditions which make it impossible for them to go to church. Thus the Lord’s Day is withdrawn from its sublime purpose and degraded to profane and worldly uses.

The inhabitants of large cities should by all means be given an opportunity to get out into the open and enjoy nature, and the farmer has the right occasionally to visit the city on Sunday without incurring loss of time or money. Traveling is a biological necessity that does not, in itself, contravene the commandment of keeping holy the Sabbath day.

658. Preliminary notes. 1. A threefold genus of works is usually distinguished, namely: a) Servile works, which are exercised by the body and immediately ordered to the utility of the body, as to dig, to sew, etc.; they are called servile because they are accustomed to be done by slaves. Among these certain ones are less servile, as is explained n. 659, 3. b) Liberal works, which proceed chiefly from the soul and look to cultivating the mind, as to read, to teach, to sing, to play organs; they are called liberal because they are exercised by free men. c) Common or middle works, which are accustomed to be done indiscriminately by free men and slaves, as to make a journey, to hunt, etc.

To these are added d) Forensic works, which look to the market, or to the forum concerning decisions of cases, such as citation of parties, compilation of the process, examination of witnesses, etc., which are prohibited by special law.

2. To judge the servile character of the work of which there is question, attention must be given primarily to the nature of the work, and this is the positive, primary mark of works prohibited on the Lord's day. Do not attend to the negative mark, namely whether the work is done for the sake of gain or recreation, with fatigue or not, for a brief or long time. Thus, for example, to knit stockings by hand, which of itself is servile, is not so grave to the body as to play organs, which is liberal. Attention must also be given to the common estimation which brings decisive weight for many works of doubtful nature; or to other adjuncts, for example to the vile apparatus of the work.

Therefore a fourfold genus of principles must be brought forward: concerning servile, forensic, liberal, and common works.

659. PRINCIPLES. I. Of themselves, all servile works are forbidden on Lord's days and feast days. This is established from what was said n. 656. - Read what St. Alphonsus wisely admonishes (l. c.) that you may know what works are reputed as servile. Let each person also consult the particular responses which are given in the periodicals of each region. For there much attention is given to local customs.

Hence there are forbidden: 1. Rural works, as to plow, to sow, to gather the harvest, etc. Likewise works of mechanical arts, as of the tailor's, shoemaker's, carpenter's, mason's, blacksmith's, typographical art, etc. Several authors admit that typographical characters can licitly be arranged, led by this reason, that such occupation is similar to writing. Nevertheless, if it is exercised in a public workshop by many, by reason of the servile apparatus and common estimation, it is held as servile.

2. Likewise the work of grinding is forbidden, if the mill is worked with beasts and requires much cooperation of man for itself; but not if the mill is turned by water or wind or electrical force. To skin larger beasts; to exercise the work of a butcher; to hunt, to cast a net with many accompanying; to bake bread, in a case in which the baker can provide for himself on the preceding day: these are numbered among servile works.² Measurement of fields, distillation, are judged servile if they are done with great apparatus, after the manner of fulfilling a duty (Ami du Cl., 1903, p. 637).

3. By the nature of the work there is forbidden the making of rosaries, wax images, artificial flowers, but not artistically arranged ones; cf. Ami du Cl., 1902, p. 40; multiplication of copies, polycopy, if it lasts long; labor with a hook, crocheting, travail au crochet, hakeln. But such occupations are less servile, and participate somewhat in the nature of liberal works. Therefore, that there be grave matter, a greater space of time is required. Indeed, with some cause, they will be able to be permitted without any fault, if they are continued for a short time, or at least not beyond two hours, says St. Alphonsus (l. c.). Indeed, custom acceding, such things, since they require very little apparatus, can become licit even without cause. Say the same of plucking roses, peeling fruits, drawing musical lines, threading gems onto a string for making a necklace, and similar lighter labors, at least if they are not done for as long a time as on a weekday.

660. II. Forensic works are forbidden, that is, judicial actions and markets. This is established from the last c. de Feriis.

Therefore there are forbidden: 1. Judicial actions, namely those which regard any litigious cases whatsoever, where judicial process, judicial apparatus, and noise are required. Hence it is not licit to cite the accused, examine witnesses, receive a judicial oath, pronounce or execute a sentence, unless necessity or piety demands otherwise. But the exercise of voluntary jurisdiction is not forbidden; whence it is licit: to excommunicate, to dispense, to confer benefices; to make testaments, to consult an advocate, to inform a judge privately, and to complete other similar acts before a notary which lack judicial noise (III, 284, 287).

2. Markets, namely those which are held with noise, or in public shops, because they greatly distract the soul and turn it away from the sanctification of feasts. Yet annual fairs affixed to a certain day are permitted when they fall on a feast day. As regards weekly markets, these of themselves are prohibited; except in those places where a legitimate custom is in force, as Benedict XIV declared (Const. Ab eo tempore, of the year 1745; III, 285). Also permitted are sales and purchases of houses, horses, merchandise, etc., among private persons. Indeed, in certain places, after the divine offices have been completed, public sales under the spear, auctions, are tolerated, because on other days fewer buyers would come together. Also tolerated in most places are sales in shops which are opened very early in the morning so that things necessary for daily use can be bought.

661. III. Liberal works are not forbidden. This is established from the absence of a prohibitive law and from the practice of the timorous.

Hence: 1. It is licit on feast days to devote oneself to the study of letters, to teach, to sing, to play musical instruments, to draw, to write, indeed to transcribe, or to use a typewriter (III, 278; Ami du Cl., 1908, p. 399).

2. It does not seem illicit to PAINT; for painting, provided there is not notable labor in preparing colors and panels, seems rather a liberal than a servile work, since the mind of the painter works more than the hand (III, 280; H. Ap., VI, 10).

Nor similarly does the photographic art seem illicit, unless it requires many preparations. Thus Berardi (Prax. conf., 372); D'Annibale (III, n. 121).

3. According to several, it is licit for women to paint images with a needle: for this, they say, is referred more to exercising ingenuity than to working. But others excuse girls painting with a needle, that they may learn, or that they may avoid idleness.

4. On the contrary, it is not licit to sculpt; for the sculptural art, at least in the estimation of men, is numbered among the mechanical arts. Except, if it is a question of the final perfection of the work (III, 281).

662. IV. Common works are not forbidden, provided they are not done with great labor, noise, or apparatus. This is established from universal practice.

Hence: 1. It is licit to make a journey on foot, by horse, carriage, or ship; whence even the things necessary for these are licit, although perhaps they are servile, for example to row. 2. It is likewise licit to hunt, fish, catch birds, unless this is done with great labor, noise, etc. (III, 274, 283).

663. Questions. QUES. 1. What matter is judged GRAVE in prohibited works?

Resp. 1. If it is a question of servile works, some say grave matter is three hours: which opinion is too lax. Others say one hour, which from the other side is too rigid. Others judge two hours, whether continuous or interrupted, and this especially if the labor is very servile, as to dig earth, cut stones, etc. Yet there are many others who require something more for mortal sin, namely two and a half hours: which opinion, as more common and more probable, as Croix has it, has now been received.³ 2. If it is a question of forensic and judicial works, the gravity of matter is to be taken not so much from quantity of time as from the quality of the work; for here the solemnity of the act is rather attended to (III, 307).

QUES. 2. Whether he sins gravely who on a feast day commands six servants to labor for an hour?

Resp. Negatively, more probably, whether they labor at the same time or successively; because, since the individual servants sin only venially, the master also inducing them to labor sins only venially. "Otherwise it would certainly be if the master should command one servant to labor several times on a feast day up to grave matter." Likewise, by reason of scandal, labor protracted for half an hour can be grave matter (III, 306; ed. G., I, p. 568).

If it is a question of non-baptized servants, recall what was said n. 653.

QUES. 3. What in doubt whether a work is servile?

Resp. It is a doubt concerning the extension, and therefore concerning the existence of the law, whence liberty possesses.

410. • Works of three kinds must be distinguished: 1° servile works or works of the body, or those which both serve the utility of the body and are exercised rather by the powers of the body than of the mind, and are called servile because they are customarily done by servants or hirelings; 2° works of the mind, which are performed rather by the powers of the mind and pertain to cultivating the mind, and are called liberal because ordinarily they are exercised by free persons; 3° common or intermediate works, which are done indiscriminately by all. Forensic works are also distinguished, which look to the judicial forum or to the market.²

Meanwhile this must generally be set down beforehand: that the nature of servile work is to be taken neither from the intention, nor from the profit received, indeed neither from bodily fatigue. Thus it will be servile to plow another's field, although this is done from mere charity and altogether gratis; on the contrary, the playing of organs, or dancing, will not be servile, however long-lasting and laborious, nor will transcription be servile when prolonged through the whole day for the sake of gain.

411. Principles. - I. Properly so-called servile works are prohibited of themselves under grave sin to all the faithful on entire feast days, that is, through the whole natural day, from midnight to midnight. This is established from Canon Law,¹ from the custom and perpetual practice of the Church.

II. Forensic works also are prohibited, namely forensic actions which are had with judicial apparatus, as to interrogate parties, hear witnesses and advocates, pass sentence, etc. Thus from Canon Law.²

III. By the same law markets, fairs, public sales, and other similar things which are done with noise are prohibited. Yet fairs constituted for a certain day are excepted where legitimate custom is in force, if they fall on a feast day. - Thus Benedict XIV declared,³ St. Alphonsus.⁴

IV. Liberal works, common works, and some works which seem servile but are required for daily use, food, necessity, and the disposition of the body, clothing, or house, are licit, as to cook food, spread beds, sweep the house, and other things which conveniently either cannot or are not customarily deferred or anticipated. Thus from common practice and the judgment of all.

412. You will resolve. - 1° Rural works are prohibited on feast days, as to plow, dig the earth, sow, reap, cultivate vineyards, etc. Likewise works of the mechanical arts, for example of masonry, ironwork, carpentry, tailoring, cobbling, roofing, etc. Likewise most works which serve the typographical art. They probably except the setting of type. - Elbel,⁵ Laymann, Sporer, Tamburini, St. Alphonsus.⁶

2° Likewise it is not licit to make certain things which require light labor and which are customarily made by Nuns, for example rosaries, scapulars, wax images, artificial flowers, etc.; because these in common use are counted among servile works. Nevertheless, since those works and similar others are rather light, according to several authors they can be permitted, provided they are not prolonged beyond two hours. Similarly the same Doctors excuse maidservants who are occupied in plucking roses or peeling apples, even with urgent necessity excluded. - Thus Elbel,⁷ Bonacina, Filliuccius, etc. - But it seems rather that it must be said that in these works a greater space of time is required for lethal fault to be present. Thus St. Alphonsus opines.¹ - Yet they are not to be accused of any fault who are occupied with such occupations for a slight time.

3° Licitly, where custom has prevailed, food, drink, shoes, candles, cloths for making clothing, and other things of this kind are secretly sold and bought in public shops. Nevertheless merchants are exposed to the danger of penalties established by the civil laws of this region. As to innkeepers, see what was said n. 310. e) and 408. 10°.

4° Houses, horses, oxen, and other goods are licitly sold and bought, whether present or absent, whether in a small or great quantity, even if notable time is spent in this, provided these things are done among private persons. Yet by our civil law contracts are generally rescindable if they are entered into on Sundays.

413. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Is it licit to write or transcribe on a feast day?

Resp. to the first. Affirmatively, because this work is altogether liberal, since in it the mind principally acts. - Thus all.

Resp. to the second. Affirmatively, also more probably, because to transcribe, like to write, is ordered to instructing the mind. - Thus commonly with St. Alphonsus,² against Billuart and others.

Hence 1° it is also licit to draw out the designs of artisans and craftsmen, to form musical notes. - Elbel.³

2° Likewise it is permitted also to correct books, whether this is done by deleting lines or by placing glued paper over them. For although this seems servile, nevertheless it is accessory, since it is done accidentally by the corrector himself. - Elbel,⁴ etc.

Quaer. 2° Is it licit to carve or paint?

Resp. to the first. Negatively, of itself, because sculpture is commonly held among mechanical arts.⁵ - Yet probably an exception must be made if there is question only of the perfection of the work.

Resp. to the second. It is disputed.

The FIRST OPINION affirms, because painting is a liberal art, or at least intermediate between liberal and servile arts; for it is something very similar to writing, provided nevertheless that painting is done without great labor, such as would be had by mixing colors, preparing tablets, etc. - Thus Laymann, Azor, Sporer, etc.

The SECOND OPINION denies, because the action cannot be called liberal, since it is not directed, as writing is, to cultivating the mind, and because painting is almost the same as sculpture, which is a servile work. - Thus the Salmanticenses, Sanchez, Suarez, etc. - St. Alphonsus deservedly calls each opinion probable. What I have said about painting, I would say the same about photography.

414. • Quaer. 3° Is it licit to embroider images with a needle?

Resp. It is disputed. Many excuse it; for this is referred more to exercising ingenuity than to working.¹ - Sporer.²

Quaer. 4° Is it licit to hunt and fish?

Resp. Affirmatively, because these are not servile works, and they are tolerated by custom, provided they are not done with great labor, effort, noise, or apparatus. St. Alphonsus,⁴ and others commonly against a few.

Quaer. 5° Is it licit to make a journey on foot, by horse, by carriage? - Likewise is it licit to lead a loaded carriage or beasts of burden or ships?

Resp. to the first. Affirmatively, as is openly established from universal practice. The opposite opinion must be left as antiquated, says St. Alphonsus,⁵ after Ronesglia.

Resp. to the second. It is disputed, outside the case of necessity. The opinion now more probable affirms that it is licit, not only for continuing a journey begun, but also for beginning it, provided enormous and long-lasting labor is not required for loading the carriage; from which labor, however, the cause of avoiding grave damage, or of procuring public utility, or custom which perhaps has prevailed somewhere to the contrary, easily excuses.⁶

Quaer. 6° Is it licit to grind on a feast day?

Resp. Affirmatively, more probably, if the mill is turned by water or wind, because little or almost no labor of men is required. But otherwise if it is driven by beasts, unless the cooperation of man is slight. - St. Alphonsus, pace Tamburini, etc.⁷

415. • Quaer. 7° Is it licit for barbers to shave beards on a feast day?

Resp. Affirmatively, with a law prohibiting it and which is commonly observed excluded. The reason is drawn: 1° from general custom; 2° because generally only on feast days do workmen and especially country people seek the shops so that their beard may be shaved. Therefore if barbers did not furnish service to these asking, they would be left with great detriment to themselves. - Thus St. Alphonsus,¹ Viva, Tamburini, Gousset, Bouvier, etc. - I said: with a law prohibiting it and which is COMMONLY OBSERVED excluded. For if it is not commonly observed, the reasons recur because of which it is licit.

Quaer. 8° What matter is grave in work performed on feast days?

Resp. Many require at least three hours. St. Alphonsus,² several opinions having been brought forward, approaches more the opinion of Lacroix generally concluding that the more common and more probable opinion now is that it is not mortal unless one labors at least much beyond two hours, say two and a half hours. - And in the Homo Apostolicus,³ he says with Mazzotta that even a greater space of time is excused by some necessity. He adds,⁴ in forensic and judicial matters the quantity of matter is taken not from the quantity of time, but from the quality of the work.

Quaer. 9° Does he sin gravely who on a feast day orders six servants to work for an hour?

Resp. Negatively, more probably of itself, whether the servants work simultaneously or successively, because the works of servants are not united into one, and the individual servants sin only venially; therefore the master inducing them to the work forbidden under venial fault sins only venially. - St. Alphonsus,⁵ and others more commonly.

686. Servile works to be avoided are those which a) are performed principally by the powers of the body, and b) tend immediately to bodily use, and therefore c) formerly were usually exercised by servants, now by domestics and workers. They are opposed to liberal works, which principally tend to the powers of the soul, or at least to cultivating the soul, and which are usually exercised by free men or masters, or by all indiscriminately. From this definition it is plain that there are no common works; nor does a work become servile because it is exercised for the sake of profit, or for a long time and with great bodily weariness, or vice versa; but the matter depends upon the nature of the work and its intrinsic end.

According to the aforesaid definition, liberal works are: works which regard the exercise of letters or sciences: studying, reading, teaching, disputing, preaching, writing or transcribing, by hand or machine, even for profit; - works of the liberal arts, such as singing, playing musical instruments, painting artistically, sculpting more subtle works or completing greater ones, delineating figures, exercising the photographic art unless it is done with great apparatus; - making a journey and all things which are necessary for this: arranging and guiding horses, preparing a vehicle, carrying baggage, the labor of coachmen, sailors, and attendants of railway carriages; - engaging in bodily games: military, nautical, theatrical, dancing; - hunting, fowling, and fishing, unless they are done with great apparatus (for example, at sea) or labor; - banquets, feasts, drinking-parties, conversations, etc.

On the contrary, servile works are: rural works, such as plowing, digging, sowing, reaping, gathering harvests, cultivating vineyards, cutting trees, measuring fields, plucking or peeling fruits; - works of the mechanical arts: masonry, smithing, carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, roofing, weaving, typography even in composing type, which is not immediately ordered to the expression of concepts but to the printing of letters or forms; - drawing musical lines, multiplying transcriptions, for example, polycopy; - labors in factories, mines, foundries; exercising the works of a butcher and skinning beasts, baking bread, making distillations of liquors with great apparatus; - painting not artistically, or preparing colors, a board, or a wall for artistic painting with notable labor, doing preparatory works of greater labor or works pertaining to sculpture; - women's works, such as spinning, sewing, making netted or checked work, weaving by hand, making lacework, - indeed, embroidering images with a needle or reproducing them on cloth, not only by means of a machine but also by hand, unless it is done with singular art; in which case one must still beware lest women think any ornaments whatever are lawful; - stringing gems on thread, making rosaries, scapulars, cords, artificial flowers, images of wax, silk, paper, etc.; - and more probably: driving loaded beasts of burden, or with their help loaded wagons and ships, and a fortiori, placing burdens on beasts, wagons, or a ship; likewise grinding, etc.; but in these things the custom of places is to be considered.¹

¹ Custom is not to be understood of great workshops in which there is no less labor than elsewhere.

The FIRST opinion is that the extrinsic end of the worker makes liberal works servile, and that they are forbidden on the feast day. So hold many interpreters of Canon and civil Law on cap. 1. de Feriis, and on leg. omnes Iudices, Cod. de Feriis, and others, as Angel. and Rosella, Tabiena V. Feria, Richardus 3. dist. 37. art. 2. quaest. 4. Sylvester under the word Dominica, quaest. 4.

The SECOND opinion is that no liberal work directed to gain thereby becomes servile. So hold very many: Caietanus 2. 2. quaest. 122. art. 4. and in summa, v. Festorum violatio, Sotus lib. 2. de Iustitia, quaest. 4. art. 4. Navar. in manuali lat. cap. 13. Tolet. lib. 4. summa, cap. 24. Sayrus lib. 7. cap. 2. Philiarchus part. 2. lib. 3. cap. 23. Fum. V. fest. num. 23. Medin. Instruct. lib. 1. cap. 24. quaest. 1. Lopez Instit. p. p. cap. 52. Bonacina tom. 2. disp. 5. quaest. unic. puncto 2. num. 25. Laym. lib. 4. tract. 7. cap. 2. num. 3. P. Eligius Bassaeus V. festum, 2. num. 8. Azor 2. part. Inst. lib. 1. cap. 28. quaestio 1. Suarez tract. 1. de Rel. lib. 2. de festis, cap. 19. Fagundez on the first precept of the Church, lib. 1. cap. 10. This is the opinion of D. Bonaventure sermone 4. in decem praecepta, about the middle, where he adds that some mechanical works too are lawful for pleasure, and that no servile work is forbidden if elsewhere necessity or a just excusing cause occurs: to this Suarez subscribes.

I ASSERT with this opinion that a liberal work, with gain superadded, does not for that reason become servile.

It is PROVED from D. Bonaventure loco cit. and in 3. dist. 37. dub. 3. and in serm. 2. Sabbathi sancti: For God professes to forbid only work servile by its very nature: but an extrinsic end does not make servile that which is not intrinsically such; otherwise all the sciences and liberal arts would at once become mechanical from the end of the one who knows or learns them, which is exploded by the Philosophers. For the reason of liberality is taken from the end of the art, not from the extraneous end of the craftsman.

The ARGUMENTS on the contrary side collapse, by denying that those works become servile from an extrinsic end of mechanical gain. See Fagundez.

A servile work can thus be described by St. Bonaventure, serm. 4. in decem praecepta, et in 3. dist. 37. dub. 3. litt. D. Thom. ibidem art. 5. quaest. 2. ad 2. whom Suarez follows, Tom. 1. de Relig. lib. 2. de diebus festis, cap. 10. Fagundez in primum Eccl. praeceptum, lib. 1. cap. 10. num. 6. Servile works are those to whose exercise the mechanical arts are directed, distinct from the liberal arts. Others add, besides these, that we are accustomed also to employ and assign servants. D. Bonaventure: etiam servos adhibere, et deputare solemus. — "we are accustomed also to employ and assign servants."

THEREFORE not all bodily works are servile, but only those exercised by the mechanical arts, and those which are habitually done by servants, according to some; but of this I shall speak below.

The holy Doctor admirably enumerates the mechanical arts, and their sufficient enumeration, in the Opusculo, Reductio artium ad Theologiam, et serm. 4. in decem praecepta, together with Hugh of St. Victor lib. 2. Didasc. cap. 22.

SEVEN therefore are counted: wool-working, armor-making, agriculture, hunting, navigation, the theatrical art, medicine.

He sets out their sufficiency thus: every mechanical art is either for solace, whether to banish sadness or need; or for utility, whether it benefits or delights. If it is for solace and delight, then it is the theatrical art, which is the art of games, containing every kind of game, whether in songs, or in instruments, or in images, or in gestures of the body.

But if it is ordered to utility, or the profit of the outward man, this can be either with respect to covering, or with respect to nourishment, or with respect to both supports. If it is with respect to covering: either that is of soft and gentle material, and so it is wool-working, linen-working, and silk-working; or it is of strong material, and so it is armor-making, or the smith's art of all arms for defense and offense, whether of metal, or wood, or stone, as ramparts, towers, etc. walls, citadels, houses. But if they help with respect to nourishment, this can be twofold, because we are fed by vegetables and by sentient things. If with respect to vegetables, it is agriculture. If with respect to sentient things, then it is hunting, fishing, fowling. Or in another way: because helping with respect to food can be twofold, either with respect to the generation and multiplication of foods, and so it is the cultivation of fields; or with respect to the preparation of foods, and so it is hunting, fowling, fishing, and every preparatory art of foods; such as are those of bakers, cooks, innkeepers. All these are included under the name of hunting, on account of its preeminent excellence in preparing choice and abundant fare. But if toward both supports, this is twofold: either by supplying a lack, and so it is navigation, under which is contained all commerce, whether of things pertaining to covering or to nourishment; or by removing impediments, such as harms; and so it is medicine, whether that which consists in the compounding of electuaries, potions, ointments by the apothecaries (who also prepare spices and the like for the wholesome seasoning of foods;) so too surgery is ordered to the care of wounds, incision, etc. But the theatrical art is unique. This St. Bonaventure sets forth in the cited opuscule.

From which the holy Doctor deduces that not only those works are mechanical which we are accustomed to perform through servants, but also certain others, such as hunting, fishing, fowling, which are also practiced by nobles, to which add playing musical instruments, preparing foods, etc., as Fagundez also concedes cap. 11. num. 1. Wherefore he does not rightly place, cap. 10., in the definition of a mechanical work, that it is exercised by servants. Better are almost all mechanical works called servile, because servants are employed for them, at least for some of them. So in hunting, stretching the nets, etc.; rather are they called mixed and common. There are also certain others which are reduced to works of the soul, such as reading, writing, studying, and transcribing: there are yet others, though not servile, nevertheless forbidden by the Church, namely markets and the exercises of the forum.

Of all these I shall treat briefly here.

The holy Doctor asserts first, serm. 4. citato, that merely servile works are forbidden, necessity being set aside.

It is proved from Exodus 20, Levit. 23 and other passages cited, quaest. 4. There follow D. Thom. 1. 2. quaest. 122. art. 4. ad 3. D. Antonin. 2. part. tit. 9. cap. 7. §. Quantum ad tertium, Alens. 3. part. quaest. 32. memb. 4. art. 4. Richardus 3. dist. 37. art. 2. quaest. 5. Angel. and Tabien. see Feriae, Sylvester see Dominica, quaest. 3. Toletus lib. 4. cap. 24. Clavis Reg. lib. 7. cap. 1. Suarez Tom. 1. de relig. lib. 2. de diebus Festis, cap. 20. Fagundez lib. 1. cap. 11. and commonly the rest, collected by Bassaeus, see Festum 2.

He asserts secondly that certain servile works are permitted on a feast day on account of ordinary necessity, such as cooking and preparing foods. Although so many labors in the seasoning and preparation of foods were not in use in ancient times, yet they are now permitted by custom, as Suarez notes cap. 21. Fagundez cap. 10. in fine, et cap. 11. a num. 19. The reason of D. Bonaventure is, because necessity is not bound by laws; these are natural works, not simply servile, and necessary for living.

In the same way, and advancing further, are the works necessary in the medical art.

Nor do other works of nature press less, such as eating, drinking, clothing oneself, undressing, washing oneself, etc. So also Suarez num. 2. Fagundez num. 9. cap. 11. Bassaeus loco cit. and others among them.

Likewise making a journey is necessary, not servile, whether on foot or on horseback. So Angel. see Feriae, num. 15. Rosella num. 26. Azor below, Suarez loco cit. num. 27. Diana part. 4. tract. 4. miscel. resol. 221. Per accidens, however, it can be forbidden, if it is done with great labor in procuring a horse, a carriage, etc. So Azor Tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 27. quaesito 8. Suarez loco cit. and others: and Caietanus quaest. 121. art. 4. Sà in Aphorism. see Festum, say these are servile works; but permitted by custom; and Sà adds, when accompanied by much baggage: Fagundez indeed num. 9. says this is to be understood when a Prince or Prelate makes the journey. Diana moreover adds p. p. tract. 15. resol. 36. et part. 2. tract. 1. miscellaneor. resol. 36. et 4. part. tract. 4. resol. 221. that grooms and the like can, without mortal sin, having heard Mass, lead laden beasts of burden, indeed even load them. Nevertheless, if in loading they spend a notable time, which must exceed two hours, it will be a mortal sin. So also others with Bassaeus num. 10.

But sweeping the whole house for many hours is forbidden, says Fagundez.

The holy Doctor asserts thirdly that certain mechanical arts instituted for mere pleasure are licit on a feast. But he calls these the moderate theatrical art, such as song and instrumental music. The reason is, because the Church permits them on account of our infirmity. So also Fagundez cap. 10. Tolet. lib. 4. cap. 24. Tannerus disp. 5. quaest. 6. num. 7. and others among them, and Bonacina punct. 2. num. 25. Bassaeus 2. num. 10.

IT IS DOUBTED: Whether on these days fishing, hunting, fowling, and the like are licit.

The first opinion is that such works are liberal, if done on feast days for recreation. So Angelus, see Feriae, num. 26. Sylvester, see Dominica, numero 7. Sotus lib. 2. de Iustitia, quaest. 4. art. 4. Rosella, see Feriae, num. 15. and others collected by Azor part. 1. lib. 1. cap. 27. quaesito 7. But Granado 2. 2. tract. 12. disp. 14. sect. 7. num. 65. following Medina, Navarro, and Lopez adds, that neither hunting done for gain, etc. is a servile work, and says that only that fishing is servile which consists in carrying nets, rowing, and performing similar labor. Filliucius indeed teaches tom. 2. tract. 27. cap. 9. num. 172. that hunting and fishing as an office, which consist wholly in the weariness of the body, are servile, not that which is devoted to recreation. Azor loco cit. subscribes; all are cited by Diana part. 4. Tract. 4. miscell. resol. 222. and he attends to those who disagree. Almost subscribes Bassaeus num. 12.

The second opinion judges altogether that hunting, etc. is a servile work. So Suarez cap. 28. Fagundez lib. 1. cap. 11. num. 16. Yet by reason of custom it is licit to hunt, but not to fish, unless on account of urgent necessity. Toletus indeed lib. 1. cap. 24. Caietanus art. 4. quaest. 122. Sotus above, all say that by custom all are licit.

The holy Doctor serm. citato, better than all, says that hunting, etc. is indeed a servile and forbidden work, yet that with respect to those things ordered to sustenance it is licit, for instance, to catch a hare on that day.

That they are servile works is proved from Dialectic, where among the mechanical arts even servile ones are counted. It is confirmed, because they consist in great labor. That they are also illicit is proved from cap. licet, de feriis.

That they are licit with respect to sustenance is proved, because just as seasonings for preparing are licit, so is preparing what is to be seasoned. For they are natural works, necessary in this respect.

IT IS DOUBTED secondly: Whether barbers may shave beards on feasts.

Diana answers p. p. Tract. 15. miscell. resol. 54. that on account of the parvity of matter they do not sin if they shave the beard of one or another, and he cites Graffius decis. part. 1. lib. II. cap. 23. Navarr. cap. 13. Vega Tom. 1. cap. 114. casu 2. Rodriguez tract. 1. c. 21. Sayrus lib. VII. cap. 2. Molfesius Tom. 1. tract. 11. cap. 17. num. 68. Azor lib. I. cap. 28. quaestio 5. Tom. 2. He adds, if they shave all who come, they are excused by reason of custom, if it exists; for since the things forbidden on a feast day were introduced by human custom, nothing prevents their being removed by a contrary custom, tolerated by prelates, as Sotus and Caietanus note, cited by Reginaldus tom. 2. lib. XIX. cap. 3. and others, cited in the Clavis Regiae lib. VII. cap. 2. Fernandez adds, in exam. part. 1. cap. 7. that they are also excused for another reason, namely cessation of gain, because on weekdays, on account of occupations, they do not come for haircutting; and he relies on cap. licet, where the Pontiff grants fishing for herrings on feasts for this cause: But I say with Reginaldus Tom. 2. lib. XIX. cap. ciu. num. 51. Suarez cap. 33. Diana above, that the reason is unlike; for that fishing is granted because it occurs at a fixed season of the year and passes; but it is not the same with daily hair-cutting; otherwise it will be licit to frequent almost all servile works.

Indeed Fagundez lib. I. cap. 14. with others says, that one hour will be light, if they cut hair on one or another feast; but if they continue on every feast, it will be lethal, by reason of the continuation of matter. But this is not proved to me, for the time of one hour of this Sunday is not continued with the hour of the future Sunday.

IT IS DOUBTED thirdly: Whether it is licit to paint on a feast day.

Ludovicus Lopez p. p. Institut. cap. 25. Medina Instruct. lib. I. cap. 14. assert that it is licit even for gain.

Others deny that it is licit for gain, but only without gain. So Azor Tom. 2. lib. II. cap. 27. quaestio 6. Sylvester, see Dominica, quaest. 5. Armill. see Festum, Angelus, Rosella, Tabiena, under the word feria, Saytus lib. VII. cap. 2. num. 16. and others cited by Pasqualigo decis. 142.

Suarez cap. 26. Caietanus art. 4. Fagundez cap. 11. num. 10. judge the art of painting to be mechanical and altogether forbidden; who, num. 13., proclaims it altogether prohibited, even gratis. And so they reprehend this license: for painting is a mechanical art in itself, nor does it change its nature from an extrinsic liberal end, as I said above, as Fagundez notes loco citato, and Bassaeus num. 7.

Nor does it help that certain nobles sometimes exercise it; for this is per accidens.

You will ask fourthly: Whether fighting (bellari) is forbidden on a feast day.

It is answered, that it is a mechanical work. So Suarez cap. 28. Fagundez num. 12. with D. Bonaventure serm. 4. citato, and the Opusc. Reductio artium ad Theol. For the military art is mechanical, as is clear from Dialectic. Yet it seems to have been introduced by custom, that the art of fencing may be licitly learned on feast days.

Yet acts of warring can be licit on account of necessity, as is clear from cap. Quod non licet, de reg. iuris, in 6. where among the things not licit on a feast day is placed military action, unless on account of necessity. See the Doctors in Bassaeus num. 13.

A truly defensive war is licit, of which is understood leg. omnes Iudices, Cod. de feriis, et leg. Divus, ff. de feriis. But an aggressive one is not ordinarily licit, unless through Epikeia in a just war there be an occasion of victory.

You will ask fifthly: Whether transcribing is forbidden on a feast.

1. What sort of work is forbidden on days of obligation?

Servile work, or that which used to be done by slaves, and which is now done by servants and laborers, and which chiefly employs strength of body, is forbidden on days of obligation. Common estimation and custom also have weight in deciding what is servile work. Mental or artistic work, usually done by a higher class of society, is not forbidden. Nor are occupations forbidden which are common to all ranks of society, such as traveling. But besides servile work, public buying and selling, taking oaths, and giving sentence in courts of justice, are also prohibited.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. i, p. 264.