States of Christian Life and Vocation, According to the Doctors and Theologians of the Church/Part 1/Section 2/ARTICLE I. The State of Tendency to Perfection, or the Religious State/CHAPTER IX. OPPOSITION TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.
CHAPTER IX. OPPOSITION TO THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.[edit]
HAVING anathematized those who oblige women to enter religion, the holy Council of Trent also subjects to a like anathema those " who shall, in any way, without a just cause, hinder the holy wish of virgins or other women to take the veil, or make their vows."[1] This excommunication was incurred by the employment of fraud or violence, not by promises or entreaties.[2] The penalty would not fall on persons dissuading from entering a religious congregation, because the legislator had in view only properly called religious orders.[3]
But this wise rigor of the Church shows very well that it is criminal to throw unjust obstacles in the way of religious vocations. "I am of opinion," says Suarez, " that he who deceives another in order to turn him away from the religious life, sins mortally. He commits a grave injustice in reference to the one he deceives, and sometimes in reference also to the community from which he keeps the person. Fraud is in itself bad and hurtful to the neighbor, particularly when there is question of giving counsels. And, indeed, he who undertakes the office of counsellor, by the very fact binds himself, by a species of tacit contract, to give sincere counsel ; and this obligation grows weightier when the counsel given has reference to morals, and when deceit leads the neighbor to great losses. Now, all this takes place in the point under consideration. I do not hesitate to say that in such a matter fraud involves serious injustice. The religious state is not, indeed, necessary for salvation, still that does not change the question ; nor does it hinder him who is deprived of it against his will by unlawful means, from suffering great harm. This or that office or benefice is not necessary for salvation, nor even at times for this present life ; and yet there is no doubt that it is a heinous injustice fraudulently to hinder another from obtaining such office or benefice. With much more reason, then, is this doctrine true when similar means are employed to turn a person away from the religious state."[4] And this sin, already grievous in itself, may become still more so, if, for instance, in order to keep one fraudulently from religion, a person were to heinously slander the religious life in general, or some order in particular. This sin is committed, not only by deceiving him who seeks counsel, but also when of our own accord we take upon ourselves to give bad advice to others, to deceive them and thus stifle their holy intentions. For the malice of this sin does not principally consist in making an ill use of the office of adviser, though this circumstance also increases the sin in no small degree, but it consists rather in a fraud that entails much harm for our neighbor.[5]
But what are we to think of those who, seeking without just reason, to divert others from embracing the religious life, employ, not violence or falsehood, but mere promises and entreaties? St. Liguori will inform us. Here is what we read in his work called " Practice of Confession : " " If the intention of him who desires to become a religious is good, and if he is under no impediment, neither the confessor nor any one else can, as St. Thomas teaches, without grievous sin, hinder or divert a penitent from following that calling, though prudence may sometimes counsel delay in the execution of the purpose, in order better to test the firmness and perseverance of the aspirant in his resolution."[6] It is clear that this sin, which is grievous for all, would be still more so for those who have charge of souls, and who, for that very reason, are bound by their office to promote the spiritual progress of souls. The same inference will appear in greater evidence from the following passage which we extract from the larger work of the saint on Moral Theology. Having said that no one excuses from grievous sin parents who, by threats, violence, or fraud, unjustly dissuade their children from entering the religious state, the holy bishop continues : " We must at all events admit, for it is the common teaching of theologians, that those parents sin mortally who turn away their children from the religious life, whether by fraud and violence, by entreaties, promises, or in any other manner." The saint then cites twenty theologians who hold this view, and goes on : " Many of these authors look upon as guilty of grievous sin, not parents only, but even strangers, who divert others from the religious life. My view is, that parents in this case are guilty of another sin against the duty of their state ; for they are bound, under pain of grievous sin, to promote the spiritual advancement of their children."[7] Hence God sometimes chastises in this life this sinful opposition to his purposes. " Many young men," says St. Liguori again, " have lost their vocation through the fault of their parents ; and not only have they come themselves to a bad end, but they have brought ruin on their families. A young man, influenced by his father, was unfaithful to his religious vocation ; later he had violent quarrels with his father, in one of which he killed him, and afterward met death himself on a scaffold. How many equally tragic examples could we not cite? However, I do not say that many parents, at least where their opposition is of short duration, may not be free from mortal sin on account of their ignorance or inadvertence. Their excessive natural love for their children may easily keep their duty out of sight."[8]
But how can ignorance excuse before God those who are acquainted with the teachings of theology on this subject? Here the remark of Lessius naturally finds its place. Speaking of parents who disinherit their children that wish to enter religion, and oblige them to give up their legitimate rights, he says : " Such action is illicit and unjust, whether we consider the counsels of Jesus Christ and the divine right which follows from them, or whether we view the civil law, the canon law, the teaching of the fathers of the Church, and the reasons that condemn so odious a practice. "[9]
Already, in the fourth century, St. Ambrose complained bitterly that mothers, and, what is still worse, widowed mothers, feared to see in their daughters zeal for virginity vowed to God. " If your daughters," said he, " wished to love a man, the law would allow them to choose the one most acceptable to them : and will it not then be allowed them who can choose a man to choose a God?"[10] Then addressing the children of these women, the holy doctor exhorts them not to entertain too great a fear of being disinherited by their parents : " They will refuse you a dower, but your spouse is rich ; and rejoicing in his treasures, you can readily forego a paternal inheritance. Is not poverty, when combined with chastity, above all the dowers of earth ? Besides, have you ever heard that love of virtue ever caused a young woman to be disinherited ? Your parents, indeed, oppose you, but they are willing to be worsted in the contest. They resist your holy desires, which they are afraid to believe in ; they often grow indignant with you, that you may learn to overcome all obstacles to your purpose."[11] Frequently, indeed, the threats of parents are barren of results; and the same parents end by greater fondness for those very children who, in spite of them, have devoted their lives to God. St. John Chrysostom will soon give us evidence of this fact. Indeed, parents would incur no guilt if they opposed the vocation of their children for just reasons : as, for instance, in a case where their entrance into religion would leave parents in great destitution, or expose a family of high social position to extinction. " However, I am of opinion," says St. Liguori, " that in this latter case a child would not be bound for such a motive to renounce his vocation."[12] Here we see that the law of God and the teaching of the saints respect the rights of parents as well as those of children, and protect the interests of both with equal care.
St. Chrysostom has written admirable pages of exhortation to parents, in order to induce them to sacrifice generously to God even their only child in case he should call for it. With vehement logic he proves to them that in the cloister their children will be more truly rich, more esteemed, less liable to sickness, more powerful, and freer, than they could be in the world.[13] He also adds that in the religious life they will feel greater respect for their parents. " The religious," says he, " who is so good and gentle to all, will not be wanting in the tenderest veneration for his father. Had he been raised to some high office in the world, who knows whether he would not have despised that same father? But in the career which he has chosen, a career that raises him above kings, he will be in his parents presence the most dutiful of children. In the world, perhaps, he would have coveted riches, and for that reason would have been anxious for you to die; now, on the contrary, he begs of God that your life may be prolonged for many years. Had he even to lay down his own life to save yours, he would not refuse the sacrifice ; for he serves and obeys you, not from the law of nature alone, but, above all, out of obedience to God, for whose sake he has trampled on every earthly advantage. Why, then, I ask, do you complain? Is it because you have not to fear lest that son should on any day fall in battle, or because he is not at the mercy of envious companions? As persons who have put a young child in some elevated position are in constant dread lest he should fall, so those parents have little peace of mind whose son has been raised to a high place in the world.
" But have not the sword and the military uniform some charm ? Yes ; but how long will that last a hundred, two hundred days? And, after that, does not every thing seem like a dream? You wished to see your son nobly attired, mounted on a splendid charger, and followed by a crowd of attendants? Why were you eager for that ? Was it to procure him pleasure ? Well, then, were you to hear him assert that he considers his life happier than that of men who enjoy every delight, and that he would rather die than forego his present happiness, what would you say ? Do you not know the joys of a life exempt from care ? "[14] "No, your son's present lot does not call for tears. He deserves to be covered with applause for having made choice of a life free from turmoil, for having taken refuge in a port so secure. But you will be exposed to the reproaches of many parents whose sons are settled in the world ; for, in seeing you sacrifice your son, some will go into tears, and others will rail at you. And why are you not the first to make light of them, and to mourn over the blindness of such people? Ah! let us not look whether people turn us into mockery, but whether they do so with reason. If we deserve their gibes, we ought to weep before they say anything to us; but if we do not, let us congratulate ourselves, and pity the silly persons who seek to make us ridiculous. It is only fools that jeer at what is praiseworthy. I had a friend whose unbelieving father was wealthy, esteemed, and distinguished in every way. This father first had recourse to the magistrates, then he threatened his son with prison, stripped him of all he possessed, and sent him to a distant country, without allowing him even the barest necessaries for the support of life. The object of all this harshness was to force his son to return to the world. But when the father saw that the young man was proof against all this ill-treatment, he entirely changed his conduct toward him, and to-day he venerates his child as he would a parent. This happy father is indebted to that son for still greater honor than he had hitherto enjoyed in the world."[15]
" You are well pleased that your children remain with you to serve and help you," continues St. John Chrysostom, from whom we borrow this lengthy passage. " I in turn desire as ardently as you, their father, that they should make a fitting return to you for the care which you took in bringing them up. However, to have them taught human learning, you send them far away from their native land, and forbid the paternal roof to those who go to learn a mere trade, or something still less honorable. Will you not, then, allow those to leave your house who want to learn how to fly from earth to heaven? You have courage enough to put up with any absence of your children, no matter how protracted, if it will only redound to their temporal welfare. Well, when they absent themselves in the interest of their souls, is it reason able in you to be so far weak and tender as to blast by your pusillanimity the fairest hopes of the very highest fortune ?
"After all, you can visit frequently your children who are religious : and this you cannot do with others of them who are making long journeys. Who hinders you from going to the religious houses where your children dwell, and calling on them, since they cannot come to you ? There you can talk with them on the important question of salvation. These visits will assuredly not end in the barren and unprofitable joy of a mere sight of them, or a talk with them. You will withdraw from the monastery to your homes better than you went to them, and you will take back with you the precious fruits of a holy and charming-conversation." [16]
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ Cone. Trid., sess. 25, c. xviii.
- ↑ Suar., lib. 5, c. ix, nn. 13, 14.
- ↑ Gautrelet, t. I, p. 52.
- ↑ Suar., lib. 5, c. ix, n. 8.
- ↑ Suar., lib. 5, c. ix, n, 9.
- ↑ Praxis confess., c. vii, n. 92.
- ↑ " Practice of Love for Christ," c. xi, n. 14.
- ↑ TheoL Mor., lib. 4, n. 77.
- ↑ Lessius, q. xi ; at the beginning.
- ↑ De virgini tate, lib. I, c. x, ed. Migne.
- ↑ Ibid., c. xi.
- ↑ Theol. Moral, lib. 3, n. 335.
- ↑ Adv. oppugnat. vit. monast. lib. 2, passim.
- ↑ Adv. oppugnat. vit. monast., lib. 2, c. ix.
- ↑ Adv. oppugnat. vit. monast., lib. 2, c. x.
- ↑ Adv. oppugnat. vit. monast, y lib. 3, c. xviii.