The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 3: The Fourth Commandment

by the Council of Trent

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.

"HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER, THAT THOU MAYEST BE LONG-LIVED UPON THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD WILL GIVE THEE." ^[1]

THE preceding commandments, having God as their imme- diate end, take precedence in order as well as in dignity and importance; but those which follow, although ultimately referred to God as the end contemplated in the love of our neighbour, have for their immediate object to instruct us in the duty of " loving our neighbour, and, therefore, deservedly hold the next place. Hence our Lord himself has declared, that these two commandments, which inculcate the love of God and of our neighbour, are like unto each other. ^[2] The advantages arising from a faithful observance of this commandment can scarcely be expressed in words, bringing with it, as it does, not only its own fruit, and that in the richest abundance and of superior excellence, but also affording a test of the sincerity of our love for God: " He that loveth not his brother whom he seeth," says St. John, "how can he love God whom he seeth not?" ^[3] In like manner, if we do not honour and reverence our parents whom we see, how can we honour or reverence God, the su preme and best of parents, whom we see not? and hence the obvious analogy and accordance of both commandments.

The application of this commandment is of very great latitude: besides our natural parents, there are many others whose power, rank, usefulness, exalted functions, or office, entitle them to parental honour. It also lightens the labour of parents and superiors: amongst the duties which devolve on them, the principal one is to mould the lives of those who are placed under their care, according to the maxims of the divine law , and the performance of this duty must be considerably facilitated, if it be universally felt, that to honour parents is an obligation, sanctioned and commanded by no less an authority than that of God himself. To impress the mind with this truth, it will be found useful to distinguish the commandments of the first from those of the second table. This distinction, therefore, the pastor will first explain, and will accordingly teach that the divine precepts of the Decalogue were written on two tables, one of which, in the opinion of the Holy Fathers, contained the three preceding, the other the remaining seven commandments of the Decalogue. ^[4] This order of the commandments is very apposite, for by it their nature and object are also distinguished: whatever is commanded or prohibited in Scripture by the divine law springs from one of two principles, the love of God or of our neighbour: and in the discharge of every duty we must be actuated by this love. The three preceding commandments teach us the love which we owe to God, and the other seven, the duties which we owe to domestic and public society. The distinction, therefore, which refers some to the first, others to the second table, is not without good ground: in the three first, God, the supreme good, is, as it were, the subject matter, in the others, the good of our neighbour: the first propose the supreme, the others the proximate object of our love: the first regard the ultimate end, the others those duties which refer to that end. ^[5]

Again, the love of God terminates in God himself, for God is to be loved above all things for his own sake; but the love of our neighbour originates in, and is to be referred to, the love of God. If we love our parents, obey our masters, respect our superiors, our ruling principle in doing so should be, that God is their Creator, and wishes to give pre-eminence to those by whose co-operation he governs and protects all others; and as he requires that we yield a dutiful respect to such persons, we should do so, because he deems them worthy of this honour. If then we honour our parents, the tribute is paid to God rather than to man; and accordingly we read in the tenth chapter of St. Matthew, which, amongst other matters, treats also of duty to superiors; " He that receiveth you, receiveth me;" ^[6] and the Apostle in his Epistle to the Ephesians, giving instruction to servants, says: "Servants, be obedient to them that are your lords according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ: not serving to the eye, as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." ^[7]

Moreover, no honour, no piety, no devotion can be rendered to God, worthy of him towards whom love admits of infinite increase, and hence our charity should become every day more fervent towards him, who commands us to love him " with our Note. whole heart, our whole soul, and with all our strength:" ^[8] but the love of our neighbour has its limits, for we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourselves; and to outstep these limits, by loving him as we love God, were a crime of the blackest enormity. "If any man come tome," says our Lord, "and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also; he cannot be my disciple." ^[9] To him who would first attend the burial of his father, and then follow Christ, our Lord says, to the same effect; " Let the dead bury their dead;" ^[10] and the same lesson of instruction is more clearly conveyed in these words of St. Matthew: " He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me." ^[11] Parents, no doubt, are to be affectionately loved, and highly respected; but religion requires that supreme honour and homage be given to him alone, who is the sovereign Creator, and universal Father, and that our love for our parents be referred to our eternal Father who is in heaven. Should, however, the injunctions of parents be at any time opposed to the commandments of God, children, are, of course, to prefer the will of God to the desires of their parents, always keeping in view the divine maxim: " We ought to obey God rather than men." ^[12]

Having premised this exposition, the pastor will proceed to explain the words of the commandment, beginning with " honour." To " honour" is to think respectfully of any one, and, in every relation in which he may be considered, to hold him in the highest estimation. It includes love, respect, obedience, and reverence, and is here used with great propriety in preference to the word " fear" or " love;" although parents are also to be much loved and feared. Respect and reverence are not always the accompaniments of love, neither is love the inseparable companion of fear; but honour, when proceeding from the heart, combines both fear and love.

The pastor will next explain who they are, whom the commandment designates as fathers: for although it refers primarily to our natural fathers, yet the word has a secondary meaning; and, a matter at which we have already glanced, includes, as we know from numerous passages of Scripture, many others who are also entitled to due honour. In the first place, the prelates of the Church, her pastors and clergy, are called fathers, after the example of the Apostle: " I write not these things," says he, " to confound you; but I admonish you as my dearest children: for if you have ten thousand instructers in Christ; yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus by the Gospel I have begotten you." ^[13] We also read in ecclesiasticus: "Let us praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation." ^[14] Those who govern the state, to whom are intrusted power, magistracy, or empire, are also called fathers; thus Naaman was called father by his servants. ^[15] To those, to whose care, fidelity, probity and wisdom, others are committed, such as pastors, instructers, masters, and guardians, is also given the name of father; and hence the sons of the prophets called Elias ^[16] and Eliseus ^[17] by this name. Finally, aged men, whose years entitle them to our respect, we also call fathers. In the instructions of the pastor, however, it will not be forgotten to enforce particularly the obligation we are under, of honouring all who are entitled to be denominated fathers, especially our natural fathers, of whom the divine commandment particularly speaks. They are, as it were, representatives of the one, great, immortal, and universal Father: in them we behold the image of our own origin: from them we have received existence: them God made use of to impart to us the soul with all its faculties: by them we have been conducted to the sacraments, formed to society, blessed with education, and instructed in purity and holiness of life. ^[18]

The pastor will teach that the name of" mother" is also mentioned in this commandment, and with good reason, awakening in us, as it does, a grateful recollection of the benefits which we have received from her; of the claims which she has to our dutiful affection; of the care and solicitude with which she bore us, the pain and travail with which she brought us forth, and the labour and anxiety with which she watched over our infant years.

Moreover, the honour which children are commanded to pay to their parents should be the spontaneous offering of sincere and dutiful love. This respectful regard they challenge upon the strongest titles they who, for love of us, decline no labour, spare no exertion, shrink from no danger; whose highest pleasure it is to indulge in the reflection that they are beloved by their children, the dear objects of their parental solicitude and affection. Joseph, when next to majesty, he enjoyed in Egypt the highest station, and the most ample power, received his father with honour, when he went down into Egypt; ^[19] Solomon rose to meet his mother as she approached; and having paid her the tribute of filial respect, placed her on a royal throne on his right hand. ^[20]

We also owe to our parents other duties of respect, such as to supplicate God in their behalf, that they may lead prosperous and happy lives, beloved and esteemed by all who know them, and most pleasing in the sight of God and of his saints. We also honour them by submission to their wishes and inclinations: "My son," says Solomon, "hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother; that grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy neck." ^[21] " Children," says St. Paul, " obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just;" ^[22] and also, "children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord." ^[23] This doctrine is confirmed by the example of those who were most eminent for sanctity: Isaac, when bound for sacrifice by his father, meekly obeyed; ^[24] and the Rechabites, not to depart from the counsel of their fathers, always abstained from wine. ^[25] We also honour our parents by the imitation of their good example: to study the life of another, as a model for imitation, is the highest mark of esteem. We honour them when we not only ask but follow their counsels; and also when we relieve their necessities, supplying them with necessary food and raiment, according to these words of the Redeemer: " why do you also transgress the commandments of God for your tradition? For God said: Honour lather and mother; and he that shall curse father or mother dying let him die. But you say; whosoever shall say to father or mother, the gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee; and shalt not honour his father or his mother; and you have made frustrate the commandment of God for your own tradition." ^[26]

But if at all times it is our duty to honour our parents, this duty becomes still more imperative, when they are visited by severe illness: we should then pay particular attention to what regards their eternal salvation, taking especial care that they duly receive the last sacraments, consoling them with the frequent conversation of pious and religious persons, who may strengthen their weakness, assist them by their counsel, and animate them to the hope of a glorious immortality; that having risen above the concerns of this world, they may fix their thoughts and affections entirely on God. Thus blessed with the sublime virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and fortified by the sacraments of the Church, they will not only look at death without dismay, for death is the lot of all men; but will hail it as the bright opening to a blessed immortality.

Finally, we honour our parents when, after they have been summoned from this world, we discharge the last offices of filial piety towards them, giving them an honourable interment, attend ing to the celebration of their obsequies, their anniversaries, the oblation of the holy sacrifice for the repose of their souls, and faithfully executing their last wills.

But we are bound to honour not only our natural parents, but also those who are entitled to be called fathers, such as bishops and priests, kings, princes, and magistrates, tutors, guardians and masters, teachers, aged persons and the like, all of whom be are entitled, some in a greater, some in a less degree, to share our love, our obedience, our assistance. Of bishops and other pastors St. Paul says: "Let the priests that rule well be Bishops esteemed worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." ^[27] What proofs of ardent love for the Apostle the Galatians must have given may be inferred from the illustrious testimony in which he has recorded their benevolence: " I bear you witness," says he, " that if it could be done, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and would have given them to me." ^[28] The priest is also entitled to receive whatever is necessary for his support: " Who," says St. Paul, " serveth as a soldier at his own charges?" ^[29] " Give honour to the priests," says Ecclesiasticus, " and purify thyself with thy arms; give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the first fruits and of purifications." ^[30] The Apostle also teaches that they are entitled to obedience: " Obey your prelates, and be subject to them; for they watch as being to render an account of your souls." ^[31] Nay, more, Christ himself commands obedience even to wicked pastors: " Upon the chair of Moses have sitten the Scribes and Pharisees: all things, therefore, whatsoever they shall say to you, observe ye and do ye; but according to their works do ye not, for they say and do not." ^[32]

The same rule is to regulate our conduct towards princes and magistrates, and all others to whose authority we are subject; and the honour and obedience due to them are explained at large by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans: ^[33] He also commands us to pray for them; ^[34] and St. Peter says: " Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling, or to governors as sent by him." ^[35] The honour which we render them is referred to God: it is paid to their exalted dignity, which is derived from and emblematic of the divine power; and in which we recognise a superintending Providence, who has committed to them the administration of the State, and who makes use of them as the ministers of his power. ^[36] It is not that we respect the profligacy or wickedness of the man, should such moral turpitude debase the lives of public functionaries no; we revere the authority of God with which they are invested. Therefore it is, and it may appear to some matter of surprise, that, be their sentiments towards us the most inimical, be their hostility the most immitigable, their personal enmity and hostility do not, however, afford a just cause to release us from the duty of submissive respect to their persons and authority. Thus the Scriptures record the important services rendered by David to Saul, at a time when David was the innocent object of his hatred: " With them that hated peace," says he, " I was peaceable." ^[37] But should they issue a wicked or unjust mandate, they are on no account to be obeyed: such a mandate is not the legitimate exercise of power, but an act of perverse injustice.

Having expounded these matters severally, the pastor will next consider the nature of the reward promised to the observance oi this commandment, and its accordance with the duty of filial piety. It consists principally in length of days: they who always preserve the grateful recollection of a benefit deserve to be blessed with its lengthened enjoyment; and this children do, who honour their parents. To those from whom they received existence they gratefully acknowledge the obligation, and are therefore deservedly rewarded with the protracted enjoyment of that existence to an advanced age. The nature of the divine promise also demands explanation: it includes not only the eternal life of the blessed, but also the term of our mortal existence, according to these words of the Apostle: " Godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." ^[38] Many very holy men, it is true, Job, ^[39] David, ^[40] Paul, ^[41] desired to die, and a long life is burdensome to the wretched; ^[42] but the reward which is here promised is, notwithstanding, neither inconsiderable, nor to be despised. The additional words, " which the Lord thy God will give thee," promise not only length of days, but also repose, tranquillity, security, which render life happy; for in Deuteronomy it is not only said, " that thou mayest live a long time;" but it is also added, " and that it may be well with thee;" ^[43] words which the Apostle repeats in his Epistle to the Ephesians. ^[44]

These blessings, we say, are conferred on those only, on whose piety God really deems it a reward to bestow them, otherwise the divine promises would not be fulfilled. The more dutiful child is sometimes the more short-lived; either because his interests are best consulted by summoning him from this world, before he has strayed from the path of virtue and of duty, according to these words of the Wise man: " He was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul;" ^[45] or because, when the gathering storm threatens to burst upon society, carrying anarchy and ruin in its desolating career, he is called from the troubled scene, in order to escape the universal calamity. Thus, when God avenges the crimes of mortals, his virtue and salvation are secured against the dangers to which they might otherwise have been exposed; or else, he is spared the bitter anguish of witnessing the calamities of which, in such melancholy times, his friends and relations might become the victims. " The just man," says the Prophet, " is taken away from before the face of evil." ^[46] The premature death of the good, therefore, gives Note, just reason to apprehend the approach of calamitous days.

But, if Almighty God holds forth rewards to remunerate filial dutifulness, he also reserves the heaviest chastisements to punish filial ingratitude and impiety: it is written: " He that curseth his father or mother shall die the death:" ^[47] " he that afflicteth his father and chaseth away his mother, is infamous and unhappy:" ^[48] " he that curseth his father and mother, his lamp shall be put out in the midst of darkness;" ^[49] " the eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth the labour of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the brooks pick it out, and the young eagles eat it." ^[50] There are on record many instances of undutiful children, who were made the signal objects of the divine vengeance. The disobedience of Absalom to his father David did not go unpunished: he perished miserably: three lances transfixed his body. ^[51] But of those who resist the spiritual authority of the priest it is written: " He that will be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest who ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, by the decree of the judge that man shall die." ^[52]

As, then, the law of God commands children to honour their parents and render them an obsequious obedience, so are there reciprocal duties which parents owe to their children, to bring them up in the knowledge and the practice of religion, and to give them the best precepts for the regulation of their lives; that instructed in the truths of religion, and prepared to make these truths the guiding principles of their conduct through life, they may preserve inviolate their fidelity to God, and serve him in holiness. This duty of parents is beautifully illustrated in the conduct of the parents of the chaste Susanna. ^[53] The pastor, therefore, will admonish parents to be to their children models of the virtues, which it is their duty to inculcate, of justice, chastity, modesty, and, in a word, of every Christian virtue. He will also admonish them to guard particularly against three things, in which they but too often transgress. in the first place, they are not by words or actions to exercise too much harshness towards their children: this is the instruction of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians: " Fathers," says he, " provoke not your children to indignation, lest they be discouraged." ^[54] Parental severity may, it is to be apprehended, break the spirit of the child, and render him abject and timid, afraid of every thing, and is therefore to be deprecated: instead of indulging intemperate passion, the parent should reprove in the spirit of parental correction, not of revenge. Should a fault be committed which requires reproof and chastisement, the parent should not, on the other hand, by an unseasonable indulgence, overlook its correction: children often become depraved by too much lenity and indulgence; and the pastor, therefore, will deter from such criminal weakness, by the warning example of Heli, who, in the misguided fondness of a father's feelings, for got his duty to religion, and was in consequence visited with the heaviest chastisements. ^[55] Finally, in the instruction and education of their children, let them not follow the pernicious example of many parents, whose sole concern it is to leave their children wealth, riches, an ample and splendid fortune; who stimulate them not to piety and religion, or to honourable and virtuous pursuits, but to avarice, and an increase of wealth; and who, provided their children are rich and wealthy, are regardless of those qualities which would render them truly estimable, and secure their eternal salvation. Language cannot express, nor can thought conceive, any thing to exceed in turpitude the criminal conduct of such parents, of whom it is true to say, that instead of bequeathing wealth to their children, they leave them rather their own wickedness and crimes for an inheritance; and instead of conducting them to heaven, lead them to perdition. The pastor therefore will impress on the minds of parents salutary principles for the guidance of their conduct, and will excite them to imitate the virtuous example of Tobias;^[56] that having thus trained up their children to the service of God, and to holiness of life, they may, in turn, experience at their hands abundant fruit of filial affection, respect, and obedience.

1. Exod. xx. 12.
2. Matt. xxii. 39. Mark xii. 31. Vid. Aug. in Ps. xxxii. serm. 1. item lib. 3. de doctrin. Christ, c. 10. ct lib. 50. horn. 38. D. Thorn. 2. 2. quoest. 17. art. 8.
3. 1 John iv. 20.
4. Vid. Clem. Alexan. lib. 6. Strom, satis ante finem, Aug. in Exod. q. 71. D. Thorn. 1.2. q. 100. art. 4.
5. Vid Aug. in Ps. xxxii. serm. 1. D. Thorn. 2. 2.q. 122. art. I et 2. et in opusc 7. cap. de primo preecepto.
6. Matt x. 40.
7. Ephes. vi. 5, 6. Vid. Aug. lib. 3. de doct. Christ, c. 12. et lib. 4. Conf. c. 9 12. Prosper, lib. 3. de vita contempl. c. 13. Bernard, de diligendo Deo.
8. Deut. vi. 5. Luke x. 27. Matt. xxii. 37 - 39.
9. Luke xiv. 26.
10. Luke ix. 60.
11. Matt. x. 37.
12. Act v. 29.
13. 1 Cor. iv. 14 - 16
14. Eccl. xliv. 1.
15. 4 Kings v. 13
16. 4 Kings ii 12.
17. 4 Kings xiii. 14.
18. De officiis filiorum erga parentes vid. Antonium Augustirmm lib. 10. tit 19.
19. Gen. xlvi.
20. 3 Kings ii. 19.
21. Proverbs i. 8, 9.
22. Ephes. vi. 1.
23. Col. iii. 20.
24. Gen. xxii. 9
25. Jerem. xxxv. 6.
26. Matt. xv. 3 . Subveniendum esse parentibus, vid. Basil, horn, de honore pa- rentum et in Hexam. horn. 9. Amb. lib. 5. Hexam. c. 1C. Cone. Gangr. can. 6. Vid. item dist. 86. raultis in locis Hier. lib. 2. Commentar. in Matt. Aug. lib. 1. qusest Evang. cap. 14.
27. i Tim. v. 17.
28. Gal. iv. 15
29. 1 Cor. ix. 7.
30. Eccl. vii. 33, 34. Decimas solvendas esse yid. Cone. Aurel. 1. c. 17. Matiscon. 2. c. 5. Forojul. c. ultiin. Lat. Magn. c. 53. Trid. sess. 25. c. 13. vid. item multa ca pita 16. q. 1 et 7. et Tit. decimis in deer. D. Th. 2. 2. q. 87. 3
31. Heb. xiii. 17
32. Matt, xxiii. 2. 3.
33. Rom. xiii.
34. 1 Tim. ii. 2.
35. I Pet. ii. 13, 14. Vid. Tertull. in Apol. 0. 30 et 32. et ad Scap. c. 2.
36. Vid. Aug. lib. 5. de civil Dei, c. 10, 11. 14, 15. 9
37. Ps. cxix. 7.
38. 1 Tim. iv. 8.
39. Job iii.
40. Ps. cxix. 5.
41. Phil. ii. 17.
42. 2 Cor. v. 2.
43. Deut. v. 16.
44. Eph. vi. 3.
45. Wisd. iv. 10, 11.
46. Isa. lvii. 1.
47. Exod. xxi. 17. Lev. xx. 9.
48. Prov. xix. 26.
49. Prov. xx. 20.
50. Prov. xxi. 17.
51. Kings xviij. 14.
52. Deut. xvii. 12. Vid. Clem, epist. 3. sub init. item ep. 1. etiam sul bit Ambr lib. 1. 2. oflic. c. 24. Hieron. epist 1. post med. vid. item 11. q. 3. c. 11 13.
53. Dan. xiii 3.
54. Col. iii. 21.
55. 1 Kings ii. 3, 4.
56. Tob. iv.