Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 269 (2/2)

Obj. 3: Further, by the vow of obedience a man is bound to do according to his superior's command whatever pertains to the practice of perfection. Therefore the vow of obedience suffices without the two other vows.

Obj. 4: Further, external goods comprise not only riches but also honors. Therefore, if religious, by the vow of poverty, renounce earthly riches, there should be another vow whereby they may despise worldly honors.

_On the contrary,_ It is stated (Extra, de Statu Monach., cap. c.u.m ad monasterium) that ”the keeping of chast.i.ty and the renouncing of property are affixed to the monastic rule.”

_I answer that,_ The religious state may be considered in three ways.

First, as being a practice of tending to the perfection of charity: secondly, as quieting the human mind from outward solicitude, according to 1 Cor. 7:32: ”I would have you to be without solicitude”: thirdly, as a holocaust whereby a man offers himself and his possessions wholly to G.o.d; and in corresponding manner the religious state is const.i.tuted by these three vows.

First, as regards the practice of perfection a man is required to remove from himself whatever may hinder his affections from tending wholly to G.o.d, for it is in this that the perfection of charity consists. Such hindrances are of three kinds. First, the attachment to external goods, which is removed by the vow of poverty; secondly, the concupiscence of sensible pleasures, chief among which are venereal pleasures, and these are removed by the vow of continence; thirdly, the inordinateness of the human will, and this is removed by the vow of obedience. In like manner the disquiet of worldly solicitude is aroused in man in reference especially to three things.

First, as regards the dispensing of external things, and this solicitude is removed from man by the vow of poverty; secondly, as regards the control of wife and children, which is cut away by the vow of continence; thirdly, as regards the disposal of one's own actions, which is eliminated by the vow of obedience, whereby a man commits himself to the disposal of another.

Again, ”a holocaust is the offering to G.o.d of all that one has,”

according to Gregory (Hom. xx in Ezech.). Now man has a threefold good, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. i, 8). First, the good of external things, which he wholly offers to G.o.d by the vow of voluntary poverty: secondly, the good of his own body, and this good he offers to G.o.d especially by the vow of continence, whereby he renounces the greatest bodily pleasures. The third is the good of the soul, which man wholly offers to G.o.d by the vow of obedience, whereby he offers G.o.d his own will by which he makes use of all the powers and habits of the soul. Therefore the religious state is fittingly const.i.tuted by the three vows.

Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (A. 1), the end whereunto the religious vow is directed is the perfection of charity, since all the interior acts of virtue belong to charity as to their mother, according to 1 Cor. 13:4, ”Charity is patient, is kind,” etc. Hence the interior acts of virtue, for instance humility, patience, and so forth, do not come under the religious vow, but this is directed to them as its end.

Reply Obj. 2: All other religious observances are directed to the three aforesaid princ.i.p.al vows; for if any of them are ordained for the purpose of procuring a livelihood, such as labor, questing, and so on, they are to be referred to poverty; for the safeguarding of which religious seek a livelihood by these means. Other observances whereby the body is chastised, such as watching, fasting, and the like, are directly ordained for the observance of the vow of continence. And such religious observances as regard human actions whereby a man is directed to the end of religion, namely the love of G.o.d and his neighbor (such as reading, prayer, visiting the sick, and the like), are comprised under the vow of obedience that applies to the will, which directs its actions to the end according to the ordering of another person. The distinction of habit belongs to all three vows, as a sign of being bound by them: wherefore the religious habit is given or blessed at the time of profession.

Reply Obj. 3: By obedience a man offers to G.o.d his will, to which though all human affairs are subject, yet some are subject to it alone in a special manner, namely human actions, since pa.s.sions belong also to the sensitive appet.i.te. Wherefore in order to restrain the pa.s.sions of carnal pleasures and of external objects of appet.i.te, which hinder the perfection of life, there was need for the vows of continence and poverty; but for the ordering of one's own actions accordingly as the state of perfection requires, there was need for the vow of obedience.

Reply Obj. 4: As the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 3), strictly and truly speaking honor is not due save to virtue. Since, however, external goods serve instrumentally for certain acts of virtue, the consequence is that a certain honor is given to their excellence especially by the common people who acknowledge none but outward excellence. Therefore since religious tend to the perfection of virtue it becomes them not to renounce the honor which G.o.d and all holy men accord to virtue, according to Ps. 138:17, ”But to me Thy friends, O G.o.d, are made exceedingly honorable.” On the other hand, they renounce the honor that is given to outward excellence, by the very fact that they withdraw from a worldly life: hence no special vow is needed for this.

_______________________

EIGHTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 186, Art. 8]

Whether the Vow of Obedience Is the Chief of the Three Religious Vows?

Objection 1: It would seem that the vow of obedience is not the chief of the three religious vows. For the perfection of the religious life was inaugurated by Christ. Now Christ gave a special counsel of poverty; whereas He is not stated to have given a special counsel of obedience. Therefore the vow of poverty is greater than the vow of obedience.

Obj. 2: Further, it is written (Ecclus. 26:20) that ”no price is worthy of a continent soul.” Now the vow of that which is more worthy is itself more excellent. Therefore the vow of continence is more excellent than the vow of obedience.

Obj. 3: Further, the greater a vow the more indispensable it would seem to be. Now the vows of poverty and continence ”are so inseparable from the monastic rule, that not even the Sovereign Pontiff can allow them to be broken,” according to a Decretal (De Statu Monach., cap. c.u.m ad monasterium): yet he can dispense a religious from obeying his superior. Therefore it would seem that the vow of obedience is less than the vow of poverty and continence.

_On the contrary,_ Gregory says (Moral. x.x.xv, 14): ”Obedience is rightly placed before victims, since by victims another's flesh, but by obedience one's own will, is sacrificed.” Now the religious vows are holocausts, as stated above (AA. 1, 3, ad 6). Therefore the vow of obedience is the chief of all religious vows.

_I answer that,_ The vow of obedience is the chief of the three religious vows, and this for three reasons.

First, because by the vow of obedience man offers G.o.d something greater, namely his own will; for this is of more account than his own body, which he offers G.o.d by continence, and than external things, which he offers G.o.d by the vow of poverty. Wherefore that which is done out of obedience is more acceptable to G.o.d than that which is done of one's own will, according to the saying of Jerome (Ep. cxxv ad Rustic Monach.): ”My words are intended to teach you not to rely on your own judgment”: and a little further on he says: ”You may not do what you will; you must eat what you are bidden to eat, you may possess as much as you receive, clothe yourself with what is given to you.” Hence fasting is not acceptable to G.o.d if it is done of one's own will, according to Isa. 58:3, ”Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found.”

Secondly, because the vow of obedience includes the other vows, but not vice versa: for a religious, though bound by vow to observe continence and poverty, yet these also come under obedience, as well as many other things besides the keeping of continence and poverty.

Thirdly, because the vow of obedience extends properly to those acts that are closely connected with the end of religion; and the more closely a thing is connected with the end, the better it is.

It follows from this that the vow of obedience is more essential to the religious life. For if a man without taking a vow of obedience were to observe, even by vow, voluntary poverty and continence, he would not therefore belong to the religious state, which is to be preferred to virginity observed even by vow; for Augustine says (De Virgin. xlvi): ”No one, methinks, would prefer virginity to the monastic life.” [*St. Augustine wrote not _monasterio_ but _martyrio_--to ”martyrdom”; and St. Thomas quotes the pa.s.sage correctly above, Q. 124, A. 3, and Q. 152, A. 5].

Reply Obj. 1: The counsel of obedience was included in the very following of Christ, since to obey is to follow another's will.

Consequently it is more pertinent to perfection than the vow of poverty, because as Jerome, commenting on Matt. 19:27, ”Behold we have left all things,” observes, ”Peter added that which is perfect when he said: And have followed Thee.”

Reply Obj. 2: The words quoted mean that continence is to be preferred, not to all other acts of virtue, but to conjugal chast.i.ty, or to external riches of gold and silver which are measured by weight [*_Pondere,_ referring to the Latin _ponderatio_ in the Vulgate, which the Douay version renders ”price.”]. Or again continence is taken in a general sense for abstinence from all evil, as stated above (Q. 155, A. 4, ad 1).

<script>