ENCYCLICAL
LETTER OF POPE PIUS XI ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Issued on December
31, 1929
To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
Bishops and other Ordinaries in Peace
and Communion with the Apostolic See and
to all the Faithful of the Catholic World.
Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children,
Health and Apostolic Benediction.
1. Representative on
earth of that divine Master who while
embracing in the immensity of His love
all mankind, even unworthy sinners, showed
nevertheless a special tenderness and
affection for children, and expressed
Himself in those singularly touching words:
"Suffer the little children to come
unto Me,"[1] We also on every occasion
have endeavored to show the predilection
wholly paternal which We bear towards
them, particularly by our assiduous care
and timely instructions with reference
to the Christian education of youth.
2. And so, in the
spirit of the Divine Master, We have
directed a helpful word, now of admonition,
now of exhortation, now of direction,
to youths and to their educators, to
fathers and mothers, on various points
of Christian education, with that solicitude
which becomes the common Father of all
the Faithful, with an insistence in
season and out of season, demanded by
our pastoral office and inculcated by
the Apostle: "Be instant in season,
out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke
in all patience and doctrine."[2]
Such insistence is called for in these
our times, when, alas, there is so great
and deplorable an absence of clear and
sound principles, even regarding problems
the most fundamental.
3. Now this same general
condition of the times, this ceaseless
agitation in various ways of the problem
of educational rights and systems in
different countries, the desire expressed
to Us with filial confidence by not
a few of yourselves, Venerable Brethren,
and by members of your flocks, as well
as Our deep affection towards youth
above referred to, move Us to turn more
directly to this subject, if not to
treat it in all its well-nigh inexhaustible
range of theory and practice, at least
to summarize its main principles, throw
full light on its important conclusions,
and point out its practical applications.
4. Let this be the
record of Our Sacerdotal Jubilee which,
with altogether special affection, We
wish to dedicate to our beloved youth,
and to commend to all those whose office
and duty is the work of education.
5. Indeed never has
there been so much discussion about
education as nowadays; never have exponents
of new pedagogical theories been so
numerous, or so many methods and means
devised, proposed and debated, not merely
to facilitate education, but to create
a new system infallibly efficacious,
and capable of preparing the present
generations for that earthly happiness
which they so ardently desire.
6. The reason is that
men, created by God to His image and
likeness and destined for Him Who is
infinite perfection realize today more
than ever amid the most exuberant material
progress, the insufficiency of earthly
goods to produce true happiness either
for the individual or for the nations.
And hence they feel more keenly in themselves
the impulse towards a perfection that
is higher, which impulse is implanted
in their rational nature by the Creator
Himself. This perfection they seek to
acquire by means of education. But many
of them with, it would seem, too great
insistence on the etymological meaning
of the word, pretend to draw education
out of human nature itself and evolve
it by its own unaided powers. Such easily
fall into error, because, instead of
fixing their gaze on God, first principle
and last end of the whole universe,
they fall back upon themselves, becoming
attached exclusively to passing things
of earth; and thus their restlessness
will never cease till they direct their
attention and their efforts to God,
the goal of all perfection, according
to the profound saying of Saint Augustine:
"Thou didst create us, O Lord,
for Thyself, and our heart is restless
till it rest in Thee."[3]
7. It is therefore
as important to make no mistake in education,
as it is to make no mistake in the pursuit
of the last end, with which the whole
work of education is intimately and
necessarily connected. In fact, since
education consists essentially in preparing
man for what he must be and for what
he must do here below, in order to attain
the sublime end for which he was created,
it is clear that there can be no true
education which is not wholly directed
to man's last end, and that in the present
order of Providence, since God has revealed
Himself to us in the Person of His Only
Begotten Son, who alone is "the
way, the truth and the life," there
can be no ideally perfect education
which is not Christian education.
8. From this we see
the supreme importance of Christian
education, not merely for each individual,
but for families and for the whole of
human society, whose perfection comes
from the perfection of the elements
that compose it. From these same principles,
the excellence, we may well call it
the unsurpassed excellence, of the work
of Christian education becomes manifest
and clear; for after all it aims at
securing the Supreme Good, that is,
God, for the souls of those who are
being educated, and the maximum of well-being
possible here below for human society.
And this it does as efficaciously as
man is capable of doing it, namely by
co-operating with God in the perfecting
of individuals and of society, in as
much as education makes upon the soul
the first, the most powerful and lasting
impression for life according to the
well-known saying of the Wise Man, "A
young man according to his way, even
when he is old, he will not depart from
it."[4] With good reason therefore
did St. John Chrysostom say, "What
greater work is there than training
the mind and forming the habits of the
young?"[5]
9. But nothing discloses
to us the supernatural beauty and excellence
of the work of Christian education better
than the sublime expression of love
of our Blessed Lord, identifying Himself
with children, "Whosoever shall
receive one such child as this in my
name, receiveth me."[6]
10. Now in order that
no mistake be made in this work of utmost
importance, and in order to conduct
it in the best manner possible with
the help of God's grace, it is necessary
to have a clear and definite idea of
Christian education in its essential
aspects, viz., who has the mission to
educate, who are the subjects to be
educated, what are the necessary accompanying
circumstances, what is the end and object
proper to Christian education according
to God's established order in the economy
of His Divine Providence.
11. Education is essentially
a social and not a mere individual activity.
Now there are three necessary societies,
distinct from one another and yet harmoniously
combined by God, into which man is born:
two, namely the family and civil society,
belong to the natural order; the third,
the Church, to the supernatural order.
12. In the first place
comes the family, instituted directly
by God for its peculiar purpose, the
generation and formation of offspring;
for this reason it has priority of nature
and therefore of rights over civil society.
Nevertheless, the family is an imperfect
society, since it has not in itself
all the means for its own complete development;
whereas civil society is a perfect society,
having in itself all the means for its
peculiar end, which is the temporal
well-being of the community; and so,
in this respect, that is, in view of
the common good, it has pre-eminence
over the family, which finds its own
suitable temporal perfection precisely
in civil society.
13. The third society,
into which man is born when through
Baptism he reaches the divine life of
grace, is the Church; a society of the
supernatural order and of universal
extent; a perfect society, because it
has in itself all the means required
for its own end, which is the eternal
salvation of mankind; hence it is supreme
in its own domain.
14. Consequently,
education which is concerned with man
as a whole, individually and socially,
in the order of nature and in the order
of grace, necessarily belongs to all
these three societies, in due proportion,
corresponding, according to the disposition
of Divine Providence, to the co-ordination
of their respecting ends.
15. And first of all
education belongs preeminently to the
Church, by reason of a double title
in the supernatural order, conferred
exclusively upon her by God Himself;
absolutely superior therefore to any
other title in the natural order.
16. The first title
is founded upon the express mission
and supreme authority to teach, given
her by her divine Founder: "All
power is given to me in heaven and in
earth. Going therefore teach ye all
nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded
you, and behold I am with you all days,
even to the consummation of the world."[7]
Upon this magisterial office Christ
conferred infallibility, together with
the command to teach His doctrine. Hence
the Church "was set by her divine
Author as the pillar and ground of truth,
in order to teach the divine Faith to
men, and keep whole and inviolate the
deposit confided to her; to direct and
fashion men, in all their actions individually
and socially, to purity of morals and
integrity of life, in accordance with
revealed doctrine."[8]
17. The second title
is the supernatural motherhood, in virtue
of which the Church, spotless spouse
of Christ, generates, nurtures and educates
souls in the divine life of grace, with
her Sacraments and her doctrine. With
good reason then does St. Augustine
maintain: "He has not God for father
who refuses to have the Church as mother."[9]
18. Hence it is that
in this proper object of her mission,
that is, "in faith and morals,
God Himself has made the Church sharer
in the divine magisterium and, by a
special privilege, granted her immunity
from error; hence she is the mistress
of men, supreme and absolutely sure,
and she has inherent in herself an inviolable
right to freedom in teaching.'[10] By
necessary consequence the Church is
independent of any sort of earthly power
as well in the origin as in the exercise
of her mission as educator, not merely
in regard to her proper end and object,
but also in regard to the means necessary
and suitable to attain that end. Hence
with regard to every other kind of human
learning and instruction, which is the
common patrimony of individuals and
society, the Church has an independent
right to make use of it, and above all
to decide what may help or harm Christian
education. And this must be so, because
the Church as a perfect society has
an independent right to the means conducive
to its end, and because every form of
instruction, no less than every human
action, has a necessary connection with
man's last end, and therefore cannot
be withdrawn from the dictates of the
divine law, of which the Church is guardian,
interpreter and infallible mistress.
19. This truth is
clearly set forth by Pius X of saintly
memory:
Whatever a Christian does even in the
order of things of earth, he may not
overlook the supernatural; indeed he
must, according to the teaching of Christian
wisdom, direct all things towards the
supreme good as to his last end; all
his actions, besides, in so far as good
or evil in the order of morality, that
is, in keeping or not with natural and
divine law, fall under the judgment
and jurisdiction of the Church.[11]
20. It is worthy of
note how a layman, an excellent writer
and at the same time a profound and
conscientious thinker, has been able
to understand well and express exactly
this fundamental Catholic doctrine:
The Church does not say that morality
belongs purely, in the sense of exclusively,
to her; but that it belongs wholly to
her. She has never maintained that outside
her fold and apart from her teaching,
man cannot arrive at any moral truth;
she has on the contrary more than once
condemned this opinion because it has
appeared under more forms than one.
She does however say, has said, and
will ever say, that because of her institution
by Jesus Christ, because of the Holy
Ghost sent her in His name by the Father,
she alone possesses what she has had
immediately from God and can never lose,
the whole of moral truth, omnem veritatem,
in which all individual moral truths
are included, as well those which man
may learn by the help of reason, as
those which form part of revelation
or which may be deduced from it.[12]
21. Therefore with
full right the Church promotes letters,
science, art in so far as necessary
or helpful to Christian education, in
addition to her work for the salvation
of souls: founding and maintaining schools
and institutions adapted to every branch
of learning and degree of culture.[13]
Nor may even physical culture, as it
is called, be considered outside the
range of her maternal supervision, for
the reason that it also is a means which
may help or harm Christian education.
22. And this work
of the Church in every branch of culture
is of immense benefit to families and
nations which without Christ are lost,
as St. Hilary points out correctly:
"What can be more fraught with
danger for the world than the rejection
of Christ?"[14] Nor does it interfere
in the least with the regulations of
the State, because the Church in her
motherly prudence is not unwilling that
her schools and institutions for the
education of the laity be in keeping
with the legitimate dispositions of
civil authority; she is in every way
ready to co-operate with this authority
and to make provision for a mutual understanding,
should difficulties arise.
23. Again it is the
inalienable right as well as the indispensable
duty of the Church, to watch over the
entire education of her children, in
all institutions, public or private,
not merely in regard to the religious
instruction there given, but in regard
to every other branch of learning and
every regulation in so far as religion
and morality are concerned.[15]
24. Nor should the
exercise of this right be considered
undue interference, but rather maternal
care on the part of the Church in protecting
her children from the grave danger of
all kinds of doctrinal and moral evil.
Moreover this watchfulness of the Church
not merely can create no real inconvenience,
but must on the contrary confer valuable
assistance in the right ordering and
well-being of families and of civil
society; for it keeps far away from
youth the moral poison which at that
inexperienced and changeable age more
easily penetrates the mind and more
rapidly spreads its baneful effects.
For it is true, as Leo XIII has wisely
pointed out, that without proper religious
and moral instruction "every form
of intellectual culture will be injurious;
for young people not accustomed to respect
God, will be unable to bear the restraint
of a virtuous life, and never having
learned to deny themselves anything.
they will easily be incited to disturb
the public order."[16]
25. The extent of
the Church's mission in the field of
education is such as to embrace every
nation, without exception, according
to the command of Christ: "Teach
ye all nations;"[17] and there
is no power on earth that may lawfully
oppose her or stand in her way. In the
first place, it extends over all the
Faithful, of whom she has anxious care
as a tender mother. For these she has
throughout the centuries created and
conducted an immense number of schools
and institutions in every branch of
learning. As We said on a recent occasion:
Right back in the far-off middle ages
when there were so many (some have even
said too many) monasteries, convents,
churches, collegiate churches, cathedral
chapters, etc., there was attached to
each a home of study, of teaching, of
Christian education. To these we must
add all the universities, spread over
every country and always by the initiative
an under the protection of the Holy
See and the Church. That grand spectacle,
which today we see better, as it is
nearer to us and more imposing because
of the conditions of the age, was the
spectacle of all times; and they who
study and compare historical events
remain astounded at what the Church
has been able to do in this matter,
and marvel at the manner in which she
had succeeded in fulfilling her God-given
mission to educate generations of men
to a Christian life, producing everywhere
a magnificent harvest of fruitful results.
But if we wonder that the Church in
all times has been able to gather about
her and educate hundreds, thousands,
millions of students, no less wonderful
is it to bear in mind what she has done
not only in the field of education,
but in that also of true and genuine
erudition. For, if so many treasures
of culture, civilization and literature
have escaped destruction, this is due
to the action by which the Church, even
in times long past and uncivilized,
has shed so bright a light in the domain
of letters, of philosophy, of art and
in a special manner of architecture.[18]
26. All this the Church
has been able to do because her mission
to educate extends equally to those
outside the Fold, seeing that all men
are called to enter the kingdom of God
and reach eternal salvation. Just as
today when her missions scatter schools
by the thousand in districts and countries
not yet Christian, from the banks of
the Ganges to the Yellow river and the
great islands and archipelagos of the
Pacific ocean, from the Dark Continent
to the Land of Fire and to frozen Alaska,
so in every age the Church by her missionaries
has educated to Christian life and to
civilization the various peoples which
now constitute the Christian nations
of the civilized world.
27. Hence it is evident
that both by right and in fact the mission
to educate belongs preeminently to the
Church, and that no one free from prejudice
can have a reasonable motive for opposing
or impeding the Church in this her work,
of which the world today enjoys the
precious advantages.
28. This is the more
true because the rights of the family
and of the State, even the rights of
individuals regarding a just liberty
in the pursuit of science, of methods
of science and all sorts of profane
culture, not only are not opposed to
this pre-eminence of the Church, but
are in complete harmony with it. The
fundamental reason for this harmony
is that the supernatural order, to which
the Church owes her rights, not only
does not in the least destroy the natural
order, to which pertain the other rights
mentioned, but elevates the natural
and perfects it, each affording mutual
aid to the other, and completing it
in a manner proportioned to its respective
nature and dignity. The reason is because
both come from God, who cannot contradict
Himself: "The works of God are
perfect and all His ways are judgments."[19]
29. This becomes clearer
when we consider more closely and in
detail the mission of education proper
to the family and to the State.
30. In the first place the Church's
mission of education is in wonderful
agreement with that of the family, for
both proceed from God, and in a remarkably
similar manner. God directly communicates
to the family, in the natural order,
fecundity, which is the principle of
life, and hence also the principle of
education to life, together with authority,
the principle of order.
31. The Angelic Doctor
with his wonted clearness of thought
and precision of style, says: "The
father according to the flesh has in
a particular way a share in that principle
which in a manner universal is found
in God.... The father is the principle
of generation, of education and discipline
and of everything that bears upon the
perfecting of human life."[20]
32. The family therefore
holds directly from the Creator the
mission and hence the right to educate
the offspring, a right inalienable because
inseparably joined to the strict obligation,
a right anterior to any right whatever
of civil society and of the State, and
therefore inviolable on the part of
any power on earth.
33. That this right
is inviolable St. Thomas proves as follows:
The child is naturally something of
the father . . . so by natural right
the child, before reaching the use of
reason, is under the father's care.
Hence it would be contrary to natural
justice if the child, before the use
of reason, were removed from the care
of its parents, or if any disposition
were made concerning him against the
will of the parents.[21] And as this
duty on the part of the parents continues
up to the time when the child is in
a position to provide for itself, this
same inviolable parental right of education
also endures. "Nature intends not
merely the generation of the offspring,
but also its development and advance
to the perfection of man considered
as man, that is, to the state of virtue"[22]
says the same St. Thomas.
34. The wisdom of
the Church in this matter is expressed
with precision and clearness in the
Codex of Canon Law, can. 1113: "Parents
are under a grave obligation to see
to the religious and moral education
of their children, as well as to their
physical and civic training, as far
as they can, and moreover to provide
for their temporal well-being."[23]
35. On this point
the common sense of mankind is in such
complete accord, that they would be
in open contradiction with it who dared
maintain that the children belong to
the State before they belong to the
family, and that the State has an absolute
right over their education. Untenable
is the reason they adduce, namely that
man is born a citizen and hence belongs
primarily to the State, not bearing
in mind that before being a citizen
man must exist; and existence does not
come from the State, but from the parents,
as Leo XIII wisely declared: "The
children are something of the father,
and as it were an extension of the person
of the father; and, to be perfectly
accurate, they enter into and become
part of civil society, not directly
by themselves, but through the family
in which they were born."[24] "And
therefore," says the same Leo Xlll,
"the father's power is of such
a nature that it cannot be destroyed
or absorbed by the State; for it has
the same origin as human life itself."[25]
It does not however follow from this
that the parents' right to educate their
children is absolute and despotic; for
it is necessarily subordinated to the
last end and to natural and divine law,
as Leo Xlll declares in another memorable
encyclical, where He thus sums up the
rights and duties of parents: "By
nature parents have a right to the training
of their children, but with this added
duty that the education and instruction
of the child be in accord with the end
for which by God's blessing it was begotten.
Therefore it is the duty of parents
to make every effort to prevent any
invasion of their rights in this matter,
and to make absolutely sure that the
education of their children remain under
their own control in keeping with their
Christian duty, and above all to refuse
to send them to those schools in which
there is danger of imbibing the deadly
poison of impiety."[26]
36. It must be borne
in mind also that the obligation of
the family to bring up children, includes
not only religious and moral education,
but physical and civic education as
well,[27] principally in so far as it
touches upon religion and morality
37. This incontestable
right of the family has at various times
been recognized by nations anxious to
respect the natural law in their civil
enactments. Thus, to give one recent
example, the Supreme Court of the United
States of America, in a decision on
an important controversy, declared that
it is not in the competence of the State
to fix any uniform standard of education
by forcing children to receive instruction
exclusively in public schools, and it
bases its decision on the natural law:
the child is not the mere creature of
the State; those who nurture him and
direct his destiny have the right coupled
with the high duty, to educate him and
prepare him for the fulfillment of his
obligations.[28]
38. History bears
witness how, particularly in modern
times, the State has violated and does
violate rights conferred by God on the
family. At the same time it shows magnificently
how the Church has ever protected and
defended these rights, a fact proved
by the special confidence which parents
have in Catholic schools. As We pointed
out recently in Our letter to the Cardinal
Secretary of State:
The family has instinctively understood
this to be so, and from the earliest
days of Christianity down to our own
times, fathers and mothers, even those
of little or no faith, have been sending
or bringing their children in millions
to places of education under the direction
of the Church.[29]
39. It is paternal
instinct, given by God, that thus turns
with confidence to the Church, certain
of finding in her the protection of
family rights, thereby illustrating
that harmony with which God has ordered
all things. The Church is indeed conscious
of her divine mission to all mankind,
and of the obligation which all men
have to practice the one true religion;
and therefore she never tires of defending
her right, and of reminding parents
of their duty, to have all Catholic-born
children baptized and brought up as
Christians. On the other hand so jealous
is she of the family's inviolable natural
right to educate the children, that
she never consents, save under peculiar
circumstances and with special cautions,
to baptize the children of infidels,
or provide for their education against
the will of the parents, till such time
as the children can choose for themselves
and freely embrace the Faith.[30]
40. We have therefore
two facts of supreme importance. As
We said in Our discourse cited above:
The Church placing at the disposal of
families her office of mistress and
educator, and the families eager to
profit by the offer, and entrusting
their children to the Church in hundreds
and thousands. These two facts recall
and proclaim a striking truth of the
greatest significance in the moral and
social order. They declare that the
mission of education regards before
all, above all, primarily the Church
and the family, and this by natural
and divine law, and that therefore it
cannot be slighted, cannot be evaded,
cannot be supplanted.[31]
41. From such priority
of rights on the part of the Church
and of the family in the field of education,
most important advantages, as we have
seen, accrue to the whole of society.
Moreover in accordance with the divinely
established order of things, no damage
can follow from it to the true and just
rights of the State in regard to the
education of its citizens.
42. These rights have
been conferred upon civil society by
the Author of nature Himself, not by
title of fatherhood, as in the case
of the Church and of the family, but
in virtue of the authority which it
possesses to promote the common temporal
welfare, which is precisely the purpose
of its existence. Consequently education
cannot pertain to civil society in the
same way in which it pertains to the
Church and to the family, but in a different
way corresponding to its own particular
end and object.
43. Now this end and
object, the common welfare in the temporal
order, consists in that peace and security
in which families and individual citizens
have the free exercise of their rights,
and at the same time enjoy the greatest
spiritual and temporal prosperity possible
in this life, by the mutual union and
co-ordination of the work of all. The
function therefore of the civil authority
residing in the State is twofold, to
protect and to foster, but by no means
to absorb the family and the individual,
or to substitute itself for them.
44. Accordingly in
the matter of education, it is the right,
or to speak more correctly, it is the
duty of the State to protect in its
legislation, the prior rights, already
described, of the family as regards
the Christian education of its offspring,
and consequently also to respect the
supernatural rights of the Church in
this same realm of Christian education.
45. It also belongs
to the State to protect the rights of
the child itself when the parents are
found wanting either physically or morally
in this respect, whether by default,
incapacity or misconduct, since, as
has been shown, their right to educate
is not an absolute and despotic one,
but dependent on the natural and divine
law, and therefore subject alike to
the authority and jurisdiction of the
Church, and to the vigilance and administrative
care of the State in view of the common
good. Besides, the family is not a perfect
society, that is, it has not in itself
all the means necessary for its full
development. In such cases, exceptional
no doubt, the State does not put itself
in the place of the family, but merely
supplies deficiencies, and provides
suitable means, always in conformity
with the natural rights of the child
and the supernatural rights of the Church.
46. In general then
it is the right and duty of the State
to protect, according to the rules of
right reason and faith, the moral and
religious education of youth, by removing
public impediments that stand in the
way. In the first place it pertains
to the State, in view of the common
good, to promote in various ways the
education and instruction of youth.
It should begin by encouraging and assisting,
of its own accord, the initiative and
activity of the Church and the family,
whose successes in this field have been
clearly demonstrated by history and
experience. It should moreover supplement
their work whenever this falls short
of what is necessary, even by means
of its own schools and institutions.
For the State more than any other society
is provided with the means put at its
disposal for the needs of all, and it
is only right that it use these means
to the advantage of those who have contributed
them.[32]
47. Over and above
this, the State can exact and take measures
to secure that all its citizens have
the necessary knowledge of their civic
and political duties, and a certain
degree of physical, intellectual and
moral culture, which, considering the
conditions of our times, is really necessary
for the common good.
48. However it is
clear that in all these ways of promoting
education and instruction, both public
and private, the State should respect
the inherent rights of the Church and
of the family concerning Christian education,
and moreover have regard for distributive
justice. Accordingly, unjust and unlawful
is any monopoly, educational or scholastic,
which, physically or morally, forces
families to make use of government schools,
contrary to the dictates of their Christian
conscience, or contrary even to their
legitimate preferences.
49. This does not
prevent the State from making due provision
for the right administration of public
affairs and for the protection of its
peace, within or without the realm.
These are things which directly concern
the public good and call for special
aptitudes and special preparation. The
State may therefore reserve to itself
the establishment and direction of schools
intended to prepare for certain civic
duties and especially for military service,
provided it be careful not to injure
the rights of the Church or of the family
in what pertains to them. It is well
to repeat this warning here; for in
these days there is spreading a spirit
of nationalism which is false and exaggerated,
as well as dangerous to true peace and
prosperity. Under its influence various
excesses are committed in giving a military
turn to the so-called physical training
of boys (sometimes even of girls, contrary
to the very instincts of human nature);
or again in usurping unreasonably on
Sunday, the time which should be devoted
to religious duties and to family life
at home. It is not our intention however
to condemn what is good in the spirit
of discipline and legitimate bravery
promoted by these methods; We condemn
only what is excessive, as for example
violence, which must not be confounded
with courage nor with the noble sentiment
of military valor in defense of country
and public order; or again exaltation
of athleticism which even in classic
pagan times marked the decline and downfall
of genuine physical training.
50. In general also
it belongs to civil society and the
State to provide what may be called
civic education, not only for its youth,
but for all ages and classes. This consists
in the practice of presenting publicly
to groups of individuals information
having an intellectual, imaginative
and emotional appeal, calculated to
draw their wills to what is upright
and honest, and to urge its practice
by a sort of moral compulsion, positively
by disseminating such knowledge, and
negatively by suppressing what is opposed
to it.[33] This civic education, so
wide and varied in itself as to include
almost every activity of the State intended
for the public good, ought also to be
regulated by the norms of rectitude,
and therefore cannot conflict with the
doctrines of the Church, which is the
divinely appointed teacher of these
norms.
51. All that we have
said so far regarding the activity of
the State in educational matters, rests
on the solid and immovable foundation
of the Catholic doctrine of The Christian
Constitution of States set forth in
such masterly fashion by Our Predecessor
Leo Xlll, notably in the Encyclicals
lmmortale Dei and Sapientiae Christianae.
He writes as follows:
God has divided the government of the
human race between two authorities,
ecclesiastical and civil, establishing
one over things divine, the other over
things human. Both are supreme, each
in its own domain; each has its own
fixed boundaries which limit its activities.
These boundaries are determined by the
peculiar nature and the proximate end
of each, and describe as it were a sphere
within which, with exclusive right,
each may develop its influence. As however
the same subjects are under the two
authorities, it may happen that the
same matter, though from a different
point of view, may come under the competence
and jurisdiction of each of them. If
follows that divine Providence, whence
both authorities have their origin,
must have traced with due order the
proper line of action for each. The
powers that are, are ordained of God.[34]
52. Now the education
of youth is precisely one of those matters
that belong both to the Church and to
the State, "though in different
ways," as explained above.
Therefore, continues Leo Xlll, between
the two powers there must reign a well-ordered
harmony. Not without reason may this
mutual agreement be compared to the
union of body and soul in man. Its nature
and extent can only be determined by
considering, as we have said, the nature
of each of the two powers, and in particular
the excellence and nobility of the respective
ends. To one is committed directly and
specifically the charge of what is helpful
in worldly matters; while the other
is to concern itself with the things
that pertain to heaven and eternity.
Everything therefore in human affairs
that is in any way sacred, or has reference
to the salvation of souls and the worship
of God, whether by its nature or by
its end, is subject to the jurisdiction
and discipline of the Church. Whatever
else is comprised in the civil and political
order, rightly comes under the authority
of the State; for Christ commanded us
to give to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and to God the things that
are God's.[35]
53. Whoever refuses
to admit these principles, and hence
to apply them to education, must necessarily
deny that Christ has founded His Church
for the eternal salvation of mankind,
and maintain instead that civil society
and the State are not subject to God
and to His law, natural and divine.
Such a doctrine is manifestly impious,
contrary to right reason, and, especially
in this matter of education, extremely
harmful to the proper training of youth,
and disastrous as well for civil society
as for the well-being of all mankind.
On the other hand from the application
of these principles, there inevitably
result immense advantages for the right
formation of citizens. This is abundantly
proved by the history of every age.
Tertullian in his Apologeticus could
throw down a challenge to the enemies
of the Church in the early days of Christianity,
just as St. Augustine did in his; and
we today can repeat with him:
Let those who declare the teaching
of Christ to be opposed to the welfare
of the State, furnish us with an army
of soldiers such as Christ says soldiers
ought to be; let them give us subjects,
husbands, wives, parents, children,
masters, servants, kings, judges, taxpayers
and tax gatherers who live up to the
teachings of Christ; and then let them
dare assert that Christian doctrine
is harmful to the State. Rather let
them not hesitate one moment to acclaim
that doctrine, rightly observed, the
greatest safeguard of the State.[36]
54. While treating
of education, it is not out of place
to show here how an ecclesiastical writer,
who flourished in more recent times,
during the Renaissance, the holy and
learned Cardinal Silvio Antoniano, to
whom the cause of Christian education
is greatly indebted, has set forth most
clearly this well established point
of Catholic doctrine. He had been a
disciple of that wonderful educator
of youth, St. Philip Neri; he was teacher
and Latin secretary to St. Charles Borromeo,
and it was at the latter's suggestion
and under his inspiration that he wrote
his splendid treatise on The Christian
Education of Youth. In it he argues
as follows:
The more closely the temporal power
of a nation aligns itself with the spiritual,
and the more it fosters and promotes
the latter, by so much the more it contributes
to the conservation of the commonwealth.
For it is the aim of the ecclesiastical
authority by the use of spiritual means,
to form good Christians in accordance
with its own particular end and object;
and in doing this it helps at the same
time to form good citizens, and prepares
them to meet their obligations as members
of a civil society. This follows of
necessity because in the City of God,
the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good
citizen and an upright man are absolutely
one and the same thing. How grave therefore
is the error of those who separate things
so closely united, and who think that
they can produce good citizens by ways
and methods other than those which make
for the formation of good Christians.
For, let human prudence say what it
likes and reason as it pleases, it is
impossible to produce true temporal
peace and tranquillity by things repugnant
or opposed to the peace and happiness
of eternity.[37]
55. What is true of
the State, is true also of science,
scientific methods and scientific research;
they have nothing to fear from the full
and perfect mandate which the Church
holds in the field of education. Our
Catholic institutions, whatever their
grade in the educational and scientific
world, have no need of apology. The
esteem they enjoy, the praise they receive,
the learned works which they promote
and produce in such abundance, and above
all, the men, fully and splendidly equipped,
whom they provide for the magistracy,
for the professions, for the teaching
career, in fact for every walk of life,
more than sufficiently testify in their
favour.[38]
56. These facts moreover
present a most striking confirmation
of the Catholic doctrine defined by
the Vatican Council:
Not only is it impossible for faith
and reason to be at variance with each
other, they are on the contrary of mutual
help. For while right reason establishes
the foundations of Faith, and, by the
help of its light, develops a knowledge
of the things of God, Faith on the other
hand frees and preserves reason from
error and enriches it with varied knowledge.
The Church therefore, far from hindering
the pursuit of the arts and sciences,
fosters and promotes them in many ways.
For she is neither ignorant nor unappreciative
of the many advantages which flow from
them to mankind. On the contrary she
admits that just as they come from God,
Lord of all knowledge, so too if rightly
used, with the help of His grace they
lead to God. Nor does she prevent the
sciences, each in its own sphere, from
making use of principles and methods
of their own. Only while acknowledging
the freedom due to them, she takes every
precaution to prevent them from falling
into error by opposition to divine doctrine,
or from overstepping their proper limits,
and thus invading and disturbing the
domain of Faith.[39]
57. This norm of a
just freedom in things scientific, serves
also as an inviolable norm of a just
freedom in things didactic, or for rightly
understood liberty in teaching; it should
be observed therefore in whatever instruction
is imparted to others. Its obligation
is all the more binding in justice when
there is question of instructing youth.
For in this work the teacher, whether
public or private, has no absolute right
of his own, but only such as has been
communicated to him by others. Besides
every Christian child or youth has a
strict right to instruction in harmony
with the teaching of the Church, the
pillar and ground of truth. And whoever
disturbs the pupil's Faith in any way,
does him grave wrong, inasmuch as he
abuses the trust which children place
in their teachers, and takes unfair
advantage of their inexperience and
of their natural craving for unrestrained
liberty, at once illusory and false.
58. In fact it must
never be forgotten that the subject
of Christian education is man whole
and entire, soul united to body in unity
of nature, with all his faculties natural
and supernatural, such as right reason
and revelation show him to be; man,
therefore, fallen from his original
estate, but redeemed by Christ and restored
to the supernatural condition of adopted
son of God, though without the preternatural
privileges of bodily immortality or
perfect control of appetite. There remain
therefore, in human nature the effects
of original sin, the chief of which
are weakness of will and disorderly
inclinations.
59. "Folly is
bound up in the heart of a child and
the rod of correction shall drive it
away."[40] Disorderly inclinations
then must be corrected, good tendencies
encouraged and regulated from tender
childhood, and above all the mind must
be enlightened and the will strengthened
by supernatural truth and by the means
of grace, without which it is impossible
to control evil impulses, impossible
to attain to the full and complete perfection
of education intended by the Church,
which Christ has endowed so richly with
divine doctrine and with the Sacraments,
the efficacious means of grace.
60. Hence every form
of pedagogic naturalism which in any
way excludes or weakens supernatural
Christian formation in the teaching
of youth, is false. Every method of
education founded, wholly or in part,
on the denial or forgetfulness of original
sin and of grace, and relying on the
sole powers of human nature, is unsound.
Such, generally speaking, are those
modern systems bearing various names
which appeal to a pretended self-government
and unrestrained freedom on the part
of the child, and which diminish or
even suppress the teacher's authority
and action, attributing to the child
an exclusive primacy of initiative,
and an activity independent of any higher
law, natural or divine, in the work
of his education.
61. If any of these
terms are used, less properly, to denote
the necessity of a gradually more active
cooperation on the part of the pupil
in his own education; if the intention
is to banish from education despotism
and violence, which, by the way, just
punishment is not, this would be correct,
but in no way new. It would mean only
what has been taught and reduced to
practice by the Church in traditional
Christian education, in imitation of
the method employed by God Himself towards
His creatures, of whom He demands active
cooperation according to the nature
of each; for His Wisdom "reacheth
from end to end mightily and ordereth
all things sweetly."[41]
62. But alas! it is
clear from the obvious meaning of the
words and from experience, that what
is intended by not a few, is the withdrawal
of education from every sort of dependence
on the divine law. So today we see,
strange sight indeed, educators and
philosophers who spend their lives in
searching for a universal moral code
of education, as if there existed no
decalogue, no gospel law, no law even
of nature stamped by God on the heart
of man, promulgated by right reason,
and codified in positive revelation
by God Himself in the ten commandments.
These innovators are wont to refer contemptuously
to Christian education as "heteronomous,"
"passive, 'obsolete," because
founded upon the authority of God and
His holy law.
63. Such men are miserably
deluded in their claim to emancipate,
as they say, the child, while in reality
they are making him the slave of his
own blind pride and of his disorderly
affections, which, as a logical consequence
of this false system, come to be justified
as legitimate demands of a so-called
autonomous nature.
64. But what is worse
is the claim, not only vain but false,
irreverent and dangerous, to submit
to research, experiment and conclusions
of a purely natural and profane order,
those matters of education which belong
to the supernatural order; as for example
questions of priestly or religious vocation,
and in general the secret workings of
grace which indeed elevate the natural
powers, but are infinitely superior
to them, and may nowise be subjected
to physical laws, for "the Spirit
breatheth where He will."[42]
65. Another very grave
danger is that naturalism which nowadays
invades the field of education in that
most delicate matter of purity of morals.
Far too common is the error of those
who with dangerous assurance and under
an ugly term propagate a so-called sex-education,
falsely imagining they can forearm youths
against the dangers of sensuality by
means purely natural, such as a foolhardy
initiation and precautionary instruction
for all indiscriminately, even in public;
and, worse still, by exposing them at
an early age to the occasions, in order
to accustom them, so it is argued, and
as it were to harden them against such
dangers.
66. Such persons grievously
err in refusing to recognize the inborn
weakness of human nature, and the law
of which the Apostle speaks, fighting
against the law of the mind;[43] and
also in ignoring the experience of facts,
from which it is clear that, particularly
in young people, evil practices are
the effect not so much of ignorance
of intellect as of weakness of a will
exposed to dangerous occasions, and
unsupported by the means of grace.
67. In this extremely
delicate matter, if, all things considered,
some private instruction is found necessary
and opportune, from those who hold from
God the commission to teach and who
have the grace of state, every precaution
must be taken. Such precautions are
well known in traditional Christian
education, and are adequately described
by Antoniano cited above, when he says:
Such is our misery and inclination
to sin, that often in the very things
considered to be remedies against sin,
we find occasions for and inducements
to sin itself. Hence it is of the highest
importance that a good father, while
discussing with his son a matter so
delicate, should be well on his guard
and not descend to details, nor refer
to the various ways in which this infernal
hydra destroys with its poison so large
a portion of the world; otherwise it
may happen that instead of extinguishing
this fire, he unwittingly stirs or kindles
it in the simple and tender heart of
the child. Speaking generally, during
the period of childhood it suffices
to employ those remedies which produce
the double effect of opening the door
to the virtue of purity and closing
the door upon vice.[44]
68. False also and
harmful to Christian education is the
so-called method of "coeducation."
This too, by many of its supporters,
is founded upon naturalism and the denial
of original sin; but by all, upon a
deplorable confusion of ideas that mistakes
a leveling promiscuity and equality,
for the legitimate association of the
sexes. The Creator has ordained and
disposed perfect union of the sexes
only in matrimony, and, with varying
degrees of contact, in the family and
in society. Besides there is not in
nature itself, which fashions the two
quite different in organism, in temperament,
in abilities, anything to suggest that
there can be or ought to be promiscuity,
and much less equality, in the training
of the two sexes. These, in keeping
with the wonderful designs of the Creator,
are destined to complement each other
in the family and in society, precisely
because of their differences, which
therefore ought to be maintained and
encouraged during their years of formation,
with the necessary distinction and corresponding
separation, according to age and circumstances.
These principles, with due regard to
time and place, must, in accordance
with Christian prudence, be applied
to all schools, particularly in the
