RERUM NOVARUM
 
On  The Working Classes
1891
   

 Pope Leo XIII


Oxf.Dict.Cath.Ch. Summary


 

RERUM NOVARUM
On The Working Classes
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE Leo XIII
MAY 15, 1891
 

 


 

 

RERUM NOVARUM
On The Working Classes
(AKA On Capital and Labor)
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII MAY 15, 1891

RERUM NOVARUM*

Sanctissimi D.N. Leonis Papae XIII
de conditione opificum

 

 

   

 

 

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries of Places having Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.

Venerabilibus Fratribus Patriarchis, Primatibus, Archiepiscopis
et Episcopis iuniversis catholici orbis gratiam et communionem
cum Apostolica Sede habentibus.

Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction!

Venerabiles Fratres
Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem.

That the spirit of revolutionary change, which has long been disturbing the nations of the world, should have passed beyond the sphere of politics and made its influence felt in the cognate sphere of practical economics is not surprising. The elements of the conflict now raging are unmistakable, in the vast expansion of industrial pursuits and the marvelous discoveries of science; in the changed relations between masters and workmen; in the enormous fortunes of some few individuals, and the utter poverty of the masses; in the increased self-reliance and closer mutual combination of the working classes; as also, finally, in the prevailing moral degeneracy. The momentous gravity of the state of things now obtaining fills every mind with painful apprehension; wise men are discussing it; practical men are proposing schemes; popular meetings, legislatures, and rulers of nations are all busied with it -- actually there is no question which has taken a deeper hold on the public mind.

Rerum novarum semel excitata cupidine, quae diu quidem commovet civitates, illud erat consecuturum ut commutationum studia a rationibus politicis in oeconomicarum cognatum genus aliquando defluerent. - Revera 1) nova industriae incrementa novisque euntes itineribus artes: 2) mutatae dominorum et mercenariorum rationes mutuae: 3) divitiarum in exiguo numero affluentia, in multitudine inopia: 4) opificum cum de se confidentia maior, tum inter se necessitudo coniunctior, praeterea versi in deteriora mores, effecere, ut certamen erumperet. In quo quanta rerum momenta vertantur, ex hoc apparet, quod animos habet acri expectatione suspensos: denique ingenia exercet doctorum, concilia prudentum, conciones populi, legumlatorum iudicium, consilia principum, ut iam caussa nulla reperiatur tanta, quae teneat hominum studia vehementius

 

 

2. Therefore, venerable brethren, as on former occasions when it seemed opportune to refute false teaching, We have addressed you in the interests of the Church and of the common weal, and have issued letters bearing on political power, human liberty, the Christian constitution of the State, and like matters, so have We thought it expedient now to speak on the condition of the working classes.[1] It is a subject on which We have already touched more than once, incidentally. But in the present letter, the responsibility of the apostolic office urges Us to treat the question of set purpose and in detail, in order that no misapprehension may exist as to the principles which truth and justice dictate for its settlement. The discussion is not easy, nor is it void of danger. It is no easy matter to define the relative rights and mutual duties of the rich and of the poor, of capital and of labor. And the danger lies in this, that crafty agitators are intent on making use of these differences of opinion to pervert men’s judgments and to stir up the people to revolt.

. - Itaque, proposita Nobis Ecclesiae caussa et salute communi, quod alias consuevimus, Venerabiles Fratres, datis ad vos Litteris de imperio politico, de libertate humana, de civitatum constitutione christiana, aliisque non dissimili genere, quae ad refutandas opinionum fallacias opportuna videbantur, idem nunc faciendum de conditione opificum iisdem de caussis duximus. - Genus hoc argumenti non semel iam per occasionem attigimus: in his tamen Litteris totam data opera tractare quaestionem apostolici muneris conscientia monet, ut principia emineant quorum ope, uti veritas atque aequitas postulant, dimicatio dirimatur.

Caussa est ad expediendum difficilis, nec vacua periculo. Arduum siquidem metiri iura et officia, quibus locupletes et proletarios, eos qui rem, et eos qui operam conferant, inter se oportet contineri. Periculosa vero contentio, quippe quae ab hominibus turbulentis et callidis ad pervertendum iudicium veri concitandamque seditiose multitudinem passim detorquetur.

 

 

3. In any case we clearly see, and on this there is general agreement, that some opportune remedy must be found quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class: for the ancient workingmen’s guilds were abolished in the last century, and no other protective organization took their place. Public institutions and the laws set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered, isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.

Utcumque sit, plane videmus, quod consentiunt universi, infimae sortis hominibus celeriter esse atque opportune consulendum, cum pars maxima in misera calamitosaque fortuna indigne versentur.

Nam veteribus artificum collegiis superiore saeculo deletis, nulloque in eorum locum suffecto praesidio, 1) cum ipsa instituta legesque publicae avitam religionem exuissent, sensim factum est ut opifices inhumanitati dominorum effrenataeque competitorum cupiditati solitarios atque indefensos tempus tradiderit. 2) Malum auxit usura vorax, quae non semel Ecclesiae judicio damnata, tamen ab hominibus avidis et quaestuosis per aliam speciem exercetur eadem; 3) huc accedunt et conductio operum et rerum omnium commercia fere in paucorum redacta potestatem, ita ut opulenti ac praedivites perpauci prope servile jugum infinitae proletariorum multitudini imposuerint.

4. To remedy these wrongs the socialists, working on the poor man’s envy of the rich, are striving to do away with private property, and contend that individual possessions should become the common property of all, to be administered by the State or by municipal bodies. They hold that by thus transferring property from private individuals to the community, the present mischievous state of things will be set to rights, inasmuch as each citizen will then get his fair share of whatever there is to enjoy. But their contentions are so clearly powerless to end the controversy that were they carried into effect the working man himself would be among the first to suffer. They are, moreover, emphatically unjust, for they would rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.

Ad huius sanationem mali Socialistae quidem, sollicitata egentium in locupletes invidia, evertere privatas bonorum possessionescontendunt oportere, earumque loco communia universis singulorum bona facere, procurantibus viris qui aut municipio praesint, aut totam rempublicam gerant. Eiusmodi translatione bonorum a privatis ad commune, mederi se posse praesenti malo arbitrantur, res et commoda inter cives aequabiliter partiendo. Sed est adeo eorum ratio ad contentionem dirimendam inepta, ut ipsum opificum genus afficiat incommodo : eademque praeterea est valde iniusta, quia vim possessoribus legitimis affert, pervertit officia reipublicae, penitusque miscet civitates.

5. It is surely undeniable that, when a man engages in remunerative labor, the impelling reason and motive of his work is to obtain property, and thereafter to hold it as his very own. If one man hires out to another his strength or skill, he does so for the purpose of receiving in return what is necessary for the satisfaction of his needs; he therefore expressly intends to acquire a right full and real, not only to the remuneration, but also to the disposal of such remuneration, just as he pleases. Thus, if he lives sparingly, saves money, and, for greater security, invests his savings in land, the land, in such case, is only his wages under another form; and, consequently, a working man’s little estate thus purchased should be as completely at his full disposal as are the wages he receives for his labor. But it is precisely in such power of disposal that ownership obtains, whether the property consist of land or chattels. Socialists, therefore, by endeavoring to transfer the possessions of individuals to the community at large, strike at the interests of every wage-earner, since they would deprive him of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and of bettering his condition in life.

Sane, quod facile est pervidere, ipsius operae, quam suscipiunt qui in arte aliqua quaestuosa versantur, haec per se caussa est, atque hic finis quo proxime spectat artifex, rem sibi quaerere privatoque jure possidere uti suam ac propriam. Is enim si vires, si industriam suam alteri commodat, hanc ob caussam commodat ut res adipiscatur ad victum cultumque necessarias : ideoque ex opera data ius verum perfectumque sibi quaerit non modo exigendae mercedis, sed et collocandae uti velit. Ergo si tenuitate sumptuum quicquam ipse comparsit, fructumque parcimoniae suae, quo tutior esse custodia possit, in praedio collocavit, profecto praedium istiusmodi nihil est aliud, quam merces ipsa aliam induta spedem : proptereaque coemptus sic opifici fundus tam est in ejus potestate futurus, quam parta labore merces. Sed in hoc plane, ut facile intelligitur, rerum dominium vel moventium vel solidarum consistit. In eo igitur quod bona privatorum transferre Socialistae ad commune nituntur, omnium mercenariorum faciunt conditionem deteriorem, quippe quos, collocandae mercedis libertate sublata, hoc ipso augendae rei familiaris utilitatumque sibi comparandarum spe et facultate despoliant.

6. What is of far greater moment, however, is the fact that the remedy they propose is manifestly against justice. For, every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own. This is one of the chief points of distinction between man and the animal creation, for the brute has no power of self-direction, but is governed by two main instincts, which keep his powers on the alert, impel him to develop them in a fitting manner, and stimulate and determine him to action without any power of choice. One of these instincts is self-preservation, the other the propagation of the species. Both can attain their purpose by means of things which lie within range; beyond their verge the brute creation cannot go, for they are moved to action by their senses only, and in the special direction which these suggest. But with man it is wholly different. He possesses, on the one hand, the full perfection of the animal being, and hence enjoys at least as much as the rest of the animal kind, the fruition of things material. But animal nature, however perfect, is far from representing the human being in its completeness, and is in truth but humanity’s humble handmaid, made to serve and to obey. It is the mind, or reason, which is the predominant element in us who are human creatures; it is this which renders a human being human, and distinguishes him essentially from the brute. And on this very account -- that man alone among the animal creation is endowed with reason -- it must be within his right to possess things not merely for temporary and momentary use, as other living things do, but to have and to hold them in stable and permanent possession; he must have not only things that perish in the use, but those also which, though they have been reduced into use, continue for further use in after time.

Verum, quod maius est, remedium proponunt cum iustitia aperte pugnans, quia possidere res privatim ut suas, ius est homini a nalura datum. - Revera hac etiam in re maxime inter hominem et genus interest animantium ceterarum. Non enim se ipsae regunt belluae, sed reguntur gubernanturque duplici naturae instinctu : qui tum custodiunt experrectam in eis facultatem agendi, viresque opportune evolvunt, tum etiam singulos earum motus exsuscitant iidem et determinant. Altero instinctu ad se vitamque tuendam, altero ad conservationem generis ducuntur sui. Utrumque vero commode assequuntur earum rerum usu quae adsunt, quaeque praesentes sunt : nec sane progredi longius possent, quia solo sensu moventur rebusque singularibus sensu perceptis. - Longe alia hominis natura. Inest in eo tota simul ac perfecta vis naturae animantis, ideoque tributum ex hac parte homini est, certe non minus quam generi animantium omni, ut rerum corporearum fruatur bonis. Sed natura animans quantumvis cumulate possessa, tantum abest ut naturam circumscribat humanam, ut multo sit humana natura inferior, et ad parendum huic obediendumque nata. Quod eminet atque excellit in nobis, quod homini tribuit ut homo sit, et a belluis differat genere toto, mens seu ratio est. Et ob hanc caussam quod solum hoc animal est rationis particeps, bona homini tribuere necesse est non utenda solum, quod est omnium animantium commune, sed stabili perpetuoque jure possidenda, neque ea dumtaxat quae usu consumuntur, sed etiam quae, nobis utentibus, permanent.

7. This becomes still more clearly evident if man’s nature be considered a little more deeply. For man, fathoming by his faculty of reason matters without number, linking the future with the present, and being master of his own acts, guides his ways under the eternal law and the power of God, whose providence governs all things. Wherefore, it is in his power to exercise his choice not only as to matters that regard his present welfare, but also about those which he deems may be for his advantage in time yet to come. Hence, man not only should possess the fruits of the earth, but also the very soil, inasmuch as from the produce of the earth he has to lay by provision for the future. Man’s needs do not die out, but forever recur; although satisfied today, they demand fresh supplies for tomorrow. Nature accordingly must have given to man a source that is stable and remaining always with him, from which he might look to draw continual supplies. And this stable condition of things he finds solely in the earth and its fruits.

Quod magis etiam apparet, si hominum in se natura altius spectetur. Homo enim cum innumerabilia ratione comprehendat, rebusque praesentibus adiungat, atque annectat futuras, cumque actionum suarum sit ipse dominus, propterea sub lege aeterna, sub potestate omnia providentissime gubernantis Dei, se ipse gubernat providentia consilii sui : quamobrem in eius est potestate res eligere quas ad consulendum sibi non modo in praesens, sed etiam in reliquum tempus, maxime iudicet idoneas. Ex quo consequitur, ut in homine esse non modo terrenorum fructuum, sed ipsius terra dominatum oporteat, quia e terrae fetu sibi res suppeditari videt ad futurum tempus necessarias. Habent cuiusque hominis necessitates velut perpetuos reditus, ita ut hodie expletae, in crastinum nova imperent. Igitur rem quamdam debet homini natura dedisse stabilem perpetuoque mansuram, unde perennitas subsidii expectari posset. Atqui istiusmodi perennitatem nulla res praestare; nisi cum ubertatibus suis terra, potest.

There is no need to bring in the State. Man precedes the State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.

Neque est, cur providentia introducatur reipublicae: est enim homo, quam respublica, senior: quocirca ius ille suum ad vitam corpusque tuendum habere natura ante debuit quam civitas ulla coisset.

8. The fact that God has given the earth for the use and enjoyment of the whole human race can in no way be a bar to the owning of private property. For God has granted the earth to mankind in general, not in the sense that all without distinction can deal with it as they like, but rather that no part of it was assigned to any one in particular, and that the limits of private possession have been left to be fixed by man’s own industry, and by the laws of individual races. Moreover, the earth, even though apportioned among private owners, ceases not thereby to minister to the needs of all, inasmuch as there is not one who does not sustain life from what the land produces. Those who do not possess the soil contribute their labor; hence, it may truly be said that all human subsistence is derived either from labor on one’s own land, or from some toil, some calling, which is paid for either in the produce of the land itself, or in that which is exchanged for what the land brings forth.

- Quod vero terram Deus universo generi hominum utendam, fruendam dederit, id quidem non potest ullo pacto privatis possessionibus obesse. Deus enim generi hominum donavisse terram in commune dicitur, non quod eius promiscuum apud omnes dominatum voluerit, sed quia partem nullam cuique assignavit possidendam, industriae hominum institutisque populorum permissa privatarum possessionum descriptione. Ceterum utcumque inter privatos distributa, inservire communi omnium utilitati terra non cessat, quoniam nemo est mortalium, quin alatur eo, quod agri efferunt. Qui re carent, supplent opera; ita ut vere affirmari possit, universam comparandi victus cultusque rationem in labore consistere, quem quis vel in fundo insumat suo, vel in arte aliqua operosa, cuius merces tandem non aliunde, quam a multiplici terrae fetu ducitur, cum eoque permutatur.

9. Here, again, we have further proof that private ownership is in accordance with the law of nature. Truly, that which is required for the preservation of life, and for life’s well-being, is produced in great abundance from the soil, but not until man has brought it into cultivation and expended upon it his solicitude and skill. Now, when man thus turns the activity of his mind and the strength of his body toward procuring the fruits of nature, by such act he makes his own that portion of nature’s field which he cultivates -- that portion on which he leaves, as it were, the impress of his personality; and it cannot but be just that he should possess that portion as his very own, and have a right to hold it without any one being justified in violating that right.

Qua ex re rursus efficitur, privatas possessiones plane esse secundum naturam. Res enim eas, quae ad conservandam vitam maximeque ad perficiendam requiruntur, terra quidem cum magna largitate fundit, sed fundere ex se sine hominum cultu et curatione non posset. Iamvero cum in parandis naturae bonis industriam mentis viresque corporis homo insumat, hoc ipso applicat ad sese eam naturae corporeae partem, quam ipse percoluit, in qua velut formam quamdam personae suae impressam reliquit; ut omnino rectum esse oporteat, eam partem ab eo possideri uti suam, nec ullo modo ius ipsius violare cuiquam licere.

10. So strong and convincing are these arguments that it seems amazing that some should now be setting up anew certain obsolete opinions in opposition to what is here laid down. They assert that it is right for private persons to have the use of the soil and its various fruits, but that it is unjust for any one to possess outright either the land on which he has built or the estate which he has brought under cultivation. But those who deny these rights do not perceive that they are defrauding man of what his own labor has produced. For the soil which is tilled and cultivated with toil and skill utterly changes its condition; it was wild before, now it is fruitful; was barren, but now brings forth in abundance. That which has thus altered and improved the land becomes so truly part of itself as to be in great measure indistinguishable and inseparable from it. Is it just that the fruit of a man’s own sweat and labor should be possessed and enjoyed by any one else? As effects follow their cause, so is it just and right that the results of labor should belong to those who have bestowed their labor.

Horum tam perspicua vis est argumentorum, ut mirabile videatur, dissentire quosdam exoletarum opinionum restitutores: qui usum quidem soli, variosque praediorum fructus homini privato concedunt: at possideri ab eo ut domino vel solum, in quo aedificavit, vel praedium quod excoluit, plane ius esse negant. Quod cum negant, fraudatum iri partis suo labore rebus hominem, non vident. Ager quippe cultoris manu atque arte subactus habitum longe mutat: e silvestri frugifer, ex infecundo ferax efficitur. Quibus autem rebus est melior factus, illae sic solo inhaerent miscenturque penitus, ut maximam partem nullo pacto sint separabiles a solo. Atqui id quemquam potiri illoque perfrui, in quo alius desudavit, utrumne iustitia pariatur? Quo modo effectae res caussam sequuntur a qua effectae sunt, sic operae fructum ad eos ipsos qui operam dederint, rectum est pertinere.

11. With reason, then, the common opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace and tranquility of human existence. The same principle is confirmed and enforced by the civil laws -- laws which, so long as they are just, derive from the law of nature their binding force. The authority of the divine law adds its sanction, forbidding us in severest terms even to covet that which is another’s: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife; nor his house, nor his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is his.”[2]

Merito igitur universitas generis humani, dissentientibus paucorum opinionibus nihil admodum mota, studioseque naturam intuens, in ipsius lege naturae fundamentum reperit partitionis bonorum, possessionesque privatas, ut quae cum hominum natura pacatoque et tranquillo convictu maxime congruant, omnium saeculorum usu consecravit. - Leges autem civiles, quae, cum iustae sunt, virtutem suam ab ipsa naturali lege ducunt, id ius, de quo loquimur, confirmant ac vi etiam adhibenda tuentur. - Idem divinarum legum sanxit auctoritas, quae vel appetere alienum gravissime vetant. Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui: non domum, non agrum, non ancillam, non bovem, non asinum et universa qui illius sunt [Deut. V, 21].

12. The rights here spoken of, belonging to each individual man, are seen in much stronger light when considered in relation to man’s social and domestic obligations. In choosing a state of life, it is indisputable that all are at full liberty to follow the counsel of Jesus Christ as to observing virginity, or to bind themselves by the marriage tie. No human law can abolish the natural and original right of marriage, nor in any way limit the chief and principal purpose of marriage ordained by God’s authority from the beginning: “Increase and multiply.”[3] Hence we have the family, the “society” of a man’s house -- a society very small, one must admit, but none the less a true society, and one older than any State. Consequently, it has rights and duties peculiar to itself which are quite independent of the State.

Iura vero istiusmodi, quae in hominibus insunt singulis, multo validiora intelliguntur esse si cum officiis hominum in convictu domestico apta et connexa spectentur. - In diligendo genere vitae non est dubium, quin in potestate sit arbitrioque singulorum alterutrum malle, aut IESU CHRISTI sectari de virginitate consilium, aut maritali se vinclo obligare. Ius coniugii naturale ac primigenum homini adimere, caussamve nuptiarum praecipuam, Dei auctoritate initio constitutam, quoquo modo circumscribere lex hominum nulla potest: Crescite et multiplicammi [Gen. I, 28]. En igitur familia, seu societas domestica, perparva illa quidem, sed vera societas, eademque omni civitate antiquior; cui propterea sua quaedam iura officiaque esse necesse est, quae minime pendeant a republica.

13. That right to property, therefore, which has been proved to belong naturally to individual persons, must in like wise belong to a man in his capacity of head of a family; nay, that right is all the stronger in proportion as the human person receives a wider extension in the family group. It is a most sacred law of nature that a father should provide food and all necessaries for those whom he has begotten; and, similarly, it is natural that he should wish that his children, who carry on, so to speak, and continue his personality, should be by him provided with all that is needful to enable them to keep themselves decently from want and misery amid the uncertainties of this mortal life. Now, in no other way can a father effect this except by the ownership of productive property, which he can transmit to his children by inheritance. A family, no less than a State, is, as We have said, a true society, governed by an authority peculiar to itself, that is to say, by the authority of the father. Provided, therefore, the limits which are prescribed by the very purposes for which it exists be not transgressed, the family has at least equal rights with the State in the choice and pursuit of the things needful to its preservation and its just liberty. We say, “at least equal rights”; for, inasmuch as the domestic household is antecedent, as well in idea as in fact, to the gathering of men into a community, the family must necessarily have rights and duties which are prior to those of the community, and founded more immediately in nature. If the citizens, if the families on entering into association and fellowship, were to experience hindrance in a commonwealth instead of help, and were to find their rights attacked instead of being upheld, society would rightly be an object of detestation rather than of desire.

Quod igitur demonstravimus, ius dominii personis singularibus natura tributum, id transferri in hominem, qua caput est familiae, oportet: immo tanto ius est illud validius, quanto persona humana in convictu domestico plura complectitur.

Sanctissima naturae lex est, ut victu omnique cultu paterfamilias tueatur quos ipse procrearit : idemque illud a natura ipsa deducitur, ut velit liberis suis, quippe qui paternam referunt et quodam modo producunt personam, acquirere et parare, unde se honeste possint in ancipiti vitae cursu a misera fortuna defendere. Id vero efficere non alia ratione potest, nisi fructuosarumpossessione rerum, quas ad liberos hereditate transmittat. Quemadmodum civitas, eodem modo familia, ut memoravimus, veri nominis societas est, quae potestate propria, hoc est paterna, regitur. Quamobrem, servatis utique finibus quos proxima eius caussa praescripserit, in deligendis adhibendisque rebus incolumitati ac iustae libertati suae necessariis, familia quidem paria saltem cum societate civili iura obtinet. Paria saltem diximus, quia cum convictus domesticus et cogitatione sit et re prior, quam civilis coniunctio, priora quoque esse magisque naturalia iura eius officiaque consequitur. Quod si cives, si familiae, convictus humani societatisque participes factae, pro adiumento offensionem, pro tutela diminutionem iuris sui in republica reperirent, fastidienda citius, quam optanda societas esset.

14. The contention, then, that the civil government should at its option intrude into and exercise intimate control over the family and the household is a great and pernicious error. True, if a family finds itself in exceeding distress, utterly deprived of the counsel of friends, and without any prospect of extricating itself, it is right that extreme necessity be met by public aid, since each family is a part of the commonwealth. In like manner, if within the precincts of the household there occur grave disturbance of mutual rights, public authority should intervene to force each party to yield to the other its proper due; for this is not to deprive citizens of their rights, but justly and properly to safeguard and strengthen them.

Velle igitur ut pervadat civile imperium arbitratu suo usque ad intima domorum, magnus ac perniciosus est error. - Certe si qua forte familia in summa rerum difficultate consiliique inopia versetur, ut inde se ipsa expedire nullo pacto possit, rectum est subveniri publice rebus extremis : sunt enim familiae singulae pars quaedam civitatis. Ac pari modo sicubi intra domesticos parietes gravis extiterit perturbatio iurium mutuorum, suum cuique ius potestas publica vindicato; neque enim hoc est ad se rapere iura civium, sed munire atque firmare iusta debitaque tutela. Hic tamen consistant necesse est, qui praesint rebus publicis : hos excedere fines natura non patitur.

But the rulers of the commonwealth must go no further; here, nature bids them stop. Paternal authority can be neither abolished nor absorbed by the State; for it has the same source as human life itself. “The child belongs to the father,” and is, as it were, the continuation of the father’s personality; and speaking strictly, the child takes its place in civil society, not of its own right, but in its quality as member of the family in which it is born. And for the very reason that “the child belongs to the father” it is, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, “before it attains the use of free will, under the power and the charge of its parents.”[4] The socialists, therefore, in setting aside the parent and setting up a State supervision, act against natural justice, and destroy the structure of the home.

Patria potestas est eiusmodi, ut nec extingui, neque absorberi a republica possit, quia idem et commune habet cum ipsa hominum vita principium. Filii sunt aliquid patris, et velut paternae amplificatio quaedam personae : proprieque loqui si volumus, non ipsi per se, sed per communitatem domesticam, in qua generati sunt, civilem ineunt ac participant societatem. Atque hac ipsa de caussa, quod filii sunt naturaliter aliquid patris,... antequam usum liberi arbitrii habeant, continentur sub parentum cura[S. Thomas, I-II, Quaest. X, art. XII]. Quod igitur Socialistae, posthabita providentia parentum, introducunt providentiam reipublicae, faciunt contra iustitiam naturalem, ac domorum compaginem dissolvunt.

15. And in addition to injustice, it is only too evident what an upset and disturbance there would be in all classes, and to how intolerable and hateful a slavery citizens would be subjected. The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry; and that ideal equality about which they entertain pleasant dreams would be in reality the leveling down of all to a like condition of misery and degradation.

Ac praeter iniustitiam, nimis etiam apparet qualis esset omnium ordinum commutatio perturbatioque, quam dura et odiosa servituscivium consecutura. Aditus ad invidentiam mutuam, ad obtrectationes et discordias patefieret : ademptis ingenio singulorum sollertiaeque stimulis, ipsi divitiarum fontes necessario exarescerent : eaque, quam fingunt cogitatione, aequabilitas, aliud revera non esset nisi omnium hominum aeque misera atque ignobilis, nullo discrimine, conditio.

Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property. This being established, we proceed to show where the remedy sought for must be found.

Ex quibus omnibus perspicitur, illud Socialismi placitum de possessionibus in commune redigendis omnino repudiari oportere, quia iis ipsis, quibus est opitulandum, nocet, naturalibus singulorum iuribus repugnat, officia reipublicae tranquillitatemque communem perturbat. Maneat ergo, cum plebi sublevatio quaeritur, hoc in primis haberi fundamenti instar oportere, privatas possessiones inviolate servandas. Quo posito, remedium, quod exquiritur, unde petendum sit; explicabimus.

16. We approach the subject with confidence, and in the exercise of the rights which manifestly appertain to Us, for no practical solution of this question will be found apart from the intervention of religion and of the Church. It is We who are the chief guardian of religion and the chief dispenser of what pertains to the Church; and by keeping silence we would seem to neglect the duty incumbent on us. Doubtless, this most serious question demands the attention and the efforts of others besides ourselves -- to wit, of the rulers of States, of employers of labor, of the wealthy, aye, of the working classes themselves, for whom We are pleading. But We affirm without hesitation that all the striving of men will be vain if they leave out the Church. It is the Church that insists, on the authority of the Gospel, upon those teachings whereby the conflict can be brought to an end, or rendered, at least, far less bitter; the Church uses her efforts not only to enlighten the mind, but to direct by her precepts the life and conduct of each and all; the Church improves and betters the condition of the working man by means of numerous organizations; does her best to enlist the services of all classes in discussing and endeavoring to further in the most practical way, the interests of the working classes; and considers that for this purpose recourse should be had, in due measure and degree, to the intervention of the law and of State authority.

Confidenter ad argumentum aggredimur ac plane iure Nostro; propterea quod caussa agitur ea, cuius exitus probabilis quidem nullus, nisi advocata religione Ecclesiaque, reperiatur. Cum vero et religionis custodia, et earum rerum, quae in Ecclesiae potestate sunt, penes Nos potissimum dispensatio sit, neglexisse officium taciturnitate videremur.

Profecto aliorum quoque operam et contentionem tanta haec caussa desiderat : principum reipublicae intelligimus, dominorum ac locupletium, denique ipsorum, pro quibus contentio est proletariorum : illud tamen sine dubitatione affirmamus, inania conata hominum futura, Ecclesia posthabita. Videlicet Ecclesia est, quae promit ex Evangelio doctrinas, quarum virtute aut plane componi certamen potest, aut certe fieri, detracta asperitate, mollius; eademque est, quae non instruere mentem tantummodo, sed regere vitam et mores singulorum praeceptis suis contendit: quae statum ipsum proletariorum ad meliora promovet pluribus utilissime institutis : quae vult atque expedit omnium ordinum consilia viresque in id consociari, ut opificum rationibus, quam commodissime potest, consulatur : ad eamque rem adhiberi leges ipsas auctoritatemque reipublicae, utique ratione ac modo, putat oportere.

17. It must be first of all recognized that the condition of things inherent in human affairs must be borne with, for it is impossible to reduce civil society to one dead level. Socialists may in that intent do their utmost, but all striving against nature is in vain. There naturally exist among mankind manifold differences of the most important kind; people differ in capacity, skill, health, strength; and unequal fortune is a necessary result of unequal condition. Such inequality is far from being disadvantageous either to individuals or to the community. Social and public life can only be maintained by means of various kinds of capacity for business and the playing of many parts; and each man, as a rule, chooses the part which suits his own peculiar domestic condition. As regards bodily labor, even had man never fallen from the state of innocence, he would not have remained wholly idle; but that which would then have been his free choice and his delight became afterwards compulsory, and the painful expiation for his disobedience. “Cursed be the earth in thy work; in thy labor thou shalt eat of it all the days of thy life.”[5]

Illud itaque statuatur primo loco, ferendam esse conditionem humanam: ima summis paria fieri in civili societate non posse. Agitant id quidem Socialistiae : sed omnis est contra rerum naturam vana contentio. Sunt enim in hominibus maximae plurimaeque natura dissimilitudines; non omnium paria ingenia sunt, non sollertia, non valetudo, non vires: quarum rerum necessarium discrimen sua sponte sequitur fortuna dispar. Idque plane ad usus cum privatorum tum communitatis accommodate; indiget enim varia ad res regendas facultate diversisque muneribus vita communis; ad quae fungenda munera potissimum impelluntur homines differentia rei cuiusque familiaris. - Et ad corporis laborem quod attinet, in ipso statu innocentiae non iners omnino erat homo futurus : at vero quod ad animi delectationem tunc libere optavisset voluntas, idem postea in expiatione culpae subire non sine molestiae sensu coegit necessitas. Maledicta terra in opere tuo: in laboribus comedes ex ea cunctis diebus vitae tuae [Gen. III, 17].

18. In like manner, the other pains and hardships of life will have no end or cessation on earth; for the consequences of sin are bitter and hard to bear, and they must accompany man so long as life lasts. To suffer and to endure, therefore, is the lot of humanity; let them strive as they may, no strength and no artifice will ever succeed in banishing from human life the ills and troubles which beset it. If any there are who pretend differently -- who hold out to a hard-pressed people the boon of freedom from pain and trouble, an undisturbed repose, and constant enjoyment -- they delude the people and impose upon them, and their lying promises will only one day bring forth evils worse than the present. Nothing is more useful than to look upon the world as it really is, and at the same time to seek elsewhere, as We have said, for the solace to its troubles.

- Similique modo finis acerbitatum reliquarum in terris nullus est futuras, quia mala peccati consectaria aspera ad tolerandum sunt, dura, difficilia: eaque homini usque ad ultimum vitae comitari est necesse. Itaque pati et perpeti humanum est, et ut homines experiantur ac tentent omnia, istiusmodi incommoda invellere ab humano convictu penitus nulla vi, nulla arte poterunt. Si qui id se profiteantur posse, si miserae plebi vitam polliceantur omni dolore molestiaque vacantem, et refertam quiete ac perpetuis voluptatibus, nae illi populo imponunt, fraudemque struunt, in mala aliquando erupturam maiora praesentibus. Optimum factu res humanas, ut se habent, ita contueri, simulque opportunum incommodis levamentum, uti diximus, aliunde petere.

19. The great mistake made in regard to the matter now under consideration is to take up with the notion that class is naturally hostile to class, and that the wealthy and the working men are intended by nature to live in mutual conflict. So irrational and so false is this view that the direct contrary is the truth. Just as the symmetry of the human frame is the result of the suitable arrangement of the different parts of the body, so in a State is it ordained by nature that these two classes should dwell in harmony and agreement, so as to maintain the balance of the body politic. Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labor, nor labor without capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity. Now, in preventing such strife as this, and in uprooting it, the efficacy of Christian institutions is marvelous and manifold.

Est illud in caussa, de qua dicimus, capitale malum, opinione fingere alterum ordinem sua sponte infensum alteri, quasi locupletes et proletarios ad digladiandum inter se pertinaci duello natura comparaverit. Quod adeo a ratione abhorret et a veritate, ut contra verissimum sit quo modo in corpore diversa inter se membra conveniunt, unde illud existit temperamentum habitudinis, quam symmetriam recte dixeris, eodem modo naturam in civitate praecepisse ut geminae illae classes congruant inter se concorditer, sibique convenienter ad aequilibritatem respondeant. Omnino altera alterius indiget : non res sine opera, nec sine re potest opera consistere. Concordia gignit pulchritudinem rerum atque ordinem : contra ex perpetuitate certaminis oriatur necesse est cum agresti immanitate confusio. Nunc vero ad dirimendum certamen, ipsasque eius radices amputandas, mira vis est institutorum christianorum, eaque multiplex.

First of all, there is no intermediary more powerful than religion (whereof the Church is the interpreter and guardian) in drawing the rich and the working class together, by reminding each of its duties to the other, and especially of the obligations of justice.

Ac primum tota disciplina religionis, cuius est interpres et custos Ecclesia, magnopere potest locupletes et proletarios componere invicem et coniungere, scilicet utroque ordine ad officia mutua revocato, in primisque ad ea quae a iustitia ducuntur.

20. Of these duties, the following bind the proletarian and the worker: fully and faithfully to perform the work which has been freely and equitably agreed upon; never to injure the property, nor to outrage the person, of an employer; never to resort to violence in defending their own cause, nor to engage in riot or disorder; and to have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon the people with artful promises of great results, and excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss. The following duties bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character. They are reminded that, according to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though they were things in the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers -- that is truly shameful and inhuman. Again justice demands that, in dealing with the working man, religion and the good of his soul must be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings. Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age.

Quibus ex officiis illa proletarium atque opificem attingunt; quod libere et cum aequitate pactum operae sit, id integre et fideliter reddere: non rei ullo modo nocere, non personam violare dominorum: in ipsis tuendis rationibus suis abstinere a vi, nec seditionem induereunquam : nec commisceri cum hominibus flagitiosis, immodicas spes et promissa ingentia artificiose iactantibus, quod fere habet poenitentiam inutilem et fortunarum ruinas consequentes.

Ista vero ad divites spectant ac dominos : non habendos mancipiorum loco opifices : vereri in eis aequum esse dignitatem personae, utique nobilitatam ab eo, character christianus qui dicitur. Quaestuosas artes. si naturae ratio. si christiana philosophia audiatur, non pudori homini esse, sed decori, quia vitae sustentandae praebent honestam potestatem. Illud vere turpe et inhumanum, abuti hominibus pro rebus ad quaestum, nec facere eos pluris, quam quantum nervis polleant viribusque. Similiter praecipitur, religionis et bonorum animi haberi rationem in proletariis oportere. Quare dominorum partes esse, efficere ut idoneo temporis spatio pietati vacet opifex: non hominem dare obvium lenociniis corruptelarum illecebrisque peccandi: neque ullo pacto a cura domestica parcimoniaeque studio abducere. Item non plus imponere operis, quam vires ferre queant, nec id genus, quod cum aetate sexuque dissideat.

His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just. Doubtless, before deciding whether wages are fair, many things have to be considered; but wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be mindful of this -- that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one’s profit out of the need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine. To defraud any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries to the avenging anger of Heaven. “Behold, the hire of the laborers . . . which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth; and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.”[6] Lastly, the rich must religiously refrain from cutting down the workmen’s earnings, whether by force, by fraud, or by usurious dealing; and with all the greater reason because the laboring man is, as a rule, weak and unprotected, and because his slender means should in proportion to their scantiness be accounted sacred.

In maximis autem officiis dominorum illud eminet, iusta unicuique praebere. Profecto ut mercedis statuatur ex aequitate modus, caussae sunt considerandae plures: sed generatim locupletes atque heri meminerint, premere emolumenti sui caussa indigentes ac miseros, alienaque ex inopia captare quaestum, non divina, non humana iura sinere. Fraudare vero quemquam mercede debita grande piaculum est, quod iras e caelo ultrices clamore devocat. Ecce merces operariorum... quae fraudata est a vobis, clamat; et clamor eorum in aures Domini Sabaoth introivit [Jac. V, 4]. - Postremo religiose cavendum locupletibus ne proletariorum compendiis quicquam noceant nec vi, nec dolo, nec fenebribus artibus : idque eo vel magis quod non satis illi sunt contra iniurias atque impotentiam muniti, eorumque res, quo exilior, hoc sanctior habenda.

Were these precepts carefully obeyed and followed out, would they not be sufficient of themselves to keep under all strife and all its causes?

His obtemperatio legibus nonne posset vim caussasque dissidii vel sola restinguere?

21. But the Church, with Jesus Christ as her Master and Guide, aims higher still. She lays down precepts yet more perfect, and tries to bind class to class in friendliness and good feeling. The things of earth cannot be understood or valued aright without taking into consideration the life to come, the life that will know no death. Exclude the idea of futurity, and forthwith the very notion of what is good and right would perish; nay, the whole scheme of the universe would become a dark and unfathomable mystery. The great truth which we learn from nature herself is also the grand Christian dogma on which religion rests as on its foundation -- that, when we have given up this present life, then shall we really begin to live. God has not created us for the perishable and transitory things of earth, but for things heavenly and everlasting; He has given us this world as a place of exile, and not as our abiding place. As for riches and the other things which men call good and desirable, whether we have them in abundance, or are lacking in them -- so far as eternal happiness is concerned -- it makes no difference; the only important thing is to use them aright. Jesus Christ, when He redeemed us with plentiful redemption, took not away the pains and sorrows which in such large proportion are woven together in the web of our mortal life. He transformed them into motives of virtue and occasions of merit; and no man can hope for eternal reward unless he follow in the blood-stained footprints of his Savior. “If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”[7] Christ’s labors and sufferings, accepted of His own free will, have marvelously sweetened all suffering and all labor. And not only by His example, but by His grace and by the hope held forth of everlasting recompense, has He made pain and grief more easy to endure; “for that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.”[8]

Sed Ecclesia tamen, IESU CHRISTO magistro et duce, persequitur maiora : videlicet perfectius quiddam praecipiendo, illuc spectat; ut alterum ordinem vicinitate proxima amicitiaque alteri coniungat. - Intelligere atque aestimare mortalia ex veritate non possumus, nisi dispexerit animus vitam alteram eamque immortalem : qua quidem dempta, continuo forma ac vera notio honesti interiret; immo tota haec rerum universitas in arcanum abiret nulli hominum investigationi pervium. Igitur, quod natura ipsa admonente didicimus, idem dogma est christianum, quo ratio et constitutio tota religionis tamquam fundamento principe nititur, cum ex hac vita excesserimus, tum vere nos esse victuros. Neque enim Deus hominem ad haec fragilia et caduca, sed ad caelestia atque aeterna generavit, terramque nobis ut exulandi locum, non ut sedem habitandi dedit. Divitiis ceterisque rebus, quae appellantur bona, affluas, careas, ad aeternam beatitudinem nihil interest: quemadmodum utare, id vero maxime interest. Acerbitates varias, quibus vita mortalis fere contexitur, IESUS CHRISTUS copiosa redemptione sua nequaquam sustulit, sed in virtutum incitamenta, materiamque bene merendi traduxit ita plane ut nemo mortalium queat praemia sempiterna capessere nisi cruentis IESU CHRISTI vestigiis ingrediatur. Si sustinebimus, et conregnabimus [II Tim. II,12]. Laboribus ille et cruciatibus sponte susceptis, cruciatuum et laborum mirifice vim delenivit: nec solum exemplo, sed gratia sua perpetuaeque mercedis spe proposita, perpessionem dolorum effecit faciliorem: id enim, quod in praesenti est momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis [II Cor. IV, 17].

22. Therefore, those whom fortune favors are warned that riches do not bring freedom from sorrow and are of no avail for eternal happiness, but rather are obstacles;[9] that the rich should tremble at the threatenings of Jesus Christ -- threatenings so unwonted in the mouthh of our Lord[10] -- and that a most strict account must be given to the Supreme Judge for all we possess. The chief and most excellent rule for the right use of money is one the heathen philosophers hinted at, but which the Church has traced out clearly, and has not only made known to men’s minds, but has impressed upon their lives. It rests on the principle that it is one thing to have a right to the possession of money and another to have a right to use money as one ills. Private ownership, as we have seen, is the natural right of man, and to exercise that right, especially as members of society, is not only lawful, but absolutely necessary. “It is lawful,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “for a man to hold private property; and it is also necessary for the carrying on of human existence.’’[11] But if the question be asked: How must one’s possessions be used? -- the Church replies without hesitation in he words of the same holy Doctor: “Man should not consider his material possessions as his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need. Whence the apostle saith, ‘Command the rich of this world . . to offer with no stint, to apportion largely’.”[12]

Itaque fortunati monentur, non vacuitatem doloris afferre, nec ad felicitatem aevi sempiterni quicquam prodesse divitias, sed potius obesse; terrori locupletibus esse debere IESU CHRISTI insuetas minas; rationem de usu fortunarum Deo iudici severissime aliquando reddendam.

De ipsis opibus utendis excellens ac maximi momenti doctrina est, quam si philosophia inchoatam at Ecclesia tradidit perfectam plane, eademque efficit ut non cognitione tantum, sed moribus teneatur. Cuius doctrinae in eo est fundamentum positum, quod iusta possessio pecuniarum a iusto pecuniarum usu distinguitur. Bona privatim possidere, quod paulo ante vidimus, ius est homini naturale : eoque uti iure, maxime in societate vitae, non fas modo est, sed plane necessarium. Licitum est quod homo propria possideat. Et est etiam necessarium ad humanam vitam [S. Thomas, II-II, Quaest. LXVI, a II]. At vero si illud quaeratur, qualem esse usum bonorum necesse sit, Ecclesia quidem sine ulla dubitatione respondet: quantum ad hoc, non debet homo habere res exteriores ut proprias, sed ut communes, ut scilicet de facili aliquis eas communicet in necessitate aliorum. Unde Apostolus dicit : divitibus huius saeculi praecipe... facile tribuere, communicare [S. Thomas, II-II, Quaest. LXV, a II].

True, no one is commanded to distribute to others that which is required for his own needs and those of his household; nor even to give away what is reasonably required to keep up becomingly his condition in life, “for no one ought to live other than becomingly.”[13] But, when what necessity demands has been supplied, and one’s standing fairly taken thought for, it becomes a duty to give to the indigent out of what remains over. “Of that which remaineth, give alms.”[14] It is duty, not of justice (save in extreme cases), but of Christian charity -- a duty not enforced by human law. But the laws and judgments of men must yield place to the laws and judgments of Christ the true God, who in many ways urges on His followers the practice of almsgiving -- “It is more blessed to give than to receive”;[15] and who will count a kindness done or refused to the poor as done or refused to Himself -- “As long as you did it to one of My least brethren you did it to Me.”[16]

Nemo certe opitulari aliis de eo iubetur, quod ad usus pertineat cum suos tum suorum necessarios : immo nec tradere aliis quo ipse egeat ad id servandum quod personae conveniat, quodque deceat: nullus enim incmvenienter vivere debet [S. Thomas, II-II, Quaest. XXXII, VI]. Sed ubi necessitati satis et decoro datum, officium est de eo quod superat gratificari indigentibus. Quod superest, date eleemosinam [Luc. XI, 41]. Non iustitiae excepto in rebus extremis, officia ista sunt. sed caritatis christianae, quam profecto lege agendo petere ius non est. Sed legibus iudiciisque hominum lex antecedit iudiciumque Christi Dei, qui multis modis suadet consuetudinem largiendi: beatius est magis dare, quam accipere [Act. XX, 35]: et collatam negatamve pauperibus beneficentiam perinde est ac sibi collatam negatamve iudicaturus. Quamdiu fecistis uni ex his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fetistis [Matth. XXV, 40].

To sum up, then, what has been said: Whoever has received from the divine bounty a large share of temporal blessings, whether they be external and material, or gifts of the mind, has received them for the purpose of using them for the perfecting of his own nature, and, at the same time, that he may employ them, as the steward of God’s providence, for the benefit of others. “He that hath a talent,” said St. Gregory the Great, “let him see that he hide it not; he that hath abundance, let him quicken himself to mercy and generosity; he that hath art and skill, let him do his best to share the use and the utility hereof with his neighbor.”[17]

Quarum rerum haec summa est; quicumque maiorem copiam bonorum Dei munere accepit, sive corporis et externa sint, sive animi, ob hanc caussam accepisse, ut ad perfectionem sui pariterque, velut minister providentiae divinae, ad utilitates adhibeat ceterorum.Habens ergo talentum, curet omnino ne taceat: habens rerum affluentiam, vigilet ne a misericordiae largitate torpescat : habens artem qua regitur, magnopere studeat ut usum atque utilitatem illius cum proximo partiatur [S. Greg. Magn. in Evang. Hom. X, n. 7].

23. As for those who possess not the gifts of fortune, they are taught by the Church that in God’s sight poverty is no disgrace, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in earning their bread by labor. This is enforced by what we see in Christ Himself, who, “whereas He was rich, for our sakes became poor’’;[18] and who, being the Son of God, and God Himself, chose to seem and to be considered the son of a carpenter -- nay, did not disdain to spend a great part of His life as a carpenter Himself. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?”[19]

Bonis autem fortunae qui careant, ii ab Ecclesia perdocentur, non probro haberi, Deo iudice, paupertatem, nec eo pudendum, quod victus labore quaeratur. Idque confirmavit re et facto Christus Dominus, qui pro salute hominum egenus jactus est, cum esset dives [II Cor. VIII, 9]: cumque esset Filius Dei ac Deus ipsemet, videri tamen ac putari fabri filius voluit: quin etiam magnam vitae partem in opere fabrili consumere non recusavit. Nonne hic est faber, filius Mariae? [Marc. VI, 3]

24. From contemplation of this divine Model, it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of man lie in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is, moreover, the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness. Nay, God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the poor “blessed”;[20] He lovingly invites those in labor and grief to come to Him for solace;[21] and He displays the tenderest charity toward the lowly and the oppressed. These reflections cannot fail to keep down the pride of the well-to-do, and to give heart to the unfortunate; to move the former to be generous and the latter to be moderate in their desires. Thus, the separation which pride would set up tends to disappear, nor will it be difficult to make rich and poor join hands in friendly concord.

Huius divinitatem exempli intuentibus, ea facilius intelliguntur: veram hominis dignitatem atque excellentiam in moribus esse, hoc est in virtute, positam : virtutem vero commune mortalibus patrimonium, imis et summis, divitibus et proletariis aeque parabile: nec aliud quippiam quam virtutes et merita, in quocumque reperiantur, mercedem beatitudinis aeternae sequuturam. Immo vero in calamitosorum genus propensior Dei ipsius videtur voluntas: beatos enim IESUS CHRISTUS nuncupat pauperes: invitat peramanter ad se, solatii caussa, quicumque in labore sint ac luctu: infirmos et iniuria vexatos complectitur caritate pracipua. Quorum cognitione rerum facile in fortunatis deprimitur tumens animus, in aerumnosis demissus extollitur: alteri ad facilitatem, alteri ad modestiam flectuntur. Sic cupitum superbiae intervallum efficitur brevius, nec difficulter impetrabitur ut ordinis utriusque, iunctis amice dextris, copulentur voluntates.

25. But, if Christian precepts prevail, the respective classes will not only be united in the bonds of friendship, but also in those of brotherly love. For they will understand and feel that all men are children of the same common Father, who is God; that all have alike the same last end, which is God Himself, who alone can make either men or angels absolutely and perfectly happy; that each and all are redeemed and made sons of God, by Jesus Christ, “the first-born among many brethren”; that the blessings of nature and the gifts of grace belong to the whole human race in common, and that from none except the unworthy is withheld the inheritance of the kingdom of Heaven. “If sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs with Christ.”[22]

Quos tamen, si christianis praceptis paruerint, parum est amicitia, amor etiam fraternus inter se coniugabit. Sentient enim et intelligent, omnes plane homines a communi parente Deo procreatos : omnes ad eumdem finem bonorum tendere qui Deus est ipse, qui afficere beatitudine perfecta atque absoluta et homines et Angelos unus potest : singulos item pariter esse Iesu Christi beneficio redemptos et in dignitatem filiorum Dei vindicatos, ut plane necessitudine fraterna cum inter se tum etiam cum Christo Domino primogenito in multis fratribus, contineantur. Item naturae bona, munera gratiae divinae pertinere communiter et promiscue ad genus hominum universum, nec quemquam, nisi indignum, bonorum caelestium fieri exheredem. Si autem filii, et heredes : heredes quidem Dei, coheredes autem Christi [Rom. VIII, 17].

Such is the scheme of duties and of rights which is shown forth to the world by the Gospel. Would it not seem that, were society penetrated with ideas like these, strife must quickly cease?

Talis est forma officiorum ac iurium. quam christiana philosophia profitetur. Nonne quieturum perbrevi tempore certamen omne videatur, ubi illa in civili convictu valeret?

26 But the Church, not content with pointing out the remedy, also applies it. For the Church does her utmost to teach and to train men, and to educate them and by the intermediary of her bishops and clergy diffuses her salutary teachings far and wide. She strives to influence the mind and the heart so that all may willingly yield themselves to be formed and guided by the commandments of God. It is precisely in this fundamental and momentous matter, on which everything depends that the Church possesses a power peculiarly her own. The instruments which she employs are given to her by Jesus Christ Himself for the very purpose of reaching the hearts of men, and drive their efficiency from God. They alone can reach the innermost heart and conscience, and bring men to act from a motive of duty, to control their passions and appetites, to love God and their fellow men with a love that is outstanding and of the highest degree and to break down courageously every barrier which blocks the way to virtue.

Denique nec satis habet Ecclesia viam inveniendae curationis ostendere, sed admovet sua manu medicinam. Nam tota in eo est ut ad disciplinam doctrinamque suam excolat homines atque instituat: cuius doctrinae saluberrimos rivos, Episcoporum et Cleri opera, quam latissime potest, curat deducendos. Deinde pervadere in animos nititur flectereque voluntates, ut divinorum disciplina praceptorum regi se gubernarique patiantur. Atque in hac parte, quae princeps est ac permagni momenti, quia summa utilitatum caussaque tota in ipsa consistit Ecclesia quidem una potest maxime. Quibus enim instrumentis ad permovendos animos utitur, ea sibi hanc ipsam ob caussam tradita a IESU CHRISTO sunt, virtutemque habent divinitus insitam. Istiusmodi instrumenta sola sunt, quae cordis attingere penetrales sinus apte queant, hominemque adducere ut obedientem se praebeat officio, motus animi appetentis regat, Deum et proximos caritate diligat singulari ac summa, omniaque animose perrumpat, quae virtutis impediunt cursum.

27 On this subject we need but recall for one moment the examples recorded in history. Of these facts there cannot be any shadow of doubt: for instance, that civil society was renovated in every part by Christian institutions; that in the strength of that renewal the human race was lifted up to better things -- nay, that it was brought back from death to life, and to so excellent a life that nothing more perfect had been known before, or will come to be known in the ages that have yet to be. Of this beneficent transformation Jesus Christ was at once the first cause and the final end; as from Him all came, so to Him was all to be brought back. For, when the human race, by the light of the Gospel message, came to know the grand mystery of the Incarnation of the Word and the redemption of man, at once the life of Jesus Christ, God and Man, pervaded every race and nation, and interpenetrated them with His faith, His precepts, and His laws. And if human society is to be healed now, in no other way can it be healed save by a return to Christian life and Christian institutions. When a society is perishing, the wholesome advice to give to those who would restore it is to call it to the principles from which it sprang; for the purpose and perfection of an association is to aim at and to attain that for which it is formed, and its efforts should be put in motion and inspired by the end and object which originally gave it being. Hence, to fall away from its primal constitution implies disease; to go back to it, recovery. And this may be asserted with utmost truth both of the whole body of the commonwealth and of that class of its citizens -- by far the great majority -- who get their living by their labor.

Satis est in hoc genere exempla veterum paulisper cogitatione repetere. Res et facta commemoramus, quae dubitationem nullam habent : scilicet civilem hominum communitatem funditus esse institutis christianis renovatam : huiusque virtute renovationis ad meliora promotum genus humanum, immo revocatum ab interitu ad vitam, auctumque perfectione tanta; ut nec extiterit ulla antea, nec sit in omnes cbnsequentes aetates futura maior. Denique IESUM CHRISTUM horum esse beneficiorum principium eumdem et finem : ut ab eo profecta, sic ad eum omnia referenda. Nimirum accepta Evangelii luce, cum incarnationis Verbi hominumque redemptionis grande mysterium orbis terrarum didicisset, vita IESU CHRISTI Dei et hominis pervasit civitates, eiusque fide et praeceptis et legibus totas imbuit. Quare si societati generis humani medendum est, revocatio vitae institutorumque christianorum sola medebitur. De societatibus enim dilabentibus illud rectissime praecipitur, revocari ad origines suas, cum restitui volunt, oportere. Haec enim omnium consociationum perfectio est, de eo laborare idque assequi, cuius gratia institutae sunt : ita ut motus actusque sociales eadem caussa pariat, quae peperit societatem. Quamobrem declinare ab instituto, corruptio est : ad institutum redire sanatio. Verissimeque id quemadmodum de toto reipublicae corpore, eodem modo de illo ordine civium dicimus, qui vitam sustentant opere, quae est longe maxima multitudo.

28. Neither must it be supposed that the solicitude of the Church is so preoccupied with the spiritual concerns of her children as to neglect their temporal and earthly interests. Her desire is that the poor, for example, should rise above poverty and wretchedness, and better their condition in life; and for this she makes a strong endeavor. By the fact that she calls men to virtue and forms them to its practice she promotes this in no slight degree. Christian morality, when adequately and completely practiced, leads of itself to temporal prosperity, for it merits the blessing of that God who is the source of all blessings; it powerfully restrains the greed of possession and the thirst for pleasure -- twin plagues, which too often make a man who is void of self-restraint miserable in the midst of abundance;[23] it makes men supply for the lack of means through economy, teaching them to be content with frugal living, and further, keeping them out of the reach of those vices which devour not small incomes merely, but large fortunes, and dissipate many a goodly inheritance.

Nec tamen putandum, in colendis animis totas esse Ecclesiae curas ita defixas, ut ea negligat quae ad vitam pertinent mortalem ac terrenam. De proletariis nominatim vult et contendit ut emergant e miserrimo statu fortunamque meliorem adipiscantur. Atque in id confert hoc ipso operam non mediocrem, quod vocat et instituit homines ad virtutem. Mores enim christiani, ubi serventur integri, partem aliquam prosperitatis sua sponte pariunt rebus externis, quia conciliant principium ac fontem omnium bonorum Deum; coercent geminas vitae pestes, quae nimium saepe hominem efficiunt in ipsa opum abundantia miserum, rerum appetentiam nimiam et voluptatum sitim: contenti denique cultu victuque frugi, vectigal parsimonia supplent, procul a vitiis, quae non modo exiguas pecunias, sed maximas etiam copias exhauriunt, et lauta patrimonia dissipant.

29. The Church, moreover, intervenes directly in behalf of the poor, by setting on foot and maintaining many associations which she knows to be efficient for the relief of poverty. Herein, again, she has always succeeded so well as to have even extorted the praise of her enemies. Such was the ardor of brotherly love among the earliest Christians that numbers of those who were in better circumstances despoiled themselves of their possessions in order to relieve their brethren; whence “neither was there any one needy among them.”[24] To the order of deacons, instituted in that very intent, was committed by the Apostles the charge of the daily doles; and the Apostle Paul, though burdened with the solicitude of all the churches, hesitated not to undertake laborious journeys in order to carry the alms of the faithful to the poorer Christians. Tertullian calls these contributions, given voluntarily by Christians in their assemblies, deposits of piety, because, to cite his own words, they were employed “in feeding the needy, in burying them, in support of youths and maidens destitute of means and deprived of their parents, in the care of the aged, and the relief of the shipwrecked.”[25]

Sed praeterea, ut bene habeant proletarii, recta providet, instituendis fovendisque rebus, quas ad sublevandam eorum inopiam intelligat conducibiles.

Quin in hoc etiam genere beneficiorum ita semper excelluit. ut ab ipsis inimicis praedicatione efferatur. Ea vis erat apud vetustissimos christianos caritatis mutuae, ut persaepe sua se re privarent, opitulandi caussa, divitiores: quamobrem neque... quisquam egens erat inter illos [Act. IV, 34]. Diaconis, in id nominatim ordine instituto, datum ab Apostolis negotium, ut quotidianae beneficentiae exercerent munia: ac Paulus Apostolus, etsi sollicitudine districtus omnium Ecclesiarum, nihilominus dare se in laboriosa itinera non dubitavit, quo ad tenuiores christianos stipem praesens afferret. Cuius generis pecunias, a christianis in unoquoque conventu ultro collatas, deposita pietatis nuncupat Tertullianus, quod scilicet insumerentur egenis alendis humandisque, et pueris ac puellis re ac parentibus destitutis, inque domesticis senibus, item naufragis [Apol. II, 39].

30 Thus, by degrees, came into existence the patrimony which the Church has guarded with religious care as the inheritance of the poor. Nay, in order to spare them the shame of begging, the Church has provided aid for the needy. The common Mother of rich and poor has aroused everywhere the heroism of charity, and has established congregations of religious and many other useful institutions for help and mercy, so that hardly any kind of suffering could exist which was not afforded relief. At the present day many there are who, like the heathen of old, seek to blame and condemn the Church for such eminent charity. They would substitute in its stead a system of relief organized by the State. But no human expedients will ever make up for the devotedness and self-sacrifice of Christian charity. Charity, as a virtue, pertains to the Church; for virtue it is not, unless it be drawn from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ; and whosoever turns his back on the Church cannot be near to Christ.

Hinc sensim illud extitit patrimonium, quod religiosa cura tamquam rem familiarem indigentium Ecclesia custodivit. Immo vero subsidia miserae plebi, remissa rogandi verecundia, comparavit. Nam et locupletium et indigentium communis parens, excitata ubique ad excellentem magnitudinem caritate, collegia condidit sodalium religiosorum; aliaque utiliter permulta instituit, quibus opem ferentibus, genus miseriarum prope nullum esset, quod solatio careret.

Hodie quidem multi, quod eodem modo facere olim ethnici, ad arguendam transgrediuntur Ecclesiam huius etiam tam egregiae caritatis : cuius in locum subrogare visum est constitutam legibus publicis beneficentiam. Sed quae christianam caritatem suppleant, totam se ad alienas porrigentem utilitates, artes humanas nullas reperientur. Ecclesiae solius est illa virtus, quia nisi a sacratissimo IESU CHRISTI corde ducitur, nulla est uspiam: vagatur autem a Christo longius, quicumque ab Ecclesia discesserit.

31 It cannot, however, be doubted that to attain the purpose we are treating of, not only the Church, but all human agencies, must concur. All who are concerned in the matter should be of one mind and according to their ability act together. It is with this, as with providence that governs the world; the results of causes do not usually take place save where all the causes cooperate.

At vero non potest esse dubium quin, ad id quod est propositum, ea quoque, quae in hominum potestate sunt, adiumenta requirantur. Omnino omnes, ad quos caussa pertinet, eodem intendant idemque laborent pro rata parte necesse est. Quod habet quamdam cum moderatrice mundi providentia similitudinem: fere enim videmus rerum exitus a quibus caussis pendent, ex earum omnium conspiratione procedere.

It is sufficient, therefore, to inquire what part the State should play in the work of remedy and relief.

Iamvero quota pars remedii a republica expectanda sit, praestat exquirere.

32 By the State we here understand, not the particular form of government prevailing in this or that nation, but the State as rightly apprehended; that is to say, any government conformable in its institutions to right reason and natural law, and to those dictates of the divine wisdom which we have expounded in the encyclical On the Christian Constitution of the State.[26] The foremost duty, therefore, of the rulers of the State should be to make sure that the laws and institutions, the general character and administration of the commonwealth, shall be such as of themselves to realize public well-being and private prosperity. This is the proper scope of wise statesmanship and is the work of the rulers. Now a State chiefly prospers and thrives through moral rule, well-regulated family life, respect for religion and justice, the moderation and fair imposing of public taxes, the progress of the arts and of trade, the abundant yield of the land -- through everything, in fact, which makes the citizens better and happier. Hereby, then, it lies in the power of a ruler to benefit every class in the State, and amongst the rest to promote to the utmost the interests of the poor; and this in virtue of his office, and without being open to suspicion of undue interference -- since it is the province of the commonwealth to serve the common good. And the more that is done for the benefit of the working classes by the general laws of the country, the less need will there be to seek for special means to relieve them.

- Rempublicam hoc loco intelligimus non quali populus utitur unus vel alter, sed qualem et vult recta ratio naturae congruens, et probant divinae documenta sapientiae, quae Nos ipsi nominatim in litteris Encyclicis de civitatum constitutione christiana explicavimus.

Itaque per quos civitas regitur, primum conferre operam generatim atque universe debent tota ratione legum atque institutorum, scilicet efficiendo ut ex ipsa conformatione atque administratione reipublicae ultro prosperitas tam communitatis quam privatorumefflorescat. Id est enim civilis prudentiae munus, propriumque eorum qui praesunt officium. Nunc vero illa maxime efficiunt prosperas civitates, morum probitas, recte atque ordine constitutae familiae, custodia religionis ac iustitiae, onerum publicorum cum moderata irrogatio, tum aequa partitio, incrementa artium et mercatura, florens agrorum cultura, et si qua sunt alia generis eiusdem, quae pro maiore studio provehuntur, eo melius sunt victuri cives et beatius. - Harum igitur virtute rerum in potestate rectorum civitatis est, ut ceteris prodesse ordinibus, sic et proletariorum conditionem iuvare plurimum: idque iure suo optimo, neque ulla cum importunitatis suspicione: debet enim respublica ex lege muneris sui in commune consulere. Quo autem commodorum copia provenerit ex hac generali providentia maior, eo minus oportebit alias ad opificum salutem experiri vias.

33. There is another and deeper consideration which must not be lost sight of. As regards the State, the interests of all, whether high or low, are equal. The members of the working classes are citizens by nature and by the same right as the rich; they are real parts, living the life which makes up, through the family, the body of the commonwealth; and it need hardly be said that they are in every city very largely in the majority. It would be irrational to neglect one portion of the citizens and favor another, and therefore the public administration must duly and solicitously provide for the welfare and the comfort of the working classes; otherwise, that law of justice will be violated which ordains that each man shall have his due. To cite the wise words of St. Thomas Aquinas: “As the part and the whole are in a certain sense identical, so that which belongs to the whole in a sense belongs to the part.”[27] Among the many and grave duties of rulers who would do their best for the people, the first and chief is to act with strict justice -- with that justice which is called distributive -- toward each and every class alike.

Sed illud praeterea considerandum, quod rem altius attingit, unam civitatis esse rationem, communem summorum atque infimorum. Sunt nimirum proletarii pari iure cum locupletibus natura cives, hoc est partes vera vitamque viventes, unde constat, interiectis familiis, corpus reipublicae: ut ne illud adiungatur, in omni urbe eos esse numero longe maximo. Cum igitur illud sit perabsurdum, parti civium consulere, partem negligere, consequitur, in salute commodisque ordinis proletariorum tuendis curas debitas collocari publice oportere: ni fiat, violatum iri iustitiam suum cuique tribuere praecipientem. Qua de re sapienter, S. Thomas: sicut pars et totum quodammodo sunt idem, ita id, quod est totius quodammodo est partis [II-II, Quaest. LXI, a. I ad 2]. Proinde in officiis non paucis neque levibus populo bene consulentium principum, illud in primis eminet, ut unumquemque civium ordinem aequabiliter tueantur, ea nimirum, quae distributiva appellatur iustitia inviolate servanda.

34. But although all citizens, without exception, can and ought to contribute to that common good in which individuals share so advantageously to themselves, yet it should not be supposed that all can contribute in the like way and to the same extent. No matter what changes may occur in forms of government, there will ever be differences and inequalities of condition in the State. Society cannot exist or be conceived of without them. Some there must be who devote themselves to the work of the commonwealth, who make the laws or administer justice, or whose advice and authority govern the nation in times of peace, and defend it in war. Such men clearly occupy the foremost place in the State, and should be held in highest estimation, for their work concerns most nearly and effectively the general interests of the community. Those who labor at a trade or calling do not promote the general welfare in such measure as this, but they benefit the nation, if less directly, in a most important manner. We have insisted, it is true, that, since the end of society is to make men better, the chief good that society can possess is virtue. Nevertheless, it is the business of a well constituted body politic to see to the provision of those material and external helps “the use of which is necessary to virtuous action.”[28] Now, for the provision of such commodities, the labor of the working class -- the exercise of their skill, and the employment of their strength, in the cultivation of the land, and in the workshops of trade -- is especially responsible and quite indispensable. Indeed, their co-operation is in this respect so important that it may be truly said that it is only by the labor of working men that States grow rich. Justice, therefore, demands that the interests of the working classes should be carefully watched over by the administration, so that they who contribute so largely to the advantage of the community may themselves share in the benefits which they create -- that being housed, clothed, and bodily fit, they may find their life less hard and more endurable. It follows that whatever shall appear to prove conducive to the well-being of those who work should obtain favorable consideration. There is no fear that solicitude of this kind will be harmful to any interest; on the contrary, it will be to the advantage of all, for it cannot but be good for the commonwealth to shield from misery those on whom it so largely depends for the things that it needs.

Quamvis autem cives universos, nemine excepto, conferre aliquid in summam bonorum communium necesse sit, quorum aliqua pars virilis sponte recidit in singulos, tamen idem et ex aequo conferre nequaquam possunt. Qualescumque sint in imperii generibus vicissitudines, perpetua futura sunt ea in civium statu discrimina. sine quibus nec esse, nec cogitari societas ulla posset. Omnino necesse est quosdam reperiri, qui se reipublicae dedant, qui leges condant, qui ius dicant, denique quorum consilio atque auctoritate negotia urbana, res bellicae administrentur. Quorum virorum priores esse partes, eosque habendos in omni populo primarios, nemo non videt, propterea quod communi bono dant operam proxime atque excellenti ratione. Contra vero qui in arte aliqua exercentur, non ea, qua illi, ratione nec iisdem muneribus prosunt civitati: sed tamen plurimum et ipsi, quamquam minus directe, utilitati publicae inserviunt. Sane sociale bonum cum debeat esse eiusmodi, ut homines eius fiant adeptione meliores, est profecto in virtute praecipue collocandum.

Nihilominus ad bene constitutam civitatem suppeditatio quoque pertinet bonorum corporis atque externorum, quorum usus est necessarius ad actum virtutis [S. Thom. De reg. Princ. I, c. XV]. Iamvero his pariendis bonis est proletariorum maxime efficax acnecessarius labor, sive in agris artem atque manum, sive in officinis exerceant. Immo eorum in hoc genere vis est atque efficientia tanta, ut illud verissimum sit, non aliunde quam ex opificum labore gigni divitias civitatum. Iubet igitur aequitas, curam de proletario publice geri, ut ex eo, quod in communem affert utilitatem, percipiat ipse aliquid, ut tectus, ut vestitus, ut salvus vitam tolerare minus aegre possit. Unde consequitur, favendum rebus omnibus esse quae conditioni opificum quoquo modo videantur profuturae. Quae cura tantum abest ut noceat cuiquam, ut potius profutura sit universis, quia non esse omnibus modis eos miseros, a quibus tam necessaria bona proficiscuntur, prorsus interest reipublicae.

35 We have said that the State must not absorb the individual or the family; both should be allowed free and untrammeled action so far as is consistent with the common good and the interest of others. Rulers should, nevertheless, anxiously safeguard the community and all its members; the community, because the conservation thereof is so emphatically the business of the supreme power, that the safety of the commonwealth is not only the first law, but it is a government’s whole reason of existence; and the members, because both philosophy and the Gospel concur in laying down that the object of the government of the State should be, not the advantage of the ruler, but the benefit of those over whom he is placed. As the power to rule comes from God, and is, as it were, a participation in His, the highest of all sovereignties, it should be exercised as the power of God is exercised -- with a fatherly solicitude which not only guides the whole, but reaches also individuals.

Non civem, ut diximus, non familiam absorberi a republica rectum est: suam utrique facultatem agendi cum libertate permittere aequum est, quantum incolumi bono communi et sine cuiusquam iniuria potest. Nihilominus eis, qui imperant, videndum ut communitatem eiusque partes tueantur. Communitatem quidem, quippe quam summae potestati conservandam natura commisit usque eo, ut publicae custodia salutis non modo suprema lex, sed tota caussa sit ratioque principatus: partes vero, quia procurationem reipublicae non ad utilitatem eorum, quibus commissa est, sed ad eorum, qui commissi sunt, natura pertinere, philosophia pariter et fides christiana consentiunt. Cumque imperandi facultas proficiscatur a Deo, eiusque sit cornmunicatio quaedam summi principatus, gerenda ad exemplar est potestatis divinae, non minus rebus singulis quam universis cura paterna consulentis.

36. Whenever the general interest or any particular class suffers, or is threatened with harm, which can in no other way be met or prevented, the public authority must step in to deal with it.

Si quid igitur detrimenti allatum sit aut impendeat rebus communibus, aut singulorum ordinum rationibus, quod sanari aut prohiberi alia ratione non possit, obviam iri auctoritate publica necesse est.

Now, it is to the interest of the community, as well as of the individual, that peace and good order should be maintained; that all things should be carried on in accordance with God’s laws and those of nature; that the discipline of family life should be observed and that religion should be obeyed; that a high standard of morality should prevail, both in public and private life; that justice should be held sacred and that no one should injure another with impunity; that the members of the commonwealth should grow up to man’s estate strong and robust, and capable, if need be, of guarding and defending their country. If by a strike of workers or concerted interruption of work there should be imminent danger of disturbance to the public peace; or if circumstances were such as that among the working class the ties of family life were relaxed; if religion were found to suffer through the workers not having time and opportunity afforded them to practice its duties; if in workshops and factories there were danger to morals through the mixing of the sexes or from other harmful occasions of evil; or if employers laid burdens upon their workmen which were unjust, or degraded them with conditions repugnant to their dignity as human beings; finally, if health were endangered by excessive labor, or by work unsuited to sex or age

Atqui interest salutis cum publicae, tum privatae pacatas esse res et compositas: item dirigi ad Dei iussa naturaeque principia omnem convictus domestici disciplinam: observari et coli religionem: florere privatim ac publice mores integros: sanctam retineri iustitiam, nec alteros ab alteris impune violari: validos adolescere cives, iuvandae tutandaeque, si res postulet, civitati idoneos. Quamobrem si quando fiat, ut quippiam turbarum impendeat ob secessionem opificum, aut intermissas ex composito operas: ut naturalia familiae nexa apud proletarios relaxentur: ut religio in opificibus violetur non satis impertiendo commodi ad officia pietatis: si periculum in officinis integritati morum ingruat a sexu promiscuo, aliisve perniciosis invitamentis peccandi: aut opificum ordinem herilis ordo iniquis premat oneribus, vel alienis a persona ac dignitate humana conditionibus affligat: si valetudini noceatur opere immodico, nec ad sexum aetatemve accommodato

-- in such cases, there can be no question but that, within certain limits, it would be right to invoke the aid and authority of the law. The limits must be determined by the nature of the occasion which calls for the law’s interference -- the principle being that the law must not undertake more, nor proceed further, than is required for the remedy of the evil or the removal of the mischief.

, his in caussis plane adhibenda, certos intra fines, vis et auctoritas legum. Quos fines eadem, quae legum poscit opem, caussa determinat: videlicet non plura suscipienda legibus, nec ultra progrediendum, quam incommodorum sanatio, vel periculi depulsio requirat.

37. Rights must be religiously respected wherever they exist, and it is the duty of the public authority to prevent and to punish injury, and to protect every one in the possession of his own. Still, when there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State. And it is for this reason that wage-earners, since they mostly belong in the mass of the needy, should be specially cared for and protected by the government.

Iura quidem, in quocumque sint, sancte servanda sunt atque ut suum singuli teneant, debet potestas publica providere, propulsandis atque ulciscendis iniuriis. Nisi quod in ipsis protegendis privatorum iuribus, praecipue est infirmorum atque inopum habenda ratio. Siquidem natio divitum, suis septa praesidiis, minus eget tutela publica: miserum vulgus, nullis opibus suis tutum, in patrocinio reipublicae maxime nititur. Quocirca mercenarios, cum in multitudine egena numerentur, debet cura providentiaque singulari complecti respublica.

38. Here, however, it is expedient to bring under special notice certain matters of moment. First of all, there is the duty of safeguarding private property by legal enactment and protection. Most of all it is essential, where the passion of greed is so strong, to keep the populace within the line of duty; for, if all may justly strive to better their condition, neither justice nor the common good allows any individual to seize upon that which belongs to another, or, under the futile and shallow pretext of equality, to lay violent hands on other people’s possessions. Most true it is that by far the larger part of the workers prefer to better themselves by honest labor rather than by doing any wrong to others. But there are not a few who are imbued with evil principles and eager for revolutionary change, whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and incite their fellows to acts of violence. The authority of the law should intervene to put restraint upon such firebrands, to save the working classes from being led astray by their maneuvers, and to protect lawful owners from spoliation.

Sed quaedam maioris momenti praestat nominatim perstringere. - Caput autem est, imperio ac munimento legum tutari privatas possessiones oportere. Potissimumque, in tanto iam cupiditatum ardore, continenda in officio plebs: nam si ad meliora contendere concessum est non repugnante iustitia, at alteri, quod suum est, detrahere, ac per speciem absurdae cuiusdam aequabilitatis in fortunas alienas involare, iustitia vetat, nec ipsa communis utilitatis ratio sinit. Utique pars opificum longe maxima res meliores honesto labore comparare sine cuiusquam iniuria malunt; verumtamen non pauci numerantur pravis imbuti opinionibus rerumque novarum cupidi, quid id agunt omni ratione ut turbas moveant, ac ceteros ad vim impellant. Intersit igitur reipublicae auctoritas,iniectoque concitatoribus freno, ab opificum moribus corruptrices artes, a legitimis dominis periculum rapinarum coerceat.

39. When work people have recourse to a strike and become voluntarily idle, it is frequently because the hours of labor are too long, or the work too hard, or because they consider their wages insufficient. The grave inconvenience of this not uncommon occurrence should be obviated by public remedial measures; for such paralyzing of labor not only affects the masters and their work people alike, but is extremely injurious to trade and to the general interests of the public; moreover, on such occasions, violence and disorder are generally not far distant, and thus it frequently happens that the public peace is imperiled. The laws should forestall and prevent such troubles from arising; they should lend their influence and authority to the removal in good time of the causes which lead to conflicts between employers and employed.

Longinquior vel operosior labor, atque opinatio curtae mercedis caussam non raro dant artificibus quamobrem opere se solvant ex composito, otioque dedant voluntario. Cui quidem incommodo usitato et gravi medendum publice, quia genus istud cessationis non heros dumtaxat, atque opifices ipsos afficit damno, sed mercaturis obest reique publicae utilitatibus: cumque haud procul esse a vi turbisque soleat, saepenumero tranquillitatem publicam in discrimen adducit. Qua in re illud magis efficax ac salubre, antevertere auctoritate legum, malumque ne erumpere possit prohibere, amotis mature caussis, unde dominorum atque operariorum conflictus videatur extiturus.

40. The working man, too, has interests in which he should be protected by the State; and first of all, there are the interests of his soul. Life on earth, however good and desirable in itself, is not the final purpose for which man is created; it is only the way and the means to that attainment of truth and that love of goodness in which the full life of the soul consists. It is the soul which is made after the image and likeness of God; it is in the soul that the sovereignty resides in virtue whereof man is commanded to rule the creatures below him and to use all the earth and the ocean for his profit and advantage. “Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.”[29] In this respect all men are equal; there is here no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler and ruled, “for the same is Lord over all.”[30] No man may with impunity outrage that human dignity which God Himself treats with great reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life which is the preparation of the eternal life of heaven. Nay, more; no man has in this matter power over himself. To consent to any treatment which is calculated to defeat the end and purpose of his being is beyond his right; he cannot give up his soul to servitude, for it is not man’s own rights which are here in question, but the rights of God, the most sacred and inviolable of rights.

Similique modo plura sunt in opifice, praesidio munienda reipublicae: ac primum animi bona. Siquidem vita mortalis quamtumvis bona et optabilis, non ipsa tamen illud est ultimum, ad quod nati sumus; sed via tantummodo atque instrumentum ad animi vitam perspicientia veri et amore boni complendam. Animus est, qui expressam gerit imaginem similitudinemque divinam, et in quo principatus ille residet, per quem dominari iussus est homo in inferiores naturas, atque efficere utilitati suae terras omnes et maria parentia. Replete terram et subiicite eam: et dominamini piscibus maris et volatilibus caeli et universis animantibus, quae moventur super terram [Gen. I, 28]. Sunt omnes homines hac in re pares, nec quippiam est quod inter divites atque inopes, inter dominos et famulos, inter principes privatosque differat : nam idem dominus omnium [Rom. X, 12]. Nemini licet hominis dignitatem, de qua Deus ipse disponit cum magna reverentia, impune violare, neque ad eam perfectionem impedire cursum, quae sit vitae in caelis sempiternae consentanea. Quin etiam in hoc genere tractari se non convenienter naturae suae, animique servitutem servire velle, ne sua quidem sponte homo potest: neque enim de iuribus agitur, de quibus sit integrum homini, verum de officiis adversus Deum, quae necesse est sancte servari.

41. From this follows the obligation of the cessation from work and labor on Sundays and certain holy days. The rest from labor is not to be understood as mere giving way to idleness; much less must it be an occasion for spending money and for vicious indulgence, as many would have it to be; but it should be rest from labor, hallowed by religion. Rest (combined with religious observances) disposes man to forget for a while the business of his everyday life, to turn his thoughts to things heavenly, and to the worship which he so strictly owes to the eternal Godhead. It is this, above all, which is the reason and motive of Sunday rest; a rest sanctioned by God’s great law of the Ancient Covenant -- “Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day,’’[31] and taught to the world by His own mysterious “rest” after the creation of man: “He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”[32]

Hinc consequitur requies operum et laborum per festos dies necessaria. Id tamen nemo intelligat de maiore quadam inertis otii usura, multoque minus de cessatione, qualem multi expetunt, fautrice vitiorum et ad effusiones pecuniarum adiutrice, sed omnino de requiete operum per religionem consecrata. Coniuncta cum religione quies sevocat hominem a laboribus negotiisque vitae quotidianas ut ad cogitanda revocet bona caelestia, tribuendumque cultum numini aeterno iustum ac debitum. Haec maxime natura atque haec caussa quietis est in dies festos capiendae: quod Deus et in Testamento veteri praecipua lege sanxit: Memento ut diem sabbati sanctifices [Exod. XX, 8]; et facto ipse suo docuit, arcana requiete, statim posteaquam fabricatus hominem erat, sumpta : Requievit die septimo ab universo opere quod patrarat [Gen. II, 2].

42. If we turn not to things external and material, the first thing of all to secure is to save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making. It is neither just nor human so to grind men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their minds and wear out their bodies. Man’s powers, like his general nature, are limited, and beyond these limits he cannot go. His strength is developed and increased by use and exercise, but only on condition of due intermission and proper rest. Daily labor, therefore, should be so regulated as not to be protracted over longer hours than strength admits. How many and how long the intervals of rest should be must depend on the nature of the work, on circumstances of time and place, and on the health and strength of the workman. Those who work in mines and quarries, and extract coal, stone and metals from the bowels of the earth, should have shorter hours in proportion as their labor is more severe and trying to health. Then, again, the season of the year should be taken into account; for not infrequently a kind of labor is easy at one time which at another is intolerable or exceedingly difficult. Finally, work which is quite suitable for a strong man cannot rightly be required from a woman or a child. And, in regard to children, great care should be taken not to place them in workshops and factories until their bodies and minds are sufficiently developed. For, just as very rough weather destroys the buds of spring, so does too early an experience of life’s hard toil blight the young promise of a child’s faculties, and render any true education impossible. Women, again, are not suited for certain occupations; a woman is by nature fitted for home-work, and it is that which is best adapted at once to preserve her modesty and to promote the good bringing up of children and the well-being of the family. As a general principle it may be laid down that a workman ought to have leisure and rest proportionate to the wear and tear of his strength, for waste of strength must be repaired by cessation from hard work.

Quoad tutelam bonorum corporis et externorum, primum omnium eripere miseros opifices e saevitia oportet hominum cupidorum, personis pro rebus ad quaestum intemperanter abutentium. Scilicet tantum exigi operis, ut hebescat animus labore nimio, unaque corpus defatigationi succumbat, non iustitia, non humanitas patitur. In homine, sicut omnis natura sua, ita et vis efficiens certis est circumscripta finibus, extra quos egredi non potest. Acuitur illa quidem exercitatione atque usu, sed hac tamen lege ut agere intermittat identidem et acquiescat. De quotidiano igitur opere videndum ne in plures extrahatur horas, quam vires sinant. Intervalla vero quiescendi quanta esse oporteat ex vario genere operis, ex adiunctis temporum et locorum, ex ipsa opificum valetudine iudicandum. Quorum est opus lapidem a terra excindere, aut ferrum, aes, aliaque id genus effodere penitus abdita, eorum labor, quia multo maior est idemque valetudini gravis, cum brevitate temporis est compensandus. Anni quoque dispicienda tempora : quia non raro idem operae genus alio tempore facile est ad tolerandum, alio aut tolerari nulla ratione potest, aut sine summa difficultate non potest. - Denique quod facere enitique vir adulta aetate beneque validus potest, id a femina puerove non est aequum postulare. Immo de pueris valde cavendum, ne prius officina capiat, quam corpus, ingenium, animum satis firmaverit aetas. Erumpentes enim in pueritia vires, velut herbescentem viriditatem, agitatio precox elidit: qua ex re omnis est institutio puerilis interitura. Sic certa quaedam artificia minus apte conveniunt in feminas ad opera domestica natas : quae quidem opera et tuentur magnopere in muliebri genere decus, et liberorum institutione prosperitatique familias natura respondent. Universe autem statuatur,tantum esse opificibus tribuendum otii, quantum cum viribus compensetur labore consumptis; quia detritas usu vires debet cessatio restituere.

In all agreements between masters and work people there is always the condition expressed or understood that there should be allowed proper rest for soul and body. To agree in any other sense would be against what is right and just; for it can never be just or right to require on the one side, or to promise on the other, the giving up of those duties which a man owes to his God and to himself.

In omni obligatione, quae dominis atque artificibus invicem contrahatur, haec semper aut adscripta aut tacita conditio inest, utrique generi quiescendi ut cautum sit; neque enim honestum esse convenire secus, quia nec postulare cuiquam fas est, nec spondere neglectum officiorum, quae vel Deo vel sibimetipsi hominem obstringunt.

43. We now approach a subject of great importance, and one in respect of which, if extremes are to be avoided, right notions are absolutely necessary. Wages, as we are told, are regulated by free consent, and therefore the employer, when he pays what was agreed upon, has done his part and seemingly is not called upon to do anything beyond. The only way, it is said, in which injustice might occur would be if the master refused to pay the whole of the wages, or if the workman should not complete the work undertaken; in such cases the public authority should intervene, to see that each obtains his due, but not under any other circumstances.

Rem hoc loco attingimus sat magni momenti : quae recte intelligatur necesse est, in alterutram partem ne peccetur. Videlicet salarii definitur libero consensu modus: itaque dominus rei, pacta mercede persoluta, liberavisse fidem, nec ultra debere quidquam videatur. Tunc solum fieri iniuste, si vel pretium dominus solidum, vel obligatas artifex operas reddere totas recusaret: his caussis rectum esse potestatem politicam intercedere, ut suum cuique ius incolume sit, sed praeterea nullis.

44. To this kind of argument a fair-minded man will not easily or entirely assent; it is not complete, for there are important considerations which it leaves out of account altogether. To labor is to exert oneself for the sake of procuring what is necessary for the various purposes of life, and chief of all for self-preservation. “In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread.”[33] Hence, a man’s labor necessarily bears two notes or characters. First of all, it is personal, inasmuch as the force which acts is bound up with the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts, and, further, was given to him for his advantage. Secondly, man’s labor is necessary; for without the result of labor a man cannot live, and self-preservation is a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey. Now, were we to consider labor merely in so far as it is personal, doubtless it would be within the workman’s right to accept any rate of wages whatsoever; for in the same way as he is free to work or not, so is he free to accept a small wage or even none at all.

- Cui argumentationi aequus rerum iudex non facile, neque in totum assentiatur, quia non est absoluta omnibus partibus: momentum quoddam rationis abest maximi ponderis. Hoc est enim operari, exercere se rerum comparandarum caussa, quae sint ad varios vitae usus, potissimumque ad tuitionem sui necessariae. In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane [Gen. III, 19]. Itaque duas velut notas habet in homine labor natura insitas, nimirum ut personalis sit, quia vis agens adhaeret personae, atque eius omnino est propria, a quo exercetur, et cuius est utilitati nata: deinde ut sit necessarius, ob hanc caussam, quod fructus laborum est homini opus ad vitam tuendam : vitam autern tueri ipsa rerum, cui maxime parendum, natura iubet. Iamvero si ex ea dumtaxat parte spectetur quod personalis est, non est dubium quin integrum opifici sit pactae mercedis augustius finire modum; quemadmodum enim operas dat ille voluntate, sic et operarum mercede vel tenui vel plane nulla contentus esse voluntate potest.

But our conclusion must be very different if, together with the personal element in a man’s work, we consider the fact that work is also necessary for him to live: these two aspects of his work are separable in thought, but not in reality. The preservation of life is the bounden duty of one and all, and to be wanting therein is a crime. It necessarily follows that each one has a natural right to procure what is required in order to live, and the poor can procure that in no other way than by what they can earn through their work.

Sed longe aliter iudicandum si cum ratione personalitatis ratio coniungitur necessitatis, cogitationi quidem non re ab illa separabilis. Reapse manere in vita, commune singulis officium est, cui scelus est deesse. Hinc ius reperiendarum rerum, quibus vita sustentatur, necessario nascitur : quarum rerum facultatem infimo cuique non nisi quaesita labore merces suppeditat.

45. Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice. In these and similar questions, however -- such as, for example, the hours of labor in different trades, the sanitary precautions to be observed in factories and workshops, etc. -- in order to supersede undue interference on the part of the State, especially as circumstances, times, and localities differ so widely, it is advisable that recourse be had to societies or boards such as We shall mention presently, or to some other mode of safeguarding the interests of the wage-earners; the State being appealed to, should circumstances require, for its sanction and protection.

Esto igitur, ut opifex atque herus libere in idem placitum, ac nominatim in salarii modum consentiant; subest tamen semper aliquid ex iustitia naturali, idque libera paciscentium voluntate maius et antiquius, scilicet alendo opifici, frugi quidem et bene morato, haud imparem esse mercedem oportere. Quod si necessitate opifex coactus, aut mali peioris metu permotus duriorem conditionem accipiat, quae, etiamsi nolit, accipienda sit, quod a domino vel a redemptore operum imponitur, istud quidem est subire vim, cui iustitia reclamat. Verumtamen in his similibusque caussis, quales illas sunt in unoquoque genere artifici quota sit elaborandum hora, quibus praesidiis valetudini maxime in officinis cavendum, ne magistratus inferat sese importunius, praesertim cum adiuncta tam varia sint rerum, temporum, locorum, satius erit eas res iudicio reservare collegiorum, de quibus infra dicturi sumus, aut aliam inire viam, qua rationes mercenariorum, uti par est, salvae sint, accedente, si res postulaverit, tutela praesidioque reipublicae.

46. If a workman’s wages be sufficient to enable him comfortably to support himself, his wife, and his children, he will find it easy, if he be a sensible man, to practice thrift, and he will not fail, by cutting down expenses, to put by some little savings and thus secure a modest source of income. Nature itself would urge him to this. We have seen that this great labor question cannot be solved save by assuming as a principle that private ownership must be held sacred and inviolable. The law, therefore, should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners.

Mercedem si ferat opifex satis amplam ut ea se uxoremque et liberos tueri commodum queat, facile studebit parsimoniae, si sapit, efficietque, quod ipsa videtur natura monere, ut detractis sumptibus, aliquid etiam redundet, quo sibi liceat ad modicum censum pervenire. Neque enim efficaci ratione dirimi caussam, de qua agitur, posse vidimus, nisi hoc sumpto et constituto, ius privatorum bonorum sanctum esse oportere. Quamobrem favere huic iuri leges debent, et quoad potest, providere ut quamplurimi ex multitudine rem habere malint

47. Many excellent results will follow from this; and, first of all, property will certainly become more equitably divided. For, the result of civil change and revolution has been to divide cities into two classes separated by a wide chasm. On the one side there is the party which holds power because it holds wealth; which has in its grasp the whole of labor and trade; which manipulates for its own benefit and its own purposes all the sources of supply, and which is not without influence even in the administration of the commonwealth. On the other side there is the needy and powerless multitude, sick and sore in spirit and ever ready for disturbance. If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another. A further consequence will result in the great abundance of the fruits of the earth. Men always work harder and more readily when they work on that which belongs to them; nay, they learn to love the very soil that yields in response to the labor of their hands, not only food to eat, but an abundance of good things for themselves and those that are dear to them. That such a spirit of willing labor would add to the produce of the earth and to the wealth of the community is self-evident. And a third advantage would spring from this: men would cling to the country in which they were born, for no one would exchange his country for a foreign land if his own afforded him the means of living a decent and happy life. These three important benefits, however, can be reckoned on only provided that a man’s means be not drained and exhausted by excessive taxation. The right to possess private property is derived from nature, not from man; and the State has the right to control its use in the interests of the public good alone, but by no means to absorb it altogether. The State would therefore be unjust and cruel if under the name of taxation it were to deprive the private owner of more than is fair.

. - Quo facto, praeclarae utilitates consecuturae sunt; ac primum certe aequior partitio bonorum. Vis enim commutationum civilium in duas civium classes divisit urbes, immenso inter utrumque discrimine interiecto. Ex una parte factio praepotens, quia praedives : quae, cum operum et mercaturae universum genus sola potiatur, facultatem omnem copiarum effectricem ad sua commoda ac rationes trahit, atque in ipsa administratione reipublicae non parum potest. Ex altera inops atque infirma multitudo, exulcerato animo et ad turbas semper parato. Iamvero si plebis excitetur industria in spem adipiscendi quippiam, quod solo contineatur, sensim fiet ut alter ordo evadat finitimus alteri, sublato inter summas divitias summamque egestatem discrimine. - Praeterea rerum, quas terra gignit, maior est abundantia futura. Homines enim, cum se elaborare sciunt in suo, alacritatem adhibent studiumque longe maius: immo prorsus adamare terram instituunt sua manu percultam, unde non alimenta tantum, sed etiam quamdam copiam et sibi et suis expectant. Ista voluntatis alacritas, nemo non videt quam valde conferat ubertatem fructuum, augendasque divitias civitatis. - Ex quo illud tertio loco manabit commodi, ut qua in civitate homines editi susceptique in lucem sint, ad eam facile retineantur: neque enim patriam cum externa regione commutarent, si vitae degendae tolerabilem daret patria facultatem. - Non tamen ad haec commoda perveniri nisi ea conditione potest, ut privatus census ne exhauriatur immanitate tributorum et vectigalium. Ius enim possidendi privatim bona cum non sit lege hominum sed natura datum, non ipsum abolere, sed tantummodo ipsius usum temperare et cum communi bono componere auctoritas publica potest. Faciat igitur iniuste atque inhumane, si de bonis privatorum plus aequo, tributorum nomine, detraxerit.

48. In the last place, employers and workmen may of themselves effect much, in the matter We are treating, by means of such associations and organizations as afford opportune aid to those who are in distress, and which draw the two classes more closely together. Among these may be enumerated societies for mutual help; various benevolent foundations established by private persons to provide for the workman, and for his widow or his orphans, in case of sudden calamity, in sickness, and in the event of death; and institutions for the welfare of boys and girls, young people, and those more advanced in years.

Postremo domini ipsique opifices multum hac in caussa possunt, iis videlicet institutis, quorum ope et opportune subveniatur indigentibus, et ordo alter propius accedat ad alteram. Numeranda in hoc genere sodalitia ad suppetias mutuo ferendas: res varias, privatorum providentia constitutas, ad cavendum opifici itemque orbitati uxoris et liberorum, si quid subitum ingruat, si debilitas afflixerit, si quid humanitus accidat: instituti patronatus, pueris, puellis, adolescentibus natuque maioribus tutandis.

49. The most important of all are workingmen’s unions, for these virtually include all the rest. History attests what excellent results were brought about by the artificers’ guilds of olden times. They were the means of affording not only many advantages to the workmen, but in no small degree of promoting the advancement of art, as numerous monuments remain to bear witness. Such unions should be suited to the requirements of this our age -- an age of wider education, of different habits, and of far more numerous requirements in daily life. It is gratifying to know that there are actually in existence not a few associations of this nature, consisting either of workmen alone, or of workmen and employers together, but it were greatly to be desired that they should become more numerous and more efficient. We have spoken of them more than once, yet it will be well to explain here how notably they are needed, to show that they exist of their own right, and what should be their organization and their mode of action.

Sed principem locum obtinent sodalitia artificum, quorum complexu fere cetera continentur. Fabrum corporatorum apud maiores nostros diu bene facta constitere. Revera non modo utilitates praeclaras artificibus, sed artibus ipsis, quod perplura monumenta testantur, decus atque incrementum peperere. Eruditiore nunc aetate, moribus novis, auctis etiam rebus quas vita quotidiana desiderat, profecto sodalitia opificum flecti ad praesentem usum necesse est. Vulgo coiri eius generis societates, sive totas ex opificibus conflatas, sive ex utroque ordine mixtas, gratum est; optandum vero ut numero et actuosa virtute crescant. Etsi vero de iis non semel verba fecimus, placet tamen hoc loco ostendere, eas esse valde opportunas, et iure suo coalescere : item qua illas disciplina uti, et quid agere oporteat.

50. The consciousness of his own weakness urges man to call in aid from without. We read in the pages of holy Writ: “It is better that two should be together than one; for they have the advantage of their society. If one fall he shall be supported by the other. Woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth he hath none to lift him up.”[34] And further: “A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city.”[35] It is this natural impulse which binds men together in civil society; and it is likewise this which leads them to join together in associations which are, it is true, lesser and not independent societies, but, nevertheless, real societies.

Virium suarum explorata exiguitas impellit hominem atque hortatur, ut opem sibi alienam velit adiungere acrarum litterarum est illa sententia: Melius est duos esse simul quam unum : habent enim emolumentum societatis suae. Si unus ceciderit, ab altero fulcietur. Vae soli: quia cum ceciderit, non habet sublevantem se [Eccl. IV, 9, 12]. Atque illa quoque: Frater, qui adiuvatur a fratre, quasi civitas firma [Prov. XVIII, 19]. Hac homo propensione naturali sicut ad coniunctionem ducitur congregationemque civilem, sic et alias cum civibus inire societates expedit, exiguas illas quidem nec perfectas, sed societates tamen

51. These lesser societies and the larger society differ in many respects, because their immediate purpose and aim are different. Civil society exists for the common good, and hence is concerned with the interests of all in general, albeit with individual interests also in their due place and degree. It is therefore called a public society, because by its agency, as St. Thomas of Aquinas says, “Men establish relations in common with one another in the setting up of a commonwealth.”[36] But societies which are formed in the bosom of the commonwealth are styled private, and rightly so, since their immediate purpose is the private advantage of the associates. “Now, a private society,” says St. Thomas again, “is one which is formed for the purpose of carrying out private objects; as when two or three enter into partnership with the view of trading in common.”[37] Private societies, then, although they exist within the body politic, and are severally part of the commonwealth, cannot nevertheless be absolutely, and as such, prohibited by public authority. For, to enter into a “society” of this kind is the natural right of man; and the State has for its office to protect natural rights, not to destroy them; and, if it forbid its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very principle of its own existence, for both they and it exist in virtue of the like principle, namely, the natural tendency of man to dwell in society.

. Inter has et magnam illam societatem ob differentes caussas proximas interest plurimum. Finis enim societati civili propositus pertinet ad universos, quoniam communi continetur bono: cuius omnes et singulos pro portione compotes esse ius est. Quare appellatur publica quia per eamhomines sibi invicem communicant in una republica constituenda [S. Thom. Contra impugn. Dei cult. et rel., cap. II]. Contra vero, quae in eius velut sinu iunguntur societates, privatae habentur et sunt, quia videlicet illud,, quo proxime spectant, privata utilitas est, ad solos pertinens consociatos. Privata autem societas est, quae ad aliquod negotium privatum exercendum coniungitur, sicut quod duo vel tres societatem ineunt, ut simul negotientur [S. Thom. Contra impugn. Dei cult. et rel., cap. II]. Nunc vero quamquam societates privatae existunt in civitate, eiusque sunt velut partes totidem, tamen universa ac per se non est in potestate reipublicae ne existant prohibere. Privatas enim societates inire concessum est homini iure naturae : est autem ad praesidium iuris naturalis instituta civitas, non ad interitum : eaque si civium coetus sociari vetuerit, plane secum pugnantia agat, propterea quod tam ipsi quam coetus privati uno hoc e principio nascuntur, quod homines sunt natura congregabiles.

52. There are occasions, doubtless, when it is fitting that the law should intervene to prevent certain associations, as when men join together for purposes which are evidently bad, unlawful, or dangerous to the State. In such cases, public authority may justly forbid the formation of such associations, and may dissolve them if they already exist. But every precaution should be taken not to violate the rights of individuals and not to impose unreasonable regulations under pretense of public benefit. For laws only bind when they are in accordance with right reason, and, hence, with the eternal law of God.[38]

Incidunt aliquando tempora cum ei generi communitatum rectum sit leges obsistere: scilicet si quidquam ex instituto persequantur quod cum probitate, cum iustitia, cum reipublicae salute aperte dissideat. Quibus in caussis iure quidem potestas publica, quo minus illae coalescant, impediet: iure etiam dissolvet coalitas: summam tamen adhibeat cautionem necesse est, ne iura civium migrare videatur, neu quidquam per speciem utilitatis publicae statuat, quod ratio non probet. Eatenus enim obtemperandum legibus, quoad cum recta ratione, adeoque cum lege Dei sempiterna consentiant.

53. And here we are reminded of the confraternities, societies, and religious orders which have arisen by the Church’s authority and the piety of Christian men. The annals of every nation down to our own days bear witness to what they have accomplished for the human race. It is indisputable that on grounds of reason alone such associations, being perfectly blameless in their objects, possess the sanction of the law of nature. In their religious aspect they claim rightly to be responsible to the Church alone. The rulers of the State accordingly have no rights over them, nor can they claim any share in their control; on the contrary, it is the duty of the State to respect and cherish them, and, if need be, to defend them from attack. It is notorious that a very different course has been followed, more especially in our own times. In many places the State authorities have laid violent hands on these communities, and committed manifold injustice against them; it has placed them under control of the civil law, taken away their rights as corporate bodies, and despoiled them of their property, in such property the Church had her rights, each member of the body had his or her rights, and there were also the rights of those who had founded or endowed these communities for a definite purpose, and, furthermore, of those for whose benefit and assistance they had their being. Therefore We cannot refrain from complaining of such spoliation as unjust and fraught with evil results; and with all the more reason do We complain because, at the very time when the law proclaims that association is free to all, We see that Catholic societies, however peaceful and useful, are hampered in every way, whereas the utmost liberty is conceded to individuals whose purposes are at once hurtful to religion and dangerous to the commonwealth.

Sodalitates varias hic reputamus animo et collegia et ordines religiosos, quos Ecclesiae auctoritas et pia christianorum voluntas genuerant : quanta vero cum salute gentis humanae, usque ad nostram memoriam historia loquitur. Societates eiusmodi, si ratio sola diiudicet, cum initae honesta caussa sint, iure naturali initas apparet fuisse. Qua vero parte religionem attingunt, sola est Ecclesia cui iuste pareant. Non igitur in eas quicquam sibi arrogare iuris, nec earum ad se traducere administrationem recte possunt, qui praesint civitati: eas potius officium est reipublicae vereri, conservare, et, ubi res postulaverint, iniuria prohibere. Quod tamen longe aliter fieri hoc praesertim tempore vidimus. Multis locis communitates huius generis respublica violavit, ac multiplici quidem iniuria: cum et civilium legum nexo devinxerit, et legitimo iure personae moralis exuerit, et fortunis suis despoliarit. Quibus in fortunis suum habebat Ecclesia ius, suum singuli sodales, item qui eas certae quidam caussae addixerant et quorum essent commodo ac solatio addictae. Quamobrem temperare animo non possumus, quin spoliationes eiusmodi tam iniustas ac perniciosas conqueramur, eo vel magis quod societatibus catholicorum virorum, pacatis iis quidem et in omnes partes utilibus, iter praecludi videmus, quo tempore edicitur, utique coire in societatem per leges licere: eaque facultas large revera hominibus permittitur consilia agitantibus religioni simul ac reipublicae perniciosa.

54. Associations of every kind, and especially those of working men, are now far more common than heretofore. As regards many of these there is no need at present to inquire whence they spring, what are their objects, or what the means they imply. Now, there is a good deal of evidence in favor of the opinion that many of these societies are in the hands of secret leaders, and are managed on principles ill-according with Christianity and the public well-being; and that they do their utmost to get within their grasp the whole field of labor, and force working men either to join them or to starve. Under these circumstances Christian working men must do one of two things: either join associations in which their religion will be exposed to peril, or form associations among themselves and unite their forces so as to shake off courageously the yoke of so unrighteous and intolerable an oppression. No one who does not wish to expose man’s chief good to extreme risk will for a moment hesitate to say that the second alternative should by all means be adopted.

Profecto consociationum diversissimarum, maxime ex opificibus, longe nunc maior, quam alias frequentia. Plures unde ortum ducant, quid velint, qua grassentur via, non est huius loci quaerere. Opinio tamen est, multis confirmata rebus, praeesse ut plurimum occultiores auctores, eosdemque disciplinam adhibere non christiano nomini, non saluti civitatum consentaneam: occupataque efficiendorum operum universitate, id agere ut, qui secum consociari recusarint, luere poenas egestate cogantur. - Hoc rerum statu, alterutrum malint artifices christiani oportet, aut nomen collegiis dare, unde periculum religioni extimescendum; aut sua inter se sodalitia condere, viresque hoc pacto coniungere, quo se animose queant ab illa iniusta ac non ferenda oppressione redimere. Omnino optari hoc alterum necesse esse, quam potest dubitationem apud eos habere, qui nolint summum hominis bonum in praesentissimum discrimen coniicere?

55. Those Catholics are worthy of all praise -- and they are not a few -- who, understanding what the times require, have striven, by various undertakings and endeavors, to better the condition of the working class by rightful means. They have taken up the cause of the working man, and have spared no efforts to better the condition both of families and individuals; to infuse a spirit of equity into the mutual relations of employers and employed; to keep before the eyes of both classes the precepts of duty and the laws of the Gospel -- that Gospel which, by inculcating self-restraint, keeps men within the bounds of moderation, and tends to establish harmony among the divergent interests and the various classes which compose the body politic. It is with such ends in view that we see men of eminence, meeting together for discussion, for the promotion of concerted action, and for practical work. Others, again, strive to unite working men of various grades into associations, help them with their advice and means, and enable them to obtain fitting and profitable employment. The bishops, on their part, bestow their ready goodwill and support; and with their approval and guidance many members of the clergy, both secular and regular, labor assiduously in behalf of the spiritual interest of the members of such associations. And there are not wanting Catholics blessed with affluence, who have, as it were, cast in their lot with the wage-earners, and who have spent large sums in founding and widely spreading benefit and insurance societies, by means of which the working man may without difficulty acquire through his labor not only many present advantages, but also the certainty of honorable support in days to come. How greatly such manifold and earnest activity has benefited the community at large is too well known to require Us to dwell upon it. We find therein grounds for most cheering hope in the future, provided always that the associations We have described continue to grow and spread, and are well and wisely administered. The State should watch over these societies of citizens banded together in accordance with their rights, but it should not thrust itself into their peculiar concerns and their organization, for things move and live by the spirit inspiring them, and may be killed by the rough grasp of a hand from without.

Valde quidem laudandi complures ex nostris, qui probe perspecto quid a se tempora postulent. experiuntur ac tentant qua rationeproletarios ad meliora adducere honestis artibus possint. Quorum patrocinio suscepto, prosperitatem augere cum domesticam tum singulorum student : item moderari cum aequitate vincula. quibus invicem artifices et domini continentur: alere et confirmare in utrisque memoriam officii atque evangelicorum custodiam praeceptorum; quae quidem praecepta, hominem ab intemperantia revocando, excedere modum vetant, personarumque et rerum dissimillimo statu harmoniam in civitate tuentur. Hac de caussa unum in locum saepe convenire videmus viros egregios, quo communicent concilia invicem, viresque iungant, et quid maxime expedire videatur, consultent. Alii varium genus artificum opportuna copulare societate student, consilio ac re iuvant, opus ne desit honestum ac fructuosum, provident. Alacritatem addunt ac patrocinium impertiunt Episcopi: quorum auctoritate auspiciisque plures ex utroque ordine cleri, quae ad excolendum animum pertinent, in consociatis sedulo curant. Denique catholici non desunt copiosis divitiis, sed mercenariorum velut consortes voluntarii, qui constituere lateque fundere grandi pecunia consociationes adnitantur: quibus adiuvantibus facile opifici liceat non modo commoda praesentia, sed etiam honestae quietis futurae fiduciam sibi labore quaerere. Tam multiplex tamque alacris industria quantum attulerit rebus communibus boni plus est cognitum, quam ut attineat dicere. Hinc iam bene de reliquo tempore sperandi auspicia sumimus, modo societates istiusmodi constanter incrementa capiant, ac prudenti temperatione constituantur. Tutetur hos respublica civium coetus iure sociatos: ne trudat tamen sese in eorum intimam rationem ordinemque vitae; vitalis enim motus cietur ab interiore principio, ac facillime sane pulsu eliditur externo.

56. In order that an association may be carried on with unity of purpose and harmony of action, its administration and government should be firm and wise. All such societies, being free to exist, have the further right to adopt such rules and organization as may best conduce to the attainment of their respective objects. We do not judge it possible to enter into minute particulars touching the subject of organization; this must depend on national character, on practice and experience, on the nature and aim of the work to be done, on the scope of the various trades and employments, and on other circumstances of fact and of time -- all of which should be carefully considered.

Est profecto temperatio ac disciplina prudens ad eam rem necessaria ut consensus in agendo fiat conspiratioque voluntatum. Proinde si libera civibus coeundi facultas est, ut profecto est, ius quoque esse oportet eam libere optare disciplinam, easque leges quae maxime conducere ad id, quod propositum est, iudicentur. Eam, quae memorata est, temperationem disciplinamque collegiorum qualem esse in partibus suis singulis oporteat, decerni certis definitisque regulis non censemus posse, cum id potius statuendum sit ex ingenio cuiusque gentis, ex periclitatione et usu, ex genere atque efficientia operum, ex amplitudine commerciorum, aliisque rerum ac temporum adiunctis, quae sunt prudenter ponderanda.

57. To sum up, then, We may lay it down as a general and lasting law that working men’s associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul, and property. It is clear that they must pay special and chief attention to the duties of religion and morality, and that social betterment should have this chiefly in view; otherwise they would lose wholly their special character, and end by becoming little better than those societies which take no account whatever of religion. What advantage can it be to a working man to obtain by means of a society material well-being, if he endangers his soul for lack of spiritual food? “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”[39] This, as our Lord teaches, is the mark or character that distinguishes the Christian from the heathen. “After all these things do the heathen seek . . . Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice: and all these things shall be added unto you.”[40] Let our associations, then, look first and before all things to God; let religious instruction have therein the foremost place, each one being carefully taught what is his duty to God, what he has to believe, what to hope for, and how he is to work out his salvation; and let all be warned and strengthened with special care against wrong principles and false teaching. Let the working man be urged and led to the worship of God, to the earnest practice of religion, and, among other things, to the keeping holy of Sundays and holy days. Let him learn to reverence and love holy Church, the common Mother of us all; and hence to obey the precepts of the Church, and to frequent the sacraments, since they are the means ordained by God for obtaining forgiveness of sin and for leading a holy life.

Ad summam rem quod spectat, haec tanquam lex generalis ac perpetua sanciatur, ita constitui itaque gubernari opificum collegia oportere, ut instrumenta suppeditent aptissima maximeque expedita ad id, quod est propositum, quodque in eo consistit ut singuli e societate incrementum bonorum corporis, animi, rei familiaris, quoad potest, assequantur. Perspicuum vero est,ad perfectionem pietatis et morum tamquam ad caussam praecipuam spectari oportere: eaque potissimum caussa disciplinam socialem penitus dirigendam. Secus enim degenerarent in aliam formam, eique generi collegiorum, in quibus nulla ratio religionis haberi solet, haud sane multum praestarent. Ceterum quid prosit opifici rerum copiam societate quaesiisse, si ob inopiam cibi sui de salute periclitetur anima? Quid prodest homini, si mundum universum lucretur, animae vero suae detrimentum patiatur? [Matth. XVI, 26]. Hanc quidem docet Christus Dominus velut notam habendam, qua ab ethnico distinguatur homo christianus : Haec omnia gentes inquirunt... quaerite primum regnum Dei et iustitiam eius, et haec omnia adiicientur vobis [Matth. VI, 32/33]. Sumptis igitur a Deo principiis, plurimum eruditioni religiosae tribuatur loci, ut sua singuli adversus Deum officia cognoscant: quid credere oporteat, quid sperare atque agere salutis sempiternae caussa, probe sciant: curaque praecipua adversus opinionum errores variasque corruptelas muniantur. Ad Dei cultum studiumque pietatis excitetur opifex, nominatim ad religionem dierum festorum colendam. Vereri diligereque communem omnium parentem Ecclesiam condiscat; itemque eius et obtemperare praeceptis et sacramenta frequentare, quae sunt ad expiandas animi labes sanctitatemque comparandam instrumenta divina.

58. The foundations of the organization being thus laid in religion, We next proceed to make clear the relations of the members one to another, in order that they may live together in concord and go forward prosperously and with good results. The offices and charges of the society should be apportioned for the good of the society itself, and in such mode that difference in degree or standing should not interfere with unanimity and good-will. It is most important that office bearers be appointed with due prudence and discretion, and each one’s charge carefully mapped out, in order that no members may suffer harm. The common funds must be administered with strict honesty, in such a way that a member may receive assistance in proportion to his necessities. The rights and duties of the employers, as compared with the rights and duties of the employed, ought to be the subject of careful consideration. Should it happen that either a master or a workman believes himself injured, nothing would be more desirable than that a committee should be appointed, composed of reliable and capable members of the association, whose duty would be, conformably with the rules of the association, to settle the dispute. Among the several purposes of a society, one should be to try to arrange for a continuous supply of work at all times and seasons; as well as to create a fund out of which the members may be effectually helped in their needs, not only in the cases of accident, but also in sickness, old age, and distress.

Socialium legum posito in religione fundamento, pronum est iter ad stabiliendas sociorum rationes mutuas, ut convictus quietus ac res florentes consequantur. Munia sodalitatum dispartienda sunt ad communes rationes accommodate, atque ita quidem ut consensum ne minuat dissimilitudo. Officia partiri intelligenter, perspicueque definiri, plurimum ob hanc caussam interest, ne cui fiat iniuria. Commune administretur integre, ut ex indigentia singulorum praefiniatur opitulandi modus: iura officiaque dominorum cum iuribus officiisque opificum apte conveniant. Si qui ex alterutro ordine violatum se ulla re putarit, nihil optandum magis, quam adesse eiusdem corporis viros prudentes atque integros, quorum arbitrio litem dirimi leges ipsae sociales iubeant. Illud quoque magnopere providendum, ut copia operis nullo tempore deficiat opificem, utque vectigal suppeditet, unde necessitati singulorum subveniatur, nec solum in subitis ac fortuitis industriae casibus, sed etiam cum valetudo, aut senectus, aut infortunium quemquam oppressit.

59. Such rules and regulations, if willingly obeyed by all, will sufficiently ensure the well-being of the less well-to-do; whilst such mutual associations among Catholics are certain to be productive in no small degree of prosperity to the State. Is it not rash to conjecture the future from the past. Age gives way to age, but the events of one century are wonderfully like those of another, for they are directed by the providence of God, who overrules the course of history in accordance with His purposes in creating the race of man. We are told that it was cast as a reproach on the Christians in the early ages of the Church that the greater number among them had to live by begging or by labor. Yet, destitute though they were of wealth and influence, they ended by winning over to their side the favor of the rich and the good-will of the powerful. They showed themselves industrious, hard-working, assiduous, and peaceful, ruled by justice, and, above all, bound together in brotherly love. In presence of such mode of life and such example, prejudice gave way, the tongue of malevolence was silenced, and the lying legends of ancient superstition little by little yielded to Christian truth.

His legibus, si modo voluntate accipiantur, satis erit tenuiorum commodis ac saluti consultum; consociationes autem catholicorum non minimum ad prosperitatem momenti in civitate sunt habiturae. Ex eventis praeteritis non temere providemus futura. Truditur enim aetas aetate, sed rerum gestarum mirae sunt similitudines, quia reguntur providentia Dei, qui continuationem seriemque rerum ad eam caussam moderatur ac flectit, quam sibi in procreatione generis humani praestituit. - Christianis in prisca Ecclesiae adolescentis aetate probro datum accepimus, quod maxima pars stipe precaria aut opere faciendo victitarent. Sed destituti ab opibus potentiaque, pervicere tamen ut gratiam sibi locupletium, ac patrocinium potentium adiungerent. Cernere licebat impigros, laboriosos, pacificos, iustitiae maximeque caritatis in exemplum retinentes. Ad eiusmodi vitae morumque spectaculum, evanuit omnis praeiudicata opinio, obtrectatio obmutuit malevolorum, atque inveteratae superstitionis commenta veritati christianae paulatim cessere.

60. At the time being, the condition of the working classes is the pressing question of the hour, and nothing can be of higher interest to all classes of the State than that it should be rightly and reasonably settled. But it will be easy for Christian working men to solve it aright if they will form associations, choose wise guides, and follow on the path which with so much advantage to themselves and the common weal was trodden by their fathers before them. Prejudice, it is true, is mighty, and so is the greed of money; but if the sense of what is just and rightful be not deliberately stifled, their .fellow citizens are sure to be won over to a kindly feeling towards men whom they see to be in earnest as regards their work and who prefer so unmistakably right dealing to mere lucre, and the sacredness of duty to every other consideration.

De statu opificum certatur in praesens : quae certatio ratione dirimatur an secus, plurimum interest reipublicae in utramque partem. Ratione autem facile dirimetur ab artificibus christianis, si societate coniuncti ac prudentibus auctoribus usi, viam inierint eamdem, quam patres ac maiores singulari cum salute et sua et publica tenuerunt. Etenim quantumvis magna in homine vis opinionum praeiudicatarum cupiditatumque sit, tamen, nisi sensum honesti prava voluntas obstupefecerit, futura est benevolentia civium in eos sponte propensior, quos industrios ac modestos cognoverint, quos aequitatem lucro, religionem officii rebus omnibus constiterit anteponere.

61. And further great advantage would result from the state of things We are describing; there would exist so much more ground for hope, and likelihood, even, of recalling to a sense of their duty those working men who have either given up their faith altogether, or whose lives are at variance with its precepts. Such men feel in most cases that they have been fooled by empty promises and deceived by false pretexts. They cannot but perceive that their grasping employers too often treat them with great inhumanity and hardly care for them outside the profit their labor brings; and if they belong to any union, it is probably one in which there exists, instead of charity and love, that intestine strife which ever accompanies poverty when unresigned and unsustained by religion. Broken in spirit and worn down in body, how many of them would gladly free themselves from such galling bondage! But human respect, or the dread of starvation, makes them tremble to take the step. To such as these Catholic associations are of incalculable service, by helping them out of their difficulties, inviting them to companionship and receiving the returning wanderers to a haven where they may securely find repose.

Ex quo illud etiam consequetur commodi, quod spes et facultas sanitatis non minima suppeditabitur opificibus iis, qui vel omnino despecta fide christiana, vel alienis a professione moribus vivant. Isti quidem se plerumque intelligunt falsa spe simulataque rerum specie deceptos. Sentiunt enim sese apud cupidos dominos valde inhumane tractari, nec fieri fere pluris quam quantum pariant operando lucri : quibus autem sodalitatibus implicati sunt in iis pro caritate atque amore intestinas discordias existere, petulantis atque incredulae paupertatis perpetuas comites. Fracto animo, extenuato corpore, quam valde se multi vellent e servitute tam humili vindicare: nec tamen audent, seu quod hominum pudor, seu metus inopiae prohibeat. Iamvero his omnibus mirum quantum prodesse ad salutem collegia catholicorum possunt, si haesitantes ad sinum suum, expediendis difficultatibus, invitarint, si resipiscentes in fidem tutelamque suam acceperint.

62. We have now laid before you, venerable brethren, both who are the persons and what are the means whereby this most arduous question must be solved. Every one should put his hand to the work which falls to his share, and that at once and straightway, lest the evil which is already so great become through delay absolutely beyond remedy. Those who rule the commonwealths should avail themselves of the laws and institutions of the country; masters and wealthy owners must be mindful of their duty; the working class, whose interests are at stake, should make every lawful and proper effort; and since religion alone, as We said at the beginning, can avail to destroy the evil at its root, all men should rest persuaded that that main thing needful is to re-establish Christian morals, apart from which all the plans and devices of the wisest will prove of little avail.

Habetis, Venerabiles Fratres, quos et qua ratione elaborare in caussa perdifficili necesse sit. - Accingendum ad suas cuique partes, et maturrime quidem, ne tantae iam molis incommodum fiat insanabilius cunctatione medicinae. Adhibeant legum institutorumque providentiam, qui gerunt respublicas: sua meminerint officia locupletes et domini: enitantur ratione, quorum res agitur, proletarii: cumque religio, ut initio diximus, malum pellere funditus sola possit, illud reputent universi, in primis instaurari mores christianos oportere, sine quibus ea ipsa arma prudentiae, quae maxime putantur idonea, parum sunt ad salutem valitura.

63. In regard to the Church, her cooperation will never be found lacking, be the time or the occasion what it may; and she will intervene with all the greater effect in proportion as her liberty of action is the more unfettered. Let this be carefully taken to heart by those whose office it is to safeguard the public welfare. Every minister of holy religion must bring to the struggle the full energy of his mind and all his power of endurance. Moved by your authority, venerable brethren, and quickened by your example, they should never cease to urge upon men of every class, upon the high-placed as well as the lowly, the Gospel doctrines of Christian life; by every means in their power they must strive to secure the good of the people; and above all must earnestly cherish in themselves, and try to arouse in others, charity, the mistress and the queen of virtues. For, the happy results we all long for must be chiefly brought about by the plenteous outpouring of charity; of that true Christian charity which is the fulfilling of the whole Gospel law, which is always ready to sacrifice itself for others’ sake, and is man’s surest antidote against worldly pride and immoderate love of self; that charity whose office is described and whose Godlike features are outlined by the Apostle St. Paul in these words: “Charity is patient, is kind, . . . seeketh not her own, . . . suffereth all things, . . . endureth all things.’’[41]

- Ad Ecclesiam quod spectat, desiderari operam suam nullo tempore nulloque modo sinet, tanto plus allatura adiumenti, quanto sibi maior in agendo libertas contigerit: idque nominatim intelligant, quorum munus est saluti publicae consulere. Intendant omnes animi industriaeque vires ministri sacrorum: vobisque, Venerabiles Fratres, auctoritate praeeuntibus et exemplo, sumpta ex Evangelio documenta vitae hominibus ex omni ordine inculcare ne desinant: omni qua possunt ope pro salute populorum contendant, potissimumque studeant et tueri in se, et excitare in aliis, summis iuxta atque infimis, omnium dominam ac reginam virtutum, caritatem. Optata quippe salus expectanda praecipue est ex magna effusione caritatis: christianae caritatis intelligimus, quae totius Evangelii compendiaria lex est, quaeque semetipsam pro aliorum commodis semper devovere parata, contra saeculi insolentiam atque immoderatum amorem sui certissima est homini antidotus: cuius virtutis partes ac lineamenta divina Paulus Apostolus iis verbis expressit: Caritas patiens est, benigna est: non quaerit quae sua sunt: omnia suffert: omnia sustinet [I Cor. XIII, 4-7].

64. On each of you, venerable brethren, and on your clergy and people, as an earnest of God’s mercy and a mark of Our affection, we lovingly in the Lord bestow the apostolic benediction.

Divinorum munerum auspicem ac benevolentiae Nostrae testem vobis singulis, Venerabiles Fratres, et Clero populoque vestro apostolicam benedictionem peramanter in Domino impertimus.

Given at St. Peter’s in Rome, the fifteenth day of May, 1891, the fourteenth year of Our pontificate .

Datum Romae apud S. Petrum die XV Maii An. MDCCCXCI, Pontificatus Nostri Decimoquarto.

 

 LEO PP. XIII

REFERENCES:

1. The title sometimes given to this encyclical, On the Condition of the Working Classes, is therefore perfectly justified. A few lines after this sentence, the Pope gives a more comprehensive definition of the subject of Rerum novarum. We are using it as a title.

2. Deut. 5:21.

3. Gen. 1:28. 4. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q. x, art. 12, Answer.

5. Gen. 3:17.

6. James 5:4.

7. 2 Tim. 2:12.

8. 2 Cor. 4:17.

9. Matt. 19:23-24.

10. Luke 6:24-25.

11. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q. Ixvi, art. 2, Answer.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid., q. xxxii, a. 6, Answer.

14. Luke 11:41.

15. Acts 20:35.

16. Matt. 25:40.

17. Hom. in Evang., 9, n. 7 (PL 76, 1109B).

18. 2 Cor. 8:9.

19. Mark 6:3.

20. Matt. 5:3.

21. Matt. 11:28.

22. Rom. 8:17.

23. I Tim. 6:10.

24. Acts 4:34.

25. Apologia secunda, 39, (Apologeticus, cap. 39; PLI, 533A).

26. See above, pp. 161-184.

27. Summa theologiae, lla-llae, q. Ixi, art. 1, ad 2m.

28. Thomas Aquinas, On the Governance of Rulers, 1, 15 (Opera omnia, ed. Vives, Vol. 27, p. 356).

29. Gen. 1:28.

30. Rom. 10:12.

31. Exod. 20:8.

32. Gen. 2:2.

33. Gen. 3:19.

34. Eccle. 4:9-10.

35. Prov. 18:19.

36. Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, Part 2, ch. 8

(Opera omnia, ed. Vives, Vol. 29, p. 16).

37. Ibid.

38. Human law is law only by virtue of its accordance with right reason; and thus it is manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And in so far as it deviates from right reason it is called an unjust law; in such case it is no law at all, but rather a species of violence. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, la-llae, q. xciii, art. 3, ad 2m.

39. Matt. 16:26.

40. Matt. 6:32-33.

41. I Cor. 13:4-7.

 

 

 


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