NOTRE CHARGE
APOSTOLIQUE
OUR APOSTOLIC MANDATE
(On the “Sillon”)
Encyclical Letter of Pope St. Pius X
August 25, 1910
To the French Archbishops and Bishops:
To Our Well-Beloved Sons Peter Hector Coulié,
Cardinal-Priest of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Lyons;
Lewis Henry Lucon, Cardinal-Priest of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop
of Rheims;
Paulin Peter Andrieu, Cardinal-Priest of the Holy Roman Church,
Archbishop of Bordeaux;
and to all Our Other Venerable Brethren, the French Archbishops
and Bishops.
Venerable Brethren,
1. Our Apostolic Mandate requires from Us that
We watch over the purity of the Faith and the integrity of Catholic
discipline. It requires from Us that We protect the faithful from
evil and error; especially so when evil and error are presented
in dynamic language which, concealing vague notions and ambiguous
expressions with emotional and high-sounding words, is likely
to set ablaze the hearts of men in the pursuit of ideals which,
whilst attractive, are nonetheless nefarious. Such were not so
long ago the doctrines of the so-called philosophers of the 18th
century, the doctrines of the Revolution and Liberalism which
have been so often condemned; such are even today the theories
of the Sillon which, under the glowing appearance of generosity,
are all too often wanting in clarity, logic and truth. These theories
do not belong to the Catholic, or for that matter, to the French
spirit.
Credit is Given to Sillonists for Their Dedication
2. We have long debated, Venerable Brethren,
before We decided to solemnly and publicly speak Our mind on the
Sillon. Only when your concern augmented Our own did We decide
to do so. For We love, indeed, the valiant young people who fight
under the Sillon's banner, and We deem them worthy of praise and
admiration in many respects. We love their leaders, whom We are
pleased to acknowledge as noble souls on a level above vulgar
passions and inspired with the noblest form of enthusiasm in their
quest for goodness. You have seen, Venerable Brethren, how, imbued
with a living realization of the brotherhood of men and supported
in their selfless efforts by their love of Jesus Christ and a
strict observance of their religious duties, they sought out those
who labor and suffer in order to set them on their feet again.
The Origin of the Sillon—The Courage of
Its Members
3. This was shortly after Our Predecessor Leo
XIII of happy memory had issued his remarkable Encyclical on the
condition of the working class. Speaking through her supreme leader,
the Church had just poured out of the tenderness of her motherly
love over the humble and the lowly, and it looked as though she
was calling out for an ever growing number of people to labor
for the restoration of order and justice in our uneasy society.
Was it not opportune, then, for the leaders of the Sillon to come
forward and place at the service of the Church their troops of
young believers who could fulfill her wishes and her hopes? And
in fact, the Sillon did raise among the workers the standard of
Jesus Christ, the sign of salvation for peoples and nations. Nourishing
its social action at the fountain of divine grace, it did impose
a respect for religion upon the least willing groups, accustoming
the ignorant and the impious to hearing the Word of God. And not
seldom, during public debates, stung by a question or sarcasm,
you saw them jumping to their feet and proudly proclaiming their
faith in the face of a hostile audience. This was the heyday of
the Sillon; its brighter side accounts for the en couragement,
and tokens of approval, which the bishops and the Holy See gave
liberally when this religious fervor was still obscuring the true
nature of the Sillonist movement.
Straying from the Right Path
4. For it must be said, Venerable Brethren,
that our expectations have been frustrated in large measure. The
day came when perceptive observers could discern alarming trends
within the Sillon; the Sillon was losing its way. Could it have
been otherwise? Its leaders were young, full of enthusiasm and
self-confidence. But they were not adequately equipped with historical
knowledge, sound philosophy, and solid theology to tackle without
danger the difficult social problems in which their work and their
inclinations were involving them. They were not sufficiently equipped
to be on their guard against the penetration of liberal and Protestant
concepts on doctrine and obedience.
Ignoring Advice and Admonition Calls for Censure
5. They were given no small measure of advice.
Admonition came after the advice but, to Our sorrow, both advice
and reproaches ran off the sheath of their elusive souls, and
were of no avail. Things came to such a pass that We should be
failing in Our duty if kept silence any longer. We owe the truth
to Our dear sons of the Sillon who are carried away by their generous
ardor along the path strewn with errors and dangers. We owe the
truth to a large number of seminarists and priests who have been
drawn away by the Sillon, if not from the authority, at least
from the guidance and influence of the bishops. We owe it also
to the Church in which the Sillon is sowing discord and whose
interests it endangers.
The Claim of Sillonists for Independence
6. In the first place We must take up sharply
the pretension of the Sillon to escape the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical
authority. Indeed, the leaders of the Sillon claim that they are
working in a field which is not that of the Church; they claim
that they are pursuing aims in the temporal order only and not
those of the spiritual order; that the Sillonist is simply a Catholic
devoted to the betterment of the working class and to democratic
endeavors by drawing from the practice of his faith the energy
for his selfless efforts. They claim that, neither more nor less
than a Catholic craftsman, farmer, economist or politician, the
Sillonist is subject to common standards of behavior, yet without
being bound in a special manner by the authority of the Church.
Their Claim is Unjustified
7. To reply to these fallacies is only to easy; for whom will
they make believe that the Catholic Sillonists, the priests and
seminarists enrolled in their ranks have in sight in their social
work, only the temporal interests of the working class? To maintain
this, We think, would be an insult to them. The truth is that
the Sillonist leaders are self-confessed and irrepressible idealists;
they claim to regenerate the working class by first elevating
the conscience of Man; they have a social doctrine, and they have
religious and philosophical principles for the reconstruction
of society upon new foundations; they have a particular conception
of human dignity, freedom, justice and brotherhood; and, in an
attempt to justify their social dreams, they put forward the Gospel,
but interpreted in their own way; and what is even more serious,
they call to witness Christ, but a diminished and distorted Christ.
Further, they teach these ideas in their study groups, and inculcate
them upon their friends, and they also introduce them into their
working procedures. Therefore they are really professors of social,
civic, and religious morals; and whatever modifications they may
introduce in the organization of the Sillonist movement, we have
the right to say that the aims of the Sillon, its character and
its action belong to the field of morals which is the proper domain
of the Church. In view of all this, the Sillonist are deceiving
themselves when they believe that they are working in a field
that lies outside the limits of Church authority and of its doctrinal
and directive power.
They Teach Positive Errors
8. Even if their doctrines were free from errors,
it would still be a very serious breach of Catholic discipline
to decline obstinately the direction of those who have received
from heaven the mission to guide individuals and communities along
the straight path of truth and goodness. But, as We have already
said, the evil lies far deeper; the Sillon, carried away by an
ill-conceived love for the weak, has fallen into error.
They Strive after a Condemned Democratic Ideal
9. Indeed, the Sillon proposes to raise up and
re-educate the working class. But in this respect the principles
of Catholic doctrine have been defined, and the history of Christian
civilization bears witness to their beneficent fruitfulness. Our
Predecessor of happy memory re-affirmed them in masterly documents,
and all Catholics dealing with social questions have the duty
to study them and to keep them in mind. He taught, among other
things, that “Christian Democracy must preserve the diversity
of classes which is assuredly the attribute of a soundly constituted
State, and it must seek to give human society the form and character
which God, its Author, has imparted to it.” Our Predecessor
denounced “A certain Democracy which goes so far in wickedness
as to place sovereignty in the people and aims at the suppression
of classes and their leveling down.” At the same time, Leo
XIII laid down for Catholics a program of action, the only program
capable of putting society back onto its centuries old Christian
basis. But what have the leaders of the Sillon done? Not only
have they adopted a program and teaching different from that of
Leo XIII (which would be of itself a singularly audacious decision
on the part of laymen thus taking up, concurrent with the Sovereign
Pontiff, the role of director of social action in the Church);
but they have openly rejected the program laid out by Leo XIII,
and have adopted another which is diametrically opposed to it.
Further, they reject the doctrine recalled by Leo XIII on the
essential principles of society; they place authority in the people,
or gradually suppress it and strive, as their ideal, to effect
the leveling down of the classes. In opposition to Catholic doctrine,
therefore, they are proceeding towards a condemned ideal.
They Ignore the Natural Laws Governing Human Nature
10. We know well that they flatter themselves
with the idea of raising human dignity and the discredited condition
of the working class. We know that they wish to render just and
perfect the labor laws and the relations between employers and
employees, thus causing a more complete justice and a greater
measure of charity to prevail upon earth, and causing also a profound
and fruitful transformation in society by which mankind would
make an undreamed-of progress. Certainly, We do not blame these
efforts; they would be excellent in every respect if the Sillonist
did not forget that a person’s progress consists in developing
his natural abilities by fresh motivations; that it consists also
in permitting these motivations to operate within the frame of,
and in conformity with, the laws of human nature. But, on the
contrary, by ignoring the laws governing human nature and by breaking
the bounds within which they operate, the human person is lead,
not toward progress, but towards death. This, nevertheless, is
what they want to do with human society; they dream of changing
its natural and traditional foundations; they dream of a Future
City built on different principles, and they dare to proclaim
these more fruitful and more beneficial than the principles upon
which the present Christian City rests.
Human Society Must Be Built According to God’s
Plan
11. No, Venerable Brethren, We must repeat with
the utmost energy in these times of social and intellectual anarchy
when everyone takes it upon himself to teach as a teacher and
lawmaker - the City cannot be built otherwise than as God has
built it; society cannot be setup unless the Church lays the foundations
and supervises the work; no, civilization is not something yet
to be found, nor is the New City to be built on hazy notions;
it has been in existence and still is: it is Christian civilization,
it is the Catholic City. It has only to be set up and restored
continually against the unremitting attacks of insane dreamers,
rebels and miscreants. omnia instaurare in Christo.
The Main Points of Sillonist Doctrine
12. Now, lest We be accused of judging too hastily
and with unjustified rigor the social doctrines of the Sillon,
We wish to examine their essential points.
Liberty and Equality
13. The Sillon has a praise-worthy concern for
human dignity, but it understands human dignity in the manner
of some philosophers, of whom the Church does not at all feel
proud. The first condition of that dignity is liberty, but viewed
in the sense that, except in religious matters, each man is autonomous.
This is the basis principle from which the Sillon draws further
conclusions: today the people are in tutelage under an authority
distinct from themselves; they must liberate themselves: political
emancipation. They are also dependent upon employers who own the
means of production, exploit, oppress and degrade the workers;
they must shake off the yoke: economic emancipation. Finally,
they are ruled by a caste preponderance in the direction of affairs.
The people must break away from this dominion: intellectual emancipation.
The leveling-down of differences from this three-fold point of
view will bring about equality among men, and such equality is
viewed as true human justice. A socio-political set-up resting
on these two pillars of Liberty and Equality (to which Fraternity
will presently be added), is what they call Democracy.
Government by the People
14. However, liberty and equality are, so to
speak, no more than a negative side. The distinctive and positive
aspect of Democracy is to be found in the largest possible participation
of everyone in the government of public affairs. And this, in
turn, comprises a three-fold aspect, namely political, economical,
and moral.
The Political Aspect: Authority in the People
15. At first, the Sillon does not wish to abolish
political authority; on the contrary, it considers it necessary;
but it wishes to divide it, or rather to multiply it in such a
way that each citizen will become a kind of king. Authority, so
they concede, comes from God, but it resides primarily in the
people and expresses itself by means of elections or, better still,
by selection. However, it still remains in the hands of the people;
it does not escape their control. It will be an external authority,
yet only in appearance; in fact, it will be internal because it
will be an authority assented to.
The Economic Aspect: Guild Socialism
16. All other things being equal, the same principle
will apply to economics. Taken away from a specific group, management
will be so well multiplied that each worker will himself become
a kind of employer. The system by which the Sillon intends to
actualize this economic ideal is not Sillonism, they say; it is
a system of guilds in a number large enough to induce a healthy
competition and to protect the workers’ independence; in
this manner, they will not be bound to any guild in particular.
The Moral Aspect: The Community First
17. We come now to the principal aspect, the
moral aspect. Since, as we have seen, authority is much reduced,
another force is necessary to supplement it and to provide a permanent
counterweight against individual selfishness. This new principle,
this force, is the love of professional interest and of public
interest, that is to say, the love of the very end of the profession
and of society. Visualize a society in which, in the soul of everyone,
along with the innate love of personal interest and family welfare,
prevails love for one’s occupation and for the welfare of
the community. Imagine this society in which, in the conscience
of everyone, personal and family interests are so subordinate
that a superior interest always takes precedence over them. Could
not such a society almost do without any authority? And would
it not be the embodiment of the ideal of human dignity, with each
citizen having the soul of a king, and each worker the soul of
a master? Snatched away from the pettiness of private interests,
and raised up to the interests of the profession and, even higher,
to those of the whole nation and, higher still, to those of the
whole human race (for the Sillon's field of vision is not bound
by the national borders, it encompasses all men even to the ends
of the earth), the human heart, enlarged by the love of the common-wealth,
would embrace all comrades of the same profession, all compatriots,
all men. Such is the ideal of human greatness and nobility to
be attained through the famous popular trilogy: Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity.
The Three Aspects are Interrelated
18. These three elements, namely political,
economic, and moral, are inter-dependent and, as We have said,
the moral element is dominant. Indeed, no political Democracy
can survive if it is not anchored to an economic Democracy. But
neither one nor the other is possible if it is not rooted in awareness
by the human conscience of being invested with moral responsibilities
and energies mutually commensurate. But granted the existence
of that awareness, so created by conscious responsibilities and
moral forces, the kind of Democracy arising from it will naturally
reflect in deeds the consciousness and moral forces from which
it flows. In the same manner, political Democracy will also issue
from the trade-guild system. Thus, both political and economic
Democracies, the latter bearing the former, will be fastened to
unshakable bases in the very consciousness of the people.
Democratic Education of the People: A Dream
19. To sum up, such is the theory, one could
say the dream of the Sillon; and that is what its teaching aims
at, what it calls the democratic education of the people, that
is, raising to its maximum the conscience and civic responsibility
of every one, from which will result economic and political Democracy
and the reign of Justice, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
A Doctrine Contrary to Catholic Truth
20. This brief explanation, Venerable Brethren,
will show you clearly how much reason We have to say that the
Sillon opposes doctrine to doctrine, that it seeks to build its
City on a theory contrary to Catholic truth, and that falsifies
the basis and essential notions which regulate social relations
in any human society. The following considerations will make this
opposition even more evident.
The Real Source of Authority
21. The Sillon places public authority primarily
in the people, from whom it then flows into the government in
such a manner, however, that it continues to reside in the people.
But Leo XIII absolutely condemned this doctrine in his Encyclical
Diuturnum Illud on political government in which he said: “Modern
writers in great numbers, following in the footsteps of those
who called themselves philosophers in the last century, declare
that all power comes from the people; consequently those who exercise
power in society do not exercise it from their own authority,
but from an authority delegated to them by the people and on the
condition that it can be revoked by the will of the people from
whom they hold it. Quite contrary is the sentiment of Catholics
who hold that the right of government derives from God as its
natural and necessary principle.”
Admittedly, the Sillon holds that authority - which first places
in the people - descends from God, but in such a way: “as
to return from below upwards, whilst in the organization of the
Church power descends from above downwards.”
But besides its being abnormal for the delegation of power to
ascend, since it is in its nature to descend, Leo XIII refuted
in advance this attempt to reconcile Catholic Doctrine with the
error of philosophism. For, he continues: “It is necessary
to remark here that those who preside over the government of public
affairs may indeed, in certain cases, be chosen by the will and
judgment of the multitude without repugnance or opposition to
Catholic doctrine. But whilst this choice marks out the ruler,
it does not confer upon him the authority to govern; it does not
delegate the power, it designates the person who will be invested
with it.”
Authority, Liberty and Obedience
22. For the rest, if the people remain the holders
of power, what becomes of authority? A shadow, a myth; there is
no more law properly so-called, no more obedience. The Sillon
acknowledges this: indeed, since it demands that threefold political,
economic, and intellectual emancipation in the name of human dignity,
the Future City in the formation of which it is engaged will have
no masters and no servants. All citizens will be free; all comrades,
all kings. A command, a precept would be viewed as an attack upon
their freedom; subordination to any form of superiority would
be a diminishment of the human person, and obedience a disgrace.
Is it in this manner, Venerable Brethren, that the traditional
doctrine of the Church represents social relations, even in the
most perfect society? Has not every community of people, dependent
and unequal by nature, need of an authority to direct their activity
towards the common good and to enforce its laws? And if perverse
individuals are to be found in a community (and there always are),
should not authority be all the stronger as the selfishness of
the wicked is more threatening? Further, - unless one greatly
deceives oneself in the conception of liberty - can it be said
with an atom of reason that authority and liberty are incompatible?
Can one teach that obedience is contrary to human dignity and
that the ideal would be to replace it by “accepted authority”?
Did not St. Paul the Apostle foresee human society in all its
possible stages of development when he bade the faithful to be
subject to every authority? Does obedience to men as the legitimate
representatives of God, that is to say in the final analysis,
obedience to God, degrade Man and reduce him to a level unworthy
of himself? Is the religious life which is based on obedience,
contrary to the ideal of human nature? Were the Saints - the most
obedient men, just slaves and degenerates? Finally, can you imagine
social conditions in which Jesus Christ, if He returned to earth,
would not give an example of obedience and, further, would no
longer say: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
and to God the things that are God’s?”
Justice and Equality
23. Teaching such doctrines, and applying them
to its internal organization, the Sillon, therefore, sows erroneous
and fatal notions on authority, liberty and obedience, among your
Catholic youth. The same is true of justice and equality; the
Sillon says that it is striving to establish an era of equality
which, by that very fact, would be also an era of greater justice.
Thus, to the Sillon, every inequality of condition is an injustice,
or at least, a diminution of justice? Here we have a principle
that conflicts sharply with the nature of things, a principle
conducive to jealously, injustice, and subversive to any social
order. Thus, Democracy alone will bring about the reign of perfect
justice! Is this not an insult to other forms of government which
are thereby debased to the level of sterile makeshifts? Besides,
the Sillonists once again clash on this point with the teaching
of Leo XIII. In the Encyclical on political government which We
have already quoted, they could have read this: “Justice
being preserved, it is not forbidden to the people to choose for
themselves the form of government which best corresponds with
their character or with the institutions and customs handed down
by their forefathers.”
And the Encyclical alludes to the three well-known forms of government,
thus implying that justice is compatible with any of them. And
does not the Encyclical on the condition of the working class
state clearly that justice can be restored within the existing
social set-up - since it indicates the means of doing so? Undoubtedly,
Leo XIII did not mean to speak of some form of justice, but of
perfect justice. Therefore, when he said that justice could be
found in any of the three aforesaid forms of government, he was
teaching that in this respect Democracy does not enjoy a special
privilege. The Sillonists who maintain the opposite view, either
turn a deaf ear to the teaching of the Church or form for themselves
an idea of justice and equality which is not Catholic.
Fraternity vs. Charity
24. The same applies to the notion of Fraternity
which they found on the love of common interest or, beyond all
philosophies and religions, on the mere notion of humanity, thus
embracing with an equal love and tolerance all human beings and
their miseries, whether these are intellectual, moral, or physical
and temporal. But Catholic doctrine tells us that the primary
duty of charity does not lie in the toleration of false ideas,
however sincere they may be, nor in the theoretical or practical
indifference towards the errors and vices in which we see our
brethren plunged, but in the zeal for their intellectual and moral
improvement as well as for their material well-being. Catholic
doctrine further tells us that love for our neighbor flows from
our love for God, Who is Father to all, and goal of the whole
human family; and in Jesus Christ whose members we are, to the
point that in doing good to others we are doing good to Jesus
Christ Himself. Any other kind of love is sheer illusion, sterile
and fleeting.
Indeed, we have the human experience of pagan and secular societies
of ages past to show that concern for common interests or affinities
of nature weigh very little against the passions and wild desires
of the heart. No, Venerable Brethren, there is no genuine fraternity
outside Christian charity. Through the love of God and His Son
Jesus Christ Our Saviour, Christian charity embraces all men,
comforts all, and leads all to the same faith and same heavenly
happiness.
By separating fraternity from Christian charity thus understood,
Democracy, far from being a progress, would mean a disastrous
step backwards for civilization. If, as We desire with all Our
heart, the highest possible peak of well being for society and
its members is to be attained through fraternity or, as it is
also called, universal solidarity, all minds must be united in
the knowledge of Truth, all wills united in morality, and all
hearts in the love of God and His Son Jesus Christ. But this union
is attainable only by Catholic charity, and that is why Catholic
charity alone can lead the people in the march of progress towards
the ideal civilization.
Human Dignity
25. Finally, at the root of all their fallacies
on social questions, lie the false hopes of Sillonists on human
dignity. According to them, Man will be a man truly worthy of
the name only when he has acquired a strong, enlightened, and
independent consciousness, able to do without a master, obeying
only himself, and able to assume the most demanding responsibilities
without faltering. Such are the big words by which human pride
is exalted, like a dream carrying Man away without light, without
guidance, and without help into the realm of illusion in which
he will be destroyed by his errors and passions whilst awaiting
the glorious day of his full consciousness. And that great day,
when will it come? Unless human nature can be changed, which is
not within the power of the Sillonists, will that day ever come?
Did the Saints who brought human dignity to its highest point,
possess that kind of dignity? And what of the lowly of this earth
who are unable to raise so high but are content to plow their
furrow modestly at the level where Providence placed them? They
who are diligently discharging their duties with Christian humility,
obedience, and patience, are they not also worthy of being called
men? Will not Our Lord take them one day out of their obscurity
and place them in heaven amongst the princes of His people?
Effect of the Sillonists’ Errors on Their
Policy
26. We close here Our observations on the errors
of the Sillon. We do not claim to have exhausted the subject,
for We should yet draw your attention to other points that are
equally false and dangerous, for example on the manner to interpret
the concept of the coercive power of the Church. But We must now
examine the influence of these errors upon the practical conduct
and upon the social action of the Sillon.
The Sillonist Organization
27. The Sillonist doctrines are not kept within
the domain of abstract philosophy; they are taught to Catholic
youth and, even worse, efforts are made to apply them in everyday
life. The Sillon is regarded as the nucleus of the Future City
and, accordingly, it is being made to its image as much as possible.
Indeed, the Sillon has no hierarchy. The governing elite has emerged
from the rank and file by selection, that is, by imposing itself
through its moral authority and its virtues. People join it freely,
and freely they may leave it. Studies are carried out without
a master, at the very most, with an adviser. The study groups
are really intellectual pools in which each member is at once
both master and student. The most complete fellowship prevails
amongst its members, and draws their souls into close communion:
hence the common soul of the Sillon. It has been called a "friendship".
Even the priest, on entering, lowers the eminent dignity of his
priesthood and, by a strange reversal of roles, becomes a student,
placing himself on a level with his young friends, and is no more
than a comrade.
Lack of Respect and Obedience
28. In these democratic practices and in the
theories of the Ideal City from which they flow, you will recognize,
Venerable Brethren, the hidden cause of the lack of discipline
with which you have so often had to reproach the Sillon. It is
not surprising that you do not find among the leaders and their
comrades trained on these lines, whether seminarists or priests,
the respect, the docility, and the obedience which are due to
your authority and to yourselves; not is it surprising that you
should be conscious of an underlying opposition on their part,
and that, to your sorrow, you should see them withdraw altogether
from works which are not those of the Sillon or, if compelled
under obedience, that they should comply with distaste. You are
the past; they are the pioneers of the civilization of the future.
You represent the hierarchy, social inequalities, authority, and
obedience - worn out institutions to which their hearts, captured
by another ideal, can no longer submit to. Occurrences so sad
as to bring tears to Our eyes bear witness to this frame of mind.
And we cannot, with all Our patience, overcome a just feeling
of indignation. Now then! Distrust of the Church, their Mother,
is being instilled into the minds of Catholic youth; they are
being taught that after nineteen centuries She has not yet been
able to build up in this world a society on true foundations;
She has not understood the social notions of authority, liberty,
equality, fraternity and human dignity; they are told that the
great Bishops and Kings, who have made France what it is and governed
it so gloriously, have not been able to give their people true
justice and true happiness because they did not possess the Sillonist
Ideal!
A Legacy from the Revolution of 1789
29. The breath of the Revolution has passed
this way, and We can conclude that, whilst the social doctrines
of the Sillon are erroneous, its spirit is dangerous and its education
disastrous.
A Reprovable Doctrine and a Reprovable Action
30. But then, what are we to think of its action
in the Church? What are we to think of a movement so punctilious
in its brand of Catholicism that, unless you embrace its cause,
you would almost be regarded as an internal enemy of the Church,
and you would understand nothing of the Gospel and of Jesus Christ!
We deem it necessary to insist on that point because it is precisely
its Catholic ardor which has secured for the Sillon until quite
recently, valuable encouragements and the support of distinguished
persons. Well now! judging the words and the deeds, We feel compelled
to say that in its actions as well as in its doctrine, the Sillon
does not give satisfaction to the Church.
The Church Does Not Promote Democracy
31. In the first place, its brand of Catholicism
accepts only the democratic form of government which it considers
the most favorable to the Church and, so to speak, identifies
it with her. The Sillon , therefore, subjects its religion to
a political party. We do not have to demonstrate here that the
advent of universal Democracy is of no concern to the action of
the Church in the world; we have already recalled that the Church
has always left to the nations the care of giving themselves the
form of government which they think most suited to their needs.
What We wish to affirm once again, after Our Predecessor, is that
it is an error and a danger to bind down Catholicism by principle
to a particular form of government. This error and this danger
are all the greater when Religion is associated with a kind of
Democracy whose doctrines are false. But this is what the Sillon
is doing. For the sake of a particular political form, it compromises
the Church, it sows division among Catholics, snatches away young
people and even priests and seminarists from purely Catholic action,
and is wasting away as a dead loss part of the living forces of
the nation.
Sillonists Abstain from Defending the Church
32. And, behold, Venerable Brethren, an astounding
contradiction: It is precisely because religion ought to transcend
all parties, and it is in appealing to this principle, that the
Sillon abstains from defending the beleaguered Church. Certainly,
it is not the Church that has gone into the political arena: they
have dragged here there to mutilate and to despoil her. Is it
not the duty of every Catholic, then, to use the political weapons
which he holds, to defend her? Is it not a duty to confine politics
to its own domain and to leave the Church alone except in order
to give her that which is her due? Well, at the sight of the violences
thus done to the Church, we are often grieved to see the Sillonists
folding their arms except when it is to their advantage to defend
her; we see them dictate or maintain a program which nowhere and
in no degree can be called Catholic. Yet this does not prevent
the same men, when fully engaged in political strife and spurred
by provocation, from publicly proclaiming their faith. What are
we to say except that there are two different men in the Sillonist;
the individual, who is Catholic, and the Sillonist, the man of
action, who is neutral.
Cooperation among Workers of All Religions
33. There was a time when the Sillon, as such,
was truly Catholic. It recognized but one moral force - Catholicism;
and the Sillonists were wont to proclaim that Democracy would
have to be Catholic or would not exist at all. A time came when
they changed their minds. They left to each one his religion or
his philosophy. They ceased to call themselves Catholics and,
for the formula "Democracy will be Catholic" they substituted
"Democracy will not be anti-Catholic", any more than
it will be anti-Jewish or anti-Buddhist. This was the time of
"the Greater Sillon". For the construction of the Future
City they appealed to the workers of all religions and all sects.
These were asked but one thing: to share the same social ideal,
to respect all creeds, and to bring with them a certain supply
of moral force. Admittedly: they declared that “The leaders
of the Sillon place their religious faith above everything. But
can they deny others the right to draw their moral energy from
whence they can? In return, they expect others to respect their
right to draw their own moral energy from the Catholic Faith.
Accordingly they ask all those who want to change today's society
in the direction of Democracy, not to oppose each other on account
of the philosophical or religious convictions which may separate
them, but to march hand in hand, not renouncing their convictions,
but trying to provide on the ground of practical realities, the
proof of the excellence of their personal convictions. Perhaps
a union will be effected on this ground of emulation between souls
holding different religious or philosophical convictions.”
And they added at the same time (but how could this be accomplished?)
that “the Little Catholic Sillon will be the soul of the
Greater Cosmopolitan Sillon.”
Catholics, Protestants and Freethinkers
34. Recently, the term “Greater Sillon”
was discarded and a new organization was born without modifying,
quite the contrary, the spirit and the substratum of things: “In
order to organize in an orderly manner the different forces of
activity, the Sillon still remains as a Soul, a Spirit, which
will pervade the groups and inspire their work.” Thus, a
host of new groups, Catholic, Protestant, Free-Thinking, now apparently
autonomous, are invited to set to work:
“Catholic comrades will work between themselves
in a special organization and will learn and educate themselves.
Protestant and Free-Thinking Democrats will do likewise on their
own side. But all of us, Catholics, Protestants and Free-Thinkers
will have at heart to arm young people, not in view of the fratricidal
struggle, but in view of a disinterested emulation in the field
of social and civic virtues.”
Very Serious Remarks
35. These declarations and this new organization
of the Sillonist action call for very serious remarks.
An Interdenominational Association to Reform Civilization
36. Here we have, founded by Catholics, an inter-denominational
association that is to work for the reform of civilization, an
undertaking which is above all religious in character; for there
is no true civilization without a moral civilization, and no true
moral civilization without the true religion: it is a proven truth,
a historical fact. The new Sillonists cannot pretend that they
are merely working on “the ground of practical realities”
where differences of belief do not matter. Their leader is so
conscious of the influence which the convictions of the mind have
upon the result of the action, that he invites them, whatever
religion they may belong to, “to provide on the ground of
practical realities, the proof of the excellence of their personal
convictions.” And with good reason: indeed, all practical
results reflect the nature of one’s religious convictions,
just as the limbs of a man down to his finger-tips, owe their
very shape to the principle of life that dwells in his body.
Catholics, Protestants and Skeptics
37. This being said, what must be thought of
the promiscuity in which young Catholics will be caught up with
heterodox and unbelieving folk in a work of this nature? Is it
not a thousand-fold more dangerous for them than a neutral association?
What are we to think of this appeal to all the heterodox, and
to all the unbelievers, to prove the excellence of their convictions
in the social sphere in a sort of apologetic contest? Has not
this contest lasted for nineteen centuries in conditions less
dangerous for the faith of Catholics? And was it not all to the
credit of the Catholic Church? What are we to think of this respect
for all errors, and of this strange invitation made by a Catholic
to all the dissidents to strengthen their convictions through
study so that they may have more and more abundant sources of
fresh forces? What are we to think of an association in which
all religions and even Free-Thought may express themselves openly
and in complete freedom? For the Sillonists who, in public lectures
and elsewhere, proudly proclaim their personal faith, certainly
do not intend to silence others nor do they intend to prevent
a Protestant from asserting his Protestantism, and the skeptic
from affirming his skepticism. Finally, what are we to think of
a Catholic who, on entering his study group, leaves his Catholicism
outside the door so as not to alarm his comrades who, “dreaming
of disinterested social action, are not inclined to make it serve
the triumph of interests, coteries and even convictions whatever
they may be”? Such is the profession of faith of the New
Democratic Committee for Social Action which has taken over the
main objective of the previous organization and which, they say,
“breaking the double meaning which surround the Greater
Sillon both in reactionary and anti-clerical circles”, is
now open to all men “who respect moral and religious forces
and who are convinced that no genuine social emancipation is possible
without the leaven of generous idealism.”
Putting Aside Religious Convictions
38. Alas! yes, the double meaning has been broken:
the social action of the Sillon is no longer Catholic. The Sillonist,
as such, does not work for a coterie, and “the Church”,
he says, “cannot in any sense benefit from the sympathies
that his action may stimulate.” A strange situation, indeed!
They fear lest the Church should profit for a selfish and interested
end by the social action of the Sillon, as if everything that
benefited the Church did not benefit the whole human race! A curious
reversal of notions! The Church might benefit from social action!
As if the greatest economists had not recognized and proved that
it is social action alone which, if serious and fruitful, must
benefit the Church! But stranger still, alarming and saddening
at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call
themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such
conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the
pale of the Catholic Church, "the reign of love and justice"
with workers coming from everywhere, of all religions and of no
religion, with or without beliefs, so long as they forego what
might divide them - their religious and philosophical convictions,
and so long as they share what unites them - a "generous
idealism and moral forces drawn from whence they can" When
we consider the forces, knowledge, and supernatural virtues which
are necessary to establish the Christian City, and the sufferings
of millions of martyrs, and the light given by the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church, and the self-sacrifice of all the heroes
of charity, and a powerful hierarchy ordained in heaven, and the
streams of Divine Grace - the whole having been built up, bound
together, and impregnated by the life and spirit of Jesus Christ,
the Wisdom of God, the Word made man - when we think, I say, of
all this, it is frightening to behold new apostles eagerly attempting
to do better by a common interchange of vague idealism and civic
virtues. What are they going to produce? What is to come of this
collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which
we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion,
the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human
exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity.
It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed,
but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people.
Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera,
brings Socialism in its train.
A Humanitarian Dream
39. We fear that worse is to come: the end result
of this developing promiscuousness, the beneficiary of this cosmopolitan
social action, can only be a Democracy which will be neither Catholic,
nor Protestant, nor Jewish. It will be a religion (for Sillonism,
so the leaders have said, is a religion) more universal than the
Catholic Church, uniting all men become brothers and comrades
at last in the "Kingdom of God": "We do not work
for the Church, we work for mankind."
Toward a One-World Church
40. And now, overwhelmed with the deepest sadness,
We ask Ourselves, Venerable Brethren, what has become of the Catholicism
of the Sillon? Alas! this organization which formerly afforded
such promising expectations, this limpid and impetuous stream,
has been harnessed in its course by the modern enemies of the
Church, and is now no more than a miserable affluent of the great
movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the
establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas,
nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the
passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity,
would bring back to the world (if such a Church could overcome)
the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of
the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.
The Gospel of Revolution
41. We know only too well the dark workshops
in which are elaborated these mischievous doctrines which ought
not to seduce clear-thinking minds. The leaders of the Sillon
have not been able to guard against these doctrines. The exaltation
of their sentiments, the undiscriminating good-will of their hearts,
their philosophical mysticism, mixed with a measure of illuminism,
have carried them away towards another Gospel which they thought
was the true Gospel of Our Savior. To such an extent that they
speak of Our Lord Jesus Christ with a familiarity supremely disrespectful,
and that - their ideal being akin to that of the Revolution -
they fear not to draw between the Gospel and the Revolution blasphemous
comparisons for which the excuse cannot be made that they are
due to some confused and over-hasty composition.
Distortion of the Gospel
42. We wish to draw your attention, Venerable
Brethren, to this distortion of the Gospel and to the sacred character
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, prevailing within the Sillon
and elsewhere. As soon as the social question is being approached,
it is the fashion in some quarters to first put aside the divinity
of Jesus Christ, and then to mention only His unlimited clemency,
His compassion for all human miseries, and His pressing exhortations
to the love of our neighbor and to the brotherhood of men. True,
Jesus has loved us with an immense, infinite love, and He came
on earth to suffer and die so that, gathered around Him in justice
and love, motivated by the same sentiments of mutual charity,
all men might live in peace and happiness. But for the realization
of this temporal and eternal happiness, He has laid down with
supreme authority the condition that we must belong to His Flock,
that we must accept His doctrine, that we must practice virtue,
and that we must accept the teaching and guidance of Peter and
his successors. Further, whilst Jesus was kind to sinners and
to those who went astray, He did not respect their false ideas,
however sincere they might have appeared. He loved them all, but
He instructed them in order to convert them and save them. Whilst
He called to Himself in order to comfort them, those who toiled
and suffered, it was not to preach to them the jealousy of a chimerical
equality. Whilst He lifted up the lowly, it was not to instill
in them the sentiment of a dignity independent from, and rebellious
against, the duty of obedience. Whilst His heart overflowed with
gentleness for the souls of good-will, He could also arm Himself
with holy indignation against the profaners of the House of God,
against the wretched men who scandalized the little ones, against
the authorities who crush the people with the weight of heavy
burdens without putting out a hand to lift them. He was as strong
as he was gentle. He reproved, threatened, chastised, knowing,
and teaching us that fear is the beginning of wisdom, and that
it is sometimes proper for a man to cut off an offending limb
to save his body. Finally, He did not announce for future society
the reign of an ideal happiness from which suffering would be
banished; but, by His lessons and by His example, He traced the
path of the happiness which is possible on earth and of the perfect
happiness in heaven: the royal way of the Cross. These are teachings
that it would be wrong to apply only to one's personal life in
order to win eternal salvation; these are eminently social teachings,
and they show in Our Lord Jesus Christ something quite different
from an inconsistent and impotent humanitarianism.
Be at Once Gentle and Fearless
43. As for you, Venerable Brethren, carry on
diligently with the work of the Saviour of men by emulating His
gentleness and His strength. Minister to every misery; let no
sorrow escape your pastoral solicitude; let no lament find you
indifferent. But, on the other hand, preach fearlessly their duties
to the powerful and to the lowly; it is your function to form
the conscience of the people and of the public authorities. The
social question will be much nearer a solution when all those
concerned, less demanding as regards their respective rights,
shall fulfill their duties more exactingly.
A Constructive Catholic Alternative
44. Moreover, since in the clash of interests,
and especially in the struggle against dishonest forces, the virtue
of man, and even his holiness are not always sufficient to guarantee
him his daily bread, and since social structures, through their
natural interplay, ought to be devised to thwart the efforts of
the unscrupulous and enable all men of good will to attain their
legitimate share of temporal happiness, We earnestly desire that
you should take an active part in the organization of society
with this objective in mind. And, to this end, whilst your priests
will zealously devote efforts to the sanctification of souls,
to the defense of the Church, and also to works of charity in
the strict sense, you shall select a few of them, level-headed
and of active disposition, holders of Doctors’ degrees in
philosophy and theology, thoroughly acquainted with the history
of ancient and modern civilizations, and you shall set them to
the not-so-lofty but more practical study of the social science
so that you may place them at the opportune time at the helm of
your works of Catholic action. However, let not these priests
be misled, in the maze of current opinions, by the miracles of
a false Democracy. Let them not borrow from the Rhetoric of the
worst enemies of the Church and of the people, the high-flown
phrases, full of promises; which are as high-sounding as unattainable.
Let them be convinced that the social question and social science
did not arise only yesterday; that the Church and the State, at
all times and in happy concert, have raised up fruitful organizations
to this end; that the Church, which has never betrayed the happiness
of the people by consenting to dubious alliances, does not have
to free herself from the past; that all that is needed is to take
up again, with the help of the true workers for a social restoration,
the organisms which the Revolution shattered, and to adapt them,
in the same Christian spirit that inspired them, to the new environment
arising from the material development of today’s society.
Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries,
nor innovators, they are promoters of tradition.
Open to Sillonists
45. We desire that the Sillonist youth, freed
from their errors, far from impeding this work which is eminently
worthy of your pastoral care, should bring to it their loyal and
effective contribution in an orderly manner and with befitting
submission.
Practical Measures regarding the Sillon
46. We now turn towards the leaders of the Sillon
with the confidence of a father who speaks to his children, and
We ask them for their own good, and for the good of the Church
and of France, to turn their leadership over to you. We are certainly
aware of the extent of the sacrifice that We request from them,
but We know them to be of a sufficiently generous disposition
to accept it and, in advance, in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ
whose unworthy representative We are, We bless them for this.
As to the rank and file of the Sillon, We wish that they group
themselves according to dioceses in order to work, under the authority
of their respective bishops, for the Christian and Catholic regeneration
of the people, as well as for the improvement of their lot. These
diocesan groups will be independent from one another for the time
being. And, in order to show clearly that they have broken with
the errors of the past, they will take the name of “Catholic
Sillon”, and each of the members will add to his Sillonist
title the “Catholic” qualification. It goes without
saying that each Catholic Sillonist will remain free to retain
his political preferences, provided they are purified of everything
that is not entirely conformable to the doctrine of the Church.
Should some groups refuse, Venerable Brethren, to submit to these
conditions, you should consider that very fact that they are refusing
to submit to your authority. Then, you will have to examine whether
they stay within the limits of pure politics or economics, or
persist in their former errors. In the former case, it is clear
that you will have no more to do with them than with the general
body of the faithful; in the latter case, you will have to take
appropriate measures, with prudence but with firmness also. Priests
will have to keep entirely out of the dissident groups, and they
shall be content to extend the help of their sacred ministry to
each member individually, applying to them in the tribunal of
penitence the common rules of morals in respect to doctrine and
conduct. As for the catholic groups, while the priests and the
seminarians may favor and help them, they shall abstain from joining
them as members; for it is fitting that the priestly phalanx should
remain above lay associations even when these are most useful
and inspired by the best spirit.
A Prayer and a Wish
47. Such are the practical measures with which
We have deemed necessary to confirm this letter on the Sillon
an the Sillonists. From the depths of Our soul We pray that the
Lord may cause these men and young people to understand the grave
reasons which have prompted it. May He give them the docility
of heart and the courage to show to the Church the sincerity of
their Catholic fervor. As for you, Venerable Brethren, may the
Lord inspire in your hearts towards them - since they will be
yours henceforth - the sentiments of a true fatherly love.
Apostolic Benediction
48. In expressing this hope, and to obtain these
results which are so desirable, We grant to you, to your clergy
and to your people, Our Apostolic benediction with all Our heart.
49. Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, on August
25, 1910, the eighth year of Our Pontificate.
Pius X, Pope
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