Whether It Is Right to Say That Religious Perfection Consists in
These Three Vows?
Objection 1: It would seem that it is not right to say that religious
perfection consists in these three vows. For the perfection of life
consists of inward rather than of outward acts, according to Rom.
14:17, "The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but justice and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Now the religious vow binds a man
to things belonging to perfection. Therefore vows of inward actions,
such as contemplation, love of God and our neighbor, and so forth,
should pertain to the religious state, rather than the vows of
poverty, continence, and obedience which refer to outward actions.
Obj. 2: Further, the three aforesaid come under the religious vow, in
so far as they belong to the practice of tending to perfection. But
there are many other things that religious practice, such as
abstinence, watchings, and the like. Therefore it would seem that
these three vows are incorrectly described as pertaining to the state
of perfection.
Obj. 3: Further, by the vow of obedience a man is bound to do
according to his superior's command whatever pertains to the practice
of perfection. Therefore the vow of obedience suffices without the
two other vows.
Obj. 4: Further, external goods comprise not only riches but also
honors. Therefore, if religious, by the vow of poverty, renounce
earthly riches, there should be another vow whereby they may despise
worldly honors.
_On the contrary,_ It is stated (Extra, de Statu Monach., cap. Cum ad
monasterium) that "the keeping of chastity and the renouncing of
property are affixed to the monastic rule."
_I answer that,_ The religious state may be considered in three ways.
First, as being a practice of tending to the perfection of charity:
secondly, as quieting the human mind from outward solicitude,
according to 1 Cor. 7:32: "I would have you to be without
solicitude": thirdly, as a holocaust whereby a man offers himself and
his possessions wholly to God; and in corresponding manner the
religious state is constituted by these three vows.
First, as regards the practice of perfection a man is required to
remove from himself whatever may hinder his affections from tending
wholly to God, for it is in this that the perfection of charity
consists. Such hindrances are of three kinds. First, the attachment
to external goods, which is removed by the vow of poverty; secondly,
the concupiscence of sensible pleasures, chief among which are
venereal pleasures, and these are removed by the vow of continence;
thirdly, the inordinateness of the human will, and this is removed by
the vow of obedience. In like manner the disquiet of worldly
solicitude is aroused in man in reference especially to three things.
First, as regards the dispensing of external things, and this
solicitude is removed from man by the vow of poverty; secondly, as
regards the control of wife and children, which is cut away by the
vow of continence; thirdly, as regards the disposal of one's own
actions, which is eliminated by the vow of obedience, whereby a man
commits himself to the disposal of another.
Again, "a holocaust is the offering to God of all that one has,"
according to Gregory (Hom. xx in Ezech.). Now man has a threefold
good, according to the Philosopher (Ethic. i, 8). First, the good of
external things, which he wholly offers to God by the vow of
voluntary poverty: secondly, the good of his own body, and this good
he offers to God especially by the vow of continence, whereby he
renounces the greatest bodily pleasures. The third is the good of the
soul, which man wholly offers to God by the vow of obedience, whereby
he offers God his own will by which he makes use of all the powers
and habits of the soul. Therefore the religious state is fittingly
constituted by the three vows.
Reply Obj. 1: As stated above (A. 1), the end whereunto the religious
vow is directed is the perfection of charity, since all the interior
acts of virtue belong to charity as to their mother, according to 1
Cor. 13:4, "Charity is patient, is kind," etc. Hence the interior
acts of virtue, for instance humility, patience, and so forth, do not
come under the religious vow, but this is directed to them as its end.
Reply Obj. 2: All other religious observances are directed to the
three aforesaid principal vows; for if any of them are ordained for
the purpose of procuring a livelihood, such as labor, questing, and
so on, they are to be referred to poverty; for the safeguarding of
which religious seek a livelihood by these means. Other observances
whereby the body is chastised, such as watching, fasting, and the
like, are directly ordained for the observance of the vow of
continence. And such religious observances as regard human actions
whereby a man is directed to the end of religion, namely the love of
God and his neighbor (such as reading, prayer, visiting the sick, and
the like), are comprised under the vow of obedience that applies to
the will, which directs its actions to the end according to the
ordering of another person. The distinction of habit belongs to all
three vows, as a sign of being bound by them: wherefore the religious
habit is given or blessed at the time of profession.
Reply Obj. 3: By obedience a man offers to God his will, to which
though all human affairs are subject, yet some are subject to it
alone in a special manner, namely human actions, since passions
belong also to the sensitive appetite. Wherefore in order to restrain
the passions of carnal pleasures and of external objects of appetite,
which hinder the perfection of life, there was need for the vows of
continence and poverty; but for the ordering of one's own actions
accordingly as the state of perfection requires, there was need for
the vow of obedience.
Reply Obj. 4: As the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 3), strictly and
truly speaking honor is not due save to virtue. Since, however,
external goods serve instrumentally for certain acts of virtue, the
consequence is that a certain honor is given to their excellence
especially by the common people who acknowledge none but outward
excellence. Therefore since religious tend to the perfection of
virtue it becomes them not to renounce the honor which God and all
holy men accord to virtue, according to Ps. 138:17, "But to me Thy
friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable." On the other hand,
they renounce the honor that is given to outward excellence, by the
very fact that they withdraw from a worldly life: hence no special
vow is needed for this.
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