TRADITIONALISM
13
TRADITIONALISM
cause the theologians, powerless to struggle against a
blind sentiment, had themselves to follow the move-
ment, but because their perceptions, quickened by
the faithful and by their own instinct of faith, grew
more considerate of the sentiment of the faithful and
eventually examined the new opinion more closely in
order to make sure that, far from contradicting any
dogma, it harmonized wonderfully with other revealed
trutlis and corresponded as a whole to the analogy of
faith and rational fitness. Finally scrutinizing with
fresh care the deposit of revelation, they there discov-
ered the pious opinion, hitherto concealed, as far as
they were concerned, in the more general formula, and,
not satisfied to hold it as true, they declared it re-
vealed. Thus to implicit faith in a revealed truth
succeeded, after long discussions, exTilicit faith in the
same truth thenceforth shining in the sight of all.
There have been no new data, but there has been
under the impulse of grace and sentiment and the
effort of theology a more distinct and clear insight
into what the ancient data contained. When the
Church defined the Immaculate Conception it defined
what was actually in the explicit faith of the faithful,
what had always been implicitly in that faith. The
same is true of aU similar cases, save for accidental
differences of circumstances. In recognizing a new
truth the Church thereby recognizes that it already
posses.sed that truth.
There is, therefore, in the Church progress of dogma, progress of theologj', progress to a certain ex- tent of faith it.self, but this progress does not consist in the addition of fresh information nor the change of ideas. What is believed has always been believed, but in time it is more commonly and thoroughly im- derstood and explicitly expressed. Thus, thanks to the living magisterivmi and ecclesiastical preaching, thanks to the living .sense of truth in the Church, to the action of the Holy Ghost simultaneously direct- ing master and faithful, traditional truth lives and develops in the Church, always the same, at once ancient and new; ancient, for the first Christians already beheld it to a certain extent; new, because we see it with our own eyes and in harmony with our present ideas. Such is the notion of tradition in the double meaning of the word; it is Divine truth com- ing down to us in the mind of the Church and it is the guardian.ship and transmission of this Divine truth by the organ of the living magi.stcrium, by ecclesiasti- cal preaching, by the profession of it made by all in the Christian life.
The above exposition is scarcel.v more than a broad summary of the following book: Bainvel, De Stagislerio viro et Tradilione (Paris, 1905). The same work contains an ample bibliography of the principal questions treated in this article. Here the follow- ing will suffice. Among patristic documents the chief are: St. Ihen.ecs, Contra Harests. especially III. i-iv. in P. L., VII, 843- 57; cf. Massuet, Dissert. Ill, a. I, 2. 3, P. L., vii, 243 sqq.: TERTtJLLiAN", Dc prescriptionc hctreticomm {P. L., II, 9-74); OmoEN. De principiis, preface (P. L.. XI, 115-21); St. Xr- OCSTI.S'E, De dnctrina Christiana, passim, especially preface and I (P. £,., XLII. 69-112): Idem. De raUehizandis rudihM (P. L., XL, 309-48); St. Vinxext of Lerins, Commonitorium (P. L., L, 637-86) ; cf. Bosscet, Df/ense de la Tradition et dea Saints Phrea, passim. Many texts of the Fathers on this subject have been col- lected in the Enchiridion patristicum of RotjET DE JotJRXEL (Freiburg, 1911). Index Ihealogicxts, ^. v. Tradition, nn. 78-85. The chief official documents of the ecclesiastical magisterium on the question are collected in Denzin'GER-Baxnwart, Enchiri- dion sj/mboiorum (11th ed.. Freiburg, 1911). Index .Systematiciis. 8. V. Rcielationis jontis. Theologians prior to the Council of Trent treated these questions onl.v occasionally but they made valuable observations here and there; see, for example, St. Thomas, Contra errorea grrtcorum, I, passim; Idem, Summa, I quiest. I, and passim; see Tahutn aurea, s. v\'. Auctoritas, 3; Doctor, 3. 4, 5; Ecclesia. 9, Id, 11; Fidea, passim; Theologia, passim. After the Council of Trent they devoted much atten- tion to them, treating them ordinarily in their treatise, De fide. Special mention must be m.ide of SIelchior Can'O, De locis theologicis; Bellarmixs. Controrersia, 1. 1. 3 and 4: Stapleton. Princxpiorum fidei demonetratio (2nd ed.. Paris. 1.583): Becancs, De judice controvcrsiarum (Mainz, 1616); Perez de Atala, De dirinie, apostnlicia atque eccle.fiasticis traditionihus (Cologne, 1549). For fuller treatment see HfHTiER. Knmenclatnr, indexes of the different volumes, s. w. ErclesliS anctoritnti; Fides; Loci Theologici; Traditio. In the seventeenth century the question Wfta treated chiefly from the standpoint of Protestant con-
troversj': Bossuet often returns to this. See especially Con^
f^ence avec M. Claude: also Fragments sur diverses matih-es de con-
trocerse, under title Traditions, and al.'^o in several sections of the
correspondence with Leibniz; see finally Hi.^lnn-r .Its inriations,
passim, and especially the preface. In tli i iu'lit< < nth rmtury
some theologians made noteworthy efforts to -y^t- m ii \:,. :(11 these
ideas; see especiall.v Kilber in Theologia Wirr-hnrj^ nr/ , I, De
principiis Theologicis. In the nineteenth centur.\- the Icjilowing
deser\'e special mention: Perhone, Pralecliones theological, treatise
de locis theologicis; Idem, // protestantismo e la regain di fede
(French tr., Paris, 1.S54): Mohlkh. ,S:imh„UI:. Ir. S,imhi,lism (3rd
ed., London, s. d.), see esp<'. I i!'\ ;, ,i. .1 ]■•■.•■ n.r.N, /;j. Theol-
offie rfer V'or2n7 (2nd ed., M i; t: ' , I , ,i p' ri:iil\ I. first
treatise, von der Glavbi • - ■ ' ■■ 1 \, :>i)i tn-atise.
Yonder WissenschafldesGhu'. , . i.Mi i\. m . . I I,m Fnrlschritt
der religiosen Erkenntniss; FnANZFi.iN, De ihriua traditione et scriptura (2nd ed., Rome, 1S75; the third and fourth editions differ only in pagination as far as concerns this subject) ; Schee- BEN, Ilandbuch der katholischen Dogmatik, I (Freiburg, 1873); ScHRADER, De theologia tertirtm fonte deque editio fidei testimonio sett traditione (Paris, 1878) : Berthier, De locis theologicis (Turin, 1888); DiDioT, Logique surnaturelte subjective (Paris, IS91) ; A. de LA Barre, La vie du dogme calhoUquc (Paris, 1898); L. De SaN, De divina tradilio'i- •' /|^, 'w I'.iiil . 1003). Several special points have been u-' m ! i;i ; [ i. m^ iMses: Newman, Essay on the Developmeu! < < ' /' 'irh ed., London, 1894);
Vacant, Etudes //<.'-;,/' :- '- ' otitutions du Concile du Vatican (Paris, 1895), passim: Idf.m, Le magistkre ordinaire de V^glise et ses organes (Paris, 1887) ; Salvatore di Bartolo. Nuova esposizione dei criieri teolngici (Rome, 1904) : de la Taille, Quelquea precisions sur la Rh^elation et le Dogme dans leurs rela- tions orcc la progris in Etudes (20 Nov., 1904), CI, 606:d'.\les, La tradition chretienne dans Vhisioire in Etudes (1907), CXJ, CXII : DE Grandmaison, Le developpement du dogme chritien in Remie pratique d'apologitique, V (1907), VI (1908); Gardeil, Le donnl rivde et la theologie (Paris, 1910). It is well known that several errors of the Modernists regarding the nature and role of the ecclesiastical magisterium, the evolution of dogma and Cath- olic tradition were condemned by Pius X in 1907 in the Decree
- Lamentabili " and the Encyclical "Pascendi". See also Pl-
nard in J.\XGEy andd'.\les. Diet, apologitique dela Foi catholique, 8. V. Dogme: Dukuanchy in Vac.^nt-Mangenot, Diet, de tlUoL cath., s. V. Dogme.
Jean Bainvel.
Traditionalism, a philosophical system which makes tradition the supreme criterion and rule of certitude.
EipnsUion. — According to traditionalism, human reason is of itself radically unable to know with cer- tainty any truth or, at least, the fundamental truths of the metaphj-sical, moral, and religious order. Hence our first act of knowledge must be an act of faith, based on the authority of revelation. This revelation is transmitted to us through society, and its truth is guaranteed by tradition or the general consent of mankind. Such is the philo.sophical sys- tem maintained chiefly, in its absolute form, by the Vicomte de Bonald and F. de Lamennais in their re- spective works and, with some mitigation, by Bautain, Bonetty, Ventura, I'baghs, and the school of Louvain.
According to de Bonald, man is essentiaDy a social being. His development comes through society; and the continuity and progress of societj- have their principle in tradition. Now language is the instru- ment of sociability, and speech is as natural to man as is his social nature itself. Language could not have been discovered by man, for "man needs signs or words in order to think as well as in order to speak"; that is "man thinks his verbal expression before he verbally expresses his thought"; but originally lan- guage, in its fundamental elements together with the thoughts which it expresses, was given him by God, His Creator (cf. Legislation primitive, I, ii). These fundamental truths, absolutely neces.sary to the intel- lectual, moral, and religious life of man, must be first accepted by faith. They are communicated through society and education, and warranted by tradition or universal reason of mankind. There is no other basis for certitude and there remains nothing, besides tradition, but human opinions, contradiction, and uncertainty (cf. Recherches philo.sophiques, i, ix).
The system presented by Lamennais is almost identical with that of de Bonald. Our instruments of knowledge, namely sense, feeling, and reason, he says, are fallible. The rule of certitude therefore can only be external to man, and it can consist only in the control of the individual senses, feelings, and rea-
