DEMON
710
DEMON
of the Revolution (especially in Latin countries),
would not hear of the burning questions of the day or
of new organizations, but confined themselves to the
old traditional methods of material and spiritual as-
sistance, occasionally venturing on the establishment
of conferences of St. Vincent de Paul and of working-
men's mutual benefit societies, such as were already
widely organized by the middle-class liberal party.
On the other hand, there were some who thought that
the best means of combating Socialism was to imitate
it; and they encouraged ideas, attitudes, and expres-
sions of a socialistic type, which resulted in a dis-
torted viewpoint and an undisciplined activity, to the
great injury of genuine popular Catholic action.
But these various turnings in the course of modern Christian democracy are hardly as yet matters of his- tory; they are rather items in a chronicle that is still being written; and this is not the place to discuss them. Only let it be noted that Leo XIII over and over again, especially in receiving pilgrimages of workingmen, laid down clearly the limits and the na- ture of popular Catholic action, and that Pius X has repeatedly confirmed and approved of them. Chris- tian democracy is the ensemble of Catholic doctrine, organization, and action in the field of popular social questions, i. e. the vast field occupied by the proleta- riat, called by some (inexactly, because the term is not wide enough) the labour question. Christian democracy recognizes in principle and in fact that the popular social question cannot be limited to the ques- tion of justice, nor of charity ; but that it ought to es- tablish a harmony between the claims of the first and the pleadings of the second, avoiding the excesses of anarchistic individualism as well as those of com- munism, socialistic or otherwise. Christian democ- racy, then, disapproves of the conduct of those "so- cialistic" Catholics who despise or minimize the social function of Christian charity; just as it disapproves the position of those other Catholics who would ignore and disregard the question of social justice in such matters as minimum salary and maximum number of working hours, obligatorj' insurance of workingmen, and proportionate sharing of profits. But real Chris- tian democracy seeks to be, and is, absolutely neutral on political matters. It is not, and never can be monarchical, or republican, or oligarchical, or parlia- mentarian, or partisan in politics. So much follows from its very nature. On this foundation Christian democracy, emerging from the present crisis, will de- velop its vast programme for the moral and material redemption of the people, and will be one of the grandest and most fortunate applications of the pro- gramme of Pius X, "to restore all things in Christ".
The Na.me. — .\fter the appearance of the Encycli- cal "Rerum Novarum", the rapid grottih of popular Catholic action called for a suitable name to describe it. The old name, indeed, "Popular Cathohc Ac- tion", was both accurate and comprehensive; but a discussion arose as to selecting a nom de guerre, and the choice eventually lay between "Catholic Socialism" and "Christian Democracy". The discussion was carried on especially in Belgium, where popular Cath- olic action had been highly developed. Those in fav- our of "Catholic Socialism" pointed out that the name socialism signified purely social questions, while democraaj implied the idea of government and there- fore savoured of politics. Their opponents answered that socialism was a branded word, and belonged to the materialistic and revolutionary party known by that name, while democracy had lost its political mean- ing and actually signified nothing else than " popular question" or merely "popularity"; so much so that a king who loves his people and is loved by them is called a "democratic" king. In the end the word demncracy won; and Leo XIII in the Encyclical "Graves de communi" (18 January, 1901) declared as acceptable and accepted the expression "Christian
democracy" as meaning neither more noi less than
popular Catholic action and as having for its aim to
comfort, and uplift the lower classes (studiiun solandw
erigcndn:que plebis), excluding expressly every appear-
ance and implication of political meaning. Thus the
name was officially accepted at once (e. g. by the
"Opera dei Congressi e Comitati Cattolici d'ltalia") in
the sense laid down by the encyclical. But unfortu-
nate complications soon arose through the action of a
few, who were not unjustly likened to the Roman rev-
olutionaries of 1848 who besought Pius IX to give
them a constitution, nothing but a constitution, and,
when they got it, wanted to pass off anj-thing and
everything under the name of the Constitution. There
were formed soon (in France, Italj', and Belgium)
groups of "Christian Democrats" who made it their
business to war against conservative Catholics and to
consort with Socialists. On their leaflets and calendars
the Italian deino-Christians printed the dilemma:
"either Bourbonist or Christian-Democrats", as
though to be a Bourbon in politics hindered one from
belonging to the party of popular Catholic action,
i. e. to christian Democracy. While insisting that it
is still at the chronicle stage, we may state in conclu-
sion that the term Christian Democracy seems to have
been seriously compromised by the action of those
who distorted its meaning from that laid down in the
Encyclical "Graves de communi"; it therefore in-
clines to lose the meaning of "popular Catholic ac-
tion", and tends more and more to denote a school
and a political party. (See Belgiu.m; Fr.^nce;
Germany; Italy; Spain.)
Acta Leonis XIII (Rome. 1903); Acta Pit X (Rome, 1904); Rivi^ta intemazionale di studi sociali (Rome, 1893).
U. Benigni.
Demon (Greek Sal/iwD and SaifiSviop; Lat. da-mo- niurn). — In Scripture and in Catholic theology this word has come to mean much the same as deinl and denotes one of the evil spirits or fallen angels (see Devil). And in fact in some places in the New Testa- ment where the Vulgate, in agreement with the Greek, has da^monium, our vernacular versions read deinl. The precise distinction between the two terms in ecclesiastical usage may be seen in the phrase used in the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council: " Diab- olus enim et alii dremones" (The devil and the other demons), i. e. all are demons, and the chief of the demons is called the devil. This distinction is ob- served in the Vulgate New Testament, where diabolus represents the Greek Sid^oXos, and in almost every instance refers to Satan himself, while his subordinate angels are described, in accordance with the Greek, as dcemones or dwmonia. This must not be taken, how- ever, to indicate a difference of nature; for Satan is clearly included among the dcemones in James, ii, 19, and in Luke, xi, 15, IS. But though the word demon is now practically restricted to this sinister sense, it was otherwise with the earlier usage of the Greek writers. The word, which is apparently derived from Saliii "to divide" or "apportion", originally meant a divine being; it was occasionally applied to the higher gods and goddesses, but was more generally used to denote spiritual beings of a lower order coming be- tween gods and men. For the most part these were beneficent beings, and their office wxs somewhat anal- ogous to that of the angels in Christian theology. Thus the adjective (vSal^uv. "happy", properly meant one who was guided and guarded by a good demon. Some of these Greek demons, however, were evil and malignant. Hence we have the counter- part to cvSanovla, "happiness", in KaKoSaitiovta which denoted misfortune, or in its more original meaning, being under the possession of an evil demon. In the Greek of the New Testament and in the language of the early Fathers, the word was already restricted to the sinister sense, which was natural enough, now
