In my latest article, I discussed tradition and argued that those who seek to promote progress without regard for tradition, or even oppose it, end up destroying their homeland. Today, I want to demonstrate that tradition is a vital product of the family that helps ensure that public and private customs, culture, and civilization are rooted in tradition wherever the family thrives.
Once again, let me draw on some illuminating texts from Pius XII. He begins by recalling some natural reasons why the family is a rich source of continuity between generations over the ages:
“The nature of this great and mysterious thing that is heredity—the passing on through a bloodline, perpetuated from generation to generation, of a rich ensemble of material and spiritual assets, the continuity of a single physical and moral type from father to son, the tradition that unites members of one same family across the centuries—the true nature of this heredity can undoubtably be distorted by materialistic theories. But one can, and must also, consider this reality enormously important in the fullness of its human and supernatural truth. One certainly cannot deny the existence of a material substratum in the transmission of hereditary characteristics; to be surprised at this one would have to forget the intimate union of our soul with our body, and in what great measure our most spiritual activities are themselves dependent upon our physical temperament.”
The Pontiff then addresses the moral and supernatural factors of family tradition: “Yet of greater import still is spiritual heredity, which is transmitted not so much through these mysterious bonds of material generation as by the permanent action of that privileged environment that is the family, with the slow and profound formation of souls in the atmosphere of a hearth rich in high intellectual, moral, and especially Christian traditions, with the mutual influence of those dwelling under one same roof, an influence whose beneficial effects endure well beyond the years of childhood and youth, all the way to the end of a long life, in those elect souls who are able to meld within themselves the treasures of a precious heredity with the addition of their own merits and experiences. Such is the most prized patrimony of all, which, illuminated by a solid faith and enlivened by a strong and loyal practice of Christian life in all its demands, will raise, refine, and enrich the souls of your children” (Address to the Nobility and Roman Patriciate, L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 5, 1941). https://nobility.org/2012/12/pius-xii-allocution-of-january-5-1941/
Some might argue that this concept seemingly assumes a long aristocratic history and is unsuitable for new continents like ours. Pius XII appears to have anticipated this objection. He states:
“We showed last year, on this same occasion, how even in democracies of recent origin with no traces of a feudal past, a new nobility or aristocracy is being formed by the very force of circumstances. It is the commonwealth of families who, by tradition, dedicate all their efforts to serving the State, its government, and administration, and on whose loyalty it can always rely” (Address of H.H. Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, Jan. 8, 1947; L’Osservatore Romano, January 9, 1947; https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/it/speeches/1947/documents/hf_p-xii_spe_19470108_nobilta-romana.html [our translation])
So, is tradition not the opposite of true democracy, which exists throughout the Americas, at least in theory? Let us listen to Pius XII: “As history will testify, wherever true democracy reigns, the life of the people is permeated with sound traditions, which it is not legitimate to destroy. The primary representatives of these traditions are the ruling classes, or rather, the groups of men and women, or the associations, which set the tone, as we say, for the village or the city, for the region or the entire country. Whence the existence and influence, among all civilized peoples, of aristocratic institutions, aristocratic in the highest sense of the word, like certain academies of widespread and well-deserved renown” (Pius XII, Allocution of January 16, 1946, in L’Osservatore Romano, 1/17/1946). https://nobility.org/2012/12/pope-pius-xii-allocution-to-the-roman-patriciate-and-nobility-january-16-1946/
Yet, one might still object, does such a conception of the family not lead to a society divided into different classes? Absolutely. Pius XII states: “Social inequalities, even those related to birth, are inevitable: Benign nature and God’s blessing to humanity illuminate and protect all cradles, looking on them with love, but do not make them equal. Look, for example, at the most inexorably leveled societies. No art has ever been able to work things so that the son of a great chief, the son of a great leader of the masses, should remain in the same condition as an obscure citizen lost among the common people. Yet, although such ineluctable disparities may appear, in a pagan light, to be the inflexible consequence of the conflict between social forces and the power acquired by some people over others, according to the blind laws believed to rule human activity and to make sense of the triumph of some and the sacrifice of others, on the other hand, to a mind instructed and educated in a Christian way these disparities can only be considered a disposition willed by God with the same wisdom as the inequalities within the family. Hence, they are destined to bring men more closely together on the present life’s journey toward the Kingdom of Heaven, with some helping others in the way a father helps the mother and children” L’Osservatore Romano, 1/5-6/1942). https://www.tfp.org/nobility/#easy-footnote-bottom-75-25132
We have seen that Christian inequality is a source of harmony between classes for Pius XII. Let us listen to him further: “For the Christian, social inequalities merge in the great human family; that therefore relations between unequal classes and ranks have to remain regulated by a fair and righteous justice and at the same time be informed by mutual respect and affection, which, while not abolishing the disparities, should diminish the distance and temper the contrasts between them. … In truly Christian families, do we not see perhaps the greatest of patricians being careful and solicitous to maintain toward their domestics and all those around them a comportment which, while surely in keeping with their rank, is always free of haughtiness and expressive of kindness and courtesy in words and actions that demonstrate the nobility of hearts that see these men as brothers and Christians and united to them in Christ by the bonds of charity, of that charity which, even in their ancestral palaces, between the great and humble, always comforts, sustains, gladdens, and sweetens life” (L’Osservatore Romano, 1/5-6/1942). https://www.tfp.org/nobility/#easy-footnote-bottom-75-25132. The pontiff employs the term “patrician” referring to members of the high Roman aristocracy.
Therefore, the family creates tradition and social hierarchy. To eliminate tradition and hierarchy, one must impoverish, stunt, reduce, and destroy the family. Many people either don’t realize this or refuse to accept it.
