Catholic Morality Extracted from the

Confessions of St. Augustine

By: Father Grou S.J.

Too many pains cannot be taken to bring man to reflect on himself, on his own nature, on his passions, on his destination, and on his duties; and to engage him to examine the principles and the rules by which he should square his conduct. Levity, inconsideration and dissipation, more than anything else, are the cause of his going astray, of his unconcern for God, of his forgetting supernatural truths in order to follow the impressions of the senses, and of his finally losing his faith and religion. There are few who are wicked in cool blood and from system. Most are carried away by their passions, by seduction and human respect, which are the ordinary consequences of the want of reflection.

Upon this account the morality that brings us home to ourselves, and gives us a knowledge of ourselves, has at all times been considered as the most interesting of all sciences; and those who have taught it the best, have been deemed the greatest benefactors of mankind. It is by morality, much more than by speculative reasoning, that the human mind is informed, the heart is captivated and morals are corrected. It is also by the allurements of a false morality that men are seduced and perverted.

I mean by a false morality, not only that which is grounded on pride, on interest, on voluptuousness, which concentrates man within himself, and teaches him to refer everything to himself; but also that which, resting totally on human reason, sets aside all revelation, and reduces all to the natural law as interpreted according to the fancy of every individual. It is a principle of St. Augustine, that philosophy and religion cannot be separated. It is also a principle that is to be found in the mind of all nations, that religion must be revealed, and must have God for its author. If, therefore, the Christian religion be the only one the revelation of which is well proved and certain, the Christian morality must be the only true, the only morality that sound philosophy can admit of; and every other morality which deviates from that, or opposes it, must either be imperfect, or false and even detestable. From hence it follows, that we are not to seek for true morality in the writings of the Heathens, even the most celebrated, such as Plato and Cicero, Seneca and Epictetus, or Antoninus; nor in those who have copied them. It is in the Gospel, in the writings of the Apostles, in those of the Fathers of the Church, the worthy interpreters of the Holy Scriptures, in which it is to be found.

Father Grou, S.J. has taken for his guide and master the greatest philosopher, the profoundest theologian, the most exalted genius, and the greatest soul; in a word, him who is acknowledged to be the first Doctor of the Church. The maxims and the reflections of St. Augustine are his basis. He has chosen out of his numerous writings those sentences which seemed to admit of the most advantageous display; and Father Grou began with his Confessions, which are the most known among his works.

He has preferred detached sentences to a regular and formal plan of morality. We think that in these matters the effect is the same as to instruction, and in other respects variety is more pleasing: it fatigues the reader less, by giving him rest and intervals of reflection in the transition from one sentence to another; and by this means Father Grou avoids the dryness and the tediousness of the didactic order. Besides, those who are used to a daily spiritual reading will find here a proper subject in every sentence; and we hope that each one will be sufficient to nourish the heart throughout the day.

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