Honour

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Honour may be defined as the deferential recognition by word or sign of another's worth or station. Thus I show honour to another by giving him his title if he have one, and by raising my hat to him, or by yielding to him a place of precedence. I thereby give expression to my sense of his worth, and at the same time I profess my own inferiority to him.

It is right and proper that marks of honour should be paid to worth of any kind, if there be no special reason to the contrary, and we areobliged to honour those who stand in any relation of superiority to ourselves. First and foremost, we must honourGod by worshipping Him as our first beginning and last end, theinfinite source of all that we have and are. We honour theangels andsaints on account of the gifts andgraces bestowed on them byGod. We honour ourparents, from whom we received our earthly being, and to whom we owe our bringing-up and preparation for the battle of life. Our rulers, spiritual and temporal, have a just claim on our honour by reason of the authority over us which they have received fromGod. We honour the aged for their presumed wisdom,virtue, and experience. We should always honour moral worth wherever we find it, and we may honour the highly talented, those who have been endowed with great beauty, strength, and dexterity, the well-born, and even the rich and powerful for riches and power may, and should, be made the instruments of virtue and well-being.

Among the goods which are external to man honour holds the first place, above wealth and power. It is that which we especially give toGod, it is the highest reward which we can bestow on virtue, and it is what men naturally prize the most. The Apostle bids us give honour to whom honour is due, and so, to withhold it or to show dishonour to whom honour is due is asin againstjustice, and entails theobligation of making suitable restitution. If we have simply neglected ourduty in this respect, we must make amends by more assiduously cultivating theperson injured by our neglect. If we have been guilty of offering a public insult to another, we must offer an equally public satisfaction; if the insult was private, we must make the suitable reparation in private, so that theperson injured should be reasonably satisfied. Those who are placed in authority in Church or State, and have the bestowal of public honours, are bound by the special virtue of distributivejustice to bestow honours according to merit. If they fail in thisduty, they are guilty of the specialsin of acceptation ofpersons. The public good of theChurch specially requires that those who are more worthy should be promoted to such high dignities as thecardinalate or episcopate, and for the same reason there is a graveobligation to promote the more worthy rather than the less worthy toecclesiastical benefices that have thecure of souls annexed to them. According to the more probable opinion the same title holds good concerning promotion tobenefices to which thecure of souls is not attached, thoughSt. Alphonsus allows that the contrary opinion is probable, provided that the favouredperson is at least worthy of the honour although less worthy than his rival. When an examination is held to decide who among many candidates is to be chosen for a post of honour, there is a still stricterobligation to choose the one whom all the tests show to be—other things being equal—the most worthy of the post. On the ground that, where thisobligation is neglected, not only distributivejustice is violated, as in the preceding cases, but commutativejustice as well, the common opinion holds that if one who by examination isproved more worthy is passed over, he has aright to compensation for the injury which he has suffered. Many, however, deny theobligation to make restitution in the matter ofbenefices even in this case, on the ground that, though an examination to test fitness be held, yet no strict compact is entered into by which those who confer thebenefice bind themselves in strictjustice to grant it to the more worthy. It is plain that those who are responsible for the appointment of an unfitperson to a post superiority are also responsible for the harm which his unfitness causes. The foregoing principles have been formulated by divines for the settling of questions connected with the appointment toecclesiastical benefices, but they are applicable to other similar appointments, bothecclesiastical and civil.

A question of great interest in the history of religion andmorals, and of primary importance inChristian asceticism, must be treated of here. We have seen that honour is not only a good, but that it is the chief of those external goods which man can enjoy.St. Thomas Aquinas andCatholic divines agree in this withAristotle. We have also seen that, according toCatholic doctrine, all are bound injustice to give honour to whom honour is due. It follows from this that it is not morally wrong to seek honour in due moderation and with the proper motive. And yetChrist severely blamed thePharisees for loving the first places at feasts, the first chairs in thesynagogues, salutations in the marketplace, and titles of honour. He told His disciples not to be called Rabbi, Father, or Master, like thePharisees; the greatest among His disciples should be the servant of all; and whosoever exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Here we touch upon the distinctive characteristic ofChristian morality as distinguished frompagan ethics. The ideal type of manhood in the system ofAristotle is drawn for us in thatphilosopher's celebrated description of the magnanimous man. The magnanimous man is described as one who, being really worthy of great things, holds himself worthy of them. For he who holds himself thus worthy beyond his realdeserts is a fool, and no man possessed of any virtue whatsoever can ever be a fool or show want of understanding. He, on the other hand who holds himself worthy of less than his merits is little-minded, no matter whether the merits which he thus underrates be great, or moderate, or small. The merits, then, of the high-minded man are extreme but in his conduct he observes the proper mean. For he holds himself worthy of his exactdeserts, while others either overestimate or else underestimate their own merits. And since he is not only worthy of great things, but also holds himself worthy of them—or rather, indeed, of the very greatest things—it follows that there is some one object which ought most especially to occupy him. Now this object is honour, for it is the very greatest of all external goods. But the high-minded man, since hisdeserts are the highest possible, must be among the best of men, for the better a man is the higher will be hisdeserts, and the best man will have the highestdeserts. True highmindedness, therefore, cannot but imply virtue; or, rather, the criterion of high-mindedness is the conjoint perfection of all the individual virtues. Highmindedness, then, would seem to be the crown, as it were, of all the virtues; for it not only involves their existence, but it also intensifies their lustre. It is with honour then, and with dishonour that the highminded man is most especially concerned. And where he meets with great honour, and that from upright men, he will take pleasure in it, although his pleasure will not be excessive, inasmuch as he has obtained at the outside only what he merits, if not perhaps less—since adequate honour for perfect virtue cannot be found. He will, however, none the less: receive such honour from upright men, inasmuch as they have no greater reward to offer him. But honour given by the common herd, and upon unimportant occasions, he will hold in utter contempt, for it will be no measure of hisdeserts. Now the high-minded man justly despises his neighbours for his estimate is always right; but the majority of men despise their fellows upon insufficient grounds. He also loves to confer a favour, but feels shame at receiving one, for the former argues superiority, the latter inferiority. The high-minded would, moreover, seem to bear those in mind to whom they have done kindnesses, but not those from whom they have received them. For he who has received a kindness stands in a position inferior to that of him who has conferred it, whereas the high-minded man desires a position of superiority. And so he hears with pleasure of the favours he has conferred, but with dislike of those which he has received.

These are the chief traits in this celebrated portrait as far as they relate to the matter with which we are dealing.Aristotle fills in the details of the picture with minute accuracy, it is obvious that he dwelt upon it with loving care, as the highest ideal of hisethical system: And yet, as we read it now, the description has in it an element of the ridiculous. If the high-minded man ofAristotle appeared today in any decentsociety, he would soon be given to understand that he took himself a great deal too seriously, and he would be quizzed unmercifully until he abated something of his pretensions. It is, indeed, a consummate picture of a noblepride which thepaganphilosopher paints for us, andChristianity teaches us that allpride is a lie. Human nature, even at its best and noblest, is, after all, a poor thing, and even vile, asChristianasceticism tells us. Was, then,Aristotle simply wrong in hisdoctrine concerning magnanimity? By no means.St. Thomas accepts his teaching concerning this virtue, but, to prevent it becomingpride, he tempers it with thedoctrine ofChristian humility.Christian doctrine joins all that istrue and noble lnAristotle's description of magnanimity with what revelation and experience alike teach us concerning human frailty and sinfulness. The result is the sweetness, thetruth, and use strength of the highestChristian character. Instead of a self-satisfied Aristides or Pericles, we have aSt. Paul, aSt. Francis of Assisi, or a St. Francis Xavier. The greatChristian saint is penetrated with a sense of his own weakness and unworthiness apart fromGod's grace. This prevents him thinking himself worthy of anything except punishment on account of hissins and unfaithfulness to grace. He never despises his neighbour, but esteems all men more than he does himself. If left to himself, he prefers, with St. Peter of Alcantara, to be despised of men and to suffer for Christ. But if the glory ofGod and the good of his fellow-men require it, theChristian saint is prepared to abandon his obscurity. He knows that he can do all things in Him Who strengthens him. With incredible energy, constancy, and utter forgetfulness of self, he works wonders without apparent means. If honours are bestowed on him he knows how to accept them and refer them toGod if it be for His service. Otherwise he despises them as he does riches, and prefers to be poor and despised with Him Who was meek andhumble of heart.

In opposition to thepagandoctrine ofAristotle and the selfish worldliness of thePharisees, theChristian attitude towards honours may be stated in a few words. Honour, being the due homage paid to worth is the chief among the external goods which man can enjoy. It may be lawfully sought for, but inasmuch as all worth is fromGod, and man of himself has nothing butsin, it must be referred toGod and sought only for His sake or for the good of one's fellow-men. Honours, like riches, are dangerous gifts, and it is praiseworthy to renounce them out oflove for Him who for our sakes was poor and despised.

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