The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-01-27

Himself established, writes Rev. JO-
seph Husslein, S. J. To exact of the
bride subsection of any kind is re-
garded as an indignity to womanhood
Even the very suspicion of it must be
avoided and the marriage rite must be
changed to meet the requirements of
more advanced ideas. The teaching
of the Scriptures, revealing to us the
divine will and the plan of infinite
love as we'll as of infinite wisdom, has
become scandal to many in our day.
Yet, "Wives, be subject to your hus-
bands. as it behoveth in the Lord.
bitter toward them" (Col. III, 1919,
is the divinely given compendium of
the mutual duties of wife and hus-
band. It's meaning lies far beneath
the surface of what the world under
stands by the subsection of love.
The family is a society, the first of
all human societies. 1t cannot there
fore exist without authority. Such
authority must be vested primarily in
a single person. The actual bearer of
the authority in any given family is
not appointed because of his individu-
al qualities, his mental or moral
superiority, but by the declaration of
God. 1t is not because of man in him
self, but because of God, that woman
renders him obedience. 1t is to man
as the divinely appointed head that
she yields a voluntary subsection of
love and of honor, within the limits
of his authority, as it behoveth in the
Lord.
There is question here of no one
sided contract. Mans duties toward
woman, of loving and cherishing her
as his own body, as his own self, and
of regarding her even in far higher
and more perfect manner, as the Apos-
tie points out, imposes upon him obli-
cations no less great and serious than
those which bind her to him in that
God-ordained harmony of the Chris
tan family. Of all this the modern
paganism can have no conception.
On the wife there is bestowed by the
Church true queenship within the
home. She obeys the will, yet rules
the heart of her husband, and with
him holds the governance of the
domestic world. To both alike the
children are to be subject as Christ
was to Joseph and to Mary: Chill
dren, obey your parents in all things:
for this is well and pleasing to the
Lord (Col. III, 20.) 1t is safe to say
that woman's subsection in the truly
10 io 70 ho, hot
which man is daily bound to render
outside the home, and which he JOY
fully bears for her sake. 1t is indeed
the ightest of constraints, motived by
love, leaving untouched her personal
ity and placing no limits to the high
est reaches of her soul as wife and
mother.
If the very mention of subsection,
which Scripture uses in regard to
woman, has a bitter SAVIOR in the
mouth of the modern rebel to Gods
will, it has all the more glorious an
import for the Christian mind, for it
sums up 80 long years of the short
life of the Saviour: "And he was sub
ject to them" In the holy household
into which He was born heaven recog-
nized no authority save that for
Joseph To him it's commands were
given: Take the child and his
mother" He alone was notified by
the angel to fly to Egypt and to return
therefrom, the others were left to do
his bidding as he was bound to accom-
plish the higher will. Yet Joseph,
though most exalted in the authority
of his position, was yet the least of
that Earthly Trinity" What, there
fore, was no indignity for Mary can
not be accounted an indignity for any
Christian wife, and never has been
felt as such within the Christian
home.
The truth so clearly expressed by
st. Paul in many places and confirmed
by all the Scriptures is no less plainly
given in the third chapter of the first
letter of st. Peter: I'm like manner
also let wives be subject to their hus-
bands" Adverting to the outward