Summa summae S. Thomae, Tomus III

Tradition, so to speak, is doctrine communicated by one to another in writing or by voice. Hence the Apostle, II Thessal., II, 14: Hold fast, he says, the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by epistle. Taken specifically, however, inasmuch as it is distinguished from Scripture, it is doctrine communicated by one to another by living voice, and it is treated of here insofar as it concerns the faith and morals of the faithful. Hence

I say 1°: Tradition can be defined: « Doctrine pertaining to Christian faith and morals, communicated by living voice by its author. » It is said, « by its author, » because it does not stand against tradition if, once communicated by its author by voice alone, it is afterwards committed to writing by others. Of this kind are the baptism of infants, the perpetual virginity of blessed Mary, the quadragesimal fast preparatory to baptism, the celebration of the feasts of Easter and Pentecost, and many other things.

I say 2°: Tradition, on the part of its origin, is divided into divine, apostolic, and ecclesiastical. Divine is that which was communicated by living voice to posterity by God to the Patriarchs, or by Christ to his disciples, or by the Apostles themselves, the Holy Spirit dictating. Apostolic is that which the Apostles instituted with apostolic authority, as prefects of the Church. Ecclesiastical is that which councils, or supreme Pontiffs, or the holy Fathers introduced.

[On the part of its matter, tradition is divided into dogmatic and moral or ritual. The former is concerned with dogmas, as that the Father is unbegotten, that there are four Gospels and seven sacraments, etc. The latter looks to morals, as that the Lenten fast must be observed and the feast of Easter celebrated, etc. On the part of time, it is divided into temporal, which was instituted only for a time, such as abstinence from blood and from things strangled, the triple immersion in baptism; and perpetual, which was instituted as about to endure forever, such as the baptism of infants, the validity of baptism conferred by heretics.

On the part of the mode by which tradition is propagated, it is divided into written, oral, and practical; for some doctrine can be transmitted to others in writing, or propagated by mouth, or be itself derived by the fathers into their children.]

I say 3°: Divine tradition is a rule of infallible authority and of faith: because it is the word of God, no less than Sacred Scripture; yet Sacred Scripture is a rule of infallible authority and of faith not because it is written, but because it is the word of God. Hence Trid., session IV, chapter 1, declares that it receives and venerates « with equal affection and reverence the divine traditions as well as Sacred Scripture. » From this you will gather that from divine tradition there can be formed a firm and efficacious argument, just as from divine Scripture.

[The same is taught by the Vatican Council, constitution Dei Filius, chapter 2, on Revelation: « This supernatural revelation, according to the faith of the universal Church declared by the holy Tridentine Synod, is contained in the written books and in the unwritten traditions which, received by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ himself, or dictated to the Apostles by the Holy Spirit, and handed on as it were from hand to hand, have come down even to us.]

Apostolic tradition has as much authority as the apostolic decrees have. Ecclesiastical tradition, however, has that authority which ecclesiastical laws have. Hence apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions admit of dispensation, derogation, and abrogation.

You will ask what is the rule for discerning tradition in general, and then for discerning that it is divine.

I answer. 1°. The rule for discerning tradition in general is that which Augustine establishes, book IV of the De Baptismo contra Donatistas, c. 24, n. 31: « What the whole Church holds, and which was not instituted by councils, but has always been retained, is most assuredly believed to have been handed down by no other than apostolic authority. »

[That most famous passage must not be omitted in which Vincent of Lerins expressed the same rule most luminously, Commonit., c. 2 and 3: « In the Catholic Church itself every care must be taken that we hold that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all. But this is done in truth only if we follow universality, antiquity, and consent. And we shall follow universality in this way, if we confess that one faith alone to be true which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity truly in this way, if we in no wise depart from those meanings which it is manifest our holy ancestors and fathers proclaimed; and consent likewise in this way, if in antiquity itself we follow the definitions and opinions of all, or certainly of almost all, priests and doctors alike. »]

I answer. 2°: The rule for discerning divine tradition, insofar as it is distinguished from apostolic tradition, is: If the Church holds something as of faith, or holds that something is to be observed which only God can institute, it is divine tradition handed down to us through the Apostles. The reason is, because the Church cannot err. Therefore what she says is of faith, or is to be observed, is so. — I subjoin. Yet nothing is of faith unless it has been delivered immediately by God; nor can that be truly said to be observed which only God can institute, if it has not been instituted by God. Therefore. Such divine traditions are the baptism of infants, the validity of the baptism of heretics, the perpetual virginity of blessed Mary, that the three sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation, and Order, are indelible, etc.

I said: « Handed down to us through the Apostles »; because after the times of the Apostles the Church has no new revelations, but all things to be held by faith were revealed to the Apostles by God, either through Christ speaking, or through the Holy Spirit dictating and teaching all things, according to the promises made to them by Christ, Ioann., XIV and XVI. Therefore when the Church defines something as delivered by God and to be believed by divine faith, she does not create a new article of faith; for that was already of faith, though not explicitly, having been revealed to the Apostles: but she declares that what was not known to be of the faith must now be held to be so, as we have already observed elsewhere.

The other rule for discerning divine tradition is: When the Fathers of the first centuries unanimously hold some unwritten thing as of faith, and condemn its opposite as heretical, it is divine tradition.

The question now concerns principally those divine traditions which the heretics of today contend must not be admitted.