Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/225

 COMMUNITY

183

' mine and thine ' were applied to husband and wife ; then followed naturally an exclusive interest in chil- dren ; then the desire to accumulate individual prop- erty for their present and future use." The founder of this community was of opinion that if the ordinary principles of marriage are maintained, comnnmistio associations will present greater temptations to un- lawful love than ordinary society. Communism therefore seems to face the Scylla of celibacy and the Charybdis of promiscuity.

Third: All the American communities except those founded by Owen, were composed of picked and select souls who were filled with enthusiasm and willing to make great sacrifices for their ideal. Owen admitted recruits indiscriminately, but keenly regretted it after- wards ; for he recognized it as one of the chief causes of premature failure. Moreover, the other commu- nities separated themselves from and discouraged con- tact with the outside world. Most of the deserters were members who had violated this injunction, and become enamoured of worldly ways.

Fourth: The success attained by the American com- munities was in a very large measure due to excep- tionally able, enthusiastic, and magnetic leaders. As soon as these were removed from leadership their communities almost invariably began to decline rapidly. This fact and the facts mentioned in the last paragraph add weight to the conclusions drawn from the first two, namely that communism is utterly unsuited to the majority.

Fifth: It is possible for small groups of choice spirits, especially when actuated by motives of religion and asceticism, to maintain for more than a century a communistic organization in contentment and [)ros- perity. The proportion of laziness is smaller and the problem of getting work done simpler than is com- monl}' assumed. And the habit of common life does seem to root out a considerable amoimt of human selfishness.

Finally: The complete equality sought by commu- nism is a well-meant but mistaken interpretation of the great moral truths, that, as persons and in the sight of God, all human beings are equal; and that all have essentially the same needs and the same ultimate destiny. In so far as they are embodied in the prin- ciple of common ownership, these truths have found varied expressions in various countries and civiUza- tions. Many economic historians maintain that com- mon ownership was everywhere the earliest form of land tenure. It still prevails after a fashion in the country districts of Russia. Within the last half- centurj', the sphere of common or public ownership has been greatly extended throughout almost all of the Western world, and it is certain to receive still wider expansion in the future. Nevertheless, the verdict of experience, the nature of man, and the attitude of the Church, all assure us that complete communism will never be adopted by any consider- able section of any people. While the Church sanc- tions the principle of voluntary communism for the few who have a vocation to the religious life, she con- demns universal, compulsory, or legally enforced communism, inasmuch as she maintains the natural right of every individual to possess private property. She has reprobated communism more specifically in the Encyclical "Rerum Novarum" of Pope Leo XIII. For the theories condemned in that docu- ment under the name of socialism certainly include communism as described in these pages. See Col- lectivism, Socialism; Property.

Plato, Republic (London, 1892); Cathrein, Sncuilism. tr. from the German by Gettelman.n (New York, 1904): Pohl- MANN, Gfschichtc des aniiken C omrmtnismus und Smialittmus (Munich. 189.3-1001); Capart, La -proprUU individueUe et le colleclivisme (N.amur, 1898); Kai-tsky, Communism in Central Europe at the Time of the Rrformnlion (London, 1897); Mor- LEY, Ideal Commonwealths (London, 188.5). comprisine Pm- tarch'b Lycurgua, More's Utopia, Bacon's New Atlantis, CKiiF\tiEi.hJi.'B,Cilu of the Sun, and IIaia.' a Mundus alter el idem-

Harrington, Commonwealth of Oceana (London, 1887); Lich- TENBERGER. Le socialisme au XVIII' siicle (Paris, 1895); Ely, Frcr), „„,! r;.-rn,an Socialism (New York, 1883); NoRn- HOFF. (,,,,,, ,, Societies of the United States (New York, 187.51; W. :-,, I ninmunism and Socialism (New York, 1880'; 11 ,.!■ ' art Communities (Chicago, 1902) ; Stam- HAMMEK. IJiiLdL.^ .^o-ialismus und Communismus (Jeua, 1S93'-

1900). John A. Ryan.

Community. See Monasticism ; Religious Orders.

Como, DiocEiSE OF (Comensis). — Como is an import- ant town in the province of Lombardy (Northern Italy), picturesquely situated on Lake Como, the ancient Lac-US Larius. The city is of Celtic origin and was called Comum. In 195 b. c. it became a Roman col- ony. Destroyed by the Rhaetian Gauls, it was recon- structed by Pomjjeius Strabo and called Novocomum. It shared the vicissitudes of the surrounding region. In the tenth century the Bishops of Como were also its temporal lords. In the eleventh century the city be- came a free commune. In 11.5.3 Cbmo was devas- tated by the Milanese on account of its attachment to Frederick Barbarossa, who rebuilt the city in 1158. Then followed the rule of the Rusca family. In 1355 Franchin Rusca freely ceded the town to the Visconti, from which time it shared the fortune of the Duchy of Milan. Como is now the centre of the silk industry in Italy, and according to the census of 1901 had a population of 38,902. It has been the birthplace of

many famous men, among them the elder and the younger Pliny, the historian Paulus Jovius, Pope Innocent XI. and the physicist Volta. Local leg- end credits the conversion of Como to the apostolate of St. Hermagoras of Aquileia (died c. 70). Until 1528 Como was, indeed, a suffragan of Aquileia (later of Venice) and followed the Aquileian Rite. The first known bishop was St. Felix, ordained by St. Ambrose in 379, ami it is not improbable that he was the first bishop. Many Bishops of Como are venerated as saints: St. Probinus (391); St. Amantius (420); St. .\bundius (4,50), sent as legate to the Council of Chal- cedon by St. Leo the tJreat ; St. Consul (469) ; St. Ex- uperantius (495); St. Eusebius (512); St. Eutychius (525); St. Euphus (532); St. Flavianus (535); St.