Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/212



206 CHIEF DUTIES OF CHRISTIANS AS CITIZENS.

faith and all hearts in charity, so that, as it behooves, life may be spent in the practice of the love of God and the love of men.

This is a suitable moment for us to exhort especially heads of families to govern their households according to these precepts, and to be solicitous without failing for the right training of their children. The family may be regarded as the cradle of civil society, and it is in great measure within the circle of family life that the destiny of the State is fostered. Whence it is that they who would break away from Christian disciphne are working to corrupt family life, and to destroy it utterly, root and branch. From such an unholy purpose they allow not themselves to be turned aside by the reflection that it cannot, even in any degree, be carried out without inflicting cruel out- rage on the parents. These hold from nature their right of training the children to whom they have given birth, with the obligation superadded of shaping and directing the education of their little ones to the end for which God vouchsafed the privilege of transmitting the gift of life. It is then incumbent on parents to strain every nerve to ward off such an outrage, and to strive manfully to have and to hold exclusive authority to direct the education of their offspring, as is fitting, in a Christian manner; and first and foremost to keep them away from schools where there is risk of their drinking in the poison of impiety. Where the right education of youth is con- cerned, no amount of trouble or labor can be undertaken, how great soever, but that even greater still may not be called for. In this regard indeed there are to be found in many countries Catholics worthy of general admiration, who incur considerable outlay and bestow much zeal in founding schools for the education of youth. It is highly desirable that such noble example may be generously followed, where time and circumstances demand; yet all should be intimately persuaded that the minds of children are most influenced by the training they receive at home.