CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE
The contemplative life is a way of life ordered toward contemplation (v.), by excluding external activities and concerns—not only sinful or dissipating ones ("worldly") but even those that merely distract from meditation or prayer. Comparing the contemplative life, the active life, and the mixed life, Alvarez de Paz (*De Perfectione vitae spirit.*, I. 2, cap. 13) writes: «In activa incipimus, in contemplativa proficuimus, in mixta perficimur et consummamur».
The concept of the contemplative life, as opposed to the active life, develops in Greek philosophy. Plato distinguishes two kinds of knowledge, the γνωστική (*gnōstikē*) and the πρακτική (*praktikē*) (*Polit.*, 2-3, 258-259), and in *Philob.* 61c, he alludes to the mixed life of sapiential study and activity (A. Festugière, *Contemplation et vie contemplatives selon Platon*, Paris 1936). Aristotle (*Ethic. ad Nicom.*, I, 3, 1095; X, 7-8, 1177) distinguishes three forms of moral life: that of the ἀπολαυστικός (*apolaustikós*), the hedonist; that of the πολιτικός (*politikós*) or πρακτικός (*praktikós*), devoted to social affairs; and that of the θεωρητικός (*theōrētikós*), the contemplative.
This distinction is found in St. Thomas, both in *III Sent.*, dist. 35, q. 1, a. 1, and in the *Sum. Theol.*, 2ª-2ª, q. 179, a. 1, as well as in his *Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics* (I, lect. 5, nn. 58-59).
In Sacred Scripture, the Fathers take as fundamental texts Gen. 29:16 ff. and Lk. 10:38 ff. (C. Butler, *op. cit.*, pp. 135 ff.; P. Zanfrognini, *Azione e contemplazione. Vie orientali e vie occidentali*, Bari 1931; G. Bardy, *La vie spirituelle d'après les Pères des trois premiers siècles*, Paris 1935). Origen is perhaps the first to identify Mary, in reference to Lk. 10:31 ff., as a symbol of the contemplative life and Martha of the active life (*In Ioan.*, 11, 18, frgm. 80; Klostermann, IV, p. 547): «Εἰπερ δὲ σὺνθριδὸν ἐστι Μαρία μὲν τοῦ θεωρητικοῦ βίου, Μάρθα δὲ τοῦ πρακτικοῦ». St. Thomas employs various scriptural texts: Mt. 5:8; 6:21; Rom. 1:20; 2 Cor. 3:18, among others (G. Turbessi, pp. 102-117).
Among the Fathers, Clement of Alexandria (*Strom.*, IV, 6: PG 8, 1249) recognizes a twofold path leading to perfection: that of action and that of contemplation, ἔργα καὶ γνῶσις (M. Viller, *Spiritualité des premiers siècles chrétiens*, Paris 1930, p. 47). Evagrius and Maximus the Confessor discuss the contemplative and active lives (I. Hausherr, *Les grands courants de la spiritualité orientale*, in *Orientalia christiana periodica*, I [1935], pp. 121 ff.). St. Augustine formulates the doctrine of the threefold kind of life: contemplative, active, and mixed: «Ex tribus illis vitae generibus, otioso, actuoso, et ex utroque composita» (*De Civ. Dei*, XIX, 19: PL 41, 647), a teaching later accepted by subsequent theological thought.
Taking as his starting point the biblical figures of Leah and Rachel and the Gospel figures of Mary and Martha, St. Augustine elaborates his doctrine on the contemplative and active lives in *Contra Faustum Manich.* XXII, 57 ff.: PL 42, 436, and in *Serm.* 103, no. 5, and 104, no. 4: PL 38, 615, 618 (H. Pope, *The Teaching of St. Augustine on Prayer and the Contemplative Life*, London 1935). St. Gregory the Great (*Moralia*, I. 6, c. 37: PL 75, 764, and *Hom. in Ezech.*, II, 2: PL 76, 54, 953-56) is the principal source and indispensable guide to which medieval theologians turn for the development of doctrine concerning the contemplative and active lives. His influence on St. Thomas is especially noteworthy: «no author is cited so frequently in qq. 179-182 as St. Gregory the Great» (G. Turbessi, p. 124).
Among medieval theologians, Richard of St. Victor made a notable contribution to the doctrine of the contemplative life in his *Benjamin maior*. In the *Explicatio in Cantica Canticorum*, ch. 8 (PL 196, 427), he writes: «D’une quippe sunt vitae, activa scilicet et contemplativa, quae designantur per Martham et Mariam», and there he upholds the preeminence of the contemplative life over the active: «Interior sollicitudo et oratio sublimis atque dignis officium est», since the active life «servit, dum ministerium exhibet», while the contemplative life «apud Deum meritis et familiaritate obtinet». Peter Lombard (*In III Sent.*, d. 35) distinguishes the active life, to whose development the gift of knowledge is directed, from the life to which the gift of wisdom is directed; similarly, St. Bonaventure (*In III Sent.*, dist. 35). St. Thomas treats of the contemplative life and its relationship to the active life in his *Commentary on the Sentences* III, dist. 35, q. 1, and more fully in the *Sum. Theol.*, 2ª-2ª, qq. 179, 180, 181, 182. Question 179 is introductory; question 180, in eight articles, examines the contemplative life in the intellect or in affectivity, in relation to the moral virtues, to the contemplation of God and other truths, and in view of the vision of the divine essence, in its three movements—«circular, straight, and oblique»—in its delight and duration. Question 181 treats the relationship of the moral virtues to the active life. Question 182 studies the relationship between the contemplative and active lives in four articles: the contemplative life is higher and more meritorious than the active life, though the latter does not necessarily impede the former.
With St. Augustine, the Angelic Doctor admits a «mediam inter activam vitam et contemplativam» (q. 181, a. 2 ad 3), a kind of life that ought to characterize prelates and preachers. The utility of this distinction lies «non quantum ad diversitatem vitae, sed magis quantum ad diversitatem viventium» (*In III Sent.*, dist. 35, q. 1, ad 5); hence, theoretically speaking, «vita sufficienter dividitur per activam et contemplativam» (*Sum. Theol.*, 2ª-2ª, q. 179, a. 2).
The doctrine concerning the mixed life—that is, a third kind of life that combines the demands of the active and contemplative lives—finds its natural development in later theologians, especially with the spread of the mendicant orders (12th–14th centuries). According to this teaching, those orders that combine contemplation with the apostolic ministry for the spiritual good of souls are called "orders of the mixed life" («vita apostolica»).
Regarding the superiority of the contemplative life over the active, St. Thomas’s thought—universally accepted—is that the active life, if directed toward the spiritual good of one’s neighbor, is more useful than the contemplative, but the latter is more noble and worthy in itself. «Vita contemplativa simpliciter melior est quam activa, in quantum magis assimilatur illi vitae, ad quam per activam et contemplativam nititur pervenire». But «activa quantum ad hanc partem quae saluti proximorum studet est utilior quam contemplativa» (*Sum. Theol.*, 3a, 35, q. 1, a. 4). The superiority of the contemplative life over the active is proven by nine arguments drawn from Aristotle, patristic thought, and Sacred Scripture. The active life, moreover, disposes one to contemplation insofar as it orders the various passions of the soul (loc. cit., 2ª-2ª, q. 182, a. 3).
Suárez states that «contemplatio theologica est finis humanae vitae», which must be understood of the contemplation enjoyed in the life to come (the lumen gloriae); in the present life, contemplation, though serving as a means to increase charity and grace, is far more perfect than the active life, which has only the value of a means (*De Religione*, IV, t. 2, cap. 9, no. 6).
Since the wayfarer (*viator*) can never entirely dispense with the active life—since the necessities of life weigh even upon anchorites—nevertheless, the closer the contemplative life approaches perfection, the more the active life will be its faithful handmaid. The factor capable of maintaining equilibrium amid the various interferences between action and contemplation is love (v.) or supernatural charity.
IN THE MISSIONS. – Pope Pius XI’s encyclical *Rerum Ecclesiae* (1926) recommended that monasteries of the contemplative life be established in mission countries. The establishment, however, of the contemplative life in the missions presents itself, according to circumstances, in different aspects. In places where paganism still predominates, monasticism must at first necessarily limit itself to works of immediate utility; among already Christianized peoples, on the other hand, it can take firm root because it responds to an already awakened need. There are regions, moreover, such as India, where the contemplative life is the most effective means for a profound Christian penetration. The situation of monastic foundations after the war, limited to the most important missions, is as follows.
In Japan, the Trappist monastery of Hokkaidō and the monasteries of the Poor Clares in the Apostolic Vicariate of Sapporo and in Tokyo flourish, where there is also a Carmelite monastery. In Morioka, in 1936, the Dominican Sisters of Bethlehem opened another monastery. In China, the Trappists of the abbey of Yang kia-p’ing were dispersed by the Communists, and those of the abbey of Our Lady of Liesse sent many religious to safer places. The monastery of Si-chan was transferred to Tehngtou. Female Carmelites flourish at Stanley (Hong Kong) and at Yunnanfu. In 1947, ten Carmelites departed from Italy. Carmelites also exist at Hanoi, Phat-Diem, Phom-Penh, Hué, Saigon, and Bangkok. At Vinh, there are Poor Clares. In Indonesia and Borneo, there are various Dutch Carmelites, as well as in Papua and Burma. India has Carmelites at Calcutta, Bangalore, Mangalore, and Colombo, all in full development. In Tibet, the mission of the Great St Bernard occupies the posts of Wei-si and Siao, and other posts in India are occupied by the mission of the abbey of St-Maurice. In French Africa, the Poor Clares are found at Algiers, and in the Sahara, the recently founded Little Brothers of Jesus.