PATRIA AND PATRIOTISM.—Patria derives from pater, “father”: it is the land in which one was born and in which one’s forebears lived in familial continuity. Its external elements are the land, paternity, and nationality; its internal elements, national consciousness and traditions. It is not an arbitrary creation of the spirit; rather, it springs immediately from the social nature of human beings and develops freely under the impetus of providential influences. The concept of patria must be distinguished from that of society, nation, and State. The notion of patria adds to that of society the characteristic of continuity, which the term society does not of itself imply. This lasting unity corresponds to that of the nation; but whereas patria designates more particularly the land, nation more properly designates the group of people whom birth unites as descendants of the same ancestors, while State designates rather the politically organized people: it is the political and juridical notion of patria.
According to the teaching of s. Tommaso (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 101, a. 1), patria is the place in which one was born and raised and to which one is therefore bound by a complex of duties. The same s. Tommaso connects his teaching on this subject with what Cicero had already taught, namely, that love of patria is included in pietas (v. PIETA), that is, among those same duties that a person has toward God and relatives. This pietas is expressed through officium, that is, dutiful respect, and through cultus, that is, reverence and honor; it therefore does not end with mere outward obedience, but with the inward subjection of the spirit, in the manner required in one’s relations with God and relatives. As regards the extent of these duties, s. Tommaso considers persons more directly than the State in the abstract: “by the cultus of patria is meant the cultus toward all fellow citizens and toward all friends of patria.” And rightly so, because the State can be changed and even opposed when it fails in its task; it can sometimes vary in its territorial extent, whereas it remains substantially the same with regard to the individuals who belong to the State itself.
The term patriotism denotes that fervent and disinterested sentiment which impels citizens of every class to promote the greatness, glory, and well-being of patria in a manner consistent with justice and charity.