Published with the permission of the Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission. NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: BENZINGER BROTHERS, Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. "Vocations Explained" is a compendium of "Questions on Vocations," a catechism approved by His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons; His Eminence Cardinal Satolli; by five Archbishops and twenty-two Bishops; also by numerous priests and religious Brothers and Sisters. Nihil Obatat THOS. L. KINKEAD, Censor Librorum. Imprimatur cross

Q. What is a vocation? A. A call from God to some state of life. Q. Which are the principal states of life? A. Matrimony, virginity, the religious state, and the priesthood. Q. Has every person a vocation? A. Yes; God gives a special vocation to each person. Q. How is this doctrine proved? A. St. Paul says: "Every one hath his proper gift from God; one after this manner, and another after that. . . . As the Lord hath distributed to every one , as God hath called every one , so let him walk." [*]

Q. Are we obliged to follow the vocation which God gives us? A. Yes; if we should wilfully neglect to follow our vocation we would be in danger of losing our souls. Q. Why so? A. Because God attaches to our vocation special graces to help us to resist temptations and to discharge our duties properly. Hence, if we neglect God's call, we lose also His special graces; we then easily fall into temptation, and thus we are more liable to lose our souls. Q. Can you quote reliable authority for this doc

Q. How do you prove that matrimony is a vocation? A. Matrimony is a fixed manner of living, established by Almighty God: "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." St. Paul, speaking of matrimony, says: "This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church." Q. If matrimony is a vocation from God, why are many married people unhappy? A. Because many of these people do not correspond with the graces of this state; some enter it without the proper motives, others embrac

Q. Are mixed marriages vocations? A. Not from God. Mixed marriages are suggested by "the world, the flesh, and the devil," the three great enemies of man's salvation. Who ever heard of a person entering mixed marriage because his conscience told him that God gave him a vocation to that state, or because he was convinced that God chose for him that state in order that he might sanctify himself therein and avoid damnation? Read again the story of Tobias, and the seven husbands of Sara, who were st

Q. How is it proved that the state of virginity is a vocation? A. St. Paul mentions virginity as a special state of life, and recommends it in preference to matrimony. In the heading of the seventh chapter of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians we find these words: "Virginity is preferable to the married state." In this whole chapter St. Paul speaks strongly in favor of the state of virginity: "I would that all men were even as myself;" that is, as the Fathers of Trent explain, "tha

FOR the better understanding of vocations we shall give a brief explanation of the evangelical counsels. Q. What are the evangelical counsels? A. They are Gospel advices or recommendations. Q. Why are they called counsels? A. Because they are not commanded but counselled by Our Lord, and recommended as means of greater perfection. Q. Why are they called "evangelical" counsels? A. Because they are recommended in the Gospel. Evangelism is the Latin word for gospel. 1. Poverty. Q. Which is the firs

Q. What is the fundamental principle or essence of the religious state? A. The three evangelical counsels, which we have just explained. Those who enter the religious state take vows to observe the counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Q. Why do so many people enter the religious state? A. First, to promote the honor and glory of God; second, to escape the dangers of the world, and the more securely to work out their salvation; for, "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world,

Q. Which are the marks of a vocation to the religious state? A. No mark, or set of marks, is equally applicable to all, because God calls persons to the higher states in various ways; yet a firm will to enter religion is a safe mark of a vocation to the religious state, provided that the motives are good and no serious obstacle exists. This firm will itself is a special grace of God, "for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish, according to His good will." In the invitation

Views of St. Ignatius and St. Francis de Sales. Q. What should be done by a person who thinks of entering the religious state, but fears that he may not be called to it by Almighty God? A. St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit Order, gives an excellent answer to this question. He says: "If a person thinks of embracing a secular life, he should ask and desire more evident signs that God calls him to a secular life than if there were question of embracing the evangelical counsels; for Our Lord H

Q. Is it allowable to encourage those who give signs of a vocation to enter the religious state? A. St. Thomas, the angel of the schools, says: "Those who lead others into religion not only commit no sin, but even merit a great reward; for it is written: 'He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins'; and, 'They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.'" Yet coercion or forcing in

Q. What are the means of preserving a vocation whilst preparing to enter the religious state? A. Prayer, retirement, and promptness in entering religion. Q. Why is retirement, or seclusion from the world, necessary in order to preserve the grace of a religious vocation? A. Because an apparently trifling circumstance often causes the loss of such a vocation. A day of amusement, a discouraging word, even from a friend, an unmortified passion, or a conversation, especially with a person of the oppo

Q. At what age may children enter the religious state? A. The Council of Trent teaches that young persons are permitted to take their vows in the religious state at the age of sixteen, after making at least one year's novitiate. The mind and the spirit of the Church show that youth is the best time to make this agreeable sacrifice to God; and even the Holy Ghost Himself testifies to the same: "It is good for a man when he hath borne the yoke from his youth." Q. Do not a larger percentage perseve

Q. Are not some parents unjust towards children that wish to enter the religious state? A. Yes; unfortunately some parents are both unjust and unreasonable with their children in this matter. Q. How is this unjust and unreasonable conduct of parents more clearly shown? A. When there is question of marriage with a rich, or an influential person, many parents not only make no objection, but even urge the matter, whether such a marriage is the will of God or not; and yet when the children are evide

Q. Is it necessary to have a special vocation in order to enter the priesthood? A. Yes; for St. Paul says: "Neither doth any man take the honor to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was." Our Lord said to His disciples: "You have not chosen Me; but I have chosen you, and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain." [*] [*] For fuller information see larger catechism, "Questions on Vocations." Q. Which are the marks of a vocatio

Q. Is it necessary that vocations to the priesthood should come directly from God? [*] A. No; generally speaking, God selects and prepares His ministers through those whom He has appointed to watch over the interests of His Church. Even St. Paul did not receive his vocation directly from God. He was converted directly, but to his question: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" he received this answer: "Arise, and go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what them must do." God made use

The fathers of the Council of Baltimore on Fostering Vocations. Q. Is it allowable for priests, parents, teachers, and others to foster and encourage vocations to the priesthood in the youth committed to their care? A. It is not only allowable, it is in some measure a duty. Q. How is this proved? A. The Fathers of the late Plenary Council of Baltimore, after the example of the Fathers of the Council of Trent, give very clear and practical instructions on this matter. The Fathers say: "We exhort

Q. Is it a sin to prevent a person from following a vocation to the priesthood? A. Yes; because, as we have seen, the salvation of one who does not follow his vocation is greatly endangered; also because in such a case the designs of God would be thwarted. The late Archbishop Lynch, of Toronto, is authority for the statement that the average priest secures the salvation of five thousand souls. This means that on the average, for every young man that becomes a priest there will be five thousand s

1. Prayer. ST. JAMES says: "If any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him." This wisdom, according to Cornelius à Lapide, is the knowledge of our last end and of the means of attaining it. Young people without experience, and having yet to choose a state of life, have great need of this wisdom. "All things whatsoever you shall in prayer, believing, you shall receive." Prayer is the divinely appointed means of obt