Preferential
Option... What is it?
Chapter
I
Resolving Prior Objections
1. Without
Detriment to a Just and Ample Action on Behalf of the Working
Class, an Opportune Action in Favor of Elites
2. Nobility:
A Species Within the Genus "Traditional Elites"
3. Objections
to the Nobility Imbued with the Egalitarian Spirit of the
French Revolution
4. The
Teachings of Pius XII: A Precious Shield Against the Opponents
of Nobility
5. Intuitive
and Implicit Notions Do Not Suffice—The Wealth of
Concepts in Pius XII's Treatment of the Matter
6. Are These
Allocutions Merely Social Amenities Devoid of Content, Thought,
and Affection?
7. Documents
of Perennial Value
Chapter
II
The
Universal Scope of the Allocutions to the Roman Patriciate
and Nobility
The Situation of the Italian Nobility in the Pontificate
of Pius XII
1. Why Focus
Specifically on the Italian Nobility?
2. Pius
XII and the Roman Nobility
3. The
Universal Scope of the Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman
Patriciate and Nobility
Chapter
III
The
People and the Masses, Liberty and Equality: Wholesome Versus
Revolutionary Concepts in a Democratic Regime
The Teaching of Pius XII
1. The
Legitimacy and Even Necessity of Just and Proportional Inequalities
Among the Social Classes
2. The People
and the Shapeless Multitude: Two Distinct Concepts
3. Natural
Inequalities Should Also Exist in a True Democracy
4. With
the Corruption of Democracy, Liberty Becomes Tyranny and
Equality Degenerates into Mechanical Leveling
Chapter
IV
Nobility
in a Christian Society The Perennial Character of Its Mission
and Its Prestige in the Contemporary World
The
Teaching of Pius XII
1. Clergy,
Nobility, and People
2. The Deterioration
of the Medieval Order in Modern Times
3. The
Nobility Should Remain a Leading Class in Today's Greatly
Changed Social Context
4. Through
a Judicious Adaptation to the Modern World, the Nobility
Does Not Disappear in the General Leveling
5. To Fulfill
the Hopes Placed in It, the Nobility Should Shine in the
Gifts Specific to It
6. Even
Those Who Show Disdain for the Old Ways of Life Are Not
Totally Immune to the Splendor of the Nobility
7. The Specific
Virtues and Qualities of the Nobility Imbue Its Work
8. A Sublime
Example: The Couple of Royal Lineage in Whose House the
God-Man Was Born and Dwelt
9. The Highest
Social Function of the Nobility: To Preserve, Defend, and
Spread the Christian Teachings Contained in Its Distinctive
Noble Traditions
10. The
Nobility's Duty: To Avoid Sinking into Anonymity; To Resist
the Influence of Modern Egalitarianism
11. The
Nobility: A Particularly Distinguished Order in Human Society—It
Will Have Special Accounts to Render to God
Chapter
V
Elites,
Natural Order, Family, and Tradition—Aristocratic
Institutions Within Democracies
The Teaching of Pius XII
1. The Formation
of Elites Even in Countries Without a Monarchical or Aristocratic
Past
2. Heredity
in Traditional Elites
3. Elites:
Propelling Forces of True Progress and Guardians of Tradition
a.
Are elites enemies of progress?
b.
Significance and value of true tradition
c.
The traditional elites: their importance and legitimacy
4. God's
Blessing Illuminates, Protects, and Caresses All Cradles,
but Does Not Equalize Them
5. The Paternal
Notion of Social Superiority
6. Our Lord
Jesus Christ Consecrated the Condition of a Noble as well
as That of a Laborer
7. The Perennial
Character of the Nobility and the Traditional Elites
8. The Law
Cannot Abolish the Past
9. Democracy
According to the Doctrine of the Church— Archaeologism
and False Restoration: Two Extremes to Be Avoided
10. Highly
Aristocratic Institutions Are Also Necessary in Democracies
Chapter
VI
The
Meaningful Contribution of the Nobility and Traditional
Elites to the Solution of the Contemporary Crisis
The
Teaching of Pius XII
1. Christian
Virtue: The Essence of Nobility
a. The
spiritual qualities of the contemporary noble
b. Aristocratic
chivalrousness: a bond of charity
2. The Nobility
and the Traditional Elites as Guides of Society
a. Guiding
society: a form of apostolate
b. How
the nobility should exercise its mission of leadership
c. Elites
with a traditional upbringing are profound observers of
reality
d. The
authentically traditional aristocrat: an image of God's
providence
e.The
aristocracy's mission among the poor
3. The Absent
Leaders—The Harm of Their Absence
a. Absenteeism
and omission: sin of the elites
b. The
absence of leaders: a virtual complicity
4. Another
Way to Shirk One's Mission: To Allow Oneself to Be Corrupted
and Debased
5. For the
Common Good of Society: Preferential Option for the Nobility
in the Field of Apostolate
Chapter
VII
Genesis
of the Nobility Its Past and Present Mission
Pius
XII's Main Emphasis
1. The Private
Sphere and the Common Good
a. Human
groups—leaders
1)
Intellectual Requisites of a Leader
2)
Requisites of the Will and the Sensibility
3)
The Leader in Exceptional Circumstances, Whether Favorable
or Adverse
4)
The Usefulness and Timeliness of Systematizing These
Concepts
b. The
superiority and nobility of the common good—its
distinction from the individual good— private organizations
whose common good has a transcendent character, whether
regional or national
1)
The Importance of Private-sector Organizations for the
Common Good of the Region, the Nation, and the State
2)
The Family: a Special Private Society
c. The
nation and the State are born from the private sphere—the
plenitude of the common good
1)
The Formation of Nations and Regions
2)
The State as a Perfect Society—Its Sovereignty
and Majesty—Its Supreme Nobility
2. The Family
Vis-à-vis the Individual, the Intermediate Bodies,
and the State
a. From
the individual to the family, from the family to the gens,
and finally to the tribe—the process toward the
foundation of the civitas—the State is
born
b. The
main elements of the common good of the intermediate bodies,
the region, and the State are already present in the individual
and the family— the fruitful family: a small world
c. Families:
small worlds that interrelate like nations and states
d. The
family and the world of professional or public activities—lineages
and professions
e. Family
lineages form elites even in the most plebeian professional
groups or milieus
f. Human
society is hierarchical and, as such, participative—kingly
fathers and fatherly kings
3. Historical
Origins of the Feudal Nobility—The Genesis of Feudalism
a. The
class of landowners constitutes a military nobility and
a political authority
b. The
noble class: subordinate participation in royal power
c. The
regions are defined—the regional common good—the
local lord
d. The
medieval king
e. The
feudal regime: a factor of unity or division?—The
experience of contemporary federalism
4. The Mutual
Shaping of the Noble and the Nobility
a. Genesis—a
process based on custom
b. Some
examples
5. Absolute
Monarchy: Hypertrophy of Royalty Leading to the Populist
Totalitarian State
a. The
absolute monarchy absorbs the subordinate bodies and powers
b. The
only solution for the absolute monarchy was to support
itself with civil and military bureaucracies, the heavy
"crutches" of absolute monarchy
c. The
centralization of power in France
1)
Under the Kings
2)
Weakness of the Ostentatious Bonapartist "Omnipotence"
d. The
dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
e. Absolutism
in the Iberian Peninsula
1)
Before the French Revolution
2)
The Consequence of Absolutism: the Weakening of the
Nobility and Royal Power Itself
f. The
super-powerful bourgeois state— the omnipotent communist
state
6. The Genesis
of the Contemporary State
a. The
decline of regions—the march toward the hypertrophy
of royal power
b. Royal
absolutism became state absolutism under the democratic
regime
c. Centripetal
pyramidization—super-pyramidization—two examples:
large banks and the mass media
d. State
capitalism: continuation of the centripetal and authoritarian
trend— the tomb of all that came before
e. One
tomb—two trilogies
f.
What remains of the nobility today? The answer of Pius
XII
7.
The Moral Profile of the Medieval Noble
a.
In war as in peace, the example of perfection
b.
The Christian gentleman and the Christian lady
c.
Sacrifice, good manners, etiquette, and protocol—simplifications
and mutilations imposed by the bourgeois world
d.
Harmonious diversity in the practice of virtues: through
self-denial in the religious state; amid grandeur and
splendor in temporal society
e.
How not to govern—how to govern
f.
The bonum and pulchrum of just war—
The knight felt it to the depths of his soul
8.
The Nobility of Our Time— The Magnitude of Its Present
Mission
a.
The essence of all nobilities, whatever their nationality
b.
Nobility: a standard of excellence—the impulse to
all forms of elevation and perfection
c.
Pius XII's main emphasis
d.
The nobility: leaven and not mere dust from the past—the
priestly mission of the nobility to elevate, purify, and
pacify the world
e.
Present admirers of the nobility
f.
The nobility: thesis and antithesis
9.
The Flourishing of Analogous Elites—Contemporary Forms
of Nobility?
a.
A matter the Pontiffs did not treat: Are there updated
forms of nobility?
b.
Authentic, if less brilliant, nobilities—historic
examples
c.
Nouveaux riches, nouveaux nobles
d.
Are there means, within the present political framework,
of creating new forms of nobility?
e.
A new hierarchical step in the social ladder
f.
The hope that the way indicated by Pius XII not be forgotten
CONCLUSION
At
the Apogee of Today's Religious, Moral, and Ideological
Crisis: A Propitious Moment for the Action of the Nobility
and the Traditional Elites
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