The old and rural society, with its patriarchal families, merited the following words from Pope Pius XII in his speech to the Men of Italian Catholic Action:
Especially in some regions a magnificent example is given by those families, rightly called patriarchal, in which the spirit of the deceased grandfather still survives. It is a spirit that communicates and transmits itself from generation to generation as the best and most sacred patrimony— even better safeguarded than gold or silver. It is upon such patriarchs and families that society places its hopes and realities.
These homes, blessed and fruitful through religion, are those that give civil society and the nation its most serene physiognomy, its firmest cohesion, its strongest vigour. In these homes, paternal authority is respected and strong because it is venerated with a religious spirit. In them the child sees the father as a reflection of the paternity of God because faith in Christ is foremost in reverence, union, submission and concord.18
18. Pius XII, Allocution to the men of Italian Catholic Action on 20 September 1942, “Colección de Enciclicas y Documentos Pontificios”, Publicaciones de la Junta Tecnica Nacional, Madrid, 1955, p. 1177.
The Christian Institution of the Family: A Dynamic Force to Regenerate Society, by Tradition, Family, Property Association. Part II, Chapter 1, Pgs. 98-99.
