Yes, We're Slaves, and We're Free!

When this morning’s weekly bulk mailing went out advertizing someting in our bookstore, the email promoted a booklet our Congregation has in the works: Made For Heaven.

Upon noticing that the book is “by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” someone on our email list sent me this message:

Since our Lord Jesus taught us in the Gospel..st. John 15:15..”I do not call you servants/slaves..but friends..”..u r wrong to call yourselves slaves..it is antithesis to the freedom that Jesus is..peace b with you

We have defended our name on this site in the past (see “Marian Consecration: A Little History” and “So, You’re a Slave…”). The quickest explanation to a fellow Catholic is that the name is derived from the devotional literature of Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, who wrote a book which explains “Holy Slavery to Jesus through Mary,” and that particular devotion is the basis our community’s name. The Church canonized Saint Louis Marie, who called himself a Slave of Jesus through Mary. The devotion he spent his life promoting has been practiced by popes (e.g., Pope St. Pius X and Pope John Paul II).

In reply to the specific objection that my correspondent made this morning — citing John 15:15 — here is a further response.

The Greek word used in this passage for “servants” (or slaves) is δοῦλος (doulos). This word unequivocally means “slave” or “bond-servant,” not simply “servant” in the modern sense of a hired employee (which would be μίσθιος, misthios). A doulos was someone owned by a master. The Latin Vulgate translates doulos almost universally as servus, which carries the same meaning of “slave” or “servant” in the context of belonging to a master.

Below are references to several of the Apostles calling themselves δοῦλος — doulos — meaning, again, “slave” or “servant.” It seems as though Saints Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and John used the name as a badge of honor, and this was, in every case, well after Jesus had said, in John 15:15, “I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.”

Romans 1:1

“Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle…”
Greek: Παῦλος, δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ… (Paulos, doulos Christou Iesou…)
Latin Vulgate: Paulus, servus Iesu Christi…

James 1:1

“James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Greek: Ἰάκωβος Θεοῦ καὶ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος… (Iakōbos Theou kai Kyriou Iēsou Christou doulos…)
Latin Vulgate: Iacobus, Dei et Domini nostri Iesu Christi servus…

2 Peter 1:1

“Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ…”
Greek: Συμεὼν Πέτρος δοῦλος καὶ ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ… (Symeōn Petros doulos kai apostolos Iēsou Christou…)
Latin Vulgate: Simon Petrus, servus et apostolus Iesu Christi…

Jude 1:1

“Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James…”
Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος… (Ioudas Iēsou Christou doulos…)
Latin Vulgate: Iudas, Iesu Christi servus…

Apocalypse (Revelation) 1:1

“The revelation of Jesus Christ… to show his slaves what must soon take place.” (St. John is counted among these slaves, who are evidently all of Christ’s faithful.)
Greek: …δεῖξαι τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ… (deixai tois doulois autou…)
Latin Vulgate: …palam facere servis suis…

Evidently, these five Apostles did not consider calling themselves servants or slaves to be in opposition to the freedom which is in Christ Jesus.

They are also imitating the Blessed Mother, who said, in response to the Annunciation by Saint Gabriel:

Luke 1:38

“And Mary said, ‘Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.'”
The Greek word here is δούλη (doulē), the feminine form of doulos.
Greek: ἰδοὺ ἡ δούλη Κυρίου (idou hē doulē Kyriou)
The Latin Vulgate uses ancilla: “Ecce ancilla Domini.” While ancilla is often translated as “handmaid,” its root meaning is “female slave.”

Lastly, here is another passage from Saint Paul, where — curiously — he explains our Christian liberty in terms of “slavery to righteousness” and “slavery to God”:

Romans 6:16-18, 22

“Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. … But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
Greek: δοῦλοι (douloi, plural of doulos) is used throughout.
Latin Vulgate: servi (servi, plural of servus) is used throughout.

I conclude with an experpt from “Freemen Established Under Grace,” wherein I explained a passage from the Rule of Saint Augustine in light of Saint Louis de Montfort’s spiritual doctrine, showing that — as in the Biblical passages above — there is a complementarity, not a contradiction:

At the end of the Rule of St. Augustine, the Doctor of Grace — who was also a monk and father of monks — enjoins his disciples to observe its precepts “not like slaves under the law, but like freemen established under grace”¹. …

As many religious institutes do, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, N.H., follow the Rule of St. Augustine. This means that we “slaves” have a rule that says we are to be “not like slaves.” Is this a contradiction, a blunder, or a conundrum — or is it rather one of those rich ironies that arises out of the true Faith?

Most assuredly, it is an irony. St. Augustine himself, who defended free will, and who enjoins us to live as freemen under grace, referred to monks as “servants of God” in his Rule and in other works, like the Confessions. The idea of servitude being part of religious life, of monasticism being a kind of divine “slavery,” was common at his time in both the East and West. Evidently, the servitude here considered is such that it does not rule out freedom. In a different context, St. Louis Marie de Montfort would speak over a millennium later about a “voluntary slavery of love.” If it is voluntary (literally, an act of the will), then it is by that very fact also free.

At the root of this religious concept of “slavery” is the notion of radical dependence on God. God is the necessary being, we are contingent. This constitutes us in a relationship of absolute dependency, both in the natural and the supernatural order. Also included in the notion of religious slavery is the concept of “service.”

In the way that the Church looks at it, every saint is a slave. The word “dulia,” signifying the honor shown to the saints, comes from doulos, which means slave. Dulia is the cult of honor shown the “slave,” or “servant” of God. This reflects our status before God, what we are as creatures. But then there is the other part of slavery, what the slave does: a slave serves. Now, the elevation by grace gives us an exalted dignity, constitutes us part of a royal priesthood, makes us brothers and sisters of Jesus, sons of the Most High, and heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. Nonetheless, we must serve, for that is what our Firstborn Brother did: “But I am in the midst of you, as he that serveth” (Luke 22:27).

Saint Paul’s Chain, the relic preserved in Rome’s Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Image (cropped from original) credits: Fallaner, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.