Leo XIII on Rest from Labour
About the text: Pope Leo XIII, the fourth longest reigning pope in history (r. 1878–1903), is known for his many encyclicals, which kept coming back to two topics: the rosary and socialism. Probably his best remembered encyclical, Rerum Novarum in 1891 lamented the conditions of workers but opposed the solution provided by socialism; instead, the Pope promoted the rights of the worker to private property, just wages, safe working conditions, and—the right present here—rest from labour. The timeliness and message of this encyclical was one of the reasons cited by our new Pontiff, Leo XIV, for selecting the name of Leo.
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But if the owners of property must be made secure, the Workman, too, has property and possessions in which he must be protected; and, first of all, there are his spiritual and mental interests. Life on earth, however good and desirable in itself, is not the final purpose for which man is created; it is only the way and the means to that attainment of truth, and that practice of goodness, in which the full life of the soul consists. It is the soul which is made after the image and likeness of God; it is in the soul that sovereignty resides, in virtue of which man is commanded to rule the creatures below him, and to use all the earth and the ocean for his profit and advantage. Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures which move upon the earth (Gn 1:28). In this respect all men are equal; there is no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler and ruled, for the same is Lord over all (Rm 10:12). No man may outrage with impunity that human dignity which God Himself treats with reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life which is the preparation for the eternal life of Heaven. Nay, more: a man has here no power over himself. To consent to any treatment which is calculated to defeat the end and purpose of his being is beyond his right; he cannot give up his soul to servitude: for it is not man’s own rights which are here in question, but the rights of God, most sacred and inviolable.
From this follows the obligation of the cessation of work and labor on Sundays and certain festivals. This rest from labor is not to be understood as mere idleness; much less must it be an occasion of spending money and of vicious excess, as many would desire it to be; but it should be rest from labor consecrated by Religion. Repose united with religious observance disposes man to forget for a while the business of this daily life, and to turn his thoughts to heavenly things and to the worship which he so strictly owes to the Eternal Deity. It is this, above all, which is the reason and motive of the Sunday rest; a rest sanctioned by God’s great law of the ancient covenant, Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day (Ex 20:8), and taught to the world by His own mysterious ‘‘rest” after the creation of man: He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done (Gn 2:2).
If we turn now to things exterior and corporeal, the first concern of all is to save the poor workers from the cruelty of grasping speculators, who use human beings as mere instruments for making money. It is neither justice nor humanity so to grind men down with excessive labor as to stupefy their minds and wear out their bodies. Man’s powers, like his general nature, are limited, and beyond these limits he cannot go. His strength is developed and increased by use and exercise, but only on condition of due intermission and proper rest. Daily labor, therefore, must be so regulated that it may not be protracted during longer hours than strength admits. How many and how long the intervals of rest should be, will depend on the nature of the work, on circumstances of time and place, and on the health and strength of the workman. Those who labor in mines and quarries, and in work within the bowels of the earth, should have shorter hours in proportion as their labor is more severe and more trying to health. Then again, the season of the year must be taken into account; for not unfrequently a kind of labor is easy at one time which at another is intolerable or very difficult. Finally, work which is suitable for a strong man cannot reasonably be required from a woman or a child. And, in regard to children, great care should be taken not to place them in workshops and factories until their bodies and minds are sufficiently mature. For just as rough weather destroys the buds of spring, so too early an experience of life’s hard work blights the young promise of a child’s powers, and makes any real education impossible. Women, again, are not suited to certain trades; for a woman is by nature fitted for home work, and it is that which is best adopted at once to preserve her modesty and to promote the good bringing up of children and the well-being of the family. As a general principle it may be laid down that a workman ought to have leisure and rest in proportion to the wear and tear of his strength; for the waste of strength must be repaired by the cessation of work.
In all agreements between masters and work-people, there is always the condition, expressed or understood, that there be allowed proper rest for soul and body. To agree in any other sense would be against what is right and just; for it can never be right or just to require on the one side, or to promise on the other, the giving up of those duties which a man owes to his God and to himself.
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From Leo XIII, “Encyclical Letter on the Condition of Labour Rerum Novarum [15 May 1891] (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1891), 20-22. https://archive.org/details/onconditionoflab00leox/mode/2up?view=theater.