A Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (Irish “Green” Catechism, 1951), The Second Commandment
Catechism approved for use in the Irish church in 1951.
Source: A Catechism of
Catholic Doctrine, Dublin 1951. p. 55-57
The Second
Commandment
215. What
is the second commandment of God?
The second
commandment of God is: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain.
216. What
is forbidden by the second commandment?
The second
commandment forbids us to speak with irreverence of God or his saints, or of
sacred persons and things.
217. What
is commanded by the second commandment?
We are
commanded by the second commandment to speak with reverence of God and of his
saints, and of sacred persons and things, and to keep our lawful oaths and
vows.
218. How
should we use the name of God?
We should
always use the name of God with great respect and reverence.
219. What
is a vow?
A vow is a
binding promise made to God to do something that is specially pleasing to Him.
220. What
is an oath?
An oath is
the calling of God to witness that what we say is true, or that we will do what
we promise.
221. When
is an oath lawful?
For an oath
to be lawful we must have sufficient reason for taking it, and we must say only
what is true, or promise only what is lawful.
222. What
are the chief sins against the second commandment?
The chief
sins against the second commandment are blasphemy, perjury and cursing.
223. What
is blasphemy?
IT is
blasphemy to express contempt of God, or of sacred persons or things in so far
as they are dedicated to God.
224. What
is perjury?
It is
perjury to take a false oath, that is to swear to be true what we know to be
false.
225. Is
perjury a great sin?
Perjury is
a most grevous sin, because it is a great insult to God to call Him as witness
to a lie.
226. What
is cursing?
It is
cursing to call on God to inflict evil on any person or thing.
I wonder how many copies of the original Irish 'Green Catechism' for primary schools were printed? In the 1966 census there were about 300,000 children in the age range 5-9, and about the same in the range 10-14, so this number would be a good approximation of the number in primary schools at that time, almost all Catholic and preparing for 'Confirmation'; perhaps to allow for lower numbers in the 1950s and rising numbers in the late 1960s we might say that in the period from 1951 (when the Catechism was published) to 1970 (an arbitrary cutoff date) some 50,000 children per year received a copy - and that is assuming that the book was introduced to only one year at a time (and not to five or six years en bloc in 1951 upon publication), and is not allowing for (as I recollect) replacement copies being received as needed, perhaps even annually. To me this would suggest something on the scale of one million copies. Can anyone comment on this? The other question is what happened to all these books - why are they so hard to find in the used-book market? Many of them would have had their B&W illustrations lovingly (if rather wildly) coloured by their owners, making each such copy a unique collection of child's-eye colour interpretations of major events in the life of Christ - a dispersed national treasure lost forever?
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