Del pròlech
The Urgency of Wisdom
The author emphasizes the brevity of life as a motivation for diligent study and the structured education of one's son.
God wants us to be diligent and work hard to serve him, because life is short and death draws closer every day; for that reason, wasting time should be deeply hateful to us.1 Now, at the beginning one should show one's son the things that are general in the world, so that he may know how to come down to the particular ones; and one should have one's son practice conjugation; and from what he conjugates, afterward construction should be done in that same book, which should be put into Latin, because he will understand Latin more readily.23
A Father's Humble Offering
The author expresses his own unworthiness while explaining his desire to provide his son with a clear path to knowing and serving God.
Now, since this is so, for that reason a poor sinful man—despised by people, guilty, wretched, and unworthy of having his name written in this book—writes this book and others for his beloved son, as briefly and as plainly as he can, so that the boy may more easily and sooner enter into the learning through which he may know, love, and serve his glorious God.
The Foundations of Faith
The author outlines the essential theological pillars—the Creed, the Commandments, and the Sacraments—that form the core of the boy's education.
At the beginning, a father should have his son learn the fourteen4 articles of the Catholic faith, and the5 ten6 commandments that God gave to Moses in the desert, and the seven7 sacraments of Holy Church and the other chapters that follow.
Cultivating the Fear of God
The author concludes the prologue by highlighting the importance of contemplating heaven and hell to foster a life of virtue.
It's fitting that a man teach his son to think on the glory of paradise, on the pains of hell, and on the other chapters contained in this book; for through such thoughts one grows accustomed to loving and fearing God, and consents to good nurture.8
Read the original Latin
Deus vol quens cuytem e treballem en ell a servir, car la vida es breu e la mort s acosta a nos tots jorns, e per assó perdiment de temps deu esser fort ahirable. On, al comensament deu hom mostrar a son fill les coses qui son generals en lo mon, per que sapia devallar a les specials; e fassa hom configer a son fill; e dassó que configerá, enaprés cové que sia feta construccio en aquell libre meteix, lo qual sia trelladat en latí, car enans entendrá lo latí.
On, com assó sia enaxí, per amor de assó un hom pobre pecador menyspreat de les gents, colpable, mesquí, indigne que son nom sia escrit en est libre, fa abreviadament com pus planament pot, aquest libre e daltres al seu amable fill, per tal que pus leugerament e enans pusque entrar en la sciencia, en la qual sapia conexer e amar e servir son gloriós Deu.
En lo comensament cové que hom fassa apendre a son fill los . xiiij. arricies de la fe catholica, e los . x. manaments que Deus doná a Moyses en lo desert, e los . vij. sagraments de Santa Esgleya e los altres capítols conseguents.
Covinent cosa es que hom a son fill mostré a cogitar en la gloria de paradís e en les penes infernals e en los altres capítols qui s contenen en aquest libre; car per aytals cogitaments se acustuma hom en amar e en tembre Deu, e consent a bons nudriments.
Notes
- 1 ↩Medieval Catalan cuytem (cuidem) is rendered as take care / be diligent in service, paired with treballem (labor).
- 2 ↩configer and construccio are taken as the paired medieval grammar steps of conjugating forms and making syntactic construction; if the local school sense differs, revise both terms together.
- 3 ↩trelladat en latí is rendered as put into Latin (translated/transcribed into Latin), not merely 'copied' in a neutral sense.
- 4 ↩Medieval Roman numeral xiiij = 14 (xiv).
- 5 ↩Source arricies taken as articles (Cat. articles), the usual catechetical term for the articles of faith; surface form looks corrupt or dialectal.
- 6 ↩Roman numeral x = 10.
- 7 ↩Medieval Roman numeral vij = 7 (vii).
- 8 ↩Catalan «nudriments» is taken as pedagogical nurture/upbringing (not mere physical food), matching the prologue’s instruction of a child.
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit