Caput II. De fide
Faith as the Door to God
True knowledge of God comes only through Catholic faith, and the blessed person both believes rightly and lives well.
But this knowledge of God and understanding of the truth must be learned through Catholic faith, since without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebr.✦ XI, 6).✦ Truly blessed is the person who both lives well by believing rightly, and by living well safeguards the true faith.
Faith and Works United
Faith without works is dead, just as the body without the spirit is dead, as the Apostle James teaches.
So just as faith is idle without good works, so too good works gain nothing without true faith. That is why the blessed Apostle James said: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says they have faith but doesn't do the works?✦ Can that faith save them?✦ Faith without works is dead.✦ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead (James✦
A Promise of Deeper Things
The excellence of faith will be treated more fully another time, since this concise breviary cannot unfold its deepest reasons.
II, 14 and following.) whose excellence is a matter for another time to discuss, because the breviary you asked me to produce in concise language about the commandments of God will not be able to explain the deepest reasons concerning the Catholic faith.
Read the original Latin
Sed haec cognitio divinitatis et scientia veritatis per fidem catholicam discenda est; quia sine fide impossibile est placere Deo (Hebr. XI, 6). Vere beatus est, qui et recte credendo bene vivit, et bene vivendo fidem rectam custodit. Igitur sicut otiosa est fides sine operibus bonis, ita nihil proficiunt opera bona sine fide recta. Unde et beatus Jacobus apostolus dixit: Quid proderit, fratres mei, si fidem quis dicat se habere, opera autem non faciat? Nunquid poterit fides salvare eum? Fides sine operibus mortua est. Sicut enim corpus sine spiritu mortuum est, ita et fides sine operibus mortua est (Jac.
II, 14 seqq.) : de cujus excellentia est alterius temporis disputare; quia breviarium, quod de mandatis Dei tibi petisti districto sermone fieri, profundissimas de fide catholica rationes explicare non poterit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.11.6 — And without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
- ↩Heb.11.6 — And without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
- ↩Jas.2.14 — What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?
- ↩Jas.2.14 — What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it?
- ↩Jas.2.26 — For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
- ↩Jas.2.26 — For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
On Virtues and Vices (De virtutibus et vitiis) companion
Read the plan one portion at a time — delivered daily
The Chosen Portion app serves each day's Alcuin chapter as a morning devotional, free.
Alcuin designed this book for daily use by a layman with no spare time, and Chosen Portion restores that use: one chapter-length portion per morning until the mirror is complete.
- All 30 days of the plan delivered automatically — no bookmark-keeping or lost PDFs
- Each chapter arrives as a 3-5 minute modern-readable portion with its Scripture references linked
- When day 30 ends, keep going: dozens more royal-house devotional works in the same format