Of all Christian gestures, almsgiving is one of those our age has shrunk the most. We readily see it as a private and optional matter: an occasional gift, a leftover of surplus, a passing emotion before an outstretched hand. Yet when we open the writings of the saints, we discover quite another greatness. For them, giving alms is neither an option nor mere generosity: it is rendering to the poor what already belongs to them, it is serving Christ in person, it is redeeming one's sins and buying Heaven. The Greek word from which "alms" comes — eleêmosynê — expresses this density: it means mercy before it means gift.
This article gathers the saints' own voice on this work: not an abstract definition, but what the Fathers of the Church — Cyprian, Basil, Ambrose, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Leo — then Saint Thomas Aquinas and the great witnesses of charity in action, from Saint Martin to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, say about it, with texts to support it. We shall see that, across the centuries, their words converge toward one same certainty: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40)[1].
For the practice — how to grow concretely in this work, by what means, in what measure — see the companion article How to Grow in Almsgiving; for the misconceptions to avoid — almsgiving reduced to tax relief, to surplus tossed away without heart, or set against justice — see Common Mistakes About Almsgiving. The present article concentrates on the spiritual doctrine as the saints formulated it. For the mother virtue of which almsgiving is the fruit, see What the Saints Say About Charity.
Why Listen to the Saints on Almsgiving?
A Work Reduced Today to an Optional Gift
Almsgiving offends two modern sensibilities at once. For some, it seems humiliating: they prefer "justice" or "solidarity," as if giving hand to hand demeaned the one who receives. For others, it seems derisory: what good are a few coins against the misery of the world? The saints, for their part, never set almsgiving against justice, nor measured its worth by its amount. They saw in it a total act: an act of faith (believing that God is in the poor), an act of justice (rendering what is due), an act of love (giving oneself with the gift), and an act of salvation (acquiring a treasure that does not perish).
The Catechism takes up exactly this lofty view: "Giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God"[2]. Justice and charity: both words are there, inseparable. That is the whole point of the saints' doctrine — restoring to almsgiving its real weight, which is neither that of a tip nor that of a tax, but that of a sign of mercy.
Almsgiving, Daughter of Charity and Sister of Fasting and Prayer
In the spiritual tradition, almsgiving is never isolated. It is born of charity and walks with its two sisters, prayer and fasting — the three works Christ teaches together in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6) and which the Lenten liturgy never separates. The Catechism names them in one breath: "Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms: fasting, prayer, almsgiving"[3], and it teaches that "conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation"[4], counting still, among the means of obtaining forgiveness of sins, "the practice of charity 'which covers a multitude of sins'" (1 Pet 4:8)[5].
This kinship explains why the saints return ceaselessly to the same pattern: what fasting takes from the body, almsgiving gives to the poor; what prayer asks of God, almsgiving merits through mercy. Saint Thomas Aquinas will give the exact theological formula: almsgiving is an act belonging properly to charity.
"The giving of alms is an act of charity through the medium of mercy." — Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 1[6]
It is within this framework — almsgiving as the fruit of charity and companion of fasting and prayer — that all that follows must be read.
Scripture, the Common Source of the Saints
Before being a doctrine of the saints, almsgiving is a massive datum of Scripture, and it is always there that the spiritual masters draw. Four lines of force return like refrains under their pen.
"Almsgiving Delivers from Death" (Tobit 12)
The first text, which all the Fathers will quote, is the counsel of the angel Raphael to Tobit. It attributes to almsgiving an astonishing power of purification:
"It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold. For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin." — Book of Tobit 12:8-9[7]
The same intuition runs through the whole Old Testament: the prophet Daniel counsels King Nebuchadnezzar to "atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the poor" (Dan 4:24)[8], and Sirach compares almsgiving to water quenching a blaze: "Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin" (Sir 3:30)[9]. It is this image of water and fire that Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine will take up word for word.
"Blessed Are the Merciful": Almsgiving and the Judgment (Matthew 5 and 25)
The center of the whole doctrine is Christ's teaching. He places mercy at the heart of the Beatitudes — "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Mt 5:7)[10] — and makes almsgiving the very criterion of the Last Judgment:
"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink […]. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." — Gospel according to Saint Matthew 25:35, 40[11]
This word is the key to the whole spirituality of almsgiving: we never give only to a poor man, we give to Christ hidden in the poor. The saints will never tire of it. The rich man of the parable (Lk 16), moreover, is condemned not for a crime, but for an omission: for having given nothing of his surplus to Lazarus lying at his gate.
"He Who Is Kind to the Poor Lends to the LORD" (Proverbs 19:17)
A third refrain, and one of the best loved of the Fathers: almsgiving is a loan made to God himself, which God undertakes to repay.
"He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed." — Book of Proverbs 19:17[12]
Christ confirms and amplifies this promise: "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap" (Lk 6:38)[13]. Saint Paul will translate it for the Christians of Corinth: "Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7)[14].
The Widow's Mite: the Measure of the Heart (Luke 21)
Finally, the Gospel fixes once and for all the measure of almsgiving — which is not the sum given, but what it costs the giving heart. It is the scene of the poor widow in the Temple:
"Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had." — Gospel according to Saint Luke 21:3-4[15]
That is why the saints will repeat that God "does not weigh gold, but love": two small coins given out of love are worth, in his eyes, more than the calculated largesse of the rich. Christ adds one last, capital instruction against all almsgiving for show: let it be done "in secret," unknown even to the left hand (Mt 6:3-4)[16].
The Great Voices of the Tradition
We can now listen, century after century, to the masters who most marked the spiritual doctrine of almsgiving. Their chronological order reveals an astonishing continuity — and a boldness our modern prudences have often forgotten.
Saint Cyprian: the Almsgiving That Quenches Fire
As early as the third century, Saint Cyprian of Carthage devoted an entire treatise to almsgiving, the De opere et eleemosynis ("On Works and Alms"). Taking up Sirach's image, he teaches that almsgiving made with faith prolongs the grace of baptism and quenches the fire of daily sins:
"Even as water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving and works of righteousness quench the flame of our faults." — Saint Cyprian of Carthage, On Works and Alms, 2[17]
For Cyprian, to refuse almsgiving is to refuse one's soul a remedy instituted by God himself. Baptism purifies once; almsgiving, thereafter, unceasingly "redeems" the faults of daily life — not that money buys forgiveness, but that the gesture of mercy disposes the heart to grace.
Saint Basil: "The Bread You Keep Belongs to the Hungry"
In the fourth century, Saint Basil of Caesarea delivered, during a famine in Cappadocia, a homily that remained famous — often called the Homily Against the Rich — commenting on the parable of the rich man who wanted to enlarge his barns (Lk 12:18). In it he formulates, with unheard-of force, what tradition will call the universal destination of goods:
"The bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; the coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; the shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; the gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, then, do you do injustice to so many, when you might help them?" — Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homily Against the Rich[18]
The reversal is striking: for Basil, keeping one's surplus while the poor die is not a lack of generosity, it is an injustice — a good withheld that already belongs to another. Almsgiving, from then on, is no longer a gift: it is a restitution.
Saint Ambrose: "You Return to Him What Is His"
At Milan, Saint Ambrose pushes the same doctrine to its sharpest point. In his treatise De Nabuthe (on poor Naboth stripped of his vineyard), he denies the rich even the merit of generosity:
"It is not from your goods that you give largesse to the poor; you merely return to him what is his. For what was given in common for the use of all, you have appropriated to yourself alone. The earth belongs to all, not to the rich." — Saint Ambrose of Milan, De Nabuthe, 12, 53[19]
This sentence made its fortune: it passed into the law of the Church (Gratian's Decree) and was taken up as far as the Second Vatican Council, in Gaudium et Spes. It forbids the Christian all condescension: in giving, he does not stoop toward the poor from the height of his riches, he pays a debt.
Saint John Chrysostom: Surplus Withheld Is Theft
At Antioch then at Constantinople, Saint John Chrysostom — the "Golden Mouth" — radicalizes the formula still further, in his homilies on poor Lazarus. His word is so strong that the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes it verbatim:
"Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." — Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on Lazarus, quoted in the Catechism § 2446[20]
In Chrysostom, patristic logic reaches its summit: the surplus of the rich is not theirs; to withhold it before the poor is a veritable theft. We understand why these Fathers shrank from calling "charity" a gift from surplus: in their eyes it was only the minimum of justice. True charity begins afterward — when one gives from one's need.
Saint Augustine: the Almsgiving That Obtains Forgiveness
At Hippo, Saint Augustine gathers this whole inheritance and gives it theological precision. In the Enchiridion, he teaches that almsgiving, joined to the amendment of one's life, obtains from God the forgiveness of daily sins — but he at once warns against the illusion of one who would buy the right to sin:
"We must not think that by almsgiving we can buy impunity for our repeated crimes." — Saint Augustine, Enchiridion, ch. 70[21]
Augustine also binds almsgiving closely to fasting: in his commentary on Psalm 42, he warns that to fast without giving to the poor is a sterile fast. "Cut back on your meal, and give to the hungry," he teaches: fasting without almsgiving fills the granary, not Heaven. It is the same articulation that Saint Leo the Great will take up in a lapidary sentence.
Saint Leo the Great: Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving
In the fifth century, Pope Saint Leo the Great condenses, in his sermons on the Ember Days fast, the triad structuring all Christian ascesis:
"By prayer, God is appeased; by fasting, the lusts of the flesh are quenched; by almsgiving, sins are redeemed." — Saint Leo the Great, Sermons on Fasting[22]
For Leo, these three works stand together: prayer without fasting remains disembodied, fasting without almsgiving remains selfish. "What fasting takes away, let almsgiving give to the poor": the bread denied to oneself must become the bread one gives, else abstinence will only have fattened the faster's account. On this sister of almsgiving, see What the Saints Say About Fasting.
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Almsgiving, Act of Charity and Precept
In the thirteenth century, Saint Thomas Aquinas brings order to this whole inheritance. In the Summa Theologiae, he devotes an entire question to almsgiving (II-II, q. 32). In it he first distinguishes what belongs to counsel (giving from one's surplus for perfection) and what belongs to precept, that is, to grave obligation:
"To give alms from one's surplus, and to give alms to one in extreme need, falls under the precept." — Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 5[23]
In other words: before a man dying of hunger, almsgiving is no longer optional — it is due, in justice as in charity. Thomas further distinguishes corporal alms (feeding, clothing, healing, visiting) and spiritual alms (instructing, counseling, consoling, forgiving, praying for others), holding the latter more excellent in themselves, but recognizing that the hunger of the body may be more pressing[24]. It is this double register — corporal and spiritual works of mercy — that the Catechism will in turn take up[25].
Witnesses of Charity in Action: Martin, Lawrence, Vincent de Paul
Beside the doctors, tradition keeps the memory of the saints who did almsgiving before speaking of it. The most famous is Saint Martin of Tours: a soldier still a catechumen, he shared his cloak with a stroke of his sword for a shivering beggar at the gate of Amiens; the following night, he saw in a dream Christ clothed in that half of the cloak, saying to the angels: "Martin, still a catechumen, has covered me with this garment."[26] The scene illustrates Matthew 25 to the letter: what is given to the poor is given to Christ.
In the third century, Saint Lawrence, deacon of Rome, gave the doctrine its most luminous word. Ordered by the prefect to deliver "the treasures of the Church," he gathered the poor, the sick, the crippled, and declared:
"Behold, the treasures of the Church." — Saint Lawrence of Rome, after Saint Ambrose, De officiis, II, 28[27]
A thousand years later, Saint Vincent de Paul, a genial organizer of charity, would recall that love of the poor is proved not in feelings but in deeds:
"Let us love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows." — Saint Vincent de Paul, Conferences, XI[28]
Vincent distinguished affective love — good feelings — and effective love — real service; he held the former suspect so long as it is not translated into the latter. Closer to us, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, the "vagabond of God," himself lived on alms while sharing what he was given with still poorer ones[29].
Saint Teresa of Calcutta: Christ "in a Distressing Disguise"
In the twentieth century, Saint Teresa of Calcutta restored to Matthew 25 all its mystical scope. For her, serving the poorest of the poor is really touching the body of Christ:
"In the poor, it is the hungry Christ we feed; it is the naked Christ we clothe; it is the homeless Christ we shelter." — Saint Teresa of Calcutta[30]
She loved to say that Christ presents himself to us "in a distressing disguise": in the features of the hungry, the leper, the dying gathered from the gutter. Almsgiving then ceases to be a gesture downward: it becomes an encounter. This intuition prolongs that of the whole tradition — almsgiving is a form of adoration, and adoration naturally overflows into almsgiving (see What the Saints Say About Eucharistic Adoration).
Luisa Piccarreta and the Divine Will
The spirituality of the Divine Will, at the heart of Ignispedia, sheds a final light on the saints' doctrine of almsgiving. For Luisa Piccarreta, perfect charity is not first what one gives, but letting the divine Love act and give through oneself: the soul living in God's Will no longer calculates its gift, because it no longer possesses itself. Almsgiving then ceases to be an expense one consents to; it becomes the natural overflow of a heart that has received everything and wants to render everything. On this spirituality, see The Divine Will and The Book of Heaven.
The Great Themes of the Saints' Doctrine
Beyond the diversity of schools, the saints' words on almsgiving come down to a few great lines of force. Here they are, grouped together.
Almsgiving Is an Act of Justice, Not Only of Generosity
The first theme, the most disconcerting for us, is that almsgiving belongs to justice as much as to charity. Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom hammer it home: surplus withheld already belongs to the poor; to keep it is to steal it. The doctrine of the universal destination of goods follows directly: God destined the goods of the earth for all, and private property, though legitimate, remains subordinated to this first destination. The Catechism still teaches it today. To give, then, is not to grant a favor from above; it is, first, to restore. This truth forbids all proud almsgiving: one cannot pride oneself on restoring what one owed.
Almsgiving Purifies and Redeems Sins
The second theme, scriptural before being patristic: almsgiving purifies. "Almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin" (Tob 12:9); "water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin" (Sir 3:30). Cyprian, Augustine, Leo take it up: almsgiving made with faith obtains forgiveness of venial sins and disposes to conversion. But the saints at once add a reservation — which Augustine formulates clearly: almsgiving is not a tariff buying impunity for crimes; it purifies only when united to repentance and amendment of life. It is a work of penance, not a bargain.
Almsgiving Means Serving Christ in the Poor
The third theme, the most mystical: in the poor, it is Christ whom we touch. Matthew 25 founds everything: "You did it to me." From Saint Martin sharing his cloak to Saint Teresa of Calcutta gathering up the dying, the whole gallery of the saints of charity did nothing but obey this word literally. Almsgiving then ceases to be a transaction between a haver and a have-not: it becomes an encounter with the Lord himself, hidden — in Mother Teresa's words — "in a distressing disguise."
Almsgiving Is the Soul of Fasting and Prayer
The fourth theme: almsgiving completes the Christian's two other works. Without it, fasting is but a diet and prayer but a soliloquy. Leo the Great said it in a word: "What fasting takes away, let almsgiving give to the poor." Augustine and the Lenten liturgy never separate the triad prayer-fasting-almsgiving, because they form a single movement of conversion: prayer turns the heart toward God, fasting detaches it from itself, almsgiving turns it toward one's brother. To cut off almsgiving is to break the movement. On this bond, see What the Saints Say About Penance.
| Theme | Formula of the Saints | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Act of justice | "You return to him what is his" | Saint Ambrose, De Nabuthe |
| Surplus withheld is theft | "The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs" | Saint John Chrysostom (CCC 2446) |
| Almsgiving purifies | "Almsgiving atones for sin" | Sirach 3:30; Saint Cyprian |
| Christ in the poor | "You did it to me" | Matthew 25:40 |
| Soul of fasting and prayer | "What fasting takes away, let almsgiving give" | Saint Leo the Great |
Reading the table: the five great axes of the spiritual doctrine of almsgiving, each attached to the voice that best expressed it. We see that the saints do not contradict one another: they illuminate in turn one same reality, where justice, penance, mysticism, and ascesis meet.
What the Saints Do Not Call Almsgiving
To be faithful to the saints, we must set aside three counterfeits — which they themselves took care to exclude. On this point, see also the companion article Common Mistakes About Almsgiving.
Neither Ostentation nor Vainglory
The saints' almsgiving flees the gaze of others. Christ commanded it bluntly:
"Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." — Gospel according to Saint Matthew 6:3-4[31]
Almsgiving done to be seen has already received its reward — the esteem of men — and expects nothing more from God. To give in order to appear good is to use the poor as a showcase: no longer a work of mercy, but an act of self-love in disguise.
Nor Surplus Tossed Away Without Heart
Nor is almsgiving the convenient disposal of an overflow. The poor widow, who gives "all the living that she had" (Lk 21:4), teaches the opposite of the rich man who rids himself of his surplus at no cost to himself. What God weighs is not the sum, but the love and sacrifice it contains. "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7): alms wrung out reluctantly, or tossed away in irritation to stop being bothered, do not yet have the savor of true mercy.
Nor a Substitute for Justice Due
Finally — and the Fathers watch over this — almsgiving never dispenses from justice. One cannot wrong one's workers, defraud, despise one's obligations to one's own, then "redeem" it all with a few spectacular gifts. "If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith" (1 Tim 5:8)[32] — the duty of justice toward those close to us precedes distant almsgiving. To give what one first stole, or to exempt oneself from what one owes, is to ape mercy, not to practice it. On the relation between money, justice, and giving, see What Does the Church Say About Money?.
Living the Saints' Word Today
What remains of this doctrine for a twenty-first-century Christian, living in a society of taxes, insurance, and organized aid? Much. The saints never reduced almsgiving to a transfer of money; they saw in it a disposition of the heart that can take a thousand faces. Taxation and collective solidarity are good, but they do not replace the personal gesture by which I recognize, hand to hand, a brother in need — and, in him, Christ.
Concretely, to live the saints' word today is: to give before calculating, beyond strict necessity; to give in secret, seeking no return or recognition; to give from one's need at times, and not only from one's surplus, so that the gift truly costs; and never to separate material almsgiving from spiritual alms — time, listening, patience, forgiveness, prayer for the living and the dead — which Saint Thomas held to be the highest. For the detail of the means, see How to Grow in Almsgiving.
That is why the saints' message, far from being dated, meets the deepest aspiration of the human heart — that of not having lived for nothing. The saints answer: what you keep, you lose; what you give, you keep forever. "Provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail" (Lk 12:33). In this sense, their last word on almsgiving is a word of joy: to give is already to begin possessing Heaven.
Further Reading
- How to Grow in Almsgiving — the concrete means: by what measure, to whom, how to give without ruining oneself or blinding oneself.
- Common Mistakes About Almsgiving — almsgiving for show, surplus tossed away without heart, giving set against justice: the misconceptions to avoid.
- What the Saints Say About Charity — the mother virtue of which almsgiving is the most concrete fruit.
- What the Saints Say About Fasting — the inseparable sister of almsgiving: the bread one does not eat becomes the bread one gives.
- What Does the Church Say About Money? — the overall doctrine on wealth, property, and the universal destination of goods.
- The Divine Will — where charity finds its fulfillment: no longer giving of oneself, but letting divine Love give through oneself.
Notes and References
Gospel according to Saint Matthew 25:31-46, the Last Judgment: the criterion is effective love toward "the least" (v. 40), identified with Christ himself. Founding text of the whole spirituality of almsgiving.
1 11Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2462: "Giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God" (cf. Tob 4:5-11; Sir 17:22). Official English edition; text on vatican.va.
2Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1434, on the many forms of interior penance: "Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms: fasting, prayer, almsgiving" (cf. Tob 12:8; Mt 6:1-18), and "the practice of charity 'which covers a multitude of sins'" (1 Pet 4:8) among the means of obtaining forgiveness of sins. Official English edition; text on vatican.va.
3 5Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1435: "Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right…" Official English edition; text on vatican.va.
4Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 1: "Eleemosynae datio est actus caritatis mediante misericordia" — almsgiving is an act of charity through the medium of mercy.
6Book of Tobit 12:8-9: "It is better to give alms than to treasure up gold. For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin." Counsel of the angel Raphael to Tobit; a capital text for all patristics on the satisfactory value of almsgiving.
7Book of Daniel 4:24. Counsel of the prophet Daniel to King Nebuchadnezzar: redeem his sins by righteousness and mercy to the poor. The Vulgate reads "peccata tua eleemosynis redime."
8Ben Sira the Sage (Sirach / Ecclesiasticus) 3:30: "Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin." An image taken up verbatim by Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine.
9Gospel according to Saint Matthew 5:7. Fifth Beatitude: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
10Book of Proverbs 19:17: "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed." Founding verse of the theme of almsgiving as a "loan made to God."
12Gospel according to Saint Luke 6:38. The promise of the "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over" rendered to whoever gives.
13Second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 9:6-7. On the great collection for the poor of Jerusalem: "God loves a cheerful giver." The joy of the giver counts more than the sum.
14Gospel according to Saint Luke 21:1-4 (the widow's mite). God measures the gift not by the sum given but by what it costs: the widow put in "all the living that she had."
15Gospel according to Saint Matthew 6:1-4. Almsgiving done "in secret," unknown even to the left hand, and accepted by "the Father who sees in secret"; condemnation of almsgiving for show (the "trumpet" of the hypocrites).
16 31Saint Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258), De opere et eleemosynis (On Works and Alms), § 2. Taking up Sir 3:30, Cyprian develops the satisfactory value of almsgiving made with faith: "Sicut aqua gehennae ignem extinguit […] sic eleemosynis atque operationibus iustis delictorum flamma sopitur" — even as water extinguishes fire, almsgiving and works of righteousness quench the flame of sins. Latin text PL 4.
17Saint Basil of Caesarea (c. 330-379), Homily VI, called Against the Rich (on Lk 12:18, "I will pull down my barns"), delivered during the Cappadocian famine (368). Greek text PG 31. Verified quotation: "The bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; the coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked…" Founding text of the doctrine of the universal destination of goods.
18Saint Ambrose of Milan (d. 397), De Nabuthe (On Naboth), 12, 53: "Non de tuo largiris pauperi, sed de suo reddis. Quod enim commune est in omnium usum datum, tu solus usurpas" — it is not from your goods that you give largesse to the poor, you return to him what is his. Text taken up by Gratian's Decree and quoted by Vatican II (Gaudium et Spes, § 69).
19Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407), Homily on Lazarus, I, 6 (PG 48, 992 D), quoted verbatim in the Catechism of the Catholic Church § 2446: "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs."
20Saint Augustine (354-430), Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Charity, ch. 70-77 (PL 40): almsgiving made with charity obtains forgiveness of daily (venial) sins on condition that one also amend one's life, but it never authorizes "buying" impunity for grave faults. Cf. also Exposition of Psalm 42, on the inseparability of fasting and almsgiving.
21Saint Leo the Great (d. 461), Sermons on Fasting (notably Sermons 12 and 90, De ieiunio): "By prayer, God is appeased; by fasting, the lusts of the flesh are quenched; by almsgiving, sins are redeemed" ("Tria sunt […] precatio, ieiunium, misericordia"). Leo teaches that "what fasting takes away, almsgiving gives to the poor." Latin text PL 54.
22Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 5: giving alms from one's surplus, and relieving one in extreme need, belongs to the precept (grave obligation); the rest belongs to counsel.
23Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 32, a. 3: spiritual almsgiving is more excellent in itself (it relieves the soul and procures a more lasting good), but corporal almsgiving may be more pressing according to circumstances (the hunger of the body).
24Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2447, on the corporal works of mercy (feeding, sheltering, clothing, visiting, burying) and spiritual works (counseling, instructing, consoling, forgiving, bearing, praying), quoting Is 58:6-7; Tob 4:5-11; Mt 25:31-46. Official English edition.
25Sulpicius Severus (d. c. 420), Life of Saint Martin (Vita sancti Martini), ch. 3: Martin, a catechumen soldier, shares his cloak at the gate of Amiens; the following night, he sees Christ clothed in that half of the cloak, saying: "Martin, still a catechumen, has covered me with this garment." Latin text CSEL 1; English translations available.
26Saint Lawrence of Rome (d. 258), archdeacon of Pope Saint Sixtus II. Ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor: "Behold, the treasures of the Church." Tradition reported by Saint Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum, II, 28.
27Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), Conferences, ed. Pierre Coste, vol. XI, p. 40: "Let us love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows." Vincent distinguishes affective love (feelings) from effective love (deeds and service).
28Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (1748-1783), "the vagabond of God," beggar and pilgrim who shared with still poorer ones the little he was given.
29Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), canonized 4 September 2016. Constant teaching to the Missionaries of Charity: "In the poor, it is the hungry Christ we feed; the naked Christ we clothe; the homeless Christ we shelter"; Christ presents himself "in a distressing disguise." Cf. collections of her words and conferences.
30First Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy 5:8: "If any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith; he is worse than an unbeliever." A reminder that the duty of justice toward those close to us precedes, without ever replacing, almsgiving toward strangers.
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