happy birthday cst

On this day in 1891, Pope Leo XIII issued his landmark encyclical, Rerum Novarum.

The oppressed workers, above all, ought to be liberated from the savagery of greedy men, who inordinately use human beings as things for gain. Assuredly, neither justice nor humanity can countenance the exaction of so much work that the spirit is dulled from excessive toil and that along with it the body sinks crushed from exhaustion. The working energy of a man, like his entire nature, is circumscribed by definite limits beyond which it cannot go. (#59)

My Little White Book has this to say... "Rerum Novarum came at a time when many new social, poliical and economic movements seemed opposed to the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. The encyclical outlined the principles of the rights of workers, employers and the state. It promoted the dignity of the worker and the right to organize into unions."

And so the long tradition of Catholic Social Teaching began .... Which is why we sing "Happy Birthday CST"!