With its teaching that any honest work is an honor for people, Christianity accomplished as important a social revolution as it had by the elimination of slavery. Pagan antiquity felt altogether differently about work. For it, work was a disgrace and a curse which inflicted its burden only on the poor. The Greek word, "to work," came from the same root as the word "poor," and it actually meant "to suffer poverty." The noble citizen was to occupy himself only with the "liberal arts," and with visiting the national assembly and the theater. Handicrafts, however, were reserved to the slaves and the poor. Even the otherwise so worldly-wise Aristotle looked down on work with his words: "Those who work with their hands do not rate the title, 'citizen;' they have no nobility in their minds;" "there is no difference between them and the slaves;" "but the slaves are a special breed of people and intended for the purpose of doing physical labor." Generally, any "work for wages," even that of the artist and teacher, was considered undignified; and for that reason even the art of the physician was looked on with disdain. The Romans felt as did the Greeks about work. Cicero regarded the workshops and the crafts as dirty, not worthy of honor, and irreconcilable with noble ideas. Small wonder if Rome and Italy became the habitation of an idle rabble so that finally, as Livy said, they could no longer cope with their vices or come up with the cures for them. As the light of the Christian faith dawned over the nations, this notion of work changed completely. "Pray and work," was heard throughout the Christian world: work became an honor, and idleness as disgrace, a sin, and the root of all evil. Our pagan ancestors in Germany also looked down on manual labor. They regarded it as "a weakness and as cowardice, as something which one could triumph over in a bloody war, working by the sweat of one's brow." It required many warnings and even more so, good example -- above all on the part of the Benedictines to whom Germany owes its culture -- before the northern barbarians understood about work. (200)
As for the consecration of work to God, one can read Pesch's discussion of guild handicraft:
The religious consecration of guild handicraft. Religion is the basis of society; and any social teaching which is not built on Christianity operates destructively, no matter how elegantly it is presented. Thus, the egotistical and unchristian doctrine of liberalism has given birth to pauperism, class conflict, and socialism. However, whereas socialism may break the social and political power of liberal capitalism, it will not be in a position to establish a durable new social order, for any plant which was not planted by the heavenly Father will be uprooted. It was by a proper understanding of this truth that the old craft guilds made the Christian faith the focal point of their thinking and action.I've talked about this before, in connection with claims by proponents of Opus Dei about Opus Dei spirituality, that the Christian teaching that "honest work" can be sanctified through grace and become a means of our salvation is not a new one. Is being a wage-slave "honest work?" How about complicity in the exploitation of evils? [Which is, at best, material cooperation in evil.] Someone once explained to me that Josemaría Escrivá and OD were trying to cultivate habits of industriousness among Latin peoples, who were perhaps not hard-working enough or had a lackadaisical attitude towards work. But who was really lazy in Spain and Italy? Did they not have a more healthy lifestyle, one that gave sufficient time to leisure and communal activities? Is this contrast between the character and habits of Latin Catholic countries and Protestant 'industrialized' countries a real one?
Labor itself was dedicated in a religious manner. It rated as a pious work that was ordered by God and pleasing to Him, as the basis of a Christian life, and as the source of natural and supernatural blessing. Hence, the custom of attending Holy Mass at the start of the workday. As the model of work, the holy foster father Joseph served, with whom the divine child Jesus worked as an apprentice, and later on as his fellow worker; and for womanly work, the Blessed Virgin provided the model. We depict her spinning or weaving alongside the cradle of the Christ child. Every guild had tis special patron saint, and in the great cathedrals they even had their own chapel with its altar; and embellishing these was a work of honor for the organization. It is clear that this ideal approach to Christian craft work exercised a powerful, moralizing influence on the heart and spirit, and that it also contributed essentially even to the technical performance of the craft. It was in the heart of the Church that the craft of artistry arose; it has collapsed and it has made place for the "cheap and shoddy" production ever since work became impious and unchristian, with the result that it has also lost its blessing. Now what is to be expected of artistic craft and of art in the midst of a materialistic nation which no longer cherishes any ideals, and which puts no value on spiritual and supernatural goods? -- Christian craft, furthermore, established its honor in an open and public acknowledgement of faith. At church processions the guilds took part, as such, in tightly closed ranks; before them was the guild banner with the image of the guild's patron saint. On the feast day of the patron saint there was a solemn church celebration which the whole membership attended. Godless talk, unbelief, and blasphemy led to expulsion from the guild, whose end purpose it was, "to increase attendance at Mass and thereby to merit the salvation of one's soul." -- Therefore the old guild rules insisted with special strictness on keeping holy Sundays and holidays. They levied a penalty on everyone who worked or allowed his people to work on these days or on Saturdays after Vespers, or on the vigil of holy feast days. -- If people worked in common during the week, then religious services were likewise attended in common. The craftsman appeared everywhere not as an isolated individual, but as a living member of a highly esteemed fraternity, in the state, in the community, and in the house of God. Thus the guild became a religious fraternity. [198-9]
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