Championing the Good, by Raymond de Souza

The tenth commandment of Catholic chivalry is: Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the right and the good against injustice and evil.

To fulfill the tenth commandment, the knight had to understand and fulfill the basic principle of the eternal law, as explained by St. Augustine in his masterpiece The City of God: Good must be done; evil must be avoided.

That is the principle that underlies God’s eternal will. Good has the right to exist; evil does not.

It is interesting to observe the order in which this commandment has been formulated.

First, we are told to combat evil, then we are told to defend good. This is because there is no love of good without hatred of evil. As the Caballeros de Santiago el Matamoros (Knights of St. James the Moor-Slayer) of Spain would have it, “Quien ama, odia; quien odia, lucha” — “He who loves, hates; and he who hates, fights.” One can only love virtue if one hates sin. The active love of good is manifested when one combats evil. …

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