The Duty to Worship According to Church Rules

The Duty to Worship According to Church Rules is presented as a concrete obligation, not merely a statement of belief: a person’s inner doubts do not erase the demand to take part in worship as prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church. The novel gives that duty its sharpest dramatic force through Massimo Alberti, whose struggle to accept or reject the Church is tested by the ordinary act of attending Mass, then by Benedetto’s death and funeral. In this way, ritual observance becomes both a measure of allegiance and a path through which Massimo confronts the consequences of his estrangement.

The Duty in Public Worship

At the church of Sant’Ubaldo, Massimo and Donna Fedele Vayla di Brea enter during the celebration of Mass, at the Pater. Only two people are already present: an elderly woman in the last pew and Marcello Trento, bent in prayer before the altar. Shortly before Communion, Marcello rises with difficulty and kneels at the altar rail. Donna Fedele watches him with grave tenderness, lowering her eyes as the celebrant approaches with the consecrated host. The scene locates prescribed worship in bodies and shared space: Marcello’s frailty does not prevent his participation, while the approach to Communion gives the rite a distinct, visible order.

This episode also sets a standard against which Massimo’s later conduct can be read. Worship is not depicted as an abstract badge of religious identity. It consists of entering the church, joining others in prayer, and receiving the forms of devotion handed down by the institution. The physical sequence at Sant’Ubaldo—the congregation gathered, the celebrant approaching, Marcello kneeling—makes the duty legible as practice.

Massimo’s Conflict Between Belief and Practice

Massimo’s difficulty is not simple indifference. In a letter to Donna Fedele, he traces his religious uncertainty back to doubts that arose in youth. While studying in Rome, he met the teacher he came to revere as a master; while that man lived, Massimo says, doubt did not trouble him, and he would gladly have given his life for his faith and the Church. After the master’s death, accusations against him, hostility toward his disciples, and Massimo’s exposure to sharply critical religious thought gradually weakened his convictions. Massimo fears that Catholicism may be passing through a transformation in which its divine element will depart, and he does not know how to live without any positive religious certainty.

The letter distinguishes this intellectual crisis from casual rejection of Catholicism. Massimo does not describe himself as dismissing the faith over disliked ceremonies or doctrines he finds difficult. Yet the distinction does not resolve the practical question of worship. At Porto Ceresio, waiting for Benedetto’s funeral procession, Massimo remembers that he had failed to attend Mass the previous Sunday. He recognizes that breaking with the Roman Catholic Church in thought had been easier than breaking with it in outward worship, where inherited habits also carry the weight of memories of the dead. His lapse produces a small but painful pang of conscience. The missed Mass makes his inward position concrete: he has begun to act as though he were outside a practice that had previously remained part of his life.

Benedetto’s Instruction and the Funeral

As Massimo waits, Benedetto’s final exhortations return to him. Alongside the call to holiness, Massimo recalls the instruction that each person fulfill the duties of worship as the Church prescribes, in strict justice and perfect obedience. The remembered injunction sharpens the conflict already present in him. His reasoning questions the institution, while his attachment to Benedetto and the discipline of worship pull him toward continued observance. Massimo recognizes that his failure to attend Mass is not only a break with a custom; it touches a relationship and a form of religious obedience that he has not yet been able to discard.

The funeral makes worship collective and public. When Benedetto’s coffin arrives by boat, the people of Albogasio answer the parish priest’s rosary, while the coffin rests beneath a black cloth edged with silver. At the church, the gathered community responds to the priest during the funeral rites. Massimo prays on his knees throughout, his face hidden in his hands; the unknown veiled woman at the back of the church also remains kneeling in prayer. The rite does not resolve every private question in the congregation, but it gives grief a shared form and places the dead within the prayers of the Church.

At Benedetto’s burial, Don Aurelio interprets the dead man’s religious life for the community. He acknowledges that Benedetto spoke much about religion and might have erred in theological propositions, but distinguishes such possible errors from the central character of his work: calling believers back to the Gospel and its expression in life and action. Don Aurelio asserts that Benedetto professed obedience to Church authority and the Holy See, and that he conformed to Catholic belief and practice until death. His funeral address thus presents obedience not as a minor ceremonial matter but as part of the meaning Benedetto gave his life. It also asks listeners to forgive those who condemned or mocked him, rather than turn religious loyalty into permission to judge others.

Significance in Massimo’s Return

The rule’s importance lies in the separation, and eventual rejoining, of inward belief and outward practice. Massimo has found it possible to question Catholic doctrine while continuing to feel the force of worship, habit, and the memory of those he loves. At Benedetto’s funeral, the visible acts of prayer and the recollection of the master’s instruction confront him with that unfinished division. He withdraws from the procession and weeps, promising Benedetto that he will not abandon him and will return. The novel therefore treats prescribed worship as a test of Massimo’s religious crisis and as one means by which his allegiance begins to recover: not through an abstract argument alone, but through the obligations and practices that bind belief to a community.