Pietas romana

The pietas romana, that virtue central to the life of Rome, had at one and the same time a very earthly and a very spiritual meaning. It signified attachment to one's native earth, faithfulness, gratitude, also worship rendered to the gods, to one's parents, to one's native land, and devoted respect for family, for the domestic hearth, and for the shades of one's ancestors. One has some inkling then, of just what this word could mean for the first Christians once they were baptized. The soul, enlightened by the Word, responded sicut naturaliter to the gentleness of the Father as it turned again to the blessing of its own home country in the life of the Triune God. -Excerpt from The Sacred Liturgy, by a Benedictine Monk