Aquinas distinguishes the priest's vocation from the ruler's sword
the fact that priests never fought
Aquinas supplies a particularly close theological comparison. In Summa theologiae II–II, question 40, article 1, he permits war only with legitimate authority, just cause and right intention. Article 2 then forbids clerics to shed blood: combat obstructs their spiritual work and conflicts with their sacramental representation of Christ's passion. Yet they may accompany and counsel those fighting justly. Question 40, articles 1–2, inspected in the English Dominican Fathers' second revised translation (1920).
Thus the combination need not mean that one rule simultaneously commands and forbids everyone to fight: different vocations carry different duties. This helps explain Chesterton's juxtaposition, but it qualifies his historical absolute. A prohibition establishes a norm, not that no priest ever broke it; Aquinas expressly calls clerics' taking up arms an abuse. Nor does permission for a just war vindicate every Christian campaign or massacre. This is a comparison with medieval theology, not evidence that Aquinas supplied Chesterton's argument.
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