Careful.
This is Feeneyite territory.
It is impossible for a Catholic to declare that a virtuous person, not knowing of Christ, CANNOT be saved.
This would contradict Justice--not a likely event.
It is impossible for a Catholic to declare that a virtuous person, not knowing of Christ, CANNOT be saved.
This would contradict Justice--not a likely event.
Hmmm ... I thought the Council of Trent was pretty clear about this:
Chapter 7. What the Justification of the Impious Is, and What Are the Causes Thereof.
Of this justification the causes are these: the final cause indeed is the glory of God and of Jesus Christ, and life everlasting; ... the instrumental cause is the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which (faith) no man was ever justified (cf. Hebrews 11) ... (Council of Trent, Decree on Justification, Session 6, January 13, 1547)
Ergo, there are no divinely virtuous people who do not know Christ.
Have you ever read the Holy Gospel according to St. John? From the Rheims New Testament and its original footnotes (1582):
3:18. He that believeth in him, is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
18. Is judged already.] He that believeth in Christ with faith which worketh by charity (as the Apostle speaketh) shall not be condemned at the later day nor at the hour of his death. But the Infidel, be he Jew, Pagan, or Heretic, is already (if he die in his incredulity) by his own profession and sentence condemned, and shall not come to judgment either particular or general, to be discussed according to his works of mercy done or omitted. In which sense St. Paul saith that the obstinate Heretic is condemned by his own judgment, preventing in himself, of his own free will, the sentence both of Christ and of the Church.
3:36. He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting: but he that is incredulous to the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God remaineth upon him.
6:40. And this is the will of my father that sent me: that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth in him, have life everlasting, and I will raise him in the last day.
17:3. And this is life everlasting that they know Thee, the only true God, and JESUS CHRIST Whom Thou hast sent.
3. Life everlasting.] Both the life of glory in heaven, and of grace here in the Church, consisteth in the knowledge of God: that, in perfect vision: this, in faith working by charity; for, knowledge of God without keeping his commandments, is not true knowledge, that is to say, it is an unprofitable knowledge. 1 Io. 2.
And St. Paul's Letter the Hebrews:
11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.
6. He that cometh.] Faith is the foundation and ground of all other virtues and worship of God, without which no man can please God. Therefore if one be a Jew, a heathen, or an heretic, that is to say, he be without the Catholic faith, all his works shall profit him no whit to salvation.
The new Catechism of the Catholic Church is perfectly clear on this point:
The Necessity of Faith - 161. Believeing in Jesus Christ and in the One Who sent Him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:36; 6:40; et al). "Since `without faith it is impossible to please [God]' and to attain to the fellowship of His sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life `but he who endures to the end,'" (Vatican I, Dei Fillius 3; cf. Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Hebrews 11:6; Council of Trent Decree on Justification, 8)
Please note it even refers you right back to the quotations from the Bible above.
If you would be taught by the Doctors of the Church, like St. Alphonsus de Liguori, you would not have said what you did.
"We should know that to believe some articles is necessary, as a means to obtain salvation (necessitate medii); and that to believe others is a necessary as a matter of precept. To say that it is necessary as a means of salvation to believe certain articles, implies that, unless we believe these articles, it is utterly impossible for us to be saved. To say that the belief of other articles is necessary as a matter of precept, implies that we are bound to believe in these articles; but, should we be in inculpable ignorance of them, we are excused from sin, and may be saved. To know and believe the two articles already laid down, viz.: that there is a God, and that he is a remunerator of vice and virtue, according to the words of the apostle, `For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is a rewarder to them that seek him' (Heb. 11:6), is certainly necessary as a means of salvation. Some authors hold that the belief of the other articles the Trinity of Persons, and the Incarnation of the Word is strictly commanded, but not necessary as a means, without which salvation is impossible; so that a person inculpably ignorant of them may be saved. But according to the most common and best opinion, the explicit belief of these articles is necessary as a means without which no adult can be saved. It is certain, as Innocent XI declared in the condemnation of the sixty-fourth proposition, that he who is ignorant of the two mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, and of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, cannot be absolved." (St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Instruction on the Commandments and Sacraments, 1.1.8)
I would also encourage you to read the Summa of St. Thomas (another Doctor of the Church) on this point:
Pt. II-II, Question 2, Article 5 - Whether man is bound to believe anything explicitly?
Pt. II-II, Question 2, Article 6 - Whether all are equally bound to have explicit faith?
Pt. II-II, Question 10, Article 1 - Whether Unbelief Is a Sin?
Pt. II-II, Question 10, Article 3 - Whether Unbelief Is the Greatest of Sins?
The faith of the Church has always been very clearly defined on this point by the Dogmatic Creed "Quicumque vult" also called the Athanasian Creed:
Whosoever will be saved, before all things, it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet, they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also they are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet, they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord. So we are forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created or begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, not created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, or created, or begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after another; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood. Who although God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by the taking of the Manhood into God; One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again on the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
There are no exceptions for being a good or virtuous ignoramous, because our salvation is grounded upon faith in Christ, not goodness. Ignorance of Divine Truths, as St. Thomas makes clear, is a state of punishment, not a state of grace: "If, however, we take it by way of pure negation, as we find it in those who have not heard anything about the faith, it bears the character, not of sin, but of punishment, because suchlike ignorance of divine things is a result of the sin of our first parents. If such unbelievers are damned, it is on account of other sins, which cannot be taken away without faith, but not on account of their sin of unbelief." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part II-II, Q. 10, Art. 1)
"It is common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation. And when we mention Christians, We refer not only to the masses or to those in the lower walks of life -- for these find some excuse for their ignorance in the fact that the demands of their harsh employers hardly leave them time to take care of themselves or of their dear ones -- but We refer to those especially who do not lack culture or talents and, indeed, are possessed of abundant knowledge regarding things of the world but live rashly and imprudently with regard to religion. It is hard to find words to describe how profound is the hardness in which they are engulfed and, what is most deplorable of all, how tranquilly they repose there. They rarely give thought to God, the Supreme Author and Ruler of all things, or to the teachings of the faith of Christ. They know nothing of the Incarnation of the Word of God, nothing of the perfect restoration of the human race which He accomplished. Grace, the greatest of the helps for attaining eternal things, the Holy Sacrifice and the Sacraments by which we obtain grace, are entirely unknown to them. They have no conception of the malice and baseness of sin; hence they show no anxiety to avoid sin or to renounce it. And so they arrive at life's end in such a condition that, lest all hope of salvation be lost, the priest is obliged to give in the last few moments of life a summary teaching of religion, a time which should be devoted to stimulating the soul to greater love for God. And even this as too often happens only when the dying man is not so sinfully ignorant as to look upon the ministration of the priest as useless, and then calmly faces the fearful passage to eternity without making his peace with God. And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: `We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.' (Instit., 27:18)" (Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Acerbo Nimis, 1-2, April 15, 1905)