Abstract

Historically countless religious ideologies have defined the functional role of the family through the hierarchical structuring of the universe. For Confucius the family was the central channel through which social stability extended into society. Drawing from an aesthetic perspective of reality, Confucius understood that hierarchical reciprocity in relational systems was the key to the harmonious structuring of society. This understanding was applied directly to the structure of the family through the modeled relationship between father and son as a parallel to ruler and subject. As the Confucian family emphasized structure within the interdependence of aesthetic social particulars, the Victorian Catholic family drew from the pattern of an ethereal hierarchy. Similar to traditional interpretations of Christian cosmology, Victorian Catholicism viewed the ordering of universe under the divine union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the shadow of the industrial revolution, the cult of domesticity recast the hierarchical relationship between mother and child in the image of the holy mother Mary. While Mary is not regarded in the pantheon of the Trinity, her role as an ethereal model is central to defining the domestic structure of the Victorian Catholic family. Evaluating these premises this paper will explore the formation of Confucian and Victorian Catholic domestic structures within a cosmological frame of reference.

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