pal vows; for if any of them are ordained for
the purpose of procuring a livelihood, such as labor, questing, and
so on, they are to be referred to poverty; for the safeguarding of
which religious seek a livelihood by these means. Other observances
whereby the body is chastised, such as watching, fasting, and the
like, are directly ordained for the observance of the vow of
continence. And such religious observances as regard human actions
whereby a man is directed to the end of religion, namely the love of
God and his neighbor (such as reading, prayer, visiting the sick, and
the like), are comprised under the vow of obedience that applies to
the will, which directs its actions to the end according to the
ordering of another person. The distinction of habit belongs to all
three vows, as a sign of being bound by them: wherefore the religious
habit is given or blessed at the time of profession.

Reply Obj. 3: By obedience a man offers to God his will, to which
though all human affairs are subject, yet some are subject to it
alone in a special manner, namely human actions, since passions
belong also to the sensitive appetite. Wherefore in order to restrain
the passions of carnal pleasures and of external objects of appetite,
which hinder the perfection of life, there was need for the vows of
continence and poverty; but for the ordering of one's own actions
accordingly as the state of perfection requires, there was need for
the vow of obedience.

Reply Obj. 4: As the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 3), strictly and
truly speaking honor is not due save to virtue. Since, however,
external goods serve instrumentally for certain acts of virtue, the
consequence is that a certain honor is given to their excellence
especially by the common people who acknowledge none but outward
excellence. Therefore since religious tend to the perfection of
virtue it becomes them not to renounce the honor which God and all
holy men accord to virtue, according to Ps. 138:17, "But to me Thy
friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable." On the other hand,
they renounce the honor that is given to outward excellence, by the
very fact that they withdraw from a worldly life: hence no special
vow is needed for this.
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EIGHTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 186, Art. 8]

Whether the Vow of Obedience Is the Chief of the Three Religious Vows?

Objection 1: It would seem that the vow of obedience is not the chief
of the three religious vows.