IStititw.
THE COMPLETE ASCETICAL WOKKS
ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI.
24 vols., Price, per vol., net, $1.25.
Each book »« complete In itself, and any volume will be gold separately.
Volume I.
II.
«' III.
IV.
V. VI.
4t VII.
IX. X.
XII. XIII.
XIV. XV.
XVI. " XVII.
XVIII XXII. XXIII
PREPARATION FOR DEATH ; or, Considerations on the Eter nal Truths. Maxims of Eternity — Rule of Life.
WAY OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION : Meditations. Pious Reflections. Spiritual Treatises.
GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION : Prayer: Mental Prayer. The Exercises of a Retreat. Choice of a State of Life, and the Vocation to the Religious State and to the Priesthood.
THE INCARNATION, BIRTH AND INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST ; or, The Mysteries of Faith.
THE PASSION AND THE DEATH of JESUS CHRIST.
THE HOLY EUCHARIST. The Sacrifice, the Sacrament, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Practice of Love of Jesus Christ. Novena to the Holy Ghost.
VIII. GLORIES OF MARYS i. Explanation of the Salve Regina, or Hail, Holy Queen. Discourses on the Feasts of Mary. 2. Her Dolors. Her Virtues. Practices. Examples. Answers to Critics. — Devotion to the Holy Angels. Devotion to St. Joseph. Novena to St. Teresa. Novena for the Repose of the Souls in Purgatory.
VICTORIES OF THE MARTYRS ; or, the Lives of the Most
Celebrated Martyrs of the Church.
, XL THE TRUE SPOUSE OF JESUS CHRIST : i. The first sixteen Chapters. 2. The last eight Chapters. Appendix and various small Works. Spiritual Letters.
DIGNITY AND DUTIES OF THE PRIEST; or, SELVA, a collection of Material for Ecclesiastical Retreats. Rule of Life and Spiritual Rules.
THE HOLY MASS: Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Ceremonies of the Mass. Preparation and Thanksgiving. The Mass and the Office that are hurriedly said.
THE DIVINE OFFICE : Explanation of the Psalms and Canticles.
PREACHING : The Exercises of the Missions. Various Counsels. Instructions on the Commandments and Sacraments.
SERMONS FOR SUNDAYS.
MISCELLANY. Historical Sketch of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Rules and Constitutions of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Instructions about the Religious State. Lives of two Fathers and of a Lay Brother, C.SS.R. Discourses on Calamities. Re flections useful for Bishops. Rules for Seminaries. , XIX., XX., XXI. LETTERS.
LETTERS AND GENERAL ALPHABETICAL INDEX. , XXIV. LIFE OF ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI.
Benziger Brothers, New York, Cincinnati, and Chicago.
THE COMPLETE WORKS
OF
SAINT ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI,
DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH,
Bishop of Saint Agatha, and Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN.
EDITED BY
K,E"V- IE TJ Gr E! IsT IE Gr IR I DVt IMI 3
Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
THE ASCETICAL WORKS. Volume XV.
PREACHING.
Letter to a Religious. Letter to a Bishop. The Exercises of the Missions. Instructions on the Command ments and the Sacraments.
THE APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION,
RNDE PATER:
Memoriam gloriosi Congregations SS. Redemptoris Fundatoris, centesimo, a.b ejus obitu, adventante anno, pio et admodum opportune consilio recolere aggressus es, dum omnia ipsius opera anglice vertenda, et typis edenda curasti. Summus itaque Pontifex, cui turn S. Doctoris exaltatio, turn fidelium utilitas summopere cordi est libentissime excepit 9 volumina hue usque edita, quas Ei offerre voluisti. Ac dum meritas Tibi laudes de hac perutili tua cura prasbet, et gratias de filial! oblatione agit, Benedictionem, quam tuis obsequentissimis litteris petiisti, Emi quoque archiepiscopi Baltimorensis commendationi obsecundans, ex intimo corde impertiit.
Ha2c ad Te deferens fausta cuncta ac felicia a Domino Tibi adprecor. Paternitatis Tuae,
Addictissimus,
M. CARD. RAMPOLLA. ROMAE, die 4 Junii, 1888.
TRANSLATION.
REVEREND FATHER :
As the centenary of the death of the illustrious Founder of the Congrega tion of the Most Holy Redeemer drew near, you conceived the pious and appropriate plan of shedding a new lustre on his memory by translating all his works into English and publishing them. The Holy Father, therefore, who has at heart the spiritual advancement of the faithful, as well as the exaltation of the holy Doctor, has most graciously accepted the nine volumes thus far published, which you wished to present to him. While bestowing upon you well-deserved praise for your useful labor, and thanking you for the gift inspired by your filial love, he gives you from his heart the blessing which you humbly asked for in your letter, complying also with the request of the Most Rev. Archbishop of Baltimore.
As th'..' bearer of this, I wish you all happiness in the Lord. I am, Reverend Sir,
Your obedient servant,
M. CARD. RAMPOLLA.
ROME, June 4, 1888.,
PREACHING.
Letter to a Religious. Letter to a Bishop. The
Exercises of the Missions. Instructions on the
Commandments and the Sacraments.
ST. ALPHONSUS DE LIGUORI,
Doctor of the Church.
EDITED BY
REV. EUGENE GRIMM,
Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: BZEUSTZIG-IEIR,
Printers to the Holy Apostolic See.
R. WASHBOURNE, >>w
18 PATERNOSTER Row, LONDON.
M. H. GILL & SON, 50 UPPER O'CONNELL STREET, DUBLIN.
1890,
APPROBATION.
By virtue of the authority granted me by the Most Rev. Nicholas Mauron, Superior-General of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, I hereby sanction the publication of the work entitled " PREACHING," which is Volume XV. of the new and complete edition in English of the works of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, called "The Centenary Edition."
ELIAS FRED. SCHAUER,
Sup. Prov. Baltimorcnsis.
BALTIMORE, MD., May 12, 1889.
J/1N23 J953
Copyright, 1890, by El ias Frederick Schayer,
CONTENTS.
NOTICE J3
PREACHING.
LETTER TO A RELIGIOUS ON THE MANNER OF PREACHING WITH
APOSTOLIC SIMPLICITY, O
REFUTATION OF A FRENCH WORK ENTITLED "ON PREACHING," . 63 LETTER TO A BISHOP RECENTLY APPOINTED ON THE ADVANTAGES OF MISSIONS 73
THE EXERCISES OF THE MISSIONS.
INTRODUCTION, ....... 93
CHAPTER I. EXHORTATIONS,. . . . . .... 95
I. Exhortations of the evening, 95.
Preliminary remarks, 95. Division of the discourse, 97. Examples of different evening exhortations, 101. Various stanzas, 109. — Simultaneous exhortations, in. II. Exhortations of the day, 114. III. Exhortation of the discipline, 117.— Exhortation to trail
the tongue on the ground, 121. IV. Exhortation of peace, 124.
CHAPTER II. THE ROSARY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 130
I. The Narration, 130.
II. The Mysteries, 133.
The joyful mysteries, 133. The sorrowful mysteries, 136. The glorious mysteries, 137. CHAPTER III. PREPARATORY ACTS FOR THE CONFESSION OF
CHILDREN, r4°
CHAPTER IV. SOLILOQUIES FOR HOLY COMMUNION, i46
Example of the soliloquy for the people with the pre paratory acts for Communion, 147. Exhortation of peace before Communion, 149. Acts of desire, 151. Thanks giving after Communioi,aji53.
6 Contents.
PAGE
CHAPTER V. THE LITTLE CATECHISM, OR THE CHRISTIAN DOC TRINE TAUGHT THK CHILDREN, AND THE LITTLE SERMON THAT IS PREACHED TO THEM AFTERWARD, 156
I. The method to be following in teaching catechism, 156.
II. What should be explained to the children during the mis sion, 157. The mysteries of our holy faith, 158. The sacraments, 159. The commandments of God and the commandments of the Church, 163.
III. The little sermon addressed to the children after cate chism, 165. CHAPTER VI. THE LARGE CATIIECISM, OR INSTRUCTION FOR THE
PEOPLE, 169
CHAPTER VII. THE SERMON, i?9
I. The Invention, or the choice of materials for composing a sermon, 179. Common interior Places or Topics, 180. Common extrinsic Places or Topics, 183. The manner of gathering materials, 184.
II. The Disposition of the parts that belong to a sermon, 184.
The exordium, 185. The proof, 189. The peroration, 194.
III. Elocution, . 198
Tropes, 207. Figures of words, 209. Figures of thought, 213.
IV. Memory, Pronunciation, and. Gesture, 215.
V. Special instructions in regard to mission sermons, 219. The substance of the sermons, 219. The form of the sermons, 220. The act of contrition and the end of the sermon, 223. Examples of various motives for the act of contrition, 226. Conclusion, 228. Note as to the ser mons usually preached on our missions, 229. VI. Exercises of the devout life, 230.
VII. The last sermon, on perseverance, with the Papal blessing,
234. Manner of giving the last sermon, 235. Manner of taking leave, 237. Manner of giving the blessing, 240
VIII. Other remarks regarding the sermon, 244.
Practices at the end of the sermon, .244. The erection
of crosses, 247. The placing of the audience and of the
pulpit, 250. The hour when the sermon is preached, 251.
CHAPTER VIII. OTHER EXERCISES THAT TAKE PLACE DURING
THE MISSION, ^ ..,,..... 251
I. The morning meditation, 254.^
Contents. 7
PAGE
II. The discourse for the members of the confraternity, 255.
The secret confraternity, 260. III. The discourse to maidens, 261. CHAPTER IX. EXERCISES OF PIETY WHICH ARE RECOMMENDED
TO BE PERFORMED AFTER THE MISSIONS, 277
I. Exercises to be performed by the people, 277. Rules of
conduct and practices of devotion which should be ob served by every unmarried woman who performs the pious exercises, 280.
II. Exercises that are to be recommended to the priests, 281. CHAPTER X. GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT THE GIVING OF MISSIONS. 284 CHAPTER XI. THE DUTIES OF THE SUPERIOR OF THE MISSION, . 292 CHAPTER XII. VIRTUES THAT THE MISSIONARIES SHOULD ESPE CIALLY PRACTISE DURING THE MISSION 2(j7
Obedience, 297. Humility, 297. Mortification, 299. Piety, 299. Modesty, 300. Courtesy and gravity, 300.
APPENDIX, ' 302
I. Love for Jesus Christ, 302.
II. Devotion to the Mother of God, 305.
III. Necessity of prayer in order to save our souls, 309.
IV. The flight from dangerous occasions, 313.
V. The ruin of souls who through shame omit to confess their
sins, 316. PlOUS ACTS TO BE MADE IN THE COMMON VlSIT TO THE BLESSED
SACRAMENT AND TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 321
METHOD OF GIVING MISSIONS, ... 328
The beginning of the mission, 328. Various exercises, 332. Rules of conduct for the Fathers on missions, 338. TABLE OF MISSION SERMONS , ... 342
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE.
HINTS TO THE CATECHIST IN ORDER TO MAKE HIS INSTRUCTION
MORE PROFITABLE 349
PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION, 359
Original sin, 359. Actual sins, 361. Conclusion, 363.
PART I.
PRECEPTS OF THE CA TALOGUE.
CHAPTER I. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT, ........ 366
I. Faith, 368.
What is faith, and what is the Church, 368. What is the
Contents.
•AGE
motive of faith, and how shall we make an act of faith, 369. What are the principal articles of faith, 370. Which are the things that we must know and believe as necessary by necessity of means, and others by necessity of precept, 371. Which are the proofs of the truth of our faith, 375. Practical conclusions, 379. II. Hope, 379.
What is hope, 379. What is the object of hope, 379. What is the motive of hope, 379. How is the Blessed Vir gin our hope, 380. How do we sin against hope, 380. How do we make an act of hope, 381.
III. Charity, 382.
What is charity, 382. What is the motive of charity, 383. When should we make acts of charity or love of God, 383. When should we make acts of love for our neighbor, 384.
IV. Acts of faith, hope, and charity, 385. V. Prayer, 388.
Necessity and efficacy of prayer, 388. Qualities of prayer that it may be efficacious, 389.
VI. Charity to our neighbor, 390. What order is to be observed in our charity to our neighbor, 390. Whom should we love as our neighbor, 391. What are our duties toward our neighbor, 393. VII. Religion, 402.
What is religion, 402. What is superstition, 402. What is irreligion, 404.
CHAPTER II. THE SECOND COMMANDMENT, .... 405
I. Blasphemy, 405.
What is blasphemy, 405. How great is the sin of blas phemy, 408. Exhortation, 410. II. Oaths, 412.
What is an oath, 412. How many kinds of oaths are there, 413. When does one sin on account of an oath, 413- When does the obligation of an oath cease, 415. III. The vow, 415.
^ What is a vow, 416. When does the'delay in the execu tion of a vow become a mortal sin, 417. How does the obligation of the vow cease, 417.
CHAPTER III. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT 4I(;
I. The obligation of abstaining from servile works, 420.
How many kinds of works are there, 420. Which are the
Contents. 9
PAGE
works forbidden on festivals, 421. What causes pain and servile work on a holiday, 422. Conclusion. 423-
II. Obligation of hearing Mass, 425.
What is Mass, and how should one hear it, 425. What sin is it if one is absent from a part of Mass, 42?- Where should one be to hear Mass, 428. What are the causes that excuse from the obligation of hearing Mass, 429- Why have festivals been instituted, and how should we use them, 431. III. Fasting on Vigils and during Lent, 433.
What must be done in regard to fasting, 433. CHAPTER IV. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT, .
I. The obligation of children towards their parents, 436.
How does any one sin against the love that he owes to his parents, or against filial piety, 436- How does one s against the respect due to one's parents, 4391 and aSams obedience, 441. II. Obligation of parents towards their children, 445-
In regard to sustenance of their children. 445. 1" reg to their education, 446. How parents sin in regard to the education of their children, 448. Rule of life for a father of a family, 45 1-
III. Obligation of masters, servants, and married pers CHAPTER V. THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT, .
What does the fifth commandment forbid, 459- Is ^ a1' lowed to destroy one's life, to desire one's death, or to injure one's health, 400. Which -are the causes that permit the kill ing of any one, 462. How does one sin by causing abortion, and by exposing the life of an infant, 463- Is k also a sin to wish evil to one's neighbor, 464. CHAPTER VI. THE SIXTH AND NINTH COMMANDMENTS, .
What is one obliged to confess in the matter of impurity, 466 What distinction is to be made in regard to bad thoughts, 467. Is impurity a great evil, 470. Which are the remedie against impure temptations, 473.
CHAPTER VII. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT, 4^3
I. Theft, 483.
What is theft, 483. Is theft a great sin, 484. Who are those that sin against the seventh commandment, 484. II. Restitution, 492.
What obligation is there of making restitution, 492. Can one defer making restitution, 492. What must he do that
io Contents.
PAGE
has not the means to make restitution, 494. Can one make restitution by having Masses said, 496. Conclusion, 497. CHAPTER VIII. THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT, .... 500
What does this commandment forbid in the first place, 500; and in the second place, 502. What is detraction, 502, What are the different ways of sinning by detraction, 503. How are we to repair the evil caused by detraction, 504. Is it also a sin to listen to detraction, 506. What does this commandment forbid in the third place, 506.
The six principal commandments of the Church expressed in verse, 509.
PART II.
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE HOLY SACRAMENTS.
CHAPTER I. THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL, ...... 510
II. THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM, . , 5I2
III. THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION, 5I5
IV. THE SACRAMENT OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST, . . 518 V. THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE 524
I. Examination of conscience, 525.
II. Sorrow or contrition, 530. •
III. Purpose of sinning no more, 539.
IV. Confession, 546.
V. The penance imposed by the confessor, 558. CHAT-TEH VI. EXTREME UNCTION, HOLY ORDERS, AND MATRI-
MONY> 563
APPENDIX. MELANCHOLY EXAMPLES OF PERSONS wno HAVE MADE
SACRILEGIOUS CONFESSIONS eyj
' -579
a riling.
NOTICE.
WE have gathered in this volume all that has refer ence to the holy ministry of preaching, its importance, the good that it accomplishes, and the manner of ex ercising it, so that the greatest amount of fruit may be derived from it. In regard to the ministry of preach ing, we must distinguish its three parts, namely: the first has for its object PREACHING IN GENERAL, its neces sity from a point of view of divine Providence, and the manner in which one should preach in order to make preaching successful under all circumstances; the second regards the MISSIONS, their various exercises, and the means that one should employ to make them a success; the third is INSTRUCTION, or the,Large Catechism, which one should use while giving it, and the best method that should be followed in order to interest, to en lighten, and to move others, either during the mission or at any other time.
We shall not fail to remark the persistency with which our holy Doctor recommends on every occasion natural simplicity of language, and reprobates every expression that savors of grandiloquence, studied eloquence, or any pretension to elegance. This is a rule that he rigor ously imposed upon all those that lived under his author ity; he himself always followed this rule, not only in his discourses, but also in all his writings.
St. Alphonsus, in preaching and in having others to preach in this manner, which is joined to the practice of all the virtues that make men truly apostolic, has effected and does not cease to effect through his chil-
T^ Notice.
dren an immense deal of good. With feelings of grati tude to God, he thus congratulates himself in a circular addressed to the worthy companions of his labors, who had been formed after his school;
"My dearest Brothers in Jesus Christ: The principal thing that T recommend to you is the love of Jesus Christ. Very much are we bound to love him. For this end he has chosen us from all eternity, and called us into his Congregation, there to love him, and to make others also love him. What greater honor, what greater mark of love, could Jesus Christ have shown us ? He has snatched us from the midst of the world, in order to draw us to his love, and that, during the pilgrimage of this life, by which we must pass into eternity, we might think of nothing but of pleasing him, and of bringing those crowds of people to love him who every year, by means of our ministry, abandon sin, and return to the grace of God. It is generally the case that when we begin a mission the greater number of the people of the place are at enmity with God, and deprived of his love; but five or six days have scarcely elapsed when, behold, numbers, as if roused from a deep sleep, begin to listen to the exhortations, the instructions, and the sermons; and when they see that God offers them his mercy, they begin to weep over their sins, and conceive the desire of being reconciled with him; the way of par don is opened before them, and seeing it, they begin to abhor that manner of life which they had previously loved; a new light begins to shine upon them, and a peace hitherto unknown touches their hearts. Then they think of going to confession, to remove from their souls those vices which kept them separated from God; and whereas before a Mass of a quarter of an hour ap peared to them too long, five decades of the Rosary too tedious, and a sermon of half an hour unendurable, they now gladly hear a second and a third Mass, and
Notice. 1 5
they are sorry when the sermon, which has lasted an hour and a half, or perhaps two hours, is over. And of whom does the Lord make use, if not of us, to work so wondrous changes, and to bring the people to delight in those very things that before they despised ? When the mission is over, we leave in the place two or three thousand persons who love Almighty God, who before were living at enmity with him, and who were not even thinking of recovering his grace."
And while, on the one hand, the holy Founder of an Order which is altogether apostolic has accomplished and is still accomplishing so much good by his word; on the other hand, by his admirable writings, which have raised him to the rank of Doctor of the universal Church, he does not cease to preach, every day, with the greatest fruit, to a countless number of souls in all parts of the world. ED.
i6
ST. ALPHONSUS published his LETTER TO A RELIGIOUS in 1761; as he was promoted to the episcopate only in the following year, the signature of bishop, which we see at the end of the letter, was added after that period. It is a complete dissertation on the matter and the form required in pulpit oratory, for mission sermons, for ser mons preached in Lent and on Sundays, for panegyrics, or simple instructions and catechetical instructions.
" He took care to send it," says Tannoia (B. 2, ch. 50), " to the General Superiors of the religious Orders, and all admired the high degree of sacred eloquence that he possessed, as well as the zeal with which he tried to induce preachers, to preach Jesus Christ, and not to preach themselves."
He also sent copies of this letter to a large number of bishops, and added to it a note, dated May 10, 1761, in which he thus expresses himself: " I feel great pain when I see so many poor ignorant people who listen to sermons, but derive very little fruit therefrom; and this because of preachers who use an elevated and a florid style, and disdain to lower themselves to break to them the bread of the divine word. It is this that has determined me to publish the present letter, which I have the honor to send to your Lordship. I beg you you to read it, and to have it afterwards read by the priests of the diocese who are engaged in preaching. I would also ask you to send it to the convents of relig ious priests, and to recommend it to the Superiors to have it read by those that preach. You would also do me a favor if you asked those to read the letter who come to preach the sermons during Advent and during Lent. It is true that the latter bring with them their sermons prepared; but who knows whether by reading it they would not correct themselves in the future, and think of the great account that those preachers will have to render to God who do not make themselves under stood by poor ignorant people ?" (Villecourt, 1. 6, p. 4, ch. 3, a. 8.)
All that we read above shows the importance that our illustrious Doctor attaches to this letter. ED.
H Cettcr to a fidigions,
IN WHICH HE TREATS OF THE ADVANTAGES OF PREACH ING IN A SIMPLE AND APOSTOLIC MANNER, AND OF THE NECESSITY OF AVOIDING AN ELEVATED AND FLORID STYLE.
Live Jesus, Mary, and Joseph !
I HAVE received your esteemed letter, in which you say that what I have written in the Sclva, or Collection of Materials,1 for the spiritual exercises of priests, on the style to be employed in sermons preached for congre gations consisting both of the illiterate and the learned, has been criticised by a distinguished literary character.' In the Sclva I have asserted that the style of all sermons preached before the ignorant and the learned should be simple and popular. My critic, you say, maintains that, though sacred orators should preach in a clear and or derly manner, they should never condescend to speak in a popular style; because, according to him, such a style is unworthy of the dignity of the pulpit and de grading to the word of God. This proposition has astonished me; but, to speak with the sincerity of a friend, what you have added has scandalized me. The objections of my critic, you say, appear somewhat rea sonable to you, because a sermon should have all the properties of a discourse, and it is admitted that one of the most essential is to delight the audience; and there fore, when the audience consists both of the ignorant and the learned, the sacred orator should not, by a low,
1 Dignity and duties of the priest, or Selva, vol. xii. p. 265.
1 8 Letter to a Religious
popular style, disgust the latter, who are the respectable part of his hearers, but should speak in a manner calcu lated to please and delight them.
Now, to explain fully my sentiments on this point, which I shall show are the sentiments of all wise and pious men, and to answer every objection that can be proposed against my opinion, it will be necessary to repeat much of what has been already written in the Selva.
It cannot be doubted that by preaching the world has been converted from paganism to the faith of Jesus Christ. How, says the Apostle, shall they hear without a preacher ? Faith then cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.1 As the faith has been propagated, so it has been preserved by preaching, and so are Christians induced by preaching to live according to the maxims of the Gospel: for it is not enough for the faithful to know what they must do in order to be saved ; it is, moreover, necessary for them, by hearing the word of God, to be reminded of the eternal truths and of their obligations, and also to adopt the means of obtaining eternal life. Hence St. Paul commanded Timothy con tinually to instruct and admonish the flock committed to his care: Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine?1 Hence also the Lord addressed the same command to the prophet Isaias: Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their wicked doings? And again he said to Jeremias, Behold I have given My words in thy mouth: Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations,
1 " Quomodo autem audient sine praedicante ? . . . Ergo fides ex au- ditu, auditus autem per verbum Christi." — Rom. x. 14-17.
2 " Prsedica verbum, insta opportune, importune, argue, obsccra, increpa in omni patientia et doctrina." — 2 Tim. iv. 2.
3 " Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam, et annuntia populo meo peccata eorum." — Isa. Iviii. i.
on the Manner of Treadling. 19
and over kingdoms, to root up, and to destroy, etc.1 Jesus Christ has imposed the same obligation on his apostles, and through them on all priests who are called to the office of preaching. Going therefore, teach ye all nations: . . , to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you? And if, through the fault of those who are bound to announce the divine word, a sinner perish, God will demand an account of his soul at their hands. If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, thou declare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his wicked way, and live, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.3
But let us come to the point. My proposition is that, when the audience is composed of the learned and of the ignorant, the style of the sermon (I do not here speak of funeral orations or of panegyrics — of these I shall say something hereafter) should be simple and popular. This proposition is not mine only: it is that of the celebrated Louis Muratori, who is regarded as one of the first literary characters of the day. It cannot be said that such a man censured a lofty and polished style because he was but little acquainted with it; for the whole world knows that he was a man of great genius, and of extraordinary literary acquirements. In his golden book on popular eloquence which is in the hands of every one, he asserts, and proves most learn edly, the proposition that I have laid down.
But, to confirm my assertion, I shall take many re flections from other authors, and particularly from the
" Ecce dedi verba mea in ore tuo; ecce constitui te hodie super gentes et super regna, ut evellas, et destruas, etc."— fer. i. 9.
" Euntes ergo docete omnes gentes; servare omnia quaecumque mandavi vobis." — Matt, xxviii. 19, 20.
"Si, dicente me ad impium: Morte morieris; non annuntiaverit ei . . , ipse impius in iniquitate sua morietur, sanguinem autem ejus de manu tua requiram " — Ezech. iii. 18.
2O Letter to a Religions
holy Fathers; and I entreat you, and every one into whose hands this book shall fall, to read the whole of it; for it contains a great deal of matter most useful for those that are engaged in preaching, and that are desirous of gaining souls to Jesus Christ. St. Basil says: "The sacred school does not follow the precepts of the rhetoricians." 1 The saint does not mean to say that the sacred orator should not employ the art of rhetoric in his sermons, but that he should not imitate the empty eloquence of the ancient rhetoricians, who in their orations sought only their own glory. It is not denied that we should avail ourselves of the rules of rhetoric in all our sermons. But what, I ask, is the principal end that every preacher should propose to himself in using the art of oratory? Certainly he should have no other object in view than to persuade and to induce the people to practise what he preaches. Such is the doctrine of the learned Marquis Orsi, who, in a letter to Father Platina, says: " Let eloquence be employed to move rather than to delight; for to move is the same thing as to persuade, which is the only object of the art." In his work on popular eloquence Muratori says that " rhetoric is necessary, not to fill sermons with flowers, but to teach the method of per suading and of moving." I shall occasionally take pas sages from this book; because the opinions of so great a man cannot, like mine, be treated with contempt. In his life of the younger Father Segneri he says: " Good rhetoric is nothing else than a perfect imitation of the natural and popular method of reasoning with others, and of persuading, everything superfluous being re moved. The more the reasoning .of the sacred orator is natural and intelligible, — not to the few men of learn ing who may be present, but to the people to whom
"Sacra schola praecepta rhetorum non sequitur."— In Gordium Mart.
on the 1\ Manner of Preaching. 2 1
he speaks, — the more effective will be his eloquence." Speaking of the style to be adopted by the preacher of the divine word, St. Augustine says: "Let him try as much as possible to be understood, and to be listened to with docility." J St. Thomas says, " that the preacher whose principal object is to show his eloquence, does not so much intend to induce the people to practise what he teaches, as to imitate himself in the elegance of his language."2
The language of sermons preached before mixed con gregations should be so plain and simple that the audi ence may clearly understand all that is said, and may be moved to practise all that is taught. Hence the preacher should avoid two things: loftiness of thought and super fluous elegance of language.
With regard to the first, would to God that Superiors would imitate the example of St. Philip Neri. It is re lated in his life that he commanded those who gave in structions to the people to speak on subjects that are useful and popular, and never to enter into scholastic questions, or to seek after sublime conceptions. Hence when he heard the members of his Congregation intro duce subjects that were too subtle or curious, he made them descend from the pulpit, even though they were in the middle of the sermon. Finally, he exhorted all to employ their eloquence in showing, in a plain and easy style, the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice. Of some preachers we may say, with the prophet Isaias, Who are these that fly as clouds ? 3 And as lofty clouds sel dom forebode rain, so, from the sermons of those that
" Aget quantum potest ut intelligatur, et obedienter audiatur."- De Doct. Christ. 1. 4, c. 15, n. 32.
2 " Qui eloquentise principaliter studet, homines non intendit in- ducere ad imitationem eorum quse dicit, sed dicentis." — Optisc. cap. xix. 19,
3 " Qui sunt isti, qui ut nubes volant ?" — Is. Ix. 8.
22 Letter to a Religions
preach in a lofty style it cannot be hoped that the waters of salvation will ever flow. Hence the holy Council of Trent has commanded all parish priests to preach in a style accommodated to the capacity of their flock. " Archpriests, . . . either personally, or by others who are competent, shall feed the people committed to them with wholesome words, according to their own capacity."1 Hence also the celebrated Muratori wisely observes, " The preacher must speak to the people in the language in which a man of learning would endeavor to persuade a peasant, and thus he will make an impres sion on the learned as well as on the ignorant."
Except, says St. Paul, you utter by the tongue plain speech, how shall it be known what is said ? For you shall be speak ing unto the air.'1 Hence, according to the Apostle, they that preach in language not easily understood by the people, only speak to the air. But, alas ! how many preachers are there that labor hard, through a miserable desire of acquiring the praises of their hearers, to fill their sermons with sublime conceptions and subtle thoughts, unintelligible to the people, and recite their discourses in the tone and manner of a comedian ? What fruit can such preachers expect from their in structions ? Louis of Grenada says that the ruin of the world is to be ascribed to this crying evil, that the greater number of preachers seek applause rather than the glory of God and the salvation of souls.3 Would to God it were not too true ! And Father John d'Avila, in one of his letters, in which he describes the miseries and ini-
" Archypresbyteri, etc., per se, vel alios idoneos, plebes sibi com- missas pro earum capacitate pascent salutaribus verbis." — Sess. 5, de Rcf. c. ii.
" Nisi manifestum sermonem dederitis, quomodo scietur id quod dicitur? eritis enim in aera loquentes." — i Cor. xiv. 9.
"Maxima praedicatorum turba majorem nominis sui celebrandi, quam divinae gloriae et salutis humanae procurandae curam habent."— Eccl. Rhet. 1. i, c. 6.
on the Manner of Preaching. 23
quities of the world, says : " There is no remedy for so great an evil, principally on account of the preachers, who are the medicine of these wounds; but such dan gerous diseases are not cured by the soft lenitives of polished and delicate discourses — they require strokes of fire." One would imagine that some of those lofty preachers study to make themselves unintelligible, or rather, as Muratori says, that they are ashamed to speak in language that all can understand. The little ones, says the prophet Jeremias, have asked for bread, and there was no one to break it unto them.1 In his comment on this passage, St. Bonaventure says,2 that the bread of the divine word is not to be divided in a manner calculated to indulge curiosity, but must be broken in small pieces on which the little ones may feast. What profit can the poor and illiterate derive from sublime conceptions, from irrelevant erudition, or from long descriptions of a tempest or of a pleasant garden, the study of which has cost the preacher a week's labor, though the entire discourse does not last longer than a quarter of an hour?
And here let it be observed that lofty thoughts and ingenious reflections, or facts of a curious and distract ing nature, though they may please the learned, still injure the effect of the sermon; for, as Muratori well observes, he that understands them dwells with delight on the sublimity of the thoughts or on the novelty of the facts, and does not attend to his own spiritual profit: thus the will is not affected, and no fruit is produced.
It was not in a lofty style that St. Paul preached to the Corinthians: And I, brethren, when I came to you, 2 came not in loftiness of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of Christ; for I judged not myself to know
1 " Parvuli petierunt panem, et non erat qui frangeret eis." — Lam iv. 4.
2 " Panis frangendus, non curiose scindendus."
24 Letter to a Religious
anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified' I, brethren, in preaching to you, have not had recourse to sublime discourses, or to human wisdom: I have desired only to know Jesus Christ crucified; that is, that all our hope and our salvation consists in imitating his sorrows and his ignominies. The sentiments of Natalis Alexander on this passage of St. Paul are worthy of attention: "It is not to be wondered at that most preachers derive no fruit, since they make their preaching consist in the artifice of secular elo quence, in measured periods, in excessive ornament of words and flights of human reason. They do not teach the. Gospel, but their own inventions; they know not Jesus crucified, but rather propose to themselves the imitation of academic orators than that of the apostles and of apostolic men. Let the humility of the preacher accompany the simplicity of the sermon, of which Christian eloquence is not altogether deprived, which is adorned with a natural, not a counterfeit, beauty. Let him fear lest by his pride, and by the captivation of human glory and applause, and by the ostentation of eloquence he may hinder the work of God. The fewer, continues the learned author, the ornaments of secular eloquence the preacher employs, and the less his confi dence in human means, the more fruitful will his ser mons be in converting sinners."2
1 " Et ego, cum venissem ad vos, fratres, veni non in sublimitate sermonis aut sapientiae, annuntians vobis testimonium Christi. Non enim judicavi me scire aliquid inter vos, nisi Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum." — i Cor. ii. I.
2 " Quid mirum, si nullum fructum faciunt plerique qui praedicationem in eloquentiae saecularis artificio, in periodorum commensuratione, in verborum lenociniis humanaeque rationis excursibus collocant. Evan- gelium non decent, sed inventa sua, Jesum crucifixum nesciunt, aca- demicos oratores lubentius sibi proponunt imitandos quam apostolos, et apostolicos viros. Simplicitatem sermonis, non penitus Christiana destitutam eloquentia, naturali decore ornatam, non fucatam, comitetur
on the Manner of Preaching. 25
The learned and celebrated missionary, Father Jerome Sparano, of the venerable Congregation of the Pious Workmen, used to compare those that preach in a lofty and florid style to artificial fireworks, which, while they last, make a great noise, but leave after them only a little smoke. St. Teresa1 then had just reason to say that the sacred orator who preaches himself does great injury to the Church. "The apostles," she would say, "though few, have converted the world; because they preached with simplicity and with the true spirit of God, and now so many preachers produce but little fruit." And why ? " Because," says the saint, " the preachers of the present time have too much of human wisdom and human respect, and therefore few only of their hearers give up the habits of vice." St. Thomas of Villanova says: " Many preachers there are, but few that preach as they should." a Philip Neri used to say: " Give me ten priests with the true spirit of the apostles, and I will convert the whole world."
By the mouth of the prophet Jeremias the Lord asks: Why then is not the wound of the daughter of My people healed?'* In his exposition of this passage St. Jerome answers: " Because there are not priests to apply the necessary remedy." ' Speaking of preachers who adul terate his word, the Lord says, in another place: If
humilitas concionatoris. Timeat ne superbia sua gloriae humanre plaususque captatione, ac ostentatione eloquentiae Dei opus imped iat. Quo major ejus humilitas, quo minor in mediis humanis fiducia, minor eloquentiae secularis affectatio, eo major spiritui etvirtuti Dei ad con- versionem animarum locus datur."
1 Lift\ ch; xvi.
'2 " Multi praedicatores, sed pauci qui predicant ut oportet." — /// tile Pi'titcc. cone. 2.
3 " Quare igitur non est obducta cicatrix filiae populi mei ?"— -/<•;-. viii. 2.
" Eo quod non sunt sacerdotes, quorum debeant curari medi- camine."
26 Letter to a Religious
they had stood in My counsel and had made My words known to My people, I should have turned them from, their evil way and their wicked doings.1 " They would," says Cardinal Hugo, commenting on this passage, " have made known My words, not their own." Preachers who speak not in simple language, preach not the word of God, but their own; and therefore, says the Lord, sinners remain in their wicked ways. O God ! what an abuse is it to see sometimes religious, even of the reformed Orders, who, from their penitential garments, and from the appear ance of their mortified lives, seem to breathe zeal and sanctity, and from whom the people expect to hear sentiments and words burning with divine love; what an abuse, I say, is it to see such religious ascend the pulpit, and deliver a discourse which is only a collection of ingenious thoughts, of descriptions, of antitheses and of other such trifles, of inflated language and rounded periods, which the hearers scarcely understand, and from which they derive no benefit ! What a pity to see so many of the poor come to learn the means of saving their souls, and obliged, after listening to the preacher for more than an hour, to go away without having understood any part of the sermon ! They return home as ignorant as before, and full of discontent at having spent so much time in attending to a discourse which they could not understand.
Those orators who preach themselves, and are not understood by their audience, sometimes say: "The people were all attentive to the discourse " I also say that the people were attentive; they wished to under stand the discourse, but have they understood it? Muratori says that he had seen .the poor listen with open mouths to panegyrics, of which they scarcely understood a single word. Hence it happens, that, hav-
" Si stetissent in consilio meo, et nota fecissent verba mea popujo meo, avertissem utique eos a via sua mala."— /<•'-. xxiii. 22.
on the Manner of Preaching, 27
ing found by experience that they do not understand the discourses preached in the Church, they become disgusted with religious discourses, they cease to attend to them, and thus become more and more obstinate in vice. Justly, then, has Father Gaspar Sanchez called those who do not preach in a simple style the greatest persecutors of the Church; for, in reality, there cannot be a greater persecution or evil that can befall the people than the adulteration of the word of God; for, when mixed up with flowers and trifles, it is either not understood, or is at least deprived of its efficacy; so that it cannot give to the people the light and help which they might receive from it.
Secondly, the preacher should employ words that arc in common use, and should avoid those that are not understood by the illiterate. Preachers of long stand ing and of high character must be particularly careful to use language easily understood by the people ; for, should they speak in a polished style, young preachers, being naturally desirous of applause, will study to imi tate them. Thus the abuse will be more widely extended, and the poor will be deprived of the fruit of the word of God. St. Jerome compares vain preachers, who em ploy only sounding and polished words, to women who by their vain ornaments please men, but do not please God.1
But Father Bandiera, in the preface of his Gcrotri- camcrone, controverts the opinion of those who maintain that in sermons a selection of words, and careful atten tion to the collocation necessary for elegant diction, do not edify the people, but, on the contrary, destroy the simplicity suited to spiritual subjects, and take up the preacher's time in the study of empty words. He as-
" Effeminatae quippe sunt eorum magistrorum animse qui semper sonantia componunt, et nihil virile, nihil Deo dignum est in iis." — In Ezt-c/i. Jioni. 3.
28 Letter to a Religious
serts that ornaments of style throw a splendor round spiritual subjects, such as the maxims of faith, the beauty of virtue, and the deformity of vice. He says that the holy Fathers employed these ornaments, and that without their aid the word of God cannot be preached with dignity from the pulpit. He also adds, that some persons censure select language as unsuited and injurious to devotion, because they themselves have not a command of polished expression. To remove every erroneous impression that might be made on the minds of his readers I shall answer his arguments and refute his assertions.
First; I cannot conceive what could have induced Father Bandiera to give expression to so unreasonable sentiments in his preface; for in the body of his work he says that, when the greater part of the audience con sists of the poor, the style of the sermon should be easy and simple, and that sometimes it should be low, when otherwise the hearers would not derive profit from the discourse. He also says that the style of academic discourses is very different from that of sermons. He adds that preachers who, in their instructions, should adopt the style of his own work, would act improperly. He then agrees in opinion with us, that, when the greater part of the audience is composed of the illiterate, the style of the sermon must, if the preacher wishes to pro duce fruit, be simple, and be accommodated to the capa city "of the hearers. What, then, has induced him to assert that the dignity of the divine word, delivered from the pulpit, requires the ornaments of style, and that those ornaments give splendor to spiritual things; or that some writers, because they themselves have not a com mand of language, censure, as injurious to devotion, a nice selection of words ?
Let us now come to the refutation of the assertions of Father Bandiera: his opinion should be received with
on the Manner of Preaching. 29
caution, for, being an eminent professor of the Tuscan language, he may have been induced to adopt it by too great an attachment to eloquence of expression. He says that " it is necessary to give splendor to spiritual subjects." Such is not the language of St. Ambrose. This Father says that Christian preaching stands not in need of the pomp or elegance of words, and that therefore ignorant fishermen were chosen by the Lord to preach the Gospel, and to sow the word of God pure and unadulterated.1
Natalis Alexander answers Father Bandiera, and says that the word of God requires not affected and flowery ornaments, since it is adorned by the natural beauty which it contains in itself; and therefore the more simply it is expounded, the more luminous and splendid it appears. The words of the same author, which have been already quoted, are so appropriate, that I shall re peat them in this place: "Let the humility of the preacher accompany the simplicity of the sermon, of which Christian eloquence is not altogether deprived, which is adorned with a natural, not a counterfeit, beauty. . . . The fewer the ornaments of secular elo quence the preacher employs, and the less his confidence in human means, the more fruitful will his sermons be in converting sinners."5 Thus the more purely and nakedly the word of God is preached, the more forcibly it strikes the hearts of the hearers; for, according to the Apostle, it is in itself living and effective; so that it is
" Praedicatio Christiana non indiget pompa et cultu sermonis; ideoque piscatores, homines imperiti, elect! sunt qui evangelizarent."— In i Cor. I.
* " Simplicitatem sermonis non penitus Christiana destitutam elo- quentia naturali decore ornatam, non fucatam, comitetur humilitascon- cionatoris. . . . Quo minor in mediis humanis fiducia, minor elo- quentiae saecularis affectatio, eo major spiritui et virtuti Dei ad con'- versionem animarum locus datur. "
30 Letter to a Religious
more piercing than a two-edged sword.1 And God himself, by the mouth of the prophet Jeremias, has de clared that his word is a fire which inflames, and a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces — that is, the most hardened hearts: Are not My words as a fire, saith the Lord : and as a hammer thatbreaketh the rock in pieces!*
Let us examine the sentiments of the author of the Imperfect Work on this subject. " The word of God," he says, " though simple and popular, is in itself living, and gives life to those who hear it, be cause it contains in itself the truth of God, which persuades and moves the hearts of men; but human language, though polished and select, is, for want of God's co operation, dead, and therefore produces no fruit." a The learned Mansi says that when it is naked and divested of ornament the word of God strikes the heart, but adorned with flowers, it is like a sword within its scabbard — it cannot cut.'
Father Bandiera asserts that the holy Fathers have in their writings employed the ornaments of style. In answer I say, that we have not heard the sermons of these Fathers, nor are we acquainted with their style of preaching. We only read their written discourses, and we know that sermons which were preached in a simple
1 " Vivus est sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni giadio ancipiti." — Heb. iv. 12.
2 " Numquid non verba mea quasi ignis, dicit Dominus, et quasi malleus conterens petram ?"— -Jcr. xxiii. 29.
3 " Omnia verba divina quamvis rustica sint et incomposita, viva sunt, quoniam intus habeant veritatem Dei et ideo vivificant audientem. Omnia autem verba secularia quoniam non habent in se virtutem Dei, quamvis sint composita et ingeniosa, mortua sunt; propterea nee audi entem salvant." — Horn. 46.
4 " Sicut gladius ferire nequit, nisi si nudus; nam intra vaginam constitutus quantumvis sit acutus non vulnerabit: ita verbum Dei, ut impiorum corda vulneret, nudum esse debet, sine figurarurn ornamento, aut vanae eloquentiae floribus." — "Biblioth. mor. tr. 83, d. ir.
on the Manner of Preaching, 31
and popular style are usually polished before they are committed to writing or given to the public. This re mark has been made by the celebrated Muratori. " It is," he says, " true that St. Ambrose very frequently spoke in an abstruse manner; but we have not the sermons which he preached to the people." He reduced to trea tises the discourses delivered from the pulpit, and added to them various ornaments, so that the original form of his popular instructions has disappeared. But Mu ratori says that, in their sermons to the people, the most celebrated Fathers of the Church, namely, St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory the Great, St. Maximus, and St. Gaudentius, preferred popular to sublime eloquence; and this is evi dent, as well from the sermons as from the other works of these saints. Let us hear how St. John Chrysostom speaks of sermons embellished with pompous words and well-turned periods: " We seek by those words and beautiful compositions to delight our neighbors. We try to be admired, but we are not anxious to heal the diseases of our neighbors." l And he adds, that the preacher who studies to delight others and to attract admiration by elegant compositions should be denomi nated "Miserable and unhappy traitor."2 St. Augus tine says: "We do not make use of high-sounding and poetical words of secular eloquence, but we preach Christ crucified." z
Father John d'Avila used to say, that every preacher should ascend the pulpit with a thirst for the salvation of souls, which would make him endeavor and hope,
1 " Iljiecnos patimur, verborum fucos conqvuerentes, etcompositionem' elegantem, ut delectemus proximum. Consideramus quomodo videamur admirabiles, non quomodo morbos componamus." — Hotn. 33, ad pop.
2 " Miser et infelix proditor. " — Ad pop. ant. hom. 33.
3 " Non nos tonantia et poetica verba proferimus nee eloquentia utimur secular! sermone fucata, sed prsedicamus Christum crudfixum."
32 Letter to a Religious
with the divine aid, to gain to God the souls of all his hearers. Hence St. Gregory says that the sacred orator should descend to the level and should accommodate his language to the weak understanding of the people.1 This is the doctrine of Muratori, who says that every one who preaches to the illiterate "ought to imagine that he is one of them, and that he wishes to teach and convince them of some truth." And therefore he says he is bound to adopt the most popular and lowest kind of eloquence, and to proportion his language to their gross understandings, by speaking to them in a familiar manner, using short sentences, and sometimes even pro posing questions and giving the answers. The merit of such sermons consists in employing the language and figures which usually make an impression in common conversation.
St. Gregory deemed it unworthy of a preacher of the Gospel to confine himself to the rules of grammar, and therefore he says that in his sermons he frequently exposed himself to the imputation of ignorance, by uttering even barbarisms.3 In his exposition of the words of David, My bone is not hid from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret? St. Augustine, knowing that the word os signified either the mouth or a bone, used the barbarous word ossum to express the meaning of the prophet ; for he preferred to be censured by gram marians rather than to be unintelligible to the people.4
1 " Debet ad infirmitatem audientium semetipsum contrahendo des- cendere, ne dum parvis sublimia, et idcirco non profutura loquitur, magis curet se ostendere quam auditoribus prodesse." — Mor. 1. 20, c. i.
8 " Non barbarismi confusionem devito, etiam prsepositionum casus servare contemno, quia indignum existimo ut verba coelestis oraculi restringam sub regulis Donati." — Ep. ad Leandr. in Expos. L Job.
3 "Non est occultatum os meum a te, quod fecisti in me." — Ps. cxxxviii. 15.
4 " Habeo in abscondito quoddam ossum. Sic potius loquamur, melius est ut reprehendant nos grammatici quam non intelligant populi." — In Ps. 138, n. 20.
on the Manner of Preaching. 33
Such was the contempt of the saints for elegance of style when they spoke to the people. In the fourth book on the Christian Doctrine, the same Father says that the preacher should not be the servant of his words, and thus expose himself to the danger of not being understood ; but he should employ the language best calculated to convey his meaning and to persuade his hearers.1 It is in this manner, as the prophet says, "bread is broken to the little ones." The little ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it unto them? Hence the sermons of the missions and of the spiritual exercises produce so much fruit, because in them the bread of the divine word is minutely broken to the people.
I may be asked: Do you mean that all sermons should be composed in the same style as the sermons for the missions? In answer, I in the first place ask: What is understood by sermons for the missions? Is it a dis course composed of vulgar expressions, without order and without method? No: vulgar phrases are not necessary; they are not becoming even in familiar in structions, much less in sermons. Order is indispensa ble in all sermons. The art of oratory, and the occa sional use of tropes and figures, are also necessary; and therefore you must have observed that, in the third part of the Selva? speaking of the style of preaching to be adopted in the missions, I have given a comprehensive abstract of rhetoric, for the instruction of the young men of our congregation. But the rules of rhetoric are, as Muratori says, suited even to popular eloquence, pro vided the preacher employ them, not to win applause,
1 " In ipso sermone malit (concionator) placere rebus magis quam verbis; nee doctor verbis serviat, sed verba doctori."
2 " Parvuli petierunt panem, et non erat qui frangeret eis." — Lam. iv. 4.
3 Farther on, in Chapter VII. of the present volume.
3
34 Letter to a Religious
but to move his hearers to lead a Christian life. The art of oratory should, adds Muratori, be used, but only in such a way that it may not be perceived by the people.
There is no doubt that the sermons prepared for the missions should be more easy and simple, and less en cumbered with Latin quotations, than other discourses. Some young missionaries fill their sermons with a con fused medley of texts of Scripture, and long passages of the holy Fathers; but what profit can a poor illiterate peasant derive from so many Latin quotations, which he does not understand ? Texts of Scripture serve to give authority to our instructions, but only when they are few, and explained in a manner proportioned to the capacity of our audience. One text well expounded, and accompanied with appropriate moral reflections, will be more profitable than many passages heaped to gether. An occasional passage from the holy Fathers is also very useful; but it should be short and forcible, and peculiarly applicable to the subject. Look at the sermons of that celebrated preacher, the Venerable Father Paul Segneri, and you will find that they con tain few Latin passages, but a great many practical reflections and moral deductions.
The style of preaching in the missions must certainly be more simple and popular, that the poor may be per suaded and moved to virtue. The language should be plain and the periods concise, so that a person may understand any sentence without having heard or under stood the preceding one, and that they who come to the church in the middle of the sermon may immediately understand what the preacher says. If the style of the sermon be close and connected, the illiterate, who have not heard the first period, will not understand the second, nor the third. Moreover, as Muratori well ob serves, in order to keep up the attention of the people
on the Manner of Preaching. 35
it is necessary to make frequent use of the figure called Anaphora, by proposing questions and replying to them. With regard to the modulation of the voice, it is neces sary to avoid the sonorous and inflated tones used in panegyric. We should also abstain from the violent efforts of the voice made by some missionaries, who expose themselves to the danger of bursting a blood vessel, or at least of losing their voice, and at the same time disgust their audience. The best way to excite and fix the attention of the people is, to speak at one time in a loud, at another in a low, tone of voice, but without violent and sudden transitions; at one time to make a long exclamation, at another to pause and after wards to begin with a sigh, etc. This variety of tone and manner keeps the audience always attentive.
The act of contrition is the most important part of sermons for the mission, and therefore in such sermons it should never be omitted; for little indeed would be the fruit of the sermon if the people are not excited to compunction, or not induced to resolve on a change of life. It is to effect this object that the act of contrition is proposed to them. It is even necessary to repeat several acts of sorrow, in order to move the people to contrition, not by loud exclamations, but by solid mo tives and reasons. In the purpose of amendment which accompanies the act of sorrow the preacher should recom mend, in a particular manner, the people to avoid the occasions of sin, and to have recourse in their tempta tions to the assistance of Jesus and of Mary; and should therefore, at the end of the sermon, make them ask the divine Mother to obtain some favor for them, such as the pardon of sin, the gift of perseverance, and the like. These observations are particularly applicable to ser mons for the missions; but I wished to insert them in this place, because they may be useful to some of those who are devoted to the missions.
36 Letter to a Religious
Sermons for Lent, or for Sundays, should certainly differ somewhat from those that are prepared for the missions ; but, where the audience consists of the ig norant and the learned, all sermons should, as Muratori says, be simple and popular, if the preacher wish to produce substantial fruit, and to induce the people to approach the tribunal of penance. I remember that when a celebrated missionary preached in Naples, in a simple and popular style, the churches were thronged, "and the confessionals were surrounded by crowds, who, after the sermon, ran to confess their sins. Muratori says that in the small towns, and even in the churches of cities which are frequented by the common people, the preacher is obliged to adopt the most popular and even the lowest style, in order to accommodate himself to their gross understandings. I have seen a whole town sanctified by the Lenten sermons of those who ad dressed the people in simple and popular language.
Oh, what a pity to see so many Lenten sermons preached in the villages, and so little fruit ! In the beginning of Lent the poor come to the sermons, but finding that they do not understand the preacher, and consequently derive no fruit from his instructions, they cease to frequent the church. I would entreat those who preach in the villages, that, if they will not consent to change the discourses which they have already com posed in an elevated style, they will at least, towards the last weeks of Lent, after the people return from work, give the spiritual exercises in the manner in which they are given during the missions. The labor ing poor cannot, particularly On working days, attend in the mornings at the hour at .which the sermon is usually preached. I assure these preachers that they will reap more fruit from the spiritual exercises pro posed in simple language, than from a hundred Lenten sermons. Some will excuse themselves from giving
on the Manner of Preaching. 37
these exercises, saying that they are preachers, and not missionaries. Some are perhaps even ashamed to give these exercises in which a simple and popular style is indispensably necessary, lest their reputation might be injured, or lest they should be regarded as preachers of little note. But I am consoled by the conviction that not only priests, but also many religious, are accustomed during the Lent to give these exercises with so much advantage to the people.
Oh, what universal benefit would flow from the Sun day sermons if preachers always addressed the people in plain and simple language ! At Naples the Holy Sac rament is exposed every day in several churches, in particularly in those in which the devotion of the Forty Hours is performed. These churches are frequented by great numbers of the faithful, but particularly of the poor. How great would be the fruit of the sermons preached in these churches if the sacred orators adopted a popular style, instructing the people in the practice of the different virtues, in the practical method of preparing for Communion, in the manner of visiting the Blessed Sacrament, of making mental prayer, of attending Mass, of meditating on the Passion of Jesus Christ, and of performing the other exercises of devotion ? But are the discourses delivered in their churches of this de scription? No; the style is generally high and flowery, and therefore they are but little understood by the peo ple. Father John d'Avila being once asked for a rule for preaching, answered, that the best rule for preach ing well was to love Jesus Christ fervently. The an swer was most just; for the preacher who loves Jesus Christ ascends the pulpit, not to gain applause, but to gain souls to Jesus Christ. St. Thomas of Villanova used to say that to pierce the heart of sinners, to effect their conversion, darts burning with divine love are necessary. But can darts* of fire proceed from the
38 Letter to a Religious
frozen heart of the preacher who seeks by his preach ing to acquire a great name ?
Should we then conclude from this that whoever then preaches in a polished style does not love Jesus Christ? I do not mean to assert that ; but I know well that the saints did not preach in that manner. In all the lives that I have read of holy missionaries I have not found any one of them commended because he preached in an elevated and ornate style ; I find, on the contrary, those commended in a special manner who preached in a style simple and popular. Thus in truth did the holy apostle Paul teach us by his own example how to preach, say ing: My reasoning consists not in the embellishments of human eloquence, but in making the people comprehend sincerely the truths of religion? " It was the task of the apostles," says Cornelius a Lapide, commenting on the text just cited, "to show how their spirit manifested the spirit of the divine mysteries so that others might receive the Holy Spirit through them."2
It is said of St. Thomas of Aquin, by the author of his life, that "he accommodated himself to the capacity of his audience, lowering the wings of his genius, pro posing simply such reflections as served to inflame the heart rather than feed the mind. For this purpose he used only such words as were most common and fa miliar, being accustomed to say: 'The language of the preacher should be so clear that the meanest capacity may understand it.' "
In the life of St. Vincent Ferrer we read that the saint
1 " Et sermo meus et praedicatio mea non in persuasibilibus hu manse sapientiae verbis sed in ostensione spiritus et virtutis. " — I Cor. ii. 4.
2 " Haec fuit demonstratio Apostolorum ostendere spiritum eruc- tantem arcana divina, ita ut alii cernerent Spiritum Sanctum per os eorum loqui."
3 " Tarn apertus debet esse sermo docentis, ut ab intelligentia sua nullos, quamvis imperitos, excludat,"
on the Marnier of Preaching. 39
composed his sermons, not on the model of discourses written in select and studied language, but at the foot of the crucifix; and from this source he derived his elo quence. P. Bartoli writes as follows, in his life of St. Ignatius of Loyola: "Where others seek to recommend the word of God by clothing it with ornaments, he, by divesting it of all such elegance, made it appear beauti ful and grand; for his method was to reduce the argu ments to a certain nudity which exhibited them in their true form and genuine character." And therefore the same P. Bartoli relates that the learned who heard him were wont to say: "That in his mouth the word of God had its true weight." The same practice was observed by St. Philip Neri, of whom I already mentioned, as it is written in his life, that he prescribed to the members of his Congregation, in preaching, to treat each subject in an easy and popular manner; and when they indulged in lofty and curious speculations he made them come down from the pulpit.
It is also mentioned of St. Francis de Sales, that when preaching he accommodated himself to the capacity of the rudest among his audience. The incident is well known which occurred to the Bishop of Belley. This prelate being invited by the saint to preach, delivered a very elegant and florid discourse, so that he received the highest applause from his auditors ; but St. Francis was silent, and the prelate, surprised at this, asked him at last how he liked the sermon, the saint replied: "You pleased all but one." The Bishop of Belley was invited a second time to preach, but as he understood that his former discourse was not pleasing to the saint, because it was too highly embellished, he made the second quite simple and moral; and then St. Francis assured him that he was very much pleased with the second dis course. On another occasion he addressed to him the following words: " A sermon is excellent when the audi-
4<3 Letter to a Religious
tors retire from the church in silence, reflecting but not speaking; and instead of praising the preacher, think on the necessity they are under of amending their lives." And as the saint thought, so did he practise. The author of his life states, that although he preached in Paris before an auditory composed of princes, bishops, and Cardinals, he always preached in a solid, simple manner, not seeking to acquire the character of an elo quent preacher, but to gain souls to God. In conformity with this, the same saint wrote from Paris to a religious of his Order in the following terms: "On the vigil of the Nativity I preached in presence of the Queen in the Church of the Capuchins; but I assure you I did not preach better before so many princes and princesses than I do in your poor little convent at Annecy." But because the saint preached from the heart and to draw souls to God, although he preached without ornament, the fruit he produced was immense; wherefore Madame de Montpensier said, as we find it related in the life of the saint: " Others in their sermons fly, as it were, in the air; but the Bishop of Geneva descends to his prey, and this orator of holy love suddenly besieges the heart, and makes himself master of it."
I shall relate in the sequel what the saint wrote in one of his letters, concerning the manner of preaching, and what he thought of those preachers who employ frivo lous ornament in their discourses. It is mentioned in the life of St. Vincent de Paul that in his sermons he used not only a simple, but even an humble style. Above all, he required of his brethren that they should preach to the candidates for orders in a simple and familiar manner; because it is not, he said, pomp of that is conducive to the salvation of souls, simplicity and humility, which dispose the heart to recee the grace of God. And for this purpose he was omed to adduce the example of Jesus Christ, who,
on the Manner of Preaching. 41
although he could have explained the mysteries of faith in a style proportioned to their sublimity, he being the wisdom of the eternal Father, nevertheless made use of familiar terms and similitudes, to accommodate himself to the capacity of the people, and to leave to us the true model of explaining the word of God. Of St. Francis Regis it is likewise written in his life, "that he ex plained the truths of faith with such clearness and sim plicity, that he made himself intelligible to the meanest capacity."
The case of Father Tauler, the Dominican, is also well known. He preached at first in a very lofty style, but being afterwards led to embrace a more perfect life, by means of a poor man who was sent him by God as his spiritual guide, he ceased to preach for many years; but the poor man having enjoined him to resume this func tion, he changed his style of preaching from the sublime to the popular; and we are told that in the first sermon he preached the compunction of the people was such that severat swooned away in the church. We are told of Father John d'Avila, that in his sermons he used such familiar language that by some he was considered to be an ignorant person; so that once a certain individual, who was a man of letters, but of depraved morals, said to his companion, on an occasion when Father d'Avila was to preach, "Come, let us go hear this ignoramus;" but during the sermon he was struck by the grace of God, and he totally reformed his life. Now let us hear the sentiments of this great servant of God. According to the author of his life, he said: " If the preacher does not faithfully fulfil his office, if he is attentive rather to grat ify the taste of his auditors than touch their hearts, and seeks for fine words rather than the conversion of souls: in fine, if by loftiness of thought he preaches himself rather than Jesus Christ, he stands in imminent danger of eternal ruin; he frightfully abuses and betrays the
42 Letter to a Religious
commission confided to him." The same we find written in the life of Father Louis Lanusa, and of Father Paul Segneri, junior, and of other servants of God, particular mention of whom for brevity's sake I omit.
Hence we see the account that these preachers will have to render to God, who preach themselves and not Jesus Christ, as well as the Superiors who allow them to preach in this manner. For myself, once hearing a young man of our Congregation preaching in a grand and elevated style, I made him leave the pulpit in the middle of his discourse. But let them not entertain a doubt that, if they are not corrected by their Superiors, they will be assuredly chastised by God; for the preacher is bound to promote the good of each person who hears him, as in the pulpit he fulfils the office of ambassador of Jesus Christ, as the Apostle affirms of all priests : Ha* hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, . . . He hatJi placed in zis the word of reconciliation. . . . For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us? The preacher then occupies in the pulpit the place of Jesus Christ, and speaks on the part of Jesus Christ to sinners who hear him, in order that they may return into favor with God. Now if a king, as Father John d'Avila observes in one of his letters, commissioned one of his subjects to negotiate a marriage with a lady on his behalf, and the ambassador concluded it for himself, would not such a man be a traitor? And such exactly, said Father d'Avila, is the preacher who, commissioned by God to effect the conversion of sinners, studies to procure glory for himself, and thus renders the divine word useless, by adulterating it so that it produces no fruit. And thus does St. John Chrysostom also denom-
1 " Dedit nobis ministerium reconciliationis. . . . et posuit in nobis verbum reconciliationis . . . Pro Christo legatione fungimur, tan- quam Deo exhortante per nos." — 2 Cor. v. 18.
on
the Manner of Preaching. 43
inate every preacher who preaches from vanity — "A miserable and unhappy' traitor." 1
The embellishment of a sermon with lofty sentiments and elaborate expression, to gain a character for one's self, is precisely that adulteration of the word of God which the Apostle avoided; as he writes to the Corin thians : For we are not as many, adulterating the word of God, but with sincerity, but as from God, before God, in Christ we speak? On which words St. Gregory observes, that adulterers are not desirous to have children: on the contrary, they abhor them; they propose to themselves nothing else but the gratification of their unlawful pas sions: such are those who do not preach to gain souls, but to acquire a name and reputation.3
But let preachers tremble lest God should cut them off, as he threatens by the prophet Jeremias: Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, who steal my words every one from his neighbor? Who are they who unjustly employ the divine word? They are precisely those who make use of it only to acquire the name of great orators, robbing God of his glory to transfer it to themselves. St. Francis de Sales said that the preacher whose discourses abound in foliage, that is, curious thoughts and elegant expressions, is in danger of being cut down and consigned to the fire, like to the unfruitful tree in the Gospel; whilst our Lord said to his disciples, and through them to all priests, that he had chosen them to bring forth fruit— lasting fruit. Hence Cornelius a Lapide, speaking of such orators/hesitates not to assert 1 " Miser et infelix Proditor."
"Non enim sumus, sicut plurimi, adulterantes verbum Dei; st-d ex sinceritate, sed sicut ex Deo, coram Deo, in Christo loquimur."— 2 Cor. ii. 17.
" Adulterari verbum Dei est ex eo, non spiritales fructus, sed adul terines foetus quaerere laudis humanse. " — Mor. 1. 22, c. 17.
" Propterea ecce ego ad prophetas, ait Dominus, qui furantur verba mea: Projiciam quippe vos."—Jer. xxiii. 30, 33.
44 Letter to a Religious
that they sin mortally, both because they pervert the office of preaching to their own exaltation, and also be cause by preaching in a lofty and elegant style they op pose an obstacle to the salvation of so many souls that would be converted if they preached in an apostolic manner.1 The same was said by Father John d'Avila, as we have remarked above: "If the preacher do not faithfully fulfil his office," etc.
Nor does it avail such a person to say: What I princi pally propose is the glory of God. He who makes use of lofty and uncommon language, so as not to be under stood by all, opposes an obstacle to the glory of God, by preventing the conversion of many who hear him, since, as Muratori well remarks, whoever preaches is bound to procure the salvation of each individual, be he learned or ignorant, as if there were no other who heard him. And if any one of them be not converted, because he could not comprehend what was said, the preacher will have to render an account, as God himself declared by the mouth of Ezechiel (this all preachers are sufficiently aware of, but in practice they attend but little to it; hence I repeat it here): If when I say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die ; thou declare it not to him, . . . the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand? And undoubtedly it is the same not to preach the word of God, as to adulterate it by a florid style, so that it does not produce the fruit that it certainly would if it were expounded in a clear and simple manner. St. Bernard says that on the day of judgment those poor ignorant persons will appear to
1 ' ' Pnedicator qui plausum quaerit, non conversionem populi, hie 'damnabitur quia prsedicationis officio, ad laudem non Dei sed suam abusus est, turn quia salutem tot animarum sibi creditam impedivit et avertit." — In Luc. vi. 26.
2 " Si dicente me ad impium: Morte morieris; non annuntiaveris ei, . . . ipse impius in iniquitate sua morietur, sanguinem autem ej»s de manu tua requiram." — Ezech. iii. 18.
on the Manner of Preaching. 45
arraign those preachers who have lived on their bounty, but have neglected to heal, as they ought, the diseases of their souls.1
We should be persuaded that when the word of God is adulterated by studied elegance of expression it be comes feeble and enervated, so as not to be of any ser vice either to the learned or unlearned. I do not assert this of myself: it is stated by St. Prosper, or, if you will, another ancient author who goes under his name.2 And this sentiment he borrowed from St. Paul, who writes as follows: Christ sent me . . . to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void? On which text St. John Chrysostom observes: "Some devote themselves to external wisdom : the Apostle shows that this wisdom does not only aid the cross, but it even annihilates it."1 Lofty conceptions, then, and elaborate expression in sermons hinder and, as it were, annihilate the spiritual profit of souls, which is the fruit of the redemption of Jesus Christ. Hence St. Augustine said: "I should not presume to employ wis dom of speech, lest the cross of Christ become ener vated; satisfied with the authority of the divine word, I would rather serve the simplicity of the Gospel than vanity." 6
St. Thomas of Villanova inveighs against those hearers
" Venient, venient ante tribunal Christi; ubi erit pauperum accu- satio, quorum vixere stipendiis, nee diluere peccata." — De Vita et Mor. Cler. c. 7.
2 " Sententiarum vivacitatem sermo cultus ex industria enervat."— De Vita conic inpl. 1. 3, c. 34.
" Misit me Christus . . . evangelizare, non in sapientia verbi, ut non evacuetur crux Christi." — i Cor. i. 17.
"Alii externae sapientise operam dabant, ostendit (Apostolus) earn non solum cruci non opem ferre, sed etiam earn exinanire."
5 "Non praesumam unquam in sapientia verbi, ne evacuetur crux Christi ; sed Scripturarum auctoritate contentus, simplicitati obedire potius studeo, quam tumori."— Contra Felician. c. 2.
46 Letter to a Religious
who, whilst their souls are lost in sin, go in quest of flowery discourses. "O fool," he says, " thy house is burning, and thou expectest artificial discourse !" ' But this reproof is better directed to those preachers who address a congregation of which probably there are many in a state of sin: these miserable souls require rather the thunder and lightning which would arouse them from their lethargy, and strike them with terror, and for this purpose are required words not borrowed from the academy, but springing from the heart and from a true zeal and desire to rescue them from the hands of the enemy, and yet we would amuse them with polished phrases and sounding periods. If a house were on fire, what folly would it be, says Father Mansi,2 to attempt to extinguish it with a little rose-water. Thus, when I hear any one praised who preaches with studied elegance, and hear it said that his sermons have produced great fruit, I smile, and say: It is impossible; and why? because I know that God does not lend his co-operation to such preaching. My preaching, says the Apostle, was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in shewing of the spirit and power? "To what pur pose," says Origen, commenting on the text cited above, "does all our eloquence serve if it be not animated by the spirit and virtue of divine grace?"4 The Lord lends his aid to him who preaches his word in a plain and simple manner, without vanity, imparting a force and power to his language that moves the hearts of all who hear him. But this efficacy he does not communi-
" O stulte, ardet domus tua; et tu expectas compositam orationem?"
2 Biblioth. mor. tr. 83, d. 42.
3 " Pnedicatio mea, non in persuasibilibus humanae sapientise verbis, sed in ostensione spiritus et virtutis." — I Cor. ii. 4.
4 " Haec verba Apostoli quid aliud sibi volunt, quam non satis esse quod dicimus, ut animas moveant hominum, nisi doctori divinitus adsit coelestis gratiae energia, juxta illud (Ps. Ixvii. 13): Dominus dabit verbum evangelizantibus virtute rnnlta?"
on the Manner of Preaching. 47
cate to studied and polished expression. The diction that is refined and adorned according to the dictates of human wisdom, says the Apostle, as we have before observed, enervates the divine word, and destroys the profit which might be expected from it.
Oh, what a fearful account will those priests have to render to God who preach through vanity ! St. Bridget1 saw the soul of a preacher, who was a relig ious, condemned to hell for having preached in this spirit; and the Lord said to the saint that he does not speak by vain preachers, but rather the devil. In dis coursing one day with that great missionary, Father Sparano, mentioned above, he related to me an awful occurrence. He told me that a certain priest who preached in a polished style, being at the point of death, and feeling a great aridity and indisposition to conceive a hearty sorrow for his sins, almost despaired of his salvation; and then the Lord spoke to him from a crucifix near him, in a voice which was also heard by all present: "I give you that compunction which you ex cited in the hearts of others when you preached." But more terrible is the circumstance related by Father Cajetan Mary de Bergamo, a Capuchin, in his book entitled The Apostolic Man in the Pulpit. This author relates that a preacher, then a Capuchin, related to him the following occurrence, which happened to himself a few years before. He being a young man and accom plished in polite literature, had already begun to preach in the cathedral at Brescia; but when preaching there a second time, after an interval of some years, he was ob served to preach quite in an apostolic manner. Being afterwards asked why he had thus changed his style of preaching, he replied: "I knew a celebrated preacher, a religious, a friend of mine, and who, like me, preached in
1 Kev. 1. 6, c. 35.
48 Letter to a Religious
a spirit of vanity; when he was at the point of death it was found impossible to induce him to make his confes sion. I went to see him, and spoke to him strongly; but he looked at me steadfastly without making a reply. In the mean time the Superior conceived the idea of bring ing to him in his cell the Blessed Eucharist, in order to move him by this means to receive the sacraments. The most Holy Eucharist was brought, and those who were present said to him: 'Behold, Jesus Christ is come to grant you pardon.' But the sick man began to exclaim in a voice of despair: ' This is the God whose holy word I have betrayed.' We all then commenced to pray to the Lord that he would have compassion on him, or to exhort him to confide in the divine mercy; but he in a louder voice exclaimed: 'This is the God whose holy word I have betrayed;' and then added: 'There is no more mercy for me.' We continued to suggest to him sentiments of confidence, when a third time he cried out: ' This is the God whose holy word I have betrayed;' and then he said, ' By the just judgment of God I am condemned,' and suddenly expired. And this is the reason, observed this Father, why I have so much re formed my manner of preaching."
Who knows but some one will smile at those facts, and the whole of my letter; but such a one I shall ex pect to meet before the tribunal of Jesus Christ. Be sides, I do not intend that at all times and before all sorts of persons the same style of expression should be used. When the audience is composed entirely of priests or educated persons, the preacher should make use of more select language; but his discourse should be always simple and familiar, as if he were discoursing in familiar conversation with the learned, and not decorated with lofty ideas and elaborate expressions; otherwise, the more florid the discourse, the less will be the fruit derived from
on t/ie Manner of Preaching. 49
it," says St. Ambrose.1 The pomp and luxury which ap pear in the flowers of eloquence make it useless for the production of fruit. St. Augustine said that the preacher who seeks to please his auditors by an ornamental style is not an apostle that converts, but an orator that deludes; whence it may be said of his hearers what is said of the Jews, who, hearing Jesus Christ, admired his doctrine, but were not converted.2 They will exclaim, " He spoke extremely well;" but they will have derived no profit whatever from the discourse. St. Jerome wrote to his friend Nepotianus that in preaching he should endeavor to elicit tears rather than applause from his auditory.3 St. Francis de Sales expresses the same idea in a more emphatic manner in a letter to an ecclesiastic: "In leaving the church I would not wish it should be said, O how great an orator ! he has a prodigious mem ory; he is very learned; he spoke admirably: but I would wish to hear the hearers say, How beautiful, how necessary is penance! My God, how good, how just Thou art ! and the like: or that the words of the preacher having made a breach in the hearts of the hearers, they were unable to render any testimony in favor of their merit but the amendment of their lives."4
Perhaps the preacher who studies to speak elegantly may entertain a hope that he will obtain universal applause: let him divest himself of this persuasion. Many will praise, many will criticise him; some will offer one opinion, some another. And such is the folly of those orators who preach themselves and not Jesus Christ that, with all their efforts to obtain a vain ap-
" Quod luxuriat, in flore sermonis hebetatur in fructu." — In Ps. 118, s. 12.
2 " Mirabantur sed non convertebantur," — In Jo. tr. 29, n. 2.
3 " Docente te in ecclesia, non clamor populi, sed gemitus susci- tetur. Auditorum lacrymae laudes tuae sint." — Ep. ad Nepotian.
4 Lett re 218, man. de precher , ch. 2, a. 3.
50 Letter to a Religious
plause, they do not, notwithstanding, obtain it from all; whilst, on the other hand, he who preaches Christ cru cified always secures the fruit of his discourse, as by it he pleases God, which should be the only end of all our actions. Hence generally a simple and familiar style of preaching, as Muratori remarks, " will please and delight even persons of cultivated understandings; for, when the preacher speaks in a lofty and florid style, the hearer then is satisfied with relishing and admiring his genius, and pays little or no attention to his own spiri tual profit; on the other hand, even the learned com mend a preacher who, with a view to benefit all, breaks for them that spiritual bread — the word of God. They will not praise his genius, but his fervor; by which, without making a display of talent, he proposes solely to serve the souls of his hearers — this is the true glory to which the sacred orator ought to aspire. Moreover, the learned who desire to derive fruit from the sermon seek not him who enlightens their minds, but him who heals their souls; and on this account both learned and unlearned crowd to hear him who preaches in a popular manner, because every one finds there the spiritual nourishment that is necessary for him."
Seneca says that the sick man does not seek for the physician who speaks well, but who will cure him. To what purpose does it serve, he says, for you to entertain me with fine words when I stand in need of the cautery and the knife to cure me.1 Wherefore St. Bernard says: " I like to hear the voice of that teacher who seeks to gain of me, not applause, but tears." a I recollect that the renowned D. Nicholas Capasso, a man so distinguished for learning, went every day to hear the Canon Gizzio
1 " Non quserit aeger medicum eloquentem sed sanantem. Quid oblectas? aliud agitur; urendus, secandus sum. ad haec adhibitus es."
2 " Illius doctoris libenter vocem audio, qui non sibi plausum, sed mihi planctum moveat." — In Cant. s. 59, n. 3.
on the Manner of Preaching. 5 1
whilst he was giving the spiritual exercises to the members of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost; he said that he went to hear that servant of God because he preached the word of God in an apostolic manner, and without studied elegance. Oh how does the pure and simple word of God please even the learned ! Muratori relates in the life of Paul Segneri the younger, which he wrote, that, although he preached in a familiar and popular style, he delighted all so much that he touched the hearts even of the most enlightened among his audience. In like manner, in the life ' of St. John Francis Regis I find the following passage: "His discourses were simple: he preached only to instruct the people; and, notwithstanding, the gentry as well as seculars and clergy of the town of Puy crowded to his catechetical discourses so eagerly that for two or three hours before lie began every place was occupied; and it was the common saying of the inhabitants of Puy that they admired more his holy simplicity than the studied ele gance of the most distinguished preachers. He, they observed, preaches Jesus Christ and the divine word as it really is; while the others come here to preach them selves, and, instead of the divine word, display their own eloquence, which is altogether human." And the following fact, which is afterwards mentioned, is re markable: There was a certain preacher who gave a series of instructions in the cathedral during the same Lent in which the saint was giving a mission. Being as tonished how it was that the people left him to go hear an ignorant priest, as he considered St. Francis com pared with himself, he went to find the Provincial, who at that time was making his visitation, and said to him that Father Regis was indeed a saint, but that his man ner of preaching was not suitable to the dignity of the
1 By Father Daubenton, 1. 3.
52 Letter to a Religious
pulpit, and that the meanness of his style and the trivial things he said dishonored his ministry. The Provincial replied: "Let us both, before we condemn him, go and hear him." The Provincial was so much affected with the force and unction with which he explained the evan gelical truths, that during the entire discourse he was shedding copious tears; then, on leaving the church, turn ing to his companion, he said, " Ah, my Father, would to God that all sacred orators preached in that manner ! Let us allow him to preach with his own apostolic sim plicity — the finger of God is there." The same preacher, says the writer of his life, was touched with such com punction in hearing the discourse, that instead of cen suring him, as he had proposed, he even praised him as he deserved.
Let us now say something of panegyrics, as we prom ised. Why, I ask, do panegyrics, as they are composed nowadays, produce no fruit ? How fruitful would they be were they delivered with simplicity, detailing with devout reflections the virtues of the saints; thus would the people be moved to imitate their example. This undoubtedly is the object of panegyrics, and hence the masters of the spiritual life recommend strongly the read ing of the lives of the saints. Therefore St. Philip Neri, as the writer of his life relates, recommended the members of his Congregation to adduce, in preaching, some ex ample from the life of a saint, in order that the doctrine might be more firmly impressed on the minds of the hearers; but he wished that such facts should be men tioned as would move the auditors to compunction rather than excite their wonder. Father John Dielegis, who wrote on the manner of composing panegyrics, says that panegyrics do not produce fruit through the fault of the auditors who come to hear the discourse, not to derive any benefit from it, but to listen to exquisite thoughts and an elegant discourse; but he would have
ou the Manner of Preaching, 53
said with more truth, that the fault is generally imputa- ble to orators who fill their discourses with conceits and affected language, for the purpose of obtaining empty praise, when their only object should be, as the same author observes, to move their hearers to the imitation of the virtues of the saints of whom they speak. But let us hear what Muratori says on modern panegyrics. In his work already cited, On Modern Eloquence, in the i3th chapter, he writes thus: " Why do sacred orators for the most part heap together gems and flowers, and make a parade of their eloquence ? The end of panegyrics is to lead the auditory, by such examples, to the practice of virtue; but few indeed think of this. Good God ! how many extravagant hyperboles ! how many fantastic ideas ! in a word, how many silly conceits !"
And in truth, what fruit can be derived from the panegyrics of certain learned preachers, who fill them with flowers, subtleties, ingenious thoughts, curious descriptions, high-sounding words, unintelligible to per sons of ordinary capacity, rounded periods, so long that, to comprehend their meaning, even the learned require to exert all the powers of their minds, so that they nearly resemble academical discourses, in which his own glory is the only object of the speaker. O God ! what a disorder to see a minister of Jesus Christ expend uselessly many months and much labor (one of this class of preachers, who is now in eternity, said, that to compose a panegyric he required at least six months), and for what purpose? — to round periods, and heap together figures and flowers. And what profit does the orator derive from this either for himself or for others ? For himself, nothing but a little smoke; and as for the hearers, they derive from it nothing, or almost nothing, because either they do not understand it, or, if they do, their attention is distracted by those sounding words and ingenious thoughts; and thus they lose their time,
54 Letter to a Religious
It has been related to me by several persons deserving of credit, that the preacher mentioned above, who said that to compose one panegyric he required six months, being at the point of death, gave directions that all his manuscripts should be burned. I was moreover assured that this same person, being once complimented by others for his panegyrics, was much troubled, and replied: " Alas! these discourses will be one day my condemna tion."
Muratori, in a work entitled Christian Charity, writes as follows: " Oh, why have we so many panegyrics, which invariably terminate in a vain display of talent and in genious subtleties, devised by volatile imaginations, unintelligible to the people?" And then he adds: " Let a panegyric, if intended to be useful, be composed in that popular and intelligible style of eloquence which instructs and moves the ignorant no less than the learned; but this is oftentimes not understood by him who fancies himself more learn-ed than others." Oh! that these frothy panegyrics were abolished in the Church, and that these discourses were composed in a simple and familiar manner, as this writer says, who was eminent at once for piety and learning.
But, before I conclude, it is necessary that I should reply to the observation which your letter contains — that to entertain is one of the principal objects of the orator, and therefore, when persons of education assist at a sermon, the preacher should speak in a polished and ornamental style in order to please them.
Reverend Father, I will not reply to you: St. Francis de Sales answers for me, who, in the letter already cited, which he addresses to an ecclesiastic on the man ner of preaching, in confirmation of all we have ad vanced above in the fifth chapter, writes as follows: " Lengthened periods, polished language, studied ges ture, and the like, are the bane of preaching. The most
on the Manner of Preaching. 55
useful and elegant artifice is, to employ none. Our words should be inflamed by an interior charity, and should come from the heart rather than the mouth: the heart speaks to the heart; the tongue speaks but to the ear. The texture of the discourse should be nat ural, without vain ornament, without affected ex pression. Our forefathers, and all those whose preach ing has brought forth fruit, have abstained from speak ing with too much elegance, and from using the ornaments of worldly eloquence, because they spoke from the heart, as good parents do to their children. The object of the preacher is to convert sinners and to make the just perfect; whence, ascending the pulpit, he should say in his heart: Ego vent ut isti vitam hade- ant et abundantius habcant" ' Then the saint, speaking of the pleasure the preacher should afford, uses the fol lowing words: "I know that many say the preacher should delight; but as for me, I distinguish, and say, that there is a pleasure consequent on the doctrine which is preached and the impression made upon the hearers; for what soul is so insensible as not to feel ex treme pleasure in learning the way to heaven; how to gain Paradise; in comprehending the love which God bears us ? And, in order to impart this pleasure, all diligence should be used to instruct and to move. But there is another sort of pleasure which oftentimes is an obstacle to instruction and to persuasion — a tickling of the ear by a profane elegance of language, and a certain balancing of words, which is altogether artificial. And as to this, I say without hesitation, that a preacher should not make use of it, because it belongs to pro fane orators; and whosoever preaches in this manner preaches not Christ crucified, but himself. St. Paul detests preachers who are prurientes auribus, and conse quently such as are solicitous to please their hearers."2
1 Lettre 218, man. de frecher^ ch. 5, a. I, 3, 4; ch. 2, a. 2.
2 lb, ch. 2, a. 3.
56 Letter to a Religious
So far the saint: and let it be observed, that the writ ings of this saint are, in a special manner, approved and adopted by the Church, which prays that by their guidance we may arrive at eternal happiness.1 Such is the prayer we recite in the Office of the saint.
In conformity with this, the learned theologian Ha- bert, speaking of the style which the ministers of the Gospel should adopt in preaching, says that the preacher then should endeavor to please, by a style clear, easy, and accommodated to the capacity of each of his audi tors.2 Then the audience will be gratified, as St. Francis de Sales observes, by understanding the eternal truths, the maxims of the Gospel, and by knowing what they have to do, or to avoid, in order to be saved; they will be pleased whilst they feel themselves touched with compunction, animated with confidence, and inflamed with the love of God.
St. Augustine says that if the pleasures of sense de light, much more delightful is the knowledge of the truth; and hence, he adds, there is nothing which the soul so ardently desires as to know the truth.3 Agreeably to this, St. Francis observes, in his treatise on the love of God: "Truth is the object of the understanding, and hence it finds all its pleasure in knowing the truth; and the more sublime it is, the greater its gratification: whence the ancient philosophers abandoned riches, honors, and pleasures, that they might understand the truths of nature. And Aristotle said that human feli-
" Concede propitius ut ejus dirigentibus monitis, seterna gaudia consequamur. " — We may also apply this remark to the teachings of our saint; for we also read in the prayer of his Office : Ut ejus salutari- bns monitis edocti . . . ad te pcrvenire fcliciter valeamus. He was, moreover, -raised to the dignity of Doctor of the Church. — ED.
2 " Evangelii minister delectabit, si sit sermonis apti, facilis, ac per- spicui."
" Quid enim fortius desiderat anima quam veritatem ?" — In Jo, tr. 26, n. 5.
on the Manner of Preaching. 5 7
city consists in wisdom; that is, in knowing the truth of the most excellent things."1 Hence the saint con cludes, that a soul cannot enjoy greater delight than in acquiring a knowledge of the truths of faith; the more as the knowledge of them is not only a source of pleas ure to us, but also eminently useful, as upon them de pends all our happiness for time and eternity.
Wherefore St. Antoninus says that the preacher ought indeed to delight his audience; but for what end ? In order that, being moved by the discourse they may be induced to practise what they have learned.' On the other hand, St. John Chrysostom affirms that the ruin of the Church is the great eagerness of sacred orators, not to move their hearers to compunction, but to please them with fine words; as if they came to hear a singer chant a piece of sacred music in the pulpit. " Such preachers," continues the saint, " act like a father who gives to his sick child what it wants. Such a one, how ever, does not deserve the name of father. This hap pens every time that one seeks flowery language, not to inspire compunction, but to win vain praise."1 Yes, reverend Sir, there are many sacred orators who delight their auditory by their elegant and pompous diction, and attract crowds to their sermons. But I would wish to know how many of those who are so highly pleased with their discourses, full of elegance and ornament, leave the church with a contrite heart, and afterwards amend their lives. Such precisely was the language of
1 Love of God, B. 3, ch. 9.
2 " Ut sic moveat affectum ut flectat scilicet curando, ut quae dicta sunt, velit implere."— P. 3, tit. 18, ch. 3, § 4.
3 " Subvertit ecclesiam, quod et vos non quseritis sermonem qui pungere possit, sed qui oblectet, quasi cantores audientes. Et idem sit ac si Pater videns puerum aegrotum illi, quaecumque oblectent, porri- gat, talem non dixerim Patrem. Hoc etiam nobis accidit, flosculos verborum sectamur, ut oblcctemtis, non ut compungamus, et laudibus obtentis, abeamus." — In Act. horn. 30
58 Letter to a Religious
St. Francis when mention was made before him of preachers who had obtained great applause. " Be so good as to tell me," he would say, " how many were converted by their preaching." The accursed passion for display spoils the sermons of many preachers, and destroys the fruit of them for those who hear him. This made St. Vincent de Paul exclaim, as we read in his life: "O cursed ambition of display! how many virtues do you infect! of how many evils are you the cause! You make him who should preach Jesus Christ, preach himself, and destroy when he should save." J
Some, in order to entertain the audience, ornament, or rather disfigure, their sermons with witticisms and ridiculous anecdotes, and even go so far as to say that this is necessary in instructions or catechetical dis courses addressed to the people, in order to excite and keep alive their attention and interest. But I know that the saints in their sermons did not make the people laugh, but weep. When St. John Francis Regis preached (and his sermons were always familiar) the audience wept from the beginning to the end of the discourse. A facetious remark, naturally suggested by the occasion, may perhaps be allowed; but to reduce the exhorta tion to a comic scene, as some do, by introducing ridicu lous trifles or curious stories, with attitudes and gestures designed to make the audience laugh — I do not know how they can reconcile such an exhibition with the re spect due to the temple of God, and to the pulpit from which is announced the word of God, and in which the preacher fulfils the office of ambassador of Jesus Christ. The auditors indeed will laugh and be merry, but after wards they will be distracted and indevout, and instead of attending to the moral instruction, will continue to reflect upon the witticism or ridiculous story which they have heard.
1 Abt-lly, 1. 3. ch. 34.
on the Manner of Preaching. 59
From all I have written, your Reverence will be able to infer what surprise the assertion contained in your letter caused me, that the preacher should delight his auditory by a polished and ornamented style. I hope in the Lord that you will remove from your mind this prejudice, this grievous error, hurtful to your own soul, and to all those that will assist at your instructions.
And as your Reverence is so very humble as to con descend, towards the close of your letter, to ask of an unworthy sinner some instructions for preaching with advantage to the people, I recommend you for the most part, in your sermons to speak of the last things — death, judgment, hell, eternity, and the like; because the eter nal truths make the deepest impression, and incline the heart to the love of virtue. I beg of you, repeatedly in your discourses to explain to the people the peace en joyed by the soul that is in favor with God. St. Francis de Sales by this means drew away many souls from a vicious life, and on that account Henry IV., King of France, commended him much, blaming other preachers who make the way of virtue appear so difficult that they deter souls from entering upon it. I entreat you also to speak often of the love that Jesus Christ has shown us in his Passion, in the institution of the most Holy Sacra ment, and of the love we should bear in turn towards our most blessed Redeemer, by often calling to mind those two great mysteries of love. I say this because few preachers, or at least too few, speak of the love of Jesus Christ; and it is certain that what is done solely through fear of punishment and not through love will be of short duration. A great servant of God, and a great laborer in the vineyard of the Lord, Father Gen- naro Sarnelli,"used to say: " I would wish to do nothing else but proclaim without ceasing: love Jesus Christ, love Jesus Christ, because he is deserving of your love." In like manner often recommend, in preaching, devotion
60 Letter to a Religious
to the most Holy Virgin, through whose intercession all graces come to us, by making the people have re course to her at the end of the discourse to obtain some special grace, as the forgiveness of their sins, holy per severance, and the love of Jesus Christ. Above all, I beg of you to give practical advice to your audience, by suggesting the means of persevering in the grace of God, such as to guard the eyes from looking at dangerous ob jects, to fly evil occasion — from conversing with persons of a different sex or vicious companions; to frequent the sacraments; to hear Mass every day; to enter into some pious sodality, to practise mental prayer, instruct ing them at the same time practically in the manner of making it; to read spiritual books; to visit the most Holy Sacrament; to make the examination of con science; to recite the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You should often inculcate conformity to the divine will amidst contradictions, as upon this con formity our perfection and salvation depend. Exhort them particularly to have recourse each day to Jesus and Mary, to obtain holy perseverance, and in particular, in the time of temptation; and I strenuously recommend you constantly to suggest to the people that great means of salvation, prayer — a subject which I remark preachers treat very seldom, and very slightly, although upon prayer depend our eternal salvation and all our good.
I am aware that speaking upon such practical subjects has little attraction for those preachers who aim at lofti ness of speech, because they appear to them to be trivial matters, and they do not admit of ingenious thoughts and sounding periods. But it was thus St. Francis de Sales preached, who converted by his sermons innum erable souls: he always enforced the practices of a Christian life, so that in one country district the people desired to have in writing the practical rules which he
on the Manner of Preaching. 61
recommended from the pulpit, that they might be the better able to put them in practice.
Oh, if all sacred orators preached solely with the view of pleasing God, in an easy and popular style, and dis coursed on the truths and the maxims of the Gospel, in a manner plain, simple, and unadorned, and enforced prac tically the remedies against sins, and the means of perse vering and of advancing in the divine love, the world would change its face, and God would not be offended as we now see him. We may remark, that the country parish in which there is a fervent priest, who truly preaches Christ crucified, is soon reclaimed and sanctified. I say, moreover, if a pious and simple discourse is delivered in a church the whole auditory is touched with compunc tion, and if they are not all converted, they are at least moved and affected; if such a style of preaching, then, were universal, what advantage would we see universally accrue to souls !
I will trespass on you no longer; but as you had the patience to read this long letter, I beg of you to join me in the following prayer to Jesus Christ:
O Saviour of the world, who art little known and loved less by the world, especially through the "fault of Thy ministers; Thou who didst give up Thy life for the salvation of souls, — I beseech Thee through the merits of Thy Passion to enlighten and inflame so many priests who might convert sinners, and sanctify the entire earth if they preached Thy word with humility and simplicity, as Thou and Thy disciples preached it. But, alas ! they do not do so; they preach themselves, and not Thee: and thus the world is full of preachers, and in the mean time hell is constantly crowded with souls. O Lord, re pair this mighty ruin which preachers cause in Thy Church; and if it be necessary, humble, I pray Thee, as an example to others, by some visible sign, those priests who for their own glory adulterate Thy holy word, that
62 Letter to a Religious.
they may amend, and that they may not thus obstruct the spiritual profit of the people. Thus I hope, thus I pray.
I recommend myself to your prayers, and remain your Reverence's most devoted and obliged servant,
ALPHONSUS M.,
Bishop of S. Agatha, etc.
of a funtty !3oak
ENTITLED
"ON PREACHING,
By the Author of the Philosophical Dictionary." J i. Exposition of the Author's Ideas.
WHILE the last pages of the present work (The Truth of Faith} were being printed, this book fell into my hands. By appearing as a new production by the author, who wrote the Philosophical Dictionary, which has already been condemned everywhere, it announces for this very reason a suspicious doctrine. In fact, I have found therein several unsound propositions, and even an impious proposition, which is clearly opposed to holy Scripture.
Moreover, on seeing the title of the work, On Preach ing, one would have thought that it treated of the utility and even of the necessity there is in this world of preaching to the people in order to enlighten them, be cause in consequence of sin and the corruption of their nature they are enveloped in darkness, and naturally inclined, not to what is good and virtuous, as the author wishes, but to evil and to vices. Now this is not the case: the end of the work is to discredit preaching, by representing it as entirely useless for the reforma tion of morals.
I do not wish to quote here all that the author says:
1 Cardinal Villecourt (1. 3, ch. 38) informs us that this anonymous author was an abbe named Coyer, whose person and whose books have hardly been noticed in France. However this may be, his sacrilegious Utopia touched the zeal of the holy bishop, and has produced for us a few more good pages, which appeared in 1767 with The Truth of Faith.
64 Refutation of a Book
I shall give only a short sketch of it, to make the reader understand what the book contains.
The author distinguishes the conversion of the mind from that of the heart, and says that preaching can bring about the conversion of the mind, but not that of the heart; that is, it may effect a change of religion, but not a change of morals. And here is the way in which he pretends to prove this:
He says that preaching began when men united to live together in society. Cain, he says, having built the first city, which he called Henoch, and this city having become peopled with a race as wicked as himself, Enos preached against vice, but without success. Then came Henoch, who added threats, but his preaching was just as fruitless, or rather, it became injurious; for the faith ful, by mingling with the Gentiles to convert them to the wrorship of the true God, married their daughters, and thus the corruption extended throughout the world.
He continues by saying that the Lord, seeing the whole world corrupted by sin, ordered Noe to inform men of the near approach of the deluge ; and Noe in the presence of the Ark, which he had begun to build, preached against vice; but all this was useless, so that God was obliged to submerge the world; and so it hap pened.
After the deluge generations multiplied again, and there were two empires — that of Babylon and that of Ninive. Noe continued to preach, and did so with more force, recalling to people's minds the chastisement that had been administered. The prophets afterwards preached; but the people, instead of amending, added new crimes to their old ones, in such a manner that the Lord sent fire from heaven, which consumed five cities.
After the coming of the Messias St. John the Baptist preached penance; but how many persons practised it? Jesus Christ himself preached, and gathered together
entitled: " On Preaching:' 65
only a small number of disciples, who after his death were dispersed and began to preach throughout the world; but they ended by being put to death in differ ent countries by those very men to whom they had preached.
Thus speaks the author, and then adds:
Under the reign of Constantine the Gospel began to be preached everywhere; many people embraced the faith, but did not renounce vice: they thus changed their religion without changing their manners. Preach ing was much more multiplied in the i2th century, thanks to the zeal of the children of St. Francis and of St. Dominic. Then came the children of St. Ignatius, and many other new religious, who filled the Church with preachers; and notwithstanding all this, the world found itself more than before filled with vice and wicked ness. What means can We therefore employ in order to effect a reform of morals, since so far preaching has always been ineffectual ?
The author, arriving at his conclusion, says that the preacher who is really capable of reforming the world is a good government, which rewards the virtuous and punishes the wicked. Preachers, he says, preach about eternal goods and eternal evils, as faith teaches them; but these future goods and evils are far off, and make little or no impression, because men are more touched by what they see than by what they hear. The author then suggests different ways of extirpating vices.
This is what he first proposes: i. To the fathers of families should be left, as was given by Romulus and Remus, the absolute power of chastising at their will their own children, except that they should not be allowed to sell or kill them, as was allowed to the Ro mans; 2. The husbands should be the judges of their wives; 3. The masters should have over their servants the authority that generals have over their soldiers. 5
66 Refutation of a Book
But his principal project is to establish in every city or village a censor, who should be charged with presiding over the families; then to establish a college of twelve censors from the nearest places, forming a distinct tribunal of the tribunals of justice. This tri bunal would have to chastise the vices that magistrates are not charged with punishing, and to reward the virtues that have not received the reward that they de serve. After this he makes an attack upon the author of the Spirit of the Laws, who had said that a monarchi cal government remedies all things, and replies to him that the universe is an altogether too convenient a censor, since it leaves vices without punishment and virtues without reward.
2. Refutation.
What displeases me above all in these projects is, that the author, in order to induce people to live well, speaks only of human means, and does not even mention the necessity of divine grace, without which all human forces can certainly do nothing for the conversion of hearts. Human governments in punishing bad subjects and in rewarding the good only serve, without divine grace, to make Pharisees, who outwardly appear to be saints, but inwardly are filled with vice. It is grace only that is successful in reforming hearts; hence the Church teaches us to pray thus: Tua nos quasumus, JDomine, gratia semper et prizveniat et sequatur, ac bonis operibus jugiter prcestet esse intentos — (Let Thy grace, we beseech Thee, O Lord, ever precede and follow us, and make us continually intent upon good works). Now holy preach ing, of which I will afterward speak, serves to make us know the necessity of grace, and at the same time the necessity of prayer in order to obtain grace.
As regards the second part of this book, which refers to civil government, it is not my business to discuss it; for
entitled: " On Preaching" 67
it is not a subject about which I am concerned. I only say that if this college of censors, which the author pro poses should depend on a higher authority, I would leave it to this latter authority, as belonging to it, the right of determining whether or not it is expedient to establish a tribunal of this kind; for, on the one hand, it seems that it can be made useful, but on the other hand the greatest inconveniences would result there from. If, on the contrary, one should wish to make it independent by establishing a democratic regime in stead of a monarchical government, it would be in op position to the common opinion of wise men, all of whom hold that the monarchical government is better and more suited to preserve harmony in society.
But let us return to the first part concerning preach ing, which is of particular interest to me: the author de clares it to be useless for the reformation of morals.
If he wishes to speak of vain and ornate preaching, as he really speaks of it in some parts of his book, he is right, and I agree with him; for I myself have published a little work in which I have proved that preachers who in their discourses seek their own glory, and not the glory of God, are, as far as the public are concerned, not only useless, but are often even pernicious; since most of the hearers being illiterate people, these discourses, which they do not understand, only cause them tedious- ness, and they go with disgust to hear the word of God. For myself, I say that if the divine word were not altered, if it were preached in its purity and in a simple manner, every one would become a saint. Very severe will therefore be the account that will have to be ren dered to God by those priests who profane holy preach ing by a lofty and pompous style, beyond the capacity of the people, causing thereby the loss of so many souls. We should read what is said about this matter by Mu- ratori in his golden book entitled Popular Eloquence.
68 Refittation of a Book
In short, if the author means this kind of vain preach ing, he is right when he says that it cannot be con ducive to the amendment of bad morals; but if he speaks in general, as he really does, of holy preaching, I say that his thesis is not only most false, but it is. moreover, pernicious and impious, since it is contrary to holy Scripture.
Holy Scripture teaches us that good morals, likefaith, are propagated and cultivated by preaching. Jesus Christ has declared that to save men his Passion alone was not sufficient, but that preaching was also neces sary in order that men might do penance for their sins and amend their lives: And thus it behored Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead on the third day : and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations? For this reason, therefore, he com manded his disciples to go out into the whole world, to teach not only the mysteries that men should believe, but also the commandments that they should keep: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every crea ture? Teaching them to observe all things ivhatsoever I have commanded you:' In obedience to this command the apostles preached, and their preaching produced fruit in the entire world, as is testified by St. Paul: In the word of the truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you, since the day you heard it?
1 " Et sic oportebat Christum pati, et resurgere a mortuis tertia die, et praedicare in nomine ejus poenitentiam et remissionem peccatontm in omnes gentes." — Luke, xxiv. 46.
2 " Euntes in mundum universum, praedicate Evangelium omni crea- turse." — Mark, xvi. 15.
3 " Docentes eos servare omnia quaecumque mandavi vobis." — Matt. xxviii. 15.
4 " In verbo veritatis Evangelii, quod pervenit ad vos, sicut in uni- verso mundo est, et fructificat, et crescit, sicut in vobis, ex eo die qua audistis." — Col. i. 5.
entitled : " On Preaching? 69
And this came to pass because the Lord co-operated in making successful their zeal: And they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirm ing the word with signs that followed. 1
The author says that preaching is inefficacious for the reformation of morals. But God does not speak thus: the Lord declares that as the rain makes the earth fruit ful and makes it produce wheat, in the same way the word of God does not remain sterile; it produces in souls fruits of good works: And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater j so shall My word be, which shall go forth from My mouth : it shall not return to Me void ; but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it."1 St. Paul adds that the word of God is so efficacious that it penetrates the hearts more than a two-edged sword: For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword ; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit? By the word animcc — soul — we under stand the inferior part of man, which is called animal ; and by the word spiritus — spirit — we understand the superior part, which is called spiritual. Hence the word of God prevents the superior part from uniting with the inferior part, as happens among the wicked in whom the inferior drags down the superior part; so that holy
1 " Illi autem profecti prsedicaverunt ubique, Domino cooperante, et sermonem confirmante sequentibus signis." — -Mark, xvi. 20.
'2 " Et quomodo descendit imber et nix de coelo, et illuc ultra non re- vertitur, sed inebriat terram, et infundit earn, et germinare earn facit, et dat semen serenti, et panem comedenti; sic erit verbum meum, quod egredietur de ore meo: non revertetur ad me vacuum, sed faciet quae- cumque volui, et prosperabitur in his ad qua misi illud." — Is. Iv. 10.
3 " Vivus est enim sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti, et pertingens usque ad divisionem anims et spiritus." — Heb. iv. 12.
70 Refutation of a Book
preaching, or rather, the grace by means of preaching, separates the inferior part from the superior, and pre vents the superior part from being dragged down, and dominates over all the actions and all the desires of men.
St Paul, moreover, writes: It pleased God by the foolish ness of our preaching to save them that believe.1 He says, By the foolishness of preaching : this is because the mys tery of the Redemption, which the apostles preached, was regarded as foolishness by the Gentiles, just as we afterwards read in the same place: But we preach Christ crucified: unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles, foolishness? The Apostle then declares that it is by means of the preaching of such folly that the Lord has wished to save believers. Now in order to save men, they must be led not only to believe the truths of faith, but also to do what faith teaches; for faith alone without works cannot save any one. Hence the Apos tle assures us, in another text already cited, that the faith of Jesus Christ produced fruits of good works in the whole world: It is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit?
Origen also attests 4 that in his time in all parts of the world those that had abandoned their divinities as well as the laws of their country, and consequently their wicked morals, in order to follow the law of Jesus Christ, were innumerable. Hence the apostles, as the fruit of their preaching? had the consolation of seeing the Gentiles not only despise and trample under foot
1 " Placuit Deo per stultitiam praedicationis salvos facere credentes." —I Cor. i. 21.
2 " Nos autem praedicamus Christum crucifixum, Judseis quidein scandalum, Gentibus autem stultitiam." — Ib. i. 23.
3 " In universe mundo est et fructificat."— Col. i. 6.
4 " In omni orbe terrarum, in omni Grsecia atque universis exteris nationibus, innumeri sunt et immensi, qui, relictis patriis legibus, et his quos putabant deos, se discipline Christi tradiderunt." — Periarch. 1. 4, n. i.
entitled: " On Preaching" 71
their gods, but also extirpate their vices, which were inveterate for so many centuries, abhor earthly pleas ures, renounce the riches and the honors of the world, in order to embrace sufferings, opprobrium, poverty, persecution, exile, tortures, and death.
The author says that preaching has not served to ex tirpate vice. It is not denied that, notwithstanding all the preaching, there were, there are, and there will be obstinate people who, in order not to give up their vices, _ renounce God; but on the other hand, how many are there who, after having heard the divine word, have changed their lives and given themselves to God! And these conversions were not dramatic conversions, which were only apparent as would be those that were only accomplished because of temporal rewards and pun ishments, of which the author speaks: they were true conversions of the heart. This was especially shown by so many martyrs, who, in order to confess their faith according to the precept of the Gospel, sacrificed their lives amid torments, and had so great a desire to die, that Tiberian, governor of Palestine, was forced to write to the Emperor Trajan that it was impossible to put to death all the Christians, so great was the number of those that offered themselves to die for Jesus Christ. This subsequently induced Trajan to leave the Chris tians in peace. Those that were thus converted by holy preaching were not only the common, ignorant people; but there were among them nobles, learned men, de- curions, judges, senators, so that Tertullian in his Apol ogy could say to the Gentiles: "We are filling all your places, — cities, islands, meetings, camps, decurions, the senate, the forum."1 After the first three centuries, which were centuries of blood, the fourth and fifth were centuries of self-inflicted penances, and of renouncing;
1 " Vestra omnia implevimus, urbes, insulas, conciliabula, castra, decurias, senatum, forum." — Apologet, c. 37.
72 Refutation of a Book: " On Preaching."
of the world; for many men and women retired to the desert, leaving behind their country, their relatives, their property, and everything, in order to give them selves up entirely to God by the practice of the holy virtues. St. Jerome, when he was living in Palestine, wrote1 that thither came every day from India, from Persia, from Ethiopia, companies of monks living in solitude, for the purpose of visiting the holy places of Jerusalem. And Rufinus2 assures us, that particu larly in the territory of a single city of Egypt there lived at the beginning of the fourth century twenty thousand religious virgins who led a holy life. All this was the fruit of holy preaching.
I do not wish to continue any longer, nor fatigue my readers, to prove the utility and the necessity of holy preaching; for this it suffices to recall to mind what the Apostle says: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ' ? Or how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard 2 And how shall they hear with out a preacher ?3 It seems to me, moreover, that the little that I have said above sufficiently proves how impious is the thesis of the book in question, in which the author pretends to prove that preaching has never been a use ful and proper means for the reformation of morals, when, on the contrary, without preaching we should be deprived of one of the principal means destined by God to bring about the true conversion of hearts.
1 Ad Lcctam, de Instit. filice.
2 Vit. Pair. 1. i, c. 5.
3 " Quomodo ergo invocabunt, in quem non crediderunt ? Aut quomodo credent ei quem non audierunt? Quomodo autem audient sine prsedicante ?" — Rom. x. 14.
& fetter
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE HOLY MISSIONS, TO A BISHOP RECENTLY APPOINTED, BY WHOM THE SAINT HAD BEEN CONSULTED ON THE SUBJECT.*
I HAVE received your lordship's most esteemed letter, in which I see your zeal for procuring missions for all the villages of your diocese, and in which your lordship states several objections which have been made against the advantages of the missions. In obedience to your lordship's commands I shall detail at full length my views on the matter, and shall answer all the groundless objections which have been put forward against the holy missions.
It is certain, my lord, that the conversion of sinners is the greatest benefit that God can bestow upon man. St. Thomas 1 says that the gift of grace by which God justifies the sinner is a greater favor than the beatitude of glory. But the conversion of sinners is precisely the end of the missions; for, by the instructions and ser mons of the missions, they are convinced of the malice of sin, of the importance of salvation, and of the good-' ness of God, and thus their hearts are changed, the bonds of vicious habits are broken, and they begin to live like Christians.
In the old as well as in the new law the Lord or dained that the world should be saved by means of the missions. The faith, according- to St. Paul, has been
1 i. 2, q. 113, a. 9.
* This letter was printed in connection with Sermons for Sundays, which appeared in 1771 {Villecourt, tome vi, pages 304 et 472).— ED.
74 Letter to a Bishop
propagated by preaching; but preaching would have been ineffectual if God had not sent the preachers. How, says the Apostle, shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach unless they be sent? ' Hence, ac cording to St. Gregory, the missions began at the com mencement of the world: for God has never at any time neglected to send workmen to cultivate his vine yard.2 In the Old Testament he sent the prophets to preach the law, and in the New he has sent his own Son to teach us the new law of grace, which is the perfection and accomplishment of the old law. God who in times past spoke to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us by his Son?
But because Jesus Christ was sent to preach only in Judea, he appointed the apostles that, after his death, they might preach the Gospel to all nations.4 By the preaching of the apostles the Gospel began, as we learn from St. Paul, to fructify throughout the world. r> The apostles sent their disciples to propagate the faith in the other nations, which they themselves had not been able to reach. And in after years, as we know from ecclesiastical history, holy workmen were sent by the Sovereign Pontiff and by other bishops to preach the Gospel in other kingdoms. In the fourth century St. Ireneus was sent to France. In the fifth, St. Palla- dius was sent to Scotland, and St. Patrick to Ireland. In the sixth, St. Gregory sent St. Augustine to England.
" Quomodo credent ei quern non audierunt ? Quomodo autem audient, sine praedicante ? Quomodo vero praedicabunt, nisi mittan- tur?" — Rom. x. 14.
2 " Ad erudiendam ergo dominus plebem.suam, quasi ad excolendam vineam, nullo tempore destitit operarios mittere." — In Evang. hom. 19.
3 " Novissime, diebus istis, locutus est nobis in Filio." — Heb. i. 2..
" Euntes in mundum universum predicate evangelium omni crea- tune." — Mark, xvi. 15.
5 " In universe mundo est, et frurlifirat, et crescit." — Col. i. 6.
on the Utility of Missions. 7 5
In the seventh, St. Eligius was sent to Flanders, St. Kilian to Franconia, Sts. Swidbert and Willibrord to Hol land. In the eighth century Gregory the Second sent St. Boniface to Germany, St. Wulfran to Friesland, and St. Hubert to Brabant. In the ninth, St. Ascanius was sent to Denmark and Sweden, and St. Methodius to Bohemia, Moravia, and Bulgaria. In the tenth, St. May- nard was sent to Livonia, and St. Ottone to Pomerania. In the thirteenth century the Pope sent Dominicans and Franciscans to Greece, Armenia, Ethiopia, Tartary, and Norway. These facts have been taken from a work entitled Historical Notices of the Church.
Finally, we know that in later times immense num bers have been converted from paganism in the East Indies and Japan by St. Francis Xavier, and in the West Indies by St. Louis Bertrand. I abstain from mentioning the many provinces of infidels and heretics which were converted by missionaries. St. Francis de Sales was sent to the province of Chablais, and con verted seventy-two thousand heretics. We also know that St. Vincent de Paul instituted a Congregation of priests, which was approved by the Holy See. The priests of this Congregation are called " The Fathers of the Mission," because their lives are spent in giving missions in all places to which they are invited.
In a word, wherever the faith has been planted or a reformation of morals introduced, all has been effected by means of the missions; and when the scourges of heaven — earthquakes, wars, famine, and pestilence — have failed to convert the people, when the civil laws with all their penalties have not succeeded in preventing murders, thefts, adulteries, and blasphemies, the mis sions have been found effectual; hence, the learned Con- tenson of the Order of St. Dominic says that by the missions alone souls obtain eternal life.1 Hence, when
" Per solas missiones impletur pnedestinatio, quae est transmissio creature rationalis in vitam aeternam." — Thcol. 1. 3, d. 6, c. 2, sp. 2.
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a mission is to be given in any place, we can clearly perceive the efforts of hell to prevent it. For there is always some dissolute person who does all in his power to prevent the mission, because he knows that it will be an effectual obstacle to the execution of his wicked de signs. But if in cities the missions are most useful, they are necessary in the villages and small towns as well for the instruction of the people as to give them an oppor tunity of making a good confession. First, in the small towns the missions are necessary for the instruction of the people. It is true, in all or in almost Catholic coun tries, sermons are preached to the people during the Lent. But the people derive far greater fruit from the sermons of the missionaries than from the Lenten dis courses. For the preachers for Lent ordinarily preach in a high and flowery style, or at least in a manner not adapted to the capacity of the poor. They have their sermons committed to memory, and cannot change them, whether their audience consists of the learned or ignorant. When the preachers of the villages came to ask the blessing of Cardinal Pignatelli, Archbishop of Naples, his Eminence recommended them to address the people in a simple and popular style. For, said his Eminence, the greater part of the people being illiterate, they derive no fruit from the sermons unless the lan guage be accommodated to their capacity. He then added, Perhaps you will tell me that the prescription is already written. I then answer, Oh, what a pity for the patients !
The remarks of this holy prelate were most just; for, what benefit can a sick man derive from remedies which have been prescribed without a knowledge of his disease?
Hence, when the poor people of the country places are asked what fruit they have received from the ser mon, they answer that they could not understand it
on the Utility of Missions. 77
because the preacher spoke Latin. It is not true that these preachers always speak Latin, but their language is so little adapted to the weak understanding of the ignorant that to them it is as unintelligible as if it were Latin. I assert, and in this assertion I believe I am not rash, that it would be sometimes better for the ignorant to be absent from these sermons. For after listening for an hour to a sermon, in the hope of deriving from it spiritual profit, they find that their time has been lost, and thus they conceive a dislike for the word of God, and become worse than they were before. Hence it is that after the sermons of Lent we see the same bad practices, the same animosities, and hear the same blas phemies and the same obscenities. The greatest misery of the poor in the country is, as Contenson says, that there is no one to break to them the word of God; and therefore, he says, woe to the bishops, woe to the negli gent priest ! '
But, it will be asked, are there not over the poor in the villages pastors who preach every Sunday? Yes, there are pastors who preach; but we must consider that all pastors do not, or cannot break the bread of the divine word to the illiterate in the manner prescribed by the Council of Trent. " They shall feed the people com mitted to them with wholesome words, according to their own capacity, and that of their people, by teach ing them the things which it is necessary for all to know unto salvation, and by announcing to them, with brief ness and plainness of discourse, the vices which they must avoid, and the virtues which they must follow after."2 Hence it often happens that the people draw
"Tot parvuli in oppidulis petunt panem et non est qui frangat eis. Vae, vae praelatis dormientibus, vae presbyteris otiosis!" — Loco cit.
" Plebes sibi commissas, pro earum capacitate, pascant salutaribus verbis, docendo necessaria ad salutem annunciandoque cum brevitate et facilitate sermonis vitia quse eas declinare, et virtutes, quas sectari opor- teat." — Sess. 5, c. 2, de Ref.
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but little fruit from the sermon of the pastor, either be cause he has but little talent for preaching, or because his style is too high or his discourse too long. Besides, many of those who stand in the greatest need of instruc tion do not go to the sermon of the parish priest. Moreover, Jesus Christ tells us that No prophet is ac cepted in his own country.1 And when the people always hear the same voice, the sermon makes but little im pression upon them.
But the sermons of the missionaries who devote their lives to the missions are well arranged, and are all adapted to the capacity of the ignorant as well as of the learned. In their sermons, as well as in their in structions, the word of God is broken. Hence, in the mission the poor are made to understand the mysteries of faith and the precepts of the Decalogue, the manner of receiving the sacraments with fruit, and the means of persevering in the grace of God: they are inflamed with fervor, and are excited to correspond with the divine love, and to attend to the affair of salvation. Hence we see such a concourse of the people at the missions, where they hear strange voices and simple and popular dis courses. Besides, in the missions, the eternal truths which are best calculated to move the heart, such as the importance of salvation, the malice of sin, death, judg ment, hell, eternity, etc., are proposed in a connected manner, so that it would be a greater wonder that a dis solute sinner should persevere in his wickedness, than that he should be converted. Hence, in the missions, many sinners give up their evil habits, remove proxi mate occasions of sin, restore ill-gotten goods, and re pair injuries. Many radically extirpate all sentiments of hatred, and forgive their enemies from their hearts; and many who had not approached the sacraments for
1 " Nemo propheta acceptus est in patria sua." — Luke, iv. 24.
on the Utility of Missions. 79
many years, or who received them unworthily, make good confessions during the missions.
It has been said that, during the ten or fifteen days which the mission lasts, the missionaries have given absolution to many relapsing sinners, who would require a trial of many months before they could be safely ab solved. Would to God that all confessions were made with the same dispositions with which they are made in the missions. Oh, how small should be the number of damned souls ! Surely length of time is not the only means of ascertaining the dispositions of a penitent; it may be a very fallacious means. How many are there who, in order to receive absolution during the time of the paschal precept, abstain for a month and more from the habits of sin, who interrupt their evil practices, and relapse immediately after? I therefore am of opinion that the disposition of a penitent may be better known from the deep impression made by the sermons, from the compunction of heart which he manifests, from the resolution which he makes, and from the means which he adopts in order to avoid sin, than from length of time. St. Cyprian says that charity is perfected, not so much by length of time, as by the efficacy of grace. And St. Thomas says that God sometimes infuses so much compunction into the hearts of sinners that they instantly acquire perfect sanctity.1 At a synod of the Bishops at Flanders, held at Brussels, the following de cree was made: "The confessor, in the case of greater sinners, even when they are backsliders, should not ask that they should perform works of penance for a nota ble time, but he should with the holy Fathers be mind ful that God in the conversion of the sinner considers not the measure of time but of sorrow."2 Moreover,
"Quandoque tanta commotione convertit (Deus) cor hominis, ut
subito perfecte consequatur sanitatem spiritualem."— P. 3, q. 86, c. 5.
" Confessarius a quibusvis peccatoribus gravioribus etiam recidivis.
8o Letter to a Bishop
since the matter of the sacrament of penance is moral and not physical, it is sufficient for the confessor to have a moral certainty which (as the author of the Instructor of Young Confessors says) is nothing else than a prudent probable judgment, not opposed by a prudent doubt of the dispositions of the penitent. Those who have as sisted in giving missions, and who are accustomed to hear confessions, know well the difference between the confessions made on other occasions and the confes sions made during the missions. They are fully con vinced that in the missions penitents confess their sins with true sorrow, and with a firm purpose of amend ment.
The reparation of so many sacrilegious confessions in which sins are concealed through shame, particularly by women, should of itself be sufficient to render the mis sions very desirable. This great evil of bad confessions is more common in small villages in which there are but few confessors, who are acquainted with all the inhabi tants. Penitents are ashamed to confess their sins to confessors whom they meet every day, and thus through shame they continue to make sacrilegious confessions during their whole lives. Many, through this accursed shame, conceal their sins even at the hour of death, and thus sacrilegiously receive the last sacraments. Hence, the reparation of so many bad confessions is one of the greatest advantages of the missions. The people, know ing that the missionaries are strangers who will remain only for a few days, and whom they shall never see again, are easily induced, by the terrors of the divine judgments proposed in the sermons of the mission, to confess the sins which they had before concealed.
Hence I say that in every village the mission should
stata lege, non exigat ut per notabile tempus prsevia exercuerint opera poenitentise ; sed cum sanctis Patribus expendat Deum, in conversione peccatoris, non tarn considerari mensuram temporis quam doloris."
on the Utility of Missions. 81
continue as long as will be necessary for the mission aries to hear the confessions of all the inhabitants; otherwise, many persons will not be able to make their confession to the Fathers, and thus their consciences will be perplexed and troubled. For, by the sermons, scruples are excited; but by the sermons alone, a person addicted to bad habits, to unjust contracts, or inveterate hatred is not sufficiently taught what he must do in order to tranquillize his conscience. But in confession everything is adjusted, and the penitent is instructed how to make restitution for injuries done to others in their property or character, how to remove the occa sions of his sins, and how to pardon injuries. But if the doubts and scruples excited by the sermons be not removed in the confessional, many persons will be more perplexed and troubled in mind than they were before the mission began. And if a person whose past confes sions were sacrilegious cannot confess to the mission aries, he will, being obliged to make his confession to the priests of the village, continue, as before, to conceal his sins. Where the mission is so short that all the inhabitants of the place have not time to make their confession to the missionaries, it will do more injury than service to many souls. For, some persons whose ignorance rendered the omission of certain sins in con fession excusable, being instructed in their obligation, will be found to confess these sins, but will not have courage to disclose these to the confessor of the place: thus, they will commit sacrileges and be lost.
Finally, all the world knows the immense good which has been and is daily done by the missions. A descrip tion of the innumerable conversions of sinners, produced by means of the missions, would be too long for this letter; but I shall mention a few.
Speaking of the missions of Father Segneri the younger, the celebrated Muratori says that the entire 6
82 Letter to a Bishop
people gave up their employments to attend his ser mons. He says that hatred for their sins and compunc tion of heart were plainly depicted in the countenances of all. Human respect and human feelings were trodden under foot, the most obdurate sinners were converted, and the confessors were obliged to hear confessions not only by day but by night. He adds that after the mis sion the whole town appeared to be changed: scandals were removed, abuses corrected, inveterate and obstinate animosities ceased, and blasphemies, imprecations, and obscenities were no longer heard. A similar descrip tion has been published of the fruits of the missions of Father Joseph Carabantes, a Capuchin; but in one city the people were so deeply penetrated with compunction that almost all of them went through the streets in the garments of penance, scourging themselves, and with tears asking of God the 'pardon of their sins.
Speaking of the missions given by the venerable priests of the congregation of St. Vincent de Paul, the author of his life says that, during a mission in the diocese of Palestrina in 1657, a young man whose arm had been cut off by an enemy, having met his enemy in a public street after the sermon, cast himself at his feet, aslved pardon for the hatred he had borne him, and, rising up, embraced him with so much affection that all who were present wept through joy, and many, moved by his example, pardoned all the injuries that they had received from their enemies. In the same diocese there were two widows who had been earnestly entreated but constantly refused to pardon certain persons who had killed their husbands. During the mission they were perfectly reconciled with the murderers, in spite of the remonstrance of a certain person who endeavored to persuade them to the contrary, saying that the murders were but recent, and that the blood of their husbands was still warm. The following fact is stUl more won-
on the Utility of Missions. 83
derful: In a certain town, which shall be nameless,* vindictiveness prevailed to such an extent that parents taught their children how to take revenge for every offence, however small; this vice was so deeply rooted that it appeared impossible to persuade the people to pardon injuries. The people came to the exercises of the mission with sword and musket, and many with other weapons. For some time the sermons did not produce a single reconciliation; but on a certain day, the preacher, through a divine inspiration, presented the crucifix to the audience, saying: Now let every one who bears malice to his enemies come and show that for the love of his Saviour he wishes to pardon them: let him embrace them in Jesus Christ. After these words a parish priest whose nephew had been lately killed came up to the preacher and kissed the crucifix, and, calling the murderer, who was present, embraced him cordially. By this example and by the words of the preacher the people were so much moved that for an hour and a half they were employed in the church in making peace with their enemies and embracing those whom they had before hated. The hour being late, they continued to do the same on the following day, so that parents pardoned the murder of their children, wives of their husbands, and children of their fathers and brothers. These reconciliations were made with so many tears and so much consolation that the inhabitants long continued to bless God for the signal favor bestowed on the town. It is also related that many notorious rob bers and assassins, being moved by the sermon, or by what they heard from others of it, gave up their arms
* In the Life of the saint by Abelly, 1. 4, ch. 5, this place is called Niolo, situated in the island of Corsica, where a mission was given in 1652. This Life presents many other very interesting details about the good done in the missions given by the children of St. Vincent de Paul. —ED.
&4 Letter to a Bishop
and began to lead a Christian life. Nearly forty of these public malefactors were converted in a single mission.
We read in his life of the stupendous effects produced by the missions of Father Leonard of Port Maurice, of the reformed Franciscans. In a village of Corsica 'called Mariana murders were so frequently committed through revenge that entire families were extinguished; such was the fruit of a mission given by Father Leonard that at the end of it there was not a single individual in the town who had not made peace with his enemies. In another place, called Casaccone, there was a family who obstinately refused to be reconciled with certain persons who had offended them. But when, at the close of the mission, the preacher declared that he did not intend to bless those who retained sentiments of hatred in their hearts, all the members of that family came forward, and with many tears made peace with their opponents. During the mission in this place, a young man came from a distance, for the purpose of killing an enemy, whom he expected to find at the exercises of the mis sions; but by hearing the sermon he was converted, laid aside his hatred and made a general confession. In a town called Castel d'Acqua, there was a great number of opposite factions: during the mission they came one day, armed, to the church. Great slaughter was appre hended; but by the sermon their hearts were filled with compunction: they went of their own accord to the preacher, and a common peace was established. In an other place there were two parties who had been at variance for twenty years; in these contentions many persons were killed. Through the obstinacy of their chief, whose name was Lupo, one of the parties at the beginning of the mission refused to make peace; but at the end of the mission, seeing that his opponents were reconciled with God, and that he was still the enemy of
on the Utility of Missions. 85
God, Lupo was struck with remorse, and offered to make peace: thus the two parties were reconciled. In Livorno great preparations were made for the amuse ment of the carnival; but as soon as the mission began, the masks and dances and, because no person would go to the theatres, even the public comedies were given up. These are ordinary, not extraordinary, fruits of all mis sions : I therefore abstain from saying more on this subject.
Let us now come to the objections that are made against the utility of the missions. It is said in the first place that the fruit of the missions is only temporary, that, though it appears great, it lasts but a short time, and that the wicked become worse than they were be fore. I answer, would to God that all who are con verted would persevere! It is one of the miseries of human nature that many who recover the grace of God lose it again by sin. But though it should be admitted that the fruits of the missions are not permanent, it is at least certain that, during the mission, bad practices are given up, scandals are removed, blasphemies cease, a great deal of ill-gotten property is restored, and many bad confessions are repaired. But it is not true that, after the missions, all sinners become worse than they were before; many persevere in the grace of God, and others, if they relapse, abstain for many months from mortal sin. Moreover, by listening to the sermons of the missions, the people acquire a more perfect knowl edge of God and of the importance of salvation, and a greater horror of sin; and if they relapse into sin, they endeavor to rise again at the time of the Paschal Com munion. I hold for certain that, if among all those who have attended the sermons any one die within a year after the missions, he will scarcely be lost. The fruits of the mission are always visible at least for a year or two; and if they do not last longer, it is because the
86 Letter to a Bishop
priests of the place do not labor to preserve and main tain them by assembling the people to meditation and to the visitation of the Blessed Sacrament, and, above all, by attending to the confessional. " V<z" says the learned Contenson, " pralatis dormientibus, VCR presbytcris otiosis." But when, after three or four years, the land becomes dry, it is necessary to refresh it by another mission.
The second objection against the missions is that the consciences of many are disturbed by scruples excited by the sermons. Oh what an objection! Then, rather than disturb their conscience, it is better to allow sin ners to slumber in the lethargy of sin, and in an ac cursed peace which is the seal of damnation! The devil wishes that the false peace of sinners, which keeps them in a state of perdition, should not be disturbed! But it is the duty of a pastor to awaken those who sleep in sin, and to warn them of the danger of damnation to which they are exposed; and surely than the missions, there is no better means of arousing sinners to a sense of the perils by which they are beset.
Hence, bishops should take care that missions be given in every village, however small. Where there are many villages near one another, some missionaries select for the mission a place in the midst of these villages. The greatest sinners, who are consequently the most blind and the most careless of their salvation, do not go to the exercises of the mission unless they are performed in their own church. They remain at home under the pretext that the church in which the mission is given is too distant, or that the weather is bad, and thus they continue in their miserable state of perdition. I speak from experience; for we found that many places derive little or no profit from the missions, either because these missions were given in the midst of several villages or because they were too short. Hence, when the mission-
on the Utility of Missions. 87
aries of our little Congregation go into any diocese, it is usual to give the mission in every village, however small, at least for eight days, and in populous towns for fifteen, twenty, or thirty days, until the confessions of all are heard.1
The third objection is that the exercises of the mis sions generally end at night, and are therefore a cause of much scandal. I answer that they who attend the exercises are struck with the terror of God's judgments; and should any one during that time be disposed to tempt others to sin, he could not expect to succeed: but even though some attempt should be made to draw others into sins, must the mission be given up? If, to avoid all danger of evil, it were necessary to abstain from what is good and profitable, we should prohibit festivals of the saints, processions, and pilgrimages to holy places, because in these things there is always some disorder; we should prohibit confession, Communion, and hearing Mass, because even in these there are some times scandals and sacrileges. But we know that the Church not only permits but even approves and com mands these things.
But it is said that from preaching at night many sins arise: and will there be no sins if the missions be given up? Ah, if the missions be given up, bad habits, quar rels, blasphemies, and all scandals will continue. But at least, during the mission, thousands of sins are avoided. But you will ask why are the sermons preached at night ? I answer that, where the people attend by day, the ser mons should be preached during the day and not at night; but, where they cannot attend by day, what can be done ? It is certain that if, in the country places, the poor laboring classes, who form almost the entire audi ence, do not attend the sermons, the mission will be lost; but however strongly they may be exhorted to attend 1 See treatise on the EXERCISES OF THE MISSIONS, ch. x.
88
Letter to a Bishop
at an early hour, these poor people cannot come till after the work of the day. Masters and employers are recommended to allow their servants and workmen to give up their work at an early hour during the days of the mission; but these employers look to their own interest and pay but little attention to such recommen dations. The workmen, unless they complete the day's work, are not paid. Without their wages they are not able to provide food for themselves or their families: hence in the villages the poor cannot attend till about sunset; and if they do not attend, I say the mission is lost.1
The fourth objection is that some imprudent mis sionaries preach from the pulpit against the sins which they hear in the confessional, and excite in the people a hatred for confession. This objection has been made by some wicked persons who hate the missions, and is utterly destitute of foundation. The first thing the missionaries do after their arrival at the place of the mission, is to inform themselves of the prevailing sins and abuses of the place, and these they attack in their sermons. But they are careful never to mention in the pulpit any circumstance which, could in the most re mote manner reveal any sin heard in confession. But of what are they to speak in the pulpit ? Is it of ecsta sies, raptures, visions, or of revelations ? No, they must preach against the vices which are most common, and which are ordinarily committed in all places, such as impurity, blasphemies, hatred, theft, and the like.
Finally, it is said that the missions, being repeated every three years, are too frequent, and therefore produce little or no impression on the minds of the people. I admit that, between two successive missions in the same place, there should be a considerable interval of time; but an interval of three years is quite sufficient. For, 1 See EXERCISES OF THE MISSIONS, ch. vii. art. 8, n. 4.
on the Utility of Missions. 89
ordinarily speaking, in that space of time many forget the sermons of the missons, many relapse into sin, and very many fall into tepidity. A new mission will renew the fervor of the tepid, and will restore God's grace to those who have relapsed. But it is not true that re peated missions do not produce much fruit. For although in the second mission the people do not mani fest so much compunction as in the first, the fruit is not withstanding very great. For, as I have already said, many who have returned to their former bad habits rise again from sin, many who became tepid begin again to serve God with fervor, and many are more firmly established in the practice of virtue. Hence, to renew the fervor and resolution of the people, the missionaries of our little Congregation usually return after some months to the place in which they have given missions. And we have learned by experience the great advan tages which flow from these renewals.
I have said enough; I only entreat yom Lordship to continue with your wonted zeal to procure every three years a mission for every village in your diocese. Do not attend to the objections of those who speak against the missions through interested motives or through ignorance of the great advantages of the missions. I also pray you to oblige the pastors and priests of the vil lages to continue the exercises recommended to them by the missionaries, such as common mental prayer in the church, visit to the most holy sacrament, familiar sermons every week, the Rosary, and other similar de votions. For it frequently happens that, through the neglect of the priests of the place, the greater part of the fruit produced by the mission is lost. I recommend myself to your prayers and remain,
Your very devoted and obedient servant, ALPHONSUS, MARIA,
Bishop of St. Agatha, etc.
(ffccrciscs of tljc 41lission0.
OUR saint describes in this treatise the exercises of the missions such as they are given or were given at his time at Naples; but we may clearly gather from what he says, that he does not pretend that the same method should be followed and the same means employed in every place and at all times. This is what he himself, in his old age, gives us to understand when he heard that there was an intention of introducing his Institute into Austria. "The missions," he said, " are not there given in the way in which we give ours: instruction or catechism is more useful there than preaching, because the people are living in the midst of Lutherans and Cal- vinists." Moreover, the statutes of his Congregation lay down this regulation for the missionaries: "Those ceremonies that are obsolete, ludicrous, and unusual in the country or places where they preach, shall be omitted ; and as a general rule, the means of exciting the feelings of the people shall be used but sparingly, or shall even be omitted, especially in large places, and in places where the people are well educated." t{e that presides over the mission should, therefore, consider the circum stances of time and place where the mission is given, and, above all, the character of the people, so as to select and direct the exercises in a manner that will produce most fruit. — ED.
INTRODUCTION.
THERE are some who assert that the missions do more harm than good, because they trouble, they say, the people and their consciences, and because, if the people abstain from committing sin during the mission, they fall back into vice as soon as it is over, and become worse than they were before. Those that speak in this way, having had no experience in regard to missions, are ignorant of the great number of souls that are thereby gained for God. But he that practically knows what missions are, is fully aware how many inveterate enmities they remove, how many bad habits they root out, how many restitutions of ill-gotten goods they bring about, how many law-suits— a fruitful source of hatred — they adjust, and above all, how many bad con fessions they repair, especially in the country in small places, where in this respect one may say that the mis sions are not only useful, as in large cities, but are even necessary. Indeed, as in these places the inhabitants know one another, it is not a rare thing that shame prevents them from manifesting their sins to the con fessors of the place.
It is true, many at the opening of the mission com plain that the missionaries have come to create disturb ance among them; but these complaints are not uttered by good people: they are uttered by those that live thoughtlessly in their sins, and do not wish to be dis turbed. Such is the aim of the devil: he does not wish that his unhappy slaves should be roused from their false peace in which they live— a peace that is to be the cause of their eternal torment and their eternal despair !
It is also true that after the mission many will relapse into sin. Ah ! would to God that all those that are once converted would have the happiness of persevering
94
Introduction.
in the state of grace till death; but so great is human frailty, that many sinners after having recovered the grace of God, again lose it. Nevertheless, even if no other advantage could be gained, it is certain that, at least during the time of the mission, many sins are avoided. The missions, however, bring back to God many souls, who afterwards persevere in God's grace till death; and if many should happen to relapse, they keep fro-m sin at least for several months, and will acquire during the mission a greater horror of sin, a bet ter knowledge of God and of the importance of their eternal salvation.1
As for the exercises of the missions, there are many books that treat of them at length, especially the beau tiful work of the venerable priest Philip de Mura, which bears the title, The Missionary instructed, from which I confess that I have taken the greater part of the present little work. However, it was for the greater convenience of the young members of our Congregation that I made this abridgment, in which I have briefly set forth rules and examples of all the exercises in accordance with the usage of the missions given by our Institute. To these I have added many things and many reflections which an experience of thirty-four years has made me regard as very useful to souls. I hope that this little work will also be profitable to many other priests; for therein they will find expressed in a clear and succinct manner what is said diffusely in other books, the more so since a plain and concise style is more pleasing at the present time, in which one wishes to read little and know much. Besides, in this book will be found exam ples written in a familiar style,, proper for missions, which should certainly be very different from the style in which Sunday or Lenten sermons are preached.
1 These objections are refuted more at length in the Letter to a Bishop, page 73.
(ftlje ©certifies of ll)e Missions.
CHAPTER I. EXHORTATIONS (Sentimenti).
THERE are four kinds of exhortations; namely, the exhortations of the evening, the exhortations of the day, the exhortations during the taking of the discipline, and the exhortations of peace.
To give to each of these exhortations the suitable form, it is necessary to consider the aim and purpose of each. Thus:
1. The exhortation of the evening is given in order to rouse the sinner and to call him to the mission.
2. The exhortation of the day is given to gather together the faithful and to lead them to the church.
3. The exhortation of the discipline is given to move sinners to contrition, and to do penance for their sins.
4. Finally, the exhortation of peace is given to recon cile enemies.
I.
The Exhortation of the Evening.* i. PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
i. The exhortations of the evening contribute greatly to inspire the people with fervor from the very begin-
* This exercise is scarcely in vogue, outside of Italy. It was the practice of St. Alphonsus in his missions to send some of the mission aries, accompanied by clerics with a cross and lighted torches, to make short exhortations at the corner of the streets and public places for the first few evenings of the mission. The object of these exhortations
96 Exercises of the Missions.
ning of the mission. To arouse sinners and to induce them to come to church in order to hear the sermons, it is not sufficient that the opening of the mission be announced to them, or that they be called by the sound of the bell; they must be moved by the power of the word, and by the fear of the chastisements that God has reserved for them. Without these exhortations, at least during the first four or five days, we shall see the church but little frequented by those that need the mis sion most. On the contrary, we know by experience that the evening exhortations awaken in a wonderful way these destitute souls, and determine them to go to the church with the rest.
2. These exhortations should be short, and even very short, so that they do not last longer than half or quarter of an hour, either because being given in the evening, in the open air, and mostly in winter, they may become inconvenient both for the speaker and for the listeners, or even because several exhortations are given in the same evening, and must be given with fervor and vehemence, by using startling expressions which, like arrows, strike the ears and hearts of the hearers. Young missionaries often have this defect, that they prolong these exhorta tions as well as the other smaller exercises of the mission, and almost make sermons out of them. They thereby grow tedious to the listeners and disturb the order of the mission, so that there is no time left for other more necessary exercises.
3. The evening exhortations are concluded, not by an act of contrition, but by a terrible Sentence (sentenza terribile]. Only at the end, after returning to the church, another very short exhortation is made, and is
was to excite the people to penance, and invite them to attend the exercises of the mission. A stanza of some suitable hymn was first sung, and then the missionary gave a short but animated exhortation.
—ED.
Chap. L Exhortations. — /. 97
concluded by an act of contrition expressed in a few words.
2. DIVISION OF THE DISCOURSE.
The evening exhortation contains five parts; namely:
1. The Introduction with the Proposition; 2. The Am plification; 3. Moral reflection with the invitation to penance; 4. The Announcement of the powers with which the missionaries are invested, as also of the exer cises of the mission, and of the indulgences that are attached to the mission; 5. The terrible Sentence.
I. The INTRODUCTION, preceded by the singing of a hymn, may be begun in different ways, of which the following are examples: i. By an EXCLAMATION: "O eternal God ! how good Thou art ! Men despise Thee, flee from Thee; and Thou goest in search of them; Thou callest to them in order to offer them pardon."
2. By a REPROACH: "Sinner! tell me: When will you cease to offend God ?" (It must here be remarked that the exhortation should not be begun by the use of abusive words, such as wretched, villa-nous, crime-laden souls, and the like, for the hearers grow angry when they hear themselves thus called at the beginning of the discourse.) 3. By an INTERROGATION: " My dear brother, tell me: At the end of this kind of life that you are lead ing, what will become of you ?" 4. By expressing a sentiment of COMPASSION: " Poor sinner ! who would not pity your unhappy state, knowing that you are in disgrace with God, etc. ?" 5. By an EXPOSITION: "My dear Christian, I have come to tell you in the name of God, that he is ready to pardon you, if, etc."
After this introduction or the like, the PROPOSITION, or the argument of the exhortation, is announced. The proposition is drawn from the hymn that is sung be fore. Let us suppose that the hymn is as follows: 7
98 Exercises of the Missions.
" Lo ! a God of all compassion
Calls thee; shall he call in vain? If thou yet reject his mercy, Will he ever call again ?"
After the people have heard this hymn, we may thus address them: " My dear Christians, I have come this evening to bring you two messages; the one a message of joy, the other a message of terror: if you return to God, who calls you back to him during this holy mis sion, he will embrace you as his dear children; but if you do not return, and do not return soon, God will no longer call you, and you will be damned." Sometimes it will be well to begin the introduction by the propo sition itself; thus: "You understand me, ye sinners: if now you return to God, you will find him full of mercy; but if you do not return to him immediately, he will turn his back upon you and will no more call you." Sometimes, also, it will be well to repeat the very words of the hymn; for example: "My Brethren, you have heard what the hymn says:
' Soon thy life will end, poor sinner, — Know'st thou when the end will be ? '"
II. As regards the Amplification, the following rules must be observed:
If the proposition is not a truth of faith, as for ex ample, that God after a certain number of sins aban dons the sinner, it should be confirmed by some succinct arguments, presented in short, clear, and quite simple periods. Some short reflection should also be made, but without employing comparisons, frightful examples, or texts of Scripture, unless these texts are short and generally known, such as: God is not mocked. It is ap pointed unto men once to die. Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire ; etc. The following is an example of amplification: If we take the proposition given above,
Cliap. L Exhortations. — /. 99
namely, that God abandons obstinate sinners, we may briefly give the following reason: " He does not deserve mercy who uses God's mercy only to offend him more. The Lord bears with the sinner and gives him time, so that he may be converted and may weep over the evil that he has done; but when God sees this ungrateful sinner, instead of profiting by the time that he has given him to be converted, using it only to heap sin upon sin, he deprives him of life by a just judgment." After wards this short reflection may be added: " Put an end to all this sin — put an end to it, my dear Brethren: know that the greater the patience that God has had with you, the greater will be the chastisement that he re serves for you, if you do not hasten to amend your life."
But if the proposition has for its object some truth of faith, as the certainty of death, of judgment, etc., it will suffice to amplify it by reflections; for example, in speaking of death: "What torture and what despair will you not experience when you see by the light of the candle that the time for doing good has passed for you, and that at this last moment, with your head quite stupefied by fear and confusion, you are no longer capable of doing anything?" etc.
III. The amplification is followed by the MORAL APPLI CATION and by the INVITATION TO PENANCE. Example: " What then would be your folly, my dear Brethren, if instead of returning to God, now that he calls you, you expose yourselves to the danger of being abandoned by God, and consequently of going to endure an eternity of torments in hell! Return to him; do not delay; profit by this favorable moment, in which Jesus Christ himself comes to seek you by a holy mission in your own home."
It must here be remarked, that in the moral applica tion no particular vice should be named; for some one of the hearers might take offence, thinking that on his
ioo Exercises of tJie Missions.
account the exhortation was given. And when the ex hortation is given purposely for the benefit of some scandalous person, it should not be given too near his house, but at a certain distance, so that he may hear it without suspecting that the exhortation is given ex pressly on his account.
IV. Here follows the ANNOUNCEMENT of the mission, which begins or has already begun, by making known the powers with which the missionaries are invested, the exercises that are to take place in the church, and the indulgences that may be gained according to a plan that will afterwards be given.
V. We conclude by the TERRIBLE SENTENCE which should correspond to the proposition of the exhorta tion. This sentence should be short, but should consist of words grave and striking, which will remain engraven on the minds of the hearers; for example: "Tremble, yes, tremble, ye sinners; perhaps this very night, if you do not resolve to amend your life, God may permit death to surprise you, and you may die and be con demned to hell!" Or: "If you do not now weep over your sins, think that you may have to weep over them for all eternity in hell." Or: "Continue, O obstinate sinner! continue to offend God. But remember: In the valley of Josaphat I await you; there you will hear the sentence which Jesus Christ will pass upon you: Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire !" Sometimes we may finish by the very words of the hymn, if they well express the terrible sentence. Example:
" Who can tell ? — perhaps, my brother, Death this night will come to thee."
Chap. L Exhortations. — /. 101
3. EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT EVENING EXHORTATIONS WITH THEIR DISTINCT PARTS.
First Example.
" Lo ! a God of all compassion
Calls thee ; shall he call in vain ? If thou yet reject his mercy, Will he ever call again ?"
1. INTRODUCTION. — Dear Christians, I have come this evening to bring you two messages; the one a message of joy, the other a message of terror: if you return to God, who calls you back to him during this holy mis sion, he will embrace you as his own dear children; but if you do not return, and do not return soon, God will no longer call you, and you will be damned.
2. AMPLIFICATION. — Hear, my Brethren: the Lord par dons the sins of him who repents of them; but he does not pardon him who has the will to commit sin. See for how many years God has borne with you, and is saying to your heart: Cease, my child; amend your life; offend me no more! — And what have you done? Always the same thing: you have confessed, you have promised; yet you have always begun again to sin, you always continue to offend God! For what are you waiting? That God may take you from this world and cast you into hell? Do you not see that God cannot bear with you any longer?
3. MORAL APPLICATION. — Let us, then, my Brethren, give up evil, now that a mission is offered to you; give yourselves to God, who deigns still to wait for you, and who is ready to pardon you all the offences that you have committed, if you wish to amend your life. Come to the church where the mission is going on; come to hear the sermons, and make a good confession. Do not doubt that if you truly desire to abandon sin, I promise
1 02 Exercises of t/ie Missions.
you on the part of Jesus Christ that you will receive the grace of pardon.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT. — See, Jesus Christ has come among you with his holy mission, which begins to-morrow. The missionaries have the power of absolving all reserved cases, even censures reserved to the Pope; they can also dispense from vows. In the church there will be every day, morning and evening, various touching and salu tary exercises, such as the recitation of the Rosary, with instructions and sermons. Moreover, those that attend these exercises, if they confess and communicate, will gain a plenary indulgence when they receive at the end of the mission the Papal blessing. You see that God opens at this moment the treasury of his mercy; you can sanctify yourselves if you wish.
5. SENTENCE. — What do you say? What do you re solve to do? Yes or no; do you desire no more to offend God? Who knows whether it is not the last appeal that the Lord addresses to you ? Hasten to take a resolution. Do you wish to wait until God puts an end to your disorders by casting you into hell without the least hope of ever remedying your misfortune ? Go, my dear Brethren, enter your homes, and reflect on what you have heard this evening; recommend yourselves to the Blessed Virgin, and ask her to enlighten you.
Second Example.
" Sinner, them art foe of heaven,
And thou tremblest not with fear? Cease those sins, my child, ah ! leave them Death advances, hell is near."
i. INTRODUCTION. — O sinner, you remain an enemy of your God without trembling ! . . . My dear Brethren, if you are in the state of sin, it is certain that God is your enemy: God, I say, who if he wishes can this very mo-
Chap. /. Exhortations* — /. 103
ment cast you into hell ! And you sleep, and you laugh, and you do not tremble, and you do not weep . . . !
2. AMPLIFICATION. — Ah ! for myself, I pity you, be cause sin has blinded you, and does not allow you to see the danger in which you are of dying at any moment, and of going to burn in an abyss of fire for all eternity ! Have you perhaps as your enemy only a great man of the world from whom you can hide yourselves, from whom you can escape by flight, or against whom you can defend yourselves? Oh no! it is God whom you have as your enemy — God who sees you everywhere whithersoever you may go, who can reach you wherever you are; if he wishes to chastise you, how could you defend yourselves against his hand ?
3. MORAL APPLICATION. — My dear Brethren, tell me: In living as you do, how can you save yourselves ? Do you not see, unhappy sinners, that you are damned ? Do you not see that God cannot have patience with you any longer? Listen to me this evening: you are now the enemies of God, it is true, since you have offended him much; but he is ready to pardon you if you wish to amend your life. Courage, then, my dear Christians ! come to the mission, go to confession, and renounce sin; hasten to give yourselves to God, who is still waiting for you, who is still calling for you; do not anger him any more.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT. — See, Jesus Christ has come to your very dwellings to invite you to return to him; it is on your account that he has sent hither missionaries, who have the power, etc.
5. SENTENCE. — O sinners ! what more do you wish God to do? Do not, therefore, lose confidence, hope; but hope and tremble: if you wish to amend your life, hope; if you wish to continue to have God as your enemy, tremble — yes, tremble that the present appeal may not be the last one for you; if you do not resolve
104 Exercises of the Missions.
to give yourselves to God, perhaps this very evening God will abandon you, and you will be damned ! Go, my dear Brethren, enter your houses, and reflect, etc.
Third Example.
" Soon thy life will end, poor sinner ;
Know'st thou -when the end will be ? Who can tell ?— perhaps, my brother, Death this night will come to thee."
i. INTRODUCTION. — My Brethren, have you under stood what this hymn says to you : "Thy life will end, and thou knowest not when the end will be"? See, poor sinners, the beautiful life that you are leading' alas ! far from God, far from the sacraments, far from the church. You scarcely hear a Mass on feast days, and when you hear it, you do so in a careless manner; and then how do you spend the rest of the time? To offend, to anger God ! In fact, you live as if you were never going to die.
2. AMPLIFICATION.— Unfortunate sinner! do you not think of death? But whether you think of it or not, whether you wish it or not, a day will come when your life will end; you will have to leave this world; your body will be buried in the earth, and your soul will enter eternity. Do you, my Brethren, believe or do you not believe that? It is certain, it is of faith, that you must die, and that after this life a life is to begin that will never end; and if you are damned, your life will be unhappy, you will be in despair forever, as long as God will be God.
3. MORAL APPLICATION.— Tell me: if this night, or even this moment, while I am speaking to you, death were to surprise you, what would become of your poor' soul? whither would you go, O miserable man? Let us, my Brethren, quickly profit by the means of salva tion, now that God is waiting for you, and gives you
Chap. I. Exhortations. — /. 105
time to confess and to regulate your accounts before death comes upon you. What do you say ? what do you intend to do? You must decide.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT. — See, Jesus Christ has come to call you to himself by a mission, and to pardon you if you wish to do so. The missionaries have the power, etc.
5. SENTENCE. — I ask again: What do you say? what do you wish to do? do you wish to return to God? Consider: How many have died since the last mission given in this place? How many of those that have died are now burning in hell? Why ?— because they did not wish to give up their wicked lives, and God himself has put an end to them. Now do you wish that the same thing should happen to you, and that you should be condemned to weep in the flames of hell during all eternity? Go, my Brethren, into your houses, and re flect, etc.
Fourth Example.
" Love God who, loveth thee,
For love itself is he ;
He bids the sinner weep ; He saith: Poor child, from sin depart ; Rest thee within thy Father's heart ; Turn to thy Shepherd, wandering sheep."
1. INTRODUCTION. — O my God, how good and merciful art Thou towards men ! They leave Thee, and Thou goest in search of them. They outrage Thee, and Thou offerest them pardon and peace.
2. AMPLIFICATION. — My dear Brethren, I come this evening on behalf of Jesus Christ to offer you pardon and salvation, if you wish to accept them. Tell me: Do you merit this grace? The Lord could make you die and send you to hell the moment that you offend him; yet, see the great mercy which he now shows you : instead of punishing you, you see him coming to you with this holy mission, in order to pardon you; he
1 06 Exercises of the Missions.
comes himself to seek you, to make peace with you; it will suffice if you repent of having offended him, and if you promise not to offend him any more.
3. MORAL APPLICATION. — Here is what the hymn says:
" He saith : Poor child, from sin depart; Rest thee within thy Father's heart ; Turn to thy Shepherd, wandering sheep."
Now what do you say? how do you respond to the appeal that the Lord addresses to you? Ah! do not delay any longer, cast yourselves at his feet; come to the chu-rch, and make a good confession.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT.— The mission has already begun. The missionaries have the power, etc.
5. SENTENCE. — My dear Brethren, listen: if you wish to profit by this beautiful occasion of returning to God, he has his arms open to receive you; but if you continue to shut your ears to his voice, tremble lest he may aban don you and may call you no longer. Now if God abandons you, woe be to you ! You will die in your sins, and you will be cast into hell to weep there without any hope of ever remedying your eternal ruin. Go, my Brethren, etc.
Fifth Example.
" Souls to hell are blindly running,
Ah ! what myriads, who can tell ? On they go, because they think not What a fearful thing is hell f"
1. INTRODUCTION. — Sinner, what do you say? You say: If I go to hell, I shall not be there alone? If I am damned, I must have patience ! — Yes, O heavens ! this is what so many blind sinners say, and see how they go to hell ! And why ? You have heard the words of the hymn: "On they go, because they think not what a fearful thing is hell !"
2. AMPLIFICATION. — Listen: What you now say was
Chap. I. Exhortations. — /. 107
also said by so many damned souls that now burn in the eternal fire: "If I go there, I shall not be there alone ! If I am damned, I must have patience !" But at present they do not speak thus. Ah ! would that this evening one of the damned came from hell and spoke in my place; you would hear him cry out: Un happy me! I said that in hell I should not be alone; now that I am damned, would that I could be alone in my punishment ! Alas ! in the midst of this fire, which devours me, in the midst of the darkness, of the smoke that envelops me, in the midst of so many other tor ments, I must still bear the torment of being in the midst of all these damned persons, whose number suffo cates me, whose cries stupefy me, whose stench becomes insupportable to me. I said: "If I go to hell, I must have patience !" Alas ! what patience ! I am dying with rage at every moment; I do nothing but utter cries and shrieks of despair. I should like to die, and I cannot even hope to die.
3. MORAL APPLICATION. — You hear, my Brethren, how the damned speak who cared little about hell, and it is they whom you are imitating. Hear now what God says to you by my mouth : My children, for these miserable beings there is no remedy; but there is a remedy for you if you wish to use it: ask my pardon; I will pardon you, and I will deliver you from hell.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT. — It is for this reason that the Lord sends you this mission. The missionaries have the power, etc.
5. SENTENCE. — O sinners ! who knows whether this is not the last notice, the last mercy, which you receive from God? Put an end to all this; the Lord cannot bear with you any longer; his vengeance is near. Will you believe in hell only when you have arrived there ? Ah! take care, you are going there; and if you once arrive there, remember that there will be no remedy for
1 08 Exercises of the Missions.
your misfortune; think that if you ever fall into that abyss of fire, you will never come forth from it; never, never. Go, my Brethren, etc.
Sixth Example,
" Think, then, ere yet this life is o'er,
On that whereon thy all depends — That evermore or nevermore, Eternity which never ends !"
i INTRODUCTION. — O eternity, eternity! The saints tremble at the mere thought of eternity; and ye sinners, who are in disgrace with God, you do not fear? You do not tremble? It is of faith that he who dies in the state of sin goes to burn in the fire of hell for all eternity !
2. AMPLIFICATION. — What is hell ? It is a dark place, where one sees only horrible monsters; where one hears only cries, shrieks, howling; where one feels only the torture of fire and other torments. And how long will all these horrors last? During all eternity: always, always! Will they ever end? No; never, never! — Come here, unhappy Judas, thou who hast been in hell for so many ages ! tell me: How long will thy punish ment last ? — Judas answers: Always, always ! — And thou, unfortunate Cain! tell me: How long hast thou been suffering in this abyss of fire? Alas ! answers Cain: for many thousand years ! And when will thy punishment be over? — Ah ! never, never!
3. MORAL APPLICATION. — My dear Brethren, what think you? Tell me: How can you sleep with sins upon your souls, and as enemies of God ? Does not an eternal hell await you ? Why do you not resolve to give up the wicked life which you are leading? Now that you can do so, why do you not remedy this great ruin that threatens you if you do not become reconciled with God? Hasten to prevent this misfortune; make a good
Chap. I. Exhortations. — /. 109
confession, return to God's grace; for he certainly does not desire you to be damned.
4. ANNOUNCEMENT.— You already know that the mis sion has been begun. What is a mission ? It is Jesus Christ, who comes to save his lost children and to deliver them from hell. Know that the missionaries have the power, etc. „
5. SENTENCE.— My Brethren, do not fail to profit by this great mercy that God has bestowed upon you to day. Now, while shedding tears at the feet of a con fessor, you can deliver yourselves from hell; but if you do not amend your lives, pay attention to what I am going to say to you this evening: you will have the misfortune of ending by going to weep in hell during all eternity, as long as God will be God ! Go, my Brethren, etc.
4. STANZAS FOR THE EVENING EXHORTATIONS AT A MISSION.
(Per li sentimenti di notte.) I.
Love God, who loveth thee,
For love itself is he ; He bids the sinner weep ; He saith : Poor child, from sin depart ; Rest thee within thy Father's heart; Turn to thy Shepherd, wandering sheep.
2. Tis the Lord hath sent me hither,
Messenger of pardon free ; Day of grace and hour of mercy
Grace perhaps the last for thee !
3- Lo ! a God of all compassion
Calls thee ; shall he call in vain ? If thou yet reject his mercy,
Will he ever call again?
1 o Exercises of the Missions.
4- Sinner, thou art foe of heaven,
And thou tremblest not with fear? Cease those sins, my child, ah ! leave them
Death advances, hell is near.
5-
Now thy Lord is waiting, waiting;
But he will not always wait : When the day of vengeance breaketh,
Cries for mercy come too late.
Turn to God in humble penance,
Sinner, do not still delay ; Do not scorn the love of Jesus,
Cast his mercy not away.
7- Lost in sin, and yet rejoicing !
Far from God, and canst thou sleep? On the brink of fell damnation,
And thou carest not to weep?
Soon thy life will end, poor sinner, — Know'st thou when the end will be?
Who can tell ? — perhaps, my brother, Death this night will come to thee.
9- Think of death ! — that awful moment
When thy dream of life must end ; Boundless bliss or ceaseless torments
On that moment, death, depend.
10. Live thy life of sinful pleasures,
Sinners, yet the end must come ! Then, bold man, thy outraged Saviour
Shall be Judge to seal thy doom.
Chap. L Exhortations. — /. in
ii.
Whither shall thou fly for refuge
From that justly angered One, Sinner, when he shall reproach thee
All the evil thou hast done?
Souls to hell are blindly running,
Ah ! what myriads, who can tell ? On they go, because they think not
What a fearful thing is hell!
13- And when shall hell's sharp pains be o'er?
The insult to God's majesty Has been so deep that evermore
Those pains shall last, eternally.
14. Think on that dread eternity
To which thou art hast'ning ever; Think of that long futurity
Of pains that will leave thee never.
5. SIMULTANEOUS EXHORTATIONS.
Simultaneous exhortations are given but rarely. This means is employed only in certain places when the in habitants do not come in sufficient numbers to the church, or when there are many scandalous persons who do not come to the sermons.
The object that is proposed in these exhortations is, to strike fear into the minds of the hearers; hence the exhortations should be filled with threats of the divine chastisements, such as an unhappy death, abandonment on the part of God, eternal punishments.
The following is the manner of performing this exer cise:
1 1 2 Exercises of the Missions.
1. The missionaries should be so numerous* as to be able to surround the place by keeping themselves at a certain distance from one another, so that their voices do not mingle.
2. They should leave the church in the evening at a later hour than usual, without lights, without the cruci fix, and unaccompanied. Each one goes alone and secretly to the place that is designated; then at the signal given by a stroke of the large bell all begin the exhortation at the same time, and they also finish it at a second stroke.
3. This exhortation, as to its parts, is similar to the evening exhortation that has been described above, but with this difference: the INTRODUCTION is shorter, and it is made ex abrtipto (abruptly) by beginning with the proposition itself, the object of which will be, for ex ample, the proximate abandonment on the part of God, or the ingratitude of those that close their ears to his voice, or justice which he exercises toward those that despise his mercy. To the introduction is joined the AMPLIFICATION with the reflection; then comes the MORAL APPLICATION; but each of these parts should be very short, so also the invitation to penance, which shall be without the exposition of motives, without effective words, and without any announcement of powers or faculties, etc.; hence the simultaneous exhortation is in substance composed only of three parts; namely: The introduction, with a short amplification and reflection, the Moral Application with the invitation to penance, and the terrible Sentence.
* We should know that St. Alphonsus, wishing to produce by his labors solid and durable fruits, used the means suitable for this end: he employed in each mission a number of evangelical laborers proportion ate to the population and to the difficulties of the place; there were often twenty of them, and sometimes more, and the exercises lasted at least two or three weeks. (Tannoia and Villecourt, 1. 2, ch. 52.)— ED.
Chap. L Exhortations. — /. 113
6. EXAMPLE OF A SIMULTANEOUS EXHORTATION. i. INTRODUCTION. — Do you then, O sinner! really wish to damn yourself? Do you wish God to punish and abandon you ? A few days ago the mission began, and you do not even wish to come to the church. Instead of punishing you, God has sent you the holy mission, during which he does not cease to call you night and day, at every hour, in every place, in the church, in the public places, at your very dwellings ! What greater mercy could God have shown you ? And you have be come more and more deaf to his voice, you have become more and more obstinate! Continue, O ungrateful man! continue to despise the invitations and the graces which the Lord offers to you; but you must know that the justice of God is at hand: soon you will be the victim of an unhappy death. The demons of hell demand of God vengeance against you, and God can no longer bear with you. Unfortunate man! I pity you; it would have been better had you not been born! Now, you laugh at the mission; but listen: a time will come when this grace, which God gives you to-day and by which you do not wish to profit, will be a cruel sword which will pierce your soul in hell forever. Then you will open your eyes to weep over and to curse your obstinacy; but then there will be no longer any remedy.
2. MORAL APPLICATION. — Cease then to be deaf, O un grateful sinner! cease to excite the anger of God. Come to church to-morrow; come to hear the rest of the ser mons; the end of the mission approaches. Come; Jesus Christ is waiting for you; make a good confession, but do so soon, soon, soon, before the mission is over. Lose no time; resist no longer God, who is calling you.
3. SENTENCE. — If you do not accept my invitation, I announce to you this evening a great chastisement which God will send you, and I inform you that this
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1 1 4 Exercises of the Missions.
mission which God has sent you to save you, will serve, if you neglect it, to make God abandon you, and make you weep in hell with greater grief; without any hope, then, of ever being able to remedy your eternal loss.
II.
The Exhortation given during the Day.
We have already said in the beginning that the ex hortation given during the day has for its object to col lect the inhabitants and to lead them from the public places and their places of work to the church; the aim of the moral application should therefore be to induce the hearers to come to the church, in order to hear the sermon that is about to be preached.
This exhortation is composed of the same parts as the evening exhortation, but with the following differ ences:
1. It should be longer; may last a quarter of an hour; the arguments may be more extended, and a few — two or three — short Latin sentences may be added; there may also be related an example, which however should have reference to the proposition of the exhortation.
2. The form of this exhortation should also be simple and popular, but less terrible and less vehement.
3. It is not necessary always to begin with a hymn, especially when the people are already disposed to listen.
4. At the end of this exhortation, especially during the first days of the mission we may add the act of contrition, but in a few words.
5. Instead of the terrible Sentence, we finish by a