: necessary to say, since it is sufficiently obvious that what he holily proposed, he efficaciously fulfilled and now, with innocent hands and guileless tongue and pure heart, because he had not applied his soul to vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neighbor, he was on his way returning, and approaching a city, called Agen. What were his holy thoughts, his innocent little hopes, his beautiful meditations, as he walked along at that moment, are known to God and to his angel; to himself they were broken off, for lo he is suddenly attacked by robbers, who dart from the wood, beaten, and torn with cruel stripes. At length, with difficulty, he crawled to the village called Grueria, and there the devout people took care of him, and the matrons contented with each other who should receive him into her house like a son; but he told them, with a sweet and placid look, that his last hour was come, and that he was about to be presented to the mercy of God. "Subvenite potius ut subveniat vobis Deus :-Procure a priest, that I may receive from his hands the Eucharist of our Lord's communion." The priest arrived, and administered to him. "A traveller, "says the youth, "you see me; a stranger and a traveller in this place, and therefore, on this road of my pilgrimage bury me." Then raising his hands and eyes, he said, “O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast made and redeemed my soul, I deliver it up, and commend it to thee, that it may be numbered among the elect souls of thy redemption." So he died, and the people buried him by the side of a royal road, that his grave might be seen by those that passed along, and during a long period his name was forgotten, and it was only pointed out as the grave of a certain faithful stranger: but in the year 971 the body was translated.* What shall I add to this example of youthful humility which so ingeniously sought to be in the grave a monitor, καὶ ἐσσομένοισι πυθέσθαι, of the vanity of all earthly good, of all human hopes, of every thing that is not God? That thetomb in which he was about to lay his innocent limbs might be an object to remind the future wanderer that all his journeys and pilgrimages, all his recollec tions of different places, of beauteous temples, and of the shrines of saints, all his sweet hopes of enjoying the day of return, and even his seemingly devout prospects of shining as a light in the Holy Church, would be to no purpose if they did not spring from higher sources than the mere curiosity of man, and the desire of the eyes and the secret pride oflife; to remind him that in such provision there would be nothing substantial, nothing durable; that,as even the ancient poet sang, "Delight may increase with mortals for a short time, but then it falls to the ground, overthrown by unfortunate counsel. Men are of one day. What is any one? What is no one? Men are the dream of a shadow!" ἐπάμερον, τί δὲ τίς, τί δ' ούτις; Let us pass on then, without further delay, though we could say with Homer, * Chronicon Mosome nse apud Dacher. Spicileg. Tom. VII. p. 628. Pyth. Od. VIII. that "a desire arises of weeping;" let us pass on, lest we should seem willing to grow old in meditating on the state of youth. "Do you not perceive," says St. Jerome, "how you have been a child, a boy, a youth, a man of robust age, and how you are now already an old man? We die daily; we are changed daily. This moment which I occupy in writing is so muck taken from my life: we write, and we write again in answer, letters pass the sea, and ships plough the deep, and with each tide of age our moments are diminished. We have gained nothing but what we can appropriate to ourselves by the love of Christ. "+ It is enough. We have seen how eminently the young in ages of faith were poor in spirit ; nothing remains but to wish devoutly that we too may be children of that beatitude, and that as the Church sings in the anthem at Lauds on Palm Sunday, "Cum angelis et pueris fideles inveniamur, triumphatori mortis clamantes: Hosanna in excelsis." CHAPTER VIII. HUS far we appear to have overlooked the close of the Divine sentence from the Mount, which pronounced of the poor in spirit that theirs is the kingdom of heaven, that is, the fulfilment of all the hopes and aspirations of the heart of man; the accomplishment of the end for which he was created; and though by incident we have already seen in each detail how a sweet and blessed end was theirs, whether we regard them in their capacity of the poor, whose external condition corresponded with that spirit, or of the great and noble, who studied humility, of the learned who retained it, or of the young in whose nature it seemed inherent, it yet remains to direct our thoughts formally to the many and great sources of felicity which appertained to all, even in the present life, the sphere to which these enquiries are confined, in consequence of their moral dispossession and spiritual poverty; and this must be the subject of our last meditation in reference to the beatitude which is the first in order. "Felicity," says the master of divine wisdom, " is the ultimate end of man, and for which all other things are ordained in their due course." On this point there is no dispute, but, as Dante says, Epist. XXXV. + Diego de Stella on the Contempt of the World, Part III. 508. "All indistinctly apprehend a bliss On which the soul may rest; the hearts of all Yearn after it; and to that wished bourn, All therefore strive to tend."* But before eternal truth had spoken to the wearied spirits of men, who would have sought for it under the yoke of servitude, and dereliction, and poverty! Plato indeed had attempted to show, by painful reasoning, that the most virtuous life was the sweetest life. True, indeed, he says admirable things on this head. "It is necessary then to praise the most excellent life, Tov káλλτovẞiov, not only because in its form it surpasses all others in point of honor, but also because it excels in this, which all seek, τῷ χαίρειν πλείω, ἐλάττω δὲ λυπεῖσθαι лара τоν ẞioν äлαντα.‡ And again, in the Platonic dialogue it is said, that "whoever lives a holy life must be happy either below or above ἢ κάτω ἢ ἄνω ευθαιμο " νεῖν σε δεῖ, βεβιωκότα εὐσεβῶς.” But how many forms might be conceived of that excellent life which would have involved men in misery while they looked for happiness? In Plato, therefore, there is nothing save the statement of an abstract proposition, and the real secret is nowhere in his writings found. Pindar, too, says that "if any mortal should possess in his mind the way of truth, he must needs obtain happiness from the blessed gods." But how far his conception of happiness was capable of satisfying the immense desires of the human soul may be inferred from what he says in the same ode, "It is necessary to seek from the gods things suitable to mortal minds, knowing, with regard to the present, of what nature we are. O my soul, do not aspire after an immortal life, but apply to the labors for which you are qualified.” I know, indeed, that it would be as vain for the tongue to attempt to describe, as it would be impossible for the uninitiated heart to conceive that afflation of eternal bliss which is granted to the lowly spirits of those who bear the twelve precious fruits; but it may be allowable to contemplate, as from a distance, the indications of its possession in men during the ages of faith, and with submissive eyes to trace some of the visible and external sources through which it would seem that this water of life was made to flow into their souls. The indications of its existence present themselves in whatever way we bend our steps through the history of Christian ages. The instance which first suggests itself to the memory will render useless any particular research. Thus St. Francis Xavier, whose first cry was "Still more, O Lord, still more, amplius, Domine amplius," when with a prophetic eye he contemplated the sufferings which awaited him, and wished them to be still greater, was heard to exclaim in after-life, as when he walked in the gardens of the College of St. Paul, at Goa, "It is enough, O Lord, it is enough. satis est, Domine satis est ;" alluding to the celestial consolations, which were vouchsafed him in such abundance, that he felt as if he could not endure them long.¶ * Purg. XVII. De Legibus, II. ¶ Vie de S. François, Xav. I. 281. + Id. Lib. V. Ş Axiochus. | Pyth. Od. III. St. Thomas says, that no words can express the happiness of such souls, even in this world.* It remains only to exclaim with the great poet O born in happy hour! Thou, to whom grace vouchsafes, or ere thy close Of fleshly warfare, to behold the thrones Of that eternal triumph! When Angelran, abbot of the monastery of St. Richarius, was sick and confined to his bed with paralysis, he used at times to evince singular joy: and when people would ask him the cause why he appeared so elevated, he used to reply, that he derived this delight from the joys of the heavenly angels and from the perpetual felicity of the saints.† Dante attempts to express this upon meeting with the spirit of Cacciaguida in Paradise, to whom he says, This felicity, where it was not raised into ecstacies, diffused a perpetual sunshine over the conversation and manners of men, for sweet love inspired by holy thoughts must always apparel her in smiles. "Can the good and evil be distinguished by any sign?" asks the disciple in a dialogue ascribed to St Anselm: "They can," is the reply; " for the just, at peace in their conscience, and full of future hope, are cheerful in countenance, their eyes indicating a certain grace, modest in their walk, and sweet in their words, which spring from the abundance of their heart but the evil, from a bad conscience and bitterness of heart, are cloudy in countenance and unstable in words and deeds; immoderate in laughter as in sadness; irregular in all their motions, and they pour out the venom of their hearts in bitter and impure speeches."§ Thus Dante speaks of those that harboring in the light supreme, brought from thence a virtue that, sparkling in their eyes, denoted joy." How well this agreed with the good that is inherent in nature may be inferred from that beautiful answer which is recorded by the ancients of a certain wise old man, who, on being asked what he found the chief result of having become blind, replied, "Puero ut uno esset comitatior."|| "Our young students," says the father-guardian of a Franciscan convent, at La Fleche, "must evince externally the odoriferous fruit of rejoicing and of celestial consolations; for there is nothing more agreeable in a soul which professes piety and desires to lead a spiritual and angelic life, than to display, in all its actions, the smiling and joyous face of an angel. I never deem it a good sign when I see a novice who puts on the dismal air, and follows the phantasy of his young brain; he should obey those who have charge of his conduct, and learn to be gay *III. Part ix. 79. Art. I. Chronic. Centulensis, Lib. IV. cap. ii. apud Dacher. Spicileg. Tom IV. ‡ XVI. § II. Cap. xix. Cicero. Tuscul. V. 39. and joyous in God, during the time of honest and holy recreation. St. Francis recommended his brethren to have always a cheerful air, and never to give way to sadness, which is a murderer of the soul and body. In our seraphic order, numberless examples may be produced. It is said of St. Bonaventura, that he was cheerful and full of consolations for himself as well as for others, and that his address was so engaging, and his countenance so joyous, that he inspired every one with confidence to approach him, and that no one ever departed from him dissatisfied. God had implanted such a degree of love in the heart, and such sweetness on the tongue of this favored creature.”* This is what that good father says; but the same remark is suggested in almost every book which relates to ancient manners. Thus, the conversation of Madame de Chantal, the blessed foundress of the order of the Visitation, is described as being so cheerful and full of sweetness, that even people of the world were enchanted to find themselves in her company;† and the Church reads in her office on the feast of St. Romuald, abbot of Camaldoli, that amidst all the penance, and austerity, and tears of that holy man, he used to be always so full of joy in countenance, that he made the beholders cheerful. Indeed, the spiritual writers generally agree with the opinion expressed by St. Theresa, that, in a vast majority of instances, melancholy is only the result of pride. In the middle ages, a poem, or other book of religious instruction, was always called the joyous book. Thus the author of the Calendrier des Bergeres, which was printed in 1499, says,— Hommes morts, qui desirez sçavoir Comment on peut en ce monde bien vivre Et mal laisser; approchez, venez voir A tous estats bonne doctrine il livre. In attempting now to trace the particular sources which were employed to produce this happy state of mind, and commencing with its lowest indications, as in this cheerfulness, freedom, and even playfulness of manner, to which there is such frequent allusion, it may be shown that here the immediate cause in operation was humility, and the total absence of all that stoical affectation of gravity, which loves to be distinguished from the vulgar, by its severe and unchanging tone. The gravest theologian would have agreed with Octavien de Saint-Gelais, where he says, in one of his poems, Bien licite est à l'omme humain Après devote contemplation Soy occuper à prendre soir et main, * Le sacré Mont d'Olivet, par F. Elzeare l'Archer. 276. Gouget, Bibliotheque François. Tom. X. 200. Marsollier, Tom. II. 35. & Gouget. Tom. X. 232. |