In 1806 the Grand Duke Ferdinand III. engaged this learned ecclesiastic to educate his son, but he did not long enjoy his deserved promotion, for he died on the 4th of October 1811, aged fifty-nine. His discourses, called "Discorsi Apologetici," consisting of four volumes, are well known and appreciated.]
Some holy Fathers, in speaking of that passage, " And God created man according to His own image and likeness," say that man has two kinds of resemblance to God — the first, signified by the name of image, consists in that man by nature is endowed with an understanding and a will like unto God, capable of knowing Him and of loving Him; the second, expressed by the name of likeness, consists in that man was created in the grace of God, and this gives him a perfect resemblance to His Creator, which he had not in his natural being.
From thence it follows, that since God is the essential and unbegotten beauty, sanctifying grace is the most perfect, the most noble participator of that beauty; the soul which is endowed and adorned with it is infinitely pleasing in the eyes of God. So much so that a great saint, to whom was revealed the wondrous beauty of a soul in a state of grace, used to say that she no longer was astonished that God had willed to shed the last drop of His precious Blood in order to cleanse it, and by His redemption, renew every trace of beauty which sin had entirely effaced.
But if God, who cannot deceive, is charmed with the beauty of a soul in a state of grace, how is it that we are so careless in enriching our souls by the practice of every virtue? Is it not lamentable that we should prefer to please a wretched being — uncomely though we be — rather than try to please the Divine Majesty by that true beauty which He is ever willing to give to those who seek Him?
We daily witness the pains that worldly-minded people take in dressing and decking out their bodies, merely for
