States of Christian Life and Vocation, According to the Doctors and Theologians of the Church/Part 1/Section 2/ARTICLE I. The State of Tendency to Perfection, or the Religious State/CHAPTER VIII.

by Jean-Baptiste Berthier

CHAPTER VIII. FAULTS TO BE SHUNNED WHILE INDUCING PERSONS TO EMBRACE THE RELIGIOUS LIFE.

ACCORDING to Suarez, these faults may all be ranged under the three heads mentioned by St. Thomas, namely, violence, simony, and fraud.^[1]

When the French Revolution, under pretence of restoring captives to liberty, broke open the gates and grates of convents, it met in these holy retreats souls that would have preferred death to the liberty which was offered to them. Nothing short of sacrilegious violence could have dragged these religious from the abodes that sheltered them from the dangers of the world ; for the Church displays wondrous wisdom in her institutions, and, next to God, no one shows greater respect than she does for the freedom of man. " It would," says the Angelical, " be exceedingly wrong to force any one into religion ; and Pope Nicholas I forbids it to be done."^[2]

Violence when great, and such as would make impression on a courageous man, annuls the religious profession. It implies grave injustice, as Suarez observes.^[3] The Church sought, above all, to protect the freedom of women, whose weakness has need of greater support. For this reason the Council of Trent excommunicates those who, by violence or fear, compel a woman to enter religion.^[4] Also bishops in person, or, if prevented, by delegates, are bound to ascertain the freedom of young women who embrace the religious life; and bishops must do this, first, at the clothing, and secondly, before the novices take the vows.^[5]

The second fault to be feared when exhorting others to embrace the religious life is, according to St. Thomas, simony. This name is given to the crime which he would commit who, with money, would attempt to purchase the entrance of any one into religion : and this also is forbidden by the laws of the Church. The holy doctor observes, however, that it would not be wrong to assist a poor person, so that he or she might be able to become a religious; and he adds that it is also allowed to give some little presents without agreement, so as to conciliate the good-will of another, and bring him afterward more efficaciously to understand what will be said to him with respect to the advantages of a religious life.^[6]

Lastly, the third defect would be to induce a person to become a religious through lies. There would be reason to fear that he about whom such means would have been used, finding himself deceived, might return to the world, and thus render his last state worse than his first.^[7]

But now, supposing these three defects, which we have just pointed out, to be avoided, and in our times they are very rare, not to say unheard of, the general rule remains such as the Angelical Doctor laid it down: " Those who entice others to enter religion not only do not sin, but, further more, merit a great reward." Parents, therefore, deserve a great recompense who train up their children for God, and whose most ardent desire is to see those same children consecrate them selves to God. This was the noble ambition of Aleth, the mother of St. Bernard. As an ancient historian relates, she had seven children, who were born rather for the monastery of Citeaux, than for their own family. As long as their mother lived she brought them up less for the court than the cloister, always keeping them from delicacies, and giving them only plain food. She had a special affection for Bernard, whose future greatness had been revealed to her in a dream from heaven. As soon as he was born she consecrated him to God, not merely as she had done with her other children, but in a special way setting him apart, and vowing him to the service of God. But Bernard soon lost his virtuous mother ; so that, when his brothers made every effort to dissuade him from following the religious life, he felt his resolution shaken. Yet the thought of that mother constantly haunted him ; everywhere her sweet face met him, and seemed to say to him : " Is it for the vanities of the world, my son, that I brought you up with such care?" This thought confirmed him in his purpose to quit the world.^[8] Thank heaven ! the ideas of this noble woman have not yet died out in the minds of men. At the present day there are still parents sufficiently enlightened to understand that the greatest bliss of their children is to give themselves to God, and generous enough to sacrifice with joy to the Lord all that they hold to be most precious in this life. Especially there are mothers, who, yearning for what the world fears, constantly ask of God a religious vocation for their children : and they do this, not with human views, but from motives of the purest faith. Blessed parents ! the everlasting happiness which they will enjoy with their children in heaven, will be the reward of their liberality to God.

From all this we are to conclude, once more, that, to speak the language of St. Thomas, those friends act in a praiseworthy manner--laudabiliter facere--who give their friends a relish for the loveliness and consolations of the religious state.

And the great recompense of which the Angelic Doctor speaks, will be given also to priests and pastors of souls who, within the bounds of prudence, which is to be their constant guide, shall employ the means presented to them by their holy ministry to make the religious state admired, sought after, and beloved. They will be condemned and criticised bitterly by those only who fall in with the prejudices of the world, and understand nothing about evangelical perfection. But some may inquire : " Is there not reason to fear lest, in holding up the religious life to souls, we should lead persons to embrace it who are not called by God?" Remember, says St. Thomas, that if entrance into religion, whereby a soul gets near to Christ and seeks to follow him, is suggested by the devil or by any human being, such suggestion has no weight, unless the one to whom it is made be called by God. The desire to enter religion always originates with God, no matter who inspires it.^[9] They likewise do well who, by their exhortations, urge others to that state, thereby cooperating in the action of the Holy Ghost, and endeavoring to enforce by exterior influence what he impels to by his interior working. Are we not the helpers of God, as St. Paul expresses it? (i Cor. iii, 9.)^[10] Still, when speaking to the faithful of the hundred-fold promised by our Lord to those who leave all to follow him, it is good to bring to their notice this other remarkable saying of the divine teacher : "If any one wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt, xvi, 24.) The religious state grants the consolations of grace to those only who sacrifice the tendencies of nature. Indeed, with God s help, abnegation becomes easy for generous souls. "Take up my yoke upon you . . . and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is sweet, and my burden light." (Matt, xi, 29, 30.)

Footnotes

1. Suar., lib. 5, c. viii, n. 10; St. Th., 2, 2, q. 189, a. 9.
2. Ibid.
3. Suar.,lib. 5. c. ix. n. I.
4. Ibid., 2.
5. Lig., lib. 4, n. 5.
6. St. Th., 2, 2, q. 189, a. 9.
7. St. Th. ; 2, 2, q. 189, a. 9.
8. Inter opera S. Bern., ed. Migne, torn. 4, p. 553 ; et seqq.
9. St. Th., opusc. 17, c. x.
10. Ibid., c. xii.