applause, or at least to attract attention, to be thought and spoken of. "Manifest thyself to the world" (John, w, 4) says the demon of vainglory: but the Spirit of God holds another language (Matt., vi). Solitude maybe twofold: the seclusion of the cloister, which implies restriction of intercourse with the outer world; and the eremitic confinement of the cell, a practice which varies in different orders.
Religious life, being essentially a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice, must provide an effectual antidote to every form of self-seeking, and the rules of contemplative orders especially are admirably framed so as to thwart and mortify every selfish instinct; vigils, fasts, austerity in food, clothing, etc., and often manual labour tame the flesh, and thus help the soul to keep in subjection its worst enemy. Contemplatives, in short, forgo many transient pleasures, many satisfactions sweet to nature, all that the world holds most dear: but they gain in return a liberty for the soul which enables it to rise without hindrance to the thought and love of God. Though God Himself is the chief object of their study and meditation, He is not the only one. His works, His dealings with men, all that reveals Him in the province of grace or of nature is lawfully open to the contemplative's investigation. The development of the Divine plan in the growth of the Church and in the history of nations, the wondrous workings of grace and "the guidance of Providence in the Uves of individual souls, the marvels and beauty of creation, the writings of the saints and sages of Christendom, and above all, the Holy Scriptures form an inexhaustible store-house, whence the contemplative can draw food for contemplation.
The great function assiuiied by contemplatives, as has already been said, is the worship of God. When living in community, they perform this sacred office in a public, official way, assembling at stated hours of the day and night to offer to the Almighty "the sacrifice of praise" (Ps. xlix, 14, 23; see Office, Divine). Their chief work then is what St. Benedict (Rule, xliii) calls emphatically God's work (opus Dei), i. e. the solemn chanting of Divine praise, in which the tongue gives utterance to the admiration of the intellect and to the love of the heart. And this is done in the name of the Church and of all mankind. Not only does contemplation glorify God, but it is most beneficial to the soul itself. Nothing brings the soul into such close union with God, and union with God is the source of all saintliness. Never so well as when contemplating the perfections of God and the grandeur of His works does man see his own imperfections and failings, the vileness of sin, the paltriness and futility of so many of his labours and undertakings: and thus nothing so grounds him in humility, the prop and the bulwark of every other virtue.
Love for God necessarily breeds love for our fellowmen, all children of the same Father; and the two loves keep pace with each other in their growth. Hence it follows that contemplative life is eminently conducive to increase of charity for others. The heart is enlarged, affection is deepened, sympathy becomes more keen, because the mind is enlightened as to the worth of an immortal soul in God's eyes. And al- though of the two great commandments given by Christ (Matt., x.xii, 37 sqq.) — love for God and love for our neighbour — the first is exemplified more markedly in contemplative orders, and the second in active orders, contemplatives, nevertheless, not only must and do have in their hearts a strong and true love for others, but they realize that love in their deeds. The principal means contemplatives have of proving their love for others are prayer and penance. By prayer they draw down from Heaven on struggling and suffering humanity manifold graces, light, strength, courage, and comfort, blessings for time and for eternity. By penance they strive to atone for the offences of sinful humanity, to appease God's wrath and ward off its direful effects, by giving vicarious s sfaction to the demands of His justice. Their livei perpetual abnegation and privation, of hardship ch« fully endured, of self-inflicted suffering, joined to sufferings of their Divine Master and Model help repair the evU men do and to obtain God's mercy the evildoers. They plead and make reparation all men. This twofold ministry carried on within narrow precincts of a monasterj' knows no ot! limits to its effects than the bounds of the earth and needs of mankind- Or rather that ministry extei further still its sphere of action, for the dead as well the living benefit by it. (See Contempl.\tii Prayer of; Monasticism.)
St. Thomas. Summa Iheol., II-II, Q. clxxix-clx.x,"di; Suai Tract, de Oratione, Hb. II, c. ix sqq.; Idem, De varietate j gionum. lib. I, c. v, vi; Denys the Carthusian, De contem; Hone: La vie contemplative: son roie apostoliguc (Montre sur-Mer, 1898); Devine, Manual of Mystical Theology (L
°°' 1^03). Edmund Gurdon
Contenson, Vincent, Dominican theologian a
preacher, b. at Altivillare (Gers), Diocese of Cond^
France, 1641; d. Creil-sur-Oise. 26 Dec, 1674. 1
epitaph in the church of that place described liim
"in years a youth, mature in wisdom and in vin
venerable". Despite his short life, he gave proof in
writings of considerable learning and won remarka
popularity by his pulpit utterances. He was sevi
teen years old when he entered the Order of Preache
After teaching philosophy for a time at Albi, a
theology at Toulouse, he began a career of preai
ing as brilliant as it was brief. He was stricken in 1
pulpit at Creil, where he was giving a mission. 1
reputation as a theologian rests on a work entit
"Theologia Mentis et Cordis", pubhshed posthu
ously at Lyons in nine volumes, 16S1; second e
tion, 1687. His Ufe is found in the fifth volume
the " Histoire des homines illustres de I'ordre de Sa
Dominique", by Pere Touron. The peculiar me
of liis theology consists in an attempt to get aw
from the prevailing dry reasoning of Scholastici
and. while retaining the accuracy and solidity of
method, to embellish it with illustrations and imaj
borrowed from the Fathers, that appeal to the he;
as well as the mind. This pious and learned compi
tion has not yet lost its value and utihty for studei
and preachers.
Rose, New Gen. Biogr. Did. (London, 1848); Moreri, Diet. Hist. (Paris, 1759).
John H. Stapleton
Continence. — Continence may be defined as abrinence from even the licit gratifications of marria It is a form of the virtue of temperance, though Aj totle did not accord it this high character since it volved a conflict with wrong desires — an element,
the mind of the philosopher, foreign to the content c
virtue in the strict sense. Continence, it is seen, ha
more restricted significance than chastity, since :
latter finds place in the condition of marriage. 1
abstinence we are discussing, then, belongs to i
state of celibacy, though clearly the notion of this 1|
ter does not necessarily involve that of continencei
Practice. — In considering its practice we regJ continence as a state of life. Though among sava] and barbarians every one, as a rule, seeks to contr! an early marriage, yet even among these peoples ( tinence is frequently practised by those who discba the public duties of religion. Thus, according to thorities cited by Westermarck, the male wizard) Patagonia embraced a life of continence, as did priests of the Mosquito Islands and of ancient MeJ According to Chinese law .such condition of .abstin is made obligatory upon all priests, Buddhist or 1 ist. .'\mong the Greeks continence was require several orilers of priests and priestesses, as it wa the vestals among the Romans. The continence tensively observed among the Essenes, the M
