.IBRARY
OOOI QM3St41 fl
NOV T 5
CHURCH HISTORY
IN THE LIGHT
OF THE SAINTS
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON 1 CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA * MADRAS
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
OF CANADA, LIMITED
TORONTO
CHURCH
IN THE
OF THE SAINTS
By Rev. Joseph A. Dunney
"The energy of the Saints has left every-
where its dents upon the world. When these,
reviled for impotence, have turned their
half-disdainful hand to tasks approved by the
multitudes, they have borne away the palm
from the world in its own prized exercises."
FRANCIS THOMPSON
New Yorls
THE MACMIIXAN COMPANY
1944
*. ; * : jfVRTHUR'j': &CANL.O" S: T?.I> V ;
* I r -" *.- ^ Censor. Iffirwrffyi .*!
ffi FRANKS J^-'^PELLMAN, D. D.
Archbishop, New York
New York, August 2, 1944
Copyright, 1944, by
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
All rights reserved no part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without permission in writ-
ing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
wishes to quote brief passages in connection with
a review written for inclusion in magazine or
newspaper.
First Printing.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
SAINT OF THE CENTURY
CHAPTEH PAG*
I. SAINT PETER 3
First Vicar of Christ
II. SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR 25
Preeminent Apologist
III. SAINT ANTHONY . , 45
Founder of Monasticism
IV. SAINT JEROME 59
God's Battler
V. SAINT PATRICK 81
Light of the North
VI. SAINT BENEDICT 105
The Ideal Monk
VII. SAINT COLUMBAN 125
Vagrant of Heaven
VIII. SAINT BONIFACE 147
: >jJtik. Tamer of Tribes
IX. SAINT ANSGAR 169
Apostle of the Vikings
X. SAINT BERNARD OF MENTHON .... 191
Apostle of the Alps
XL SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR ... 211
Sans Peur et Sans Reproche
V
v?v > ^Contents
; * * * <
1 0, 4 r
CHATTER ' ' * < PAGE
XII. SAINT '.BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX ... 235
Fatrier-oi'Western Mysticism
XIII. SAINT THOMAS OF AQUINO 257
Europe's Greatest Thinker
XIV. SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA 281
The Seraph-Hearted
XV. SAINT JOAN OF ARC 301
Savior of France
XVI. SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA 323
Champion of the Church
XVII. SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE . . 345
Father of Modern Pedagogy
XVIII. SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DI ROSSI .... 367
Paragon of Priestliness
XIX, SAINT JOHN BAPTIST VIANNEY .... 387
Marvel of the World
SAINTS AND MARTYRS IN THE AMERICAS
XX. SAINT ROSE OF LIMA 411
Flower of the New World
XXI. SAINT ISAAC JOGUES 433
Servant of Savages
BIBLIOGRAPHY 453
INDEX 459
MAPS
PAGE
The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent 21
Europe in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries 130
Arab Conquests, Seventh and Eighth Centuries . . . . 157
Europe in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century . . . . 333
The Western Hemisphere Showing First Explorations . . . 417
Saint Peter
FIRST VICAR OF CHRIST
SAINT PETER AND THE FIRST CENTURY
Roman
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
A.D.
Vicars of Christ
AUGUSTUS,
Holy Family in Nazareth
i
-14
Jesus teaches in the Temple
8
TIBERIUS,
14-37
Andrew and Simon, seamen of Galilee
25
Appearance of John the Baptist
26
Public ministry
c 27
Passion and death of Jesus
cso
ST. PETER,
Birthday of the Church
c 30
c 30-67
St. Peter, Bishop of Antioch
33
CALIGULA,
37-41
All Palestine under Herodian Prince
4i
CLAUDIUS,
St. Peter goes to Rome
042
41-54
The name "Christian" first used
44
' St. Peter preaches in Palestine
44
St. Peter visits the Asiatic provinces
45
St. Peter's first epistle from Rome
C48
Jewish worship forbidden in Rome
50
First Council of Jerusalem
50
St. Paul's third journey
52
NERO,
r68
St. Paul imprisoned at Rome
61
St. James, Bishop of Jerusalem, martyred
St. Peter's second Epistle from Rome .
62
63
Nero's persecution of the Christians
Judeo-Roman War
66
Sts< Peter and Paul martyred in Rome
67
ST. LINUS,
St. John goes to Asia Minor
67
67-79
GALBA,
68-69
Death of Nero by his own hand
68
VESPASIAN,
69-78
Titus destroys Jerusalem
70
TITUS,
ST. ANACLBTUS,
7Hi
79-89
DQMITTAN,
Persecution under Domitian
81
ST. CLEMENT,
81-96
Christian communities flourish in Italy
95
8H7
NERVA,
96-98
TRAJAN,
Last days of St John
100
ST. EVARISTUS,
98-117
97-105
SAINT PETER AND THE FIRST CENTURY
The Land Jems Loved
The Sea of Galilee showed no larger than a speck on the
imperial military map. Rome in her pride of possession re-
garded it as a mere drop in that hot oven, the Oriental prov-
ince. Even so, its waters were alive with busy little craft, its
shores lined with towns, wharves and factories. The well-
built roads which girded the coasts were trodden by the
Legion, relieving guard in the cities and enforcing the Roman
peace by their fear-inspiring standard S.P.Q.R, All patriotic
Jews deeply resented the presence of that engine of oppression ;
and though shackled by the stranger within their gates, they
dreamed of a day when their crushed nation would regain
life and liberty. Not the least of these freedom-loving folk
were Andrew and Simon, brawny sons of Jona the Galilean.
Born in Bethsaida, brought up by good parents in the spirit
of the Law, they grew to love their native shore and chose
the life of hard-working fishermen. Andrew the elder was
strong and capable, Simon was daring itself, fiery and impetu-
ous. The treacherous waters had no terrors for those hardy
seafarers, whose fishing boat cut the restless blue of Gen-
eserath and who themselves appear to have caught some of
the character of its volcanic depths. Day after day they
ventured far out into the deep, cast heavy nets, and brought
home the catch. But their hearts only half engaged in the
task, for they were waiting in the silent hope for the Messias,
Who, they were sure, would help them throw off the yoke
of Rome.
One day in the year 26 startling news reached the ears of
these Galilean loyalists. John the Baptist, a great prophet,
Church History in the Light of the Saints
was preaching deliverance! Down by the desert edge, only
sixty miles away, they might find him, "the voice crying in
the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord." All that
the excited messengers could report was that this strange
ascetic appeared out of nowhere and stood on the wayside
rocks, proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom. No sooner
had the caravans brought news of the Baptist's fiery attacks
than crowds poured out from Jerusalem to hear his message
of hope and repentance. Nay more, the rumor ran, many
Scribes and Pharisees were questioning his bold words: "Now
is the axe laid to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore
that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast
into the fire." 1 Andrew and Simon agreed it was not time to
tarry any longer with their tangled nets; indeed for all they
knew the Expected of the Nations might actually be among
them. So, carrying their dream in their hearts, the brothers
headed for the wilderness of the Jordan. At last they saw
with their own eyes the great ascetic the man of one work,
one love, loyal to Christ even unto death. But the blessed
moment came when Andrew heard the Baptist say: "Behold,
the Lamb of God !" and caught a glimpse of Jesus of Nazareth.
Up spoke the Galilean fisherman asking Jesus where He
abode. "Come and see," was the gentle reply, and thus
Andrew had the privilege of staying with the Master all that
day. Anon accosting Simon with the glad word, "We have
found the Messias!" he brought his brother to Jesus. And
Jesus, looking upon the eager warmhearted young fisherman,
said: "Thou art Simon, the son of Jona: Thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is interpreted the Rock." 2 What a divine
destiny awaited that Rock Simon Peter!
Back at their trade again, the sons of Jona cast out into
1 Luke III, 9
2 John I, 41-42
Saint Peter and the First Century
the deep and mended nets on the seashore. But they were
strangely restless; with hearts full of hope they counted the
days since their sojourn in the Jordan country. All this
time, remember, their purpose was divinely fixed, themselves
inwardly pledged to mighty loyalties. The hour came when
Jesus appeared, beckoning them. "Come after Me/' He
cried. "Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men."
They had been waiting, and jumped to the call; "leaving
all things they followed Him." 3 Theirs was no volatile
enthusiasm, but the action that springs from living faith and
love. Out now for active service, they were by way of be-
coming intimates of the Master, their resolve was never to
leave Him. And while they were travelling along the strand
of Galilee others were called James and John, Philip and
Nathaniel. The little group became close-knit in the spirit
of simple, forthright devotion. One morning they accom-
panied Jesus and Mary to a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.
Love deeper than any amaze grew in loyal hearts, when they
saw the Master work His first public miracle by changing
weak water into rich wine! "After this, Jesus went down to
Capharnaum. He and His mother and His brethren, and
His disciples; and they remained there not many days/' 4
The Public Ministry
At last the Ministry of the Kingdom was well launched,
and many people followed Jesus, believing Him to be the
long-expected Messias. Twelve men all Galileans except
Judas of Kerioth in Judea, were presently numbered in the
highly favored company of disciples. Think of their privilege ;
daily they lived in fellowship with Our Lord; hourly they
observed His acts, heard His words, drawing therefrom light
8 Matt IV, 19
4 John II, 12
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and power. But, will the multitude stay with Him or will
they prove fair-weather disciples "He who is not with Me
is against Me, and he who gathereth not with Me, scatter-
eth!" 5 The test is not far off ; it came the day Jesus multi-
plied loaves and fishes to feed the five thousand. A great
discourse followed in which He declared Himself the Living
Bread from Heaven: "Amen, amen I say to you, except ye
eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you
shall not have life in you." 6 At these words all appeared to
be taken by surprise. Many indeed were shocked, many more
murmured ; some alas, turned away and walked no more with
Jesus. Sad of heart, the Master addressed the Twelve;
"Will you also go away?" Peter replied in an outburst of
Ecstatic loyalty, "Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
w/ords of eternal life. And we have believed and have known
tfiat Thou art the Christ, the Son of God." 7 Here was vital
ti*ust! deathless hope, loving enthusiasm! The chief disciple
m%ht, yes, would, falter under sudden onsets of trial, yet
nev\er was there question of his abiding allegiance.
Tlhe world's history was being divinely changed during
thojpe days when Jesus came in and went out among men.
Maifs and Eros still held sway, while on Caesar's throne
Tiberius watched all roads for legates with reports of political
and military successes. Wily agents arrived daily with news
from Britain, Spain, Gaul, Egypt; there were messengers too
from the Orient. In Palestine, one Pontius Pilate held forth
as Roman governor of Judea; Herod, the tetrarch, exacted
hated taxes in Galilee; Ituria and Abilina were ruled by
Philip and Lysanius. Now and then the disciples heard
their Master refer to the existent political situation: "Ye
5 Luke XI, 23
6 John VI, 54-59
7 John VI, 68-69
Saint Peter and the First Century
know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and the
great impose their authority upon them." 8 "Give to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's but to God the things that are
God's/* 9 "The Son of Man came not to be ministered to
but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many." 10
So spoke the Lord of the World but the rank and file of Jewry
still had their doubts, being moral cowards in their hearts.
And little did the Emperor dream that in this obscure corner
of his eastern domain was the inception of a divine revolution,
a reign destined to outlive the Empire itself, a Kingdom of
God in the hearts of men.
Three God-spent years announcing that Kingdom ! Along
the roads of Judea and Samaria, in the towns and cities of
Galilee, the disciples wended their blessed way. They saw
the Master heal and bless and pray; they marvelled at the
way He breathed over human lives and filled them with
happiness.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
Of him that bringeth good tidings,
Of him that sheweth forth good,
That sayeth to Sion ; Thy God shall reign. 11
The little band, united in love and devotion, moved by the
side of Jesus. But time and again it was Peter, above all
the others, who proved the mettle of his deathless faith. On
their last journey together to Jerusalem the Master will put
two questions: "Whom do men say I am? Who do you say
I am?" Peter answers: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
Living God." Thereat Jesus rewards him with: "Blessed
art thou, Simon son of Jona, for flesh and blood have not
* Matt XX, 26
Matt XXII, 21
w Matt XX, 28
11 Is. LII, 7
Church History in the Light of the Saints
revealed it to thee but My Father Who is in Heaven. And
I say to thee: Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give to thee the Keys of the Kingdom
of Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, it
shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in Heaven." 12 Observe
that with the sole exception of the Baptist, this is the only
time Our Lord pronounced a beatitude on an individual,
One can very plainly see that Peter was set apart from the
others, divinely destined to become their leader.
The Rock Cephas!
What manner of man was this whom Christ chose to be
the Rock the foundation stone of His Church? A natural
leader, Peter was affectionate but of quick temper: brave,
yet not seldom wavering: rough and ready, none the less
sincere, single of eye, clean of heart. Heir to a past with all
its bluff and brawn, his defects of quality had to be corrected.
Well for Peter that he has a Divine Master Who can teach
him to obey, ta'me his impetuous spirit, demand that he
humbly submit to the yoke. In fact, no disciple received
rebukes so often as the Rock-man upon whom Jesus designed
to build His Church. Important then to study the formation
of this spokesman of the Twelve ; instructive to observe how
Christ proceeded to check, the prominent faults of His Apostle
in the making. It happened one day early in the public
ministry that the disciples in Peter's boat found themselves
in direst peril, adrift in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Lo|
the Master appeared, walking on the waters, and Peter made
a boastful challenge, nay more, boldly attempted to tread the
waves. But see his sudden fear as he sinks, hear the piteous
12 Matt XVI, 13-19
8
Saint Peter and the First Century
appeal for help, and note the Master's gentle rebuke: "O,
thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?" 13 Again, when
the Master speaks of His impending suffering and death, the
outspoken disciple protests, "Lord, be it far from Thee, this
shall not be unto Thee/' And this time he draws a strong
rebuke: "Get behind Me, satan, thou art a scandal unto Me:
because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but
the things that are of men." 14
How often Peter lets his heart run away with his head.
How frequently he wrestles with "self," suffers from an end-
less conflict going on in his breast. He appears utterly
unable to grasp the greater things of the spirit and has to be
led on firmly in the face of many relapses. Quick to make
snap judgments, he jumps at conclusions, airs his mistaken
notions. Not once, but many times he questions the Christ
as to the practical bearing of His words; "Lord, dost Thon
speak this parable to us, or likewise to all?" 15 "Lord, how
often'shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him?
till seven times?" 16 "Look, Lord, we have left all things
and have followed Thee: what therefore shall we have?" 17
Quite brash, he pledged His Master to pay the Temple tax,
and while Our Lord indeed accepted the obligation, at the
same time He taught His rash disciple a timely lesson. 18
The raw vigor of the man, his yielding firmness, nay his ques-
tionable resourcefulness appear in cumulative force. One
has only to read the refusal at the Last Supper to be washed :
his pathetic inability to watch one hour in Gethsemane: his
swift sword-play before the angry mob: and, saddest of all,
18 Matt XIV, 31
" Matt. XVI, 22-23
Luke XII, 41
M Matt XVIII, 21
Matt. XIX, 27
18 Matt. XVII, 24
9
Church History in the Light of the Saints
his triple denial. No wonder Peter fled from the court of
Caiaphas driven by a panic of shame, burning with the fever
of a racked soul. Tears, bitter tears, attest the broken
disciple brought face to face with the poor naked reality that
is himself. But repentance wakes in his soul, repentance
which is followed by divine forgiveness. The mercy that
shone in the eyes of the captive Savior will win the day in
His disciple's heart, stronger now, as he walks in grief, still
living in His light by which he sees all other lights. . . .
Christ is risen! Signs of His tender love for the penitent
disciple multiply. An angel at the sepulchre commands the
holy women: "Go, tell His disciples and Peter." 19 The fact
that the Head of the Twelve was the first of them to behold
the Lord is attested beyond all doubt. There is no denying,
either, that Peter's importance is increasingly recognized by
his Master Who had long distinguished him beyond all his
companions. On his side the disciple attempts to make a
return for all that love and trust. The climax of his pent-up
affection came the day Christ appeared on the shores of Lake
Genesareth. "And when the morning was come, Jesus
stood on the shore. . . . That disciple, therefore whom Jesus
loved said to Peter: It is the Lord! Simon Peter when he
heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him . . . and
cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in
the ship. . . ." 20 On this occasion the devotion of the impetu-
ous disciple is again rewarded: "Simon, son of Jona, lovest
Thou Me more than these? He sayeth to Him: Yea, Lord,
Thou knowest that I love Thee. He sayeth to him: "Feed
My lambs. . . . Feed My sheep." 21 Now that Cephas has
been exhorted to tend and feed Christ's sheep, never shall
" John XX, 2
20 John XXI, 7-8
21 John XXI, 15-17
IO
Saint Peter and the First Century
that pastoral image be out of his mind, even unto the end
will that great charge be treasured in his heart. 22
The Early Church
The Christ of Glory ascended to Heaven, having promised
to prepare a place there for His faithful disciples. Ten days
pass during which the bereaved ones dwell on their loss, ever
mindful of the Passion and Crucifixion. Ten long days, then
the Holy Spirit mysteriously enters their hearts there in that
upper room in Jerusalem. Lo! a world-changing thing
happens, the fulfillment of a promise given by Jesus at the
Last Supper, "I will ask the Father and He shall give you
another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever. I
will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. In that day
you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and
I in you." 23 That was Pentecost, the birthday of the Catholic
Church. Militant, the Apostles marched onward towards
eternal conquests, conquests for eternity; they were all of
them saints now, full of the Fire, the Love, the Light from
above. They were confronted by the world, the flesh and
the devil; they contended with a jangle of pagan philosophies,
a jungle of lascivious literature, spirits of evil in high places.
It mattered naught that they were arrested, imprisoned,
scourged, forbidden to preach: "With great power did they
bear witness to the Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ,
and grace was mighty among all the faithful/' 24 Behold
St. Peter, the dauntless herald of Christ, first in their ranks
as on their lists, 25 He stands up in the midst of one hundred
22 1 Peter II, 25; V, 2
John XIV, 16, 18, 20
M Acts IV, 33
28 Matt. X, 2-4; Acts I, 13; Matt XVI, 18; Luke XXII, 32; John XXI
II
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and twenty disciples all of whom recognize his leadership. 26
He moves fearlessly about the streets of Jerusalem; not only
does he work astounding miracles, more than ever is he aware
of the divine authority entrusted to him. As converts multi-
ply, he is opposed, arrested, cast into a dungeon, but an angel
frees him. 27 Nothing daunted, he sets out to preach and
baptize along the old familiar roads of Judea, across the
sands of Samaria. An ancient tradition discovers him at
length in Antioch, the first bishop of that great city; and
later he labors in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia. . * .
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations ! M Given the world
as a field for the faith of Christ, the gospel-seed must be
scattered, the Church through apostolic labors expand into
a larger society. That is sufficient explanation why Cephas
did not remain all his life long in the Oriental provinces or
even in the Greek. The Roman Empire, remember, was
divided into far-flung districts : the Latin provinces occupied
the western basin of the Mediterranean as far as the Adriatic :
eastward stretched the Greek provinces as far as Mount
Taurus, and there Greek languages and manners obtained:
farther east lay the Oriental provinces with their medley of
ancient rites and tongues. To Rome itself, the capital of
that vast Empire, St. Peter was destined by Heaven itself to
journey. Did not Caesar, the obscene spider,* dwell there,
drawing all within the range of his power. And were there
not roads aplenty, Roman roads, over eight hundred in
number, which led everywhere into the most remote prov-
inces ; a vast tattered web they started" at the golden mile-
stone in the Forum and reached out to seize and hold three
continents. Now since all nations were included in his
pastorate, St. Peter naturally and supernaturally needs must
26 Acts I, 15
27 Acts IV, XII
12
Saint Peter and the First Century
go to their center. Christ's was the command, to be sure,
but His Vicar's was the inspired response. Never was any
resolve firmer, any step more determined, any adventure
more divine than that of the Chief Shepherd to visit those
"other sheep, " show them the truth, win them into the true
fold. At no time in his life was the great apostle more certain
of his duty of conveying the truth he possessed than the day
he turned his steps towards the two million pagans in the
Imperial City. "O most blessed Apostle Peter, this was the
city to which thou didst not shrink to come. The Apostle
Paul, thy comrade in glory, was yet occupied in founding the
Churches, and thou didst enter alone into that forest of wild
beasts roaring furiously; thou didst commit thyself into that
stormy ocean more boldly than when thou walkedst upon
the waters to come to Jesus."
St. Peter in Rome
Into the Porta Portese, about the year 42 A.D., came the
Prince of the Apostles, having made his way over land and
sea. Indubitably this arrival in the heart of the pagan world
marked an event the importance of which cannot be over-
estimated. A handful of early converts already dwelt in the
packed ghetto on the far bank of the Tiber. They were
driven from Jerusalem perhaps during the first persecution
and found their way to the Port of Rome. Jews of the Old
Law had indeed settled in the capital fifty years before; but
Aquila and Priscilla, Syrian Jews, were the first to form the
nucleus of a Christian community. As time went on the
name of Jesus was heard on the busy quays; the faith, like
"a lamp shining in a squalid place/' began to shed its rays in
the poverty-stricken quarter. The Emperor Claudius little
dreamt that over there at the foot of the Janiculum the
foundations were being laid of an Empire which would outlast
13
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the immortal Rome of the Caesars. Yet, so it was to be.
Had the elite of the city ventured as far as the Jew-ridden
docks they could have rubbed elbows with the founder of
this Empire of Christ. For St. Peter, indistinguishable from
any poor countryman in his worn gaberdine, was ever busy
about his Master's business. By day and night he moved
among the mass of hovels and lodging houses; hour upon
hour he spent near the wharves piled up with bales of mer-
chandise; more precious still were those minutes during
which he celebrated the Eucharist for his ever-growing flock,
and bade them come to Christ, and be built upon Him as
living stones upon a cornerstone. 28
Word of all these doings went stealing forth to reach at
last the ears of Clatidius. Near the port, he was told by his
spies, balesome activities of the new religion had been un-
covered and should be reported at once to the Senate. For
this Cult of the Hung, they assured Caesar, was "a foreign
superstition/ 1 far more menacing than any and all of the
fantastic religions vying one with the other in the imperial
city. Amazing, in all truth, was the growth and spread of
this secret worship of the Crucified! And Claudius might
might well be disturbed upon learning of the conversion of
Philo, of Prudens, the Roman Senators, and his own two
beautiful daughters, Praxedes and Prudentiana. Nay more,
was not the city all agog over the fate of one Simon Magus,
the magician, who publicly failing to raise a dead youth was
straightway confounded by a Jewish newcomer working that
very miracle. And when this same wily impostor attempted
further to delude the people by claiming he would fly to
heaven, he met with a deserved end, for at the prayer of the
elect the demons left him and he was dashed bleeding to
earth. These and other miraculous incidents bespeak nothing
2 * I Peter II, 5
14
Saint Peter and the First Century
if not the all-embracing activity of the Chief Apostle plant-
ing the seed of the Church.
Prince of the Apostles
The next glimpse we get of St. Peter is at the Council of
Jerusalem about 50 A.D. a bishop among and over the
bishops, ever preserving the divinely bestowed preeminence.
All the Apostles, having preached the Gospel in the world,
assembled in the Holy City; there were many things to be
arranged, difficulties to be solved, matters that called for
practical decision. A grave problem arose as to whether
Gentile converts should submit to the Old Law and be cir-
cumcised! The point was fully discussed, arguments heard
on both sides. Then St. Peter rose up, spoke at length, and
gave his considered judgment:
"Men, brethren, you know that in former days, God made choice
among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of
the gospel and believe.
"And God, Who knoweth the hearts, gave testimony, giving unto
them the Holy Ghost, as well as to us ; and put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
"Now therefore, why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the
necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been
able to bear? But by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe
to be saved, in like manner as they also/* 29
After that the other apostles kept silence until St. Paul and
St. Barnabas endorsed all that the Head of the Church had
said. And then St. James, the local bishop, clinched the
argument in these words: "Men and brethren, Simon hath
declared !" Could anything show more clearly that St. Peter
was the acknowledged Vicar of Christ. . . .
Leaving the ancient city of David, the apostle had a world
Acts XV, 7-1 1
15
Church History in the Light of the Saints
of work to do. Heavy, indeed, were the obligations imposed
by his call to feed the lambs and the sheep. His flock, exiles
scattered from the heavenly Jerusalem, 30 included Asiatic as
well as African and Western Christians. And it is likely the
spokesman of Christ may have visited crowded communities
of the Dispersion, since Parthians, Medes, Elamites and
dwellers in Mesopotamia had been among his hearers on
Pentecost. Try, then to picture St. Peter on those missionary
journeys! The old fiery energy is tempered by the tone of
apostolic dignity, an echo of which can be caught here and
there in the New Testament. No person living in that age
stands on so high a plane as this fearless Vicar of Christ ; no
fact in the history of those early days is more sublime than
the unfaltering constancy of the Bishop of Rome. St. Peter,
it is true, flashes across the later pages of Holy Writ like a
traveler journeying over mountain peaks. You see him for
an instant, then he vanishes from the sky-line, lost amid deep
shadows and silences. Anon he reappears strong, tireless,
carrying on in enduring effort. All that might serve us as a
missionary log, the two Epistles, instead of giving place-
names, provides a fragmentary story of fearless adventure
for Christ. Yet all who run may see between the lines a great
shepherd, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, guarding his
scattered sheep, every one of them near to his heart.
Ordeal by Fire and Sword
Days of bitter trial for the infant Church continue, almost
without cease. Nero, last of the Caesarean family, ascended
the throne in 54 A.D., and bestial is the word for his reign of
over a decade. By his monstrous way of life he put himself
beyond the limits of love or pity, indeed beyond all humanity.
"Priam," he once declared in a black mood, "was lucky in
30 1 Peter IV, 10
16
Saint Peter and the First Century
having seen the ruin of Troy"; and when told that Gaius
used to quote the phrase, "When I am dead sink the whole
world into flames," the savage Emperor laying bare his black
soul replied, "Nay but while I live." Half- mad he set fire
to the great city, then sought to escape the charge by putting
the blame on the Christians, against whom his harlot Empress
Poppoea had roused his personal spite. A destructive frenzy
now seized Nero, all the hate felt by the pagan piled up in
his ugly soul. Non licet Christianas esse! was the deadly
order issued from his throne-room. One orgy of persecution
followed another, onslaught after onslaught, the crime-
maddened mob being urged on and upheld by the Emperor.
Let a Roman historian etch the hideous scenes: "A vast
multitude," writes Tacitus, "were convicted, not so much on
the charge of making the conflagration, as of hating the
human race. And m their deaths they were made the sub-
jects of sport, for they were covered with the hides of wild
beasts, and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or
set fire to, and when the day declined were burned to serve
for nocturnal lights. Nero had offered his own gardens for
this exhibition, and also displayed a game of the circus, some-
times mingling in the crowd in the dress of a charioteer,
sometimes standing in his chariot." 31 Thus did a brutal
tyrant seal his power in infamy, and Rome was called the
city, "drunken with the blood of the saints and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus." 32
Think of St. Peter during these terrible days, living in the
thick of trial, going about strengthening his flock. The Vicar
of Christ was destined himself to "bear witness" and become
a victim in the gruesome festival! His Divine Master had
made this very clear "Amen, Amen I say to thee, when
a Annal. XV, 44
ApoaXVII,6
Church History in the Light of the Saints
thou wast younger, thou didst gird thyself, and didst walk
where thou wouldst. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee." 33
Ancient tradition describes the dire perils Peter faced, the
pit of danger that yawned beneath his feet. The little hard-
pressed flock in Rome, fearing that their Holy Father would
be seized and the Church bereft of its head, were bent upon
protecting him at all costs. Why, O, why must the shepherd
be slain, his lambs and sheep scattered? Was that God's
plan? Torn between thirst for martyrdom and hunger for
the welfare of the flock, Peter at last yielded to their earnest
request to flee the imperial city. But, behold, just beyond
the Porta Capena the fugitive apostle met Jesus carrying
His cross! "Lord, whither goest Thou?" he asked. And his
Savior answered, "I go to Rome to be crucified again for
thee." Thereupon St. Peter, touched to the quick, retraced
his steps, was taken prisoner shortly afterward and cast
into the Tullianum.
A willing captive for Christ, he won over the gaoler whom
he baptized from the waters of a miraculous spring which
burst out from the dry floor of the dungeon. At last in July,
64 A.D., the day arrived, the day that should witness the
culmination of his faith, hope and love, the most intense act
of his long life. Simon bar Jona, the man who had tried,
failed and risen, and tried again, went straight forward, un~
fearingly, to wrest final victory on the cross. Led to the top
of the Janiculum, he begged his executioners to let him die
head downwards, deeming himself unworthy to die in the
posture of his Master. An inscription in the Sacristy of St.
Peter's indicates the spot where the Prince of the Apostles
finished his course in frightful agony while the mad mob
hooted and jeered at their victim. And the words so often on
83 John XXI, 18
18
Saint Peter and the First Century
his own lips were fulfilled to the letter: "For unto this are
you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you
an example that you should follow His steps." 34
Seed of the Church
As regards the activities of the other apostles, suffice it to
say they too obeyed the Master's charge, and carried the
Gospel to distant pagan races. Look at any map of the
ancient world, if you would see the indelible bloodmarks of
these heralds of Christ. St. Paul was beheaded in Rome
very probably the same day St. Peter was crucified. St.
Andrew died on a cross at Patrae in Achaia, while St. James,
Bishop of Jerusalem, was put to the sword by Herod's sol-
diers. St. Philip preached in Samaria, gave bloody witness
for His Master in Hieropolis; St. Bartholomew (Nathaniel)
was flayed alive at Albanopolis, in Armenia; St. Thomas,
the Apostle of India, after shedding his blood for the faith
was buried in Edessa; St. James the Less is said to have been
crucified while preaching the Gospel in Lower Egypt; St.
Simon Zelotes is variously conjectured to have been crucified
at Babylonia, or in the British Isles. St. Jude, sent by
St. Thomas to the King of Edessa, embraced martyrdom at
Berytus; and St. Matthew who preached in Parthia and
Ethiopia met his death at Naddaber in the latter country.
All, save St. John, laid down their lives for the sake of Christ;
yet the beloved Apostle's long life was nothing if not a slow
martyrdom. One and all, they kept God's testimonies,
following in the footsteps of Him Who said: " Behold I send
you as sheep in the midst of wolves. The servant is not
greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me, they
will also persecute you. If the world hate you, know ye
that it hath hated Me before you. But yet rejoice not that
w I Peter II, 21
19
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice in this that your
names are written in heaven/' 35
A bird's-eye view will show how the Kingdom of Christ
grew like the mustard seed in the Master's parable. Ad-
mittedly, as early as the reign of Nero it was a crime to be a
Christian; indeed, from Nero to Galerius the faithful were
regarded as outlaws, yet their numbers steadily increased.
The Christians in Rome, Tacitus records, constituted a great
multitude, and the cry at Thessalonica was that the Apostles
had turned the world upside down. Old historic centers like
Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Caesarea were
alive with faith, crowded with the followers of Christ. In-
deed, the whole world appeared awake to the call of God, as
the Church, meeting the need of the time, moved forward
creatively and vigorously. Nor was it long ere the new
religion, steadily recruited from every rank, counted persons
who belonged to the imperial household. All this, of course,
met with the most deadly opposition, but even the gates of
Hell could not prevail. Nero, the suicide, was succeeded by
other infernally brutal emperors who tried by fire and sword
to uproot Christianity. Never a decade in which the infant
Church was free from actual or impending persecution. The
wickedness in high places was only too evident, and fearful
was the power of the children of the father of lies. If their
hearts were opened how many black thoughts, bitter hates,
cruel fists, beastly urges could have been seen on every side.
Jews disowned the followers of Christ, Roman judges called
them an execrable sect, hired spies accused them of the
deadliest crimes, while the riff-raff circulated vile caricatures
in an attempt to befoul their holy religion.
In the face of such virulent persecution Linus succeeded
Peter as Bishop of Rome, and was followed by Anacletus,
85 Matt. X, 16; John XV, 20, 18; Luke X, 20
2O
Church History in the Light of the Saints
then Clement who established deeper order and better disci-
pline throughout the Church. All true followers of Christ
regarded the Vicar of Christ as the universal bishop, fully
aware that Rome held the Christian tradition. The faithful
were subjected to fresh trials under the tyrant Domitian who
himself met death at the hands of an assassin. Nerva took
the royal reins and put Pope Clement to death for refusing
to obey an imperial order to offer sacrifice to the gods of
Rome. In 97, Evaristus succeeded Clement and guided the
infant Church for eight years; St. John was still alive, the
faith spreading rapidly, and devout Christians looked forward
to the celebration of the centenary of the Birth of Christ.
Just as her Divine Master predicted, the Rock of Peter stood
firm, even when the angry waves were at their worst. As
a matter of history the first twenty-five pontiffs form an
unbroken line of martyrs and not until Pope St. Denis who
died in 272 was there a single Bishop of Rome who failed to
follow in the way of his Suffering Savior. But God writes
the drama of the ages and men, even anti-Christian men,
are but the actors. Come persecution, come prosperity, the
vigor of the Church of Christ, like the power of her Founder,
can never grow old, and we shall shortly see how the blood
of the martyrs became the rich seed of a worldwide harvest
for Heaven.
22
Saint Justin Martyr
PREEMINENT APOLOGIST
SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR AND THE SECOND CENTURY
Roman
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events A.D.
Vicar $ of Christ
TRAJAN,
Birth of Justin in ancient Sichem 1 00
ST. EVARISTUS,
98-117
99-105
Letters, Ignatius of Antioch flourishes 107
ST. ALEXANDER,
105-115
Justin travels through Palestine 115
ST. SIXTUS,
115-125
HADRIAN,
Calumny and persecution of Christians 117
117-138
Gnostic and Ebionite heresies afoot 126
ST. TELESPHORUS,
Justin embraces the faith in Ephesus 130
125-136
Jerusalem destroyed by Hadrian 135
ANTONINUS
First Apologia to Antoninus Pius 138
ST. HYGINUS,
(Pius)
*"
136-140
138-161
Montanus spreads his false doctrine 140
ST. Pius,
Marcian the heretic goes to Rome 144
140-155
Gospel is preached in Gaul
"Shepherd of Hermes" 150
Martyrdom of St. Polycarp. 155
ST. ANICETUS,
Discipline arcani a fixed custom 160
155-166
MARCUS
Second Apologia to Marcus Aurelius 161
AURELIUS,
Junius Rusticus, prefect of Rome 163
161-180
Parthian invasions 165
Justin dies a martyr in Rome 166
ST. SOTERIUS,
The Great Plague devastates the Empire 1 66
166-174
Polycarp martyred 169
Gospel is preached in Persia, Media, Par-
ST. ELEUTHERIUS,
thia and Bactria 170
174-^9
Irenaeus refutes the Gnostics 1 80
COMMODIUS,
Church discipline against heresy 180
180-192
Birth of Origen 185
ST. VICTOR I,
The New Religion well known in the
189-199
Roman Empire 190
SEPTIMUS
Tertullian argues with heretics 195
SEVERUS,
193-211
'End of the spell of peace 197
Council of Carthage 198
ST. ZBPHYRWUS,
199-217
SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR AND
THE SECOND CENTURY
A Son of Samaria
Nearly a hundred years had passed since the birth of
Christ, yet many heathen dwelt in the Holy Land. The
district of Samaria, for example, remained much the same
as the prophet Isaias described it "the fading flower, the
crown of the pride of the drunkards of Ephrairn." One
thinks of Sicar, the town near Jacob's well, where Jesus had
said to the Samaritan woman, "If thou didst know the gift
of God, and Who He is that sayeth to thee, 'Give Me to
drink/ thou perhaps would have asked of Him and He would
have given thee living water/' 1 Or of Sichem, lying in the
pass from the seacoast to the Jordan, the place where Abra-
ham and Jacob dwelt when they entered the Promised Land.
Now it was in this immemorial region between Judea* and
Galilee that Justin saw the light of day. The child of paganism,
his heart was as parched as the near-by desert, but he had a
mind as open as his native province. Hunger for knowledge
so possessed this young Samaritan that the schools of Flavia
Neapolis (ancient Sichem) could not provide the things his
soul longed for. So in early manhood Justin set out on his
own in search of more light; he must face facts, gather experi-
ence, rub elbows with reality. Up and down picturesque
Palestine the fledgling philosopher travelled, eager to meet
any and every master who could add to his store. What a
variety of philosophers, Jewish and Gentile, he encountered;
imagine, too, the curious doctrines he came across in this
never-say-die quest for truth.
John III, 30
25
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Justin, we shall see, had a long arduous way to go before
he found the Gift of God. But most ardent was his desire
for the truth, most sincere the pursuit that one day he would
win the reward promised by the Teacher of teachers. "Come
to Me . . . and I will refresh you. If you seek Me with your
whole heart you shall surely find Me." That, in very brief,
is the story of Justin's heaven-guided Odyssey which took
him into many strange highways and byways. In the first
stage of his journey the young Samaritan came in contact
with Jews full of zeal to win him over to their cause. They
instructed him in the Tablets of the Law, told him of a great
leader to come, even hinted at their plot to throw off the
Roman yoke and restore Israel to Jehovah. The time was
at hand, they assured him, when a political Messias would
rule from Jerusalem, whither all would hasten with gifts and
oblations to be offered on Mount Sion. Their burning hatfe
of Rome was equalled only by their intense antipathy towards
the followers of the Crucified. Had not the Nazarene, Whom
these Christians called the Son of God, created a schism in
Jewish ranks, and were not these same Christians trying to
substitute an absurd law of love for the old law of fear?
Though these haters had not a good word for the new religion,
Justin, always exercising his faculties in acquiring knowledge,
soon found out for himself many things! Facts spoke
louder than lies, and example proved more potent than any
number of impassioned charges. The little flock he came to
know were kindly, helpful, modest, lovers of neighbors. They
bore one another's burdens bravely, their thoughts were
above in Heaven where dwelt their Savior; they put into
actual practice the Sermon on the Mount which Justin dis-
cerned as the very keystone of true civilization. What is
more, these Christians continued steadfast in their faith
26
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
despite Jewish hatred, even in the face of fiendishly brutal
persecution engineered by Rome's all-powerful Emperors.
Foes of Christ
Penal times for the Church would best describe the century
in which Justin lived. During his childhood in Samaria the
Emperor Nerva was savagely harassing the followers of
Christ for refusing to join the pagan cults. Trajan, his
successor, frowned harshly upon Christians, hinted at their
crime in doing honor to "the Name" and permitted bloody
persecutions. An imperial agent, the younger Pliny, who
had executed many Christians, was compelled to report to
the Caesar that the temples of the Roman gods were being
forsaken, so rapidly was the new "superstition" gaining
ground in the country places as well as in the cities. And
now as Justin followed the pilgrim way, Hadrian (117-138)
was penalizing the faithful by rescript, regarding their caritas
as subversive of all that Rome stood for. None the less, they
continued to grow in amazing numbers ; people of both sexes,
of all ages and of every rank became Christians. One needed
only half an eye to see these fearless folk practiced social
changes nothing short of revolutionary, and that in the face
of bitter opposition. On acquaintance with these unsung
heroes of the faith our pagan student gained deep insight
into their hidden life. His views, however, were still cramped,
but as he continued earnestly in search of light, and again
more light, Heaven itself broadened his vision so that eventu-
ally the young philosopher laid hold on truth itself. Justin,
remember, from the very outset of his career displayed ardent
love of truth, his heart and mind were like the wings of a bird
forever beating, seeking peace. "Birds/ 7 said the inspired
27
Church History in the Light of the Saints
writer, "resort unto their like, so truth will return to them
that practice her/ 72
The Samaritan, still in his twenties, journeyed hither and
yon until he arrived in Ephesus. This flourishing Greek city
had echoed the footsteps of St. Paul and formed the center
from which St. John once governed the Church in Asia
Minor. Many Jews and pagans in these parts, zealots to their
heart's core, appeared only too ready to engage the ardent
stranger in argument after argument. Inevitably in the
course of heated debate Justin heard the same old foolish
stories that had given him spiritual pain in Palestine. By
this time, however, the keen observer was nowise misled,
knowing as he did the motives behind many of these bitter
charges. The plain fact that Christians abandoned luxury
and ornament in dress did not make them popular with pagan
tradesmen; their refusal to offer public sacrifices, as Pliny
had observed, hurt the pockets of the greedy graziers; they
eschewed the vile plays in the theatres so the professional
showmen were irate, being out of pocket. Anybody with an
ounce of brains could see the why and wherefore of these
things. No! Justin was not easily befooled. Or bedevilled
either. All this wild rumor about the followers of Christ
being guilty of atheism, anarchism and disloyalty to the
state proved to be sheer nonsense; it was on the same low
level with the wicked accusations of incest and cannibalism,
of magic and witchcraft that stupid Jewish alarmists shouted
in the back-alleys of Jerusalem and Joppa. The real facts
were these Christians served among the most loyal soldiers
in the imperial armies, but they proved themselves still better
milites Christi, and the Church could count numerous soldier-
martyrs. Did not events prove that the more those stalwarts
of the faith were mowed down by their brutal persecutors
2 Ecclus. XXVII, 10
28
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
the more numerous they became? " While I was yet a fol-
lower of the Platonic philosophy/ 5 Justin wrote, "and I
heard the Christians pursued by calumny, and saw them
stand intrepid before death and all formidable things, I
thought to myself that such persons could not be given to
vice and voluptuousness. " 3 In fact, the sight of brave
martyrs sustained by the Invisible God had brought about
the conversion of more than one pagan acquaintance; and
this was to be the reason for the philosopher's own con-
version. 4
The Light of Life
Loyal to his principle of searching out facts, Justin exulted
in every advance in the direction of truth. Yes, truth, more
truth, and again more truth, was what he wanted. One day,
wending his way through the old city, he met a venerable man
who spoke deep words qf wisdom and urged him on to further
truth by a close study of the Prophets of Israel. Obedient,
the Samaritan stranger conned the worn Hebrew rolls until
he was rewarded by a glimpse of the direction in which they
pqinted, the character they limned of the Suffering Savior.
The long stretches of spiritual emptiness he had travelled
were left behind. New lights, hitherto undreamed of, gave
the tireless student a better perspective; besides, as he came
to know the Christians more intimately, he began to grasp
the ideas and ideals they professed. Now, more than ever
before, their ways of life grew fixed in his mind; and he was
able to see eye to eye with them in the light of Eternity.
Thus the whole business of salvation slowly dawned in the
eager soul of Justin. He knew that God's cause was truly
served by these guileless humble people so hated by the
evil-minded. What sublime courage he had seen them dis-
8 Justin, Apol. l r 26
4 Justin, Apol II, 12
2Q
Church History in the Light of the Saints
play in the face of vulgar insults and catcalls of derision!
How faithfully they observed the Gospel-word ! How really
they loved one another, avoiding temptation in every form!
And all for the sake of Christ, their Way, their Truth and
their Life. Small wonder then as he sat at the feet of those
doers of the Word he caught their spirit and straight-
way decided he could no longer remain a pagan. The busy
seeker had crossed the desert, had stopped at a few halting
places to rest and think, but now the City of God was in full
view. Given the grace of faith, Justin in the very flower of
his manhood embraced with joy the religion of the Crucified,
secretly vowing himself to the service of the All-True.
Attired in the robe of a philosopher, the valiant convert
set out to teach the Gospel. His method was to use philoso-
phy as a stepping stone to higher truths, and persuade his
hearers of the validity of Christian doctrine. Jews and
pagans flocked to hear him argue, exhort, rebuke, convince
in season and out of season. Ere long he engaged in a famous
controversy with the learned Jew, Trypho, and the debate
lasted two days. This "dialog," as it is called, touched
upon the Old and the New Law, the Prophets and the Messias,
the life and teachings of the Man of Nazareth! Listen now
to the Christian apologist. "Just as there were also false
prophets in the time of the holy prophets that were among
you/' Justin argued, "so there are among us many false
teachers of whom Our Lord bade us beware beforehand, so
that we should never be at a loss, being aware that He fore-
knew what would happen to us after His resurrection from
the dead, and His ascent to Heaven. For He said that we
must be slain and hated for His Name's sake and that many
false prophets and false Christs would come forward in His
Name, and would lead many astray. And this is the case.
For many have taught what is godless and blasphemous and
30
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
wicked, falsely stamping their teaching with His Name, and
have taught what has been put in their minds by the unclean
spirit of the devil, and teach it until now. ..."
As Justin pressed his points, one after another, he used
the Old and New Testaments like a double-edged sword to
drive home the truth he had found in Jesus. The law of
Moses, he told Trypho^ has given way to the law of Christ.
The worship of Jesus is in true conformity with the worship
of the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And the true Israel is to be found only among the Christians
to whom belong the promise of the Covenant. "There is
not one nation of men/ 7 Justin asserted, "be it Greek or
barbarian, or called by any name you will, whether it lives
in the swamps or wants a roof, or lives in tents and feeds the
flocks, from the midst of which do not ascend prayers and
thanks to the Father and Creator of the universe, in the
Name of Jesus Crucified. " 5 Surely the argumentative Trypho
had more than met his match and emerged a poor second in
this great controversy; better still, Justin's "Dialog" was to
lift the black veil of ignorance and ill will from the minds and
hearts of multitudes, generation after generation.
The Hour of Darkness
In the days that followed the historic debate, Jews as well
as Christians were tried in the furnace of affliction. The
long-hatched rebellion against Roman power flared up fiercely
in Jerusalem under the bloodthirsty fanatic, Bar-cochab.
This man's hatred for Christian no less than Roman was
nothing if not Satanic; during his brief span of dictatorship,
132 to 133, he massacred hundreds of the faithful for rejecting
his claim as the Messias and refusing to join in his revolt.
Hadrian, the Emperor, used a red hand to quell this savage
6 Dialog with Trypho, n. 117
31
Church History in the Light of the Saints
affair, sending armies that ruthlessly wiped out the rebels
along with all the residents of Jerusalem. A Roman colony,
Elia Capitolina was established on the smoking ruins of the
Holy City, and the Jewish nation came to a sad end. Five
years later, in 138, the Emperor disappeared from the earthly
scene. His successor, Antoninus Pius, proved himself a
sincere old Roman, humanitarian and tolerant to a degree,
yet one never knew when the ruling powers in the imperial
city might take action. The Christian faith, of course, was
still regarded as "religio illicita" so its members dwelt in
unpredictable peril, a sword suspended over their heads.
Spies sought them out, mobs were likely to rise against them
any day. In the meantime Justin, nothing daunted, moved
from place to place, disputing and teaching until he reached
his journey's end Rome. Pope Hyginus, of Greek birth,
sat in the Chair of Peter, and the Eternal City housed a large
Greek population together with provincials from every part
of the Empire. There was nothing else practicable for a
follower of Christ, like Justin, but to go on there doing what
God willed and duty imposed upon him. Ever alert, the
fearless philosopher characteristically rubbed elbows with all
and sundry, while he kept his missionary goal in mind and
worked towards it as a lover labors to make known the truth
and beauty of his beloved. An able counsel for Christ, he
argued with the pagans, 6 proving to the satisfaction of many
the truth and beauty of the new religion. The philosopher,
Crescens, was confounded, likewise Marcian, the heretic,
and many Greek theorists. He discoursed eloquently on
6 By Pagan, Paganus, should be understood "civilians" as opposed to
"miles," that is, soldiers. Like as not the term paganus originated in the
slang of the barrack room where soldiers dubbed civilians "rustics," "vil-
lagers," "pagani." The non-Christian was "a mere civilian" in the sight of
God, but the Christian a soldier miles Christi, bound by the sacramentum
of his Baptismal vow.
32
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
the unity of God, on the glory of the Book of Psalms, on the
Resurrection, but of the inner Christian mysteries not a word,
for the discipline, arcani had become a fixed custom and the
time for unveiling those sacred things to prying strangers
had not yet arrived.
The day did come in the year 138 when dark danger loomed
once again on* the horizon. "Oh! unhappy times," runs a
contemporary inscription for Alexander, the martyr, "when,
in the midst of sacred things, and occupied with our prayers
we cannot be safe even in the bowels of the earth; what more
miserable than life, and what more miserable than death,
when we cannot be buried by our friends/ ' 7 Unhappy times
they were indeed, for vile rumors and calumnies continued
to spread abroad like wildfire and another general persecution
seemed imminent. In the hope that his brethren might
receive humane treatment from the public authorities, Justin
made a great resolve. He would match his pen against the
sword ; yes, he would tell the Emperor himself and the Senate
of the actual beliefs and doings of the Christians. Thus
was written the "First Apology/' as priceless a record of early
ecclesiastical practices and events as has come down through
the centuries. "Your rulers/' Justin boldly informed An-
toninus, "are partners with thieves, loving bribes, following
after a reward. But if you do know any such even among
us, yet at least do not blaspheme, or try to misinterpret the
Scriptures and Christ because of such men." There is no
similarity, declared the apologist, between the Eucharistic
Mystery and the abominable rites of the Thyestean ban-
quets; nothing in the Sacrament of Baptism that resembles
in any way the corrupt ideas held by pagans utterly unac-
quainted with the sacred ceremonies. With power and clarity
the fearless defender of the faith went on to stress the points
7 Arringhi, Subterranean Rome, book 3, c. 22
33
Church History in the Light of the Saints
which deserve to be memorized because they sum up the
great apologia.
The Saviour of the World, Jesus Christ, is truly the Son of God
as the ancient prophecies unmistakably point out.
The accusations of impiety and civil enmity hurled at the fol-
lowers of the Nazarene are utterly false, utterly unfounded.
The Emperor, therefore, should recall all penal decrees against
the Christians, as beseems a ruler well known for his sense
of justice and spirit of fair play.
Though a "Minor Peace of the Church" existed at this time,
there were black days too, for which Justin held the Emperor
responsible. But persecution or no persecution the Christian
community throve in unity and organized government, and
as the beautiful liturgy blossomed the power of Christian life
made itself felt everywhere.
Scribes of the Kingdom
Judging from his activities, Justin had become more and
more apostolic- minded. Jesus had indeed fed this travel-
weary Samaritan with the bread of life and understanding,
had given him the water of wisdom to drink. In return the
grateful philosopher sought to walk in the footsteps of his
Unfailing Friend, dispensing the oil of charity and the wine
of Christian cheer to all who came within his reach. He
founded and conducted in Rome a famous school of Christian
instruction, "endeavoring/* as he writes, "to discourse in
accordance with the Scriptures, not from love of money, or
vainglory or of pleasure." Able pagan teachers continued
to challenge him in public debate; these he met one after
another, and not a few were won over to the true faith.
Justin, however, was not alone working with pen and
voice, by word and deed, for the defense of the truth he
cherished above all things on earth. Though much has
been written about the preeminent apologist, there were
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
admittedly many other champions of Christianity in these
days: as early as 120, Barnabas had published an epistle;
in 124, Aristides wrote an Apologia in Athens; in 160, a
pupil of Justin's, named Tatian, vigorously attacked paganism
in Antioch; in 170, Ignatius wrote famous letters to the
faithful in Asia. And while valiant missionaries went east
and west, founded churches and confounded wily pagans,
their brilliant co-workers, Athanagoras and Theopholus,
Appolinaris and Miltiades, were explaining the Christian
religion and answering every false charge against the brethren ;
the mystical Shepherd of Hermes also appeared about this
time, together with many other authors of doctrinal treatises.
Who can deny that such scribes of the school of Christ virtu-
ally wrote at the risk of their lives? Without doubt many
of them had the pen snatched from 'their holy hands as they
went forth to welcome the sword of martyrdom.
One of these heroes for Christ was Polycarp, Bishop of
Smyrna, whose "Acts" are the oldest account of a martyrdom
we possess. A great preacher, this "gray prince of Asia"
incurred the hatred of his pagan townsmen who arrested him
and brought him before the Proconsul. An unforgettable
scene followed when the chief actors, tyrant and martyr,
met face to face.
But when the Governor pressed him and said, "Take the oath
and I will let you go, revile Christ/* Polycarp said, "For eighty
and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no
wrong, and how can I blaspheme my King Who saved me." But
when he persisted again and said, "Swear by the genius of Caesar/ 1
he said, "if you vainly suppose that I will swear by the genius of
Caesar, as you say, and pretend that you are ignorant who I am,
listen plainly I am a Christian." . . . And the Proconsul said,
"I have wild beasts, I will deliver you to them unless you change
your mind." And he said, "Call for them, for change of mind
35
Church History in the Light of the Saints
trom better to worse is change we may not make ; but it is good to
change from evil to righteousness." And he said again to him,
"I will cause you to be consumed by fire, if you despise the beasts,
unless you repjent." But Polycarp said, "You threaten with the
fire that burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not
know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and
in everlasting punishment. But why are you waiting? Come, do
what you will." 8
At the stake, the aged hero gave thanks for drinking the cup
of Christ. The flames did not destroy him, so the savage
pagans stabbed him to death, then burned his body. But
the Christians of Smyrna gathered up his relics, "more pre-
cious than the richest jewels or gold," and hid them in a secret
place whither the faithful repaired as to a sacred shrine to
celebrate his birthday in Heaven, the day of his martyrdom.
News of this soul-stirring event spread through the length
and breadth of the Empire with amazing repercussions. The
power of such heroic example, multiplied by other martyrs
beyond count, worked mightily for the faith. After all, was
it not the power of God Who chose to shake the Empire to
its very foundations, and change pagan Roma immortalis
into Christian Roma aeternalis, the city set apart as a dwelling
place of His Son's Vicar.
Stoic Versus Christian
Marcus Aurelius, son-in-law of Antoninus Pius, began to
rule in 161 A.D. and the Empire reached its greatest heights.
The grandeur that was Rome, he realized, must be jealously
guarded lest it too fade away like the glory that was Greece.
Sharp of vision, the new Emperor viewed with pagan alarm
the growth of the new religion; cruel and unscrupulous he
resolved to destroy it utterly root, stem and branch.
8 Eusebius
36
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
Though Marcus Aurelius had donned the mantle of the
philosopher at the age of eleven, no Emperor showed less
power of understanding the religion of his Christian subjects.
The Church was, in his baleful eyes, the public menace; her
anti-pagan doctrine cropped up in .every place; her children
bade fair to change the face of the whole earth. A Stoic to
the hard core of his heart, the Emperor cynically regarded
the faith of Christians as outright fanaticism; their superb
aplomb before cruel judges only obstinacy; their cheerful
acceptance of martyrdom just "a tragic show!" Pity had
no place in the emotions of this tyrant who was possessed by
the pride of life and the pomp of circumstance. The tor-
ments borne by the sixteen-year-old Ponticus and the courage
of the gentle girl Blandina left him cold. When Pottinus,
the aged bishop, brutally treated by his jailers, died after
two days in prison, -Marcus Aurelius was as little affected as
when he heard of the heroic martyrdom of that other great
shepherd, Polycarp. No! all Christians, high and low, must
be wiped out to a man, and with them everything they held
dear the infinite value of the immortal soul; the equality
of all men, slave and noble alike; the dignity of labor, even
slave labor; the blessings of spiritual poverty. Nonsense,
all of it, imbecile, seditious, blasphemous nonsense! By all
the Roman gods, he the sage and warrior would resort to the
iron law of power and succeed where his predecessors had so
dismally failed. Non licet Christianas esse!
Justin the Martyr
One gory day in Rome, Urbinus, the prefect, put three
Christians to death and this without a word of warning. It
was a stab in the dark! They had done no evil; they were
upright decent citizens. Bad as things were, Justin took up
their cause and wrote a vigorous appeal to the Emperor,
37
Church History in the Light of the Saints
asking for imperial interposition and stoutly defending the
Christian religion. The Apologia, however, was to no pur-
pose, since words were inept, philosophy impotent to rouse
a sense of justice in the Stoic ruler. Marcus Aurelius did
nothing to curb the mobs, nor did he raise his little fingej to
bid his magistrates be fair and just. Nowise deterred by the
calamities, earthquake and inundation visiting his domains,
nor even by the great plague of 166 from which his Empire
never recovered, the Stoic ruler continued to persecute his
Christian subjects. Let the sword fall where it would until
the enemy of the Roman state was done away with. Out-
bursts of hatred became more frequent and this, the fourth
great persecution, proved one of the most dreadful in the
history of the Catholic Church. Her children suffered both
from popular fury and from the government in their all-out
war against God and His Christ. The faithful in the churches
of Lyons and Vienne, tried in the furnace, wrote heart-
stirring letters to the brethren in Asia Minor. And as if
torture and death were not enough, vile rumors piled up
against the Christians because their assemblies were private ;
the same old slanderous charges of incest and child-murder
and kindred abominations were propagated, and what is
worse, believed by the mob.
Justin, caught up in the mad rush, must have felt that
the end was near. The dauntless defender who had more
than once succeeded in staying the persecution of his brethren,
now found himself in the thick of the pagan press. Was he
trembling with fear, would he capitulate? The answer is,
no! This man who had won the truth the hard way, would
never part with it, never forsake the Christian faith, come
fire, come sword. All said and done, Justin deemed himself
nothing more than God's servant, privileged indeed to make
the Church of Christ known and loved. By now he realized
38
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second, Century
that only one thing counted loyalty to the truth that was
in Christ Jesus. For the rest, ^God Who had been his arm
in the morning of life would prove his salvation in time of
trouble. When the red day dawned in 166 it found the
Christian philosopher ready for the worst. Justin was
arrested in company with other heroes of Christ Chariton,
Euelpistus from Cappadocia, Hierax from Iconium, Paeon,
Liberianus, Valerianus and Charitina! All were brought
before the Prefect of Rome, accused of crime against the
state, urged to renounce the new religion. The brave little
band stood their ground unflinchingly: "We are Christians,
God's will be done. . . ." Led out to execution, they com-
mended their souls into the hands of their Maker. Why,
to face death for the &ake of Christ would be the achievement
of a lifetime, the proof final of their fidelity, the surest augury
of eternal victory. So we part with Justin, most truly the
Martyr, rejoicing in the Lord, eager to seal with his blood
the pledge given long ago to his Divine Master. Gladly
would he die, as he had lived, for the Good Samaritan Who
had found him not so long ago spiritually wounded and half-
dead by life's wayside and was now leading him to His Own
Inn.
Time is a great umpire inasmuch as it shows how Divine
Providence always cares for the Church. It mattered little,
therefore, that God's holy ones were opposed by the most
powerful political organization the world has ever seen ; less,
that they ran afoul of the greatest line of rulers known in
ancient or modern history. Indeed, every. Christian martyr-
dom served as a magnet of Heaven to draw many outsiders
into the fold of the faith. Marcus Aurelius, like the earlier
tyrants, found his subtlest pagan aims vain, himself thwarted
in all his evil plans. Under Commodius, the Stoic's despicable
son, there were, to be sure, fresh outbursts of persecution,
39
Church History in^ the Light of the Saints
but it was clear that Pax Romana would never be won by
such methods. For the Church, rising like a young giant
from each fall, waxed stronger year by year* Pope Eleu-
therius (174-189) planned to extend the faith in remote
Britain, and missionaries carried the gospel to far-off Persia,
Media, Parthia and Bactria. Even more wonderful than
the rapid growth of the new religion was the way Christians
clung to the Gospel-instilled idea with regard to the World,
an ideal clearly outlined in the famous "Epistle to Diogne-
tus/' 9 Study the following singularly beautiful passage if
you would see their intensity of faith, their loyalty to the
Church, their high spiritual standards. Says the author
who lived at the close of the second century, " Christians
dwell in their native cities, yet as sojourners; they share in
everything as citizens and endure all things as aliens; every
foreign country is to them a fatherland, and every fatherland
a foreign soil. . . . They live in the flesh, but not according to
the flesh. They pass their time on earth but exercise their
citizenship in Heaven. Thdy obey the enacted laws, and by
their private lives they overcome the law. They love all
men, and are persecuted of all men. They are unknown,
and yet condemned; they are put to death, and yet raised
to life. They are beggars, and yet make many rich. They
lack all things, and yet abound in all things/' Thus we
find the Christians, owning to marked characteristics, united
by bonds of faith and the cords of love. "You are the light
of the world," the Divine Master had told them. "You are
the salt of the earth/' They well knew what work lay ahead
in the pagan world, being mindful of St. Paul's counsel, "For
behold your calling, brethren, how that many not wise after
the flesh, not many mighty, nor many noble are called:
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that He might
9 Epistle to Diognetus, chaps. 5-6
40
Saint Justin Martyr and the Second Century
put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak
things of the earth that He might put to shame the things
that are strong." 10 Such in very brief is the story of God's
good and faithful servants dwelling in the midst of demoraliz-
ing dangers and virulent persecutions.
10 1 Cor. I, 26-27
Saint Antnony
FOUNDER OF MONASTICISM
SAINT ANTHONY AND THE THIRD CENTURY
Roman
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events A .D.
Vicar s of Christ
SEPTIMXJS
Clement's famous school in Alexandria 200
ST. ZEPHYRINUS,
SEVERUS,
199-217
195-211
Martyrdom under Septimus Severus 210
CARACELLA,
Barrack Emperors take over 211
211-217
HELIOGABALUS,
The Mad Emperor is tolerant 219
ST. CALIXTUS I,
218-222
217-222
ALEXANDER
Alexander's fellow-feeling for Chris-
ST. URBAN I,
SEVERUS
tians 223
222-230
222-235
School of Caesaria 232
ST. PONTIANUS,
230-235
MAXIMINUS
Persecution raises its ugly head 235
ST. ANTERUS,
i THRACIAN,
235-236
235-238
ST. FABIAN,
GORDIAN
Dionysius heads School of Alexandria 238
236-250
238-244
Growth of Church's organized govern-
ment 240
PHILIP THE
Anthony's forbears dwell in Egypt 242
Period of tolerance under Philip 244
ARABIAN
Cyprian writes on Church government 248
244-249
DECIUS,
249-251
Systematic attempt to destroy faith 249
Anthony born in Coma, in the Fayum 250
GALLUS,
Novatian antipope seeks power 251
ST. CORNELIUS,
251-253
Emperor recalls exiled Bishops 251
251-253
ST. LUCIAN,
253-254
VALERIAN,
Pope Sixtus beheaded upon his throne 257
ST. STEPHEN I,
253-260
254-257
Cyprian a martyr for the faith 258
ST. SIXTUS II,
257-258
GALLtENUS,
Paul of Thebes, first hermit 260
ST. DIONYSIUS,
260-268
Growth of Church rapid and con-
259-268
tinuous 260
Cessation of persecution 260
Dionysius goes into exile in Libya 261
Sabellianism condemned 266
CLAUDIUS,
Goths enter Dacia 270
ST. FEUX I,
268-270
Constantine's birth 274
269-274
ST. EUTYCIAN,
275-283
DIOCLETIAN,
Anthony enters the desert 285
ST. CAIUS,
284-305
283-296
Manichees in Africa 296
ST. MARCELLINUS,
Last formidable persecution 303
296-304
SAINT ANTHONY AND THE THIRD CENTURY
Lights and Shadows
North Africa in this age was a hidden garden of the Church,
watered with the blood of martyrs, and destined to fructify
after the long period of Christian travail. Along her flourish-
ing coasts great cities throve, widely known for their splendid
schools and magnificent libraries. Latin Christian literature
originated in such centers, especially in Alexandria and
Carthage, whose renowned teachers proved to be the greatest
writers of the period. Names like Clement, a Father of the
Church, and his brilliant but erratic pupil Origen, Cyprian
and Dionysius the Great, spread the glory of their faith
throughout the Empire. Able bishops, apostolic catechists,
dauntless Christians exemplified the truth of St. Paul's words,
"To them that love God all things work together unto good,
to such as, according to His purpose, are called to be saints." 1
Those wonderful Christians ! What a privilege it must have
been to hear and know them. What a thrill to see the Church
of God growing in holiness, refusing to compromise with error
or imperialism. Very true, but there was another side to
the picture, showing hard lines of heresy, black shadows of
persecution. By spreading their heresies far and wide,
Plotinus in Egypt and Rome, Montanus, a rigorist in Phrygia,
Novation in Italy, threatened the peace and unity of the
Church. Early in the century the Emperor, Septimus
Severus, launched a bitter campaign of extermination; he
sent magistrates to spy upon all subjects, forbade all conver-
sions, issued edicts to do away with the new religion. In
Carthage two tender women, Perpetua and Felicitas, dis-
played such magnificent martyr-spirit that their example
1 Romans VIH, 28
45
Church History in the Light of the Saints
was followed by a long line of heroes down the years. "Nor
are virgins," writes St. Cyprian, "absent from this number.
And even among the boys there is a virtue greater than their
age, which exceeds their years in the glory of their confession/ 1
Across the Great Sea, the mob-ridden Empire seemed to
have gone completely mad and murder was the order of the
day. The Barrack Emperors ruled by the will or whim of
the army, most of them hailing from Gaul, Spain, Britain,
Syria, even Persia. And while a few displayed broad ideas,
several of low birth and foreign ways proved savage and
intolerant. The first of these, Caracella, who chose the
Gaulish long-mantle rather than the Roma toga, bitterly
opposed the Church. Six years later the Syrian, Heliogabalus
(218-22), sprang into the royal saddle and, wonderful to
relate, showed himself friendly to the Christians, for he recog-
nized the power of their faith. The "mad Emperor/' as the
Romans called him, was succeeded in 222 by Alexander, a
devout excellent ruler who went so far as to place the image
of Jesus among his household gods. No sooner had the next
Emperor, Maximinus Thracian (235-238), seized the reins
than he incited bloody violence against his Christian subjects,
bringing to the land only disorder and bloodshed. Gordian
(238-244) favored the followers of Christ, as did his suc-
cessor, Philip the Arabian (244-249). Next to nothing is
known about the latter's conversion, though he has been
called the first Christian Emperor; it is certain, however,
that he too seized and lost his power by violence.
Youth of a Hermit
Half the turbulent century had passed when Anthony of
Egypt was born in Coma, in the Fayum. His parents,
opulent Christians of noble stock, prized "beyond gold and
rubies" their Christian heritage and rejoiced in the glories of
Saint Anthony and the Third Century
the African Church. The year of Anthony's birth, 250 A.D.
is well worth remembering as the time when pagan Rome is
trying to make a last stand against the forces of Christ. As
a boy, Anthony attended a Christian school where the pro-
gram probably included grammar, rhetoric and logic. These
subjects, however, appealed to him far less than things moral
and spiritual, so instead of seeking what is called a liberal
education, he addressed himself to a higher course. Thus
early the youth chose "the more difficult way/' aiming for
self-knowledge and self-discipline. The result was that he
grew up to manhood self-denying in his habits, most dutiful
towards his parents, and deeply devoted to his holy religion.
Attendance at Mass, reading of the scriptures and the divine
office drew him daily closer to Christ, and he waxed strong,
like his beloved Master, in wisdom and grace before God
and men. At the same time the grown-up could not but
hear reports of pagan crimes in the chaotic outside world. 2
Africa itself, he perceived, was really a small-scale Empire,
posed against the background of persecution. Near his own
Egyptian homeland, Cyprian, the holy bishop of Carthage,
and Dionysius, the great bishop of Alexandria, had run afoul
of the Emperor's bloody agents. These athletes of Christ
were the pride and glory of the African Church; their vivid
epistles, read throughout the land, told how their flocks were
disbanded, lacerated by scourging, some thrown into loath-
some dungeons, others condemned to slave labor in the
murky mine pits. The Proconsul Paternus had addressed
Cyprian, "The most sacred emperors Valerius and Gallianus
have deigned to write to me ordering that those who do not
follow the Roman religion, should at least acknowledge the
Roman ceremonies/' To Dionysius the perfect, Aemiliean
declared, "You will be sent to the Libyan region . . . you will
2 Cf. Cyprian's words, "senwssejam mundus" "the world is worn out."
47
Church History in the Light of the Saints
not be allowed to hold meetings or to enter the places you
call cemeteries." Well, both bishops, converts from pagan-
ism, kept the faith and went on fighting the good fight until
they finished their course loyal to the end. Cyprian gained
a martyr's crown in 258 under Valerian. Dionysius twice
exiled was recalled in 261 by the same Emperor and died
three years later.
Anthony could not help seeing how badly the Roman world
needed change of mind and heart, needed redemption. All
the old austerity, all the ancient virtues, especially piety,
had vanished in the wake of the carnal, murderous ways of
men. Orientals penetrated everywhere. Jews were multiply-
ing despite the pogroms. German barbarians overran the
provinces. Rome, certainly, was on the verge of ruin; noth-
ing could save the Empire but the religion of Christ. When
things seemed at their worst God inspired Anthony to prepare
himself for a gigantic adventure. His life work would be to
lay the foundations of monasticism and enable the Church
to civilize and Christianize the declining Empire. Now
there lived in Egypt holy men, hermits, several of whom
Anthony was wont to visit in the neighborhood of Coma.
The young man, attracted to their heavenly life, secretly
desired to share their ascetic practices, their mental prayer
and severe penance. And just when Anthony's mind was all
for imitating them by entering God's secret service, the death
of his good parents left him alone with an only sister. Rich
and young, he nevertheless yearned to be rid of his great
inheritance and travel in the footprints of his beloved Re-
deemer. Aiming to prepare himself for religious life, he sought
greater seclusion so that he could pursue his meditations and
give himself up wholly to the life of the spirit. One day at
Mass Anthony was listening attentively to the gospel "If
thou wilt be perfect go and sell all thou hast/ 1 The winged
48
Saint Anthony and the Third Century
words pierced his heart, stuck there like a dart. Six months
later, having sold all his property, he arranged that his sister
be amply provided for and gave the rest of h!is gold to the poor.
Tap-Roots in the Sands
At last he was free to obey the holy urge that had so long
ruled his eager soul. Not far from Corna was an old tomb
which he took over and there began the practice of ascetism.
He did not spare his body ever so little but labored with his
hands, mindful of St. Paul's word, "If anyone will not work,
neither let him eat." 3 By degrees secrets of prayer dawned
in his heart, hidden paths opened towards holiness, so that
he dwelt as in some strange happy realm. Laboriously,
brick by brick, the young man built up the strong foundations
of his soul, and as the days passed he increased in spiritual
stature. * The saint is simply a human being whom personal
holiness transforms into a personality reflecting the radiant
being of Our Lord. He shifts his* center of attraction from
"self" to God, and by dint of grace seeks only to be Christ-
like, to put on the Beloved. From the time Anthony entered
the desert, nay earlier, he had so lived, serving no will of his
own, only God's, and that in all things; the inner driving
force of grace did the rest, enduing him with that strength
for sweetness and untiring sacrifice which he manifested to
his fellow-men. There is nothing surprising, therefore, in
his village friends finding Anthony a paragon of "refined
manners, gentleness, long-suffering, continuance in prayers,
long vigils, fastings." But the thing that impressed them
most was his burning personal devotion towards Christ and
his unfailing love of neighbor.
Anthony, "God's beloved," made such strides in the higher
life that his soul ached for further spiritual adventure. In
II Thess. Ill, 10
49
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the year 285, he set out for an abode where he was destined
by Heaven to spend the rest of his long life. Odd that at the
age of thirty-five the holy man should abandon a Roman
world morally bankrupt but Anthony did so at the call of
God. Crossing the Nile, he fled alone into the desert, journey-
ing on till he reached a mountain, Der el Memun, near the
east bank of the great river. There he found an old deserted
fort infested with snakes and took possession, after 'laying
in bread for six months. There was a well in the fort, so
Anthony locked himself in the stronghold where he dwelt
for twenty years, never seeing a human face. Old friends
pursued him, just as before, anxious to see the hermit whom
they still cherished as a brother. Though they remained
outside the gloomy place for days and nights never a glimpse
of him did they get, but they heard noises and disputes and
feared for their hermit-friend 's life. "He cared for them
more than for the evil spirits, and coming at once near the
door, he bade them go away and not fear; 'for/ he said,
'devils make all this feint to alarm the timid. Ye, then, sign
yourselves and depart in confidence, and let them make game
of themselves/ "
The Desert Blooms
All these days in the desert while Anthony girded himself
for his great work, the Empire enjoyed comparative peace,
perhaps the false peace of exhaustion. Valerian, the per-
secutor, warring with the Persians, had been taken prisoner
in 260, whereupon his son, Gallienus, seized the throne and
gave orders that persecution should cease. His edict, which
treated bishops as governors of the Church, provided a spell
of quiet which was to continue to the end of the century.
This brief period, well employed by the Church, served as a
veritable seed-time for the faith. Now the Great Sower had
50
Saint Anthony and the Third Century
given Anthony good seed to plant in those silent years, which
he did by prayer, fasting and meditation. After two decades
of utter solitude he emerged to confront the multitudes, and
found them practicing prayer and self-denial in imitation of
an unseen ascetic. Anthony showed no elation but greeted
them and urged them to lay up stores in heaven despite the
world's contempt. They implored the holy man to be their
guide in the spiritual life and thus began the colony of ascetics
in the African desert. Behold ! the seed sown in tears began
to swell and shoot forth. It was like the dawn of Eden, and
the prophecy of Isaias come to pass:
There will be joy in the wilderness and the desert. . . .
Like the narcissus, will it burst into bloom
And exult, how greatly! and resound with triumph
Those will see the glory of the Lord.
The splendor of the Lord. 4
Time brought more and more visitors to the remote moun-
tain, strangers from everywhere, who came to lay bare their
souls and make their peace with God. For one and all
Anthony had deepest sympathy; he comforted those who
were in sorrow, reconciled enemies, exhorting them to be
patient and abide by the will of God. Not only did he cure
the afflicted; more than once with the sign of the cross he
liberated the possessed from the power of the devil! 'Why
wonder ye at this?" he exclaimed. "It is not we who do it,
but Christ by means of those who believed in Him." When
word of such wonders reached the outside world, pagan
philosophers, curious and doubting, made their way to the
famed desert abode. Imagine their surprise at seeing such
a multitude dwelling together in love and service, assembled
as if for a prayer or hymn of praise. Many of these intel-
lectuals, regarding Anthony as a "respectable old party,"
< Is. XXV, 1-2
51
Church History in the Light of the Saints
jeered at the hermit's ignorance of Latin and Greek literature
and In their arrogant way sought to entrap him, but argue
as they might, the gracious hermit who knew no Greek and
spoke only Coptic easily discomfited them. On the other
hand, honest seekers of the truth found him to be man with-
out guile, with the wisdom of a seer and the vision of a seraph.
"Do you believe too," Anthony counseled them, "and ye shall
see that our religion lies not in some science of argument but
in faith, which operates through the words of Jesus Christ;
which if ye attain ye too would no longer seek for demonstra-
tions drawn from arguments, but ye would account faith in
Christ all-sufficient."
Heroes of Christ
Who then was this singularly blessed man? What sort of
appearance did the aging ascetic present? Well, Anthony,
always God's gentleman, had grown marvellously i& wisdom
and holiness. A spiritual portrait of him shows the Egyptian
saint instinct with God and speaks eloquently of his inner
life and virtues. "He was," writes his friend Athanaslus,
"the same as they had known him before his retreat, having
neither a full habit, as being with exercise, nor the shrivelled
character which betokens fasts and conflicts with the evil
ones. His mind wa also serene, neither narrowed by sad-
ness, nor relaxed by indulgence, neither overmerry nor melan-
choly. The Lord gave him grace in speech , . . and while he
conversed with the people and exhorted them to remember
the bliss to come and God's loving kindness to us in not spar-
ing His Own Son but giving Him up for us all, he persuaded
many to choose the monastic life." Now the marvel is that
Anthony's work for souls went on year after year for a full
century. So profoundly did his contemporaries react to his
word and example that multitudes abandoned their town and
52
Saint Anthony and the Third Century
city life, even their fields and estates and hastened to join
the saint. Very soon they became monks enrolled in the
hermit ranks and sought lives of self-mortification in order
to merit heavenly citizenship. As if by some miracle of
Heaven, monastery after monastery appeared in desert
wastes. And the dwellers therein, having left all for the sake
of Christ, found great joy in silent service of God and experi-
enced an inward peace surpassing all understanding.
Little could Anthony have dreamed, even a quarter century
earlier, of the destiny God had in store for his faithful fol-
lowers. Lo! a spectacle of heavenly progress appears in the
darkest hours of the African Church. Monasticism silently
takes root in Egypt; men of stern mould embrace a life of
slow martyrdom just to be like Christ and, in imitation of
their Lord, expiate the sins of others. No mediocre souls,
these, nor plaster of paris images, but very loving and lovable
humans, holy, humble and heroic. On the upper Nile a
disciple of Anthony, Pacomius, is forming such men into a
society and drafting the first monastic rule. Learning about
that rule and the calibre of the men who follow it, fresh
multitudes of high-born youth quit the busy marts; ask
only to be admitted into African monasteries to engage in
prayerful activity and self-discipline. Their desert homes,
amid the tombs, sands and thorn-bushes become the nurseries
of spiritual service, the seed-beds for growth in the love of
Christ. Yes, these monks are the ones who, with the great
bishops and martyrs, plant the faith deeper and deeper in
the parched soil, whose work will ultimately undo the powers
of evil. They were, beyond all doubt, a veritable bulwark,
a support and defense for the Church of God. Their lives
resemble passion-flowers flourishing in the desert sands, their
virtues incite hundreds to follow the way of the counsels and
engage themselves in Christian service everywhere. North
53
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Africa, in fact, has become the Garden of the Church! A
secluded garden, perhaps, but one dotted with hermitages
which exhaled a heavenly fragrance.
The Enemy in the House
During many of these fifty epoch-making years, 250-300,
"the Kings of the earth stood up and the princes met together,
against the Lord and against His Christ." If the persecu-
tions of the first and second centuries seemed severe, at least
they were only spasmodic, but now they became infernally
systematic. Decius (249-251), behaving like a devil, em-
barked on a cunningly conceived plan to destroy the Church ;
he put many Christians to death in all parts of the Empire
even in far-off Britain. In vain did his equally ruthless
successor, Gallus, order the faithful to sacrifice to the pagan
gods, holding them responsible for the drought, famine and
pestilence that swept over the Empire. Valerian (253-260),
aware of these earlier failures, employed the shrewd method
of attacking Christianity as a society, only to have his decrees
nullified by his son, Gallienus, 260-268, who brought back
the bishops from exile and granted the Christians toleration.
While the tyranny of Emperors could not succeed in shaking
the Church, the treachery of her own people deeply grieved
her motherly heart. Her Divine Founder had said, 'The
enemies of a man are those of his own household," a prophecy
which has often come to pass in her history. Again and
again the Church has been injured and thwarted in her divine
task by the reprobates in her own communion. Need we be
surprised, then, at the crises in the third century when her
unity was compromised by foes within, just as her very
existence was threatened by paganism without? No, we
need not, for we know that by the indwelling spirit of Christ
she proved rock-like, indestructible. Ever faithful to divine
54
Saint Anthony and the Third Century
teaching, she maintained her principles and excluded from
the fold even those erratic zealots who professed to be fol-
lowers of Christ.
In Africa, where the drama was its very own, you can see
the Church sorely tried by heresy and schism. The peril to
the faith had increased as Christianity embraced not only
the poor and the ignorant but every level of society. Early
in the century the rapid development of Christian learning at
Alexandria had won over the educated classes, among whom,
alas, were many pitiful climbers and proud time-servers.
These did not have to suffer like their ancestors in the faith
nor did the current happy relationship between Church and
state increase their zeal a whit. Half-hearted Catholics,
they lacked courage to take risks for their religion, rather did
they prefer to follow the paths of dalliance and walk with
heretical teachers. When the penal order went forth that all
suspects be rounded up and offer public sacrifice or else
there were many downright cowards who gave up their
Christian religion to save their skins, "The certificates of
sacrifice/' presented to such apostates appear among recently
discovered Egyptian papyri. 5 Anthony himself was to feel
the impact of these foes, for he lived far into the next century,
dying at the age of one hundred and fifty years.
Let us now take a last over-the-shoulder glance in order to
clarify our view of the third century. The scene of passing
events is both spacious and dramatic. Bitter persecution
has come and gone, gone and come again, yet the Church
stands out strong and vigorous. Great teachers and scholars
crowd the stage; greater still are the martyrs who give their
lives for Christ. You see the Church a divine society, Catho-
lic, cosmopolitan, above provincial and imperial systems.
Yet she remains the humble follower of Jesus, actively en-
6 Oxyrhyncus Papyri, vol. IX, p. 49
55
Church History in the Light of the Saints
gaged in her divine ad venture ; y aloof from the world, she
renders to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but always
professes an infinitely higher allegiance which belongs to God
alone. More than ever she is conscious of the sheep and the
goats in her pasture and is certain of those who belong to
her ranks and of those who are outside the true fold. As
Catholic unity grows apace, Christian discipline thrives, and
well-organized dioceses group themselves around metro-
politan sees. Carthage has become the center for Africa,
Numidia and Mauretania; Alexandria for Egypt and Cyre-
naica; and all look to Rome where the Pope rules in the
name of Christ. In far-off places the gospel seed, long buried
in the dark earth, is rapidly springing up, forth-flowering
beyond the monastery gardens, casting fresh seeds on every
side. Houses of divine worship can be found everywhere,
erected by the Christians who display a magnificent esprit
de corps. And as Churches, like the ascetic abodes in the
Thebaid, multiply amazingly, these power-houses of the
Kingdom dispense living Christ-given energy throughout the
Roman world. But the war 'against evil is still far from
being won. The major task, under God, remains for the
Popes and the monks. Yet the miracle of monasticism, the
spiritual prowess of heroes of the faith will challenge all the
forces of paganism and eventually ensure a braver and better
world.
Saint Jerome
GOD'S BATTLER
SAINT JEROME AND THE FOURTH CENTURY
Roman Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
DIOCLETIAN,
Persecution by Diocletian
300
ST. MARCELLINUS,
284-305
Anthony organizes the monks
Ephrem the Syrian born at Nisibis
305
306
296-304
Constantine hailed as Caesar by his legions 307
CONSTANTIUS,
ST. MARCELLUS I,
308
308-309
SEVERUS, 310
Battle of Milvian Bridge
310
ST. EUSEBIUS,
309-310
GALERIUS, 311
ST. MELCHIADES,
CONSTANTINE,
Edict of Milan
313
311-314
3*3
MAXENTIUS, 314
ST. SYLVESTER,
MAXIMIN, 314
Age of Schism
315
314-335
LICINIUS, 314
Persecution by Licinius
321
Arianism spreads rapidly
Council of Nicea
325
325
Pacornius writes the monastic rule
328
Athanasius banished to Gaul
335
ST. MARK,
336-337
Baptism of Constantine
337
ST. JULIUS I,
Death of Paul, first hermit
343
337-352
Jerome born in Stridon, Italy
347
CONSTANS, 350
Anthony preaches against the Arians
Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers
350
354
ST. LIBERIUS,
352-366
Birth of Augustine in Africa
354
Basil founds monasticism
355
Jerome at school in Rome
359
CONSTANTIUS,
361
JULIAN, 363
Pagan revival under Julian
363
JOVIAN, 364
Baptism of Jerome
366
ST. DAMASUS,
Jerome travels to Gaul
368
366-384
Home again, then to Aquileia
370
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
374
VALENTINIAN I,
Jerome enters Syrian desert
375
375
Gregory of Nyssa exiled by Arians
377
Jerome meets Gregory of Nazianzus
377
VALENS
(East), 3 78
THBODOSIUS,
Damasus makes Jerome his secretary
380
378-395
Edict De Fide Catholica
380
Council of Constantinople
381
Trials of Jerome in Rome
385
ST. SIRICIUS,
Jerome in Bethlehem
386
384-398
Development of Monasticism
386
VALENTINIAN II,
392
Gregory of Nyssa dies
394
HONORIUS
(West), 396
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
395
ARCADIUS
(East), 396
ST. ANASTASIUS I f
398-401
The Empire now officially Catholic
399
SAINT JEROME AND THE FOURTH CENTURY
The Battle Joined
The fourth century witnessed the supreme trial of the
Church of Christ. Persecution raised its ugly head like a
giant cobra, while treacherous foes could be found within the
gates. All in all, the world, the flesh and the devil sought
the destruction of God's kingdom. But the Church came
through victorious by the efforts of great saints, fully a dozen
standing out like the chosen Twelve in Apostolic times.
Clad in the armor of God, they wore the breastplate of justice
and wielded the sword of the Spirit. Not one of them, it is
true, had to shed his blood, yet all underwent spiritual martyr-
dom ; the price they paid was tears and toil, exile and endless
sacrifice. What a pageant these commanders of Christ
present leading their armies through the century! Desert
legions waging a hidden warfare directed by Anthony, Paco-
mius, and Ephrem the Syrian. Troops in the field under the
three great Fathers of the East, Basil, Gregory Nazianzus
and Gregory of Nyssa. Iron squadrons following the western
leaders, Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine. Add to these
great names Athanasius who waged a fifty-year war against
the Arians; Hilary of Poitiers serving on the battle front in
Gaul; and Pope Damascus who issued orders while the con-
flict raged around the Rock of Peter. The contribution of
each of them must be seen as part of a much larger picture.
Without their magnificent achievement, however, the tide of
the holy war might have been in the other direction. As it
turned out, when the smoke of battle cleared, the Church
fortified in the most threatened quarters had quite mastered
the Empire even to the frontiers of its vast borders.
59
Church History in the Light of the Saints
If history teaches anything it shows us God at work in His
world. His political providence is as evident in the drama
of this century as His never-failing spiritual guidance of the
indestructible Church. What, for instance, could be more
divinely dramatic than the sudden change of Roman heart,
the abrupt shift of imperial policy towards Christianity.
The contemporary historian, Eusebius, relates how during
the first decade of the century calumny and persecution
hgunded the faithful. In a demonic burst of bestiality,
Diocletian and his nephew, Maximim, gave the Christians
"fire and sword, piercing with nails, wild beasts, deep pools,
burnings, cutting off of limbs, perforations, boring of eyes,
mutilation of the whole body; add to these, starvation, the
mines, chains." 1 Thus did ruler and rabble unite in cold-
blooded mass-murder to exterminate the children of the
Church. And yet by the second decade, Diocletian's spate
of blood was wellnigh spent. Even more, the Emperor
destined to succeed the tyrant, viewing with disgust the
horrible waste of human life, was glad when that persecution
failed. Constantius Chlorus, utterly unlike his blood-thirsty
predecessors, appears to have been a happy man who wor-
shipped only one God, but it was his soldier son whom Heaven
chose to do away once and for all with the old savage methods.
Like his humanitarian father, Constantine the Great recog-
nized that Christians already formed a large minority of
Roman citizens; they were too honorable to be baited like
wild dogs ; and ominously enough was it Nemesis or
divine justice every one of their royal baiters had come to
an evil end.
Dawn and Dark
The rapid change for the better began in 307 when Con-
stantine's legions in far-off Britain hailed him Augustus. In
1 Eusebius, History j book VIII, chap. 14
60
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
soldier fashion they then proceeded straightway to make
good their claim by force of arms. A miracle of heaven
followed on the field of strife "About the middle of the
day, as the sun was turning to the west, Constantine saw
with his own eyes a figure of the Cross made up of light, and
with it the inscription, 'In this, conquer.' " 2 After the Battle
of Milvian Bridge the victorious leader, resolved to embrace
the Christian religion, became a catechumen. Though Con-
stantine only received baptism on his deathbed, all the laws
and institutions of his career show him to be a whole-hearted
Christian. The famous edict of Milan issued in 313 gave
immunity to the clergy besides freeing the Church from her
pagan foes. Next the Emperor bore down hard on the here-
tics, harder still on the pagans, urging all to join the Catholic
Church. No heathen temple was permitted to be erected
during his reign; whereas churches, basilicas, institutions
were built and endowed by this incredible, man who planned
his own burial place among the tombs of the apostles. The
sons of Constantine, Constans (350) and Constantius (361)
carried on their father's policy of uprooting paganism
cesset superstitio: sacrificiorum aboleatur insania. Yet while
Constans proved loyal to Pope Julius, his weaker brother
favored the Arians in the bitter strife within the Church.
With the accession of Christian Emperors the Church
enjoyed more freedom of action. None the less, here was a
century-long task of restoring justice as well as orthodoxy.
"Holy Church," said one of her greatest Popes, "corrects some
things with indignation, others she tolerates out of pity, while
in yet other cases she averts her gaze and bears with the abuse
for motives of prudence/' The things she can never permit,
however, are heresy and schism, the rending of the seamless
garment of Our Savior. So in this fourth century, false
2 Eusebius, History, chap. 28
6l
Church History in the Light of the Saints
teachers had to be exposed, the worst enemies of the Church
being as usual those of her own household. By 311 the
Donatist Schism became widespread, but deadliest of all
were the errors disseminated in 317 by Arius, a presbyter of
Alexandria. This clever dialectician, excommunicated when
still a deacon, attacked the doctrine of the Trinity and denied
the divinity of Christ, declaring that the Son is not equal to
the Father nor did He exist from eternity. Had his heresy
succeeded, the Name of Jesus would have been degraded,
reverence for Him lessened, and His divine teachings reduced
to mere myth. Arius won the support of Constantia, sister
of Constantine, whereupon the vindictive anarch proceeded
to travesty the teaching of the Church making his appeals
to the mob. Like wasps of Satan, his followers swarmed
over the Empire; they resorted to every trick, every ruse,
even fire and sword, to tear out the very tap-roots of the
true Faith. At length Pope Sylvester and three hundred
and eighteen Catholic bishops condemned Arius and his
adherents at the Council of Nice, in Bithynia;" the aged
hermit Anthony left his solitude to combat them in Egypt,
while great doctors of the West and East exposed their sub-
versive teachings through the century. But it was Athana-
sius, "the Father of Orthodoxy," who stood longest in the
line of fire as the conflict spread. The holy bishop of Alex-
andria had seen through Arius from the first and refused to
restore him to communion despite the threats of the Emperor.
Sad to say, the synods of Aries (353) and Milan (355) under
royal pressure actually condemned the indomitable prelate*
Six times he suffered banishment; seventeen years were
spent in exile, yet for half-a-century this champion of the
faith waged war against the Church's bitterest foes. Atha-
nasius died in 373 and Arianism meantime wormed its way
into the barbaric tribes of Germany. Cut up into many
62
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
factions, the heresy continued to plague the Church until
744, when it eventually disappeared from sight on the plains
of Lombardy.
Early Years of Jerome
Nearly midway in the century, in the year 347, Jerome
was born in Stridon, Italy. The parents of this great battler
for God appear to have been nominal Christians of the
worldly sort, time-serving and ambitious. Next their heart
lay the success of their five children these must make good
in the turbulent Roman world. And what a world! Al-
ready, in Jerome's infancy and childhood the Arian Goths
lay in wait behind the Julian Alps, ready to swoop down on
the Italian peninsula. In 378 they spread in wild ~ aves
over Stridon which eventually disappeared from the face of
the earth so that today not even the site of the town can be
identified. "Witness," Jerome wrote, "witness the soil of
my birthplace; apart from the sky and earth, the bushes
springing again, and the thickets, all has perished." It must
have pained the heart of the old scholar when he looked back
to the tender years when he went to school there, played
"hide and seek" in the cells of the slaves, and shared youth's
joys and sorrows with Bonosus, his inseparable friend and
classmate. Life in Stridon had been good to this pair, hope
bright, and dark hours far away. But the day came in 359
when the comrades quit their natal town to continue their
studies in the city of the Caesars. Both, aged twelve, full
of energy and joy of life, had cemented a lasting friendship,
nor did they part company until, fifteen years later, each
went his hermit way to different solitudes. As we glimpse
them now the striplings are bound for the capital looking
forward to eight exciting years to be spent in the freshness of
their youth.
63
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Arrived in Rome, they very likely found lodgings with
friends or at the home of a schoolmaster. That from the
first they had ardent desire to study there can be little doubt,
for both lads were endowed with endless curiosity and love
of learning. The celebrated grammarian, Donatus, taught
them Greek and Latin classics, Virgil in especial ; and often
Jerome could be found busily copying manuscripts, intent on
building up a library. Books he always held in high value,
and these laboriously transcribed treasures were to prove his
vade mecum in years to come when he would travel a good
part of the Roman world Gaul, Asia Minor, Palestine.
Did the 'teener in school ever dream of such an odyssey?
Who knows? What we do know is that Jerome completed
the Roman course in secondary school in 363 and was ready
for the rhetoricians. In the meantime the sixteen-year-old
lad had his eyes opened to many things not at all good. For
among his companions were boys of questionable character
attracted to the big city by love of pleasure rather than
scholarship. Infirm of purpose they proved an easy prey to
impulse which led them into sin, sloth, and many consequent
difficulties. Even in the classroom rowdyism often prevailed
when care-free grown-ups, known as Eversores that is,
smashers took it into their empty heads to wreck the
place. They would crash the lectures, rib the masters and,
what was exceedingly dangerous, dodge their school fees.
Since scant restraint was placed on them after school hours,
boys of that sort frequented vile pagan shows or noisily
muscled their way into the amphitheatre. Too often these
public cut-ups, cornered by the local police, were handed their
passports and sent home, for trouble-makers might not tarry
in the capital. It was unfortunate that Jerome, witty, vivid
of speech, got to rubbing elbows with such like; very soon
he joined them to prove he could be a boon companion in the
64
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
A
wild life of Rome. The hand of God, however, reached out
to save him, so the predestined youth escaped the toils of
evil, but only by the skin of his teeth. At the age of nineteen,
having experienced a change of heart, he asked to be baptized
and was privileged to receive the Sacrament from Pope
Liberius. A while later Jerome and Bonosus turned their
backs on the sin-laden city, the Roman school law requiring
all out-of-town students to depart at the age of twenty.
Hike to Gaul
Three great climaxes marked the drama of Jerome's career
from this time on. The first took place in Gaul whither the
pilgrim students now directed their steps. A look at the
map is enough to show the enormous distances they braved
in attempting such a journey. Many a bright idea they
must have exchanged on the way; many, too, the surprises
as they came in contact with strange tides of life. Make no
mistake, these days were full of hazards for two young travel-
lers just 4 at the age when curiosity is most active, and danger
a very challenge. Grim reality stared them in the face as
they slogged along side by side, until they finally arrived in
Treves, the court city of the Gallic area. The Empire,
divided by Diocletian, you will remember, embraced the
praefectures of Gaul, including Britain and Spain; of Italy,
embracing South Germany and North Africa; the praefecture
of the Danubian Provinces; and that of the East Asia
Minor, Syria, Egypt and the Balkan peninsula. One time
or another in his travels Jerome would set foot in every
praefecture, but now he sought wisdom, pursued knowledge
in Gaul. Out here in the west the authority of the Pope was
anything but powerful, Arianism having made frightful
ravages in the district. What with the devastating effects
of this deadly heresy, the times were such as to try the souls
65
Church History in the Light of the Saints
of all good Catholics at home or abroad. Only a few years
earlier, the great Bishop, Hilary of Poitiers, born of a pagan
Gallo-Roman family, had gone to his reward after a lifetime
of heroic effort in warding off the heretics. And if ever a
man fought the good fight, withstanding to their faces both
prince and Emperor, it was this same Hilary. In Gaul he
had worked incessantly for the maintenance of the Nicene
Creed; indeed the Latin Church owed to him its victory
over Arianism. News of this . "Athanasius of the West" our
travellers doubtless heard the great battle Hilary had put
up, his exile from Asia Minor, then from the East, then from
Milan, and all at the hands of the Arian hater. One wonders
how deeply Jerome and Bonosus were impressed by the vivid
accounts of such undying heroism. Or how they felt when
along with the sight of much human suffering they also wit-
nessed the tremendous enthusiasm and boundless devotion
of persecuted Catholics.
War scarred the earth those Gallic days just as heresy
scarred men's souls. Intertribal strife was so common that
the Roman students doubtless encountered more than one
eerie experience on the road. In later years Jerome writes
about meeting cannibals, an original tribe of Brittany; tells
how he picked up a few words from a Celtic tribe with the
same language and culture he found among the Galatians in
far-off Asia Minor. Not only were the hikers lucky in learn-
ing many folkways and much curious folklore, they did better
by devotion to serious study. Wide-eyed, Jerome acquired
a store of wisdom by stopping here and there to copy time-
worn manuscripts, thus adding to his priceless collection.
Even greater discoveries awaited the comrades as they went
along, spiritual "finds" which would profit them more than
gold or silver. Echoes of another great exile lingered in
Gaul Athanasius. The illustrious "Father of the West"
66
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
was well known in these parts, having taught the Gallic
Church unforgettable lessons about Anthony of Egypt, and
the amazing austerities of the monks in the Thebaid. To
wandering students these reports must have seemed marvel-
lous, well nigh incredible, until one day they actually came
across skin-and-bone hermits living in huts remote from
human society. No doubt of it, experience is a great teacher,
and they had many experiences in and out of Treves, then a
center of Christian ascetism. Deep, indelible marks had
been made on these young men ; in fact so great was the power
of word and work, so strong the urge to lead a holy life that
Jerome secretly vowed himself to Christ. He firmly resolved
to enter the hermit ranks, nor was it long before he won
Bonosus over to the same ideal. As you see them about
to leave the west, the plan of hermit life is already fast-laid
in their minds. Gaul can hold these young men no longer,
for they are determined to attempt a great spiritual adventure.
Desert Bound
On their eastern journey, Jerome planned a stopover at
Stridon to say a last good-by. Back home, however, he met
with a cool reception from frankly disappointed parents.
Ten years in Rome, two more in the West, and this worn and
travel-stained son of theirs returns empty-handed ! No
job in the capital, not even a promise of court employment
in Gaul. Nothing to show for all the money spent! When
Jerome told them of his long-cherished plan to enter the
hermit life, it was the last straw. God's tramp in a paradisal
cave ! The very idea was crazy, the attempt insane ! After
their stubborn son had made a very brief stay, he betook
himself to the near-by town of Aquileia. As a matter of
fact the realization of his hermit dreams lay years ahead; it
would be far from easy to escape the bonds of habit or fly
67
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the trap of circumstances. He tarried three years in Aquileia,
which served as a real step forward, since he was able to
practice ascetism there with a company of kindred spirits
Bonosus, of course, Rufinus, Heliadorus, Paul of Concordia,
Innocentius and Evagrios. All six, it is worth noting,
became monks later on, arriving by different routes in Egypt,
Palestine or Syria. The plan Jerome nursed in his eager
heart was to visit Syria first, then Antioch, and end his journey
in Jerusalem. There was much shilly-shallying again before
the wavering pilgrim could make up his mind, but in 373 he
bestirred himself and bravely set out for that distant goal.
Let no one suppose that Jerome entered upon a gay or easy
adventure. No modern explorer, you may be sure, ever had
harder going than this desert-bound scholar. Many a day
as he drove himself mercilessly, book-pack on back, there
was no relief in sight, no respite from risk. Yet for weeks
he plowed along because the cave in the sands held out the
gift, the chance he so desired. The big thing was to reach
a hermitage but the road proved difficult almost beyond
belief; not only did he know hunger, thirst and deadly fatigue,
he saw worse things in the eyes of evil doers who lived in
the midst of pagan night. "At last," he writes, "having led
a wandering life in the uncertainty of my journeyings, after
having travelled through Thrace, Pontus, and Bithynia, the
whole of Galatia, Cappadocia and Cilicia, my body was
broken by the burning heat, at last I reached Syria which
to me was like a peaceful harbour opened to the ship-wrecked
sailor/' 3
The second climax in Jerome's life occurred in Antioch,
his last stepping-stone to the desert. Upon reaching this
ancient center he was obliged to stay long enough to .regain
his lost energy. "Always ill," he wrote, "I have been stricken
8 Epist 3, 3
68
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
by all possible maladies. My continual sufferings so con-
sumed me that death lay in wait for me and I almost lost
consciousness of myself/' 4 None the less the semi-invalid
managed to attend the lectures of Apollinaris, a famous,
master, and add precious manuscript to his growing library;
more important still he wrote a book "The Miracle of
Vercelli." Was the Avid Jerome at large in the pagan classics
becoming content with mere scholarship? Or was he in-
wardly confused by his stay in an atmosphere of ease amid
the pleasures of congenial companionship? One can get out
of spiritual condition so much more quickly than one can get
back into spiritual condition. And Jerome's problem
how to keep his soul fit was vastly important in that hard,
rough, godless world. Eager as ever for things present, he may
have grown somewhat indifferent to his early ideal. It was
then God took him by the hand and led him to the road he
really wanted to follow. In that Arian-ridden center the
lagging pilgrim experienced another spiritual crisis which
steeled his will to struggle onward. One day in his twenty-
seventh year Jerome fell into a faint; his friends, believing
the ailing man had passed out of life, began to make ready
for his burial. "Suddenly/ 1 he relates, "I was rapt in spirit
and brought before the tribunal of the Great Judge. There
was so much light, such a radiance of glory in those who stood
about Him, that I fell upon my face not daring to raise my
eyes. . . . Then said the Judge, Thou liest. Thou art a
Ciceronian, not a Christian. Where thy treasure is there is
thy heart!' Immediately I fell silent. . . . 'Lord, if ever I
touch profane books, if I v read them, I shall have decried
Thee' : Upon this oath I was released and I came once more
to the earth. . . . And all that was no mere illusion of sleep,
one of those vain dreams which often deceive us. Witness
4 Epist. 3, 3
6 9
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the judgment seat before which I lay: witness the sentence
at which I trembled. God grant that I never be subjected
to such torments! My shoulders were all bruised, I could
still feel the blows after my awakening." 5 The time of tem-
porizing was over, the "Ciceronian" at long last had become
alert to the old call, aware more than ever of the danger
that lay in further delay.
Life in a Cave
Vibrant with great resolves, Jerome struck out for the
desert, never resting until he reached his hermit goal. There
were at the time many monks dwelling in Syria; they formed
the vanguard of the great army of God that overflowed
Egypt, fanned out across the Red Sea to the Sinai peninsula
and thence to the nprth. The fame of Ephrem, "Prophet of
Syria," shone brightly and his writings inspired those monks
among whom Jerome cast his lot. Ephrem, son of a pagan
priest, had found the faith in which he was instructed by St.
James of Nisibis; after that he lived eight years with the
Egyptian ascetics and received Baptism at the hands of
St. Basil. "The Harp of the Holy Ghost/ 1 as Syrians call
him, wrote some 300,000 verses; he was also an orator,
exegete, and teacher whose fearless engagement with the
Eastern heretics merited for him the title, Father of the
Church. Now Ephrem's ascetic genius no less than his coun-
try held great appeal for the world-weary newcomer. "Near
to Syria, then, among the lands of the Saracen," the pilgrim
sought for an abode large enough to shelter himself and his
library. Nor was it long before he found a suitable limestone
cave ; and he quietly settled down to a life of prayer, medita-
tion and penance. Here in this remote corner, hermits could
feel certain of protection from barbarian raiders. Here also,
6 Epist. 22, 30
70
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
not far from Chalcis on the caravan route to the Euphrates,
they received the service of priests and messages from far-
away friends.
Luckily the hermit in the making has left us a clear, vivid
picture of his two-and-a-half years' stay in the Syrian desert.
"From the caverns of our cells," Jerome wrote, "we condemn
the world. ... I have robbed no one. I am no idler in receipt
of charity. By our arms, in the sweat of our brow, we gain
our food each day/' 6 "Thanks to the Lord we have here in
abundance manuscripts of the sacred books. " 7 Always avid
for the knowledge that saves, Jerome studied Hebrew at the
feet of a rabbi near by: "What labor this cost me I alone
know and those who were my companions." There were
days full of light when the ardent novice hymns for sheer joy:
"0 desert new-springing with the flowers of Christ! O place
of hermits rejoicing in the close friendship of God! The
light I look upon, believe me, is strangely brighter. Here it
is my joy to shake off the burden of flesh and fly up to the
pure radiance of heaven/' 8 But the life of an ascetic with
its glimpses of timeless beauty, has its dark side also, days
full of inner trial. "Even to the desert/ 1 Jerome declared,
"the enemy has obstinately pursued me, so that now in
solitude, I have to suffer wars still more terrible. Oh, how
often in that desert solitude, burnt dry by the heat of the
sun, a forbidding habitation for monks, I fancied I was back
again amidst the delights of Rome. . . . My rebellious flesh
I tried to conquer by weeks of fastings. Enraged with my-
self, I rushed along deep into the desert. ... I, the com-
panion of scorpions and wild beasts . . . weary to death."
By this time Jerome had become acutely aware of another
6 Epist. 17, 2
7 Epist. 5, 2
8 Epist 14, 10
71
Church History in the Light of the Saints
misery which took the very heart out of the young ascetic.
He discovered many troublesome monks prone to quarrelling,
bickering and religious strife. "On one side," he cried, "rages
the frenzy of the Arians, supported by the powers of the
world. On the other are the three factions of a Church
cloven by schism, which seek to draw me to themselves.
And against me is ranged the ancient authority of the monks
of the neighborhood." 9
Heart Speaks to Heart
Caves in the desert no longer held their aura for Jerome.
The hermit of three years, weary of strife with his fellow-
monks, decided it was time to leave. In 377, he packed up
his library and made off for Antioch, intent on pursuing some
other path heavenwards. A few years later, having been
ordained to the priesthood by Paulinus,he followed the impulse
of his heart and took his way towards Constantinople. Long
had Jerome hoped that some day he might visit Gregory
Nazianzen, whom the Catholics of Constantinople had de-
manded for their pastor after the death of Basil, founder of
Eastern Monasticism. True enough their new bishop, gentle
and peace-loving, lacked the heroic spirit of Basil, yet he was
an illustrious theologian as well as a literary genius of the
highest order. One can imagine the meeting of the restless
Jerome and the retiring Gregory; as scholars and brother
ascetics they must have had much in common, besides many
worthwhile experiences to relate. Few men of that day could
more clearly visualize the dark doings of the Arians ; and no
two were better able to tell from bitter experience what the
faithful had suffered in the East and the West. "When I
frequented the schools of Grammar/ 1 Jerome declares, "Rome
was reeking with the blood of idolatrous sacrifices, and the
9 Epist. 15, 2; 16, 2; 17, 2-3; 22, 7; 16, 2
72
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
death of Julian the Apostate was announced at the height of
the sacrifice." In turn, the bishop enlightened his guest about
the Apostate Emperor's attempt (blanda persecutio, Jerome
called it) to restore the pagan priesthood ; it was the same-
gentle Gregory who courageously branded the whole thing-
"a senseless mimicry of Christianity," much as Athanasius-
scorned the tyrant's bitter persecution as "a little cloud which,
would soon pass."
Naturally they fell to discussing the heroic deeds of un-
named Christian boys and girls, the simple moral greatness,
of old unlettered people, the courage and self-sacrifice of
priests and monks under torture for their faith. Nor did.
the reminiscent bishop fail to enthrall his eager visitor with,
many school-day stories about his friend Basil, who had only
recently gone to his reward. The Great Bishop of Caesarea
had been to Gregory all that Jerome was to Bonosus; in fact
the schoolmates had dwelt together as hermits near the Black
Sea. Yet never were two holy men more unlike, for Basil was-
a born battler and Gregory a lover of peace. You can almost
hear Gregory describing his friend, as a man not only ready
to fight to the last ditch, but a great orator and commentator"
on the Bible as well, the very type of saint that would appeal
to Jerome. And when they talked of the stout defenders of
the faith, a never tiresome topic, the bishop could tell with a
twinkle in his eye how his compatriot fearlessly withstood the
Vicar of Pontus to his face. Here is the story:
When Basil had presented himself the magistrate gave orders to>
pull off his outer garment. His inner garment which remained,
did not conceal his emaciated body. The brutal persecutor threat-
ened to tear out his liver. Basil smiled and answered, "Thanks,
for your intention: where it is at present, it has been no slight
annoyance." However, the Vicar got the worst of it. The City
rose, the people swarmed about the court as bees smoked out of '
73
Church History in the Light of the Saints
their home. The armourers, for whom the place was famous, the
weavers, nay the women, with any weapon which came to hand,
with clubs, stones, firebrands, spindles, besieged the Vicar, who
was only saved from immediate death by the interposition of his
prisoner. 10
News like that, so vivid and vital, no less than the personal
holiness of Gregory inspired Jerome in years to come ; more
valuable still was the solid learning he acquired at the feet
of the great theologian. The ready student during his visit
succeeded in mastering the Greek tongue, drank deep of the
fonts of revelation, and became widely versed in Holy Writ.
Back to Rome
With great reluctance the wandering Italian bade farewell
to his host, the humble bishop and kindly gentleman* But
part they must, for his mind had been fully made up to go
to Rome where Damasus occupied the Chair of Peter.
Need it be said that the great Pope cordially received his
visitor, knowing Jerome to be not only a widely 'travelled
observer but also a scholar deeply read in Latin literature and
master of other useful languages. No one, certainly, could
be more valuable in the Vatican, and Damasus presently
made Jerome his secretary. At this time the imperial center
was a hot-bed of heresy and strife, torn apart by corrupt
politics, many of its parishes ill-shepherded by a time-serving
priesthood. The papal secretary, nothing daunted, set to
work with an eye to improving conditions by opening a
library and founding a school of piety. Such a move, one
may be sure, won little support from the worldly Catholics;
no help at all from mammonites out for power. None the less
Jerome carried on, taking over a palace on the Aventine
where holy women, many of them noble ladies like Paula and
10 Newman, Historical Studies vol. II, p. 13.
74
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
her two daughters, studied the word of God and the rules of
the higher life ; also at the Pope's request he began a revision
of the Book of Psalms, which was to serve the Church for
eleven centuries. In the meantime, the vigorous reformer
learned many things about local conditions and had to admit
there was little change for the better since his own school days.
Rome, still a half -pagan city, offered a wretched pattern of
the Kingdom of God; its Christian children were only half
instructed in their faith, their parents for the most part dwelt
in error and dealt in falsehood. The more this zealous priest
saw in his talks and walks the greater his sorrow, the deeper
his indignation. And he lost no time in bringing the Romans
to bar because of their sins and follies. Not since the days of
Justin Martyr had Rome heard such devastating comment or*
read such scathing charges as came from this stranger within
its walls. For the man once roused, was wont to dip his pen
in acid.
It is to Jerome's eternal credit that he could make the force
of his bitter blows felt by those who deserved them. In return
they hit back, both clergy and laity, and shortly the Pope's
secretary became "the most unpopular man in Rome/*
Damasus stood behind him, however, and God's battler was
afforded powerful protection. But the good cause suffered a
double loss when the Pope died in the year 384. Now that
Jerome's great friend was gone, his enemies poured out the
vials of their wrath, making it so hot for the reformer that he
was obliged to quit the city. Swept into unmerited retire-
ment, call it exile if you wish, Jerome was overwhelmed with
grief and tears: "Yet I thank God," he could protest, "that
I am counted worthy of the world's hatred. I was a fool
wishing to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, and in
leaving Mount Sinai to seek the help of Egypt. I forgot that
the gospel warns us that he who goes down from Jerusalem,
75
Church History in the Light of the Saints
immediately falls among robbers, is spoiled, is wounded, is left
for dead. But although priest and Levite may disregard me,
there is still the Good Samaritan . . . Who, when men said to
Him, Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil/ disclaimed
having a devil, but did not disclaim being a Samaritan, this
being the Hebrew equivalent for our word guardian. Men
call me a mischief-maker, and I take the title as a recognition
of my faith for I am but a servant . . . but I know I must
enter the Kingdom* of Heaven through evil report as well as
through good. "
Peace in Bethlehem
Imagine the great man again in retreat. It was August of
385 when he left Rome forever. The desert again called and
he yearned for a life of inner peace. At Antioch he met
Paula and Eustochium eager to pray at the places made
sacred by the feet of their Savior. They visited Egypt,
Alexandria too, and the monastic city in the Nitrian hills.
Arrived in Jerusalem, the wiry pilgrim makes use of his hands
as well as mind and heart at one task after another. And
what magnificent achievements resulted! In no time a
monastery was built for men, another for women, near the
manger in which Christ was born; next the tireless worker
saw to the erection of pilgrim shelters along the imperial
highway. An eye-witness, Suplicius Severus, speaks of
Jerome ever immersed in his studies and his books, occupied
day and night with reading or writing and taking scarcely
any rest. All who knew him marvelled at the spiritual
dynamism of the man whom they hailed the foremost scholar
of Christendom. Was not this tribute richly deserved, since
Jerome, single-handed, revised the old Italic versions of the
New Testament, and at the request of the Holy See trans-
lated the Scriptures? Add to these monumental tasks his
76
Saint Jerome and the Fourth Century
enormous correspondence more than a hundred letters,
brilliant but often violent, are still extant. Day after day
messages reached his post from the most distant countries;
visitors followed in time, coming from afar to consult the great
authority. The Bishop of Hippo wrote him from Africa and
tlie two discussed their difficulties, scriptural and theological.
In fact, the Abbot of Bethlehem, found himself willy-nilly in
the thick of problems, conferences, controversies, translations
and what not. Heavy his tasks might be and were, but he
was happy as never before, for the wandering fighter had at
last found a haven of peace close to the Crib of Christ.
Before leaving the century let us attempt to clarify the
closing scene. No student who has any acquaintance with
history can fail to be impressed by the progress of the Church.
Two hundred years earlier the brilliant but erratic Tertullian
had remarked the impossibility of a Roman Emperor's becom-
ing a Christian. Now all the Emperors were Christians and
their domains in the process bf conversion, Pope and ruler
working hand in hand. None the less a double peril faced
Church and Empire. The Arians, like evil birds of prey,
hovered everywhere, darkening the sky and threatening the
peace of the Church. Then there were the barbarian Goths,,
asking leave in 376 to cross the Danube and enter Roman
territory. Great hopes, however, centered in Theodosius.
whose law of the Empire enjoined all his subjects to hold
"the religion which the divine Apostle Peter delivered to the
Romans and which is followed by the Pontiff Damasus . . ."
In 391 the same Emperor closed the temples of the old gods;
in 392 he prohibited pagan worship, and his successors sought
to complete the work of coercion. The great Ascetics
Anthony, Pacomius and Ephrem had long since gone to
their reward. Gone too were the indomitable champions,
Athanasius and Hilary, Basil and Gregory; Pope Darnasus
77
Church History in the Light of the Saints
had been succeeded by Siricius and Gregory of Nyssa,
youngest of the Greek Fathers, still lived. Valiantly the
great Triumvirate of Western Fathers carried on for the cause
of Christ. See how they fought the good fight, kept the faith,
ran their course. In his busy monastery the Abbot of
Bethlehem, absorbed in many plans, found time to flay the
clergy for their laxity and castigate skin-deep Christians. At
Milan, Ambrose ruling his diocese with flaming justice, forced
the Emperor himself to his knees in public penance for his
brutal murder of the townsfolk of Thessalonica. In Africa,
Augustine was deeply engaged in the Donatist and Arian
controversies, proving beyond cavil that he was the greatest
personality of them all, and one of the most prolific geniuses
the world has ever known. Truly, then, can it be said that
the Bark of Peter in this troubled century had met and
weathered the most difficult tempests.
Saint Patrick
LIGHT OF THE NORTH
SAINT PATRICK AND THE FIFTH CENTURY
Roman Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
HONORIUS,
395-423
VALENTIAN III,
423-455
MAXIMUS, 455
AVILUS, 457
MAJORIAN, 461
SEVERUS, 465
AUTHEMIUS, 472
GLYCBRIUS, 472
JULIUS NEPOS, 475
ROMULUS AUGUS-
TULUS, 476
ZENO, 491
(Eastern)
THEODORIC, 493
Scots raid the Empire to the Alps 400
Saxons from the Elbe scour North Sea 400
Patrick, the pilgrim, travels in Gaul 400
Death of Nial Righ of Ireland 405
Goths under Alaric sack Rome 410
Saracens devastate Egypt and Palestine 411
Patrick, the cleric, goes to Lerins 412
Patrick in Auxerre 415
St. Augustine writing "The City of
/" ^ j
God
420
425
428
430
Patrick instructed by St. Germanus
Spread of Nestorian heresy
Palladius sent to Ireland by Pope
Council of Ephesus 43 1
Patrick sets out to convert Ireland 43 1
Birthday at Tara of Christian Ireland 433
The Ard Righ and Patrick in Great
Council 438
The Pope sends bishops to aid Patrick 439
Patrick preaches in Ulster 440
Catholic Faith of Patrick approved by
Pope 441
See of Armagh is founded 444
Birth of St. Kieran, patron of Connaught 446
Churches founded in Connaught, Lein-
ster, Munster
Saxon conquest of England 449
Huns under Attila march on Rome 451
Birth of St. Brigid, patron of Leinster 45 1
Vandals, under Genseric sack Rome 455
Laeghire, son of Nial dies in Ireland
Monasticism spreads in Ireland
Western Empire comes to an end
458
460
476
476
Odoacer the Goth, King of Italy
Basilicus supported by a corrupt Greek
Church 477
Enda at Arranmore instructs Irish
Saints 480
Birth of Brendan, foretold by Patrick 483
Patrick dies in Saul, March i7th 492
Theodoric is tolerant 493
St. Finian born in Ulster 495
Conversion of Clovis and the Franks 496
Birth of St. Kevin
Old Empire now Barbaric Kingdoms
498
499
ST. ANASTASIUS I,
398-401
ST. INNOCENT I,
401-417
ST. ZOZIMUS,
417-418
ST. BONIFACE I,
419-422
ST. CELESTINE I,
422-432
ST. SIXTUS III,
432-440
ST. LEO THE GREAT,
440-461
ST. HILARY,
461-468
ST, SIMPLICIUS,
468-483
ST. FELIX III,
483-492
ST. GELASIUS I,
492-496
ST. ANASTASIUS II,
496-498
ST. SYMMACHUS,
498-514
SAINT PATRICK AND THE FIFTH CENTURY
The Dark Ages Begin
The fifth century dawned, gray and threatening, for the
Church and the Empire. Scots from Ireland waged war from
the Grampians to the Alps, while Saxon war-hawks left the
Rhine and the Elbe to scour the northern seas. Wave after
wave of barbarians, Goths, Huns, Slavs, Teutons, swept from
the banks of the Rhine to the Pyrenees, engulfing cities and
their inhabitants. And as inroad followed inroad, there
seemed nothing ahead but ruin for the old civilization. By
the year 410 Rome itself was in the hands of the Goths ; in 430
the Saracens were besieging Hippo, in North Africa; in 451
the Huns marched into north Italy, and doom hung over the
Eternal City itself. All the horror of invasion, savagery,
wanton destruction and intertribal strife continued through the
century. Order, of course, was destroyed, law lost its power,
letters slowly decayed, roads fell into ruin, religious dissension
was followed by dry-rot of morals. What bitter storms beset
the Church in this, the first of the five dark ages! Heretics
fought Catholics so ruthlessly it looked as if Arianism might
rapidly supplant Christianity, But the papacy stood firm like
a lighthouse on the rocks of time, and bad as things were from
every point of view, the Church actually renewed her strength.
One reason was the toleration proclaimed by Theodoric the
Goth in 493; another was the conversion of Clovis and his
Franks in 496. After that, the Mother of the Nations, aided
by the Sons of St. Patrick and the Sons of St. Benedict pro-
ceeded magnificently and patiently to convert the broken
Empire, which had become a group of barbarian kingdoms.
A dozen years before the fevered century the dim figure of
81
Church History in the Light of the Saints*
Patrick appears out beyond the orbit of the Empire. This
free-born son of Calpurnius moves among the sheep and swine
on Slemish mountain overlooking the vales of Antrim. In his
youth Patrick had been dragged from his tiatal villa "Enon"
was it in Gaul, Wales, Caledonia or Roman Britain? and
brought to Ireland. Nial of the Nine Hostages, chief of the
Kings, still dwelt in that dark but beautiful isle. And many
a fierce marauder rose at his command, crossed the seas and
ravaged the mainland. A court poet of the Emperor Honorius
describes these war-bent Scots plying their oars :
totam cum Scotus Ibernatn
Movit, et infesto spumavit remige Teihys.
In one of those bloody raids Patrick was seized and made
captive. His parents slain in the siege, two of his sisters
carried off in the fleet, the stalwart lad was sold as a slave
and put to serve under a hard master. One wonders whether
the young exile imagined that one day he would go away and
come back to Ireland a conquering hero of Christ. "Was it
the will of God," Patrick would write in later years, "or
according to the flesh that I came to Ireland? I was bound
in the Spirit that I should never again see any one of my
relations. Do I not love tender mercy, when I thus act
toward that nation which of old enslaved me?" l
A High-born Exile
The Antrim chief, Milcho, made him a herdsman and as
the rugged slave followed his flocks up hill and down dale he
found plenty of time to think and pray. The gates to the
past were closed it is true, yet that fact did not down him, for
even then Patrick, pious from childhood up, was given to
higher things. Of his inner life at that time the saint himself
1 Confessions, C. IV, Par, 15
82
Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
has left a brief but vivid record: "On coming to Ireland," he
says in his Confessions, "I was daily tending sheep, and many
times in the day I prayed, and more and more the love of God,
and His fear grew in me, and the spirit was strengthened, so
that in a single day I have said as many as a hundred prayers,
and in the night nearly as many; so that I remained in the
woods and on the mountain", and before the dawn I was
summoned to prayer by the snow, the ice, and the rain, and
I did not suffer from them, nor was there any sloth in me, as I
see now, because then the Spirit was burning within me/*
Notice the deep abiding spirit of prayer in this noble exile
who walked with God all through the most trying years of
his youth. There is no surprise that "the Lord deigned to
grant him many favors and graces in the land of his captivity" ;
even so early the holy herdsman received intimations of the
future in store for him. One night Milcho had a dream in
which his gifted slave appeared, hair on fire, and drew so close
that the burning hair almost suffocated the restless sleeper.
Milcho pushed him aside, when suddenly in his dream the
flame leaped upon the two daughters who lay asleep in the
same bed, and the wind scattered their ashes over the land.
Never was a master more startled than the Scots chief by
this strange, terrifying experience. Asked the meaning of it
all, Patrick frankly replied that the flame was the faith of the
Holy Trinity which Milcho, sad to say, rejected but not so
' his daughters who would die the death of the just and become
the glory of Ireland.
Six long years Patrick, clad in sheepskin, served his Antrim
master well And not unfruitfully either, for they were years
when the youth, having known and loved God from the first,
was nurtured by hidden graces; it was as easy for him to be
true to Christ as for the Irish skies to be blue, Or shamrocks
green. By degrees the vigilant herdsman, brought in friendly
83
Church History in the Light of the Saints
contact with the natives, began to dream of their conversion,
and a holy hope was kindled that would never die. His heart
went out to the lively, passionate people on this isle, who loved
the unknown Creator in their own crude way. Yet that same
great heart ached with pity when he beheld them observing
black Druid rites and offering human sacrifices. The very
thought pf the lovable Irish, so" warped in spirit, sickened him
through and through. One day, he dared hope, all this would
be changed, one day when God saw fit. In the year 393
Patrick made his escape to the west coast, and fled over the sea
to Gaul. "After three days/' he wrote, "we reached the land
and for twenty-eight days we made our way through a desert.
Food and drink failed us, and hunger pressed us sorely. "
Now that he had won through by the power of prayer, the
freeman realized that he must spend years of study before he
could return to Ireland as a missionary. But luckily for
Patrick there was a monastery at Marmoutier on the banks of
the Loire, ruled over by his kinsman St. Martin of Tours.
Monks and missionaries from afar made it their resting place
after the heat and burden of years spent in carrying the gospel
to the barbarians. This abode of prayer and peace provided
a veritable "heaven-haven" for the young pilgrim; its cells
and caverns housed saints; its school offered the highest
knowledge under the direction of seasoned instructors.
"When then," asks Sulpicius Severus, "was there a church or
city which did not aspire to possess priests from the Monastery
of St. Martin?"
The newcomer, though not a member of the community,
spent four years at Marmoutier under the guidance of
St. Martin. One may be sure they were years which revived,
enlarged and deepened the pilgrim's experience, years of study
and prayer, rich in inspiration, teeming with the wisdom of
"doctrine and learning." His teachers, perceiving Patrick's
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
spiritual independence and originality, recognized him for
what he was a man sent of God. Had they any idea that
their visitor was destined to be the most illustrious missionary
of the Dark Ages? Did they dream that once Patrick left
their holy retreat he would spend nearly two-score years in
pilgrimage? Anyhow, he had much to learn during his stay,
much to master about ]the ways and life of brave monks who
had done yeoman service in the field afar. They could tell
him about other days of derring-do in- the Empire, and many
facts about his kinsman, their beloved Abbot-Bishop, Martin,
Apostle of Gaul. Born in Hungary in 315, the son of a pagan
Roman tribune, he became a catechumen at ten, enrolled in
the imperial cavalry and was baptized at twenty. Used to
warfare, he now dedicated himself to lifelong service against
the forces of evil; this soldier of Christ joined up with St*
Hilary at Poitiers, proceeding shortly to combat the Arians in
his homeland. And after many years of preaching the gospel
and rooting out pagan superstitions, he was elected Bishop of
Tours, where he continued to live as a simple monk, eventually
founding the celebrated monastery of Marmoutier. The
blessed days Patrick spend with St. Martin and his monks
proved rich seed-time for the young refugee, but the hour
struck when he should again follow the pilgrim path,
Hope Deferred
After four blessed years in Marmoutier, Patrick having
received tonsure, bade adieu to the monks and their holy
places. But alas and alack | no sooner had he departed than
he fell into the hands of pirates. Another experience of wait-
ing and tension, of difficulties and privations, the sort that
test the stoutest soul. The saint writes about this episode and
the revelation that followed: "And again, after some years, I
was once more taken captive, and on the first night I remained
85
Church History in the Light of the Saints
with them. . . . On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me
from their hands. Again, after a few years I was with my
relations in Brittany who received me as a son, and there in a
vision of the night I saw a man named Vitricius, coming as it
were from Ireland, with innumerable letters, one of which he
gave to me, and in the first line I read, 'The voice of the Irish,'
and as I repeated the first words of the letter I seemed at the
same moment to hear. . . . We beseech thee, holy youth, to
return and still walk among us/ " That clear call from above,
one of many, must have greatly strengthened Patrick's desire
to go back and convert Ireland, yet long years of trial lay
ahead before he would reach the goal of holy endeavor. Gaul,
in the days of his pilgrimage, appears free from barbarian
inroads, guarded as it was by the Rhine and the Alps. So
when the Huns were terrorizing the East, this pilgrim of God
travelled from shrine to shrine, from monastery to monastery
in preparation for his exalted mission. There were simply
two things to be done walk with God and obey His holy
Will. "A husbandman, an exile, and unlearned, " as he
humbly describes himself, he carried on for three decades
during which he grew in wisdom as in grace.
Think of it, thirty years! Years of hope that never faded,
years of faith that never failed. Try to picture the endless
stretch of travel, the encounters of peril and rebuff. He
spent some time with the zealous and learned St. Vincent at
Lerins, a stronghold of Christian piety and letters, garnering
many spiritual treasures for his predestined apostolate. He
hoped, of course, to go to Rome where Pope Innocent occupied
the Chair of Peter but conditions proved anything but favor-
able. The Goths had invaded the Eternal City and the
Church appeared to be in dire peril. Yet the fearless Innocent
could say to barbarian and heretic alike "Is it not known
that the things which have been delivered to the Roman
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved
ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to
be introduced devoid of authority or borrowed elsewhere?"
Patrick never saw Pope Innocent; he had no ecclesiastical
credentials, so what could the poor wandering cleric do about
it? But he did plow along as the years revolved, always
resigned to the divine will ; one might say his rule of the road
read: "circumstances are God's sealed orders." Because
Patrick had the faith of a true mystic, which can be summed
up in one word, "Immediacy," he made use of the present
moment, certain by grace that the Holy Spirit was guiding
him.
One day during his travels from city to city Patrick arrived
in Auxerre where Bishop Amator ordained him deacon. But
it was Amator's successor, Germanus, who did so much for the
wandering pilgrim. The two holy men got to know each
other intimately and Patrick confided in the old bishop, telling
him of the visions and "voices of children" summoning him to
Ireland. The celebrated scholar and theologian was so im-
pressed that he became Patrick's "philosopher, guide and
friend," preparing him for ordination, giving him "the canons
and all other ecclesiastical learning." More than that,
Germanus, having been appointed papal legate, brought his
cherished charge to Britain as a member of his train. This
was in 429, and the next year the bishop decided to send
Patrick to Rome for an interview with the Vicar of Christ.
The Triumph of Failure
At this time the pilgrim, nearly sixty, was still strong despite
long journeys through the disregarded years. 'The dignity
of his age and the inbred honor of his grey head" were as
naught compared with his burning desire to evangelize Erin.
As he set out on the difficult journey Romeward, it must have
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seemed like a second spring, or a St. Martin's summer, so high
were his hopes. Over the Alps he hastened, exerting himself
mightily along the imperial highway until he reached the
Eternal City. "O Lord Jesus Christ/' he prayed, "lead me,
I beseech Thee, to the chair of the Holy Roman Church, that
receiving authority there to preach with confidence Thy
sacred Truths, the Irish nation, by my ministry, may be
gathered to the fold of Christ/' Now no one knew better
than Patrick that the Roman pontiffs carried out the divine
commission to feed the lambs and the sheep. No doubt he
could have named countless missionaries despatched from
Rome to labor in Europe, Asia and Africa. On arriving
at Vatican hill therefore he lost no time in following out
Germanus' instruction. Pope Celestine, whom Patrick sought
out, occupied the Chair of Peter in the balesome presence of
heretic and barbarian. The troublesome Nestorius, finally
unmasked at the Council of Ephesus, still exerted great power,
and the barbarian invasion continued, yet Celestine, a truly
great pontiff, ruled firmly and successfully. Though weighed
down with the heaviest of cares he had managed to send a
missionary, Palladius, to Ireland. That happened just a year
before Patrick reached Rome; and as a result the old pilgrim's
appeal fell on deaf ears, in fact the Pope paid no heed to him
at all
End of the Road
In trial, it is said, men act well or ill according to their
previous life which is then and there revealed by their conduct.
Instead of giving up the idea of his mission, Patrick bided his
time in faith and hope. A bare glimpse of his odyssey at this
trying period is given in his own words: "I had with me the
fear of God, as the guide of my path through Gaul and Italy,
as well as in the islands of the Mediterranean Sea/ 1 Italy>
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
observe, was overrun by barbarians, the islands pirate-
infested, yet Patrick who describes himself as "a sinner
untaught and most countrified," travelled through them
unafraid. In the meantime, Palladius had gone forth to
convert the warlike Scots, only to meet with failure and the
end of all mortal plans " Ireland lay under the wintry cold;
these fierce barbarians received not his doctrine readily, nor
did he himself wish to remain long in a land not his own;
wherefore he Returned to him who sent him. On his way,
however, after passing the first sea, having begun his land
journey, he died in the land of the Picts." 3
The very next year Patrick's heaven-inspired plan was
realized. In the words of Holy Writ, "The eye of God looked
upon him for good, and lifted him up from his low estate and
exalted his head ; and many have wondered at him and have
.glorified God Who prepared with him a covenant of peace and
made him a prince." The record of that belated triumph is
very vague, there being less than a dozen words to throw light
on the great event; but the truth of the matter can be re-
captured, and in all likelihood is as follows: At the foot of
the Alps lies the town of lurea, ancient Eborea, on the route
from Ravenna to Gaul and Ireland. It was here Patrick
learned the news of the death of Palladius; here too he was,
quite certainly, consecrated in conspectu Celestini, in con-
spectu Germani.
The bishop who governed that region was St. Maximus,
a fearless leader so kindred in spirit to Patrick that heaven
used his holy hands to anoint the Apostle of Ireland. One
gets a further glimpse of Maxirnus, strong as adamant, when
Attild stormed down upon Italy. As spiritual ruler of Turin,
fully aware of his apostolic duty, he heartened his panicky
flock when news came that the Hun was not far off. "We
8 Book of Armagh fol II
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
see you," he said, "fortifying the gates of the city; but it is
the primary duty of strengthening the gates of justice which
presses down upon you . . . for it avails nothing to defend the
walls with bulwarks and at the same time provoke God by
sin." Turin, be it said, was one of the few cities of northern
Italy which escaped the ravages of the scourge of God.
But enough of the scene time, place and principals of
the victory of Patrick's vocation. Behold now the newly
consecrated bishop himself, armed with full authority, ready
if need be to face martyrdom. Youth had passed, and middle
age, but at long last the prisoner of hope is free to preach the
glory of God to the Irish. All the failures, difficulties, opposi-
tions foreseen and unforeseen, all the years of dream and delay
are gone forever; the just man of God has his way, God's way,
in the end. Westward, through the Alpine passes he hastens,
along the familiar Roman road to Auxerre where he finds his
beloved patron, Germanus. What a meeting that must have
been! Soon the pilgrim embarked on the most wonderful
missionary career in the Dark Ages. Can you not fancy
Patrick's thoughts when from land's end he looked out upon
the dangered sea, straining towards the island of his destiny?
No script exists to tell us of those grace-laden hours, but
history was to prove his second arrival in Ireland an event
of world-wide importance.
Gospel Paths in Ireland
The land of Patrick's holy desire iiad been thrice-colonized
first by the Firbolgs, next by Tuatha de Danann, then by
the Scots whom the missionary found in power. Two races,
conqueror and conquered, dwelt together side by side in spite
of their marked difference. Those whom Patrick called
"Sons of Scots" and "daughters of princes" were bold, honor-
able, daring and bountiful. High statured, with fair skin,
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
golden or brown hair and blue eyes, they exhibited graces of
mind and manners far above those they ruled. One of them,
Conaire Mor the chief, is pictured as "tall, illustrious, with
cheeks dazzling white, sparkling black pupils in blue eyes
glancing, and curling yellow hair. 11 Another, Queen Meave,
is described as a "beautiful, pale, long-faced woman, with
long, flowing, golden yellow hair; upon her a crimson cloak,
fashioned with a brooch of gold over her breast/ 1 The other
race, Tuatha de Danann, were dark-haired, dark-eyed, of
medium stature Dub, Dond, and Dorche, that is, black,
brown and dark. These were regarded as "vengeful plunder-
ers and adepts in the black and terrible mysteries of Druid-
ism," having for their priests wily men trained in magic as
well as in forms and doctrines of ancient paganism. Each
chief had his Druid, and every Druid commanded a guard of
thirty warriors. Obviously Irish pagan priests *formed a
weajthy order, "accustomed" as Patrick describes their
avarice, "to borrow money to be repaid in the life to come"
Druidae pecuniam mutuo accipiebant in posteriore vita red-
dituri. Easy to see, too, how the Christian message would
appeal far more effectively to the dominant race which did
homage to courage than to this dark people benighted by evil
doings and false teachers. The Scots, ever a hardy, war-bent
people, served their local chiefs, elected from the royal family,
under the rule of one king; the rest of the folk were divided
into "base kins" and "free kins," each territorial division
having its king and judges. Their common law, called the
Brehon law (unique in the West, and nowise related to Roman
or Semitic law) , consisted of an amazing collection of statutes
from which our modern law-makers could learn much to their
profit. Nial of the Nine Hostages (379-405) reigned supreme
when Patrick dwelt there as a slave; his nephew Dathi, who
succeeded to power, met his death by lightning in the Alps
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
when on his marauding way to Italy; just four years after
Dathi's death, NiaTs son, Laeghaire, had become Ard Righ r
the all-powerful ruler.
Thirty-nine years had elapsed since Patrick had last seen
Ireland. On his return, in 432, he possessed a double com-
mission, one direct from God, the other from the Vicar of Christ.
Again he was an exile in this country, and yet he was no exile;
rather a lover of Christ, one at home anywhere in God's
world. The Irish people certainly were not strangers, for no
one knew better the way it was with them. Therefore to his
holy task Patrick addressed himself, confident in the fact that
the Celt wanted the truth. That hazards, miseries, delays
lay ahead, meant nothing to a man of this saint's moral
strength. Was he not waging a holy war against fear and
unfaith, greed and ignorance? There were foes aplenty the
Ard Righ,* proud chiefs ^and their cynical Druids ready to
resist him to the teeth, but he had no doubt that the powers
of evil would be uncovered. By some dark magic the Druids
seem to have divined that the apostle came to chant their
requiem; anyhow they warned the chiefs of the unwelcome
visitor's approach, even describing the old bishop saying Mass.
Adze-head (i.e., the tonsured one) will come with a crook-head-
staff (crosier): in his house head-holed (chasuble) he will chant
impiety from his table (altar) from the front (the eastern part) of
his house all his household (attendants) will respond. So be itl
So be it!
As Patrick reached shore, the land of Wicklow felt the tread
of his sacred feet, but not for long. Nathi, a fierce chieftain,
who had previously driven Palladius away at the request of
an angry high-priest, tried the same thing on the newcomer.
But the seasoned traveller had a cool, deep mind able to cope
with a foe of any sort; he an'd his party quietly reembarked,
sailed to the north and landed in Meatbu Here he was joined
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
by a native child, Benignus, who by the grace of God would
stay always with the apostle and succeed him in the See of
Armagh. The little group proceeded farther to the north,
landing in Down where the Druids again got wind of the
missionary's coming. On seeing Patrick, the prince of the
province, Dichu, disdaining to draw his sword, set his wolf-
hound on the old man, but the great beast stopped in his
tracks as rigid as a stone. And when the powerful chief,
taken aback, raised his weapon to strike, sword-arm and blade
became pinned to the air by some strange power. Fear grew
in his soul, then faith lighted it, and he allowed the apostle
to depart unharmed.
God's Ways and Means
There was one man In all Ireland whom Patrick dearly
wanted to see Milcho, his old master. But the Ulster
chief, half in fear, half in rage at the return of his runaway
slave, gathered his treasures in his house, set it on fire, and
perished in the flames. The apostle, seeing the blaze from
afar, paused in his journey, and after three hours of silence
and prayer exclaimed, "That is the fire of Milcho's house,
after his burning himself in the middle of the house, that he
might not believe in God in the end of his life." 4 We can be
sure that this event left a deep impress on the people, high
and low; it was the first dread stroke of the Almighty so
visible in the Christian invasion. Inspired, Patrick made a
bold move which was to win the day for his Divine Master.
By direct challenge he carried the fight to the enemy, meeting
them, so to speak, in spiritual combat. Only by such an
attack can the evil influence of the Druids be destroyed.
Only in this way can the chiefs and their clans make sure that
he is a man sent of God. Yes, aided by Heaven he will
4 Tripartite Life, p. 383
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Church History in the Light of the St ints
uphold the faith before all men.. The Easter pagan festival
of the year 433 was at hand when the Ambassador of Christ,
having spent all of Lent in prayer and fasting, made ready for
the attack. Leaving Slane, he proceeded to Tara hill, and in
plain sight of the royal palace lit the Easter fire. Now the
Ard Righ had long since given command that Patrick be
driven from the island. And lo! here at his doorstep was the
despised apostle defying his authority and the Druid law.
Did not this brazen stranger know that death was the penalty
for anyone who dared blow a spark on Easter-eve before the
priests lit their ritual fire?
Ireland never forgot that fire on Tara's hill. It was
plainly kindled by Patrick to praise and glorify the Risen
Savior the Light of the World. For the first time the
true Easter light shone in the darkness of northern paganism,
but the darkness did not as yet comprehend it ! The impact
of Patrick's deeply religious act, however, was immediate,
and startling. On seeing the embers' glow from his palace
window, Laeghaire mounted his chariot, determined to put
the offender to death. "Nay! nay!" the Druid priests
cautioned him. "Stay away from that fire and send at once
for the law-breaker. " This Laeghaire did, and Patrick
approached his sworn foes unfearingly: "They were before
him, and the rims of their shields against their chins, and
none of them rose up before him (i.e., to welcome him) except
one man alone, Ere, son of Daga. . . . Patrick blessed him,
and he believed in God/' Directly the cunning Druids chal-
lenged Patrick, using the most subtle of their black arts. A
display of rival powers followed in which the old apostle by
divinely shaped strategy exposed the tricks of the magicians
and laid low their most powerful priest, Luchru. This thing
was against all reason, all calculation, and the infuriated
Druids incited their chiefs to do away with the Christian
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
newcomer. They were foiled, however, when a terrific
tempest broke upon the milling crowd, darkness prevailed
and in a panic of fear the pagans slew each other. To all of
them the meaning of such a visitation must have been
unmistakable. The Lord had clothed Patrick's enemies with
confusion, while His sanctification had flourished upon the
faithful missionary.
Light and Darkness
The following day, Easter Sunday, the apostle appeared
again at Tara, much to the Ard Righ's astonishment. A new
power, hostile to Irish ways of life, had come into their midst,
an influence which must be secretly disposed of at once. So
they tried to poison the enemy, but failed when he blessed
the proffered goblet, and the poison fell out in the sight of all.
That, one might suppose, would be enough for the plotters,
but such was far from the case. Though they had faltered
and failed, yet there was a last chance. The Celts, be it said,
love a trial of strength, not so much for the sake of victory as
for the sake of the combat itself, the power of endurance.
They proposed with crafty guile that the Saint match wonders
with them before the King and his court. Again, after using
every trick in their bag, they were badly worsted. With the
boldness of his own fearless faith Patrick then proposed an
ordeal by fire! In a fiercely blazing structure of faggots and
green wood the Druid Luchat Mael met his death while
Benignus, Patrick's beloved assistant, escaped unscathed.
Losing no time, the apostle preached to the astounded
onlookers, teaching them about the Holy Trinity and making
the mystery clear in the simple form in which it is written
in the shamrock's triple leaf. The Queen, wonderful to say,
embraced the true faith, many of the court followed her brave
step, and that Easter day at Tara became known ever after
as the birthday of Christian Ireland.
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
Up to this time, the missionary's holy hands had been
quite tied; but now in 433, with Laeghaire's permission
to preach, he converted the Ard Righ's brother, Conall,
together with the famous bard, Dubtach. You see him-
presently on his way to the west where for seven years he-
evangelized Connaught. By 440 he was back in Ulster,
sowing the good seed far and wide, founding the Church of
Armagh. Next the province of Leinster was visited ; though
once rejected there the saint met with a hearty reception and
received many into the true fold. From Leinster he moved on
into Munster where among others the formidable Aengus, son
of the King, was baptized. We are apt to think that the way
was easy for Patrick, the work effortless. Far from it; for
while there is no record of martyrdom on Irish soil in those
first days, none the less such conquests of the faith brought
tears and trials; more than once Patrick's life was imperilled,
seven times he and his companions were imprisoned. But the
acknowledged holiness and eloquence of the great apostle
could not be denied and it became increasingly clear that the
future of Ireland lay in his hands. Old men, chiefs and
clansmen, the bravest of the brave laid down their arms and
quietly submitted to being instructed in the truths of the
Captain of Salvation. In a little while the Druid snakes in
the grass fled seaward; their black magic disappeared with
them as mysteriously as the ebbing tide on Erin's shores.
And less than a decade after his arrival, the apostle and his
beloved Benignus stood side by side with the Ard Righ
Laeghaire, his chiefs, bards and brehons, in a great council
of the nation, gathered for the purpose of remodelling the
laws of Ireland on a Christian basis.
Never was there such a peaceful Christian penetration as
that effected by this extraordinary missioner. Who can ex-
plain the resurrection of Erin from darkness to light? How,
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
one may ask, could this miracle have been achieved? Well, to
begin with, Patrick's insight was glowing, incandescent in
charity; his approach was friendly and straightforward,
intelligent and understanding. With unfailing judgment he
accepted both Scots and Tuatha de Danann, appraising their
laws and literature at their true worth. Then, aided by God,
he diligently sowed the seeds of faith in their eager hearts,
""working from above and not from below/' His method was
to win their leaders first chiefs, bards and brehons, upon
whom he later conferred spiritual authority over the rank and
file. No coercion, no conversions at the point of the sword,
but an inspired and inspiring appeal to a people gifted with
natural faith. In that natural faith of the Irish you have
another clue to the mystery of their rapid conversion. The
Celts are a race who believe themselves to be strangers from
another country, dwelling half on this earth, half in a land of
mystery. They regard the whole world with wonderment;
, arth, air and sea effect a mysterious but powerful influence
upon them. Now all this proved divinely opportune and
Patrick was quick to profit by the traits of the folk he knew
and loved so well. Once his hearers grasped the nature of his
power they responded readily to "the truth that is in Christ
Jesus/ 1 An ardent people, their souls went out to greet
the Friend of publicans and sinners ; inured to suffering, they
fell in love with the Man of Sorrows; used to do homage to
sacrifice, they could clearly glimpse Calvary. For the rest,
the Easter fire with its sublime message brought the Light of
Life into their poor dark hearts. Never a day but great
crowds pressed upon the inspired preacher to hear the Word
of God. Enthusiastically they accepted the faith, energet-
ically they professed it, and the tragedy of human passion in
their hearts was replaced by the triumph of love of God and
of neighbor. If you look at these facts you will understand
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how paganism quickly disappeared from Erin, root and
branch, while in its place Christianity flowered, exhaling its
sweetest fragrance.
The Dying Empire
Ireland, cloistered by the northern ocean, continued to
yield the fruits of the faith, but alas! it was another story and
a sad one thoughout the Empire. Hun, Goth, and Vandal,
had fixed their covetous eyes on Christian lands. It was
only a short time before they came, saw, conquered, leaving
smoking ruins in their path. Only the Rock of Peter was
strong enough to withstand these inexhaustible barbarian
waves. Pope Innocent (401-417), who felt their impact
when the Goths sacked Rome, was alive to the great respon-
sibility of the papacy's winning them to the cause of Christ.
And Pope Celestine (422-432), who had sent Patrick to
Ireland, aghast at the havoc wrought on every side, died after
a tempest-tossed decade which saw much distress within and
without the Church. He could not have dreamed that
Patrick's going was in reality the first step in the divine solu-
tion of the hopeless barbarian question. In 439 his suc-
cessor, Sixtus III, despatched three bishops to aid the apostle
in spreading the Gospel, and this in the face of increasing
difficulties surrounding the Western Church. The wars and
campaigns of a wobbly Empire plus the disrupting schisms
and heresies of the hour demanded a giant in the Chair of
Peter. Leo the Great (440-461) was the one God chose for
the tremendous task of preserving unity through faith. An
able scholar, incredible diplomatist, and fearless champion, he
kept the Church strong amid dire perils; indeed, his reign
ranks second only in importance to that of Gregory I. Patrick
is said to have visited Pope Leo in the year 442, receiving his
approval of the faith in Ireland. What a contrast the Vicar of
Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
Christ and his missionary must have observed between the
peace of God settling over Erin and the divine wrath visited
on the Empire which had so wickedly persecuted the early
Christians. In 451 Attila, the Hun, having ravaged northern
Italy led his ruthless barbarians to the very gates of Rome
where Leo prevailed upon him to return to the East. The
black cloud had scarcely vanished when the Vandals under
Genseric crossed over from "Africa, besieged Rome from the
Tiber and sacked the City. Though they spared the great
buildings, thousands were carried off to slavery. After two
decades of magnificently consistent rule the great Pope was
succeeded by Hilary whose task as Supreme Pastor was to
pave the way for peace with the victorious barbarians.
The glory that was Rome came to an end in 476 when
Odoacer, the Goth, was hailed King of Italy. Any thought of
destroying the Empire itself did not occur to the barbarian
leader who venerated the old ideals and institutions even
when he was invading territories. Half a century earlier
Alaric's successor, Adolphus, had played nobly the part of a
Roman general, married the Emperor's sister, adopted the
Roman dress; he even opposed the fiercer barbarians who
rode roughshod in Spain. Goths, after all, were of a decent
nature, quite unlike either Huns or Vandals, so their bar-
barism eventually disappeared ; and Gothic chiefs like Alaric,
Adolphus and Odoacer professed Christianity of a sort, but
all of them were Arians who wanted no truck with the Pope
of Rome. It was clear to the barbarians that the Empire of
the West was now done for, so the title of Emperor went to
the East where ruler after ruler proved more unreal and less
potent in their sway. New trials burdened the papacy when
in 489 Theodoric attacked King Odoacer, murdered him in
cold blood, and conquered Italy, giving one-third of the land
to his Ostrogoth soldiers and taking over Ravenna for his
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
court city. Nor were conditions any better in the Eastern
Church. At Antioch and Constantinople there was riotous
disorder, brought about by mischief-makers who brazenly
supported Basilicus, the schismatic bishop. But with the
restoration of Zeno, the Emperor, came a change for the
better; he straightway sent to Pope Felix II a*confession of
faith and a vow to support orthodoxy. Another promising
event towards the century-end, was the baptism of Clovis and
his Franks. The warlike leader had married a Christian
saint, Clotilda, but stubbornly resisted all her sincere efforts
to convert him. However, he made a vow that if the Alemanni
met defeat at his hands, the God of the Christians would be
his God. Having won the victory, Clovis with 3000 of his
warriors received Baptism on Christmas day, 496; then he
proceeded at Bishop Remigius' command "to adore what he
had burnt, and to burn what he had adored." As the battle-
scarred chief passed through the ranks of holy monks he
addressed the old saint "Sir, is this heaven already?"
"No," was Remegius' ready reply, "but it is the road thereto."
Alas, many a decade would pass before the war-weary West
would find that road and embrace its true Master as He was
already known and loved in that little island far to the north.
In God's Green Garden
Beyond the broken Empire Patrick lived on in holiness and
justice till the year 492. He had long since retired from the
government of the See of Armagh and had consecrated three
hundred and fifty bishops, besides visiting all the churches,
monasteries and convents. The evening of his life was spent
in prayer and penance, enriching the Gospel he h,ad preached,
edifying all with the holy thoughts of old age. Had not God
Who vouchsafed to send Patrick to Ireland, enabled him to
accomplish all that he was commanded to do? Truly then he
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Saint Patrick and the Fifth Century
could never thank the Heavenly Father enough for granting
his heart's desire; for confirming his teachings by so many
signs and miracles. Every Lent the old Bishop was wont to
go up to Crough-Patrick, Ireland's Mount Sinai, and plead
with the Most High that his cherished people never deviate
from their faith. How could they do t>ther than obey the
teachings of this man, so love-enlightened, who shed holiness
everywhere like dew on the fleece? With true Celtic sweet-
ness the ancient chronicle voices their affection when it speaks
of Patrick as "a fair flower garden to children of grace; a
flaming fire; a lion in strength and power; a dove in gentleness
and humility." A* wonderful God-conscious life had assuredly
been his, even from childhood. And what a unique rosary of
golden years he could count! Over half a sorrowful decade
spent in exile among the Scots, four hopeful decades in pilgrim
preparation, six glorious decades as an apostle among people
dear to his heart. All that remained now was ,to wait in
divine patience for the hour when the Great Husbandman
should summon him to an accounting of his unfailing steward-
ship. Near the threshold of eternity, the apostle, surrounded
by holy monks and nuns, asked to be anointed by one of his
own bishops. He reached journey's end on March 17, 493,
in his monastery at Saul, and passed into that higher life,
which is a life of peace. .
The work of Patrick, great as it was in his lifetime, had
scarcely begun. It would be continued by his devoted dis-
ciples for centuries to come. Indeed, a litany could be
written of the saint's children in Christ: saints, scholars,
missioners, at home and abroad. St. Benignus in Erin,
St. Ciaran at Ard Typrait, St. Enda at Arran (480), St.
Columba at lona (521-579), St. Finnian at Clonard (530),
St. Kevin at Glendalough (about 544), St. Coingall at Bangor
(552), St. Brendan of Clonfert (555), St. Columban in Bur-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
gundy and Lombardy (d. 633), St. Carthach at Lismore (635),
and St. Cataldus (640). This list might be greatly enlarged,
nor can we omit the names of St. Mochta at Lougth, and,
above all, St. Brigid, the most remarkable Irish woman of the
fifth century. The daughter of Dubhthach, a Leinster chief-
tain, Brigid proved ^o loyal a friend and co-worker of Patrick
that the two were said to have but one heart and one mind.
Her nunnery in Kildare, the Church of the Oaks, became a
center from which radiated houses of piety and learning
throughout all Ireland. Young beautiful girls by the hun-
dreds, daughters of warriors, princesses of noble birth, entered
the religious life and vowed to serve Christ all their days.
You can easily imagine how they must have sunned God's
green garden and enriched its growth with the Gospel of peace
and love. 'There was no desert," the Acts of the Martyrs
affirm, "no spot, no hiding place in the island, however remote,
which was not peopled with perfect monks and nuns." 6
These were the heralds of a new dawn who would carry the
torch of learning to illumine the Dark Ages. Already in the
westernmost isle of the seas, hermits could be seen leaving
their cells, gathering about them eager novices into monastic
colonies. Great schools arose Clonard, Moville, Glass-
nevin, Clonmacoise where monks from overseas sought
direction from able masters who taught the sacred scriptures
and the practice of ascetism. Spain, Gaul, Italy, all looked
to Ireland as a spiritual power-house to assist in the rebuilding
of Christendom. And presently, as Newman writes, "Many
holy and learned Irishmen left their own country to proclaim
the faith, to establish or to reform monasteries in distant
lands, and thus to become the benefactors of almost every
nation in Europe." 7
6 Acts of the Martyrs
7 Hist. Sketches, vol. Ill, p. 126
I O2
Saint Benedict
THE IDEAL MONK
SAINT BENEDICT AND THE SIXTH CENTURY
Emperors and Kings
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
Goth and Vandal, Frank and German
ST. SYMMACHUS,
rule the old Roman Empire 500
498-514
Great monastic movement in Ireland 500
Theodoric, Ostrogoth, King of Italy 500
Benedict dwells in cave at Subiaco 500
THEODORIC, d. 526
Clovis overwhelms Visigoths in Spain 507
Benedict promulgates his rule 510
Gospel preached in Far East 515
ST. HORMISDAS,
Reunion of Roman and Greek Churches 519
514-523
Birth of St. Columba Apostle of lona 521
ST. JOHN I,
St. Finnian (Irish) at Menevia in Wales 525
523-526
JUSTINIAN, emperor
Benedict settles at Monte Cassino 529
ST. FELIX IV,
of East, 527-565
Emperor plans to win Europe and Africa 530
Belisarius captures Rome for Empire 533
526-530
BONIFACE II,
T 530-532
JOHN II, 533-535
South Spain reconquered
ST. AGAPITUS,
535-536
Belisarius captures Rome for Empire 536
ST. SILVERIUS,
536-537
Belisarius captures Ravenna 540
VIGILIUS,
TOTILA (Goth)
Birth of Gregory, the Great 540
537-555
King Totila visits Benedict 542
Death of Benedict 543
Pope Vigilius versus Justinian 544
Totila recaptures Rome 549
Second Council of Constantinople 553
Ostrogoths leave Italy 553
Belisarius regains parts of Spain 554
Birth of Isidore of Seville 560
PELAGIUS I,
555-56o
ALBOIN
St. Columba (Irish) evangelizes Scotland 563
JOHN III,
(Lombard
56i-574
King) 561
Lombards invade Italy 568
Birth of Mohammed 570
Gregory, Prefect of Rome 571
CLEFTI
(Lombard), 573
Gregory becomes a Benedictine 575
BENEDICT I,
575-578
TIBERIUS, d. 582
Lombards pillage Monte Cassino 580
Pope Pelagius welcomes the Benedictines 581
The Great Plague breeds in Egypt
PELAGIUS II,
579-590
AUTARI
(Lombard), 584
St. Columban (Irish) in Brittany 590
ST. GREGORY THE
Agilulf converted to Catholicism 590
GREAT, 590-604
AGILULF
(Lombard), 591
Pope Gregory conciliates the Lombards 593
St. Columban in Burgundy, and Bobbio,
Italy
Augustine, O.S.B., sent to Britain 596
Leander converts Spanish Visigoths 599
Monte Cassino deserted for a century
SAINT BENEDICT AND THE SIXTH CENTURY
Rome in the Mire
In the opening decade of this century a young man in his
late teens could have been seen hard at work in the Roman
schools. The official register listed him Benedict of the
Anisii, born in Nursia, Umbria; but his friends knew him to be
the scion of an old family, famous for having given more
virgins to the Church than consuls to the Empire, That
honor, however, meant little to Benedict who had begun his
studies "with hope at the prow and fancy at the helm" only
to find himself face to face with grim pagan facts.* Rome,
ruled by Theodoric the Goth, had become barbarian ridden,
and the Vicar of Christ, Symmachus, was threatened by an
anti-Pope. All about the noble youth hung a dark haze of
disorder; the city itself an abyss of servitude, its citizens
strayed from heaven's laws, its schools sinks of corruption,
where boys grew to be slaves of sin before they arrived at
man's estate. By the grace of God, Benedict had eschewed
the dissolute life of his schoolmates and, though tempted
himself by the offer of a woman's love, had chosen the way
of the counsels. And just now, avid for a life hidden with
Christ "in God, his thoughts ran deep, dynamic, for Benedict
was a student who had no illusions. Why bide any longer in,
this unholy mess, he asked himself, since all the seven liberal
arts which the Roman schools had to offer were 'learned
ignorance and unlearned wisdom"? Plainly it was neither
safe nor divinely practicable to stay on; he must seek aa
"out" from the vile trap where things eternally worth-
105
Church History in the Light of the Saints
while availed nothing. At this painful and critical stage,
Benedict decidefl upon flight; in company with an old
nurse, he turned his back on Rome and all its evil ways. The
two journeyed eastward to Enfide, a lonely village in the
Simbrucini mountains, where Benedict planned to labor for
that inner peace he had vainly sought amid the schools and
monuments of the imperial city.
But alas, all the refugee's plans fell through when the folly
of Rome caught up with him. Idle folk gave the newcomer
no rest once they heard about his power of miracles. There
was nothing for Benedict to do but to betake himself to some
cleft in the crags, a deep far-off cavern, any place of solitude!
With such a goal in mind he crossed the Anio, then climbed
the steep volcanic rocks, until he found a cave in the wild rift
of Subiaco. An old monk, named Romanus, meeting him on
the road, took great interest in the strong, quiet- talking
stranger, and when the ascetic found the newcomer's abode
he made it his business to feed the hungry youth, besides
instructing him and clothing him in a religious habit. Bene-
dict continued living in this retreat "alone with the Great
Alone," almost unknown to men who rarely ventured near a
cave perched on the side of a precipice. But even there on
the heights he was tempted, as was his Divine Master before
him. One day the assaults of the impure foe became so
violent that Benedict threw off his coat' of skins and hurled
himself bodily into lacerating brambles hoping thereby to
quench the licking fires of lust. Had he not chosen solitude
to seal his heart from the love of comely shape, stop his ears
to ribald jest, shut out the crazy Roman world ! Need anyone
wonder that after these years of prayer and fasting Benedict
grew to be a seasoned man of God. But again, as in Enfide,
he was found out, this time by shepherds who told of the young
hermit in his shaggy dress of hides, and the report of his holi-
106
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
ness quickly spread over the near-by country despite all his
attempts at concealment.
On High Mounts
Not far from Benedict's cave was the monastery of Vicovato
whose monks, the true children of their time, led an earthly
life lax, idle, indifferent. The better element, intent on
reform, came to confer with Benedict, urging the noble ascetic
to rule over them. They argued and argued with such
persistence that they finally succeeded in their mission,
" though Benedict kneV that their manners were diverse from
his, and that they would never agree together." The event
proved him correct; indeed, the new abbot did not suit the
rank and file at all, and the rigor of his rule proved as hateful
as it was impossible. Law and order had no appeal for these
rebel monks; the very idea of stern discipline was utterly
distasteful to their semi-barbaric nature. A few fanatics
plotted to do away with the young abbot by pouring poison
into his drink. At the beginning of the monastic meal they
passed the deadly cup, which Benedict took and blessed. Lo!
at the sign of the cross the cup broke into a thousand pieces.
"The Lord Almighty have mercy on you, my brothers. "
Benedict addressed them very calmly. "Why have you
willed to do this? Go ye all and seek for a father after your
own heart/' With that he departed and made his way back
to Subiaco. It was not long before many earnest people,
attracted by the sheer sanctity of the man, gathered about
him, eagerly seeking guidance towards better things ; it was
amazing how anxious they were to follow in his footsteps and
win on to higher life. They worked so arduously under his
rule that Benedict decided to stay and direct; in no time
monastic buildings arose, communities formed, and the rule
107
Church History in the Light of the Saints
was carried out by willing monks under the eyes of one they
deemed "father of them all." By this time Benedict had
become adept in the spiritual life, a specialist in directing
souls. "Let us be imitators of the Lord" was the word on
his lips as he humbly went about forever striving to live up
to the highest he knew.
Directly the cluster of monasteries prospered "in Christ,"
schools were built for children living in the vicinity of Subiaco.
Among those little Italians and Goths, there were two angelic
pupils, Maurus and Placidus, who drew such inspiration from
the abbot, such strength from his monks, as to become truly
great members of the community. At first all went well in
cloister and school, but presently Benedict's work was once
more put to the acid test of trial. The humble abodes in
the mountain became the cynosure of curious eyes; silly
matrons, idle clerics, time-wasters of every sort broke into the
monastic retreat. Never a week but they disturbed the peace,
poking into corridors and cells, even brazening their way into
the cloisters. Even more trying than the insolence of such
shameless intruders was the hostility of jealous neighbors,
unfriendly monks led by a certain Florentius. Fame, as
Pope Gregory observes, arouses envy, and envy gnawed at
the heart of this rebel priest and his followers who wickedly
planned to scandalize the monks and compromise the holy
abbot by staging a dance of naked women in the courtyard of
Benedict's own monastery. When things got so bad that
holy quiet disappeared into the blue heavens, Benedict
arranged to .leave the place in the care of local superiors, while
he went further afield to make a fresh start. At a provi-
dential moment, the father of his pupil, Placidus, had made
over to the monks Monte Cassino, an estate in the Apennines ;
after much prayer the abbot decided to go and establish
another spiritual training school. So, taking a chosen band,
108
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
he journeyed to the new site in the hope that they would find
an abode of peace.
A Fortress of the Faith
High above the ruins of Cassinum, a pre-Roman town razed
by the Goths, stood an ancient temple of Apollo girded by
oak-woods. The abbot's first act was to wipe out every trace
of paganism. He smashed the statue, burned the grove, and
used the temple stones to build a chapel of St. Martin. As
the days passed the monks set to work erecting a monastery;
peasants of the mountainside came to see what was afoot,
returning later to worship the true God. After that the
monks could be seen in the near-by villages where they
attended the sick and instructed the inhabitants in Christian
ways of life. Soon the whole countryside looked to the holy
place on the hill as their refuge in sickness, in trial, in accident,
in need. And the fame of Monte Cassino spread with such
rapidity that abbots journeyed from afar to learn the Rule
from Benedict himself, while men climbed the steep heights,
asking admittance to the cloisters. These latter sought out
the monastery as an Eldorado, to mine the pure gold of faith,
"the trial of their faith being," as St. Peter said, "much more
precious than of gold that perisheth." On God's mount, far
beyond the corrupt world, they dug deep into veins of the
inner life which yielded heavenly treasures that neither
rust nor moth could consume. And many a weary heart
found rest, many a troubled heart relief, many a jaded heart
strength, in the peace that surpasseth all understanding. The
Rule of Benedict, with its common ideal born of experience
and forged by experiment, adapted itself to their deepest
instincts and consulted their social needs. There is no room
here to give the whole rule in detail; it is sufficient to say
that it stood four-square on prayer and penance, simplicity
109
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and spirituality. No novice could ever expect to be a good
Benedictine monk unless his scale of values called for virtue
and gentleness, inner peace and activity, self-rule and regard
for the brethren.
What sort of life, you may ask, did they lead on Monte
Cassino? The answer is, a hidden one given over to the
service of God and man. For them life on earth was not a
goal but a going towards an eternal home! On that road,
one day seemed much the same as another but each hour had
its completeness, every step well taken, every task well done.
United in the cords of Adam and the bonds of love, the monks
labored diligently, obediently, cheerfully; they followed a
system hours of work, spare diet, religious exercises
arranged by the Superior. It mattered little what duty was
assigned: pray in the chapel, copy a manuscript, dig in a
garden, teach the poor, visit the sick: what really counted
was the accomplishment of God's will. The presence of
Benedict, "austere and exact, yet mild, gentle and courteous/'
had a dynamic effect on the whole community. Calm,
dignified, desirous of being loved rather than feared, the
abbot drew his children to him, and they came to regard him
not only as the center of the little world in which they moved,
but also the example of all their ideals, hopes, interests. Let
them but hate sin and love the brethren, he never tired saying,
then all good would follow. And it did; indeed, so rich was
the life, so manifold the good works of Monte Cassino as to
stir admiration not unmixed with suspicion. King Totila,
unable to restrain his curiosity, sent messengers to investigate
the much talked-of place. Their leader thought to deceive
Benedict by feigning himself a king and dressing the part.
"My son," said the abbot, "put off that which thou wearest,
for it is not thine. " To these hard-bitten barbarians the
order, quiet, strange beauty of the monastery must have
no
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
seemed like Heaven on a hilltop! One can scarcely Imagine
the impression created in their bewildered souls, yet one can
fancy the glowing report they brought back to their King.
View from the Mount
An ancient tradition declares that Benedict was given a
vision in which he came as near seeing God as is possible for
a man in the flesh, and in that vision the holy abbot saw the
whole world. As far as one can tell, the scene he beheld from
the heights of Monte Cassino must have been something like
this. Italy lay in the hands of the Ostrogoths. ... In Gaul
the Prankish tribes ruled supreme, having extended their
conquests to Burgundy (534), Bavaria (535) and Provence
(536). . . . On the Iberian peninsula dwelt the Visigoths
whom Clovis had overwhelmed in 507. . . . And in Ireland
monks could be seen crossing the misty seas to spread the
Gospel among the Picts, Caledonians and Britons. Alas,
that the rest of Europe, peopled by Angles, Saxons, Aus-
trasians, Avars and Lombards, was shrouded in pagan dark-
ness. In the east the Church still struggled against a lazy, sullen
Byzantine spirit, while monasticism was rapidly sinking into
a morass of sloth and selfishness. One bright promise,
however, remained in the person of Justinian who ruled the
Eastern Empire with undisputed sway not to say unflagging
zeal. A great lover of justice, this masterful Emperor codified
the Roman law, dipped into theology, encouraged church
building; on the other hand he was stern, domineering,
intolerant, as witness his attempt to stem the tide of evil by
ruling that all pagans either be baptized or lose their property
and go into exile. This latter policy produced countless con-
versions, yet many of these, being forced, were bound to be
fruitless, without real change in belief. Early in his reign the
Emperor set his heart on reclaiming the whole West, so while
ill
Church History in the Light of the Saints
he sat hard in the royal saddle, his great general, Belisarius,
began one conquest after another. After wiping out the
Vandals in Africa (523), Belisarius captured Rome (536), then
Ravenna (540) only to be set back by Totila, an able soldier
ever on the march to win the whole of Italy.
The stalwart Gothic king, who some time before had
despatched messengers to Monte Cassino, made up his mind
to visit Benedict. It was a tiresome journey up the two
thousand feet of rocky cliff, and when he reached the top he
found the abbot sitting outside his cell. Greeting the
barbarian conqueror with exquisite courtesy, Benedict showed
him and his men through the monastery. The faith and
nobility of their host, the courage latent in his monks were not
without their effect on these visitors. They were, no doubt,
greatly astonished at everything they saw and heard ; most
of all by Benedict's startling, unexpected prophecy, addressed
to his regal guest. In the hearing of all, the fearless abbot
declared that Totila would go to Rome, cross the seas, and
after nine years quit this earthly scene! "Much wickedness
do you daily commit/' he accused the warrior, "and many
great sins have you done ; now at length give over your sinful
life/' How deeply Totila felt about all this we do not know.
Did the man of blood and iron mend his ways? Did he
acknowledge his dependence on God, and cease his cruelties
towards the vanquished? No, he did not. And all that
Benedict of Monte Cassino foretold came to pass in due time.
Totila, rallying his Ostrogoths, defeated Belisarius and re-
captured Rome, but a while later he embarked for Sicily, and
after ten years lost both his kingdom and life. By the year
543 Benedict himself was nearing the end of his mortal span.
The account of his death, so different from Totila's, reads
like a joyous home-going to Heaven. Six days before the
end he forewarned his disciples, giving orders to have his
112
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
sepulchre opened. And as the last hour drew nigh he asked
to be carried into the abbey church, where "receiving the
Body and Blood of Our Savior, and having his weak body
holden up between the hands of his disciples, he stood before
the altar with his own hands lifted up to heaven ; and as he
was in that manner praying, he gave up the ghost." Holy
monks saw his soul rising to heaven, clothed in a most precious
garment and surrounded with light, and they beheld One of
a most glorious aspect Whom they heard saying: "This is
the way whereby Benedict, the beloved of the Lord, goeth up
to Heaven/' They buried the saint in the oratory which he
had built when he overthrew the altar of Apollo, and all
Monte Cassino mourned the passing of their beloved abbot
from a world which would one day hail him as the Father of
the Nations!
Black Clouds over Italy
After the demise of Benedict there were dread days in
store for the monks in their mountain-haven. For once
again, as so often during the centuries, a nation whose only
law was war had set out to destroy the order of civilization.
Even while the saint of Monte Cassino stood dying at the
altar, rumors spread of another impending Germanic invasion.
The Lombards, led by Alboin, had left Pannonia and were
headed south for the peninsula. As the long-beards made for
the heart of Christendom, Italy, ill-defended and riven by
rivalries, proved an easy prey. By 568 the fierce marauders,
more savage than the Hun, more tenacious than the Goth,
made it plain that they had come to stay. One after another,
great cities Milan, Liguna, Cremona, Pavia fell before
the onrush of this worst of all scourges of the earth. At
Pavia, the ruthless chief, Alboin, forced Rosamunda to drink
out of her father's skull, but the vengeful princess saw to it
"3
Church History in the Light of the Saints
that the barbarian leader was secretly murdered. Shortly
after, under Clefti (573), the Lombards continued their march
southward, hunting and slaying priests and monks, enslaving
the people, destroying churches, sacking monasteries, burning
libraries. They systematically filled up the wells, cut down
great trees, burned the cross, changing the smiling face of
Italy into a grim desert. Doom, as we know, hung over
Rome where Gregory had to cut short his famous homilies at
news of the Lombard advance. "Sights and sounds of war/'
he says, "meet us on every side. No one remains in the
country; scarcely any inhabitants in the town. . . . Before
our eyes some are carried away captive, some mutilated, some
murdered. We, the survivors, are still the daily prey of the
swarm and of other innumerable tribulations. "
The black storm continued to rage in Italy with no signs
of blowing itself out. In 580, just thirty-five years after
Benedict's death, the Lombards headed for the famed abbey.
Like monstrous gadflies they settled in the vicinity of the
mountain, darkening earth and sky; the monks knew only
too well that these barbarians had come to destroy and
depopulate as they had done with sheer wantonness all along
the peninsula. Give the savages a day or two to complete
their infernal plans and the men of God would have to bear
the brunt of their attack. It was just as the Benedictines
feared. The enemy forded the Iris and, after razing the town,
made straight for the holy place. A few monks managed to
escape, but many were put to the sword, the Lombards dis-
playing an especial hostility towards religious. In an orgy
of hate they sacked the monastery which had enfolded the
heart of Benedict, burned all the precious books in sight,
sought to do away with every trace of life and love. By the
time they left off, the work of three decades was undone "and
the great citadel of faith devastated. The abbey, alas, was
114
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
silent and neglected through a whole century, yet the Bene-
dictine heart and mind remained intact as their tradition
persisted in the City of the Popes. Pelagius II welcomed the
refugee monks, granting them permission to build a monastery
beside the Lateran Basilica; this in turn gave the Rule of
Benedict widespread publicity which won for it many worthy
subjects as well -as papal favor. Thus the order, far from
being crushed under the ruins of their holy home, gathered
strength with the years. Their destiny in defeat would
shortly be revealed when they went forth to lay the sweet
yoke of Christ on their would-be destroyers.
The Great Pontiff Gregory
It is said that during Benedict's early days the Pope,
Hormisdas (514-523), urged him to draw up his rule as an
official code for all the monks of the West. As the years
went on, time justified the pontiff's judgment for many others
similarly recognized Benedict's inspired genius for law and
order. They well knew that the best biography of the great
abbot could be read between the lines of his Rule, and in the
noble lives of his followers. In fact the refugee monks of the
eighties found such favor in Rome that Gregory, a scion of the
house of Anicii, turned over his father's mansion in Monte
Celio to the order, and later forsook his brilliant career as
Prefect of Rome to take the habit of a black monk. At first
the gifted novice dearly wanted to journey to Britain as a
missionary and convert the Angles. Having come across
some of those blue-eyed, yellow-haired slaves in a Roman
market, he asked who they were; when told "Angli," Gregory
replied, "Non Angli sed angeli" But the Roman populace
simply would not let him depart ; they mobbed the Pope on
his way to St. Peter's, crying out that he had sent their
beloved Gregory into exile; eventually they forced the little
Church History in the Light of the Saints
band to stay In their monastery. The Pope, however, had
plans of his own; he would send the talented young monk as
papal legate to Constantinople. Now no sooner had Gregory
left Rome to serve the Church in the East than the Black
Plague began to steal over Europe. Bred in the swamp
lands of Egypt, the bubonic peril spread across Africa, over
the sea to Spain, thence across the continent. Like a thief
in the night it stole into hut and castle, sparing neither prince
nor pauper. Its deadly miasma poisoned the land for more
than half a century; as an aftermath came earthquake here,
there and everywhere, destroying cities and towns alike.
Pope Pelagius himself succumbed to the plague which
reached Rome in 590; and later, in Antioch alone, two hun-
dred and fifty thousand people perished from earthquake,
which reduced homes, churches, and public buildings to heaps
of rubble. "Some places/' Gregory draws a picture of those
terrible days, "are laid waste by pestilence, others are tor-
mented by famine, others are swallowed up by earthquake. "
At the news of Pope Pelagius' death there was little doubt
who would succeed him none other than the monk,
Gregory! Both clergy and people elected him unanimously to
the papacy despite the .holy man's desire to lead a simple
hidden life.
There followed a pontificate perhaps the most renowned in
the annals of the Church. As a matter of plain fact, Pope
Gregory's "exercise of power was one of the greatest moments
in world-history." Never certainly was there a more versatile
ruler, nor one who knew better the needs of Church and State.
Think of Gregory's talents preacher, biblical scholar,
administratoi*, statesman, commander of a navy, relief
expert, musician, liturgist and Saint! Though dogged by
116
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
Ill-health, he managed to accomplish incredible tasks, proving
a pillar of strength, moral, and spiritual. Once in the Chair
of Peter, he proceeded to oust the time-servers in the papal
court and clear the deck for Catholic action. Next, the
estates known as " Peter's Patrimony " fifteen hundred
square miles were administered wholly in the interests of
charity. With an amazing apitude for affairs, he kept in
touch with Spain, Gaul, Ireland and the East; with equally
inspired wisdom he made peace with the Lombard conqueror
and fearlessly upheld the rights of the Holy See against the
trickeries of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Nor would
he yield an inch to the officious and powerful Justinian in the
matter of spiritual jurisdiction, though he always accepted the
Emperor's 'civil authority. For the Bride of Christ he had
the deepest love and while he protected the rights of each and
every individual church he demanded from them constant
loyalty to the Holy See. High above all mundane conflicts
this "servant of the servants of God" as Gregory styled him-
self, envisaged a better world to come, a world in which the
rights of religion and human rights would have their due place.
But by far the greatest of his achievements was to launch the
Benedictines on their mission of winning the West for Christ.
Bad as it was, he reasoned, did not barbaric Europe belong to
God? Was it not to be made worthy of Him? Yes, for this
very thing he himself had been drafted from the inner peace of
the cloister. Should he, then, who had the power of the
Vicar of Christ, remain indifferent, unChristian? No, nor
his brethren either. Now of all times myriads were hungering
and thirsting for the truth in Christ; their souls like the fallow
fields of Europe demanded attention. The conclusion was
inescapable so, throwing his great influence behind the black
monks, Pope Gregory made clear to them that if the battle
117
Church History in the Light of the Saints
against the powers of darkness was to be won, they must fare
forth and plant the truth among the new nations.
Destiny in Defeat
The sons of St. Benedict, armed only with faith and love,
set out to do their work in the chaotic world. Two vital
tasks confronted them the conversion of the barbarians and
the conquest of the Black Death. Into the welter of fear and
ruin they went to win back both the earth and its dwellers to
the peace of God. The forces they exercised, physical and
moral, religious and cultural, are simply beyond estimate.
They first chose remote places in Italy for their abode ; woods
and waters, deserts and moors were always dear to them as
the work of God's hands, while man-made cities and towns
they regarded as breeding places of sin and evil. "They
found a swamp, a thicket, a rock, and they made an Eden
in the wilderness. They destroyed snakes, they extirpated
wild-cats, wolves, boars, bears; they put to flight or they
converted rovers, outlaws, robbers." * None ever improved
their lands more than the monks, by building, cultivating and
other methods. Is it not easy to see how they succeeded
eventually in renovating society, so tireless was their aposto-
late, so sublime their patience? Tirfie for them merged very
closely into Eternity as they followed a divine pattern of
living and spent day after day in endless, love-lit service.
Near-by folk, native and barbarian, came very soon to know
the black-clad strangers as skilful, courteous, enthusiastic
workers, and sought in their own crude way to copy them.
Thus many settled down in the vicinity of a monastery where
the monks taught them how to sow and water, plow and reap,
and build themselves homes; small wonder then that remote
1 "Mission of St. Benedict" by John H. Newman in Historical Sketches^
vol. II, p. 398
118
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
desert places became gardens, orchards 'grew in wastelands,
and towns rose out of nowhere. But still more wonderful was
the way their doctrine gathered as the rain, their example
distilled "as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the
grass/ ' By little and little faith broke upon barbarian souls,
good works followed ; then peace and order, which lagged at
the start, grew apace when schools drew the children of the
invaders. Lo and behold, unfriendly urchins, when taught to
read the old Latin works and the sacred scriptures, responded
to gentle discipline and presently gave up their wildness for
Christian "manners and habitudes of life." And as they
learned to love the monks, new ideas quickly supplanted the
old, and Christian character was firmly shaped.
The Benedictine army was on the march and their early
campaigns for God were being crowned with success. It still
must be kept in mind that their work in the barbarian world
was merely beginning. A great advance was made, none the
less, when the fierce Lombards began to change their ways,
many of them embracing the Catholic faith. In 590, King
Agilulf whose wife was a Catholic, became a convert, and a
host of his warriors followed him into the fold. The Church
won their respect and obedience. They championed in a
crude way the cause of the monks. Then by degrees they
came to adhere to Roman ideas of law and order, liberty and
civilization. Such a miraculous transformation reads like a
solution of the ancient riddle in sacred scriptures :
Out of the eater came something to eat
And out of the strong came something sweet. 2
In the meantime Pope Gregory had despatched Augustine,
O.S.B., to Britain to convert the Angles. The party of forty
monks who set out in 596, stopped over at Lerins in Gaul and,
2 Judges XIV, 14
119
Church History in the Light of the Saints
having crossed the sea, disembarked at Sandwich. King
Ethelbert of Kent met them and permitted the preaching of
Christianity among his subjects; on Christmas day, 597, the
ruler himself received Baptism together with over ten
thousand of his subjects. And before the close of the century
the faith began to take deep root, its center being the old
Roman-British church outside the walls of Canterbury. Alive
as ever to the needs of the Church abroad, Gregory gathered
a band of monks to assist Augustine; at the same time he
planned the great work of Leander whom he sent to aid the
hard-pressed Catholics in Spain. The two had met years
before in Constantinople and Gregory knew the learning and
sanctity of his friend. Leander, a gifted orator and zealous
missionary, received the pallium in 599; as Archbishop of
Toledo he not only reformed the liturgy and headed the great
councils, but also converted the Spanish Visigoths from the
errors of Arianism.
Pillars of the Church
Irish monks, meanwhile, had been evangelizing the north
of Europe. They crossed over to the Isles, then to Britain;
they swept across Gaul and into Switzerland and Italy; they
even breasted the dread swamps of the Rhineland where
fierce German tribes worshipped Thor and Woden, St.
Ronan went to Cornwall and chose for his hermitage a wood
full of wild beasts; later he sailed for Brittany where he
founded Lucronan. In 563 St. Columba, poet and scholar,
founded lona and spent thirty-five years evangelizing the
highlands of Scotland. St. Fridolin, a contemporary of
Columba, having planted the gospel seed in Switzerland and
other provinces as far as Augsburg, ended his days on an
island in the Rhine. In 590 St. Columban and his monks set
out to preach, first in Britain, then in Brittany, and after 591
120
Saint Benedict and the Sixth Century
in Austrasia. St. Gaul, who in 610 accompanied Columban
to Alemannia, settled on Lake Constance, while the latter
crossed over to Italy, dying in the great abbey of Bobbio in
the Apennines. On their gospel way these Irish monks met
up with other pioneers of the Spirit, all joining forces in the
common cause. Holy hands elapsed across the nations, loyal
hearts beat as one, as they bridged the continent itself by their
missionary endeavor. Sons of St. Martin, sons of St. Patrick,
sons of St. Benedict co-worked "in Christ," in order that
justice and peace might kiss, and unbelievers be brought into
the flock. The fact is these monks bore remarkable resem-
blance to the saints of the Old Testament, "who by faith
conquered kings, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped
the mouths of lions." 3 And by a divine law of compensation
the Church first nourished and then was herself nourished by
the new life-blood of the barbarians. Of highest importance
to the whole development of Europe was the advance of social
and spiritual freedom accomplished by these monks during the
sixth and the following centuries. As we shall see, the rule of
the Benedictines gradually supplanted the others, Gallic and
Irish, while ever so slowly the old Roman tradition returned
to the West.
While the monks did more than their part in planting the
good seed, there were scholars, too, who labored among the
unlettered barbarians. Among a half-dozen, three are out-
standing; faithful scribes whose pens worked in the dark as
they carried on through the century. Chief among them
was Boetius (480-524) a first-rate thinker whose Consolation
of Philosophy deeply affected Christendom, and forged a
bright link between the Dark and Middle Ages. Boetius'
influence grew apace with the centuries, serving the School-
men well, for his was the temper of Aristotle, the thought of
Heb.XI,33
I2X
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Plato. His friend Cassiodorus (480-575), member of an
ancient Roman family, made a lasting impression on the age
by virtually recapturing learning for the West. Giving up
high posts under the Gothic kings he founded a monastery
in Viviers, Brutium, where living practice was phrased in
written precept; this able monk, theologian and chronicler
as well as educator, deserved the accolade "Father of the
Universities," his Institutions of Divine and Human Study
setting a pattern of studies, the Trivium and Quadrivium,
which served as a foundation for later schools. Then there
was Gregory of Tours (539-593) by all odds the best historian
of the day despite his occasional dullness. The pages of this
wide-eyed monk fairly flash when he reports the doings of such
violent and colorful figures as Fredegund, Brunhilde and
Chilperic. "Woe to our time," he cries, "for the study of
books has perished from among us" ; and small wonder, when
the barbarians had wrecked all the great centers of learning,
Rome, Milan, Carthage, Alexandria. Other chroniclers like
Gildas the Briton (d. 512), Jordanes the Goth (550) and
Isidore of Spain (560-636) contributed to the aroused interest
if not always to the accurate information of their day.
Though factual narrative is often mixed with exaggerations
still they cast many rays of light on the slowly waning dark-
ness and "bequeath to us spirited accounts of the ups and
downs of the Church in evil days. The work of these sixth-
century men of letters proves beyond doubt that History was
reaching out to take the hand of Religion, while Education
assisted Evangelization in the slow march towards culture and
civilization.
122
Saint Columtan
VAGRANT OF HEAVEN
SAINT COLUMBAN AND THE SEVENTH CENTURY
Emperors in East
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
MAURITUS, 602
St. Columban writes Pope Gregory 600
ST. GREGORY THE
Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury 60 1
GREAT, 590-604
PHOCUS, 602-610
Burgundian Bishops summon Columban 603
Columban banished from Luxeuil 610
SABINIAN, 604-606
Mohammed (b. 570) receives "revela-
tions" 610
BONIFACE III, 607
HERACLIUS,
Establishment of St. Gaul 611
ST. BONIFACE IV,
610-641
608-615
St. Columban at Milan, Italy 612
Foundation of Bobbio 613
St. Columban dies in Italy 615
ST. DEUSDEDIT I,
Eastern Church sunk in heresy and
615-619
schism < 620
Mohammed's flight from his foes
BONIFACE V f
(Hegira) " 622
619-625
Khosros lays waste Syria, Asia Minor 625
Mohammed returns in triumph to
HONORIUS I,
Mecca 630
625-638
Death of Mohammed 633
Arabs capture Syria 634
Death of Isidore of Seville 636
Jerusalem capitulates to the Moslem 638
Arabs enter Egypt 640
SEVERINUS, 640
CONSTANS II,
Arabs march on Persia 641
JOHN IV,
641-668
640-642
Arabs conquer Egypt t 642
THEODORE I t
Bobbio has its first mitred Abbot 643
642-649
St. Gaul dies in his Swiss Abbey 646
Armenians cut off from Catholic unity 651
ST. MARTIN I,
649-653
Pope St. Martin banished by Emperor 653
ST. EUGENE I,
654-657
Wilfred, Archbishop of York 664
ST. VITALIAN,
657-672
CONSTANTINE IV,
668-685 *
Moslems attempt siege of Constanti-
nople 670
Mass of Lombards become Catholics 671
ADEODATUS II,
672-676
DOMUS I, 676-678
Wilfred sees Pope Agatho 679
ST. AGATHO
Wilfred imprisoned by King Egfrid 680
678-681
Boniface born in Devonshire 680
Third Council of Constantinople 680
ST. LEO II,
682-683
ST. BENEDICT II,
684-685
Kilian (Irish) Apostle to Thuringia 686
JOHN V, 685-686
Pepin restores unity to Franks 687
CONAN, 686-687
Moslems invade Africa 690
ST. SERGIUS,
Wilibrod labors among Frisians 690
687-701
JUSTINIAN II
(Deposed in 695)
Arabs conquer North Africa 695
Carthage falls to Arabs 697
LEONTIUS, 698
Wilibrod evangelizes Denmark 698
Christendom ringed by Moslem states 700
SAINT COLUMBAN AND THE SEVENTH CENTURY
Hope in the Dark
The Dark Ages seem darker, if anything, during this cen-
tury. Italy still lay under the Lombard yoke, Swabia was a
blacked-out hinterland, the lands of the Franks and the
Visigoths reeked with dreadful crimes, while Britain was, for
the most part, still semi-barbarous. You will not be far
wrong in picturing the West: war-scarred and heresy-ridden;
broken roads, ruined Roman castles, deep timber lands;
lovely streams, glorious mountains, swamps and wasteland;
semi-savage Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Lombards; ill-
clad peasants, royal ruffians, worldly clerics and ignorance
everywhere. In the East, rife with moral disorder, rival
creeds tore at one another's throats, while it looked as if the
Church were going into total eclipse. The garden that was
North Africa, already withered by the Vandals, burned dry
under the fierce Moslem whose cruel reign blighted her very
existence. Need anyone be surprised, therefore, that this age
of blood-curdling political drama proved barren of theological
thought, devoid of secular learning? With the breakdown of
language there were few writers of any note, for grammar and
thought had become as rude, as barbarous as the people
themselves. Yet the darkest hour is often the hour nearest
the dawn, and there were rays of hope amid the black despair.
All the Church's labor in the fields of the world could not be
in vain, though tares and cockles threatened to choke the
young wheat struggling upwards. The barbarian nations,
firmly rooted, will grow many bitter thorns in days to come,
none the less the Church will be seen at her work plowing,
sowing, watering.
As the darkness slowly merges into dawn, a stalwart,
125
Church History in the Light of the Saints
sinewed abbot may be seen engaged in the midst of the
struggle for God's cause. A great missionary, travelling far
and wide, this giant of a man lived much of his life in the
sixth century, yet the most fruitful part of his labors belongs
to the seventh. There were, to be sure, other great workers
in alien fields. None, however, approached his stature, not
one left such a tremendous impress on the age. St. Isidore
of Seville (560-636) looms large as an erudite scholar; St.
Kilian (686) ranked great as an ascetic; St. Wilfred, (684-
709), Archbishop of Canterbury, excelled in shrewd ad-
ministrative skill. Yet Columban stands out the peerless
missionary, greatest poet of his age as well as the most impres-
sive scholar of Merovingian times. His faith in the Church
of God was indestructible; he had a fierce zeal which matched
his boundless energy. Here indeed was a Celt of Celts,, eager,
headstrong, a stickler for discipline, an imperious ruler not to
be denied. Like other humans he had his faults, for this
stubborn never-say-die pioneer proved impetuous as he was
dauntless, passionate as he was vigorous; withal a man more
"holy, more chaste, more self-denying, a man with loftier
aims and purer heart than Columban was never born in the
Island of Saints." No flash in the pan, this Irish abbot, you
will have to agree, but a blazing torch who shed faith and
hope across Europe, The monasteries he founded became
light-houses in that dark sea of strife; the monks who called
him Father were the most experienced missionaries of their
day. An4 the rule Columban drew up, an iron rule, prevailed
for nearly fifty years in the Celtic houses of Europe, and at
one time seemed likely to rival if not surpass the rule of
St. Benedict.
Irish Odyssey
Columban, born in Leinster in 543, was a true child of the
Irish renaissance, that great source of piety and learning
126
Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
which endured for three hundred years. Big, talented,
handsome, the lad knew no peace in his early schooldays
because of the advances of wanton maidens forever seeking
to win him with soft enticements. The words of Holy Writ,
however, gave him pause: "Turn away thy face from a
woman dressed up, and gaze not upon another's beauty, for
many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby
lust is enkindled as a fire/' There was, Columban saw, only
one way safe and pleasing to God; he must not give the power
of his soul to any woman. Let those fair tempters cast their
alluring glances as often as they would, it was better for him
to be monk-minded than a bond-man or a home-born slave
to sin. One day he brought his problem to an old anchoress
who told him with no mincing of words to fly the scene: "For
fifteen years I have been homeless in the place of my pil-
grimage and never by the aid of Christ have I looked back.
Yes, and if my weak sex had not prevented, I would have
gone on truer pilgrimage across the sea. And you, alive with
the fire -of youth, you will stay here at home in your native
land with weaklings and with women? Remember Eve and
Delilah and Bathsheba and the tempters of Solomon! Go
forth young man, go forth, and avoid the road to ruin and
to Hell !" That was enough for seventeen-year-old Columban,
and he broke the news to his parents who made every effort to
sway their insistent son. A dramatic scene followed when
his anguished mother threw herself over the threshold to
block his departure. But the determined youth, nowise
deterred, stepped over her prostrate form, and heart-breaking
though it must have been, left his home and loved ones
forever.
Over the bogs and rivers Columban journeyed westward
until he reached Lough Erne, site of the famous school,
127
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Cluain-Inis. His teacher there was the great Sinnell, a
hermit renowned throughout Ireland for his learning in
science, sacred and profane. And so ready a pupil did the
sturdy youth prove, to the old scholar's delight, that he not
only composed verse after the style of Horace and Virgil, but
also wrote a Commentary on the Psalms. Two years later
Columban trudged his way across half the island to County
Down in order to sit at the feet of another famous mastfer,
Comgall. This fervent disciple of St. Kieran had founded
his own school at Bangor, a widely-known abode of saints and
scholars. He it was who taught Columban the monastic
discipline and later clad the aspirant in the habit of a monk-
An Irish monk's training, you may be sure, was anything but
easy; it demanded firm will, a stout heart, and a rugged body.
The young novice's motto, "Not I, but what Thou wilt,"
called for stern obedience to his abbot. Nor was there any
let-down in the- life of the cloister. The community rose at
midnight for prayer, then again at dawn, and after bearing the
day's burden, retired at sundown. Seven times they prayed
publicly after the example of David who wrote, "Seven times
a day do I praise Thee, O Lord. )J There was fasting always
till evening when the monks partook of a sparse meal; the
rule considered fasting just as important as study, labor, and
prayer. "He who would trample on the world," the abbot
advised, "must trample on himself. Think not what you are,
but what you will be. Do not be sure about things that perish
and unsure about the better things that will last." Rigor-
ously Columban followed those counsels, perfecting himself in
learning and piety, until one day, inspired by a vision of
missionary work far away, he begged Comgall to send him to
foreign lands where he could spend himself for the cause of
Christ. The old master having granted his request with a
128
Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
blessing, Columban prepared to face the tragic chaos of the
barbarian world.
In Fields Afar
It was the year 589 when the middle-aged monk fared forth
on his great missionary undertaking. The little band of
twelve embarked on the Irish Sea and reached the coast of
Britain, sailing no doubt under the protection of the great
mariner, St. Brendan. Why their stay in the island proved
so brief is not clear, but very soon the hardy travellers, braving
the treacherous waters of sea and channel, made sail for the
Breton coast. No sooner had they landed in this strange
country than they began preaching the Word of God to folk
who hungered for the bread of life. As they continued their
work through perils and hazards they must have often be-
thought themselves of the warning of what they might expect
after leaving Holy Ireland. Look for a moment at the Land
of the Franks! Only ten years after- Patrick's death (496)
Clovis, the fierce battler, had become a Christian; as time
went on his four sons (mer-wigs all of them, i.e., great warriors)
proved exceedingly bold and eager for strife. Like beasts of
prey they went into action, ganged up on Sigismund, King
of Burgundy, and in 523 cruelly murdered him with his entire
family. Then they went on to conquer Burgundy in 524,
Bavaria in 535, and Provence in 536. By the seventh century
we find three different divisions of the Prankish kingdom:
Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy each with its own
petty Merovingian king and its own mayor of the palace.
All of them brought only confusion worse confounded because
of their greed, lust of power and women, and wicked rivalries.
In each state where they ruled nothing was secure or unchal-
lenged ; the order of the day was murder, plotting, intriguing,
revenge, double-crossing. The field of Columbia's labor,
129
Church History in the Light of the Saints
EUROPE
IN THE
6th and 7th CENTURIES
then, was a fierce arena under the shadow of dark power which
stretched from the Channel to the Great Sea, from the Rhine to
Ocean. True enough, the Irish monks found the Western
Franks fairly united, but there was endless quarrelling and
division between the two branches in the East: the Neustrian
Franks, on the channel seaboard, retained their Roman ways,
while the Austrasian Franks, along the banks of the Rhine,
130
Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
clung to their savage code. Even worse than the habitual
warlike attitude of these semi-barbarians were the low ideals
of their lax clergy and this explains the absence of Christian
standards among Prankish kings and courtiers as well as
among the masses.
Upon reaching Burgundy the missionaries met King Gun-
tram who urged them to stay and preach the Gospel. The
invitation accepted, Columban came upon a half-ruined
Roman fortress suitable for their needs, deep in a wild and
rocky region of the Vosges. His first step was to provide
shelter, so the monks rolled up their sleeves and set to work
building a monastery Annegray. As was only natural,
progress was made slowly; and they experienced many ups
and downs in the early days. Though the King offered them
protection, such as it was, they well-nigh starved, subsisting
on berries, wild herbs and the bark of trees. Wild beasts
ranged about their living quarters, bandits besieged them on
every side, yet they stuck together, equal to everything.
There was no pause, no truce, no rest, as the abbot, stern,
hard-working, fearless, led the way with broad wisdom. And
for one and all the Irish rule proved nothing short of providen-
tial: " Never rebel in your heart, never talk as you would;
never go anywhere on your own account." Oh, yes, they
had mastered that lesson back in Bangor, a lesson that stood
by them in many a bad fix. Once firmly established in
Annegray, they partook of the roughest fare hard biscuit,
vegetables and meal mixed with water; they drank only
herb-beer, dressed in the coarsest habits, killed wolves to
make hide for sandal-leather. One fine day Columban came
across a deep pool, then another, and after that his monks
had fish aplenty for the Abbot was able to tell unerringly just
where the finny creatures could be caught. Thus they lived
Church History in the Light of the Saints
a stern sacrificial life yet dwelt in unity, a happy family
Indeed, where the well being of each was the concern of all.
Salt of the Earth
Now the presence of such a masterful abbot and his little
community could not possibly fail to command respect in the
neighborhood. Their door ever open to the needy, wandering
peasants began making the acquaintance of the newcomers,
only to marvel alike at their physical prowess and spiritual
powers. As might be expected, folk sick in body and soul came
to Annegray; the poor found in the monks their truest
friends; the world-weary, won by humility, gentleness and
mutual charity, sought entrance into the monastery where
they cheerfully submitted to the harsh iron rule. Not only
did the rustics become their friends, but Gallo-Roman nobles
who came to scoff, stayed to pray. The more they saw of the
Irish monks the more they stood in admiration of them, and
the fame of Annegray-in- the- Wilderness spread far and wide.
Loving solitude as Columban did, the fresh crowds simply
compelled the abbot to retire to a cave some miles away.
But he managed to keep in touch with the community through
a messenger whose report could be nothing but numbers,
numbers and again numbers. Very soon they saw that it
would be necessary to clear and dig and stone the vineyard,
so great was the need of another monastery. In 590 they got
to work on a new site in a wild piny district eight miles
away, and used as foundation stones the ruins of Luxovium
(Luxeuil), an old Gallo-Roman castle. Hot springs, stone
images, ritual glades, dating back to pagan times, gave the
district a desolate touch. Owls, wolves, bears frequented the
old ruins which teemed with wild life, making the place even
more mysterious. Despite these perils the Irish monks soon
turned the uncanny site into a green oasis with "springs of
132
Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
living water" whither multitudes hastened in search of com-
fort and direction. The King and his nobles used to visit the
old abbot here at Luxeuil, and Augustine with his black
monks from Rome stopped over on his way to the Angles in
Britain. So great, in fact, was the hum and fuss of life about
the place that once again Columban was obliged to fly the
madding crowd silence was God's praise and his own source
of strength ! On the mountainside he found a cave, and a well
near by furnished him drink; best of all from the height he
could see afar off his beloved monastery.
The Irish had two flourishing communities now, Annegray
and Luxeuil, where choir relieved choir every hour, giving glad
praise to God. About this time the abbot wrote his own rule
for the monks which embodied the customs of Bangor and
was instinct with the ascetic tradition of St. Patrick. And
as many embraced their rule, these foundations became the
miracle of the day, standing out with a glory all their own:
Annegray, an asylum of charity, Luxeuil, the most important
bastion of faith in all Gaul. Still more, Columban opened
new schools after the Irish pattern, schools which wrought
wonders with the young Franks, at first so wild and unman-
ageable. The abbot's great talents as scholar and disciplinar-
ian found full outlet in these cloister-schools. As a true
Christian educator, he rated training higher than instruction >
moral discipline above mental culture, and he strove inspir-
ingly to endue those semi-barbarian youths with a sense of
God-given duty. At any breach of bounden charity, for-
bearance or politeness, there was the rod ; for the lazy, lying,
stubborn, there was a bread-and-water fast. If a youngster
happened to be bullied by an older boy to break the Rule his
answer was to be, "You know I am not allowed to do this";
if the other insisted, the boy was to say: "I will do as you
command." The boy thus escaped with an act of dis-
133
Church History in the Light of the Saints
obedience, but his abettor was promptly punished with three
"fasts" and three "silences" during playtime. Now all these
new things the monks did for tough young Franks, made only
for good ; their ways and lives were an open book and what
they taught was bound to spread far and wide. It was
inevitable, therefore, that their vigorous methods should
incur the jealousy of the lax, the hostility of the undisciplined.
In the Thick of Trials
There was no escaping clerical opposition either. Though
bishops turned to Columban for guidance, just as powerful
nobles placed their children under his care, the rank and file
of the clergy frowned upon his relentless reforms, and he once
wrote home, "The love of mortification was scarcely to be
found even in such places." The unwavering adherence of
the monks to Patrician tradition brought about fresh diffi-
culties. Men and women alike were excluded from the
cloister; church feasts, especially Easter, fell on different
days. Now the Irish monastic discipline in its native land
had borne the richest fruit in all Christendom ; moreover the
Easter date was one brought from the Pope himself by no
other than St. Patrick. None the less it irked the proud
Franks to be so crossed in their wont and custom by strangers
within the realm. Harsh salt this, too brinish for the powers
that be. In 602 the bishops assembled in council to apply
their authority over religious communities and judge those
rules of the Irish monks which ran counter to the laws of the
Gallic Church. Lest he might lose his temper and "contend
in words" Columban stayed away from the meetings but
addressed to the bishops a letter the like of which they had
never read before. "As to the Irish Easter," he averred, "I
am not the author of this divergence. I came as a poor
stranger into these parts for the cause of Christ, Our Saviour.
134
Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
One thing I ask you, holy Fathers, permit me to live in silence
in these forests, near the bones of seventeen of my brethren
now dead." When the Prankish bishops persisted, Columban
promptly put the matter before Pope Gregory who was ill
at the time, so no reply came to LuxeuiL Another letter
went to Boniface IV shortly after, but meanwhile the dire
course of events had changed the plans of the abbot and his
monks.
The skirmishes Columban had with purse-proud parents
and intransigeant bishops proved tame alongside the war he
waged against the corrupt royalty of his day. Thierry, the
Prankish King, though a man of evil life, had the deepest
respect for the Irish abbot; he even feared the whole-souled
old monk whom he found impetuous to a degree, yet possessed
of astonishing intellectual and moral strength. No respecter
of persons, Columban rebuked, warned, threatened the
untamed King whenever he came to visit LuxeuiL And,
remarkably enough, Thierry took it all, for he really loved his
stern critic and friend. There was fury among the lawless
Franks when they learned that Columban, bringing their
King to bar, had made him give up his mistresses and enter
holy wedlock as beseemed a Christian. The ire of the chief-
tains was nothing alongside the wrath of Thierry's mother,
Brunhild, who now concentrated all her malice on Columban.
One day the old Queen brought to the monastery two of
Thierry's illegitimate children, brazenly demanding that
Columban bless the twain. "What do you want?" the fiery
abbot asked. "They are the King's sons !" she flung savagely
in his teeth. "Protect them with your blessing." "No,
indeed," he imperiously replied, "you may be sure they will
never receive the royal sceptre." That blow, driven at
Brunhild's flaming pride, was never forgiven. Anger gnawed
at the old tyrant's heart and she subtly proceeded to get rid
135
Church History in the Light of the Saints
of the aged abbot. A blind fool, any monk who thought
he could dictate to her. Let the island breed go back to
their habitat across the sea; for that matter let them be
liquidated but this the old schemer dared not do. Her
hour came when Thierry succeeded as King of Burgundy; at
last she stirred up his nobles and even the bishops so that
Columban and all the foreign-born missionaries were ordered
to leave Luxeuil where for twenty years they had labored
singleheartedly, unsparing of self for the glory of God and the
good of the Prankish kingdom. Worse things followed when
these tyrants of the body as well as the soul resorted to
armed action and threw Columban into prison at Besangon.
But the doughty prisoner broke away, got back into his
monastery and with a few Irish monks quit the country by
way of the Loire River, going on to Nantes. The exiled abbot
wrote to the monks he left behind: "They come to tell me
the ship is ready. . . . Farewell, dear hearts of mine, pray
for me that I may live in God. . , ." The little band of exiles,
crowded in a small boat, set sail once more for distant ports.
But there were other fields! And the monks were full of
hope and courage, sure that, come what might, the hosts of
Hell would never prevail against God's Church. There was
no time then for pangs, reproaches, or bitter memories, time
only for thanksgiving that solid foundations had been laid in
Luxeuil. The Franks had planned to send the monks back
to Ireland, but Heaven decreed otherwise; their boat foun-
dered when it left the river for the high seas and the tempest-
tossed missioners at last sighted landfall off the coast of
Neustria. Mercifully, the going became easier after they
met friendly Eastern Franks. At Soissons, King Clothaire
gave the little band warm welcome, even pressed them to stay,
but the abbot decided to move on to the court of the Aus-
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Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
trasian King, Theodobert. A great reception awaited them
at Metz, whence they journeyed on to Mainz where the Rhine
made its way into the dangered lands of the Suevi and
AlemannL All along this hazardous route they preached the
Gospel, doing all manner of good things in Alpine towns and
hills as far as Zurich. In this wild country the odds were a
hundred to one against the monks until they reached Lake
Constance where traces of Christianity still survived. Here it
was that Columban built a church round the little, long-
abandoned chapel of St. Aurelia, and Gallus preached to the
natives in their own language. Even so, persecution still
dogged their steps, and little wonder when the abbot with
unbending courage braved the heathen in their very act of
sacrifice, even pouring their libations on the ground. The
fiery enthusiasm of the man, together with his severe rules of
the road, wore down more than one of his monks, so it is not
surprising that Gallus fell ill just when they had decided to
enter new fields. Unhappily a crisis occurred the day Colum-
ban reproached poor worn-out Gallus unable to make the start.
At last the abbot decided to leave the sick monk behind and
go on to Italy, but not before he had imposed a terrible
penance on his foremost missionary who was not to say Mass
until the Master had departed this life. So Gallus remained
behind with a little group who lived the hermit life while they
preached the Gospel in the midst of this savage people. The
picture one often sees of the saint with an ugly ferocious
bear at his side only tells half the truth of those perilous days
when brave Irish missionaries mixed with pagan folk as fierce
as wild beasts, never flinching in combat with their pagan
superstitions. Gallus wrought many miracles, curing the pos-
sessed daughter of Cunzo who was betrothed to Segebert. In
gratitude the Prankish King granted the Irish monks an estate
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
near Albon, which they turned into a monastery destined to be
the greatest center of arts, letters and science in all Swabia.
Five Seed-sown Years
Let us return for a picture of Columban's last adventures
before he died. Only a half decade remained for him as he
led a little band towards Italy; five years travel-filled,
crowded with action, destined soon to bring forth great things.
On arriving in war- torn Lornbardy the abbot, as usual, went
straight to work evangelizing the peasants. Over two-score
years earlier the savage Lombards under Alboin had laid waste
that region, but under Agilulf those Arian-haters had calmed
down somewhat. Wild as they were, Columban declared, the
Kingdom of Heaven had been opened for Lombards as well as
for Franks, nay for all men. God had sent him and his monks
into this sick world that souls aided by grace might rise slowly
to true freedom and go forward towards everlasting life.
Indeed, many of them did, even the Lombard leaders who but
a short time before had acted like blood-thirsty animals pacing
to and fro behind bars. It was a great day when Columban
converted Agilulf and received from the fiery King an old
ruined church in Eborium, a stark devastated district. In
the midst of bricks and sermons, building up his new mon-
astery together with equally back-breaking mission work
among the Lombards, the indefatigable Irish abbot found
time to write a treatise of all things, against the Arians!
The Church in North Italy was torn with dissension over the
"Three Chapters/' writings said to favor Nestorianism.
Pope Gregory tolerated the defenders of the work; not so
Columban who always packed a stout cudgel. The abbot of
Eborium (Bobbio) wrote an amazing letter to the Holy
Father. "We Irish, " he said, " though dwelling at the far
ends of the earth, are all disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul.
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Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
Neither heretic, nor Jew, nor Schismatic has ever been among"
us; but the Catholic faith just as it was first delivered to us
by yourselves, the successors of the Apostles, is held un-
changed. We are bound to the Chair of Peter, and although
Rome is great and renowned, through that Chair alone is she
looked on as great and illustrious among us." , . . Later the
aging abbot actually journeyed down the Apennines to Rome
where he was graciously received by Gregory who gave him
many relics.
Once back in Bobbio, there was much to be accomplished
at home, in the cloister and afield among the semi-pagans in
the district. Small bands went forth to combat the fraud of
the Evil One by weeding out deep-lying vices of ignorance and
superstition. These monks, instinct with the spirit of St.
Patrick, toiled daily in the Lombard wastes, fortifying strange
folk with the dew of virtue, the while their genius, winning
temperament, childlike simplicity won the hearts of their
hearers. Faith and love of God grew apace as the Church
cast deeper roots in the daily lives of a tribe once regarded as
the most terrible of all the barbarians. One is left wondering
whether Columban amid the Lombards harked back to the
Prankish days. Or was he aware of what had transpired in
the interim? We do know that the old abbot in exile wrote
from Tours to King Thierry that within three years he and
bis children would perish, a fearsome prophecy that actually
came to pass. But far more dreadful was the end of the King's
mother, Brunhild. She who had sowed the wind now
reaped the whirlwind; the evil woman directly responsible
for so many crimes received the reward of her misdeeds* The
Burgundian and Austrasian nobles, having deserted the
despot in time of danger, now proceeded to betray her.
Hunted down like a tigress, Brunhild was captured, brought
in chains to Reneve, and condemned to death. For three
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
long years the old Queen underwent torture, then they placed
her on a camel and exhibited her to the ribald jest of camp-
followers; after that, they put an end to her agony by binding
the poor broken creature to a wild horse which dragged her to
her death. The mangled remains deemed unholy, defiled, and
unworthy of Christian burial, were burned outside the camp.
Thus ended the strange career of this incredible woman who
in her bleak day gave many alms, ransomed prisoners, even
encouraged religion, yet for the forty years she ruled never
ceased to plot, poison, and mercilessly murder her foes.
Last Days of the Abbot
Yes, there were weird exits and mysterious entrances in the
drama of Columban's stern and oft-threatened life. Cruel
houndings, hateful cries, monasterial earthquakes, growling
and glaring Franks, scenes of chaos which he could have
summoned before the eyes of memory. On the other hand,
what joys in service, what hopes for the future, what love and
loyalty from the brethren in Christ. But time was flying fast,
the lights of the world had grown dim, and the old abbot,
loaded with the burdens of half a century, sank into the
infirmities of old age. His once powerful body was now
bowed ,and bloodless, but his face had lost none of its spiritual
beauty. Used as he was to solitude, the monastery proved
too comfortable, so again he took to the mountainside to
spen/f his last days in a cave. Up there he could keep the
ffcornal Hills ever in mind and, as he looked down on his
beloved Bobbio, his soul's eyes must have strained far beyond,
through half a century to Annegray and Luxeuil. Yes, farther
still across the seas to the beloved homeland, always linger-
ing in memory, which he had left to follow Christ. Near his
cave was an unfailing reminder of Ireland, the chapel dedi-
cated to Our Lady his life, his sweetness, his hope! Here
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Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
he spent many an hour, living as in a dream, in prayer for his
soul's salvation, in entreaty for his cherished charges. Soon
messengers arrived from the western world, from Segebert,
King of the Franks, exhorting the Irish abbot to return to
Luxeuil. His foes were dead, they assured him, and the old
monks longed for his presence. Too late now a more im-
portant herald was on the way, one for whom Columban had
long prepared. A little after that came the summons, and
the break of the eternal dawn. It was his day and his Lord's
Day, the 23rd of November, in the year 615.
Back in Swabia, Gallus had a vision of the death of his old
master. The monks had just finished Sunday Matins when
the peace of the hour was stirred by a message from the abbot.
They could scarcely believe their ears when the brother an-
nounced that Gallus wanted to offer the Holy Sacrifice!
"After the night office/' Gallus explained, "it was revealed to
me that my master Columban had fallen asleep in the Lord! 1 '
Mass over, he straightway despatched a seasoned, courageous
runner across the Alps. "Hasten to Italy, my son, to the
monastery of Bobbio; find out all that has happened to my
Father; mark the day and the hour of his death, and return
without delay. Do not fear, God will guide your steps."
The monk returned many days later with the news that the
old abbot had died "at the same hour." He brought for
Gallus Columban's cambutt (a staff) and a missive from the
monks of Bobbio. "Before his death," it read, "our Master
told us to send his staff to Gallus as a token of forgiveness."
After that Gallus continued to govern his monks at Albon
until, at the age of ninety-five, he followed his former leader,
loyal to the last gasp. A church was erected on the old hermit
site, Ecdesia Sancti Galluni, and about its precincts grew the
great monastery of St. Gall. By the next century it had far-
famed schools, the best library in Europe, and the ablest
141
Church History in the Light of the Saints
teachers in Christendom. Brilliant scholars from the West
braved the Alps to study arts, letters and science; while Irish
and Anglo-Saxon monks journeyed across Europe to copy
manuscript for their own libraries.
The Cross and the Crescent
When Columban left Luxeuil the seeds had already been
sown and had come to early flower upon the difficult soil of
the Prankish Empire. The roots then were his roots, the
invisible ultimate fibers were Celtic fibers. And as Luxeuil
grew, its schools became famous throughout Europe for their
piety and learning. By an irony of Heaven, the Gallic
bishops, who had aided in the expulsion of Columban and his
monks, had to give way to the pupils of those heroic exiles.
New and better hands now grasped the helm and steered the
ship so that Truth and Justice sailed on. Before mid-century
the Church of Gaul proved the glory of Christendom; by and
large her bishops were the most holy, the most distinguished
for their learning and doctrine. There were great Episcopal
schools at Paris, Lyons, Chartres, Bourges, Le Mans, Vienne
Chalons, Ulrech, Maestrich, Trier. So highly esteemed was
the Gallic episcopacy in this dark century of ignorance and
barbarism that the Pope begged King Segebert to sen.d some
of his bishops to Rome that they might go forth from the
Eternal City as missionaries to the decadent Eastern Church.
Let the barbarian rage, Luxeuil continued doing Columban's
good work; St. Gall, too, whose monks were the pride of
Swabia. Gallus himself twice refused the bishopric of Con-
stance as well as the abbatial dignity of Luxeuil, proffered him
after the death of Eustace, Columban's successor. His own
place later expanded into a great center, ruled over by St.
Otmar whom Charles M artel appointed to guard the relics
of the saintly pioneer. And as to Bobbio, Columban's last
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Saint Columban and the Seventh Century
foundation proved a mighty stronghold against the Arians;
the monks lived in peace among books which their great abbot
had brought from Ireland and treatises he himself had com-
posed ; nor was it long before their library became the most
celebrated in all Italy. Well for the Church that she had
such tireless scholars and missionaries because further changes
were in store; new foes, more savage than the old, were now
on their way to attack and destroy her.
Islamism stood at the gateway of the West, daring to
match her bloody scimitar against the Sword of the Spirit-
In far-off Arabia the wrath of the infidel had gathered and
spread. Its dread inspirer, Mohammed, born In 570, was an
Arab fanatic, an epileptic and visionary, who claimed he had
a "revelation" from St. GabrieL Yet this wild-eyed reformer
was himself a crafty time-serving sensualist who fell in love
with Zeid's beautiful wife, made her his own, then enacted
that any man who would might divorce his wife. When
Mohammed entered upon his mission to cleanse his land of
bestial behavior and gross idolatry, the Arab tribes rose up
against him, compelling the self-styled prophet to flee to
Medina for his life. The date of his flight (hegira) in 622
marks the beginning of the Mohammedan calendar, just as
A.D.I, is the start of the Christian calendar. In 630 he re-
turned to Mecca in triumph and died three years later, after
succeeding in substituting Theism for polytheism, and a
higher morality for a lower. No more than that did he
achieve, for Islamism was nothing but Judaism adapted to
Arabia. Mohammed at first had not contemplated anything
like foreign conquest, though he did instil into the Arab mind
that their religion was a fighting faith, to be propagated by
the sword. His followers set about doing just that in their
wild frenzy of conquest; theirs was "the cold doctrine, the
cutting steel, and the destroying flame." For Mohammed
Church History in the Light of the Saints
revealed himself an apostle of lust, violence and bloodshed
while the Arabs' faith held that death in battle was the opei]
door to eternal happiness. The East, sunk into the dry-rot
of heresy, schism and corruption, proved easy prey to these
fierce desert-people, doom-sent fanatics intent on blotting out
the Church of Christ. By 637 Arab armies had conquered
Damascus and Jerusalem; they overran Africa, then Persia
shared the fate of Syria and Africa. Before the seventh cen-
tury ended, the Moslem's crescent had half-ringed an im-
perilled Christendom. There was nothing in all history like
this Brown Death which shortly, in 711, spread to Spain, even
crossing the Pyrenees before it was halted. As one views the
awful scene, a great truth stands out above all the din 01
battle. The Moslem onslaught failed before the counter-
attacks of the tribes united after century-long labor by the
monks of the West. Except for the Benedicts, Gregorys,
Columbans, St. Gallus, Bonifaces and their countless spiritual
sons, Europe would have succumbed to Mohammedanism,
Evidently "the gates of hell shall never prevail ..."
144
Saint Bonirace
TAMER OF TRIBES
SAINT BONIFACE AND THE EIGHTH CENTURY
Emperors (Eastern]
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
JUSTINIAN II,
705-711
PHILIPPICUS,
7H-7I3 TT
ANASTASIUS II,
713-716
LEO THB ISAURIAN,
717-741
CONSTANTINB III,
741-775
LEO IV, 775-780
CONST ANTINE IV,
78o-797
Arts and Letters in Britain 700
Boniface (Winifred) young Benedictine 700
Islam rules North Africa 700
Eastern "Empire sunk in corruption 700
Merovingian's dynasty in decay 700
Boniface at Nuthsalling monastery 705
Aldhelm of Malmesbury, O.S.B., dies 709
Boniface ordained to the priesthood 710
Islam enters Spain 711
Boniface preaches to Frisians 716
Triple Threat Islam Lombard, Image
Breakers 716
Leo resists Moslems at Constantinople 717
Boniface's first visit to Rome 718
Boniface at work east of Rhine 719
Boniface, a Bishop, sent to Hessja 722
Leo issues proclamation against images 726
Gregory II excommunicates Emperor 730
Charles, Hammerer, sterns Mohammedan
tide 732
Death of Venerable Bede of Yarrow 735
Willibrord assists Boniface 737
Boniface visits Rome 738
Lombards again in arms 739
Charles the Hammerer dies 741
Union of Church and Franks under Pope
Zachary 741
Carlo rnari succeeds Charles 741
First German Council 742
Boniface, Archbishop of Austrasia 743
Carloman enters a monastery 747
Boniface, Primate of Germany 748
Boniface anoints and crowns Pepin King 751
Boniface labors East of Zuyder Zee 753
Pope Stephen visits Pepin 754
Boniface martyred by Frisians 755
Charlemagne succeeds Pepin 768
Lombards again aggressive 769
Pope Adrian I secures order 772
Lombardy annexed by Franks 774
Alcuin heads Charlemagne's School 782
Norsemen reach Iceland for settlement 784
Second Council of Nice 787
Charles the Great conquers Avars 794
Avar tribes offer submission 795
Leo III crowns Charlemagne 800
ST. SERGIUS I,
687-701
JOHN VI,
701-705
JOHN VII,
705-707
SlSSINNIUS, 708
CONSTANTINE,
708-715
ST. GREGORY II,
7I5-73I
ST. GREGORY III,
731-741
ST. ZACHARY,
741-752
ST. STEPHEN II,
752-757
ST. PAUL I,
757-767
ST. STEPHEN III,
768
ADRIAN I,
772-795
LEO III, 795-816
SAINT BONIFACE AND THE EIGHTH CENTURY
Light over Britain
The seventh century in the north was a time of sowing in
tears, the eighth a veritable harvest for the faith and letters.
Irish monks left their holy land to plant the gospel seed in
Britain; lona, founded in 563 by Columba, Eire's first exile,
did glorious service as a great mission-center for Scotland and
north England. The light spread when Augustine reached
Kent in 596 with his forty monks who girded themselves to
preach in the highways and byways; the Roman Paulinus
baptized King Edwin of Northumbria, in 627; and a metro-
politan see arose in the old Roman city of York. Less than
a decade later, Aidan, pupil of Columba, founded the far-
famed Lindesfartie, one of whose famous sons Wilfred became
Archbishop of Canterbury and for many years guided the
English Church through crisis after crisis! Four great
Benedictines stand out in these early days Benedict
Biscop (628690), a veritable patriarch of monks, who intro-
duced the Roman rite in place of the Celtic usages in the
north of England; Wilfred (634), who established there the
rule of the black monks; Aldhelm (709), the first to cultivate
classical learning with success; and Venerable Bede (672-
735), unquestionably the most notable scholar of the age.
Soon many Anglo-Saxon monks made their way to Gaul, even
as far as Rome, bringing back skilled architects, craftsmen
and musicians, enriching the abbeys Ripon, Hexharn,
Wearmouth, Jarrow with books, pictures, vestments. By
mid-century, Britain possessed arts and letters in a singular
degree, a culture clearly traceable to two sources Irish
monasticism and Benedictine tradition. A system of educa-
147
Church History in the Light of the Saints
tion flourished in monastic schools where classical poetry,
church history, canon law and the councils held high place ; in
the nunneries serious studies were pursued along with music,
writing, calligraphy and the making of vestments. So great
was the growth of religious houses that Venerable Bede
himself frankly regarded it excessive and weakening to the
military resources of the state. "On the material side/' a
competent historian concludes, "Anglo-Saxon civilization was
a failure; its chief industry seems to have been the manu-
facture and export of saints. "
But those same saints, as history bears out, proved to be
the actual makers of a new Europe by evangelizing Scandi-
navia, Belgium and Germany in the seventh, eighth and ninth
centuries. One of them deserves particular attention because
he was not only scholar and statesman, but far and away the
most illustrious missionary of this century. His name?
Boniface of Crediton, the most complete of Christian English-
men, born about 675 of Anglo-Saxon parents in Devonshire.
The preparation and fulfilment of this great Benedictine's
pioneer task can best be seen against the background of the
eighth century, during which he entered the field afar and
achieved prodigious results. His life and works in that
troubled war-torn world whose course he was to affect so
deeply, reveal him as a paragon in sheer common sense,
gravity, restraint, persistence, and stubbornness in the
right. As a boy Boniface came under the influence of the
black monks who visited his home, nor was it long before
he had decided on the religious life. At Exeter, under Abbot
Wolf hard, he studied history, rhetoric, grammar and poetry,
besides the Sacred Scriptures. And as he grew older he
strove harder to live up to the model of a missionary, im-
printed on his receptive soul. A true person always, Boniface
had the quality of spiritual awareness, wisely viewing events
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Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
in the light of God, and resolved to deal with men and things
from a gospel outlook. After a stern novitiate at Notshalling,
the budding scholar was put in charge of the monastic
school where his reputation gave high promise of civil and
ecclesiastical preferment. For such things, however, this
Anglo-Saxon master had little use, preferring to follow the
Way and the Truth through lands white for the harvest. No
stay-at-home monk was Boniface, with a do-nothing attitude
towards the far-away missions, but the kind of apostle in the
making that yearned hourly to win souls. Deep in his heart
was the burning desire to bring the gospel word to his be-
nighted kindred, the old Saxons in Germany. What a joy
forever when the patient monk received word that the abbot
had granted his oft-repeated request to go forth and teach.
He left the dais, quit the classroom and proceeded with
modest gallantry to face the dark land that lay beyond
Britain.
Mission to the South
The lands about the North Sea and the Baltic were pagan-
bound in darkness. Even in Friesland, scene of Boniface's
first essay, where his own brethren had earlier preached, the
inhabitants had lost the faith to such an extent that political
conditions compelled the young missionary to return to
Britain. That homecoming must have been agonizing for one
whose heart was so set on poor pagans, and when they sought
to elect him abbot the honor was firmly declined. Two years
later he was on the road once more, this time Romeward bent,
for he was determined to receive from the Pope the necessary
faculties for his evangelical work. It is interesting to note
that Boniface journeyed to the City of the Popes armed with
an open letter of recommendation to various priests, princes,
abbots and bishops en route, and best of all, a private letter
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
to Gregory II. One can picture that meeting of the min-
sionary and the greatest Pope of the century. Big men both
of them undoubtedly were, great too in their ideals, in their
plans, in their might of soul. No doubt the Anglo-Saxon
monk found much in common with the Italian Pope who, like
himself, had received an excellent education in the arts and
sciences besides attending the Schola Cantorum founded by
St. Benedict. In these war-ridden days the Pope had to face
perils on every side : North of him lay the restless Lombard
menace; east, the image-breakers on the rampage; south and
west the Moslem hordes. For the present the Lombard and
Byzantine could bear watching! Gregory, as Secretary to
Pope Sergius on his visit to Constantinople, had indelible im-
pressions of the Byzantine, and he knew the Lombard plotters
equally well. Boniface, too, passing through, had sensed
the northern danger; they were tricky these Longbeards,
forever coveting the Exarch's lands about Ravenna. Did
Leo, the Isaurian, claim jurisdiction over the West? Let him
try to impose it on their new barbarian kingdom and he
would find to his grief how little authority he really possessed.
The Eastern Emperor was attempting to banish all images
from Christian churches, but so fierce a tumult was raised by
the people that the tricky Byzantine backed down, declaring
ignominiously, "I do not design that the images be altogether
removed but I order them to be placed in a more elevated
situation that they may not be kissed, and thus be treated
with disrespect while they are worthy of honor. " Added to
these papal trials, the Moslems were dangerously near, their
pirate-crews infesting the Mediterranean and threatening
every ship that rounded Italian shores.
Plainly there was work to be done, come Byzantine, come
Lombard, come Saracen! So Gregory II gave Boniface full
authority to evangelize the Germans east of the Rhine, but
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Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
the Benedictine must first look over the ground, then return
with his band and keep in touch with the Holy See. Thither
Boniface proceeded; he found the Bavarian Church in a
flourishing condition, similarly Alemannia, but Thuringia,
though regarded by Rome as a Christian district, proved to be
anything but Catholic, despite the heroic labors of St. Kilian
(686-689). The Thuringians, reverting to their barbaric
ways, had murdered many of Kilian's converts, and zealous
priests faced difficult times with the pagans on every side. So
the Pope's envoy spent some time preaching and converting
multitudes in Thuringia as he also did in Hessia where centers
were opened for the education of native clergy. On his way
to the court of Charles Martel, Boniface planned to lay the
whole matter before the Prankish ruler with a view to securing
help and encouragement for the great missionary endeavor the
Pope had authorized. But Charles' attitude proved dubious;
the hard-bitten warrior was suspicious and mistrustful of
ecclesiastical interference. It was the old, old conflict, the
temporal ever prone to control the spiritual, the State assert-
ing itself against the Church. About this time Boniface sent
a letter to the Pope describing affairs east and west of the
Rhine. The Pope in reply urged him to come to Rome,
where he consecrated the monk a regional bishop with author-
ity over Thuringia and Hessia. In addition Gregory enlisted
the support of Charles whose prowess was known and feared
by the heathen.
East of the Rhine
On his own now and vested with authority, the newly-made
bishop plodded his faithful unwearying way back to the
wilderness. In Thuringia and Hessia, the heart of Germany,
he had to slog through deep marshes, breast the almost
impenetrable underbrush, brave it through dark timberlands.
Church History in the Light of the Saints
The day's work done a day of preaching and baptizing
his chair was a stone on the hard earth, his table a windfall,
his wash-basin a running brook. He devoted himself to the
tribes he encountered for there were no cities in these wild
parts, and the natives dwelt in forest and on hillside. They
were difficult, these Teuton savages and slow to learn the new
way of life. Brave, fierce in battle, loyal to the cause, in
times of peace they were wont to He about idle, lazy as their
dogs; they drank excessively of barley beer and gambled
madly like thieves. Their young men, sworn to battle
service, stood by their chiefs to the last ditch, boasting their
bravery, disporting themselves in sword dances among up-
turned blades. Their women, young and old, were regarded
as chattels; marriage contracts proved mere sales weib in
their language as in their thought was neutral ; when a young
maiden put up her flowing hair into a braid or knot that meant
she was now in complete subjection to her sottish carousing
master. One can only guess what suffering Boniface experi-
enced sharing the Teuton customs that did not conflict with
the Christian way. But think of the flaming faith and selfless
devotion, the courage and hardihood required to sow the
gospel seed among those warriors. Yet, so great was the
power and sway of this man of God that he converted tribe
after tribe, a stupendous task when one further considers the
energy and understanding it must have demanded.
It was in Hessia, however, that Boniface found the going
most difficult. Many converts had disappeared during his
absence, returning to the swamps there to practice pagan rites.
An ancient oak, he learned, sacred to the name of Thor, the
god of thunder, proved the greatest obstacle to the mission-
aries. In spite of every appeal, the people continued to hold
the god-inhabited tree in awe, and to gather about it, so the
bishop decided to settle the matter once for all. Only sheer
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Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
\
nerve and the power of grace could have held him up in such
a crisis. Would he be downed, would he give up? Not
while he was alive. He journeyed through the underbrush
and made his way into the primeval forest, determined to
show the pagans how utterly powerless was their vaunted one.
And when he reached the unholy place, axe in hand, Boniface
led his monks, jostling the crowd. To the amazement of all
he started to cut down the sacred oak. The Teutons waited,
tense, expectant, thoroughly frightened, for they expected to
see the fearless blasphemer annihilated on the spot. To tell
the truth, it was beyond their bounds of belief that such an act
could go unpunished by Thor. But nothing happened,
except that they saw for themselves a man who had no fear
of their great god, and who never knew when he was beaten.
One can see how the path of gospel preaching was easy after
that. Out of the hewn timber of Thor's oak Boniface con-
structed a chapel which he dedicated to St. Peter, Prince of
the Apostles. After that he built a church on the banks of
the Werra, destroyed another idol at Eschwego, and then
retraced his steps to Thuringia. Such valiant effort, fol-
lowed by organized missionary action, began to bear rich
fruit. Abbeys rose on once bloody sites Buraburg, Am-
monaburg, Fulda. New dioceses appeared in the heart of
pagan districts. And with the coming of Anglo-Saxon nuns
the schools, opened for young Teutons, provided more of
the light and truth that would make Germany a living member
of European society.
Triple Threat to the Papacy
On the death of his able protector, Gregory II, Boniface
wrote the new Pope, Gregory III, a Syrian, asking for more
help, since the field had become almost limitless. The new
153
Church History in the Light of the Saints
pontiff , Inheriting the woes of his predecessor, would presently
take care of Boniface's problem but not yet. For while
Boniface was winning Germany, the papacy found itself in
bad straits- In the East Leo the Isaurian, instead of joining
with Rome to secure a better world, let his Byzantine trickery
have full play. Gregory II had had his troubles with this
overreaching Emperor who, under Jewish-Moslem influence,
had issued an edict against images, followed by an order to
demolish the statues of Christ and burn the images of Mary
and the Saints. The patriarch of Constantinople, Germanus,
protested in vain, then the people arose in such fury that the
Emperor was cowed for the time being. But the wily schemer
had his revenge: he eventually liquidated the aged, intrepid
Patriarch, and in 726 burned the great library of the Imperial
College the rector and twelve professors met their death
in the flames which consumed 303,000 valuable volumes. And
when Leo ordered the statue of Christ to be removed from
the Brazen Gate of Constantinople, the people threw the
imperial agent from the ladder and slew the officers, only to
be put to the sword in the riot that ensued. Leo's next move
was to urge Gregory II to call a council: "You have asked/'
the Pope replied, "that a general council be called; such a
thing seems to us to be useless. You are a persecutor of
images, a contumelious enemy and a destroyer; cease and
give us your silence ! While the churches of God are in peace,
you fight and raise hatred and scandal. Stop this and
be quiet; then there will be no need of a synod/' In answer,
the Emperor sent emissaries to Rome with an order to kidnap
the Pope and destroy the statue of Peter. "If you send troops
for the destruction of the statue of St. Peter," Gregory II
warned, "look to it! If you insult us, and conspire against us
. . . the Roman Pontiff will go out into the Campagna, and
154
Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
you may then come and strike the winds!" A synod was
held in 730, not in the East but in Rome, where the image-
breakers were condemned, and Leo, the Isaurian, excom-
municated. The rift thus widened between Rome and the
East, not far off now from a final break. Pope Gregory II
died that same year and Gregory III found himself in the
midst of the battle for rights both human and divine.
The Lombards as usual proved the new Pope's second
threat. From the first day they entered Italy these master
rogues and land-thieves had been a heart-ache for the papacy.
Even after they embraced Christianity the old fighting spirit
ran strong in their blood. When Gregory II was at odds
with Leo over the image-breaking, they saw their chance to
create fresh trouble; slyly they made for Ravenna and cap-
tured the^ seemingly impregnable fortress. The blundering
Emperor was defeated on another occasion when he tried to
hatch a plot with Luitprand to humble Gregory II; the
Lombard was to support the Exarch, who in turn would
hand two dukes into his power. But the base scheme fell
through, for Luitprand, much as he hated the power of Rome,
would not betray this great Pope whose charity, patience, tol-
erance and magnetic personality he admired. None the less it
was necessary for every shepherd to look ahead, so Gregory III
set about building the fortifications of the Eternal City, never
knowing when the foes to the north might rise in arms. As a
matter of fact, they did, in 739, the eighth year of his pontifi-
cate. The Pope, however, sensing the impending danger,
had recourse to the help of the Franks and wisely sent to
Charles M artel the keys of the tomb of the apostles, apprising
that rough-and-ready Frank of the danger from the north and
east as well. Yes, both Lombards and image-breakers were
treacherous foes, yet they were as naught compared to a
155
Church History in the Light of the Saints
menace terrible and threatening not only to Italy but to all
Christendom.
Zero Hour in the West
Far worse than the jaws of the Lombard-Byzantine pincers
was the plague of Islam. And no wonder when those fiery sons
of the desert, sworn to violence and bloodshed, continued
their steady advance with swinging scimitar, conquering
everything in their way. Across the Strait of Gibraltar they
swept, through Spain and Aquitaine, well into Gaul; and
everywhere they left ruin and horror. In Spain, an easy
victim because of domestic dissensions, only a few northern
fastnesses still held out, manned as they were by valiant
Christian Visigoths. But could the Christian West stand
unbowed as did those few brave die-hards? The Mediter-
ranean Sea had become a Saracen lake, and eerie dread hung
like a nightmare over Rome, indeed over all Italy which
seethed with stories of invasion. Out at sea merchantmen,
sighting the crescent of Moslem pirates, fled helter-skelter to
ports of safety. In every Christian abode rumor had it that
the fanatical tribesmen of Arabia had terrorized the Jews
into apostacy one Jewish tribe having sworn allegiance to
Islam recanted only to have their fighting-men put to the
sword while their women and children became slaves to the
victors. Leo, the Isaurian, had succeeded, it is true, in
driving them away from Constantinople in 717, but their
balesome influence continued to corrupt the Eastern Church.
God forbid that they ever rule the West, as they now imper-
illed; unless driven off and very soon they would presently
be sailing up the Tiber and the Mother of Civilization would
be subjected to unspeakable cruelties. The war-cloud imper-
illed the Prankish Empire, too, and the tell-tale glint of the
Arab sword could be seen on the blood-red horizon. The fact
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
is that the Moslem forces, having gained a foothold in Gaul,
were heading for Tours and shortly, on land as on the sea,
would be at the gates of Italy. Nobody knew better than
Pope Gregory that the one earthly power that could keep the
Moslem at bay was the Franks. Naturally, then, with Rome
in the line of their sweep, the pontiff appealed to Charles
Martel who had done such yeoman service for the Church
against the Lombards. No one else, humanly speaking,
could defend Rome and, defending Rome, save Europe from
the war criminals who by now had half-circled Christendom.
And yet the Ruler of the Nations Who holds in His Hands
the thread of all human relations had promised that the Rock
of Peter would never be totally submerged.
The hard-won civilization of the whole West lay in the
balance when the violent and scowling Charles summoned his
Australians to the fray. Let the Mohammedans come, his
men would see to it that their doom was fixed, for the Franks
loved nothing better than the edge of war. With incredible
speed Charles maneuvered the strife-hungry army into a
mighty wall of iron to intercept the invader. A fierce battle
was joined which lasted seven days. At the first stroke of
the Moslem attack scimitar crossed with sword in a life-and-
death struggle. But the Gallic warriors had only begun;
time and again they fought back, carrying the combat to the
enemy. They engaged the Mohammedan in the cruelest
fashion, their terrific assaults threw his ranks into complete
confusion. It mattered little that the desperate leaders tried
to rally their exhausted fanatics with "Fight, fight Para-
dise, Paradise!" The unconquerable Franks charged and
charged again, battling to the bitter end no truce, no
quarter, war to the death! On the seventh day the tide
turned against the invader, whose forces, mowed down by the
Franks, fell into frenzied disorder. The Moslem advance
158
Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
guard 'collapsed completely; their columns mangled as
never before, turned and fled. All roads to Provence were
jammed with heathen stragglers nursing their wounds; later
they dragged their weary way over the Pyrenees. Never
again did they attempt to cross swords with the Christian
armies of the West, for they knew, and their children's children
knew, that they had met more than their match. The far-
reaching effect of Charles* victory can scarcely be estimated,
and after this epochal battle the war-bent King was known
as]M artel, the Hammer, while his fighting Franks commanded
the* respect, not to say fear, of their neighbors on every side.
Post-war Days
Charles, the Hammer, now rode high in the saddle, master
of all he surveyed. The indomitable soldier, having little
conception of the service of the Church, regarded her growing
power as an encroachment. So when Boniface pled with him
for permission to hold a synod, Charles refused, though it was
sorely needed in that post-war day. The King of the Franks
ran things with a free hand and made no bones about reward-
ing his nobles with large estates of the Church, giving away
abbeys, even bishoprics to his friends. Of this age of spolia-
tion the great missionary wrote to Pope Zachary, "Religion
is trodden underfoot. Benefices are given to greedy laymen
or unchaste and public clerics. All their crimes do not
prevent their attaining the priesthood . . . many of them are
drunkards given up to the chase and soldiers who do not
shrink from shedding Christian blood." No wonder the
influence of the Pope and his zealous supporters lost ground ;
indeed nothing could be more imperative than the restoration
of legitimate authority, and the regulation of relations between
bishops and their clergy. The Frankish princes had their
court chaplains, the nobles their castle chaplains, all of them
159
Church History in the Light of the Saints
prone to set little store by the legislation of the bishops.
There was decline of intelligence and character in the priest-
hood, what with the lower clergy recruited from bondsmen
and opportunities of real education rare. Many ignorant
aspirants, unable even to read a Latin homily or preach
effectively in the vulgar tongue, got themselves ordained only
to go about foot-loose making money by exercising their
spiritual functions. The parish church became neglected,
attended only by the poor, dioceses grew unwieldy and in
many places unmanageable. Add to all this the pitiful con-
dition of the masses, ground under the heel of small-time
tyrants ; and remember, this was the seed-time of feudalism
the system by which property (feud = trust land) was par-
celled out to petty lords by way of fee for services rendered.
These parcels of land were worked by poor serfs, ruled by
the will- of an owner who took an oath of fidelity to a higher
up. One can see how easily the exploited masses succumbed
to every sort of credulity and superstition while their callous
masters let them sink lower into the cruelest servitude.
Sword of the Spirit
Charles, the Hammer, died the same year as Pope Gregory
III and was succeeded by his sons Carloman and Pepin. By
good chance Boniface, meeting Carloman, received an invita-
tion to a conference with his former pupil. The energetic
Bishop, as was his wont, added persistence to persuasiveness
with his royal host who had always admired the stalwart
character of his teacher. The result? Boniface sent word to
Pope Zachary that the truly Catholic King greatly desired a
synod. Evidently Carloman the Frank had something quite
alien to his forebears humility and renunciation, for later
on in 747 he gave up his throne to Pepin and entered a
monastery. Once the long-desired opportunity of reform
1 60
Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
presented itself, Boniface lost no time improving it. A synod
was held, the first in Germany, laws were enacted for the
clergy and the Benedictine rule became the norm for religious.
Other synods followed, empowered by the authority of
Carloman, and heartened by the zeal of Boniface who wielded
"the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and the
Word of God is more piercing than a two-edged sword." The
Church, as the missionary held, must forever witness to the
Word for the Word is not only a judgment but a creative
force which bears fruit when man co-operates with faith and
spiritual obedience. By degrees the Franks learned that
truth, nor was it long before the supremacy of the Vicar of
Christ and the missionary of the bishops became widely
accepted. In 748 Pope Zachary made the old missionary
Primate of Germany and Archbishop of Mainz, so when
Boniface and Pepin met to confer for the common good, the
two were quickly sure of each other, equally aware of the
spiritual power and regal sway that hung in the balance.
Under the new order Boniface continued to enforce laws
forbidding the clergy to hunt, shoot, or carry arms, but he
was not successful in establishing appeals for local bishops to
the Holy See, or in securing the right of the Pope in the
investiture of Prankish bishops. The fact is that Pepin,
though willing to help the reform, did not want to relinquish
his control of the Prankish Church. None the less the change
towards better unity came when Pepin obtained from Rome
the authority to set aside the old royal house. Never satis-
fied with merely ruling the Franks, he coveted the crown of
sovereignty still worn by the petty degenerate Merovingians.
On a November day in 751 he t gained his heart's desire when
Boniface, authorized by Pope Zachary, anointed him King of
the Franks, using the solemn rites followed in Anglo-Saxon
England and Visigoth Spain. Pepin's political cup full to
161
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the brim, the Carolingian house flourished exceedingly, and
the Prankish monarch proudly championed and protected the
Holy See. A few years later, in 754, Pope Zachary's suc-
cessor, Stephen II, paid a visit to Pepin, during which the
King guaranteed to the Church all the former Byzantine
possessions in Italy, and in return received the dignity of
Patriarch of the Romans.
As his years lengthened Boniface realized more than ever
what heavy tasks lay ahead in the west as well as east of the
Rhine. Aided and abetted by Pepin, he extended the cause
of Christ, and a better Gaul appeared as religion grew apace
in civil life with peace and unity. The missionaries sent from
England at his request Lull, Burchard, Witta, Willabald,
Wunibald, Thecla and others showed themselves whole-
souled apostles. The heart of their chief was still aflame
with dreams of German faith, and ever would be, to the very
last. To lend a feeble hand to the great work, he visited his
monks regularly, stayed in their monasteries, rejoiced exceed-
ingly in the progress of the Kingdom. Fulda was very dear
to him ; under Sturm, his devoted follower, this once far-off
oasis in the wildest of regions had become both a home of
letters and a center of religious life for the whole district.
Every year the tireless shepherd made it his business to go
there, spend the time in prayer and supervise the training of
the sons of St. Benedict. But as the burden of work became
heavier, in 752 he resigned the Archbishopric of Mainz and
turned over the work to Abbot Lull. It racked his old heart
to think that the Frisians, his Saxon kinsmen, still dwelt in
pagan darkness, and the yearning to carry on among them,
never ceased. In vain did the Abbot of Utrecht urge him
to accept the honored post and end his days in Benedictine
quiet.
The next year the old apostle, now nearing eighty,
set out for Zuyder Zee, the scene of his first mission. No
162
Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
sooner had he reached the east coast than the grim fact of
hostile foes faced him once more, yet he labored as usual day
after day, instructing, baptizing, fortifying new converts in
the faith. Only once he returned and for the last time
to see his monks, then back to fresh work for souls. One day
in 754 when gathering his converts for Confirmation the
pagans on the river Borne fell upon the little party and put
them to the sword. The last hour had struck for Boniface
and his fifty-two companions, and when the sun set, it left
the trampled riverbank soaked with the blood of the martyrs.
No sooner had the scattered Christians returned to the scene
than they found the body of their beloved Boniface; beside
him lay a gory copy of St. Ambrose's great treatise, "The
Advantage of Death." They bore the gashed body to Utrecht,
later it reposed in Mainz, and finally found its resting
place in Fulda. It was all as he had wished it to be; even
to the last resting place where so long his living heart beat
with love, the heart of a saint "who had deeper influence on
the history of Europe than any Englishman who ever lived. 511
The Empire Builder
The great work, begun by Boniface and Pepin, found its
fulfilment by the end of the century. For Boniface brought
about the Prankish alliance with the Church besides uniting
Teutonic initiative with Latin order. And it was Pepin's
son, Charles the Great, who reorganized Christendom by
forging still stronger ties between the monarchy and the
Church. The sole ruler of the Franks just under thirty,
over six feet in height, with yellow flowing hair Charles
proved in a very real sense the greatest empire builder of
them all. His inherited instinct to extend the Frankish
power and break up all opposition soon manifested itself.
He was forever looking forward to extending his domains,
1 Dawson, Chris., The Making of Europe, pp. 210-211.
163
Church History in the Light of the Saints
following a policy that was as broad as it was idealistic, a
policy which, as we shall see, would win for him a far-flung
empire to the Elbe, the Mediterranean and the lower Danube.
Let us then attempt to follow the roads to victory in the
course of Charles' empire. No sooner had Pope Adrian I
run afoul of the Lombards than he called upon the new
Prankish King for help. Charles, rallying his armies, crossed
the Alps, overturned the Lombard monarchy and established
the Prankish rule in its place. Then he marched to Rome
to meet the Pontiff, arriving there on Easter Sunday, 774.
The two met and embraced. Adrian led the King to the
tomb of the apostles, hand in hand they walked up the nave.
That same week Charles agreed to great territorial conces-
sions the famous donation of Charlemagne, still disputed
by historians. Upon leaving the Eternal City Charles'
fighting Franks made short work of Pavia, after which he
was crowned King of Lombardy. From there he went on
to the Rhine and did battle with the Saxons; the risk was
great, the cost high, and the contest was to last for thirty- two
years. Next the conqueror, having mopped up the Moslem
remnants in South Gaul, proceeded to Spain where the Moors
were in full power. In 778, he crossed the Pyrenees on a
conquering march that ended in the famous battle of Ronces-
valles. On his return over the mountains, Basques attacked
his rearguard, and drove them back into Gaul. So restless
and feverish was the energy of this empire builder that in 791
he set out to subdue the strange pagan people that dwelt in
present Hungary, between the Danube and the Carpathians
they were a predatory nation living in stockade-rimmed
settlements which served them for towns. Charles' chronicler
gives as reasons for this conquest, the two years' layoff from
war, the malice of the Avars towards the Church, and their
failure to make amends for the raids and thefts committed in
164
Saint Boniface and the Eighth Century
Prankish territories. In 795 a few Avar tribes offered sub-
mission by sending one of their princes as hostage; he was
baptized and returned to his people to effect their conversion.
Leo III, who had ascended the papal throne in 795, now
took steps which were to have enormous bearing on the
future of Europe. Too long had Rome been the target of
Lombard attack, and Italy the bloody prey of Byzantine
plotters. Losing no time, he sent Charles the keys of the
tomb of St. Peter and the banner of the City of Rome, tokens
of political submission. "It is ours/' said the King of the
Franks in a return missive, "externally to defend the Church,
and internally to fortify it by acknowledging the Catholic
Faith ; it is yours to pray for the victory of Christendom and
the magnifying of the name of Christ." But shortly after
that Leo fell upon hard days ; in 799 during a procession he
was attacked by angry nobles who interned the wounded,
half-blinded pontiff in a monastery. He escaped, however,
going to St. Peter's where his eyesight was miraculously
restored. Then, to secure aid, he fled over the Alps and
appealed in person to the King at Padeborn. The next year
when Charles was in Ravenna, planning to march down to
Rome, Leo prepared a regal reception for the foremost ruler
in Christendom. Day after day the distinguished visitor
could be seen about Rome, in the patrician court dress, tunic,
cloak and shoes. The Prankish blue, silver and sable and
the Gothic boots had been laid aside. The great climax of
his visit came on Christmas day, 800, when the people were
assembled at Mass, and Charles among them, before the
Shrine of St. Peter. During the service the Pope, acting as
a representative of his people, left his chair and approached
the kneeling King. And when he placed over his shoulders
the purple robe of empire, and laid a golden crown on his
head, the congregation shouted their consent. The Romans
165
Church History in the Light of the Saints
had again chosen for themselves an Emperor! As the
chronicler puts it, "When the people had made an end of
chanting the Laudes he was adored by the Pope after the
manner of the emperors of old." The Roman Empire,
remember, though for three hundred years but a name, had
a powerful influence on the minds of millions who deemed it
a counterpart of the Catholic Church. Now they regarded
the Kingdom of God and the Empire as one, with two
branches, two co-ordinate powers, the spiritual and the
temporal; and from that day on Charles, crowned by the
Pope, possessed new dignity and added responsibility. At
long last the Holy Roman Empire was inaugurated; an
ideal, of course, after which future ages were to strive, yet a
great reality also that lasted centuries and made for papal
security, peace and progress.
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Saint Ans^ar
APOSTLE OF THE VIKINGS
SAINT ANSGAR AND THE NINTH CENTURY
Rulers in West
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
CHARLEMAGNE,
Charlemagne crowned Emperor by
800-814
Pope Leo 800
LEO III, 795-816
Controversy on Nature of Christ 800
Ansgar, the Frank, born in Picardy 80 1
Pope Leo III visits Charlemagne 804
Ansgar in Cloister-School 806
lona sacked by the Vikings 806
Louis I (Pious),
Darkest of Ages 814
814-840
ST. STEPHEN IV,
816-817
Louis I reorganized Benedictine Rule 817
ST. PASCHAL I,
Louis restores episcopal rights 822
817-824
Ansgar becomes a Benedictine 822
EUGENE II,
824-82*7
Concilium Romanum 826
Ansgar preaches to the Danes 826
VALENTINE, 827
Ansgar visits Sweden 829
GREGORY IV,
Ansgar made Bishop of Hamburg 831
827-844
Controversy about the Eucharist 831
Viking State in Ireland 832
LOTHAIR, 840-869
Treaty of Verdun 843
(Middle Kingdom)
Bishop Gausbert driven out of Sweden 844
SERGIUS II,
Eric of Jutland destroys Hamburg 845
844-847
Saracens ravage Tomb of the Apostles 846
Controversy about Predestination 847
ST. LEO IV,
Louis THE GERMAN,
Saracens routed at Ostia 849
847-855
841-911
Ansgar builds first Church in Schleswig 850
Ansgar revisits Vikings in Maelarsee 853
BENEDICT III,
Ansgar founds first Church in Den-
855-858
mark 860
Greek Schism 863
ST. NICHOLAS THE
Death of Ansgar 865
GREAT, 858-867
Bulgarians visit Rome 866
Cyril and Methodius evangelize Mora-
vians 868
ADRIAN II,
Eighth General Council of Constanti-
867-872
nople 869
King Alfred born in England 871 .
Harold (Viking) rules clans in Norway 872
Pope John VIII defeats Saracens 872
JOHN VIII,
872-882
CHARLES THE BALD,
Rome refuses to recognize Photius 877
875-887
King Alfred drives off the Danes 878
LOUIS THE
MARINUS I,
STAMMERER,
882-884
875-879
Paris saved from the Vikings 885
ADRIAN III,
884-885
BONIFACE VI, 885
CHARLES THE FAT,
STEPHEN V,
879-887
Charles the Fat deposed 887
885-891
Olaf of Sweden furthers the Gospel 893
FORMOSUS,
891-896
ARNULPH, 896
STEPHEN VI,
896-897
ROMANUS, 897-898
Death of Photius 898
THEODORE II, 898
JOHN IX, 898
Norse pirates sail the seas 899
BENEDICT IV, 899
SAINT ANSGAR AND THE NINTH CENTURY
In Quest of Unity
If tragedy is that which begins in joy and ends in sorrow,
there was tragedy aplenty in this ninth, the darkest of cen-
turies. The ideal of a Holy Roman Empire, with the Pope
representing the spiritual, the Emperor in control of the
temporal, presented tremendous difficulties. Men might
dream of a great day when a King of the Franks would rule
religiously, reign gloriously Christlike, ere the end of time.
High hope! bold dream! but, alas, far from the sad truth.
For the entire history of the period shows that war was always
in the air, arrogant nobility and untaught clergy dwelt on
the edge of darkness, while the masses, believing in wizards
and the practice of the ordeal, had not as yet risen above a
state of semi-savagery. The age was ignorant, coarse and
cruel, yet Charles the Great (Charlemagne), zealous and
masterful, set about building up a system of education, pro-
ceeding with magnificent courage. He knew the world lay
in the hands of four great powers two Christian, two
Mohammedan; and he wanted to make his state secure,
dominant, truly Christian. All children, he ruled, even those
of serfs, should be taught; and he urged the bishops to open
more schools in their sees, assisted in the foundation of many
monasteries and founded, among schools for the clergy, his
own famous "School of the Palace, " staffing it with the be*st
teachers in Christendom. But for all that, it cannot be
denied that many of his methods were very devious, anything
in fact but Christian; while professing the faith, his crusading
spirit ran quite mad; while making law for the clergy, he
refused to let go the property of the Church. Under his
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
eagle eye, dukes governed their provinces, counts controlled
their districts, bishops ruled their dioceses, but appeals could
be made at any time to an imperial tribunal. On the other
hand, Charles sought to root out error and secure unity at
the price of cruel force "either Baptism or the sword !"
Hence those merciless campaigns in Old Saxony and among
the Avars; sad to say, many warrior-bishops and abbots,
enlisted in his ranks, stood coldly by as multitudes of the
vanquished were forced to submit to Baptism. Still worse
was his conduct when he beheaded forty-five hundred Saxons
and then retired into camp to celebrate the birth of the Prince
of Peace. The Emperor's adviser and friend, Alcuin, pro-
tested against such outrageous, unconscionable coercion. "Of
what use," he wrote, "is Baptism without faith? How can
a man be compelled to believe what he does not believe?''
All such counsels, alas, fell on deaf ears, for Charles was deter-
mined that the Gospel should advance step by step with* his
kingdom. But Alcuin was right, as time proved; though
Christianity did spread from the Rhine to the Elbe it fre-
quently found only feigned conformity, ready apostacy, and
ultimate revolt.
There were, obviously, cockles in the Wheatfield of God,
and the Church had to hoe many a row ere she could reap
the harvest. In her great task Louis the Pious, son of
Charles the Great, proved of great assistance. Louis who
succeeded his father in 814 was a conscientious Frank who
had shown himself to be an able general and administrator.
Bfut on the throne the kindly Emperor fell an easy prey to
schemers, the worst being his own sons. Having divided
his Empire among them, he found to his grief that not only
did they war among themselves but even turned on their
royal benefactor, forcing him to abdicate and seek refuge in
a monastery. Upon Louis' death these graceless sons,
Lothair, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, instead of
170
Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
checking the encroachment of Saracens and Northmen,
indulged in petty squabbles and vigorously opposed the
Church. Lothair whose private life was "as dastardly as
lustful," rose up against Pope Nicholas; Charles the Bald
and Louis the German constantly quarrelled with Pope
Adrian. Besides corruption in high places the Church had
difficulties of doctrine to contend with time and again. One
of her sorest trials was the religious quarrelling, odium
theologicum, rampant everywhere. All through the first fifty
years there were theological disputes, thorns in the side of the
papacy. Three great controversies, touching on the Nature
of Christ, the Eucharist and Predestination, occupied the
minds of the more intelligent faithful. The second half of the
century witnessed the renewal of that age-old conflict between
the Byzantine Church and Rome. The Greeks, blindly
jealous of the growing power of the papacy, fell into schism
and paved the way for deeper disunion. Councils were kept
busy holding the erring ones in check, while the faithful
bishops were hard put to it to control nobles drunk with
power. Many a baron unable to write his own name took
the law into his hands, scorning the welfare of his subjects,
mindful only of honors and principalities. The tide of evil
that swept over the Holy Roman Empire called for gigantic
effort, what with all the murder and crime abroad, the worse
than pagan conduct of rival kingdoms, the widespread
treachery in the household of the faith. You will have
noticed that in just such troubled times great saints ap-
pear, like lilies growing on a dunghill. One of these, closely
linked with the age, shall now receive our first con-
sideration.
An Elect Frank
In the falling darkness you can see a mud-stained traveller
hastening north it is Ansgar, the Frank, on his way through
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fog-laden, rain-scourged Vikingland to convert the pagan
Danes. This amazing pioneer, born of humble parents in
Picardy on the English Channel, was only five when, upon
the death of his mother, he entered cloistei>school ! As he
grew up under Benedictine tutors the language he learned
might be called the beginning of modern French, a corrupt
tongue neither Latin nor French; the chief subjects taught
were writing, reading and arithmetic, while the discipline
consisted mainly in flogging. An active lad, given to rough
sports, Ansgar at first displayed little liking for studies, less
for discipline. One night, lost in some dark corner of the
place, the little fellow sought in vain to find his way out.
Our Lady appeared, companied with saints in dazzling white
robes. On seeing his mother among the elect, Ansgar ran to
her, and heard the Blessed Mother say, ''My son, do you
wish to come to your mother? Know that if you, would
share in her happiness, you must fly from vanity, lay aside
childish follies, and abide in holiness of life. For we detest
all vice and idleness; neither can they who delight in such
things be joined in our company.*' Ansgar became a different
person after that, so different that his noisy pals were hard
put to explain the great change in the erstwhile rough and
ready playboy. His piety, however, remained childlike,
while his devotion to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother
became more earnest and constant, as the growing boy mani-
fested before all a spirit as generous as it was ideal. It was
his daily custom when going to school to turn aside into a
little wayside oratory and there to pray in secret. One day
as he rose from his knees, he saw Our Lord clothed in Jewish
garments, radiant and beautiful. Ansgar fell to his knees,
and Christ in a sweet voice bade him arise, saying: " Confess
thy sins, Ansgar, that thou mayest receive pardon. " "What
need is there, Lord," the lad replied, "that I should tell
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
them to Thee, seeing that Thou knowest them all?" "I
know them, indeed/' Our Lord replied, "none the less I would
have thee confess them that thou mayest be justified."
And then Ansgar declared all the sins he had ever committed
since childhood, this first general confession bringing to him
the consoling assurance that he had received their full remis-
sion. Day after day the elect youth became nearer to God,
so that by the time he had reached his majority he chose to
enter the Benedictine monastery at Corbie, in Picardy.
Monks of Corbie
Old Corbie had seen much in its day. Built on ground
broken by Columban's followers from Luxeuil, it had wit-
nessed the decline of the Merovingian and the rise of the
Carolingian dynasty. Louis the Pious, sometimes called its
founder, often visited this monastery, knowing how valiantly
its members shared his father's dream of extending the reign
of Christ in the hearts of men. Here he found the ideal
Holy Roman Empire in miniature, for Corbie was typical of
the Benedictine monasteries in the ninth century. The
monks after years of labor had built an abode where peace
ruled and the spirit of piety prevailed. The cloister precincts
could count many buildings, each having its own part to
serve in the communal pattern. First came the abbey
church, heart of the whole establishment, then the abbot's
stately house with its kitchen and storerooms. There were
schools for externs along with the cloister-school ; the former
housed the sons of neighboring nobles and freemen, the latter
provided for those who wore the frock since they expected to
enter the order. Ample provision was made for travellers
in hospices where they found hearty welcome; there were
infirmaries too and dispensaries to meet the need of the sickly
at home and afield. A little beyond the main buildings,
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hidden by hedges were the houses of tailors and shoemakers,
weavers and brewers, masons and carpenters, connected, all
of them, with the abbey. This little community surrounded
by a palisade, moat and turreted wall, enjoyed a life all its
own, in the world but not of it. Outside the walls the monks
might be seen plowing the fields, raising stock and produce;
often on their way to care for the sick in the district whom
they rescued from many a threatened epidemic. Folk came
to visit the abbey time and again; journeymen to learn the
handicrafts; scholars to buy, beg, or use copies of treasured
manuscripts; even kings and nobles seeking surcease from
strife in this godly place of spiritual refreshment. For such
in fact was Corbie and none knew better than the ruling
powers what wholesome influence as well as protection the
abbey offered to all round about. Ambitious, quarrelsome
conquerors might wield their swords and spears, but these
soldiers of Christ had turned the sword into a ploughshare, the
spear into a pruning hook, thus bringing the angel's prophetic
promise into the sweet reality of peace on earth to men
of good will.
Amid such surroundings Ansgar, the Benedictine, spent his
early manhood. The evil doings of the outside world, remem-
ber, were not unknown to him, for the black monks enjoyed
direct relation with the Holy See; they came and went on
dangerous missions to reclaim souls for Christ. Aged monks
who had soldiered with Charles the Great could tell Ansgar
harrowing tales of the flintlike warriors they had encountered
in the north country. Old Saxony, he learned, lay along the
course of the Elbe, the Elder, the Ems and the Weser, includ-
ing the seacoast with Jutland and Denmark, the lowlands of
the Rhine and the shores of Batavia, News arrived betimes
of the fierce Vikings sailing the seas, armed with knife, lance
and Danish axe. No river city in Frankland was safe
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
Paris, Rouen, Nantes, Bordeaux all had suffered. With
what mingled feelings of sorrow and mercy Ansgar received
such word, we are not told, for just now love enwrapped his
days in the novitiate, in the chapel, everywhere. His
teacher, Paschasius Radbertus, poet, musician and theologian,
found the young scholar an admirable subject and quickly
recommended him for his fidelity and devotion. As school-
master Ansgar excelled, though deeper in his soul than any
esteem for art or science was the unquenchable desire to
bring the Gospel to the poor and ignorant in distant lands.
True monk that he was, he continued his studies and stuck
to his teaching post, awaiting the hour when Providence
should direct his path beyond Corbie. It happened that one
of his innocent pupils, Fulbert by name, was hit on the head
with a slate and seriously injured. Hour after hour, day after
day, Ansgar stayed by the bedside of the feverish restless
boy. That Fulbert had the makings of a saint his master
could see during that long vigil, so patiently did the lad bear
the painful wound, so sweet his resignation, so willing his
forgiveness of the assailant. Ansgar continued his nursing
and consoling ministry until ordered by his superiors to take
some repose. Wan and weary after the long vigil he fell into
a deep slumber wherein God vouchsafed him a wondrous
vision. He saw Fulbert carried aloft to Heaven in the hands
of angels and placed in the ranks of the martyrs. From the
deep joy of this revelation he was presently snatched when
an instructor roused him and broke the news of the lad's
death. 'This comfort," says Ansgar's biographer, "was
given that he might not grieve overmuch for the death of
the child, but might rather f-ejoice at the happy state of his
soul." Near and dear to God the young master certainly
was, with a hearty longing to serve, and an overwhelming
desire to teach the most neglected. No joy would have been
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greater than to be chosen to spread the gospel seed among
the Viking dwellers in the Northland.
Sons of the Fjord
The young Benedictine must have often gazed in fancy
into dim pagan lands, seeing "men as trees walking !" But
the time to go forth was not yet, for now his superiors chose
Ansgar to help colonize a monastery. New Corbie, as it was
called, was founded by a convert soldier who built the abbey
in 822. Ansgar and a group of monks went about the task
of improving the cloister-school, teaching difficult Saxon
youth and working in the fields. Set apart by God for still
greater achievements, the day came when Ansgar's dreams
found realization. It appears that Harold, the recently
baptized King of Denmark, besought the Emperor Louis for
missionaries with zeal and courage to plant the faith in his
dark land. Walla, Abbot of New Corbie and nephew of
Charles the Great, fixed on Ansgar who joyfully accepted the
mission despite the criticism of friend and foe, all of whom
had something to say. In company with King Harold and a
brother monk, Ansgar set out for the land of the yikings.
They sailed in a very dirty but seaworthy boat with only
two cabins where the King and his companions were cramped
and confined. That mattered little, however, for the young
Benedictine's heart was in the school he planned to open for
the sons of the Fjord. By this time the Danes had estab-
lished themselves in Frisia and Holland, now. they took to
the farther seas "the pathway of the swan/' and ravaged
right and left. No feeling of infirmity plagued these cold-
blooded sea rovers, ever ready to take impossible risks.
"The blasts aid our oars," they sang as they rowed, "the
hurricane is our servant, and drives us whither we wish to go."
And wherever they went they brought terror, war for them
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
being just a mad sport in which they slew men and abused
women with their wonted bestiality. Now and then they
won foothold on a coast, as in Britain and Ireland ; many of
them stayed and merged with the native people, giving and
taking, custom for custom.
In their fog-bound homeland the Vikings dwelt in a welter
of ignorance, idolatry and intertribal strife. From pre-
historic times these Nordic folk, active and independent, had
lived their own strange life in a world apart. Proud, flushed
with sea-victory, they carried out their eerie rites in deep
forests, under the sacred oak or by the 4inden. Human
sacrifice was offered, as in Lake Hertha into whose cold waters
they cast a young man and beautiful maiden every year to
appease their old Germanic gods. The violent Northmen
boasted of those gods, pictured in the sagas as cruel giants,
lying henjes, evil spirits, wrathy and bloody in all their t^ays.
Little wonder, then, that such benighted worshippers, sunk
in the lowest moral morass, indulged in sexual crime of the
blackest kind.
Into the Danish darkness, Ansgar at twenty-five made his
unworried way, fully determined to expend himself if neces-
sary and use every means under Heaven to show those twisted
souls the Truth and the Life. No tougher soldiering for
Christ could be imagined than to plant the gospel seed in
such bitter soil. It had been tried before by Ebbo, the
Archbishop of Rheims, but without success, a fact which
daunted Ansgar not at all. Nor was he deterred by the
failure of the Danish King who sold him down the river or
by the perils of the journey, the physical hardship and daily
sufferings on the missions. "The Viking activities/* says an
historian, "were at their height, war never ceased for a
moment, acts of piracy and brigandage made the whole sea-
coast desolate and were subversive of all security, all peace."
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Yet Ansgar stayed on, preaching and baptizing, treading the
wine-press alone as he strove to gain the good-will of 'those
fierce men of the sea. A thing which he might indeed have
won, had it not been for the explosive Harold whose acts
hurt instead of helping the Christian cause. As a result
the peaceful missionary had to share the fate of the cruel
ruler, both being driven out of the country by the angry
Danes. All his holy hopes now disappeared in the fog, and
Ansgar, on his way back to Corbie, resolved to forget about
the initial failure and with stolid courage make another plan
for the future.
Ups and Downs
The Danes had definitely and fiercely rejected the gospel
message. For Ansgar there was the slow martyrdom of delay,
until "three years later he received his second mission assign-
ment. Louis the Pious wanted the young Prankish monk to
take spiritual, charge of traders, Christian slaves and others
in Bjorko, the capital of Sweden. Thus it befell that Ansgar,
full of hope, crossed the seas in company with the imperial
ambassadors. They pushed their way into ghastly swamps,
lit their camp-fires, and blazed a trail through oak and
beech. Wild animals harried the newcomers, but these were
nothing compared to the natives with their wolfish caution
and bearish ways. When they reached Bjorko, the Bene-
dictine pleaded with the King for permission to preach the
Gospel to his subjects. Bjorn, who admired his manfulness,
granted the request, so that in 830 the indefatigable monk
was able to evangelize the Maelarsee district. By this time
the ambassadors, having run afoul of the wild folk, lost their
courage and decided to return home. , But the tough-
fibred missionary stuck it out and put up with every threat
and danger. Hardly had the quitters disappeared over the
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
horizon than he began his one-man journey up country,
following fresh animal tracks, speaking to all who would give
ear to the Gospel. They were strange people, these Norse
with you today and away tomorrow; the pioneer had to
proceed with utmost care, watching each step, else they might
have run amok and slain him on the spot. Zeal stood by
him, zeal and love of souls, the two arms that enabled him
at the start to win from King Bjorn the privilege of preach-
ing. For eighteen months Ansgar, alone among the Vikings,
continued this daring adventure for Christ, while his fame
as a shrewd, kindly Frank spread over creek and wood
path. The Northmen always admired the brave, their
boast being that one of their own could outdo any three foes ;
and they must have been won over by the cool judgment of
the intrepid stranger who seemed equal to every difficulty.
It is scarcely surprising, then, that success attended his
second venture and Herigar, chief of the royal councillors,
embraced the faith. Best of all Ansgar, aided by steadfast
converts, was able to build a Catholic church.
So successful was the Swedish mission that the Corbie
monk, again at the Emperor's desire, was created Archbishop
of Hamburg and went to Rome, where he received the
pallium from Pope Gregory IV. More than that, the pontiff
made him legate to the northern nations Swedes, Danes
and Slavs. The veteran missionary, ever mindful of the
Swedes, sent Bishop Gausbert with other priests to continue
the far-north missions. But once more the poison of perfidy
permeated Vikingland; the bishop was driven out and his
nephew met with death. Set back in one field, Ansgar tried
another. Let the heathen rage, he would tackle the task
again and again. Thanks to his monastic training he was
able to revive the Abbey of Terholt in Flanders and establish
a flourishing school. The most happy relations existed
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between the Archbishop and his flock for over a decade, only
to be shattered when the sea-wolves, aggressive as ever, took
to all-out raids. In 845 Eric, King of Jutland, appeared off
Hamburg with a fleet of eight hundred vessels, bringing
terror to the inhabitants. The marauders crept up stream,
destroyed all dwellers on the banks, and indulged in bestial
acts over which the chronicler draws the veil. They sacked
and burned the city with its newly built church; the rare
priceless books, bequeathed the monastery by Louis the Pious,
went up in smoke. Ansgar, reduced to dire poverty, had to
wander from place to place until he reached Bremen. All
these tragic experiences, enough to take the heart out of
any man, did not dismay the saint who was profoundly grate-
ful to God that most of his flock had escaped the Vikings.
Germs of Decay
Let us turn now from this mission episode to the state of
affairs in the West. Hard upon Ansgar's flight from Ham-
burg came fresh trials for the Church and her faithful children.
The Empire, divided by Louis the Pious among his three
sons, was threatened with collapse. Lothair, Louis the
German and Charles the Bald, coveted one another's lands,
robbed right and left, and lost all true regal authority.
Lothair and Charles joined against Louis; Louis and Charles
seized Lothair; Charles' vassals ran away with Lothair's
daughter. Even after the battle of Fontenoy in 841 and the
Treaty of Verdun in 843 dynastic rivalries continued, black-
ened by violence and treachery. The historian of those
days does not exaggerate when he declares: " Innocent blood
is shed unavenged, the fear of kings and of law has departed
from men, with closed eyes the people are approaching hell-
fire/ 1 How little the Prankish rulers respected the clergy
and vice versa is seen in the story told of Charles the Bald
1 80
Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
and John Scotus Eriginus, 1 the ablest theologian of the
Carolingian times. Both king and monk loved an argument.
This day the two faced each other across the festal board
and the King insultingly asked : "How differs Scot from sot?"
"Table !" the Irishman boldly replied. One can easily
understand saintly Ansgar's difficulties in such a crazy world,
the difficulties of a man of God, too noble, too apostolic-
minded to suit regal schemers. In the widespread land-
grabbing, part of his new diocese in Flanders had been
attached by Charles the Bald under protest of its zealous
shepherd. Louis of all people jumped into the breach
and made his brother return the stolen see. The successors
of Charles the Great, it is clear, wanted to maintain supremacy
in church administration; they were never content with
negative advantages but ever ready to control ecclesiastical
affairs. And when Rome interposed, the Prankish Kings,
backed by many servile churchmen, set themselves against
the Vicar of Christ though they knew in their hearts that the
aims of the Church were aims of justice, goodness and peace.
All the time Ansgar moved in the thick of the fray, Pope
Leo IV had to face trial after trial. For, while the North
Atlantic was swept by pirate Vikings, the hateful Saracens
overran Mediterranean coasts and shadowed the Italian cities.
In August, 846, a Moslem fleet, having landed at Ostia, dis-
charged thousands of Arabs who looted the basilicas of
St. Peter and St. Paul, shouting as they plundered, "There Is
but one God and Mohammed is the Prophet of God/' The
city itself was saved only by stout walls built by generations
of the faithful; yet the heathen established themselves at
Bari on the Garigliano. Three years later, the southern
seaports, Amalfi, Gaeta, and Naples, formed a wartime league,
the first in the Middle Ages. As far as could be seen ahead,
conditions promised to be worse instead of better unless
1 Eriginus = from the Isle of Saints
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
drastic steps were taken. Accordingly these cities united
their fleets and formed a treaty with Pope Leo who invited
the captains to the Vatican where they swore loyalty to the
common cause. Then the pontiff led the Roman militia to
Ostia, blessed both army and navy, and administered Holy
Communion to the men. In this year of peril, 849, when the
safety of Christendom was again menaced by its worst foe,
Leo fell on his knees and prayed: "Lord, Thou Who savedst
Peter from sinking when walking on the waves of the sea,
Thou Who rescuedst Paul from the depths . . . mercifully hear
us, and by the merits of these saints grant -power to the arms
of Thy believing servants, who fight against the enemies of
Thy Church, that through their victory Thy Holy Name
may be glorified amongst all nations/' The Pope had just
returned to the Vatican when the Saracen sails could be seen
offshore. Straightway the fearless Neapolitans rowed out to
meet them and suddenly, amid clash of prows, a storm arose,
throwing everything into confusion. By the time the fury of
wind and rain had ceased the enemy fleet had disappeared,
sunk or wrecked. Many of the Moslem survivors swam to
the Tyrrhene Islands, only to be slain on the shore. Many
more fell into the hands of the League captains who executed
them forthwith in Ostia or brought them in chains to Rome. 2
Thus the Eternal City was saved once more from the hands
of the invader, while the Pope proceeded to deal firmly with
three great problems: stronger defense of Rome, freedom of
the Church from secular interference, and the abolition of
simony, a sin which brought dire consequences in its wake.
Ports of Entry
The year after the Saracen fleet disappeared in the depths
of the Mediterranean, Ansgar ruled the two sees of Hamburg
2 Gregovarius, Rome in the Middle Ages
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
and Bremen. There must be no pause in the quest for souls;
set-backs only proved a greater reason for new strides. Cold
skies and racing clouds had no more menace for him than the
troubled waters, so typical of the folk to whom his life is
committed. He was more than ever willing to face any
peril and meet every challenge of paganism. Now he was
really ready and he almost fifty! His frail craft cut the
creeks along the north shore; his fellow-monks studied the
sea, the stars, with foes in their wake; they could sight Viking
raiders, braving the storms of the stark gray coasts. As an
envoy of Louis the German he visited Denmark again, that
same land from which he had been driven so long ago. King
Eric, forgetting the past, bade him welcome, in fact liked him
so well that he recalled the priests exiled from his domains.
Won by Ansgar's sweetness of character, the proud Norse
yielded point after point to the gain of the faith. In 850
the first church was erected in Schleswig, in 851 one rose at
Ripan. The following year the veteran missionary visited
Bjorko in the Maelarsee after an absence of nearly a
quarter of a century but by this time he was well used to
deep swamps and treacherous waterways. On this occasion
he again met with a friendly reception and tactfully gained
the King's favor, by inviting him to dinner and making him
presents. The nobles gathered to decide whether or not the
missionary should be given permission to preach. They
drew lots and the response was favorable. Once more
Ansgar became a familiar figure, laboring for Christ with
wound-proof spirit. On his return to Hamburg, full of zeal
for souls, he sent priests to evangelize Sweden. No rpatter
where he journeyed, the Archbishop, loaded with tremendous
responsibilities, never ceased to be Ansgar of Corbie, eminent
as ever for his piety, self-rule and spirit of service. He built
hospitals, ransomed captives, dispensed alms. He even ern-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
ployed his pen to write verse on the margins of his Book of
Psalms, and found time to relate the story of his predecessor,
Willehad, first Bishop of Bremen. His carefully kept diaries
provided the material for Adam of Bremen's great work,
De situ Danae. In point of fact, the world is indebted to him
for the first description of Scandinavia, its customs, religion,
and language; for Ansgar was the pioneer who wrote, not
from rumor or report, but who put down what his eyes saw,
his ears heard, his hands felt.
Nothing could be more inspiring than the spirit of this
great Apostle of the Vikings. Go forth, he told his monks,
go forth without fear, comfort the afflicted, care for the sick,
win souls for God. Buy those young Danes sold in the
market, send them to Corbie for Christian upbringing.
And be sure of it they will come back some day as heralds of
faith to their own people. O that he could himself start over
again, but by this time he was too old for active service and
unable to brave wild seas and rock-bound coasts. Even so,
he could watch and pray, labor and write, make decisions and
wait upon action. No thought had he of deviating from his
life's work, as hopefully he looked ahead to the harvest.
"More zeal, more monks!" was his constant cry. Did not
Pope Gregory IV give him jurisdiction over. Iceland and the
remote Greenland? Yes, and the hearts of those poor pagans
far away must be reached. With rare tact, courage, charity
he dealt with fresh mission problems and difficult situations.
And he looked to Corbie for sorely needed recruits, that holy
home being ever close to his heart. It had grown to be a
great place since first he had plowed the ground there; it
had furnished many monks for Denmark, Norway and
Sweden. Well, he must have more! Time was short and
Viking souls were at stake! Such then was the drive and
energy of Ansgar, the Apostle, in his latter days as in his
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
earlier. Age could not dim that flaming spirit, and he kept
a manful hand on the tiller until he had given last instruc-
tions to his co-pilot, Rembert, who succeeded in the See of
Hamburg. The year 865 saw the valiant old navigator of
God cast off from his earth-bound harbor. He was sixty-six
when, at the Master's call, he entered the Eternal Sea.
After the death of Ansgar the times grew more and more
desperate. There were crises when it looked as if the Rock
of Peter might be swamped by waves of barbarians. The
hopes of Pope Leo and Charles the Great came nearer to
destruction, for no man appeared big enough to rule the
Prankish Empire which they called the Holy Roman Empire.
If the sons of Louis the Pious failed in a great mission their
sons proved the truth of the scripture: "The fathers have
eaten a sour grape and the teeth of the children are set on
edge." 3 Louis II, son of Lothair, succeeded to his father's
throne, but chaos ruled while local rulers had their own way
much as they pleased. Like his scheming parent, Louis
tried to control the Pope, Nicholas I (858-887), only to find
he had mistaken his man. The devout but firm pontiff
refused to countenance the marriage of Lothair II of Lorraine
who had divorced his wife to wed a mistress. In 836, imperial
troops entered Rome and imprisoned the Pope but to no
purpose; for Nicholas, nothing daunted, stood adamant by
the law of God. More trying than such conflicts with the
civil power were the heartbreaks this great Pope suffered from
prelates who defied the Holy See. He had to punish the
powerful Archbishop of Rheims for deposing a dutiful bishop
and he excommunicated John of Ravenna for sheer perfidy
all this in the face of the Emperor's protests. There seemed
no end^to the trials that beset the man of God, what with
prince-bishops, tyrants in their rich sees; abbots who rode
8 Jeremias XXXI, 29
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
the war-saddle better than they ruled their subjects; all sorts
of lords seeking cruel power over small-sized villages or
heavily fortified kingdoms. Lay and clerical, many of them
refused allegiance to Rome, and even defied the laws of God.
Not only were they lax and indifferent to higher things, but
they also indulged in bloody, bitter warfare. Each had his
army of retainers ready to fight at the drop of a glove,
equally ready to waylay and rob the weak. Such crooked
action inevitably begot crooked thought which in turn led
to still more crooked conduct.
The Real Dark Ages
This period of confusion witnessed the revolt of Photius,
an ambitious upstart, brilliant but misguided, who had
taken all his Holy Orders in six days. Though there had been
quarrels aplenty between the East and the West, the schism
he created was the first in their relations. Photius appears
as the worst of Byzantine mischief-makers, for so great was
his thirst for honors that he schemed day in and day out
to win for himself the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He
assailed the Latin Church because it legislated fasts on
Saturday, began Lent three days later than in the East, and
did not allow its priests to be married. The Pope, Nicholas
the Great, had to excommunicate the wicked pretender who
In revenge persuaded the Emperor Michael (842-867) to sit
in judgment on the Vicar of Christ. A circular letter, issued
by the synod in 866, deposed the pontiff and declared the
refusal of the Eastern Church to accept the phrase, "the
Holy Ghost Who proceeded from the Father and the Son/'
That same year Michael, who had abetted Photius, met his
death in a drunken brawl, and his successor, Basil the Mace-
donian (867-886), expelled the troublesome schismatic. When
the rightful Patriarch Ignatius was restored, he directly
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Saint Ansgar and the Ninth Century
sought reconciliation with Rome. But the damage had been
done; a widening of the breach towards ultimate separation.
True, the Eighth General Council of the Universal Church
took place in 869 at Constantinople, but at the death of
Ignatius, ten years later, Photius was again in power. As
might be expected the Pope refused to recognize the upstart
who continued his disruptive course until the new Emperor
Leo IV (886-912) drove him out of Constantinople.
If East was still an evil East, West was the West of chaos.
Ever since the fall of Louis the Pious in 833 the Empire
through sheer force of events lay open to foes eager to stamp
out the people and their culture. The Northmen now began
organized invasions, the Moslem renewed their age-old
attacks against a defenceless continent. In 845 Vikings
entered deeper into the domains of Charles the Bald; the
very next year Saracens ravaged the tomb of the Apostles.
By the turn of the half-century the Bulgars, a Slavic people,
had settled on the outskirts of the Empire, while the Magyars,
a Finnish-Turko race, raided the Carolingian territories. But
far worse than such barbarian incursions was the invasion of
evil forces into high places. A number of pontiffs appeared,
victims of vice, weakness and faction; they were on the whole
no better than Charles the Bald, Charles the Fat, Louis the
Stammerer, whose nicknames bear the stamp of the contempt
public opinion accorded them. Only two truly great Popes
can be found among the dozen who reigned in the Chair of
Peter during the last half of the century. Nicholas the
Great (858-867) maintained the independence of the Holy
See, refusing to yield to either Eastern or Western Emperor;
he fought the good fight against powerful Byzantine schis-
matics, against his own recalcitrant bishops, even against
Louis II and his invading armies. John VIII (872-882) also
stood unconquerable during a whole decade of violence and
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
bloodshed. "If all the trees in the forest,'* he wrote, "were
turned into tongues they could not describe the ravages of
impious pagans. The bishops are wandering about in
beggary or fly to Rome, the only place of refuge." Yet this
stalwart pontiff, an active general, fought the Prankish nobles
to a standstill; as an admiral he cleared the Italian coasts
of the Moslem fleets, only to be poisoned and have his skull
smashed with a hammer. His consecrated successors took
little heed of their tremendous responsibility and failed to
feed the flock of God. One may even say, therefore, that
most of them were a venal lot with little about them to revere
and nothing to approve. This does not mean that the
Church failed either in moral or doctrinal teaching; it only
proves that the Spouse of Christ survives and will continue
to the end of time in spite of her enemies within or without.
Pope Marinus displayed the character of a weakling; Adrian
III failed to check the guileful Formosus, Bishop of Porto,
who actually won his way to the papal throne. The spineless
Stephen V, after five years' misrule, was strangled to death.
Romanus and Theodore accomplished nil, having but a
half-year to reign; and, after them, promising John IX and
Benedict IV brought to a tragic close a century during which
the Chair of Peter seemed only a brigand's prize and the
imperial crown a mere war-trophy. The dissolution of the
Empire was now well under way and the progress of Christian
civilization came to a dead stop.
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Saint Bernard
APOSTLE OF THE ALPS
SAINT BERNARD OF MENTHON AND THE TENTH CENTURY
Emperors
P& r sons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
.*
No EMPERORS FOR
Italy in chaos 900
BENEDICT IV,
60 YEARS
900-903
LEO V, 903
Magyars overthrow Moravian
SERGIUS III,
Kingdom 908
904-911
Vikings continue their raids 910
CONRAD of Fran-
Foundation of Cluny 910
conia, 911-918
Hungarians invade Germany 911
(King)
Condition of Europe at its worst 913
LAND-US,
913-914
League against the Saracens 915
John x,
Pope John routs Saracens at Ga-
914-928
rigliano 916
HENRY I of Saxony,
919-936 (King)
Bernard of Menthon born in Savoy 923
LEO VI, 929
Benedictine taproots of universities 930
STEPHEN VIII,
929-930
Alberic seizes Papal States
JOHN XI,
931-936
OTTO I, of Saxony,
Leo VII mistreated by Alberic 936
LEO VII,
936-962 (King)
Otto crowned at Aachen 936
936-939
Abbey of St. Gall burned by way-
ward pupil 937
STEPHEN IX,
939-942
Death of Odo of Cluny 942
MARINUS II,
Bernard student under Peter of Aosta 943
942-946
AGAPITUS II,
946-955
Otto delivers Papacy from bondage 951
,
Otto conquers the Magyars 955
JOHN XII,
955-964
OTTO I, Crowned
Pope John crowns Otto Emperor 962
Emperor, 962-973
Bernard founds famous hospice 962
t
BENEDICT V,
964-965
Bernard founds hospice in Graian Alps 965
Otto crushes the Roman factions 966
JOHN XIII,
965-972
Bernard, Archdeacon of Aosta 966
OTTO II, Crowned
Riots break out in Rome 973
BENEDICT VI,
Emperor, 973-983
973-974
BENEDICT VII,
Bernard evangelizes cantons of
974-983
Lombardy 975
OTTO III, Crowned
JOHN XIV,
Emperor,
Pope John receives Bernard in Rome 984
983-984
983-1002
John Gualberto born in Florence 985
JOHN XV,
Capets wipe out the Carolingian Line 987
985-996
Sergius attacks the Holy See 998
GREGORY V,
996-999
Gerbert becomes Pope Sylvester II 999
SYLVESTER II,
Bernard lives into next century (d. 1008)
999
SAINT BERNARD AND THE TENTH CENTURY
The Chaotic Century
How fared the Holy Roman Empire in these days? Was
the dream of Leo III any nearer reality: two great rulers,
Pope and Emperor each in his distinct sphere, working hand
in hand to bring the Kingdom of God on earth. Alas,
nothing of the kind; there was no great Pope, not even an
Emperor worthy of the name, until the century was well
spent. You are going to behold Europe bowed and bloody,
cursed with a thousand disorders and afflictions. The pre-
cursory signs of decay had long showed in a society which
resembled the old tribal groups rather than any system of
law, order and religion. For in these times powerful counts
did much as they chose, barons held sway over vast lands,
kings and nobles led a semi-nomadic life wandering from
one estate to another. The Church found herself in the
midst of a feudal world whose habit was war, war, and then
war. Frankland, victim of Viking raids, stood on the edge
of dissolution "the cities are depopulated, the monasteries
ruined and burned, the country reduced to solitude." 1 Ger-
many was controlled by Conrad and his successor, Henry
the Fowler, an unlettered barbarian, who acted like war-
leaders at the head of their confederation. Spain lay prostrate
under the heel of the Moor, while Italy was torn apart by
contending factions. Worst of all, the Holy See was vic-
timized by Theophylact and the evil women of his house,
Marozia, the Senatrix in particular, mother and murderess
of Popes. It is not pleasant to review the history of Judas
Iscariots who fell to lower and lower moral levels. How
1 Acts of the Synod of Trosle, in 909
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
low is indicated by the fact that the Church, rocked to and
fro by fierce storms, was hard put to keep alive the standards
of civilization. "It is impossible/' said her Divine Builder,
"that scandals should not come; but woe to him through
whom they come." 2
Now, more than ever, two systems stood in open conflict,
the peace-system of the ancient Church and the war-system
of the feudal nobility. On one side, episcopal cities with
their cathedral, courts, and monasteries, made for peace and
order. On the other, counts behind their castle walls dwelt
more "like beasts of prey in their dens," ready at any time
to wage war with their neighbors. The military aristocracies
plundered the monasteries, lived off the land, snatched
authority from the spiritual arm. The Church labored to
educate and Christianize, but her hands were tied, what with
canon law thrown to the winds and great land-owners holding
their ill-gotten gains. By mid-century, as you will notice,
she was in bad straits, feeble locally as well as in her center,
Rome. And even when her loyal sons fought against tyranny,
plunder and murder, many of her soi-disant leaders cast their
lot with the powers of the earth. Bishops and clergy often
sided with the arrogant nobility, abbots and monks frequently
went worldly, satisfying their pride of life. The Chair of
Peter became a bone of contention: evil, unfit men looked
upon the papacy with covetous eyes, royal houses fought like
wild dogs to secure its prestige. Irony outdoes itself in
calling such a chaos the Holy Roman Empire. The
truth is that "Holy" is a misnomer, "Roman" spelled
infamy, "Empire" existed only in the ambitions of up-
start rulers.
Yet, during those agonizing years the gospel seed long
buried in stony ground had begun to swell ; the next century
2 Luke XVII, 2
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Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
would see it shoot forth and conquer the thorns hostile to
its growth.
A Young Noble
A great planter of this good seed was Bernard of Menthon
who now engages our attention. His history was remarkable,
even romantic to a degree, and his life covered the larger part
of the tenth century. Born in 923, the only child of noble
parents, Richard and Bernoline de Doingt, he grew up in
the Chateau of Menthon, on 'the Lake of Annecjy. This
district of the Prankish Empire belonged to the Kingdom of
Upper Burgundy between the Swiss Jura and the Pennine Alps.
Most likely Bernard's father had him educated in a cloister
school where, along with music, mathematics and letters, he
studied the chronicles and the story of salvation. At home
his tutor, Germain, inspired the young Savoyan with courage,
idealism and high resolves; together they shared many
dangers as they scaled great white peaks and gazed at ever-
growing snowy heights beyond their reach. What lofty
thoughts Bernard could entertain when they paused after a
steep climb to survey the far-off beautiful valleys with their
high-perched castles! You get the picture of stalwart
leaders, lonely, exalted, apart; of homage and consecration
to a noble cause. None of the knights he knew was like
Nahon le Noir who imprisoned his decent man-at-arms in
an iron-grated chamber until one day, after a struggle with
its giant jailer, the soldier went mad. No, they were good
knights like that count in far-off Spain who saw that a light
ever blazed on his Aleala de Real and harbored the fugitive
prisoners who escaped from the Moorish dungeons of Granada.
Who could tell but that some day he, an only son and heir,
would be able to do a deed like that, thus making amends
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
for the dog-eat-dog lives of the wicked. It came as a shock
when the young man found out that his parents had planned
he should marry the beauteous Marguerite de Miolans. His
heart was aflame, not for any pretty damsel, but for the
All-loving, All-lovable Son of God. And he had a clearly
settled conviction, nay had secretly decided to enter religion.
As soon as his parents suspected his plans, they dismissed
Germain and saw to it that Bernard was carried off to the
Castle of Miolans, thinking the maiden's charms would
break his holy resolution. The night before the wedding,
however, Bernard, leaving a note to his father, made his
escape by dropping down from a balcony. Quickly he scaled
the high wall and started out on the long trek toward "the
mountain that healeth him who climbs." He journeyed all
of a hundred miles up hill and across valley, then on to more
difficult ascents before he reached the Pennine Alps.
The venerable Archdeacon of Aosta received the fugitive
with open arms and took him under special care. One could
see with half an eye that Bernard, gifted by grace as by
nature, gave promise of great things in the years to corne.
More still, the exemplars he had were the best, full of vigor
and faith and apostolic zeal. There were very able teachers,
priests, monks and nuns, whose names have come down the
ages. The greatest dramatist of the century was Hroswitha,
a nun of Gersheim under the Abbess Gerberga, niece of the
Emperor Otto. And a few decades earlier the Abbey of
St. Gall housed one Totile teacher, poet, painter, musician,
sculptor, architect a genius so illustrious that Charles the
Fat used to curse roundly those who made him a monk
thereby depriving the royal court of such a luminary. No
doubt these religious went about their duties with single-
minded devotion, their object being to serve God and man.
"Neither for gold nor gifts/' said an old Irish author, "did I
194
Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
undertake this task so great arid difficult . . . only I prayed
that my book might be beautiful." Well, that was the
atmosphere of pure service which Bernard breathed as he
mastered the principles of the Gospel. Peter of Aosta,
observing the young novice's progress, decided he should go
on for the priesthood, and 1 Bernard hoped that once that
high state was reached he would be sent on the missions.
Oh, to be in the deep mountain wilderness laboring for the
souls of ignorant and wild pagans ! In God's good time the
young priest entered upon a career fraught with zeal, piety
and usefulness. The rest of his eighty-five years were destined
to be spent in the far-flung Alps.
Growth of the Feudal System
The son of gentle folk Bernard grew up in the heart of the
feudal world. , Begun in Gaul, the system had spread to
Spain and Germany and by the tenth century was deep
rooted in I^taly. As the wide-eyed lad had moved about his
father's chateau Germain had told him the story of feudalism
and he had come to see both its use and abuse. The great
nobles of an earlier day had to equip their armie with
weapons and horses, so they wantonly seized any estate
within reach, giving their supporters the usufruct or benefits.
Then and there the chief aids took an oath of fidelity pledging
themselves as vassals to the service of their lord. The hold-
ings they received became known as fiefs, which were served
in turn by others lower-down in the social scale. Every vassal
had his sub- vassal who mustered knights and fighting men
for the army; far down in the lowest level stood the poor
peasants, serfs and villeins who tilled the fields, did the
menial tasks, eked out a wretched existence. And so it went,
rank and file living as best they could under a rough pater-
nalism. One wonders just what Bernard thought of the
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
arrangement as a child of his time he could imagine no
other state of society. He must have regretted, however, the
part the Church had come to play in the system; it was a
sure guess that Charles, the Hammer, who sped feudalism on
its way two centuries before never foresaw what had come to
be an accepted thing. Popes were known to command
armies and navies. Bishops rode out at the head of their
forces to fight for their lands. Abbots barricaded their
monasteries, while cloisters resounded to the baying of hounds
and the voices of soldiery.
By early manhood Bernard had come to know that just
as a good ruler could be a boon, an evil one proved the bane
alike of Church and State. Nor could he fail to see how many
tragedies followed on the abuse of great opportunity when
lords lost the true character of nobility and scoffed at religion
pure and undefiled. Like many tyrants in our own time they
did not consider the interest of their fellowmen because pride
and covetdusness ruled their lives. On the other hand, there
were lovers of justice who protected the poor and treated
them generously. Such a one, Bernard might have told you,
was Henry, a count beloved by all because he sought ways of
peace. Look at this vivid picture and judge for yourself.
"Upon the evenings of Sundays and holydays the young
people of each village and farmhouse repaired to the courtyard
of Henry's chateau, as the natural and proper scene for their
amusement, and the family of the baron often took part in
their pastime. On a certain day Henry invited all the world
to an entertainment; rich and poor, nobles, knights and
peasants were all equally accustomed to receive his invita-
tions; but he had a discourteous and niggardly seneschal, who
took pains to insult the guests. A poor ploughman, named
Raoul, became the object of his insolence, though the senes-
chal, fearing that the count might observe him, had at length
provided a place for the poor man. When the minstrels and
196
Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
jongleurs who sat at the end of the banquet table had exerted
themselves to the utmost to amuse the count and the guests,
Raoul advanced and kicked down the seneschal before the
whole company. Then being called upon for an explanation,
he related humbly to the noble Henry how his seneschal
had treated him in a similar manner on his first entry, though
he came to the castle on the count's general invitation* The
count was highly delighted, as were all the company, and
to Raoul was adjudged the prize of a robe which was to be
given to the jongleur who caused most merriment in the
hall." 3
Monks in the Field
One cannot say that the feudal system was" all wrong. On
the contrary, as Bernard came to know, it was a period of
growingfpains in the life of Europe. And certainly the
Church met the changing conditions most admirably when
she had her way unimpeded. Her monasteries, ever in the
forefront, led the advance to better things. St. Gall did more
than its share to promote peace and good will among men
when conditions in Western Europe were at their worst. Its
abbots were famous throughout the century, its monks the
best scholars of their time. The Huns threatened the place
in 924 and many of the books and manuscripts had to be
removed; in 937 a disastrous fire gutted the monastery, the
library, however, escaped the flames. Far from being dis-
couraged, the monks rebuilt on the ruins, while the library
(its catalogue is still extant) was greatly extended. Then,
there was Cluny in Saone-et-Loire, center of a great reform,
destined to leave profound impress on the century. Make
sure of it, these early years under St. Berno saw a highly
centralized government and the abbots became potent agents
against the abuses of the feudal system. They put up an
3 Digby, Kenelm, Mores Catholici, Vol. I, p. 320
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
endless fight for integrity and independence, attacking the
evils of simony, benefice and concubinage among the clergy.
There was nothing tyrannical about the discipline at Cluny,
since the rules, based on tradition and custom, arranged for
all procedure in chapter-house, refectory, and in the nocturnal
office. Law for speaking and for silence obtained alongside
laws for recreation and mortification ; in fact everyone knew
what was what and why the exact time for sowing and
digging and reaping, when beans and herbs were to be sea-
soned with oil or butter, on what days the monks could have
fruits, eggs, spices, fish. All was carried out in accustomed
order and united with real freedom, while the assumption of
authority became a matter of mutual love. The worst
punishment an abbot could inflict on his subjects was to leave
the monastery, a thing almost as bad as being abandoned by
Heaven,
Again, in feudal Germany, the Abbey of Fulda, St. Boni-
face's great foundation, still held an enviable place. Two
centuries earlier it owned fifteen thousand plow lands, now
it was a city with churches, schools, mills, hospitals and farm-
buildings. Fulda exercised enormous moral force on the
Saxons, for it trained the intellectual and religious leaders of
that day. The vast wealth of the wide estate was regarded
as the Patrimony of the Saint who founded it, not the posses-
sion of any superior or community. Even abbey serfs
differed from those under a secular lord, and many a freeman
was known to give up his civil status to become a "saint's
man." No offering would be acceptable unless from donors
who obeyed the precepts of Christ from a full heart. No
time-serving there, nor any frenzied attempt to gain public
acclaim either! Say then what you will about the dreadful
darkness, the stark despair so prevalent in this tenth century,
but do not forget it was the monks of the West who clung to
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Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
the old classical culture, won the allegiance of barbarians and
kept alive the idea of a Christian Empire. The monasteries,
moreover, were training-schools of bishops famous for their
piety and doctrine, the inspiration for many nobles of saintly
virtue, the power houses of missionaries who went out to
convert Danes and Normans, Poles, Bohemians and Hun-
garians.
The Tragedy of Europe
The Alps, you will recall, are Europe's greatest bastion.
Ideally placed, they dominate the Seine and the Rhone in
France; the Rhine and Danube in Germany, Hungary and
the Balkans, the Save in Yugo-Slavia and the Po in Italy.
On the lower chains of this natural fortress Bernard of
Menthon engaged himself in the work of his Master. At
thirty, he must have realized that nothing could save Europe
except truth and honesty, courage and fortitude, together
with those prime qualities of the mountaineer hard work
and tenacity. From Alpine heights the Savoyan priest could
view a broken Empire which by mid-century showed only
ruin and decay. In the West after the death of Louis the
Child (899-911) Frankland sank into the slough of disorder.
Otto the Great (936-973) spent most of his early days control-
ling the nobles and putting down revolts. The Teuton King
favored the clergy, giving them high posts, but with the
understanding that the bishops and abbots would supply his
army. He knew that the clergy could take better care of his
royal chancery than the nobles; besides there was little
danger of their coveting too much power. Italy's plight was
still worse, for the papacy had reached the lowest depths in its
long history. "The Roman Chair/' said Augustine, "is the
rock which the proud gates of hell do not conquer" ; none the
less those days witnessed dreadful attacks on the Church. An
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
infamous woman, Marozia, daughter of the still more wicked
Theodora, brazenly set her two sons in high places: one
John XI in the Chair of Peter, the other Alberic in command
of the City. Then Alberic imprisoned his mother and
unseated his brother, naming as successor his own son
Octavian. This mere boy was none other than John XII
whose unholy career so compromised the Church.
No age is without moral darkness here and there, but in
this one period Italy almost reached eclipse. From the start
of the century four rulers followed one another in quick succes-
sion. In 950 Berengar had himself "elected" King of Italy,
imprisoned Lady Adelaide, widow of the deceased King
Lothair. Otto, the German, joined in the fray; he entered
Italy in 951, married Adelaide and put Berengar in charge of
the government. But the scoundrel proved anything but a
faithful vassal, while Alberic, who ruled the city of Rome,
stood by, loath to interfere. Pope John XII, fearing an
invasion, took desperate steps of far-reaching importance.
In a black mood of rage he called upon Otto to come down
and defend the Papal States. Otto, like all his ilk, had an
eye on Italy, and especially on Rome, since the Eternal City
had it in its power to satisfy his vaulting political ambitions.
Both Rome and the Papacy were necessary to imperial power,
since the law of Christendom empowered the Vicar of Christ
alone to confer the title of Emperor with its office of supreme
political rule. Easy then to understand how ready Otto was
to go to the aid of John XII and acquire a stronger foothold
in Italy. His own five nations Lorraine, Saxony, Fran-
conia, Swabia and Bavaria were not enough to sate the
power of the covetous German. So across the Alps he came
and in 962 relieved the papal distress whereupon the young
Pope crowned him Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Otto, when receiving the crown from the Pope, had ordered
200
Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
his sword-bearer to watch with weapon drawn lest there
should be foul play while he knelt at the tomb of the apostle.
It would be difficult to believe if the records did not con-
vince us the shattering events of that day, the grisly fear
and treachery on every side. After the death of John XII,
the Popes, Leo VII, Stephen IX, Marinus II, and Agapitus,
proved pious and decent men, yet inefficient executives
incapable of giving a good account of their great stewardship.
As one might expect, Church and State stood at swords'
points; Rome was attacked and invaded by one vendetta
after another; the populace resembled an eruptive mass
ever on the verge of revolt.
Apostle of the Alps
Did Bernard hear the tramp of German troops or catch
the glint of their shields as they hastened Homewards through
the Alps? Seeing the plight of his own little world he had
become an apostolic-hearted missionary. The districts he
evangelized were rife with treachery, ignorance and idolatry;
not only were wayfarers exposed to the natural perils of
Alpine travel, they were liable to attack by bandits who
infested the mountain passes. Bernard aimed to tame the
wild savages, hoping to bring peace by establishing a church
for the natives and a hospice for visitors. There was an old
pagan temple which he planned to use as a site, but meanwhile
there was much work to be done, work such as Boniface and
Gallus had accomplished centuries earlier. For forty-two
years the zealous priest moved among benighted folk, preach-
ing, working miracles, covering incredible distances far into
the cantons of Lombardy. All his splendid energies were
spent for the benefit of his fellow men; he flung himself into
the battle for God while all about him wild creatures served
Satan. One can guess the holy thoughts that crowded the
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
apostle's mind, one can even catch the psalmist song in his
heart as he breasted the fiercest storms. Just listen:
He gives snow like flocks of wool,
He scatters hoar-frost like ashes,
He throws down His ice like crumbs ;
Who can stand before His cold !
Praise Him from the earth !
Young men and maidens,
Old men and children !
Let them praise the Name of the Lord ! 4
Surely, that was the spirit of Bernard, praise in service, service
in praise. And it brought its reward in 965 when his undying
hope became shining reality. A monastery and hospice rose
in the Pennines at the highest point of the pass, eight thousand
feet above the sea level !
As the founder grew in sanctity his fame drew many visitors
to the Alpine retreat. One day there appeared an aged
couple, husband and wife, who had braved the long journey
to meet the man whose name made Switzerland glorious.
They told their gracious host how the light of their life had
burned out the day their only son, come of age, had left his
ancestral home; how the next day a fair maiden waited in
vain at the altar for his appearance. He had disappeared as
if into thin mountain air, and never a sight or light of him
did they see in all the intervening years. The superior con-
soled them as best he knew, saying that perhaps God had
called the young man to some higher career than marriage.
Then rather abruptly he left them to pray for guidance, for
Bernard had instantly recognized his beloved parents. While
they were still discussing the kindly monk's resemblance to
their long missing one, he returned, embraced his dear ones
4 Ps. CXLVII-CXLVIII
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Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
and startled them with the announcement: "I am your son
Bernard! 11 They stayed at the hospice for many days before
returning to Menthon with hearts full of joy and divine
consolation. "Happy parents !" exclaims the chronicler,
"happy parents! doubtless in the hours of immortality, you
now possess that son whom you so long mourned in this land
of exile, restored to you in an eternity of happiness where
separations and afflictions are no more."
Disorders in Italy
Judging from reports of Roman pilgrims who had stopped
over at Bernard 's Pennine retreat, the peninsula resembled a
victim of creeping paralysis. The city of the Popes lay under
a pall more deadly than the cones of Vesuvius; its moral
eruptions were frightening, the lava of evil seemed to spread
everywhere. No voice of hope or encouragement emerged
from the confusion, none could foretell what might come to
pass. Naturally, folk in a daze of despair thought the end
of the world was at hand, and actually prepared for it. In 965
when Bernard was founding another hospice in the Graian
Alps, John XIII was assaulted and imprisoned by a Roman
faction which hated this German protector like poison. The
Pope escaped to Capua and later returned in triumph, accom-
panied by Otto the Great. Twelve guilty tribunes who had
persecuted him were promptly hanged; the corpse of the
Prefect of the City, taken from the tomb, was quartered ; and
a frightened high official found himself dangling from a
statue and flogged almost to death. So it went, year after
year, fire and sword, revenge and savagery, all the strain and
stress of war. One thing was certain, the Romans would
always resent the imperial claim of the foreign Emperor whom
they regarded as a barbaric interloper. Otto, on the other
hand, determined to do much as he pleased with Church and
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Empire, indeed, exactly the same as he had been doing for
years in his German domains. This same Otto, remember,
had used the Church for his ambitious schemes, making
Bruno, his younger brother, the Chancellor and later Arch-
bishop of Cologne. He regimented the clergy, chose mafly
of them instead of lay-officers, for he feared the latter might
grow powerful enough to thwart his deep-laid plans for the
future. Always in the thick of things, he knew only too well
how the nobility could repel kings, but he also learned, to his
grief, that powerful feudal ecclesiastics were able to make it
equally hot.
Otto the Great, after a stormy yet successful career, was
succeeded by his son, Otto II, an unaffectedly pious man
nowise given to his father's lust of power or ways of war.
Even so, the Romans wanted no German King to come down
and clamp his laws on a proud people who had led the Ger-
mans out of savagery. Not for the Church either to be cowed
under the heel of a foreign garrison, however strong. From
the very start, the excursions of the mighty Germans into Italy
brought on endless conflict, since Pope and civil ruler could
never harmonize their respective claims. Nor did matters
improve even a little with the passage of time: the age-old
hostility simply would not die down. Now it was flaming
anew, if anything worse than before. Rome appeared ripe
for extinction, as armies, like vultures, swung across the Alps,*
hovered above her carcass ; the papacy, that bridge over which
Christianity and civilization passed, was now a creaking thing
in danger of being carried away by the flood of evil. Year
after year the tumult continued among the Roman factions,
and the Holy See still served as a puppet for aristocrat
gangsters. When word of the coming of Otto IFs envoys
reached the rebel nobles, the Pope, Benedict VI, was strangled
in his cell. The plotters installed a false Pope, Boniface VII,
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Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
but when the Emperor's troops arrived in Rome, he fled to
Constantinople, taking the riches of the Vatican treasury with
him. Pale hope dawned, however, during the reigns of the
last five Popes of the century. Benedict VII did much to
cfieck the simony and evildoing which widely prevailed.
John XIV, an astute and kindly pontiff, who sought peace
and strove for unity, perished in a dungeon. John XV carried
out his brief work worthily, though surrounded by heavy-
handed nobles. Gregory V, the first Pope of German birth,
kinsman of Otto III, ran into trouble with the Romans and had
to fly for his life to Pavia. The Emperor took savage re-
prisals, whereupon Gregory was poisoned by his enemies. At
the century-end a truly great genius, Sylvester II, ascended
the papal throne. Hand in hand with Otto III the new Pope
worked and toiled for the rebirth of a Holy Roman Empire.
Steps in the Dark
Let us leave the blood-stained South for a view of Bernard's
work in the Alpine world. His community caught the spirit
of their master, so firm of will to preach and live the Gospel,
so eager to go about doing good. They gave full praise to
God and served their neighbors unfailingly. No matter how
vile the weather they set out with extraordinary fortitude,
accompanied by huge dogs with a little cask of wine hung
from their stout collars. Man and beast stuck silently to the
trails blizzards howled across the mountain, snow piled
deep, the cold cut into the very marrow of their bones. On
they went in a genuine thrill of comradeship and when the
animals smelled out a human in distress their cries brought
the monks to the spot. Then the mercy work began; if the
rescuers found the stranger alive he was carefully fed and set
upon his feet; if dead they cared for the poor frozen body
once the 'Temple of the Holy Ghost." An equally difficult
205
Church History in the Light of the Saints
task still lay ahead in swiftly speeding the return to the
hospice. They gained strength from the fact that, once
there, the living could be cared for in the infirmary, the
departed given the reverent interment due a Christian.
Seldom, indeed, were the spiritual and corporal works of
mercy better performed than by these Alpsmen of God.
Nowhere was a deeper impression made among helpless
humanity than in that stark world of snow and ice. In 1004,
four years before he entered the portal of death, Bernard
made a journey down to Rome and received permission from
Pope John XIV to found his own congregation, better known
as the "Canons Regular of St. Augustine." The community
grew so rapidly that by the sixteenth century they could
count four hundred monasteries, two hundred of them in
Ireland. Later their numbers dwindled; in our day, after
a thousand years, they have forty members: the majority
dwell in hospices, the rest have charge of parishes in the land
of the eternal snow.
The work of Bernard and his monks furnishes the real clue
to the mystery of Europe's survival. Their homes of mercy
in the Alps proved on a comparatively small scale what was
proved in other places on a large scale Catholic action !
That there were myriad men of God who served their age well,
the facts are plain for all to see. To cite just a few great
names: St. Barre influenced Mahon, King of Munster (950),
who held fast to the old Catholic tradition in Dane-infested
Ireland, and while St. Colmoc spread the faith in the Hebrides,
St. Dunstan (925-988) ran a gospel course in England. Olaf
Tryggvason (995-1000) spread the faith in Scandinavia:
"Olaf," runs the old saga, "when he became King, sayeth he
will bring about the christening of all Norway. ..." The in-
fluence of scholars like St. Eric (d- 924) and other monks
brought Olaf (Lap king) 993-1024, into the true fold; still
206
Saint Bernard and the Tenth Century
another Olaf (Skotkonung), King of Sweden was converted
in 1001, through the example of his father, Eric, a strenuous
battler for Christianity. The Danish monarchy entered a
new epoch in 935 when it accepted Christianity in the reign
of Harold Bluetooth (950-986), a tribute to the unsung
mission work of Benedictine monks. Brave initial attempts
failed to bring the truth to the Wends, those fierce Slavic
tribes north and east of Germany; but Boleslaus II (967)
and Stephen (997) evangelized the savage Magyars, an
Asiatic horde who had overturned the Kingdom of Moravia;
and very soon after that the Gospel was carried to Poland.
There was hope for the Russians when St. Olga, who ruled the
land for twenty years, strove to win her pagan people to Christ.
This daughter of a grand duke received Baptism in 945
during a visit to Constantinople. Though her son refused to
embrace the faith, her grandson Vladimir received that great
grace in 988, and the road was open to the evangelization of
Russia. Most impressive, too, and most hopeful of all was
the conversion of Rollo, the Sea Rover, by the Archbishop of
Rouen. The onetime war-lord died in 917 and Normandy
quickly became a thriving nation whose people proved the
most progressive in all Europe. It is impossible to miss seeing
in all this the preservative force of God, holding His Church
together*
207
Saint Edward tne Conressor
SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE
SAINT EDWARD AND THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
Christianity in Greenland
rooo
Normans astir in northern France
IOOO
Odilo rules Cluny
IOOO
HENRY II
Saxons massacre Danes in England
1003
SYLVESTER II,
(Saxon),
1003
1002-1024
Birth of Edward, the Confessor
1003
JOHN XVII, 1003
JOHN XVIII,
Birth of Peter Damien, Reformer
1007
1004-1009
SERGIUS IV,
Edward and Alfred in Normandy
IOI2
1009-1012
St. Romauld founds the Carnoldolese
1015
BENEDICT VIII,
Canute rules England and Norway
1016
1012-1024
FRANCONIAN
JOHN XIX,
EMPERORS
1024-1033
CONRAD II
Birth of William the Conqueror
1027
(The Salic),
Death of Fulbert of Chartres
1028
1024-1039
Growth of Norman power
1030
Anselm, Father of the Schoolmen
1033
BENEDICT IX,
King Stephen spreads gospel in Hungary
1038
1033-1044
John Gaulberto founds Vallombrosians
1038
HENRY III
Edward ascends the throne of England
1042
(The Black),
Lanfranc opens era of Scholasticism
1042
1039-1056
GREGORY VI,
1044-1046
CLEMENT II,
1046-1047
Birth of Hildebrand (Pope Gregory VII)
1048
DAMASUS II,
-1048
Death of Emma, Queen Mother
1052
ST. LEO IX,
Normans raid southern Italy
1053
1049-1054
HENRY IV,
Normans enter England
Border wars with Welsh
1054
1055
VICTOR II,
1056-1106
1055-1057
STEPHEN X,
1057-1058
NICHOLAS II,
1059-1061
Death of Edward the Confessor
1066
ALEXANDER II,
Battle of Hastings
1066
1061-1073
Abbey of Cluny completed
ST. GREGORY VII,
Stephen founds the Grandmontines
1076
1073-1085
RUDOLF OF
SWABIA,
1077 (Rival)
Birth of Abelard
1079
HERMAN OF
LUXEMBURG,
1 08 1 (Rival)
Bruno of Cologne founds Carthusians
1084
Toledo freed of Jew and Moslem
Death of William the Conqueror
1085
1087
VICTOR III,
1086-1087
Birth of Bernard of Clairvaux
1091
URBAN II,
The Truce of God
1095
1088-1099
CONRAD OF
Robert founds Order of Frontevault
1095
FRANCONIA,
The First Crusade
1095
(Rival)
Robert of Molesme founds Cistercians
1098
1093
Jerusalem recovered from Turks
1099
PASCHAL II, 1099
SAINT EDWARD AND THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
A Parable Verified
The story of what God did for His Church in this century
can be told in the parable of the vineyard.
A vineyard belongs to my friend,
On a hill that is fruitful and sunny;
He digged it, and cleared it of stones
And planted there vines that are choice
And he looked to find grapes that are good,
Alas, it bore grapes that are wild. 1
*
Europe was just such a vineyard "grown over with thorns,
its face covered with nettles, the stone wall thereof broken
down." Nothing could restore the devastation save the
Providence of Him Whom men had actually tried to exclude
from His own world. "And He looked for justice, but behold !
bloodshed ; for righteousness, but behold ! an outcry !" So the
Divine Husbandman once again gave the orders 'Go out
into My Vineyard ! Dig it clear of stones ! Plant vines that
are choice!' " The Holy Roman Empire had quite gone to
ruin when eager laborers appeared on the scene: popes with
their hands to the plow, saints with their mattocks to break
the clods, scholars who enriched the fallow fields of knowledge.
True, there were evil men in high places, the nobles still
battled in old feudal fashion, Europe's plight of political
misery was far from over and done with. For all that, the
faithful laborers continued at their task till the evening.
They dug diligently, uprooted the thorns and briars, strove
to clear the field of stones.^ The result was that in place of
1 Isaias V, 1-2
211
Church History in the Light of the Saints
a field run wild, the vineyard showed sturdy growths, watched
over until they could show forth a glorious harvest for
Christendom,
One of these laborers, Edward the Confessor, accomplished
his Heaven-assigned task in a sadly neglected corner of
Europe. His mother was none other than great-grand-
daughter of Rollo, the Sea- Rover; his father Ethelred the
Unready, the Saxon King of England. Our saint saw the
light of day in 1003 on the soil of the pirate-ridden Island.
He was only a year old when his father engaged in a conflict
with Sweyn, the Northman who rode roughshod over the
land. No part of Europe suffered more widespread devasta-
tion; trees dead, crops ruined, fields untilled; towns, villages,
monasteries reduced to ashes/ Not till 1007 did Sweyn
desist from ravaging every county in England and then only
after he had received thirty-six thousand pounds of silver
Danegelt. Two years later the invaders returned to prey
upon the kingdom; finally the Danish leader, Thurchil, sold
his service to Ethelred for forty-eight thousand pounds. It
is clear that from boyhood up, Edward saw action aplenty;
and strangely enough, Saxon England and Normandy share
the story of his eventful life on earth. They were years
crowded with earth-shaking events, years destined to witness
one of the greatest developments in history.
Every Inch a Prince
'jf
The career of the great Confessor, spent in the midst of
strife, offers amazing proof of God's loving kindness. His
parents were an unnatural pair; Ethelred a hard, bitter
man, both revengeful and capable of the blackest hatred;
Emma of Normandy, a driving woman ever a thorn in her
husband's flesh. One's heart goes out to the young prince
at the thought of such a mother who was just a beautiful
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Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
animal almost devoid of maternal feeling. Both parents
paid dearly for their cruel selfishness; they not only forfeited
the love and respect of their children but their earthly journey
ended in ghastly failure. When Edward was only nine the
King, hard pressed by his foes, sent Emma with her two sons
to Normandy. The Normans were Gauls, short in stature,
strongly built, the curious product of inter-marriage between
Scandinavian sea-kings and Gallic nobles. Quickly the
Saxon lad discovered that his kinsmen could be mean and
quarrelsome, their cold eyes lighting up with a fierce anger
at the prospect of a fight or even of a challenge. At first
they must have been puzzled by Edward, so good, generous,
sentimental; withal very firm, just, fearless! Their Viking
ancestors had battled with earth and air, so had his! Their
forebears ha4 won the faith through brave missionaries, so
had his! And he was able to join with the toughest in their
hawking and swordplay; nay more, he could break a lance
with the bravest* No one could envisage his secret world
any more than they could glimpse his alert brain under the
Norman helmet. None the less they must have admired his
manner and conduct, his refusal to bow to low ideals.
For twenty-five years Edward dwelt an exile among his
kinsmen. All those years he saw Norman power grow apace*
They waged war and built castles without cease, as might
be expected of a race with Viking and Gallo-Roman blood.
Over the channel, however, things were vastly different; this.
Edward knew from his father who in 1014 had fled to Nor-
mandy, hotly pursued by the Danes A^ho laid waste his
kingdom. Ethelred, ever the Unready, returned to fight it
out but ended a calamitous reign two years later. An elder
son Edmund (Ironsides) succeeded, and reigned seven months,
after which Canute established himself easily over the whole
realm. Was Edward surprised when the Dane sent over for
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
his mother in Normandy and promptly married her? Hardly,
for the craft of this woman could devise ways of power that
never entered into the hearts of those about her. Now that
she had cast her lot with pirate Danes, it was certain that
little thought would be given her sons by Ethelred Arthur
and Edward who had a clear right to the English throne.
On the death of Canute the succession was disputed by
Harold, son of Canute, and Hardicanute, the latter a son of
Canute and Emma. Harold took the kingdom north of the
Thames while Hardicanute ruled the south. It looked as if
Edward would remain forever the forgotten heir, even though
in 1042 he returned to England and lived with his mother at
the court of Hardicanute. He was learning much in those
days, however; much that would stand him in good stead.
More still, he trod the hard way of the Cross. . Good soldier
of Christ that he was, Edward, cool-headed and quick of
vision,* waited in patience, bravely facing agonizing circum-
stances. What, for instance, could have been more heart-
breaking than the foul deed done his brother, Arthur? The
young prince, invited by Danish plotters to visit England,
found his soldiers trapped, himself a prisoner; they put out
his eyes and he died as a result of this barbarous treatment.
Emma, his heartless mother, accused of taking part in the
plot, had to fly for her life to Bruges. By the irony of heaven,
Harold ruled but four years, Hardicanute two, the latter
dying in a drinking bout during a marriage festival. Then
victory came for the neglected prince when the citizens of
London unanimously summoned him to the throne of
England.
The Good King
Edward at forty began his illustrious reign. It was,
throughout, the rule of a peace-king who regarded his regal
214
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
post as an almost priestly obligation, imposed by the sacred
rites of consecration and anointment. Day after day he
labored in this land which he found a waste, neither pruned
nor weeded ; in his eyes it was part of God's cherished planta-
tion. If ever a monarch was God's man it was this Saxon
saint who showed true homage to the Most High by ruling
his kingdom in sincerity and justice all his days. Indeed,
it is hardly too much to say that his whole intelligence and
will were committed to the betterment of his native land.
Three powerful chieftains, Godwin, Leofric and Siward held
out, liable at any time to turn against Edward. They did
not succeed, however, for the King had somehow swiftly
won his way into the hearts of the people. Very soon his
rule was seen to be one of severe justice; he drove the plotting
Danish families out of the kingdom, seized the treasures of
the perfidious Emma, the Queen Mother, but mercifully
allowed her to live in Winchester unmolested until she died
in 1052. Many Normans, attracted to England, were honored
with Edward's friendship, but they presently fell out with
native Saxon lords who bitterly resented their presence.
Brawls and local strife ensued, nor did the situation improve
when William, Duke of Normandy, paid his regal cousin a
visit, was well received, and departed laden with rich gifts.
By and large it grew increasingly clear that England was too
small an island to hold Saxon and Norman, any more than
Saxon and Dane. Besides, the ambitions of great families
became a menace to the rule of the justice-loving monarch.
At last Godwin, who^e daughter Editha had become Edward's
wife and Queen, rose in arms with other chiefs against his
King. The genefous sovereign forgave the traitor, restored
him to court, but Sweyn, another plotter, was exiled for
murder and sent on a pilgrimage to Palestine.
- The King himself, grateful for many blessings, planned to
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
make a pilgrim journey to Rome. But the Witan (royal
council) demurred, fearing for his safety and knowing there
was no heir to the throne. Pope Leo IX absolved him from
his vow on condition, first, that the pilgrim moneys be given
to the poor, next that he would build an abbey in honor of
St. Peter. This Edward proceeded to do, setting apart a
tithe of his revenue for the foundation of Westminster Abbey !
In lieu of his own visit he sent bishops to represent the Anglo-
Saxon Church in the Council summoned by Rome, and duti-
fully put into effect the canons condemning simony and the
decree excommunicating Berengarius. These bishops made
it their business to consult the Holy Father in regard to
problems that perplexed the royal conscience ; they revered
their King as a conscientious ruler, aware of his deep re-
sponsibility toward religion and toward the people entrusted
to him. This truly Catholic spirit of kingship shines out in
his championship of learning no less than in his defence of
the downtrodden. Love of letters still persisted in old Eng-
land despite the Danes who had done their worst to destroy
the Saxon cloisters. Amid the ruin on every side, Edward
set ^about restoring long-abandoned monasteries; he also
erected Evesham and Peterborough, famous centers of light.
He gave orders that the person of a schoolmaster should be
regarded as inviolable as that of a cleric. For the poor of his
kingdom he showed deepest concern, staggered by the thought
of the rags and suffering they had to endure. One day when
he saw the pile of gold collected to buy off the Danes he
ordered it to be dispersed among the needy. Never again
would there be any Danegelt which for thirty-eight years
had crushed Anglo-Saxon laborers to earth in their effort to
meet the odious tax. On another occasion certain nobles
mulcted their vassals of large sums which they presented to
Edward as an offering from his loyal subjects. The King
216
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
bluntly refused the proffered gift, for he saw through their
plans, and ordered the money returned to the people who
had been so cruelly pinched to provide it. How could the
English do otherwise than worship a ruler who bravely spent
himself in their behalf, shouldered every burden of state,
and maintained a straight course amid the most difficult
times. Happily the old bloody days began to disappear
like the Danish wave, which, spent in strength, no longer
threatened England's shores.
The Roman Scene
Had the English King been able to visit the Eternal City
he would have met a really great Pope. Leo IX (1049-1054)
the royal-born Bruno, knew his Rome, having entered it as
a simple pilgrim and later as a cavalry commander with the
Franconian Emperor Conrad. Very soon he left no doubt
in the minds of either friend or foe that he intended to rule
the Church justly and fearlessly. With heavy burdens on
his shoulders he faced squarely the challenge of Michael
Cerularius, the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Eastern
Church had drawn farther away from the papacy, and now
its ecclesiastical ruler, following in the footsteps of an earlier
rebel, Phocius, declared all Latin Catholics to be heretics. As
if this were not enough, the quarrelsome Normans raided
southern Italy in 1053, forcing the pontiff to engage them in
battle. When his little army met defeat, the Pope was taken
prisoner. Then came the miraculous turn. The Normans,
impressed with the dignity, courage and holiness of the Vicar
of Christ, threw themselves at his feet and swore to be his
protectors ever after. Leo proved a true White Shepherd of
Christendom who visited his flock in far-off pastures he
travelled the long way to Germany where he met Spaniards,
Bretons, Franks, Irish and English. To Edward he sent
217
Church History in the Light of the Saints
friendly missives, recognizing him for the God-sent ruler he
was ; but for his cousin William he had no such regard, and the
proposed marriage of the wily Norman with Matilda of
Flanders was strictly forbidden. The King of Hungary
sought Leo's counsel, and the King of Scotland, Macbeth,
begged his absolution for the murder of Duncan. Oh yes,
this Pope could have told Edward the Confessor much, if
only they had met vis-a-vis.
An evil half-century had just come to an end when Leo IX
ascended the Chair of Peter, headed for many trials. How
that Chair had been abused, threatened, stained with blood
and infamy ! The resulting situation could have been nothing
but a heartbreak to this great Pope as he reviewed the past
fifty years. All the dreams for a truly Holy Roman Empire
had faded with the death of the Emperor Otto III who was
shortly followed by the Pope. After Sylvester II (d. 1003),
three good but not great men ruled the flock John XVII,
John XVIII and Sergius IV then the return of chaos. A
war-time pontiff, Benedict VIII, gathered a force and de-
feated the Saracens who had landed in Maremma; any
thought of combating worse evils, simony and impurity,
seemed to get nowhere. Rome continued stewing in the
evil broth it had brewed. The same old scandals continued
under Pope John XIX, while his successor, Benedict IX,
committed the most dreadful simony of all time the papal
office was sold! By the providence of God, the next Pope,
Gregory VII, proved to be a pious and good man who had by
his side the Benedictine monk Hildebrand, destined to be
one of the greatest Pontiffs of all time. Just now, however,
the true Pope had his hands full you see the sad spectacle
of three contestants for the See of Rome, each guarded by his
soldiery, and so panicky was the city, overrun by hoodlums
and gangsters, that the German Emperor, Henry III, had
218
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
to come south to restore order. The Teuton spears could
not quell the riots until one Pope was summoned to answer
for his crimes and promptly deposed, while Gregory VII had
to be whisked away to Germany. Grim and terrific were
those days; the Italian plotters still employed their poison-
in- the-cup methods. And no sooner had Clement II, a
German bishop, begun to rule behind the shields of yellow-
haired northern warriors than he met a dreadful death; it
was no secret that the hostile faction had poisoned the pontiff.
His successor, Damasus II, did not live the year out. . . .
All this Leo IX could undoubtedly have told the English
King, for he was the one who had succeeded the short-lived
Damasus.
Rule of Edward
By this time the Normans had made themselves felt on the
continent, but England was far away as ever from their
greedy hands. Edward continued to govern his people with
a loving kindness in return for which they would gladly have
died to serve him. Indeed this the Normans knew
they were ready to rise as a united nation at a word from the
throne. Only one war did the peace-loving monarch wage
in his long reign of twenty-four years. That was in 1039
when Duncan, King of Scotland, had been foully murdered
by Macbeth, and his son, Malcolm, came straight to Edward
as a fugitive. The just King sent an army to vindicate
Malcolm's right, Macbeth was routed in Aberdeenshire, and
the crown placed on the head of the rightful heir. True,
there was the Welsh affair in 1055, when those quarrelsome
bordermen interfered in a civil war, and Edward had to send
Harold to drive out the plunderers. Yet when English
soldiers overran Wales and the natives cried out for mercy,
the King generously granted an armistice. Used to facing
219
Church History in the Light of the Saints
unsurmoimtable obstacles, equipped only with the shield of
truth and the breastplate of justice, he continued to rule,
without fear and without reproach. This was not so simple
in an England where the cry of the rebel, the plots of his own
court, the treachery of toadlike satellites, surrounded him.
By the grace of God, however, Edward met them, one and
all, as he moved unafraid amidst his people, advancing ever
onward and upward. And as the years went by, it was seen
how miraculously he had cleared England of much that was
bitter and cruel, shameful and abominable. Most significant
of all, the laws he enacted were just very just for that
day, and no foreigner succeeded in interfering or hindering
him from working for the salvation of his people. The
Danes no longer rummaged through the land like rag-pickers,
bent on gathering into their dirty sacks the treasure and
booty of a kingdom. And though the Normans had grown
stronger, building themselves many castles in England, the
generous King still tolerated them. Admittedly there were
among these kinsmen many men of learning and zeal, who
more than made up for the gallant vagabonds answering the
call to reckless adventure.
As Edward's life drew near to a close, those Normans from
overseas grew daily in power. The treacheries of Godwin,
on the other hand, brought down the world about his ears;
he was outlawed with his five sons, and his daughter, Queen
Edith, found herself driven from court. "Then," said the
chronicler, "put away the king the lady who had been conse-
crated his queen, and caused to be taken from her all which
she possessed, in land, and in gold, and in silver, and in all
things, and delivered her to his sister at Wherwall." 2 The
Bishop of London had to be expelled and Edward's Norman
chaplain, William, given % his place; the Norman bishop,
Rudolf, received the abbey of Abingdon. Thus the new-
2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
220
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
comers continued to reap rich favors, while disgruntled
Saxon nobles hinted that Duke William had been promised
the succession. Albeit the King held the reins, put down
opposition through his great earls, Harold and Si ward, and
merited more and more the high regard of his people. At this
time, says William of Malmesbury, "Edward was becoming
of stature, his beard and hair milk-white, his countenance
florid, fair throughout his whole person, and also his form of
admirable proportion. He was a man by choice devoted to
God, and lived the life of an angel in the administration of his
kingdom. To the poor and to the stranger more especially
foreigners, and men of religious orders, he was kind in invita-
tion, munificent in presents, and constantly inciting the
monks of his own country to imitate their holiness.*' In
1066 at Christmas the beloved King held his court at West-
minster, and on Holy Innocents' Day caused the great cathe-
dral to be consecrated, little dreaming that very soon it
would be his final resting place. The story is told that as
Edward lay dying he suddenly revived and exclaimed, "Al-
mighty God, if it be not an illusion but a true vision which
I have beheld, grant me strength to tell it to those who are
by. I saw just now standing by me two monks whom I had
seen in Normandy in my youth, and knew to have lived most
religiously and died most Christianly. These men assured
me that they were sent to me with a message from God and
proceeded as follows: Forasmuch as the princes, dukes,
bishops and abbots of England are not the servants of God
but of the devil, therefore God will within a year and a day
deliver this kingdom into the hand of the enemy; and this
land shall be wholly overrun with demons !"
The Norman Invasion
Directly the great King had passed the portal of a fuller
life, the report went forth that he had appointed Harold,
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
son of Earl Godwin, as his successor. But no sooner was
Harold proclaimed ruler than he found himself in the thick
of civil war and the threat of peril from abroad. The Duke
of Normandy claimed that the new King had sworn that he,
William, should succeed Edward, which Harold hotly denied
saying that the oath had been extorted by force. One day
in October, 1066, word came that the overseas claimant was
landing with sixty thousand men on the Sussex coast. The
Norman doubtless would stop at nothing to attain his ends,
and the Saxon was equally determined to resist him to the
death. Their two armies met at Senlac, nine miles from
Hastings where the Saxons prepared for the onslaught of the
Norman cavalry. When the clash came, the ancient battle-
axe of the Islanders made itself felt in the deadly infighting;
and though the bloody engagement continued all day long,
the smaller army held its own until Harold, shot through
the eye, had to be carried from the field. With the King
out of the way, his brothers dead, and all the Saxon nobles
slain, the Normans charged irresistibly. At the rise of the
moon a thin bloody remnant of the Saxon army fled through
the woods, pursued by the invaders many of whom lost
their lives in the swamps and ditches. That the Normans
paid dearly for England is evident from the fact that one-
fourth of their numbers fell on the field of Hastings. So
cruel was the Conqueror that he ordered the body of King
Harold to be buried on the beach, adding with a sneer: "He
guarded the coast while he was alive, let him continue to
guard it after death." With William seated on the throne
it looked as if Edward the Confessor's vision was not so
illusory, after all. The Conqueror became the Universal
Landlord of England, a hard taskmaster who confiscated
Saxon lands which he gave over to his Norman followers.
Listen to the lament of the Saxon monk of St. Albans: "The
222
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
lords of England, who since Brutus' days had never known
the yoke of slavery, were now scorned, derided, and trodden
under foot; they were compelled to shave their beards and
clip their flowing locks in the Norman fashion : casting aside
their horns and wonted drinking-vessels, their feasts and
carousals, they were compelled to submit to new laws. Where-
fore many of the English nobles refused the yoke of slavery
and fled with all their households to live by plunder in the
woods, so that scarce any man could go safely abroad in his
own neighbourhood ; the houses of all peaceful folk were armed
like a besieged city with bows and arrows, bills and axes,
clubs and daggers and iron forks; the doors were barred
with locks and bolts. The master of the house would say
prayers as if on a tempest- tost bark; as doors or windows
were closed, men said Benedicite, and Dominus echoed rever-
ently in response ; a custom which lasted down into our own
days (probably about 1150 A.D,)." The old Anglo-Saxon
law, none the less, stood its ground, and was amended or
added to as time went on. But no papal legate was allowed
to enter England except with William's express permission;
even the bishops were forbidden to open letters from Rome
until they had passed through the Norman monarch's hands.
Labors of the Church
England was, of course, a far-off corner of the European
vineyard. But elsewhere the Church had to meet equally
difficult opposition. The one power that could unify Chris-
tendom was the papacy; the task of the papacy was to curb
the widespread lust, avarice and injustice, and to diminish
the ill-gotten power of secular rulers over things spiritual.
If, for example, there was to be freedom in papal elections,
the Emperor and the Roman factions must keep their hands
off. Pope Nicholas II (1059-1061) went right to work on
223
Church History in the Light of the Saints
this all-important issue. By a decree of a Roman synod in
1059 the choice of a Pope was placed in the hands of the
College of Cardinals, cardinal-bishops being empowered to
take the initiative. The synod further ruled that the Church
no longer acknowledged the immense influence wielded by
the German Emperor; a most potent weapon was swept
from his hands. Old complications persisted, however, due
to the schemes of ambitious rulers who made bishops into-
counts or dukes of their diocese, then used them as catspaws-
in royal intrigues. Still worse, many venal churchmen,
belying their high calling, betrayed their Holy Mother by
joining sides in private wars. These wars, which had flared
up endlessly under the feudal system, were now vigorously
opposed, the Church denying their very principle, and enjoin-
ing on all war-makers "the Truce of God" a cessation of
armed conflict from sunset of Wednesday until Monday
to commemorate the days of Christ's arrest, trial, crucifixion
and victory over death !
On the death of Pope Nicholas II, the College of Cardinals
elected Alexander II, thus challenging the opposition of the
Italian and the imperial parties. Acts such as bribing officials
and intimidating honest men continued as of yore. To live
in a city of plotters and poisoners was not easy, yet Alexander
carried on for twelve years, battling against powerful prelates
guilty of simony, and courageously withstanding high-born
schemers. It was well for him that he had two great church-
men, Hildebrand and Peter Damian, close at hand. They
initiated many reforms in the face of foes who would gladly
have wiped them off the face of the earth. When the young,
uncurbed Emperor, Henry IV, showed signs of evil life
Alexander promptly reproved him and refused even to con-
sider his request for a divorce. Henry, as we shall see, was
to be the chronic worry of the papacy, while year after year
224
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
ill-luck and failure dogged his path. The affair of the Milan
archbishopric precipitated the most bitter of all conflicts.
Who was the lawful incumbent? The Emperor angrily con-
tended for his man, the allies of the papacy proved adamant
for another. It was clear that unless the situation was
justly handled there could be little hope for order and peace.
So Hildebrand journeyed to Milan as papal legate and laid
down the law at a time when Germany was still divided.
Henry was now in serious straits, Saxon nobles having threat-
ened his liberty, if not his life. The fact is, the German
Emperor could never be trusted, and his backers were just
as bad. One of the last acts of the dying pontiff was to
hurl the ban of the Church against these perfidious coun-
cillors. On April 21, 1073, Alexander, weary unto death
after a whole decade of endless strife, went to his reward.
Who was to be the next Pope?
The Pope of the Century
Hildebrand, returning from the funeral of Alexander, was
horrified to hear the cries of the Roman populace, "Let
Hildebrand be Pope ! Blessed Peter hath chosen Hildebrand ! f '
A year, passed before the most self-effacing man of that age
was ordained and consecrated Bishop of Rome, taking the
name of Gregory VII. He did not deem himself worthy of
the priesthood, this little bow-legged man, son of a carpenter,
who spoke with a stammer, yet possessed almost unbelievable
dynamic energy. No man in that day exercised so vital an
influence on the development of religion and the achievement
of law and order. Nothing daunted, the sagacious Pope sent
word to the Emperor regarding his election, warning him to
clean his house, for the German court was infamous for its
simony and moral disorder. Two years later, Gregory could
write to his friend, Hugh, Abbot of Cluny: "Wherever I
225
Church History in the Light of the Saints
turn my eyes to the west, or to the north, or to the south
I find everywhere Bishops who have obtained their office
in an irregular way, whose lives and conversations are strange-
ly at variance with their sacred calling; and who go through
their duties not for the love of Christ but for motives of
worldly gain. . . ." Characteristically the great reformer
took action without delay " Whoever in the future," he
declared before the Roman Synod, "receives a bishopric or
an abbacy from the hands of a layman, shall not be regarded
as a bishop or an abbot. Similarly if an .Emperor, a duke,
a marquis, or a count dares to confer an investiture in connec-
tion with a bishopric or any other ecclesiastical office, he
shall be cut off from the communion of Blessed Peter/'
The Pope, ever insistent on obedience to the Holy See,
fought for truth and justice. For twelve long years he strove
to preserve the security of the Church, seeing that the super-
natural character of Christendom was at stake. As might
be expected, Henry IV whose ego was far from deflated,
resisted him to the hilt; he summoned his episcopal puppets
who went into a diet at Worms. There they proceeded to
"depose" Gregory while Henry sent him the following mes-
sage: "Henry, King, not by usurpation but by the will of
God, to Hildebrand who is no longer pope but a false monk.
Having been condemned by the sentence of our bishops and
by our sentence, vacate the place which you have usurped."
At the Lateran, Gregory calmly read the outrageous letter,
then made reply, "I deprive Henry the King, son of Henry
the Emperor, of all authority in the Kingdom of the Teutons
and in Italy. I release all Christians from their oaths of
fidelity sworn to him or that they shall swear to him. ... I
bind him with the chain of anathema. ..." The result was
amazing, terrific ! No armed forces could have accomplished
what the papal excommunication achieved. Many of the
226
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
imperial vassals, disgusted with Henry's vile plots and evil
life, turned against him, and the once all-powerful ruler found
himself bound for the unknown, without friends or allies.
When he learned that his own nobles had invited Gregory to
come to Augsburg to sit in judgment upon their King, that
was the last stroke. All his pleas were in vain ; they declared
that he must forfeit the throne unless he obtained the Pope's
absolution within a year and a day. Then an extraordinary
thing happened. The proud Henry, rather than meet the
Pope as an ally of his own princes, decided to leave Germany,
go to Italy and throw himself at the feet of the Pope. As a
penitent pilgrim he made his way to Canossa, Matilda's
great domain in Tuscany, where Gregory was a guest. The
migrant Emperor stood barefooted in the snow, weeping and
pleading before the rigidly closed gates of the fortress. Was
he only pretending a reconciliation, shedding crocodile tears
because he was so thoroughly beaten? Time will tell. Any-
how, after three days, Gregory, moved with mercy, admitted
him into the castle, and absolved him on condition that he
appease those princes who had justly accused him of his
crimes !
The cause of the Church had been won, but only for a
little while. Henry's repentance proved short-lived ; presently
he was annulling elections and investing whomsoever he
pleased. And as his evil life kept pace with his perfidy, the
princes rebelled and raised Rudolf of Swabia to the kingship.
Henry's woes piled up when the decree against investiture
was renewed in 1080 and Pope Gregory again excommuni-
cated him "for raising his heel against the Church and striving
to subjugate it." Henry got together a group of anti-papal
German bishops who met in Synod at Brixton, formally
"deposed" Gregory and went so far as to appoint as his
successor Clement III. Then the diehard, in a sudden burst
227
Church History in the Light of the Saints
of power, led his army down to Rome to install the anti-Pope
"made in Germany/' The papacy was again in imminent
peril, what with Rudolf of Swabia slain in battle, Robert
Guiseard too late on the scene, and that other powerful
Norman, William the Conqueror, an uninterested looker-on.
For three years Henry tried in vain to enter Rome, while
the Pope took shelter in the Castle of St. Angelo. Not until
he was betrayed by the Roman nobles, and abandoned by
the retreating Normans, did Gregory fly to Salerno. Once
in command of the city, Henry, mad with his moment of
victory, proclaimed Clement III Pope and then, on Easter,
1084, received the imperial crown from his candidate. The
heroic and incorruptible Gregory died soon after this; his
last words were: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity,
therefore I die in exile/' It looked as if the victory of the
temporal power had all but nullified his life work. But no.
Not at all! For he had taught the aggressive Emperor a
lesson never to be forgotten; also, Canossa broke the re-
bellious spirit of the bishops. Even though Henry outlived
the century, he reaped the reward of a gnarled, misspent
life. Driven from his throne, the "lone wolf" tried to stage
a come-back but died in the endeavor. Twice they dug up
his body by the order of the Church and it was fully five years
before the curse of Rome was removed from his ashes.
Wings of Dawn
Dark days indeed, yet all this time there was steady growth
in knowledge and holiness. Indeed, the eleventh century
was an era of reform and church purification. Hope went
hand in hand with zeal to bring about changes nothing short
of dramatic. The Schoolmen Lanfranc in Normandy,
Anselm in England applied reason to systematize and
vindicate theology "faith seeking for knowledge; and
228
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
philosophy rapidly became the handmaid of religion." Far
more important was the spirit of reform such as animated
Edward the Confessor, Leo VIII and Gregory IX. In Eng-
land, for instance, Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, with-
stood to the face William II who tried to seize the revenues
of the Church, whereupon the King ordered that he be tried
for treason. But the English bishops refused to depose their
primate; and the undaunted Anselm challenged the nobles
of the land: "If any man pretend that I have violated the
faith which I have sworn to the king, because I will not reject
the authority of the Bishop of Rome, let him come forward
and he will find me ready to answer him as I ought. . . ."
Such was the spirit that began to renew the face of Europe.
And as the charity of many waxed warm, all sorts and condi-
tions of men sought true life in old monasteries while new
orders were founded by great saints. An incident in the
old chronicle pictures this great quickening and the conse-
quent change for the better.
A certain Knight named Waleman, desiring to become a monk,
rode to the abbey of Hemmenrode on his war-horse, and in full
armour; in full armour he rode into the cloister, and (as I have been
told by our older monks who were present) the porter led him down
the middle of the choir, under the eyes of the whole community,
who marvelled at this new form of conversion. The Knight then
offered himself upon the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and, putting off
his armour, took the habit of religion in that same monastery, think-
ing it fit to lay down his earthly knighthood in the very spot where
he purposed to become a Knight of the Holy Ghost. Here, when
the days of his novitiate were past, he chose in his humility to
become a lay-brother; and here he still lives, a good^and religious
man. 3
8 Caes. Heist, I, 45
229
Church History in the Light of the Saints
John Gualberto was obviously that sort of knight. On
Good Friday in 1030 he tracked his brother's slayer into a
church and was on the point of despatching him when, look-
ing up to the great crucifix, his eyes were held by the living
eyes of Christ. The dagger dropped from his trembling hand
as he fled in panic down the aisle, aware of how close he had
come to murder. Eight years later John, the penitent,
founded the Order of Vallarnbrosia whose monks aspired to
the most severe life and did much to make up for the prevail-
ing monastic laxity.
The magnificent reforms of Cluny, remember, gained
ground rapidly in the most out-of-the-way places. New
bonds of union were forged by the "Customs of Cluny,"
observed in hundreds of old Benedictine monasteries, now
returned to the spirit of their sainted founder. There were
congregations of houses under a central abbot, and a system
of visitation under the Abbot of Cluny which looked to the
strict observance of the old rule. Step by step with these
developments, the Camaldolese monks (founded by St.
Romuald in 1012) extended their holy hermit activities far
and wide. In 1084 Bruno, a high-born scholar, casting
wealth and power to the winds, founded the Carthusians in
the wilderness near Grenoble. His monks lived as hermits,
and "La Chartreuse" became a great spiritual center. Robert
of Molesme, born 1027, built an abbey in Molesme, but
when his monks grew lax, the brave leader left them, and
erected a reformed monastery in Burgundy, which was called
Cfteaux. His Cistercians, the greatest of whom was Bernard,
loomed large as they followed the rule of St. Benedict in all
its austerity. Another Robert, de Forlande, became a
Benedictine; established a reform in 1043 and built the
monastery of Chaise-Dieu which presently counted two
hundred other monasteries in its congregation. These brave
230
Saint Edward and the Eleventh Century
monks bore the heat and burden of the day, laboring silently
in the most abandoned wastelands of the Vineyard. Nor
may we omit the name of Peter Damian, so staunch and far-
seeing, who by the side of Hildebrand initiated and promoted
the most vital developments. Both men backed Popes In
their efforts to put an end to simony and the immorality of
the clergy. They brought Canon Law to bear on the culprits
and sought to purify the Church of the blackest stains. They
worked as one for the advancement of papal authority, Peter
as Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, Hildebrand as the humble monk
who had contacts in all Europe. The three Popes that
followed Gregory VII Victor III, Urban II, and Paschal II
witnessed the beautiful flowering of monastic life. At
the century-end the Church could further rejoice when brave
knights of the First Crusade recovered Jerusalem from the
Turks.
231
Saint Bernard or Clairvaiix
FATHER OF WESTERN MYSTICISM
SAINT BERNARD AND THE TWELFTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
Bernard at school in Chatillon-sur-Seine noo
PASCHAL II,
Birth of Arnold of Brescia noo
1099-1118
HENRY IV,
1106
HENRY V f
Bernard enters Abbey of Citeaux 1113
1106-1125
Bernard founds Clairvaux 1 1 1 6
Cistercian reform under Bernard 1116
GELASIUS II,
Pomeranians converted by Otto 1120
1118-1119
Ninth General Council 1123
CALLISTUS II,
1119-1124
LOTH AIR II,
Quarrel over investitures 1130
HONORIUS II,
1125-1138
1124-1130
Bernard preaches in Burgundy 1134
INNOCENT II,
Bernard peacemaker for the Pope 1137
1130-1143
CONRAD III,
Conrad the Hohenstaufen vs. the Papacy 1138
1138-1152
St. Malachy visits Bernard 1139
Tenth General Council 1139
Death of Peter Abelard 1142
CELESTINE II,
Arnold of Brescia appears in Rome 1143
1143-1144
Lucius II,
Building of Chartres Cathedral 1144
1144-1145
Bernard preaches Second Crusade 1145
BL. EUGENE III,
Second Crusade 1 1 47-1 1 49
1145-1153
Malachy dies in arms of Bernard 1148
Guelph vs. Ghibelline in Germany 1150
FREDERICK
Bernard dies at Clairvaux 1153
ANASTASIUS IV,
BARBARQSSA,
Frederick quells Lombards 1154
II53-HS4
1152-1190
ADRIAN IV (English
Arnold of Brescia executed 1155
Pope), 1154-1159
Pope Adrian lays Rome under interdict
Death of Peter the Lombard
ALEXANDER III,
1159-1181
Frederick's forces stricken in Italy 1167
Birth of St. Dominic 1170
Martyrdom of St. Thomas a" Becket 1170
Saladin rules Egypt 1171
Frederick again invades Italy 1176
Eleventh General Council 1179
Hildegarde, Prophetess of the Rhine 1179
Lucius III,
Birth of St. Francis of Assisi 1182
1181-1185
URBAN III,
1185-1187
Jerusalem captured by Saladin 1187
GREGORY VIII,
1187
Third Crusade under way 1189
CLEMENT III,
HENRY VI,
Death of Batbarossa 1190
1187-1191
1190-1197
Richard I returns to England 1192
CELESTINE III,
Birth of Albert the Great 1 193
1191-1198
PHILIP, 1197
OTTO IV, 1197
(Rivals)
INNOCENT,
Unrest and violence at century end 1199
1198-1216
SAINT BERNARD AND THE TWELFTH CENTURY
Way of the Cross
Europe had donned the armor of faith and entered the
spirit of the Crusades. The dawn of this century saw Chris-
tians in possession of the Holy Places after decisively defeat-
ing the Turks. It also glimpsed a boy at school, named
Bernard, whose sixty-three years of giant activity would
exercise lasting influence on Church and Empire. This
amazing character, destined to be immortalized in history,
came of an extraordinary family. His father, Tecelin, was
a powerful vassal of the Duke of Burgundy; his mother,
Elizabeth, a love-happy person, farseeing and affectionate.
At the age of nine the Burgundian lad was sent to school at
Chatillon-sur-Seine where, among the sons of the upper
classes, he studied language and literature, poetry and the
Sacred Scriptures. The tumult and the shouting of the First
Crusade scarce abated, these boys of the Middle Ages showed
themselves as familiar with visor, sword and shining armor
as our modern youth with bats, balls and boxing-gloves.
Many a story they told of Christians waylaid and enslaved
by the Moslem, whose crescent ever threatened the true
Cross. Older pupils could remember hearing about Peter
the Hermit who, at the call of Pope Urban, went through
north Italy and France, rousing the soldiers of the Cross to go
forth and take the Holy Places from the Turks. "God wills
it!" was the fiery monk's battle cry. War there must be, he
proclaimed, yes, war to the hilt, -else the infidel would con-
tinue to torture pilgrims and desecrate the Holy Places. With
despatch the first Crusaders had done their work; they then
235
Church History in the Light of the Saints
founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem, many remaining to plant
the good seed in Syria and Palestine.
Deep in Bernard's schoolboy heart flamed the spirit of
Holy War. Did his companions dream that Tecelin's son
would one day consecrate himself to the cause of God? The
very year he entered school, the summer of 1099, the play-
ground fairly rang with the joyous news of the capture of
Jerusalem. And how his young soul must have yearned to
put on shining armor and join the soldiers of the Cross. All
the more, when he heard stories about Constantinople, Nice,
and Antioch, which burned into his brain. Add to that, the
letters he read, such as this one of Peter of Blois to his wife :
You maybe sure, dearest, that my messenger leaves me before
Antioch safe and unharmed, through God's grace. We have been
advancing continuously for twenty-three weeks toward the home
of Our Lord Jesus. You may know for certain, my beloved, that
I have now twice as much of gold and silver and of many other
kinds of riches as when I left Nicea. We fought; a great battle
with the perfidious Turks, and by God's aid, conquered them.
Thence, continuously pursuing the wicked Turks, we drove them
as far as the great river Euphrates.
The bolder of them hastened by forced marches, night and day,
in order to be able to enter the royal city of Antioch before our
approach. The whole army of God, learning of this, gave due
praise and thanks to the omnipotent Lord. Hastening with great
joy to Antioch, we besieged it, and very often had many conflicts
with the Turks, and seven times with the citizens of Antioch, and
with the innumerable troops coming to its aid. In all these seven
battles, by the aid of the Lord God, we conquered, and most
assuredly killed a vast host of them. Many of our brethren and
followers were killed also, and their souls were borne to the joys
of Paradise.
When the emir of Antioch that is, its prince and lord per-
ceived that he was hard pressed by us, he sent his son to the prince
236
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
who holds Jerusalem, and to the prince of Damascus, and to three
other princes. These five emirs, witR 12,000 picked Turkish horse-
men, suddenly came to aid the inhabitants of Antioch. We,
ignorant of all this, had sent many of our soldiers away to the cities
and fortresses; for there are 165 cities and fortresses throughout
Syria which are in our power. But a little while before they
reduced the city, we attacked them at three leagues 1 distance
with 700 soldiers. God fought for us, His faithful. On that day
we conquered them and killed an innumerable multitude; and we
carried back to the army more than two hundred of their heads,
in order that the people might rejoice on that account . . .
Those "brown wolves'* paid dearly for all the tears and
blood, the hunger, thirst and sudden death they had brought
upon Christian men and women. But when would the eager
youth see service? How soon could he take part in the con-
flict of Christianity against Moslemism?
Trials of a Young Knight
At nineteen Bernard left school and returned to his father's
castle near Dijon. Ten years had brought many changes in
the outstandingly brilliant student. He was grown up now,
exceedingly attractive, vigorously and joyously alive. A
violent temptation of impurity assailed the handsome youth
but he escaped sin by fighting the evil foe to a finish and
gaining a most important victory over self. Alert to subdue
his lower nature, Bernard already showed a measure of the
heroic stuff of which he was made. The next great trial
that befell him was the loss of his wonderful mother, a terrible
shock to all the family, especially to Bernard who loved her
with a deep, abiding love. Her going seemed to rob him of
all joy, happiness, almost of life itself. He was twenty now
and living in an atmosphere of war when he received the call
of Heaven to be a soldier of Jesus Christ. It happened one
237
Church History in the Light of the Saints
day while he was on his way to visit his brothers, who were
in the battle area on the side of the Duke of Burgundy. As
he rode along deep in thought the world with its lust for war,
pride of place and perpetual unrest seemed to pass before
him as a vain show, and suddenly a voice sounded in the
chaces of his heart, "Come to Me all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will refresh you; take My yoke upon you,
and you shall find rest to your souls." The living words of
Christ struck home and a heavenly longing took possession
of Bernard, thrilled as never before, even to the very marrow
of his bones. He drew up and dismounted before the door of
the next church on the road: all a-tremble, he entered and,
prostrate before the altar, prayed as never before, raising
his tear-dimmed eyes to heaven, and pouring his heart like
T?yater before the face of the Lord. His answer came when
a deep calm fell on his soul, while the breath of God renewed
his very being. Afire with love, he consecrated his existence
to God, joyfully accepting the yoke of Him Who is meek
and humble of heart.
The decision Bernard made that day, a heroic choice,
altered his whole life. He resolved to bury his virgin sword,
give up the career of knighthood, and become a monk. How-
ever, that was far from easy in view of the strenuous opposi-
tion of his old father, his battle-tried brothers and his lovely
little sister, Humbeline, so dear to his heart. All of them
used every ruse they could think of, every argument in their
quivers to dissuade him from taking such a step. The out-
look was decidedly difficult, but an uncle who was both
soldier and nobleman stood by' Bernard through thick and
thin despite the family protests. After a time he won the
good will of his younger brothers, Andrew and Bartholomew,
together with the older, Guido. But Gerard proved so bitter
that Bernard paid him a visit in camp where he was com-
238
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
manding troops about to besiege Grancey. The reception
his favorite brother accorded Bernard was far from fraternal,
even friendly: there was scorn, abuse, contempt as the flame
of his anger mounted higher. "I know," said Bernard laying
his hand on the shoulder of the swashbuckling Gerard, "yes,
I well know, that nothing but adversity will open thy mind
to the truth. Well, the day will come when this spot which
I touch will be pierced by a lance, which will thus open a
way for the entrance of these words into thy heart, from
which thou now turnest away in disdain. . . ." A few days
later, during the siege, Gerard was seriously wounded by an
arrow in the very spot his brother had touched. For days
the doughty young knight hung between life and death, so
cruel was the wound, so fierce the fever. There was little
hope until after the arrival *of a messenger sent by the grief-
stricken Bernard. "Thy wound," the missive read, "is not
unto death, but unto life." And so it came to pass; years
later Gerard himself entered religion. All this hectic time,
remember, Bernard, a good soldier of Jesus Christ, could
only watch, pray and fight in his innermost heart against the
world, the flesh and the devil.
The Young Monk '
1113 stands out as a great date in the history of the century.
In that year, Bernard with thirty young men knocked at the
gates of Citeaux, begging for admission into the ranks of the
white monks. It was the bravest, highest adventure they
ever attempted, for the Cistercian rule required not only
physical courage but the strong thews of the spirit. "Our
food is meagre," writes one abbot, "our clothing of the rougher
sort. Our drink is from the running brook, our sleep is often
upon our book. And stretched under our wearied limbs is
a mat that is anything but soft. . . . When the bell sounds,
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
even though sleep were far sweeter, we must rise. There is
no place for self will, no time for ease or dissipation." The
whole life of these men of God pivoted on a burning love for
Our Lord, a single aim to "put on" Christ, and a desire to
follow Him through life's desert. These things Bernard dis-
played from the start, and so great was his spiritual progress
that after three years his superiors decided to send the young
monk out on a campaign for God. The year 1115 saw him
at work in the gorges and rocky cliffs of Vallee d* Absinthe
(the wild Valley of Bitterness), building the monastery of
Clairvaux. His monks served under a most severe-soldier
discipline, the silence of the place broken only by the chant-
ing of the divine office or the sounds of their labor. "To judge
from their outward appearance," said Peter of Roya, "their
looks, their poor clothes, they appear a race of fools without
speech or sense." Maybe, but they were fools for the sake
of Christ, and it was not long before the sound of their works
was heard through Europe. Henry, the son of Louis IV,
on visiting the monastery fell under the holy influence of
Bernard and declared his intention to become a white monk.
His henchman, Andrea of Paris, left Clairvaux cursing and
swearing at the folly of the prince, but before dawn he re-
turned to follow in the footsteps of his liege lord. Such was
the energy, eloquence and example, in short the supernatural
pow^r of the Abbot of Clairvaux "that mothers hid their
sons, wives their husbands, companions their friends, lest
they should be led away captive."
A visitor to Clairvaux, William of St. Thierry, seeking out
the amazing monk, found him "ill at the time from the excess
of his mortifications, lying in a cell without the enclosure:
like unto a leper's hut at the crossways, and when he in his
turn had welcomed us joyously and we began to ask how he
fared, he smiled upon us with that generous smile of his and
240
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth* Century
said 'most excellently.* " His father, Tecelin, and his knightly
brothers meanwhile had joined the Cistercians, and assisted
him in the work of the great abbey. But his beautiful sister,
Humbeline, the social butterfly in pursuit of life's vanities,
held off stubbornly from the life of religion. Ever since she
had married a brother of the Duchess of Lorjaine, Humbeline
had become a woman of the world. It seemed tragically
ridiculous to her that the family of Tecelin, the great vassal,
should have gone over to God, Bernard in particular, with
all his personal and intellectual charm. One day ^n over-
mastering impulse seized and fairly drove the vain creature
to visit her beloved brother. On arriving at the monastery,
she" ordered the sun-browned lay brother to summon the
Abbot of Clairvaux. Would he see her, she must have asked
herself, or would he keep his cell with that iron cross of his?
The haughty command went unanswered, for Bernard from
behind the ^ cloister door beheld her approach. So disgusted
was he with her display of pride in dress and equipage that
he simply could not make up his mind to greet her. Then it
was that Humbeline, heartbroken, quailed at the very thought
of being repulsed and burst out with: "I know I am a sinner;
but did not Jesus Christ die for such persons as I am? If
my brother depises my body, let not the servant of God
despise my soul. Let him come, let him command, let him
order I will obey him; I will do whatever he desires me."
Suddenly the postern-gate swung wide and her brothers,
headed by Bernard, greeted the repentant worldling. The
abbot took her aside to give her a good talk during which
he lovingly recalled the memories of their mother, and urged
Humbeline to follow her rule of married life. Now, indeed,
was the proud lady shorn of her pride of life, nay more, won
over completely by the grace of God. She returned to her
castle a different woman, ever mindful of her brother's coun-
241
Church History in the Light of the Saints
sels. Later, on the death of her husband, she left the world
to enter a convent where she lived in the odor of sanctity.
Call to Arms
The Abbot of Clairvaux already an acknowledged the-
ologian and a v&se counsellor, was equally famous for his
humility, meekness and kindness. It was said, and truly,
that he feared no man, yet reverenced all men. If the occa-
sion demanded, Bernard was ready to speak to Pope or King
with equal freedom. For example, he forthrightly warned
Pope Eugene III against the danger to the papacy from the
misconduct of any incumbent in that highest office in the
world. Again, he protested to King Louis VII in these sharp
words: "From whom, but from the Devil, can I say that this
policy of yours proceeds? Whatsoever it may please you to
do with your own realm and crown an4 soul, we, as sons of
the Church, cannot hold our peace in face of the insults and
contempt with which our Mother is trodden underfoot."
" Before long the white monk found himself at war with the
false teachers of the age. One of these was Peter Abelard,
a Breton, easily the most brilliant theological teacher of the
twelfth century, though vanity, ill-temper and reckless lan-
guage marred his genius. As early as 1115 while Bernard
prayed at Ctteaux, Abelard's school in Paris had become
famous, attended by thousands of pupils. His career was
lust-spoilt by unfortunate conduct with Heloise, a young
girl for whom he had a passionate attachment. The affair
over, Abelard went into a desert place near Nogent only to
be followed by hundreds of eager students who sat at his
feet. He taught them that all truths should be challenged,
that a thing could be true in theology and false in philosophy,
that one could believe a thing, proved untrue. iSuch bold
theories, together with a brazen flouting of authority, got
242
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
him into trouble with the austere heroic abbots of that day.
Bernard, whose piety was shocked, attacked the adventurous
thinker and a duel ensued which made plain two conflicting
currents of thought the new rationalism vs. traditional
authority. In a letter to Pope Innocent II the white monk
declared: "Peter Abelard is trying to make void the merit
of Christian faith, when he deems himself able by human
reason to comprehend God altogether. . . . The man is great
in his own eyes." At the Council of Sens in 1140 the Abbot
of Clairvaux confronted Abelard who was charged with
heresy. And when the erratic teacher appealed to the Pope
the sentence was sustained in Rome; after that he turned
to Cluny where his last days were spent with Peter the Vener-
able within the walls of the monastery.
Next in the lists came Arnold of Brescia, a priest wjio had
been a pupil of Abelard. This fanatical reformer held out
for gospel simplicity on the part of all the clergy, proclaiming
that all properties must be returned to the State. His gospel
words appealed to some, but the bitterness of his attacks
alienated others, nobles and prelates in particular. The
fact that Arnold practiced the ascetic life covered the more
dangerous fact that he was a crooked thinker. Bernard,
however, saw through him, declaring, "He neither eats nor
drinks, but with the Devil hungers and thirsts after souls/'
That the abbot was right presently appeared when the wild
visionary became a menace to civil authority, and continued
to display a burning hatred of Pope and bishops alike. As
soon as the Lateran Council condemned Arnold, he made
his way from one country to another, finally arriving in Rome
where the Republican forces received the angry exile with
open arms. Their devotion to this brother-traveller was
unbounded, since he so readily espoused their cause against
the papacy. In the contest that followed Pope Lucius II
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
was slain, and Pope Eugenius III had to fly to France and
find protection with the all-powerful Abbot of Clairvaux.
The Second Crusade
These clashes were as naught compared with the task
which the Pope imposed upon Bernard. News of the fall of
Edessa in 1144 had caused consternation in Europe; it meant
that the Holy Places were once more in danger. What price
the glory of Chartres Cathedral, built that same year, or the
success of great monasteries in their zealous reforms, when
the Holy City itself was in peril ? A crusade must be launched,
so Bernard was summoned to rouse Europe. The humble
though powerful Cistercian, most eloquent of preachers, was
overwhelmed with fear when he received his order from the
Holy ee. "Brethren," he could say to his fellow monks,
"it is good for us to be here, but lo! this evil day calleth us
away." To play a leading role in camp and court was indeed
high adventure, yet the enactment of such a role seemed all
but impossible. At fifty-four, weak from austerities, Bernard
seemed only a wraith of a man, but that frail body housed
an indomitable spirit. "Do you shrink," he wrote to a timid
monk, "do you shrink, delicate soldier, from the roughness
and weight of war? Ah, believe me, the enemy's onset and
the thick flying arrows and spears will make the shield very
light in your grasp, and will render you insensible to the
pressure of helmet and breastplate. . . . What cause can you
have to be afraid . . . with the holy angels as allies, and as
Captain, Christ Himself, Who animates His warriors to the
conflict with the words, 'Have confidence, I have overcome
the world/ " Such was the spirit that blazed in the heart of
Bernard as he went from city to city over France and Ger-
many. 'The knights," he declared in trumpet tones, "can
safely fight the infidels, for they are fighting for God. They
244
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
are the ministers of God to inflict His vengeance. For them
to give or receive dearth is not a sin, but a most glorious deed!"
No knight certainly proved himself more capable, more
energetic, more courageous than this white monk who could
denounce or move or inspire as the occasion demanded. On
the feast of St. John, 1146, he addressed the German Emperor
in the Cathedral of Spires; Conrad, moved to tears, declared
that the Lord' Himself had spoken.
In 1147 two armies, the Germans under Conrad III and
the French under Louis VII, embarked on the great crusade.
If the infidels, rampant in Syria, threatened the Holy Sepul-
chre they would have to be rooted out, and without delay.
Eastward then rode faith-incited Knights of the Cross, full
of zeal and hope. Ere long they found the journey heart-
breaking, all the more difficult because of the treachery of
the Greeks and the onslaughts of the Turks.
In Asia Minor the German Emperor suffered the loss of
most of his army, the rest joining up with the French force
at Nicaea. The attack on Damascus resulted in failure, and
their numbers were frightfully reduced. To add to the
tragedy, Christian nobles in Syria opposed, instead of help-
ing, their cause; squabbling war lords did not improve the
situation even though they ennobled themselves by deeds
in the field. And when free scope was given to their petty
rivalries, one misfortune followed another. Then discipline
disappeared, their plans fell through, and they went astray
" where deserts swirled sand, serpents lurked, and the sky
was their only tent." The Saracens, seeing the plight of the
Christian forces, fought the harder, and presently the glorious
adventure became an utter rout. There were many who
remained in the East, took root and labored for the Christian
cause. The French King, Louis, journeyed on to Antloch,
thence to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Places, and after that
245
Church History in the Light of the Saints
made his weary way home from a crusade that had proved
a dismal failure.
Study in Contrasts
Fancy the feelings of Bernard when he learned of the
disasters that had overtaken the armies of the cross. The
white monk's fiery eloquence had sent them forth eager for
victory, but of all the crusades none had ended more dis-
astrously. On the return of the shadowy, downhearted
knights, the spear of scorn, arrows of criticism, were levelled
at the great preacher. In one of the darkest hours of his
life, a man of less courage would have gone down before such
anger and bitter abuse. But not the great Cistercian; he
remained battered but unbowed, he even stood up under a
worse blow black treachery and betrayal by Nicholas, the
secretary whom he had so trusted. Sick at heart, none the
less Bernard could cry out as he had at the death of his
brother, Gerard, "My very bowels are torn away; and it is
said to me 'Do not feel any pain/ But I do feel pain and
this in spite of myself; I have not the insensibility of a stone,
nor is my flesh bronze. . . /' As the heavy years unfolded,
the picture which you see is that of an old monk in his sixties.
Once he had been as much at home in camp with rough
soldiers as with Kings in their throne room. No longer, alas,
for he was feeble, worn, emaciated, on the brink of eternity,
withal the same lovable monk ever so humble, sweet and
gracious. And come what might, he still remained the most
illustrious man of the day, the single-hearted servant of the
Church who had put down heresies, healed schisms, and
shaped the century's destiny. In his brief hour this founder
of Christian mysticism of the Middle Ages opened one hundred
sixty-three monasteries throughout Europe, and shepherded
thousands of souls ; his ardent personality and exalted ideal-
246
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
ism had drawn multitudes into the far-famed Cistercian
ranks. "How many men of letters, how many orators, how
many philosophers," said Ernald of Bonneval, "have deserted
the schools of worldly wisdom and entered the school of
Christ? Which of the sciences is not represented in that
community wherein so many illustrious doctors and men of
cultured minds now occupy themselves exclusively with the
things of God."
Bernard had scarcely left the earthly scene than another
great figure, poles apart from the saint, took the stage. He
was Frederick I (the Italians nicknamed him Red Beard
Barbarossa) who at thirty ascended the German throne in
the full vigor of early manhood. Small and fair-complexioned
but as fiery as his beard, Frederick deemed himself nothing
less than the successor of Charlemagne; so, informing Pope
Eugene III of his appointment by God (not by man), he
proceeded to dominate the whole Empire. In 1 154 he crossed
the Alps and quelled the Lombards; later he was to smash
the power of the Republicans of Rome and cause Arnold of
Brescia to be summarily executed. Red Beard, you see, was
a battler to the knuckles of his iron fist, and when he put the
Lombards in their place he unwittingly did the papacy a
service. The new Pope, Adrian IV, an Englishman, hand-
some, fearless and solidly pious, was not the sort to quail
before any ruler. When he learned of Frederick's approach
Romewards he advanced to meet the ruler at Sutra; as the
Vicar of Christ rode up to the royal tent, the King refused to
hold the stirrup for him to dismount. Adrian held out firmly.
Either this holding of the stirrup or else no kiss of peace!
At last Frederick relented, and was later crowned Emperor
but in a tumult that cost the lives of eight hundred Romans,
The Pope had his fears, however, knowing Red Beard for a
man of fiery aggression and unscrupulous ambition, backed
247
Church History in the Light of the Saints
by a united Germany. Nor was trouble long in coming.
No sooner had Adrian sanctioned the conquests of William
of Sicily than the Emperor took revenge by freezing German
incomes and refusing to assist the Holy See. In the bitter
controversy that ensued the Pope made a secret treaty with
Milan and her allies, while the Emperor turned about and
plotted with the Roman Republicans. The Teuton who
had blindly laid claim to all the powers of Caesar of old,
was saved from excommunication only by the death of
Adrian. Then the trouble began afresh when, in a clutch
for power, he engineered a papal schism; but Alexander III
(1159-1181) succeeded, over the Emperor's hireling, Victor
III, and was acknowledged in Sicily, Milan, and all the greater
countries of the West, save, of course, Germany. All this
time the white monks and Carthusians made it their business
to travel over Europe, tell the world of the Emperor's mis-
guided activities, and warn them against the anti-Popes.
Though Red Beard came down and wiped out Milan, yet his
show of fury availed him little in the eyes of the Church, and
his next anti-Pope Paschal proved an equally flat failure.
Echoes in England
The same old issue between temporal and spiritual powers
was joined in far-off England. Thomas & Becket, trusted
advisor and chancellor of Henry II, had by royal request
become the Archbishop of Canterbury. Loyal to the core of
his soldier-heart, he served the Church as faithfully as he
had served his King, refusing to allow the clergy to be brought
under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. All ministers of
the Church, the primate insisted, should be tried in church
courts according to Canon Law. Again, as in Germany,
there were time-serving bishops who took sides with the
King, but Becket stoutly refused to budge an inch from his
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Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
orthodox position. Thus began a quarrel which grew so
bitter that Becket, aware of the King's violent passions, had
to fly to France. He returned only to find the outlook for
peace decidedly grim. "From whom have you the Arch-
bishopric?" Fitz Urse brazenly asked. "The spirituals/'
Thomas answered, "I have from my God and my lord, the
Pope; the temporals and possessions from my lord, the
King.' 1 That was that and unmistakably clear. "Do
you not then/' persisted the royal emissary, "acknowledge
that you hold the whole from the King?" "No," was the
prelate's bold reply, "we have to render to the King the
things which are the King's, and to God the things that are
God's." There you have the whole issue in a nutshell, but
Becket's brave stand did not at all suit Henry. "Have I no
one," he cried, "no one who will relieve me from the insults
of this turbulent priest?" Fatal words! They were quickly
answered on December 29, 1170, when four knights hastened
to Canterbury and broke into the cathedral chapel. "Where
is the traitor?" they shouted as they drew their swords. No
answer came; but when they cried, "Where is the Arch-
bishop?" Becket replied, "Here I am, an Archbishop, but no
traitor!" For a little, ringed by an evil band, he stood them
off; and when they tried to drag him out of the cathedral,
he stoutly resisted. A sword stroke aimed at his head
wounded him, but he bent his head in prayer. Two more
strokes and they despatched the martyr near by the steps
of his favorite altar.
The brutal murder of Becket in his own cathedral shook
England to its very foundations. Nothing so infamous, so
sacrilegious had happened since the foul days of the Danes.
Not only clerics but laymen openly expressed their indig-
nation; soon the people rose in fury against the King, and
the Pope decided on his punishment. Henry, full of torment
249
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and terror, protested that he had not ordered the fell deed.
He fled to Normandy, perhaps to elude the visit of the dele-
gates from the Pope who had the full story of the slaying from
envoys sent by the King. What they said or what they did
not say, certain it was that Henry must show repentance for
this scandal of Christendom. In two years' time Pope
Alexander had canonized Thomas & Becket, martyr for God
and the Church. Even the King's oath that he was innocent
left England in doubt, while quarrels in the royal family
made matters worse. Henry finally decided on a public act
of penance, and a scene was enacted not unlike that at Canossa
a century earlier. At Southampton, he began the long
journey on horse to the tomb of the martyred Thomas a
Becket. And when he espied the spires of Christ Church in
the distance, he dismounted, put on the garb of a penitent,
and went barefoot along the road, insisting that the monks
scourge him with reeds. He entered the crowded Cathedral,
making his way into the crypt where Becket's tomb had been
erected. The Bishop of London meantime addressed the
people, trying his best to prove the King's innocence. A
little later Henry returned to the crypt, spent the night in
prayer, and after attending Mass, took the road to London.
After all, he had elected the way of penance, the only road
to peace.
Third Crusade
Hard upon the repentance of Henry of England, the belli-
cose German Emperor, was given time for pause. Hungry
for domination, he had marched down to Italy in 1174 to
break the power of the Lombards but he received a severe
setback in the battle of Legnano. By degrees, it would
seem, Frederick was also learning the lesson, that he "who
bites the Pope dies of it." At Venice, the war- weary and
250
Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
battle-scarred schemer fell at Alexander's feet only to be
raised up and receive the kiss of peace. A lull followed during
which Frederick's power suddenly rose to its zenith; but
before he could wield it as was his wont, dire news broke in
the West. Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of Saladin;
the True Cross as well as the Holy Places were said to be in
infidel hands! It was a sad story indeed, from beginning
to end. Saladin, the wily Moslem, had tempted the Cru-
saders into a trap on the heights of Hattin in Galilee. On a
murky July night in 1187 they had to go without water; the
next day their courage was scorched as they choked in their
hot armor, blinded by the scrub-fire started by the enemy.
And though they fought like tigers against sun, fire and
sword, the infidel troops swiftly rode them down, inflicting
utter defeat. No sooner had Europe recovered from the
first shock than it rose up in arms. All dynastic quarrels
were buried for the time being, as eagerly and hopefully they
joined forces to recover the Holy Land. Frederick gathered
a great army, as did the English King, Richard I, and Philip
of France. They moved, unfortunately, as separate divi-
sions, and at different times. The Germans marched over-
land by way of Constantinople ; the French King sailed from
Genoa; the English King from Marseilles.
Alas for Barbarossa and his magnificent army. The
doughty leader, now almost seventy, was drowned while
attempting to swim the river Salef in Cilicia. His Teuton
knights, betrayed by the Greeks, met disaster at the hands
of the Arabs; many straggled back to the homeland, many
more were slain, or sold into slavery. Had Frederick lived
to reach Palestine the story of the Third Crusade might
indeed have been far different. For his was beyond doubt
a hard fighting army, with able leadership and battle-experi-
enced soldiers. In the meantime the French and English
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
forces dilly-dallied on their way and when they finally reached
the Holy Land, old-time rivalries were renewed. There can
be no doubt but that the personal antagonism of these self-
centered Kings did enormous damage to the Christian cause.
They did not co-operate, even after the capture of Acre;
there was delay, suspicion, division, all of which boded no
good. The infidel leader, aware of all this, bided his time
on the Central Range, not daring to march on Jerusalem
until the Jordan Valley, the Maritime Plain and Askalon had
fallen into his hands. He knew very well that Judea, through-
out history, had been a tough nut for any foe to crack. In-
evitably the fate of Palestine was settled when Saladin con-
quered the rest of the land and marched in from Hebron,
Askalon and the north to take over the Holy City. The
only real result of the Third Crusade was the capture of
Cyprus by Richard and of Acre by the combined armies.
For the rest, it was a tragic failure, despite the bravery of
Richard, who fought like a lion, and slew Saracens right and
left. It was clear that the spirit of the early Crusaders had
long since died out. Zeal and united action were things of
the past; little of the old fighting faith persisted.
War Not Peace
As with the Third Crusade in the East, so with the stay-
at-home Christians in the West. The closing decades of the
twelfth century witnessed age-old rivalry, unrest and violence
all over Europe. Error and doubt beset the minds of men,
and fanatiqs stirred religious revolt: the papacy had lost
temporal power, even its spiritual power was at very low
ebb. Frederick Barbarossa's son, the twenty-four-year-old
Henry VI, proved himself as puny and mean as he was daring.
His covetous eyes were upon the Kingdom of Sicily, a rich
prize indeed. Had he not married Constance, daughter of
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Saint Bernard and the Twelfth Century
Roger, King of Sicily, and did not the whole southern penin-
sula belong to him? In his own Germany, however, he soon
ran afoul of a powerful vassal, Henry the Lion, who attempted
to regain his duchy, and not until 1190 could they come to
terms. Henry, a chip of the old red block, was as cruel and
ambitious as his father, Barbarossa, and equally resourceful.
Let the Pope cool his heels at the Rock of Peter for all he
cared ; an Emperor's right was to be master of the world
east, west, even the Holy Land. None the less he had to win
papal approval, so he made south for Italy to secure the
imperial crown at Rome from the hands of the ninety-year
old Pope Celestine III. He aimed to conquer Naples but
when he attempted to subdue the city, the fiery patriots put
up a stout defense and his army was well-nigh wiped out by
the plague. Then he retreated northward, leaving his wife
a hostage in the hands of Tancred, an illegitimate descendant
of the Norman Kings.
The rest of Henry's dealings with iron fortune were marked
with bloodshed and ultimate defeat. It was the age-old
story of lust of power gone berserk in an attempt to rule the
world. No sooner had the Emperor returned to Germany
than he ran into the Guelph insurrection, engineered by
Henry the Lion. At this critical moment he was able to
subdue the insurgents only because Richard was still in
captivity. The English King, an ally of Henry the Lion and
Tancred, had been captured by the Duke of Austria and
handed over to the Emperor in 1193. This act was nothing
if not a wanton outrage, since a crusader was under the pro-
tection of the Church. Even so, the German, ever a law
unto himself, succeeded in his trick which was besides a
grave moral offense. Nor did Richard secure his freedom
until he had recognized Henry's claims, paid the heavy
ransom, arid declared England an imperial fief. Old Lion-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
heart died two years later, in 1195, leaving the Emperor free
to muster a great army with his ransom money, and return
to the conquest of the whole south. This time, however, he
would have to deal, not with a feeble old Pope, like Celestine
III, but with the clever, vigorous Innocent III (1198-1216),
the right man to check his moves and uncover imperial
trickery. His plan was snagged when the Pope objected to
the Emperor's taking over Sicily, of which he was not only
spiritual head but temporal suzerain. And just at the hour
when the would-be lord of the world was about to wreak
vengeance with fire and sword, as he had done with all who
dared thwart the royal will, death decided the issue. At
Messina in August of 1197, he succumbed to the throes of
fever, and that same year Innocent followed him to the grave.
Then the turn came. With Henry's going, the kingdom of
Sicily fell from German hands, while the Patrimony of St.
Peter was no longer boxed up between imperial arms. In-
deed, not only Italy but all Europe must have breathed a
sigh of relief, after having groaned so long under such tyranny.
254
Saint Thomas of Aquino
EUROPE'S GREATEST THINKER
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS AND THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
Irmocent rules Church with firm hand 1200
INNOCENT III,
Mongols threaten Europe 1202
1198-1216
Fourth Crusade 1202
Latins seize Constantinople 1204
Dominic founds Convent of Prouille 1206
OTTO IV,
Crusade against the Albigenses 1208
1208-1212
Francis df Assisi goes forth preaching 1209
FREDERICK II,
Children's Crusade 1212
1212-1250
Birth of Louis IX, King of France 1215
Fourth Council of Lateran 1215
Dominicans spread over Europe 1216
HONORIUS III,
Pope Honorius III crowns Frederick
1216-1227
Emperor 1220
University of Naples established 1224
Establishment of the Inquisition 1225
Frederick excommunicated by Gregory
GREGORY IX,
IX 1227
1227-1241
Birth of Thomas Aquinas 1227
Fifth Crusade 1228
Death of Anthony of Padua 1231
Aquinas at Monte Cassino 1232
Birth of Raymond Lull 1236
Kingdom of Granada founded 1238
Mongol Invasion 1249
Aquinas at University of Naples 1240
CELESTINE IV,
1241
Aquinas joins Dominicans at Naples 1243
INNOCENT IV,
Aquinas imprisoned, then goes to Cologne 1244
Aquinas in Paris with Albert the Great 1245
1243-1254
Sixth Crusade under St. Louis 1248
Aquinas lectures in Cologne 1248
CONRAD IV, 1250
Death of Frederick at Fiorento 1250
Birth of St. Gertrude the Great 1256
ALEXANDER IV,
Aquutas Regent of University of Paris 1257
1254-1261
Manfred crowns himself King of Sicily 1258
Fall of Latin Kmpire in the East 1261
URBAN IV,
Aquinas in England 1263
1261-1264
Institution of Feast of Corpus Christ! 1264
Birth of Dante 1265
CLEMENT IV,
Birth of John Duns Scotus 1265
1265-1268
Seventh and Last Crusade under St.
Louis 1270
RUDOLPH I, 1273
Council of Lyons 1274
BL. GREGORY X,
Aquinas dies in a Cistercian monastery 1274
1271-1276
Death of St. Bonaventure 1274
BL. INNOCENT V,
1276
ADRIAN V, 1276
JOHN XXI, 1276
Death of Albert the Great 1280
NICHOLAS III,
1277
Fall of Tripoli - 1283
MARTIN IV, 1281
HONORIUS IV,
1285
ADOLPH OF
Acre lost to Christians 1291
NICHOLAS IV,
NASSAU, 1292
1288
Roger Bacon, Franciscan scientist 1294
ST. CELESTINE V,
St. Celestine resigns the Papacy 1294
1294
ALBERT I, of
BONIFACE VIII,
Hapsburg, 1298
1294-1303
SAINT THOMAS OF AQUINO AND
THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
The Great Hundred Years
What an amazing century! The greatest of them all,
perhaps, because it was an Age of Faith and of humanity's
highest achievement. No hundred pages of history can
equal its record of immortal names, epochal doings, great
systems of thought. Think of a century which could produce
a king like St. Louis, the philosopher St. Thomas, the poet
Dante, the mystic St. Gertrude, the scientist Roger Bacon,
the reformer St. Francis. Never was the wealth of genius
so abundant; "good measure, pressed down, and shaken
together, running over" into the lap of time. Many great
universities of Europe were founded in this century, educators
and schoolmen adding new subjects to their fields. The
multiplication of schools brought an advance of learning,
power came with knowledge, men everywhere were having
new thoughts. As contact was made with Grecian and
Arabic civilization science made greater strides, and art
actually reached perfection in the work of wood : carving and
glass-painting. The Gothic cathedral displayed "the greatest
synthesis of beauty made operative through art, that man
has ever achieved." Even more striking was the progress
of human liberty, seen in the rise of guilds, confraternities,
free cities. With the emancipation of peasants, feudalism
began to break up, and the way was paved for economic
and industrial development. When there was no such thing
as systematic bookkeeping, public budget, or the like, in any
secular state, the papacy developed a thorough method of
finance and control of exchange. It looked, in fine, as if the
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Church History in the. Light of the Saints
Christian Commonwealth had come at last, with several
states its parts, and the Roman Curia a tribunal of last resort.
Indeed, "for the first time in the European scene we behold
not merely man but humanity."
With these facts in mind, let us also view the black spots
on those hundred pages. Europe was not a Utopia in any
sense of the word. There were conflicts, wars, and bitter
attacks on the old order. Bold resistance was raised against
the Holy See: more than one Emperor fought the Pope,
imprisoned bishops, attacked the Eternal City. The Mongols
overran Europe's eastern boundary; in the west the Moslem
ruled lower Spain, and even fraternized with the faithful in
many parts of the south. Jews were despised, hated, very
often persecuted throughout the Empire: and just as the
twelfth century witnessed the " Brethren of the Sword "
coercing the poor pagan Livonians, so now the German
knights ruthlessly subjugated the stubborn Prussians. Latin
Christians, behaving no better than pirates, seized Con-
stantinople, and left the broken Greek Empire at the mercy
of the Turk, deadliest foe of the Church and of civilization.
On all sides dangerous and undisciplined fanatics, like the
Waldenese and the Humiliati, disrupted the peace. The
Albigenses, vilest of all sects, held hideous doctrines about
the family, decried life and encouraged suicide. Once the
public wrath was aroused, mobs quickly formed, and massa-
cres followed, fanatical leaders being burned at the stake for
threatening the State. One sees then that the century
presents a veritable paradox, not one age but two. "We
look into the moods of some men, and it might be the Stone
Age; we look into the minds of other men, and they might
be living in the Golden Age." As an example of the latter
take St. Francis and St. Dominic who brought such heavenly
wisdom, dynamic truth, and intellectual power into the
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Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
world. Their spiritual sons, more than any otheYs, daily
labored to renew the face of Europe. One of these was the
Dominican, St. Thomas of Aquino, "the greatest mind that
European blood gave to the world." Anyone who follows
his career can glimpse an astounding spectacle in the human
activity and aspiration of the thirteenth century.
A Genius at School
Thomas, a seventh son, was born in 1227 in a castle near
Naples that bore the name of The Dry Rock. His father,
Landulf of the house of Sammacoli, was Count of Aquino,
his mother, Countess of Teano, sprang from the old Norman
dukes of south Italy. They were proud folk of noble lineage,
yet nowise innocent of outrageous doings, living as they did
in an age of disorder and violence. Their kinsman, the iron-
fisted Emperor Frederick II, determined to dominate Europe,
but the babe-in-arms at Aquino was destined to rule it in-
tellectually and spiritually. At this time the Turks menaced
the west, and it was Frederick's sworn duty to go out and
halt them in their tracks. Self-willed, however, he took his
time about it, though later, after he had been excommuni-
cated, he went on the Sixth Crusade. Of this mettlesome
cousin, Thomas must have heard many things in his boyhood ;
as indeed of his other relatives, the Emperors Frederick I
and Henry II, and the Kings of Aragon, Castile and France.
But far more thrilling were the tales of the Children's Cru-
sade. Mere boys, French and German, had armed them-
selves and set out all by themselves to fight the Turks. They
marched down to sea-ports Marseilles and Naples to
embark for the Holy Land, thousands of them afire with a
mighty crusading spirit. Alas, they never reached their
goal, nor did they ever return; many perished on the way
and the rest were captured by the infidels who sold them in
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
the slave markets of the East. A score of years after that
tragedy Thomas was in the cloister school of Monte Caspino.
He was only five, yet even then the Benedictine instructors
discerned in him not only great genius but a sweet nature
and a heart full of love and devotion. Thomas took delight
in probing deep things rather than in games and pastimes.
"What is God?" he constantly asked. "What is God? What
is God?" And when the faculty discussed this singular
pupil, so alert in class, so keen of thought, so pure in word
as in deed, they let him take the habit of an Oblate, sending
him to Naples in 1236 to continue his studies.
The University of Naples, established twelve years earlier,
welcomed the young Oblate from Monte Cassino. He fol-
lowed the course of the Liberal Arts : the Trivium (grammar,
logic, rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (music, mathematics,
geometry, astronomy) under very able teachers. Not an
easy course, you will admit, for a grown-up, let alone for
the lad just entering his teens. Soon he excelled even so
famous a teacher as Martini, the grammarian, and they put
him under the tutelage of Peter of Ireland, an authority on
logic and the natural sciences. The brilliant Thomas, deep
student as he was at this time, hearing the divine call, had
his heart set upon becoming a religious. On the streets of
Naples he had come across the Begging Friars of St. Dominic;
they were, to his mind, the real crusaders, soldiers of Jesus
Christ, who practiced poverty, instructed the poor and the
ignorant, waged war against the evils of their day, especially
luxury and the indolence of the clergy. One of their number,
the celebrated preacher, John of St. Julian, attracted the
university student; they became fast friends, and one day
after a visit Thomas returned to the university 'fully deter-
mined to join the Dominicans. The news flew over the
campus, spread through Naples, finally reached the castle of
260
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
Aquino. Such an idea! The son of Landulf a mere friar
when he could have been made Abbot of Monte Cassino.
Then the trouble started in earnest. Down came the Count-
ess, posthaste, to put an end to*all this Begging Friar non-
sense. Only she did not the strong-minded lady found
her son hard as iron in his resolve to become a friar ! From
then on the Aquino family made it so hot for Thomas that
he had to say u vale" to the university and make tracks for
Rome. In 1243 -he took the Dominican habit, despite ma-
ternal protests and it was decided to send him to Paris where
he would be quite removed from family interference. The
Countess, however, resourceful Norman lady that she was,
refused to accept defeat and made plans to stop what she
regarded as suicidal foolery. One day when a group of young
Dominican novices in camarata made their way along the
streets of Rome, they were violently set upon by iron-jointed
soldiers. The assailants, none other than Thomas's brothers,
attacking like wildcats, seized and kidnapped the young
friar under the eyes of his companions. Their act was, of
course, typical of a day when civilians as well as soldiers were
wont to employ any means at hand, fair or foul, to gain their
end.
Virtue Under Siege
Thomas found himself a prisoner in the fortress of San
Giovanni. At once the Aquino family started in to break
down the spirit of the young noble. The count and countess
argued and argued with their stubborn son; his sisters used
all the wiles at their disposal. No use. Not on their terms
would Thomas make peace; in the show-down even his
brothers saw that the novice could be as tough in spirit and
endurance as themselves. Yes, he was decided, absolutely
decided, and they were just losing valuable time. Irate,
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
they resorted to the brutish realism of the times, doing a
most dastardly thing. A courtesan was hustled into the
tower to ensnare the imprisoned but indomitable friar. As
the evil enchantress entered the cold room, a fire, not lust,
but holy indignation, surged and ran through his veins! No
woman, good or bad could rule that pure heart which be-
longed to God and His cause. Quick as a flash, Thomas
snatched a brand from the fireplace and drove the temptress,
as he would a viper, from the place. After that he fell on his
knees, begging God to grant him purity of mind and body
all his life long. Worn out from long praying on the icy
stones, he soon fell into a deep slumber. Lo! two angels
appeared in a vision to assure him that his prayer had been
heard in Heaven and answered ; they girded him about with
the white girdle of chastity; and from that day forward the
Dominican never experienced any temptation against the
angelic virtue.
It began to look as if Thomas had not a chance in the
world to regain his liberty. Month followed month, still no
hope, not even the dimmest. None the less he clung, loyally
though grimly, to his cause, having fighting Norman blood,
which along with the grace of God stood him in good stead.
Still life must have* been monotonous, disappointing, at times
positively difficult. A ray of light came the day his sister,
moved with pity, provided him with books the Holy
Scriptures, Aristotle's "Metaphysics" and the "Sentences"
of Peter Lombard. And hope was born when the friars
managed to worm their way into San Giovanni under cover
of darkness and provide him with a new habit, which filled
his mixed cup of joy and suffering to the brim. He appeared
content to stay there forever, if God so willed: for "in God's
will was his peace." Heroically he stuck it out for two long
years, during which the days were spent in prayer and study.
262
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
Had he been at the university or in the schools of Rome,
Thomas could not have made greater spiritual or intellectual
progress. In the meantime through the efforts of his friends,
both Pope and Emperor were approached on behalf of the
silent prisoner. Delay followed delay until at length a few
courageous friars took the matter into their own hands.
They stole past the gate one dark night, made for the tower
room and lowered Thomas down the prison walls in a basket,
just as St. Paul was liberated when he was imprisoned in
Damascus. Much ado was made over this daring rescue
especially by the keepers of the fortress and the Aquino
family. But after his superiors had seen to it that Thomas
had an interview with Pope Innocent IV, who carefully
examined him, the whole matter was hushed. The Holy
Father gave Thomas his blessing, and strictly forbade any
further interference with the fearless Dominican.
Crisis in the Church
This Pope, Innocent IV, was not a man to be trifled with,
even in an age of rebels and haters of the Holy See. A
Genoese nobleman, his dealings with the Emperor proved
friendly enough at first, though he did not trust the royal
schemer. Each needed the other's help more than ever,
what with Ghengis Khan leading his Mongol hordes into
Europe and anarchy threatening the existence of both Empire
and Church. Yet Pope and Emperor failed, as in past cen-
turies, to come to terms; indeed, Innocent was Frederick's
most persistent adversary. Slyly the German began to mass
his armies about Rome, but the Pope, disguised as a knight,
made his way to Genoa, thence to France. The Council of
Lyons condemned the Emperor as unfit to rule, and straight-
way deposed him. This precipitated a bitter conflict, with
inter-city strife, angry revolt, and the attempted assassi-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
nation of Frederick. Even more menacing to the peace of
Europe was the rapid rise of blind reformers and soul-shriveled
fanatics. Led by Peter Waldo, the "poor men of Lyons"
decried widespread clerical abuses, while the Cathari dis-
played a fiery zeal for purity of life. But the most deadly
of all these sects were the Albigenses who held to the vilest
errors. Far-sighted men stood aghast at the doings and
doctrines of these vicious plotters who, it was clear to Thomas,
imperilled all Christendom. There is a story of the great
sage at the court of St. 'Louis where the momentous evil was
being discussed. He sat at the royal table, absorbed in
thought over the impending threat, catching only snatches
of the important conference. Suddenly the King and his
councillors received a jolt. The blackfriar, waking from
deep thought, brought his huge fist down on the table with
a smashing blow "And that/' he cried, "will settle the
Manichees!" The wonder is that the courtiers did not then
and there dispose of the disturber. Indeed, they were about
to seize the big Italian for what they regarded as an out-
rageous breach of court etiquette when the King quietly
deterred them. Much to the surprise of all, Louis ordered
his secretaries to take note of what Thomas had to say, and
put down his arguments carefully on paper, for they must
have been very good ones to bring about such a shock.
The powerful Dominican thinker had every reason to be
excited over the old Manichee peril, in the person of its
murderous minions the Albigenses. This sect took its name
from Albi, a town in south France where the fanatics used
to gather for their unspeakable rites. Very soon they spread
all over Languedoc poisoning the countryside with their
wicked tenets. After Dominic (1190-1221) had tried in
vain to stem the evil tide, the great Spaniard formed a comr
munity to serve the poor and preach against the heretic, and
264
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
Pope Innocent III gladly countenanced his plan. Yet the
Albigenses grew like noxious weeds until something had to
be done; unless this puritan anarchy was suppressed, Europe
would soon be close to the brink of chaos. The papal legate,
Peter of Castelnau, who attempted to control the vile rebels
was murdered in cold blood. Then the Pope launched a
crusade against them, naming Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux and
Simon de Montfort to lead the attack. Brutal methods were
employed as they battered their way into heathen strong-
holds and so bloody was the resistance that the crusaders
saw red and slew right and left. It was war to the hilt, a
war that grew beyond the control of the Pope when the
crusaders savagely determined to avenge the injuries done
the Church and society. In a short time inquisitorial powers
were brought into play, the First Lateran Council (1215)
bidding the bishops ferret out heresy and punish the offenders.
In 1232 the control of the Inquisition was entrusted to the
Dominicans, and in 1252 Pope Innocent III, looking ahead
with a shrewd eye, sanctioned the most severe means of
putting down the murderous Albigenses.
In the Schools of Paris
By mid-century Thomas's name and fame were known
throughout Europe. Earlier he had been taken to Cologne
to continue his studies under the ablest of German school-
men, Albert the Great. This Dominican, regarded the
greatest teacher in the university, glimpsed the genius of the
heavy-built seventeen-year old who actually shrank from
applause. Not so Thomas's classmates, they regarded the
humble friar as somewhat stupid and nicknamed him "The
Dumb Ox." One morning in the lecture-room Albert gave
them something to think over: "You call him a dumb ox,"
he shot out, "I tell you the Dumb Ox will bellow so loud that
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
his bellowing will fill the world/ 1 Few things in university
life were finer than the comradeship of these two scholars,
resting on the basis of complete understanding and mutual
affection. In 1245 the famous teacher and his favorite pupil
might be seen wending their way to Paris; Albert to receive
the doctorate and continue his lectures there, Thomas to
pursue his studies in philosophy and theology* They tramped
all the way and slept in friendly monasteries until they reached
their destination. The city of the great St. Louis must have
opened Thomas's eyes, for it was "a thing white like lilies
and splendid as the oriflamme." Its university counted no
less than thirty thousand students, youth from France,
Normandy, Picardy, England and Germany. Paris took the
Italian friar's breath away, no doubt, yet it failed to win a
heart set on the City of God rather than any passing pageant:
"I would rather have that Chrysostom manuscript I can't
get hold of," was his comment. One can be sure that Thomas
never lost his head or his heart amid the fuss and riot of the
great city. For fuss and riot there was aplenty with the
streets and by-ways crowded with noisy, hilarious youth
exposed to an education. On every side one could hear
chit-chat, argument, mimicry, contentions. Many a fight
was staged in the city streets when a French crowd tried to
jibe at the German students or swaggering Picardese ran
afoul of the English. Smash! crack! and the battle was on,
giving the police their hands full to quell the student riots.
But that was not the sort of thing for which Thomas had
come to Paris. The quiet steady blackfriar stuck to his
scholastic work month after month. New schools of law,
medicine, philosophy and theology might spring up about
him, yet the one school he preferred was the chapel. Open
a chink in the chapel door and you could glimpse him at
prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Or peer into his cell
266
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
and you could see him pondering his favorite text, the Book
of the Crucifix. He began his studies with prayer; when
faced with knotty problems he was wont to fall on his knees,
begging God for light. In the lecture-hall fellow students
marvelled as much at his humility as at his unquestioned
brilliance in argumentation. "A startling new student!"
they were quite agreed, "an amazing personality!" This
big Dominican could joke, too, often about his bulk, and he
believed that pranks had a place in life. They knew "frothing
of his sanctity, which he always kept secret, but they did
sense that he was an intellectual aristocrat. He would argue,
yet no one ever heard him sneer or resort to a quarrel; and
he had a way of explaining an idea or unfolding a truth which
often left them dumbfounded. More impressive still, when
he set out to nail a lie or expose a fallacy, they could only
think of a well-bred hound steadily pursuing the quarry
through every twist and turn until he had it caught dead in
its own dark lair. The popular compendium of that day
was "The Four Books of Sentences by Peter Lombard."
Not only did Thomas prove himself a past master in clarifying
this great work ; he also had the Bible and the Fathers of the
Church at his mental finger-ends. Naturally enough, after
two years' residence in Paris, his superiors recalled the young
Master of Theology to Cologne there to take up his work in
a teaching capacity.
The Great Teacher
Back in the University of Cologne the Dumb Ox began
to low, but with such repressed power that his lectures present-
ly drew thousands of students. The ancient city, founded
on an old Roman military camp, could count many great
teachers from Germany and Italy, besides claiming as its
own Albert the Great. None the less the faculty soon recog-
267
Church History in the Light of the Saints
nized the fact that the remarkably big-statured twenty-year-
old excelled them all. Big he was in every way, physically,
mentally, morally: and deep also, with the depth of genius.
The work of the young Master was to explain the "Sentences,"
those points of philosophy and theology which he had long
since mastered in the tower of San Giovanni. He lectured
with quiet force, radiating firmness, and always inspiring the
crowd that sat at his feet. His brilliant talent, enhanced
by a sweet disposition, won the confidence of the shyest and
the interest of the boldest. You may be sure they flung
out all sorts of questions: how about this new claim of sci-
ence; what did angels do; how could this be right, that
wrong. And in the after-class quizzes so dear to eager pupils,
many marvelled at the humility, the simplicity of his answers.
For example, asked "whether the names of all the blessed
were written on a scroll to be seen in heaven/* he replied,
"So far as I can see, this is not the case; but there is no harm
in saying so." Interested profoundly in the souls of his
pupils Thomas had small patience with pomp or circumstance
or the trappings of nobility. He did, however, have one
insatiable ambition; that was to serve his fellowmen and
frequently he was seen to give help to beggars on the streets.
In the monastery, when not at his cell or in chapel, he would
walk furiously fast round the cloister, that great brain en-
gaged in combat with deep problems. The philosopher
Plato, he knew almost by heart, having seen the influence of
the Great Greek in the books of the New Testament and the
Fathers. But Aristotle he thad to learn through corrupt
Arab and Greek texts and it was one of his highest achieve-
ments to separate the gold of truth from the dross of error
which encrusted it.
Before long the humble genius was called upon by Naples,
Bologna, Paris, Oxford and other universities. Paris in
268
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
particular, wanted him, nay demanded him as a lecturer.
So, after four years at Cologne, his superiors sent him once
more to the greatest of the universities. He found the city
much the same except that the neighborly feeling of earlier
days had disappeared; crowds jostled one another, the
lecture-rooms were overcrowded, the old-time feuds between
gown and town grew daily worse. Thomas presently found
himself in a bad situation that prevented his securing the
doctorate. It came about in this way; the students in the
university had a brawl with the city police, during which
heads were cracked and bitter feelings engendered. Instead
of letting the matter die out, the university authorities de-
cided to close the schools until the civil authorities should
agree to settle the dispute equably. It was an old-time
"strike," and the blackfriars became the black sheep because
they stood aloof from the combatants. The secular doctors
refused to grant a degree to the Order men and Thomas
found himself left out in the cold. Think of it, the greatest
mind of that day denied a miserable sheepskin because of
a petty quarrel. The Pope and the King stepped in, how-
ever, and ordered the Regent of the University to grant the
degrees; even at that, it took eleven papal briefs to bring
the stubborn authorities to a sense of duty. Then two men,
the greatest of their century, Thomas, the blackfriar, and
Bonaventure, the grayfriar, stepped up on the dais, and
received their doctorates.
Growth in Grace and Truth
These years proved the richest seed-time for the harvest
of Truth, the world would reap when the Surnma was finally
completed. All this time the greatest mind in Europe was
in demand everywhere. Paris claimed him for her very
own. Popes sought to have him near at hand. The Do-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
mimcan authorities, of course, wanted him in their own
schools. From 1252 to 1260 Thomas was professor at Paris,
and in 1261 Pope Urban summoned him to live in the papal
court. After directing the Dominican school at Rome, then
the school at Viterba (1265-1267), he was recalled to the
University of Paris where he spent two years. But it was
in Bologna, whither he was ordered in 1271, that the Summa
saw the light of day. Now all who ran could see in black and
white the zeal of a great saint to make known the law of
God and the teaching of the Church. Nothing like this
epochal work had ever appeared in Europe; it filled ten
volumes and revealed a lucidity of mind, a power of argument
in array, a clear vision of thought, the very heart and soul
of a matchless scholar. It left such an impression on the
learned world that men hailed Thomas as the "Angelic
Doctor/* and the universities as usual kept up their battle
to secure the author as a teacher. And all this time Thomas
lived as quietly and humbly as ever, except when his friar-
brethren dragged him away from his cell for a breath of fresh
air in the garden; or when a lay-brother ignorant of the
'Who's Who" of that day, gave him a bag to carry to market,
an obedience which Thomas accepted with undisturbed good
humor. His habit was always the poorest, and it is said
that he wrote the epoch-making "Contra Gentiles 11 on the
back of old letters and scraps of paper.
High above his mental greatness was the superb spirituality,
the holiness of this scholar who was such a bone of contention
among the learned. The tradition goes that one day Thomas
laid upon the altar a new work and a Voice from the crucifix
said, "Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas.
What shall I give thee a a reward?" And Thomas replied,
"Naught but Thyself, Lord." The pattern of Christ was
ever before his eyes and the profundity of his devotion was
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Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
poured forth to Christ crucified, and to the Blessed Eucharist
of which mystery he wrote so illuininatingly. In this he
found a kindred soul, Bona venture the Franciscan, whom
he first met at the university where they contracted one of
the most beautiful friendships ever recorded. They were
in the habit of visiting each other to discuss the leading
problems of the day; once in conversation with Bonaventure,
the Dominican was so edified by the Franciscan mystic's
depth of insight that he humbly requested to be shown the
books from which he had drawn such varied learning. The
humble friar, pointing to the crucifix, exclaimed, "It is from
this well-spring of light and love that I have drawn whatever
is to be found in my lectures or writings." Did Thomas
tell him at the time that he too considered the Book of the
Cross the greatest volume in the whole world. One wonders.
And on another occasion when the holy rivals were com-
missioned by Pope Urban IV to compose a suitable Office
and Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Franciscan
paid a visit to his Dominican friend. Thomas happened to
be at work on the Office, and scraps of unfinished manuscript
littered the table. In the course of their talk Bonaventure
picked up a sheet and read the Antiphon written for the
Magnificat :
O exceedingly holy Supper of the Lord,
Wherein we do feed on Christ,
do show His death till He come,
do get grace abundantly to our souls,
and do take pledge of the glory
which shall hereafter be revealed to us,
ALLELUIA!
Overcome by the depth and sweetness of the lines, Bona.
venture on his return from the call cast his own manuscript
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
Into the fire, for he was convinced of the incomparable worth
of his dear friend's composition.
For Better For Worse
The thirteenth century is notable for the vivid contrasts
it presents in every province of life. Amid the tumult of
war no one would dare enter a church where peace reigned.
On the one hand, there was flagrant wickedness, on the
other, amazing sanctity. Men, armed in mail, moved in
company with the monks whose vows forbade the use of
force. A highway might be infested with robbers yet any
pilgrim could pass by unharmed. Great cathedrals reared
themselves in all their glory amid the hovels of miserable
peasants. But no contrast could be more striking than the
temper and inner spirit of rulers, as different from one another
as day and night. Take, for instance, Louis IX, King of
France, and Frederick II, the Emperor. Among Thomas's
friends and admirers was St. Louis, the royal flower of his
age. This holy King had little in common with the other
rulers of the thirteenth century; nothing at all of the char-
acter of the friar's cousin, the Emperor. Born in 1236 he
was only eleven when proclaimed King of France which he
ruled well under the guardianship of Blanche his saintly and
energetic mother. A friend of the clergy, especially the
mendicant orders, he endowed many foundations, besides
building the Royal Chapel which contained the relics of the
True Cross. When Innocent IV summoned the Kings to go
forth and deliver the Holy Land from the infidel, Louis alone
paid heed to the papal command. With a pilgrim army,
almost all of them French soldiers, he embarked on the
Sixth Crusade, the plan being to conquer Palestine by way of
Egypt. In 1249 Louis was in possession of Damietta, but
alas the very next year his men were surrounded and taken
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Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
prisoners. A great ransom had to be paid before they were
set free; part of the army returned home, but the King chose
to stay in Palestine for three years. The sole result of his
presence there was to hold the Saracens in check and rob
them of the fruits of their victory. It was King Louis who
invited Thomas to lecture at the University of Paris, wanting
to see him in a place of leadership. The years, significantly
enough, when Thomas taught in Paris were the very years
of St. Louis* greatest temporal glory; both friar and King
were directing spirits, each in his own sphere, Thomas caring
for mind, heart and soul, Louis governing a kingdom, a task
in which he was greatly assisted by the prayers and counsels
of the humble friar.
Emperor Frederick II (1215-1250) was almost the exact
opposite of St. Louis. Shrewd, tricky, he laid his world-
plans carefully, then carried them out ruthlessly. For church
authority he had scant regard. "My friendship with a
cardinal is possible/ 7 he boasted, "with a Pope, never." He
assured Pope Honorius III that Sicily would remain a papal
fief, pledged his good will towards the Church, but adroitly
laid claim to the kingship of Italy in order to hold Rome
between the jaws of the German pincers. An earlier Pope,
the able Innocent III, had no fear of him, but Honorius III
was irked by his delays in marching on crusade. The much
more forceful Gregory IX exercised his awful power by ex-
communicating the malingering Emperor though Frederick
did finally go forth, and clinched a smart bargain with the
Sultan by which Bethlehem and Nazareth became accessible
to Christian pilgrims. Little wonder that people called this
incredible man Stupor Mundi. If by that is meant a doer of
very strange and terrible things, a super-plotter whose con-
duct shocked the conscience of Europe, the title was truly
apt. He tried to get an octopus-like grip on all the nations;
273
Church History in the Light of the Saints
he stood cheek by jowl with the Mohammedans, including
their harems in his entourage. His sensuality was only
equalled by the cruelty he displayed in the torture of women
and children. A poet and pantheist philosopher, a sworn
freethinker and master of many languages, this astounding
Emperor never ceased battling with the Church. He shame-
lessly schemed to acquire Sicily, body and soul, with the
result that he found himself thwarted alike by prince and
prelate. He quarrelled with his son Henry over imperial
policies, provoked him to revolt, then captured the royal
rebel who died in 1242, very likely a suicide. No sooner
was his son Conrad safely on the German throne than Freder-
ick, still untaught, came south to start fresh trouble in Italy.
In the papal-imperial war that followed he captured and
imprisoned several Cardinals who were on their way to
attend a council called by Pope Gregory IX in Rome. The
College of Cardinals retaliated by electing Innocent IV, who
stuck bravely by the policies of his predecessor, and started
forces against the oft-convicted perjurer which eventually
cost the Hohenstaufens the German throne. The last state
of the man who thought he was the Roman Empire proved
worse than the first. One calamity followed another in
quick succession. His royal physician tried to poison him;
his trusted chancellor proved corrupt and committed suicide ;
the illegitimate Enzio, his son, was made a prisoner; his
vassals in Sicily found their titles contested by counter vassals.
By this time his wings had been quite clipped; he was less
powerful, and consequently less effective. War-weary, yet
still on the march, in 1250 he fell victim to dysentery. As
he lay ill until death at Ferentino he begged to be reconciled
to the Church; the Archbishop of Palermo heard his con-
fession and granted absolution, but the Pope refused to
274
Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
promise that Conrad, his son, should succeed to the imperial
throne.
The Fruitful Years
Thomas outlived his imperial cousin nearly a quarter-
century. These years, despite political and papal turmoil,
proved the most fruitful perhaps in the annals of history.
Never had Europe experienced such a change of mind and
heart. The guilds bestowed help on the needy, raised the
dignity of labor, even as the schoolmen asserted the right of
owning property and condemned avarice as a greater sin
than prodigality. The great mendicant orders were at work
relieving social misery, practicing the spiritual and corporal
works of mercy, incessantly preaching the duty of neighbor-
love. And though they kept their Latin, the sign of unity
and the bond with Rome, they always spoke the language
understood by the people in Italy, Spain, Provence, France,
Germany, Poland, England. It was amazing how noblemen
and high-born ladies, struck by their example, practiced
self-denial, poured their wealth into institutions for the sick,
the orphans, the have-nots. "All men," wrote Clement IV,
"have the same origin; they live under the same sky. The
immense difference between the Creator and the creature
effaces the slight distinction between the King and the serf.
. . . The distinction of birth is only an accident, a human
institution. . . . God distributes the gifts of the spirit without
regard to the division of classes. In His eyes there are
neither nobles nor villains/' As the flame of the human
spirit was refired, the torch of learning spread the light
through the darkness of paganism and heresy. The uni-
versities, splendidly staffed, throve mightily Paris, Cologne,
Oxford, Naples, Padua, Bologna, Freiburg, Ratisbon, Strass-
275
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burg. Dante was only a youth at school but very soon he
would forge a language far richer and more beautiful than
Europe had ever known, and in his immortal "Divine
Comedy" Thomas and Bonaventure were destined to be
placed in one of the highest spheres of Paradiso. "The
Seraphic Doctor, " as Bonaventure was called, became the
leading exponent of the Augustinian tradition, while Thomas
held with his old teacher Albert for Aristotelian doctrine.
The Master of the Schools was only thirty when they made
him Regent of the University of Paris. He continued to
teach and write nor would he lay down his pen till three
months before his death. As the years sped by men mar-
velled at all the big friar achieved for God and his fellowmen
in his own order, in the religious world, in higher schools of
learning, even in the political world. But greater than any
visible achievement was the glory of his mind, the superb
spirituality of the man. Asked one day what was the greatest
actual grace he had ever received, the answer was, "I think
that of having understood whatever I have read." And
later he confessed, "So great are the things revealed to me,
that all I have hitherto taught and written seem nothing."
This, mind you, from the man who made Aristotle a champion
of Catholic philosophy; who reconciled faith and reason,
developed a new theory of knowledge, and rebuilt the whole
structure of ethics. The vast program he accomplished fills
the mind with wonder. His great brain housed a huge
library, and it was said he could resolve any doubt proposed
to him. No wonder the universities clamored for the presence
of such a scholar and pestered the Dominican chapters year
after year for the loan of his genius. Naturally, the Pope
and his Order held first claim to his wisdom and valuable
counsels. In 1263 Pope Urban IV sent him to England; and
he sat at the General Council held at Holburn. And in
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Saint Thomas of Aquino and the Thirteenth Century
1272, at the request of Charles King of Sicily, he was assigned
to his alma mater, the University of Naples. The whole city
turned out in fiesta, as only Neapolitans can, to welcome
the Angel of the Schools. Two years later Pope Gregory
summoned him to the Council of Lyons where his counsel
was greatly in demand. Ever obedient to the voice of au-
thority, Thomas hastened thither, but was taken seriously
ill on the way and brought to the Ciscertian monastery of
Fossanuova. As he lay dying, he asked for the Canticle
of Canticles, which he explained to the brethren gathered
round his bedside. After that he received his Lord and
departed this life March 7th, in 1274. Thus passed into
Eternal Life the humble friar, Europe's greatest mind, whose
whole career on earth was spent scattering the darkness of
error and drawing souls to the Light of Truth.
277
Saint Catnerine or Siena
THE SERAPH-HEARTED
SAINT CATHERINE AND THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
ALBERT I of Haps-
burg, 1298-1308
HENRY VI I,
1308-1313
Louis, 1314-1347
CHARLES IV,
WENCESLAUS,
1378-1400
Dawn of the Renaissance
Boniface condemns King of France 1302
Birth of Brigid of Sweden 1303
Pope goes to Avignon 1308
Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377) 1309
Henry VII tries to revive the Holy
Roman Empire 13 *
German Council of Vienna 1311
Suppression of Knights Templar 1312
Pope quarrels with Emperor 1316
Death of Dante 1321
Pope's contest with Louis of
Bavaria 1322
Defensio Pacis 1328
Hundred Years War begins 1337
Diet of Frankfort 1338
Birth of Chaucer 1340
Birth of Juliana of Norwich 1344
Battle of Crecy 1346
Birth of Catherine of Siena 1347
Black Death decimates Europe 1348
Brigid of Sweden in Rome 1350
Edward VIII and the Praemunire 1351
Catherine's vow of virginity , 1354
Rienzi slain by a mob 1354
William Langland c 1362
Catherine, a Dominican Tertiary 1363
Catherine's "Spiritual Espousals" 1366
Urban V leaves for Rome 1367
Pope Urban returns to France 1370
Catherine's Visions . 1370
Catherine receives the Stigmata 1375
Catherine, Ambassadress to Avi-
gnon 1376
Gregory XI goes to Rome 1377
Catherine reforms Republic of
Siena 1377
Urban VI summons Catherine to
Rome 1378
Great Western Schism 1378
Catherine dies in Rome 1380
Birth of Bernardine of Siena 1380
BONIFACE VIII,
1294-1303
BL. BENEDICT XI,
1303-1304
CLEMENT V,
1305-1314
JOHN XXII,
BENEDICT XII,
1334-1342
CLEMENT VI,
1342-1352
INNOCENT VII,
1352-1362
BL. URBAN V,
1362-1370
GREGORY XI,
1370-1378
URBAN VI,
1378-1379
BONIFACE IX,
1389-1404
SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA AND
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY
Evil Times Ensue
Europe was now little more than a group of cocky,fyoung
nations fully aware of their power in a changing world. The
common sense of Christendom was quite lost, the old respect
for authority sadly lacking, and any hope of a Holy Roman
Empire a thing of the past. All the restive states were out
for more power, princes and parliaments alike sowing dragons 1
teeth for the years to come. No longer did the middle classes
support the Popes; and many a ruler treated them with icy
hatred. The great writers of the day, Dante, Chaucer,
Langland, Petrarch, Boccaccio, held the melancholy mirror
up to the times; while every nation in Europe deserved the
reproof Dante administered his own country:
Ah, slavish Italy! thou inn of grief!
Vessel without a pilot in loud storm!
Lady no longer of fair provinces,
But brothel-house impure!
. . . while now thy living ones
In thee abide not without war, and one
Malicious gnaws another . . - 1
Woeful was the day for Europe when Pope Clement V fled
to Avignon, dragging the papacy after him into a veritable
Babylonian Captivity. For no sooner was the Apostolic
Chair removed from Rome, in 1308, than its occupants be-
1 Purg. VI, 76
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
caine the tools of the French monarchy, their court the scene
of shameful degradation. The efforts of the Councils went
for naught as all their reform programs failed to secure the
solidarity of Christendom.
About the middle o the century the Black Death ravaged
the West, bringing suffering, bitterness, sacrifice on an im-
mense scale. This terrible pestilence, a putrid typhus, cost
Europe twenty-five million lives; it is no exaggeration to
say a third of the population perished in England, and the
continent presented a picture of widespread ruin. The
flower of manhood, institutions, civilization fell into decay
while the people no longer considered their souls in the
struggle for bare existence. One bright spot, the only one,
was seen in the devotion of men of God who spent themselves
in behalf of the thousands of sick and dying. But, alas,
they too fell victim to the widespread spiritual decadence.
The mendicant orders lost their early fervor; the sons of
St. Francis fell prey to anarchy, partly political, partly
theological; the sons of St. Dominic passed from an Order of
Preachers to an order of inquisitors; secular clergy too, were
just as deeply poisoned by the widespread degeneracy which
appeared to be inescapable. It is perfectly true that Europe
was quite rotten, ready for the utter breakdown which 'yas
now near at hand. Instead of guiding the Church through
the valley of shadows the Popes failed in their high duty; as
a result they forfeited the trust of monarchs, and lost through
sinful neglect the faith of the millions. Too many of *them
had verified the Divine Master's dreadful prophecy, "The
enemies ,of a man are those of his own household." The
household of the faith was in desperate straits ; though there
were those who tried to set it in order, no one appeared big
enough or brave enough for that herculean task. At last,
in 1378, came the collapse, and the Church, split by schism,
282
Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
was bowed and broken, her time-honored authority reduced
to a pitiable state.
Heart of Grace
Near the middle of the century, Catherine Benincasa was
born in feud-torn Siena, the daughter of Giacorno, a wood-
dyer, and Lapa Piagenti, a good pious woman. The neigh-
bors loved to borrow this little one for their personal delight,
nicknaming her Eufrosina. When five, she manifested great
devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and would kneel on
each step of the stairs and recite a "Hail Mary/ 1 A year
later she was vouchsafed a vision of Christ seated in the
midst of His Apostles: "0 brother!" she said to little Stephen
who dragged at her hand, "if you saw what I see, you would
never care to leave this spot." In that moment Catherine's
vocation became fixed; she made a vow of chastity and
began the practice of severe penance. Deep down in that
young heart the flames of divine love were kindled, so that
now more than ever she sought seclusion in her bedroom.
Her mother, who adored her, also tormented the lovely girl,
urging her to get married a thing Catherine refused even
to consider. She was aided no little by a gift of humor to
which her adroit Tuscan tongue could give play when teased
beyond reason; and many a time she had to make peace in
that tumultuous household. Not only was the noisy brood
of children a care, she also had to quiet her distracted mother
who loved to display her temper by boxing ears all round.
The stormy little home certainly served as an excellent train-
ing ground for this mysteriously gifted young girl. One day,
when she had reached the marriageable age, Catherine took
a shears and cut off her long beautiful hair, much to the
annoyance of her parents who deprived the culprit of her
283
Church History in the Light of the Saints
bedroom. But this shorn daughter of theirs made herself
a little cell where she received wondrous visitations. Then
came the time when with Giacomo's consent, Lapa no doubt
agreeing, she assumed the habit of the Dominican Sisters of
Penitence.
All through Catherine's girlhood years Siena underwent
one revolution after another. The Bianchi (whites) and
Neri (blacks) tore at one another's throats; the discords
continued, as butchers, bakers, candle-stick makers took
sides with Guelph or Ghibelline. "It would seem/' says an
historian, "as if in that terrible era, so disorderly, avaricious,
revengeful, and violent, it was as much as a man could do
to steer his way through it all without being privately poisoned
or publicly executed, unless he managed to evade time by
living in eternity in some hiding place of prayer." As much
as a man could do ! but what of a young girl like Catherine
with such high spirits and racy wit, who might have loved
and been loved ruthlessly? The only answer is that God
had set her apart for a singularly great work in his Church.
She could play on Del'Oca street untouched by the Black
Death that lingered in the highways and byways; she was
equally unscathed by any moral contagion of impurity despite
the fierce temptations that assailed her. As a Sister of Peni-
tence, tending the most loathsome cases, she continued
undaunted in that heroic work and her heart opened more
and more to divine Life, Love and Truth. That she was
confirmed by God from the very beginning there can be no
question. "He commanded His angels concerning her, to
keep her in all her ways; He covered her with His pinions
and under His wings she could hide ; so she needed not to be
afraid of terror at night, of arrows which fly by daylight, of
pestilence which creeps in the darkness." 2 Hers indeed was
2 Ps. XC
284
Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
a heart of grace which, during tender girlhood, faced life's
storm, weathered it, learned how it could be calmed, even
in the great outer world. Amid the anarchy of that day, she
dwelt like a hermitess in a chosen hiding place of prayer;
even then Catherine had freely offered herself to God Who
would one day enlarge her heart to embrace His world. "0
Christ Love," she prayed, "Christ Love come Into my heart !"
One of her endearing terms for Our Lord was "Babbio mio";
she must have been very near to Mary, too, else how could
she have merited to be called "this blessed virgin and mother
of a thousand souls/'
Cola Di Rienzi
Italy from the very outset of the century, Catherine's
Italy, had known nothing save riot and disorder. The city of
Rome, torn with rivalries and conflicts, found no relief until
the coming of Rienzi. This patriot, son of an innkeeper,
was a man of great beauty and eloquence, steeped in the
spirit of Dante and the eloquence of Cicero. The condition
of the Rome he so loved, now only a ruin, stirred him to the
depths, and he resolved to do all in his power to restore its
ancient glory. His plans took life the day his brother was
slain in a brawl between the Orsini and the Colonna factions.
The Roman populace presently joined him and assisted in
breaking the power of the barons. He made every effort at'
first to have the Popes return to the Chair of Peter, but failing
in this he urged the papal vicar to back his measures for
reform. By 1347 he was boldly calling himself a tribune
and promulgating the "laws of the good estate. " No more
fortified houses or private garrisons; instead, the public
safety was secured by river police on the Tiber, an armed
ship to protect each port, and a police force which patrolled
Rome's thirteen districts. The outlook certainly was bright,
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
but unfortunately Rienzi, dizzy with power and dreaming
of a wider mission, began making fatal missteps. He sum-
marily ordered the Pope and the Cardinals back from Avi-
gnon ; summoned the two claimants of the Empire, Louis of
Bavaria and Charles of Bohemia, to appear before his judg-
ment-seat; and, most brazen of all, he allowed himself to be
crowned with a mystic tiara of seven crowns. The papal
vicar no longer supported his cause, so the intemperate tribune
was forced to abdicate in 1347 and was fortunate in escaping
with his life.
The next year Italy was visited by the terrible Black
Death. It stalked through Siena and when the plague sub-
sided, the beautiful city, like all Italy, lay prostrate. Rienzi
meanwhile sought refuge in the court of Charles IV where he
planned a new scheme of government which called for the
expulsion of local tyrants from the Italian cities, and aimed to
strip Pope and clergy of their temporal rule, besides providing
that the Emperor live and rule from Rome. The plan, attrac-
tive enough on paper, was in that day anything but workable.
A little later the reformer was arrested by the Emperor who
sent him to Avignon, but the new pontiff Innocent VI (1352-
1362) discerned many points of value in RienzFs mixed plans.
Ever since 1308 when Clement IV departed for Avignon, the
states of the Church had gone from bad to worse; just now
in the city itself powerful families had recovered their aban-
doned fortresses, whence they sallied forth to wage war and
wreck the city. Evidently something must be done, so the
papal vicar, Cardinal Albornoz, approved Rienzi's methods of
keeping order and putting the grandee tyrants out of the
picture. On August i, 1354, Rienzi returned to Rome in
triumph. By the authority of the absentee Pope, he was
made a senator with vested powers. He once more proceeded
to clean house, doing a thorough job, driving out the mischief-
286
Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Centwy
making nobles and restoring the papal authority. AH the
cities of Romagna, and Bologna as well, followed suit; not
so Milan where Bernabo Visconti made the papal legate eat
the bull of excommunication, parchment, seal and all. As
for Siena, the tumult continued apace with endless opposition
and conspiracy. Rienzi's new government, however, had a
short life ; his love of luxury and the excessive taxation turned
the populace against him. Again he attempted to escape
but was recognized by the mob who slew him and dragged
his corpse over the cobble-stones of the city he so loved.
The Young Mystic
About the time Rienzi was effecting reforms for the second
time in Rome, Catherine Benincasa became a Dominican
tertiary. Siena, like Milan, seethed with excitement, nobles
and common people joining against imperial forces. But
Catherine had no part in all this ; she was unwittingly being
prepared for a more important work of reform which would
come in God's good time. No doubt her parents regarded
as quite impossible the aloof young woman who prayed long
hours in her little cell or left Del'Oca street only to care for
the sick. They knew nothing of the celestial visitations and
the familiar conversations she had with Christ; nothing of
her mystical experiences known as the "spiritual espousals/'
Had they seen her in trance, or glimpsed her second sight
they would have been at their wit's end. But Catherine
managed to keep them in the dark and they discovered little
if anything of her remarkable inner life, hidden with Christ
in God. What they did see was the young woman's per-
sonal charm which could subdue -the hostile friars and sus-
picious sisters of her own order. More, they marvelled at
the way she loved the most loathsome creatures, served the
desperately poor, strove to convert sinners. They were
287
Church History in the Light of the Saints
provoked, of course, at her refusal to eat, yet paused to con-
sider that this strange daughter of theirs throve on fasting.
It was a fact, Catherine could go on living for long intervals
with no food save Holy Communion, wholly absorbed in
tasting and loving the sweetness of Christ. Even in her
little cell, though suffering terrible physical pain, she appeared
radiantly happy; nor was her spiritual influence confined to
the Benincasa household; indeed, she had gathered together
a little school of disciples, men and women, close-knit in bonds
of mystical love. Our Lord Whom she served filled her mind
so completely that Catherine saw Him in frequent visions;
once with two crowns in His hands, one of pure gold the other
fulljDf thorns; asked to choose, the mystic took the crown of
thorns and placed it on her head. In 1370, at the age of
twenty-three she received a series of manifestations in which
she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, and received
a divine command to enter the public life of the world. So
it came to pass that the young mystic became one of the
most powerful peacemakers in Europe, a great reformer who
influenced queens, preached a crusade, even gave counsel to
the Vicar of Christ.
Try now to picture Catherine with her hero's heart going
out into the world to do battle with evil. She began to dictate
letters to men and women in all levels of life, exhorting them
to lead better lives; and soon her inspired missives reached
the princes of Italy as well as the leading authorities of the
republics. The papal vicars at Rome could not help having
deep respect for one with such great organizing ability,
especially|when they sawliow pure were her aims to prevent
civil war and heal the widespread bitterness. As if to seal
her divine mission Our Lord bestowed on Catherine a wonder-
ful privilege. While at Pisa in 1375 she received the Stig-
mata, five mystical wounds deeply engraved in her hands,
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Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
feet and heart, but she prayed that they might be concealed
from human eyes. The year 1377 was mostly spent in the
work of reforming the country districts arouncf Siena, and it
was about this time that Catherine miraculously learned to
write. Needle be surprised that the works of Catherine of
Siena rank among the classics of the fourteenth century. No
one has ever questioned the beauty of the Tuscan style in the
"Dialogues" the "Prayers" or the collection of nearly four
hundred letters still extant. And, remember, Italy's
"immortals" lived in that day Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio,
all of whose writings put together do not contain the wisdom
of this woman whom God had so richly endowed. The sum
and substance of the great mystic's teaching is this: "Man
must ever abide in the cell of self-knowledge, which is the
stable in which the traveller through time to eternity must be
born again."
In Far-Off England
While Catherine was about God's work in Italy and France,
there dwelt in England another great mystic, Juliana of
Norwich. She was three years older than the Siena saint
and her life was that of an anchoress; "a simple unlettered
creature" she humbly describes herself, "living in the deadlie
flesh." The Hundred Vears War had run its first decade
and when Juliana was only four the Black Death ravaged
England. That same year Edward III invaded France where
in the great battle of Cregy he paid dearly for victory. Over
thirty thousand were slain, along with eleven princes and
twelve hundred knights. Echoes of such happenings reached
Juliana before she set out on her love-adventure and became
a recluse in an out-of-the-way hermitage. Her aim was, of
course, penance and prayer which "oneth the soul to God."
She tells how the good Lord showed her "that it is full great
pleasure to Him that a simple soul come to Him, plainlie
289
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and homelie, ... for in us is His homeliest home and His
endless dwelling.*' Juliana doubtless felt the ache of the
problem of life, and grief too for the sad pass to which Eng-
land had come, yet she did not fear to peer into the mystery
of sin and pain. "Our Good Lord," she wrote, "would not
that the soul were afraid of this ugly sight (the misery of the
world). But I saw not sin ; for I believe it had no manner of
substance, ne no part of being, ne it might not be known
but by the pain that is caused thereof. ... It is true that
sin is the cause of all this pain; but all shall be well, and all
manner of thing shall be well ... we should know our own
feebleness and mischief that we be fallen in by sin, to meek
us, and make us cry to God for help and grace/' The deep
steadfast mystic makes no mistakes about the outside world,
recluse though she is. Even from her leafy hermitage she
sensed, just as Catherine did, a world of bitter ecclesiastical-
political strife. The Babylonian captivity of the papacy
still continued; Clement VI put forth unheard-of claims,
taxing all Europe for revenues, aided of course by rulers
equally greedy to fill their coffers. The nations, chary of
the growing papal demands and resentful of French control
at Avignon, showed steady resistance. Earlier, when Pope
John XXII was in conflict with the Emperor, England passed
the Statute of Provisors (1351) and the Statute of Praemunire
(i353)- What with the door shut in the face of Rome, the
King, not the Pope, ruled the situation, while all English
subjects were forbidden to appeal to any foreign tribunal in a
cause that fell under the king's jurisdiction. The old custom
of rendering homage to the papacy was also abandoned and
the tribute King John had promised absolutely refused.
That Juliana of Norwich envisioned all this defection from
old Catholic days is beyond any doubt. None the less the
English woman had no fear, only trust that all would be
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Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
well. Her "Revelations" contain the bright note of comfort,
comfort amid every affliction: "O my dear darlings/' she
exclaims, "we needs, indeed, must toil and live the pilgrim
life, but inside it all is love and love is motherly and merciful.
The way is long, but He is the Way, and whatever betide,
wit it well, Love is His meaning." Who can miss in all this
the spirit of a valiant woman with clear intellect and a sweet
nature. She cared so much, this great mystic, for all the
world from which she hid to suffer and make reparation.
Agents of Peace
Italy, even as England, seared and scarred, seethed with
disorder and unrest, her people united as one against the
French. It irked them that the Pope should abide in a
foreign land and rule the Church under the segis of the foreign
monarchs. When Catherine was in her teens Pope Innocent
VII, it is true, introduced drastic reforms in the court at
Avignon. He sent absentee bishops back to their sees, while
still remaining away from his own. His successor, Blessed
Urban V, moved by the condition into which Rome had
fallen, determined to go back to the Eternal City. The
time, he felt, was ripe, and the papal vicar, Albornoz, had
paved the way. "O wicked Pope," protested his weakling
French cadinals, "0 impious father! whither does he drag his
sons?" They ran into trouble at Viterbo, and once in Rome
the Pope encountered hostile factions, bent on making life
miserable for his court. The citizens insulted his French
attendants with curses and threats, so hindering his own
efforts that Urban decided to return to Avignon. Cries of
protest arose far and wide from the faithful ; the royal voices
of Pedro of Aragon and the Swedish princess, St. Brigid,
were raised in vain. Urban left Italy in 1370 only to die at
Avignon the same year. "He would have been reckoned
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
among the most glorious of men/' wrote Petrarch, "if he had
caused his dying bed to be laid before the altar of St. Peter.
. . . " Over all these heart-breaking doings Catherine must
have grieved exceedingly. But a predestined work lay ahead ;
now in her early twenties she had grown amazingly in grace
and vision. Very soon all men would see the Siena mystic's
power of initiative and action employed by Heaven for its
own ends.
In 1370 the easy-going Peter Roger de Beaufort succeeded
the gentle Urban. As Gregory XI, most of his efforts, be it
said, were devoted to Italy which he began to rule though
in absentia. When the papal districts and cities resorted to
revolt, Gregory sent Robert of Geneva with an army of
Bretons. A league had been formed in Florence against the
Holy See, and Catherine of Siena was empowered to negotiate
a peace. All the way to France this frail mystic journeyed,
determined to put the matter before Pope Gregory. With
her extraordinary powers of subduing opponents she cut the
red tape of the court and secured an audience. Grit to the
core, with an eloquence that came from above, Catherine
urged, rebuked, reproved, advised. . . . "Do as you have
promised God!" she enjoined Gregory, thus proving that she
alone knew of the secret promise he had made. Then,
bravely, she made known to the Pope all his errors and weak-
ness, pointing out that his presence in Rome was imperative.
She assured him that the txranny of the papal legates who
held the whip hand had caused a revolt in Campagna, and
all would surely be lost unless the Pope himself would return
and take command. Lay courtiers, clerical courtiers tried
to stay her but to no purpose ; this woman of Siena who did
not fear the fierce condottieri was not one to quail before any
array of sycophants and satellites. On January, 1377,
Gregory, seeing at last the peril that threatened the Holy
292
Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
See, made his way to Rome. The pitiful state of the city
must have shocked him beyond words; its glory had departed,
naught remained but neglected buildings and a population
reduced to thirty thousand, most of whom lived in abject
poverty. What mattered the welcome he received, when
mobs still ruled the Eternal City, and his French cardinals
met with every sort of insult? Day after day the situation
became more intolerable, hatred and violence ruled in the
streets, so Gregory made up his mind to return to Avignon.
But before he could carry out his plans, they carried him to
his grave, the victim of a fatal illness. Thus the Babylonian
captivity came to an end, as inglorious as its beginning.
Care of Souls
Catherine's character unfolded amazingly during those
years spent in the midst of the world. The Tuscan saint
showed a many-sided genius: she was simple, sweet, utterly
childlike, and at the same time shrewd, stern, with a rare
gift for organization. Her supernatural endowments of
vision and wisdom raised her head and shoulders over any-
body living in that century. Nobody knew better the in-
tricacies of those stormy times, nor had anyone her unique
gift for peace-making. As a statesman she proved most
influential, setting more than one Pope on the right road,
admonishing rulers, restoring peace and quiet. After having
pacified the Church, she attempted the herculean task of
bringing peace to Italy. At Florence, the storm-center, she
strove to bring the conflicting parties to an understanding
for the good of their country. The whole future of Italy,
she assured them, was at stake ; let them cease this fratricidal
struggle. But the murders and confiscations continued
despite all her heroic efforts. One band set out to murder
the Sienese peacemaker who would gladly have given her
293
Church History in the Light of the Saints
life that peace might be restored among her beloved, though
erring, countrymen. That crown of thorns you see on her
head is a true symbol of the love she had for her native land ;
of her willingness to go to any length of pain and suffering to
win her people back to God and to His Vicar. on earth. "No,
I have not sought vain glory/ 7 she could truly say, "but only
the glory and praise of God."
It is as an apostle, bent upon winning all sorts of men and
women to God, that Catherine is best loved and admired.
For Neri, the sensitive poet, she had a motherly love; even
for the poor cancer-ridden hag who poured out spite and
malice on her blessed benefactor. When a hot-headed young
Italian, was condemned to death, she stuck to the rebel till
the very end, doing all that his mother could have done to
caress and comfort him, 30 that he was able to enter eternity
"with cries of victory on his severed breath." She often
read the riot act to those she secretly admired, such as the
stubborn English hermit who would not leave his shack in
the woods when she ordered him to go to Rome. Then there
was her confessor, Fra Raymond, for whom she had the
deepest love and reverence; yet she could chide the retiring
friar, and encourage him in almost the same conversation.
Among her devoted friends was a certain Stefano, who records
an intimate conversation revealing Catherine's tireless care
of souls. "That most holy virgin," he relates, "said to me
in secret: 'Know, most beloved son, that the greatest desire
thou hast will soon be fulfilled.* At this I was astonished for
I could think of nothing that I longed for in the world ; . . .
therefore I said: '0 dearest Mother, what is the greatest
desire that I have?' 'Look/ she said, 'into thy heart/ And
I answered her: 'Certainly, most beloved Mother, I can find
no greater desire in myself than to keep always near you/
And she straightway replied: 'And this will be/" Such was
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Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
the tender-hearted mother of a thousand souls, who bent
superiors to her will, cowed the roughest highwayman, and
spent her life winning souls to God.
The Great Western Schism
After ,the death of Gregory XI, the Romans decided that
a successor to the Chair of Peter should be elected in Rome.
Oddly enough, though the majority of the Cardinals were
French, the ballot went to an Italian from Naples. All
Europe rubbed its eyes when the new Pope, Urban VI, no
respecter of persons, settled down to do a thorough job of
reform. He lost no time in calling the cardinals to order,
and bluntly announced his intention of seeing things bettered
at once. For Avignon interference he had only contempt
and he swore that, if need be, he would create enough Italian
cardinals to render French influence nugatory. By and by
the French prelates secretly made tracks for Avignon, the
chamberlain of the papal court bearing away the tiara.
Back in France, they set up as anti-Pope, Clement VII, a
ruthless, indomitable character, close-knit to the royal houses
of Europe. And thus the Great Western Schism began,
while in the ensuing confusion, even great saints differed as
to who was the real Pope. Catherine of Siena and Brigid of
Sweden, the greatest mystics of the age, declared for Urban,
while Vincent Ferrer and Peter of Luxemburg, both holy
men, held out for Clement. All Europe was divided in
allegiance. For Urban Italy, Germany, Poland, Hun-
gary, Flanders, and the Catholic Orient; for Clement
France, Savoy, Aragon, Castile, England, Scotland and
Wales. But Urban held on grimly, resorting to brutal
methods to gain his ends. At this stage of the conflict,
behold, the fearless Catherine of Siena again enters the
lists. It pained her deeply to hear that Urban, now a fanatic
295
Church History in the Light of the Saints
for reform, had not only alienated Naples, but tortured and
then executed six of his Cardinals who regarded him as half-
mad. Immediately the great woman took up her pen for
the cause of peace: "Accomplish your task with moderation, "
she wrote Urban. "For the love of Christ crucified, curb
these sudden impulses prompted by your nature.'* Her
words, sad to say, had little effect on the harsh, unhappy
pontiff who continued arrogant as ever, and utterly devoid
of tact or tolerance.
A year before his death Urban VI summoned Catherine to
Rome. It was her destiny to spend the rest of her life there,
trying to reform the Church. The Bark of Peter seemed to
have been laid upon her frail shoulders, yet she begged Christ
to let her bear the punishment for the sins of the world, the
Italian world in particular. Her strength rapidly failed, as
the crushing burden bore her down with its sheer weight, and
for the three months, from Sexagesima until the Sunday
before the Ascension, the great mystic endured a prolonged
agony with exultant spirit. She died in Rome and was buried
in the Church of Minerva. Her relics found their way to
Siena, some to Paris to be lost later in the Revolution of 1793.
The great ^tragedy of the fourteenth century was summed
up by Catherine of Siena: "The depths of calamity," she
sorrowfully declared, "have overwhelmed the Church !" How
could it be otherwise when Pope and an ti- Pope ruled the
dismal scene for more than forty years. The clergy, deeply
rooted in laziness, forgot their duty of becoming first among
men in virtue and learning. Two bishops might be heard
claiming the same see, rival abbots the self-same monastery,
priests contending for the one parish church. No longer was
wisdom and the fields of progress the domain of the Church
as in preceding centuries. The religious decay, hastened by
the schism, was never remedied; its issue would oe the de-
296
Saint Catherine of Siena and the Fourteenth Century
struction of the religious unity of Europe. From time to
time, it is true, brave attempts were made to restore peace
but they appear to have accomplished nothing. Try as
some Popes might, plan as did theologians, their efforts only
resulted in confusion the worse confounded. The big thing
now was commercial and secular interest, and men every-
where questioned the guidance of the Holy See.
The Pope who succeeded Urban VI was the Neapolitan
Boniface IX who during a sixteen-year reign effected little
if any reform. Both intellectually and religiously the Europe
that formed one vast republic had radically, irretrievably
changed. The power and majesty of Rome gave way before
a time-spirit charged with mockery and worldliness, the
spirit of the Renaissance. And along with that the develop-
ment of the modern dialect, the consolidation of modern
states not only shattered the old European cosmopolitanism
but threatened the very perpetuity of the Church's unity.
Old ideas lost their hold over many minds and hearts, as the
Mother of the Ages ceased to see herself reflected in the lives
of lier children.
297
Saint Joan of Ac
SAVIOR OF FRANCE
SAINT JOAN OF ARC AND THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
WENCESLAUS,
Dawn of the Renaissance
1400
BONIFACE IX,
1373-1400
1389-1404
France at odds with the Papacy
1406
INNOCENT VII,
1404-1406
GREGORY XII,
Council of Pisa
1409
1406-1409
Turks on the eastern border of Europe
1410
ALEXANDER V,
SlGISMUND,
Teutonic Knights defeated at Tannenberg
Birth of Joan of Arc
1410
1412
1409-1410
JOHN XXIII,
I4II-I437
Council of Constance (1414-1418)
1414
1410-1415
Huss burned at the stake
1415
Troubles in Bohemia
1418
MARTIN V,
Second Generation of Humanists
1420
1417-1431
Joan hears heavenly voices
1425
University of Louvain
1425
Joan saves Orleans
1429
Charles VII crowned at Rheims
1429
Joan a prisoner
1430
Council of Basle (1431-1439)
1431
EUGENE IV,
Joan condemned and burned at Rouen
1431
1431-1447
New Age of painting, sculpture, architecture 1435
ALBERT II
(Hapsburg),
Council of Florence
1439
1438-1439
FREDERICK III,
Year of Jubilee in Rome
1450
NICHOLAS V,
1440-1493
Rapid spread of the New Learning
1450
1447-1455
Birth of Savonarola
1452
Fall of Constantinople
1453
Real Date of the Renaissance
1453
Vatican Library grows
1454
Birth of Reuchlin
1455
CALLISTUS III,
Joan of Arc declared innocent
1456
i455~i4S8
First Bible in print
1456
Pius II starts futile crusade against the Turks
1464
Pius II,
1458-1464
Art of Printing makes rapid progress
Hungarians defeat the Mohammedans
1465
PAUL II,
1464-1471
CastHe united to Aragon
1469
New Learning reaches Germany
1470
Sistine Chapel is beautified
SIXTUS IV,
1471-1484
Torquemada Grand Inquisitor
1475
Turks capture Otranto
1483
Birth of Martin Luther
1483
Wars of the Roses
1485
INNOCENT VIII,
Savonarola preaches throughout Italy
1490
1484-1492
Birth of Ignatius Loyola
1491
Columbus discovers America
1492
SpUin expels the Jews
1492
Conquest of Granada
1492
ALEXANDER VI,
MAXIMILIAN,
New Learning reaches England
1496
1492-1503
1493
Death of Charles VIII
1498
Savonarola burned at stake
1498
Machiavelli holds office
1498
SAINT JOAN OF ARC AND THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Herald of Heaven
It was a century of travail, this fifteenth, reeking with the
pride of life and the conceit of learning. "An Emperor of
Germany, always drunk, going on a visit to an insane King of
France for the purpose of deposing a Pope/ 5 In those acid-
etched lines you get a cross-section of the godless state of
things. The Middle Ages had come to a close in a din of
war, and Europe, torn from the Church, was on the way to
becoming secular. There was disloyalty, disobedience and
revolt against authority. Old studies, which had never
perished, underwent renewal ; a pagan renewal, however,
cynical, sensuous, subversive of faith and morals. Rebels
abounded, but no truly great religious reformers capable of
renewing the Christian spirit. The Sultan, Mohammed II,
could whip his horse through the holy Church of Santa Sophia
an outrage which would have stirred a Crusade in the
old days, but now only created a stir. Do not think the
conditions were passing; they had come to stay. And do
not think the relations of the secular State and the Divine
Church could easily be reconciled ; by now they were mutually
exclusive. "No man can serve two masters. . . ." That
was the clear-cut issue of those days. But the faith had
grown cold; "the children of this world were wiser in their
generation than the children of light." More still, the Hun-
dred Years War, with its wear and tear on the souls of men
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
left deep scars and fresh wounds; by 1429 the English held
the north of France and were besieging Orleans. Even now
the rope that kept England from overrunning France was
badly frayed, and the struggle obviously could not last much
longer.
If there ever was a time for the appearance of a savior it
was then. All signs pointed to the impending doom of France
when Joan of Arc entered the picture. The peasant girl
made it clear that her mission was two-fold, to preserve the
independence of France and to save her people for Catholic
Christendom. A marvellous scene unfolded as the Maid,
clad in armor, rode to relieve the siege of Orleans. One hope
remained, and it was one that Joan knew Heaven could and
would bring to fruition Victory for France. An alert,
inspiring leader, she entered the city and whipped a broken
army into action; they went out and attacked, then drove
the English from the Loire, Auxerre, Troyes and Chalons.
In less than three months Charles VII was crowned in Rheims.
Joan, an emissary of heaven, had proclaimed her inspired
plan; a crusader sans peur et sans reproche, she actually
accomplished it. When she took up the sword, France was
a beaten nation, but before she died, a martyr to truth, she
had rescued her beloved country from the clutch of the in-
vader and saved it from schism. If the French had been
vanquished, they surely would have joined the victor, Eng-
land, when the Tudor heretics, united with the French Hugue-
nots, sought to wipe out the Church. We can thank God
that the Land of the Lilies was not conquered; and under
God, the glory goes to one of her own daughters, a devout
country girl. For it was this seventeen-year-old who suc-
ceeded where Europe's military genius failed; she won out
for the reason that a power not of this world stood behind
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Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
her; a power which revealed itself in the piety, heroism, and
deathless devotion of the immortal Maid.
Maid of France
Joan was the daughter of James d'Arc and Isabelle Rom6e,
God-fearing folk who cultivated their small landed property
at Domremy, in Lorraine. They were pious, hospitable
people of spotless reputation, with a family of five children,
three boys and two girls, Joan and Catherine. Their humble
cottage looked out upon a vineyard, a stable for cows, and
fields where the children tended sheep. Like so many great
saints before her, Joan spent her early days in prayer and
contemplation, which brought the child into close union with
the Unseen. Did she not, even then, have visions of the
All-Father of Whom another shepherd sang:
I am God, thy God!
I know all the birds of the mountains
Every wild beast of the forest is mine
And the roaming throngs of the plane are in my mind. 1
The flocks of His pasture, too, were men, as the little shep-
herdess clearly saw; and she ardently longed to restore to
Him "those flocks of beautiful sheep/ 1 But alas, anyone
with half an eye could see how multitudes, like crazy sheep,
wandered far from the Good Shepherd, farther and farther
from the fold of salvation. Bear in mind that Joan was no
dull, aloof child, given to idle dreams. It is true she possessed
little practical schooling, having been taught only the Our
Father, Hail Mary and the Apostles' Creed; but she could
sew, knit and spin, besides being able to take part in the
1 Ps. L, 7-10
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
rustic dances and sing the little songs so dear to the French
heart. No teener in Domremy could manage a horse with
such skill, and she could hold her own in the village races
with all the dexterity of a knight in battle.
Joan, just the same, was grave beyond her years, nowise
inclined to idle talk, yet beloved by all villagers because of
her steady attention to the sick and her deep love of the
poor. As she grew up to maidenhood amid these rustic sur-
roundings, it was seen that she was singularly obedient,
chaste, modest, patient, and very gentle. She was humble,
too, and prudent; traits which would soon show when destiny
ushered her into the active life of the great world about her.
At thirteen she appeared to have lost interest in those amuse-
ments so attractive to girls, preferring to repair alone to the
Church when her work was done and pray fervently to God
and the Blessed Mother. Not far from Domremy was a tiny
chapel, the Hermitage of St. Mary, which she was wont to
visit on Saturdays to intercede in behalf of her much-tried
France. An irresistible desire would drive her there when
her parents thought she was occupied in the fields, and little
could they conceive that this daughter was set apart to be
France's greatest soldier and patriot. All the natives of
Domremy were Armagnacs, devoted to the cause of Charles
VII, while in the neighboring villages of Maxey, the in-
habitants supported the English-minded Burgundians. One
day the boys of Domremy got the worst of it in a battle with
the Maxey youth, and returned home wounded and bleeding.
Joan, a patriot to the core, expressed her violent detestation
of the compromising Burgundians and all their ilk, declaring
that any Domremian who would have truck with the traitors
deserved to lose his head, if such were the will of the Lord.
That single incident furnishes a clue to the brave young
heart; the trials of her beloved France she pondered deeply,
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Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
for she loved the people, and stormed heaven for victory
when she prayed in the village church and in the hermitage.
Coll From on High
The Hundred Years War was pressing heavily on France,
when Joan in her mid-teens received her first heavenly visita-
tions. On a summer day in 1424 while at work in her father's
garden, she suddenly beheld a dazzling light on the right side
of the village church, and an unknown voice whispered in
her ear. The voice told her to go often to the church, to be
always good and virtuous, and for the rest to rely on the
protection of Heaven. Joan, struck with fear, was none
the less certain that the voice came from Heaven, and in
token of gratitude she took a vow of virginity, consecrating
herself to God's cause. A little while after this the Domremy
maid heard the same voice and an Archangel appeared and
revealed to her some startling things. She was told that the
Heart of God felt great pity towards France, and that it was
imperative she should go to the King's assistance; that she
was the one to raise the siege of Orleans and deliver Charles
from his enemies; that it was necessary she should present
herself to Baudricourt, captain of Valcouleurs, who would
see that she met the King without encountering any obstacle ;
that St. Catherine and St. Marguerite would visit her, since
they had been chosen to guide and assist her with their
advice ; and that she must believe and obey them in all they
should prescribe, such being the will of the Omnipotent.
These things Joan pondered in her heart, saying nothing to
anybody. Then in 1428 when the "voices" became more
insistent that she go forth and save France, she made her
way to Robert Baudricourt who commanded the army of
Charles VII. At that time the King's army had met with
bitter reverses in the battles of Crevant and Verneuil. One
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
cap. readily understand why the battle-worn soldier simply
laughed at Joan's story. "Take her home to her father,"
he scoffed, "and give her a good whipping!" Back to Dom-
remy the elect girl returned, but the French meanwhile suffered
even more severe reverses. That same year the English
marched on Orleans to the despair of King Charles who saw
nothing in store for his army save complete defeat.
Very soon the 'Voices" became more urgent, to the point
of threat. "I am a poor girl," Joan protested. "I do not
know how to ride or fight!" The truth is she did not know
how to ride in battle array, yet Heaven willed that she should*
So for the second time Joan took the path to Valcouleurs.
She found the French commander in a different mood; and
under her persistent pleading he began to lose his doubts.
The thing was settled once for all when Joan mysteriously
informed him of the actual defeat of French arms outside
Orleans, and a few days later he received official news of the
event. Won over at last, the bewildered Baudricourt gave
her an escort of three men-at-arms and a military permit to
see the King in person. Now Charles VII, a defeatist at
heart, thought to test her out by disguising himself. But
when the maid entered the crowded court she pushed knights
and soldiers aside, and made straight for the monarch. And
as if that brave adventuring were not enough proof, she as-
tounded the King by a secret sign known only to those two,
a sign which convinced him that she was no dreamer. It is
significant of Charles' sodden inaction that even then he
delayed while Joan was sent to Poitiers to be examined by a
council of bishops and doctors. They could find nothing
objectionable against the girl; on the contrary, all were
deeply impressed by her ardent faith, transparent earnestness
and sterling honesty. After the verdict of the council had
favored the Domremy maid, they recommended she be given
306
Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
a chance to prove herself. Let her go forth on this mission
and the future would show whether the revelations were really
heavenly or whether the whole thing was just a silly hoax.
Maid at Arms
Back in Chinon, Joan of Arc, full of faith in her "Voices/*
girded herself for battle. Behold the seventeen-year-old girl
clad in helmet and mail, like any soldier of France. When
Charles offered her a special sword she gently declined, a
gesture that must have set the company back on their heels.
Think of it, refusing the monarch's gift! They had scarcely
recovered their wits when Joan gave the cool command that
they fetch an ancient sword buried behind the altar in the
chapel of St. Catherine. Ah, they told themselves, this
would show her up an old sword which nobody had ever
heard of! One can imagine their puzzlement when the
sword was dug up in the very spot named by the soldier-maid.
There was something else ; she had to have a standard bearing
the words Jesus, Maria, with the picture of God the Father,
and adoring angels holding forth a fleur-de-lis. Thus armed
and accoutred, Joan, ready for war, rode out for Orleans at
the head of a chosen troop. The modest maid must have
felt acutely the strangeness of her position, astride a war-
horse and bent for battle to the death, yet she faced it un-
cowering. One of the most thrilling scenes in history is
Joan of Arc at the head of those rough cavalrymen who up
till then had known little of true leadership, and who must
have regarded the panoplied Maid as a veritable messenger
from Heaven. And Joan rode on, nothing daunted, instinct
with prayer and deathless hope. It was not her own will she
was obeying. It was a higher Will that bade her go forth
and snatch her beloved homeland from the clutches of a
ruthless foe.
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
The struggle between France and England, begun in 1337,
was now In its ninety-second year. With Orleans all but
captured, it seemed too late for the French to remedy their
mistakes. Then an astounding thing happened. Joan of
Arc appeared on the scene and forthrightly summoned the
English to withdraw their troops and return home at once!
Withdraw? Retreat? When in two months they had won
more than fifteen towns! The overseas commanders were
infuriated but their anger gave way to shock when the Maid,
in a rapid troop movement, bypassed the enemy force and
swung into Orleans, fleur-de-lis^ flying. Hope rode high in
the garrison as the slip of a girl they called Pucelle took over
like a veteran 'commander and began to capture one by one
the English forts around the city. No longer could the
English outsmart the French whom they used to regard as
military failures. This was a new army, an utterly different
army, which outcharged them time and again, delivering
hammer blows without cease, forcing them back at every
charge. Then, in the thick of the fight, just before the last
fort fell, Joan received an arrow in her breast. The valiant
Maid made little of her wound, for she wanted to continue
the campaign, her " voices" having told her she had but a
year to live. They must carry on, she urged, fight, fight,
fight without delay! But the listless, heavy-footed King
and his middle-of-the-road advisers, cursed with apathy,
stood in her way. Joan finally succeeded in forcing them
to go out to battle, and the English were decisively routed
at Patay. That victory opened the road to Rheims by way
of Troyes; and again the Maid had to drive the laggard
captains before they captured the place and marched on to the
great cathedral city. On Sunday July 17, 1429, Charles was
crowned at Rheims, Joan of Arc standing by and fondling
her blessed standard. "As it shared in the toil/' she ex-
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Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
plained, "it was just that It should share in the victory/ 1
This lightning campaign, you will recall, the soldier Maid
had foreseen three months earlier, even the detail of her
wound and the crowning of Charles VII.
Trial and Death
After this brilliant triumph Joan wanted to return home
to her simple life in Dornremy. She may have been deterred
from this by two aims; to drive the English out of France,
and to overcome the deadening apathy of the King and his
advisers. Her next exploit was to lead the troops to the siege
of Paris, which she felt had been too long in English hands.
All went well for a time and the French had already occupied
St. Denis when a bolt from a cross-bow pierced Joan's thigh.
They carried her from the field, and the French, lacking her
inspiring leadership, abandoned the assault. It was a
craven's attempt at compensation when Charles ennobled
the Maid and her family, for he had meanwhile signed a
truce with the Duke of Burgundy. Still more saddening,
(the year Heaven alloted to Joan was swiftly passing, and the
'Voices" told her she would be taken prisoner before Mid-
summer Day. On May 24th, therefore, she plunged anew
into the fray valiantly defending Compiegne when the Bur-
gundians attacked. By either treachery or stupidity the
drawbridge was raised while she was in command of a sortie
yet she continued to fight with unshaken constancy. But
when the English charged on the French squadrons many,
paralyzed with fear of abandonment, quit the field leaving
Joan to defend herself. Quickly a dozen soldiers surrounded
and pressed upon the lone battler who contended grimly
until seized and dragged from her horsey They conducted
the Maid, a prisoner, to Maringy where she was placed under
strong guard. The prisoner's one thought was to effect an
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
escape and rejoin her army in Compi&gne. She was on the
point of gaining her liberty when the keeper of the castle
compelled her to re-enter the prison. This bitter experience
was met with becoming patience, Joan declaring that appar-
ently it was not the will of God that she should that time
escape. Hard on this blow came another when she learned
that the King wpuld not lift a finger to save his defender
from her fate. Few events in all history stir one to such
righteous contempt as the cowardly attitude the royal in-
grate maintained. He might have made some attempt to
rescue the Maid or offered an exchange of prisoners. He
did nothing but let her go to her death)
One of the saddest dramas the world has seen was the
Anglo-French trial of Joan of Arc. For the English, too,
played craven, their every move cowardly beyond belief.
They clapped the prisoner-of-war into an iron cage in the
Castle of Rouen, nor did they remove the chains from her
neck, hands and feet long enough to let her attend Mass.
The guards purposely selected were half-drunken dissolute
soldiers, who insulted the Maid, even attempting to violate
her chastity. No means were too foul, no resource too shame-
ful for her captors who feared her with a superstitious fear
and resolved to have her life at all costs. They had no right
in the first place to detain her in a secular prison when her
case was one to be tried by an ecclesiastical court; that was
the law of the day, but it meant nothing to the English.
And when the time came for the proceedings at Rouen, they
chose as chief judge the cowardly Pierre Chaucon, Bishop of
Beauvaois, deadly enemy of the royal party, and a puppet
of the Burgundians. They even denied the prisoner the
services of an advocate, yet Joan proved to be more than a
match for her questioners. The radiant captive, purified by
sufferings, stood as an angel of light conducting her own
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Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
defence in that dark court; her delicacy of perception and
frankness in rejoinder amazed the onlookers. But no sooner
did she gain sympathizers than the court decided to hold
the rest of the inquiry in prison. Behind closed doors they
resorted to every form of artifice and browbeating known
to tricky lawyers only to be set back on their heels. The
travesty of justice came to a close when Chaucon read aloud
these words of doom :
It is therefore on this acount, we, being on our tribunal, declare,
by our present sentence, that you are a relapse and a heretic; we
pronounce you a rotten member, and as such, in order that you
may not corrupt others, we declare you cast out and cut off from
the Church; and we deliver you over to the secular power. . . .
Then followed the final infamy when the civil powers ordered
Joan of Arc to be burned at the stake and her Cashes to be
thrown into the Seine. Joan's courage at the pyre moved
even her bitterest foes to tears; she begged for a cross, em-
braced it, and as the flames licked at her pure body called
continuously on the name of Jesus. Thus died the Maid of
France, feared by the evil of heart, betrayed by her own,
yet declaring to the very end her "voices" came from God
and had not deceived her. They had not, as history un-
mistakably proved. Four years after Joan's martyrdom the
treaty of Arras reconciled France and Burgundy; the very-
next year the city of Paris fell before the Burgundian army;
and shortly thereafter the English faded across the channel
to their island homeland.
The New Learning
Joan's standard, as we have seen, bore the words, Jesus,
Maria, with a picture of kneeling angels presenting a fleur-
de-lis to God the Father. If France and Europe had
3"
Church History in the Light of the Saints
but pondered that standard, the story of these times might
have been one of triumph instead of tragedy. For tragedy it
was from start to finish, and history was taking a turn that
no man could have foreseen. A century earlier when Rienzi
ruled, he had dreams of a brave new Roman world and started
a movement, "Back to the Ancients." But the Church gave
too little heed to that spirit which carried the dynamite of
moral destruction. After the fall of Constantinople, scholars
from the East came to Rome, while Italians journeyed to
Byzantium to garner the exotic treasures. They brought
back a wealth of Eastern thought that slowly fashioned
Western minds, eager to escape into a world of gods and
goddesses. The Greek and Latin classics easily captured
men's minds, and pagan ways won the hearts of multitudes.
Such writers as Petrarch actually believed they lived in the
dawn of a golden age; the New Learning, they claimed, must
displace the Old Religion! Ideas clothed with beauty bade
fair to rule out the time-honored ideas of God and the Super-
natural. The people no longer heeded the Gospel, so intent
were they on imitating the ancient heathens. Law was care-
lessly cast aside, duty scoffed at, conscience scorned. No
wonder, then, that the sanctity of life and the rights of others
had such scant appeal; and as with men, so with the State,
a law unto itself, no moral code was recognized, and the
teachings of the Church were ignored. These dreadful facts
showed that the worm was swiftly eating its way into the
heart of Christendom.
Had the Church been able to direct the New Learning into
Christian channels the story of Modern Europe would have
been different. But the Church was divided, and her influ-
ence at a low point. Why, we ask, did not Rome raise a
hand to stay Joan of Arc's execution? And why did the
Pope fail to reverse the decision of the ecclesiastical court that
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Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
condemned her? The answer is a sad one. There were no
truly "Greats" in the Chair of Peter; the days of the stern
Gregory, the strong Nicholas and the lofty Innocent were no
more. Even the clergy had lost caste by heeding the things
of the earth, instead of the things of God. The laity far
surpassed them in knowledge, 'consequently In power, for it
was an age that worshipped knowledge and coveted power.
Every feebly attempted Catholic reform was sandbagged by
the Humanist spirit, so gay and frivolous, so tenacious and
hostile; the New Ord^r had no place for what was truly
sacred, no room for spiritual authority. Men chose their
own ideals and followed their own ways, which definitely
were not the ways of righteousness. The tide of sin ran
swift arid strong; even the sense of sinfulness gave way to a
vaunting pride of life as the standard of virtue fell before
the pagan worship of beauty. Still more tragic, Humanism
on the march invaded the ranks of the clergy, secularizing
the monk and the bishop, even secularizing the papacy as it
secularized everything.
Spread of Humanism
As early as the Council of Constantinople (1414-1418)
you can see the spirit of the New Learning leavening the
faithful. And in the Council of Florence (1439) attended
by the Greeks, the humanist Valla warned the Latins against
speaking of the Apostles' Creed as an apostolic composition*
This same Valla who had fled to Rome to escape the Inquisi-
tion, worked in' the Vatican Library, which after the fall of
Constantinople had become the first library in the wor^
With the papal collection of five thousand manuscripts and
countless other works, it was indeed a magnet for scholars
of every description. To Rome, therefore, the penniless
Humanists flocked and received welcome, not to say profitable
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
employment, until forced in 1450 to migrate to Germany
where they slowly extended the New Learning. A few uni-
versities Vienna, Heidelberg, Erfurt accepted their
teachings, while others, like Cologne, refused them entrance.
The exponents of the New Order meanwhile flaunted their
intellectual vanity, indulged their scented self-complaceny
and delighted in the sway of evil. Their shady ideas steadily
filtered down to the level of the masses, poisoning the faith
and morals of the millions. It is worth noting here that
most of their writings lie buried, save when the modern
sensualist publishers disinter the ugly bones, while the life-
giving book of Thomas & Kempis, "The Imitation of Christ/ 1
is read in a hundred languages. Need it be said that its
author, living in the heart of the New Learning, proved the
greatest religious writer that ever existed. Note this, too,
most of the Humanists of the Renaissance are forgotten yet
the innocent unlettered Maid of Orleans, raised to the altars
of the Church, stirs millions of souls to great deeds for God
and His Church.
There were in those days two classes of Humanists. There
was the group of Catholic philosophers, all too few, who wel-
comed the treasures of the past and labored to Christianize
them. They recognized a Christian as well as a pagan an-
tiquity, pointing out how largely the Early Church depended
on Greek writings, and they aimed to make clear what the
Eastern Fathers had done with Plato, and St. Thomas of
Aquino with Aristotle '. The heathen-minded Humanists, on
the contrary, had no use for the Christian past, preferring
the Greek, Arabic, Syriac, in fact, all the Oriental culture.
Easy to see that their ideas made for the destruction of the
Bulwark which for twelve centuries stood as a defense of the
faith and civilization of Christendom. Like so many pagan
writers in our own day, they bragged about their low ideals,
3H
Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
voiced their impatience of Christianity. Take just a few of
the exponents of the New Learning, highly regarded in that
day. 'Tope and Emperor/' boasted Aeneas Silvias, "are
nothing but fictitious names and splendid figureheads. 1 *
Lorenzo Valla, leader of the Italian Humanists, wallowed in
religious scepticism, and displayed his moral indifference.
Poggio plumed himself on his ability among many other
indecencies to mock the clergy. Filelfo indited satires
too vile for print, while Ficino boasted the license of obscene
language which he miscalls freedom of speech. There were
many others like them, bred in conceit, nourished in pride,
bent on sheer gratification of the senses. Is it any wonder
then that the condition of society grew worse and worse as
the days went on?
Popes Become Humanist
By the second generation of Humanists, many churchmen
had joined their ranks. Pope Martin V (1417-1431) might
declare, "While we have Augustine, what care we for the
sagacity of Aristotle, the eloquence of Plato, the prudence
of Varro? We do not need these men. Augustine is enough
for us." Yet the grim facts showed that Augustine had little
appeal for an age so corrupt, so barbarous in the midst of its
culture. And before long it appeared only too obvious that
the Popes themselves had weakened, yielded to the time-
spirit and gone Humanist. For instance, Eugene IV, exiled
to Florence where the Renaissance was at its height, fostered
the pagan spirit instead of religiously renewing the face of
the earth. At his court was Aeneas Silvias, the brilliant
but dissolute secretary of the Emperor Frederick, who earlier
had scoffed at both Pope and Emperor. But it was Nicholas
V who outshone him as apostle of the arts by adorning not
only Rome but other cities with magnificent buildings. This
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
son of a country physician, himself a scholar, loved the com-
pany of the learned and planned that Rome should be the
world center of culture as well as of religion. Bent upon
building up the Vatican library, he collected, conned and
catalogued every available manuscript. To his credit as the
chief priest in Christendom it can be said that he made heroic
efforts to unit the West in a crusade against the Turk only
to fail dismally. "Why do we rob our children of bread /*
the Germans complained, "while the Christian pontiff spends
the treasure of St. Peter on stones and mortars?" The man
who occupied the papal chair in 1458 was Pius II, none other
than Silvias who would gladly have had his earlier days and
ways forgotten. "Reject Aeneas," he pleaded, "and accept
Pius." With zeal he put himself at the head of a crusade
but died before anything could be done.
Pius, the scholar, was succeeded by Paul II who preferred
horses to books, yet he fought the Medici oligarchy and
frowned on the intellectual pretension of the extreme Human-
ists. Not so the next Pope, Sixtus IV, who was born the
son of a fisherman, but proved a rich patron of the arts, and
supervised Michael Angelo's painting in the Sistine ChapeL
His successor, Innocent VIII, turned out to be a bad pope
whom the Dominican friar, Savonarola, lashed up and down
the peninsula for his sins, offences and negligences. Still
worse was Alexander VI, the Borgian who lived the life of a
temporal lord rather than of a spiritual leader. He was no
better nor worse than the rank and file of Italian princes,
"most of whom," Pius II had lamented, "are born out of
wedlock." A generous patron of the arts, gifted with an
uncanny knowledge of men, Alexander was himself a con-
firmed worldling. "I assure you," cried Savonarola, "that
this Alexander is no pope at all, and should not be accounted
as such, for besides having attained to the Chair of St. Peter
316
Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
by the shameful sin of simony, and still daily selling the
Church benefices to the highest bidder, besides his other
vices which are known to the world. . . ." There can be no
doubt that this pontiff and his base family did enormous
harm in their day. A storm cloud, ugly and menacing,
hung over the Chair of Peter. It could not bring peace,
order, justice. It never could so long as Medicis and Borgias
held sway. No possibility, then, of spiritual or moral mobili-
zation ; no other alternative save a period of anarchy.
France Wins Her Place
Look at the European scene towards the close of the cen-
tury. As the final curtain fell, darkness gathered over all
the hopes of the saints, the dreams of the reformers. Only
over the Land of Lilies was there a gleam of light- And that
came from the spirit of Joan of Arc who had made the people
passionately interested in the security and welfare of their
country. After the English had fled in 1436, the French at
the point of exhaustion could do no more than husband their
depleted energies. Year by year, however, under Charles VII
the nation began to recover strength, and before long stood
stalwart alongside the new powers, Germany and England.
In 1445 Charles created a great army; fifteen companies of
six hundred men, nine thousand of whom were cavalry;
archers and artillery men and engineers came later. With
this formidable force France, though cramped and confined,
was able to acquire broad frontier provinces. By the union
of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany the authority of the
fleur-de-lis became strongly established. Very soon Italy's
doors lay wide open, since the Angevin claim to Naples, lost
in 1462, had passed to the French. The peninsula was di-
vided, unwarlike, yet passing, rich in all the fruits of the
Renaissance. So the French standard with Joan of Arc's
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
inspired symbols flew high and wide over the Alps, was wildly
welcomed by Milan after her quarrel with Naples, and by
Florence fed-up on the Medici tyrants. Pope Alexander,
seeing his political plans go to pieces, grew desperate and did
not hesitate to call upon the Sultan of Turkey to come to his
aid. In September, 1494, Charles VIII invaded the south,
reaching Naples early the following year, and later became
King of Sicily. But in one of his last acts the wily Borgian
Pope formed a league so powerful that the French King was
obliged to withdraw.
Yes, Joan of Arc had put the spirit of high courage into
her countrymen, and France at the century end had become
a great power. But the people of Europe were divided and
the Church still in a bad way. Two things had happened
to spell the doom of religious unity and discipline. In the
first place the authority of the papacy had grown so weak
year after year, that the decrees of reform, formulated by
the Council of Constance, fell short of fulfillment. At Pavia
and at Siena they were not even issued, and Nicholas V's
attempt at mid-century to apply them proved quite futile.
In the second place, Humanism at its peak strength, had not
only undermined the Catholic faith but also impaired Euro-
pean morale. The ideas, habits, all the pagan convictions
of the New Learning held the stage. Italy, long decadent
under the Humanist Popes, was wreaking her own destruction.
Even though she still reigned in the world of culture she had
lost her place in the welter of war, a mere prize for the strong-
est nation that could seize her. Germany was sullen, the old
Teuton antagonism towards the Latin increased hourly, while
the new German theology widened the breach. England
lived in torment and hope, the air full of winged arrows, war
and preparation for war absorbing all her attention. Spain,
grasping for the new wealth that Christopher Columbus
318
Saint Joan of Arc and the Fifteenth Century
promised, still ruled the sea, her ships in line with those of
Portugal. The canny Swiss stood at swords-points with
Austria, while the Hungarians had to bear the brunt of the
Turkish invasion. Only in the Lowlands a ray of hope
filtered through the black clouds when Thomas & Kempis
wrote his " Imitation of Christ/' which incidentally gives the
best historic insight into the spirit of those dying years. No
nation was any longer sure of itself, yet each showed feverish
determination to hold on to its power as long as it could.
All in all, the fuse was running fast, the mine about to ex-
plode, and Europe stood on the verge of the greatest catas-
trophe which had ever threatened the Catholic Church.
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Saint Ignatius or Loyola
CHAMPION OF THE CHURCH
SAINT IGNATIUS AND THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Emperors
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
ALEXANDER VI,
1492-1503
JULIUS II,
Power of France in Italy overthrown
1512
1503-1513
MAXIMILIAN,
Publication of Luther's Thesis
1517
LEOX,
1519
1513-1521
CHARLES V,
Election of the Emperor Charles V
1519
1519-1558
Luther excommunicated
1520
Ignatius wounded at Pampeluna
1521
Diet of Worms
1521
Ignatius at Montsurat and Manresa
1522
ADRIAN VI,
Ignatius in Holy Land
1523
1522-1523
Ignatius a student at Barcelona
1524
CLEMENT VII,
Charles V's capture of Rome
1527
1523-1534
Reformation in Hungary
1527
Ignatius, student at Paris
1528
Reformation spreads to Switzerland
1528
Diet and Confession of Augsburg
1530
Six Companions take vows
1534
PAUL III,
Martyrdom of More and Fisher
1534
1534-1549
Calvin at Geneva
1536
Ignatius ordained to priesthood
1537
Vain attempt to Protestantize Ireland
1537
Catholic League
1538
Society of Jesus founded
1540
Council of Trent
1542
Death of Luther
1546
Death of Henry VIII
1547
Philip Neri founds Oratorians
1548
Peace of Passau
1552
JULIUS III,
1550-1555
Diet of Augsburg
1555
MARCELLUS II,
1555
*
Death of Ignatius Loyola
1556
PAUL IV,
Death of Emperor Charles V
1558
1555-1559
FERDINAND I,
Elizabeth ascends throne of England
1558
1558-1564
Teresa reforms Carmelite Order
1562
Pius IV,
MAXIMILIAN
Death of Michael Angelo
1563
1559-1565
II,
Birth of Shakespeare
1564
1564-1576
RUDOLF 11,
John of the Cross begins reform for men
Pope excommunicates Elizabeth
1568
1570
ST. Pius V,
1566-1572
1576-1612
Birth of Ben Jonson
1574
GREGORY XIII,
Penal Laws in England
1577
1572-1585
Jesuits renovate Rome
Execution of priests in England
1584
Art and architecture revived in Rome
1585
SIXTUS V,
1585-1590
Sailing of Spanish Armada
1588
URBAN VII,
1590
Jesuits at work in Italy and Spain
1590
GREGORY XIV,
1590-1591
INNOCENT IX,
1591-1592
Sweden accepts Augsburg Confession
1593
CLEMENT VIII,
Jesuits at work in Germany, Bohemia, Moravia
1595
1592-1605
The tide of Protestantism stemmed
1599
SAINT IGNATIUS AND THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
The Brink of Change
A decade before this century there was born in the beautiful
Basque country a child of wondrous destiny, Ignatius of
Loyola. You can still see the house, two stories with thick
walls, the armorial bearings of the family over the doorway.
It was a proud house in proud Spain which had put the Moors
in their place in the south. The King, Ferdinand the Catho-
lic, empowered by the alliance of Castile arid Aragon, held
his head high among the nations. His army and navy ranked
foremost in Europe, Naples was his dependency; and he
could boast a great overseas empire, discovered by Columbus.
Juan Velasquez, grand treasurer of Ferdinand, took Ignatius
under his wing, and the eyes of the eager Basque laci were
open to the glory that was Spain. The amazing Las Casas,
friend of Velasquez, must have caught his boyish fancy.
The Basque lad was only twelve when this former lawyer
and explorer whose father had accompanied Columbus on
his first voyage, was on his way to Hispaniola. There he
was ordained, the first priest in the New World, with a career
!ahead that was long and eventful. No doubt Ignatius in his
late teens heard much of this extraordinay priest, "who
crossed the ocean no less than twelve times, traversed every
known region of America and the islands, made journeys
from Spain to Flanders and Germany to see the Emperor,
and achieved literary labors that would have been remarkable
even in a scholar who had no calling outside the halls of his
college." But Ignatius, in love with court life, was 'not
interested in missions not then. He was full of the spirit
of chivalry, noble of heart and strong in his faith, and he
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
wanted to serve his country. After the death of Velasquez,
he joined the army of the Viceroy of Navarre, making good
as a soldier; he was grit to the core, quick in a quarrel, a
boon companion who could gamble with the rest, and a
sentimentalist who loved the ladles*
While Ignatius led this rough-and-ready barrack existence,
there lived In Germany an extraordinary person fated to be
his adversary through life. The two, strange to say, never
met face to face, yet their combat was to continue for cen-
turies. Martin Luther, eight years older than Ignatius, was
the son of a plain Saxon miner of Eisleben. The peasant
lad, used to rough life and coarse ideas, decided to get himself
an education at Magdeburg. As a student he paid for his
books and teaching by singing from door to door and, after
completing his studies at Erfurt, tried a legal career. Two
years at law proved enough, so he quit the profession against
his father's will, to enter an Augustinian monastery. This
step was in fulfilment of a rash vow he had made to St. Ann
one day when In terror of a thunder storm. By 1508 he had
become a popular preacher at Wittenberg and a professor
with a following at the university. Big, genial, generous,
he was subject to moods of melancholy and to attacks of
religious terror along with queer ideas of holiness which in-
creased as he steeped himself in the Scriptures. The attempt
of his brother monks to put the scrupulous man straight as
to his soul's salvation failed dismally, and the only consola-
tion Luther could find was in St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans
and Galatians. The truth of the Apostle's words, 'The just
shall live by faith," possessed his mind to the exclusion of
every other truth, even that of St. James' Epistle to the
effect that " Faith without good works is dead," He found
so much comfort in the idea of "faith alone" that he grasped
it as the one thing necessary, teaching the half-truth at every
324
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
opportunity. It Is not surprising, therefore, that this brood-
ing monk, now become arrogant, ran Into arguments with
the Dominicans. An unquestionably able orator as well as
writer, he Inspired fanatical allegiance in his followers, and
In 1517 he entered the arena against John Tetzel who preached
"indulgences" in the neighborhood of Wittenberg. Quickly
the issue was joined in bitter earnest, Luther accusing the
Dominican of selling his spiritual wares to pay for the build-
ing of St. Peter's in Rome. Pope Leo X, hearing the dark
hints of impending change, thought the whole matter a mere
squabble of monks. But the Emperor Maximilian, whose
pet political plans had been thwarted by the Holy See, said
to the Elector Frederick, "Let the Wittenberg monk be taken
good care of; we may some day want him." Luther pres-
ently denied the value of works of the human will ; it does
not matter what people do, he held, what matters is what
they believe about the passion and death of Christ. And as
for "indulgences," why, they are a mere papal invention,,
sheer money-making nonsense! One debate led to another,
and it was not long before the monk, truculent and arrogant,
attacked the priesthood, the hierarchy, the Pope himself,
whereupon he merited excommunication. When the Bull
was issued in June 15, 1520, Luther flung back with all his
black temper, calling the papal decree "the execrable bull of
Antichrist" and publicly burning it at the gates of Wittenberg
in the presence of doctors, students and citizens. The so-
called Reformation had at last been launched !
In the Wars
The same year the inflamnjatory and sensational Luther
fought the Church in Germany, Ignatius, a mettlesome knight,
served Spain under the banner of the Duke of Najera. At
Pampeluna where his soldiers were defending the fortress
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
against the French, he was severely wounded by a cannon
ball. His companions-in-arms tried to set the leg but it had
to be broken again; he took it like a soldier, clenching and
unclenching his fists under the excruciating operation. Back
In the Loyola home, the restless sentimental knight asked for
books on romance to while away his long convalescence.
But there were none to be had so they gave him a Spanish
"Lives of the Saints" and "A Life of Christ." These Igna-
tius read and pondered, but in other moods he still dreamed
of deeds of valor for a fair lady. The day came, however,
when the examples of God's holy heroes took root in his soul.
"If these saints can do this and that, why can't I?" he asked
himself. 'What if I were to do the deeds of a St. Dominic
or a St. Francis?" That was exactly what Divine Providence
had set Ignatius apart to do! And as thoughts of religion
prevailed he determined to give up the world and become a
Knight of God. The devotion he had for the Mother of
Jesus intensified this resolve, and, upon recovery, he visited
her shrine in Catalonia. On the night of the Annunciation
he kept vigil before the miraculous picture of Our Lady in
the Church of Montserrat. Garbed in a rough penitential
garment, having given his knightly apparel to a beggar, he
hung up his sword and dagger by the altar and pledged him-
self to God's service. A great path lay ahead for the Spanish
soldier of Christ. One day, not two decades away, he would
apply his genius for order, unity and discipline; rally his
loyal forces against a terrible foe, and furnish the finest
example of chivalry in Christendom.
What should interest us at this stage is the startling con-
trast in the personalities of Ignatius of Loyola and Martin
Luther. The Spaniard and the German stood at antipodes,
one from another. Their views of life as well as their be-
havior were utterly opposite. While Loyola grew strong in
326
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
the silent war against self, Luther, the agitator, was ever
stirring up a commotion all over Germany. The Spanish
knight of God led a most ascetic life, practicing self-discipline,
begging his bread, daily attending Mass, and spending hours
on his knees in prayer. The Wittenberg professor, a Teuton
to the marrow of his bones, raised his voice in the market-
place, becoming bolder, more defiant; in a fury of anger he
attacked the Mass, sacerdotal ordination, pilgrimages, fast-
ings, even monasticism. Great illumination from on high
was given the humble Ignatius whom God treated "exactly
as a schoolmaster treats a child whom he is teaching." But
the proud Luther became a torn troubled creature, full of
hate for authority, the victim of constant fits of remorse.
A study of their doings at this time will reveal what manner
of men they were: "From their fruits you shall know them."
Ignatius growing more expert in holiness and in the discern-
ment of spirits, gave people at Manresa, "spiritual exercises"
in which they could learn more than the sages had to convey.
In a spirit of humility and with a contrite heart he faced
every inner trial until peace came to him at last. Luther,
contrariwise, in bitter conflict stirred up a fury of opposition
to the Church. His Humanist friends, ever critical of Rome,
took to his Bible exegesis, applauded his savage tirades.
"He has sinned," said the cynical Erasmus to Frederick, "in
two points. He has hit the pope's crown and the bellies of
the monks." Enough surely to show not only their different
habits of mind, but also the divers paths these two men had
taken, paths that would become the more marked as time
marched on.
The Two Standards
Germany now stood between two choices as the tide rose
against Rome. Francis, the Elector, grew more despotic
327
Church History in the Light of the Saints
than ever, taxing his impoverished peasants beyond all
reason. Princes quarrelled among themselves and with the
bishops, while the old Emperor vainly sought to put an end
to private feuds. Luther, more reckless than ever, had be-
come a national figure, what with his bold revolutionary
doctrines or reform, his hatred of Rome, his espousal of the
German cause; an early Deutschland uber alles. Emperor
Charles V, greatly disturbed, called a diet at Worms in 1521
before which the Wittenberg monk was summoned to answer
for himself. All along the way the peasants gathered to
greet him with enthusiasm; and when a councillor warned
him of the fate of Huss, the reformer replied, "I will go on,
though as many devils were aiming at me as there are tiles
on the roof." Once in the diet hall before Emperor and
nobles, he appeared a bit dazed, but became steadier as he
was guided by counsel. Asked to retract the contents of his
fiery books, he asked for time to reply; on the following day
he declared he could not retract anything he had written
until it was proved contrary to Scriptures or right reason.
There were those at the diet who urged the Emperor to arrest
the rebel on the spot, but the German princes angrily de-
murred, threatening vengeance if their idol were harmed.
On April 28, 1521, on his way back to Wittenberg, Luther
was whisked away by the Elector's soldiers and carried off
to a place out of harm's way. Safe at the castle of Wartburg
he dined well, carried a sword, and went hunting deer; yet
he managed to keep busy translating the New Testament into
the German language. But scarce had the diet dispersed
when an edict, issued at Rome, placed the reformer under
the ban, and he woke up in Wartburg to find himself an out-
law in the eyes of the Church and the Empire.
About this time Ignatius, completely won over to God's
cause, sought for the best means to service. A man of action,
328
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
he needs must go into the world and prepare himself for what
Heaven wanted him to do. Embarking at Barcelona, he
crossed the Great Sea to Gatea, reaching Rome in 1523,
The pilgrim had ample time "to observe in his soul now this,
now that, and found it profitable; then, thought he, this
might also be useful to others/' Thus the Book of Exercises,
begun in Manresa, must have grown bit by bit, year after
year. After receiving the blessing of Pope Adrian VI, the
poorly clad Spaniard begged his way to Venice whence he
sailed for the land where Jesus lived. Was it in the Holy
Land those wonderful compositions of place etched them-
selves in his glowing heart, and the meditation on the Two
Standards, became such an intense spiritual reality? In
Jerusalem his soul overflowed with heavenly consolations
and he was eager to become a missionary to the Mohamme-
dans. It was not to be, for the Franciscan Provincial ap-
peared on the scene, quoted the papal decrees, and ordered
Ignatius under the pain of censure to go back to Spain. There
was nothing to do but obey. The pilgrim bowed to the will
of God, picked up scrip and staff, and returned the long
heart-breaking way to Barcelona. This single episode affords
a glimpse into the soul of a companion of God for whom
obedience to the Church was paramount; of whom, too,
History would write large that "the obedient man speaks of
Victory!" What diametrically opposite ways of life Ignatius
and Luther exhibit at this stage of their careers! One the
humble, obedient pilgrim, seeking more light on the will of
God; the other a proud, resentful upstart, causing nothing
but mischief in Christendom.
The Two Standards
All signs indicated the rapid spread of religious rebellion
in Germany, as Carlstadt, taking a page from Luther, assailed
329
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the rites of the Church, and other zealots, for reform prophe-
sied a great social upheaval. Luther, stubborn as ever, left
his asylum for Wittenberg where he continued to preach,
teach and write against the Church. Peace seemed as far
away as order, and the cry continued for national unity and
drastic reform. In 1524 the Pope's legate seeking to calm
the storm at the Diet of Nuremberg had given assurance
that the needful changes would be enforced, but the German
knights had resolved on warlike measures to settle their own
troubles. It looked as if Germany, so vocal for reform
across the Alps, could not even make peace within its own
borders. The War of the Knights was quickly followed by
the Revolt of the Peasants which broke out in 1524 and
spread rapidly over the land. These peasants misled by
Luther's doctrines of Christian liberty became infected with
the rebel itch and soon ran amok, resorting to rapine and
plunder. ' Then it was they found Luther, their fancied
abettor, a cruel enemy who urged the princes to cut them
down like dogs. The nobles, emboldened by the ex-monk's
words, did just that, slaying the wild humans, and punishing
their leaders. Before the revolt came to an end, the Elector
Frederick died; his brother, John the Steadfast, succeeded,
and became a stout defender of Luther. Nothing shows
more clearly how low Luther had fallen than the marriage
he now entered into with Catherine van Born, a former
Cistercian nun! By this step the storm- torn reformer dis-
mayed some of his best friends, but here again it is evident
he had become a law unto himself. The unhappy, tortured
escapist sought a home where, away from intense excitement
and feverish existence, he could enjoy music and song and the
innocent pranks of children. His wife became "Mistress
Kate," "Doctress Luther" in the letters he sent her amidst
crowded days of writing, preaching, debating Vith foes on
330
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
every side. And as for his home life, the ill-tempered, vulgar
drift of his "Table Talk" reveals nothing if not the soul of a
man fallen from grace. It would not be long before he would
advise Henry VIII to marry a second wife without repudiat-
ing the first; and so truckle to the royalty as to admit shame-
lessly they had the right to practice polygamy.
Look at Ignatius now, if you would clearly realize the
difference, the complete contrariety, between the two out-
standing sixteenth-century leaders. Upon his return from
the Holy Land the pilgrim thought to enter a religious house,
but he felt the need of a well-grounded education. You see
him then at the age of thirty studying Latin in a boys' school
at Barcelona, side by side with mere youngsters. For seven
years he would labor incessantly to improve his mind, little
dreaming of the via mirabilis in which God was leading him.
Out of school hours this marvel of humility conducted the
"Spiritual Exercises, " visited the poor and sick, gave comfort
to thousands of strayed souls; it was the same in Alcala and
Salamanca where he attended the universities. One is not
surprised that in all three places a little company formed
about him, and became known to the poor by their coarse
brown clothing and their devotion to works of charity. Yet
their leader, regarded as a fanatic by the authorities, had to
spend forty- two days in an Alcala, twenty- two in a Salamanca
prison. In 1528 Ignatius journeyed to Paris and entered the
Sorbonne, the center of European learning, where he found
the inquisitors still on his trail. Instead of jailing him, how-
ever, they gave him a clean bill of orthodoxy; they even
asked for a copy of the Book of the Exercises. He was at
this time so poor that during vacation days he had to visit
Antwerp, Bruges, even London collecting alms to defray the
expenses of his courses in philosophy and theology. His
earlier disciples in Spain disappeared from the scene, but in
331
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the Sorbonne a little company formed about the saint, and
swore they would never leave him. They were, all nine of
them, choice souls joined together for the love and service of
Christ, and pledged to follow their Spanish leader to the ends
of the earth. Given that spirit, the Society of Jesus began
to take shape.
Loss and Gain
Luther's followers, meanwhile, spread the seeds of revolt,
and the Reformation soon made its way into Switzerland,
reaching Denmark by 1526. So violently were the heretics
opposed to the old Church that all attempts at conciliation
failed. At the Diet of Spires, in 1526, the States of the
Empire agreed to manage their own religious problems as
best they could. But the Emperor came to the Diet of
Augsburg in 1530, with the determination to restore unity,
only to find the Protestants determined to have their own
way. Any plan to unite against a common foe, and every
attempt to draw up terms of peace met with Luther's opposi-
tion; the Treaty of Schmalkalden (1531) did draw eight
princes and eleven cities together to oppose the Turk, but
only on condition that they should be given freedom to preach
Lutheranism everywhere. This quid pro quo is a clear index
to the temper of reformers intoxicated by the success of their
movement which, spreading like a flood, threatened to engulf
the Empire. Their archleader, the Earth Shaker, found
himself in a mess with the other leaders many of whom were
alienated by the bitterness of his invective. The Anabaptists
resorted to wilder and wilder extremes; the Saxons under
Carlstadt insisted on their independent propaganda; Zwingli
in Switzerland held opinions widely different. Still worse,
the sharp Calvin was day by day getting a step ahead of
him. Victim of an uncontrollable temper, Luther continued
332
% Church History in the Light of the Saints
hot and hostile, disputing with reformers on every side till
the fight appeared rather with enemies within the gates than
with far-off Rome. By this time Germany was like a great
bomber whose pilot had lost both his grip and his sense of
direction. When in 1542 the Council of Trent was sum-
moned, the ex-monk Luther, angry as usual, refused to attend ;
as time wore on the rampaging creature became cagey and
non-committal, seemingly satisfied with his theory of "faith
alone." "Abraham," he declared, "had faith; therefore
Abraham was a good Christian." To such shallows had his
new theology led the vaunted reformer of Christendom.
Yet he continued to rant in more gross language than ever,
stigmatizing the papacy as one of the devices of the devil.
His last days proved miserably unhappy; old temptations
assailed his soul and bitter disappointment at the state of
affairs at home and abroad. In 1546 he died after a stroke
of apoplexy, leaving behind a group of younger zealots who
tried to copy the erratic original, as they continued to sow
the seeds of hate and discord. No one can doubt that the
Church had already suffered a deep wound faith, unity,
culture, social life shared that wound and it would take
centuries to recover from its effects.
Let us go back now a few years for a brief view of the
Roman scene. When Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523) succeeded
Leo X at the helm, Ignatius was preaching at Manresa and
Luther enjoyed sanctuary in Wartburg. A man of deep
learning and devout life, the new Pope set about to reform
the court, but was unable to temper the German attitude
towards Rome. Providentially the Church was strengthened
by the rise of new congregations: the Theatines, the Capu-
chins, the Barnabites, and the Oratorians. It was a member
of the first-named society, Carafa, who discovered Ignatius
and his little company in Venice. They had been in Rome
334
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
and the Pope, after listening to them debate with the Roman
doctors, gave them aid for the journey to Jerusalem. As
they waited for a ship at Venice, Carafa, aware of the urgent
and all-important task ahead, advised a change of plan. Let
them return to Rome where their holy zeal could be better
employed in quelling Protestantism than in converting the
heathen. Back in Rome, with the Name of Jesus on their
banner, the Pope willingly accepted their proffered services:
Ignatius to preach the Spiritual Exercises, Faber and Laynez
to lecture on theology. By May 10, 1538, when Luther and
his so-called reformers were in the thick of strife, ten members
of the "Society of Jesus" assembled together in Rome; they
pledged themselves to meet, face, and repulse the forces of
heresy. Never a day but they preached and gave instruction
throughout the city, much to the surprise of the people unused
to seeing men without monastic dress in the pulpits. "We
thought," they said, "that no one but monks had a right to
preach." In a short time the "plain clothes" priests gained
the confidence of the people, gave promise of doing great
things for the Church. Armed and fully equipped in every
way, they became tract-writers, confessors, preachers, mis-
sionaries a veritable militia of the Holy See whose aim was
the restoration of authority. Early in their career they ran
into a near-tragedy when an Augustinian friar appeared in
Rome, sowing the seeds of Lutheranism. The new order
saw through him, exposed his theories, and incurred the wrath
of his friends. One can understand the feelings of the brave
little group on finding themselves victims of calumny. An
attempt was made to expel them from Rome; but Ignatius
insisted on seeing the thing through. He obtained from
Pope Paul III permission to go on until the infant Society was
cleared of every taint of suspicion. "After we had been
cleared," said Peter Faber, "we placed ourselves unreservedly
335
Church History in the Light of the Saints
at the disposal of Paul III." Things began to look up for
the society which now went zealously to work in Italy, Spain
and Portugal. The education of youth was their forte, and
very soon they took over the universities of Vienna, Cologne,
Ingolstadt, and Prague. From such centers they turned the
tide against Protestantism in the gravely threatened Catholic
states.
Media of Reform
The shadows of the Reformation were closing in on Italy,
the shock of events made itself felt in Rome. Yet, sad to
relate, Pope Clement (1523-1534) was one who "did not
renounce his good intention of reforming society, but duly
postponed it." His successor, Paul III (1534-1549), at once
set about his proper papal business, calling together a group
of able men whose task was to look into things that wanted
mending. They recommended certain concessions in dis-
cipline, and a mutual understanding as to doctrine. Able
as they were, none the less their plans fell through, when a
"No Surrender" group refused to subscribe to the reform
proposals. In 1538 a Catholic League was formed under the
advice of the Archduke of Austria. The Catholic bishops
and princes agreed to stand by one another in the event of
common danger and exclude the Wittenberg heresy from
their dominions. Another measure was adopted at Rome,
in 1542, when the Holy Office was institute^ for the Universal
Church. The Popes now controlled the Inquisition, which
had to do with opinions that savored of heresy which it
sought to suppress. A branch at Venice conducted over
fifteen hundred trials in this century alone, butt executions
were frequent only in Rome. No doubt the procedure was
the cruellest, and many escaped official trial only to be way-
laid and killed on the streets. The brutal system went on
336
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
for all of a century, giving rise to crimes that stained the
history of the Counter- Reformation. And yet in those days
some of the Church's greatest saints lighted the darkened
spiritual skies, while John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila,
enriched the Church with the principles of true mysticism ,
and Shakespeare and Michael Angelo bequeathed their
treasures to the world at large.
Plainly neither political initiative nor the Inquisition
achieved anything like the results which followed on the
Council of Trent. It was this great assemblage (1545-1563)
that provided the vigor and inspiration to meet the quarrel
that still rent Christendom. Opened in 1545, it passed vari-
ous decrees against the Protestants, while favoring tradition,
insisting on the authoritative interpretation of the scriptures
and approving the Vulgate as the best Latin text of the Bible*
At this time Pope Paul III (1534-1549) was having trouble
with Henry VIII, yet he could have given the Council more
time than he accorded his ambitious relatives. In 1547 the
Council adjourned to Bologna, much to the chagrin of the
Emperor Charles V who did not care to see it at work within
the Papal States. By 1551 it was back in Trent where it
tried without success to reach some understanding with the
Protestants. One of the heretical princes, Maurice of Saxony,
marched on the Tyrol to capture the bishops and cardinals
assembled, but the Council broke up in 1552 after passing
decrees on the sacraments. It met again in 1562 under
Pius IV and pronounced definitely on three sacraments widely
attacked by the reformers, viz., the Mass, Holy Orders and
Matrimony. In the matter of indulgences it was ruled that
none but the bishops could grant or dispense ; and the medie-
val pardoner with his scrip of documents from Rome was
ousted once and for all. The Council ended in 1563, where-
upon Pius V (1559-1565) who concluded the sessions, began
337
Church History in the Light of the Saints
to carry out the Trent reforms. He issued his famous creed,
published a corrected index of prohibited books and at the
same time saw to it that the proteg6s of his predecessor,
Paul IV, were dismissed from fat Roman posts of dignity,
civil and ecclesiastical.
The English Martyrs
The Reformation entered England tucked away in the
scrips of the Humanists. It grew under cover in Oxford and
Cambridge before the wave of revolt reached the island
shores. There were, to be sure, brilliant scholars like More
and Colet and Fisher who were devout Catholics, but others
like Tyndale and Frith had become tainted with old Lollard
doctrines. "If God spares my life," said Tyndale to a divine,
"I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of
the Scripture than thou dost." The same boaster later dwelt
at Antwerp in a nest of reformers, together with young
English students, bent upon sowing Luther's teachings in
their native country. This they soon succeeded in doing
and they were aided therein by none other than the King,
Henry VIII, who earlier had been one of the stoutest defenders
of the old faith. Henry had married Catherine of Aragon,
by whom he had several children, but only one, Mary Tudor,
lived. Madly in love with Ann Boleyn, he decided to put
away his lawful wife, and when he could not get his divorce,
he employed unconscionable methods to cripple the authority
of the Pope and the clergy in England. A solid body of good
citizens demurred at the prospect of a divorce ; against them
stood a strong group of English nobles, friends of Ann Boleyn,
who resented the power of Cardinal Wolsey, son of a butcher
of Ipswich. Alas, this prelate was an unscrupulous schemer,
who forgot to serve God in his service to his King, A terrified
Parliament forbade the introduction of papal bulls into
338
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
England and authorized Henry to withdraw all benefices
from the Pope. Thus began a period of bitter strife between
Church and State during which the soil of England was
saturated with the blood of martyrs.
Two great saints, Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher,
canonized in our own day, boldly stood out against Henry
VIII . They realized with what little wisdom the world was
being governed and sensed the danger of the temporal power
ruling over the spiritual. It mattered little to the King that
More was "the most modern and original mind of his time/'
and Fisher, the holy Bishop of Rochester, the Chancellor of
Cambridge University. They must be done away with along
with the fearless Carthusians who opposed the state of affairs
in the kingdom. Thus the Reformation was to make its
gory way into Henry's domains. It was not the English
people, who chose to stand side by side with Luther and all
his works. It was their incestuous King, and his courtiers,
greedy for power and pelf, who dragooned them out of their
old religion. Three Carthusians were put to death with
barbarous cruelty, on the charge of treason; and it was
thought this summary act would frighten the people. Then,
they arrested John Fisher and imprisoned him in the Tower
of London. The able Chancellor of Cambridge, who stood
alone among the English bishops, favored the royal suprem-
acy, but only in so far "as the divine law permits." The
Pope had announced his name for cardinal, but Henry said,
"I'll send his head to Rome for the cap." An agent of the
King called on him for submission but he stoutly refused, and
it was a calm, even willing bishop they led to the gallows.
Next 1 came Sir Thomas More, Henry's loyal Chancellor.
No more complete Englishman existed in those days than the
great Catholic scholar and lawyer but he would have no
truck with the King's shameless behavior. He too went to
339
Church History in the Light of the Saints
his death with a quip on his lips and a protest of true loyalty
to God and his King. Now that Henry had rejected the
Pope and gotten rid of the greatest men in the realm, he pro-
ceeded to expel and suppress the religious orders. The gray
friars, sons of St. Francis, and the black friars, sons of St.
Dominic, were ordered to leave the country. All the monas-
teries were raided and the loot went into the royal coffers.
For all who would not submit, the punishment was rack and
rope, stake and gibbet. Henry's blind hatred did not end
there ; he shocked Europe by burning the relics of St. Thomas
of Canterbury; he caused statues, shrines and holy objects
of veneration to be destroyed; with the fury of a madman
he created havoc throughout all his domains.
Old Europe* s Demise
Look at the picture in the second half of the century. The
old world, as we saw her in the past, was no more. The
Reformation, in origin a German movement, had long since
become European, and the nation had become a religious
unit. Gone was the Holy Roman Empire which had rested
four square on Pope and Emperor, Catholic states and peoples.
Half of Europe now repudiated the Vicar of Christ; only
Spain, Ireland, Italy, and South Germany remained loyal.
For the rest, England, Scotland, Denmark, Prussia, Saxony,
Hesse, the Palatinate and much of Switzerland embraced
Protestantism; there were hundreds of thousands in Bavaria
who left the Church, while Poland and Hungary suffered
from the heretic's incursions. The picture was no longer the
Catholic Church, with its one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;
it was "the Churches" who set their faces against Rome.
As to the Emperor whose raison d'etre was to defend and
uphold the Church, there was little room for him amid such
religious division. Only in Spain where Church and State
340
Saint Ignatius and the Sixteenth Century
stood as one, did Philip II exercise universal -rule. In Eng-
land, Mary Tudor tried to make the land Catholic; Elizabeth
succeeded in returning it to Protestantism. The towns of
Switzerland followed Zwingli, the countryside remained
Catholic, but the government of the Churches lay in the hands
of the civil authorities. A large part of France and most o
Scotland succumbed to Calvin "the most daring religious
despot Europe had seen since the dawn of Christianity."
This sharp-sighted organizer did not try to start a new
Church, but to create a new world. Indeed, it did look as if
"in a mighty dust of war and revolt, Christendom itself was
vanishing." And this tragedy was, fundamentally, blame-
able upon the so-called reformers.
Such was the state of affairs all over Europe raw, bloody,
violent, in this terrible age of persecution. The total number
of victims in the wars of religion exceeded the numbers of
martyrs in the third and fourth centuries. "Of the common
run of Christians think this,'* said Erasmus; "that none
were ever more corrupt, even among the pagans in their
notions of morals. " A pathetic picture, surely, of how low
the old Empire had fallen; how little Luther really accom-
plished for the cause of Christianity. The so-called Reforma-
tion, admittedly, had done two gigantic evils; it had secu-
larized life, and played into the hands of the greedy State.
So far had the love of change and the suspicion of authority
brought the would-be religious reformers that their "churches"
had become national establishments subject to the civil
government. Frqm now on the State would grow daily more
powerful and more tyrannical as Machiavelli's dark image
became an actual reality. Even now the states in their
pride of power brought about just as much strife and oppres-
sion as did the old religious conflict. The right of man and
natural law had no place in the new political scheme of things.
341
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Its all-embracing aim would presently be, "Everything within
the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the
State/' And as for the Catholic Church, why she must be
made submit to the claims of the civil power only she
could not and would not. No! She would resist to the
teeth such stolen authority, resist it all the more when it
presently assumed the hideous shape of "the Divine Right
of Kings."
342
Saint Jonn Baptist De La Salle
FATHER OF MODERN PEDAGOGY
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE AND THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Kings of
France
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
HENRY IV,
Decay of European society
1601
CLEMENT VIII,
-1612
Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva
1602
1592-1605
Reformed Carmelites enter France
1603
LEO XI, 1605
Birth of Jacques OHer in Paris
1608
PAUL V,
Visitation Nuns founded by St. Francis
de
1605-1621
Sales
1610
Louis XIII,
Catholic Renaissance in France
1612
1612-1643
Reform of Benedictines, "Les Feuillants"
Thirty Years War begins in Bohemia
1618
Richelieu rules France
1622
GREGORY XV,
1621-1623
Charles I on English throne
1625
URBAN VIII,
Richelieu subdues the nobles
1626
1623-1644
Death of Francis Bacon
1626
Birth of Bossuet
1627
Huguenots suppressed by Richelieu
1628
Jansenism grows in France
1638
Ursulines labor in Quebec
1639
Pope condemns Jansenius
1641
Jacques Olier cur of San Sulpice
1642
Death of Richelieu
1642
Louis XIV f
Daughters of Providence founded
INNOCENT X,
1643-1715
Thirty Years War ends
1648
1644-1655
Uprising of the Nobles
1648
Des Cartes doctrines widespread
1650
Sisters of St. Joseph founded at Le Puy
1650
Birth of John Baptist de la Salle
1651
Birth of Fenelon
1651
Louis XIV crowned at Rheims
i6S5
ALEXANDER VII,
Death of Cardinal Mazarin
1661
1655-1667
The "Glorious Years'' (1661-1678)
1661
De la Satte receives tonsure
1662
De la Salle a Canon at Rheims
1667
CLEMENT IX,
1667-1669
De la Salle enters San Sulpice
1670
CLEMENT X,
Louis XIV a virtual dictator
1673
1670-1676
* 'Quietism" in Spain and Italy
1675
De la Salle ordained to priesthood
1678
INNOCENT XI,
*
Habeas Corpus Law in England
1679
1676-1689
De la Salle sows seeds of great system
1679
De la Salle founds boys institute
1681
Rise of Gallicanism
1682
De la Salle resigns his Canonry
1683
Rule of Christian Brothers
1684
Sisters of the Presentation
1684
Edict of Nantes evoked
1685
The Toleration Act
1689
ALEXANDER VIII,
De la Salle 1 s first No vitiate .at Vaugirard
1691
1689-1691
Birth of Voltaire, Herald of Modern Spirit
1694
INNOCENT XII,
Lazarists founded by St. Vincent
1697
1691-1700
De la Salle's first Sunday School in Paris
1698
The "General Overturn" in sight
1699
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE AND
THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Road to Recovery
Whatever may be said of these days, It is certain that a
new age had begun. When Luther and his colleagues split
Christendom they paved the way for a pagan state. The
Church, then, faced by corrupt prevailing evils needs must
meet the Reformation by reform. Weak and impoverished
herself, she knew that nothing had been so disastrous as the
spiritual inertia of the previous century. The time had come
to rouse herself and combat a system that was rapidly op-
pressing her children, enslaving their sacramental life. Civil
authorities imposed their tyrannies by bribery, suppression,
confiscation; they were attempting in their skinned-down
way to take over the Church's social work. A great task
in the European world lay before her to win souls back to
God. By Divine Providence she had miraculously survived
the worst, and now she must begin courageously to build for
the better. By the power of Christ Who never deserts His
Spouse, she set out to retrieve her heavy losses. Ups and
.downs, fears and alarms did not deter her as she labored to
secure social justice within the nations. Let there be pro-
tests, opposition, persecution; let infidel crews laugh God's
world to scorn. The Church was now on the offensive, ready
in counter-attack to bleed her heart out for the cause of
Christ. And though she could still count the inept, the
feeble, the incompetent, yet a glory of sanctity showed in
her ranks, and the splendors of Catholic education, eloquence
and science broke out upon the dismal scene. At the very
time Europe seemed to have gone cold, up blazed the fire of
345
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men and women, sons and
daughters of the Church. This is the greatest fact of the
seventeenth century.
One stands breathless in admiration of those brave men
and women whose lives speak out:
i
Go Master,
and we will follow Thee
to the last gasp,
in faith and loyalty.
Gladly they fared forth to preach and teach, they feared
nothing on earth, they were ready if need be to die. Old
orders, long inactive, came alive, while new religious com-
munities appeared on the scene. Lest we miss the whole
century-picture let us try to count them on our fingers. The
Jesuits braved every stronghold of Protestantism, preaching
with zeal, teaching with matchless power. The Reformed
Carmelites of Spain labored in France as early a^s 1603, and
tlie Oratorians, founded in 1611, spread to Florence, Venice
and Verona. The Sulpicians, under the intrepid Jacques
Olier, trained men for the priesthood in a chaotic world;
their headquarters, San Sulpice, was to prove a tower of
strength in dreadful days to come. Similarly the reforms of
St. Maur and La Trappe strengthened the spiritual bastion
of France; and the Capuchins, humble and full of charity,
labored in Switzerland and the Tyrol. Near the end of the
century sons of St. Vincent de Paul, seeking the peace of
God instead of the sword, spent themselves among the under-
privileged, while the congregation of St. Jean Eudes furnished
men of prayer for a failing age. A veritable host of valiant
religious women also set to work purifying the befouled soil
of Europe. All they asked was to be allowed to serve the
poor, the sick, the ignorant and they sought no earthly
346
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
reward. The long-established Ursulines could even be found
in far-off America; theirs was the first of the modern teach-
ing orders of women. The Visitation Order, born of the zeal
of that perfect bishop, St. Francis de Sales, not only nursed
the sick, but restored the fruits of faith. And the Daughters
of Charity wrought valiantly in every field under the leader-
ship of Louise de Merillac. Add to these the Presentation
Sisters, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of Mercy of St.
Charles Borromeo, the Religious of the Perpetual Adoration.
Why, even the scoffer Voltaire was constrained to confess,
"Perhaps there is on earth nothing so grand as the sacrifice
of beauty, youth, and position, made by the more delicate
sex, in order to succor the mass of sufferers in our hospitals,
the very sight of whom is so humiliating to our pride, and so
repugnant to our delicacy. 7 '
Vision of Service
- Watching the flow of the seventeenth century, it is our
plan to concentrate on the life and work of St. John Baptist
de la Salle. A Christian hero who sacrificed his all to teach
the poor, a priest of the Most High who devoted his talents
to the perfection of a great institute, this faithful servant of
God's Kingdom drew forth from his treasury old things and
new, richly meriting the title, "Father of Modern Pedagogy."
John Baptist was born in 1651, the son of Louis de la Salle,
a councillor of Rheims, and Nicole Moet, daughter of another
councillor in the same court. They were a family of ancient
lineage, noble, solid and widely respected; hence the saint's
early life with six brothers and *sisters was spent amidst the
most sheltered, even austere, surroundings of a magistrate's
home. He learned how to serve Mass, became an altar boy,
and at all times gave good example, his disposition being so
sweet and affable that everybody loved him. Easy to see
347
Chwrck History in the Light of the Saints
how the growing lad reflected the splendid virtues and su-
perior qualities of his parents: like his father, John had a
noble sense of justice, like his mother, the boy's piety was
solid and deep. At nine, he entered the university where by
dint of industry and fine intelligence he made rapid strides,
nor was it long before the able student felt it his vocation to
study for the priesthood. He was only eleven when he
received tonsure; at sixteen they made him a Canon of
Rheims, a member of an illustrious body that took rank after
the Archbishop. "My little cousin/ 1 said the old Vicar
General, "bear in mind that a Canon should be like a Cister-
cian Monk, passing his life in solitude and prayer." Mani-
festly that is just what the young man did, as he continued
his courses, became Master of Arts, and then went on to
prepare for the priesthood.
San Sulpice, the seminary to which John now directed his
steps, lay in the heart of Paris. On the register of admission
you can still read "Oct. 18, 1670. John Baptist de la
Salle, acolyte and Canon of Rheims." The royal city could
boast no greater powerhouse of sanctity than this Sulpician
seminary, no more orderly locality than the parish which its
founder, Jacques Olier, had created from the vilest slums.
In 1642 when he became pastor, the Faubourg de Saint-
Germain reeked with sorcerers, atheists and libertines. Every
alley was overrun by incorrigible gamins, every street had
its thieves and gutter-snipes. Books on black magic were
brazenly peddled at the church doors; practices more vile
than the sewers of Paris abounded. For example, the police
raided a seemingly respectable house where they found an
altar dedicated to Satan; there were black candles and a
missal, and an inscription, "Thanks to thee, Lucifer, thanks
to thee Beelzebub; thanks to thee Azrael." The holy Olier
had changed all this, making the abode of Satan a place of
348
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
law, order and peace. He brought the poor erring lambs
back into the fold ; even the hearts of the royalty were touched
by this Apostolic priest. Echoes of Olier's work must have
reached the ears of young de la Salle when he entered San
Sulpice, since many of the professors there remembered their
old superior and imitated his stalwart virtues. One of them
was John's director, Father Bauyn, a priest firm of soul, up-
right of mind, and distinguished for his simple piety and
profound humility. A beautiful friendship sprang up be-
tween these kindred spirits which neither time nor events
could weaken. No doubt the splendid example of the older
man was of incalculable spiritual value to the newcomer.
"Our young seminarist," says a contemporary, "was a faith-
ful observer of the rule, and punctual at all the exercises of
the community. His conversation was always gentle and
decorous. He never seemed to me to have annoyed anyone
or merited any reproach. " Thus was de la Salle rated by
the students at San Sulpice, many of whom attained high
dignities in the Church of France. It was the will of Heaven,
however, to reserve for the youth from Rheims the career
of a great Christian educator.
In God's Plan
During those all too brief seminary days, John Baptist
met the first great crisis of his life. A year and a half after
his entrance, word reached him of his mother's death; Louis
de la Salle very shortly followed her. Such a loss, at such a
time, seemed almost unbearable but the young student,
strong in spirit, stood up under the blow. His brothers and
sisters looked to him to be both father and mother, so he
dutifully left San Sulpice and returned home to Rheims.
Cut short in his studies, he was not disheartened; in spite
of an aching heart and crushing loneliness, he went forward
349
Church History in the Light of the Saints
utterly resigned to God's will. Nothing was more important,
however, or more difficult than to stick to his ideals during
the six years he cared for his younger charges. The blue-
prints the Divine Architect had drawn for John Baptist were
indeed 'unknown to him, and all he could do was to build
according to the divine plan as it unfolded. Day after day
he set apart hours to study at the University of Rheims;
week in and week out he supervised the education of his
brothers and sisters. He was twenty-one when he received
the order of subdeacon; six years later in 1678 he became a
priest forever. All this time John led a quiet inner life, and
wrought many good deeds among which must be counted his
interest in schools and orphanages. A good and faithful
workman, he labored in silence and hope, building to the
best of his ability. Nor did it ever occur to him that very
soon he would be taking a magnificent initiative, and enter-
ing a new field of education.
The student days of John Baptist were coeval with the
''Glorious Years" (1661-1678) of France. Louis XIV,
mighty in war, expert in the social graces, became an absolute
ruler who really dominated Europe. No parliamentary
rights would be tolerated by this Grand Monarch, the munifi-
cent patron of the arts and sciences, molder of new forms of
prose, poetry, architecture. Great men could be found in
his domains, but they were regarded as mere subjects. Was
not Louis the King Sun who was supposed to enlighten the
earth, who held powerful churchmen in the palm of his hand,
and exercised what was virtually a religious dictatorship?
Yes, of course. In fact, France was a miniature imperial
Rome, under a modern Caesar, fed with flattery and drunk
with power. Yet what price glory when millions in and out
of Paris knew only hunger and infirmity, misery and squalor?
All this. King's uncurbed authority, his criminal neglect of
350
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and, the Seventeenth Century
the needy would prove to be the dynamite which could one
day explode in revolution. Did John Baptist de la Salle
foresee this in his hidden hours of prayer? Very likely he
did, and most clearly. And God was to raise him up as a
force to offset the sin and selfishness of Louis XIV and his
day. It so happened that an old friend, Canon Roland, had
interested the young priest in an orphanage for girls. John
had proved an enormous help not only in solving knotty
problems of management, but also by his valuable scholastic
advice. Then the canon suddenly died, leaving to his co-
worker the responsibility for the whole project; and because
de la Salle was so loyal to God and man he cheerfully shoul-
dered the burden. That reveals his high code of honor; his
deep-grown habit of charity which seeks not her own. Even
then the successful administrator did not realize that actually
he had entered upon a life work; not long after a school for
little boys opened in Rouen, and again John was instrumental
in starting the project. By little and little he was laying the
foundations of an institute, destined to change the face of
the whole educational world.
The Little Flock
No biographer has ever pointed out more clearly the
mysterious way of special Providence in de la Salle.'s career
than the saint himself. a lf ever I thought," he wrote in
later years, "that the care which but of pure charity I was
taking of schoolmasters would have brought me to feel it
was a duty to live with them, I should have given it up at
once. In fact it was a great trouble to me when I first took
them into my house, and the dislike of it lasted for two years.
It was apparently for this reason, that God, Who orders all
things with wisdom and gentleness, and Who does not force
the inclinations of men, when He willed to employ me en-
351
Church History in the Light of the Saints
tirely in, the care of schools, wrought imperceptibly and during
a long space of time, so that one engagement led to another
in an unforeseen way/' To be "employed entirely in the
care of Christian schools'* was beyond any doubt the young
priest's vocation. And seldom did a greater need exist for
just such schools than in his day when the Church's efforts,
social and educational, were so wantonly thwarted. Thou-
sands of poor neglected children, hungry for Christlike love,
thirsting for truth, swarmed all over France. They were
gripped by want and fear, accustomed only to a daily diet of
cruelty and abuse. There were those still worse off, potential
criminals knowing only lawlessness, sowing the dragon's
teeth that would later tear and rend society. And no greater
menace existed than those cynical free-thinkers in high
places who held "there should be in the State ignorant tatter-
demalions; when the populace begins to reason, all is lost."
Now it was to all youth, including these "ignorant tatter-
demalions," driven underground, that John Baptist conse-
crated his life work. Their education, he perceived, would
be costly, costly beyond price, for it would demand heroic
courage to cope with silent forces waging the devil's own war.
John Baptist had confidence the confidence born of
faith, hope and charity. His family, however, bitterly re-
sented the idea of a Canon of Rheims turned common peda-
gogue, saddled with the care of a crowd of wild urchins, when
he might have rapid advancement in the Church. That did
not either discourage nor deter the schoolman, for he knew
that God wanted the task done and would never fail in pro-
viding the means. The Teacher of teachers had whispered
in no uncertain voice : "Go out into the highways and byways,
and invite them to come to My Supper." With such a call
echoing in his soul how could de la Salle let little things like
dignity, honors, academic position stand in the way of God's
352
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
work? Time was running short, and the powers of evil were
out to destroy young lives. The greatest need of the time,
he saw, was to provide efficient teachers ; persons of virtue
and ability. All the rules the Church drew up could not go
far unless there were religious men and women, versed in the
art and science of education. So he gathered about him a
small band of men in whom he discerned a religious vocation,
and in 1682 the little community moved into a house of their
own. At once, then, they began their work and so great
was the fame of these devoted schoolmasters as to increase
the demand for them all over the neighborhood. But there
were foes, too, who objected to the children being taught to
read and write, insisting that only those should learn whose
living depended on reading and writing. The Christian
teachers were dubbed "Freres Ignorantins" ; they were hooted
at in the streets; everything possible was done to make it
hard for them. All that only made John Baptist more
determined to carry on for the sake of the rising generation.
In 1683 he resigned his office as Canon of Rheims, sold his
goods, and spent the money for the relief of the poor. He
was stripped of such burdens now and like a true athlete of
Christ, he was ready to take the ro&d even to the very end,
the road that God had made unmistakably clear. The very
next year he received from the ecclesiastical authorities full
permission to found the "Brothers of the Christian School."
Youth of France
While John Baptist was laying' out his map of education
and forming Christian schoolmasters into a religious com-
munity, Louis XIV, Le Roy Soleil, gave little thought to
the youth of France. No attention was paid to country
lads; they just grew up to follow the plow, pay their taxes,
and die on the land. The rising generation were for the most
353
Church History in the Light of the Saints
part little better off; youths loafed in the streets of cities,
ne'er-do-wells could be found in every village. Their days
were dark indeed, with nothing ahead save squalor and
poverty. The lay teachers of the time appeared a sorry lot
who looked after but two or three pupils and sought merely
to eke out a bare existence. There was scant evidence of
Christian conduct to be seen in their lives, not a sign of super-
natural spirit. As late as 1686 the Bishop of Toul declared
the schoolmasters of his diocese were "gamesters, drunkards,
profligates, ignorant and brutal. They spend their time
playing cards in the public houses or playing the violin in
places of amusement or at village feasts. In the Churches
they are not suitably dressed and instead of studying church
music they sing during the services anything that comes into
their heads." What then could be expected of such like?
"One cannot wonder/' said Vincent de Paul, "that there is
but^little trace of Christianity in their pupils' lives," and the
saint declared he would gladly "beg from door to door to
provide a living for a true schoolmaster." In plain words
there was no outlook for the youth of France save a lawless
future shot through with cruel violence.
The founder of the Christian Brothers, it will be recalled,
had sensed all that and hesitated about taking up the stagger-
ing burden. Even when his will rebelled, God made clear,
so to speak, these dreadful conditions so that John would
freely choose what his Heavenly Father willed. And the
young man had faced the task with zeal, resolved to spend
himself in the service of the poor and ignorant. So you
now see de la Salle hard at work with his little novitiate,
building up a growing community. By 1688 he was in Paris,
there to establish his work more permanently. At the time,
as we have noted, there were pitifully few competent school-
masters in sight; class-teaching was quite unknown, each
354
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
child being instructed separately. Bush schools (cole$
buissoni&res} were conducted by charlatans in out-of-the-way
places. Just as today, spurious instructors could be had for a
price; they promised to teach music in ten lessons, Greek
and Latin in three months, all sorts of subjects grammar,
rhetoric, philosophy, medicine, geography almost over-
night. John Baptist, characteristically, lost no time in
meeting this ridiculous situation face to face. He and his
brothers took over a school in the parish of San Sulpice, and
the royal city saw the "Fr&res Chretiennes" with their plain
black cassocks, thick double-soled shoes, and broad-brimmed
hats.
True Growth
The seed, cast less than a decade earlier, had taken deep
root and the tree was now a reality. A body of able Christian
schoolmasters was formed into a religious community, which
had its own regular novitiate, houses of studies, and homes
for rest in old age. The soil in which they labored proved
fertile and responsive, but it needs must be carefully weeded,
the field strictly delimited, and the seed planted anew, year
after year. The State, blind to its duty, was criminally
negligent in the matter of the popular education that John
Baptist essayed. Care had to be taken lest the roots be
dwarfed and the organic growth impaired by too much spread-
ing out into alien soil. De la Salle was the first in the history
of education to cultivate elementary-school teaching as a
scientific system. The schools he designed for poor boys
taught no Latin, nor would he have his teachers encourage
the study of the classics; they must be thoroughly efficient
elementary teachers, and their schools genuine elementary
schools, foundation schools, not half-baked high-schools or
would-be colleges. The institute, thus intensively culti-
355
Church History in the Light of the Saints
vated, began to grow beautifully, beyond all expectation.
There were boarding-schools for homeless children ; reforma-
tory schools for the delinquent; even Sunday schools for
those who had to work during the week-days. And all of
these rested four-square on solid pedagogical foundations of
elementary education.
It was evident that Heaven favored these unselfish laborers,
for the tree came up and increased. More than that, root
and trunk became stronger as time went on, and the branches
spread far and wide. John Baptist gave the world the first
training colleges; besides providing preparatory schools for
lay masters who had no vocation to join his strictly religious
community. He built up in his day an enduring machinery
of popular education, perfect in all its departments. In it
you can see every worthwhile element of the present public
system antedated by fully two centuries. Did he encounter
much hostility? Yes, plenty. The men who in that day
utterly failed to see the unity of design in de la Salle's work,
the power and efficiency in his united systematic action, were
bigots who would have gladly harnessed the Christian Brothers
to their plows. They had many evil-plotting successors, and
those are they who in our day have brought about the down-
fall of France. Yet despite their vicious opposition ,the
Christian Brothers were to endure through the centuries.
The nations looked to them to learn how to educate the
children of the poor; teachers eagerly sought their books,
their methods, their masters. So it came to pass that the
sometime Canon of Rheims accomplished the seeming im-
possible, blazing the first path of popular education through
a wilderness of ignorance. And before John Baptist died,
he had the consolation of seeing the seed grow into a great
tree: the Frbres Chr$tiennes numbered 274, and their pupils
356
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
9,885. The tree continued to cast its branches until at the
time of the Great Revolution it could count 36,000 pupils,
no longer ' 'ignorant tatterdemalions" but solid citizens in
the making.
Church and State
The France Joan of Arc saved for the Church had bravely
weathered the sixteenth-century storm. But in this age of
restored monarchy the Catholic spirit was weakened and
impoverished. Henry IV (1589-1610) aiming to effect
political absolutism, closed the era of religious wars. He
granted liberty to Protestants and insisted that the Mass be
restored in the two hundred fifty towns where the Huguenots
had forbidden a Catholic service. Under Louis XIII, how-
ever, it was Richelieu who for eighteen years ruled the State
with the iron glove. An amazing diplomat, this Minister of
State, never deeply religious, was a dignitary to his finger
tips, and be it said he never lost hope of healing the division
of the Church and "the churches/' But like most men "of
the earth, earthy," he lived and worked only for his own little
day, having no vision of things to come. He shrank from
no trickery to do away with any and all who stood in his
way, nor did he scruple in putting innocent men to death.
He had no political principles, had little use for clemency,
and tolerated Calvinism, but never political opposition. All
rival forces had to take a back seat, for he conceived the
French monarchy to be above contending parties. "No
dominant interest but the reason of the State/' was Riche-
lieu's absolutist view . . . "no authority but the sovereign,
no will but his own." To revive the an ti- Austrian policy he
formed an alliance with Sweden and the Protestant states of
Germany. And he saw to it that high offices of state were
357
Church History in the Light of the Saints
tendered to Huguenots just so long as they helped extend
the power of France. But when they rose against the crown,
as in 1621, their political organization was ruthlessly sup-
pressed. By 1628 their fortified towns capitulated and the
Protestants began to emigrate beyond French borders.
After the death of Richelieu in 1642 the same policies were
enforced by his proteg6, the Sicilian Cardinal Mazarin.
Then, in 1643, Louis XIV succeeded to the throne, and
directly took things in his own hands. One idea possessed
him to deify his kingship as Henry VIII had done in
England, and make the French omnipotent. Obviously he
had picked a bad model and the aftermath was fraught with
tragedy for society. "L'ftat, c'est moi" are the words often
put into his mouth. And when Mazarin died, the young
monarch informed his capable ministers that from then on
they report to him as they had reported to the cardinal. The
small states that fringed his territory Belgium, Liege,
Luxemburg, and Franche-Compte proved easy to control,
but he regarded Austria and the Netherlands as enemies to
be held in leash. Towards the Huguenots who took issue
with the royal policy he showed as little mercy as did his
former minister, Mazarin. They were excluded from the
offices and dignities hitherto their treasured possessions;
worse still the dragonnade ruling compelled them to billet
French soldiers in their homes. The one thing the Grand
Monarch seems to have feared was a break with Rome, yet
he imposed his own drastic rules upon the Church; in 1769
apostate Catholics were penalized, and mixed marriages
strictly forbidden. Less than ten years later he revoked the
Edict of Nantes, causing a quarter of a million Huguenots
to migrate to England, Holland and other countries. Just
as Pope Innocent X resisted 'The Most Catholic King"
when he tried to exact a vassal's oath from all the ecclesiastics
358
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
in France, Pope Alexander VII also frequently had to oppose
the secularist policies he strove to enforce.
Signals of Danger
But it was in 1682 that the gravest crisis arose. Not
suddenly, for the seeds of the thing had long since been
planted by Richelieu and his successor, Mazarin, whose
brazen policies exempted the Catholic King as a bounden
subject of the Pope. Indeed, all over Europe could be found
anti-papal groups who had their own ideas about the disci-
pline and doctrine of Rome. The liberties of the French
dated back to Louis IX who gave protection to his ecclesias-
tics against the exactions of the royal officers and feudal
counts. By degrees, however, those privileges were abused,
and many of St. Louis' successors who were anything but
saints tried to limit the papal jurisdiction. Of course, the
Grand Monarch, sated with power, would have the spiritual
yield to his temporal sway. The Assembly of the French
Clergy met to support his pretensions and enacted the four
articles of Gallican freedom in church affairs. These articles
denied the Vicar of Christ authority over kings in anything
but spiritual matters; held that the Pope is equally bound
by canon law and by the laws of the French Church, insisted
that his decisions in doctrine are infallible only when the
whole Church concurs. One of their champions in this semi-
Protestant contest with the papacy was Bossuet, Bishop of
Meaux, a powerful prelate and able theologian who feared
no man in controversy. Popes Innocent XI and Alexander
VIII disciplined the rebellious clergy and the King eventually
yielded up the four propositions adopted by his supporters.
Yet the Gallican spirit took to the underground where it still
lives, a century-old pest to Catholic law and order.
Behold John Baptist de la Salle in those days when the
359
Church History in the Light of the Saints
Church in France appeared to be in such straits. Having
resigned his canonry in 1683, he set to work to draw up
the rule for the Christian Brothers. It took all of fifteen
years, and during that time he had perfected it by patience
and prayer, penance and fasting. A second needed step was
to submit the whole thing to the older members of the com-
munity for criticism, correction and suggestions. They were
free to judge, correct, make additions, yet when they returned
it to John Baptist he found not a line had been altered. The
fact is that except for a few minor items it has remained the
Law of the Society to this very day. Few documents avail-
able to the historian throw such a flood of light on those times
as this Rule, whose first article clearly sets forth the object
of the Christian Brothers in the following words:
The object of this Institute is to give a Christian education to
children, and it is for this purpose that schools are held, in order
that the masters, who have charge of the children from morning
to night, may bring them up to lead good lives, by instructing them
in the mysteries of our holy Religion, and filling their minds with
Christian maxims, while they give them such an education as is
fitting for them.
This Institute is very greatly needed, because working people and
the poor, who are generally but little instructed themselves, and are
obliged to spend the whole day in working for their living and that
of their children, cannot themselves give them the teaching which
is necessary for them. It has been with a view to provide these
advantages for the children of the poor, and of labouring men, that
the Institution of the Christian Schools has been founded.
The disorderly lives of the working classes and of the poor are
generally attributable to the fact that they have been badly brought
up, and suffered to run wild in their childhood; and this evil it is
almost impossible to repair in their more advanced years, because
bad habits are very difficult to break, and are hardly ever quite
cured, however great the pains which are taken to reform them. It
360
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
is easy, therefore, to see the importance and usefulness of the
Christian Schools, since to guard against these disorderly ways and
their evil consequences is the principal fruit to be hoped for from
their institution. 1
Had that thoroughly Catholic spirit permeated the royal
court the Great Revolution, so close at hand, would have
died aborning. Instead, the long-scorned hatreds, squabbles
and fears of "the Have-nots" continued to crop up .every-
where, and Louis XIV never really came to know his own
people, hence never was able to build a better nation. Not
indeed until the wrath of God had fallen on this people with
its pride, godlessness, and vast inequalities, would "the
Haves" be brought to their knees.
The General Overturn
France at the century-end was heading pell-mell for Tophet.
And no wonder, when one considers the evils and abuses
abroad, the injustice towards the poor and helpless. Think
of the wealth and luxury flaunting themselves in the court
of Louis XIV, on the streets of cities, in the castles in the
countryside. Think also of the sufferings of the masses, the
passionate cries of the underprivileged. Why, they asked
themselves, why were the few so rich, the many so poor?
And the answer came : the King, the court, the law allow it.
What then was more likely than the angry resolve, "Away
with the King and his court and his nobles who reap where
they never sowed, who eat what they never worked for."
Added to the reckless confusion, anti-Christian philosophers
attacked the only power of true reform, the Catholic Church.
They prated loudly of liberty and equality, of the rights of
men, and almost in the same breath said of the laboring
people, "They are like oxen, all they require is a goad, a yoke
1 The Christian Brothers, Wilson, pp. 122-123
361
Church History in the Light of the Saints
and some hay." One cannot miss the contrast between such
heralds of revolt and the men and women of God who sought
to allay the suffering of the downtrodden. "You see, dear
Brothers/' said the Archbishop of Aries at the opening of a
Christian Brothers' school, "you see the eagerness with
which you are welcomed, every face is radiant with joy; you
are come to teach the poor, that precious portion of the flock
of Jesus Christ, which the Divine Shepherd cherished so
tenderly, and which after His example, you too love from the
bottom of your hearts. " If only that spirit of service had
prevailed, France so far gone in infamy, might have been
saved. But it was the old old story of the wolf and the lamb
which history is ever repeating: though the lamb is in the
right, the wolf gets the better of him.
By now an artificial and sordid age was nearing its end,
the very principles of justice had collapsed. "If indeed ye
be judges," Heaven declared, "pronounce verdicts, judge
what is just, ye men." It was because of their failure so to
act that the rulers of France brought upon themselves "the
abomination that makes desolate." The Revolution was an
uprising of the nameless multitude against the privileged
classes of the nation. Had the Church been able to have her
way it might have been otherwise, but she found herself
thwarted at every turn. So many of her faithless children
betrayed her, so many of her priests became ignorant and
worldly that religion had wellnigh lost its power among the
middle and lower classes of the population. The great work
done for the poor "nobodies" of France by the new religious
communities of heroic men and women was offset a thousand
to one by evil-doers in high places. The moral and conserva-
tive influence exercised by the God-fearing could not success-
fully contend with the spirit of infidelity. As early as 1688,
pre-echoes of grim days to come could be heard in the violent
362
Saint John Baptist De La Salle and the Seventeenth Century
quarrels, the fanatical proclamations, the brutal verdicts
visited upon innocent and religious people. The nation
seethed with discontent; the toilers despaired of finding any
redress for their grievances. And though revolution was in
the very air the Crown never paused to consider the plight
of the common people. Louis XIV actually practiced what
a later dictator Napoleon proclaimed, "I am not a man like
other men and the laws of morality and decorum could not
be intended to apply to me." Yet when the hour of death
approached he whispered to the weeping servants at his bed-
side, "Did you think me immortal? I never did/' Too late
now for the lonely superman to repair the evils he had brought
upon his people, evils which all the flatteries of the poet
Racine, the dramatist Moliere, the preacher Bossuet never
could undo. A new order must come, said the mob, and
France under the urge of revolution slowly drifted on towards
"the mad fool-fury of the Seine."
363
Saint Jonn Baptist Di Rossi
PARAGON OF PRIESTLINESS
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DI ROSSI AND THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Kings
of France
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
Louis XIV,
War of the Spanish Succession
1700
CLEMENT XI,
-I7 X 5
Childhood of John Baptist di Rossi
1703
1700-1721
Spread of Jansenism
1704
Di Rossi at the Roman College
1708
Birth of Jean Jacques Rousseau
1712
Birth of Diderot
1713
Peter the Great's Prussian war-machine
1713
Death of Louis XIV
1715
Louis XV,
English conquest of India (1718-1726)
1718
I7I5-I774
Di Rossi ordained to priesthood
1721
Moravians in Germany
1722
INNOCENT XIII,
Rise of Wesleyanism in England
1723
1721-1724
Persecution in China
1724
BENEDICT XIII,
Di Rossi founds hospice for unfortunates
1731
1724-1730
CLEMENT XII,
Alphonsus Ligouri founds Redemptorists
1732
1730-1740
Di Rossi Canon of St. Maria
1737
Birth of Tom Paine
1737
Clement XII condemns Freemasons
I73B
Frederick the Great ready to strike
1740
BENEDICT XIV,
Birth of Paley
1743
1740-1758
St. Paul of Cross founds Passionists
1747
Birth of Goethe
1749
Jansenism condemned by Pope
1756
Seven Years War (1756-1763)
Jesuits expelled from Portugal
I75<5
1759
CLEMENT XIII,
Di Rossi broken in health
1763
1758-1769
Death of di Rossi
1764
Jesuits expelled from France
1767
J esuits expelled from Spain
1767
Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte
1769
CLEMENT XIV,
Persecution in England and Ireland
1770
1769-1774
First Partition of Poland
1772
Society of Jesus abolished by the Pope
1773
Louis XVI,
American Revolution
1776
Pius V,
1774-1793
Paine's "Age of Reason"
1784
1775-1799
(<* 1795)
Death of St. Alphonsus Ligouri
1787
Pius V recognizes Prussia
1788
French Revolution (1789-1795)
1789
Second Partition of Poland
1793
Louis XVI dies on the scaffold
1795
Third Partition of Poland
1795
The Directory
1795
Napoleon invades Papal States
1796
Irish Rebellion
1798
Napoleon in Syria
1799
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DI ROSSI AND
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The Sordid Century
"The State/' said Plato, "is only man writ large/* And
as the State in this century was absolutist, acknowledging no
law but its own, we see man doing the same thing. "If only
the Church could be done away with/' opined the rulers,
"then politics would no longer be held fast by religion." "If
only we could suppress revealed truth/' boasted the atheists,
"revolution could march on to certain victory." In Germany
there existed a blind Lutheran hatred of any pre-Lutheran
Christianity, together with a strong trend towards stark
naturalism, parading under the term "Illumination/' The
so-called "System of Nature/' taught by the Teuton, Baron
Holbach (1723-1789), had no place for God, freedom, or the
future life; so too Helvitius (17151771) who denied miracles,
even revelation, regarded virtue as mere self-interest, and
sowed the bitter seeds of a barren scepticism. The Deists in
England Locke, Hume, Reid advocated a destructive
rationalism; their followers in France fell still lower into
atheism and materialism. Vain, witty and brilliant, Voltaire
(1694-1778) displayed a blind antipathy to the Christian
faith, jeered and mocked the Church and set himself up as a
smart opponent of the Word of God. Then there was Diderot
(1713-1784) and the Encyclopedists, smart infidels who
dominated the thoughts of the higher classes of society. But
the greatest damage was done by Rousseau (17121788)
whose writings started the fires of the Revolution. This
would-be reformer, married to an illiterate bar-maid, sent his
own children to a foundling asylum, and in the end became
367
Church History in the Light of the Saints
insane. His "Confessions" with their disgusting claims to
early vices; his "Emile" a treatise on education in the form
of a novel, embodied the author's sentimental deism. Now
it is abundantly evident that crooked thought leads to crooked
action, which in turn leads to more crooked thought. That
was the way of millions infected with evil doctrines. The
rank and file, like their masters, scoffed at faith and virtue,
set light store by any values except self. Black reaction
followed, the murderous mob was turned loose, and revolution
marked the close of the century.
Let us try to visualize the political aspects, the spiritual
decadence in those days. The soil of European thought
produced poisoned fungi ; morals were fast going to rot ; life
itself was regarded as something mean, shallow, unsatisfying.
All the anti- Christianities had produced nothing but disorder
and profound cynicism in high and low places. Under such
circumstances the Church was persecuted by monarchs and
their ministers, and you see states like Portugal, Spain and
France devoid of Catholic honor, driving the Society of Jesus
from their borders. Look at the grim, godless situation
elsewhere in Europe the same decay of virtue, the same
dwindling of faith. England found herself at a low religious
ebb; money-mad and lusting for power, she set out to
conquer India while she persecuted her Catholic subjects at
home and in Ireland. In Germany, masonic groups throve
in their opposition to the Church and Christian civilization;
while in Prussia, Peter the Great built up a great army, then
his son Frederick, failing to subdue stronger nations, joined
with Austria and Russia to crush little Poland. As time
passed, France fast became lawless, what with the grandeur
and decadence of the court of Louis XV and the spreading
corruption in the reign of Louis XVI. The Church suffered
dreadful calamities on every side while the clergy were
368
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
forever quarrelling and leaving the citadel of the faith wide-
open to the foe. License, not zeal for freedom, marked the
times, along with utter disillusionment in profligate upper
society. It was, in short, an age of barbarism and cheapness,
of self-satisfaction and desperation. One revolution followed
upon another, until the Six Terrible Years, 1789-1795, wit-
nessed the wild orgies of the mob, the ghastly violence of
madmen who, under the name of liberty, did vastly more
evil than good.
Ordeal of Youth
The life of St. John Baptist di Rossi, cast in such drab
days, should prove a helpful foreground to our study of these
conditions. Side by side with him, one can traverse over half
the century and survey its history. He was born in 1698 at
Voltaggio in the diocese of Genoa, of devout Catholic parents
who, though poor in the world's goods, were highly esteemed
by their fellow citizens. Even as a child, he gave such
evidence of deep piety and winning gentleness that folk were
irresistibly drawn to love him. At ten he was taken to
Genoa for his education and while there suffered a great loss
in the death of his father. In 1712, after spending three
years in Genoa, he was sent to Rome at the urgent request
of his cousin, Lorenzo di Rossi, a canon at S. Maria in Cos-
medin. This step was to prove vitally important, and it was
a blessed day when di Rossi saw the Eternal City for the first
time. Imagine the impressions that crowded his soul, the
contrasts he could draw between Italy north and south. His
eyes, ,you may be sure, were wide-open, his mind most expan-
sive. At Genoa there was nothing but strife; here in the
Rome of Pope Clement XI everything was tranquil; great
schools, art works in abundance, splendid buildings rising
under papal direction* Up north, there were bitter echoes of
369
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the War of the Spanish Succession which began in Italy.
The Austrians, led by Prince Eugene, attempted to take
Milan, but the Duke of Savoy aided the French in repelling
their advances. Then they returned, routed the French, and
proceeded to dominate the peninsula. Louis XIV, weary
and inert, had lost his grip on things, and the armies of Eng-
land and Austria piled up victory on victory. Di Rossi, ever
alert in the interests of his Holy Mother, must have pon-
dered the sad state of affairs. There was one other thing
that must have hit him hard: the utter indifference of
Catholic rulers to the authority of the Pope. All the im-
memorial rights of the Holy See were ignored; the clergy in
Sicily suffered persecution ; the papal nuncio was driven out
of Madrid; the French ambassador quit Rome in a huff,
murmuring out of the side of his mouth that the city was no
longer the seat of the Church. Yet Rome, oddly enough,
enjoyed comparative freedom from the turmoil that over-
spread Europe.
John Baptist was very young when he entered the Collegium
Romanum to pursue his studies under the direction of the
Jesuits. Ever conscious of splendid opportunities, he quickly
responded to the models and ideas set before him. No one
in the school valued the zeal, sanctity and scholarship of
these teachers more than the newcomer from diocese of
Genoa. Not only did their words find rich soil in his heart,
there to ripen into thoughts and actions, but the unforgettable
example of noble souls provided him with basic resolves for
his own future life. All over Europe the Society of Jesus was
famous for its great schools; they virtually controlled the
universities at Vienna and Rome, and had the ablest instruc-
tors in Europe. Yet, even when di Rossi sat at their feet,
the clouds of persecution had begun to gather on the horizon.
370
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
It was no use trying not to take sides with these black-
cassocked men whose natures and instincts were so heroic
and John, just as much himself as ever, had the deepest
admiration for their candor and courage. He knew only too
well what kind of enemy they were fighting and he resolved
with God's grace to throw his whole weight into the battle
for truth. His teachers sized him up as a young man energetic
and full of spirit, talented, virtuous and determined. And his
classmates knew him for one who despised the soft and
effeminate, gave himself up to Spartan training, labored to
become a saint. Di Rossi was the sort of fellow they could
not help liking, entirely apart from his brilliant success as a
scholar. He had a way of seeing the best in all his compan-
ions, and a knack of diverting them from objectionable
recreations; they never knew what would happen next once
he started on his charities. As a member of the Sodality of
the Blessed Virgin, and other religious societies, he stood out
as a model, always alive and active. They bestowed on him
the title "the Apostle" inasmuch as he was forever leading
them on to visit the sick in Roman hospitals and showing
them the way of mercy and loving kindness.
Dogged does it! is the story of John's progress in those
difficult days. He was just as dogged in fighting ill-health
as in urging his school companions on to good works. They
did not know that their schoolmate from the north was wont
to practice the most severe penances, as a result of which he
fell dangerously ill and was obliged to cut down his studies.
At sixteen, having finished the Jesuit course, he entered the
College of the Dominicans to concentrate on scholastic
philosophy and theology. The fact that he fell victim to
attacks of epilepsy did not deter di Rossi who showed extraor-
dinary fortitude along with unceasing application. He was
371
Church History in the Light of the Saints
still sixteen when he entered the clerical state and during
those days had ample opportunity of knowing much of
Clement XI, who was to reign in the Chair of Peter longer
than any Vicar of Christ since the twelfth century. One
may be sure that this Pope with his profound generosity, his
works of charity and piety, inspired the young Genoese. All
Rome knew that Clement never let down on his ideals, never
spared his energy for doing good. Aware of his great responsi-
bilities, he exercised his authority in the most human and
patriarchal way. He saw through the power-hungry rulers
as well as the demagogues, and he took sides with France,
though this cost him the ill-will of the Emperor and his regal
abettors. Any dreams for unity among Catholic nations,
however, came to naught. The Emperor allied himself to the
Protestant Kingdom of Prussia; the Pope suffered one trial
after another from countless disloyal rulers. He died in 1721
and in March of that same year John Baptist received the
priesthood. The newly-ordained had long studied sainthood,
his character turning always towards that ideal. Now he was
ready to take up arms like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
One of his first steps to save himself from worldly enslavement
was to shun honors and eschew all ambition. To clinch this
resolve, he bound himself by a special vow never to accept
any church benefice, but to spend the rest of his days in
humble service of the poor and sick. You find him morning
and night among the teamsters laboring on, the Campagna.
They got to like this fearless, outspoken servant of God who
trailed them like a watchdog. Lest they catch his sickness
he avoided hearing confessions of his converts, sending other
priests in his place. In 1738, after a desperate illness, he
went for a rest to Civita Castellana, an hour out of Rome.
The bishop of the place, knowing his man, urged Father
di Rossi to enter the sacred tribunal and he did, working
372
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
with such zeal as to win the privilege of administering the
Sacrament in any and all the churches of Rome.
The Menace of Prussia
While the young priest devoted himself unsparingly to the
service of his fellowmen there loomed far to the north the
dark cloud of Prussianism. Pope Clement's successor had
every reason to fear this menace even more than the danger
of decadent France. The Prussian people dwelt in Branden-
burg, a cold stark country, where Nature seemed as harsh asi
themselves. They were a race submissive to authority, ready
to suffer for their state which alone could sustain them. Under
the spell of brutal war-lords they became a bold, aggressive
lot who worshipped the powers that could encourage their
outspokenness. Since their country was Lutheran, they wel-
comed the first Huguenot refugees from France even as they
later welcomed the anti-Catholic Hollanders. The result was
that by the time of Peter the Great this northern state quite
ruled the Protestant interest in Germany. There was trouble
ahead at this stage, for the new King, the real father of
German militarism, went all out for an absolute monarchy.
Like a madman he levied heavy taxes to fill his war chest and
built up a fighting machine eighty- three thousand men
to increase his power first at home, then abroad. His big
idea was to make Prussia supreme in Germany, and that of
course involved enormous expenditure. "When my son
comes to the throne," he declared, "he must find the vaults
crowded with gold." Well, the day that son, Frederick the
Great, succeeded he found the vaults overflowing with eight
million thalers and an army able' to support the power and
glory of Prussia. As crown prince, Frederick was a mere
backwoods dilettante in art, music and literature, and scarcely
knew any French or Latin. But once in the royal saddle he
373
Church History in the Light of the Saints
displayed a practical genius and proved himself a first-rate
soldier, daring as he was unscrupulous. Indeed, the son of
Peter the Great quickly learned how to surpass the quite
barbarous father who had taught him. The slippery schemer
made himself master of Silicia an outright steal; yet he
ached to win further spoils. No code existed by which
Frederick could be called to book, and he had the army to
gratify any tyrant's desires. The blunt and terrible fact is
that all the states in this sordid age were absolutist in their
own eyes. It meant nothing to rulers to commit robbery or
murder or any act against a neighbor so long as the thing was
done in the public service.
What with the Prussian threat and the atheists of Europe
getting in their dirty work, things were in a bad way. When
Peter the Great was building up his war-machine, Pope
Benedict XIII (1724-1730) found himself In the midst of
turmoil. He was seventy-five when elected by the conclave,
unused to duties of state, and too old to change his monastic
ways of life. The strange thing was he left the conduct of
papal affairs in the hands of knaves while he spent hours in
the chapel, heard confessions in St. Peter's, visited and com-
forted the sick. One wonders if John Baptist di Rossi knew
him very well in those years when the papacy skirted nearer
the edge of tragedy. Like the Pope the zealous priest was
wont to visit every poor corner of Rome. "He spent several
hours a day in hearing the confessions of the illiterate, and
visited in their homes or in hospitals, the sick, and especially
the consumptives, of whom he spoke as his own. He hurried
about the city and took part in countless good works, but was
especially careful in visiting the hospital of St. Galla, to help
in every way he could the poor, whom he held as a special
object of affection." l John heroically continued the exhaust-
1 Second Nocturn of St. J. B. di Rossi
374
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
ing routine of his mercy-tasks, but at what cost to his nervous
energy! The thoughts that chiefly occupied his mind were
service of God, service of his neighbor; the Church wanted
social justice within the nations and the best place to begin
was at home. He knew that he would die at the task but
also knew that he would live, and sought only to redeem the
time to the best of his ability. By 1730 when John was in
his early thirties, a new Pope, Clement XII, had set about
cleaning house, and Frederick the Great waited the oppor-
tunity for swift conquest, waited like a tiger in his lair. The
eighty-year-old pontiff, nothing daunted, pursued policies with
vigor and initiative. He made it his business to punish the
renegade Cardinal Coscia who, having drawn wool over the
eyes of the previous Pope, looted the treasury and fled to
Naples. A bull, in Eminenti, was issued, fearlessly condemn-
ing Freemasonry, so hostile to both civil and ecclesiastical
authority. And among other things, he tried to compose the
differences between Genoa and Corsica; between Charles of
Bourbon and the Imperialists. But, sad to say, his advice
was ignored by Catholic princes and governments, in conse-
quence of which they paid a harsh penalty; for while their
powers decreased, the Protestant nations gained more and
more strength.
This Vale of Tears
With the forties the European scene began to change
rapidly. Rome, however, still enjoyed the strange calm that
precedes the coming of a fierce storm. Pope Benedict XIV
(17401758) began an illustrious reign, winning the respect
of both Catholic and Protestant governments. Even in
Protestant England, Horace Walpole spoke of him as "a man
whom neither wit nor power could spoil/' and the impossible
Voltaire paid tribute to him as "the pride of Rome and the
father of the world, who taught mankind by his writing and
375
Church History in the Light of the Saints
honored it by his virtues. " The Prussian Frederick and the
Sultan of Turkey, admiring his tolerance, were glad to corre-
spond with this Pope whose good will and moderation enabled
him to achieve many things. "We desire most intensely/' he
declared anent the Eastern Catholics, "that all should be
Catholics but not that all should be Latins"; and he would
allow no changes to be made in the ancient eastern practices.
The vexed question of the "Malabar customs/' employed by
the Jesuits in India, he did not condemn, and he sought with
fine tact to stave off the relentless opposition of other mis-
sionary orders. "Peace, not the sword!" was his watchword,
and when he died a sharp observer said : "Marvel of marvels!
The people speak no evil of a dead Pope!"
But scarce had the able and amiable Benedict been buried
in St. Peter's than the long-threatened attack on the Jesuits
was launched in full force. In this, the second century of
their existence, the sons of Ignatius had run afoul of many
determined foes; first the absolutist sovereigns, next the
embittered Jansenists, finally the freethinkers, followers of
Voltaire and Rousseau. The successes of the society had in
all truth stirred bitter jealousy and active hatred in many
quarters. They were accused of secret interference in political
affairs, as well as of part-time missionary exploitations in
trade and commerce. In the Spanish peninsula they cer-
tainly possessed enormous influence; as teachers in schools
and universities, as father-confessors of kings and princes
they enjoyed great prestige. It is clear also that their power
had become enviable in the most evil sense of that word. In
Portugal particularly, Pombal, the minister of King Joseph
Emmanuel, resented their influence at court and cold-
bloodedly plotted to drive them out of the country. The
crisis came in 1753 when by a treaty between Spain and
Portugal, the Jesuit built and ruled provinces in Paraguay
376
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
exchanged hands. An attempt by Brazil to take over these
parts met with violent opposition, instigated, it was alleged,
by their guides. Pombal saw his chance and took revenge by
dismissing the Jesuits from the royal family where they served
as chaplains; not content with this blow he further accused
them of complicity in a plot to assassinate the King. A royal
decree was then issued by which they were driven from all
their schools and banished not only from Portugal but even
from its overseas dependencies which could not have existed
save for their heroic, unselfish labors. The charges were, of
course, ill-founded, the expulsion unwarranted. Yet Pombal
saw to it that* in Portugal three of the fathers were con-
demned to death, others imprisoned, the rest loaded aboard
ships. He saw to it, too, that they were packed like cattle
into over-crowded holds and conveyed to Italy. "A present
to the Pope," his voice derided them, as he looked on at the
cruel embarkation.
One can easily imagine the feeling of Father di Rossi upon
hearing of such indignities and seeing those lonely tattered
refugees, anguishingly astray in the streets of Rome. What
stupidity, treachery, cowardice, had been expended on these
loyal militia of the Holy See. They had courage, however, he
must have felt, and di Rossi understood that no soldier in
the world is better than his readiness to suffer and his willing-
ness to die. He was now in his sixty-first year, this good
soldier of Christ, broken in health, exhausted by a life of
apostolic labor, very soon to break the bonds of his exile on
earth. The salient events of his career are briefly recorded in
that eternally worth while ' 'Who's Who," the Roman Bre-
viary. "From his fifteenth year," we quote from the second
nocturn, "he was joined to a body of Priests whose special
work was preaching to the poor, with them he learnt his
apostleship, and he arranged and disseminated their labours.
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
The same pity caused him to spend his modest substance in
relieving the necessities of the needy. He left behind him
abiding fruits of his unwearied zeal for the instruction of
servants, wanderers, and the illiterate classes for the holy
celebration of Easter, an home of refuge for the safe keeping
of the lost women who wander through the city by night, but
above all the earnestness for the salvation of souls aroused
among the clergy. The brightness of his love of God shone
forth in his face while he was officiating, and he could not
speak of His goodness without tears. He was forced, out of
obedience, to accept a Canon's stall in the collegiate church
of S. Maria in Cosmedine, and during the psalmody he
seemed to become entranced. He was very careful as to the
sacred ceremonies, sought the beauty of the house of God, and
freely contributed of his means to that object. He communi-
cated to others his own love towards the Mother of God, and
promoted her worship in his own church, where he insti-
tuted a daily sermon in her honour, in addition to her Office.
He sought to fill himself with the spirit of Philip Neri, and
while he was devout towards all the dwellers in heaven, he
promoted increased honour for the princes of the Apostles;
he was constant in prayer and in every good work, and rich
in gifts of grace. At length in the hospital called that of the
Most Holy Trinity, whither he had withdrawn to live along
with the Priests, broken down by work, he reached the end
of life, and when he had received the sacraments of the
Church, and again exhorted to works of charity and to the
care of the poor, he died in the Lord's kiss upon the 23rd day
of May, in the year of Christ 1764, and of his own age the
sixty-sixth." 1
Might vs. Right
Long before the century reached mid-point the nations
gambled away their greatest chances. They had been a law
1 Bute, tr., Roman Breviary, Vol. Ill, p. 573
378
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
unto themselves, had done despicable things that cried to
Heaven for vengeance. Any aggression against a neighboring
state, any swift conquest by one power met with sullen
resentment on the part of the others. Everyone was doing
it; even the Seven Years War was just another case of grab-
hold-keep and let the devil take the hindermost. That was
absolutism for you full of envy, hatred, and injustice
and it was digging its own grave. The Church, meanwhile,
had to contend with wily foes who would tie her hands.
Louis XV under the influence of his mistress, Madame de
Pompadour, and her time-serving courtiers, issued edict after
edict against the Jesuits and in 1767 drove them otit of
France.
That same year six thousand members were deported
from Spain, while Naples and Parma followed the same
shameful policy. Not content with such persecution, the
Bourbon courts united to induce Pope Clement XIV to
abolish the Society. This Pope had been their candidate, and
no sooner had he reached the Throne of Peter than the Spanish
and French ambassadors tried to force his hand. It is said
that* demerit self-pityingly regarded such a drastic measure
as signing his own death-warrant; he staved off the issue for
a time, then the ambassadors, as foul as ever, threatened a
schism. In 1773 he gave way under pressure and issued the
cruel brief, Dominus ac Redemptor nosier. "Impelled by the
duty of restoring harmony in the Church, 7 ' it ran, "convinced
that the Society of Jesus can no longer fulfil the purposes for
which it was founded and moved by other reasons of prudence
and governmental policy which we keep to ourselves we
abolish and annul the Society of Jesus with its offices, houses
and institutions/ 7 The members of the greatest body of
teachers in the Church took the blow bravely, and submitted
to the papal authority they were sworn to obey. Their gen-
eral, Father Ricci, suffered imprisonment in the Castle of
379
Church History in the Light of the Saints
St. Angelo, the rest of the society were scattered, but con-
tinued their priestly work here, there, and everywhere. No
more eloquent commentary could be made on the whole tragic
affair than the fact that two monarchs, Frederick II of Prussia,
a Protestant, and the Orthodox Catherine II of Russia, pro-
tested the edict and declared it would have no force within
their states.
Let us go back about three or more years before the sup-
pression of the Jesuits. The powers to the east Austria,
Prussia and Russia bent on extending their domains, were
spoiling for a war. Each eyed the other with suspicion and
mistrust, but the wily Frederick met the Emperor half-way
to see what could be done to curb Russia's growing power.
Great stakes t were in play? nothing less than the broad fields
of Poland. This was in 1770; the next year Catherine II of
Russia said to Frederick's brother in Petersburg: " Austria has
taken part of Poland ; why should not Prussia and Russia do
the same?" So Poland, unable to defend herself, was destined
to become the prey to the three royal robbers. A country
Catholic to the core, Poland's strength lay not in weapons of
war but in the spirited defence and true worship of the doc-
trines of the Church. The impact of these three armies, like
three giants, shook the country from end to end, as they
marched in. By 1772 the weak defenceless state was parti-
tioned. The Emperor of Austria grabbed a slice, comprising
Silicia, the south of Little Poland and parts of Podolia; the
King of Prussia seized a huge piece of the northern part; and
Catherine II of Russia took most of the rest. All in all it was
a cowardly, 'dastardly trick, an outrage that succeeded without
a protest from the other powers. . The "modern" men who
ruled France had no love for a Poland still old-world, faithful,
and loyal to the Church. They were just as well satisfied
that the Catholic country should be wiped off the map* And
380
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
England showed not a whit more humanity; nay, she ap-
proved of the land-grab. Was she not trying out her own
injustice at this very time on the American colonies? But the
handwriting had begun dimly to appear on the wall of absolute
monarchy.
Hint of Dawn
The strong current of freedom ran on at this time, more
than meeting the counter-current of despotism. There was
humanity and liberty in the air; signs that governments were
waking up to the general good of the people. An increasing
growth of popular education appeared, accompanied by meas-
ures to relieve the poor and by the building of hospitals. The
generality of folk were resolved to continue and intensify the
demand for decency, and their aspirations were directed
towards a just rule. They had begun to doubt the morality
of the slave trade; they demanded reform of the vile prison
system ; they resented the appalling treatment of serfs. Yes,
the tyrant rulers actually saw, heard, and beg;an to be en-
lightened all the way from Spain to Russia, from Italy to
England. "A King is the first servant of the state," said
Frederick the Great as he passed from war-waging to the
peace-making phase of his career. It was very late, too late
in the day, and he did not see that absolute monarchy had
outlived its time. One ruler did, one only, and that was
Leopold of Tuscany who sensed the great change coming over
Europe and knew as Emperor (1790) that the old power must
give way to the ^curities of freedom. George III found that
out too when he tried to revive the divine right of kings, but
it needed America to teach him the lesson. In England there
were riots and mobs, protesting the political corruption. A
gradual letdown in the penal laws against Roman Catholics
and non-conformists enabled the persecuted to have their
381
Church History in the Light of the Saints
grievances redressed, but Parliament "still shirked its duty of
asserting religious liberty as the right of British subjects.
Indeed, it would require a hundred more years to blot out the
penal code and establish freedom of worship.
While states perforce had to take account of public interests,
the attitude towards the Church became increasingly hostile.
The ruling classes showed little if any reverence for the Vicar
of Christ; a decadent society had outgrown the virtue of
reverence. For ten years after the expulsion of the Jesuits,
Portugal bitterly opposed the papacy. The Emperor, Joseph
II of Austria, approved Febronius' writings which denied
the Pope's authority in other dioceses than his own and
restricted his rights in dealing with the bishops. His Imperial
Highness insisted that the Church must be governed by the
sovereign in all matters of external government and worship;
nor could the Pope confer any titles except with his august
approval. This movement to limit the jurisdiction of the
Holy See spread rapidly to Germany where bishops were
empowered to try their own cases, with or without the consent
of the Vatican. In Rome, Pope Pius VI (i775~i799) en-
countered the hostility, nay treachery of powerful Italian
prelates who sought utter independence, and joined with the
Germans in anti-papal intrigues. And as for France, the
King and the nobles showed corrupt to the core ; their utter
lack of religious conviction left the way open to damningly
effective free-thinking, and the middle and lower classes
steadily lost their faith. There were countless priests who
preferred to champion "human rights" and "the sovereignity
of the people" rather than labor diligently among their flocks
for the peace on earth that comes only to men of good will.
Wild theories of secular reform stemmed from the poisoned
fungi planted by atheists in the various countries. The
common people were so misled that it is little wonder they
382
Saint John Baptist Di Rossi and the Eighteenth Century
displayed an avowed scorn of religion. Indeed, the picture
Dean Swift draws of the Protestant Anglo-Irish scene could
equally be applied to all Europe: "Hardly one in a hundred
among our people of quality or gentry appears to act by any
principle of religion; nor is the case much better with the
vulgar/'
Seven Savage Years
As the sordid century drew to a close, vice went hand in
hand with lawlessness. The European stage was set for the
bloodiest revolution in modern times. It came in 1789, when
France had reached the end of her tether, and her people were
degraded into madness. An empty public treasury brought
the States-General together, and they decided upon a radical
change. The deliberations became disorderly; in no time
the government lost control of the tiller and the constitution
was overthrown. Things were now in the hands of Voltaire's
followers who planned to do away with the servile state and
vowed the destruction of Christianity. The Assembly, amid
the roars of the mob, proclaimed freedom of worship. All
church properties were confiscated, and the clergy required
to swear allegiance to the new constitution. In 1790 all
monks and nuns in France were released from their vows and
religious societies dissolved except those who would submit
to the new education, and the new Constitution of the Clergy.
With 130 sees reduced to 83, bishops and parish priests had
to be "elected," and, of course, subscribe to the new law.
One- third of them took the oath ; 46,000 refused to have any
part in it. The next year, 1791, Pope Pius VI, having re-
jected the new Constitution, paid the penalty with the loss
of Avignon and Venassin.
The dastardly activities of the Assembly changed hands in
1792, when the work of demolition, ecclesiastical and civil,
383
Church History in the Light of the Saints
was left to the Convention. All religious corporations were
abolished, the wearing of the cassock prohibited, and every
"suspect" non-juror condemned to banishment, a measure
which drove 40,000 persons out of the country. At Paris
there was revolution and massacre which cost the lives of
300 of the clergy, 1200 of the citizens; and these same rabid
measures quickly spread through the provinces. Before the
fifth year of the Revolution had well begun the state of affairs
became increasingly tragic. The heads of Louis XVI and
his Queen were severed at the scaffold in January 1793, and
many a revolutionary leader suffered the same grim fate.
Mobs ran riot in the cities and provinces, while the wild
march of the irreligious destroyers continued unchecked. To
cap the anti-Christian proceedings a girl from the opera was
enthroned on the altar in the great cathedral of Notre Dame;
a delirious, lust-maddened crowd saluted the wanton creature
as the "goddess of reason/ 1 The supremacy of atheism, how-
ever, was short-lived ; for in the midst of the Reign of Terror,
Robespierre acknowledged a Supreme Being and the im-
mortality of the soul. Then the fall of this deist leader and
the rise of the Directory suddenly put an end to the govern-
ment's meddling with religion. As the Seven Terrible Years
came to an end, Napoleon Bonaparte rode high in the saddle.
One night two French officers broke in upon the eighty-two-
year-old Pope, Pius VI, stripped him of his ring, and carried
him away captive. He was taken across the Alps to Valence
in France where in 1799 he breathed his last. The haters of
Rome, having wreaked their fury and malice on a holy old
man, thought that the papacy was done for, and that Pius VI,
the 248th pope would be the last! Could there be a more
startling commentary on the tragic history of those times?
384
Saint Jonn Baptist Viaimey
MARVEL OF THE WORLD
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST VIANNEY AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Kingdoms, Empires
and Republics
Persons, Places and Events
Vicars of Christ
EMPIRE OF FRANCE
FIRST (French)
REPUBLIC
GERMAN EMPIRE
SPANISH REPUBLIC
Concordat with France 1801
France an Empire 1804
Freemasons control Spain 1805
John Baptist, a farmhand, goes to school 1805
End of Holy Roman Empire , 1806
Napoleon seizes Pius VII 1809
John Baptist in the Seminary 1812
Revival of Jesuits 1814
Battle of Waterloo 1815
Papal State restored 1815
John Baptist ordained to priesthood 1815
John Baptist, parish priest of Ars 1818
John Baptist begins a forty-year fast 1819
Napoleon dies in exile 1821
Portugal seizes church property 1822
John Baptist founds "La Providence"
Russia persecutes Catholics 1825
England emancipates Catholics 1829
John Baptist director of souls
"July Revolution" in France 1830
Belgium becomes independent of Holland 1831
Jesuits expelled from Portugal 1834
Spoliation in Switzerland and Piedmont 1835
Jesuits expelled from Spain 1837
Conversion of John Henry Newman 1845
John Baptist the Great Confessor of
France 1845
Pius IX exiled from Rome 1848
Threat of Socialism 1848
Hierarchy established in Holland 1853
Immaculate Conception defined 1854
Crimean War 1854
John Baptist, a Knight of the Legion of
Honor 1855
Austrian Concordat with Church 1855
Opening of Japan 1855
Death of John Baptist at Ars 1859
United Italy 1861
Poland revolts 1863
Fenian Revolt in Ireland 1866
Austro-Prussian War 1866
Vatican Council 1870
Year of the Great Crisis 1870
Franco-Prussian War 1870
Italians seize Rome 1870
German Empire 1871
German persecution of Church (Kultur-
kampf) ^ 1873
Spain a Republic - 1873
Russo-Turkish War 1878
Triple Alliance 1882
Leo XIII condemns Freemasonry 1884
Bismarck's Defeat "at Canossa" 1887
Pope supports the French Republic 1892
Latin American Council 1899
Hague Conference for Peace 1899
Pius VII,
1800-1823
LEO XII,
1823-1829
Pius VIII,
1829-1830
GREGORY XVI,
1831-1846
Pius IX,
1846-1878
LEO XIII,
1878-1903
SAINT JOHN VIANNEY AND
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
A Plowboy of Destiny
The first rumblings of revolution were disturbing France
when a saint was born in Dardilly near Lyons in the year
1786. One of six children, John Vianney could thank God
for very devout parents who dwelt in sincerity and justice
all their days. The hospitality of this pious family was great
for their slender means, and all sorts of beggars came to their
door. Though John seemed to inherit a lovely spirit of
charity from his infant years, he grew up with little Catholic
schooling, all religious teachers having been driven from
their posts by the anti-clericals. If by singular good luck
fugitive priests entered the district, the Vianney family
journeyed secretly all the way to Ecully to attend Mass. So
swift were those meetings that the altar had to be set up in
a barn or some upper room. No doubt the little lad was
deeply stirred by such experiences, as by the faith and heroism
of his elders, ready to risk their lives for the sake of Christ.
At thirteen he made his First Communion in a poor hiding
place a shed, used as a chapel, and from that time on he
rose spiritually from height to height. It was amazing how
ever mindful he became of the presence of God, even while
at work in the fields with his brothers and sisters. "When
I was alone, mattock and spade in hand/ 1 the saint recalled
later, "I prayed aloud; when I was in company, I prayed
under my breath. ... I used to lie down on the ground like
the rest and pretended to sleep, but I was praying with all
my heart! Ah! it was a happy time." John was nineteen,
and still a farm hand, when in 1805 he entered a little school
387
Church History in the Light of the Saints
opened In Ecully for ecclesiastical students. Not over-bright
In his studies, he had to wrestle hard and long with arith-
metic, geography and history, finding Latin far from easy.
But he had a companion, Matthias Doras, who gave him a
hand with his books; this same kindly helper later became
Bishop of Dubuque, Iowa. In that day the humble school
and its handful of pupils were lost in the picture of a war-bent
nation. The eyes of Europe centered on the incredible
Napoleon Bonaparte who flashed across the scene like a
meteor. By sheer military genius the young Corsican won
victory after victory; then at twenty-three returned to
France and harnessed the revolutionists to his battle-wagons.
The plowboy student could not hope to escape the edge of
strife. His school was in the diocese of Cardinal Fesh, an
uncle of Napoleon, who was now lashing out against Spain.
All France stood at arms, and the conqueror, urgently in need
of troops, cancelled the exemption enjoyed by ecclesiastical
students. Boys had to be recruited for his companies, mere
youngsters to rig the guns and fix the bayonets; that meant
John Vianney must, willy-nilly, enter the ranks, his father
being too poor to pay for a substitute. So the pupil laid
down his books to join a regiment on the point of receiving
marching orders. The day of departure for the front found
him making a last visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and when
he returned to the barracks it was^ to find that his regiment
had disappeared! He bravely reported to a superior officer
who first thought the late-comer a deserter but soon changed
his mind and sent John packing in search of his companions
in arms. A stranger he met on the road offered to help find
the regiment; all the oaf could do, however, was to lead the
lost one to Noes and land him amid a crowd of deserters.
Cut off from communication with his family, John did not
know just what to do. A glimmer of light came when the
388
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
mayor of the town prevailed upon him to rfemain there and
serve as a teacher under an assumed name. After a year's
stay, the part-time teacher managed to get in touch with his
father who angrily regarded him as a deserter. But the
whole difficulty was composed when John's brother offered
to serve in his stead. By this strange turn of events he
missed taking part in the Spanish War and, as Providence
would have it, returned to his studies in Ecully.
Dictators Do Not Tolerate
During John's school days Napoleon, flushed with victory,
scandalized all Europe because of his treatment of the Head
of Christendom. All a person need do, to grasp the base
perfidy of the Corsican, is to review the years 1801-1812.
The army, he boldly declared, wanted no religion, and as for
himself why, dictators allow no authority or "office, no
matter how sacred, to run counter to their plans. The con-
cordat he concluded with Pope Pius VII proclaimed that the
Catholic religion, being the faith of the majority, should
enjoy the protection of the government. But the Napoleonic
nigger in the woodpile broke into the open when in 1802
certain organic laws of the Church of France, smelling of
Gallicanism, were officially published. No papal decree
could be issued without the placet of the State, monastic
orders were abolished, and all teachers in the seminaries
obliged to subscribe to the Declaration of French Clergy.
Pius VII, of course, moved into the open to oppose all these
obnoxious measures, and when he journeyed to Paris for the
coronation of Napoleon, fresh insults were heaped upon him
by the ill-mannered conqueror. That was not enough. A
few years later, 1808, the imperial ruffian, angrier at the Pope
than at any of his enemies, again tried his old tricks. With
the calm temper of a Mohammedan he urged the Pope to
389
Church History in the Light of the Saints
appoint a Patriarch of France, to abolish the rule of clerical
celibacy, and to join in the league against England. All of
which Pius VII firmly refused to do, and as a penalty his
papal states were annexed to the French Empire. The
Emperor, ready to go to any length, piled one trial after
another upon his helpless prisoner in the Vatican who was
wellnigh driven insane. And when Pius VII excommuni-
cated Napoleon, the tyrant carried him off a prisoner, first to
Savona, then into France. Now that the feeble old pontiff
was his captive, Napoleon laughed the Church's condemnation
to scorn. "Will the word of that old man/' he snorted,
"make their weapons drop from my soldiers' hands?" Well,
Moscow with the aid of General Winter gave him the answer.
The Grand Army he had deemed invincible met with defeat
in the Russian expedition. On their retreat through the
heavy blizzards, the rifles fell from frozen hands into the
snow-drifts, and thousands of them perished through cold,
famine, and disease.
Yes, the Little Corporal, genius though he was, had received
a deep, vital blow to all his plans. But the dictator was not
yet through; always a dangerous dreamer, he never knew
when he was beaten. Even after defeat at Moscow, he was
resolved to continue and intensify his efforts. No thought
entered his mind of the great body of plain men anxious to
live their own lives and face their duties. Nothing would do
but that he must strike back; in chaotic and terrorized
Europe he would inflict new pile-driven blows against the
enemy. Had not Marengo given him power to uphold and
reinforce France? At Austerlitz he had ridden roughshod
over European opposition. And at Leipzig he had pulled
through, though all had not gone too well. Let the Russian
defeat be forgotten, France was still all-powerful and he
might well take cheer. Let him but replenish his armies and
390
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
he would hit back harder than ever. Hit back until the
enemy's power had been utterly destroyed. He would
divide the nations which were bent on his destruction as a
military power. How could his judgment be deceived?
Such must have been Napoleon's martial dreams after the
Russian failure. But like every thwarted dictator he must
have his scapegoat, and when in 1812 he returned to Paris,
he made it his business to treat Pius VII contuineliously,
making the feeble old man a prisoner at Fontainebleau. All
told, Napoleon behaved like a brigand chief in his treatment
of the Vicar of Christ, and he learned too late that the public
outrage was both a blunder and a crime.
Far From Home
Could it have been just a coincidence of dates or was it
the working of Divine Providence which rules the nations?
The year of Napoleon's defeat by the Russians was the year
John Vianney entered the Lesser Seminary at Verri&res. Let
no one think that the going was easy for one with such limited
schooling. His first attempt met with failure, but three
months later he passed by the skin of his teeth. Once within
the hallowed walls, John's enlarged vision showed him the
impotence of earthly greatness, the emptiness of merely
human knowledge. Of a surety he had learned even then,
with St. Paul, the vanity of worldly wisdom as contrasted
with the mysterious graces given by God. The shy, un-
worldly seminarian had no showy intellectual qualities, his
was not an examination mind, but his teachers saw that he
possessed something infinitely more important. That thing
was a long-tried, deep-grown spiritual experience. The
hidden qualities of the newcomer remained quite unseen
whereas his deficiencies in science were under class-room
display, as in any school. And naturally, too, this grown
391
Church History in the Light of the Saints
man from an obscure village presented a strange contrast to
many of his younger confreres. There were high-brows,
smart Alecs who laughed their heads off at John Vianney's
dullness he had to study philosophy in French instead of
Latin a thing which gave him good grounds for humility
and patience. But there were others, kindred souls, fain to
admire his piety, modesty and obedience; they saw his devo-
tion to the Blessed Sacrament, glimpsed his faith, love and
self-denial, and marked him for what he was a model
seminarian.
In the month of July, 1813, John began his study of the-
ology at home under the direction of M. Bailey. Two years
later this earnest preceptor decided to let him, now near
thirty, take an examination for the Greater Seminary at
Lyons. But John lost his head the moment the professors
began to put their questions; his self-possession disappeared
out the window, and he found himself rejected. The ex-
aminers regarded the gawkish applicant as an ignoramus,
being unable, of course, to grasp the inner worth, the fine
integrity of the man who stood before them. Dismissed as a
failure, John did not know what to do, but his loyal teacher,
Bailey, knew, and made up his mind to stick by his man to
the last ditch. By dint of argument and persuasion, after
answering all the ifs, ands, and wherefores of the Seminary
staff, he succeeded in having the candidate given another
trial. John was re-examined at the rectory and the Superior
of the Seminary agreed to give him a chance to prove himself.
In the try-out he more than made good not by any startling
scholarship, but by the steady, exemplary spiritual life he
exhibited to angels and men. The directors, however, still
had their doubts about letting him go on for ordination.
They therefore placed the matter before Abb6 Courbon, the
Vicar General. He reflected a moment before putting a few
392
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
vital questions. "Is this young Vianney pious? Does he
say his rosary well? Has he devotion to the Blessed Virgin?"
The reply came straightway, "He is a model of piety!" * Well
then/' decided Abbe Courbon, "I accept him; divine grace
will do the rest." So it came to pass that John Vianney pre-
pared for ordination and even then those inner traits began
to blossom to a sacerdotal perfection.
The New Curate
The newly-ordained, homeward bound in 1815, had to
take roads which swarmed with Austrian troops. They were
drunk with victory, and brandished their swords in his face,
even threatened to shoot the scraggy Frenchman. But he
managed to reach Ecully in safety, and once there the Cur6
Bailey asked for him as an assistant. John spent his first
priestly years under the eyes of this ever-loyal guide and
friend. He set to work preaching, hearing confessions, aiding
the pastor, visiting the sick. Seldom did two priests become
more united in mind, heart and will; the assistant loved and
esteemed the cure who in turn owned to the deepest respect
for the young priest. After the death of M. Bailey in 1817,
John Vianney was appointed to the parish of Ars which had
just lost its cure. "Go, my friend," said M. Courbon; "there
is not much love of God in that parish; you will enkindle it."
The Vicar General was right when he declared there was not
much love of God in the village of Ars on the Sa6ne. Its
population was agricultural: shrewd, worldly farmers and
villagers steeped in sin, hard-hitting and bitter. They had
little use for any priest, and there must have been many a
laugh over the appearance of John Vianney. For never had
they seen his like, never anything resembling this newcomer.
Pale, angular, frail in body, timid of mind, the man appeared
to be afraid of his own shadow. But wait they had not
393
Church History in the Light of the Saints
yet seen the penetration of his glance, nor could they imagine
what mighty power that frail body housed.
One of the first resolves of the new cure was to spend his
days and nights in begging God to touch the hearts of these
people and shed abundant mercy over his new parish. Ars
had fallen into deep spiritual destitution. "Virtue was but
little known and hardly practiced at all. Nearly everyone
had forsaken the right path. The young had not an idea
beyond pleasure and amusement. Every Sunday, or oftener,
they all assembled in the square near the Church or at the
village cabarets, according to the season, there to give them-
selves up to dancing and every >sort of diversion.* ' But the
people after a while began to stir and rub their heavy eyes.
They had observed earlier that the new cure came among
them "without scrip or staff, bread or money/' Wide-awake
now they saw that he almost lived in church when not among
the poor and sick. Then out of sheer curiosity some of them
began going to church where they actually listened to simple,
love-happy sermons which they had never heard before. The
anti-clericals in the parish remained away, having long since
lost the habit of attending religious service. "What to do
with the new cur6?" they must at first have asked themselves.
Just let the half-starved fellow alone, death would soon take
him away. They did not bother him, and the cure spent
hour after hour alone in the sacristy, composing the sermons
of Sunday, then delivered them to a few good folk. The
two arms of his power, it will be seen, were prayer and preach-
ing. These he employed without cease; and with feet shod
with the gospel of peace he proceeded strongly and sweetly
to work the greatest miracle of that day. He began a fast
that was to last forty years, all in atonement for the sins,
offences and negligences of his own people. By degrees the
hard-bitten farmers of the district came to know John Vianney
394
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
who every day and all the day did nothing but heal and bless
and pray, while he breathed peace over their broken lives.
Two Lives
The years 1815-1818 saw John Vianney a young priest.
His native France "was invaded from all sides at once by
numerous armies composed on the whole not of mercenaries
but of entire peoples animated by the spirit of hatred and
vengeance. For twenty years they had seen their own terri-
tories occupied and ravaged by French armies ; they had been
forced to pay all sorts of levies; their governments had been
insulted and treated with utter scorn. . . / ?1 But what had
become of Napoleon? Briefly, this. After the Battle of
Leipsic, which avenged Papal Rome, the Allies marched on
to Paris. And when the defeated Corsican was on h^s way to
Elba, Pius VII, after five years of exile, returned to Rome to
the echoes of a united Europe. Now he could attempt once
again to preserve freedom and destroy injustice. The Church
commemorates his deliverance in her Liturgy for May 24th
when the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians is observed.
But the end for Napoleon was not yet. He tried to stage
another come-back. "T6te d'arme" was always his vaunt;
they are said to have been his dying words! One day in
1815, Louis XVIII, the restored monarch in the Tuileries,
received a sinister telegram which he read with knitted brows.
"Napoleon Bonaparte," he exclaimed, "has disembarked on
the coast of Provence. 1 ' That meant only one thing war!
The proud lonely spirit, once more on the loose, had emerged
from Elba, war-bent and eager to restore his shattered hegem-
ony. His old legions recruited on 'the way, the Corsican
entered Paris while the Bourbon swiftly withdrew from the
scene. Far from battering down the foe, however, he met
1 Talleyrand, Memoirs
395
Church History in the Light of the Saints
final defeat at Waterloo where his doughty veterans were cut
to pieces. His great boast had been that no man would ever
hear it said, "The Guard is breaking! 11 But the Guard broke
that day, and shortly afterwards their indomitable com-
mander was on his way to bitter exile in the remote God-
forsaken island of St. Helena.
What a bloody mess the Corsican dictator made of Europe !
Even granting that he had organized trade, industry and
education, even allowing that he had imposed the Code Napo-
leon on a decrepit continent, none the less it is as clear as print
that, like every dictator, he had succeeded in bringing human
affairs to the brink of desolation. Ars at this very time
showed an accurate cross-section of Europe : the little village
localized the widespread threat in time and space. Its cure,
however, got to work like a good shepherd, every one of his
sheep dear to his heart. At first he was left alone with God
in prayer and sacrifice, then after a time the crazy sheep
of the flock paused in their wanderings to observe. . . . The
innocent lambs were the first to approach the newcomer,
stealing into the church of Ars; a sure sign that the tough-
skinned bell-wethers could not be far off. The elders, too,
would come after a while, led by little children, so M. Vianney
prayed and prayed. By the providence of God, a friend in
need put in an appearance on the dismal scene. At the castle
of Ars dwelt a wealthy woman, the daughter of an officer in
Napoleon's famous Guard. She was a great lady of the
ancien r&gime, witty, gracious, highly-endowed as befitted the
daughter of a count. But unlike most of her class, Mademoi-
selle proved a pious loyal daughter of the Church and a pattern
of Christian virtue. Quietly she wrought hidden charities
among the poor of Ars, making the beds of the sick, mending
their clothes, providing their food. And she was the first in
that love-famished village to glimpse the true greatness of the
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Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
apostle. "I have never known such a holy priest as our
new cur6," she wrote. "He never leaves the Church; at the
altar he is a seraph, in the pulpit he is filled with the Spirit of
God." When she came to visit the Blessed Sacrament in the
little abandoned church she found the cur6 there and the
two, silent in prayer before the Most Holy, formed the begin-
nings of the Eucharistic life of Ars. Not long afterwards a
plowman joined them, then the little knot of adorers grew,
and a Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament was the result.
Now they began to gather daily for adoration while every
evening more members stole into the church which took on the
appearance of a public service. "Our cure," people began to
say, "does all he tells us to do; he practices what he preaches;
we have never known him to take part in anv diversion ; his
only pleasure is to pray to the good God; we should follow
his counsels."
Near the Dust
The first quarter-century (1818-1844) of the cure of Ars'
labors witnessed difficult days for the Church. Anti-clericals
abounded all over Europe. A fever of class-hatred had fol-
lowed on the changes and perplexities mankind suffered.
And in every part of Europe where Napoleon's influence pre-
vailed, the civil authority was regarded as supreme', the rights
of the papacy curtailed, and monastic foundations demolished.
At the Council of Vienna (1814-1815) the rulers of Europe
simply refused to work together for good with the Vicar of
Christ. Since each state was empowered to regulate its own
church affairs: some, like Sardinia, Naples and Bavaria, came
to agreement with Rome, others Prussia and many of the
three hundred states in Germany stoutly resisted the
Church's rights. After a concordat between the Bourbons
and the Vatican in 1817 was rejected by the French Parlia-
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
ment, Napoleon's old unjust settlement generally continued
in force. The restoration did not secure a permanent govern-
ment either, Charles I (1824-1830) and Louis-Philippe
(1830-1848) found themselves ousted by revolution. The
thirties brought nothing but political bitterness to the powers,
grief and sorrow to the Popes. Unfaith grew day by day until
great champions like Montalambert had to fight for freedom
of education, winning in 1833 the right to open elementary
schools. At the same time Demaistre defended the spiritual
authority of the Popes, Lamennais fought for freedom of wor-
ship, liberty of the press, and the right of suffrage. None
could miss Seeing the radical change brought about by the
1830 revolution which crushed the clerical party and robbed
the Jesuits of their newly won power. One of the severest
blows to religious education was the treatment of teaching
orders by the various European governments, incited by Free-
masons and other subversive agencies. The Jesuits were
expelled from Portugal in 1834, an( i three years later from
France. A plot was being hatched to unify Italy under the
leadership of the House of Savoy and absorb the papal king-
dom by hook or crook. Indeed, in every nation of Europe
there was overreaching, while Asia and Africa lay like dead
oxen waiting to be taken apart by greedy spoilers.
An age of materialism had set in by mid-century. All that
true religion stood for was widely ignored in the welter of
class-hatred, suspicion and excitement. "Those who are
guided by the Holy Spirit/' said the cure of Ars, "see things.
That is why so many ignorant people know more than the
wise." But sad to say, the old faith of Europe, the creed of
men who knew that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to justice and peace that, alas, had been cast to the four
winds. There was no room for God in the teachings of sci-
ence, government, economics, sociology. An Arctic winter of
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Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
unfaith chilled men's hearts, dulled their minds, shrivelled
their morals. The agnostic scoffed at the Church; the
atheist denied God and His Christ; the materialist saw
naught in life save self. This stark infidelity was the great
and deadly sin of the second half of the nineteenth century,
a sin which would reap the whirlwind of war, revolution after
revolution, and bring up with a World War before the next
century was two decades old. But to return there were
all too many statesmen in Europe sworn to the policy of
"enlightened selfishness.*' They used the wiles of crooked
diplomacy, turned the godless science of their ^day to evil,
one may say, to diabolical use. Honest or right conduct did
not occur to them; the system they followed was inherently
vicious, and so, 'destructive of world peace. The thing to
note here is the unjust power might is right that lay
behind their every effort. In Italy, freemasonry had a large
hand in the uprisings, and Mazzini became the head of a
group of republican patriots who plotted to overthrow the
papacy.
Darkness and Light
More than half-way through the century, kings began to
see the need of upholding the throne and the altar. A con-
cordat with the Holy See was drawn up in Austria. Three
of the four nations that conquered the Corsican Russia,
England and Prussia wisely took the side of the papacy,
at least for the time being. The Holy Alliance aimed to
establish both throne and altar, pledging itself to promote
justice and religion. So far, so good. It was, however, too
late in the day; the swift counter-current had set in still
more violently to threaten both altar and throne. The
menace of Socialism, embodied in the Communist Manifesto
of 1848, made its way steadily underground. And the rank
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
materialism that had long infected men's souls equally effected
policies, the wheels of state swinging again towards absolut-
ism. Rulers bent on power politics paid no heed to "the ever
more insistent cries of of the common people, who asked for
nothing better in life than peace, bread and work/ 7 Pius IX
(1846-1878) ascended the Chair of Peter at forty- four, and
at once ran into the storm. The European plotters were
everywhere intent on stirring up strife and more strife.
In Austria there was revolt and gunfire, while the King of
Sardinia aided Milanese and Venetian mobs to secure a popu-
lar constitution. Then the inciters, blinding the mobs with
hatred and catch words, got to work on the papal states.
Their wave of hate carried the day. They assassinated the
Prime Minister, Count Rossi, shot the Papal Secretary and
forced Pius IX to flee his city. The tables were turned, how-
ever, when the army of Garibaldi fought the French troops
who had come to the aid of the Church. The revolutionist
met with defeat, and Mazzini, his co-conspirator, retreated
to Switzerland. The Pope, back from exile, found much to
do in working for a just and enduring peace.
When Pius IX was doing his utmost to forestall the out-
break of war and recall the nations to peace, the cure of Ars
continued his miraculous pastorate in that out-of-the-way
village. One by one the local abuses were met and reformed,
the scandals abolished. The people of Ars had long set light
store by the Lord's Day, so their cur6 labored for the sancti-
fication of the Sunday. "Man," he told them, "is not merely
a beast of burden, he is also a spirit created in the image of
God. He has not only material wants and gross appetites,
but he has also spiritual wants and appetites of the heart;
he lives not only by bread, he lives by faith, prayer, love and
adoration." These solid truths the cur6 implanted in the
village mind, while he took a firm stand against the cabarets
400
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
and dance-halls until these hell-holes finally disappeared from
the scene. There was bitter opposition, yet he kept his wits
and soon discomfited the evil-doers. It was the curb's
invariable custom to resort to prayer and penance whenever
he wished to obtain from the Almighty favors for his flock.
But it was in the confessional that he got to the heart of the
problem; outside, he was firm, long-visioned, and insistent.
Near to his heart were the poor neglected children of the
district for whom he founded La Providence. This asylum
quickly became a home of love, where the cure visited and
taught the simple Catechism. The fame of the little school
spread, its methods were copied, and the cure's instructions,
now given daily in the Church, drew hundreds of visitors to
the scene. His great work, however, could not go on without
opposition which took the form of violent persecution by the
devil. His rectory was attacked at night "blows on doors,
singing in the chimney, howls of wild beasts, noises of every
description." All these forces of evil presently became known
to the villagers who witnessed with their own eyes the strange
demoniac doings, and often fled for their very lives, while the
cur6 accepted the combat in a most matter-of-fact way. But
the persecuting powers of Satan found allies in men, and the
cure met with odiously cruel treatment from his own. One
day he received a letter in which he read the following:
"Monsieur le Cure, when a man knows as little theology as
you, he ought never to enter a confessional. . . ." There
were neighboring pastors who forbade their flocks to go to
Ars for confession or to make a pilgrimage. They scorned
his miracles as bogus, and branded the cur6 as a dreamer, a
parvenu, and a mischief-maker. They threatened him with
disgrace and censure, going so far as to have him summoned
before his ecclesiastical superiors to answer to charges. Yes,
even while the states of Europe were opposing the Church
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
stupid priests around Ars tried their worst to disarm the
saint in their very midst. No matter. That, the cure of
Ars told himself, was only what Christ had prophesied, "The
enemies of a man are those of his own household. "
The Good Pastor
All this time the holy pastor labored unsparingly among his
flock until year by year they gradually became exemplary
Catholics. His was beyond doubt the victory of prayer and
patience. With courageous eyes he had looked human folly
in the face, and with more courageous heart aided by grace,
had instilled faith in his little flock. The Confraternity of
the Blessed Sacrament counted nearly the whole congregation.
New chapels were built in the outlying regions, and La Provi-
dence so grew that it could not house all the poor applicants.
Now it was that multitudes began to flock to Ars; it looked
as if France, aware of the plight she had hefself prepared,
turned instinctively to this holy place. Who, you may ask,
called them to Ars? Not the press of the day, for it made
no mention of John Vianney. As things turned out they
came in ever-increasing numbers till they counted eighty
thousand a year. What did they see? A humble priest t
worn to a wraith, who spent most of the day at Mass, in the
pulpit, and in the Confessional. So heavy were the cur6's
labors that in 1842 he was attacked by inflammation of the
lungs and the parish despaired of his life. Still the doctor,
biding the recovery of his patient, confessed no fears: "The
health of the cur6 of Ars," he declared, "causes me no anxiety;
it is cared for by Someone Else, and when I am at the end of
my resources Someone Else takes the matter in hand." When
the pastor recovered his frail energy, it was to face new labors,
fresh trials; there still was underground resistance from the
few diehards of the district. Never swayed from the path
402
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
of duty, he rebuked, entreated, exhorted in season and out;
he attended to his growing flock as well as the outmissions, for
he was one who never surrendered in his fight against the
powers of evil. La Providence, so dear to his heart, became
a school for girls under the direction of the Sisters of St.
Joseph, and since it still held the aroma of the founder's sanc-
tity and followed his Catechism, little wonder that it inspired
the building of similar homes in France. More than that, the
wonder-works of the silent priest spread far and wide, drawing
thousands upon thousands in pilgrimages which were the
marvel of that day. For the dominant tendency of the age,
remember, was one of unfaith and gross sinfulness ; it was a
time when nations and men had turned their back on God and
goodness.
The cur6 of Ars, from 1835 on, had to deny himself every
relief, even his retreats, in order to minister to the crowds
that flocked to Ars, pilgrimage after pilgrimage. They came
from all parts % of France; from England, Holland, and Ger-
many, even from far-off America. And all day long, except
when at the altar, or in the pulpit and Confessional, the cure
cared for them high and low, rich and poor; the lame, the
blind, the deaf, the epileptic. But it was "in the box/' as
eyewitnesses reported, that most of his time was spent
from I to 8 A.M., and from I to 8 P.M. An amusing incident
is related of an uppish woman who tried to rush ahead of the
waiting throngs. When the tumult brought M. Vianney out
of his box he had to face an indignant husband. "It is my
wife who wants to make her confession," said the stranger,
challengingly. "Very well," the cur6 replied, calm as ever,
"she will come in her turn." Here the upstart lady chimed
in, "I cannot wait!" "I am exceedingly sorry," said the
cure, "but were you the Empress herself, you must wait your
proper turn." Often when he emerged from the hot, close
403
Church History in the Light of the Saints
tribunal, he was half-dead from exhaustion. "One must come
to Ars," he would say with tears, "in order to know what sin
is and to appreciate the harm that Adam has wrought in his
unfortunate family. One knows not what to do! One can
only pray and weep." And there you have the secret of the
saint's power love of souls, prayer and penance. It is
scant cause for wonderment that his "cures" multiplied, the
efficacy of his petition increased; for the nearer holy people
come to God, the greater the power of their intercession. The
blessed cure, the very antithesis of the modern world, brought
peace on earth to his parish. His little flock, though poor, was
wellnigh perfect and happy! Had they not seen in his
life, clear as day, the futility of money, the emptiness of
human learning, the impotence of earthly honors? They
were not a whit surprised when great men of France (Lacor-
daire, for instance, the preacher of the century) came to sit
at the feet of their cure; nor were they awed at the sight of
his old table piled high with letters from all parts of the earth.
They easily understood the man who said, "Before I came
to Ars, and saw the good Father, I could hardly believe what
is related in the lives of the saints. Now I believe them all,
because I have seen with my own eyes, and much more
besides."
But the days of the holy man fast drew to a close in the
terrible heat of July, 1859. His breakdown proved so com-
plete that he could not rise from his bed, and asked to be let
alone to die "with his poor flies."
"You are tired, Monsieur le Cur6."
"Yes, I think it is my poor end"
"I'll go and get help."
"No, don't disturb anyone; it's not worth while."
At two o'clock in the morning of August 4, 1859, John
Vianney passed peacefully away without agony or struggle,
404
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
and" Ars knew it had lost the perfect parish priest, a man
of whom Pope Pius X could say, "This priest, poor, humble
and unlearned in the eyes of the world, has become the
marvel of the entire human race."
Force or Freedom
After the cure of Ars' going, the great question was whether
Europe would seek the peace of God, or continue resorting
to the sword of greed. The attempted hegemony of Napoleon
had been crushed, it is clear, only to bring an illusory peace
and pave the way for the designs of other war-wolves. Added
to that peril, the deadly sin of disbelief was daily undermining
the social structure and causing a world-wide fever. The
evil fruits of the Congress of Vienna began to appear in the
rapidly growing unrest and rivalry of nations. Nor would
the strong, unscrupulous statesmen of the day, such as Cavour
and Bismarck, do anything to repair that evil. The balance
of power now replaced any possible balance of peace, while
misery lay in store for the common people, deprived of their
basic liberties. A series of fresh wars seemed to be imminent.
Two great Popes saw the conflict ahead and played a big role
in this half-century. Pius IX (1846-1878) and Leo XIII
(1878-1903) were men who sought peace and pursued it;
men with the minds of seers. The former, faced with the
threat of seemingly endless persecution, manfully stood his
ground year after year. Long before mid-century he had
suffered at the hands of the plotters the House of Savoy
chock-a-block with the revolutionists. Yet, by a providence
of Heaven, while Catholic Italy was still at pains to rob the
Holy See, the hierarchy was established in Holland, in 1583,
and the next year Pius defined the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception. In 1854, after the Anglo-Russian mess in the
Crimea, he signed a concordat with Austria. In the mean-
405
Church History in the Light of the Saints
time Bismarck, who represented Prussia in the German diet,
decided he would make short work of Austria. His ultimate
aim was to shackle the Catholic power and unite all Germans
in an empire under the aegis of Prussia. A quarrel was soon
started and in 1866 the Austrians entered the ambush of
Prussian treachery. All over Italy plot and counter-plot
continued, with the aim of securing a united kingdom. There
were revolts in Poland (1863) and in Ireland (1866) against
the unbearable injustice of mighty powers. As tyrannical
and despotic governments carried on, Europe was moving
rapidly towards self-destruction.
The crisis came in 1870. That year the Italians seized
Rome, while the Prussians defeated Austria at Sedan. King
Victor Emmanuel II of the new Kingdom of Italy sought in
vain to placate Pius IX who chose to remain a protesting
prisoner in the Vatican. When, earlier, the Italian army had
entered Rome, Pius ordered the papal troops to put down their
arms and said, "Only yesterday I received a communication
from the young gentlemen of the American College, begging,
I should say, demanding, permission to arm themselves and
to constitute themselves the defenders of my person. . . ."
In 1870 the Vatican Council, opened the year before, pro-
claimed the Papal Infallibility. It was the largest Ecumenical
Council in the annals of the Church, and its decisions, touch-
ing upon matters of doctrine, faith and discipline, were re-
ceived with joy all the world over. But no sooner had the
German Empire become a reality than Bismarck launched a
persecution against . the Catholics. It was the Prussian's
boast that, "Neither in Church or state are we on the way to
Canossa." The "Falk Laws," were enacted by Bismarck's
nimble agents to suppress Catholic Action, but the German
Catholics slugged it out in an effective manner, and the so-
called Kulturkampf resulted in the sound defeat of the
406
Saint John Vianney and the Nineteenth Century
Prussian dictator. Pius IX was succeeded by the aged but
brilliant Vincenzo Pecci who, as Leo XIII, displayed mag-
nificent initiative and independence. This great Pope, often
called the Socialist Pontiff, fostered social justice, warned the
crowned heads of Europe of the dangers ahead, and proved
to be a true prophet, the keenest observer and interpreter of
the main currents of his era. But the papal warnings went
unheeded, though the rulers, recognizing Leo's genius and
uncanny foresight treated him with unwonted respect. The
old power politics, blind and greedy as ever, were still at work,
undermining the peace of Europe. They had isolated the
Capital of the Ages, swept away the counsels of the \yisest
men of the time and despised the rights of labor along with
the virtue of justice. Not long now, and the new century
would see the wolves of hatred unleashed first in World War I,
then in a Global War, which would shake the very founda-
tions of civilization.
407
SAINTS AND MARTYRS IN THE AMERICAS
Saint Rose or Lima
FLOWER OF THE NEW WORLD
EARLY SOUTH AMERICAN SCENE
Cabral blown off course to Brazil 1500
Balboa hears of the Inca Empire 1511
Balboa discovers the Pacific 1513
First Settlement in Venezuela 1520
Magellan discovers the Straits 1520
Cprtez lands at Vera Cruz 1521
Pizarro's first attempt to reach Peru *5%4
Franciscan Friars in Mexico 1524
Sebastian Cabot discovers Paraguay 1525
Pizzaro invades Peru 1531
Conquest of Peru $ ' 1 533-1 534
Chili invaded by Spaniards *535
Uprising of the Inca Manco 1535
Franciscans preach Christianity in Paraguay 1536
Diocese of Cuzco erected 1536
Civil wars among the conquerors 1 538
Bolivia under the viceroyalty of Lima 1540
Bishop Valverde assassinated 1541
Pizarro assassinated 1541
Growth of Church in Paraguay 1542
Archdiocese of Lima established 1543
Lima the Capital of Peru 1544
Diocese of Paraguay created 1547
Argentine colonized by Spain 1550
San Marcos, first University in New World 1551
Extraordinary missionary activities 1560
Jesuits enter Peru 1568
Bl. Martin Porres born in Lima 1569
Holy Office established in Peru 1570
First Printing Press in New World 1577
Mission school at Lake Titicaca (Juli) *577
Philip II assigns Turibio, Archbishop of Lima 1580
Turibio arrives in Lima 1581
Birth of Rose of Lima 1586
Francis Splanus journeys to the Chaco 1588
Rose receives Confirmation , 1597
Rose retires to a little grotto 1 598
Journeys of St. Turibio 1598
Rose plans to enter the Dominican Order 1599
SAINT ROSE OF LIMA
The New World
A nautical chart, dated 1474 and drawn by the geographer
Toscanelli, had deservedly high place in the discovery of
America. By its close study Columbus, sure that the earth
was a ball, was further convinced that Cathay, the land of
mystery, lay only twenty-five hundred miles beyond the
Canaries. Did not the prophets and the philosophers also
point the direction to such a fabulous land? Oh, the glory
of such a successful adventure through the Sea of Darkness,
and the rewards that awaited such map-reading! But years
passed before the Genoese mariner was able to convince
Ferdinand and Isabella that their war-weary nation would
outrun Portugal; then with Spanish coffers overflowing, the
Holy Land could be reclaimed, heathens converted and slaves
by the thousands secured. At long last, on August 3, 1492,
Columbus, in command of three caravels, departed from
Palos into the weird unknown. He sailed west from the
Canaries and, after crossing the Atlantic in its widest part,
made the Bahamas, on October twelfth. An Irishman from
Galway, Harris by name, and an Englishman, Arthur Laws,
journeyed with the great Italian, another voyager was the
father of the first priest to be ordained in the New World.
This zealous Dominican, Bartholomew Las Casas, who
came to Hispaniola with Ovando in 1502 was destined for a
long and eventful career far away from his native Seville.
Twelve times he crossed the Atlantic and covered every then
known region of America and the islands. All his priestly
life he struggled to rescue the natives from the slavery im-
posed by the Spanish soldiers. It was the old, old story of
411
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the cross versus the sword, charity against cruelty a con-
test that has continued ever since. Las Casas' battle cry
was, "He that taketh away his neighbor's living slayeth him;
and he that defraudeth the laborer of his hire is a blood-
shedder." The discovery of America poured a torrent of
wealth into Europe to feed the greed and stir the rivalry of
the nations, but the one who opened the way, the great
admiral of middle 9 age with fair, ruddy face and white hair,
died in poverty and disgrace, without ever knowing what a
world-changing thing he had done.
Other fearless navigators sailed over the uncharted ocean
in the wake of Columbus' caravels. The Italian seamen as
early as 1400 used charts, compass and timepiece; they were
easily the best navigators in Europe. By the year 1497,
Amerigo Vespucci reached the solid mass and gave the conti-
nent its name; and the Cabots, Italian mariners, discovered
the northern coast. Three years later Cortereal explored
Laborador, Cabral, blown off his course, drifted to far-off
Brazil, and Magellan reached the straits which bear his
name. Thus it was that the seaman's pincers spanned the
eastern coasts of two Americas. But it remained for Cortez,
the most educated and reckless of the conquistadors, to begin
the actual conquest of the New World. A year after Magel-
lan's adventure Cortez braved the unknown sea, landed at
Vera Cruz, and planned to conquer Mexico. His Spanish
soldiers of fortune, scuttling their ships, marched boldly
inland and took Montezuma's great city, enriching Emperor
Charles V with a region vaster than all his European do-
minions. In one of Cortez's ships was a foolhardy stow-
away, named Balboa, who was to be the discoverer of the
Pacific; an even more* ad venturous swashbuckler was Cortez'
lieutenant Pizarro, the actual invader of South America.
News had come to Balboa in Darien that down continent a
412
Saint Rose oj Lima
king ruled over the mountains and the sea. The country to
the south, it was said, was full of gold and precious stones,
with four-footed beasts of burden to boot. Days passed,
days of patient waiting. While the eyes of the Spaniards
focussed in Central America, Pizarro, with one hundred sixty
armed men, set out for the distant Andes there to garner
wealth and establish power in the high lands. After two
unsuccessful attempts, he embarked at Panama in 1531 with
three Dominicans aboard and reached the Empire of the
Incas. Black treachery and brutal energy were the blood-
stained weapons of the cruellest conquistador of them all.
The Inca foully deceived and his subjects divided, the struggles
of the brave aborigines only made it clearer that there was
no escape for them. So it fell out that the formidable Pizarro
unwittingly "went West" hundreds of years before the idea
occurred to the English in the New World.
Land oj the Incas
Peru, named after "Beru," an Indian tribe, was the country
where the Andean range, running southeast to northwest,
follows the curve of the coast. Gold had lured Pizarro to its
strange shores, gold and the hope of ruling like a steel-clad
monarch, but what was his surprise to find there highly
civilized Indians with an advanced culture. They wor-
shipped the Sun God, displayed a most elaborate ritual, and
maintained impressive ceremonies at animal sacrifice. Their
ruler, the Inca, was a war-chief, elected by the council to
carry out its decisions, who by that time held sway over more
than half of South America; the Peruvian tribes were mainly
scattered over the coast, in the jungles, and among the
Cordilleras. Adept at agriculture, builders of great renown,
they had their own social and political institutions. They
were brave warriors, too, but Pizarro and his treasure-mad
413
Church History in the Light of the Saints
ruffians treated them so bitterly that two years sufficed for
complete conquest. Upon taking Cuzco, the capital of the
vast Empire, Pizarro established a government and pro-
ceeded to dole out grants of land and houses ; four years later
a Dominican monastery rose on the site of the Inca temple
of the sun. But there were flare-backs from the natives,
Indians of fine physique and quick intelligence. Add to that
uprisings on the part of claimants to the Inca's crown and
civil war among the conquerors themselves. Amid this near
chaos, the missionaries were burdened with .the almost in-
superable task of winning over the still warlike vanquished.
Yet by patience and heroic sacrifice they succeeded, as we
shall see, in planting the faith in Peru.
The Indians in the bush soon came to regard the padres
in a far different light from the cruel soldiery. Then with
the coming of Father Pedro de Gasca in 1546 the poor op-
pressed found a stout champion who dared to take sides
with them against his own people. The Dominicans led the
way; they were followed by their comrades-in-Christ, Fran-
ciscans, Augustinians and Jesuits. These men of God left
their homes in Europe for a far-off, fabulous land, to play
their part in human affairs and win souls to the true way of
life. They came armed only with hope and zeal, they saw
with eyes of faith, and they conquered by charity. It is not
too much to say that they carried the full weight of their
burden, expecting little help from King or council. As these
fearless heralds of the faith entered jungles, sailed dark rivers,
and climbed the high lands, one tribe after another were
won over by love and devotion to embrace the truth and
forget the bitter past. Who can doubt that these padres
typify, more than most, "democracy at work with its 'sleeves
rolled up'"; for democracy is indeed an illusion, is nothing
without neighbor love. That they did their job well no
414
Saint Rose of Lima
man can doubt ; still more, they handed on to future genera-
tions hope and confidence, not bitter disappointment. In-
stead of wiping out the native, they won him over to the
Church of the Ages. Many of these first pioneers lived to
see new dioceses established, while in the cities of Cuzco and
Lima there rose, as if by the magic of love, many churches,
monasteries, convents and schools. The land of the Inca
gave promise of entering an era of peace and prosperity, not
unmixed however with sporadic revolts and warfare.
The First American Crusade
The military conquest of Peru took only a short time,
1533-1534, but the spiritual combat would cover centuries.
There were martyrs and saints those days, a fact which ex-
plains the early spread of the faith. *Frey Valverde, first
bishop of Cuzco, a tireless worker among the sick and injured,
was murdered by Puna Indians in 1541; Saint Turibio,
second bishop of Lima died in 1606, worn out by the journeys
and hardships of his apostolate. A whole world of work for
Christ still awaited the padres in the dark jungle, along
banks of deep rivers, on the Cordilleras. They did not know
whether the natives might greet them peaceably or do them
to death with a poisoned arrow. At the outset, the Indians
held all Spaniards suspect; no wonder, having felt the searing
imprint of the conquistador, and the bitterness of his treachery.
The coastal tribes soon had opportunity enough to appreciate
at close quarters the true spirit of the cassocked newcomers.
They quickly saw that the padres' only arms were love and
zeal; the eyes they looked into told of hope, good humor
and kindliness; still more the acts, the loving-kindness they
received was good, exceedingly good! These priests were
men of God who had come "to preach good tidings, to bind
up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,"
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
and very soon it was realized that the faith they held could
furnish "the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness/* A year after the invasion,
Cuzco the old Inca capital, had a bishop; the place almost
overnight possessed churches, convents, schools; and a
peaceful population went about their business.
The coastal cities, however, were but the first step in the
Crusade for Christ. "Go and teach all/' was the divine
charge. All nations, all tribes, all tongues! Of old, St.
Peter left Jerusalem, trod the imperial roads and entered
Rome, the center of pagan power; so would the missionaries
proceed in the New World even to the cradle of the Incas.
Padres and lay brothers began to penetrate the jungles, sail
the rivers, climb ancient tribal paths to the Andes. The
poisoned swamps Reid no terror for these heralds of the
Gospel, icy cold did not deter them, nor pinching upland
winds chill their zeal. They must, at all costs, offset the
ghastly impact of the conquistador; their lives gladly given,
they would make up for the cruelties and injustices inflicted
on the vanquished.
St. Francis Solano knifed his way through dense jungles;
by slow stages the hardy Franciscan journeyed in 1588 from
Peru to the Paraguayan Chaco preaching to the tribes in their
own dialect. What grotesque surprises awaited him when
he glimpsed the frenzied Indians at their religious ceremonies !
The natives in enormous headdress danced with pagan fervor
to the music of pipe and drum. Blue and yellow feathers
of the macaw waved defiantly over hideous faces, aflame as
much from the fire of liquor as from their scarlet paint. It
was clearly the task of all missionaries to civilize suchlike
before they could Christianize. So, while the sons of St.
Augustine labored to salvage good for all on the hot coastal
plains and in the foothills, the sons of St. Ignatius climbed
416
THE
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
SHOWING AREA OF
FIHST EXPLORATIONS
English French
Dutch fe&lpi Spanish
Portuguese
Church History in the Light of the Saints
forbidding trails to towering heights, following what often
seemed a forlorn hope to reach the mountain tribes. They
beheld for the first time the proud-stepping llama of the
Andes, a docile graceful animal which served the highland
Indian not only as his beast of burden, but his sole source
of meat, milk and clothing. More wonderful still, they found
the ruins of Inca and pre-Inca periods, happened upon rare
pottery, exquisite designs in earrings and beads all in the
day's work for God. The children of the Sun grew to love
the black robes ; seeing is believing, and many embraced the
faith. In a wide valley of the Andes nestled the island-
studded lake, Titicaca, cradle of Incan civilization, the bul-
wark of an ancient tyranny. It lay 12,500 feet above the
sea level; and there at Juli the Jesuits opened a training
school for missionaries, and set up the first printing press in
the New World. On the western side of the lake lay Puno,
13,000 feet high, the city where Manco Capac, founder of
the Peruvian dynasty, made his reputed miraculous appear-
ance. Into such weird unholy places the missionaries pro-
ceeded, braving a thousand dangers in their effort to win
souls. A great American crusade, indeed, which would make
up in numbers for the losses the Church incurred in the
sixteenth century.
City by the Sea
One of the oldest cities in the New World is Lima, the
beautiful. Built on the right bank of the River Rimac, six
hundred feet above the hot, unhealthful strand, it looks out
to Callao harbor nine miles away. It was- Pizarro himself
who, after the conquest, chose the place beyond the swamps
and laid the first stone of the cathedral in the wide plaza.
The Inca capital, Cuzco, stood too far inland to suit the con-
quistador who wanted a city near the coast, high enough to
418
Saint Rose of Lima
be livable and easily accessible to incoming voyagers. His
vision was wholly justified, for Lima became the capital city,
opened in 1551 the University of San Marcos, first in the
New World, and rapidly advanced as a center of social,
religious and mercantile activity. On the death of its first
bishop, the Dominican Loaysa, in 1575, Philip II of Spain
sent an able successor who had been in turn professor of law
at Salamanca and president of the Court of the Inquisition
at Granada. Bishop Turibio Mogrovejo arrived in Lima in
1581 and proved an ideal choice for the place, the most needed
man of the day. Firm, prudent and full of zeal for souls,
he found no task too hard, no trial too heavy; under his
shepherdly guidance, convents, monasteries, churches, hos-
pices, libraries and novitiates grew apace; in fifteen years
he held fourteen synods and three councils, introducing
drastic reforms of crying abuses prevalent in his vast diocese.
Not only were his limitless energies spent in the cathedral
city ; even greater was his accomplishment in the mission field.
Bishop Turibio was the sort of apostle who, once having
decided what was for God's cause, defied all difficulties in
doing it. The labors he undertook in behalf of the Indians
appear almost incredible. To begin with, he spent desperate
hours mastering the Quichua language in order to teach the
natives the way of the Gospel and see for himself that they
got a fair deal. Then, he dwelt calmly among them, year
after year, sinking his roots with theirs, aiming to repair
"the desolations of many centuries/' With two secretaries
he went about his work, preaching and baptizing until death
caught up with him in the fevered swamps. None the less he
had lived long enough to count thousands of converts to the
faith; even to see Lima become the sweet garden of saints,
two of whom Rose Marie, the fairest of flowers, and Martin
Porres, the holy half-breed, have been raised to the altars of
419
Church History in the Light of the Saints
the Church. Not that Lima was a purely religious and cul-
tural center, an altogether high-minded place. Far from it.
For the city opened its gates to a motley throng drawn
thither by the magnetism of gold and silver: families from
the West Indies, adventurers by the shipload from Europe,
vagabond sailors from the new-found seas. Added together
they made a darkly mixed population, but Lima, though
largely of Spanish pattern, was actually a small cross-section
of the New World.
A Flower Blooms
Among the early arrivals from Porto Rico was the family
of Gasper de Florez and Maria del Oliva. They found a
home in the fast-growing city, a low rambling structure not
far from the Church of San Sebastian, and there, on April 20,
1586, Rose was born. She was baptized Isabella but folk
called her Rose so sweet and ruddy was the babe that she
appeared like a tiny mystical rose. The early tender years,
when she was dependent on the example and tradition of her
race, showed the charming criolla 1 a true Spaniard to the core.
At three, the venturesome little one crushed her thumb under
a heavy chest lid ; a surgeon was called in and she submitted
without a whimper to his barbarous treatment. Other traits
appeared when Rose was barely five. She had a wealth of
auburn hair, which an older brother, "gone Indian, " plastered
with mud, much to Rose's anger, for the child was very proud
of her crowning glory. Not content with his first mischief,
he began to upbraid his little sister, preaching a sermon with
all the heat and tempo of a friar thundering forth in the pulpit
of San Sebastian. "Why," he cried, "what a fuss you make
about your red hair! You little know what a frizzling girl's
hairs get in hell-fire, if they are vain of them!" It is what
1 A criolla is a person born in America of Spanish parents,
420
Saint Rose of Lima
happened at that point which is significant. Rose, deeply
impressed by the brimstone sermon, bewailed her vanity;
still more, she got herself a razor, cut off the muddied tresses
and shaved her head to the scalp. From that time on she
appears to have been ignorant alike of her great beauty and
charm. The mud-plastering urchin could not have been so
bad a brother, since he was presently helping Rose to con-
struct a shed in the back of their garden. They were hardly
more than children, these two, yet Rose's heart held wondrous
secrets unknown to her family. She wanted the bee-like
place for a refuge where an industrious little maid, already
deeply religious, could make sweet spiritual honey. The
hut in the near jungle became a place of withdrawal, an abode
of holiness. Thither the budding mystic repaired whenever it
was possible, and later it served as a cell where she dwelt
most of the time, leaving it only to go to Mass and visit the
Blessed Sacrament. But now, having received her parents*
humoring consent to sleep there, the child began to decorate
her retreat. Safe from prying eyes, Rose who was home-
loving by nature and exceedingly talented, would make baby-
garments to clothe the statute of the Divine Infant, and
spend her extra time in self-discipline, one of her secret prac-
tices being to weave a crown of thorns and place it on her
head. No fear of man or beast troubled her pure unspoiled
heart, for God was in her thoughts day and night. "On
high on the stars' far side was the Infinite Beauty of the
Trinity." And when she awoke to a lovely morning her heart
would wing out, "O all ye green things of the earth, bless ye
the Lord!" Birds nesting near by sang sweetly at her com-
mand; trees bowed their heads and touched the ground. In
the very freshness of her time this Heaven-chosen child had
made a definite choice ; the worship in her sweet young soul
would grow more intense with the years.
421
Church History in the Light of the Saints
"Love the good and the true/ 1 said a great artist, "then
you will get to love the beautiful. 1 * Rose, who now called
herself Rose Marie, owing to a special vision she had of the
Blessed Mother, craved only one thing the beauty of holi-
ness. She feared sin for what it is the thief of the soul's
peace, the sting of death. Not for nothing had she seen on
Lima's streets the curse of wrongdoing with all its nauseating
consequences; though her generous soul was never blind to
the merits of others, she saw the furtive lurking pride that
demanded excess of attention and cast aside the pure robe of
modesty. Her mother was not of such a mind; and be it
said, she knew little of Rose Marie's inner spiritual beauty.
Maria del Oliva, with eyes only for the things that fade,
attended largely to Rose Marie's face and hair, her lovely
complexion and tapering fingers. The De Florez family
appeared to have been a gay, human, care-free, wholly charm-
ing group, with roots deep in old Spain. One can readily
understand the home problems of the young mystic, intent
on becoming a saint. In vain did Maria del Oliva play a
strong hand to make the humble girl bedizen herself like the
young senoritas of Lima. Often enough, no doubt, the
mother's insistence was no more than a mask concealing the
family pride, Rose^ Marie, adequate to each challenge, found
ways to circumvent the danger of every self-adornment. The
roses, dutifully woven into a wreath on her head, contained
thorns pressed \down and piercing the skin. The gloves,
soft and scented, which obedience compelled her to wear,
had the fingers lined with stinging herbs. She firmly refused,
however, to do up her hair in the prevailing fashion, or paint
her face or wear the silk gowns they thrust upon her. Was
not St. Catherine her model? Did she not secretly imitate
the Italian mystic? The South American girl found deep
joy in copying the penances of her heavenly friend, even to
422
Saint Rose of Lima
the extent of fasting for days and binding a rough chain
round her slender waist. Once in her hide-away she would
weave a ' Catherine-crown of ninety-nine thorns and wear it
by the hour. The mud-bricked hut was lavishly decorated
with holy things; for she regarded it a mystical wedding
chamber for sweet converse with Our Lord.
One day during a visit to the Church of San Sebastian,
Rose Marie fell into a trance before the statue of Mary and
the Child. "Rose of My Heart," said the Infant, "be thou
My spouse." And Rose replied, "I am Thy handmaid, 'I
will be Thine." From that time on, the elect girl practiced
crueller penances and longer fastings; she roughened her
beautiful hands with added toil, and when the family opposi-
tion became unbearable she ran to her confessor, told him
of her plight and got him to make Maria del Oliva stop pester-
ing her daughter. The self-inflicted penances continued
without abatement, and one difficult day when vanity assailed
her the courageous senorita, not from naive piety this time
but in stern self-conquest, once more sheared off her locks.
Old friends could not believe their eyes, the children ridiculed
the shorn head, her parents were simply desolate. But Rose
Marie deemed it unseemly that beautiful hair should adorn
a head so empty as hers, and continued undismayed on her
holy path. No admonitions nor punishments were 'strong
enough to deter her from practices of self-abasement. This
incident may sound strange in our day, but she prevailed on
the Indian servant to jump and dance on her back, a thing
to which Mariana first demurred, but then enjoyed and per-
formed with savage gusto.
South American Milliner
In 1597 Bishop Turibio confirmed Rose Marie, then aged
eleven. The sheath had dropped from the rose-bud, and the
423
Church History in the Light of the Saints
grace of the Holy Ghost reached the very roots, the ultimate
fibres of the elect girl's soul. As she grew older, people
marvelled at the senorita who had so little in common with
the girls who painted their cheeks with rouge, their eyelids
with antimony; instead of taking pains with her hair, ap.d
making much of dress she devoted herself to menial tasks.
Now that she was a milliner, earning her livelihood, and sup-
porting her family, there was little time for any nonsense.
The pattern of her life, both inner and outer, remained a
holy and lovely thing before God and men. All the city
knew of her radiant goodness, the overflowing love she dis-
played for the poor, and dignified ladies of Lima went out of
their way to meet the De Florez maiden whose delicate fingers
could fashion such exquisite lace and embroidery. There
were many embarrassments to be faced in the city by
any young woman of beauty and charm, none the less Rose
Marie really belonged to the company of the dauntless. A
young man, Vincent de Venegas, falling in love with the
gifted store-worker, sought in true South American fashion
to have a meeting with the adored one. Going to the milli-
nery department the would-be suitor slyly tmasked his real
intent: "I would have a set of fine-frilled collars/' he an-
nounced, "and no one makes them better than Rose Marie
de Florez ; may I have a set?" While Rose Marie was measur-
ing the neck of the love-lorn gallant, she saw the whole truth
in eyes hungrily devouring her. "You have not come here
for collars,'* she upbraided him. "I see that clearly enough.
Do not tell lies but have an eye to good conduct/' Taken
aback, and not knowing what to say, the young man sheep-
ishly departed, never to return. Maria del Oliva dearly
wanted a brilliant marriage for this favored daughter and
many a young gallant was most willing, but mundane love
was not for Rose Marie who would have none of them. Grim
424
Saint Rose of Lima
years of tension and excitement followed, ten years of amazing
patience and severe self-mastery. She encountered family
opposition a-plenty, but it got nowhere with the brave young
woman who had a secret vow of virginity and a burning
desire to become a Dominican. With heart given over to
a Divine Spouse, and eyes only for the Eternal Beauty, she
found her joy and happiness in the parish church before the
Most Holy. Her garden cell, too, proved a Godsend during
those difficult days ; the world with its poisoned precepts had
no place where an ardent lover of Christ transformed all
values, until she became "a thing enskied and sainted."
All this time Rose Marie was seldom free from inner trial,
on the contrary the fierce tempter assailed her purity, faith
and constancy. But Christ appeared to her, enriching her
with grace, and empowering the young mystic in all her holy
resolves. These supernal visions frightened Rose Marie,
driving her at length to seek advice from different confessors.
One after another, they definitely assigned physical causes
bile, lack of sleep, undernourishment. Solemnly they warned
her to be on her guard lest she become prey to what they
deemed dangerous delusions. Maria del Oliva, greatly
worried, called in the doctor who at first prescribed pills,
then bitter draughts, and finally bleedings. No use, however.
Rose Marie prayed and suffered so intensely they wondered
she had any strength to survive. Then a commission of
doctors and divines took up the case to determine whether
Senorita de Florez was mad or sane. In true Inquisition
fashion they put their heads together, examined the books
she, read, probed into her motives, and generally made a
nuisance of themselves. But they got nowhere, except to
agree that Rose Marie was 'Very, very ill!" AH but one,,
Don Juan de Castillo, a deeply religious man who heartily
disagreed with his confreres. This capable physician had
4*5
Church History in the Light of the Saints
won the young woman's confidence and was rewarded with a
confident description of her feelings and visions; he gave it
as his verdict that these came from God and there was nothing
any commission could do about it. Just the same Maria del
Oliva stormed and stormed, displaying her wrath in harsh
treatment, but despite the fuss and fury Rose Marie was not
one to lay down arms. Intent on following the way of the
cross, she continued her devotions and self-denials as before
and found deep abiding peace, being rewarded with visions
more ravishing than ever.
War and Peace
The capital city had its ups and downs and Peru itself
underwent inner struggles and near calamities. Then, even
as today, revolt lurked in the shadow of the Andes, the air
was filled with fears and rumors, there was peril by land and
sea. One day the people were thrown into a panic by the
appearance of a Dutch fleet off the coast. Seeing the port of
Callao in danger, and fearing for the safety of Lima, Rose
Marie fled to San Sebastian. Hour after hour she stood
before the altar-steps, ready to defend the Hidden Presence
with her life against any insults or profanities of heretics.
She did not quit the holy place until word was brought that
the fleet, weighing anchor, had disappeared. With the pass-
ing of time came a change of scene when Caspar de Florez
decided to leave Lima for the mining town of Guanca. The
two-hundred-mile journey thither would have tried the heart
of a conquistador. Over swamp and sand trail the family
plodded along, weary unto death, pushing ahead up hill and
through thick jungle where they encountered Indians with
eyes hard and hating. When they arrived at Guanca, a wet
hot valley in the Cordilleras, the long trek hacj taken its toll.
Once there, Rose Marie's weakened health did not prevent
426
Saint Rose of Lima
her from assuming the role of nurse amid the shacks and
mine-pits. An angel of mercy, she went straight to work,
scattering the largess of her devotion which, in all truth, was
greatly in demand. For in the poverty-stricken place, heavy
labor and gruelling hardship were the rule; and the folk in
that harsh, sun-weary valley knew little of hope and bright-
ness. Theirs was the cruel lot of living in subjection, humilia-
tion and fear. Mine-owners, rapacious as ever,* used slave-
driving methods, while the Indians, nomadic and lazy, often
refused to work. Among them all the matchless Senorita de
Florez spent herself, giving the rest of the time to her prayers
and her needle-plying. Worn out by long hours of overwork
and fasting, she fell ill and the de Florez family despaired of
her life. Indeed, it was months before Rose Marie was re-
stored to health and even then all could see the ravages of
fever had made a shadow of the self-sacrificing senorita. But
sweetly and surely she stuck to her ideal, until at long last
she achieved her dearest wish on earth to live in the
Dominican convent in Lima.
Saint Rose of Mary
At twenty Rose Marie entered the Third Order of St.
Dominic. The little black-and-white butterfly that had
hovered so long over her, and which bore the colors of St*
Dominic, saw her safe into her new monastic cell. But do
not imagine for a moment it was all as easy as that. New
trials accompanied her almost to the door of the convent,
though her stay in the world had been in itself a long and
trying noviceship. An old Spanish lady, whose son she had
repelled, but who intended willy-nilly to make the lovely
senorita her daughter-in-law, was so infuriated by defeat that
she savagely slapped the face of the innocent girl. And as
if that were not bad enough, Rose Marie had to stand fast
427
Church History in the Light of the Saints
against an avalanche of family opposition and breast the
flood of "ferocious authority/' Maria del Oliva, still ob-
sessed with the idea of a wealthy marriage, did everything to
dissuade her daughter from her secretly avowed purpose.
Once in the convent, however, Sister Rose of St. Mary could
thank her beloved St. Catherine, and strive harder than ever
to imitate the great mystic. No fugacious bloom was this
Dominican tertiary, but a glory of her time, drenched with
the stored-up sweetness of a life "hidden with Christ in God."
A metal-spiked crown, covered with roses, was secretly worn
on her shorn head, the old iron chain still served as a hidden
girdle, and days passed without any food save a bitter salad
of gall mixed with herbs. All this voluntary mortification
and self-inflicted pain indicated the saint's growing hunger
and thirst to share in the Passion of Our Lord. Sister Rose
of St. Mary had set her mind on Christ crucified, and would
never take it from Him. There is no doubt that for her, as
for St. Paul, "to live was Christ and to die was a gain." This
victim-impulse, it should be noted, has been a spring of
sanctity in every age of the Church. No one need be sur-
prised, therefore, to learn that for fourteen years Sister Rose
of St. Mary continued her fierce penances, experiencing in
the midst of them the most heavenly consolations. Our Lord
revealed Himself and flooded her soul with peace and joy in
marvellous ecstasies that often continued for hours.
> The life of Sister Rose of St. Mary, with its harsh ascetism,
was not all prayer and penance. She undoubtedly played an
important part in Lima's progress towards law, order, and
religion. At the convent there were visiting days which
enabled her to extend a holy influence on souls outside the
walls. One of her co-workers was the Dominican lay-brother,
Martin Porres, whose fame had spread all over Lima. None
in all that city held the affection of the poor and lowly as did
428
Saint Rose of Lima
those wonder-workers for God. They had much in common ,
the beautiful nun of the de Florez family, and the black lay-
brother, son of a Panamanian negress and a Spanish knight of
Alcantara. Both had been baptized in San Sebastian Church ;
both wore the black and white habit of St. Dominic; both
had reached heights of holiness. Martin was the herald of
many of Sister Rose of St. Mary's charities to the poor, the
bearer of love and consolation to the poverty-ridden corners
of the capital city. They spiritually refreshed multitudes,
their deeds of mercy brought joy into many a hovel, the power
of their intercession was extraordinary. Many a vagabond
was won to deathbed repentance, many a sick Indian brought
back to health through the heart of St. Rose and the hand of
Blessed Martin. Thus you find it throughout church history;
wherever a holy man reforms or restores, there is always a
woman saint somewhere in the background giving aid and
encouragement. It is illuminating, too, to learn that Sister
Rose of St. Mary offered all her penances and mortifications
in reparation for the sins of her day, the outrages of her kins-
men conquistadors, the idolatries of her beloved Indians, and
for the souls in purgatory. A true South American, the
flower of her people, Rose of Lima was undoubtedly of the
breed of God's heroines who, in their brief day on earth,
worked to restore all things in Christ. The angelic soul,
imprisoned in a wasted body, fast approached the gate of
Heaven. After a long and agonizing sickness, she died, on
August 24, 1617, at the age of thirty-one. Half a century
passed, and in 1671, to the joy of all her countrymen and
countrywomen, she was canonized. The Church of the
Ages thus set a South American saint alongside her great
Spanish contemporary, Teresa of Avila, and later awarded
her the holy accolade, Patroness of Latin America and the
Philippines.
429
SAINTS AND MARTYRS IN THE AMERICAS
Saint Isaac Jo^ues
SERVANT OF SAVAGES
EARLY NORTH AMERICAN SCENE
Mass said on banks of the St. Croix River 1604
Jamestown, Virginia, settled 1607
Birth of Jogues 1607
Quebec founded 1608
The Half-Moon sailed up the Hudson 1609
Champlain explores Northern New York 1609
Fort Orange, a Dutch trading post 1613
First Settlement by Dutch on Manhattan Island 1614
Lake Ontario region visited by Champlain 1615
Mayflower arrives in Cape Cod Harbor 1620
New Amsterdam founded 1623
Jogues enters the Society of Jesus 1624
Jogues a professor of literature at Rouen 1625
John Br6beuf arrives at Quebec 1625
Daillon, a Recollect, reaches Niagara River 1626
Boston founded 1630
Maryland settled 1634
Bre*beuf founds missions among Hurons 1634
Jogues sent to Canada for the missions 1 636
Harvard founded 1636
Ursulines open first girls'^ school in America 1637
One hundred Huron Christians 1640
Montreal founded 1641
Jogues and Raymbault reach Sault Ste. Marie 1641
New Amsterdam devastated by Indians 1641
Jogues a prisoner of the Mohawks 1642
Jogues arrives in France 1643
Martyrdom of Jogues ^ 1 646
Daniel and Gamier martyred by Iroquois 1648
Br^beuf and Lallemand die at the stake 1649
Bishop Laval in New France 1659
Fur traders visit Lake Superior 1 660
New Amsterdam becomes New York 1664
Dominie Megapolensis dies in New York 1670
New Amsterdam retaken by Dutch 1673
Marquette accompanies Joliet down the Mississippi 1673
New Amsterdam restored to England 1674
Bull of the See of Quebec (New France) 1674
Niagara founded by La Salle 1679
Philadelphia settled 1682
Father Kino, S.J., in Tuscon t 1684
Jesuit Mission in California ' 1697
French in Louisiana 1699
SAINT ISAAC JOGUES
New France
Catholic missionary activities in South and Central America
soon found their counterpart in the then far north. Up
continent, as early as 1566, the Jesuit, Martinez, met death
at the hands of tawny-colored Indians off the coast of Georgia.
"Both noble and virtuous/' declared Governor Menendez,
u Father Martinez alone would have accomplished more good
than can now be achieved by all the soldiers in Florida/'
But it was in French territory that the great spiritual adven-
ture took place. New France, remember, covered an enor-
mous country, larger than Europe. Its mountains were the
oldest on earth, its Great Lakes were the largest fresh-water
system in the world. Pine, fir, spruce formed in places an
almost impenetrable wilderness, but the waterways made
travel possible by canoe and portage. The first permanent
settlement, Quebec (1608), with its fortress built by Cham-
plain, looked out upon a vast region. This northern wilder-
ness is the mise-en-sc&ne of a divine drama that unfolds before
our eyes. You will see in its plot and incident the conflict
between grace and greed ; you will also behold a 'marvellous
series of heroic episodes. In the center of the picture is Isaac
Jogues, Jesuit and martyr, whose movements dominate the
scene. As the years pass, he enters and exits until, engulfed
in his own blood, he disappears totally from the picture. One
might be tempted to say, 'It's all over!" But no, the age-
long story had only begun. All the holy hopes and dreams
of the martyr-priest were yet to come true. For God is the
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playwright and the producer of history, and man is merely
an actor on the world's stage.
The first Catholic priest who came to New York was Isaac
Jogues. But long before his eyes rested on Fort Orange and
Manhattan Island, he had tasted the agonies of torture, the
bitterness of near death. If we would see the mission picture
veritably, let us try to view it in proper perspective. Far off,
in the background, are the nations of Europe, restless, grasp-
ing, and quarrelsome as ever. They had hoped for a short
route to the Indies only to find America standing in their
way. So the next best thing, they decided, was to exploit the
New World. Great powers France, Spain, England,
Portugal went all out for the spoils* France had fisheries
off Newfoundland and a strong town on the St. Lawrence;
England, by virtue of the Cabots who voyaged for the crown,
claimed all of North America from Labrador to Florida;
Spain, of course, held a tight grip on Florida and Mexico, the
Spanish Main and South America. It is not strange that in
1609 the Spaniard, no longer ruler of Europe, had to bow to
the independence of the Dutch Netherlander. What is
strange is that a gunshot changed the colonial history of
America. It so befell that the Mohawks, cruellest of the
Five Nations, while on the war path against the Hurons, ran
afoul of Champlain who discharged his musket at their lurk-
ing scouts. That incident sufficed to make mortal enemies;
from then on the Five Nations stood ready to ally themselves
with any group hostile to the French. But it is stranger still
that in the same year, 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the
Hudson River, and established a trading post, Fort Orange,
only a few hundred miles from the scene of Champlain's fatal
shot. The story of Father Jogues, as we shall see, is twined
with the story of the French and the Dutch, the Indians of
the Great Lakes and the Five Nations of the Iroquois. Taken
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Saint Isaac Jogues
together, they provide the scenes in the missionary back-
ground of the Martyr of the Mohawks.
Dreams on a Dais
A young professor with a talent for poetry and the classics
was assigned to teach literature in the Jesuit college at Rouen.
The boys in his class could have told you a few things about
Brother Jogues. Born in Orleans, of noble blood, he was
baptized Isaac in the Church of St. Hilary. As the child grew
older he used to describe himself as "a citizen of the Holy
Cross, " and at ten he was one of the early students in the
new Jesuit school, dedicated to the Mother of God. The
young collegian proved a wiry, springy little fellow, fast on
his feet and a good swimmer; his skin, was fair, the features
delicate, and he had a rugged constitution. Small though
he appears in stature, the lad was to become great in word
and deed, a stalwart in God's sight. After completing the
courses in Rouen he went to Paris where at seventeen he
entered the Jesuit novitiate. One day the discerning novice-
master asked Jogues why he had entered the society. The
young man replied "Ethiopia and martyrdom!" Whereupon
the other said with inspired judgment, "Not so, my child.
You will die in Canada." That land, however, was a long
way off, besides the society sorely needed teachers. At the
time Jesuit schools were acclaimed foremost in Europe, pro-
viding, as they did, a truly liberal education. Added to
Greek and Latin, there were courses in the venacular, together
with religion, philosophy and science. The French lads found
Brother Jogues shy and a bit remote but they did not under-
stand the pudeur he showed in suppressing his own personality,
And though they knew their instructor for a rhetorician, little
did they suspect the dreams that the blackrobe concealed,
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nor could they ever have tguessed that one day his deeds
would ring out over the whole earth.
In the college common room the teachers often swapped
letters received from overseas. All of them showed intense
interest in every scrap of information; first-hand facts of
geography and ethnology they had never before come across.
But there was far more; for their brothers-in-Christ wrote
about intimate observations and perilous journeys. One
wonders how many of those letters fell into Brother Jogues'
hands, how many crude maps came under his very eyes ! It
goes without saying that the young professor of literature
was deeply impressed. Inwardly he ached to cross the seas
and share those close calls. Why, you may ask, did this
predestined missionary so want to undertake the gospel enter-
prises which could spell only dreadful hardships? He had no
conception of, himself as a preacher. Indeed, Brother Jogues
thought very little of himself, even as a professor. But one
thing he did have a deep love of souls. Eternal life for
men, for all men, was his heart's desire, and as a true Jesuit
lie had no aim except to labor for the greater glory of God in
the service of Christ. "This is eternal life that they may
know God the Father, and Jesus Christ Whom He hath sent."
The golden flame of Jogues 1 charity cast its light across the
dark ocean, into the land of savages. There, he saw in piercing
vision, were the fields of salvation. There he would gladly
go, if only his superiors would give the word. From the dais
to the wilds! How often he prayed for that command, and
more than ever since his ordination. Yes, he burned with
the plan, nor could he rest until the order was given.
Dreams Become Reality
The call came in 1636, and directly Father Jogues crossed
the stormy Atlantic and sailed up the St. Lawrence to Quebec !
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Saint Isaac Jogues
He found in the quaint frontier settlement Recollect Fathers,
the first missionaries on the scene (1615-1629), along with
brother Jesuits, fur traders and devout French Catholics.
One day as he stood on the banks of the St. Lawrence, gazing
westward, a canoe came rapidly down river. It was paddled
by red men and a gaunt white who kept stroke with them in
perfect rhythm. He was none other than Father Daniel,
bareheaded and barefooted, his cassock in tatters, a breviary
hanging from a cord round his neck. Nor was it long before
Jogues was in the same boat, taking Daniel's place, and west-
bound for Huronia. Now at last he would get a foretaste of
life fraught with frightful risks in the American wilderness.
They set out on a heart-breaking voyage of nine hundred
miles, "over dangerous rivers and great lakes, whose storms
are like those of the ocean, over other lakes and streams
which were reached by skirting rapids and precipices until
they finally arrived at the great Lake Huron, which was
known as the 'Fresh Water Sea/" After the roughest going,
during which they ate Indian corn, slept on rocks, toted
heavy loads along winding portages, the party reached the
Indian town of Ihonitiria. There Jogues met Father John
Br6beuf , a seasoned missionary, who had founded the mission
.among the Hurons. Big John was a pioneer of great prowess
and the idol of Huronia. Water he loved, water and woods,
rocks and trees. The Indians marvelled at his practiced way
of getting in and out of a canoe and the power with which he
could ply the paddle in f the stormiest waves. Taking his
brother Jesuit into custody, Brebeuf, full of simple warnith
and feeling, watched over him like a mother. He needed to,
for in a few days the newcomer, utterly worn out, was down
with a fever along with several others. Their bark cabin,
turned into a hospital, offered poor protection from Great
Lake blasts, and they had only mats for beds and roots for
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Church History in the Light of the Saints
drugs* Things looked bad, very bad, for the sometime
professor when it was decided to bleed him. There was con-
siderable delay as to who should wield the lancet; then
Jogues himself took over and with cool courage did the gory
job. No sooner was he back on his feet than smallpox broke
out in the' village and began its toll of hundreds. The medi-
cine-men tried to drive the "evil thing" away by recourse to
wild orgies; but when these failed the blame as usual was
foisted on the missionaries. In point of fact the red men were
planning to do away with the strangers when Br6beuf boldly
confronted the sachems in their wigwam, winning clemency
for all the whites. This was the blood-and-threat pattern of
experience our saint was to undergo for ten years.
The Way of Hope
The adventure in Ihonotiria was only a start for Jogues.
In company with Br^beuf, he visited village after village,
wrought day and night in behalf of Hurons and Algonquins.
By and large Big John and little Isaac made a great team.
Br6beuf was a rough worker, with hands built for labor and a
heart given to God, while Jogues applied his active and prac-
tical intelligence with equal zeal. The tasks they faced were
as important as the winning of battles for truth, and victory
would add to the strength of a divine cause. That they ever
survived is a miracle in itself since they braved the face of
stark discouragement and often ran into the very jaws of
death. 'The missionaries, " says Parkman, "were like men
who trod on the lava-crust of a volcano, while the molten
death beneath their feet gleamed white-hot from a thousand
crevasses/ ' On the Huron peninsula, they built St. Marie, a
residence for the Fathers, which became the very heart of
the colonization of Upper Canada. *It was an extraordinary
venture, this new citadel of peace with its double palisades,
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Saint Isaac J agues
the inner one around the chapel, the fort and a house for
French; the outer enclosing a hospital for the sick and a
cabin for travellers. Over thirty miles southwest of Huronia
lay other camps, where Jogues went with Garnier to preach
to the Petuns. The blackrobes seemed to advance every-
where, nothing could stay their zeal. In 1641 Jogues and
Raymbault trekked as far as Sault Ste. Marie. "They were,"
says Bancroft, "the first missionaries to preach the gospel a
thousand miles in the interior, five years before John Eliot
addressed the Indians six miles from the Boston Harbor. 1 *
It gives one an idea of the little Jesuit's energy to know that
even then he was planning to contact the Indians on Lake
Superior and to reach the Sioux near the headwaters of the
Mississippi. But it became necessary to return to Quebec
for supplies as well as to make a report, and Jogues just
thirty, was chosen to direct the perilous voyage. So after
six years in the West the doughty black robe retraced the
thousand-mile route and rendered an account of his early
stewardship.
Jogues, having obtained the necessary supplies, gathered
his return party and set out again for the Great Lakes. Two
white men, donns, devoted to the missionary, and twenty
Hurons, comprised the whole outfit. They were only a
day out when scouts detected the first signs of the Iroquois;
then they suddenly found themselves ambushed by thrice
their number. But let the blackrobe himself tell the story
of those terrible days; if ever a letter was blood-caked, penned
by a twisted tortured hand, this is it:
We sailed from the Huron territory on the 13th of June, 1642, in
four small boats, here called canoes; we were twenty-three souls
in all, five of us being French. This line of travel is, in itself, most
difficult for many reasons, and especially because, in no less than
forty places, both canoes and baggage had to be carried by land on
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the shoulders. It was now too full of danger from fear of the
enemy, who, every year, by lying in wait on the roads to the French
settlements, carry off many as prisoners; and, indeed, Father John
Br^beuf was all but taken the year before. . . .
Having, therefore, loosed from St. Mary's of the Hurons, amid
ever-varying fears of the enemy, dangers of every kind, losses by
land and water, we at last, on the thirtieth day after our departure,
reached in safety the Conception of the Blessed Virgin. This is a
French settlement or colony, called Three Rivers, from a most
charming stream near it, which discharges itself into the great river
St. Lawrence, by three mouths. We returned hearty thanks to
God, and remained here and at Quebec about two weeks. . . .
The second day after our departure had just dawned, when, by
the early light, some of our party discovered fresh foot-prints on
the shore. . . . We consequently urged on our way, but had
scarcely advanced a mile, when we fell into an ambush of the
enemy, who lay in two divisions on the opposite banks of the river,
to the number of seventy in twelve canoes.
As soon as we reached the spot where they lay in ambush, they
poured in 'a volley of musketry from the reeds and tall grass, where
they lurked. Our canoes were riddled, but, though well supplied
with fire-arms, they killed none, one Huron only being shot through
the hand. At the first report of the fire-arms, the Hurons, almost
to a man, abandoned the canoes, which, to avoid the more rapid
current of the centre of the river, were advancing close by the
bank, and in head-long flight, plunged into the thickest of the woods.
We, four Frenchmen, left with a few, either already Christians, or
at least Catechumens, offering up a prayer to Christ, faced the
enemy. We were, however, out-numbered, being scarcely twelve
or fourteen against thirty; yet we fought on, till our comrades,
seeing fresh canoes shoot out from the opposite bank of the river,
lost heart and fled. ... As the enemy, in hot pursuit of the
fugitives, had passed on, leaving me standing on the battle-field, I
called out to one of those who remained to guard the prisoners, and
bade him make me a fellow captive to his French captive, that, as
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Saint Isaac Jogues
I had been his companion on the way, so would I be In his dangers
and death. Scarce giving credit to what he heard, and fearful for
himself, he advanced and led me to the other prisoners.
I now turned to the Huron prisoners, and, instructing them one
by one, baptized them; as new prisoners were constantly taken in
their flight, my labor was constantly renewed. At length Eustace
Ahatsistari, that famous Christian chief, was brought in; when he
saw me, he exclaimed, "Solemnly did I swear, brother, that I would
live or die by thee." What I answered, I know not, so had grief
overcome me. Last of all, William Couture was dragged in; fie
too, had set out from Huronia with me.
Two of them then dragged me back to where I had been before,
and scarcely had I begun to breathe, when some others, attacking
me, tore out, by biting, almost all my nails, and crunched rny two
fore-fingers with their teeth, giving me intense pain. The same
was done to Ren6 Goupil, the Huron captives being left untouched.
At last, on the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, we
reached the first village of the Iroquois. I thank our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, on the day when the whole Christian world exults in
the glory of His Mother's Assumption into heaven, He called us
to some small share and fellowship of his sufferings and cross.
Both banks were filled with Iroquois and Hurons formerly cap-
tured, now coming forth to meet us, the latter to salute us by a
warning that we were to be burnt alive; the former received us
with clubs, fists and stones.
We had but just time to gain breath on this stage, when one with
a huge club gave us Frenchmen three terrible blows on the bare back;
the savages now took out their knives and began to mount the stage
and cut off the fingers of many of the prisoners; and, as a captive
undergoes their cruelty in proportion to his dignity, they began
with me, seeing, by my conduct, as well as by my words, that I
was in authority among the French and Hurons. Accordingly, an
old man and a woman approached the spot where I stood; he
commanded his companion to cut off my thumb ; she at first drew
back, but at last, when ordered to do so three or four times by the
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old wretch, as if by compulsion she cut off my left thumb where it
joins the hand. . . . Then, taking in my other hand the amputated
thumb, I offered it to Thee, my true and living God, calling to mind
the sacrifice which I had for seven years constantly offered Thee
in Thy Church.
One thing at least seemed certain death! And Jogues'
stay of more than a year in the Indian village was a night-
mare, black and endless. "Yet," he says, "amid all this the
Lord gave me such strength that suffering myself, I was able
to console the suffering Hurons and French." Put to the
terrible ordeal of running the gauntlet, they were led around,
bruised and bleeding, through the villages, and they saw a
scaffold intended for their own end. The behavior of the
braves was wildly contradictory; one day they wore the mask
of a friend, the next full of rage and scorn they threatened
dire destruction. There was no telling when the captives
would be tomahawked or burnt at the stake. All they knew
was that grisly death was ever near, awaiting only a sign
from the sachems.
Friends in Need
The Dutch, having heard of their plight, talked of sending
a rescue party. A command was issued by Governor Kieft
of Manhattan instructing the commandant at Fort Orange
to rescue Jogues at all costs. Arendt Van Curler and his
brave burghers canoed twenty leagues up the Mohawk and
endeavored to secure the liberation of the white prisoners.
They offered goods worth six hundred florins, which was all
the young colony could afford ; though the offer was tempting,
the Mohawks could not be deterred from their fell plan to do
away with their prisoners. Try as the Dutch might, the
wily red men listened, looked at the gifts, shook their heads
and lyingly promised to release the captives in a few days.
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Saint Isaac Jogues
The burghers reluctantly turned away, only to be followed
a pace by the Frenchmen, shaking with fear and pleading
piteously that the visitors abandon them not to the hands
of the bloody Mohawks. After that the lives of all hung by
a thread. Ren6 Goupil, returning with Jogues from prayer,
met two Indians lying in wait. "One of them plucking forth
his tomahawk, dealt Rene so deadly a blow on the head, that
he fell lifeless, invoking the most Holy Name of Jesus as he
fell." Why they spared Jogues is something of a mystery,
though it is likely they desired to torture him the more.
When trading time came the Indians, with their bundles of
pelts and furs, brought the blackrobe with them to Fort
Orange. It was his one and only chance after thirteen terrible
months. The Dutch, once more his stout defenders, stowed
the refugee away in a garret where for six weeks he lay within
earshot of Indians who stealthily pursued their search.
Thanks to Dominie Megapolensis the half-starved missionary
was looked after with the greatest affection else he might
have departed this life then and there. The Dominie, once a
Catholic now a Calvinist, had the deepest regard for the
heroic priest, nursed him in his own house, then in early
winter accompanied his precious charge down to Manhattan
Island. A crowd gathered about the blackrobe eager to
learn of his experiences, and one of them fell at his feet and
kissed the mangled hands, exclaiming, "Martyr of Jesus
Christ! Martyr of Jesus Christ!" "Are you a Catholic?"
asked Jogues. "No, I am a Lutheran, but I recognize you as
one who suffered for the Master/ 1 There were only two
Catholics in the Dutch settlement by the sea: a Portuguese
woman, wife of an ensign, and an Irishman who had lived in
Maryland. Of the island of his refuge, Jogues wrote, "It is
seven leagues in circuit, and on it is a fort to serve as a com-
mencement of a town to be built there and to be called New
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Amsterdam." After a month's sojourn arrangements were
made by the Dutch that he cross the stormy Atlantic in one
of their wretched luggers.
Jogues sailed in crazy weather and arrived at the shores
of Brittany on Christmas Day, 1643. More dead than alive
he dragged his weary frame to the nearest college of the
Society, in Rennes.
"Do you come from Canada?" the rector asked.
"I do!" replied the stranger.
"Do you know Father Jogues?"
"Very well, indeed."
"Is he alive or dead?"
"He is alive."
"Where is he?"
"I am he," was the quiet reply.
When his brethren beheld the ghost of a man and saw the
stumps of his hand they knew what the word "savage" really
signified. Word of the hero's return rapidly spread until it
reached the gossip of the royal court. The Queen Regent,
Ann of Austria, sent for Jogues and insisted on giving him
audience much as the missionary disliked public receptions.
She questioned him about his escapes but Jogues was one who
never liked to talk about himself. Time on earth was too
short for heroics; not for him to give a long travelogue touch-
ing on journey after journey in the face of hostility, in the
shadow of never-absent death. On being pressed, however,
he opened his cloak and showed the Queen his mangled hands.
Then she came down from her throne, took his hands and
with eyes full of tears kissed them. "People write romances
for us," she said, "but was there ever a romance like this?
And it is all true!" Pope Urban VIII, too, regarded the
shaken Jesuit as a martyr; he did a most extraordinary thing,
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Saint Isaac Jogues
granting him an unprecedented permission to say Mass with
mutilated hands. "It would be wrong/' the Vicar of Christ
declared, "to prevent the martyr of Christ from drinking the
Blood of Christ."
The Way of Chanty
The battered warrior of the missions, eager to get back to
New France, boarded the first boat, a tub that was utterly
unseaworthy. Old friends in Quebec welcomed him, and he
visited the Ursulines who, in 1637, had opened the first girls'
school in North America. It appears that the Iroquois were
on the war path against the Hurons, yet Jogues ached to be
back in the wilds serving the savages. But the hour was not
propitious, would not be until a chance for peace presented
itself. As soon as the black clouds disappeared, the French
planned a parley with the Iroquois, naming Jogues who knew
their language, to head the party. One never could tell what
might come to pass. Would it be peace at last or would it
be back again to the frightful ordeals, the fierce tortures of
the angry Iroquois? Anyhow, the nearest thing to Jogues'
heart was a mission among the Iroquois and, God willing,
the embassy might open a door thereto. The party left
Three Rivers on the i6th of May, 1646, travelled down Lake
Champlain and continued their journey to Lake George. It
was the same route by which Jogues had come before, only
then he lay tomahawked, unconscious in the bottom of a canoe.
On the eve of Corpus Christi, he gave the beautiful lake the
name Lac du Saint Sacrement, which it bore for more than a
century. Then they made their way to Rensselaerwyck by
the upper Hudson, Jogues wanting to thank the kindly
Dutchmen who had befriended him. They reached the first
Iroquois' castle in three weeks, attended a council of the
sachems and urged peace measures. With the giving of the
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wampum belt and other presents, the Indians appeared
placated, and the Wolf family actually received Jogues as
one of their own. The missionary, having accomplished his
task, visited and consoled the captive Christians, administer-
ing the Sacraments to many. But certain disappointed-
looking Mohawks, disliking such acts, pressed his departure.
So, after less than a month's stay, he made the journey back
towards the St. Lawrence. Unfortunately, the blackrobe
left behind a box with mission articles which the Mohawks
regarded with suspicion until Jogues opened it and showed
them the contents. The Indians, far from pleased, agreed to
hold the hated thing but in wily fashion kept their dark
thoughts to themselves. Upon reaching Canada, the weary
travellers were welcomed with open arms, many having
doubted Jogues would ever return. Once safe among friends,
however, he dearly wanted to go back and preach the Gospel
to the Mohawks. The condition of the Christian captives
haunted him, for he knew what they had undergone, even
as he himself had suffered ; he also knew that at any time
they might be done to death by the club or knife of a straying
Iroquois. But the Superiors, in a state of uncertainty and
apprehension, said, "Nay!" so he bowed to the will of God.
The matter uneasily rested while summer wore on, but no
hostilities were reported. Things being quiet and the pros-
pects encouraging, the pendulum of opinion still swung to
and fro, till at last they granted the intrepid missionary per-
mission to return to the scene of his former trials.
\
Martyr of the Mohawks
The leaves of the forest were russet and blood red when in
September, 1646, Jogues left with a donn$, John LaLand,
and some Huron guides whose task was to paddle the canoes
and carry the baggage. This time, on the march for souls,
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insults. Idle to remind the Indians of their treaty one of
them sliced the muscle from his arm, and while eating it said,
"Let us see if this white flesh is the flesh of a manitou !" "No,"
the priest replied, "I am a man like you all. Why do you
put me to death? I have come to your country to teach you
the way to Heaven, and you treat me like a wild beast. " In
the council, a division arose among the clans; it was the old
argument as to whether they should kill or spare the priest.
The Wolf and the Tortoise were for him, but a faction of the
Bears clamored for his death. Time went grimly by and
Jogues hung between two worlds; he had no illusions at all
of the future that awaited him. Very soon the omens began
to look bad. As the hunting season drew near, the braves
got ready for the chase and the lodge-house grew quite de-
serted, save for a few wily Bear plotters determined to do
away with the missionary.
It was the eighth day of October 1646. The sun of an
aging year rose on the walls of the palisades, lighting the filthy
lodgings of the Mohawks. Its rays moved to a horribly
lousy cabin where Jogues lay dog-tired, unable to sleep, after
tending his cruelly inflicted wounds. The hunters had gone
into the hills, leaving the old men, women and children at
home. There was a kind old squaw whom Jogues called
"Aunt" who had long but vainly begged with tears for her
"nephew's" life. Only too well did the "nephew" know the
Xrenom in the hearts of the wolf pack, the menace in their
every move. The longer he had waited the more sinister
were their threats as they stalked him from dawn to dark.
Did they intend to postpone the agony until the hunters
returned to share in the horror? Their wild yells rang in
his ears; yet one hope sustained him, a hope that even in
captivity he could win more souls to Christ. The stoicism
of the blackrobe doubtless amazed the plotters, his courage
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Saint Isaac Jogues
in the face of death was a thing they secretly admired. But
it did not win a shred of pity from the clubbers who had
sworn to have his life. Now with the hunters far away, the
coast was at last clear for the ruthless conspirators. They
sent a messenger to invite the captive into their tent, and
Jogues must have seen the wolfish glare in their eyes. Yet
this gentleman of God accepted the fated invitation and with
desperate difficulty dragged himself after the brave. He
walked in a slow, heavy way, crippled by his wounds, faithful
to the last. And as he bent low to enter the wigwam a waiting
Indian swung his tomahawk, cracked down on the bowed
guest and split his skull. The fell deed done, an orgy of hate
followed, in which a gruesome scene was enacted. They
stuck the holy head on a stake of the palisade as a warning
to all intruders, then they cast the pure, scar-clad body into
the fast-flowing river.
The Mission Field
Two years later, Father Daniel, one of Br6beuf s first
associates was slain by the Iroquois. The fearless Gamier
too was tomahawked, and the Huron missions gravely threat-
ened. The next year, 1649, Br6beuf and Lallemand climbed
the red road and met their death at the stake. All these men
carried the cross and walked in the steps of Christ; for the
sake of poor neglected souls they labored in many places
through heroic years. Time and again the face of the world
changed for them ; there were the partings with their brethren,
betrayals by those they served, seeming failure of their
highest hopes. Such was the lot of those early pioneers who
blazed the blessed trail! Their deeds, their valor, their
humility thrill and inspire all who want men to live in dignity,
honor and peace. But before closing, let us get a last glimpse
of the great embracive panorama of the missions. The
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sixteenth century, as we have seen, witnessed the advance
of missionaries in Central and South America. By its mid-
point, Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits were found labor-
ing among the Indians in what is now the southern part of the
United States. On the other side of the globe, Francis
Xavier, "the greatest missionary since St. Paul/* sailed from
Lisbon and landed in India, after touching at Mozambique,
Melinda and Socatra. Then he went to far-off Japan,
preached to the Bonzes, and died off the coast of China in
1552. When Cartier and Champlain opened the way for
New France, they were quickly followed by Recollects and
Jesuits. In 1640 there were a hundred Huron Christians
but the Iroquois quite wiped out that great mission project.
Yet the Jesuits continued west; Marquette paddled down
the Mississippi with Joliet, and later established missions
among the Illinois Indians. Other stalwarts of Christ, push-
ing right on in the footprints of the explorers, preached the
Gospel and taught the natives the rudiments of the faith.
The seventeenth century found the heralds of the Gospel
afoot the world over. While the missions in eastern Asia,
India, China and Japan, begun with so much zeal and energy,
continued under great difficulties, Pope Urban VIII opened
in Rome the College of the Propaganda, foremost of all mis-
sionary schools. The next century saw the missions grow
strong and fruitful. Benedict XIV (1740-1758) recom-
mended the development of a native clergy in New Spain,
and King Ferdinand VI gave great encouragement to the
missionaries. Over five hundred priests came from Europe
and so efficient was their work that by the end of the century
thirty out of forty-one bishops were of Indian stock. In
Mexico, Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans labored despite
the hostility of greedy whites and the raids of untamed
Indians. There were sporadic persecutions, and in 1767 the
450
Saint Isaac Jogues
Jesuits were deported, many dying en route, having been
compelled to abandon their converts. Frey Junipero Serra
led a band of fifteen Franciscan missionaries and established
missions in Lower California (1767) and two years later in
Upper California. The nineteenth century dawned over a
warlike Europe and foreign missions received a set-back from
small-souled nations, as well as from local strife and hostile
natives. None the less many missions speedily revived and
owned to better organization and well-trained workers. In
1817 the Propaganda took charge of all mission work; new
congregations of men and women were found in the van,
and the older missionary groups labored with renewed zeal.
The Oblate Fathers evangelized the far Canadian wilderness
and penetrated into the Arctic Circle. In 1867 the College
of the Propaganda could count students from twenty-five
different nations; until the Global War it numbered thou-
sands on its roll. Our own America has entered the ranks of
mission workers throughout the world. Hosts of brave young
men and women of the United States and Canada have gone
forth to join hands with veterans in fields white for the
harvest. All of them, like their predecessors in the faith, are
inspired by the love of souls and the desire to serve the cause
of Christ. The secret of their zeal and their amazing
success was revealed ages ago in an imperishable psalm :
Yet do I stay by Thee ever.
Thou boldest my right hand fast.
Thou leadest me according to Thy counsel,
And takest me by the hand after Thee.
Whom have I in Heaven?
Whom, beside Thee, do I care for on earth?
My body and my heart pass away,
But the Rock of my heart and my portion is God evermore. 1
i Ps. LXXII, 24-26
451
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458
INDEX
Abelard, 242 seq.
Adrian II, Pope, 171
Africa, North, 45
Agilulf, 119, 138
Aidan, 147
Albert the Great, St., 265
Albigenses, 258, 264 seq.
Alboin, 113
Alcuin, 170
Aldhelm, 147
Alemanni, 137, 151
Alexander VI, Pope, 316 seq.
Alps, 193 seq.
Amator, 87
Ambrose, St., 59, 163
America, 381, 411; early explorers,
411 seq., 444
Anabaptists, 332
Anacletus, Pope, 20
Andrew, St., 3, 4, 19
Anglo-Saxon laws, 223
Annegray, 131
Anselm, 228
Ansgar, St., 169, 187
Anthony of Egypt, St., 45~5^
Antioch, 12
Antoninus, Pius, 32, 33
Apologists, 33, 34, 35 45
Apollinaris, 69
Apostles, 5, 19, 20
Aquila, 13
Arabs, 143
Arians, 61, 62, 65, 78, 81, 143
Arnold of Brescia, 243
Athanasius, St., 59, 62, 66, 67, 73
Atilla, 89, 99
Augustine, O.S.B., 119, 120, 147
Augustine, St., 59, 77, 78
Augustinians, 414
Austria, 380
Avars, 164
"Babylonian captivity," the, 281,
seq.; 290
Barbarians, 81, in, seq.; 113, 125.
See, ateo, Huns, Goths, Vandals,
Lombards, Slavs
Bar-cochab, 31, 32
Barnabus, St., 15
Bartholomew, St., 19
Basques, 164
Belisarius, 112
Benedict Biscop, 147
Benedict of Nursia, St., 105-122
Benedict XIV, Pope, 375, 376
Benedictines, 81, 117, 119, 147, 172,
230
Benignus, 93, 96
Bernard of Clairvaux, St., 235-253
Bernard of Menthon, St., 191-207
Bismarck, 406
Bobbio, 138, seq.
Boccaccio, 281
Boetius, 121
Bona venture, St., 271, 276
Boniface, St., 146-166
Bonosus, 63, 67, 68
Brebeuf, John, St., 437 seq.
Brendan, St., 129
Brigid of Sweden, St., 295
Brigid, St., 102
Brunhild, 135, 136
Bruno, the Carthusian, 230
Burgundians, 304, seq.; 311
459
Index
Caesar, 7, 12, 27
Caledonia, in
Calvin, 332, 341
Camoldese, 230
Canute, 213
Capuchins, 346
Caracella, 46
Carafa, 334, 335
Carloman, 1 60
Carmelites, 346
Carolingians, 161
Carthusians, 248
Cassiodorus, 122
Catherine of Siena, St., 281-297
Celestine I, Pope, 88, 97
Champlain, 433
Charlemagne (Charles I, the Great)
163 seq.; 169, 170
Charles, the Bald, 170, 171, iBo
Charles Martel, 142, 151, 158, I59
1 60
Charles V, Emperor, 328
Charles VII, 302 seq.
Chaucer, 281
Chaucon, Pierre, Bp., 310, 311
Christian Brothers, 351 seq.
Christians, Early, 26, 40, 45; sol-
diers, 28, 29
Christianity, 32
Church, the Catholic; foundations,
II, 22; Early Church, 33, 35, 40,
55 56, 61, 77, 78; in Dark Ages,
81, 115, 117, 125, 149, 150, 156,
169; in Middle Ages, 187, 188,
192, 225, seq., 257; in Modern
Times, 301, 315, 316, 341, 345, 347,
357, 367 seq., 382, 397; Eastern
Church, 100, 125, 144, 154 seq.,
171, i86seq., 217
Cistercians, 230, 239 seq.
Citeaux, 239
Clairvaux, 240
Claudius, 13, 14
460
Clement of Alexandria, 45
Clement I, 22
Clement V, 281
Clothaire, 136
Clotilda, 100
Clovis, 81, 100, 129
Cluny, 230
Colet, 338
Columba, St., 120
Columban, St., 120-143
Columbus, 411, 412
Commodius, 39
Communism, 399
Conrad III, Emperor, 245
Cons tans, 61
Constantine, 60, 61
Constantinople, Council of, 313
Constantius, 61
Constantius Chlorus, 60
Corbie, 173
Crescens, 32
Crough-Patrick, 100
Crusades, origin of, 235; first, 236,
seq.; second, 244, seq.; third, 250,
seq.; sixth, 259, 272
Cyprian, St., 45, 47
Damian, Peter, 224, 230
Damasus, Pope, 59, 74, 75
Danes, 176, seq.; 184, 212
Dante, 257, 276, 281
Dark Ages, 81, 125, 186
Decius, 54
Denis, St., Pope, 22
Denmark, 176, 206
Di9cletian, 60, 65
Diognetus, epistle to, 40
Dionysius, 45, 47
Disciplina arcani, 33
Dispersion, 16
Dominic, St., 260, 264
Dominicans, 260, seq.; 325
Domitian, 22
Index
Donatists, 61
Druids, 84, 91, 92-96
Edward, the Confessor, St., 211, 231
Eleutherius, Pope, 40
England, 147, 191, 212, seq.; 223,
228, 248, 318, 338, 381
Ephesus, 28, 88
Ephrem, Syrian, St., 59, 70
Ethelbert of Kent, 120
Ethelred, the Unready, 212, seq.
Eucharist, 14
Eugene IV, Pope, 315
Eusebius, 60
Evaristus, Pope, 22
Fathers, of the Church, 59, 77, 78,
3H
Felix II, Pope, 100
Ferdinand, the Catholic, King, 323
Feudalism, 160, 191, seq.
Firbolgs, 90
Fisher, John, St., 338, 339
Flanders, 179
Florence, Council of, 313
Forum, Roman, 12
France, 301, seq.; 305, seq.; 350,
434. See, also Gaul, Franks
France, New, 433 seq.
Francis of Assisi, St., 257
Francis, Solano, St., 416
Franciscans, 258, 414, 450, seq.
Franks, 81, 100, m, 129, 160, 191,
199
Frederick I (Barbarossa) Emperor,
247, seq.; 251; II, Emperor, 258,
273, seq.
Frederick, the Elector, 324, seq.
Frederick, the Great, 373, seq,
Fridolin, St., 120
Frisians, 162
Fulda, 162, 163, 198
Galatians, 66
Galerius, 20
Galilee, 3, 5, 8
Gall, St., 121, 137, 142, 197
Gallienus, 50, 54
Gaul, 65, 86, 213
Genseric, 99
Germans, 120, 150, seq.; 191, 318,
324-341, 367, 406
Germanus, St., 87, 90
Gertrude, St., 257
Gethsemane, 9
Gildas, the Briton, 122
Gordian, 46
Goths, 77, 86, 97, 99
Gregory the Great, 115, 118; II,
150; HI, 153, seq.; VII, 224,
228; XI, 292, seq.
Gregory, Nazianzus, St., 59, 73
Gregory of Nyssa, St., 59, 79
Gregory of Tours, 122
Gualberto, John, St., 230
Hadrian, 27, 31
Hamburg, 180
Hastings, Battle of, 222
Heliogabalus, 46
Henry II, 248; IV, Emperor, 224,
228; VI, 252, seq.; VIII, King,
33i 338, 340
Hilary of Poitiers, St., 59, 66
Hilary, St., Pope, 99
Hildebrand. See Gregory VII,
Holy Alliance, 399
Holy Roman Empire, 166, 169, 180,
185, 191, seq.; 211, 218, 281, seq.
340
Honorius, 82
Hormisdas, Pope, 115
Huguenots, 358, seq.
Humanists, 311, 315, 327
Hundred Years War, 305, seq.
461
Index
Hungary, 164, 218
Huns, 81, 86, 97, 99, *97
Huronia, 437, seq.
Hyginus, Pope, 32
Ignatius, of Loyola, St., 323, 341
Inca, Land of, 413, seq.
Innocent I, Pope, 86, 97; IV, 263;
VII, 291
lona, 147
Ireland, 81, 84, 90-102, in, 127,
seq.; 206
Irish, 92; missionaries, 101-102, 120,
147. See, also, Scots
Isidore of Seville, St., 122, 126
Islam, 143, seq-; 156
Italy, 113, 191, 200, 203, seq.; 291,
399 406
James, St., 15, 19
Jerome, St., 59~77
Jerusalem, n, 28, 32, 76; Council
of, 15
Jesuits, 335. seq.; 346, 368, 370, 376,
seq.; 398, 414
Jesus, of Nazareth, 3-11
Jews, 26, 4$, 258
Joan, of Arc, St., 300-310
Jogues, Isaac, St., 433-451
John, Baptist de la Salle, St., 345-3^3
John, Baptist di Rossi, St., 367-384
John, Baptist Vianney, St., 387-407
John of the Cross, St., 337
John, the Apostle, 19, 22
John, the Baptist, 3, 4, 8
John VIII, Pope, 187, 188; XII,
200
Jordanis, the Goth, 122
Jude, St., 19
Julian, the Apostate, 73
Juliana of Norwich, 289, seq.
Justin, Martyr, St., 25-40
Justinian, in, 112, 117
462
Kieran, St., 128
Kilian, St., 126, 151
Kingdom, of God, 7, 8, 14, 20, 75
Kulturkampf, 406
Lake George, 445
Lanfranc, 228, 229
Las Casas, 323, 411, 412
Leander, 120
Leo, I, the Great, Pope, 98;fflII,
165, 166; IV, 181, 182; X,|2I7,
seq., 325; XIII, 407
Leo, the Isaurian, 150, 156
Lima, 418, seq.
Linus, Pope, 20
Lombards, 113, 115, 119, 138, seq.;
150, 155, 164, 201, 250
Lothair, 170, 171, 179, 180
Louis, the German, 170, 1 80
Louis, the Pious, 170, 173, 178
Louis VII, King, 242, 245; IX, St.,
272, seq.; XIV, 350, seq., 361;
XVI, 382
Luther, Martin, 324, seq.
Luxeuil, 132, 136
Magyars, 207
Marcian, 32
Marcus, Aurelius, 36, 38, 39
Martin, of Tours, 84, 85, 121
Martyrs, Christian, 16, 19, 32, 39,
47, 54* 55, 60, 62, 73 seq. ; 448, 449
Matthew, St., 19
Maximim, 60
Maximinus, Thracian, 46
Maximus, St., 89
Mazarin, 358, 359
Mazzini, 399
Merovingians, 129, 130, 161
Messias, 3, 4
Milan, Edict of, 61
Milcho, 82, 83, 93
Ministry, Public, 5
Index
Missionaries, in the Early Church,
16, 19, 66; in Dark Ages, 81, 101,
102, 109, 118, 121, 126, 142, 149,
153. *73 177; in Middle Ages,
197, 201, 207; in Modern Times,
335, 4i5 seq.; 449, seq.
Mohammed, 143, seq. See, also,
Islam
Mohawks, 434, seq.
Monasticism, 53, 68, seq., 72, 173,
192, 197, seq.; 230
Mongols, 263
Montanus, 45
Monte Cassino, 108, no, 112, 260
Moors, 193
More, Thomas, St., 338, 340
Moslem, 125, 181, 182, 187, 234, 251
Napoleon I, 389, seq., 395, 396
Nathi, 92
Nero, 16, 17, 20
Nerva, 26
Nestorius, 88
New Testament, 76
Nial, 82, 91, 92
Nice, Council of, 62
Nicholas I, Pope, 185, 187
Normans, 212, seq., 219; Norman
invasion, 221
Northmen. See Vikings
Norway, 206
Novatian, 45
Odoacer, 99
Oratorians, 346
Ordeal, 16, 17
Orders of Women, 346, 347
Orleans, 307, 308
Ostrogoths, 99, in
Otto I, Emperor, 199, 218
Pacomius, 53
Palestine, 3, 25
Palladius, 88, 89
Papacy, 81
Paschasius, Radabertus, 175
Patrick, St., 81-102
Paul,St, 15, 19
Paula, 74
Pax Romana, 39
Pentecost, n
Pepin, 1 60, seq. ,
Persecutions, 16-19, 33, 36, 38, 47
54, 55, 60
Peru, 413, seq.
Peter the Apostle, 3-22 ; epistles of
II ; journeys, 13, 16; martyrdom
18
Peter the Great, 368
Peter's Patrimony, 117, 253
Philip the Arabian, 46
Philip, St., 19
Philippines, 429
Photius, 1 86, 187
Picts, ill
Pilate, Pontius, 6
Pius II, 'Pope, 315, 316; VI, 38 V -
seq.; VII, 389, seq.; IX, 400, 40
Pizzaro, 412, seq.
Plague, Black, 116, 281
Pliny, 27, 28
Plotinus, 45
Poland, 380
Polycarp, 35, 36
Portugal, 368, 376, 377, 434
Priscilla, 13
Prophets, 29, 30, 31
Providence, 39
Prussians, 258, 373, seq., 380, 39;
406
Quebec, 433
Reformation, the, 327, 341 ; Counte
Reformation, 336, seq.
Remegius, St., 100
463
Index
Renaissance, 311, 316, 318
Revolution, French, 362, 363, 369,
382, seq.
Richard, the Lion-heart, 252, 253
Richelieu, 357, seq.
Rienzi, 285, seq.; 312
Rollo, the Sea Rover, 207, 212
Roman Empire, 12, 48, 64, 81, 116,
188, 199
Rome, 12, 17, 64, 106, 165, seq.; in
Dark Ages, 81, 98, 99> 105, H3J
in Middle Ages, 187, 200, 211, 217,
258, 291; in Modern Times, 312,
3I5 3i6
Rose of Lima, St., 411-429
Rousseau, 367, 368
Russia, 207, 217, seq.; 380
Saladin, 251
Samaria, I, 25
Saracens, 8r, 181, 182, 245
Savonarola, 316
Saxons, 212
Saxony, 174
Scandinavia, 148, 206. See, also,
Vikings
Schism, the Great Western, 295, 296
Schleswig, 183
Schoolmen, 229
Scotland, 218
Scots, 81, 90. 9*> 97
Scotus, John, Eriginus, 181
Segebert, 142
Septimus, Severus, 45
Serra, Junipero, 451
Shepherd of Hermes, 35
Siena, 284
Simon, St., 19
Sixtus III, Pope, 98; V, 316
Slavs, 8 1, 179, 207
Spain, in, 143, I9*f 3i8, 340, 368,
411,434
464
"Spiritual Exercises/' 327, 331
Subiaco, 106, 108
Suevi, 137
Swabia, 141
Sweden, 178, seq.
Sylvester 11,^205
Tacitus, 17, 20
Tara, 94
Tecelin, 2-35, seq.
Teresa, of Avila, 337
Tertullian, 77
Teutons, 81, 151, seq.
Thebaid, 56
Theodobert, 137
Theodoric, 81, 99, 105
Theophylact, 191
Thierry, 135, seq.
Thomas a Becket, St., 248, seq.
Thomas & Kempis, 314, 319
Thomas, of Aquino, St., 257-277
Thomas, St., Apostle, 19
Tiberius, 6
Totila, no, 112
Trajan, 27
Trent, Council of, 337, 33$
Truce, of God, 224
Trypho, 30
Tuatha de Danann, 90, 91, 97
Turibio, St., 415, seq.; 419
Turks, 237, 258
Universities, 257, 268, 270, 314
Urban III, Pope, 235; VT,*295, seq.
Valerian, 50, 54
Vandals, 97, 99
Vikings, 172, 174, seq.; 212
Vincent de Paul, St., 346
Vincent of Lerins, St., 86
Index
Vincentians, 346 William, the Conqueror, 221, seq.
Visigoths, in, 120, 156 Wolsey, Cardinal, 338
Voltaire, 367 World War I, 407
Waldenses, 264 Zachary, Pope, 159, 161
Wales, 219 Zeno, 100
Wilfrid, St., 126, 147 Zwingli, 332
465
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