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ANTONIO ROSMINI SERBATI

VOL. I.

K.EOAS PAUL TI<r.Ni.'H

LIFE

ANTONIO ROSMINI SERBATI

FOUNDER OF THE INSTITUTE OF CHARITY

GABRIEL STUART MACWALTER
EX LIBRIS

ST, BASIL'S SC
'

EX L!BR!S
T, BASIL'S |pGLAST!CA

LONDON

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., i PATERNOSTEj

1883

USRARY

(7>

JUN - 3 195A

(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved}

PREFACE.

To WRITE the Life of a truly great man is a
formidable undertaking. To write a suitable Preface
to such a Life is a task of very great difficulty.
The formidableness of the undertaking and the
difficulty of the task are, for obvious reasons,
rather increased than diminished if the personage
who is the subject of the Life- be of the writer's
own time. Yet such is the undertaking, such
the task, assigned to us who are so unequal to
either, and whose only qualification is an earnest
desire to do our best to set before the public a
faithful picture of one, every feature of whom — as
boy, youth, and man — and every phase of -whose
whole career we have for years studied closely.

Antonio Rosmini was not only a Priest who
had led a life of singular holiness, a life heartily
and heroically devoted to the love of God and
the good of his fellow-men ; but he was also a

vi PREFACE.

profoundly learned writer commissioned by the
highest authority on earth to do battle for Christian
Philosophy. Herein is to be found the key to
his biographer's greatest difficulties ; for, generally
speaking, men are now as little disposed to appre
ciate properly a true Philosopher who happens to
be their contemporary, as men of old were to
credit a Prophet who happened to be their country
man. But the simple history of such a man's life
ought to establish his claims to just appreciation :
what if the historian's incompetency should stand
in the way ? This is our fear.

It has been said of St. Ignatius of Loyola that
1 his mission was to restore the principle of authority
ignored by the innovators, and to give back to
Christian Obedience its glory and beauty.' l In like
manner it may be justly said that the mission of
Antonio Rosmini was to restore the principles of
Truth trampled on by the innovators, and to give
back to Christian Philosophy its unity, harmony
and prestige. The story of his Life should prove
this claim. But what if we have failed to tell that
story rightly ?

A distinguished modern historian assures us

1 Meyrick's Life of St. Ignatius, preface, p. xvii. (London, Burns
and Gates, 1871).

PREFACE. vii

that ' if we would discover the real rulers of man
kind, we shall find them rather in their philosophers
and literary men than either their statesmen or their
generals. The only difference is that it is a posthu
mous dominion in general which the author obtains :
his reign does not bem'n till he himself is moulder-

o o

ing in the grave.' l

History is so full of evidence to the truth of
this remark, in more than one form, that no student
can fail to find testimony in abundance to suit the
form he prefers. It may, then, be superfluous to
suggest any examples ; yet we venture to use a
student's privilege and indicate, en passant, the few
which first occur to us touching only one form of
the fact.

All the valour and all the wars of Philip of
Macedon or of his ' invincible son ' Alexander were
utterly powerless to conquer that perpetuity of sway
which the Philosopher's pen easily secured to Plato
and to Aristotle.

The ages in which the persecuted Fathers of
the Christian Church struggled with the mighty
Caesars (Pagan or Christian) are rich in a nobler
evidence to the same fact, but all may be summed
up in this : — The despotic and haughty Caesars

1 Alison's History of Europe, &c., vol. i., preface.

viii PREFACE.

and their greatest statesmen have left hardly a
name behind, while the despised and oppressed
Fathers still reign through their writings.

The rule of Genseric the Great Vandal ended
for ever soon after the capture of Hippo, fourteen
hundred and fifty years ago ; but the reign of
St. Augustin, the great Christian Doctor, who died
there during the siege, began then and still con
tinues ever increasing in authority and power.

Who now cares to know anything of the
generals and statesmen, or even of the crowned
Fredericks and Conrads, in whose hands were the
destinies of the Western Empire during the life
time of St. Thomas of Aquin, six centuries ago ?
Their sway perished with their bodies ; whereas
St. Thomas, when he lay down to die in the
Cistercian abbey of Fossanuova, commenced his
reign over the intellects of men — a reign which
is daily putting forth fresh activity and gaining
brighter lustre.

Coming nearer home and to far inferior names,
we all know that, while Lord Bacon the statesman
was forgotten almost as soon as the grave closed
over him, Lord Bacon the author then took a
new lease of power, and his dominion still con
tinues. We also know that, while the military

PREFACE. ix

exploits and statesmanship of Frederick the Great
bore fruit that withered before it ripened, and,
at best or worst, affected merely a small section
of Europe, the Voltaire whom he used and then
thrust disdainfully aside holds a too-potent influence
to-day throughout all Europe, and far beyond it.

Thus, for good or for evil, great writers on
philosophical subjects have always won, over men,
a dominion that has long outlasted the utmost ever
achieved by the greatest generals or statesmen.
But though a great Philosopher usually begins to
reign when ' he is himself mouldering in the grave/
his claims to dominion are seldom undisputed. It
is a remarkable fact that the greater the Philo
sopher is, and the nearer he approaches to perfect
truth, the more surely and bitterly are his claims
resisted and his positions assailed ; more remark
able still, they who oppose him with the greatest
insistence, and often with the greatest animosity,
are generally ' of his own household,' so to say —
men who should have been his supporters from the
start, and who (as represented by the schools of
thought they leave after them) ordinarily end with
becoming his champions.

In what concerns the 'System of Truth' iden
tified with the name of Antonio Rosmini we have

x PREFACE.

a forcible illustration of all this. But, as there are,
older and even more suggestive illustrations to be
found in ecclesiastical history, it may be as well to
note one or two of them as furnishing the best
explanation possible of Rosmini's true position, and
of the value to be set on the unseemly controversies
aroused by his masterly vindication and restoration
of Catholic Philosophy.

No less an author than St. Augfustin. * the

Eagle of the Latin Fathers/ becomes our first illus
tration. When his wonderful books on Divine
Grace were published no one questioned the doc
trines they expounded. They opened up depths
of thought which had not been explored before,
but the learned saw nothing in them which was
out of harmony with the Christian Faith. However,
when, in the course of time, the Pelagians and
Semi-Pelagians attacked those doctrines as novel
ties in the Church, St. Augustin was openly re
proached, by prominent Catholics, with having im
prudently raised questions too abstruse for ordinary
minds, and calculated to mislead many.1 Even
such celebrated scholars as the monks of St. Lerins
joined in the outcry against him, and others of

1 See St. Augustine DC dono persc'vcrantia, c. xx.

PREFACE. xi

hardly less influence took up the assault, adding
insinuations that the works thus assailed had caused
the loss of numerous souls. These insinuations
have more than once since then assumed the shape
of distinct charges.1

This, however, was a petty warfare compared
with that in which, surprising to say, St. Jerome,
the doctor maximus, took a part against the Saint.
He went so far as to formally accuse the great
Bishop of Hippo with having, in his comments on
the Psalms, gone against the interpretation of the
Fathers ; with having said things which the Chris
tian sense could not justify ; with having sown, in
one of his books, heresies which competent autho
rity should oblige him to retract.2 St. Jerome,
though misled for a time by a false alarm, was not
an unreasonable opponent, unready or unwilling to
examine calmly for himself the matters in dispute.
No sooner had he done this than he discovered his
mistake, and acknowledged that the productions in
question were entirely free from error.

St. Augustin, however, was less fortunate with
less important and less competent opponents. He

1 A list of his opponents, especially those of last century, will be
found in the Vindicice of Cardinal Noris.

2 See Epistohe Ixxii. et Ixxv., in the second volume of St.
Augustine's works, edited by Migne.

xii PREFACE.

wrote more than thirty short treatises to satisfy
these, but, for the most part, in vain. Some, indeed,
who had declared against him in good faith, and
desired only the truth, allowed their eyes to be
opened and their minds and hearts to embrace the
doctrine he explained. Others, unwilling to be con
vinced of the truth, were in no way persuaded but
much annoyed by the clearness of his expositions.
In fact, the more manifest he made the truth which
he taught, the more exasperated they became and
the more virulent their hostility. His personal
friend St. Prosper, alluding to the work De cor-
reptione et gratia, says : ' The perusal of this new
book of your Beatitude has had the effect that
while those who followed the authority of your
apostolic doctrine have grown very much en
lightened and instructed, those who, on the con
trary, had their minds hindered by the darkness of
prejudice (persuasionis sucz impedicbantur obscuro]
have become more hostile to you than they were
before.' l

All the explanations of the holy Doctor were
unavailing, since they for whom he wrote them
were resolved to insist that he must be wrong.
For more than a century after his death there came

1 DC corrcpt. ct grat. cap. xxxv.

PREFACE. xiii

those who kept up the assaults, and though there
were long periods of quiet, the antagonism was
renewed again and again, until the Church made
his triumph complete and he now reigns unchal
lenged.

We find our next illustration in no less an
author than St. Thomas of Aquin, ' the Angelical
Doctor.' A few years ago Cardinal Zigliara (an
author whose words carry peculiar weight) published
an important work, in which he says : * Many
persons who, with perhaps a good intention but
with the most wicked action (sed actione pessima},
had persecuted the most meek Doctor while he
was yet living, opposed him with much greater
virulence after his death.'1 In corroboration of
this his Eminence quotes the following passage
from Eckardt : ' Both during his life and after his
death St. Thomas was opposed by persons who,
whether from jealousy or envy, sought a paltry
celebrity by impugning his doctrines ; and amongst
them were men eminent for dignity and for talent.' 2

We all know that the Summa Theologica is now
the standard work of all Catholic seminaries —

1 Zigliara. De Mente Concilii Viennensis in definiendo dogmata
uninnis ammcp kitmautT cum corpore, &c., p. 155 (Rome, 1878).
* Scriptorum Qntuns rnedimtonthi, &c,, T. i. p. 436,

xiv PREFACE.

that it has won the highest eulogies from Sovereign
Pontiffs and from theologians generally. Never
theless, on its first appearance, it was fiercely
attacked, especially by a certain William de la
Mare, a noted Catholic writer of the time, who
criticised it in a very censorious spirit, branding
many of its propositions as heretical in theology and
absurd in philosophy.1 He did not or would not
understand the author, and, misrepresenting him,
became without difficulty a leader of those who
were too ready to accept his distortions for truthful
representations.

But a more painful phase than this in the
hostility to St. Thomas is, we grieve to say,
associated with our own country. Still availing
ourselves of Cardinal Zigliara's work,2 we find
that in two Provincial Synods held at Oxford
(the one in 1277 and the other in 1286), 'an
anathema was pronounced against the doctrine of
St. Thomas on the unity of the substantial form,
and against other doctrines taught by him.' The
first of these synods was presided over by Arch
bishop Robert Kilwarby, who (strange as it may

1 About ten years after the death of St. Thomas, this De la Mare
wrote a work under the title of Correctorium Fratris Thorn CE^ which
title, in the course of time, came to be known as Corruptorium Fratris
Tfwmce.

a DC M ente Condlii £c., pp. 158, 206, 208.

PREFACE. xv

seem) was himself a Dominican, and therefore a
confrere of the Angelical Doctor. The second was
presided over by Archbishop John Peckham, 'a
Franciscan, who in 1284 nad confirmed the
sentence of his predecessor against Brother
Thomas ' ; but, as many learned men in England
as well as abroad continued to defend him
against the two Archbishops, it was deemed ex
pedient to convene this second Synod in 1286.
The condemnation which it pronounced against
the Saint began thus : Hareticce qucedam opiniones
per Dominnm Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem dc-
clarattf et damnatce in nomine Domini, Amen.1

Not content with this severe blow, the adver
saries of the holy Doctor brought against him
influential members of the renowned Theological

Faculty of the Sorbonne, and with these formu
lated thirteen articles the condemnation of which
they demanded — a condemnation designed to
damage seriously if not fatally the good fame of
St. Thomas. So successfully did these people push
their efforts, that the then Bishop of Paris, Stephen
Tempier, was induced to issue the condemnation
under. his episcopal seal !

1 See Labbe's Collcctio Concitioruni, T. xiv. col. 1533-34 (Venet.
1730-

xvi PREFACE.

When this condemnation was made public a
learned Dominican remarked : ' Condemnationem
illam nequaqucvm mare transisse] meaning that it
had not been adopted by Rome — the Rome of
the Christian world, the Apostolic See. It sig
nified little what Provincial Synods and Bishops
decreed in matters of this sort so long as Rome
did not confirm their proceedings ; and Rome
did not approve the condemnations which had
been persistently hurled against St. Augustine
and St. Thomas. On the contrary, as in the
case of Rosmini similarly assailed, ' Rome at last
threw around them the mantle of her official pro
tection.'

There is one significant passage in the work
from which we have been quoting — a passage which
very properly stigmatises as ' wicked ' a custom that
is even more prevalent in our time than in the clays
of St. Augustine and St. Thomas ; for Antonio
Rosmini (as Cardinal Zigliara was and is in a
position to know) has had to endure more of this
kind of injustice than they had. ' There prevails
nowadays,' says his Eminence, ' a wicked method
by which obsolete difficulties against a doctrine, in
itself worthy of respect, are reproduced again and

PREFACE. xvii

again, and greatly magnified, while no notice is taken
of the answers already given and oft repeated. Thus
it comes to pass that simple-minded people are led
to regard as erroneous, opinions which are highly
approved of by theologians of the foremost rank.' T

Misconceptions and misrepresentations thence
arising, or thus fostered, generally lead to persecu
tion. But persecution has ever been the lot of
Saints, and the greater the Saint the more violent
the persecution. Whether he be a great author,
like St. Augustine and St. Thomas, or a great
' Restorer of the principle of authority,' like St.
Ignatius, it is all the same : persecution is his
portion, and alas ! this persecution in its most afflict
ing form comes, as we have just seen, not from out
side the Fold but from within it. 'And a man's
enemies shall be they of his own household.' Un
fortunately it often happens that those who inherit
the bitterest memories of persecution so little
profit by its lessons of charity that they, in turn,
become persecutors, generally with the best inten
tions. Thus it is that somefeiv representatives of an
Order which has done and still does glorious work
in the service of the Church — an Order which, from
its birth, drank to the dregs of persecutions spring-

1 De Mente Concilii, &c., p. 232.
VOL. i. a

xviii PREFACE.

ing from misconception — were amongst the foremost
to revive and continue against St. Thomas an oppo
sition based on misconception. No wonder, then,
that some few of these should be the first, and
remain the chief, assailants of Rosmini, who became
the Restorer, Defender, and special Exponent of the
Angelic Doctor's teachings.1

However, we who write his Life are not so
much concerned in the great Philosopher as in the
Saintly Man ; but, as the qualities proper to either
character are so interblent in Rosmini that they
seem to be inseparable, we could hardly have
avoided the few remarks we have made, especially
when we remembered that his opponents, like those
of St. Augustine and of St. Thomas, and even of
St. Ignatius, have striven, and still strive, to
separate the Man from his Mission — the great
Catholic Priest from the great Catholic Philosopher,
the Founder of an Order devoted to the practice
of Christian Charity from the Restorer, if not the

1 See chap. xiv. pp. 224-6, vol. i. of this work. From his boyhood
(as the history of his life will show) up to the close of his career,
Rosmini was a diligent student and enthusiastic admirer of St.
Thomas. In the first edition of his ' Philosophical Essays,' published
at Milan in 1827, he took delight in declaring that he walked ' Sulle
orme di S. Agostino e di S. Tommaso] and he never lost an oppor
tunity of recommending the study of St Thomas to all who sought a
sound knowledge of Catholic Theology.

PREFACE. xix

Founder, of a scientific system devoted to the
vindication of Christian Truth.

The biographers of St. Ignatius claim that ' the
secret of his greatness lay in his power to discern
the wants of the age, and in that genius which
foresaw the dangers certain to accrue to the Church
from the rise of a heresy which was to deny the
very basis of her authority.' l Now, the greatness
of Rosmini lay in the power to discern the wants not
only of his own time, but of the times that were to
follow, and in the genius that not only foresaw the
dangers of the misleading philosophies that were
sapping the basis of Christianity itself, but provided
a sure method of resisting their subtle assaults on
the Church, and of strengthening the bulwarks of
Truth against aggressions that threatened to destroy
its very foundations. As St. Ignatius was misun
derstood, slandered and persecuted for what he
did or attempted to do in furtherance of the Mission
for which such greatness as he had was given to him,
so was Rosmini. More fortunate, however, than
St. Ignatius, Rosmini was never brought before the
Inquisition to rebut charges of heresy and other vile

1 Life of St. Ignatius, &c., translated by Rev. T. Meyrick, S.J.
M. Sainte-Foi's preface, p. i.

a 2

xx PREFACE.

accusations. But, as unfortunate as the other, his
adversaries have sometimes been, like those of St.
Ignatius, excellent men, heartily devoted to the
interests of the Church.

It is very sad to think how much suffering good
and great servants of God, like St. Augustine, St.
Thomas, St. Ignatius and Rosmini have had to
endure from being misunderstood by other servants
of God who were also good, and, in some cases
even great. History is overladen with testimonies
to this infirmity of poor human nature. How often
our Saxon Saints were persecuted by other Saints !
St. William of York suffered many tribulations at
the hands of St. Bernard and other holy men. St.
Wilfrid was ' misunderstood by Saints persecuted by
Saints, deposed by Saints as unworthy of the Ponti
ficate. Truly, a very fertile theme for the shallow
criticisms of the children of the world : while to a
Christian its lesson is that earth is not our home,
that the balance of things is not righted till the
judgment, the Church militant is not the Church
triumphant.' 1

Although the harsh treatment which St. Ignatius
met with from the many zealous Catholics, some of

1 Lives of the English Saints. St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, by F.
W. Faber (London, Toovey, 1844).

PREFACE. xxi

them in most exalted stations, who misunderstood
his acts, words or motives — although this and the
misrepresentations that constantly harassed him, in
the work to which he was called, bear a marked
resemblance to the harsh treatment and misrepre
sentations which Rosmini and his work have en
countered, especially at the hands of those who are
heirs to sobering traditions of harsh treatment and
misrepresentations, we have no desire to lay much
stress on the parallel. But there is visible another
and much more agreeable parallel between St. Igna
tius and Rosmini — a parallel of character.

Considering the great difference between the
nature of their talents and acquirements, to say
nothing of the great difference between their early
training and their intellectual pursuits, this parallel
could hardly be, were it not for the one thing which
was with Rosmini from his childhood onward, and
came to St. Ignatius in his manhood — that intense
love of God which is the soul of sanctity. M.
Charles Sainte-Foi has, in a few sentences, drawn
an admirable picture of the character of St. Ignatius.
So striking is the likeness to the character of
Rosmini that, if we had read it without knowing
to whom M. Sainte-Foi specially applied it, we
should have taken it to be the character-portrait of

xxii PREFACE.

him whose life it has been our privilege to describe
in these volumes.

1 The idea we would represent of him,' says M.
Sainte-Foi, ' is that of a man who in all his life,
and even in his least actions, is perfectly master
of himself, always self-possessed, always keeping
nature under control and never for one moment
letting it loose. He does not act until he has deli
berated long and maturely ; he takes no resolution
until he has weighed and balanced carefully, the
reasons for and against it. You would say that he
is a man who counts only upon himself, and yet he
reckons on nothing but on God. All his delibera
tions and mental labours were sanctified, assisted
and elevated by prayer, to which he never failed to
have recourse in the least difficulty, recommending
the matter to God and putting all his confidence
wholly in Him. His letters and conversation exhibit
the same character ; they give evidence of the same
ruling and sober reason, the calm wisdom which
knows always how to keep between the two ex
tremes, and when directing others, the watchful care
to guide in the way most suitable to the given
nature, taking account of the dispositions of mind
and of the affections, so as to draw these out and
develop them to the best issue for the glory of God

PREFACE. xxiii

— that being the sole end which he had before him
in all his actions.'1

The illustrious Father Genelli, S.J., when writing
the Life of St. Ignatius, took occasion to express
his regret that so little use had been made of the
Saint's letters in all the earlier biographies of him ;
1 for it cannot be disputed that every man is the
best painter of his own portrait, and this more
especially in his letters.' 2 Mindful of this fact we
have freely used the correspondence of Rosmini and
thus enabled himself to 'give us, in some sort, his
photograph.' As the class of letters which best
illustrate character are those called ' familiar/ it is
this class and this alone that we have laid under
contribution. Considering that Rosmini's corre
spondence (now preserved in the archives of the
College at Stresa) on all manner of subjects would
fill twenty volumes of printed matter, it must be
evident that we have not, after all, drawn heavily
upon it.

Had we been dealing with the Theological or
Literary Doctor merely, or with the Philosopher

1 Life of St. Ignatius, &c., translated from the French by Rev. T.
Meyrick, SJ. ; Preface by M. Charles Sainte-Foi, pp. xviii.-xix.

2 Genelli's Life of St. Ignatius, Author's Preface (translated from
the French edition by Father Meyrick), p. i (p. xxii. of the English
edition. London, 1871).

xxiv PREFACE.

merely, or with any particular phase of the many
aspects in which his versatile genius and vast erudi
tion presents to us an individuality strongly marked
in each and all, we should have no difficulty in
selecting a volume of admirable letters to illustrate
his greatness in that special character. But our
object was to show all the features of the man, to
show them fully and not after the manner of a
colourless profile. However much we might extend
the outlines of such a profile, it would still remain
a dim, partial, sectional representation ; whereas the
picture we attempt to draw is meant to be a full-
sized and life-like portrait, carefully preserving
every feature of the man. For this purpose his
every-day familiar letters were indispensable and
sufficient.

Familiar letters are generally unstudied com
positions, written off-hand without attention to liter
ary polish. Those of Rosmini are hardly an excep
tion. But, though the manner often seems to be
deficient in elegance or to betoken hurry, the matter
is never wanting in point, never at fault in giving
adequate expression to his meaning ; for, however
hurriedly he wrote, he always considered carefully
what he had to say. Graces of style had to yield
to the necessity of replying promptly and fully to

PREFACE. xxv

so many letters that, if he paused to frame his
sentences in accordance with the set classical rules
which purists insist on, most of his correspondence
and much of his ordinary work would have to be set
aside. The letters we have selected may be re
garded as, in some sort, written echoes of his
habitual conversations, as colloquial rather than
formal ; and in translating them we have aimed
at retaining the form as well as the sense.

We are so sure that we possess none of the
many gifts necessary for a successful historian that
we should never have undertaken this work had
not the task been imposed upon us as a duty.
Circumstances, not of our own seeking, brought us
in contact with most of the scenes and many of the
persons intimately associated with Rosmini in his
lifetime. A fondness for that kind of research
called ' biographical ' led us to make many special
inquiries touching his life and its incidents, and to
note carefully all we heard, read, or saw that had
any connection with him. An earnest attachment
to the very name of one who had done so much,
and been so much traduced, gave a zest to our
investigations, which were brought to a close when
the Life of Rosniiiu, by Don Francesco Paoli,

xxvi PREFACE.

appeared in Italy, and its translation into English
was proposed.

Now, Don Paoli, who had served for more than
twenty years as private secretary to Rosmini, and
had been constituted his executor, possessed excep
tional facilities, with the requisite talent, for writing
a complete history of his life. The elaborate
memoir which he published will always bear witness
to the good use he has made of his opportunities.1
The proposal to translate it was, however, aban
doned, mainly because the work had been com
posed with special reference to affairs in Italy. It
was, therefore, in its actual form, not well adapted
to English readers, who know little or nothing of
the controversies and local circumstances that led
to the course Don Paoli felt bound to take. But,
as the work teems with authentic information essen
tial to any Life of Rosmini, Don Paoli's memoir
must continue to be the thesaurus from which every
biographer of that illustrious man will have to
draw. We have drawn from it so fully and freely
that, to avoid constant references to the fact in
the text, we make this general acknowledgment
here.

1 Delia vita di Antonio Rosmini- Serbati^ Memorie di Francesco
Paoli pubblicate dalP Accademia di Rovereto (Rome, Paravia & Co.,
1,880).

PREFACE. xxvii

The other authors, such as Niccolo Tommaseo,
whom we have had occasion to consult, will be
found duly credited wherever we have used the
information got from them. Besides the material
obtained from these principal sources there were
many little details which neither Don Paoli, nor
Tommaseo, nor any of the many Italian writers
who have discussed the Life of Rosmini, saw fit to
note, but which seemed to us worth gathering- up
from the recollections and memoranda of humble
people who had well known Rosmini at his original
home in Rovereto, or during his residence in
Padua, Milan, Domodossola, and Stresa. Such ' un-
considered trifles ' can add nothing, perhaps, to the
substantial value of any narrative ; but they help
to tint the picture and give it those indefinable little
lights and shades which go so far to finish a like
ness and make it more and more natural.

G. S. M,

ST. ETHELDREDA'S, LONDON,
October, 1882.

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS.
(A.D. 1442-1797.)

PAG K

Olden and modern days of Rovereto — Its chief attractions — How
the Rosmini family carne to be connected with Rovereto —
Genealogy of the Rosminis of Rovereto, with a brief account
of the heads of the family for three centuries- How the
Rosminis took the name of Serbati — Short sketch of Antonio
Rosmini's uncle, parents, and only sister i

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.
(A.D. I797-I8I3-)

An eventful epoch and a portent-bearing birthday — His baptism,
precocious infancy, and studious childhood — The Bible his
first reading book — Is sent to a public elementary school —
His juvenile charities — His singular and suggestive amuse
ments — Is sent to the Roveretan High School — His great
meekness, industry, and humility — Why his teachers thought
him wanting in talent — How he eluded his mother's efforts to
moderate his ardour for study — His popularity with other
children the result of respect for his goodness — He prays and
studies while his companions play — What he thought of
theatrical amusements ........ 22

CHAPTER II.

ROSMINI'S EARLIEST COLLEGE DAYS.
(A.D. 1813-1815.)

His personal appearance at sixteen — His dislike of novelties in
dress— His conversations — His first scholastic thesis — How

xxx CONTENTS OF

PAGE

he bore his college triumphs — Elected member of the
Rovereto Academy, its first and only boy- Associate — His first
essay, and how he took the applause it won— Why he estab
lished a domestic Academy — The ' dignity of the Priesthood '
the subject of his first public discourse — Sage counsels of his
earliest letters — Virtue the only reward worth having — His
country retreat — His love of solitude — His first important
literary production — His desire to be a Saint — Correspond
ence of a boy with veterans — How he valued Christian
friendship — Dedicates himself to Religion — Leaves Rovereto
College 41

CHAPTER III.

ROSMINl'S CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE.
(A.D. I8l5-l8l6.)

His first affliction — The whole family opposed to his choice of
the Ecclesiastical State — How he met the opposition and dis
posed of all objections — The call unmistakably from God —
His motives for embracing that state — Yet another affliction
— Selects humility as the safest road to Heaven — Continues
his home studies — Typical character of this period of his life
— Contempt for worldly pleasures — Yearning of his heart for
a perfect state — Living up to a religious rule and nursing the
inspiration of a religious Order — His friendships, wishes, and
designs all for God — Art and sciences nothing without God
— One drop of morality and religion worth an ocean of human
learning — His undesigned noviciate for the Religious State . 60

CHAPTER IV.

ROSMINl'S EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES.

(A.D. 1816.)

THE FIRST VOLUME. xxxi

University life — His enquiries as to the moral and scholastic
character of Padua — Exhorts his brother to be studious and
virtuous — When and how the grand principle of Ideal Being
took possession of his mind — Religion the groundwork and
shield, and God the object of all his studies .... 76

CHAPTER V.

ROSMINI ENTERS THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA AS A

THEOLOGICAL STUDENT.

(A.D. 1816-1817.)

St. Francis of Sales and Antonio of Rovereto — Similarity of
their University life — What the students and professors
thought of Rosmini, and what he thought of them — His special
companions and their special qualities — Tommaseo — How to
live in the University with the regularity of cloistered monks
—He tells his mother how religion assuages grief — Takes the
Bachelor's degree and returns home for his first vacation —
Resumes his course at Padua with permission to wear the
dress of an ecclesiastical student — With what solemn
earnestness he took the clerical habit — Intense love of purity
and distrust of ' the world ' 92

CHAPTER VI.

ROSMINI CLOSES HIS SECOND SEASON AT THE UNIVERSITY,
AND RECEIVES MINOR ORDERS.
(A.D. I8l7-l8l8.)

His one extravagance — Childish eagerness to purchase a valuable
library — How earnestly he entreats his parents to grant his
request — His gratitude for their compliance — Fraternal ad
vice on the practice of Christian virtues — His great faith
and humility — His brother's visit to Padua — How his studies
progress — Preparing for Minor Orders and testing his voca
tion — Receives Minor Orders — -Returns to Rovereto — Death
of his uncle Ambrogio — How he bears affliction . . . 106

CHAPTER VII.

ROSMINI'S EVERY-DAY LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY.
(A.D. 1818-1819.)

How he met sympathy in sorrow — Religious instruction pervad
ing all his conversations— How his recreation was spent —
A collegiate society of charity — His poetry and his ' spare

xxxii CONTENTS OF

time' — His correspondence always conveying a lesson — How
he blent pious advice and interesting news — Visit of the
Emperor Francis I. of Austria to Padua — Rosmini's share in
the public rejoicings — He prepares for Holy Orders — Asks
permission to receive the Subdiaconate — The wish of the
Acolyte Rosmini in 1818 like that of Pope Pius IX. in 1848
— Stimulates his brother and sister to zeal in piety and study
— Fosters his sister's religious vocation — Why he would not
take the degree of Doctor when ready for it, and why he put
off the time for receiving the Subdiaconate — His own account
of his daily life in Padua • . 123

CHAPTER VIII.

ROSMINI LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY AND RECEIVES
THE SUBDIACONATE.

(A.D. 1819.)

Completion of his University course— What the Paduans thought
of him — How the good and the poor missed him — His first
duty on returning home — His gratitude — State in which he
found his Rovereto Academies — The instability of human
things — How he took disappointments — What he deemed a
1 great service ' — He establishes a school for poor ecclesias
tical students — His own preparation for Holy Orders — He
receives the Subdiaconate and makes a short excursion into
Venezia— How he bore himself while travelling — Sees God
in everything — Returns home — His guests . . . 139

CHAPTER IX.

ROSMINI AN HEIR AND A DEACON.
(A.D. 1819-1821.)

Death of his father — Finds himself to be heir general — Why he
does not expect this and why he accepts it — How he meets
his new responsibilities — He prepares for the Diaconate —
Arrival of the Bishop of Chioggia in Rovereto — Receives
Deacon's orders — Declines to receive the Priesthood before
he is of canonical age — Goes into a long special preparation
for the Priesthood — Establishes a class of sacred eloquence ;
its advantages to himself and others — His ordinary mode
of life in those days— His eager desire to remedy the evils
produced by the false philosophy then popular . . .148

THE FIRST VOLUME. xxxiii

CHAPTER X.

ROSMINI A PRIKST.

(A.D. 1821.)

PAGE

The feast of his canonical majority — He draws near to the
Priesthood with fear and trembling — Goes to Chioggia for
Ordination — How he received the sacred dignity— A retreat
of thanksgiving at Venice, where he celebrates his first Mass
— Returns to Rovereto unperceived in order to escape a pub
lic reception — Thanks the Bishop who ordained him — His
energy and aspirations shown by a letter to Prince Alexander
von Hohenlohe — Celebrates his first public Mass — The day
one of popular rejoicings in Rovereto — His mother gives a
grand banquet — How all this affects him — The ovations over,
he goes into retreat on the Mount — Leaves absolute solitude
for the commencement of a five years' home retirement — The
principle of Passivity as he knew and practised it — Key to the
consistency of his course — How he distributed the ordinary
duties of the day — Every hour for God — Love of gravity and
of order — The best qualities of his childhood and youth grown
perfect in his manhood 158

CHAPTER XL

ROSMINI'S 'PASSIVITY' AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE FIRST
YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD.

(A.D. l82I.)

He endeavours to establish a Society of Friends — Why the
attempt fails — Love of solitude and of association— He com
bines both — -His views on co-operative action for good ends — •
A society for the publication of wholesome literature — Doing
for God and truth what the irreligious do for the devil and
error — Prefers the Latin to the vulgar tongue for ecclesiastical
purposes — Is invited to join the Turinese society for publish
ing good books — What he says on the subject — Rebukes a
friend for having praised him — How beautiful a thing it is
to please God — His efforts to popularise serious subjects —
Charity calls him to active parochial work— How he ministers
to the dying pastor of a sorrowing flock — Why he refuses to
take permanent charge of a parish — His funeral oration on
the death of Don Scrinzi 174

VOL. I. b

xxxiv CONTENTS OF

CHAPTER XII.

ROSMINI'S CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE.
(A.D. 1821-1822.)

PAGE

The saintly Mme. Canossa visits Rovereto — Resemblance
between Madeline de Canossa and Margherita de Rosmini
— How Madeline conquered Napoleon I., and how Mar
gherita conquered her father — Mme. Canossa urges Rosmini
to found a Religious Order — How this message of inspiration
affects him — He shrinks from the thought of being a Founder
though ready to be a Monk — Mme. Canossa is persuaded
that God calls him to the dignity of Founder— She returns
to Verona, sketches the plan of an Institute and sends it to
him — What he thinks of it — Difficulties in the way of carry
ing out the plan — Mme. Canossa perseveres, deeming herself
the agent of God in this 'call' — He is once more invited to
co-operate with the Turinese Publishing Society — How he
would have all Christians form a universal social brother
hood— The Household of the Faith 1 88

CHAPTER XIII.

ROSMINI'S STUDIES DURING HIS HOME RETIREMENT.
(A.D. 1822.)

He cultivates human sciences as useful to the Science of the
Saints — His domestic library — His studies — Vast extent of his
reading — His estimate of philosophical learning — How he
worked to make Philosophy subserve Truth — Solidity of his
acquired knowledge — The works he wrote and planned in his
home retirement — What specially kept him in this retirement
—The Divine Will regulates all his acts — His passivity is
activity for God's glory ........ 201

CHAPTER XIV.

ROSMINI'S CONTACT WITH THE OUTER WORLD DURING

HIS HOME RETIREMENT.

(A.D. 1822-1823.)

TUB FIRST VOLUME.

always striving to do more and more good — He goes to
Padua and receives the doctorate — Is made a member of the
Accademia of the Catholic Religion— Entertains the Bishop
of T revise at Rovereto — Becomes the preceptor of a Bishop
as well as of Priests — Why he declines to accept some
benefice in his native diocese, and why he accepts the office
of Synodical Examiner— His Academy of St. Thomas and
his love for the Angelic Doctor — -A lost manuscript — Reproves
the Italians for not appreciating the great Aquinas — Italy
and Europe holding St. Thomasin little esteem, Rosmini
endeavours to win for him the homage that has since been
decreed to him . . . . . . . . .214

CHAPTER XV.

ROSMINI'S FIRST VISIT TO ROME.
(A.D. 1823.)

He is invited to accompany Mons. Crasser to Treviso — Quits his
retirement for the third time — It proves to be the first serious
departure from the monastic seclusion of home— Meets the
Patriarch of Venice, who takes him to Rome — His first short
but fruitful visit to the Eternal City — Becomes the friend of
Mauro Cappellari (afterwards Pope Gregory XVI.) — Interview
with Pius VII. — The Pope counsels him to persevere in phi
losophical studies for the good of the Church — Is offered an
important office at the Papal Court — How this perplexes him,
and why he declines it — The burden of exalted friendships —
Informs his mother how the time has been spent — Returns
home — How news of the Pope's dangerous illness is received
in Rovereto — News of the Holy Father's death — Rosmini
leads the people to honour his memory — Is appointed to
preach the funeral oration — Effect of his discourse on those
who heard it 227

CHAPTER XVI.

ROSMINI'S PANEGYRIC OK PIUS VII. THE BEGINNING

OF TRIBULATIONS.

(A.D. 1824.)

Why this panegyric calls for a special chapter— How it marks
the close of calm life and the opening of storms — The greater
the Saints, and the more they do for the glory of God, the
greater and more their trials — Synopsis of the panegyric —
He is entreated to publish it immediately as an offset to
current attacks on the Holy See — Why Austrian politicians

xxxvi CONTENTS OF

PAGE

opposed its publication— They fear Rosmini as an « Ultra
montane' — What he says of their course — He publishes a
portrait of the Pope, and is opposed even in this — He fore
sees the evils which certa;n political factions in Catholic
countries are to bring on the Church and on nations . . 236

CHAPTER XVII.

RO3MINI'S DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SEE AND CATHOLIC
UNION.

(A.D. 1824-1825.)

He practically illustrates the holy influence of the Papacy while
not allowed to openly vindicate its honour — His great devo
tion to the Holy See — Distrust of secular life, and confidence
in the Religious State — The cloister a harbour of refuge —
The political censors will not be conciliated — Why the reli
gious reaction following the French Revolution waned —
Dangers of the future — Proposal to honour solemnly the
martyrs of the Revolution — What God intended him to pro
mote — Mine. Canossa reminds him of her 'message of inspi
ration ' — He wishes to found a Congregation for securing the
perfect observance of the public services of the Church — She
urges him to quit his home retirement — His efforts for the
Daughters of Charity in Trent — Advises his sister to found a
house of this Order in Rovereto, at her own expense — Pro
ceeds to Modena for special studies — Advantages of union
amongst the good 249

CHAPTER XVIII.

LAST YEAR OF ROSMINl's HOME RETIREMENT.
(A.D. 1825-1826.)

His fellow Academicians, though far apart, cling to him for
advice and aid — Spiritual above temporal interests — Our true
grandeur unseen to mortal eye — Conditions requisite for the
Priesthood — Stern warnings to an aspirant whose motives are
doubtful — Describes how the Divine Office is arranged — •
Rescues and provides for street waifs — Returns to Mine.
Canossa's ' message of inspiration ' — Submits a rough sketch
of what he thinks the Congregation should be— Its four leading
features — The germ of the Institute deep-rooted in his soul —
It grows into shape, as did that planted in St. Dominic's heart
ages before 265

TUE FIRST VOLUME. xxxvii

CHAPTER XIX.

ROSMINI BEGINS THE ' ACTIVE LIFE.'
(A.D. 1826.)

PAGE

The spirit of association for holy objects strong in him — Diffi
culty of finding suitable companions — Abundance of weeds,
scarcity of flowers — Providence beckons him to Milan—
What hastens his departure— How he smooths down a do
mestic trouble — Prepares for the journey — How it affects his
mother and the rest of the family — The leave-taking — The
departure— Stops at Verona to consult with Mine. Ca-
nossa and his sister — The ' message of inspiration ' once
more — Mme. Canossa predicts that Providence will clearly
manifest Its will to him in Milan — His arrival in Milan— His
spiritual charges and his new friends — How Manzoni be
comes one of these — How the sensist philosophers and how
the friends of religion receive him — What he does to promote
the cause of Truth — Becomes again the guide of young eccle
siastics — -How he combines contemplative and active life —
His extensive correspondence— Still encourages the study of
St. Thomas — The * message of inspiration ' now continually
before him — He cannot resist the call to found an Order — -
Drafts a plan and sends it to Mme. Canossa through Don
Bertoni .......... . 280

CHAPTER XX.

ROSMINI'S FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN.
(A.D. 1826.)

A significant coincidence — He congratulates the Abate Cappellari
on icceiving the Cardinalate — Solicits the new Cardinal's opi
nion as to the plan of the new Order — How he and his house
hold apply the principle of * passivity ' — What he thinks of
poetry and social entertainments for the relief of sadness —
' Highly wrought religious fervour' no impediment to cheerful
ness, as his own daily life demonstrates — What he thinks of the
Milanese— The sensist blotch on the prevailing piety — Vin-
cenzo Monti a representative blotch — Rosmini seeks to save
the dying poet's soul — Gains a victory elsewhere that pro
mises well for the saving of souls — Works for the daughters
of Charity — His description of that Order — Mme. Canossa
questions the wisdom of admitting the Pastoral Office in the
Order she wishes him to found — He answers her objections,
laying much stress on living in solitude with the heart rather
than the body — Danger of gloom in solitude, and of levity in

xxxviii CONTENTS OF

society — -Religion the mother to shield us from both — All his
affections centered in the Church — No genuine happiness
except in close union with the Church — True patriotism can
belong only to the subjects of Christ's Kingdom — He would
have all men fellow-subjects in this Kingdom, bound together
by the sweet bonds of charity 295

CHAPTER XXI.

THE MANIFESTATION' OF PROVI
DENCE, ACTIVELY WORKS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD AND
THE VINDICATION OF TRUTH.

(A.D. 1826-1827.)

His Milan household an illustration of the instability of mere
human arrangements — Strength of institutions designed for
God's glory — He goes to Rovereto with the Chevalier Carlo
Rosmini and Maurizio Moschini — Calls at Brescia and
Verona — Is urged to join the Jesuits— Once more at the 'old
Homestead' — His mother still seeks to keep him in his
native diocese — What he thinks of taking the Pastoral
Ministry — Indifferent to all but God's Will — Returns to
Milan with Don Fenner as Secretary — Mellerio and Manzoni
meet him — His share in Manzoni's Promessi Sposi — How he
awaits the manifestation of Providence— His estimate of
human power in the salvation of souls — Why he prefers a
good heart to great talent— His efforts to restore Christian
Philosophy — Progress of the Nuovo Saggio — Literary war
with the dechristianising sensists — His philosophical pro
ductions of this time — Depends on Prayer more than on
Reason — Lives on earth as being always in the visible
presence of God — 'His conversation is in Heaven' — Phi
losophy and Reason would be traitors without Prayer and
Piety 318

CHAPTER XXII.

ROSMINI CONTINUES THE WARFARE AGAINST THE FOES

OF REVELATION.

(A.D. 1827.)

He refuses to be a Jesuit, but urges others to join that Order —
Beauty of the Religious State — What he says of the ' livery
of St. Ignatius' — How delicately he avoids influencing any
one to join the Order he is himself founding — What he thinks
of surrendering one's own judgment to that of Superiors —

THE FIRST VOLUME, xxxix

Two possible exceptions to the rule — What he deems the
surest means of bringing hearts into close union with God —
The Science of the Saints applicable to all states of life, but
not alike safely or easily practised in all — Religious Life the
port of refuge from worldly storms — Necessity of mastering
human affections to reach this port — Himself as an example
of triumph in this — Shows his sister that true union of hearts
cannot be, except in God — Explains the principle of obedience
as laid down in the Jesuit Rule — Agrees with St. Thomas as
to the mode of choosing a Religious Order— Commends a
compendium of meditation by a Jesuit— Sorrow for the death
of Carlo Rosmini, the historian — Patience in affliction — The
war against the propagators of anti-Christian philosophy —
Teaches the leaders of irreligion how to conduct controversies
—The world, as it is, must needs have evils — Opposes god
less education and foreshows its dangers— Men led by sensist
philosophy are most intolerant — Virtue and truth, being a
check to human passions, are detested by the champions of
irreligion — He is evidently ' called ' to resist the inroads of
sensistic error — All philosophy mere vanity without religion
— The Gospel shines above all human systems — Revelation
and true philosophy perfectly harmonious — A great and pious
historian's prayer to God answered in the person of Rosmini 334

CHAPTER XXIII.

ROSMIXI RECEIVES THE EXPECTED MANIFESTATION OF
PROVIDENCE.
(A.D. 1827.)

His health at this time — How he came to know the Abbe Lowen-
briick — Attractive qualities of the Abbe— Contrast between
him and Rosmini— Gospel prudence and human enthusiasm
— Hopes and aims — Lowenbriick's first lesson in religious
Passivity — He is given 'the models of all charity' — The indi
cations of Providence at length plainly visible — How Monte
Calvario, Domodossola, was found to be chosen by our Lord
for the new Society— Lowenbriick is sent to Domodossola —
His report satisfies all — Why the plan of the new Institute
was not shown to the Abbe until he was at Calvario —
Rosmini foresees what awaits him as Founder and Phi
losopher — Lowenbriick's objections to the plan fully answered
— Testing the spirit of the Abb£ — Rosmini seeks to have no
associates but those manifestly sent by Providence — Lowen
briick's restless spirit checked by Rosmini's wonderful
calmness 355

xl CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ROSMINl'S FIRST VISIT TO MONTE CALVARIO, DOMODOSSOLA.
(A.D. 1827.)

PAGE

Receives a * permit' to pass into northern Piedmont — Travels in
sight of scenes sacred to St. Charles Borromeo — Muses on
that Saint's birth and life — Stops at Stresa in front of the
Borromean Isles — Grieves that no memorial of the Saint
there embodies practically the great lessons of his life — How
he is himself destined to supply the want in that very place
— Passes on to the foot of the Simplon — Sketch of Domo-
dossola — The Sanctuary of Monte Calvario — His first visit to
the Sacred Mount — What he saw and thought on the way —
The Via Crucis and its chapels — The Ruins on the hill —
The magnificent valley of the Ossola — How what he beheld
affected him 373

CHAPTER XXV.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO.
(AD. 1827.)

He returns to Milan — An invitation to Rome — Why he does not
accept it — Lowenbriick's phantasies — How Rosmini rebukes
them — Man's nothingness — The first thing to be done on the
Mount — Count Padulli to represent Rosmini in Rome — Visit
to Verona — Mme. Canossa's gratitude to God for granting
her petitions — In Rovereto once more — Moschini's illness —
The means for preserving the spirit of the Institute— Pro
sperity should make men humble— The Exercises of St.
Ignatius his special study — Bad health no hindrance to his
twofold vocation 394

CHAPTER XXVI.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO.
(A.D. 1827.)

His mother's new effort to keep him at home — The Cross his
only love — He sustains others against the assaults he has him
self to meet — Provides for the work on Calvario — Lowenbriick
and the water supply on the Mount — External circumstances
indications of God's Will — The poverty and mortification
proper to the new Institute — The ornamental and the
necessary — Meilerio's visit to Monte Calvario — Two Bishops
visit Rosmini at home — Moschini's illness — The Cross our
only treasure — How to win it — Golden rule of humility —
Man's nothingness — Death of Maurizio Moschini — Rosmini

of it preternaturally — His eulogy on Moschini . . 413

LIFE

ANTONIO ROSMINI.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS.
(A.D. 1442-1797.)

Olden and modern days of Rovereto — Its chief attractions — How the
Rosmini family came to be connected with Rovereto — Genealogy of
the Rosminis of Rovereto, with a brief account of the heads of the
family for three centuries— How the Rosminis took the name of
Serbati — Short sketch of Antonio Rosmini's uncle, parents, and
only sister.

IN olden days, when the favourite highway from
Germany to Italy led through the Tyrol, along the
picturesque valley of the Adige, there was a little
village, some sixteen miles south of Trent, which
became a popular resting-place on the road. This
village had grown around a fortified castle that stood
in the midst of an oak forest, from which it took
the name of Rovereto, or ' oak plantation.' Tra
vellers tarried there, partly because of the protection
the castle gave, but mainly because, in those days,
VOL. i. B

2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

even ordinary wayfarers liked to have more than a
passing glance at the ' disparted hills ' and ' frowning
rocks ' immortalised by Dante as —

.... That ruin which Adice's stream

On this side Trento struck, should'ring the wave,

Or loos'd by earthquake or for lack of prop ;

For from the mountain's summit, whence it moved

To the low level, so the headlong rock

Is shiver'd, that some passage it might give

To him who from above would pass. . . . l

In modern days, the fine old coach road through
that mountain gorge is merely a well-preserved
memorial of the slower past, and travellers care less
to loiter amid magnificent scenery than to ' outstrip
the wind ' and dispense with wayside resting-
places. The route, however, is much the same as
in olden times, for the railroad which connects the
Tyrol with Italy closely follows the ancient track
by the left bank of the Adige, touching at Rovereto
(now a considerable town), in the charming vale of
Lagarina. There a smiling prosperity — wrung from
nature's ruins by ages of patient culture — has come
to soften the rugged grandeur and awful chasms
that were without any such relief in Dante's time.
Then the attractions of the village were, as for ages
they had been, exclusively associated with the wild
majesty of the surrounding scenery, and with the
strategical importance of the castle as the most
southern and not least formidable of Tyrolese
frontier posts. Now, the village has become a
town, stripped of military pretensions and vested in

1 Dante's Inferno, c. xii. 4-10 (Gary).

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 3

the more palmy garb of thrift and industry. Those
add constantly increasing charms to the encircling
Alps — the Trentine — at the base of which a steady
extension of the town goes on, just near enough to
the famous Adige to enjoy its benefits, but far enough
away to escape its dangers. The gushing waters of
the Leno, flowing through the centre of the mu
nicipality, supply the Roveretans so abundantly
with ' fluvial blessings ' that they can afford to forget
how nigh they are to the mightier river.

Long busy with the production of silk and wine,
Rovereto is fitly embowered in mulberry groves and
vineyards, as in the natural emblems of its commer
cial life ; while on every side, beyond the munici
pality as well as in it, are visible other emblems
sacred to the faith which has never once, ' through
weal or woe/ been separated from the place or people.
Amongst those ' other emblems ' English tourists
may see such significant memorials of the far past as
the ruins of a church, built on the Leno in 1250, to
the honour of God, through St. Thomas of Canter
bury ; there also they will find the memory of St.
Oswald1 more honoured than in his beloved Worcester
or York, and the fame of St. George more reveren
tially preserved than in the land which emblazons
his glory on heraldic shields and standards.

But it is not of its natural beauties or business
attractions, not of its marble mansions or quaint

1 The pretty little church of St. Oswald (erected in 1791 by
Ambrogio Rosmini) is close to the site on which the church of St.
Thomas once stood.

4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER,

streets, not even of its churches and chapels, whether
of the past or the present, that we have now occasion
to speak, unless in so far as they say something
special of a name which sheds a bright halo over
them all — a name that has lifted Rovereto from
the obscurity of a simple wayside town to a lofty
and abiding dignity which makes it already more
famous, and far more revered, than many an opulent
and pretentious city in that part of the world. This
name is Rosmini ; for ages it has been most inti
mately and honourably blent with the well-being of
Rovereto. A Rosmini was of those who bravely
defended the castle and its dependent village in
1487, when 'bombs ' were for the first time used in
war, and the Archduke Sigismund satisfied himself
that, without this new projectile, he could not have
soon vanquished that gallant little outpost of the
Venetians. The walls of the battered old castle can
still speak of its Rosmini commandants. The
courts of justice preserve traditions of the Rosmini
magistrates, whose decisions and virtues are held up
to the veneration of modern judges. Many of the
singular old edifices which dot the valley beyond
the town, or adorn its streets, still bear witness to
the business enterprise or the architectural skill of
some Rosmini. So, too, all the religious shrines
have much to say for Rosmini generosity, taste, and
piety ; while schools and charitable institutions bear
living witness to the enlightened munificence which
at all times distinguished this most faithful Catholic
family.

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 5

All these, however, have less interest for us
than a certain monument which stands at the top
of a noble avenue that was opened, not many years
ago, through the Rosmini gardens down to the rail
way station.1 It is a magnificent statue in white
marble, erected close to the Rosmini mansion, over
looking the Rosmini Infant Asylum, and bearing
1 mute but eloquent ' testimony to a goodness and
greatness far surpassing all that had ever before
been associated with the name of Rosmini or
Rovereto. It represents the homage of the munici
pality to its grandest, most gifted and saintly son,
ANTONIO ROSMINI-SERBATI. Of him, and him only,
have we any desire to speak here ; but, as we
sympathise with that propensity of our race which
craves to know something as to the pedigree of
eminent men, we shall attempt to satisfy this natural
inquisitiveness by briefly setting forth the lineage of
the great Priest, Founder, and Philosopher, whose
holy life we are about to sketch.

Long before the Tyrol became a dependency of
Austria the Rosminis held an honourable place
among the patrician families of northern Italy.
That branch of the stock from which the subject
of our memoir sprang became connected with the
Tyrol while the Venetians held sway there, and
before Austria had recovered the domestic quiet so
rudely disturbed by the noxious principles of Huss.
It was in those tempestuous days, when false philo-

1 See note Chap, i, pp. 30-32 of this volume.

6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

sophy was furiously struggling to overthrow the
order of Christian society, that one of the Lom-
bardian Rosminis founded a home in Rovereto
which became the nursery of a distinct line. From
the Monografia of Don F. Paoli, the Araldico
Geneologico, and other trustworthy sources, we learn
how this nursery answered its purpose, and how
the descent of the children reared in it passed on
from generation to generation.1 The record, though
scanty and in itself dry, as genealogies usually are,
derives much interest and importance from the sub
ject to which it directly leads and the lessons to
which it indirectly points.

ARESMINO, who had been Lord High Constable
of Verona in 1456, was the founder of the Rovereto
Rosminis. In 1464 he left Verona to establish a
family residence in Rovereto. Some twenty-five
years before, while serving in a military capacity at
Rovereto Castle, he was required to act as magis
trate of the Lagarina district — a circumstance which
probably led him to choose Rovereto for a perma
nent abode when he decided on retiring from public
life in Verona. At all events, there is reason to
believe that during his official stay in Rovereto he
bought a house (sometime in 1442), which remained
his property while he filled the elevated post to
which the Veronese had elected him. On leaving
that post he returned to this Rovereto home, and,
re-invested with judicial authority, spent the rest of

1 A ntonio Rosmini e la sua Prosapia, Rovereto 1 880.

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMIN2S. 7

his days there, ' universally loved and esteemed as
the noblest of its citizens.'

Aresmino was a man remarkable for probity and
prowess at a period when both these qualities seldom
met together in the same person. In 1469 he died,
leaving to his heirs high patrician rank, with such a
good name as brightened afresh the family escutcheon.
Of his four sons, the second (Picenino) founded the
family of Rosmini di Volano, and the two youngest
(Pamfilo and Carlo) served God and their country
as exemplary Priests. One of these (Pamfilo) was
so popular that, in spite of his efforts to escape
all such honours, he was elected Podesta of Rovereto,
a dignity which he declined as inconsistent with his
priestly duties. He then became Vicar-General of
Verona and afterwards of Mantua (under Cardinal
Gonzaga), where he died in 1543. His brother
Carlo was a learned canon and Rector of St. Mary's,
Verona.

GUSMERO I., eldest son of Aresmino, succeeded
to that public confidence which soon secured for
him, as it had for his father, the elevated post of
High Constable of Verona. This, however, did not
interfere with his family establishment at Rovereto,
where he and his kindred gallantly battled against

o J o

the Teutonic invaders during the war of 1487. He
was married to Anna, daughter of the noble Mattia
de' Seni, of Verona, and their union was blessed
with three sons — Gusmero, Rosmino, and Pietro.
The second of these (Rosmino de Rosmini) was
destined, as we shall see, to continue the regular

8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

succession of the family in Rovereto. Rosmino
espoused Cristina Pilati, a highly-gifted Roveretan
lady, who practically seconded his efforts to pro
mote the moral and commercial welfare of their
native town. They had four sons — Antonio, Alberto,
Zaccaria, and Cristoforo. Through Antonio was
preserved the lineal descent of the Rovereto Ros-
minis. Alberto and Cristoforo became eminent
citizens and founders of two other branches of the
Rosmini family ; while Zaccaria, who had been given
to God's service, ministered for many years as the
zealous Rector of St. Mark's, Rovereto.

The youngest of Gusmero's sons (Pietro) lived
permanently in Verona, where he filled with credit
responsible municipal offices, and earned the right
of honourable mention in Torresani's Elogi Storici
of noble Veronese.

GUSMERO II., eldest son of Gusmero I., served
with distinction under Charles V. of Germany at a
time when he probably had for a near companion
in arms the chivalrous Ignatius of Loyola, then also
in the military service of the same monarch. This
Gusmero took for wife a daughter of the Dolfini, a
Venetian family of considerable note in those days.
The alliance resulted in five sons : — Francesco,
Pietro, Pamfilo, Giorgio, and Carlo. The eldest
son (Francesco) chose the Church for his spouse, and
became Rector of St. Mark's in 1566; he died in
1575. The second son (Pietro) embraced a military
life, and won some of its brightest honours under
Philip of Spain against the Mussulman Amurat in

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 9

1576. During the following year he accompanied
Cardinal Andrea of Austria to the court of Rome,
on a special mission to Pope Gregory XIII., and
returned to die at home in 1578, 'leaving a noble
memory' but no children. His younger brother
(Pamfilo) devoted himself to commerce in Bergamo
and Verona, as well as in Rovereto, leaving in all
these places ' memorials of his piety and charity.' In
Verona he took a foremost place amongst the patri
cians eulogised in Torresani's ' Veronese Nobility.'
His descendants came to be known as Rosmini-
Pamflli. Giorgio, the fourth son of Gusmero II.,
made Verona his home, where he died * full of years
and honours.' Carlo, the youngest, like his eldest
brother, embraced the ecclesiastical state.

In 1574 the Emperor Maximilian II. conferred
the privileges of imperial nobility on all Gusmero's
sons, as a special mark of consideration for their gallant
father, and the patent extended the rank to all their
descendants direct and collateral. As all the imme
diate heirs of Gusmero II. soon died away without
direct descendants, the headship of the Rovereto
Rosminis regularly passed to the heirs of his younger
brother Rosmino de Rosmini.

The succession thus derived came down in this
order: Antonio I., nephew of Gusmero II. and eldest
son of Rosmino, continued the Rovereto line through
his only son Francesco Antonio, who in turn was suc
ceeded by his only son Cristoforo Antonio, born in
T573- To this Cristoforo were given two sons,
Nicolo and Antonio. On the former devolved all

lo INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

the rights of succession vested in the Rovereto
descendants of Gusmero II.

NicoL6 I., great-grand-nephew of Gusmero II.,
on succeeding to the family heritage, obtained from
the Emperor Leopold I. a formal confirmation of
the rank and privileges hitherto conceded to the
Rosminis of Rovereto. The concession, ' in perpe
tuity to the descendants of both sexes/ was given in
1672 by a patent which mentions the services and
virtues of the Rosmini family in the highest terms
of praise. Count Nicolo added much to the family
wealth and importance by taking an active part in
extending and perfecting the silk culture, which for
a long time afterwards was to contribute so largely
to the prosperity of the Tyrol. As he was not
blessed with children, he took the necessary steps to
secure the right of succession to Cristoforo, the third
of his brother Antonio's sons, the others acquiescing
in the arrangement.

CRISTOFORO, the favourite nephew of Nicolo I.,
duly succeeded his uncle. He married a Turinese
lady of the Perretti family. As they had seven sons
and one daughter, it was not thought likely that the
transference made by Nicolo I., giving the right
of succession to a younger son, would fail for want
of heirs. Two of the seven sons (Ferdinando and
Francesco) were dedicated to the service of the Sanc
tuary, where they well represented the intellectual
vigour and religious zeal of a family which never
failed to acknowledge that its glory and greatness
came from God. The other sons of Cristoforo having

ROVERETO AND THE ROSM1NIS. n

left Rovereto in quest of military glory — some honour
ably battling for the Venetians and some for the
Emperor — made themselves homes elsewhere ; and
so it came to pass that the succession, after all, re
verted to Nicolo the heir of Antonio's eldest son and
the direct representative of Rosmino de Rosmini.

NICOLO II., nephew of Cristoforo, was born in
1656 and married in 1678 to Cristina, only child and
heiress of Count Ambrogio di Pietro Parolini. By
this marriage the other most noble and ancient family
of Rovereto was merged in the house of Rosmini, and
thus the palatial residence of the Parolini came to be
the Rovereto home of Aresmino's heirs. The offspring
of this happy alliance — two sons, Nicolo Francesco
and Ambrogio — were greatly esteemed for wisdom,
benevolence, energy of character, mental culture, and
sterling piety. Nicolo II. was an active citizen, who
applied himself energetically to the commercial in
terests of the town, in which he was repeatedly called
on to hold high offices. He died wealthy, but, what
was far more to him, universally honoured as one who
had faithfully discharged all his public and private
duties and never neglected those he owed to God.

NicoL6 FRANCESCO, eldest son of Nicolo II., was
a man of considerable ability and high culture, the
author of some learned disquisitions published in
1689. He also published in 1733 a collection of
Latin and Italian poems, supplied, at his request, by
the most popular contemporary poets in Rome, Flo
rence, Bologna, and other literary centres. The
volume was intended to honour the first Mass of his

12 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

nephew, Nicolo Ferdinando, who had just been or
dained Priest, at Trent. Not the least valuable com
position in the book is a sonnet by the compiler him
self. Nicolo Francesco resolved that he and his only
brother should continue their noble line in Rovereto
somewhat after a patriarchal plan. He, as the elder,
had the heir's right to the Parolini mansion, but, being
wealthier than his brother, he affectionately surren
dered it to him, with other property which of right
belonged to the headship of the family, as though he
would anticipate what Providence decreed in making
Ambrogio the real stem of the Rovereto trunk. Mean
while, he built for himself, at a convenient distance
from the old mansions, a new palace, which is said to
have been ' splendid.' He was chosen to fill many
responsible offices, such as governor of Rovereto
Castle, controller of the city, and chief magistrate
of the Lagarina, with its dependent districts. In 1 702
he wed Egeldina de' Baroni Pizzini. They had seven
children. The eldest son (Ambrogio) gave himself
to the special service of God. The fourth-born (Angel- I
antonio) also dedicated himself to religion, and be
came a distinguished divine, Vicar-General of Trent,
and in 1762 the Capitular of the diocese. The second
son (Francesco) was known as the 'learned.' He
was the bosom friend of the famous Girolamo Tar-
tarotti, and stood high amongst contemporary men of
letters. His love of books was so great that he spent
a fortune in collecting a large and very select library
— then a rare and princely private possession. In
connection with Tartarotti and others he started, in

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 13

1733, the Accademia degli Agiati, which was not,
however, definitely founded until 1 750. The other
sons of Nicolo Francesco were no less worthy ; and
so of their children's children — intellectual superiority,
religious merit, and state dignities seemed to have
been their natural portion.1

AMBROGIO I., younger brother of Nicolo Fran
cesco, more immediately interests us, because to
him was confided the headship of the family in
Rovereto, and from him sprang the greatest of all
the Rosminis. This Ambrogio was born in 1680,
and at twenty-four years of age espoused Cecilia
Teresa, daughter of the illustrious Dr. Orefici of
Rovereto. Charles Philip, Duke of Bavaria and
Prince Palatine of the kingdom, conferred many
privileges on Ambrogio by patent, dated Innsbruck,
April 6, 1710. The dignities of nobility inherited
under the patents of the Emperors Maximilian and
Leopold were also recognised as ' belonging to him
and his descendants.' Greater dignities than human
sovereigns could bestow on him were given by the
King of kings, who favoured him with the virtues
that distinguish the faithful servant of the Most
High. Besides blessing him with the personal quali-

1 Some of them were advocates and some authors, who won a
fame that passed far beyond the borders of the Tyrol, or even of
North Italy. Not the least of these was the learned Chevalier Carlo
Rosmini, whose numerous works — embracing many fields in the broad
domain of literature — were very popular at the beginning of this
century, and whose ' History of Milan ' is still a standard work. This
gifted author was distinguished not merely for deep and comprehen
sive learning, but also for the earnest piety which marked the whole
course of his life. (See Chap, xxiii. of this volume.)

14 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

ties that endeared him to his fellow-citizens, God
gave him six excellent children — three sons and
three daughters. The daughters chose to live and
die virgins. Of the sons, the eldest (Ferdinando)
devoted himself to religion and learning. He is
known as ' the annalist of the family.' He became
a Franciscan, and died ' the death of the righteous '
on August 26, 1753, m ^e convent of his Order at
Trent, where he was secretary to the Provincial.
It was in honour of his first Mass that Nicolo Fran
cesco compiled the volume of poems mentioned in
connection with his name. The youngest of Am-
brogio's sons (Felice) went to God while his baptis
mal robes were still unspotted. For the other son
(Gianantonio) was reserved the privilege of con
tinuing the noble line it was God's will to termi
nate in his saintly grandson.

GIANANTONIO, who was born in 1714, applied
himself very successfully to revive, by commercial
enterprise, the drooping prosperity of his native
country, and at the same time to keep up the
literary spirit which his father, uncle, and brother
had done so much to foster in the Tyrol. He was
a man of earnest piety, an upright magistrate, and
an open-handed friend to the poor. He married
Margherita, daughter of Count Bossi-Fedrigotti —
that being the second time in which these noble
families were thus allied. Two sons (Ambrogio and
Pier Modesto) and two daughters were born of this
marriage. The two sons call for separate mention
in this genealogical record, and of the daughters it

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 15

will be sufficient to say that, like their aunts, they
lived and died virgins.

Gianantonio was the first of his family to use
the added surname of Serbati, derived from his
mother, and assumed in compliance with the express
terms of a ' deed of trust.' By this legal instru
ment the estates, etc., of the Serbatis (failing male
heirs) were passed to the female line, on condition
that the name of Serbati be added to the surname
of the family in which this female line should prove
to be directly represented. It came to be thus
represented in the house of Rosmini through
Cecilia de Orefici, the mother of Gianantonio, and
thenceforth the family adopted the name of Rosmini-
Serbati.

AMBROGIO II. — the artist and architect — elder
son of Gianantonio, never married, but from an
early age attached himself to intellectual and art
pursuits with an ardour which, for a long time,
refused attention to aught else — his religious duties
excepted. Having studied philosophy under the
Jesuit Fathers at Innsbruck and Bologna, he turned
to jurisprudence at Urbino, where the spirit of
Raphael so completely swayed his thoughts that
thenceforth he directed his attention to the fine arts
and architecture. He travelled through Italy in
quest of all that could improve his taste and
knowledge in a profession he practised for love
and without any expectation of pecuniary returns.
During these journeys he collected, at great ex
pense, the finest specimens of engraving, represent-

16 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

ing every style known : the samples number twenty
thousand, and are still preserved in the Rosmini
house at Rovereto. The best of his own paintings
are sacred subjects. Some were presented to
churches and some to friends ; but the family man
sion retains most of his productions ; the walls of
many spacious rooms, of several large inner courts
and corridors, as well as of all the principal stair
ways, are covered with admirable paintings by him
self, or by those Old Masters whose works he used for
the purpose of study, or by young aspirants to art
honours whose talents his purse nourished. As an
architect he held an honourable position in the
estimation of his cotemporaries, and has left some
admirably-planned and well-executed edifices, eccle
siastic and other, to attest his skill in that pro
fession. More than once his fellow-citizens chose
him to preside over the Municipal Council, and
during his long life he merited a fame far better
than all which the utmost triumph in any human
science or art could bestow — an unblemished fame,
which tells us how he, learned and rich as he was,
led the life of a self-sacrificing Christian, practising
charity, purity, humility, and patience to a degree
rarely met with in secular society. Mantled in this
bright fame, he passed to God in 1 8 1 8, having lived
here below for seventy-nine years.

To meet the wishes of the Tyrolese generally,
Giuseppe Telani wrote a life of the good Ambrogio,
which was published soon after his death. From it
we gather that this illustrious and accomplished man

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 17

was, in a special sense, the tutor of his nephew
Antonio's delicate appreciation of the beautiful ;
and to his cultured taste in other respects ' no
little was clue by that young mind which, even in
the uncle's lifetime, gave many signal evidences
of its giant powers.'

PIER MODESTO, brother of Ambrogio II. and
younger son of Gianantonio, had reserved for him a
more abiding distinction than any which can be
claimed for the most renowned of his ancestors ;
for he was chosen to be the father of the saintly
philosopher whose genius should carry the name
of Rosmini beyond the confines not only of the
Tyrol but of Italy and Europe.

Pier Modesto was born in 1745, and lived so
long unmarried, that people began to think ' the
grand family was about to end ' without leaving a
representative who should let its name and merits
be known to distant nations and ao-es — a result con-

trary to Alpine folk-lore, which taught that every
' noble house ' that had been founded in goodness
combined with glory, and had maintained for cen
turies unbroken loyalty to Faith and Fatherland,
was destined to have, as a reward, some child whose
greatness and goodness might reflect ' far and wide
and for aye' the lustre of the house, when the
family should cease to have heirs. There were,
indeed, many illustrious sons of the Rosmini race
certain to be remembered for ages in their own
country, but none of a fame great enough to meet
the folk-lore conditions.
VOL. i. c

i8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

However, without regard to rural superstitions,
Pier Modesto, before passing away from middle age,
gave hope to legendary prophets, for he resolved
to share his domestic happiness with the Countess
Giovanna Formenti de Riva, a lady of vigorous in
tellect and considerable acquirements, who, like her
spouse, was full of genuine piety, and partial to the
quiet charms of home life. This marriage, in all
respects happy, was blessed with four children —
Margherita, Antonio, Giuseppe, and Felice — all
brought up to specially honour God, but one above
all specially called to bear the standard of truth
and justice as firmly, as bravely, as faithfully, and
as perseveringly, as ever it was borne by servant of
God — * He will take equity for an invincible shield'
(Wis. v. 20). Of him we have much to say, and
shall proceed to say it presently ; but of the others,
meanwhile, let us make a passing mention.

The youngest son of Pier Modesto, like the
youngest of Ambrogio I. (another Felice), left the
world while an infant. The second son, Giuseppe,
whose health had never been good, married the
amiable Baroness Christina de Rallo, and in 1863
closed an honourable life, leaving no children to con
tinue a name which had then, in another and far
nobler way, secured a perpetuity and pre-eminence
such as no mere family succession could have ever
given it.

Margherita, the only daughter of Pier Modesto,
was the feminine counterpart of her great brother
Antonio. Like him, from the first dawning of

ROVERETO AND THE ROSMINIS. 19

reason to the last moment of her mortal existence,
she devoted her mind and heart to God. Through
love of Jesus Christ she directed all her energies to
the caring of ' the little ones for whom is the kingdom
of Heaven.' She was one of the first to co-operate
with the venerable Marchioness of Canossa in ex
tending the great work that holy lady had begun
in North Italy by means of her Daughters of
Charity.

But long before the pious Margherita Rosmini per
manently joined this admirable Order she had distin
guished herself by kindred labours in Rovereto, where
she had for many years zealously applied her time
and means to the education of little orphans. On
taking the vows as a Daughter of Charity, she
founded, at her own expense, a convent of the Order
in Trent, where its services were urgently needed.
There she toiled so indefatigably and unselfishly in
the cause of Christian charity, that her health gave
way under the weight of incessant labours fondly
endured for the love of God and the benefit of His
little poor. It was thought that a change to Verona
and some repose might restore her physical strength ;
but all in vain. God took her to Himself on June
20, 1833 — ' Being made perfect in a short space, she
fulfilled a long time.'

Her accomplishments, even in the social sense,
were very numerous, and included such a familiarity
with modern and ancient languages as entitled her to
be deemed a linguist. In short, so good and gifted
was she in all respects, that Italian poets, as well

c 2

20 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

as Tyrolese, have made her the theme of song.
Her great brother, whom she venerated most pro
foundly, summed up her whole history in these few
words: 'The faith of Jesus Christ, which she
deeply studied and on which she constantly medi
tated, lifted her high above the prejudices of the
world, and made her impervious to its vanities and
its wickedness. Her mind intently fixed on God,
she became all through life, to those who knew her,
a mirror of heroic virtue, by the continual perform
ance of the most humble and toilsome works of
charity. To these labours her life at last suc
cumbed — a victim not so much to be mourned as
envied and blessed.'

Pier Modesto, the father of these saintly children,
lived to know the choice of life they had solemnly
made, but not long enough to see them fully vested
in it. He died in 1820, at the age of 75, soon after
Antonio had taken Minor Orders and the Sub-
deaconate, but before he was ordained Priest, and
before Margherita had formally associated herself
with the Daughters of Charity. The young ecclesi
astic, much to his own surprise, was made ' the heir
general/

The Countess Rosmini, who died in her 84th
year, survived her husband twenty-two years, and
so was spared to see her son more than fulfil
the highest expectations of her heart — a happiness
which, alas ! like all human joy, had its bitter mix
ture, of sorrows in the clouds of persecution she
could notice gathering around him, and some of

ROVERETO AND THE ROSM1NIS. 21

which showered their assaults upon him even while
she lived. But she well understood the consolation
contained in the words, * The Apostle is not greater
than He that sent him/

22 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF ANTONIO ROSMINL
(AJX 1797-1813.)

An eventful epoch and a portent-bearing birthday— His baptism, pre
cocious infancy, and studious childhood — The Bible his first
reading-book — Is sent to a public elementary school — His juvenile
charities — His singular and suggestive amusements— Is sent to the
Roveretan High School — His great meekness, industry, and
humility — Why his teachers thought him wanting in talent — How
he eluded his mother's efforts to moderate his ardour for study —
His popularity with other children the result of respect for his
goodness — He prays and studies while his companions play — What
he thought of theatrical amusements.

ANTONIO ROSMINI-SERBATI was born in the palace of
his ancestors at Rovereto early on the morning of
March 25, 1797.

What stirring memories that date calls up! It
was a terrible epoch. All Europe was just then
convulsed by the horrible triumphs of a pernicious
philosophy, which found its practical embodiment
in the frightful atrocities of the French Revolution.
The Tyrolese Alps had hardly ceased to re-echo the
thunder of Bonaparte's artillery, so recently trium
phant at Lonato, Castiglione, Arcola, and Rivoli ;
while the wonted quiet of Rovereto had not yet re
covered from the shock of battle at its own gates.
Mantua had fallen on the feast of the Puriiication, in

HIS BIRTH. 23

the previous month, and from there to Trent the
revolutionary invaders commanded every post. But
it so happened that on the Feast of the Annuncia
tion — when the future apostle of a saving, godly
philosophy was born — these armed champions of
a godless, destroying philosophy were resting from
the work of slaughter, during the short-lived lull
following the treaty of Tolentino. That treaty,
which dealt so shamefully with the Pontifical States,
had just been signed, as though to give the modern
Sennacherib time to readjust his military tactics to
the anti-Christian philosophy of the day, that he
might the better recommence the march of carnage
and spoliation which enabled him to practically
apply the hideous principles of such philosophy.

To our thinking, there was a something very
portentous in the circumstances which thus sur-
sounded the birth of the last heir born to the house
of Rosmini-Serbati on that eventful March 25, 1797.
This something does not lose in significance when
we remember how it was amidst the turmoils pro
duced by the false philosophy which gave revolu
tionary champions to the tenets of Huss, three cen
turies before, that Rovereto itself was chosen to be
the cradle of this child's race.1 So there, amidst the
terrors and abominations generated once more by
false philosophy, was he born who was to be the last
of that race, but nevertheless destined to leave behind
him a numerous family and a priceless legacy that
should make his name imperishable. That family

1 Sec Introductory Chapter, p. 5.

24 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

was to be a Religious Order, and that legacy a
Philosophy at all points fitted to be a lasting and
effective barrier between Christian civilisation and
revolutionary barbarism — between the Church of
God and the Synagogue of Satan.

Was it not meet that he should have been thus
born amid the din of a furious war waged against
religion in the name of human progress and philo
sophical enlightenment ? — Was it not meet, since
he was chosen to be the teacher of a philosophy
that should weld together all the armour of God's

Truth, so as to make it proof against every weapon
modern science or sensism might invent on be
half of human error ? The Providence which
had so arranged the time and circumstances of his
birth had, as it were, built around his infancy and
boyhood a school of startling events that passed
into history before his eyes, and filled his young
mind with facts and lessons that were in some way
to fertilise all the studies of his riper years.

But, whether seen from these or other points of
view, that was a memorable 25th of March on which
Antonio Rosmini was born. It was his double
birthday, and often, while he lived the life his
first birth gave, did the return of this Feast announce
to him some new favour of Heaven or mark an
event in fulfilment of the promises of his second
birth.1 The second birth took place within a few

1 Tommaseo notes how many of the important events in Rosmini's
life were associated with the Feast of the Annunciation : — ' It was on
that Feast he began the special retreat for the Priesthood ; on that
Feast he first entered Rome ; on that Feast he commenced his

HfS CHILDHOOD. 25

hours of the first ; for on the same day he was
baptised in the parish church of St. Mark, where in
after-years he was to do so much as Rector. Teresa
Tachelli, the nurse who bore him to the baptismal
font, often declared that 'something about the babe
made her feel he was to be a great and holy man/

Nurses are, indeed, prone to indulge in flatter
ing predictions as to the future of the little ones
intrusted to them ; but their vaticinations are almost
invariably uttered for the ears of fond parents, and
seldom, like those of nurse Tachelli, kept silently
' treasured in heart,' or merely whispered in solemn
confidences to the Parish Priest. While Teresa
watched the marvellous calm of the child's face,
as he was born again of the Holy Ghost, she
wondered much why there was no wincing when
the regenerating water fell on his little head ; she
wondered more why this unruffled solemnity gave
way to a sweet angelic smile when the ceremony
was over ; she wondered still more why little An
tonio smiled not again for months, but, like his
sister Margherita, ' preserved an extraordinary
gravity and quiet for half a year or so, as if in
mute thanksgiving all the time.'

This affectionate nurse, who tenderly watched
over him during the years of his infancy, felt so sure

greatest philosophical work ; on that Feast he founded the Order of
Charity ; on that Feast he began to write out formally the Constitu
tions ; on that Feast he and his first associates took their solemn vows
as members of the Order,' &c., &c. ' We,' says Don Paoli, ' often
witnessed the sublime sentiments of religious piety with which
Antonio Rosmini commemorated that anniversary of the Incarnation
of the Word and of his own regeneration.'

26 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

that he would become ' a great and holy man/ that
she carefully put away in her own trunk all his
disused playthings, as relics 'to be prized in other
days.' The trifles thus religiously preserved bear
no traces of the rude treatment children are wont
to bestow on such articles, and so far confirm
the nurse's description of him as ( the most careful
child that could be.'

Teresa Tachelli spent a long life in the service
of the Rosminis, having survived for many years
the child and benefactor whom she was never weary
of calling ' the little angel ' — ' always so gentle,'
she used to say, * always so thoughtful, always
so generous : even as an infant his charity was
extraordinary, and he cared to keep nothing for
himself if he fancied another wanted it. It was
delightful to see him at his prayers, which he said
voluntarily and with great feeling.' 1

His mind set itself to study almost as soon as
his little limbs were trained to walk. A fact which
he himself in after-years mentioned to his life-long
friend, Don Paoli, shows that his intellectual facul
ties must have begun to work at an astonishingly

1 Nurse Tachelli had such a love and veneration for the child that
she preserved not only the playthings associated with his infancy, but I
several articles of dress, her fixed notion being that he was ' going to
be a great saint or something else wonderful.' In 1862 she disclosed I
the secret to Don Paoli, and at the same time delivered to him, with I
much ceremony, the various relics as ' sacred treasures.' These in- i I
teresting little memorials are now kept at the Rosmini mansion, in a ; j
glass case, with sundry other objects of ' personal contact ' belonging
to his maturer years. All are sorted and classed according to thej
different periods of his life, beginning with the gorgeous baptismal;
robes of the babe, and ending with the sombre cassock of the Priest.

HIS CHILDHOOD. 27

early age : while lying in his cradle at night, being
then only two years old, he used to reflect and
wonder why the nurse regularly placed the light in
a position which prevented him seeing it, and why,
when he chanced to see it, his eyes were pained
and his imagination affected in a peculiar manner.1

He was, in fact, as Don Paoli puts it, a reflecting
child at two years of age, an almsgiving boy at five,
a most studious youth at seven, a practical ascetic at
twelve, a brilliant moral essayist at sixteen, and such
a proficient in philosophy at eighteen that his pro
fessor became his disciple : marvellously gifted all
his days, from the cradle to the grave.

He commenced his elementary studies under a
private tutor named Runck, who thought so highly
of his little pupil's capacity, or ' tone of mind,' that
he gave him the Bible for a reading-book. So well
did the experiment answer M. Runck's expecta
tions that before Antonio Rosmini was five years
old, he knew more Holy Scripture than boys of
fifteen in the grammar schools of a land which
claims Biblical knowledge as ' the leading feature
of its Christian enlightenment.'

1 The cradle, a heavy wooden rustic cot, with other equally simple
furniture of the nursery, still occupies its place in the room wherein he
was born, and the room itself (a plainly-furnished chamber facing
the gardens) is said to be much as it was when he first vacantly gazed
on the homely objects around him. On a marble tablet in the wall is
the following inscription : —

IN HOC CUBICULO
NATUS EST

ANTONIUS ROSMINI-SERBATI

VIII KAL. APRILIS
A. MDCCXCVII.

28 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

In his sixth year he was sent to a public primary
school, as his illustrious family were desirous of
supporting and encouraging by example those useful
institutions which, through their influence, had just
then been established, in a greatly improved form,
at Rovereto. The motive met with the reward it
merited ; for the presence of the patrician child
attracted many boys who would else have stayed
or been kept away, while his charming manners
and angelic character not only won their hearts,
but swayed their conduct in a marked degree.

Even at that tender age, when the natural
generosity of childhood is so capricious and impul
sive as to be often a kind of churlishness, and at
best a fitful, disorderly, thoughtless liberality —
even at that age he gave remarkable evidences of
the settled, thoughtful, orderly spirit of charity
which possessed his soul and became the shining
characteristic of his whole life. When setting out
for school in the morning, he made it a point to be
always provided with some pocket money, as well
as a lunch, with the fixed purpose of applying
neither to his own use, but to the wants of the poor
people he was sure to meet on the way. In distri
buting the alms, he took care to select the objects
so prudently that the neediest and most deserving
were almost invariably chosen.

We all know how children delight in anything
new, and how tenaciously even those of them
who have the most generous nature cling to the
least article of dress while it is, or seems to be,

HIS BOYHOOD. 29

new. Little Antonio Rosmini was an exception to
this rule ; for his great delight was to share with the
poor the best he had, and he was always ready to
part with his newest garment if he found anyone
in need of it. When warned that it was an ex
travagance to give to poor children costly articles
of dress that they would rather sell than wear, he
confined his gifts to things free from such an ob
jection.

One chilly morning, on seeing from his room a
poor woman with a little boy whose sockless feet
looked very cold, he threw to her from the window
a new pair of warm stockings, which his mother
had just left for his own use, contenting himself
with an older and less comfortable pair. As the
shivering child instantly put them on, that fact was
his defence against a suggestion of extravagance —
' they are not too good for a little one dear to our
Lord/

The very amusements of his boyhood bore the
impress, deeply marked, of that earnest yearning
for ' doing good ' which produced such beneficial
fruit through all the years of his manhood. For
example : A popular pastime among the Tyrolese
children in his juvenile days was * playing at police
man/ He liked the sport, since he always contrived
to secure a post — not that of captain, nor of director,
but of magistrate — which gave him an opportunity
of conveying some good moral lesson through the
sentence he might have to pronounce. He was
partial to any games which tended to benefit the

3o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

mind as well as the body, or enabled him to give or
receive some instruction.

On the other hand, he had no liking for re
creations that were of less apparent advantage,
or that did not afford distinct means of edification.
Hence, he had no relish for the ' accomplishment
of dancing,' although when he went, with his
brother, to acquire ' the personal polish ' it is sup
posed to impart, his dancing master, judging by the
youth's graceful bearing, thought he had a most
promising disciple. The hopeful professor, how
ever, found him an unwilling pupil, who very soon
withdrew from ' social exercises ' that clashed with
the strong bent of his mind.1

This strong bent was made unmistakably clear
in his favourite amusements — playing at monk and
studying the Lives of the Saints. To ordinary
children either would seem less entertaining than
irksome, rather more of a drudgery than a relaxa
tion. But for him there was no pastime so pre
cious. The extensive gardens attached to the
family mansion afforded ample space fcr playing
at hermit or monk, his sister Margherita and their
cousin Leonardo being his only partners in the
game.2 The sister, who was three years older than

1 This personage, who bore the apt name of Angelico Festi, was
so greatly disappointed that Count Ambrogio felt bound to console
him by painting his portrait — a compliment that soothed him for the
rest of his life. The picture is now in the Rosmini mansion, where
good old Festi still smiles on every visitor ascending the grand
stairway.

2 The Rosmini gardens are now comparatively small, but still fairly
kept and well stocked with fruit, flowers and vegetables. Originally

HIS BOYHOOD. 3I

Antonio, having pious sentiments closely resembling
his, entered heartily into the spirit of the recrea
tion ; but Leonardo enjoyed it less, though he
willingly conformed to the rules. These rules suited
the circumstances of the juvenile recluses, who car
ried them out in cells constructed, after an approved
model, at distant parts of the garden. The ' play '

they were very extensive, and at the rear of the mansion (formerly
known as the Palazzo Parolini), which then faced the town, walled off
from the streets within a fine court-yard, having a noble arched stone
gateway with the family arms boldly carved on the outside. As the
town spread around the gardens, municipal improvements called for
the surrender now of one portion, and now of another, until at length,
the grounds dwindled down to the dimensions of one of the larger
London squares. This process of contraction was materially assisted
by cessions of land for the use of two charitable institutions, one being
the Rosmini Infant Asylum, erected on the spot where Margherita
used to have her cell when playing at monk with her brother. Near
this asylum, on a stone tablet in one of two handsome little sheds at
opposite corners of the present garden bounds, along the new street,
there is this inscription : —

IN HOC HORTO

AMBROSIUS ROSMINI

JAM SENEX ARCHITECTABATUR
EIUSQUE EX FRATRE NEPOS

ANTONIUS

ADHUC ADOLESCENS

DE ORTGINE ET NATURA IDEARUM DISPUTABAT
HOC NE POSTERIS PEREAT

FRANCISCUS PAOLI
A.D. MDCCCLXXV. P.C.

Although the frequent grants of ground seriously diminished the
size of the gardens, this did not, for a long time, impair their seques
tered character as delightful appendages of a secluded mansion. A
few years ago, however, a public avenue, the noblest in Rovereto, was
opened through them close to the rear of the palazzo and straight
down to the railway station. This changed all. The rear of the man
sion became forthwith its front, and the gardens took the character of
a public square cut off from the palazzo, a tunnel beneath the road now
connecting the house with its once beautiful grounds. The old main
entrance through the baronial court-yard remains still in use, but the

32 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

consisted in holding conferences on sacred subjects
and relating anecdotes of Saints, now at one cell,
and then at another ; the rule obliged each little
' monk ' to read alone the life of the Saint of the
day, to meditate on it, and connect it with our
Lord's life and teachings, and after that to meet
at a given place and time to interchange thoughts
on the subject ; they then prayed together, and
separated to pray apart in their different cells ; the
whole 'entertainment' often taking up about two hours

true grand entrance to the palazzo is now through either of two massive
iron gates, some fifty feet asunder, forming part of an ornamental metal
railing which separates the new front of the house from the new street.
These gates open on a floral plot having a paved carriage way into two
enarched halls — one at either end of the facade, beneath the dining
and ball rooms (now picture galleries) and passing on to the old court
yard. On a marble slab in one of these passages is the following
inscription : —

HASCE yEDES
IN QUIBUS

ANTONIUS ROSMINI-SERBATI

NATUS EST ANNO MDCCLXXXXVII
RESTAURATIONEM PHILOSOPHISE

AGRESSUS EST A. MDCCCXVI
SOCIETATEM A CARITATE NUNCUPATAM
PRIMUM MENTE CONCEPIT A. MDCCCXXI

FILII SPIRITUALES ET DISCIPULI

IN ANGLIA ATQUE IN ITALIA LEGATIONEM PRO CHRISTO FUNGENTES
RENOVARUNT

NE ULLA UNQUAM ^TAS

DE TANTI VIRI LAUDIBUS CONTICESCAT

P.C. A. MDCCCLXXX.

Although the palazzo. has no longer its old aspect of baronial
seclusion it retains much of its ancient stateliness. The style of
architecture is simple and unattractive ; but Don F. Paoli (as executor
of Rosmini's will) has done much to make it elegant. It is very large,
containing more than a hundred rooms, most of them very spacious
and all of them lofty.

HIS BOYHOOD. 33

in the morning and two in the evening. Tommaseo,
speaking of these saintly amusements, tells us how
little Antonio, only seven years old at the time,
' used to be moved to tears of admiration and ten
derness while reading or listening to the Acts of the
Martyrs.' l

Thus, ' like true young Saints,' these pious chil
dren whiled away the time of recreation in a manner
most agreeable to themselves, but little likely to win
others of the same age. We quote the phrase ' like
true young ' Saints as a stereotyped expression ; for
when we read the memoirs of great warriors, or
navigators, or statesmen, or despots, or even
criminals, they are usually described as having
been, during boyhood, ' like true young ' soldiers,
or sailors, or politicians, or tyrants, or rascals ;
prone to sports that mirrored, more or less clearly,
their course in manhood. It is certain that the
favourite pastime of the Rosmini children fore
showed their future, as both afterwards solemnly
adopted and nobly adorned the Religious Life they
loved to practise as a juvenile solace.

The other strong bent of Antonio's mind was
study ; but this too, like his amusements and chari
ties, had God for its object. To please 'Our Father
Who art in Heaven,' and to carry out all the promises
of the Lord's Prayer — which he said fervently not
only every night and morning, but frequently during
the day — was the set purpose of his young soul in all
he did. What he preferred to study, even as a boy,

1 Rivista Cotemp. di Torino, 1855, No. xxxv., art. 'Rosmini.'
VOL. T. D

34 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

had reference to God, and to whatever might give
glory to God.

The good example for which he had been sent to
the public school having been most effectively given
— in a far higher and wider sense than his parents
thought of when sending him there — he was with
drawn to enter a classical seminary, or ginnasio,
similar to our grammar schools. At the same time,
his home studies were entrusted to Don Guareschi,
a pious Priest retained in the family mansion some
what in the quality of a domestic chaplain. None
of his fellow-students at the public school was so
diligent as Antonio, none so docile, none so pious ;
yet his progress in grammatical studies did not seem
to correspond with such promising qualities, and he
allowed others to carry off the school prizes. The
best his teachers could say of it was, that he went
on creditably, but not as brilliantly as his great
talents and marked application led them to expect.
Don Guareschi at first blamed the system of the
teachers ; but, finding his own method at home pro
duce no brighter results, he soon concurred with
those who assumed that, after all, the boy's intellect
was rather dull ; and so he bluntly told him.

Antonio meekly accepted this sentence without
attempting to explain why he appeared to make II
slower progress than the professors thought within
his power. In his uncle Ambrogio, however, he
had a warm defender ; for this vigilant observer of II •-,,.
the little student's course knew that other and graver
studies so occupied his mind that the ordinary school

HIS BOYHOOD. 35

exercises were more or less distasteful, while to keep
up with them as creditably as he did was, under the
circumstances, to do a great deal. He knew, more
over, that although this might prevent such technical
evidences of progress as a zealous pedagogue looked
for in a most promising pupil, it did not interfere
with a studious boy's real progress, even in those
branches of study with which he seemed to be less
familiar than his teachers wished.

St. Thomas of Aquin, at a riper age, but for
kindred reasons, was denounced as a mere dunce
— ' a dumb ox ' — though his mind was then brood
ing over the most subtle questions in Christian
philosophy. So, when his tutors decided that An
tonio Rosmini was slow of intellect — ' a sluggish-
brained boy, too much given to prayer and too
ittle to the conjugation of verbs ' — he was actually
mastering the contents of such works as the
Summa of St. Thomas. This he was doing with
the full approbation of his accomplished uncle,
whose authority in the matter was to him as
aw. Therefore he felt that, so long as he remained
dutiful to all his instructors and kept well up with
bis class, he was disobeying no one, but rather prac
tising humility, if he allowed an idea to get abroad
that his intellect was, after all, no brighter than that of
others. Had he been consulted by those who ex-
:used him, he would have requested them to offer
no explanation whatever ; but the affectionate uncle,
without seeing into the depth of piety whence this
self-sacrifice sprang, continued to defend him, and to

D 2

36 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

supply him with the books he chose to have for his
private study. These were books which modern
students of more than double his age would look
upon as 'intolerably heavy reading/

There was one other who shared with uncle
Ambro^io the pleasure of defending Antonio. This

o I o

was his mother, who knew that he studied for a duty,
a work, and a pastime, and who feared that he so
studied too incessantly. She used to relate, with a
natural complacency, how her beloved boy tried to
overcome the fatigue caused by the labours he thus
imposed on himself, and how he managed to elude
her maternal solicitude. She frequently found him
in the library (a large and valuable one) with several
tomes ' of the Fathers and of Latin classics,' opened
on the long table, so as to fringe it at all sides. He
applied himself now to one, now to another, until he
had carefully read a set number of pages in each,
within a given time every clay, changing his book
and position as best answered the relief his body or
mind needed. If she entered with a reproachful
look, as sometimes happened, he would anticipate
her remonstrance by exclaiming, ' O beloved mother,
these beautiful things ! O the holy teachings which
these books give me ! Let me enjoy myself, as it is
good to be in such company and thus entertained ! '
Such appeals usually called forth the desired smile
on the anxious mother's face, and she would then
retire, agreeably conquered ; leaving him to • kill
time,' not as children, but as sages do.

His teachers, however, knew nothing of all this.

HIS BOYHOOD. 37

Even Don Guareschi remained for a long time
ignorant of the real condition of things. Although
he noticed his pupil going often to the library, and
found him sometimes poring over volumes which
seemed in no way suited to his age or capacity, he had
no suspicion of the extent to which his studies were
thus carried ; for the library being the special cabinet
of Ambrogio, the chaplain seldom stayed there longer
than was necessary to procure the book he wanted.
One day he chanced to enter while Antonio was in
tently reading the Summa of St. Thomas. With
mixed surprise and scorn he tapped him smartly on
the head, saying, ' What have you to do with such
books ? ' The answer was a mild reference to the
sanction of his uncle. Forthwith, the astonished
Priest began to discover that such books were not
beyond the capacity of that boy, who, like St. Thomas,
while appearing to be only on a level with his class,
was in many things farther advanced than his
teachers.1

Although young Rosmini's intense love of study,
earnest, systematic piety, and lofty sense of decorum
in all he did, was little calculated to win popularity
with those of his own age (who generally prefer less
staid qualities), nevertheless his society was much
courted by his school- fellows ; and the youths who
could claim him for a companion in recreation, or as
a visitor during the holidays, made a boast of the
fact. One of those who did boast of the fact — the

1 Mons. Andrea Strosio, Difesa del la Fama e della Vita di Antonio
Rosmini) Cap. i. Tommaseo, Riinsta cont. 1855.

38 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Baron Simone Cresseri di Castelpietra — tells us how
Antonio used to * amuse himself when on a summer
visit to the princely castle of the Cresseri, in the mag
nificent valley of the Folgaria, near Trent. Thither
Rosmini and his brother sometimes went for a few
weeks during the ' long vacation/ to enjoy the sports
there provided for themselves and some other patri
cian boys.

On these occasions Antonio made study, as
usual, his principal amusement, but without damp
ing the spirits of the others, who, respecting his
every wish, were content to know he was near
enough to see and hear them. So, while all his com
panions sported at ball, or ' hide and seek', or any
other of the diversions which delighted them, he be
took himself to some adjacent pine shade or creviced
rock, where he read and prayed as if he could never
weary of such entertainment. When any of his more
frolicsome companions, through sheer exhaustion,
sought repose, it was always near his retreat, but not
close enough to disturb him, unless he invited them
nearer, which he did if he thought the opportunity
suitable for imparting some edifying or instructive
information.

His constant companion during these visits to
the splendid hospitality of Castelpietra was the Parish
Priest, a learned man, in whose conversation he
took more delight than his young friends found
in their boisterous mirth. But though he liked to
thus amuse himself in his own way, he never dis
approved of the way preferred by the others. On

HIS BOYHOOD. 39

the contrary, if they could not have enjoyed them
selves thoroughly unless he took an active share in
their games, he would set aside his own preference
to ensure them the full benefit of their holiday. He
never waited to be asked when he saw a chance of
throwing a moral or some special instruction into the
sport, as when he played * magistrate ' and ' monk ' in
his still more juvenile days.1

It was during these school vacations that Tyrol-
ese parents usually indulged their children with
visits to the theatres. Antonio went now and then
with his uncle and brother, but cared very little for
the spectacles ordinarily represented. Comedies he
disliked because they appeared to exhibit what was
trivial, vulgar, and coarse, without bringing into
effective relief the moral which should compensate
for these inherent blemishes ; but to tragedies he
was more favourably disposed, because it seemed to
him that, at the worst, they more directly lifted his
soul to God. Boy though he was, he ventured to
tell his uncle Ambrogio that the stage, unless
managed with the greatest care, had little to com
mend it to thoughtful minds ; while, as commonly
directed, it had much to charm and debase the
thoughtless.

Thus, even in his tenderest years, the lineaments

1 That he highly approved of manly field sports is made evident
by an essay which he wrote on the subject of ' Public Amusements/ as
forming or showing forth national character. This essay, though
written in his youth, and read to the Rovereto Accademia, where it met
with ' marked approval/ was not published till after his death, when it
was deemed important enough to be incorporated with his Filosqfia
della Politica.

40 LIFE OF ANTONJO ROSMINL

of the man's character were distinctly visible. His
fervent piety, his studious habits, his generous and
orderly charities, his precocious spirit of Christian
mortification, his sound judgment, so far above that
which men usually associate with persons even of
ripe age, were all such as to foreshow the vigorous
growth of those solid virtues and that intellectual
greatness which distinguished his still more saintly
manhood.

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 41

CHAPTER II.

ROSMINl's EARLIEST COLLEGE DAYS,
(A.D. 1813-1815.)

His personal appearance at sixteen — His dislike of novelties in dress
— His conversations — His first scholastic thesis — How he bore his
college triumphs — Elected member of the Rovereto Academy, its
first and only boy- Associate — His first essay, and how he took the
applause it won — Why he established a domestic Academy — The
1 dignity of the Priesthood ; the subject of his first public dis
course — Sage counsels of his earliest letters — Virtue the only
reward worth having — His country retreat — His love of solitude —
His first important literary production — His desire to be a Saint —
Correspondence of a boy with veterans — How he valued Christian
friendship — Dedicates himself to Religion — Leaves Rovereto
College.

WHILE the moral and intellectual qualities of An
tonio Rosmini were systematically developing them
selves, day by day, into sterling virtues, his physical
growth gave evidence of such a hale constitution
that, at sixteen, he was one of the most blooming
and comely youths in Rovereto. Don Paoli gives
us a description of his person which sets the inde
fatigable student before us as one upon whom in
cessant brain work, relieved by a very moderate
share of bodily exercise, had no ill effects whatever.
' He grew up robust and healthy,' says Don Paoli,
' and although his appearance presented a develop
ment which betokened some excess of the cerebral

42 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

organs, for the most part favourable to natural
talent but not to health, he was a hale, handsome
youth, as may be gathered from a portrait which his
mother preserved.1 He was of middle height,
slender form and well proportioned, except that his
head was remarkably large. He had a high, massive
forehead, an abundance of dark brown hair, an aqui
line nose, a somewhat projecting chin, a softly
blooming complexion, sprightly eyes, which were
always in subjection to a sensitive modesty.' The
sweet smile of an affectionate heart 'constantly
played around his finely-chiselled lips.' His manners
were exceedingly affable, and his intercourse with
others was always marked by a winning condescen
sion most felicitously adapted to all manner of per
sons and circumstances — ' the result,' adds Don
Paoli, ' of a kind nature properly developed by most
refined home culture.'

Although neat in his dress, and careful to ob
serve the proprieties of external appearance, he was
little disposed to countenance the caprices of
* fashion.' During his boyhood, the Napoleonic
dominancy in Northern Italy brought French styles
into vogue ; but, while Roveretan society pretty
generally affected the new mode, the Rosminis reso
lutely adhered to the old, and Antonio preferred to
bear the scoffs of his companions rather than to op-

1 A photograph copy of this finely- finished likeness adorns the
first page of Don Paoli's Monografia, On the death of the Countess
Rosmini the original painting was given to the Marquis Benso de
Cavour as a souvenir ; but on his death it was claimed by the repre
sentatives of Rosmini, to whom it now belongs.

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 43

pose the taste of his parents, or sanction what seemed
to him uncalled-for innovations. Moreover, he thus
entered a protest against the principles of the Revo
lution, which had imported these novel costumes.
But, however he dressed, his bearing was always
the same — always gracious and gentle — always
showing forth that ' exquisite virginal modesty '
which remained his life-long characteristic. To robe
the soul in virtue, the heart in prayer, and the mind
in knowledge, was to him of first importance ; the
rest troubled him little.

Towards the termination of his course at the
Rovereto Preparatory College he was required to
compose a thesis on ' The Encouragement of
Studies/ The subject was selected for him on
account of his own great love of study, but without
any hope that one so young would be able to treat
it in a profound or practical manner. However, to
the surprise of all assembled on the Exhibition Day,
he acquitted himself so well that few were ready to
credit a mere lad with such a polished and well-
reasoned essay. Foremost amongst the few who,
without hesitation, believed it be the boy's own
unaided production, was Don Pietro Orsi, a fre
quent guest of the house, who had taken more
pains than the others to know his capacity. But
though the keen-sighted Priest admired and es
teemed him much for what he already knew of his
moral and intellectual character, the signal success
of the theme and the charming modesty of the
young orator gave this esteem and admiration a

44 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NL

new direction, and an intensity which soon led to a
more intimate connection between them — that of
devoted pupil and devoted master.

His collegiate triumphs and conspicuous virtues
won for Antonio an extraordinary distinction before
he had completed his sixteenth year — a Fellowship
in the Academy of the Agiati. This institution,
which may be styled ' the Royal Society ' of Rovereto,
was founded in 1750 by the famous Tyrolese critic
Girolamo Tartarotti, and other literary celebrities of
the time and place, including more than one of the
Rosmini family. Active membership was confined
to local literati, who were selected with great care,
not only as to their scholastic attainments, but as to
their moral character and social standing. This last
qualification excluded the lowly, however worthy,
and was deemed a serious blemish in its organisa
tion by the patrician youth who was invited to sit
with its sages as one of themselves.

He could not help thinking that, as it had for
the first time opened its doors to a boy in years,
it could afford to extend the exceptions to those
who had grown grey in quest of knowledge without
aspiring to social position. But to press his opinion
on the directors of the Academy would have been
inconsistent with the modesty of his years, and the
boy- Fellow never forgot he was a boy. As to his
own election, the sagacity of the Academicians was
proved by events. That boy soon became the
greatest of the Agiati, and was destined, ere long,
to be the perpetual honorary president of the

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 45

society : in fact, his genius still presides, and im
parts to the Rovereto Academy a renown, if not a
stability, that will live through the ages.1

When Antonio Rosmini was thus winning the
peaceful laurels of college victories there was a lull
in the Napoleonic wars which had so long con
vulsed Europe. This lull promised something more
than an ephemeral peace ; at all events, such was
the general hope. The young Academician seized
this popular hope as a fitting subject for the literary
composition with which he was expected to acknow
ledge the high compliment that had been paid him.
* The Blessings of Peace ' furnished, indeed, a right
noble theme ; and he dealt with it so effectively
that his fellow-Academicians overwhelmed him with
eulogies, some of which found vent in printed poems.
One of these pieces, which was supposed to have
more than ordinary merit-, styled him ' the hope of
Italy,' adding —

Through thee, we trust, will Italy regain
The golden splendour of her ancient reign.2

The hearty plaudits which thus greeted him on
every side, instead of elating, humiliated him.
Praise invariably caused him pain, and this pain was
always aggravated by such allusions as most of
these poems contained. In order to moderate the
enthusiasm of his more immediate associates he

1 It was for this Accademiathat Don Paoli published the elaborate
biography of Rosmini to which we are ourselves so much indebted.

2 It was composed by Giacomo Barchetti, who came to be known
as the ' p Uriot and pietist.'

46 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

used to remonstrate with them in this manner :
* Youth should be cautious, and above all just.
Now, if you were just, you would not deem me
worthy of these extravagant commendations.' He
did what he could to make them understand that
emotions of personal affection are not the deliberate
outcome of calm justice ; on the contrary, out
flows of feeling were apt to be unjust, and there
fore he who valued them at their real worth could
have no satisfaction in them, unless as a means of
humiliation. But as this implied the injustice of
his friends, he was forced to grieve for them as well
as for himself. Hence these gushing encomiums
were doubly annoying, and he insisted that they had
better be avoided altogether.

The spirit of justice and modesty thus evinced
led him to establish a little Academy in his own
house. Here he could be industrious without
being intrusive or appearing to do more than his
brother Academicians ; here his labours could bear
ripened fruit in abundance without exciting the
admiration he disliked ; here his active mind would
have the means of sifting and strengthening his
studies by the discussions which all similar institu
tions encouraged ; here religious devotions could be
made to precede and follow, and, as it were, per
meate all the proceedings, without seeming to be
out of place ; here he could set aside the invidious
distinction between rich and poor, patrician and
plebeian, college-bred and self-taught.

The members of this domestic Academy, unlike

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 47

those of the Agiati, were not chosen from the
wealthy and aristocratic merely : poor but talented
and pious students were preferred, and though
some of the upper classes were soon amongst them,
the young founder defrayed all the expenses out
of his private allowance, backed by contributions
from his uncle Ambrogio. The youths who were
privileged to be his associates in this little Academy
— at once a mutual instruction and mutual edifica
tion society — read their several compositions in turn,
and each was expected to criticise whatever pro
ductions were thus read. When any of the papers
were judged to be of sufficient importance, they were
printed for private, and sometimes also for public,
circulation.

' The sage of sixteen summers/ who had estab
lished and been chosen to rule this little Academy,
took care that its members never wanted matter for
discussion. Though they were all much older than
himself, and some of them well advanced both in
years and learning, it was their unanimous wish
that he should read an essay or deliver an address
at every meeting. To this, however, his modesty
objected. He preferred to take his turn with the
others ; but whenever any member failed to pro
duce a promised paper or deliver an expected dis
course, he consented to fill the vacancy if no cne
else present were ready to do so. The first letter
in the Epistolario? written to his cousin, Count

1 Epistolario di Antonio Rosmini-Serbati. Letter e Religioso-Fami-
gliari. (1813-1854.) 2 vols. Torino, 1857. More than 10,000 of Rosmini's

48 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Antonio Fedrigotti, alludes to a discourse which he
had thus delivered in his domestic Academy. The
subject, ' Praises of the Priesthood,' shows not only
the tendencies of this literary institute, but the lead
ing quality of its founder, who directed all he did
and said to God and His Church.

This short epistle, which very fitly opens the first
volume of his published correspondence, affords us
an excellent opportunity of knowing what sober and
solid thoughts filled him at an age when youths are
usually least sedate and most superficial. Count
Fedrigotti was at the time considering what pro
fession he should adopt, and taking counsel with his
wisest friends as to the state of life for which he was
best fitted, the ecclesiastical being his own preference.
Signorino Antonio Rosmini, though only sixteen
years old, was included amongst ' the wisest friends/
and here is how he gave the advice which his
' Grown cousin ' stood in need of : —

I think it due to you, because of the very intimate
friendship so long existing between us, to say a few
words to you on the subject. Nor can I do better, I
think, than by sending you a discourse of mine which I
wrote not long ago, and delivered at a meeting of young
aspirants to learning, whose task it is to read, each in his
turn, some little production in prose or verse. It is a eulo-

letters, on all manner of subjects, are preserved in the archives of the
Rosmini College at Stresa. In 1857 Don G. B. Pagani, Superior
General of the Order of Chari-y, caused 548 of them to be published
(in two volumes) as a 'representative selection/ and it is from that
selection we translate those quoted in this work as from the Epis-
tolario.

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 49

gium of the Priesthood. Far be it from me to persuade
you to enter that state, or even to suggest such a step ;
since it is one that has been regarded by many illustrious
men with feelings of serious apprehension. My intention is
simply to give you a clear insight into the beauty of that
state. Nevertheless, would to God that what happened of
old to Chrysostom, in respect to Basil, were to be my case
now in your regard ! Believe me, it is my love for you
that prompts me to address you thus.
ROVERETO, October 22, 1813. l

When the day came for deciding as to his own
' state of life,' he forgot not the advice thus modestly
tendered to his hesitating kinsman. As in all his
juvenile pastimes he made everything tend to re
ligion, so in all his letters, be the subject what it
may, that is the prominent, the pervading idea.

A veteran rather than a boy seems to speak in
:his short note, written about the same time, to
Simone Tevini, a friend who had worldly ambitions
:hat suggested its terse exhortations : —

I have just received a letter from you, in Latin, which
las given me unspeakable pleasure. It is not devoid
)f elegance, and leads me to hope great things from
'ou. All men, it is said, are born equal ; virtue alone can
mnoble. Let nothing withdraw you from the practice of
drtue. Virtue is ' its own reward,' as one of the poets
•ang ; or, to speak more correctly, God is its reward, sur-
>assing great.

I must be brief for want of time.

Accept the sentiments of a friend who wishes you well.
God, in whom you will find your all. Love solitude
nd wisdom. Farewell.

ROVERETO, December 3, i8i3.2

1 Epistolario, Letter i. '* Epistolario, Letter ii

VOL. I. E

5o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

The essays and discourses that delighted the
Academies of his boyhood were never regarded by
Rosmini as worth preserving. But one literary and
scientific production of those days remains to bear
witness to the profound love of God, and earnest
affection for literature and philosophy, which had
then taken firm root in his soul. It is entitled a
1 Day of Retirement,' by Simonino Ironta — the nom
de plume being an anagram of his name attached to
most of the papers he read in the Academy of
the Agiati, as well as in that founded by himself.
This charming little work was composed at a rustic
villa — a summer seat of the family — on the mid-
slopes of a mount overlooking Rovereto.1 Thither
he was in the habit of going frequently, in quest of
a solitude which enabled him to write and contem
plate and pray without the interruptions that beset
him overmuch in the town.

The subject of this little book is grave, and
thrown into a form evidently borrowed from the
once popular work of Boetius— Consolatio Philo
sophic. He skilfully sketches an imaginary contest'
between two most beautiful virgins, who happen to
meet with a poor deserted boy, whom they desire
to adopt : each resolved to educate the forlorn

1 The ascent to a popular sanctuary that is nestled in one of the
inviting natural terraces of this mount, and the splendid view of the
town and valley from that point, must have come vividly before his
mind when, in after-years, he ascended Monte Calvario, and stood
on the terrace there to contemplate the much smaller town of Domo
in the much grander and vaster valley of the Ossola (see Chap, xxiv
of this volume).

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 51

orphan in her own way. The virgins are Friend
ship and Philosophy. Friendship is arrayed in
snow-white garments and enwreathed with bloom
ing roses ; Philosophy in gracefully-folded russet
vesture, and well provided with books. While they
dispute, a third virgin, of sedate and love-inspiring
mien, steps in to restore harmony. This is Religion,
in flowing azure robes studded with resplendent
stars. She decides that all three shall take charge
of the child, but that their united purpose must be
to train his soul for God — the development of true
piety towards the Creator to be ' the supreme end
of their joint efforts.' The strife terminates in the
acceptance of Religion's counsel. Then Friendship
and Philosophy loyally set about doing the duties
proper to each, while Religion attends to all the rest ;
the result being that the boy soon acquires every
quality that can fit him for effective work in the
service of the King of Kings, and consequently
becomes the best of men even for the purposes of
ordinary social and political life.

This production of Rosmini's sixteenth year may
be styled ' the literary prelude to all the works of
his after-life.' It is full of pious fancies, whole
some reflections, and evidences of solid learning.
Long before then he had, indeed, done and written
enough to demonstrate his thorough devotion to God
and the Church of God. I n the very dawn of his literary
and scientific life one could see the man in the youth
— ' the man whole and complete/ says Don Paoli ;
1 perfectly harmonious in his formation and unfolding.'

E 2

52 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

But this little treatise revealed more of his powers
than they who knew him intimately had yet seen.
It proved that he had made marvellous progress in
the Latin and Italian classics, that he had deeply
studied the philosophers (especially Seneca and Plato),
that he had become critically familiar with the Sacred
Scriptures (which were, indeed, the constant source
of his daily meditations), and that he had heartily
absorbed ' the science of the Saints/

Often before had he discoursed, with the skill
and ease of a diligent biblical student, on the vanity
of all things human ; but never before had he
handled the subject with the profound insight of a
Christian philosopher. Often before had he main
tained that the sciences without God are useless ;
but never before had he shown how much worse
than vain they are when not centred on God, and
not constantly pointing to Him. Often before had he
urged the necessity of cultivating the sentiment and
the intellect so that they should be sanctified by God's
Grace ; but never before had he so learnedly insisted
on this in the application of knowledge and the
direction of personal conduct. Often before had
he eloquently counselled devotion to the Holy See ;
but never before had he so forcibly put it as an indis
pensable quality in an enlightened citizen and sincere]
Christian. ' In short/ as Don Paoli says, * this juve
nile work blends together and well harmonises th
man of letters, the philosopher, and the ascetic, a
the characteristics of each subsequently came forth
still together, but more majestically represented, ir

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 53

the works of maturer years, and in the whole course
of his life/

Although he gave so much time to study and to
literary pursuits, although he dearly loved to spend
hours meditating in solitude, although his religious
exercises seemed to absorb all the time not devoted
to the acquisition of knowledge, or to the duties of
family and social intercourse ; nevertheless, so
orderly were his habits, so well regulated his hours,
that he found sufficient * spare time ' to carry on an
extensive correspondence with numerous friends,
young and old, to whom he had some encourage
ment or information to give, or from whom he had
some advice or instruction to receive. In this latter
category strangers were frequently included, and
brought within the circle of friends. Thus, when he
decided on starting his domestic Academy, he put
himself in communication with Fontana of Florence,
from whom he obtained full information as to the
system so successfully employed in the great Academy
of that city. So, with the presidents of other similar
establishments he held correspondence for a like
purpose, gathering and utilising all the hints he could
get. His own views were in turn sought by these,
and this Roveretan youth, while consulting sages, was
invited to be their counsellor.

All these letters, no matter what the special
object of any, breathe the ardent spirit of piety
which animated whatever he said or did. Here is
how that spirit directed him to disguise in boyish
sympathy the counsels of a prudent thinker bent

54 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

on winning the confidence of a dear kinsman, Count
Antonio Fedrigotti, who was then so placed that he
might soon have been led aside from the regular
path upon which they both, as boys, had walked
together. It will be seen that he rather insinuated
than expressed the wholesome admonitions he meant
to convey, and that, thus early, he had the rare gift
of putting his advice in a few words, and most deli
cately adapting it to the disposition of its reci
pient as well as to the circumstances of the case : —

Oh ! how often have I not sighed for an opportunity of
opening my heart fully to you in a long letter, and giving
expression to those feelings of love which I so fondly
cherish for you — feelings which are dictated by the most
genuine and sincere desire for your well-being. The longed-
for moment, however, has not yet arrived for discharging
those duties which are enjoined by friendship, as well as by
that chanty which makes us all brothers, and welds us
together in the closest union by its sweet and sacred
bonds. Oh ! the beauty of friendship ! Oh ! ever blessed
and holy charity !

But to return to ourselves. Well, then, my dear
Antonio, I must repeat that I do indeed wish you every
good, and I trust that love, which brings the distant near,
may evermore unite us. Methinks I see you engaged
with me— now, in innocent recreation and amusements;
now reading together and learning how inexperienced lads,
such as we are, may reach the holy goal ; now pouring
forth earnest prayers to our good God that He may direct
us and be our guide, that He may root out and destroy the
ill weeds that perchance have sprung up in our hearts, and
be moved to pity us, and our brethren, who are, alas ! but
too wretched, because bondsmen groaning beneath the
yoke of sin. But, really, how do you employ your time ?
You are studying and cultivating wisdom, not merely for

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 55

the sake of glory, which is vain and transient, but for the
life to come, which is, in truth, eternal. Oh ! how delighted
I am to learn this from your own letter !

Continue, then, in the path you have entered on, and
offer all to God ; have recourse at all times to Him, who
is the beginning and end of all things ; speak to Him fre
quently, and when you are in the very warmth of your
prayer, present to Him me, His needy and most wretched
servant, and call aloud for mercy in rny behalf.

ROVERETO, August I8I4-1

That Antonio Rosmini had from his earliest
boyhood given himself to God's service was made
manifest in various ways. But until his seventeenth
year this dedication of himself took no positive
form. Hitherto it was only an expression of the
general fact that everyone can and should give him
self to God's service, in any state of life ; to do so
was, therefore, a duty incumbent on all, and not ne
cessarily implying the Ecclesiastical or the Religious
State. True, he was often heard to say things which
showed his own inclinations to be all in favour of
the Ecclesiastical State. But, as a family tradition
tells us, he rather hinted than freely spoke of a fixed
intention to embrace that state ; for he had reason
to fear that his father would dislike, and possibly
oppose such a purpose. In his seventeenth year,
however, he avowed it in terms that left no
doubt of his determination to give up everything in
order to follow Christ more closely than he could in
any Secular State.

This determination was confided to his mother,

1 Epistolario, Letter iii.

5 6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

who gave him no encouragement, but allowed the
matter to drop, thinking that as he grew older he
might see reason to change his mind without her
assistance. Meanwhile, the importance of his position
and prospects as heir of a noble house were more
frequently and conspicuously set before him. All
this, however, seemed to be unconnected with him,
for his mind and heart had long since been detached
from merely human hopes or human desires. Time,
therefore, only strengthened his intention, and he
took the earliest occasion of ' putting it on record '
in a letter to his friend Bartolomeo Menotti, who
understood and sympathised with him. That friend,
well knowing the various temptations which lay in
wait for one of such brilliant talents, dreaded lest
even he might, in time, be induced to think more
of man's kingdom than of God's. Here is how
young Rosmini reassured him :

Oh ! how grateful I feel for the excellent advice
you give me, never to forget the Christian commonwealth,
for truly it is sweet and noble and just advice. Indeed
there is no wisdom here below if it come not from the
Father of all light. You may therefore rest assured that
the pursuit of letters has of itself no charms for me.

I am resolved to become a Priest, and to part with all
that I have to purchase a treasure which neither moth nor
rust can fret away, and where thieves cannot break in and
steal. What little learning I possess I mean to make use
of, with God's help, in the work of education. (And what
more pleasing task than to be useful to our fellow-men ? )
Nor will I suffer my body to eat its bread in idleness — it
must toil and labour ; my worldly substance I shall employ
in advancing the sciences and relieving the poor. These

ffJS COLLEGE DAYS. 57

sentiments are dictated, not by my intellect alone, but by
my heart also.

Continue to be my friend, and recommend me to our
Lord.

ROVERETO, September 22,

' Continue to be my friend ' was an appeal which
Rosmini's heart ever made to the good ; and all his
actions prove that he never weaned of being their
friend. They who knew him intimately during the
last years of his life have spoken much about the
earnestness and enduring character of his love for

those worthy of love. It had always been thus with
him. All the letters written in his youth abound
with the gushing expressions that are often mean
ingless common-places in ordinary Italian corre
spondence. But with him they were never empty
phrases. None of his warm assurances of friendship
were without that solid foundation, that elevating
motive, which gave substance to the cordiality ; and
none of his friendships were unworthy of the affec
tion he bestowed. Evidence of this may be found
in the following letter, pithily setting forth the nature
of Christian friendship. It was sent to his cousin,
Count Antonio Fedrigotti, as a continuation of
some remarks he had occasion to offer in a former
letter : —

Make haste and come, for I have long eagerly expected
you, and your delay in coming seems an age. You are, it
is true, always with me. But such is the nature of friend
ship that, although its seat is in the heart, still its votaries
long to meet and pass their time together occasionally
1 Epistolario, Letter iv,

5 8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

in familiar converse ; the result, perhaps, of that wondrous
union which exists between soul and body. The love I
bear you, my dearest Antonio, is unalloyed by aught that
is mean or common ; it is a love more than ordinary, being
pure and noble in its aim, and having for its sole object
your real good. Indeed, I love you as I love myself, and
those very blessings which I desire for myself I pray and
wish also for you. Be then persuaded that love like this
is unimpaired by separation ; it wanes not, nor languishes
with lapse of time ; but is lasting and unchanging. The
reason is, that it comes not from man but directly from
God, Who is everywhere and is everywhere the same. You
understand well what I mean, especially now that you are
engaged with syllogisms, and are deeply engrossed in the
subtle investigations of philosophy. How often I have
reproached myself with tardiness in writing to you !
But you already know how my time passes without my
telling you. However, I was determined, at all hazards,
to steal away this evening and spend it thus with you. I
have done so in order that you may see how you are always
present to my mind.

Farewell.

Be ever mindful of our good God, the most loving of
Fathers, the wisest of Masters, the dearest, and surest, and
truest, and sweetest of Friends that can be found. Yes !
recommend yourself to Him, and recommend me also
earnestly. I embrace you and long to see you. Mean
while, apply yourself to study. How beautiful and how
precious a thing is wisdom.

ROVERETO, October 27, i8i4.1

The ' study ' and the ' wisdom ' to which the
young writer was himself so zealously devoted he
had, about this time, to seek outside the walls of the
local college, in which he had been thus far educated.

1 EpistolariO) Letter v.

HIS COLLEGE DAYS. 59

At the close of the school term of 1814 the Rovereto
ginnasio parted with him as a student who had
advanced in knowledge far above its level. In so
parting with its most brilliant alumnus, the Provost
of the College (as its archives for that year attest)
confidently predicted that Antonio Rosmini would
become the great teacher he did become. Provost,
professors, and students took formal leave of him as
one whose collegiate career left, for all alike, a model
on which to shape their course, if they sought to be
truly learned and truly good.

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

CHAPTER III.

ROSMINl's CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE.
(A.D. 1815-1816.)

His first affliction — The whole family opposed to his choice of the Ec
clesiastical State — How he met the opposition and disposed of all
objections — The call unmistakably from God — His motives for
embracing that state — Yet another affliction— Selects humility
as the safest road to Heaven — Continues his home studies — Typical
character of this period of his life — Contempt for worldly pleasures
—Yearning of his heart for a perfect state — Living up to a
religious rule and nursing the inspiration of a religious Order —
His friendships, wishes, and designs all for God — Arts and sciences
nothing without God — One drop of morality and religion worth an
ocean of human learning — His undesigned noviciate for the Re
ligious State.

THE first real affliction of Rosmini's young life came
with the open avowal of his resolution to embrace
the Ecclesiastical State. No sooner had he announced
his determination to closely follow Christ than he
had to bear the cross. All had hitherto been domestic
serenity of an exceptional kind. Between him and
his parents there had ever been that blissful peace
which comes from ' loving the law of the Lord,'
and to them, says the Psalmist, * there is no
stumbling-block.' This peace had never yet been
disturbed by any breeze strong enough to ripple,
even slightly, the still waters of Antonio's home

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 61

happiness. But on a sudden all was changed, and
the stumbling-block seemed to be there. For
Antonio it was a severe trial, because he had ever
loved his parents fondly and ever obeyed them
loyally. That they were zealous, practical Catholics,
heartily devoted to the Church, only added new
perplexity to his position.

It was made still more embarrassing when he
found himself opposed by the considerate uncle
on whose aid he had confidently counted. But the
affectionate Ambrogio, who had been ever ready
to cheer him on the course that pointed to this
vocation, was unable to withstand ' the logic of
lineage.' He, too, instead of encouraging, besought
him to remember that the continuance of the Ros-
mini family depended on him ; that his only brother
was too delicate to be thought of as heir ; that his
only sister already contemplated representing the
family in the ranks of Religion ; that he was, after
all, too young to choose ; that, before deciding, he
should see more of the world than he had yet seen ;
that a brilliant future awaited him ; that, with the
great wealth, great talents, great acquirements, and
great piety which were undoubtedly his, he could
do more effective battle for country and creed as
a lay leader than as a Priest.

All these appeals, urged as they were in every
form, and by those whom he most loved, distressed
him much, but left his resolution unshaken. The
voice that said deep down in his heart * Follow
Me ' held him enlisted beyond the power of human

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

suasion. He would not desert the Cross, around
which every impulse of his soul had been twined
more and more closely, day by day, since his child
hood. Bitter, indeed, was this first taste of what
its true followers had to endure ; but without such
bitterness where would be the sweetness of follow
ing- ' The Man of Sorrows ? ' Nerved by this

o *

thought, he calmly met all the entreaties by counter-
entreaties. He recalled the advice he had given
to his cousin Fedrigotti, repeated what he had
written to his friend Menotti, reproduced in all
forms the arguments of his juvenile discourse on
the Priesthood, and finally besought his affectionate
tempters to remember that no one is born merely
for this life, but for life everlasting ; no one should
prefer the service of man to the service of God.
The whole of this struggle between young Rosmini
and his parents bears a remarkable resemblance to
that which, under circumstances exactly similar,
formed an important episode in the life of St.
Francis of Sales, the story of whose boyhood and
youth, to say nothing of manhood, is in many other
respects strikingly like that of Antonio of Rovereto's
boyhood and youth.

Every friend, whose influence or eloquence stood
a chance of having some effect on his mind, was
induced to employ it against his resolution ; but all
in vain. Amongst the friends who were requested
to act in this way Don Luigi Sonn held a high
place in young Rosmini's estimation ; and therefore,
when home influence failed, he was one of the first

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 63

intrusted with instructions to assail the youth's pur
pose. He did so from points of view that were
intended to alarm a very sensitive conscience, which
was called onto dread lest inexperience, or the nature
of his favourite studies, or close association with
religious persons might have led to the resolution.
The task was an ungracious one, but Don Luigi none
the less earnestly besought his young friend to
pause and fear lest his heart had been decoyed
into a determination which, after all, might not have
sprung from sufficiently considered or sufficiently pure
motives. Antonio promptly met all the objections
in a very complete way, and went so far as to
supplement his spoken replies by the following
letter : —

Dearest friend, — Do you for a moment suppose that I
dissent in any way whatever from what you say concern
ing the office and duties of a Cleric ? With what other
end in view, think you, have I chosen that state of life (so
dear to me for many reasons), unless it were to devote
myself entirely, and in a special manner, to the service of
my good Lord and God. Once consecrated to Him, I shall
be in a position to sing His praises in the sublimest
manner that is possible to man ; in a position to learn and
to preach His most holy law, which gives light unto little
ones, and is, to the ignorant and unlettered, wisdom passing
great ; in a position to enrich with this treasure — more
precious than gold or gems, and sweeter far than honey — to
enrich with it, I say, all my brethren, whom I strive to love
tenderly in Jesus Christ.

This, my dear friend, this is the sole aim and desire of
my heart, if our Lord will only help me ; and surely He
will do so, for He is good. May all my studies and all my
talents be directed to no other end ! In truth, how fasci-

64 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

nating soever may be the pursuit of learning in itself, it
involves, none the less, such intense fatigues as to make man
feel sensibly that he was born a sinner. But, for my part, I am
ready to renounce for His sake even life itself, at any moment ;
aye, and, if He make the demand, to sacrifice it, too, in the
most unheard-of and painful manner. Believe me, my dear
Luigi, I speak from my heart and open my mind to you
fully ; nor lies there a corner within it to which you have
not free access. Insipid — mark what I say, for I say it
emphatically — insipid, nay, quite unbearable, would seem
to me the most sublime learning, were it not seasoned with
the love of God and a pure intention.
ROVERETO, August 8, 1815. l

When all the local advocates of earthly interests
had failed to entice Rosmini from his holy vocation,
Padre Cesari, the distinguished Oratorian of Verona,
was persuaded to try his fervid eloquence to that
end. Young Antonio had a great regard for this
estimable Priest, whom he sincerely admired as an
author and revered as a friend. For some years it
had been the custom of Padre Cesari to spend his
Autumn vacations in Rovereto, where his society
was much courted by the noblest and the best, who
appreciated his virtues and his learning. During
one of these visits he happened to be present at a
meeting of the local Academy when an oration of
Rosmini astonished all there, and won the warm
admiration of the illustrious Veronese. Then began
a friendship that ripened into cordiality, and gained
for the venerable Cesari a strong hold on the young
Roveretan's mind and heart. If anyone could divert

1 Epistolario, Letter vii.

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 65

him from his purpose, with the best arguments that
could be suggested by a deep knowledge of the
human soul and a long experience of the weak
and strong points of youth, here was the man.

The task was accepted, for Cesari earnestly
espoused the view of the parents. Having taken the
earliest opportunity for a private interview with the
son, he employed all his skill and eloquence to turn
* the called of God ' from the resolutions to which
love of God had so long been forming his mind.
The venerable Oratorian went as far as he reason
ably could ; but he desisted on finding that he had
exhausted all his arguments and all his inducements
without making any impression on the strong posi-
ons taken by the other. On the contrary, his
oung friend's logic not only resisted but overthrew
lis own, and Cesari retired from the contest, not
merely to report his discomfiture, but to advise the
>arents not to oppose any longer so manifest a call
rom God. In this appeal he was more successful
lan he expected ; for, already weary of the struggle,
ley began to fear lest their opposition might after
11 be sinful. The failure of the eloquent Oratorian
onfirmed this fear, and they decided on recognising
God's evident Will in the matter. Forthwith, the
irst dark cloud that had flecked the bright calm

:>f Rosmini's young life was dispelled. Although his
amily at first consented somewhat grudgingly,
hey afterwards submitted with devout heartiness
o God's decree.

It may seem strange that his parents, on seeing

VOL. I. F

66 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

from his earliest days how their Antonio's heart
and soul were set on whatever belonged to Religious
Life, had taken no steps to detach his thoughts from
it, so far, at all events, as to ensure * a worldly
vocation.' But, apart from the fact that the Eternal
Father's designs could not be thus easily altered,
there remains this reason : Tyrolese parents, usually
pious themselves, looked upon a fervent spirit of
religion as an ordinary and desirable quality of a
good child, and never as an unmistakable sign that
when the time for making a choice should come,
such child would choose the ecclesiastical or reli
gious state, rather than some secular profession.

In Rosmini's case the choice was made in child
hood, assented to in boyhood, and ratified on the
threshold of manhood. At last it was approved by
his earthly parents, as it always had been by his
Heavenly Father.

When this greater cloud disappeared a smaller
rose up to cast some shadows on his holy joy. His
parents were eager to direct their son's course to-'
wards the Prelacy — towards the ecclesiastical digni
ties to which their wealth, social standing, and famil;
history led them to look with much confidence an<
no small share of natural vanity. Little did the;
know of the severe but wholesome religious train
ing to which Antonio had continually subjected his
heart. They knew not, therefore, how firmly h(
had enthroned humility within his soul. Henc<
they were surprised to find him resolutely, thougl
modestly, opposed to their pardonable aspiratioi

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 67

after ' a privileged grade ' in the Priesthood. He
assured them that the honour of serving God in
the lowest rank was a privilege beyond his merits,
and the only one he could permit himself to aim at.

Like St. Philip Neri, he silenced all entreaties
to put himself on the path to lofty * position ' by
exclaiming ' Paradise ! Paradise ! ' That to him was
the loftiest position, and he knew well that the
straightest road to it was by the lowly rather than
the high posts of this life. This induced Padre
Cesari to make an effort at securing in him an
exemplary disciple for the Congregation of the
Oratory. There was no need to expatiate on the
advantages which association with the Oratorians
presented. Cesari's young friend would himself
willingly have said more in their praise than their
representative did say. But that voice within, which
had never ceased to whisper ' Follow Me,5 had not
yet said more ; and until it distinctly said more
he would bide his time. Therefore this proposal
of Padre Cesari fared no better than that for the
Prelacy. Young Rosmini would neither enter the
Roman Academy of nobles nor the Verona Oratory.
As yet God's Will did not seem to ask more than
the quiet continuation of his studies at home.

These studies were subordinate to the sanctifi-
cation of his soul — means to that one end of which
he never lost sight. The more he studied, the more
he saw the need of study ; the more he prayed, the
more he felt the power of prayer. Attachment to
both increased with his years, but his greater love

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

for prayer soon made all his studies so many
channels of praise and supplication to the God for
whose glory he thought, worked, and lived. Love
of practical charity in every form kept pace with his
love of prayer and study ; but as the generous
deeds which continuously proved this love were to
him an unfailing source of great spiritual solace, he
used to say that he alone was benefited by them.

Before the completion of his seventeenth year
an incipient Society of Chanty grew up around him.
Its members consisted of a few intimate friends —
the more piously disposed students of his domestic
Academy. He framed for their use a rule, by which
they were held to attend before all things to their
own spiritual interests, and then to provide for the
spiritual and temporal wants of their neighbours.
Some of those who belonged to this forerunner of

the Order to which all the training of his earlier days
tended, became in after-years Prelates of the Church ;
others were destined to fill important municipal
posts ; while all bore through life the pious impress
of their early association with Antonio Rosmini.

Don Paoli considers this period of Rosmini's
youth to be the most typical — the most abounding
in those ' coming events that cast their shadows
before/ At earlier periods the lineaments of the
man could easily be traced in the boy, but not the
special features of development which were now
becoming visible. His soul was, as it were, more
aglow with God's Grace, and all he said, or wrote,
or did, faithfully reflected its beams. The call to

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 69

follow Christ was promptly, joyously, and resolutely
obeyed, because Grace gave it. Other calls, which
seemed to be in keeping- with this, if not its direct
outgrowths, were set aside, because man gave them
and human motives urged them. But coincident
with the distinct call to follow Christ was another
call which, as yet, he could not so clearly understand.
All his familiar letters of this period allude,
in some way or other, to * the mysterious graces '
that were vibrating within him, and ' unfolding
the bloom of his future.' Here is one written
to his cousin Leonardo Rosmini, then at the Uni
versity of Padua, where he had to encounter tempta
tions deemed likely to withdraw him from close as
sociation with Antonio in that ' undeveloped some
thing ' for which he was daily preparing himself,
without knowing it, or rather, to which he was
being led on sweetly by Grace :—

You ask me for news. I have just read two sonnets in the
Academy, one of which you have not seen. I therefore
forward it to you, that you may give me your opinion upon
it. You would be astonished if I were to tell you how
many verses I have written since your departure. But I
have no time for such matters now ; so let us to business.

Your letter has somewhat reassured me. Oh ! never
trust in your own strength to accomplish great things,
especially when external and internal foes conspire for our
destruction. The combat is a weary one, and St. Paul,
lamented it too, in that beautiful passage which he thus
concludes : ' Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me
from the body of this death ? ' (Rom. vii. 24). And we—
what must we say after this ?

7o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

My dear cousin Fedrigotti informs me that he is no
longer beguiled by amusements — such, for instance, as
dances. Indeed, during the entire Carnival he would not
be even an eye-witness of these pastimes, although Don
Pietro made no objection to his going, and everyone else
was urging him to do so.

If you write to him (and he is anxious that you should),
I beg of you to congratulate him, on my part, for the
victory he has gained over himself, and which is no incon
siderable one. Let him see that you take a lively interest
in his welfare, and encourage him to persevere. Oh ! my
dear friend, who knows ? Who knows ? In one of my
sonnets I have written these three lines, and perchance to
this end adapted :

A shapeless block, disdained by workmen's hands,

Was that same pillar, object of Thy choice,
Which, smooth and bright, now in Thy temple stands.

'The foolish things of the world hath God chosen that He
may confound the wise ; and the weak things of the world
that He may confound the strong ; and the base things of
the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God
chosen, and things that are not, that He might bring to
naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His
sight ' (i Cor. i. 27-29) .....

ROVERETO : February 18,

The cousin whose meritorious self-conquest is so
skilfully commended to Leonardo's imitation was
one of the well-beloved few on whose co-operation
Antonio counted in that ' undeveloped something'
which could, as yet, be only indicated by a signifi
cant, 'Who knows? who knows?' Beyond doubt, thisl
enigmatical, ' Who knows ? ' concealed the germ of that

1 Epistolario, Letter vii.

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 71

vine of charity which subsequently expanded into the
Institute. For a long time he had reduced to per
sonal practice the principles, and, as far as circum
stances permitted, kept the rules of this Institute,
though it was yet but as an idea, a germ of the vine
Grace had planted in his soul. Day by day the vine
grew, and as it grew its tendrils sought to attract
and attach themselves to the most exemplary of his
friends, old and young.

The following letter to Don Luigi Sonn, while
giving us a special glimpse of how young Rosmini
spent his time in those days, shows with what earnest
yearning his leading idea drew him to those whose
lives were devoted to God, and who heartily sympa
thised with any project having in view the attain
ment of perfection. Don Luigi was known to be
one of those, and the idea hidden beneath the phrase
' Who knows ? ' — an idea which sometimes felt the
blight of surrounding coldness, — received fresh
strength when this good man decided on coming
to Rovereto, where he was likely to assist in the
development of his young friend's plans : —

I have been obliged to go to Ala, to spend some days
with a gentleman of that place. Time passed away drearily
enough, I can assure you, and it seemed an age ere I got
home again. Far away from all I hold dear in life, with
my wonted regularity ruthlessly trespassed upon, I became
almost a prey to melancholy ; my only comfort the while
being to snatch to myself a few hours, when I could, now
and then, that I might spend them all alone in my
chamber, reading or in prayer. At last I have returned,
and read your letters with the greatest eagerness. They

72 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

furnished most delicious nourishment, and were well
calculated to refresh the weary wanderer.

Having thus explained my silence, I proceed to answer
your kind letter of the 2ist instant. It has afforded me
one of the greatest consolations I ever experienced in
my life. To learn that you mean to strain every nerve in
order to make Rovcrcto your home is indeed delightful
news, and the more I think of it the greater is my satisfac
tion. It fills me with a new life, new hope and buoyancy
of spirits. Oh ! how our Lord smiles on my efforts and
prospers my every wish, my every design. Be firm and
resolute, then ; and since you are yourself persuaded of the
desirability of the move, I will content myself with giving
you, on my part, a warm-hearted and earnest encourage
ment. The friendship which is common to both of us urges
me to this. It is a friendship which exists for God and for
virtue's sake alone, whence it derives at once its being and its
strength. Finally, I will add words of prayer and entreaty.
You know from whom they come, and I know to whom
they are addressed. I will now say no more, although the
mere mention of the plan which I have proposed to myself,
wholly for the honour and glory of God, would furnish you
with some very cogent reasons for adhering to the resolu
tion you have made.

ROVERETO : August i8i5.x

The ' plan ' thus dimly hinted at was no other
than a formalisation of the thoughts apostrophised
in the pithy ' Who knows ? ' of a former letter.
More than once before, he had constructed, on a
small scale, the framework of a religious society
designed to carry out the principles of orderly charity.
This leading idea was strong within him while he
drafted rules of life and horaries as long ago as when

1 EpistolariO) Letter ix.

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 73

he ' played at monk ' with a relish which he never had
for any other amusement of his childhood. These
at best were immature and rudimental plans, com
pared with what he could now produce ; but these,
such as they were, invariably set his own sanctifica-
tion as the first thing aimed at. Even his ardent
love of philosophy and of literature, in all forms that
tended to cultivate the mind or elevate and charm
the taste of man, were as nothing in the way of this
one predominant thought — his own sanctification.
Human learning he prized, in so far as it led man to
know Gocl better and love Him more ; but he valued
it not at all for its own sake. The subjoined letter to
Don Pietro Orsi, on the ordinary topics of familiar
correspondence, will make this sufficiently clear : —

On learning from yourself how much you take to heart
our separation, I feel grateful indeed to you ; at the same
time, confused. From your own grief you may measure
mine — at least you may form some conception of it ;
for how much more reason have I to cherish and augment
those sentiments of pure and holy love which I treasure up
in my heart for you. The bonds of an intimate friendship,
such as ours is, keep us thus inseparably united. Who
knows that in the councils of our good God a time may not
come when I shall be able to convince you that these senti
ments are not mere empty words ? Meanwhile, I feel sure
that in speaking as I do to you my words will find a ready
acceptance, and will of themselves suffice. As to the
future— it is idle to speak of that.

I am delighted with the news of Cobelli, although not
much has accrued to science from his work. One drop of
morality and religion is, in my estimation, worth more than
an ocean of human learning.

74 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NI.

Padre Cesari has been to see me — that celebrated man,
whom I consider the most elegant Italian writer of the day.
I regret that I have not been able to enjoy his company
as long and as familiarly as I should have wished, for
there were many strangers present. I regret it, indeed,
very much ; but I must submit patiently to circumstances.
The painter Udine, who has just come from Florence to
see his friends, has also been with us for a considerable
time to-day. We conversed at some length : his know
ledge of the fine arts is very good. As he is considered
one of the best painters, I feel proud of the reputation he
enjoys, for we are fellow-countrymen. If I had two or
three hundred lives, I should cheerfully give one to painting.
I am passionately fond of this art, and at times imagine
myself a Raphael. How enraptured I am when I think
of his paintings, of his cartoons, of the countenances of
his Madonnas, and those of Jesus — of his angels and
his saints ; and, when I consider his powers of invention
and the grouping of his figures. But it is better that my
enthusiasm should cool. We who die on the morrow of
our birth cannot hope to accomplish much. We must
therefore choose the better part. ' It is folly to learn super
fluous things in such a dearth of time.'

Ah ! if instead of running after vanity, I were to strive
earnestly to please God and walk in his sight peacefully
and hopefully ! Could I but help my brethren in any way,
oh ! what a happy lot were mine ! My dear Don Pietro,
intercede for me with God, without whom we can do
nothing — intercede for me that my wishes may be fully
realised. Yes, this it is which makes my heart throb
violently. It is this which sweetens and alleviates fatigue.
Without this the acquirement of all the arts and sciences,
however beautiful and sublime in themselves, would appear
to me distasteful, dull, and even repellent.
ROVERETO: September 28,

Eptstolario, Letter viii.

CALL TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL STATE. 75

His wishes were indeed to be realised, but not
yet. The process of undesigned preparation had to
go on until every monition of Grace should meet
with complete and continuous response. Then
Providence would open the way to the will thus
fully formed by Grace — then ' the plan ' which had
been taking shape for years would assume the per
fect form that God designed for it. But until then
he must continue the long and unperceived noviciate
within which Grace held his soul as though spell
bound. In this noviciate Grace was, as it were, the
Master, and Prayer the Socius. With him prayer
had ever been a habitual, solid, deliberate outflow of
the mind, and not a mere impulsive gushing of the
heart. ' It had ever been,' says Don Paoli, ' the
grand means he employed to discover and do God's
Will, and to become great in Christian philosophy.'
The light of reason and that of faith were so blent
in him that they formed only one luminary. This
luminary showed him God in everything, and he
cared to see nothing which did not refer to God.

Such was Antonio Rosmini when he left Ro-
vereto College, a polished Christian student, well
versed in human lore, but still better in divine
science — such was he when he responded so heartily
and firmly to the voice that said within him ' Follow
Me.'

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

CHAPTER IV.

ROSMINIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES.
(A.D. 1816.)

Why a private Lyceum, under Don Orsi, was established for Antonio
Rosmini — The student soon outstrips his master — How the pro
fessor bore the superiority of his pupil, and how the pupil tried to
conceal it — The humility of both protects their intercourse, and
makes their friendship life-long — What each thought and said of
the other — Rosmini's ascetic and literary studies go hand in hand
—His correspondence on scientific subjects with experienced
critics — Wonderful extent of his philosophical knowledge and
wide range of his general reading at this time— His desire to be a
Saint — Suffering and sanctity inseparable — Warns a friend of the
dangers surrounding University life — His enquiries as to the moral
and scholastic character of Padua — Exhorts his brother to be
studious and virtuous — When and how the grand principle of
Ideal Being took possession of his mind — Religion the ground
work and shield, and God the object of all his philosophical
studies.

As SOON as Rosmini's family formally sanctioned
the choice he had made, and abandoned their efforts
to direct his steps towards the Prelacy, they allowed
him to obey, as he deemed best, what was so plainly
a Divine call. But his parents were still anxious that
he should remain near them. There being no phi
losophical school in Rovereto, he would have had to
continue his studies elsewhere, if the eager wish to
keep him at home as long as possible did not find a
means of deferring the separation. To further this

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 77

affectionate design, some of the principal families in
the town and district agreed to unite with them in

establishing a private Lyceum, over which Don
Pietro Orsi should be invited to preside.1

Don Orsi had such a high respect for the Ros-
minis, and such a sincere regard for their son, that
he was soon persuaded to undertake the task. In
a short time he was enabled to form a class, which
included about a dozen of the noblest youths of
Rovereto, Antonio Rosmini being their acknow
ledged leader. Discarding the system of pedantic
teaching then in vogue, Orsi adopted sometimes the
method of the old Academicians, and sometimes
that of the Peripatetics ; now giving his lessons
while seated in a delightful garden belonging to the
family of one or other of his pupils, and now while
rambling over the Tyrolese Alps, or strolling along
the banks of the Adige.

It was not long before the professor discovered
that the philosophical knowledge of his chief disciple
was far in advance of his own ; at all events, that he
was more conversant with the works of the School
men. Antonio was himself more slow to perceive
it ; but on at length noticing what was already clear
to all the others, as well as to the master, he scrupu
lously avoided contradicting the amiable teacher or
perplexing him with difficult questions, and took
great care not to say or suggest anything likely to

1 This Don Orsi (a distinguished graduate of the University of
Vienna) was at the time engaged as tutor in the family of Rosmini's
cousin, Count Fedrigotti-Bossi. He afterwards became headmaster
of the Rovereto High School, and died at Recoaro in 1837.

7 8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

embarrass him. When replying to questions he occa
sionally found it necessary to differ from the solu
tions of their text-book — that of Samuel Karpe1 — but
in showing the shortcomings of the author, he
cleverly diverted attention from those of his ex
pounder, who, like Karpe, followed the system of
Locke.

As Don Orsi's main strength lay in mathe
matics, Antonio took refuge from a limping philo
sophy in a diligent study of the exact sciences ; not
that he ceased, or even diminished, his philosophical
studies, but that he applied himself to them apart
from his class, and so as not to be in conflict with
his master. Ere long, however, the professor and
pupil were fellow-students in philosophy, and all the
others looked for information as much to young Ros-
mini as to the venerable Orsi, and this without dis
pleasing the teacher or disregarding the humility of
the student.

It is a remarkable fact that these relations, which
in ordinary cases so often beget enmity on one
side and contempt on the other, left not a trace
of either sentiment in this master or pupil. On
the contrary, Don Orsi had the good sense to dis
cern in this real superiority, so modestly borne,
sound reason for loving his disciple the more ; while
Antonio was equally ready to recognise in the pro
fessor's patient self-control and sturdy humility fresh
bonds of union. Their mutual esteem, thus enhanced,

1 Karpe was < Imperial Professor ' of Philosophy in the University
of Vienna.

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 79

was sincere and lasting. More than once in after
life Rosmini gave noble evidence of this ; as, for
instance, by specially dedicating to Orsi his grand
philosophical work, the Nuovo Saggio on ' the
Origin of Ideas.'

So, too, in the Introduction to the philosophical
system he speaks of him in these kindly terms :—
* While I was yet a boy, and my mind was but poorly
equipped for the effort, I ventured into philosophical
questions with a daring somewhat characteristic of
youth. My guide was Pietro Orsi, a man little known
to the world, but never to be forgotten by me. Day
and night I roamed through flowery paths, as it
were, in the vast demesne of philosophical lore,
feeling all that joy which the first scientific aspect of
truth infuses into the soul, feeling that security which
borders on hardihood, feeling those indefinite hopes
peculiar to youth when for the first time turning,
with elevated and conscious reflection, to the universe
and its Creator, thinking to absorb the one and the
other as easily as we breathe. No difficulty daunted
rne ; nay, difficulties but inflamed my ardour, because
in every difficulty I saw a secret calculated to arouse
my curiosity, a treasure to discover. I noted clown
daily the results of that artless and as yet inex
perienced liberty to indulge in philosophical specula
tions, knowing that I thus stored up seeds which
should bud forth in all the after-labours of my life
on earth. In truth, all the productions of my maturer
years were the outgrowth of those seeds.' l

1 Introduzione alia Ftlosqfia, 'Disc, agli Am./ p. 116.

8o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Although Rosmini devoted himself most assidu
ously to philosophical and kindred studies during the
two seasons (1815-16) that he remained under the
guidance of Don Orsi, he never found it necessary
to curtail any of his devotional exercises, nor to
abandon his ascetical readings, nor to interrupt the
correspondence which he held with various persons
on religious or literary subjects. It was during this
period that he wrote to his friend Scrinzi the pro
found reflections on Dante's Divina Conimedia
which were so highly esteemed by his contempo
raries, and the comments on the Monarchia, which
they deemed beyond the powers of one so young
and so little acquainted with actual politics. It was
then, too, that he discoursed so learnedly on mathe
matics and literature, in letters to Beltrami, that it
is very difficult to understand how he contrived to
master such an extensive range of reading in such a
short time.

The difficulty is increased by a perusal of the
erudite letters he was all the while writing to Tevini
and others on his favourite theme, philosophy, treat
ing especially of ' the division of the knowable into
objective and subjective, intellectual and material ; '
meaning in the first division the ideal and the real,
and in the second the experimental and the rational.
He has himself thus explained how he could do so
much, or rather so well do so many things together
-' When things are done methodically and perse-
veringly, a short time yields a great deal of profit
able work.'

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. Si

Whatever the subject on which he wrote, there
was always thrown around it a halo of religion ; but
this was so skilfully done that it never seemed forced
or out of place. In all the letters of his youth, as
in those of later days, his heartfelt desire for sanctity
can be easily traced ; but it is only in those to his
special religious circle that the feeling comes forth
strongly expressed. Indeed, he managed to disguise
it somewhat when writing to strangers or to casual
correspondents : for he did not wish that more than
a select few should have the means of penetrating
within the sanctuary of his heart. The reason of
this may be found in the closing sentence of the
following letter, written while he was detained at
home by a slight illness, and meant to console a fellow
sufferer— his religious confidant, Don Luigi Sonn :—

As I am an invalid myself, and cannot go to see you,
I must write, and so we shall derive mutual comfort from
each other's words. I mean to speak briefly to you of what
should be a source of consolation to both of us. Our infir-
j mities, viewed in a proper light, are rather blessings than
otherwise. Ah ! to one who loves God, as vve are seeking
to do, the evils of the present life are nothing short of real
favours. How much cf the debt we owe to our Lord may
we not liquidate, while still on earth, by a few moments of
suffering, endured with resignation, humility, and love of
God ! How much pain and suffering we may thus spare
ourselves in the life to come ! The Saints longed and sighed
to suffer, and besought God to this effect, with tears in
their eyes, as I have read in their lives ; nor could I myself
refrain from weeping while doing so. And when their
prayers were heard, it seemed as though they had become
more humble in the sight of Gocl ; and it seemed as though
VOL. I. G

82 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

He, at the same time, had drawn so much nearer to them that
He appeared to be by their side, administering words of
sweetest consolation as a friend and a brother. Oh ! the
words of soothing comfort that come from God !

And when the Saints raised their thoughts to Jesus
Christ, their master, pattern, and exemplar, what ineffable
sweetness filled their hearts ! They saw Him to be so
great and humble and patient in His sufferings, and then saw
that their own afflictions were as a shadow when compared
with those endured by their Redeemer and Brother. Hence
it was that they ever gloried in their sufferings for Jesus'
sake. The heavier and the more painful the cross, the
more closely did it seem to them that they followed Him
and the more perfectly that they copied Him.

I once read of a poor woman who was afflicted with a
dreadful cancer. She had been for a long time in a state
of despondency and wretchedness, when a holy man came
one day to see her, and spoke to her of Jesus Christ. From
that one visit she derived the greatest consolation and
strength. Although she had been in the most abject
poverty, and had lain on a bed of sickness for more than
thirty years, where she was tormented by the most heart
rending sufferings (from which she afterwards died) this
poor creature always maintained her cheerfulness and
serenity of mind, and used to say that no one could persuade
her that she was less happy than the great and mighty
ones of the earth.

True, we are not Saints ; really, when I hear this objec
tion made I feel much grieved, and am wont to reply confi
dently that God can make us Saints, and I sincerely trusl
in the merits of Jesus Christ, that He will do so, for we
have a right, every one of us, to become Saints, and the
path to sanctity and glory is open alike to all. Yes, this
is my hope, and we shall attain to it if we pray withou
ceasing, and recommend ourselves to God and to Jesus
Christ and to His Holy Mother and all the Saints. Do you
pray for me, and I will pray for you.

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 83

I beg of you not to show this letter to such as entertain
sentiments different from our own, ' lest truth should be
evil spoken of.'

ROVERETO : January 29, I8I6.1

With another friend, then at the University of
Padua, he thus held counsel more like a venerable
pastor than a youth of eighteen ; but his friend—
Demetrio Leonardi — would have been surprised,
and even shocked, had the good Antonio written
in any other strain ; for he was known to them all
as having ' the head of a sage on the shoulders of a
boy.'

You do well to lay aside all formality between us. For
mality only serves to dim and shroud sincerity, that bright
est ornament of all friendship. Hence, I claim and insist
on cordiality as indispensable to our friendship. As for
the other matters of which you write, I clearly perceive
that you maintain the sound judgment and good sense
which have ever characterised you. And though I always
felt persuaded that such would be the case, yet it is consol
ing to have proof of it. This renders me more and more
attached to you. For, alas ! far different are the customs
which prevail where you are now residing. But such is the
condition of all large cities ; nor can we apply a more fitting
remedy than you yourself suggest, when you say we should
form around us a little world of our own. This we may do
by eschewing the crowd of fast young men ; by not admit
ting to an intimate friendship any of those who, perhaps,
only follow us as the vultures do their prey. Let us be
courteous and affable towards all, lovers of solitude and
retirement, as far as circumstances will permit, and earnest
in treading the path of sanctity.

Application and labour are also efficacious means for

1 Epistolario, Letter x.

c.; 2

84 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

enabling us to live securely. We thus remove the occasions
of sin ; we live happy and contented with ourselves and are
free from the inquietude of remorse, which is nothing else
than our own concience unceasingly upbraiding us. Doubt
less, you make use already of such efficient means. You
are pious, and you love your religion. You frequent the
lectures, and, what is more, you take a pleasure in them ;
and hence, for your recreation, you choose what is profitable
and instructive.

I shall be glad to hear from you, at your convenience, an
account of the state of the University, of the Professors who
fill the different chairs, and especially of your own Pro
fessors. Let me also hear again from you about your
studies, and about the morality of the place. Meanwhile,
believe me to be your sincere friend, desirous only of your
welfare/

ROVERETO : February 7, I8I6.1

The inquiries with which the letter finishes were
for no idle purpose. Preparations were already in
progress for sending Antonio himself to Padua, and
he desired to have that sort of information which
parents, rather than children, usually seek. Most
youths who are about to enter a University are
mainly interested in knowing something as to com
fortable chambers, academic costume, popular sports
and pleasant society ; or something as to the salu
brity of the place, the quality of the food and the
temper of the college dons ; or something with refer
ence to the best means of avoiding severe study,
and spending the time gleefully ; or something as
to the countless small matters which never troubled
him. He craved to know only how the University

1 Epistolario, Letter xi.

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 85

maintained its repute as a great public school,
and how well the purity of its moral atmosphere
was preserved.

His brother, still in a discouraging state of
health, had just gone to complete a college course
in Verona, and thither Antonio's prized exhor
tations speedily followed him. These were full of
the sedate sense and solid counsel which would have
been ' passing strange ' in any other of his years ;
but, in him, they were perfectly consistent. Though
older friends knew the special requirements of that
brother on whom the family now depended for the
continuation of its line, no other would have touched
them so effectually, or been listened to so attentively.
Giuseppe Rosmini was virtuous, but his weakly
health made practical piety a burden and study less
agreeable than irksome. Here is how Antonio
stimulated and directed him.

I have to reply to your welcome letter, from which I
learn your satisfaction at finding yourself where you are.
This is, indeed, joyful news for me, and comes to sweeten
the bitterness of our separation, which I must confess I feel
exceedingly. It seems as though our Lord were assisting
you in an especial manner, and thus answering the prayers
I have always poured 'forth and still continue to offer
up in your behalf. Yes, it seems as though that little corner
of Verona were marked out especially for you. There you
will advance in piety and learning, provided you have the
proper dispositions. And may God grant that you become
the man I so ardently wish you to be, a pattern to your
fellow-citizens — a pattern to all — humble, charitable, kind ;
—in a word, moulded on virtue and Christian piety, while,
at the same time, a lover of all that is beautiful and good,

86 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

a man of letters devoted to study, especially to the literature
of Rome.

Oh ! how sweetly and profitably the life of the diligent
student passes away ! In his silent occupations he is a lively
image of contentment and of the happiness it is per
mitted man to enjoy here below. How hard of heart are
those who, while immersed in Tullius and Horace and
Virgil or other classical writers of our own Italy, taste none
of their pure delights, and fail to be touched by any of the
beauties which such authors breathe. It appears to me
almost impossible that there should be students so unim-
passioned, so insensible, so utterly indifferent to the charms
of the classics, regarding them as matters of no moment.
Do not^w be of their number I entreat you, but, on the
contrary, seek to drink deeply of the classics and to culti
vate a great esteem for them, as well as a refined and deli
cate sense of whatever is beautiful in literature, as did our
own Clementino, and also Casa. Bembo, and nearly all the
best writers of the fifteenth century. In short, next to
Religion, let your first care be study and Literature.
Read and re-read the classics (oh ! that I had time to do
so, too !) ; let your every thought, your every affection and
desire be to advance in all knowledge.

I rejoice to hear that good discipline reigns in the college,
and am especially pleased to learn that you write a good
deal ; for writing much is, as the rhetoricians say, the best
preceptor of the art of writing well. I do not dislike emu
lation as we see it in children ; — however, let it be confined
to children. On your part study with earnestness and zeal ;
but let your motives be far nobler than mere emulation ;
let them be as they ought to be, for the glory of God, your
own profit, and for the beauty and sweetness of the studies
themselves. Then let your amiable and intelligent master
direct you in everything.

I am much obliged to you for answering the questions
I put to you about Cesari, and am delighted that he is so
friendly to you. Hold fast to him, and especially to the

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 87

counsels he gives you in all that regards morality and reli
gion. And, speaking on this subject, you can do nothing
more agreeable to me than to tell me something, in your
next, as to your spiritual director, &c. ; for, as I wish to
know everything about my friends, how much more do I
desire and expect to be informed about you, who are not
only the dearest of my friends but also my brother.

We and our studies arc getting on well in this quarter.
Philosophy and the contemplation of nature (the latter
made, as now it is, in the cool hours of these lovely morn
ings), far from wearying us, form such an agreeable recrea
tion that I should not be disposed to sacrifice it for any
other. Thus wandering about, like the disciples of Aristotle,
we always find in this our picturesque neighbourhood new
and delightful retreats. To me everything is new, owing to
the retired life I have hitherto led at home ; everything
appears to me of singular beauty, and gives me intense
pleasure.

With regard to my private occupations : — Having dis
patched my literary correspondence with some friends and
finished the little pamphlets of which you are aware, I
resumed the composition of a discourse on the ' Utility and
Necessity of Cultivating the Faculty of Reason.' The more I
advance the more new matter I find, so that when I fancy
myself to be approaching the end I discover that I have still
a great way to travel.
ROVERETO : May 11, I8I6.1

Giuseppe already well knew how eagerly his
affectionate brother pursued the studies he looked
upon as holding the key to all human know
ledge ; but that hurried glimpse of what he was
doing had a home charm which linked Rovereto
with Verona and made the exhortation to study
more effective. About the very time that Antonio

1 Epistolario, Letter xii.

88 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

was, himself, thus laboriously groping his way to
' the end,' a sudden flash of genius, if not a revela
tion, so illumined the course that he could clearly
see ' the open portal of philosophical truth.' The
incident is very noteworthy, though destitute of all
the dramatic attractions which give startling effect to
the ' biographical episodes ' of worldly heroes.

Stirring events hardly ever usher in the birth of
a grand discovery in knowledge, which is ordinarily
brought forth under circumstances as tame and un-
romantic as those that found Newton catching at the
law of gravitation, or Watt solving the problem of
steam. But these discoveries none the less bring
stirring events in their train, and sometimes wholly
revolutionise human systems of science and industry.
Rosmini's mind seized the grand principle of Ideal
Being under circumstances partly in keeping with
those that have produced the most important dis
coveries known to science, and partly with those
that had the qualities of a Divine Revelation. Let
the reader judge ; for we shall record the incident as
he told it himself to Don Paoli, many years after it
had taken place.

One of the least frequented streets in Rovereto
in those clays was an avenue called Terra, in which
persons of wealth and rank had residences carefully
railed in or walled off from ' noisy business.' 1 While

1 Before Rovereto outgrew its village dimensions, and while it had
but a few houses at either side of the road that ran through the Castle
estate or terra, this road was known as the Terra or Estate road. When
the Venetians, in the fifteenth century, took the castle and gradually
enlarged the village, other roads soon stretched beyond the bounds of

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 89

passing homeward slowly, thoughtfully, and all alone
through this quiet street, one evening after a ' philo
sophical excursion ' with Don Orsi and his pupils,
young Rosmini allowed his mind to speculate freely
on a variety of things, Now his attention was held
by one mental object, and now by another. Sud
denly he perceived that each object was far from
being simple. ' On the contrary,' said he, when ex
plaining the circumstance to Don Paoli, ' each
object appeared to me in itself a group of many
objects. But, on looking more closely into the
matter, I saw that these, instead of being many
objects, should have been called many determina
tions of one object, more universal and less deter
minate, — their common container. Then, by re
peating on this object the very analysis I had
applied to the others, I found that it was itself
in the same condition, and that when divested,
by means of abstraction, of those less definite de
terminations, which it still retained, it appeared to
me as a new object, still more universal and less
determinate than the former. I say new in refe
rence to my intuition (because I had not as yet
looked at its new aspect), but not as being new
in itself ; for it was the container not only of the
object which my mind had under analysis, but
also of the others that had been previously ana
lysed. By continuing this process I discovered

the garrison, and these received names that were changed from time
to time, but the original road always retained the name (Terra) which
had been previously given to the whole estate.

9o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

that, no matter what the point of departure might
be, I was invariably brought to the most univer
sal object — Ideal Being — destitute of all determina
tions whatever, so that I found it no longer pos
sible to abstract anything from it without annihil
ating thought, and at once I saw that this object
was the universal container of all the objects on
wrhich my mind had already rested. I then under
took the process of verification. This consisted in
seeking to discover which determinations of indeter
minate being were the first possible, and then which
came next, and so on to the last. By these means I
discovered that synthesis brought up again before
my intellectual vision all those objects which analysis
had caused to disappear gradually from it. Then
it was that I became convinced that indeterminate
ideal being must be the first truth, the first thing seen
by immediate intuition, and the universal means
of all acquired knowledge, whether perceptive or
intuitive.'

Such were the profound cogitations of Antonio
Rosmini in his eighteenth year ; such the fruit and
the evidence of his intense application to the studies
that led him to know aright the works of God and
to worship Him the more ardently. In too many
instances abstruse speculations of this kind have
made sad havoc with the piety of old as well as
young hearts; but, so far from diminishing Rosmini's
religious fervour they increased and strengthened it.
As Don Paoli tells us, it was the ardour of his re
ligious spirit that suggested and sustained his philo-

HIS EARLIEST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES. 91

sophical research ; and this in return brightened and
fortified his religious spirit. Never did he apply his
mind to discover anything from mere curiosity, and
the bare suggestion of acquiring knowledge for the
vain purpose of appearing learned would have horri
fied him. Pure love of God evoked and ever di
rected his love of philosophy, and if he thought that
man — whom he loved in and for God — should de
rive no benefits from the truths he set himself
to establish against the enemies of God's Church,
he would have abandoned his efforts as no longer
having an object worthy of the love that dictated
them. As in the greatest things, so in the smallest,
all he did or attempted had in view the glory of God
and the good of man.

92 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER V.

ROSMINl ENTERS THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA AS A
THEOLOGICAL STUDENT.

(A.D. 1816-1817.)

St. Francis of Sales and Antonio of Rovereto — Similarity of their
University life — What the students and professors thought of
Rosmini, and what he thought of them — His special companions
and their special qualities — Tommaseo — How to live in the
University with the regularity of cloistered monks — He tells his
mother how religion assuages grief — Takes the Bachelor's degree
and returns home for his first vacation — Resumes his course at
Padua with permission to wear the dress of an ecclesiastical student
— With what solemn earnestness he took the clerical habit — In
tense love of purity and distrust of ' the world.'

TOWARDS the end of 1816 Antonio Rosmini was
sent to Padua, in order to study theology and com
plete his philosophical course. Although his parents
no longer sought to interfere with his vocation, they
were not without some lingering hope that residence
in the famous city, and close association with the
ambitious students of its old University, might lead
him to reconsider his resolution.

Just two hundred and sixty-two years previously,
a comely youth of the same age (and who was also
' the heir and pride of a lordly house,') had been
sent to Padua, with a like hope on the part of his
parents, who fancied that a course of jurisprudence,

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 93

n the great mediaeval law school, might wean him
rom love of the Ecclesiastical State. That youth
was St. Francis of Sales, whose virtues and even
personal habits were so thoroughly reproduced in
Antonio Rosmini, that the University life of the one
bears a marvellous resemblance to that of the other.
This resemblance may, indeed, be somewhat incom
plete as regards the qualities of their studies, but it
is perfect in whatever relates to an uninterrupted
recollection of God's presence, and the unceasing
self-control and prayerfulness which this necessitates.

Although Rosmini entered the University as a
Theological Student, he did not wear the ecclesiasti
cal habit. They who believed that there was yet a
possibility of something occurring which might
retain him in the ranks of the laity, supposed that all
chance of this would utterly disappear if the cle
rical dress were formally assumed. These good
people failed to see that his soul was already so
vested in the robe of his vocation that it mattered
little what garb his body wore. But he, knowing
this, willingly humoured the desire of his parents, and
consented to remain without the cassock as long as
possible. Besides, their preference had its advantages.

The habiliments of a layman left him unem
barrassed in the pursuit of knowledge, outside of the
theological curriculum. Accordingly, he attended as
many non-theological lectures as he could without loss
to his regular course. This afforded him a more ex
tensive opportunity of imparting, unconsciously, that
edification which one so young, so noble, so engaging,

94 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

so pious, so talented and so diligent could not fail to
give. Among the classes thus attended was that of
medicine, in which he took a profound interest. Dr.
Baroni of Rovereto, who was then attached to the
medical school in Padua, relates how learnedly
Antonio used to converse with him on the mysteries
of life, and what an advantage his theological read
ings gave him over those who could handle the sub
ject only from the physician's point of view.1

His contemporaries have borne witness that no
collegian, during his time, was so generally known
and so universally loved in Padua as Antonio Ros-
mini. Every lecture-room had for him a place, and
all the professors held him in the highest esteem.
Students in every branch of study vied with one
another to possess his friendship and do him honour.
The exceptions to this rule would have enabled a
Paduan of those days to discover the students who
loved the gaieties of society more than their books,
or the students who deemed indifference to religious

duties an evidence of 'mental independence.' Be
tween him and such as these there was nothing ini

common, but the fact of having been together at the

1 ' He used to lament deeply that one of the principal evils o
society, in the present age, is the false method on which so man
study medicine, whence arise impiety and libertinism, and frequent i
success in the treatment of diseases. On this account he ardentl
desired a radical reform of this art, as may be seen in his Antropologi
and Psicologia, and he desired that all its professors should be
animated by a Christian spirit. For this purpose he maintained som
medical students at his own expense at the University, with the inten
tion of appointing them to attend the sick in hospitals that he designe
to open.'— An outline of the Life of Antmio Rosmim, translated frorr
the Italian and edited by Rev. \V. Lockhart, p. 83. London, 1856.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 95

same University. The most distinguished professors
of that day and place spontaneously and cordially
acknowledged the grandeur of his genius, the depth
of his knowledge, and the solidity of his virtues.
These professors included such men as Cappellari,
Bishop of Vicenza, who taught him dogmatic theo
logy, and Baldinotti, one of the most astute meta
physicians of the period.1

After Rosmini had been long enough in the Uni
versity to form an opinion of men and things within
it, he wrote to his father in high terms of his own
masters and fellow-pupils, while to his uncle he sent
1 a description of the place,' as ' the hotel of letters
and of the Latin muses.' But it seemed to him,
nevertheless, that Latin was not treated there with
the homage it deserved ; for he found Italian so
universally spoken as the language of the classes,
that few students thought it desirable to cultivate a
close acquaintance with the mother tongue.

Those of his own immediate circle were much
given to the old language, and this, doubtless, was
a bond of union between them. It was, however,
the least of the ties that held them clear to him : he
prized them most because they were estimable in
character and decided lovers of God. Some of those
who belonged to that ' immediate circle ' have gained
distinction in Italian literature, and some have won
a place in his own published correspondence which
has ensured their memories a long future. Amongst

1 Tommaseo records this evidence in the Cronica Contcinpor,
Torino, 1855.

96 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

them were Tommaseo of Sebenico (author of a
dictionary of synonyms and other standard Italian
works), Alessandro Paravia (afterwards a distin
guished professor in the University of Turin), Appol-
lonia of Civiclale (subsequently a popular master in
the Seminary of Udine) and Uzielli of Livorno, a
young Jew of great talent and virtue, from whom
Rosmini obtained much useful information touching
Hebrew literature and customs.

For some time, Tommaseo was the nearest to
him of all who composed the * immediate circle ' of
fellow-students. One can easily see why this pre
ference existed, when told that Tommaseo, though
eccentric in many ways, was not only, like all the
others, very steady in his habits, very diligent in
his studies, and very learned, but also, unlike the
others, very ' little favoured by fortune.' Collegians
who were practical moralists, or lived in strict accord
ance with the obligations of the Church, thereby \
earned a special right to Rosmini's esteem and (
friendship. But they who loved to join him every [
morning in hearing Mass, and every evening in the
recital of the Rosary, or in other devotions — they whc
went with him frequently to the Sacraments o
Penance and Communion — they who liked to live in
the world with the regularity of cloistered monks
these had the strongest claims upon his affection anc
his confidence.

Tommaseo was one of these, with the additiona
qualification of being poor and desiring to remain in
that condition. He so prized the privations which

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 97

attend poverty that Antonio could not induce him
to part with them, ' lest his humility might be en
dangered.' They lodged in the same house, Ros-
mini's apartments being such as the bounty of a
wealthy father insisted on his occupying, while those
of Tommaseo were not only comparatively mean but
unhealthily situated. Knowing this, Rosmini, with
hearty good will, repeatedly requested his friend to
share in the spacious accommodation provided for
himself; but he preferred to continue with what a
companion (Gozzi) described as ' the poverty that is
made magnificent by soul-felt resignation to God's
Will.'1 In a letter to his mother, Antonio styled
Tommaseo 'a prodigy.' When their college days
were passed, this ' prodigy' — who loved his young
friend ardently — attached himself to Rosmini in the
quality of literary secretary ; but, for all that he was
regarded and treated as a member of the family,
he never abandoned his love of personal lowliness,
though he more than once resented, whimsically, the
notion of being dependent on others.

Before Rosmini had well settled down to his
studies, a letter from home informed him that the
air of Verona brought about no marked improve
ment in his brother's health. This news was all
the more affecting, as he felt that the choice of
life he himself had been inspired to make, would
cause his brother's state to weigh the more heavily
on his parents' mind. He at once wrote to his
mother offering no mere boyish sympathy to soften

1 La Giovinc Eta di Rosmini. — J. Bernard!.
VOL. I. 11

98 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

her grief, but that loftier and sturdier condolence
which points to religion as the only true sweetener
of what human nature deems bitter :

Lo ! just at this moment a long letter brought to me
from home by three Roveretans. I open it on the instant
and recognise my dear father's handwriting, and find en
closed another from my dear mother. A precious gift
indeed for me. But alas ! the tidings of my brother's ill
health cause me the deepest and sincerest sorrow. Never
theless, blessed be God in all things ! He from Whom
springs every blessing knows well why He sometimes min
gles evil with good. Let us repose confidently in Him.
The heart that looks to God and leans on Him finds there
such comfort and such strength that not only the multitude,
but also those who pass for philosophers, regard it as a
marvel not to be credited.

Let men say if they will, aye let them boast that it is
characteristic of human nature to feel and smart under
affliction ; meanwhile, he who is conversant with the pro
digies of religion knows how the Christian finds in his God
not only medicine to alleviate his sorrows but ineffable
consolation. Thus, when the clouds of bitter anguish have
passed away, a clear and bright serenity ensues, accompanied
by an inexpressible sweetness which often finds a solace
even in tears. However, the wise and virtuous conduct of
our Giuseppe would of itself be sufficient to soothe my grief.
If all have reason to feel contented with him (as my father
assures me ye have), I not least have cause for the com-
pletest satisfaction. For my part, I shall not fail to recom
mend him to God ; nay, I have him always present to my
mind when I go to prayer, praying for myself and for him
as for one identical person. God is very good and will hear
our prayers.

The news that Lorenzi is coming amongst us is joyful
beyond measure. I request you to congratulate this worthy
friend of ours mcst warmly on my behalf. With what joy

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 99

will he not be hailed here in Padua, by the students of the
University. It will, doubtless, be in a manner that can
leave him little cause for dissatisfaction. Their esteem for
him is very great. And who could do otherwise than vene
rate the rival of Cornelius. Oh ! good Lorenzi (suffer me
to apostrophise thee, while my enthusiasm is aroused and
carries me away !) O good Lorenzi, come amongst us !
Mayhap the honoured shades of the illustrious men of last
century who, treading the path of glory, addressed the citi
zens of Livy in the pure language of Tullius, will silently
exult in their tombs at seeing thee thus grace with thy pre
sence the city that gave them birth.

PADUA: January 29, I8I7.1

The Abate Lorenzi, who is here so fervidly
alluded to, was formerly one of his professors in the
Rovereto College, and stood so high amongst the
Latinists of the time that they who longed for a
healthy revival of Latin learning in Padua set
much store on his co-operation. In the efforts he
subsequently made to restore the old classics, young
Rosmini was one of his most efficient supporters.
The aid thus given in no way impeded the progress
of Antonio's theological course ; for, though he
studied in every branch of learning, and set apart
much time for correspondence and for literary produc
tions of various kinds, he did all with such admirable
order, both as to the division of work and hours, that
he was never much pressed for time or forced to do
anything in a perfunctory manner. And never did
he begin a task or a duty of any kind — never did he
turn from one study to another, or go from one

1 Epistolario, Letter xiii.

1! 2

ioo LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

lecture-room to another, or change his labours in
any form, without saying aloud or mentally a short
prayer. To God he offered everything he did or
attempted to do, and from God he expected whatever
success attended his efforts ; but, when no success
followed, or when it was less than he hoped for, the
failure, too, was accepted as from God.

Six months after young Rosmini had entered the
University he took the Bachelor's degree ' with
honour.' The event so little elated him, in the way
that worldly usage made popular, that he would not
permit his friends to celebrate it, except as he himself
hallowed it, by a special thanksgiving in the church
of St. Anthony.

With his University dignity fresh upon him, he
went home for the summer vacation of 1817. He
would have kept the honour hidden if he could, for
the plaudits of society oppressed him, and while he
was glad to see his father and mother pleased, he.
had otherwise little liking for the congratulations
which met him at Rovereto, where a University
degree had a meaning above its value. To him it
was merely as the formal mark that the first stage in
his course was passed, and that he was entitled to
the vacation which immediately followed. This
vacation implied an intermission of study ; but he
took care that it brought no repose to him ; for he
merely changed the subjects of study without dimin
ishing the closeness of his application.

When about to return to Padua he reminded his
parents that, having already spent a season in the

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 101

University without the vesture that should denote
his vocation, the time had come for assuming it.
This was a matter of far deeper significance to him
than all ' the honour ' connected with a Bachelor's
degree, Much to his delight, the permission he
sought was granted without hesitation, for no
one any longer supposed that there was the least
use in further delay.

Accordingly, on re-entering the Theological
Faculty, he at once took the habit of an ecclesi
astic. The solemnity with which he invested the
act stood out in reproachful contrast with the
more matter-of-course style too common amongst
ecclesiastical students, even of the best ordinary
type, like his cousin Fedrigotti who had already
left Padua and given up his vocation. When at the
University this young noble attached no importance
to 'the scholastic assumption of the clerical habit,'
and though a good, and, withal, a sensible youth, he
thought as lightly of the seductive influences which
attend worldly excitements, arguing that the cassock
could confer no virtue, and social fascinations did not
necessarily lead to sin. No sooner had Antonio
received the cassock than he wrote to inform his
kinsman of this change of dress, as a something of
grave importance, and took occasion to add a whole
some warning against the dangers that beset those
who deal too confidently with the allurements of
worldly society :

To-day I wear for the first time the clerical habit
May God, who has called me to serve Him in His taber-

102 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

nacle, grant me a pure heart, an elevated mind, and a
soul full of zeal, that I may not be wanting in an office so
sublime. Pray for me, I beg of you, to this end, as I never
cease to do every moment myself, for I feel the heavy
burden that has been laid upon my shoulders. I trust con
fidently in Him through Whom I have entered the sheep-
fold. I also commend you continually to our Lord that
we may both walk together in His sight, and although by
diverse paths, not with diversity of purpose.

The students here at Padua, however much they regret
having lost you, approve, nevertheless, your new resolve, in
the event of your not having been called to the career upon
which you had first entered.

I shall be happy to hear how your studies progress. I
ardently wish you to make constant proficiency both in
knowledge and piety. Shun, more than death itself, that
which is the most pestilential of all the vices of youth ; for
nothing is easier than to fall, while nothing is more difficult
than to rise again. May the Blessed and most pure Virgin
protect you amid the many dangers to which, by the mere
force of circumstances, you are now exposed.

PADUA : November-], iSi;.1

Like St. Stanislas Kostka, he ever felt, and his
whole life proved, that * the greater the devotion to
the Immaculate Virgin, the greater the splendour of
purity in holy souls.' Hence he never lost an oppor
tunity of directing those he loved to revere and look
up to the Mother most Chaste — the Virgin of
Virgins. Milton, who so little understood the safe
guards which Catholic piety provides for this
' brightest gem in the diadem of sanctity/ sang its
praises without supposing that it ever required more

1 Epistolario, Letter xiv.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 103

than ordinary care to keep it secure when in contact
with social defilements.

So dear to heaven is saintly chastity,
That, when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lackey her.

But Rosmini, who had kept this virtue unspotted from
the cradle to the grave, never heard without great
pain that any of his young friends were thrown into
the whirl of worldly society ; for there, too surely,
would be many occasions in which the delicate
bloom of purity must run the risk of being sullied
by the breath of unbecoming conversations — many
occasions when the eye as well as the ear would have
its sensitive modesty shocked — many occasions when
social usage, without seeming to infringe any of the
proprieties, would smooth the path for the infringe
ment of them all.

In later days Rosmini said more than once :
'When a youth is thrown into worldly society where he
has often to hear impious doctrines, wicked maxims,
abuses and calumnies against the Church and her
Ministers — when he is placed where his good habits
may be subverted and he himself gradually depraved
— alas ! how soon he gives attention to the lying
words of seducers ! How plausible they at first
seem, and, afterwards, how like the truth ! Then
how speedily he loses the Faith which he had
imbibed, as it were, at his mother's breast ! His
heart, once it is corrupted, seeks only the dark
ness in which he longs to hide from himself his

io4 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

own moral turpitude; and this darkness — which the
devil, by his agents, diffuses so densely— is welcomed
with a joy not unlike that felt by the thief or the
assassin, who hails a murky and tempestuous night
as the safest for thefts or other crimes.' l

Again, on another solemn occasion we find him
speaking thus : ' See the frivolous World, with its
pompous raiment and flashing adornments, its
immodest deportment and insipid courtesy, its loose
sayings and wanton intimacies, its tables laden with
delicate viands and delicious liquors, its effeminate
assemblies and sensuous music, its seductive specta
cles, with all else, in short, which can charm, excite,
and intoxicate the senses — this World of which, as
Holy Scripture says, the devil is prince, thus furnished
with every variety of inciting lure, soon seduces the
heart and deprives the mind of light. Man, thus
dazzled unto blindness, no longer sees the frightful
abyss at his feet ; and so he rushes headlong into
it'2

For himself, Rosmini had consistently renounced
the World of which he, with good reason, thought
as he did ; he had renounced all the honours and
enjoyments which it can offer, in great abundance,
to those who, like him, had nobility of birth, vast
talents, rare personal gifts, great wealth and strong
consistency of purpose ; he had renounced all lest
he should stain his baptismal innocence and imperil

1 Rosminfs Discourses.— Dis. 'The Light of the Holy Spirit.'
London, Duffy and Son, 1882.

* RosminPs Discourses.-— Dis. < The World and Love of Truth.'

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA, 105

the sanctity without which he would lose God. This
was well known to his friends and acquaintances ;
and therefore his warnings, his advice, his entreaties
were seldom slighted and never deemed officious or
out of place.

io6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER VI.

ROSMINI CLOSES HIS SECOND SEASON AT THE UNIVER
SITY, AND RECEIVES MINOR ORDERS.

(A.D. 1817-1818.)

His one extravagance — Childish eagerness to purchase a valuable
library — How earnestly he entreats his parents to grant his re-
quest — His gratitude for their compliance — Fraternal advice on
the practice of Christian virtues — His great faith and humility —
His brother's visit to Padua- -How his studies progress — Preparing
for Minor Orders and testing his vocation — Receives Minor Orders
— Returns to Rovereto — Death of his uncle Ambrogio — How he
bears affliction.

THE moment Rosmini put on the distinctive garb of
an ecclesiastic, he considered himself bound to direct
his energies more exclusively to the duties of his
own college, and to follow a religious rule more
stringently than he had hitherto done. This is say
ing much ; for the rule he already observed was as
strict as that which St. Francis of Sales used to live
up to when a member of the same University.1

Having grouped around him the students whose
piety he had proved, they formed a select society of

1 Augustus de Sales, in his Life of St. Francis, gives the rule which
the young Saint had written for himself at Padua. It much resembles
that which young Rosmini adopted, and, as Butler says, * chiefly shows
his perpetual attention to the presence of God, his care to offer up every
action to Him, and implore His aid at the beginning of each.'

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 107

their own, and were independent of the glittering
gaieties which so easily enamour young men, who
seek and need occasional relaxation from the pres
sure of close study. Antonio's chosen companions
indulged none of the extravagances to which high-
spirited youths are too prone. Nevertheless, there
was one ' extravagance,' so to call it, to which Ros-
mini yielded in those days — an extravagance that
will hardly seem foolish or prodigal, in the eyes of
parents who are called upon to defray heavy bills
to meet the ordinary squanderings of University life.
On two occasions, since he entered the Theolo
gical Faculty at Padua, he applied for small amounts
Dver his allowance to spend in — what? In club ex
penses ? or horses ? or dress ? or convivial parties ?
Dr any personal gratification whatever ? Nothing of
:he kind. He sought these little subsidies for urgent
:ases of charity, and it was in the same way that
| line-tenths of his regular pocket allowance was
;pent. Beyond this, he next applied for means to
purchase a library. There was nothing else, outside
he range of ' charitable purposes/ for which the
roung philosopher would have appealed so energeti-
ally as we find him craving for this.

In the December of 1817 the private library of
once opulent Venetian family — the Veniers — was
•urchased by a Paduan bookseller, who intended to
ell it again on his own account. As soon as this
'urchase reached Paclua, Antonio was invited, as a
3ver and excellent judge of good books, to examine
he collection privately. He examined, and was so

io8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

delighted with what he saw that he longed, with the
ardour of a child, to possess it. Next day he wrote
on the subject to his uncle Ambrogio, who, in such
matters, needed no more than the nephew's hint ;j
but, unfortunately, the good old man was, at the
time, so ill it became necessary to bring the affair
directly before the father. This was a far more
difficult and awkward task for Antonio than the com
position of an essay on libraries would have been.

He had never before requested a favour implying
such an outlay, and he hardly knew how to frame a
personal petition which seemed to ask for something!
that was to gratify a personal wish rather than a per-|
sonal want. In fact, he had to become a child for
the occasion, and the three letters he wrote on the!
business are characterised by all the simplicity andi
eagerness with which a child pleads, the sedate style,
of the young philosopher being, for the moment, ill
abeyance. These three letters were despatched tcj
Rovereto in one wrapper, and addressed to Dorf
Orsi, his earliest preceptor in philosophy, whos< j
affection for his former pupil had strengthened wit!
his years, and whose influence with the parents ha<||
never decreased.

The first letter was intended for Orsi himself, t
whom the delicate negotiation was entrusted, nc
merely because of his influence, but because Rosmii
(as he afterwards informed Tommaseo) knew that '
this wise Priest thought the request unadvisable \
would say so, and be sure that, however much th
library was coveted, its possession would give litfc

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 109

pleasure if there were anything unreasonable in the
desire to have it, or if the application were in
opportune. Here is how the friendly mediator was
entreated to use his influence : —

I beg you to pardon me for giving you so much trouble.
But our friendship on the one hand, and your goodness
towards me on the other, encourage me to do so. I enclose
you a letter, and wish you to give it to my mother with all
possible secrecy. I will tell you all. I am desirous of pur
chasing a library, and have written to my father, without
however openly asking him to buy it for me. See if you
can urge my mother, for I know what influence you ex
ercise over her. Come now, use your eloquence with her ;
I am sure you will do so.

It is a superb collection of volumes which once belonged
to the illustrious Venetian family, Venier. Amongst other
things there is a precious selection of Greek and Latin clas
sics, editions, too, of great value. I should esteem myself
fortunate if I had it. You remember the task you yourself
imposed on me — to form a library that would do honour to
our town and be useful to all our friends. I know how you
prize the fair projects we were wont to plan between our
selves. Now is the time to put them in practice. I doubt
not my mother will allow herself to be persuaded easily
Come, like a good, dear friend, do what you can, and, in
the event of success, you will then begin to see realised the
desires that are common to both of us. I am delighted to
find them partly realised in your case, by your appointment
to the Rectorship of the Ginnasio. Great, indeed, was
my joy, — my hopes are unbounded. I embrace you affec
tionately.

PADUA : January 3, iSiS.1

The appeal to the Countess, enclosing that to his
1 Epistolurio, Letter xvii.

no LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

father, was couched in terms certain to gain her ad
vocacy, without the eloquent aid so nervously sought.
Like the letter to Don Orsi, it was meant to give her
also an opportunity of withholding the subject alto
gether from Pier Modesto, if such a course was
deemed best. It ran thus : —

On numberless occasions I have experienced the love
you bear me, and I know that you, my dearest mother,
have at heart my welfare. Now, however, you can give me
a special proof of this your love. For eight hundred florins
I can purchase a magnificent library. Remember, God
has not given you the means you possess without a purpose.
Whatever be the issue, I shall be always your most devoted
child, and shall sigh for the opportunity of testifying the
ardent and sincere love I cherish for you. I ought perhaps
to say no more, as I have every confidence in you.

After all, what more fitting manner of employing your
riches, than in rendering happy, in this world, a son who
desires nothing save the honour of God, and the welfare
of his beloved parents. You have done a great deal
for nephews. You will, surely, do no less for a son.
If God has blessed you with riches, He has given them to
you to be employed on such an occasion. Heaven's choicest
blessings will be showered on you — upon you who use its
favours so well. In short, I fear nothing, while I hope
everything. After reading the letter you find enclosed,
hand it to my father when you think the moment favour
able.

PADUA: January 3, iSiS.1

The letter on which the Countess Rosmini was
to exercise her maternal diplomacy put no direct
request before the father; but trusting to the gentle

1 Epistolario, Letter xv.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. in

hints which always had been enough for uncle
Ambrogio, it took this timid form :

The opening of the New Year is ever wont to give me

marked pleasure, as it affords an occasion of expressing

to my fond parents the genuine feelings of filial affection

and respect I treasure up for them within my heart. I

never cease to implore for them the blessings and graces

^vhich I firmly trust may pour from Heaven on their heads,

|md render them happy during the few fast-fleeting days of

:heir sojourn on earth, and be more perfectly with them in

bternity. All that I thus pray for, you, beloved father, can

nore easily imagine than I describe. And with my parents

\[ always associate the name of my uncle, who well merits

:he love I cherish for him, because of the great affection he

has shown to me. I include in the same good wishes

\ny brother and sister, with all the other members of our

amily.

I have nothing new to relate to you, except a matter in
vhich literature and the nobler studies are concerned. The
llustrious Venetian family Venier, which took so important
. part in the affairs of the Republic, being now in reduced
ircumstances have been forced to part with their library
or a mere trifle. What shall I say to you ? Oh ! what
>ooks ! What rare editions ! What a precious acquisition !
Vhat a rich collection of volumes ! How much labour and
noney expended in its formation ! And, mark this ! they
ave been purchased by a bookseller here at Paclua who
nows little or nothing of their worth — the person from
/horn I had most of the books I purchased here.

There was instantly a rush of learned men to see them,
'.ven the Bishop, hearing of it, sent immediately to make
' j nquiries ; but the bookseller, not having at the time un-
acked the cases, did not show them to any one. I was
le first to see them after they had been unpacked, and on
| ] *eing them I was astounded. I asked how much he would rc-
uire for them in the gross, and learned that he would part

ii2 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

with them all for a little more than eight hundred florins.
Oh ! what emotions I then experienced ! It would be difficult
to imagine them. And, on the other hand, how downcast I
became at seeing the impossibility of making the purchase.
For eight hundred florins to acquire, in one moment, a
library which cost so much labour, time, and money in its
formation ! But I must have patience. . . .

I could not refrain from doing immediately two things,
which can injure no one. First, I resolved to write and
acquaint you with the matter ; nor have I courage to say
more : Secondly, to entreat the bookseller not to show the
books to any one until I received an answer from home.

Be the result what it may, I have nothing more at heart
than to be perfectly submissive to you in everything, and to
give you consolation at all times. Kissing your hand and
imploring your paternal benediction, &c.

PADUA : January 3, iSiS.1

His request, after all, stood in no need of so
much anxious urging. A youth whose whole life
had been one of strict frugality, whose personal
expenses had ever been far within the allowance
voluntarily made to him, whose appeals to the bounty
of his parents were ever for others and never for self,
had little reason to fear that this modest petition
would have met with an unfavourable reception
However, as the family library at Rovereto wa<
already well stocked with excellent books, and con
sidered equal to any private library in that region, hi
thought it possible that his father — whose tastes wer
not literary — might look upon this purchase in th
light of an extravagance. Besides, Pier Modest
was not * lord of the manor ' while Arnbrogio liv

1 Epistolariot Letter xvi.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 113

and might have had some prudential hesitation
arising from his position. But, whatever private
opinion the father held on the desirability of the
possession, he made no delay in granting the neces
sary authority to complete the bargain. His grateful
son promptly acknowledged the kindness in these
terms :

Most esteemed and beloved Father, — I am to-day in
receipt of your letter of the 7th inst. It has filled me
with joy, since by it I learn that you kindly accede to
my wishes respecting the Venier library. My joy, how
ever, springs less from the favour itself, than from the
signal proof you thus gave me of your paternal love, which
I so much appreciate. My gratitude knows no bounds,
and I wish you to accept this letter as the expression
of my most cordial acknowledgments. The recollection
of your goodness shall never be effaced from my heart, nor
will I ever cease to pour forth my fervent prayers to God
that He may shower His blessings on you ; — those blessings
especially which are calculated to sanctify the soul on earth
and secure its happiness in Heaven. By my behaviour I
shall always endeavour to give you, in the future, as I have
ever tried to do in the past, palpable proof of the re
spectful love I cherish for you in my heart, and of my
eagerness to afford you every consolation.

I beg of you, after having read the enclosed letter, to
hand it to my brother.

PADUA, January 8, iSiS.1

Not a word does he here say to imply that his
admiration for the library continued unabated. But,
in a letter of thanks written to his mother about the
same time, he thus touches the subject with the

1 Epistolario, Letter xvii.
VOL. I. I

n4 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM2NL

ardour of a bibliophile : ' Oh, dearest mother, you
should see what treasures I have thus acquired !
What a stroke of good fortune was this for me !
Had I to procure these books in any other way, I
should have to spend upon them another thousand
florins at least. Make known my joy to our con
fidant Don Orsi ; to the rest say nothing, for I wish
to astonish them on my arrival.' l

When the father wrote to authorise the purchase
of the library he communicated to Antonio some
information about the moral state of his brother
Giuseppe which seemed to ask for the letter alluded to
as ' enclosed.' It was therefore written promptly, and
without allowing his great eagerness to conclude the
buying of the library to interfere for a moment with
his sense of filial and fraternal duty ; besides, the first
practical return for the favour received ought not, he,
thought, be deferred for any personal gratification
whatever. Brotherly advice on the practice of
Christian virtues was a theme in which he was muc
more at home than when he endeavoured to formi
late a request that might have the appearance o
a selfish wish. Hence, in this letter he is no longe
the nervous boy gazing at a desirable prize, but one
more the sedate moralist pointingout the path
virtue.

I have not written to you sooner, partly because I wa
immersed in my theological studies, and partly becaus
other duties kept me busy, robbing me of all the spar
moments that should otherwise have been mine. . . .

1 Epistolario, Letter xix.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 115

But of what shall I speak to you now ? How shall I

best give you a signal proof of my sincere and true fraternal

love ? My dear brother, in what better manner can true

iffection be known than through the desire of succouring

Dur friends, — a desire which shows itself in word as well as

leed. By this letter, then, I earnestly wish to encourage

you to steadily advance more and more in virtue. May

he sweet fragrance which your virtue diffuses around be a

>ource of joy and gladness to your elders, while of good

example and instruction to those of your own age. Oh !

low beautiful, how lovely is virtue ! It is prized by all

good men, and even the wicked themselves esteem it. They

vho possess it find in it interior peace and consolation.

iappy the household whose members are wise and vir-

uous. I speak, clearest bother, of Christian virtue, for

no other is genuine. True it is, that the words I thus

utter strike only the ear, and that it is God alone Who speaks

o the heart ; yet, I confidently trust that the prayers of

.he good, in whom the Holy Spirit prays with unutterable

>ighs, will give efficacy to my words. Do you, too, raise

your voice in our behalf to the Father of Lights, that He

may open our minds and hearts to the truth, which, falling

rom the lips of holy men, may, like gentle rain, fertilise the

seeds of virtue within us, so as to plentifully yield fruit that

will reach maturity.

And how, dearest brother, does God distribute His
graces ? You must be already well aware of the manner.
You know that it is not always in an extraordinary or mira
culous way ; nor yet all of a sudden. How few and excep
tional are the instances we have of God's despoiling us all
at once of the old man, and so clothing us with the new, as
to be, in a moment, re-born, as it were, and renewed in Christ
Jesus. And if He has done so in some rare occasions, as,
for instance, in the case of Saul, yet even with him did He
not subsequently make use, also, of ordinary and human
means ? Did He not ordain that Saul should recover his
eyesight by means of Ananias, to whom he was sent not

I 2

n6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

only for this end, but that he might also be filled with the
Holy Ghost by the imposition of hands ?

Yes, God in most cases makes use of human agencies ;
and in how many different ways ? He speaks to us lovingly
as well by adversity as by prosperity ; as well by events
which further our own desires as by those that thwart and
destroy them ; by persons who wish us ill as well as by
those who love us. Everything, then, comes to us from this
good Father of ours Whose dwelling place is in the Heavens
above. He gives us only what is good for us, since He
loves us as brothers of His first born Jesus Christ : His
very chastisements are gifts and precious invitations of His
Grace. What then should sadden us amid the vicissitudes
of life ? Nothing but our own sins ; and even for this holy
sadness with which God justly afflicts us His infinite good
ness gives us ample compensation by stretching forth His
arms to receive and clasp us to His bosom, opening to us
a refuge in His very heart, where, as it were, in an ocean of
mercy and delight, we may wash and blot away all our
imperfections and miseries.

Let nothing then, dearest brother, disturb us ; let nothing,
not even our faults, perplex or overwhelm us in this life.
But, above all, let us jealously take care that we love
the things our Heavenly Father loves, that is, our own
good, the salvation of our soul, as much interior peace
we can have in this wretched vale of tears, and the con
plete bliss of that life which is eternal and unchangeab
O God ! what ingratitude, what folly, would it not be
close our ears to the voice of so good a Father, — a voi
which teaches us nought else but the way to acquire hap]
ness ! Or rather what hatred against ourselves would n
this show ! I confess, dear brother, that I hear this voice
all which befalls me, be it of a prosperous or an adver
character ; in every circumstance in which I find mysel
in all the discourses I listen to I hear it, whether it is m
superior, or my inferior, or my equal who speaks ; I hear
also whether listening to the learned or the ignorant, f

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 117

God at times speaks even by the mouth of the abject and
lowly.

Thus it is, my dear brother, that I give you a pledge of
genuine love, urging you to be ever ready to open your ears
and your heart to the constant instructions which God
gives us through the medium of our fellow-men. You will
thus walk in a way full of light and safety, you will be the
admiration and model of your fellow-citizens, a source of
confusion and reproach to the wicked, and the delight of
all the good. Our beloved parents will shed tears of joy
on your account. We, your brother and sister, will mingle
our glad tears with theirs, and all our friends their tears with
ours. And how7 many good souls arc there not who love
you sincerely? Have not many virtuous men given you
proof thereof by their solicitude and anxiety for you ? And
for whom else can we be anxious or solicitous if it be not
for those whom we love ? They who merit neither love nor
esteem are neglected, forsaken, and left to wallow uncared
for in the mire of their own passions. Such is not your
case, dear brother ; for I see that when you do well all
rejoice, and when you act otherwise all are afflicted and bit
terly complain. Now, all this comes from love and tender
ness for you. Ah ! dearest brother, hide not from yourself
those who love you ; seek rather to know them, and know
ing them to love them in return.

To me, assuredly, nothing is sweeter than to love my
friends ; nay more, to embrace all men in this love, to
second the exertions which others make in my behalf, to
correspond with them, and, if you like it, I will even say,
to bear patiently with their defects. For who is wholly
without defects? In bearing with others, I rejoice that
I thus observe the precept Gocl has given us by the
mouth of St. Paul, ' Bear ye one another's burdens.' More
over I hope thus to merit, in some measure, the patient for
bearance of others in my own shortcomings. Nay, carry
ing my thoughts still higher, I sincerely trust God Him
self will bear with them, and pardon me ; and hence I say,

u8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

with confidence : ' Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
them that trespass against us ; ' otherwise, in these words
I should invoke my own condemnation.

Ah ! you already recognise in what I say the language
of love, and, if it be that you do so, what may I not promise
myself ? You will be a wiser and more perfect man in every
way. I verily believe that no one can resist the force of
love.

But I will say even more to you. I will point out to
you how you may fulfil my wishes. Well then, pray God
to give you light : pray very much and fervently, and then
choose a learned and prudent director. Having done so,
be persuaded that it is through his instrumentality God
will enrich you with His graces : place yourself entirely and
with all confidence in this director's hands ; take every pains
to make him well acquainted with your condition as well as
with all that passes within you ; let there not be a corner of
your heart, how remote soever and small it may be, that
you search not thoroughly, and then make your director a
sharer of its secrets. Adhere scrupulously to his counsels
and commands, and you will be treading a sure and easy
path. These words are not the dictates of idle caprice ; I
have consulted men of the greatest experience and have
also read the mcst instructive books on the subject, and
all say the same thing. The greatest and most discreet
directors of souls — the amiable St. Francis of Sales at their
head — all concur in saying that the safest road to virtue,
and the one, moreover, which God requires from many per
sons, is that of obedience to their director.

PADUA: January*], iSiS.1

Faith and humility were so deeply rooted in his
own soul that the obedience he commended to
his brother was for himself an ordinary practice.
This holy obedience which non-Catholics look upon

1 EpistolariO) Letter xx.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 119

as slavish, this humility which they deem a some
thing servile, is but the regular, the easy, the
inevitable outcome of profound faith. As these twin
virtues held complete possession of Rosmini's heart
and mind, he never took any step trusting to his own
judgment. Like all the Saints he had a clear per
ception of the utter helplessness of the human mind
when left to itself, and the total insufficiency of the
natural powers of man to procure his own happiness
or even to shield him from innumerable evils. So
rooted in his soul was the conviction that Christian
faith was a necessity of the foremost order, that ' it is
impossible to say how much he delighted to set forth
and extol the heavenly blessing of this virtue.
Whenever he spoke on the subject (which happened
very frequently) his conversation became animated
immediately ; the colour rose to his face, which was
naturally rather pale ; his eyes sparkled, and the tone
of his voice, conveying the emotion of his heart,
made a deep impression on all who heard him.' l

When this letter to his brother was posted, he
felt free to settle with the bookseller and arrange
about sending the library on to Rovereto. Shortly
afterwards, his brother got permission to visit him at
the University, as it was hoped that a few weeks
spent in Padua might prove beneficial to the invalid's
soul and body. Antonio had much satisfaction in
welcoming this dear guest at a time when most
students, similarly situated, would have deemed any

1 An Outline of the Life of Rosmini, translated from the Italian and
edited by Rev. W. Lockhart, p. 71. London, 1856.

120 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

visit of the kind less a source of comfort than of an
noyance, for it took place while he was actively
engaged in pious preparations for receiving in a
becoming manner the Tonsure and Minor Orders.
The affectionate young host, however, so enjoyed
the burden of charity that he found means of regu
lating his hours in a way that made Giuseppe's visit
a delight to both, notwithstanding a considerable in
crease in the religious exercises and studies occa
sioned by the important step he was on the eve of
taking. How those studies prospered can be in
ferred from the following letter to his cousin Fedri-
gotti, then at Innsbruck:—

My studies have been, so far, most successful. An
extra year has been added to the course of theology. I
have not suffered thereby, as they consider me in my third
year. The examcns now take place twice a year ; and,
thanks to God, I have passed the first of these successfully.
My health is excellent, and study appears to me every day
a source of greater pleasure. I have my brother with me,
who keeps rne company, and we are quite happy together.

Meanwhile, I am testing my vocation, and the infinite
bounty of God confirms me, every day, more and more in
my resolve. Nay, I must tell you that, on Sunday next,
his Lordship the Bishop of Padua will confer on me the
Minor Orders, as they are called. Ah ! pray for me that,
having entered the fold by the door, I may behave like a
true shepherd, and not act as a vile hireling. I, too, will
pray for you, to the end that we may both reach the same
goal — the Beatific Vision— although we pursue different
roads to arrive at it.

I must mention to you another matter which, because of
our friendship, will interest you not a little. You must
know, then, that I have purchased a number of very fine

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA. 121

books, and have already sent home fifteen cases, five of
which are much larger than those of last year ; the rest I
have still here with me. This is due to the goodness of my
father, who furnished me with a large sum of money. I
expended on them more than one hundred louis d'or, but
they are worth twice the money. You, perhaps, have
also made some purchases, which are likely to be useful,
not only to yourself, but to your friends and fellow-towns
men. I know that you had excellent intentions, which,
surely, have not been suffered to remain in abeyance. In
case you should not have purchased any books, let me
advise you to do so without delay.
PADUA : May 13, iSiS.1

During the two days immediately following the
date of this letter, he remained in absolute retire
ment, from which he came forth to be enrolled
amongst the Clerics, and solemnly tonsured. On
the next day — May 16, 1818 — he received the
four Minor Orders from Monsignor Scipione, then
Bishop of Padua. Thenceforth he attached the title
1 Acolyte ' to his name, by way of signifying his
high appreciation of the dignity which belongs even
to Minor Orders.

The summer vacation for that year came on soon
after these events, and he returned to Rovereto where
his venerable uncle lay on the bed of death. With
a fond longing, the good old man awaited the coming
home of the beloved young Acolyte, and when his
wish to embrace him had been gratified death
stepped in, and on July 10, 1818, Ambrogio Rosmini
calmly slept the sleep of the just. The ' golden
opinions ' he had won from men while he lived
1 Epistolario, Letter xxi.

122 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

amongst them, were gently laid on his tomb by
more than one panegyrist. Antonio contented him
self with the tribute of fervent prayers and such
outpourings of eulogy as found a vent in private
letters, like the following brief note written at
Rovereto on August 4 to his distinguished kinsman,
the Chevalier Carlo Rosmini, Historian of Milan :

To-day you will have received a formal announce
ment of the grievous loss we have sustained in the death
of my beloved uncle, whom I always regarded as a father,
and who ever treated me as a son. May our Lord, Who
is no less good when He afflicts than when He consoles us,
be blessed even for this ! I especially thank Him that,
faithful as He is, He does not suffer us to be tempted
above that which we are able, but makes with temptation
i ssue that we may be able to bear it . . . In so much
sorrow the sanctity of his death comforts me, and there is
a sad consolation in the tears of all the good who have
lost a friend and a virtuous citizen, and especially in the
tears of the poor who sought in every way to show their
sense of desolation, and have wept bitterly for one whom
they revered as a father.

At no time of his life had the afflictions and ad
versities that wreck the happiness of most men
power to disturb the peace of Rosmini's mind. For
him afflictions and adversities, come whence and how
they might, were as blessings in disguise which, by
forcing the heart from earthly to heavenly things,
bring home to us the imperishable joys we can gain
in exchange for perishable ones.

IN MINOR ORDERS. 123

CHAPTER VII.

ROSMINl's EVERY-DAY LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY.

(A.D. 1818-1819.)

How he met sympathy in sorrow — Religious instruction pervadingall
his conversations — -How his recreation was spent — A collegiate
society of charity — His poetry and his ' spare time' — His corre
spondence always conveying a lesson — How he blent pious advice
and interesting news — Visit of the Emperor Francis I. of Austria
to Padua — Rosmini's share in the public rejoicings — He prepares
for Holy Orders — Asks permission to receive the Subdiaconate —
The wish of the Acolyte Rosmini in 1818 like that of Pope Pius
IX. in 1848 — Stimulates his brother and sister to zeal in piety and
study — Fosters his sister's religious vocation — Why he would not
take the degree of doctor when ready for it, and why he put off the
time for receiving the Subdiaconate — His own account of his daily
life in Padua.

ON resuming his studies at Padua in 1818 our
young Acolyte had occasion to exhibit some of those
virtues which are best seen in affliction. He found
himself overwhelmed with expressions of sympathy,
for all his friends knew how deeply he loved his
uncle. This condolence was met by gentle thanks,
with evidences of that complete resignation to God's
Will which so few can feel and so few can understand.
He reminded them, as Tommaseo tells us, that the
separation was no more than a brief absence from
home — from that home to which the virtuous
Ambrooqo had <^one, that home to which each could

124 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

claim an heir's right of entrance, and to which he
himself would, more earnestly than ever, try to make
good his claim.

With new zeal he continued his religious ex
ercises, and with enfreshened industry set to his
studies, resolved to complete the University course
before the next vacation.

Although he seemed to be more than ever ab
sorbed in study or prayer, his horary still allowed
times of recreation, which he willingly shared with
his intimate friends. Many of those friends have
left eulogistic testimony as to the fascinating con
versations with which he gave a healthy glow to the
leisure hours passed in their company. All describe
him as a delightful companion, gifted in a remarkable
degree with the art of making those who conversed
with him quite at their ease, whether they were rich
or poor, learned or ignorant. His favourite subjects
were drawn from the store-room of philosophy ; but
he never allowed a pet theme to obtrude itself when
he was speaking with those who did not relish or
comprehend it. His own views on any matter
under discussion were held in check, where they
might prove to be inopportune, or were likely to
offend the honest prejudices of others.

But whatever the topic, grave or gay, he lost no
opportunity in skilfully throwing in a moral lesson,
or drawing forth some important religious instruction ;
for religion was the one theme which he never set
aside — the one theme he took care to render always
opportune and never offensive.

IN MINOR ORDERS. 125

What he called his ' regular recreation ' was not
always spent in agreeable conversations within
chambers with approved friends, or while taking
delightful rambles in quest of bracing air and scenes
sacred to religion or art. Often it was directed
to literary work which he regarded as a * relax
ation,' and to which he gave most of the spare
moments that were not classed as ' regular recre
ation/

More than once he tried to induce some of his
intimate friends to join him in forming a collegiate
society of charity, which might be made to utilise
some portion of the ' regular recreation ' time, as
well as sundry odd periods in the day, for the
spiritual and temporal benefit of others. But, as
the fundamental rule of the society he proposed, re
quired, first of all, the moral perfection of its own
members, he was unable to bring his companions to
the hard task of endeavouring to begin by making
themselves exceptionally good. Therefore, the
' spare time ' he wished to employ in this kind of
united action, as well as much of his * regular
recreation ' hours, was applied to the ( literary re
laxations ' just alluded to.

This literary pastime included translations from
the Fathers, and essays on various subjects. St.
Augustine's work De Catechizandis rudibiis was one
of the translations then and thus made at Padua,
and afterwards turned to practical account else
where.1 During the spare moments, too, he

1 Eight editions of this little work have appeared in Italy, ' always

126 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

occasionally relieved the mind in poetry. Sometimes
the subject was sacred, sometimes plaintive, and
sometimes joyous, but always true to his dominant
piety. Now and then he published letters in verse,
like those addressed to his college companions
Appollonia and Tommaseo on the charms of soli
tude, study, and friendship.1 Now and then, also,
he indulged in sonnets to honour some event in a
friend's career, as on the occasion of his fellow-
student the Baron Candelpergher taking the degree
of Doctor in Laws. This sonnet is supposed to be
the last he wrote, and, on that account, claims a
translation here, which does not, however, pretend
to reflect fully such merit as the original verses
possess :

Man's rights, beloved friend, and sacred laws
(Whether 'twas nature graved them on the breast,

Or men of old, thus joined in common cause
That greed and guilt might sternly be repressed)

So well thou guardest, with such watchful zeal —

To evil shut, God-fearing, free from stain, —
That virtue's friends a silent rapture feel,

While foes to virtue gnash their teeth in vain.

with ecclesiastical approval.' The first edition was published in Milan
in 1838, the second in the same city in 1844 ; the third edition appeared
in Naples, 1849 5 the fourth in Florence, 1850 ; the fifth in Pisa, 1854 ;
the sixth in Rovereto, 1860 ; the seventh in Turin, 1863 ; and the eighth
in Intra, 1878. It has also been translated into French and German.
1 In the ' poetic epistle' addressed to Tommaseo (and which was
printed in Rovereto) occur these significant lines : —
1 Hither and thither, whizzing up and down ,

There crowd my brain a thousand various thoughts

Which mighty Plato woke to busy life,

And Aristotle of the eagle eye

Enkindled there, and blind Moeonides,

Undying bard, aroused, or I myself

Filch'd from the store of younger sages.'

IN MINOR ORDERS. 127

Tis thus, good youth, whose laureled brows attest
Fresh deeds of merit, that a man attains

Great name above, his truest meed and best :
So will it tide (a guerdon worth the pains !)

That the great Angel of the scales proclaim

Thy own renown to be thy country's fame.1

But, while much of the * spare time ' which his
horary provided as a release from severe study was
given to pious duties, and to literary productions of
a more or less serious kind, much of it was also
taken up with letter- writing. From time to time we
record some of these letters as they happen to come
in the regular course of our narrative, confining our
selves, however, to his familiar correspondence as
that which best portrays the individual character,
and shows, in his own ordinary words, what manner
of man he was.

No matter what the occasion which called for
a letter — no matter whether the theme was scientific
or complimentary, or whether the letter itself was
long or short — the spirit of religion diffused itself
through all. Every sentence in some way attested an
increasing recognition of God's presence, a constant

1 Le sacre leggi, e i dritti, o dolce amico,

Sia che natura in petto all' uoni scolpio,
Sia che a fren del costume avaro e rio
Pose patto inviolabile et antico,

Tu che al mal chiuso, vigile e pudico,
Sempre vivesti ubbidiente a Dio,
Serba, e difendi, onde s' allegri il pio,
Fremendo invan, chi di virtu e nemico.

Cosi, o garzon, che di novel valore
Porti di lauro in sulla chioma insegna,
Si poggia al vero ed immortale onore ;

Anzi cosi (che ell' e merce ben degna)
Delia patria e d' ognun faratti onore
Colci che in Ciel colla bilancia regna.

128 LIFE Of ANTONIO ROSM1NI.

looking towards eternity, an ever-growing love of
the creature for the Creator, of the redeemed for the
Redeemer. The most common-place topics were
deftly interwoven with pious reflections or exhor
tations dictated by an intense reverence for God,
and they were invariably fitted to a special need.

Take, for instance, the simple ' family letter '
with which his familiar correspondence for 1818
may be said to have closed. It was a response to
the customary Christmas greetings of his mother ;
but, not content with a reciprocation of these, it
passed on to give certain advice that may seem to
be out of place or purposeless, and to mention a
certain fact which may seem to be nothing more
than an ' interesting piece of news.' Both the advice
and the fact had, however, a set purpose beyond their
seeming.

The ' advice ' had its set purpose in this way.
During the vacation which was saddened by his
uncle's death, he discovered that his sister Mar-
gherita adhered, with unshaken affection, to the re
ligious exercises which began when they ' played at
monks ' together in the family garden at Rovereto.
He had long refrained from leading her mind in any
way towards the cloister, lest her free choice should
owe anything to the influence he was known to hold
over her, and the grace of vocation be tinged with
a human motive. But, seeing that the evidences of
a religious vocation which were conspicuous in her
girlhood were still so much so that her mother
thought it expedient to check them, he felt it a duty

IN MINOR ORDERS. 129

to interfere for their encouragement. Hence 'the
advice ' which he dexterously mantled in the message
the letter conveyed.

The fact or ' interesting piece of news ' had its set
purpose in this way : Throughout North Italy and
the Tyrol the French invasion had left behind it a
sediment of unchristian philosophy which so sadly
tainted the public schools that many of their most
promising students began to look coldly on devotion
and to scoff at the relics of saints. Amongst those
whose minds had thus been poisoned was a young
Roveretan kinsman of Rosmini, who valued his
opinion highly, and who was certain to have an op
portunity of profiting by that opinion so modestly
but effectively put in this letter, which the Countess
was sure to read for the benefit of her misled
nephew :—

I thank you, most esteemed and beloved mother, for
your welcome letter of Christmas Day, to which I at once
reply. My health is excellent. Indeed, I think it has been
unusually good during the year. I wish you and my father,
with all at home, the graces of this holy season. May the
new year be replete with those blessings which fade not
away, but endure even after death, when we shall be fully
able to realise their worth.

Remember me affectionately to Giuseppe, and warmly
recommend to him prayer, devotion, and, above all, the
frequentation of the Sacraments, these being the channels
through which God distributes His Graces most abundantly.
Sustain my sister every day more, not less by your words
than by your fervent prayers. Tell her from me that God
requires much from her, and that, consequently, He will
give her much, unless she should, on her part, be slow in
VOL. I. K

i3o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

co-operating with His Graces. Let her, indeed, apply her
self very diligently to study, but far more to prayer, — espe
cially to that prayer which comes from the depth of the
heart.

I daily experience more and more the goodness of God,
and though I so imperfectly correspond with it, I find it
everywhere continue to manifest itself to me.

The body of the glorious St. Francis which had been
lost has lately been discovered at Assisi.1 This is a most
precious relic. They say that the posture of the body is
still just as it was before all trace of it was lost. The Pope
has sent some persons of great weight to ascertain the truth
of the matter, and he purposes to come himself to Assisi,
next May, in order to celebrate, with great pomp, the expo
sition of the relics to public veneration. Meanwhile, he
forbids anyone, under pain of excommunication, to enter
the place where the body rests, and which he caused to be
most carefully walled up. Let us give thanks to God who
has willed to glorify His saint in this new manner.

PADUA : December 27, i8i8.2

In March 1819, Padua had the honour of an

1 In the year 1230 Pope Gregory IX. caused the body of St. Francis
to be placed, standing upright, in a secret vault, under a magnificent
new church which he directed to be built on the hill where criminals
were formerly executed outside the walls of Assisi, and to this hill the
Holy Father gave the new name of Mount Paradise. It was the spot
which the Saint himself, when dying, designated as his place of sepul
ture. Three ' superb churches/ built one above the other, covered the
vault, which was set within a costly chapel of marble. The body of the
saint was ' never more seen from that time forth,' and its precise rest
ing place remained unknown until it was revealed by the accidental
discovery to which Rosmini alludes. A tradition amongst the con
ventual Friars of the Monastery on Mount Paradise held that the body
would be found in a perfect state and in the same standing posture in
which Pope Gregory IX. left it. The investigation made by order of
Pius VII. is said to have confirmed this tradition ; but the precautions
taken six centuries before were again adopted, and the casket contain
ing the relics was once more walled away from sight.

2 EpistolariO) Letter xxii.

IN MINOR ORDERS. 131

Imperial visit, which threw 'all Patavium ' into a
whirl of excitement. Francis I. of Austria was
there on his way to Rome, and his Paduan subjects,
forgetting everything but his presence, welcomed
him with warm manifestations of public joy. Many
of the University professors and most of the students
drew away from the peaceful monotony of college
life to share in the sight-seeing, if not in the exul
tant vivas.

Rosmini, however, continued his ordinary course
as well as the distracting1 enthusiasm around him

permitted. Loyalty was with him an hereditary
quality, always deep and calm ; but even if he
had some politic reason, like that which moved the
Paduans, to display it boisterously, his strong dis
like of noisy festivity would have kept him back.
He was, therefore, one of the few students who held
aloof from the excitement; and he quietly prayed
for a satisfactory settlement of the matter which led
the Ernperor to Rome, while the multitude vehe
mently cheered, without knowing the object of
the journey. There was yet another reason for his
seclusion. He was just then absorbed in prepara
tions for the Subdeaconate — for solemn service close
to the King of kings — and a dignified composure
seemed to him more consistent with these prepara
tions than the impassioned delight in which the city
revelled.

The local gazettes of that time tell us that the
popular acclaims and exuberant merry-makings
which then filled Padua for several days, confused

K 2

i32 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

the students' minds for months afterwards, and gave
them material for sonnets, essays, and letters to the
end of the season. But Antonio Rosmini dismissed
the whole subject in one short paragraph, dropped
casually into a letter asking his father's permission
to receive the Subdeaconate :

Most esteemed and beloved Father,

Amid the many public and private occupations which
duty and relaxation impose on me, it always yields me great
pleasure to find a few spare moments to spend with you, by
writing to you — now, at least, when I can be with you in
no other way.

I hope my present visit will find you enjoying excellent
health, despite the many cares which embarrass you. Would
that I could render you some assistance ! I trust, however,
my brother, who is so generously disposed, will supply my
place.

We had the Emperor and princes of the Imperial court
here lately, and, as they stayed in our street, we were, for
several days, put about by the clamorous rejoicings that
everywhere reigned supreme. He is en route for Rome, and
/ earnestly wish that all the affairs may be satisfactorily
adjusted. That such will be the case I confidently hope,
through the mercy of that God who will be invoked by as
many saints as the Church possesses.

Regarding myself, the time at length has arrived when
my age will permit me to receive the Subdeaconate. I
have, therefore, to ask your kind permission to take this
step, and at the same time to entreat you to furnish me with
what is requisite on such an occasion. I should like to be
ready for the Saturday preceding Passion Sunday. Should
you happen to see the Archpriest, will you be pleased to
ask him to procure the dimissorial letters for me in good
time for that day, which will be the 26th inst. ?

PADUA : March 7, iSig.1

1 EpistolariOy Letter xxiii.

IN MINOR ORDERS. 133

The satisfactory adjustment for which he so fer
vently prayed was ' peace with Christ's Vicar : ' ' the
removal/ says Tommaseo, ' from the Austrian code
of whatever laws violated the liberty of the Church,
and had been reproved constantly by the sovereign
Pontiffs.' Some thirty years later, Pius IX., in an
Encyclical given while an exile in Gaeta, expressed
himself much to the same effect. Thus, the ' earnest
wish ' and ' confident hope ' of the Roveretan Acolyte
was then, as in his earliest and latest years, in per
fect accord with the wish and hope of one of the
most zealous chief pastors of God's Church.1

When writing to his mother, soon after the Im
perial visit, Antonio made no allusion whatever to
it. The only subject he cared to bring before her
sufficiently explains the omission. How could the
petty gossip of worldly society interest one so wholly
devoted to thoughts of heavenly life ? Probably
the Countess Rosmini would have liked a little Court
news ; but she expected nothing of the sort when
she opened this letter, where she found what she
thought much more likely to be there — an entreaty
to stimulate his brother and sister to zeal in piety
and study : —

I am much obliged to you, both for your welcome letter
and for your solicitude with regard to the Subdeaconship.
I rejoice to learn that you are all well. From my brother's
letter, too, I have had good news, which has afforded me
sincere pleasure.

Exhort my sister not to abate her fervour, nor courage,
nor study, nor good works. Let her be assured that fer-

1 See the Encyclical of Pio Nono, given at Gaeta, Feb. 18, 1849.

i54 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

vour obtains of God courage ; that courage, having its
fountain head in God, calls forth meditation, prudence, and
study ; that study regulates action, and, finally, that wisely
ordered action is advantageous both to ourselves and others.
I am desirous of knowing whether in her meditations she
makes use of books ; for this is very necessary in her case.
Animate, counsel, and support her. My father, I have no
doubt, will do the same.

I think it very desirable that just and holy maxims
should ring continually in my brother's ears ; for, by dint of
hearing them often repeated, they become more and more
deeply impressed on the heart. For this reason the true
lover of wisdom is ever eager to hear such maxims, since
he is thus enabled to advance in wisdom : ' A wise man
shall hear and be wiser,' says the Holy Spirit (Prov. i. 5).1

The special concern he thus manifested in
what related to his sister had a special cause. He
knew, as we have seen, that Margherita's vocation
to the Religious State met with opposition at home.
She had recently made an earnest effort to join a
Teresian community (English Dames) long estab
lished in Rovereto ; but, as her parents would not
sanction the step, it had to be abandoned. This
failure, however, did not chill her ardent desire to
give herself wholly to the service of God ; so, when
drawn back from the door of a convent, where she
looked for opportunities of exercising chanty in its
most perfect form, she resolved to seek means of
following her vocation for the present outside the
cloister.

Providence favoured her holy intent, and en-

Oy Letter xxiv,

IN MINOR ORDERS. 135

abled her to found an orphanage, for which pro
vision had been made by a good Priest, whose be
quest to that end had lain neglected for some time.
To this noble work she gave her talents, her energies,
her means, her piety, but without finding encourage
ment beyond that which came from her brother
Antonio. However, having his support and counsel,
she felt certain (and events justified her confidence)
that God would bless her endeavours, and, sooner
or later, give full effect to her vocation.

The solicitude which his mother expressed with
regard to the Subdeaconate arose from the fact that,
though he was ready to receive it, circumstances
prevented him taking it at the time intended.
Letters dimissory could not be obtained easily,
owing to the disorderly condition in which revolu
tionary disturbances had left the diocese and princi
pality of Trent, whose lawful Pastor remained long
in exile.

Antonio had arranged to take his Doctor's
degree at the University, immediately after the time
set down for the Subdeaconate ; but he decided on
deferring it until he had received the more sacred
dignity : much as he loved and respected Science, he
loved and respected Holy Orders more. Another
reason, springing from humility and charity, contri
buted its share to the formation of this decision.
As the fellow students who ought to have been
ready for the Doctorate before himself were not yet
in a position to pass for it, he disliked to wound
their sensibility or seem to be more advanced than

136 L1EE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

they were. This motive he sought to veil in the ex
planation he gave when replying, as follows, to a
letter from his father, who feared that over-study
was injuring his health :

With regard to the Subdeaconship, of which you speak,
I believe I shall not be able to receive it until next year,
for want of letters dimissory. This will enable me to
mature the matter better by a more complete preparation.
As for Doctor's degree, I do not deem it expedient to take
it this year, since, in any event, I must return for Holy
Orders. In this course I am somewhat influenced by my
class-mates, who are unwilling to take their diplomas before
next year ; — nor does it seem becoming in me to be sin
gular. Add to this the difficulty of preparing one's self,
during the warm season, in an extensive range of study, as
well as the counsel I have received from my Professors, not
to speak of the Government regulations. However, I am
thinking of lightening my labours then by undergoing noiu
two of the eight examens which all must pass who wish to
obtain a diploma.

As for my method of life, I rise about six o'clock,
then study till eight, with only one interruption for prayer
and breakfast. From eight until twelve I attend such lec
tures as concern me ; and then, after hearing Mass in the
Church of our saint (St. Antonio) return home and continue
my studies until half-past one. Afterwards, I either take a
stroll, or discuss some point with my companions until two
o'clock, when I sit down to dinner. Dinner over, I amuse
myself for some minutes at a simple game with a friend,
or pass the time in conversation ; after which I repose for
about half an hour, and then take exercise until half-past
four or thereabouts. At that hour, I resume the thread of
my studies until seven ; spending the time from seven until
nine o'clock in recreation with some excellent friends, who
are either Professors in the University or young men of

IN MINOR ORDERS. 137

talent. At nine o'clock, all my household, that is to say
five individuals, including the two estimable young men
who live with me, retire to a small room where we quietly
make our spiritual reading, recite our Rosary, and then sit
down to a light supper ; after which we await, in pleasant
chat, the hour when each one withdraws to his own apart
ment. Then, after having concluded night prayers, I retire
to rest, and sleep the soundest sleep in the world.

I experience unspeakable delight in my studies the
more deeply I enter into them ; but everywhere I find a
great need and a great scarcity of books. You cannot
imagine what straits I am in on that account. Just fancy,
I have not even an Aristotle or a Plato, books I should have
in hand every moment ; and you can hardly realise how
much it grieves me. Well, patience ; everything cannot
be done in an instant : gradually we shall get into shape.
Meanwhile, I mean to do my utmost in order that my well-
beloved father may have no cause to repent having spent
money on me, nor have reason to hesitate doing so in
future. Let me tell you, by the way, that you are held in
great esteem here, and many illustrious persons are desirous
of making your acquaintance. But enough of this — kissing
your hand most respectfully and imploring your blessing,
I am, &c. &c.

PADUA : June 19,

The simple exposition of his daily life given thus
off-hand, to quiet the anxiety of fond parents, is ad
mirable both as to what it revealed and what it
omitted. What it revealed enabled them to see how
faithfully he kept up the pious customs of home amid
the allurements and distractions of University life ;
and what it omitted included the very things which he,
when at home, endeavoured to keep from all but the

1 Epistolario, Letter xxv.

138 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

eye of God alone. ' He was/ says Don Paoli, re
ferring to this letter, ' a man of universal well-doing ;
great in the discharge of the least as well as the most
important duties ; faithful in the observance of all
that belonged to his state ; as perfect a man and
Christian as one subject to human infirmity can be/

LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY. 139

CHAPTER VIII.

ROSMINI LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY AND RECEIVES THE
SUBDEACONATE.

(A.D. 1819.)

Completion of his University course — What the Paduans thought of
him — How the good and the poor missed him — His first duty
on returning home — His gratitude — State in which he found his
Rovereto Academies — The instability of human things — How he
took disappointments — What he deemed a 'great service' — He
establishes a school for poor ecclesiastical students — His own pre
paration for Holy Orders — He receives the Subdeaconate and
makes a short excursion into Venezia — How he bore himself while
travelling — Sees God in everything — Returns home — His guests.

IN three years Rosmini completed his University
course, and returned home. Paduans, who looked
merely at the studious and scholastic aspects of that
course, described it as ' rapid and brilliant ; ' but they
who were privileged to see the more sacred side of
his daily life thought less of the great learning he
had successfully stored up than of the great piety
he had so perseveringly practised during those three
years. They knew, as well as others, that he had
made great progress in ' human and speculative
knowledge,' but they knew better than others that
he had made far greater progress in ' that knowledge
which is divine and practical.' They knew, also,

140 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

that the regularity of his exterior life, which chal
lenged the respect of even the most worldly-minded,
was but the ordinary reflex of the subordination of
his interior life to ' the science of the Saints/

University society, accustomed to college de
partures, did not, perhaps, trouble itself much about
Rosmini's going away ; but the pious and the poor
of Padua soon missed his sweet, familiar face, and
long after felt a sorrow like that which the pious
and the poor experienced when St. Francis of Sales
left the same city ages before. Hence the saying
recorded by Tommaseo : ' a Francis of Sales and an
Antonio of Rovereto come to Padua only at inter
vals far apart.' l

One of the first duties which Rosmini discharged,
after his return home, was to write the following
letter of thanks to Don Leonardi Carpentari, the
estimable Priest under whose immediate care his
University days had been spent :

* The paternal love that you constantly manifested
towards me, during the three years in which it was my good
fortune to dwell with you, the interest you took in my
affairs, the confidence you were wont to place in me, treating
me, who did not deserve it, as more than an ordinary friend,
dispelling even your doubts on grave subjects at my words
or suggestions, (though these words came from a mere youth,
whose sole claim upon you was his dutiful affection) — all
this, which serves to illustrate not only the goodness of your
heart but the strength of your humility and affability, has won
my love in a very decided manner, and awakened in me
the deepest sentiments of respect and gratitude for one so

1 Rivista Cent. Antonio Rosmini per Nicolo Tommaseo. Torino
1855.

PREPARATION FOR THE SUBDEACONATE. 141

virtuous. If it now affords me, as it does, the greatest pleasure
to express what I feel (and what I cannot but feel), judge,
then, what my satisfaction would be, had I an opportunity
of proving my feelings by my acts. How I long for an
occasion of giving this proof ! If there be any service I can
render you, command me without ceremony, and so confer
on me a new favour that will merit gratitude for itself.
ROVERETO : July iSig.1

No sooner was he settled once more at home,
than he applied himself to the revival of the literary
and charitable associations which fell into decay
immediately after he had gone to the University.
He had to start afresh, with companions who were
quite new to such work ; for hardly any of his former
associates, young or old, were any longer able to
rejoin him. Some had passed to eternity, some
were occupied in duties far from Rovereto, and some
had lost the ardour of other days. Even Don Luigi
Sonn, whose co-operation he confidently relied on,
was about to leave. The changes which three short
years had thus effected within a small circle, supplied
him with matter for meditation on the instability of
all things human. But as his heart no longer rested
on human things, such vicissitudes could no longer
affect him as they usually affect others. How cheer
fully he resigned himself to those changes may be
seen from a short letter of farewell to Don Luigi
Sonn, whose continued stay in Rovereto he greatly
desired. Having called at Don Luigi's residence
in order to take leave of his friend, he found him
absent, and then and there wrote thus :

1 Epistolario, Letter xxvi.

1 42 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Rosmini was here this evening, desirous of embracing
you, ere you vanished from his sight. But what species of
phantom you are he knows not ; for, as often as he
stretched forth his arms and drew them to his breast he
caught nothing but — air ; so, they always returned to him
empty. However, he informs you that he has embraced
you in spirit ; and so closely that it will not be easy for you
to escape his grasp. Nay more, he is persuaded that you
will not disdain to give or receive similar embraces. Depart,
then ; he permits you, or rather, he rejoices that you go,
since the end for which you go is a good one. But he
asks that you will not, on your departure, take with you
that which you can leave behind for him without regret, —
he means your love and memory. If, in this your leaving,
you will remember your faithful friend, you will for a cer
tainty be o>{ great serviced him. You understand of what
he speaks.

Put on fortitude and constancy, and, thus armed, fight
valiantly for the common cause, not to destruction but to
conquest.

ROVERETO : August 1819. x

In the benevolent projects that filled young Ros-
mini's mind, Don Luigi had always a place ; for his
sound sense, large experience and great piety, made
him a prized counsellor. Although he would no
longer be close at hand to continue the advice once so
frequently sought, he could still continue the prayers
which had been its effective substitute during the
former separation. This was the ' great service '
which Rosmini craved from him, as from all whose
merits gave them influence at the Court of Heaven.
Another ' great service ' which he at one time ex
pected from him was practical assistance in carrying

) Letter xxvii.

PREPARATION FOR THE SUBDEACONATE. 143

on the useful and charitable little organisations that
had just been restored to working order. To these,
moreover, an addition was about to be made, which
caused the young Acolyte some anxiety, when he
knew that his sage friend's aid was no longer
available.

This addition was a school designed to pre
pare worthy youths for the ecclesiastical state. On
his return from Padua he obtained permission from
his father to use a room in the family mansion for
the purposes of this school, the management of which
now fell wholly on himself. Most of those who
availed themselves of the opportunities his bene
volence thus afforded were poor, and some, who
came recommended by friends at a distance, were
beholden to his generosity for their means of support
while prosecuting the studies that were to fit them
for some regular episcopal seminary.1 He was their
teacher, their guide, their friend whether they were
rich or poor, provided their piety and their industry
were such as to merit his favour.

Meanwhile, he carefully prepared himself for
taking the sacred burden to which he directed the
hearts and minds of others. He had a most exalted
idea of the Priesthood, and drew near to that dignity
with an awe that increased at every step. Although
the first formal step — assuming the clerical habit-
was very simple and still remote from the great
office itself, he took it, as we have noticed, with a

1 The Abate Barnardi supplies many instances of this in his
Giovane eta, &c. of A. Rosmini.

i44 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

fluttering heart, and a deep sense of its grave
import.

This sentiment grew stronger as he approached
the Tonsure and Minor Orders, which he received
with shrinking timidity and solemn reverence. When
the time for taking the Subdeaconate came, he re
joiced at its coming ; nevertheless he was, as we know,
well pleased that Providence caused a delay ; for it
enabled him to make greater preparations, as if all
his life had not been one continuous, though unde
signed, preparation. ' Full surely,' says Don Paoli,
' he entered the sheepfold by the door, because God
had long since furnished him with an abundance of
heavenly endowments, and gifted him, in an especial
manner, with the spirit of prayer, piety of heart,
innocence of soul, and untiring industry, set off by
great wealth of learning.'

While he felt certain that each step which took
him nearer to the Priesthood carried him farther and
farther from the inheritance men of the world prize,
he never, for an instant, thought of turning back ; for
each step brought him nearer and nearer to the only
inheritance his heart had ever craved. But, while
he v/as ready to sacrifice everything to the glory of
God, aye even all the consolation of the most
precious affections, he did not therefore withdraw
from any one, much less from his parents and kindred,
the affections to which they were entitled : on the
contrary, he preserved, increased and gave more HE;
depth to the natural affections, by sanctifying them.

The members of his family who still wished to I

RECEIVES THE SUBDEACONATE. 145

hold him back from the Priesthood hoped that the
hindrances which the state of the times threw in his
way, might, after all, exhaust his patience and induce
him to go no further than he had gone. These
hopes were all the stronger, as there was no good
reason to expect that the Bishop of Trent would be
restored to his diocese for many years ; while some
thought there was reason to believe that young
Rosmini would not go elsewhere for Orders. But
they were mistaken ; and the reason which encouraged
their hopes was the very one that led him to decide
on delaying no longer the next step.

As soon as he was satisfied that the time for
taking this next step had truly come, he went to
Brixen, in Mid-Tyrol, and there, on the 2ist of
November, 1819, received the Subdeaconate, at
the hands of Mons. Carlo, Count of Lodron, then
Bishop of that diocese.

The new Subdeacon having devoted some days
to thanksgiving and pious contemplation, started on
a short tour of recreation, accompanied by Giuseppe
Stoffella, his former class-mate in Don Orsi's Lyceum,
and one of the early associates of his domestic
Academy in Rovereto. They passed from Brixen
into the Venetian province of Friuli, and journeyed
through Udine down to Venice, thence, by Padua to
Verona, homeward. The choice of route was made
partly with the view of visiting some sacred shrines,
and partly in order to call on some University friends
at their homes on the way.

He remained for a few days at the chalybeate

VOL. I. L

i46 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

springs of Recoaro, where he made some acquain
tances who, in after years, reminded him of the fact,
when they sought from him ' the waters of truth/
Recoaro was then a fashionable watering place more
or less familiar with Church dignitaries, but perhaps
never before made attractive by a young ecclesiastic
who secured general admiration, not by a display of
rank, wealth, or learning, but by quiet charities, re
tiring modesty and persistent piety.

Travelling — whether for recreation or not —
seldom interfered with Rostrum's fixed religious
duties, though it usually obliged him to set aside
his regular studies. Every morning he contrived to
hear Mass, sometimes halting for that purpose at
a village church. As he beheld God in everything
and everything in God, the ever-varying scenes
through which he passed served rather to stimulate
than to distract mental prayer.1

When his soul was not thus engaged his mind
turned whatever he saw to the benefit of studies that
still had God for their object. He regarded each day
of his life as a page in his history and resolved that it
should not be a blank one, but filled with good deeds I

1 ' He was accustomed to say that if it were possible man should
• never cease from prayer, for it is the inestimable source of every]
good, whereby man becomes, as it were, master of the very omnipo
tence of God, Who has promised always to hear the petition of those!
who humbly pray to Him. Whenever Antonio Rosmini was at prayer;
his external deportment showed that his soul was entirely absorbed ir!
his Creator, and no one could behold him without being moved tcj
devotion. . . . His religious duties held so high a place in his hear
that he would never omit any of them, unless when incapacitated
illness,' — An Outline of the Life of Antonio Rosmini, translated fron;
the Italian and edited by the Rev. W. Lockhart, p. 78. London, 1856.']

AT HOME AS SUBDEACON. 147

and good thoughts, with practical evidences of his
love to God and man, as well as with progress in
piety and progress in learning. The record was
exclusively for God, though its lessons were destined
to be diffused for the benefit of man, in whose inter
est, as dear to God, he stored up knowledge and
desired to spread it.

On returning from his little tour, he was joined
at Rovereto by some of the young friends whom he
lad visited in the Venetian provinces. They came
to stay with him for a few days and see for them
selves what a great deal of good can be effected by
ittle organizations, such as flourished around his
lome. Two of these friends — Tommaseo and
Vfaurizio Moschini — who were, socially speaking,
Drobably the least of the visitors then at the Rosmini
mansion, soon became its most constant and most
prized guests.

I 2

148 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER IX.

ROSMINI AN HEIR AND A DEACON.
(A.D. 1819-1821.)

Death of his father — Finds himself to be heir general— Why he does
not expect this and why he accepts it — How he meets his new re
sponsibilities — He prepares for the Deaconate — Arrival of the
Bishop of Chioggia in Rovereto — Receives Deacon's orders — De
clines to receive the Priesthood before he is of canonical age — Goes
into a long special preparation for the Priesthood — Establishes a
class of sacred eloquence ; its advantages to himself and others —
His ordinary mode of life in those days — His eager desire to
remedy the evils produced by the false philosophy then popular.

WHILE Rosmini was away on his short excursion,
his father's health showed symptoms of approaching
dissolution, and the careful old man arranged his
worldly affairs that he might apply himself, without
distractions, to the immediate preparation for
eternity. The son was at home in time to soothe]
his father's last days, with the pious attentions which {
none knew better how to bestow. Exactly tw<
months after his beloved Antonio was advance*
to the Subdeaconate, the venerable Pier Modesto,
then in his seventy-fifth year, received the benedic
tion of the dying and passed to everlasting rest.

The last sad offices to the dead were over, anci
the fond son was still ministering consolations to hi;

HE BECOMES AN HEIR. 149

sorrowing mother, when he was informed that, not
withstanding his being in Holy Orders, the will of
his father constituted him inheritor of all the family
possessions. This he neither expected nor desired ;
for, when he chose the Church as his spouse, he
looked upon the choice as naturally leading to a for
feiture of his claim to more than a younger son's
portion. The custom of the country, as well as
special family reasons, led him to believe such would
have been the decision of his father. But there
were other family reasons, and higher customs, which
induced Pier Modesto to arrive at a different con
clusion ; and so he framed his will in terms that
left his eldest son no option but to be his heir.

Amongst these other reasons was the fact that
Ambrogio Rosmini, from whom the estate immedi
ately descended, fully intended to have left all his
property to his nephew Antonio, and not to Antonio's
father. However, as the good Ambrogio died in
testate, Pier Modesto succeeded as heir-at-law ; but,
knowing what his brother's unwritten will was, he
deemed himself a trustee who was bound, in due
time, to give it full effect.

Antonio saw in all this less his father's will than
God's. To God's service, therefore, he resolved to
devote what God had thus given. Generous pro
vision had been made for his widowed mother,
while his brother and sister had no reason to complain
of the ample allowance that had been left to them.

The loss of his father intensified the young Sub-
deacon's piety. Death was a subject he loved to

1 5o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

meditate on, as a never-failing means of detaching
his soul from the perishable things of this life, and
keeping it firmly bound to those that never die. But
there was a vast difference between contemplating
death with the eye of the spirit and viewing it face
to face as an awful fact. He first felt this difference
when he knelt by the bier of the uncle he loved so
tenderly ; but he felt it still more keenly when the
tomb closed on his venerated father, and the eyes of the
flesh could never more look on that dear countenance.
The salutary effect it produced in himself was im
parted to those who leant on him for the conso
lations he was so skilled in administering to all in
affliction.

It did not take him long to readjust the affairs of
his mourning family, and set in order the new respon
sibilities that devolved on himself. He made no
change whatever in the administration of the house.

His influence had so long directed it that the
change of chief was hardly more than nominal.
The management of the property he entrusted to
his cousin Count Salvadori (his mother's nephew)
who had already been the agent for Arnbrogio, and
who continued to serve in the same capacity not only
while Antonio lived, but for some fifteen years after
his death.1 When all the business affairs were duly

1 The Rosmini retainers, whether high or low, usually spent their
whole lives in the service of the family. This was probably due to the
patriarchal relations existing between masters and servants ; some of
these retainers were descended from families that had given servants
to the house for many generations. A household register, kept by
the Countess Rosmini, mother of Don Antonio, is still to be seen in
the Parolini mansion at Rovereto, and the quaint entries in this book

ORDAINED DEACON. 151

arranged, he turned, once more, to his studies.
These had been for a short time interrupted by the
sad duties that gave a special solemnity to those
divisions of his horary which nothing ever inter
rupted — his devotions and his charities.

Before Rosmini had been many weeks settled
down to his new position, it was announced that a
Venetian Bishop was expected to visit Rovereto soon,
for the purpose of consecrating the church of the
Holy Cross, giving Confirmation and holding an
Ordination. Antonio hailed this news as a message
from Providence to prepare for the Deaconate.
Accordingly, he at once directed all his studies and
spiritual exercises to that object. The Bishop ar
rived, the church was consecrated at the appointed
time in May, and Confirmation given at St. Mark's
and elsewhere. The church selected for the Ordina
tion ceremonies was that of St. Mary, within which
lay the ancient sepulchre of the Rosmini family.

There, on June 2, 1820, Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
received Deacon's Orders, from Mons. Manfrin-
Provedi, Bishop of Chioggia, the see of Trent being
still vacant. On the same occasion, Minor Orders
were conferred on two of Antonio's intimate friends
— Bartolomeo Stofella and Antonio Gasperini.

The young Deacon, who approached his new
dignity by a long retreat, had no sooner received
it than he retired again for a few days, to honour its
possession, as he had honoured its advent, by prayer

bear witness to the motherly care of the mistress for each of her at
tendants, and to the attachment of these for their * noble home.'

152 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

and meditation in perfect solitude. When he re
turned to his ordinary duties, he was counselled to
obtain a dispensation for receiving the Priesthood
before the canonical age. There was much propriety
in the advice, because — apart from his known fitness
in every respect but age — the peculiar circumstances
of the diocese would have made such an application
in the highest degree reasonable, and the Bishop
intimated that he thought the course suggested
desirable.

But Rosmini looked up to the Priesthood with
such a feeling of awe, that he could not be per
suaded to shorten the time regularly set down for a
complete special preparation. Although, from his
childhood to the day on which he was urged to ask
for a dispensation, he had been making intellectual
and spiritual provision for ' the wonderful powers
the office conferred ' — although each of the steps
he had already taken, with such extraordinary care,
brought him closer to it in a more and more hallowed
disposition — still he deemed ten months' immediate
preparation as the least he could give to it.

In effect, he went into a ten months' retreat.
During that time he did not, indeed, fail in the social
obligations which belonged to the headship of his
family ; nor did he neglect any of the responsibilities
proper to his station. But he had so disciplined his
heart and mind that these things never held his soul
away from the one object to which he made even
the most ordinary occurrences of every-day life
tributary.

AT HOME AS A DEACON. 153

He himself tells us, in his Logic,1 how, by a proper
economy of time, he was able to get through with ease
the vast amount of work which amazed his friends,
some of whom, like Moschini, supposed that Angels
must have aided him, else he would not have been
able to pray so much, to study so much, to write so
much, and, with all that, never to leave even the
least of his domestic or other duties unfulfilled, or
attended to in a negligent manner. However ab
sorbed in studies he might be, the presence of God
was never out of sight, as frequent short ejaculations
of love and adoration attested. However wrapped
in meditation he might be, the calls of charity to
his neighbour always found him promptly attentive,
for they were but a practical continuation of his
prayer.2

In those days, his domestic Academy and its
ecclesiastical offshoot more than compensated him
for all the trouble he had taken with them. The
estimable youths who flocked around him brought
solace to his mind and heart, while the care of their
spiritual and intellectual interests furnished him with
an excellent means of perfecting his own preparations
for the Priesthood. That nothing should be wanting

1 Logica, p. 879. ' Life is prolonged by economising time/ To
Muratori he said : * I am able to do so much by utilising scraps of
time.'

2 * His love of God was, as the Gospel requires, united to the love
of his neighbour. He loved God in his neighbour and his neighbour
in God. He desired for every one the possession of the only true
good, which is eternal salvation, as well as those temporal goods which
promote, or at least do not hinder the attainment of the true good.'—
An Outline of the Life of Rosmini^ p. 80.

154

LIfE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

to this end, he added a class of sacred eloquence to
the course set down for his new ecclesiastical school,
and undertook its direction himself. The consola
tion and benefit he derived from it were thus men
tioned to his friend Paravia, in a letter dated April 5,
1820: ' On Thursdays I have with me a little
gathering of young Clerics, and we make together
some exercises in eloquence which I relish exceed
ingly, because charity and peace reign amongst us.
And do you not deem this profit to all of us ? I
assure you that I am very grateful to God for it.'

Thus, before he had received Priest's Orders, he
was doing for his native diocese the services of an
experienced seminary professor, and, at his own
expense, closing up the dangerous gap which revo
lutionary disturbances had so long kept open. In
another part of the letter from which we have just
quoted, he gave his friend a passing glance at some
of the things he was then daily doing :

' My philosophical writings are at present in
repose. Charity has forced me to devote myself to
sacred eloquence. I have written some sixteen
discourses. I have also prepared other things for
the press, but, if I once begin to publish, it is not
easy to say where I shall stop. As yet, however,
I have no serious thought of that. In the morn
ing, I sometimes write verses ; in the evenings
I teach philosophy ; then I converse with some
friends and write to others ; I look after house
hold affairs, answer letters, and see to any other
business that requires my attention.' This was all he

AT HOME AS A DEACON. 155

saw fit to say himself; but Tommaseo tells us that
for the greater part of the year 1820, as a prepara
tion for the Priesthood, he redoubled his religious
exercises and ' more rigorously than ever observed
the rules which kept him to the practices of a recluse
amid the duties of secular life.'

It was then difficult — it still is and ever will be
difficult — for worldly-minded men to understand how
a learned and wealthy young noble could toil with
such unflagging industry for others, or for the mere
purpose of reaching, in the most fitting manner, an
end that seemed to them so much ' a matter of
course' as taking Holy Orders. His early risings,
his prolonged meditations, his frequent fastings, his
severe studies, his patient zeal and exhausting
labours as a voluntary teacher, his unwearied and
punctilious attention to the least as well as to the
most important matters connected with household
routine — all such things formed a greater puzzle to
the local worldlings than his charities, or his estab
lishing Academies, or his abstention from the gaieties
of society, or his deep interest in the moral, intellec
tual, arid material well-being of his neighbour. But,
what most amazed them was that he continued to
combine all these, and yet to enjoy better health and
far more happiness than those who lived in what the
world calls ' ease and comfort.'

In the autumn of 1820= the first season of his
restored Academy was formally terminated in a way
befitting its objects. He has, himself, left us this
brief account of the closing scenes, sketched inciden-

156

LIEE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN1.

tally in a letter to Paravia, dated September 23, 1820 :
' We made a solemn conclusion of this year on St.
Januarius' day, which we celebrated with poetic and
other compositions. Stofella contributed an ode,
and I a sermon. The cheerfulness, the holy cordi
ality, the solidity of the conversations were admirable,
and we enjoyed ourselves much. The order of the
festivity was this : — Don Orsi, one of our members,
celebrated Mass in the morning at the altar of my
little domestic oratory which was specially prepared
for the occasion and had as a chief adornment the
portrait of St. Philip, who is the Protector of our
Society. After dinner, the customary discourse was
delivered, then came a prose recitation by the secre
tary and next followed the poetry, which each one
brought ; finally there was the Te Deum, after which
we had the evening's repast.'

In the letter giving these bare outlines of the
interesting scenes with which his home was then
familiar, he discussed other topics that pressed more
on his mind, which was keenly observant of the
moral and intellectual dangers of the day. Not the
least threatening of those dangers was that re
sulting from an influx of the sensist philo
sophy which had succeeded in so corrupting literary
taste that ' society ' was beginning to disrelish the
reading of anything supposed to have in it a flavour
of religion.

Ey way of set-off or slight check to this, he
urged Paravia to publish, forthwith, a good edition
of a little book entitled Dio del Cotta e del

AT HOME AS A DEACON. 157

Lemene, and made some suggestions of a practical
kind as to the best way of bringing it into note,
adding : ' Good people would all the more desire it,
since in our times most literary men are seen to
neglect authors in whom — no matter how high be
the merits of the composition — they fear to meet
with religion. The mediocre beauties of a profane
scribe are extolled to the skies, while the exquisite
excellencies of a writer on sacred subjects are
allowed to fall to the ground/

One of the objects upon which he had set his
heart was to remedy this growing evil, and to lead
the popular taste back to the pure fountains of
thought from which the shallow but plausible sensists
had been successfully turning it away. ' Like all the
truly great intellects which God, from time to time,
has raised up within His Church, such as St.
Augustine, Boetius, and S. Thomas Aquinas, Ros-
mini felt intensely the supreme utility, or rather the
necessity, of reuniting divine and human science into
one great whole, and reconciling reason with Faith, in
order to demonstrate that the works of God never
contradict each other, that Grace is easily engrafted
upon nature, and that Revelation and its mysteries
do not destroy but direct and exalt the under
standing.' l This was the task to which God evi
dently called him, and to its execution, under the
guidance of Providence, he bent all his energies.

1 An Outline of Rosmints Life, &c.

158 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER X.

ROSMINI A PRIEST.

(A.D. I82J.)

The feast of his canonical majority — He draws near to the Priesthood
with fear and trembling— Goes to Chioggia for Ordination— How
he received the sacred dignity— A retreat of thanksgiving at Venice,
where he celebrates his first Mass — Returns to Rovereto unper-
ceived in order to escape a public reception — Thanks the Bishop
who ordained him — His energy and aspirations shown by a letter
to Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe — Celebrates his first public
Mass — The day one of popular rejoicings in Rovereto — His mother
gives a grand banquet — How all this affects him — The ovations
over, he goes into retreat on the Mount — Leaves absolute solitude
for the commencement of a five years' home retirement — The
principle of Passivity as he knew and practised it — Key to the
consistency of his course — How he' distributed the ordinary duties
of the day — Every hour for God — Love of gravity and of order —
The best qualities of his childhood and youth grown perfect in his
manhood.

THE feast of the Annunciation, in the year 1821,
was Rosmini's twenty-fourth birthday. He cele
brated it with special solemnity, as it was the day of
his canonical majority, and close at hand was the
time chosen for the great event to which he had been
so long looking forward with trembling diffidence
and fervent devotion. * With what deep-felt piety,'
says Don Paoli, * with what largeness of heart and

READY FOR THE PRIESTHOOD. 159

humility of spirit, Antonio Rosmini approached the
sacred Ordination we leave to the judgment of those
who have been able to form an adequate estimate of
the greatness of his soul.'

Much, indeed, did he fear to take upon him
self an office which he deemed a burden requiring
the strength of angels to bear it fittingly ; there
fore he drew near it, as men did of old, with an
overawed heart, and with painfully scrupulous
care. None had ever more thoroughly considered
all the dangers which encircle an Ambassador of
God — none had ever more thoroughly fenced
himself against these dangers. He had so trained

o o

himself to spiritual watchfulness, he had so schooled
himself in meekness and charity, that neither
personal wrongs, disappointments, ingratitudes, an
noyances, nor malice in any of its forms could any
longer much disturb him ; nor could the applause
or the abuse of the world, nor the dignities or in
dignities of this life, any longer much affect him.

Why then did he so greatly fear ? Because, like
St. John Chrysostom, who also greatly feared the
responsibilities of the Priesthood, he felt that he who
had to tremble before God for his own sins and soul,
should tremble much more ( when he found himself
charged with the sins and souls of others ; ' because
he felt that whoever had to exercise the sacred
duties of this sublime office ought to possess the
purity and the sanctity and the strength of an Angel,
whereas he was only a man. But, when the time
came, all this fear fell at the feet of the Lord Who

160 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN2.

had regarded his humility, for it was very sincere
and very great.1

In compliance with the invitation of Mons.
Manfrin-Provedi he left Rovereto so as to be in
Chioggia (near Venice) during the solemn services of
Holy Week. These services closed with the Ordina
tions of Holy Saturday (April 2ist of that year),
when Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was consecrated a
Priest of the Church of God. No sooner did he rise
up with the awful dignity fully upon him, than he
felt like yielding to emotions which, in kindred
circumstances, made St Basil swoon ; but he was
strengthened by remembering St. Chrysostom's
cheering counsel to St. Basil : * Be of good courage
trusting in Christ, Who has called you to His Holy
Ministry.' This gift of 'good courage/ based on
Christ, was amongst the first of the heavenly
favours then bestowed upon Rosmini ; and as
to the abundance of the celestial gifts he received
from God on that occasion, ' they may be inferred,'
says Don Paoli, ' from the magnanimity and con
stancy with which he consecrated all his life and
all his means to the service of God, and the salvation
of his neighbour.'

A few hours after his Ordination, he set out for

1 ' He used to say that true humility not only shows itself before
God but also before men, and he was always foremost in the practice
of this exalted Christian virtue. Humility was one of those virtues
that gained him the affection not only of his disciples but of all who
approached him. They wondered to see a man who was raised so
high above other men by his lofty intellect, his vast and profound eru
dition, not only making no display of his rare gifts but appearing quite
unconscious of them.' — An Outline of the Life of Rosmini, &c. p. 84.

ORDAINED PRIEST. 161

Venice, on a visit to his friend Mons. Traversi, then
Rector of the college attached to the Church of St.
Catherine. There he celebrated his first Mass, on
Easter Sunday, 1821, and there he remained, as the
guest of the Superior, in a retreat of thanksgiving
for a few days.1 This retirement was far dearer to
his heart than the distracting festivities which the
affection and admiration of family and friends in
3.overeto were preparing for the immediate return of
one so loved, and who had just been vested with
the sacred dignity to which he * was called as Aaron
was.'

To avoid the kindly demonstrations he had been
warned to expect at home, he kept all in ignorance
of the day and probable hour of his return. It was
generally supposed that he would come back in order
to celebrate his first public Mass on the last Sunday
of April ; but they who thought so were disappointed.
Although he reached home on the night of Saturday,
the 28th of April, his return was known only to
those who would respect his wish to be shielded,
for a little while longer, from the too expressive

1 Some say, on the authority of Don A. Gasperini, that he cele
brated his first Mass at St. Mark's, Rovereto, on the 3rd of May —
twelve days after his Ordination. But Don Gasperini evidently refers
to his first public Mass in patria ; for, apart from the fact that Tom-
maseo knew from himself that his first Mass was celebrated in Venice,
as we say, on Easter Sunday, it is not likely that Rosmini, a lover of
seclusion, would have waited so long for a public occasion when he
had, the while, so many private opportunities. Moreover, Don Basilio,
who was in a position to test the family traditions, has assured us that
there was no doubt he had said ( a private Mass in his own home on
the Sunday before the 3rd of May.' It is then very probable that he
had celebrated not only two but three or more Masses before that
day.

VOL. I. M

162 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMItfl.

kindness of his fellow citizens. He spent Sunday
in the quiet of home, and gave his family alone the
privilege and joy of assisting, in the domestic oratory,
at his first private Mass in Rovereto.

Soon after breakfast ' on that happy Sunday,' as
he informed Tommaseo, he penned a short letter to
the Bishop of Chioggia, intending it to be the first
written since his return home, raised to the rank
which brought him

Hard by the Throne, where angels bow and fear,
E;en while he had a name and mission here.

That letter was as follows : —

Having reached home in safety, I feel it to be my duty
to express to your Lordship, in writing, my lively senti
ments of gratitude for the signal kindness and courtesy I
have received at your hands. For it is to you, my Lord,
that I am indebted for what of all things I most prize —
namely, my Ordination to the Priesthood. No treasure is I
comparable to that, and in exchange for it there is nothing
I possess, or ever shall possess, which I could give, unless itl
be a soul that will ever ardently cherish the recollection oJ|
so great a favour.

But God will reward your Lordship in my behalf, and)
I feel sure, you will be content with such an exchang(
The many tokens of regard I met with from all th<
members of your household (amongst whom you deignecj
to receive me without any merit of mine) will also form «•)
subject of undying remembrance. I beg you to convey t<
all those distinguished personages my most cordial ac
knowledgments. Your Lordship is held in great estee
here and ardently longed for. We hope to see you, fo
certain, next Autumn ; and, as for me, I trust you will c
me the honour of availing yourself of my home, such as it i

ORDAINED PRIEST. 163

O ! if we had your Lordship for our Bishop ! But may God
dispose everything as He pleases !
ROVERETO : April 29, 1821. 1

During the evening of the same day, though he
needed mental and physical repose, he wrote one of
those letters which are so characteristic of his energy
and of his aspirations : no less so are the circumstances.
While going to and coming from Chioggia, he had
occasion to notice how nobly Catholic Germans con
trasted with those who were not Catholic, and as his
heart was filled with prayerful longings for the con
version of the erring ones, he poured out his feelings
on the subject in a letter to the saintly Priest,
Prince Alexander von Hohenlohe — uncle of His
Eminence the present Cardinal Gustavus von Hohen
lohe, Archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of Sta.
Maria Maggiore, and Bishop of Albano. The letter
was a long and affectionate one, written in Latin.

It conveyed not only his ardent desire for the re
turn of the whole German race to the Church of God,
but his hope that the pious Priest, through whose
intercession our Lord was pleased to effect so many
astonishing cures, should also be made the means of
healing the wounds which error had inflicted, so
that, by curing his countrymen of their heresies, he
might restore them to religious sanity.

Thus, while all Rovereto, yielding to the pious
affections of Catholic brotherhood, was panting, as it
were, to show publicly its reverence for a young
citizen who had just received Priest's Orders, there

1 Epistolario, Letter xxviii.
M 2

1 64 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

was he, giving no thought to that, or to himself at all,
but wholly occupied with the priestly wish to gather in
the strayed sheep of his Master and have them all,
like the dear children of Rovereto, sheltered within
the one fold of the one Shepherd. How like
Rosmini this was ! — how significant of the apostolic
labours that were, through all his after life, to find
him so constantly and self-sacrificingly directing his
every energy to the gathering in of the strayed
sheep of that Good Shepherd Who had called him
to aid in ministering to the flock.

On the following Thursday, the 3rd of May,
Don Antonio celebrated his first public Mass in the
parish church of Rovereto, amidst the reverent
rejoicings of the whole town. The event made the
day a kind of municipal festival. Clergy and people
spontaneously united in an ovation that was meant
to express their hearty love and high esteem for the
young Priest whose virtues and talents had endeared
him to all, and whose blessing every one was eager
to receive. Don Antonio would have fled from all this
had not charity obliged him, as often before on less
important occasions, to surrender his own inclinations.

Not only in churches and streets, and in the
dwellings of kindred and friends, but at home, the
quiet he coveted was affectionately denied him ; for
the Countess Rosmini, who knew well how much
her son disliked to be the object of such attentions,
and who had therefore seldom forced him to the sacri
fice, claimed a mother's right to honour the day with a
sumptuous banquet. It was not merely her son she

ORDAINED PRIEST. 165

proposed to entertain, but one who had just been
made an Ambassador of God, and who happened to
be her son. At her beck, relations and friends, as
well as the local Clergy, thronged the palatial rooms
of the family mansion : music in the garden and in
the spacious entrance halls, congratulatory speeches
in the dining-room, and complimentary sonnets in
the drawing-rooms, gave great joy to all except to
Rosmini, who took the demonstration as a penance
which was only softened by the reflection that what
pained him pleased others, and that, after all, it was
for the priestly office rather than for himself the
honour was intended.

The ovation over, several other days of con
gratulatory greetings had to be gone through, ere he
was allowed to betake himself to the complete
solitude for which he longed. Then he went to
the villa on the Mount, where, eight years before, he
had composed ' The Day of Retirement,' and where,
once again, he communed all alone -with God, as in
the freshest days of boyhood. While thus enjoying
the delightful seclusion of his favourite Casino del
Monte he wrote to his friend Paravia, saying : ' I am
more and more enamoured of this solitude which is
full of God/ x Yes, that was its special attraction
for him — * it was full of God : ' that was the one
charm he sought in all places and things.

Having remained a week in strict retirement
on the Mount, he returned to town and commenced
that beautiful home life which may be called a five

1 Lettre giovanili al Paravia, No. xxvii.

i66 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

years' retreat — sometimes on the Mount, sometimes at
his town residence, sometimes in a rural parish whose
wearied Pastor needed a substitute, sometimes in the
midst of the youths who clung to him as their master
and friend, sometimes with those whose intellectual,
moral or physical needs sought his charitable aid, but
always in circumstances that were full of God, always
where he could best sanctify himself and serve his
neighbour, always so as to keep unbroken the con
tinuity of a religious retreat, and of studies which
were as golden links in that continuity. During
this long retreat, the rule of life he had laid down
for himself in earlier years was put into force with
the utmost rigour. This rule took its character from
that ' principle of passivity ' or waiting on God's Will
which he thus pithily set forth in his Diary :

* I, who am a most unworthy Priest, have deter
mined to base my whole life on the two following
principles : i. To apply myself to the amendment
of my enormous defects, and to the purifying of my
soul from the iniquity into which it has been sunk
even from birth, and to do this without going in
quest of other occupation, or attempting things on
behalf of my neighbour, seeing that, of my own
self, I am absolutely powerless to do anything
really good for any one. 2. I purpose not to refuse
such offices of charity to my neighbour as Divine
Providence may think fit to offer me, because the
Almighty can make use of anything for His works
and therefore even of me ; and, in case He does
make use of me, I purpose to preserve a spirit of

ORDAINED PRIEST. 167

perfect indifference as regards any special work of
charity, resolved to perform (in so far as my feeble
will is concerned) that work which may be offered
to me as zealously as I would any other.'

Here we have the key-note to that consistency
of character which blent the * active ' and ' passive '
so harmoniously in his whole course. Here, too, we
see the main spring of that comprehensive but well
ordered charity to which he devoted his unwearied
energies — that charity

Which, like the perfume-giving rose.
Possesses still what it bestows,

—that charity which embraced all for love of Christ
and would not exclude even the uncharitable. And
here also we find the clue of that profound humility
which won from him a lifelong homage — that humility
which is the genuine test of sanctity, and which
caused him, like a St. Francis of Sales and a St.
Ephrem of Edessa, to magnify trifling defects into
'vices.' As a sunbeam reveals the floating specs
that are too minute to be seen in the clearest ordinary
light, so his sensitive conscience, lit up by humility,
discovered blemishes which no other human eye
could discern.

. . . O clear conscience and upright,
How doth a little failing wound thee sore ! l

His life, during these five years, was regulated
by a rule based on this ' principle of passivity/ that
is to say, the principle of ' relying on Providence to

1 Dante's Purg. iii. 8, 9 (Gary).

1 68 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

direct our steps.' Rosmini's strong faith in Divine
Providence was based on the profound conviction
that God is always watching over us with tender
care; that He never fails to manifest His Will to
those who sincerely desire it ; and that they who
guide their course by the Will of Him Who is
infinitely wise, as well as infinitely good and mighty,
are sure to be called upon to employ all their talents
in a way that must, in the end, be best for the glory
of God and for the sanctification of themselves and
of their neighbour.

This principle of ' passivity ' should not, there
fore, be for a moment confounded with the false
system of the Quietists, for it does not mean, nor
does it lead to, inaction or apathy, but on the
contrary, as the whole of his own life proved, it
leads to an unceasing activity which shapes its course
according to the indications of Providence as seen
in circumstances. He felt that a rule based on such
a principle should commend itself to the judgment
of every one who sought to act wisely for himself
and others, for it simply enjoined that * when you
have certain powers of action you must be prudent
in ascertaining what is the best use you can make of
them/

The rule he based on this principle, for his
home retirement, did not differ, except in details,
from that which he afterwards formulated when
he came to legislate for the spiritual government
of a Religious Order. It provided for very early
rising, followed by an hour's meditation ; then for

ORDAINED PRIEST. 169

a quarter of an hour's study of some ascetic
subject ; then for a special preparation for Mass ;
then for Mass, followed by a long thanksgiving ;
then for spiritual reading, followed by a very
light breakfast ; then for a short walk, with a
book, in the garden where he once played at monk,
and now, as often as circumstances permitted, recited
the Divine Office ; then for a visit of consolation or
piety, or the reception of some guest, or the perform
ance of some corporal work of mercy ; then for
two or three hours close study, followed by an exam
ination of conscience before the Blessed Sacrament ;
then for dinner, followed by recreation with his family
or friends ; then for a ramble in the country, his
steps generally leading him where charity needed
his presence ; then for more study, followed by the
recital of his Office, by spiritual reading and by
prayer.

So, throughout the whole day, every hour
was portioned off with a system that varied little
from the set rules of after life ; and every hour was
given to God or to his neighbour for God. Twice
a day he made formal visits to the Blessed Sacra
ment. Once a day, usually after Mass, he carefully
read a portion of the Holy Scriptures (and in this
way had read the whole Bible through at least seven
times). He went to confession regularly every week ;
and, besides a rigid retreat of ten or twelve days every
year, he had a rigid retreat of four days before Lent
and another before Advent — all special retreats
within his prolonged general retreat.

170 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Like St. Thomas of Aquin his devotion,
fervent yet composed at all times, was most glowing
in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. He cele
brated Mass with the greatest solemnity, seldom
finishing under thirty minutes : as he hardly ever con
tented himself with less than twenty minutes thanks
giving, or less than twenty minutes preparation,
this grandest act of the day held him absorbed in
the Adorable Eucharist for nearly an hour and a half
every morning. Besides the two formal visits which
he afterwards paid to our Lord in the Tabernacle,
he frequently spent in the Sacred Presence some
portion of the 'spare time' which he allowed himself,
and always went there when his spirit needed refresh
ment, or his mind was overcast. He dearly loved
to be thus, at times, all alone in the family oratory ;
but he also liked to have the family and household
join him there in the morning and at noon, and again
in the evening, when they said the Rosary together,
and lastly, before going to bed, when he gave them
the Blessing.1

All these devotions, the least as well as the
greatest, were performed with solemn composure and
earnestness.2 He greatly disliked to see anything

1 The ' family oratory ' was originally an ante-chamber off the draw
ing-room corridor. Rosmini's uncle Ambrogio threw down the wall
fronting the corridor, and by introducing sliding doors converted the
ante-chamber into a sanctuary, and the corridor into the nave of a
good-sized domestic chapel. When this is not used for family prayers
the sliding doors are closed. Then the nave becomes a corridor
once more, and the sanctuary the oratory. It has a handsome altar
decorated by the skilful hand of Ambrogio Rosmini, who also painted
for it a fine altar-piece representing the Crucifixion.

2 ' His religious duties held so high a place in his heart, that he

ORDAINED PRIEST. 171

whatever done in a hurried or slovenly manner ; but
his dislike became horror when hurry or carelessness
marred the gravity which should accompany every
kind of devotional exercise. It shocked him much
to hear prayers mumbled, or dashed off with an
irreverent rapidity, as though they were the utter
ances of ill-adjusted automata. Nothing of this was
to be found where his example prevailed or his
instructions were attended to, as in his own home,
where the utmost reverence and recollection made it
evident that prayer was no mere lip service. * Surely/
he used to say to Tommaseo, 'petitions to the King
of kings should not be less carefully articulated or
less decorously presented than those to an earthly
sovereign or even a human courtier.'

While a layman, Rosmini had ever been attentive
to the social duties of his state, full of courtesy to
all, be their rank what it may ; but, as a Priest, he
seemed to be still more attentive and courteous. He
had always maintained that the gentleness and
refinement of manner, which ought to characterise
every well-bred Christian, should find its fullest
development in the Priest. His own life illustrated
what he had thus maintained. The politeness
known as personal may, and often does, exist with-

would never omit any of them, unless when incapacitated by illness.
Amidst so many occupations of the greatest importance, he never failed
to make his daily meditation, and he spent more than half an hour in
celebrating Mass. He used to divide the Divine Office into three
parts, to be said at stated times, and even when the most distinguished
persons came to visit him, he never departed from his rule, always
leaving the company quietly in order to recite the office.' — An Outline
of Rosmini' s Life, &c. &c., p. 78.

172 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

out any politeness of the heart. But, in him, they
were admirably blent together ; for, with elegance of
manners and the due observance of the forms of
polished society, he combined habitual benevolence
and a complete absence of selfishness in his inter
course with all classes. Humility and simplicity
regulated all his conversations.1

His home was as orderly as a monastery, his
household as pious and regular as a religious com
munity ; yet, no one thought the master severe or
in the least degree puritanically strict. All was done
so blandly, that no one had occasion to feel the de
pressing effects of inconsiderate rigour, and there
was no want of a judicious admixture of the social
enjoyments that lend to life the only charm which
worldly eyes see.

In his boyhood he 'played at monk' with all the
seriousness of manhood : in his manhood the play
became a reality with a seriousness proportionate
to the change ; but he took pains to conceal the
depth and force of his asceticism from the sight of
all save God, for Whose seeing he did everything.
In his boyhood the impulse of benevolence was
strong, and he gathered his greatest delights from
the exercise of practical charity : in his manhood this

1 ' It happened more than once that some distinguished personages,
not personally acquainted with him, attracted by his celebrity, came to
visit him, and after conversing with him for some time without know
ing that he was the Priest they so much desired to see, they learned,
to their great astonishment, that they had enjoyed the society of the
Abate Rosmini, not being able to understand how such philosophical
science could be united with such simplicity of manner. They had
never before seen the true philosopher and the true Christian com
bined.' — An Outline of 'Rosmini 's Life, &c., p. 84.

ORDAINED PRIEST. 173

impulse was still stronger, but so was the principle
which directed it to the most practical purpose ; the
delight was greater, but so was the seasoned judg
ment which regulated it. In his boyhood he made
instruction and edification the pivots on which all his
amusements revolved ; in his manhood they formed
the golden hinges on which all his studies turned, and
the studies were as the gateway to his only pleasure,
which was ' to worship God and know His works,'
for the salvation of his own soul and the well-being
of his neighbour.

174 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NL

CHAPTER XI.

ROSMINI S ' PASSIVITY ' AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE FIRST

YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD.

(A.D. 1821.)

He endeavours to establish a Society of Friends — Why the attempt
fails — Love of solitude and of association — He combines both — His
views on co-operative action for good ends — A society for the pub
lication of wholesome literature — Doing for God and truth what the
irreligious do for the devil and error — Prefers the Latin to the
vulgar tongue for ecclesiastical purposes — Is invited to join the
Turinese society for publishing good books — What he says on the
subject — Rebukes a friend for having praised him — How beautiful
a thing it is to please God — His efforts to popularise serious sub
jects — Charity calls him to active parochial work — How he minis
ters to the dying pastor of a sorrowing flock — Why he refuses to
take permanent charge of a parish— His funeral oration on the
death of Don Scrinzi.

DURING the first four months of his Priesthood, Ros-
mini's attention was often called to the careless manner
in which many Roveretans went through their ordi
nary religious duties in public. He could not help
seeing also that some people who deemed them
selves to be good Catholics were allowing the claims
of ' business ' to displace those of practical piety ;
and other some were indulging in petty rivalries that
often led to bitter contentions and animosities. The
parochial clergy were doing what they could to
remedy these evils, and Rosmini, looking at all the
circumstances, considered it to be his duty to aid

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 175

them in a way that would be unobtrusive, but, if well
supported, very effective. Like all his plans for the
spiritual and moral amelioration of his neighbours,
this took the form of a Society ; he called it * the
Association of Friends.' It was to be composed of
persons who, without trenching on their particular
duties in Secular Life, should conform to a common
rule for leading a strictly Religious Life ; a kind of
confraternity seeking to harmonise, as far as possible,
the every-day interests and occupations of the world
with the regularity and consolations of the cloister.
It was to include members of all ages and con
ditions. They were to have for their first object
and constant aim the honour and glory of God and
their own sanctification ; their second and incidental
object contemplated the well-being of others.

But, while all the candidates who offered them
selves for admission were willing enough to carry
out the secondary ends of the proposed society, and
devote themselves to works of spiritual, corporal and
intellectual charity for their neighbour, very few saw
the need, or relished the task, of looking first of all
to the complete amendment of their own lives, to the
correction of their own moral defects, so as to ensure
their own sanctification. They desired to let that
come of itself, as a consequence of the good they
might do to others. He, however, could not be in
duced to alter the design, and therefore the associ
ation had very few members, — in fact, it was confined
to his own household and to some young friends who
were more or less dependent on him.

As of this, so of other efforts of a similar

i76

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

character, through want of associates with a spirit
like his own, his holiest projects in these days did
not pass beyond the stumbling-block which required
that spiritual chanty should begin with one's self. To
all it seemed far pleasanter to try and sanctify their
neighbour at once, rather than to trouble themselves
with efforts at their own sanctification, as an essential
preparation for undertaking the same work in the
interest of others. But these discouraging obstacles
did not dismay him ; for he never lost an oppor
tunity of making new attempts at associating men
for the spiritual, moral, and intellectual benefit of
themselves and others.

It may seem strange that one who was so fond
of solitude should be no less fond of association.
But the object he sought in solitude was identical
with that which he sought in association — it was God.
Without that object neither solitude nor association
would have had any special charm for Antonio Ros-
mini. His purpose was to combine solitude and
association so as to make each contribute to the
strength and beauty of the other, while both, inter
woven, served at once to stimulate and shield ' piety,
self-government, study and literature, for the glory
of God and good of man.' Like St. Gregory ot
Nazianzen (as quoted by Cardinal Newman) he
might well say of his choice :

And so, 'twixt these and those, I struck my path,

To meditate with the free solitary,

Yet to live secular, and serve mankind.1

1 Church of the Fathers— Basil and Gregory

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 177

Rosmini's views as to the great utility of associ
ations for benevolent and kindred purposes, and his
skill in planning and directing them, were already
known throughout Italy. Hence, his advice and
co-operation were eagerly sought for by philan
thropic men in various parts of the country, when
they happened to be engaged in starting some sort
of society for the well-being of their fellows. Im
mediately after his Ordination, more than one appeal
of this kind reached him. Amongst others Sr.
Battaggia, the principal of an important printing
and publishing firm at Venice, solicited his counsel
and aid in establishing a society for the publication
of good books. In reply, Rosmini set forth his
views in a way that enables us to have a glimpse at
the state of Italian literature in the first quarter of
this century :

I am delighted to see that you always take a pleasure
in promoting the interests of religion and virtue by the art
you profess. When things of this kind are directed to their
natural end, they acquire sterling worth, and the profits we
derive from them are then genuine. Continue to foster and
increase these worthy sentiments. The idea of forming
a society like ' The Catholic Society of Turin ' might
present a good opportunity of achieving much and of
gathering fruit in abundance. A similar idea had occurred
to my own mind, suggested by my experience of the power
which books hold over men, — for demoralization if bad,
and for edification if good. In our days this is, perhaps,
the mightiest of powers, and its activity one of the most far-
reaching. Evil-minded men, having perceived this, have
availed themselves of it to an alarming extent. c Why,'
said I to myself, ( why cannot Catholics oppose weapon to

VOL. I, N

i78

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

weapon, and employ for the spiritual advancement of their
brethren what others make use of for their destruction ?
Shall we suffer ourselves to be outwitted or surpassed by
our enemies in discernment and energy ? Shall we allow
them to do more for the Devil than we do for God ? Or
shall we let the love of evil display more ingenuity than the
love of virtue ? '

Hence it is that I used frequently to devise schemes
for turning against our enemies the very means they em
ployed against us. Many times the idea of a publishing
company, supported by generous friends, has occurred to
me, as a means by which the most salutary and Christian
doctrines might be everywhere diffused. The moving prin
ciple of this Typographical Society should be a pure love of
religion. Having this, it should brightly exhibit disinter
estedness, energy, good taste, and accuracy — in short, per
fection in all things. This holy union once firmly estab
lished, after having given unmistakable proof of good
purpose, would assuredly meet with encouragement from
the Episcopacy, the Government and all good Christians.
These, if we but knew how to make its existence known to
them, would naturally become co-operators in the good
work ; — some by their exertion to circulate and dispose of
books, some by aiding in their composition, correction and
embellishment, and some again by furnishing the society
with the funds required to carry it on. The investment, if
well directed, would appear to be a safe one ; for, even in
these days, there are not wanting persons who are well dis
posed. But everything would depend on the good sense
and foresight of those who should direct it at the outset.
Having had the pleasure of making your acquaintance and
of knowing your high and religious tone of thought as well
as your enterprising spirit and your training, I already
begin to entertain hopes that what I was revolving in my I
own mind may now be put into execution by others.

I am not well acquainted with the Turinese Society,
nor do I know what vicissitudes it may have suffered during

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 179

the recent disturbances in that city. You tell me that a
similar one has been set on foot at Rome. It would be
well if its plan and purpose were made public. Were you
to undertake a like work in the Venetian Kingdom, and
were the other two firmly established and prudently di
rected, all three might be so combined together that, as
their object is one, they might work together on friendly
terms. Thus, being as it were three branches of the same
stem, each one might influence and co-operate in the pro
sperity of the others. The affair would, in that way, assume
importance. Doubtless, difficulties will present themselves,
and, therefore, a wise and prudent direction is indispen
sable. Think the matter over, at all events, and commu
nicate the result to me. Even the mere conception of great
projects is praiseworthy.
ROVERETO : May 20, I82I.1

In the same letter, having had occasion to speak of
a little work entitled Memoriale Vit<z Sacerdotalis,
he took the opportunity of defending the use of
Latin, as far preferable to the vulgar tongue in
books of that class. What he then and there said
derives importance from the fact that they who
never knew him as he really was, have since charged
him with having always deprecated the employment
of Latin for this or any like purpose. Surely the
words in which he expressed himself to Battaggia —
and they are even less decided than those he often
uttered on the subject in later years — were not
such as he would have written if he had thought it
desirable or expedient to dispense with the language
which the Church has solemnly made its own : —

I learn from Fontana that you would have no reluc-
1 EpistolariO) Letter xxix.

i8o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

tance to reprint the little Latin work (Memoriale, &c.) which
is in use among Ecclesiastics. For my part I believe it to
be an excellent book, and when better known it will have a
good sale. I should advise you, however, to have it printed
in Latin, which is easily understood by all. Moreover, it
is the language of Ecclesiastics so long as the Church
makes use of it in her sacred functions and in her decrees.
We should seek to maintain it in its vigour as much as
possible, in accordance with the intention of the Council of
Trent, which refuses even the Minor Orders to those who
are ignorant of it. Besides, as we are accustomed to hear
in Latin the words of Holy Scripture and the public
prayers of the Church (of which this little work is for the
most part composed), which possess such strength and
unction, these if rendered in Italian would seem to us shorn
of their beauty and force, however excellent the translation
might be in itself.

While the Venetian publisher was consulting
Rosmini about the formation of a society for ' the
diffusion of Christian knowledge through the press,'
he was also in correspondence, on the same subject,
with the Marquis Tapparelli d'Azeglio — a Pied-
montese noble who had already inaugurated a kin
dred movement in Turin, where his great influence,
learning and energy promised to make it a success.1
In one of his letters to this nobleman Battaggia
suggested the importance of securing the active
support of the young Roveretan Priest whose virtues
and talents he dwelt on with much enthusiasm.
The Marquis, who already knew of Don Antonio's

1 This marquis was the father of that Massimo d'Azeglio, who
was son-in-law of Manzoni, and who is known in England as a literary
man, an artist, a soldier, and as a statesman of some repute in the
service of Sardinia.

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 181

zealous efforts to restore a healthy tone to Italian
literature, gladly acted on the suggestion. His in
vitation, which was expressed in the most cordial
terms, drew from Rosmini the following reply :—

You cannot believe how great was my consolation on
learning from Signer Battaggia that there exists a society
having for its object the promotion of the real well-being of
man and the holy religion of Jesus Christ, chiefly by means
of the publication and diffusion of good books. These are
the arms made use of but too frequently by unbelievers ;
and alas ! with such arms they far too often make serious
havoc. More than once I have pondered over the fact, and
God knows how many times I have sighed for the estab
lishment of a society of this kind ! I even ventured to
trace it out in my imagination, but I perceived its execu
tion to be far above my slender abilities.

To learn that such a society is already in existence and
placed upon a sure footing in Turin and in Rome, — to find
it accord in every particular with that which my own mind
was considering, so much so, indeed, that its very name is
the same as that which I contemplated— this was to me a
great and agreeable surprise. Now I have to add to all this
the favour of your kind letter of the gth ultimo, which was
quite beyond my expectation, and in which you invite me
to participate, so to speak, in the good work.

Right willingly do I accept your invitation, and my only
regret is that I am unable to offer you or the society any
thing more than my poor abilities, although accompanied
by the most ardent desires. I pray you to convey
the expression of my liveliest acknowledgments to the
virtuous and distinguished members of this pious associa
tion for their goodness in thus inviting me, through your
instrumentality, to join them. Assure them, at the same
time, that though in me they will find but a very feeble
member, nevertheless they will have a sincere friend and a
warm admirer, ever ready to execute their wishes, and most

182

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

desirous to promote the glory of God and the salvation of
souls, — objects which form the sole basis of their union. O
how beautiful is friendship like this ! How useful such a
Christian alliance ! such a confederation of good men ! —
united not only in the bonds of peace with one another but
in active energy against the wicked, solely for their good !

I beg of you to make use of me henceforth freely in
such matters as are within my power, since you have now
truly acquired a right to my services, as well as to that
sincere friendship which it is my pride to acknowledge.

ROVERETO : July 7, iS2i.x

The letter to which the above was a response
contained so many warm expressions of admiration
for Rosmini, that his humility resented them, as it
always did praise in any form. But since he could
not, without violating good taste, show this dissatis
faction in the answer written to D'Azeglio himself,
he hastened to give vent to it in the subjoined letter
to Battaggia, who was held responsible for having
offended moderation in this matter. The reproof,
however, was softened by the encouraging manner
in which he met his correspondent's wishes as to the
practical object they both had in view :—

What could have induced you to write such a letter
about me to the Marquis d'Azeglio ? I know well that I
owe it to your singular partiality for me. But how did you
come to represent me to that nobleman in such a favourable
light ? Your letter, though couched in most kind and pious
terms, speaks of things which in no way can apply to me.
How am I to correspond with the high opinion which he
will form of me ? Really you have said to him things that
I should blush to repeat. I replied to him in the best way

1 EpistolariO) Letter xxx,

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 183

I could, or, rather, as my heart dictated. If this alone
sufficed, if nothing more than mere desires were requisite,
how courageously I could present myself! For God knows
how ardent is my desire for His glory and for the welfare
of souls. But if deeds and not words were asked of me,
where should I find the requisite strength ? However, I at
last answered him, to the effect that as I am closely bound
to himself and his colleagues by the ties of veneration and
Christian friendship, I am at their disposal for what I may
be worth, and that they were therefore at liberty to com
mand me ; but that, nevertheless, they could only expect
very little, since it is very little I am able to effect.

To yourself I must reply by tendering my very best
thanks, good wishes and encouragement ; although, for this
last, you leave me no opportunity, since you seem to be en
tirely swayed by that holy love which achieves great works.
Yes, my dear Sir, I know not where I should find one better
qualified for the work we are speaking of, either in Venice
or elsewhere. Endowed, as you are, with all the requisite
abilities, and being by profession a printer and publisher,
does it not seem as though things had already been prepared
by God for establishing in Venice the society of which we
speak ? As for its Director, do you think Monsignor Tra-
versi would decline a task so noble ? In my opinion, how
ever, it is a question whether it would not be more expedient
for the Patriarch himself to become its head and protector,
in order that here, as at Rome and Turin, its President
might be a person of high position. The list of persons men
tioned by you who could give us either pecuniary or other
assistance shows, assuredly, that we may have quite sufficient
to start with. Come now, make a commencement.

Bear in mind its merit before God, — a merit so much
the greater as the work is more wide -spread and per
manent. To clo good to any one individual is, indeed, a
meritorious act ; but to establish an enduring source of
blessings to many, and what is more, of spiritual blessings,
this I deem so meritorious that God alone can estimate its

184 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

worth. When you shall have made up your mind to begin,
you will find in me, as I have already told you, a feeble but
a faithful co-operator.

Traversi will, very probably, come here on a visit to me
during the holidays, as he has himself written to say so.
This will be a fitting opportunity to concert many things,
if you think it desirable. Drop me a line on the subject.

O how beautiful a thing it is to do what is pleasing to
God ! thus preparing for ourselves a secure treasure in the
mansions of eternal life ! You yourself clearly perceive its
beauty, and even taste its sweetness in the results of that
institution which you say you have established as a refuge
for a hundred little boys. Although I am not personally
acquainted with it, still I must congratulate you upon it,
and assure you that I share with you the pleasure you ex
perience ; for I assume it to be a holy work, productive of
much good. You would oblige me greatly by giving me
some particulars about it on another occasion.

ROVERETO : July 9, I82I.1

The Monsignor Traversi alluded to was still
Rector of St. Catherine's, Venice, where the Abate
Rosmini celebrated his first Mass. This distin
guished divine did visit him, as expected, during the
vacation of that year, and willingly consented to
take a part in carrying out the publishing scheme.
But we may say at once that it did not prosper ;
for most of those who were in a position to further
the design either held aloof altogether, or entered
into it with a lukewarm spirit. Rosmini himself
heartily assisted with purse and pen. Leaving to
others the production of such light literature as was
deemed desirable for the project, he contented him
self with contributing, in popular form, such works
1 Epistolario, Letter xxxi.

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 185

as ( A Panegyric of St. Philip Neri/ an admirable
' Letter on Christian Education/ ' A Method of
Catechising the Ignorant,' l and other treatises in
tended to popularise grave subjects, which were, at
the time, very distasteful to most readers, because
such subjects were almost invariably presented in a
dry, dull, unattractive, or repelling manner.

On the other hand, there was an alarming super
abundance of sensational, irreligious works, written
with a vigour and sprightliness that was too well cal
culated to mislead the unwary and increase the pre
vailing disrelish for more wholesome literature. While
Rosrnini was thus helping to stem this pestiferous
tide, and giving to the press little works for general
use, he was also preparing for special use a new edition
of a Thesaums Sacerdotum, with a dedication by him
self to the clergy of Rovereto, which they unani
mously pronounced to be ' full of truth and unction.'

Thus he spent the first year of the long retreat
which followed his Ordination, ever practically inter
ested in all that was good, true, useful, and beautiful,
and daily showing, by his ordinary acts, that the
principle of passivity laid down by him was the
principle of activity wisely applied. Once in that
year he passed from the retirement of home and

1 The ' Panegyric of St. Philip Neri ' was composed for the mem
bers of Rosmini's domestic Academy (which was under the patronage
of St. Philip), and delivered before them during the season of 1821. It
was published by Battaggia at Venice the same year, and republished
at Lugano in 1834, and at Milan in 1843. The « Letter on Christian
Education' was addressed to Don G. di Val Vestina in 1821, reprinted
at Rovereto in 1832, at Milan in 1838, and afterwards at Naples. (The
little work on ' Catechising the Ignorant' has been mentioned already
in Chapter vii., with a note, pp. 125-6.)

1 86 LIFE OF -ANTONIO ROSMLNI.

the duties which were close to home. Charity called
him elsewhere for a few weeks, and, answering her
summons, he went to do duty in the old parish of
Lizzana, not far from Rovereto. The beautiful
village of Lizzana was originally the centre of a very
extensive parish, within which Rovereto was then a
churchless hamlet. But, though Lizzana remained
the parish * capital ' for centuries, it never grew
beyond village dimensions, whereas Rovereto, year
by year, took the proportions of a town, until at
last it had to be detached from its old parochial
centre, and constituted an independent parish of the
first class, with several dependent churches.

The venerable Pastor of this ancient parish was
Don Bartolomeo Scrinzi whose society Rosmini
prized, when, as a boy, he rambled through the
country studying philosophy, and ' finding God in
everything.' He was also one of those sages whose
advice young Rosmini sought when about to estab
lish his first domestic Academy. Age and its atten
dant infirmities had, for some time, deprived the
venerated Pastor of power to bestow much attention
on the spiritual needs of his flock. Therefore, he
had frequently to depend on the charitable assistance
of neighbouring Priests. Towards the close of 1821
his ailments completely prostrated him, and then he
appealed to Rosmini, whose saintly boyhood had so
often ' consoled him while living; to come now, in
his Priesthood, and ' console him while dying.'

The Vicar Capitular of Trent forwarded Don
Bartolomeo's appeal, with a request of his own, that

FIRST YEAR OF HIS PRIESTHOOD. 187

Don Antonio should take full charge of the parish,
at least for a few months. True at once to the
principle of passivity, and his friendship, Rosmini
promptly left his retirement to minister both to
Pastor and flock. With tender diligence he nursed
for weeks at the bedside of the dying Priest, only
leaving him when the spiritual wants of the sor
rowing people called him forth.

When at last the good old Priest was taken to his
eternal reward, the weeping parishioners besought
Rosmini to stay amongst them, and the diocesan
authorities backed their entreaties with a formal re
quest that he would take to himself the parish where
he was so much beloved — a parish where his
memory ' still lives in benediction.' But higher and
more pressing calls forced him to decline this,
although he felt bound to remain for a few months,
until a duly appointed successor came to his relief.

The sermon which Rosmini preached at the
solemn obsequies of his dear old friend Don Bar-
tolomeo, so affected those who heard it that its
publication was demanded. He assented, and that
oration still holds an honoured place amongst his
published discourses.1 It was dedicated to Mon-
signor Sardagna, then Vicar Capitular of Trent
(afterwards Bishop of Cremona, and finally Arch
bishop of Cesarea), always the firm friend of the
young Roveretan divine, whose worth he had had
so many opportunities of thoroughly knowing.

1 It appeared first in Venice in 1822 ; it was reproduced at Lugano
in 1836, and included in the volume of Rosmini's sermons published in
Milan in 1843.

1 88 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER XII.

ROSMINl's CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE.
(A.D. I82I-I822.)

THE saintly Mme. Canossa visits Rovereto — Resemblance between
Madeline de Canossa and Margherita de Rosmini — How Madeline
conquered Napoleon I., and how Margherita conquered her father
— Mme. Canossa urges Rosmini to found a Religious Order —
How this message of inspiration affects him — He shrinks from the
thought of being a Founder though ready to be a Monk — Mme.
Canossa is persuaded that God calls him to the dignity of
Founder — She returns to Verona, sketches the plan of an Institute
and sends it to him — What he thinks of it — Difficulties in the way
of carrying out the plan— Mme. Canossa perseveres, deeming herself
the agent of God in this ' call' — He is once more invited to co
operate with the Turinese Publishing Society — How he would
have all Christians form a universal social brotherhood — The
Household of the Faith.

IT was in the first of his live years' home-retirement
that Rosmini had the privilege of entertaining a
guest who came, like an Angel, with a message fromi
Heaven. This guest was Madeline, Marchioness
of Canossa, a lady who was even then ranked with
the most saintly of Italy's daughters, and who is now;
(after the usual process before the sacred tribunal
appointed for that purpose in Rome) solemnly de
clared to be a ( venerable servant of God.' Hei
visit was made to Rosmini's sister, whose charitable
zeal and earnest piety kept pace with his own. In

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 189

deed, Margherita's work was at once the complement
of her brother's, and a spontaneous application to
Rovereto of that system of benevolence which enabled
Mme. Canossa to accomplish so much practical
good for the neglected children of her own sex
throughout Austrian Italy. The same kind of
charities which endeared Madeline de Canossa to
the poor, not only of Verona but of all Lombardy
and Venetia, had already begun to win for Marghe-
rita de Rosmini the blessings of the poor, not only
of Rovereto but of the surrounding district. The
golden chain of spiritual sympathy bound closely to
gether these two ladies, who resembled each other in
almost everything but age ; and this difference in
years probably made the tie between them all the
more potent.

There is even something alike in the incidents
that immediately preceded the formal commencement
of their respective labours, — far apart though they
were as to time and place, and far differently situated
though they were as to surrounding circumstances.
When Napoleon I. passed through Verona, not long
before his fall, he took up his quarters in the palace
of Canossa. On the eve of leaving, he intimated to
his noble hostess that he wished to requite, in some
way, her hospitality. She at once replied : ' As I
mean to recommence the work which you destroyed
by your decrees of 1810, I ask that you, Sire, give
me one of the many convents which you then sup
pressed.' 1

1 Don F. Paoli's Monografia^ p, 74.

190

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

This request was also a censure ; but its brave
spirit pleased the soldier, and he immediately
placed at her disposal the convent of St. Lucia,
Venice. Forthwith, she commenced the good work
on which her heart had long been set — the establish
ment of an Order for the care and education of poor
children. That Order came to be known as ' The
Daughters of Charity,' and, at the time of Mme.
Canossa's visit to the home of Rosmini, its rapid
spread, with the incalculable good it effected,
were the theme of every household in Northern
Italy.

So, too, Margherita Rosmini, under less heroic
circumstances, replied to her father who had done all
he could, by parental * decrees/ to suppress her
vocation. Wishing to give her some substantial
mark of his kindness, as a set-off to his seeming un-
kindness in opposing her attempt to enter a convent,
he requested her to name the requital. She instantly
answered : * My father, you can afford to give me
permission and means to shelter and teach the poor
little orphan girls of Rovereto.' l He gave her both,
and continued to do so while he lived. On his

1 Vita di Margherita Rosmini, Paravia, 1880. The good works
begun by her in Rovereto and carried on by herself alone up to 1821,
are still represented by a very useful institution called the ' Rosmini
Asylum/ within which the helpless children of the working class and
all manner of little street-straylings are carefully sheltered, during the
day, and piously educated. This charity is conducted by a Tyrolese
sisterhood in a handsome building erected to the memory of Margherita
on a part of the Rosmini garden, generously ceded for its use. The
structure is said to stand on the spot where little Antonio had con
structed the cell in which she played at monk with him.

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 191

death, her brother Antonio not only ratified the
permission but greatly increased the. means. He
did more : he wrote for her that admirable set of
instructions on Christian Education which, though
meant merely as a chart for his sister's local schools,
remains as a guide for Christian teachers throughout
the world.1

It was for the purpose of conferring with Mar-
gherita Rosmini on the holy work so dear to
both, that the Marchioness of Canossa, in the
early part of 1821, journeyed to Rovereto, where
she was the guest of the Rosminis. There and
then the penetrating foundress of the ' Daughters
of Chanty ' had an opportunity of judging for
herself about the truth of the fame which popu
larly * canonised ' Margherita and Antonio. She
took special pains, as she afterwards declared,2
to study the character of the young Priest to whom
God seemed to have sent her with the * message of
inspiration ' that led him, step by step, to become
the Founder of the ' Institute of Charity.' His
ardent piety, great learning, orderly charity, unflag
ging industry, and the deep wisdom and practical
nature of all his suggestions relating to the objects
which engaged himself and his sister, so profoundly
impressed her that she zealously besought him to
quit his home retirement in order to devote himself
to the organisation of a religious society for the

1 It was published in 1823 by Battaggia of Venice, and afterwards
reproduced in Milan and Florence.

2 Don G. Bertoni's Memor. di Canossa. Venice, 1852.

1 92 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

good, not of a locality merely, but of the whole
Church.

Such a proposal, coming from a source so saintly,
stamped it as from Heaven. He was but twenty-
four years old at the time, and the very suggestion of
becoming the Founder of a Religious Order startled
him. It is true that he had always been engaged in
founding some kind of society for the glory of God
and good of men ; but these efforts seemed to him as
mere matters of course, within the lines of every
one's ordinary duties to God and one's neighbour.
It is also true that, from the days when he and his
sister played at monk in the family garden, to the day
when both were conversing with the venerated
Canossa on this subject in the very same garden, all
his time had been spent so much in accordance with
a religious rule that one might suppose he had enter
tained this idea all his life — nay, that it was uppermost
in his thoughts. But no ; the one idea which stood
before all others in his mind was

Straight on towards Heaven to press with single bent,
To know and love his God, and then to die content. l

To establish religious order in his own soul had
ever seemed to him the safest way of 'pressing
towards heaven ' ; but never had he allowed himself
to fancy that he could best attain his object by
founding a Religious Order for others. To him the

1 The words are those of St. Gregory Nazianzen ; other passages
in Cardinal Newman's version of the poem from which they are quoted
(in Historical Sketches] express thoughts which Rosmini frequently
puts before us in prose.

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 193

thought .would have had the appearance of an
ambition, not much better than certain other am
bitions against which he so resolutely set himself
when struggling with his parents for the right of
following his vocation.

Therefore when the proposal to found, a Religious
Order came to him, in so solemn a manner from one
so highly favoured by God, it took him by surprise.
At once his humility, alarmed, threw itself around
his heart, and made him feel more sensibly than ever
his own nothingness. A Monk he was ready, indeed,
to be for his soul's sake, and, at the same time,
a co-operator in the organisation of any society
for the good of his neighbour ; but a Founder, as
was a St. Benedict, or a St. Francis, or a St. Dominic,
or a St. Ignatius, or any other of the sacred builders
of religious institutes — that was a something which
God, in His might and mercy, could cause him to
become, but which he, himself, would not presume
to think about. And, though the thought was at
length placed before his mind under such holy
auspices, it cost him three years of most serious and
prayerful reflection ere his humility permitted him to
act on it.

The saintly Mme. Canossa returned to Verona,
persuaded that God intended to call Antonio Rosmini
to the ranks of Religious Founders. On reaching
home, determined to keep the proposal before his
mind, she drafted a plan for a society which seemed
to her adapted to the spiritual needs of the time.
The more she considered it, the more she felt that

VOL. i. o

i94 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

the young Roveretan Priest was better fitted than
any one she knew to undertake the work her
pious designs contemplated. This plan she sent
to his sister, who, earnestly seconding the suasions of
the good Canossa, placed it before him. It was, in
most respects, similar to that which the Marchioness j
had found successful in her own Order. The pro
posed society was to be called ' Sons of Chanty ' and
to be composed of Priests, who should devote them- 1
selves to such spiritual work as the parochial clergy
were unable to deal with, owing to excess of popula
tion or other causes. He received this communica- \
tion with reverence, studied it carefully at all points,
prayed for light, and then considered how the project,
could be reduced to practice.

When he had thus diligently examined all the
bearings of the plan, he wrote to the Marchioness, j
assuring her that he entered heartily into her views,!
and that he was satisfied her project, if well carried j
out, was calculated to produce the best results. But,
on looking around him for those who were needed j
to co-operate in the work, he found reason to have
serious misgivings as to the success of his efforts to]
form a society of Priests or even to begin its forma
tion. Priests were scarce. Many country parishes*
in the diocese of Trent were without Pastors, and
many Parish Priests who had charge of populous]
town districts were without Curates. Moreover!
there was a marked disinclination on the part of thd
Secular Clergy of his acquaintance to join a com-!
munity of Regulars. While the actual state of things

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 195

urnished a good reason for the establishment of
such a society as the one proposed, it held out no pro
spect that recruits, in Priests' Orders, could be got for
he purpose. Therefore, instead of an institute of
Priests, he suggested that it should be of laymen,
.mder the direction of a Priest. He reminded her
;hat the most ancient and most successful religious
ommunities had been of this kind. Although he
did not quite agree with those who lamented that,
n course of time, these Orders became, for the most
Dart, communities of Priests, he felt that, in some re-
ipects, they had been more useful and more flourishing
is communities of laymen. He then pointed out how
;he difficulty of organising a society of Priests, rather
:han of laymen, was much increased by the long
:ourse of studies now required for the Priesthood.
vVhile it was comparatively easy to get together
mmediately a sufficient number of intelligent and
airly educated laymen, years of waiting must pass by
Before those of them with a vocation at once for the
Priesthood and Religious Life would be ready for
Drdination. But, by educating young men, pretty
nuch as Priests were educated in former times—
:hat is, by giving them a good literary training,
tfith a sound knowledge of Holy Scripture, and the
luties of life, and by practising them well in virtue,
md instructing them solidly in the doctrines of re-
igion and morality — they might soon be made ex-
:ellent coadjutors in all works of spiritual and
:orporal mercy, while attending chiefly to the further-
mce of their own sanctification.

o 2

196 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Having thus frankly communicated his views to
the Marchioness, he concluded his letter with these
remarks : —

O how advantageous would be a reunion of enlightened
Christians who should bind themselves to practically assist
their neighbour in all the branches of charity you mention !
Would that they might do for men what your Daughters of
Charity do for women ! Assuredly, with perfect accord
between them, they might afford much help to the paro
chial clergy in the cure of souls. I am deeply impressed
with the idea, though I see so many difficulties in the way
of its execution. Looking on the seculars around me, I
think I see some who are well fitted for the purpose ;
but it is necessary for them to have such a course of instruc
tion as may enable them to live in a religious community.
They should, at least, have some intelligent notion of what
constitutes community life. In order to effect this, I think
the introduction of little oratories, like those conducted by
the Oratorian Fathers, would be of great service. By means
of these, many among the laity are not only formed in piety,
but they are also accustomed to a certain regularity of life
and the orderly exercise of works of charity. l

This letter did not in the least discourage the
hopes of the far-seeing Mme. Canossa. On the con
trary, it convinced her that these hopes would yet be
realised ; though not perhaps in the way she at first
supposed, assuredly they would be brought to pass,
in some manner more to the glory of Christ and the
good of His Church. Persuaded that this young;
Priest was set apart by our Lord for some special!
service of the kind indicated, Madame Canossa
acted as if she felt that God had willed her to be the!

1 See Appendix, Letter i. (Letter xxxii. of Epistolario.}

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 197

immediate agent of his ' call.' Therefore she prayed
heartily for the light necessary, and then allowed
some time to elapse before she said anything more
on the subject directly to Rosmini himself; but,
meanwhile, in her letters to his sister, which were
very frequent, she continued to speak of some
feature in the plan as an indirect means of keeping
it constantly before Don Antonio's mind.

While his thoughts were busily occupied with
Mme. Canossa's holy suggestions, he received a fresh
appeal from the Turinese Publishing Society to turn
his attention to the active membership of that organ
isation. Full of the spirit which was working within
him, eager to show itself in practical results for ' re
ligious life,' as such, he replied to this appeal in a
long letter to the Marquis d'Azeglio on the ad
vantages of such a brotherhood amongst good Chris
tians as might make the sweets of ' community life '
universal.1 He wished to have the spirit and the
customs of the apostolic age restored as much as
possible in these feverishly progressive days. He
would have good Christians, who are to be found
everywhere throughout the world, not content
with spiritually loving one another, but personally
knowing and cherishing one another as well. He
would establish between them an intercourse of a
heavenly type, far nobler than any known to mere
natural society : —

A delightful friendship, resulting from that love which
is the badge of Christ's discipleship, manifesting itself in

1 See Appendix, Letter ii.

198 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

the works which are its fruits, and which serve to distinguish
the good tree from the bad. In this manner they might be
separated from the children of the world, and so love, honour,
and aid one another that, being mutually encouraged and
consoled, by force of the union existing amongst them, their
afflictions and dangers would be diminished, while, at the
same time, a salutary restraint would be imposed on the
wicked. How many motives are there not for such a union —
pure, holy, and Christian ; I do not mean motives that have
their origin in this world, where we neither seek nor expect
repose, but motives originating in Heaven, in the charity
of Jesus Christ, and in the hope of an eternal union with
Him in the bosom of His Father. O how desirable and
profitable a thing would it be were all treated with the same
degree of love, and regarded as equals in our Lord, to the
exclusion of all human limitations, such as spring from
blood, from country or from any special affection, without
trespassing at all on the domain of Charity, or violat
ing the duties we have towards all men. Thus, be our
brother ever so far removed from us, or be he close at hand,
or be he in high or lowly estate, be he known to fame or
hidden in obscurity, we should evince for him, with an
equal degree of love and tenderness, those tokens of esteem
which are his due, and from which he may reap a real ad
vantage.

If there were once introduced among Christians an
ntercourse more cordial, more active, and more widespread,
not limiting its sphere of action to one place alone, but
extending it to many, I should expect to see the religion of
Jesus Christ rise far more majestic and beautiful, and the
world once again, as it were, in bloom — the true reflex of the
first ages of the Church, but graced, if I may so say, with a
more imposing dignity and variety, because our general
intercourse and means of communication would now neces
sarily produce a larger number of results, more varied, more
unlooked-for, and more marvellous. So beautiful an idea
does not seem to me Utopian ; for, judging by the facility

CALL TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE. 199

we now have of mutual intercourse, and by the nature of
the times themselves, it would appear to me to be a reason
able conclusion.

Either the time has already come, or come it must
ere long, if things advance at their present pace, when
it will be a matter of the greatest moment, not only to
every Catholic but to all who cherish even a natural sense
of righteousness, to stand aloof from the society of the
wicked, and to have some distinctive mark that will denote
the fact. Consequently, men morally inclined will feel it
incumbent on them, not only to join the Catholic body, as
was the case with Herr Haller ; but since, even among
Catholics, we have the good grain and the cockle, they
will be constrained to unite in closest union with those
whose exemplary and holy life can leave no room for sus
picion. If such an intercourse were once established, what
beneficial results would accrue to all those well-disposed
persons who- should take part in it ! Every good Christian,
as you very justly observe, would thus, when travelling (an
affair now become of such frequent occurrence), be shielded
from the dangers that everywhere beset his Faith ; he would
always travel, so to speak, in his own house, for he would
find safeguards everywhere, since he would find everywhere
his Catholic brethren come lovingly to his aid.
ROVERETO : October 14, I82I.1

All these ardent longings for universal Christian
brotherhood found practical expression in the ordi
nary conduct or the writer. The five years of that
home 'retreat/ which preceded the grand life of
activity reserved for him, were five years in which
the ' apostolic age ' was faithfully represented in
Rovereto — five years in which the charity that is the
badge of Christ's discipleship shone out there with

1 Epistolario, Letter xxxiii.

200 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN1.

a lustre that never once paled — five years in which
he brought to maturity the virtues that had been
ripening steadily from his childhood upward, and
that were soon to produce such precious fruit unto
God.

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 201

CHAPTER XIII.

ROSMINl's STUDIES DURING HIS HOME RETIREMENT.
(A.D. 1822.)

He cultivates human sciences as useful to the Science of the Saints —
His domestic library — His studies — Vast extent of his reading—
His estimate of philosophical learning — How he worked to make
philosophy subserve Truth — Solidity of his acquired knowledge—
The works he wrote and planned in his home retirement — What
specially kept him in this retirement — -The Divine Will regulates all
his acts— His passivity is activity for God's glory.

IN the letter to the Marquis d'Azeglio, from which
we have just quoted, no allusion was made to the
original subject of their correspondence, touching
the necessity of publishing and circulating good
books. Evidently the important matters he had
been discussing with the Marchioness of Canossa
were still uppermost in Rosmini's mind, as they were
always, in some form or other, deepest in his heart ;
for they belonged to that great science to which he
made all human sciences subordinate — the Science of
the Saints. But, taking these human sciences as
subsidiary to the science without which he deemed
all else ignorance, he gave a fair proportion of his
time to their study, and to the composition of works
resulting from those studies, which included every
department of human lore. Philosophy and theology

202 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

were the departments in which he most loved to
dwell ; for within them he discovered all that
illumined the science of the Saints and reconciled
human knowledge with Divine Revelation.

As in the days of his boyhood he used to lay
out methodically, on the library table, the several
books which he intended to study in turn, so, in his
manhood, he made similar arrangements, but on a
scale proportionate to his increased knowledge and
years. The old library and one table sufficiently
answered the purposes of the boy student ; but
several rooms, which were so many new libraries on
the second floor of the mansion, and several tables,
scarcely sufficed for the needs of the man student.
In one of those apartments, which became a favourite
place of study, he had four bookcases filled with
the choicest volumes, including those purchased in
Padua from the Venier library. The top mould
ing of each case bore an appropriate title in gilt
Greek characters — one was Philosophic another
Encyclopedia, another Lexica, and another Ephemer-
ides.

This select library was close to the chamber in
which he was born, and to that which he used as a
bedroom during the five years of his home retirement.
A finer bookcase, larger than those in the adjoining
rooms, stood in his sleeping apartment, and was filled
mainly with ascetic and religious works. He had
planned a domestic library of ten thousand volumes ;
but, though the scheme was never fully realised, few
private libraries were more complete or valuable

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 203

than that which he had then at hand, and which still
remains nearly as he left it.

His studies were, as Don Paoli tells us, 'most
extensive, profound, erudite and well ordered.' The
vast extent of his reading may be inferred from the
simple fact that in those days he had carefully
studied the works of more than five hundred different
authors — indeed, it is very probable that he had,
even then, made himself familiar with the six
hundred and twenty authors consulted for his
Logica and for his Diritto} Although he was no
thorough linguist, he had a fairly good knowledge
of all the languages necessary to his studies, and
was even sufficiently well acquainted with Hebrew
and Sanscrit to make these tongues available for his
purpose. When he saw that philosophy was the
science on which all other human sciences depended,
he applied himself most of all to philosophical
studies. Even from his earliest years he sought
with eagerness to master and descant on everything
that can come within the cognizance of human
reason.

Don Paoli declares, on the authority of those
'who had known the young noble longest and best,'
that Rosmini's mind was matured — * had attained its
manhood ' — fully ten years sooner than is ordinarily
the case. Even while yet seemingly a youth in
mind, as he assuredly was in other respects, he saw
that the sciences generally stood in need of a com-

1 The index of authors quoted in the Logica gives 170 names, and
the index of those quoted in the Filosofia del Diritto gives 450 others.

204 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

plete, ' a decided restoration ; ' he appreciated, at their
true value, the gigantic efforts that had been made
by the most powerful intellects of all ages for the
advancement of knowledge — the happy successes of
some and the tremendous failures of others ; he
perceived that on philosophy depended the founda
tion, the order, and completion of knowledge. He
at the same time saw that this perfected knowledge
did not depend on that philosophy which concerns
itself wholly with matter, while ignorant of what
matter is — nor on that which, groping its way. by the
aid of blind sense, proudly pretends that its efforts
can produce truth — nor on that which, in despair,
throws itself into scepticism ; but on that which,
while accepting such treasures of truth as have been
secured in times past, seeks to make new discoveries
in order to bring knowledge nearer and nearer to the
possession of the whole — the divinely beautiful Truth.
He therefore set himself to collect together the
many scattered fragments of truth which had been
discovered, or dimly seen, by ancient, mediaeval and
modern philosophers. He then undertook to reduce
the fragments of truth to a body of doctrines
harmoniously connected with and depending on one
another. His task was greatly facilitated by the
discovery which he had made in 1816, as he walked
along the Via Terra, in Rovereto, when his mind hit
upon that master idea which enabled him to present
the system of truth in a more perfect form.1 But
he still required to examine closely for himself what
1 See Chapter iv. pp. 88-90.

HJS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 205

had been done by all the philosophers who had
preceded him.

Therefore he was obliged to have constantly
at hand, not only St. Augustine and St. Thomas
Aquinas, but Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Des
cartes, Locke, Leibnitz, Kant, Condillac, Fichte,
Schelling, and Hegel, with the works of the modern
rationalists and materialists. He had also, of course,
to become more and more thoroughly conversant
with Holy Scripture, the Fathers and the School
men, though he was somewhat familiar with all
these since his youth. He had to analyse carefully
the writings of the philosophers, ' to distinguish the
parts that were true from those that were false, and
to interpret those that were obscure.' He had to
remove errors, to firmly lay hold of truths even
when only incidentally touched upon, and to eluci
date them. He had to penetrate into the inner
most depths of as many sciences as are comprised
in ideology, metaphysics, and ethics. He had to
examine and discuss all the systems that had been
more or less happily imagined concerning human
knowledge, the nature of feeling, the essence of
morality and of right. He had to define clearly the
supreme principles which regulate politics, to reduce
to a scientific form pedagogy and asceticism ; to
penetrate into the recondite depths of ontology ; and
finally to demonstrate, by fact, the harmony of the
truths of reason with those of revelation, ' showing
that the former are the beginning and the latter the
completion of the SYSTEM OF TRUTH.'

206 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

All this he had to do, and he did it within the
five years of his home retirement. Nor did he limit
himself to the most celebrated and accredited
authors, for he sought out the truth even in those of
less renown. Nay, he took note of the least known
writers and the smallest productions ' down to the
most diminutive pamphlets, to the constitutions
of small states and to the articles in the daily
newspapers/ ' Like an industrious bee/ says Don
Paoli, ' he went everywhere in quest of honey, and
wherever he found any he drew it forth, as must be
manifest to those who are familiar with his works,
for all his writings bear witness to an erudition that
is very plentiful and varied — an erudition not
gathered up or thrown together at random, but
always to the purpose, always confirmatory of some
truth either recently discovered or restored to
honour/

The solidity and rare excellence of his erudition
can be readily discovered in all he wrote. It is even
visible in his way of presenting the thought of any
given author so as to set it forth, with the utmost
clearness and impartiality, whether it be true or
false. It is still more visible in his complete avoid
ance of all ostentatious display of knowledge ; for
he ever studiously keeps his own merits out of sight
and prefers to appear always as a student. This,
indeed, was no difficult thing for a genuine disciple
of Truth, which, as Don Paoli tells us, ' is the only
real teacher of all intelligences ; ' and from his boy
hood upward, Rosmini had been one of the most

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 207

industrious and earnest disciples of Truth. He
often told Tommaseo, who had long watched his
labours and shared in them, that, from his earliest
years, he had been steadily travelling through the
world of science, and as he wrent along he descried new
regions that had never yet been explored. ' Of this
fact,' says Tommaseo, ' I could myself attest the truth,
if testimonies were needed from those who knew
him. Even while he was still very young he used
to picture to himself human knowledge as so many
great trees each putting forth its branches in graceful
order, all pervaded by unity of life ; he used to
practise himself in composing those beautiful tables
in which the parent ideas are seen to generate other
ideas in due succession, the prolific family growing
larger and larger with the degrees of legitimate
descent and kindred affinity well defined in all its
parts. . . . Before 1825 he had already formed
and worked out. in his own mind, the conception
of the Nuovo Saggio, on the origin of ideas ; —
a conception from which so many others were to
spring, each standing out by itself in the fulness of
its own life.' 1

The extraordinary extent of his reading never
surprised those who knew how diligently he worked,
how thoroughly he economised and regulated time,
and how rapidly, yet carefully, he perused every
volume, taking notes of all he read.2 In most cases

1 Rivista Cont. Torino 1856, Rosmini, per N. Tommaseo.

2 Besides the notes he made apart, every volume of importance in
his library bears marginal notes in his own hand.

208 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

rapid reading is little calculated to favour careful
reading ; but a singular quickness of eye and thought,
combined with an extraordinary memory, enabled him
to so systematise rapid reading that what he read was
never undigested. The only obstacle to his rapid
reading was some unfamiliar language. But there
was no tongue so difficult as to overcome his deter
mination to master it sufficiently for the purpose of
securing the treasures it might contribute to the lore
he sought. In this he was much aided by the special
studies of his boyhood on language in general, on
the structure of human thought, and on the laws
which govern its expression.

There are those who assert that he did not go as
deeply into the study of mathematics and the so-
called natural sciences as into the others. If this
were the case, want of full opportunity must have
been the cause ; but Don Paoli calls our attention
to the fact that many of Rosmini's works, published
and unpublished, abundantly prove that he was
' deeply versed in the supreme reasons of those
branches of learning also.' While still a youth, he
gave evidence of knowing them well, else how could
he have dropped, here and there, in his earlier
productions, the germs of the philosophy both of
mathematics and the natural sciences ? It was his
intention to have developed these germs in regular
treatises, ' and he would have done so,' says Don
Paoli, 'had not death taken the pen from his
hands.'

While the pen was held firmly in his hand,

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 209

during the five W3ll-employed years of his home
retreat, he wrote most of the minor works that were
afterwards published in his Prose Ecclesiastiche.
In those days, too, he sketched the plan of some of
his greater works, such as the Nuovo Saggio on the
origin of ideas. The subject of this magnificent
production had occupied his thoughts ever since his
boyhood ; but it was not till his twenty-fifth year
that it took the definite shape which led him to the
formulation of his views in an elaborate dissertation
that for many reasons ranks as the most important
of all his works.

It was during this period also that he com
menced several other great works of a like char
acter, some of them suggested by current circum
stances, his mind having already stored up an
abundance of knowledge well set for immediate
use, whenever intellectual charity might demand it.
Thus the movement for Italian unity, which sprang
up amongst the Piedmontese in 1821, growing strong
through North Italy in 1822, called for such a work as
the Filosofia della Politico,, and it was forthwith
begun.1 It was about the same time that he penned
the opening chapters of the Ontologia which he left
untouched for many years afterwards, as he reminds

1 Don Paoli remembers to have seen, in 1822, the manuscript of
more than one part of this work. The first portion was published in
Milan on 1837 as an essay on the chief causes that lead to the rise and
fall of human societies. The second portion appeared in 1839 under
the title of ' Society and its End.' Four other essays, now included in
the Filosofia della Politica — (i) on Statistics, (2) on Communism and
Socialism, (3) on the Definition of Riches, and (4) on Public Amuse
ments — though written, for the most part, during the first three years of
his home retirement, were not published till 1858.

VOL. I. P

210 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN

us himself when resuming it — ' That which we begun
when still very young we propose to continue in this
our far advanced age.' 1 So likewise it was in those
days that he commenced the remarkable treatise on
jurisprudence entitled Filosofia del Diritto? He at
tached much importance to the study of this science,
and tells us, in a letter written from Rovereto on
June 27, 1825, to the Abate Bellenghi, why he came
to take the subject in hand and how he proposed to
deal with it.

Your treatise De civili imperio greatly interests me.
It may do much good in our times, when, together with an
endless variety of essays on this subject, we have an endless
confusion of ideas. Let me venture to tell you that I also
have given many hours to enquiries and thoughts of this
kind. As these investigations seemed to me no less neces- :
sary than difficult, I have most assiduously and attentively -
studied the works of the most celebrated writers on the
subject, with the view of clearing up in my own mind the
fundamental ideas whence flow all theories of civil as well ,
as ecclesiastical society. The pages to which I have com- j
mitted the fruit of these studies and thoughts will form, if
I can ever succeed in publishing them, three large volumes,,-
which, though produced in the sweetness of peace, are pro
bably destined to gc forth as lambs into the midst oJ( j
wolves.

In the First Part are laid down the rules and criteria b}
which to judge the value of political means. This pari j
consists of three books, the first of which gives the rule
drawn from ' the limits of society,' the second gives thos
drawn from the natural construction of society, and thj |

1 Teosofia, vol. i. Pref. No. i.

2 It was not published until 1841, though some portions appeare
earlier in separate essays.

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 211

third those drawn from the laws followed by societies in their
course.

The Second Part treats of political means themselves —
finite as well as infinite — and by comparing them together it
shows that religion is the most potent of all. This part is
divided into seven books, each of which deals with one class
of general political means ; the last of these means, to
which all the others tend and for which they prepare the
way, being the Christian, i.e. the Roman Catholic, religion.
The Third Part discusses the way in which Princes
should use this most efficacious means so that it should ob
tain the grand effect for which it was designed. This part
has three books, and is occupied chiefly with the relations
between civil society and the Church.

I should never have thought of undertaking such a
work (which from the very first look at it seemed to me
much beyond my feeble powers), had I not felt sincerely
convinced that the Divine Will required it of me. Indeed,
some years ago while absorbed in totally different studies I
felt myself, I know not how, torn away from them, and
though they seemed to me well suited to my disposition I
felt constrained to leave them half finished and turn to
these in preference.1

It was the Divine Will that kept him in the seclu
sion of home during these five years. It was the
same Divine Will that drew him away from other
labours, ' well suited to his disposition,' in order that
he might devote himself more completely to intellec-

1 Don Paoli informs us that the manuscript of the ' beautiful and
grand work ' alluded to in the above letter has not been found ; but
its contents were evidently recast in two other works — l The Philosophy
of Right ' and the « Philosophy of Politics.' The letter to Don Bellenghi
shows not only the progress of Rosmini's thoughts upon those impor
tant questions, but the ease and power with which he handled the most
profound subjects even while he was still very young. To successfully
reproduce all the arguments in subsequent works, as he has done, im
plies very great labour and rare skill.

p 2

212 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

tual charity. All his preferences were thus regulated
by the Divine Will, and whatever he studied or wrote
or planned, or began or finished, had its beginning
and end in his eager desire to discover and do
God's Will.

The life of every man has been likened to a
drama (seldom very entertaining or edifying) the
scenes of which are to be viewed in reference to the
main action, on which they ought all to turn or the
drama will prove a ' failure/ All the incidents of
Rosmini's life oblige one to view them in connection
with its main purpose, for everything he did or said
turned constantly on the ' main action.' This main
action itself, with ' the little nameless unnumbered
acts ' that form an important portion of one's life,
was centred in God, and, accordingly, was passive or
active as either condition better fulfilled the purpose
of centring on God and doing His Will. Whether
he remained in solitude to find 'sermons in stones
and God in everything,' or associated with those who
ministered to the spiritual and corporal wants of the
poor and afflicted, or stood forth to shield Christian
morality from the subtle assaults of modern impiety,
or to unmask the deceits of ancient error in its newer
guises, the main action, with all its minor accessories,
turned on the same object — the Will of God for the
Glory of God.1

1 ' Now, if man considers himself to be a mere instrument in God's
hands, as faith teaches him to do, what can the instrument effect with
out Him who wields it ? Let man, then, be content with allowing him
self to be moved and wielded by the hand of God, and let him glory in
it. It is thus that he will be able to do a great deal, on behalf of his

HIS HOME RETIREMENT AND STUDIES. 213

brethren. Let him not pretend, even in works of charity, to be, him
self, the principal agent ; let him leave the first place and the glory to
the Almighty ; let him believe, with a firm faith, that God forgets none
of His creatures ; let him listen with attention, that he may hear when
his Master speaks ; and let him obey His call, \\hether it be mani
fested through the binding obligation of a commandment, or through
the requests of his brethren in need, or through the invitation of
external circumstances pre-ordained by God. If man do otherwise —
if, of his own will, or through a merely human impulse, he should inter
fere in things which seem to be works of charity, but which, perhaps,
are not such, or are not required of him — then, instead of benefiting his
brethren, he will do injury to himself. By not observing that com
mandment, " beware of men " (Matt. x. 17), or that injunction of the
Apostle, " attend to thyself" (i Tim. iv. 16), he will forget himself, he
will neglect the salvation of his own soul, being deceived by a false
zeal of doing good to others ; so that, while he preaches to others, he
will himself become a castaway.' — Rosminfs Discourses. Discourse
on the Will of God, p. 40 (James Duffy & Sons : London, 1882).

214 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN7.

CHAPTER XIV.

ROSMINl's CONTACT WITH THE OUTER WORLD DURING
HIS HOME RETIREMENT.

(A.D. 1822-1823.)

The duties of hospitality — How he made ' social intercourse ' contri
bute to his main object — He is recognised as the champion of
Catholic Truth against the upholders of dechristianising error —
How to write books to confound unbelievers — What he thinks of
institutions for gathering together the children of the poor on
Sundays and Holy-days — Charity always striving to do more and
more good — He goes to Padua and receives the doctorate — Is
made a member of the Accademia of the Catholic Religion — Enter
tains the Bishop of Treviso at Rovereto— Becomes the preceptor
of a Bishop as well as of Priests — Why he declines to accept some
benefice in his native diocese, and why he accepts the office of
Synodical Examiner — His Academy of St. Thomas and his love for
the Angelic Doctor — A lost manuscript — Reproves the Italians for
not appreciating the great Aquinas — Italy and Europe holding
St. Thomas in little esteem, Rosmini endeavours to win for him
the homage that has since been decreed to him.

ALTHOUGH Rosmini's home life during the five years
following his Ordination had all the characteristics of
monastic retirement, these years were not without
little episodes which sometimes brought him into
contact with the ' outer world.' There were respon
sibilities connected with the headship of his family,
and he could not always conveniently or wisely dele
gate them to others. Amongst these responsibilities
were certain duties of hospitality which he felt bound

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 215

to discharge in person : and none knew how to do so
with more perfect courtesy or with truer heartiness.

But, after all, to entertain guests like the Marchio
ness of Canossa was no encroachment on the plan of
his retirement ; it was only a special and edifying
phase within it. Nor was there any departure from
its completeness in sharing the spiritual toil of some
overworked Priest, or visiting the sick, or consoling
the afflicted, or finding out and aiding the poor, or
attending to any other such * labour of love.'

What seemed to cause a real encroachment on
his retirement was the social obligation of accepting,
now and then, an invitation to dine with some of his
relations or friends, and of having to return the com
pliment. But, as he contrived to make even these
occasions a means of promoting his central object —
God's glory — they were like so many opportunities
to vary the manner of his seclusion, without in
fringing its law or its motive. So, too, the sermons
and lectures he was requested to deliver from time
to time in some church or public institution, only
lent variety to his work, without touching the same
ness of its scope. The one thing which more fre
quently than any other called him from retirement,
or rather brought his name before the public in
those days, was the defence of Christian Truth from
its worst foes, the propagators of the subtle errors
that were then taking fresh root through Italy.

Gifted with a marvellous foresight, the young
Abate clearly saw that, though the crop of mischief
produced by the philosophical fallacies of the day

216 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

was baneful enough as it stood, the fallacies them
selves were but gathering strength for the growth of
more formidable evils in the future. Hence it was
that he applied himself to the composition of such
books as the Nnovo Saggio. But, that the evils
actually present might not pass current unchecked, he
wrote and published immediately such essays as that
' On Happiness.'1 Just then some brilliant literary
worldlings were poisoning the minds of Italian youth
with false notions of human felicity, — with ideas,
in fact, that deified sensism and dishonoured Chris
tianity.

In the principal towns of Lombardy and Piedmont
infidelity had more than one able chief, and all over
the country many wily agents spread the pernicious
tenets of the sensists. Against all these he set
himself with such unflinching determination, tem
pered with so much calmness and charity, that, even
apart from the solidity of his reasoning, he was soon
looked upon as specially qualified to be the champion
of religion ; and in that character he was constantly
attacked by the foes of the Faith, and had his
counsel as constantly sought by its friends. Indeed,
so much was he consulted as a leader in whose
guidance the friends of religion trusted, that he was
almost every day obliged to write letters, such as the
following, which was sent in reply to Signor Lugnani
of Triest, who was desirous of knowing how best to

1 It was first printed at Rovereto in 1822, afterwards (1823) in
Venice, and finally, in 1828, it was reproduced under the title of
Saggio sulla Speranza to meet some errors which Hugo Foscolo was
propagating.

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 217

compose works intended to confound unbelievers
and confirm the Faithful.

A friendly letter from you would, under any circum
stances, have afforded me the greatest pleasure. But,
coupling, as you do, friendship and religion together, you
have rendered infinitely more precious the relations between
us. It is unquestionably true that there exists no more
solid or sincere friendship than that which springs from,
and is nurtured, perfected and sanctified by religion. Oh
how deeply ought Christians to feel this truth ! Should not
the very consolation they experience in this most pure sen
timent lead them more forcibly to band themselves to
gether, by means of the indissoluble ties of mutual inter
course and friendship ? It would assist every Christian in
the increase of virtue, — it would be a deathblow to un
believers, whose iniquitous schemes would be less successful,
if there were greater union among the forces which they
assail.

It is thus that I have often thought, in my own mind,
envying those first ages of Christianity, when * the
Brethren,' as they were styled, were but one heart and one
soul ; and I am of the same sentiments at this moment,
when you kindly proffer me your sincere and holy friend
ship. I accept it with all my heart.

You make known to me your sentiments with regard to
the best manner of refuting the unbelievers of our own
time. I have read your suggestions with very great plea
sure. They seem to me to show a knowledge of the human
heart and a sufficient acquaintance with the kind of adver
saries against whom we have to struggle. I am well per
suaded that there are many different classes of men — that
incredulity, Proteus-like, is of ever-changing form, and
therefore, that to grapple with it successfully, not only is a
great variety of books required but a great diversity in
their mode of treatment I myself, with the little expe
rience I have of the world, think I have found adversaries

2iS LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI

diametrically opposed to one another, not only in their
character, but in their errors and modes of thinking. A
German, for instance, must be refuted in a very different
manner from that employed to refute a Frenchman. A
disciple of Kant and a disciple of Voltaire are widely
divergent in their way of thinking. Then, there are some
who profit by pamphlets, short but trenchant and eloquent,
while others, on the contrary, find large and systematic
works of more advantage.

Notwithstanding all this, it is my firm opinion that,
generally speaking, one of the methods most useful and
best adapted for our own times is that which you yourself
very judiciously propose and trace out. The special
features you pronounce to be characteristic of our age
are the great want of sound and solid reasoning. I will
add, reasoning not too speculative and dry, but clear and
easy of comprehension, supported by moral proofs and
clothed in a succinct, rapid and philosophical style. There
is, besides, a great need of impartiality, discretion, and
generosity of soul, of urbanity and a spirit of conciliation.
These and similar qualities I deem to be necessary to our
writings, if our aim be to persuade and win over unbelievers,
and not simply to irritate them more and more. And does
not Christianity itself suggest a certain fulness of charity, a
certain degree of urbanity and shrewdness conjoined ? I
must then encourage you, with all the earnestness in my
power, to go on with an undertaking so ably conceived and
from which, with God's blessing, you may promise yourself
abundant fruit.

I know no one more competent than yourself to put
your designs into execution. By doing so you will acquire
great merit in the sight of God. Even if I were equal to
the task myself, I should hesitate to trespass on another's
sphere of action. However, my inaptitude as well as the
anxiety springing from a multiplicity of affairs — amongst
other things the composition of some little works — preclude
the possibility of my assuming such an undertaking. Do

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 219

not hesitate, then, as I am sure you will not, to enter upon
the work.

Apropos of the apologetic authors to whom you allude,
have you read Haller's great work, ' The Restoration of
Political Science ' ? I have had it now for several days, but,
as it is written in a language of which I have no thorough
knowledge, I am reading it under difficulties. Although
he treats in a great measure of politics, I have no hesitation
in numbering him among our apologists, and in pro
nouncing his production one of the ablest and most op
portune works of the day. In it you will find very well
applied all your own sage observations respecting the mode
of dealing with unbelievers. It is a stupendous work.
The writer couples theory with experience, subtlety of
reasoning with solidity, the ease and elegance of the ancient
philosophers with the raciness and readiness peculiar to
those of more modern times. How many beautiful obser
vations he makes ! And on what luminous principles and
reasons he rests them !

ROVERETO : May 2, I822.1

On the same day he had occasion to answer a letter
from Signor Battaggia of Venice, touching other forms
of Christian charity. While the same spirit of piety
pervades both these, as it does all his letters, they
are different in nearly everything else, and not least
in the practical hints which imply a more varied and
sound knovrledge of human society and its needs
than long years of experience and extensive oppor
tunities enable most men to acquire. It may be well
to remember that although Sunday and Week-day
institutions for the moral and spiritual well-being of
poor children are now, in some form or other,
common enough in our own country, they were little

1 Epistolario, Letter xxxiv.

220 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN1.

known here at the date of this letter; nor were
attempts to resist the inroads of infidelity much
thought of in those days, when England was still
somewhat free from the malady which had already
seriously infected Europe,

Your pious Institution aims at gathering little boys to
gether on Sundays and Holy-days, thus withdrawing them
from dissipation and from roaming at large through the
streets, and at the same time entertaining them with in
struction, prayer, and proper amusements. This being its
nature, it must be very pleasing to God and profitable, in
an eminent degree, to those little ones. They are with
drawn from all that imperils their virtue, and they are
brought to fulfil an important precept such as is the sanc-
tification of Sundays and Holy-days, and thus are set on the
path of piety not only for those days but for the rest of the
week. Well can I imagine those pure and consoling
delights which you tell me you often experience. Such
is the pleasure that always springs from works of Christian
charity, and which the children of this world are unable to
conceive, much less to relish. Fortunate, indeed, and happy
are you !

True, there are times when, as you yourself tell me, you
feel displeasure and anguish at seeing some of these boys
not corresponding with your anxious solicitude. Now, as
a matter of fact, this usually happens with charity, which is
seldom satisfied ; nor can it be denied that it is a difficult
thing to fulfil all its obligations with due foresight and per
fection. Even St. Augustine frequently deplored this fact.
It is a gift which God generally bestows little by little, as is
His way respecting the other virtues, and He bestows it
only on those who ask it of Him in humility of heart. It
so happens that they who ask it belong usually to that
class of persons who, while they cease not to act righteously,
are eager to do still better. They are never content, be-

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 221

cause they deem it a serious defect not to be able to reach
the apex of perfection. God endows such as these with
ever increasing degrees of light, and, as we see exemplified
in the Saints, they often rise to an almost incredible height
of prudence, meekness and skill in winning souls and lead
ing them to God. Take heart then, and let nothing dis
courage you in the meritorious career on which you have
entered.

When you inform me that your projects and pious
designs are not confined to this work only, you make
me entertain very sanguine hopes of the future, for I know
that charity is boundless. All this gives me greater confi
dence in speaking to you of that other project — The
Turin Society. Not very long ago that excellent man the
Marquis d'Azeglio sent me a long and kind letter, in the
name of the Society, with a parcel of books, all of which
have, I believe, been published through its agency. It is,
indeed, a noble undertaking and calculated to produce most
beneficial results. Whatever we may do, it is above all
things necessary that our zeal ^ fervent t constant, and dis
creet. Without fervour we shall never accomplish any
thing that is valuable or useful. So we shall be wanting in
perseverance, if constancy of resolution do not make us sur
mount all the obstacles which cross our path (and they are
formidable) whether they come from the wicked, or the
ignorant, the world or the Evil One. Finally, if chanty
have not wisdom for its guide, it will prove neither accept
able to God nor advantageous to men. In fact, then it
would not be charity at all, but a meaningless name, a
mere presumption, or a delusion of the enemy. Let us
mature the matter fully in prayer, and in accordance with
the light which God may deign to give us, whether it be by
means of those good sentiments with which He may inspire
ourselves or by the suggestions of judicious persons. Let
us try to follow and not to forestall the designs of God, and
be humbly indifferent to everything else save doing His
holy Will ; in nothing seeking our own interests but His

222 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

alone. These dispositions made, I trust we shall so far
succeed that we ourselves shall experience, in the end, inef
fable consolation. Pray meanwhile, and meditate.

ROVERETO : May 2, I822.1

There were three occasions, during these five
years, on which Rosmini consented to overstep the
bounds of his seclusion in a more decided way than
any we have indicated. The first of these was on
June 23, 1822, when he went to Padua for the
Doctor's degree, which he had long been ready to
receive, but had declined to take, partly out of con
sideration for his less advanced classmates, and
partly from a desire to give precedence to Holy
Orders.2 He was warmly greeted at Padua, not
only by many personal friends among the professors
and students, but by all the University authorities.
He remained with them merely while it was neces
sary to comply with the formalities required for
taking the double doctorate — Divinity and Canon
Law.

Having duly received both, as one who had
won them with distinction, he at once returned to
Rovereto, where he had to endure yet another
ovation ; for his fellow-citizens chose to consider
every fresh dignity secured by him as reflecting
honour on themselves. But, to his thinking, the
diploma of Fellowship in the ' Academy of the
Catholic Religion/ which was conferred upon him
about the same time, was a loftier dignity than that

1 Epistolario, Letter xxxv. 3 See Chapter vii. p. 136.

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 223

which the Roveretans thought worthy of public
rejoicings. Of this Fellowship he spoke as of an
honour according to his heart, while the doctorate
seemed to him a comparatively trifling affair — * cosa
leggiera ' — as he styled it in a letter to his friend
Paravia.

The next time he passed notably far from his
home retirement was in the Autumn of the same year,
when he proceeded to Innsbruck, accompanied by
Don Orsi, his former master, in order to escort a
distinguished guest to Rovereto. This guest was
Monsignor Crasser, who had been Prefect of Studies
in the great Tyrolese University, where young Ros-
mini formed his acquaintance and laid the foundation
of a life-long friendship between them. M. Crasser
had just been nominated to the see of Treviso, and
as he had but an imperfect knowledge of Italian he
sought his young friend's hospitality and assistance
while endeavouring to overcome this disadvantage.
His episcopal career, which was most successful
(first at Treviso, and afterwards at Verona) may be
said to have taken its start, if not more, under the
healthy influences of the ' sacerdotal philosopher of
Rovereto/ As a young layman Rosmini had been
deemed fit to prepare, and actually did prepare,
ecclesiastics for the Priesthood ; why then should it
be strange if he, as a young Priest, was deemed fit to
do some kindred service for Priests who were about
to assume the Episcopal Office ? Such duties as
these were no real interruption to the even tenor
of the monastic course he was resolved to follow,

224 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

whether he was entertaining guests at home or was
himself a guest in the homes of others.

Before this visit of M. Crasser came to a close,
Rosmini was appealed to by the ecclesiastical
authorities of Trent to connect himself officially and
permanently with his native diocese. To this end M.
Sardagna, then Vicar Capitular, who highly esteemed
the virtues and abilities of the young Abate, and
was eager to keep them for Trent, offered many
inducements well calculated to successfully entice any
one else. But, as these tempting offers looked too
much like honouring the individual, they failed to
allure one whose zeal for the Church was so pure that
anything with the semblance of self-interest, instead
of attracting, repelled him. However, at M. Crasser 's
suggestion, he consented to accept the office of
Synodical Examiner, as least objectionable and not
likely to embarrass him in living up to the principles
he had laid down for his guidance. Moreover, it
would enable him to accomplish much good, especi
ally in connection with the little Academy for young
ecclesiastics, which he still kept up in his own house
and at his own expense.

This little Academy was known amongst its
students as the Gymnasium of the Aquinate, because
they were mainly occupied with the works of St.
Thomas, for which Rosmini had always the pro-
foundest admiration. The presence of guests in the
family mansion was never allowed to interfere with
the regular course of studies, nor with the formal
lectures he daily gave his pupils, Sometimes

INTERRUPTIONS TO HOME SECLUSION. 225

the guests took part in the discussions, as M.
Crasser requested permission to do while he stayed.
The young professor usually strolled off to prepare
the lessons in the quiet of St. Ilario (a secluded
villa conveniently near the town) and then came
back to read and discuss them with his disciples, or,
as he preferred to designate them, ' fellow academi
cians.' The cream of these readings, naturally
enough, passed into a formal work designed for the
press, but, unfortunately, the manuscript has been
lost He has himself left us this record of it in a
letter written to Tommaseo, some months later than
the time of which we are now speaking :

I have begun the little dissertation on St. Thomas of
Aquin, whose genius I hold to be in no way inferior to
Newton's. I am writing it in Latin. At the very outset, I
reprove the Italians for not appreciating the treasure they
possess and the glory which might accrue to them if they
but availed themselves of the riches offered to them in
the writings of this peerless genius. I place the great
merits of St. Thomas in theological wisdom, and then in
vestigate the causes which have led to his being so little
studied. I find them in the decay amongst us of the phi
losophy of Aristotle, and I endeavour to describe the good
as well as evil of that philosophy. I next proceed to speak
of such parts of this system as should be revived, showing
that if it were restored it would appear more beautiful than
at any other period. Then I do my best to give a con-
iensed exposition of it in language suited to modern
:imes. In doing this I penetrate as far as I can into its
spirit. By such an abridgment of the Aristotelian philoso-

, purged of its errors and perfected by the lofty intellect
our Angelic Doctor, I think I am appending to the
VOL. i. Q

226

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

works of this mighty genius the only proper means of
understanding and relishing them.1

Thus, when not only Italy, but all Europe, looked
with coldness, if not with positive disfavour, on the
works of St. Thomas of Aquin, the Abate Rosmini,
against formidable opposition, was vigorously striving
to secure for them that place which they now hold in
the estimation of the Catholic world. Indeed, it can
be claimed, with perfect justice, that the young
Roveretan philosopher was one of the first, if not
the very first, to insist on the pre-eminent merits of
the grand Dominican ; and he was assuredly the first,
and perhaps the only writer, who so thoroughly
mastered the teachings of the Angelic Doctor as to
be in a position to make them truly ' understood
and relished.'

1 See // Rinnovamento della Filosofia in Italia, Milano, 1836, 1840 ;
and Aristotele esposto ed esaminato published in the Rivista Contem-
poranea of Turin, November 1854 and January 1855, and by the
Sod eta F.ditrice di libri di Filosofia in 1857.

HIS FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 227

CHAPTER XV.

ROSMINl's FIRST VISIT TO ROME.
(A.D. 1823.)

He is invited to accompany Mons. Crasser to Treviso — Quits his
retirement for the third time — It proves to be the first serious de
parture from the monastic seclusion of home — Meets the Patriarch
of Venice, who takes him to Rome — His first short but fruitful visit
to the Eternal City — Becomes the friend of Mauro Cappellari
(afterwards Pope Gregory XVI) — Interview with Pius VII. — The
Pope counsels him to persevere in philosophical studies for the
good of the Church — Is offered an important office at the Papal
Court — How this perplexes him, and why he declines it — The
burden of exalted friendships — Informs his mother how the time
has been spent — Returns home — How news of the Pope's dangerous
illness is received in Rovereto — News of the Holy Father's death —
Rosmini leads the people to honour his memory — Is appointed to
preach the funeral oration — Effect of his discourse on those who
heard it.

WHEN Monsignor Crasser was on the eve of de
parting from Rovereto, in order to take formal pos
session of his See, he urgently requested his young
host to accompany him and assist at the ceremony.
Rosmini at first hesitated ; but, after he had spent
some time in prayer, to discover God's Will in the
matter, he came to the conclusion that all the cir
cumstances connected with the invitation brought it
within the range of the rule he had laid down for his
guidance.

g 2

228

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

It was the third time of his quitting the long
seclusion following his Ordination — the third for
any purpose far beyond the ordinary paths of home
life. But as it led to an extraordinary extension of
his journey and of his absence, as well as to scenes
of exceptional distraction, it may be regarded as the
first time in which his five years' retirement was
seriously disturbed. Not that he failed still to carry
self-seclusion with him, or to observe his monastic
rule, as far as circumstances permitted, but that cir
cumstances made it impossible for him to observe it
as fully as at home. These circumstances were,
however, as we shall see, of a nature to compensate
him spiritually and otherwise for so unusual an in
vasion of the tranquillity he loved so much. Besides,
they were the source of influences that had an im
portant bearing on his after life, and thus justified
the conclusion that God willed him to accept
Mgr. Grasser's invitation.

The young Abate accompanied his illustrious
guest to Treviso. There he had the good fortune
to meet once more, and under most favourable
auspices, an old Paduan friend — the learned Ladis-
laus Pirker, Patriarch of Venice, who had come to
instal his suffragan. When the ceremonies were
over, the Patriarch pressed his young friend to go
with him to Venice, and thence to Rome. The
terms of the invitation were such as made accept
ance a duty ; and so Rosmini soon found himself,
most unexpectedly, on the way to the Eternal City,
whither his imagination had often fondly journeyec3

HIS FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 229

But, frequently as he thought of making a pilgrimage
to the shrine of the Apostles, and much as he wished
to carry out the desire, he would not venture to go till
Providence, by circumstances, indicated the time.
The indication was at length clear, and he went.

This, his first visit to Rome, was made in the
Spring of 1823. It was short and somewhat hurried,
but fruitful. As the honoured companion of the Ve
netian Patriarch he had rare opportunities of know
ing people and of seeing places it was most import
ant for him to know and see. These opportunities
kept him so incessantly busy that he had no time to
pen the descriptions he intended to write of what he
saw, nor a moment to more than name the illustrious
persons whose acquaintance he made. Amongst
those whose warm friendship he then secured was a
pious and learned Camaldoli monk, greatly esteemed
in Rome, where he discharged the duties of Procu
rator General of his Order.1 This was the Abate

1 The monks of Camaldoli took their name from the once famous
monastery founded in 1009 on the estate of the Counts Maldoli, in the
Apennines, above the valley of Casentino near Arezzo in Tuscany. The
monastery itself had its name contracted from that of the estate — Campo
Maldoli. The founder was St. Romualdo, who died in 1027. (See
Butler's Lives of the Saints, vol. i. pp. 208-11.) For more than 800
years this monastery was the nursery of a sanctity and learning that
shed its brightness far and near. Amongst its illustrious children
were — the Blessed Maldoli, one of the Counts to whom the property
originally belonged ;. St. Peter Damian, a Cardinal and Doctor of the
Church ; Guido Aretino, the famous musician and inventor of the Sol
feggio ; Mauro Cappellari, who became Pope Gregory XVI. ; Casimir
King of Poland, &c. But in spite of its sacred renown and continued
usefulness, in spite of the fact that its monks were * much distin
guished for their charity in years of famine, when, besides continuing
their usual alms, they mortgaged the Church plate and their posses
sions for the benefit of their poor neighbours, and even deprived

.230 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Mauro Cappellari, who, eight years afterwards, was
called to the chair of Peter as Gregory XVI.
Another intimacy dating from those days was that
with Cardinal Zurla ; another with Mgr. Ostini,
subsequently a Cardinal ; and yet another, that with
the distinguished Albertino Bellenghi, whose writ
ings on geological subjects he much admired.1

Pius VII, was still reigning, and though the
venerable Pontiff was in very feeble health, Don
Antonio had not long to wait for an audience,
which proved to be of a most kindly character. The
Holy Father, who had heard much about him, not
only from the Patriarch but from others, was well
pleased with the young Roveretan Priest, whose
philosophical studies he warmly approved. He
bade him to remember that much was expected from
him, because he had received much, and that he

themselves of their outer garments for the same purpose/ in spite of
all this the Italian Government suppressed the monastery and made it
national property in 1865, ' the great extent and beauty of its forests'
being an avowed reason. Some sixteen years afterwards the same
Government sold the grand old home of the Camaldoli at public
auction, the day of sale being, significantly enough, a Sunday, gth of
Oct. 1 88 1. It was to stem the tide of evils which threatened results
like this that Mauro Cappellari as Camaldoli monk, as Cardinal and as
Pope, urged Antonio Rosmini to wage continuous war against false
philosophy, and it was to a like end that the same distinguished Cam-
aldolese, when Vicar of Christ, commissioned the Roveretan divine
to found a Religious Order.

1 It was on this occasion that Bellenghi entrusted to him the
manuscript of the work entitled Ricerche sulla Geologia, which Ros
mini read with interest and published at Rovereto in 1824. Some of
the Roman journals condemned it much as the critics of Galileo would
have done ; but the distinguished Professor Zamboni of Verona
defended it, and its speculations are now allowed to be freely handled
by every Catholic schoolboy as * theories void of harm to faith or
morals.'

HIS FIRST VISIT' TO ROME. 231

must utilise his talents and his studies for the good
of the Church. Don Antonio was deeply affected
by this fatherly reception, ' which he recorded, not
on paper, but in his heart,' as he assured Tommaseo
when telling him of it.1

Shortly after the interview, and while the young
Priest was still flushed with the joy it caused him, he
received a formal message to the effect that the
Sovereign Pontiff offered to his acceptance the post
of Uditore di Rota — a mark of signally high favour,
which, in the opinion of his Roman friends, was
meant as the direct approach to the Cardinalate.
That the Holy Father should have thought of him
at all in such a manner overwhelmed him afresh ;
but this time a cloud flecked the sunshine around
him. How was he to accept this important office
without setting aside the special works of chanty
already begun ? How was he to take it, and carry
on successfully the studies which the Pope himself
had so emphatically commended ? — studies that
aimed at the restoration of Christian philosophy
as one of the greatest boons which Intellectual
Charity could secure to men in an age of hardened
scepticism.

The Patriarch, on learning his perplexity, re
minded him that the terms of the Holy Father's
offer did not at all imply a command. This re
lieved him, and, having the option, he promptly
asked and obtained permission to decline the high
post the venerable Pontiff's favour had placed

1 Rivista Cont. Antonio Rosmini per N. Tommaseo. Torino, 1855.

232 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

within his reach. Seven years afterwards, when
he had occasion to explain to the Bishop of Trent
why he could not consistently accept an important
position to which that Prelate invited him, he thus
alluded to the offers which his principles obliged him
to decline at the hands even of the venerable Pius
VII.:

I regard as one of the principal rules regulating my
course, that which forbids me to assume any office likely to
impede the doing of a greater work already commenced* It
was chiefly on this account and not, I hope, through sloth
or cowardice, that I found myself obliged to refuse some
most honourable posts which were offered to me in
the capital of Christendom as long ago as 1823, during
the pontificate of Pius VII., as well as on subsequent oc
casions.1

The ' sweet fame' which had preceded the young
Roveretan Priest, coupled with the advantages of
intimate association with the Venetian Patriarch,
made his stay at Rome much more honoured and
exciting than was at all agreeable to him. To visit
the sacred shrines and see the treasures of art, and
explore the venerable remains of ages long past,
afforded him great pleasure indeed ; but this had its
drawback in the fact that he was always escorted by
those whose kind attentions oppressed him. Far
sooner would he have seen all these things while
alone and unknown. He had, however, to bear the
burden of exalted intimacies, and submit to be some
what lionised. All this made it impossible for him
to write much from Rome, even to his mother, who

3 EpistolariO) Letter clxxiv.

HIS FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 233

had from him the following explanation of his
difficulties : —

The infrequency of my letters from Rome will enable
you to understand how much I am occupied all day in
seeing a thousand things which truly inebriate the soul. I
have hardly time left me for the saying of the Divine Office,
and for the other exercises of piety. The Patriarch, full of
activity, is indefatigable ; besides, we are overwhelmed with
visits. In short, what with one thing and another our stay
has come to an end, without my being able to write to you
as much as I had hoped.

According to our present arrangements, on next
Tuesday we shall leave for Florence, where we shall spend
a few days. Our health has been good all through. . . .
You cannot imagine how much it delights me to dis
cover, at every turn, the art wonders uncle Ambrogio
used to describe to me in such vivid language. Few
things come so new to me, as to find me unable to say
what they are ; indeed, I can often give their history, so
deep were the impressions made on my mind by the words
of one so dear to me. Yesterday we were at Frascati
and Albano, lovely spots not far from Rome. We derived
great pleasure from discoursing on matters connected
with the antiquarian relics strewn all over these places.
But in spite of the many attractions by which I am sur
rounded, I yearn to find myself once more restored to
home retirement.1

He started for that home retirement a few days
after he had thus written to his mother. But, as in
Rome, so in Florence and elsewhere on the return
journey, his stay, though at no place long, was of
that distracting kind which little harmonised with
his private inclinations. However, since the Will of

1 Unpublished letter, dated Rome, April 22, 1823.

234 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Providence, and not his own, had regulated the
tour — and destined him to have a more conspicuous
share in it than his love of seclusion would have per
mitted himself to have chosen — he found therein a
means of making it contribute to his spiritual as well
as physical and mental advantage.

Hardly had he resumed the monastic regularity
of his quiet but most industrious and useful life in
Rovereto, when news came that the venerated Pius
VII. was dangerously ill. Don Antonio immediately
brought the members of his two Academies to com
bine in prayer for the good estate of the dying Pope,
and for the prosperity of the whole Church. A few
days afterwards came tidings of the saintly Chief
Pastor's departure to eternal life, and, at once, Ros-
mini was busy in leading all Rovereto to unite in
suffrages for the good Pontiffs soul, and in publicly
honouring his memory. Every church in Rovereto
had solemn services befitting the sad occasion ; and,
in order that no homage due to the illustrious dead
should be wanting, a committee of Priests and lay
men was appointed to arrange for the celebration
of a * month's mind,' on September 25, at which the
municipal authorities, with various other civic digni
taries, were to assist ' in state/ and an appropriate
funeral oration was to be pronounced. Rosmini was
formally requested to prepare and preach this dis
course, and it was thus he came to deliver the pane
gyric which secured for him so much fame and
trouble.

The masterly eloquence of this discourse sur-

HIS FIRST VISIT TO ROME. 235

)rised those who heard it ; for, though they expected
nuch from the orator as to the matter, they were not
)repared for the heartiness of manner which gave
;uch effective utterance to what he felt and pro-
:laimed. But what impressed them most of all was
he dauntless spirit and unanswerable logic with
vhich the young Abate asserted and defended the
•ights of the Holy See against the aggressions,
lot only of revolution but of that modern statecraft
vhich had then influential advocates in Austria.
When denouncing both the acts and the policy of
Napoleon — the extravagances and the principles of
he Revolution — he struck at a policy and at principles
hat still lurked in high as well as low places, biding
i time to once more assault the See of Sees. A
quarter of a century later he was, himself, to witness
:he new assault : it was made under changed circum-
itances, indeed, but its character and its dangers were
n no essential respect different from those which
le, with marvellous foresight, already denounced as
atent in the false principles underlying the political
systems of the day.

236 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIN1.

CHAPTER XVI.

ROSMINl's PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. THE BEGINNING Ol
TRIBULATIONS.

(A.D. 1824.)

Why this panegyric calls for a special chapter — How it marks the
close of calm life and the opening of storms — The greater the ,
Saints and the more they do for the glory of God, the greater and
more their trials — Synopsis of the panegyric — He is entreated to
publish it immediately as an offset to current attacks on the Holy
See — Why Austrian politicians opposed its publication — They fear ;
Rosmini as an ' Ultramontane' — What he says of their course — He
publishes a portrait of the Pope, and is opposed even in this —
He foresees the evils which certain political factions in Catholic
countries are to bring on the Church and on nations.

THE panegyric of Pius VII. may be said to have \
closed Rosmini's life of external peace and opened
upon him that of storm ; for his bold and successful j
defence of the Holy See brought upon him the first :
of those tribulations that were, in so many other I,
ways, to strew his path with thorns. This discourse
had, therefore, all the higher value in his eyes, since
it marked the commencement of a practical applica
tion to himself of the Eighth Beatitude — ' Blessed
are ye wb^.n they shall revile you, and persecute
you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly,
for My sake. . . . For so they persecuted the Pro
phets that were before you.'

HIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VIL 237

Seeing, then, that it inaugurated a new and most
mportant phase in his course, it claims at our hands
nore than a passing allusion. But, apart from this
eading motive, there are other reasons immediately
onnected with the views Rosmini so emphatically
inundated in this famous panegyric which make a
ynopsis of its contents a necessary part of any com-
>lete history of his life. He should be seen, at all
>oints, in the clear light of his own principles, as
lescribed by himself and consistently adhered to from
irst to last. To be misunderstood and misrepre-
ented was a lot from which neither a St. Augustine
>f Hippo, nor a St. Thomas of Aquin, nor a St.
Ignatius of Loyola, nor, indeed, any great Saint, was
exempt. On the contrary, the greater the Saint and
he more he did for the glory of God and the Church,
he more was he misunderstood, sometimes even by
he zealously good, and the more was he misrepre-
.ented by those whose zeal outstripped their pru-
lence. Antonio of Rovereto had to bear this cross
>f the Saints from an early day of his life, and, like
ill who truly loved the Cross of Calvary, he bore it
neekly and patiently to the end.

I. In the exordium of the panegyric he maintains
hat the nature of Christian virtue is far nobler than
my of which mere human heroism can boast ; and
hat the greatness of Christian virtue ha^ far better
)pportunities and more occasions for its exercise (and
s actually more exercised) in the Roman Pontificate
:han in any other position on earth. He then takes

238 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

for the argument of the whole discourse, the rriora!
greatness of the Roman Pontiffs as seen in Piu:
VII.

II. He vividly describes the calamities tha
afflicted the Church when Cardinal Chiaramonti wa
chosen, in March 1800, to fill the chair of Peter.

III. He goes on to show how very difficult it must
have been for the Pontiff elected in such trying times
to remedy the evils that beset the Church, seeing that
it was so very difficult to proceed with the election
itself; and how Divine Providence selected Pius VII.
as the fittest to grapple with the dangers and over
come the evils, for all that some distrusted the choice
because of the monastic humility of the new Pope
and the shrinking gentleness of his personal cha
racter.

IV. He dwells on the fact that Pius VII. was
no sooner seated in the chair of Peter than he felt
the whole weight of the immense burden imposed
upon him, but without being at all discouraged.

V. He demonstrates the moral greatness of
Pius VII. by an extrinsic argument, that is, by the
results obtained — contrasting the state of the Church
at the time of the Pontiff's death with the condition
in which it was at the period of his election.

VI. He continues to prove this moral greatness
by an investigation of its nature, and shows that its
two leading characteristics were wisdom and fortitude
— wisdom in comprehending the true position of
affairs, and fortitude in acting on the conclusions
thus arrived at. He then compares the fortitude of

HIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. 239

Worldly heroes, which displays itself in enterprises
full of cruelty, with the fortitude of Christian heroes,
which manifests itself, chiefly, in the longanimity
that patiently endures all manner of suffering how
ever iniquitously inflicted.

VII. The better to set forth the indomitable
vigour of the Pope's fortitude he begins a calm, clear,
description of the persecutions raised against him

—what mental anguish and what physical sufferings
his adversaries forced him to go through. He then
exposes Napoleon's designs on the Papal States, and
how, as a first stage to carrying them out, the
usurper occupied Ancona with an army.

VIII. He points out the enormity of the sacri
lege attempted by Napoleon, as made painfully clear
in the attending circumstances, and not least in the
audacious assumption of the title Defender of the
Holy See. He interrupts the narrative to give a
historical sketch of the Protectorate of ' the Papal
Power' which the French kings occasionally exer
cised, and then shows how impudent and insincere
was Napoleon's pretence of imitating them.

IX. He exposes the gross insult which Napoleon
offered to the Pontiff, by affirming that the Emperor
knew better than the Pope what concerned the in
terests of the Church, and that it was on account of
this superior knowledge the imperial forces took
possession of the Pontifical States.

X. He indicates the profound contempt of men
evinced by Napoleon, in declaring himself to be the
Roman Emperor, Charlemagne's successor, and in

240 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

pretending that all the States of Italy were, there
fore, his dependencies.

XI. He brings to view the further vexation
that was caused to Pius VII. by Napoleon's wicked
attempt to subjugate the Pontiff to his desires for
the enslavement of the Church, which, under pretext
of protecting, he tried to change into a human insti
tution subordinate to the political ambition of a
despot.

XII. He lays bare the grievous insults to which
Napoleon's treatment of the Pontiff subjected him,
and not least in having sought to make it appear that
the Holy Father's unyielding attitude sprang, not
from motives of conscience, but from human interests
under the veil of conscience.

XIII. He denounces the unworthy calumnies
which Pius VII. had to endure at the usurper's
hands, and unmasks the despicable pretexts to which
Napoleon had recourse in order to hurl injurious
reproaches at the afflicted Pontiff.

XIV. He extols the firmness of the Pope, which
made him proof against all the artifices and insults
of his tormentor to coax or force him to say or do
what conscience and duty forbade ; and he commends
the Pontiff's answers as firm in substance while
courteous and full of meekness in manner.

XV. He reviews the true relations of the Popes
with secular powers as well illustrated by Pius VII.,
who declared that, as * Vicar of the Lord of Peace/
he could not enter into any offensive alliance with
Napoleon against England, as he ought not to be at

HIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. 241

war with any one. He shows how the Holy Father
justly maintained this course to be according to the
true spirit of the Roman Pontificate ; and how the
example of his predecessors made it manifest that
the spirit of the Holy See consists in rectitude,
especially that rectitude which forms goodness and
sacerdotal meekness.

XVI. He regards Pius VII. as the first Pope
who was engaged in so prolonged and formidable a
struggle for the defence of the spirit of Sacerdotal
meekness ; and he claims that, through the conflict
thus waged, the Pontiff bequeathed new glory to the
Apostolic See. He then expatiates on the great
merits of this struggle on such grounds.

XVII. He criticises the method employed by
Napoleon to revenge himself on the firmness of the
Pope by means of fresh insults ; and explains how,
in order to make the insults more effectively harsh,
they were directed against the virtues which the
imperial policy strove to persecute and destroy in
the Pontifical States.

XVIII. He pictures Pius VII. bereft of every
human comfort, while he was as ready as ever to
offer consolation to all, not excepting his persecutors.

XIX. He brings to light Napoleon's attempts
to stifle the veracious voice of the Pontiff, who, in the
midst of his oppressions, refused to suppress the
truth — a course that was utterly repugnant to the
policy of his imperial gaoler, who therefore deprived
him of every means of communicating with the
Church of which he was the Visible Head.

VOL. I. R

242 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

XX. He relates, in detail, how the inexorable
agents of tyranny tore from the Pontiff's side all his
ministers one after another, and how patiently he
submitted to each fresh torture, till he found himself
on the eve of losing his last companion, Cardinal
Pacca, when he stood up and interposed his person
between this new victim and the soldiers who had
come to force him away, as they had forced all the
others.

XXI. Having thus fully brought to view the
various forms of mental anguish that the venerable
Pontiff had to endure, the orator next proceeds to
describe and consider his physical sufferings.

XXII. He describes the forcible removal of the
Pope from Rome, and gives an account of the
wearisome and distressing journey to Savona and
Fontainebleau.

XXIII. He considers the moral grandeur of
Pius VII. as shown by \\\^ fortitude in bearing the
evils inflicted upon him, and then passes on to view
this grandeur as shown by the wisdom which regu
lated his conduct towards others : — First of all the
wisdom that sustained him in adversity, especially
that which enabled him to distinguish between what
he could concede to his enemies and what he must
firmly refuse to grant them ; then his wisdom in pro
sperity, especially in never allowing the least token
of revenge to blemish his treatment of his perse
cutors, to whom he most generously stretched
forth the arms of Christian Charity ; his wisdom
in assigning their just value to things, and especially

HIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. 243

in knowing how to sacrifice mere formalities when
a substantial good had to be gained ; his wisdom in
devising the fittest plans of operation under most
difficult circumstances.

XXIV. He lays down the grounds of Public
Right on which the coronation of Napoleon could
be justified, and then explains how the Public
Right which has justice for its basis was taught and
promulgated in Europe, mainly by the Holy See.

XXV. He confronts the Public Right incul
cated by the Popes, with the * public right ' enforced
by Napoleon on the basis of a supposed public
utility, and he lays bare the absurdity and fatal
nature of this ' right/ which the sophists of modern
times invented and Napoleon attempted to reduce
to practice.

XXVI. He demonstrates that by his defence of
public justice, against so-called public utility, Pius
VII. defended the cause of all legitimate rulers and
the true liberty of peoples.

XXVII. He deals with the three causes which
led to the struggles of the Popes with temporal
rulers : — i. The liberty of Italy, in so far as it is
bound up with the liberty of the Church ; 2. The
necessity of supporting the moral dignity of marriage;
3. The proper maintenance of ecclesiastical disci
pline.

XXVIII. He insists that Pius VII. contended
for all three within the bounds of Public Right, and
then sets out to prove it, especially as regards the
sacredness of the marriage tic.

244 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

XXIX. He enumerates the many benefits con
ferred on the Church by this venerable Pontiff, and
shows what his zeal for ecclesiastical discipline had
accomplished. He then descants on the wisdom of
his temporal rule, and on the enlightened generosity
which made him a munificent protector of Sciences
and Arts.

XXX. Having fully shown the greatness of the
Pontiff's Fortitude and Wisdom, he finally speaks of
his Sanctity, and proves that, in this also, Pius VI I.
was great ; his public virtues possessed a special
excellence drawn from the fact that they all grew up
from the prolific and vigorous stem of this Sanctity.

XXXI. He concludes by apostrophising Italy as
a nation honoured beyond others in producing so
illustrious a son as Pius VII.

The desirability, nay the necessity, of immediately
publishing this panegyric was urged upon Rosmini,
not only by the Rovereto Clergy, but by those of
other towns in that and other dioceses, as well as by
many venerable laymen in whose judgment he had
much confidence. Accordingly, he prepared it for
the press, though not without misgivings as to its
reception by certain influential persons who were
imbued with a short-sighted policy unfavourable to
the Papacy — a policy which had slumbered in
Austria since the days of Joseph II., but had been
re-awakened by the Revolution, though under circum
stances that held its supporters in check, so long
as the atrocities of Revolutionary and Napoleonic

IJIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. 245

ascendency were still fresh in the memory of the
people. But, the hostile spirit was none the less
there, and, however subdued in its manifestations, it
was potent enough to resist and trample on anyone
who might attempt to uphold the dignity and rights
of the Roman Pontiffs. When the young Roveretan
Priest was persuaded that it became his duty to con
front this powerful and subtle antagonism to the
Holy See, he did not hesitate through fear of
personal consequences.

Already Pietro Giordani had published a pane
gyric of Napoleon I., and though this was at all points
unjustly and irritatingly adverse to the Papacy, it was
allowed to circulate freely through the Italian pro
vinces of Austria. Its misrepresentations did so much
mischief that the earnest Catholics of the empire and
of Italy loudly demanded some effective off-set, such
as that furnished by Rosmini's panegyric of Pius VII.
Indeed, this funeral oration was the only discourse
or production of the time which fully met the case ;
therefore it was promptly retouched and made ready
to go forth on its salutary mission. But the pro
vincial political authorities, to whom it had to be
submitted for 'permission to publish,' looked upon
it as ' too papal,' or, as some in our time say of any
thing that is decidedly Catholic, ' too ultramontane.'
Hence they loitered over the manuscript for months,
and threw every obstacle in the way of its seasonable
appearance.

The Governor of Venice officially warned those
of his party in power at Vienna, that Rosmini was

246 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

a 'strong Papist having close relations with the
most zealous Prelates of the Curia,' and that he had
but recently returned from a journey to Rome
with so pronounced a papal champion as the Patri
arch of Venice. In short, this Josephine functionary
sought to show that the Roveretan Abate was so
intensely Catholic that he coulcl not be trusted to
express himself in the lukewarm or non-religious
style which best suited the temporising and de-
catholicising tactics of some Austrian politicians
then in authority. Beneath all these efforts to pre
vent or delay its publication there ran a current of
slanders that reached Don Antonio's ears through
the kindness of the Prefect of the Southern Tyrol —
the loyal and pious Riccabona, whose cousin had
just been designated Bishop of Trent. Two years
after these annoyances had begun Rosmini himself
gave this account of them in a letter to his friend
Mgr. Grasser, Bishop of Treviso :

I wish to tell you one thing, but in all secrecy. It
is already a long time since I submitted to the Censor
ship at Venice a eulogy of Pius VII. This little work
has had a world of vicissitudes. The Governor of Venice
wrote to Vienna an angry and, at the same time, a
silly report against me. The crime with which he charged
me was that of being a papist in close relations with the
Roman Prelates ! As a proof of this he adduced the journey
I made to Rome with the Patriarch, and brought forward
other arguments of the same decisive kind ! . . . However,
even at Vienna itself the report of the Venetian Governor
was judged to be rash. Meanwhile, my book was returned
to Venice, and once more sent back to Vienna. From

HIS PANEGYRIC OF PIUS VII. 247

Vienna it was next time forwarded to M. Wilzek, at Inns
bruck, who reported favourably on it. The manuscript
was also sent to the Bishop of Trent, but whether from
Vienna or Innsbruck I cannot tell. I have reason to be
lieve that Riccabona, our Provincial Prefect, was asked to
give the Government private information about me per
sonally. In short, they treat me as if I were a Carbonaro !
You must allow that to a quiet gentleman whose conscience
stands clear before God and men such proceedings cannot
be agreeable. True, all this is done in secret, and it is only
by accident that I have come to know of it ; but this is
really a most unpleasant part of the affair. Such a mode
of proceeding makes it perfectly safe for an enemy or a
calumniator to triumph always in his lying. . . . All this,
however, cannot disturb my interior tranquillity, and I
thank God for my retired life and for the calm of my
conscience.1

When he found it impossible, without coming
into collision with political authority, to carry out the
project to which he was urged by so many zealous
Catholics, so many loyal citizens, and by an earnest
feeling of homage to the memory of Pius VII., as
well as by a deep sense of duty to the Holy See, he
contented himself with causing the publication of an
engraved portrait of the late Pontiff. This, at least,
could not, he thought, be objected to on any plausible
grounds. Nevertheless, 'political expediency' did
object even to this ; for the portrait, by itself, might
suggest awkward inquiries as to the reasons for with
holding the memoir. This objection, however, did
not stand ; and so the faithful were allowed to
have a likeness of the revered Pope, which Don

1 Unpublished Letters, Tom. 1 1. Letter cclviii. Rovereto, Decem
ber 14, 1825.

248 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Antonio intrusted to the artist and engraver, Andrees
of Rovereto, who brought it out in his best style.

It pained Rosmini much to find that a time-serv
ing political faction in a Catholic country had the
power to thus fetter the action of those who defended
the highest interests of the Church ; but it pained
him more to know that all who dexterously assailed
those interests were not only privileged but pro
tected, He was, indeed, ready to credit the short
sighted politicians then in office with good intentions,
but how could he respect the policy which covered
their intentions, since it directly favoured the propa
gation of irreligion ? The more he contemplated
the gloomy state of the times the more was he sad
dened at the prospects of the future, As Tommaseo
tells us, he clearly foresaw that the evils which many
statesmen were then sowing all through Europe, to
curry favour with free-thinkers, and to affront the
Church, must produce crops of bitter woe for religion,
for peoples, and for governments, These forebodings
grieved him sorely ; but, as he felt that it was
Divine and not human power which was to succour
the Church, he never had any misgivings as to the
ultimate triumph of the Holy See over human weak
ness or human wickedness, however long and how
ever much either or both might seem to triumph.

ffJS DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SEE. 249

CHAPTER XVII.

KOSMINl's DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SEE AND
CATHOLIC UNION.

(A.D. 1824-1825.)

He practically illustrates the holy influence of the Papacy while not
allowed to openly vindicate its honour — His great devotion to the
Holy See- -Distrust of secular life, and confidence in the Religious
State — The cloister a harbour of refuge — The political censors will
not be conciliated — Why the religious reaction following the
French Revolution waned — Dangers of the future— Proposal to
honour solemnly the martyrs of the Revolution — What God intended
him to promote — Mme. Canossa reminds him of her ' message of
inspiration ' — He wishes to found a congregation for securing the
perfect observance of the public services of the Church — She urges
him to quit his home retirement — His efforts for the Daughters of
Charity in Trent — Advises his sister to found a house of this Order
in Rovereto, at her own expense — Proceeds to Modena for special
studies — Advantages of union amongst the good.

WHILE a few misguided political officials were ob
structing RosminFs efforts to vindicate the honour of
the Holy See, he was himself quietly engaged in
illustrating, all unconsciously, the charm of its benign
influences, through the many ' good works ' that sur
rounded his private life with the soothing, saving,
blessings of Gospel Charity. Those works, having
the Saviour constantly in view, never permitted him
to lose sight of Christ's Church or of His Vicar.
It has been well said of him that ( if ever there was

250 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

a man who -understood perfectly how Christian faith
rests on the infallible and living voice of the Church,
that man was Antonio Rosmini.'

It is certain that from his tenderest years to the
day of his death he always showed the ' most prompt
and humble docility, the most tender and filial affec
tion to the voice of the Church.' He often declared
that language could not adequately express ' the ex
alted idea he entertained of the office committed by
Jesus Christ to His Spouse/ Any one who reads
the second part of his Filosofia del Diritto, must
admit that he has taken the greatest pains, and with
much success, to set forth and maintain the rights of
the Church, ' whether resting on the dictates of
natural justice, or on the prescription of her Divine
Founder.' He was ever amongst the foremost, and
ever fearless, in defending her against the cavils
and sophistry of those philosophers and legislators
in whose eyes the State is everything and the Church
almost nothing. Unlike them, he did not believe
that ' civil society is the end for which man was
created ; ' for all his studies had convinced him that
civil society * is only one of the means which, under
the direction of God's Church, are intended to assist
man in the attainment of his only end — the eternal
salvation of his own soul.' x

1 An Outline of Rosmints Life, £c., p. 72. It may be as well to
remember that Rosmini vindicated the rights of the Holy See with
equal ardour at every stage of his life. We have evidence of it while
he was a boy composing the ' Day of Retirement 'in 1811, and address
ing the Rovereto Academy in 1814, when he was as firm in upholding
those rights as when preaching the ' Panegyric of Pius VII.' in 1824, or
finishing the ' Philosophy of Right ' in 1841. The same spirit of un-

PREFERS RELIGIOUS TO SECULAR LIFE. 251

But when he saw how ' the popular movements '
went, he came to the conclusion that civil society was
rapidly passing away from its Christian moorings,
and, by mistaking the means for the end, was blindly
rushing on its own destruction. He did his utmost
to check these evil tendencies as one urged thereto
from on High. The tide, however, seemed too
strong, and, day by day, the condition of Secular Life
alarmed him more and more, while the security
which the Religious State afforded won his heart
more and more. Hence, he sought every oppor
tunity of encouraging his dearest friends to take
refuge in this safer life, and avoid the ever-increasing
snares of the world. It gave him sincere pleasure
to be in a position to congratulate anyone who had
made the 'better choice.' Several of his ecclesi
astical friends had already given him this pleasure,
and, without for a moment assuming that his in
fluence had led them to take the course he so much
approved, he deemed it a duty to wish them joy in
some such terms as those used in the following letter
to the Abate Villardi : —

I write to congratulate you on the step you have deli
berately taken ; for it is natural for us to rejoice at the
welfare of those whom we care for, and you have ever been
an object of my affection and esteem. Now, if it be God
who has called you to the cloister, as I am persuaded it is
—(for before adopting such a course, you have, doubtless,

swerving devotion to the Papacy, and uncompromising advocacy of its
inherited rights, is visible in the treatises he wrote or completed
during the closing years of his life, as for example in that Sul Matri-
monio de* Cristiani^ that Sul Diritto d' insegnare, and that Sulla Scpara--
zione dclla C hies a dallo Stato.

252 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

taken pains to ascertain His Will in your regard) — what
more fortunate event could there be for you ? You are now
at anchor in a safe harbour. Although the movement of
the water be perceptible even there, you will never have to
brave the heaving billows which agitate, unceasingly, the
high seas of this tempestuous world. The swell, if per
chance there be any, will be of short duration, free from
danger, and easily steered through. You can therefore now
enjoy that peace which assuredly it is not so easy to secure
in the world. I clearly see — indeed, experience teaches me,
— that the noise and bustle of human affairs wrest us from
ourselves, and poison with a thousand drugs the chaste
delights we derive from letters. Quiet and order, on the
contrary, leave us leisure to make use of them, not only
with delight, but also with profit to ourselves and others.
I write thus with no other view than that you may see
you have friends whose sentiments are in harmony with
your own.

Receive, I pray you, this assurance with the same friendly
spirit that prompts its utterance. I am aware that you are
preaching and zealously labouring in God's vineyard, and I
envy you the opportunity you have for such sweet pursuits,
whilst I am unhappily immersed in innumerable cares
which miserably distract me.

I have recently published a little book having for its
title * Christian Education.' I should gladly send it to
you, did I but know how, in order to profit by any sugges
tions you may be good enough to make on it. Next
Spring I purpose going to Milan and risking the publication
of my ' Panegyric of Pius VII.' I say ' risking' advisedly,
for I know not how it will be received. Yet if it were read
with the same amount of pleasure which I experienced in
writing it (I allude to the subject-matter itself, not to the
mode of treating it), I should anticipate some fruit from
that class of persons for whom it was written. Good-bye.
Give me a share in your affections. Employ your many

POLITICIANS AND RELIGIOUS REACTION. 253

acquirements, as I am sure you do, in behalf of religion and
virtue.

ROVERETO : Jan. 14, 1814*

At this time he had hopes of appeasing the
political Censor of Venice by adopting the advice of
the Papal Nuncio at Vienna, who suggested that it
was better to allow some few alterations in the terms
of the panegyric than to leave the enemy with any
pretexts for retarding its publication. Rosmini was
ready to comply ; but on finding that sweeping
changes were demanded — changes affecting the very
principle for which he contended — it was soon seen
that, for the present, there was no use in trying to
meet the wishes of the Government.

The religious reaction following the disorders
of the Napoleonic wars was then at its height,
and thoughtful Catholics concluded that it was
precisely the time when it was not only safe but
wise to uphold the standard of the Holy See as
the symbol of Christian peace and civilisation. But,
every fresh incident connected with the attempt
to neutralise or suppress this outspoken tribute of
homage to the Papacy satisfied Rosmini, more and
more, that the poisonous principles of the French
Revolution deeply tinctured the politics of those who
controlled the reaction. The imprudent concessions
constantly made to a few noisy rationalists fostered
the germs of the old disorder for a new outbreak, at
no distant day. Statesmen, nominally Catholic, in

1 Epistolario, Letter xxxvi.

254

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Austria, Italy, and France, not fully recovered from
the panic of the past, seemed still ready to make
terms with impiety, and to such an extent that
religious indifference, wearing the flimsy veil of a
spurious toleration, was becoming fashionable.

Thus, though the reaction had thrown down
irreligion and restored religion to its throne, the safe
guards were only a delusion so long as good and
zealous men, like Rosmini, were abused as ' Papists '
for speaking as Catholics should speak, while latitudi-
narians of every stripe were treated with special
favour. Judging from this and other signs of the
times, that the evil but lately overthrown threatened
to recover its power speedily, unless the first fervour
of the reaction could be maintained, Don Antonio did
all he could to keep up what was best in this fervour.
His efforts were applauded by the friends of religion
in Austria and Italy, but he found it difficult to get
effective assistance from men who were at once fear
less and intellectual. While persuaded that the
brunt of battle lay between those who depended on
a philosophy which appealed to ' the sensual pro
pensities of men,' and those who were armed with a
philosophy that referred all happiness to its true
source, God, and that taught men how to find God,
he did not neglect to call in the aid of whatever
was likely to stimulate or maintain that Christian
piety without which any philosophy would be worth
less.

Amongst the many suggestions he made to this
end, there was one which, though far less practical

THE MARTYRS OF REVOLUTION. 255

than any of the others, has an interest of its own,
as a ' little mirror of the man.' This suggestion
recommended the solemn appointment of a feast
to commemorate the martyrs of the French Revo
lution. The proposal was characteristic of one who
had deep religious feelings, and a firm conviction
that the French Revolution was the first-born
monster of modern sensist philosophy — the first
born of a horrid progeny, which would endeavour to
destroy Christianity, if Christian philosophy did not
deprive false philosophy of its fecundity. No sooner
had he thought of this proposal than he communi
cated it to the Abate Mauro Cappellari, just seven
years before that illustrious Priest was chosen to fill
the chair of Peter. Here is the letter :

With the profoundest regret, I hear of the Sovereign
Pontiff's illness. May God preserve him !

For a long time I have fostered in my heart an ardent
wish, and it occurs to me that the opportune moment has
j at length arrived for giving it effect. Therefore, I cannot
withhold it from you.

I have often said to myself that it would be a glorious
thing, if, now that the affairs of Spain are brought to a
close, the Sovereign Pontiff were to institute a feast for the
whole Catholic world in honour of the martyrs of the
French Revolution. Would not this be the finishing stroke
and the seal, if I may so speak, to the triumph which reli
gion is now having over infidelity ? Would not such a
feast assist marvellously in procuring for those heroes the
honour which is due to them ? Does not Holy Church
j tacitly desire to see enkindled in the hearts of her children
J veneration of this sort ? Would it not keep awake, in many,
such bright and noble recollections as must serve to en flame

256 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

their fervour and stimulate their zeal in the cause of Truth ?
And, finally, would it not console the good, who have
already mourned sufficiently ? It seems to me that such a
feast, instituted with all possible solemnity, would tend to
confirm not only good religious ideas but good political
ones as well.

How fair an opening to a new Pontificate ! I have often
revolved this matter in my own mind, and, as I wish to
make known to you what passes in the innermost recesses
of my heart, I have done so after the manner of intimate
friends. Intercede for me with God.

ROVERETO : January I824.1

Before he received a reply from the Abate
Cappellari, there was an excellent opportunity of
discussing this subject with three distinguished
Prelates who came to share in the hospitality of
Rosmini's home. These were the Patriarch of
Venice, the Bishop of Treviso, and Mons. Ostini,
the Papal Internuncio at Vienna. While they all
sympathised with the pious views of their host, the
obstacles to this particular mode of giving them
effect were so numerous that they could not encour
age him to persevere in an effort to put it before the
Pope. Indeed, he had no intention of going further
in the matter than the Abate Cappellari might
advise ; and as a letter from that experienced monk,
though warmly commending the pious motives
which prompted the suggestion, did not advise
action, he allowed the affair to drop, as one which
Providence .did not intend him to promote.

Turning with greater zest to the charities and

1 Epistolario, Letter xxxvii.

PROVIDENCE FORMING PUS COURSE. 257

studies that made his retirement so fruitful of good,
there came to him once more those beckonings of
Providence which indicated what it was our Lord
especially intended him to promote. He was con
stantly asked to supply the friends of religion with
arguments against the sophists who were busily
undermining the faith of the upper and middle classes ;
he was constantly asked to co-operate with or to
direct some movement started to rekindle spiritual
fervour in the masses and to check the progress of
religious indifference ; he was constantly asked to
assist organisations devoted to the relief of human
suffering in every form. As he never failed to meet
such demands as far as he could, he was constantly
engaged in works of spiritual, intellectual and cor
poral charity,

Amongst those who sought his aid in such things,

at that time, was the Marchioness of Canossa. The

long vacant see of Trent had, at length, received its

Bishop, and Madame Canossa requested Don Antonio

to visit the new Prelate, on her behalf, in order to

obtain from him concessions that would enable her

to extend the services of the Daughters of Charity

to Trent and Rovereto. She took the occasion as a

suitable one for renewing the subject to which she

,had directed the young Priest's attention two years

•previously, and again urged him to found an Order

of men that should make the league against

the common enemy more complete than it was.

His sister Margherita having already joined

the community of the Marchioness, a family tie

258 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

now bound him to the Daughters of Charity and
made the holy intimacy between Mme. Canossa
and himself more free, and even more sacred, than
before.

In replying to her fresh exhortations touching
the Order she wished him to found, he made
some allusions to the importance of a Congregation
which should bind itself to observe the external and
public devotions of the Church in the most perfect
manner possible. As the Marchioness did not quite
understand those allusions, he put them before her
in a letter dealing exclusively with the subject. He
told her that he had long felt there was a necessity
for a society which should apply itself intelligently
and perseveringly to the effective observance of
' the great, the public, the fundamental devotions of
Holy Church which were exceedingly dear to his
heart.' He wished the spirit of all the forms and
ceremonies to pervade the devotions, and not least
such minor devotions as were found useful, and
even necessary, especially for those who were in
religious communities, and for those who formed
* the multitude.' While he admired all the modern
forms of devotion, he liked best those that were
oldest. ' Antiquity and authority, in matters of
religion, were for him,' says Don Paoli, ' objects of
deep veneration. His noble conceptions must have
been most agreeable to the pious soul of the
Marchioness, whose sincere respect for the young
Roveretan Priest increased daily ;' and so, too,
increased her efforts to urge him from the retirement

PROVIDENCE FORMING HIS COURSE. 259

of private life to the holy work which God selected
her to point out to him.

While he was pleading for the Daughters of
Charity with the Ordinary of Trent and with the
Archpriest of Rovereto, the Marchioness had occasion
to write to him frequently on that business, and
every letter contained some remark designed to
enforce her request that he would found an Order of
Charity himself. His heart was ready, but he
prayerfully waited for some positive opening that
might enable him to see the finger of Providence
more plainly indicating the time, the way, and the
place. Meanwhile, he diligently attended to the
special duties entrusted to him by his saintly
correspondent. As an effective means of promoting
one part of her object he advised her to induce his
sister Margherita to purchase a suitable house in
Rovereto, or else to appropriate a house belonging
to herself there for the reception of a Community.
He thought such a course necessary because neither
the Rovereto municipal authorities nor the Congre
gation of Charity for local purposes had yet taken
any steps to carry out the proposal sanctioned by the
Archpriest.

On the same day he wrote also to his sister,
saying : ' I think it best that you yourself should
lo what is wanted, and so avoid giving others a
pretext for disconcerting your plans or causing you
siny annoyance. Assuming that you are resolved to
ipend your means in such pious works, you have
. mough and to spare for doing what is required both

260 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

here and at Trent. A petty economy spoils every
thing, and pleases neither God nor man.'1 The coun
sel he thus gave his sister was that which he was
ready to act on in what concerned himself — in fact,
that which he did put in practice when the time for
doing so came. His sister did not hesitate to follow
his advice, and the Daughters of Charity were soon
established in the diocese of Trent, without waiting
for the slow movements of secular corporations.

When he had satisfactorily concluded the
negotiations confided to him by Madame de Canossa
Rosmini prepared to leave Rovereto for a few weeks
stay in Modena. Although this was a departure
from home, it was no departure from the purpose,
nor, indeed) from the plan of his retirement. His object
was to join some pious and learned Modenese in
certain philosophical studies for which the Schools oi
that city afforded special advantages. Moreover,
the sensist doctrines which threatened so much
mischief to Christianity were then taking deep root
in Modena, and he was desirous of investigating
their growth in a nursery that favoured them.2

He went there in July 1824, accompanied by
a member of his domestic Academy — Maurizio
Moschini, a saintly youth in whose spiritual and
temporal welfare he took the warmest interest. At

1 Unpublished Letters. Rovereto, December 10, 1824.

2 In the latter part of the preceding century M. Condillac, the
subtle champion of sensistic philosophy, resided at the Ducal court of
Parma as tutor to Prince Ferdinand de Bourbon. This circumstance
enabled Condillac to make Parma and Modena a centre for the diffu
sion of sensistic views throughout Middle and North Italy. Modena
continued for a long time afterwards to nurture the evil.

CATHOLICS SHOULD J3E UNITED. 261

Modena he was, for the most part, the guest of Don
G. Baraldi, a learned Priest who conducted an in
fluential periodical devoted to religion, morals and
literature. It was in the columns of this periodical,
the Memorie Modenesi, that the young Roveretan
philosopher first exposed the sensualistic principles
of Gioia and others of that dangerous school.1
During this brief visit Rosmini carefully studied the
tactics of the enemy, and stored up a considerable
amount of intellectual ammunition for the war he
was soon forced to wage with the whole army of
sensist pamphleteers.

Immediately after returning to Rovereto he wrote
to Don Baraldi a letter in which he warmly thanked
him for the privilege of having been welcomed * in
a circle composed of personages eminent alike for
learning, piety and refinement, and who are welded
together by the closest bonds of friendship.' ' To
speak frankly,' he added, * it seemed to me like an
assembly of most admirable souls — a very sanctuary.
One cannot leave Modena without pain after having
known the Baraldis, Parentis, Fabianis, Bianchis and
Cavedonis — after having been admitted into their
company — after having experienced so bountifully
their courtesy, and I shall even say their intimacy.
For this reason it behoves me to be frank with you,
and conceal none of those feelings of gratitude and
admiration which I brought here with me, on leaving

1 These essays were afterwards collected and reproduced in the
volumes entitled (i) Breve esposizione del la Filosofia di Mekhiore
Gioia ; (2) Esame drtle. opmioni di M. Gioia infavoredella vwda.

262 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Modena. They are so deeply planted in my heart
that nothing can pluck them thence.

( Pray communicate these my sentiments to all
the gentlemen who deigned to bestow on me and
my companion such special tokens of kindness.
Although my services are of little value I may,
however, be permitted to express my sincere desire
to serve them, and to hope for an opportunity to
prove my gratitude in deed as well as in word.'

Having thus recorded his thanks (and the duty
of doing so was one he never neglected, even in
circumstances which most men would deem too
trifling for the trouble), he turned with ardour to a
favourite theme — the advantages of union amongst
the good. That such a desirable sodality informally
existed in Modena greatly cheered his soul ; and the
way he dealt with the subject in his letter to Den
Baraldi was a graceful recognition of the fact that
his friend was the centre of such a pious alliance :

Oh ! how precious a thing, especially in these our days,
is the union of good and virtuous men, brought together as
mutual friends or even as mere acquaintances. For it suf
fices that good men know one another in order to love one
another. And without this mutual acquaintance and love
how can men reciprocally assist one another and place in
common their ideas, their means, and their energies, so as
to coordinate the labours of the many to the attainment of
some great result ? Certain it is that singly we can effect
but little. If we should attempt some mighty enterprise
without aid, we would have to leave it incomplete. If in
these days there be any sure means of rescuing virtue from
oppression, we may not hope to find it elsewhere than in
the alliance of men of good-will fusing into one the righteous

CATHOLICS SHOULD BE UNITED. 263

aims and the forces of each. The wicked alas ! though
ever discordant amongst themselves, are always, as you
well observe, united in this antagonism to the good ; for
qui non est mecum contra me est. The reason of this is self-
evident. Virtue is eminently one, whereas all that lies
outside of it is by the nature of things manifold, and there
fore essentially opposed to virtue. There is not a heart
truly Christian but feels the need of Christians being united
in every way, and making common cause. Without this
we may possibly be sufficient for our own good, but not
quite for that of others. On more than one occasion I have
met with persons holding the same views as myself, and
was delighted to see how Christians cherish in the inmost
recesses of their hearts the same thoughts and affections,
even though residing very far apart.

How full of comfort to me is this hidden, but not less
perfect harmony of sentiment which exists between myself
and countless others of my fellow-men, who are scattered
over the face of the globe, and whose very names are un
known to me ! What hope it gives me that brighter days
have yet to dawn for Holy Church. . . .

ROVERETO : August^, I824.1

Probably it will be thought we are saying little
for Rosmini's knowledge of human nature, or
for his sagacity, if we claim that (in spite of the
gloomy aspect of the social and political world) he
cherished the hope that Christian society at large
would, sooner or later, reflect the Unity and the
Chanty of the Church. But there is a knowledge
superior to that derived from a study of human
nature, a knowledge standing on far higher grounds
than those of natural reason, and in this knowledge
he was no less an adept than in the other. This

1 Eistoltirhh. Letter xxxiv.

264 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

it was that made him not only wish, but hope and
endeavour to have Catholic society throughout the
globe as affectionately united as in the early days
of Christianity — to have it in practice as in theory
a mighty brotherhood, the far-reaching household
of Christ's family. So far as he was himself con
cerned, he had already endeavoured to apply this
grand Catholic principle to his native town, where
alas ! he found few to follow his example and little
to encourage the hope that the union he wished for
would ever be realised ; yet the wish and the hope
continued. His own home was for all good people,
come whence they might, what he would have the
home of every good Catholic to be for every other.
But though his neighbours admired 'the breadth of
his views,' few of them thought it expedient to give
the principle a full trial, or to remove any of the
barriers which social usage had set up against the
spirit of brotherhood that pervaded primitive Chris
tianity. That this spirit still lived in the Church
and swayed the souls of millions of her children
scattered throughout the world, he knew full well :
how to bring them into such an effective union as
should lead to the imparting of this spirit to all men
was what he yearned to know, and strove, while he
lived, to do.

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT 265

CHAPTER XVIII.

LAST YEAR OF ROSMINl's HOME RETIREMENT.
(A.D. 1825-1826.)

His fellow Academicians, though far apart, cling to him for advice and
aid- Spiritual above temporal interests — Our true grandeur unseen
to mortal eye — Conditions requisite for the Priesthood — Stern
warnings to an aspirant whose motives are doubtful — Describes
how the Divine Office is arranged — Rescues and provides for
street waifs — Returns to Madame Canossa's ' message of inspira
tion ' — Submits a rough sketch of what he thinks the Congregation
should be — Its four leading features — The germ of the Institute
deep rooted in his soul — It grows into shape, as did that planted in
St. Dominic's heart ages before.

BEFORE Rosmini had completed the fifth year of his
home retirement, nearly all the exemplary youths, for
whose spiritual and intellectual benefit he first es
tablished his domestic Academies, were scattered far
apart, and occupying various positions through Italy
and Austria. The bright-minded but fitful Tommaseo
was one of the few who had gone, to come back and
remain a little while and then to go and return again.
But, though most of his first disciples were far
apart physically, they were still close together in spirit,
and still proving, by an admirable course of life, the
great value of their early association with the young
sage whom they never ceased to love as their master
and benefactor. lie continued to be ' the centre of

266 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMlNi.

their circle/ as each still wrote to him for advice in
every emergency, and to each he gave it with all the
affection and frankness of old. Some of these beloved
students had come from a distance and in needy cir
cumstances, but with high testimonials as to their
moral worth. This was enough for the generous
Rosmini, who opened to them his home, and en
abled them to proceed uninterruptedly with their
ecclesiastical studies.

Amongst those thus welcomed was Antonio
Bassich of Perasto near Cattaro, the most southerly
point of Austrian territory on the Adriatic. This
estimable youth remained until he was ready for
Ordination, and when he returned home, duly conse
crated to the service of God, he wrote to his bene
factor a letter overflowing with the gratitude which
he could not utter in his presence. Replying to that
letter, Rosmini delicately avoided any allusion to the
special cause of thanks. It was his custom, in all
such cases, to put spiritual above temporal interests,
and to take care that the ( poor scholar ' who became,
as it were, rich through his bounty, should think
little of the personal debt, by thinking much of the
superiority of the soul over the body. His answer
to Don Bassich's letter of thanks will show how he
managed to divert attention from little social obliga
tions (that often press heavily on the mind) to the
higher duties beyond them. In the present case,
these higher duties pointed to the good work which
his young friend might be the means of doing
amongst the schismatics and infidels on the frontiers

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT. 267

of Turkey — a good work always most dear to the
heart of Rosmini, since it meant gathering souls to
God:—

Though the distance which separates us corporally is
great indeed, yet are we still, as heretofore, close together
in spirit.

Oh ! God, what reason have we not thence to rejoice at
the greatness of the human soul — at its immensity, if I may be
allowed the expression. We should therefore set upon it a
much higher value than on the miserable little framework of
our body. Our bodies are so fashioned that where one is
the other cannot be : and if removed but a short distance
from one another, they can no longer be seen, nor do
they confer that pleasure which springs from close prox
imity.

But praise be to God for having breathed into our
natural clay a pure and subtle spirit, untrammelled by any
such restriction ! And praised be God still more for having
restored this same human soul to friendship with the
Divinity. Restored it to friendship, do I say ? He has done
yet more : He has infused into it a new and ineffable
life which, however, is completely hidden in Himself, since
this world sees nothing of all that greatness which we have
in Jesus Christ. So much the more should we hold it dear
and esteem it as infinitely precious, for through it the pride
we inherit from Adam is effectively vanquished when we
recognise with joy the fact that the true grandeur of our
humanity is invisible to mortal eyes. The Heavens and the
Earth were not formed for our glory, but that the Grace of
Christ Jesus should have glory. And as we desire that this
Grace should have victory and dominion throughout the
world, it was very gratifying for me to learn that such is
the case in your country.

The Author of a Grace so full of glory, I doubt not, will
add force to our words. Without His aid they would re
semble the noise of a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

268 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

But by His help what may not be done, even by a passing
breath of wind ?

The place where you are will be resorted to by Greeks,
among whom perhaps Catholics will be in a minority. You
will have to combat errors ; and, as a means of successfully
doing so, you must study, even though by avoiding contro
versy you may possibly gain the end in view. Might not
this object be facilitated and promoted by a short treatise,
containing decisive but simple and persuasive arguments ?
And would it not likewise be easy to circulate such a tract
in the neighbourhood ? Beyond doubt, then, you ought to
collect together, from their own lips, their most pernicious
errors and grave objections, endeavouring to see, from their
own points of view, the chief fallacies of their present un
fortunate prejudices. The result of acquiring this know
ledge from their own mouths would be better, I think, than
if obtained from the books that abound on the subject.
When you have advanced so far, you may count on my
help in the undertaking.

The panegyric of Pius VII. is not yet printed. I
shall send you a copy when it is ready. You are frequently
named with affection amongst us. How much I desire that
we should meet again ! But let us be content with seeing
each other in the spirit. And if we meet in God, this seeing
will be perfect.

ROVERETO : December 27, I824.1

Although the youths who availed themselves of
his domestic Academies were not all in need of the
material assistance without which it would have
been impossible for some of them to have completed
their studies, all alike felt that he was their guiding
genius, and all alike depended on him, under
Heaven, in every difficulty. Many of them turned

1 EpistolariO) Letter xl.

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT. 269

their thoughts towards the ecclesiastical state, partly
because he had chosen it for himself, and partly
because the surroundings of their training inclined
them that way. But while he wished to lead their
minds and hearts in such a direction, he was most
careful to test their vocation before allowing them
to take the final step. His main object was to make
them all good solid Christians; what might follow that
he left to a special call. How warily he received
their own declarations that they had this special
call may be judged from the following letter to
Giulio Franchi, a promising youth as to whose call
Rosmini had some doubts, and to whom, therefore,
he pointedly stated the conditions requisite for the
Priesthood : —

As you are well instructed in our holy religion, you
must already know that a call to the ecclesiastical state is
one of God's greatest favours. You know, therefore, that no
one should take this honour to himself but he who is called
thereto as Aaron was. You likewise know what is imme
diately required from one who feels himself called to this
sacred office ; that he must be fearful of himself, diffident,
a lover of prayer and of mortification, fond of solitude the
better to hear the supernal voice which makes itself heard
sometimes near and sometimes from afar ; and finally, dis
trustful of his own judgment, he should submit the affair
entirely to the decision of the superiors through whom
God ordinarily speaks to us.

But let me ask you to consider especially that he who
is called should earnestly bid farewell for ever to worldly
notions and a worldly life. Then, by assiduously devoting
himself to the Divine Service, and by avoiding even the
shadow of danger and distraction, he must deserve more
and more to obtain from God confirmation of the sacred

270 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

gift. I have already said that a call to such a state is
the greatest favour — a supreme Grace according to God. I
so said because it is not such according to the world. The
Priest has formally renounced all mundane interests. Hence
it is that the Cleric, in receiving the Tonsure, utters these
memorable words : Dominus pars hcereditatis niece — ' The
Lord is the sole portion of my inheritance.' So that in the
world we have nothing to expect but labours and sufferings
for the love of Jesus Christ, and if we were to look for any
thing else we should be simply traitors to the spirit of our
profession. On that account I ask you to reflect profoundly
on the matter before the Bishop admits you to the Tonsure
and consecrates you to God. But, what is still more, I ask
you, for the love which you bear to your soul, to beware lest
you should be so deceived as to take the step perhaps for
some human motive, such as that of being thus helped on
more surely to finish your studies ; for this would render
you guilty, before God, of a most heinous crime and de
prive you of all claims to His blessing. Woe to him who
trifles with sacred things, and does not fear the Lord, who is
jealous of their honour, and avenges Himself on all who
despise them !

It is not I, but you yourself, who ought to make your
father acquainted with this grave resolution, if you have
really taken it ; for I doubt not the information will give
him pleasure. But if perchance you were induced to adopt
the course you are taking from a wrong motive, let me beg
of you to change your purpose ; and you should do so at
once, for it can do you no good to entertain such designs.

ROVERETO : May 7, 1825. T

Several of his young companions, who had
already been found worthy to carry out this ' most
grave resolution,' continued to seek instruction from
their trusted guide on almost every thing connected

1 Epistolario, Letter xli.

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT. 271

with their calling. Some of them, who were serv
ing God in remote dioceses, sent him lengthy ac
counts of the place and people, that he might the
better give such advice as they needed in the dis
charge of some special duty. Others, nearer home,
working even in sight of their own Cathedral, or
waiting for Orders in episcopal seminaries, had so
much confidence in the judgment and knowledge of
the young sage of Rovereto, that they deemed in
struction from him, on any given subject, more
precious than the best that was within immediate
reach. And none applied to him in vain, for all
received from him the instruction or counsel which
they sought or seemed to want. Thus, when the
Baron Giulio Todeschi of Trent, having passed
'the sacred portal' into Minor Orders, required
some information on the Divine Office, he sought
it not in Trent but in Rovereto, and had this pithy
explanation promptly forwarded to him :—

In the first ages of the Church, as there were not yet any
Saints' festivals to keep, there were no Holy-days except
the Lord's Day. But the early Christians, remembering that
every day should be spent holily, and that the Christian
ought ever to withdraw himself from profane things to give
himself to God, had in mind to sanctify them allby prayer.
Hence came the distribution of the Psaltery for the seven
days of the week, apportioning to each day one of the seven
canticles of Scripture and appropriate hymns, with a lesson,
either from the Old Testament or from the Epistle of an
Apostle, and one from the Gospel, with other suitable
prayers.

After this manner was compiled the first and oldest
portion of the Breviary, that which is used on ferial days.

272 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Subsequently many solemnities were instituted either to
celebrate in a special manner the mysteries of Jesus Christ
or to honour the Blessed Mother of our Lord, the martyrs,
and afterwards other confessors ; the first of those thus
honoured being, if I remember rightly, St. Martin of
Tours. In this way three distinct parts were added to the
book containing the canonical hours ; the movable were
distinguished from the immovable feasts — the movable
being those which have a certain connection with Easter.
The Paschal solemnity, being fixed by the lunar year,
invariably falls on the Sunday nearest to the 1 4th day
of the March moon (owing to the difference between
the lunar month of 28 days and the solar month of 30
days) and thus it comes to pass that the day which is
always the same in the lunar year is not so in the solar
year, which is adopted in ordinary life. Therefore, since
Easter in our common calendar falls, now on one day and
then on another, it brings with it all its adherent feasts in
the same way that all the Sundays of the year bring with
them the ferial days depending on them — that is, in so far
as they have proper lessons suitable to the current festive
season. For, in the course of each year, the Church cele
brates the principal truths and mysteries of religion on
movable feasts, the foremost of these being Easter. In
this feast is centred the whole essence of the festival worship
practised universally in the Church ; those Saints' festivals
which are not strictly conjoined with the Holy mysteries
not being essential. Hence it is that the festivals which
occur between these movable feasts have proper lessons of
their own, adapted to the season ; and they go to form this
Second Part.

The Third and Fourth Parts contain the Saints' festivals,
distributed on fixed days throughout the year. And there
is no difference between these parts, except that the fourth,
which is the last in the Breviary as now published, con
tains a portion of the Psalms to be recited for each class of
Saints, that is to say, for Apostles, Martyrs, Bishops and

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT. 273

Confessors, Virgins and Widows — whether one or more be
celebrated on the same day : while the Third Part contains
what is proper to each Saint, such as the lesson that gives
his biography or else records some other specially honour
able feature of the Saint's life. Thus, to recapitulate, there
will be found in the Breviary this order of contents : — First
comes the common of the ferial days : that is, those days on
which no Saint is commemorated ; next come the movable
feasts, and with them the proper of their ferial days ; and
lastly, the fixed festivals : that is, those of Saints — and in
these first comes that which is proper to those Saints, and
secondly that which is common.

However, why should I go on to describe the order in
which the Divine Office is arranged, since you are not only
well acquainted with it, but already recite it ? Nevertheless,
t was incumbent on me to have complied with your request.
You are then, let me add, fortunate in having now to say the
Office. I feel assured that our souls can be comforted and
sanctified by a worthy recital of this form of prayer, which
was that of all the Saints, and is still that of the whole
Church.

Not only does the entire Church sing the Divine Office,
Dut every age of the Church has concurred in its composi
tion ; for therein have had a share Moses, David, the
Prophets, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the
Pontiffs. Indeed, so wonderfully varied is the nutriment
:o be found there that the most hungry soul may, if it wish,
DC superabundantly satisfied.

I feel indignant with those who, disliking all spiritual
iliments, are scandalised at some blemishes which they think
hey discover in a volume that I do not hesitate to call
Divine. Let us prize it dearly, and read it with relish and
levotion ; for, by so doing, our spirit will ascend to God,
graces will be obtained, and we shall be benefited as well as
omforted to an extraordinary degree. In very truth, my
learGiu lio, we Priests have enough to sanctify us in the
>roper celebration of the Mass and in the pious recitation
VOL. i. T

274 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

of the Breviary. I embrace you. Communicate this letter
to our excellent Clerics and friends, and let us love one
another in the Lord. Adieu.

ROVERETO : JuneT, I825.1

Correspondence of this kind came as a relief to
the severe studies in which Rosmini persevered, no
matter what circumstances encompassed him. Works
of corporal mercy formed another real relief. These
works included nearly every variety of practical
charity, and had for subjects the needy and the suffer
ing- of both sexes ; especially since his sister was no
longer in Rovereto to personally meet the wants of
her own sex. While she remained he had no occa
sion to tax his generosity with the claims of poor
women, or the care of helpless little girls. But, since
Margherita had gone from Rovereto to join Mme.
Canossa at Verona, he felt bound to take up, as
far as possible, the good works to which she had
given her best energies when at home.

Sometimes he passed through the back lanes of
the town, like St. Vincent de Paul, in search of
neglected little ones, and whenever he found air
orphan, or a child whose condition was no better
than that of an orphan, he made it a duty to provide
for it. One day while he was thus engaged, a bright
little girl, whose impoverished family were unable
to care for her properly, was brought to him in the
hope that he might prevail on some wealthy frienc
to bring her up as a domestic servant. He talke<
to her for a few minutes, and was so pleased wit]

1 EpistolariO) Letter xlii.

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREMENT. 275

her intelligent answers to questions, which much
older and better-instructed children failed to grapple
with at all, that he determined to give her an
opportunity of developing her mind under advan
tages above the ordinary. With that view the
following letter was at once written to his sister,
who gladly complied with the request it con
tained : —

There is here a little girl who is eight and a half years
old, of an excellent disposition, most sweet and cheerful, in
perfect health, and having abilities which seem to me mar
vellous, as, at her tender age, she can understand very diffi
cult things. Now, I wish that you would take her into your
House, that you may bring her up. She might perhaps be of
some service to you Be it well understood that in this you
should act according to the discipline of your Institute, and
with the sanction of your Superiors. I shall give you what
is required for her maintenance at present, and until the
time that the child shows what she is fit for in after life, so
that she may be placed accordingly.

It seems to me on the one hand that, being so good, she
would give no trouble, but rather pleasure, and on the other
hand after obtaining a pious education she might perhaps
receive from God a call to the Religious State, whereby you
would make a good acquisition. ... I am wholly en
grossed in my studies, to which for the present, it seems,
God wishes that I should give myself; therefore, I greatly
need the help of your prayers ; do not, then, deprive me of
them, but rather redouble them, and not only pray yourself
but get others also to pray for me. Adieu.

ROVERETO : September 25, 1825, l

All this time neither study, nor the pious duties
that relieved study, had power to keep from its

ary, Letter xliii.

T 2

276 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

uppermost place on his mind the holy purpose
the Marchioness of Canossa had planted there.
He thought of it constantly, and constantly prayed
for Divine Light to show him the way to its realisa
tion. A year of special thought and special prayer
had been thus passed, without any further interchange
of views between himself and the Marchioness, when
he suddenly decided on writing her a long letter,
expounding the principles that should guide the pro
posed Society. She had been expecting such a letter
for some time ; but he was slow to move in the
matter, slow even to express himself on the subject,
until he felt with some certainty that the Spirit of
God urged him. In this important letter he told Mme.
Canossa that her original proposition — a Congrega
tion of Priests — seemed to him, on the whole, to be
the best for the purpose. The structure of the
Church being the truest model for the structure of a
Religious Society, he would shape his — if God desired
him to organise one — in conformity with the plan
which our Lord Himself had adopted. Accordingly,
he drew up for her a rough sketch of the design that
sprang from her own suggestions, and gave these as
its four leading features :—

* I. The Priests gathered together (in the proposed
Order) for their own sanctification should have before
them a twofold object — the love of God and of their
neighbour. They should adopt, of their own choice,
the exercises intended to show their love towards
God and to promote their individual sanctification :
their whole -desire should be to contemplate and

LAST YEAR OF HIS HOME RETIREM&Ai 1; 277

praise God in peace and gladness of heart. The
exercises of love towards their neighbour should
be undertaken at their neighbour's request, and to
this request all who may be able to do so should
respond.

* II. The members of the Society must depend
upon their Superior in everything, and from him they
should receive the order, in accordance with which
they are to exercise their charity. There are to be
no particular duties for the whole Congregation, as a
body ; while, at the same time, there is no duty to
which its members may not be called. What the
Congregation should undertake of itself is this : — to
exercise charity towards its neighbours according to
the calls made upon its services. All this must rest
entirely with the prudence of the Superiors, to whom
they who shall require the services of these Priests
are to address themselves. Having taken the advice
of prudent counsellors, the Superiors of the Congre
gation will then decide whether they have at their
disposal subjects capable of undertaking the services
demanded of them. In case they should have such
subjects it will be incumbent on the Superiors to
appoint them to these services.

'III. The rules of the Society must determine
what works of charity the Superior should prefer,
whenever it might happen that several requests for
assistance might be made simultaneously, at a time
when all could not be satisfied. The principal of
these rules is that which directs the members to
accept, in preference to all other offices, those be-

278 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMIXI.

longing to the Sacred Ministry, as offices containing
within themselves the most comprehensive and
essential Charity.

4 IV. Whoever (in that case) shall be appointed
Parish Priest, etc , must thereby be also Superior of
whatever portion of the Society may happen to be in
that parish, or larger district. Thus, the offices of
the Sacred Ministry are always to be co-ordinate
with the offices held in the Society.' l

The Marchioness of Canossa took the earliest
opportunity of assuring him that the general plan
pleased her much, though she thought it likely he
would see reason to alter some of the details, so as
to combine his own original suggestions with those
she first made : she requested him to let her see the
plan which further reflection would enable him to
develop and mature. One passage in his letter gave
her special pleasure, as it satisfied her that the good
seed she had been the means of sowing in his mind
had rooted itself there ineradicably. That passage
ran thus : * Yes, I think it ought to be a Congregation
of Priests. But at the same time a desire has taken
possession of my heart which probably I shall never
abandon, expecting, the while, greater light from
God in order that I may know His Holy Will.'
Commenting on this passage, Don Paoli says : — ' A
tone so decisive in a person of so vast a mind, and
of such great modesty, and, what is more, of so
much prayer as Antonio Rosmini was, indicates,
beyond all doubt, much more than mere infor
mation to be given to Madame Canossa, and much

3 See Appendix, Letter iii.

GERM OF THE 1NSTJTUTE. 279

more than a determination suddenly arrived at.' It
shows, on the contrary, if not an extraordinary inspir
ation, an interior movement fostered by the Spirit
of God. This is confirmed by what we find
Rosmini himself recording in his Diary on the very
day he penned that sentence (December 10, 1825) :
' On this day I have begun to think that, as I wish
to act in conformity with the second of my principles,
I ought not refuse to co-operate with the undertaking
to which I am invited; in case God should offer me
the means for it ; but neither ought I to go in
search of these means, because I should then be at
variance with the first of the two principles I have

chosen for the guidance of my life.1 I have

concluded, therefore, that if God require me to found a
society these two principles must form its whole rule.'
' This,' says Don Paoli, * was the germ from
which afterwards sprang the Institute of Charity.'
There was nothing extraordinary either in the origin
of the Institute or its subsequent development.
Everything in connection with its birth and growth
was orderly, but reasonable. In the same calm,
prudent, prayerful way that St. Dominic matured the
project of his great Order of Preachers, Rosmini
drew near to the commencement of the Order of
Charity. As in the one case, so in the other, there
was nothing marvellous in the actual circumstances
of laying the foundation — nothing even eventful ;
unless we regard as such the prodigious moral evils,
and the alarming inroads of error which each, in its
place and time, was framed to combat.

1 See Chapter x., pp. 166-168,

23o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NL

CHAPTER XIX.

ROSMINI BEGINS THE 'ACTIVE LIFE/
(A.D. 1826.)

The spirit of association for holy objects strong in him—Difficulty of
finding suitable companions — Abundance of weeds, scarcity of
flowers — Providence beckons him to Milan — What hastens his
departure — How he smooths down a domestic trouble — Prepares
forthe journey — How it affects his mother and the rest of the
family — The leave-taking — The departure — Stops at Verona to
consult with Madame Canossa and his sister— The ' message of
inspiration ' once more — Mme. Canossa predicts that Providence
will clearly manifest Its will to him in Milan — His arrival in
Milan — His spiritual charges and his new friends — How Manzoni
becomes one of these — How the sensist philosophers and how
the friends of religion receive him — What he does to promote the
cause of Truth — Becomes again the guide of young ecclesiastics —
How he combines contemplative and active life — His extensive
correspondence — Still encourages the study of St. Thomas — The
1 message of inspiration ' now continually before him — He cannot
resist the call to found an Order — Drafts a plan and sends it to
Mme. Canossa through Don Bertoni.

THE year 1826 marks an important epoch in
Rosmini's life. At its opening he emerged from his
prolonged ' retreat ' to begin the more active career
which ended only with his life. The contemplative
state and the solitude so dear to him were not,
indeed, abandoned ; but thenceforth they were to be
in conjunction with an activity that should have more
of a public, or rather less of a private, character

BEGINS THE 'ACTIVE Z/AE.' 281

than hitherto — in conjunction with intellectual,
corporal, and spiritual chanties that might be ex
ercised and felt not merely within a few dioceses but
throughout the whole Church. The ardent love
of intimate association with good men, for mutual
edification and instruction, which began in his child
hood, often since then sought, as we know, to find
means of formulating itself in societies of Christian
Friends and domestic Academies. But, once the
original members of these home institutions were
scattered, Rovereto had none to supply their places
— none whose sympathies ran in unison with his
own.

There was, perhaps, no lack of worthy men,
young and old, no lack of pious Catholics ; but there
was a decided dearth of companions at once pious
and cultured, at once worthy and intellectual. Few
towns of the same size could boast of more agree
able ' society ' in the ordinary sense of the term ; but
this had no attractions for him. The spirit of asso
ciation which was so marked a feature of his
character could find nothing to satisfy it in mere
secular society. He longed to be with those who
could live together in the world as though they were
not of it — with those who could make to themselves
a holy solitude even amid the bustle of populous
cities — with those who aimed at self-sanctification
and banished all form of self-indulgence — with those
who acted on the principle that the one thing most
necessary in this life was to be always ready for the
next.

28* LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

If it was no longer easy for him to find associ
ates of this kind amongst his immediate neighbours
— if it was no longer easy for him to find amongst
them any disciples who could fill the void made by
the departure hither and thither of the estimable
companions whose best qualities had been developed
under his sway, and whose hearts he had successfully
directed to the one thing necessary — then it was no
longer easy to find in Rovereto anyone likely to co
operate with him in such a society as the revered
Canossa besought him to found. In fact, he had
already trained for God the choicest flowers of his
native place, and when they were transplanted to
bloom elsewhere, he stood, as if in a lonely garden,
where flowers were few and weeds abounded. He
did not despair of turning even the weeds to good
account, of so cultivating them that they too might,
in time, produce fragrant blossoms. But, like St.
Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Ignatius, in face of the
same kind of difficulty, he felt that co-operation was
necessary. Like them, also, on seeing little imme
diate promise of such co-operation at home, he turned
his attention to the prospects elsewhere.

In accordance with his maxim of waiting for
God's call, he resolved to allow Providence to direct
him whither he should go and what he should do.
Weeds rather than flowers abounded everywhere,
and it might be God's Will that he should labour
over distant instead of near fields. But, whether
here or there, he held himself ever ready to answer
the call of God, as serenely and promptly as St.

BEGINS THE < ACTIVE LIFE: 283

Charles of Borromeo did, living and dying, ' I come.
Lord, I come.'

Meanwhile, Providence, making use of ordinary
circumstances, beckoned him to Milan, There he
i had much to expect from association with many
congenial souls who invited him thither. There ex
cellent opportunities presented themselves for going
on with his philosophical studies close to those simi
larly engaged. Above all, there a special good work
awaited him, a good work laid on his charity by
Madame Canossa. When she heard of his intention
to leave Rovereto, at least for a little while, she ad-
; vised a visit to Milan, and the better to give her
counsel effect, declared that her Community in that
| city, and the little children dependent on its efforts,
were in need of his presence as spiritual director
and benevolent father. Moreover, she had been
appealed to by a Milanese Priest and two laics,
who were desirous of profiting by his guidance.
Surely, there was in all this quite sufficient to denote
a call to Milan of a sort distinctly in harmony with
the rule that governed his life. Milan was there
fore chosen.

It is probable that the time of departure was
hastened by a slight domestic misunderstanding.
Some evil disposed or thoughtless persons had intro
duced a disturbing influence into the family quiet by
playing on the mind of his feeble brother, who
began to grumble because he, a layman, was not the
inheritor of the family possessions, and because a
cousin, more competent than himself, was retained

284 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

as agent of the property. A few trifling incidents
revealed to Don Antonio the existence of this un
reasonable discontent. On inquiring into the cause,
and discovering it to be one so unworthy of his
brother, he affectionately remonstrated with him,
and showed him how justly and generously their
father had acted to all, and how there was not a
shadow of excuse for grumbling at arrangements
with which all had, so far, been well satisfied.

The brother soon saw his error, expressed deep
sorrow, and then made an effective point of one
excuse — ill health : if his physical condition had
been stronger his mind would have known how to
resist the sinister whisperings of mischief-makers.
Don Antonio lovingly embraced him, and, imploring
him not to again allow the pernicious suasions of
self-seeking worldlings to overshadow his mind,
requested him to share with their mother authority
over the paternal home, for he intended to reside else
where himself. Thus was that little cloud of domestic
disquiet promptly and happily dispelled for ever.

Arrangements for the journey to Lombardy
were soon made. On February 20, 1826, he wrote
to his cousin, the illustrious Chevalier Carlo Rosmini,
requesting him to procure, in Milan, four rooms, for
the accommodation of a Priest, two companions, and
two servants. The companions were his secretaries
Moschini and Tommaseo, and the servants, an old
domestic of the family named Bisoffi, and a coach
man. Considering the inconvenience and cost of
stage-coach trips in those days and that region, it is

BEGINS THE ' ACTIVE LIFE: 285

no wonder that he deemed it best to travel in his
private carriage. Apart from the greater quiet
and security of such a course, he was free to break
the journey at his pleasure. The horses were to
be sold in Milan, if he saw no reason to retain them
there

A letter having been received, on the 24th, from
the Chevalier Carlo saying that he had faithfully
attended to his cousin's wishes, Don Antonio Ros-
mini next morning took leave of his family, and then
went, with his suite, to pay a parting ' visit of
homage* in that little oratory which so many
precious memories had specially endeared to him.

To no one did he hint that his absence was to be
of a permanent character, and to few that it was
likely to be for any long time ; yet, all took it as the
first step in a self-expatriation that might be relieved
by occasional returns, but no more admit of the
constant residence amongst them which his kindred
and neighbours so much coveted. The Countess
Rosmini had for years felt that this departure was to
take place, sooner or later, since her beloved son
could not be induced to accept any ecclesiastical
office in his native diocese. Months before he re
solved on making Milan a temporary home, he had
prepared her with affectionate counsels which could
not fail to sustain her on the day of a separation that
was more than ordinary. But, though thus ready
and though a lady of strong good sense, the parting
filled her with a sadness deeper than she had ever
felt before.

286 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Still more keen was the anguish of his brother,
who feared that the few murmurings to which he
had inconsiderately yielded might have been in
some way the cause of a step that distressed
them all. As for the servants and retainers of the
family, ' they seemed to be,' says Tommaseo, ' incon
solable.' Could the fervent entreaties of all these
have prevailed, the loved young Priest would have
remained at home. But he heeded only that ' still
voice ' which more than once before had whispered
to him the Will of Providence, and nothing on earth
could hinder him going whither that directed.

Blessing all and blessed by all, he set out for
Milan with his chosen fellow-travellers, on the morn
ing of February 25. They reached Verona that
night. There a delay of three days gave him an
opportunity of seeing his sister and the Marchioness
of Canossa. Once more the plan of the proposed
religious Order was discussed between them ; once
more the Foundress of the Daughters of Charity
employed her pious eloquence to prove that God
expected his compliance with this call ; and once
more he repeated his solemn assurance that he but
waited the plain manifestation of Providence in order
to make a commencement. The Marchioness hinted
that this manifestation would be given in Milan,
probably in immediate connection with those whose
spiritual interests she confided to his care ; but if
not in that way, certainly in that place. She recom
mended him to take counsel at once with Don
Gasparo Bertoni, a most devout and experienced

BEGINS THE ' ACTIVE LIFE: 287

ecclesiastic, who had founded a congregation of
Regular Priests at Verona. Rosmini called on him
the same evening, and, after a long interview,
received much useful advice and much encourage
ment.

Full of the pious ardour which always followed
consultations with the saintly Canossa, he left Verona
for Brescia, where he spent three days, visiting the
local shrines and holding converse with several
learned ecclesiastics, his constant companion there
being Don G. Brunati, (one of the ablest professors
in the episcopal seminary), whose vocation to the Re
ligious State was ' nursed and directed by Rosmini.'

On March 4, 1826, Don Antonio entered Milan
and took possession of the chambers provided for him,
conveniently near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
and ' the magnificent Ambrosian Library.' Tom-
maseo, in his ' Letters from Milan,' suggestively
contrasted his own first desire on arriving with that
of Rosmini. The wayward secretary thought of
going instantly to call on some friends, while Don
Antonio, gently chiding him for unseemly haste, led
him and the others to visit, first of all, Our Lord in
the Tabernacle of the nearest church, and then re
turned home to write a soothing letter to his
mother.

These duties discharged, he lost no time in put
ting himself in communication with Don Boselli and
the other two friends whose spiritual life Madame
Canossa had requested him to guide. It was a most
acceptable charge, and one of which he was soon

288 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

able to give a cheering report to the Marchioness ;
for he found all three very well disposed to follow a
strict rule and devote themselves to the education of
youth in the little Oratories that formed so pleasing
a feature of Milanese religious life. How much
these Oratories charmed the soul of Rosmini we shall
hear presently in his own words. But before he
expressed any positive opinion as to their value, he
personally tested it, by becoming a member and
zealously assisting in the work with which these in
stitutions were identified. His example was speedily
followed by the local patricians who had hitherto
looked on approvingly, but inactively. The practical,
earnest piety of the Roveretan was a reproach to
their lukewarmness which they were not slow to
remove.

In a short time, Rosmini had around him a large
circle of religious and intellectual friends. ' So much
learning,' says Don Paoli, ( and so much holiness of
life found joined together in a young ecclesiastic,
could not fail to attract the notice of pious, noble and
cultivated souls. Not to speak of the many clergy
men whose friendship he won, he soon became inti
mate with such men as PadulH, Arconati, Castelbarco,
Casati, Piola, Vimercati, Mellerio, and Manzoni.'
Each of these had a following of his own, and all
sought to be on familiar terms with one who was
accepted as a model for all. In these circumstances,
he could not easily find the solitude he loved ; yet
he contrived to find it, though with great difficulty.
By insisting on fixed hours for general company

BEGINS THE ' ACTIVE LIFE: 289

within the period set down for recreation, and by
using these occasions for the main purpose of his
life — turning his own and other souls to God — no
time was wasted, but much was gained for such
duties as the Pastor of a flock would consider ' works
of exhortation,' while the hours for private devotion
and study were as rigidly adhered to as ever.

His most constant companions were Count
Mellerio and Alessandro Manzoni, They were also
his most steadfast friends. Up to that time, Man
zoni, like so many of his contemporaries, had been
floating adrift in religious indifference ; nay, he
ranked high amongst the sceptical. Not long before
he was introduced to Rosmini, a friend happened
to call his attention to one of the Roveretan's philo
sophical treatises just published. The great Italian
author having read it carefully, felt his scepticism
giving way, and exclaimed, ' Here is a man !' He
took the earliest opportunity of making that man's
acquaintance, and, after knowing him for a short
time, was led back to ' the moorings of the Faith,'
became once more a practical Catholic, and thence
forth the devoted friend of his spiritual and intellec
tual benefactor. Count Mellerio, whose bright piety
had never been dimmed by the philosophical vaga
ries of those days, was destined to be (as we shall
find) the agent of Providence in that ' manifesta
tion ' which Madame Canossa predicted as certain
to be made in Milan.

The great consideration shown to Rosmini by
the zealous friends of religion excited the wrath of
VOL. i. U

29o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

the sensists, who were then more industriously than
ever misleading the popular mind under pretence of
directing it to what they insidiously called ' the
higher truths.' Their organ was the Biblioteca
Italiana, and their most active literary chiefs were
Gioia and Romagnosi. Day by day they watched
intently the course of the Roveretan philosopher, and
impatiently looked for some declaration of his which
they might twist against so vigorous a champion of
the Church. Another set of Milanese literati, more
modest and more chivalrous, watched him also, but
with most kindly eyes. These were the writers of
the Ricoglitore — young men with whom he could con
sistently have free intercourse — young men who fairly
represented the hopes of the future. Amongst them
were Achilla Mauri, Samuel Biava, Michele Parma,
and the celebrated Sartorio. Through the pages of
the Ricoglitore^ and by every other means in their
power, they endeavoured to raise up the ethical and
eesthetical sense of the nation, and they brought to
the effort a sincerity, an earnestness and an urbanity
which ' the old men of the Biblioteca ' sadly wanted.
Occasionally Sartorio and his colleagues used to wait
on Rosmini in order to gather his views on the
various subjects they were dealing with, and after
the interview they assembled at the chambers of
some one of the party to record and discuss what he
had said to them.

In like manner a certain number of young eccle
siastical students, spontaneously drawn together,
petitioned him to assist their readings in the way he

BEGINS THE 'ACTIVE LIFE.

291

was wont to do for the members of his own Acade
mies at Rovereto, He willingly consented on dis
covering that they, for various reasons, were unable
to take part in the regular course of the episcopal
seminary, and obliged to pursue their studies at their
respective homes, or in a private school which they
had succeeded in establishing under the superintend
ence of the Abate Marietti, who directed them in
philosophical and literary matters. One of these
youths was that Carlo Caccia who afterwards became
secretary to Cardinal Gaisruk, and, in time, a Priest
of the Institute of Charity.

Many such labours as these were thrust upon him
after his arrival in Milan, and, though the duties
Madame Canossa had already imposed upon him
seemed to be quite enough of themselves, he found
time for all without detriment to any. Apart from
these works of charity there were numerous special
distractions attending the first months of his resi
dence there ; nevertheless, the even tenour of the
rules that governed his home life was hardly ever
disturbed. In his apartments 'the regularity of reli
gious observance ' was kept up as strictly as at
Rovereto. Prayer and study, spiritual reading and
the composition of works on all manner of scientific
and literary subjects, went on without any marked
change in the ordinary horary. His correspondence
daily increased, and with it seemed to increase his
power of meeting the most extraordinary demands
for his advice and instruction on almost every
subject.

U 2

292 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

A few days after his arrival in Milan, he had to
give a written opinion on the advisability of uniting
the public Academies of Trent and Rovereto ; he
had to heal differences between friends at a distance ;
he had to state his views on certain literary works ;
he had to encourage those who were lagging in the
studies he had done so much to promote while at
home. Touching this encouragement there is a
short passage in one of his letters which it may be
well to quote. Don Fogolari of Rovereto, having
hinted that the youths in whom ' their absent mentor'
had infused a great love for St. Thomas craved a
message from him, had their wish responded to in
this way : ' Please to tell the friends with whom so
many hours were often spent agreeably, St. Thomas
in hand, that the Thomist Rosmini is still living and
thinks of them frequently ; say that if he could be
with them, at a bound, he would exhort them to
remain steadfast in their mutual friendship, and in
their adhesion to St. Thomas, of whom the study
will be resumed with them some other time.'1

Thus, every day he had to despatch ' far and near '
some reply which gave readers, far and near,
glimpse at the greatness of his heart, of his know
ledge, of his humility. But, besides the encroach
ments which an extensive correspondence of this
kind forced on his time, he had many private affairs
to dispose of by the same means. Not the least ol
these were his numerous chanties. Nearly ever)
month, he took the trouble of reminding Don Ors
and his brother that the poor of Rovereto were t(

1 Unpublished Letter?, Milan, March, 1826.

BEGINS THE 'ACTIVE LIFE:

293

be served at his expense as diligently as if he were,
himself, personally attending to their wants.

Hovering, like a bright angel, over all he did, was
the grand idea which Madame Canossa had been the
means of producing. It was in vain that other
things obtruded — they could not shut it out of sight.
It was in vain that he tried to reason himself out of
it — reason brought him back to it. The more he
prayed for light on the project, the more it glowed
with sacred fascinations. In less than a fortnight

£?

after his arrival in Milan (and while the newness of
all the surroundings, with a variety of distracting in
fluences such as we have indicated, was enough to
banish the scheme from an ordinary mind) he drafted
the first complete plan of the proposed Society, and
sent it to Don Gasparo Bertoni, of Verona, with the
following letter ;—

Though I have already taken up so much of your valu
able time by the visit I paid you in person, I must ask you
to allow me to address you further by letter.

The sole reason that urges me to write to you is that I
may have the advantage of your enlightened counsel. I
have already disclosed to you the great desire I have for
some time cherished in my heart, and which I have reason
to think has been implanted in it by God, of living as a
Regular, in company with some Priests. I have also made
known to you the general idea according to which I feel
inwardly drawn to regulate this community, and you have
encouraged me in the design.

Now7, before beginning anything, I think of asking the
advice of the Holy Father, lest perchance, all this may
prove to be some illusion or other of my owrn, which I
ought to think no more about. In my innermost soul, how
ever, I do not believe that to be the case. Therefore, I have

294 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

sketched out the general idea, and enclose a copy for your
perusal, hoping that you will return the plan to me here in
Milan, where I am at present staying.

There will of course be some difficulty in making a
beginning ; but at the commencement it would not be
necessary to adhere strictly to the rule of perfect retirement,
and of practising the works of chanty, which I have laid
down for the Society — to come into effect when it is fully
established. We might at first (supposing that God were
to send us good companions) establish ourselves in the
neighbourhood of some church, undertaking in it the per
formance of the public functions on Holy-days, also the
confessions, and perhaps some kind of school, which would
have the effect of justifying our little reunion in the eyes
of the world. Concerning all this, I should like very much
to hear your opinion, and I beg of you to lend us your
assistance in the undertaking ; provided that it appears to
you to be the Will of God.
MILAN : March 15, 1826.'

The plan sketched for Don Bertoni was accom
panied by a document containing practical ( observa
tions ' on the nature of the Order and on the
feasibility of uniting with it any other useful and
pious institute. These observations were supple
mented by another document giving a * further ex
planation ' and showing how Superiors in the proposed
Institute 'are to make a choice among the charitable
works suggested to them.' 2 Don Bertoni, having
carefully examined all these, consulted the Marchio
ness of Canossa on the scheme as thus outlined, and
then returned the various papers with a general
approval, and some special hints which found effect in
the plan that was finally adopted.

1 Epistolario, Letter xlvii, 2 See Appendix, Letter iv.

FIRST YEARS STAY AT MILAN. 295

CHAPTER XX.

ROSMINl's FIRST YEARNS STAY AT MILAN.
(A.D. 1826.)

A significant coincidence — He congratulates the Abate Cappellari on
receiving the Cardinalate — Solicits the new Cardinal's opinion as
to the plan of the new Order — How he and his household apply
the principle of ' passivity ' — What he thinks of poetry and social
entertainments for the relief of sadness — ' Highly wrought religious
fervour ' no impediment to cheerfulness, as his own daily life demon
strates — What he thinks of the Milanese — The sensist blotch on
the prevailing piety — Vincenzo Monti a representative blotch — -
Rosmini seeks to save the dying poet's soul — Gains a victory else
where that promises well for the saving of souls — Works for the
Daughters of Charity — His description of that Order — Madame
Canossa questions the wisdom of admitting the Pastoral Office
in the Order she wishes him to found — He answers her objections,
laying much stress on living in solitude with the heart rather than
the body — Danger of gloom in solitude, and of levity in society —
Religion the mother to shield us from both — All his affections cen
tered in the Church — No genuine happiness except in close union
with the Church— True patriotism can belong only to the subjects
of Christ's Kingdom — He would have all men fellow-subjects in
this Kingdom, bound together by the sweet bonds of charity.

AT the very time Rosmini was drafting his more
elaborate sketch of the proposed Order, with the view
of submitting it to Madame Canossa, through their
common friend Don Bertoni, an event took place in
Rome of considerable importance to the future Insti
tute and its Founder. It was on March 13, 1826,
that he commenced to write out * the plan ' he had

296 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

more fully matured in his mind : it was on that day,
too, that his warm friend the Abate Mauro Cappel
lari was proclaimed Cardinal. The coincidence may
signify little ; but it derives from circumstances an
interest that makes it worth recording. As soon as
authentic news of the fact reached Milan, Don
Antonio sent to the new Cardinal this congratulatory
note ;—

It was only yesterday that the newspapers of this city
informed me of your promotion to the Cardinalate by the
Sovereign Pontiff Leo XII. The news, which did not at
all surprise me, has filled me with the truest joy. I sin
cerely congratulate Holy Church and hasten to express my
gladness to your Eminence, wishing that I was able to pay
my homage in person rather than by letter. Allow me, at
the same time to tender you my hearty thanks for the kind
ness which you have been pleased to lavish on the Priest
whom I took the liberty to recommend to your notice.
Let me humbly beg that your Eminence will continue to
regard me with your usual goodness, &c., &c,

MILAN : March 30, 1826.

The kindly terms of Cardinal Cappellari's reply
encouraged Rosmini to place before him the outlines
of the proposed Order. His Eminence already had
some reason to suppose that such a project was under
consideration, for ' he was one of those friends who
advised the young Roveretan divine to turn his
thoughts to a Religious Order as well as to philo
sophical studies.' 1 It was, therefore, natural that when
the Abate Cappellari took his place amongst the
Princes of the Church, the young Abate should con-

1 Tommaseo's Antonio Rosmini^ Torino, 1855.

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 297

suit him on this matter, even though he sought rather
the judgment of the wise Priest than of the exalted
Prelate, as he intimates himself in the letter ac
companying a copy of ' the plan ' with some other
papers intended to explain the nature of the pro
posed Institute : —

For some time past some thoughts, awakened in me by
a holy person, have occupied my mind ; but I cannot be
certain that they are from God until I am assured of it by
the opinion of some person in authority. If this opinion
were favourable, I should still desire to learn what the Holy
Father thinks. Therefore, I earnestly beg of your Eminence
to be so kind as to assist me with your advice^ — first with
regard to the general idea of the proposed association, and
then again, should there be need, as regards the details.

If your Eminence were to advise me to abandon this
idea, I should not hesitate a moment in dismissing it. If
you require any further explanation, you have merely to let
me know. Were I encouraged by your favourable judgment,
I should decide on proceeding to Rome, in order to receive
greater light, and to ascertain what further steps it may be
proper or necessary to take.

I do not address myself to you as to a person placed in
lofty station, but only as to a person whose kindness and
indulgent consideration I have so often experienced. For
this reason I do not hesitate to confide my idea to you, in
order to have for my guidance, before anything else is done,
the expression of your private and confidential opinion.

MILAN: April 23, 1826. ]

As yet the secret of the projected Institute was

confided to very few — the few whose piety, and whose

experience in such matters pointed them out as most

competent to counsel him. But he sought the prayers

1 Epistolario, Letter xlix.

29S LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

of all his acquaintances ' for his intention.' A Noven;
in which Moschini and Tommaseo joined, precede
the sending of ' the plan ' to Cardinal Cappellari.
Other special devotions were added to the ordinal
daily exercises, and in these his more intimate friend*
were often asked to unite. His fasts were increased,
and ' every shrine in Milan,' says Tommaseo, ' was
visited that he might offer there a special prayer for
special light.' These prayers seemed to be answered
by an interior assurance that God approved ' the
principle of passivity ' on which the conduct of his
life was based, and he therefore, with patience and
confidence, waited for the expected indications of
Providence.

Meanwhile, he continued his scientific studies,
without abating the enfreshened ardour of his re
ligious exercises. Many petty attempts were made,
by the advocates of anti-Christian philosophy, to dis
tract and provoke him ; but as their efforts were
timid, indirect, and clumsy, he declined to notice
them. It did not fare thus with attempts to win his
charity or advice : however timidly or awkwardly
put before him, these were always deemed worthy of
prompt attention. From various quarters and
various classes of men letters continued to reach
him, asking his aid in various ways. Many of these
came from mere acquaintances, and not a few from
perfect strangers, who wished to know his opinion
on something perhaps of little importance in itself.
Most men, with less than one tenth of his occupa
tions, would refuse to give a thought to such corre-

FIRST YEAR'S STA Y AT MILAN.

299

spondents ; but his charity failed in nothing, and he
replied to the least of them as gravely and fully as
when he thus answered a Priest who ' suffered from
heaviness of heart ' and was doubtful whether he
ought not to look for relief in poetry and social
entertainments :—

I am grateful for your remembrance of me, although
you knew me but for a short time at the watering-place of
Recoaro. Your letter, with the ode, reached me at Milan.
Having perused both, it seemed to me that some tribulation
of spirit and some sadness overshadowed your mind. This
has so enlisted all my sympathy that I beg of you earnestly
to take courage, and not yield to melancholy. You well
know the good St. Philip's saying, ' In my house I will have
neither scruples nor melancholy.' Let us be piously cheer
ful, not with boisterous mundane joy, but with that gentle
and tranquil joy which springs chiefly from a pure con
science, and from the grace of the Holy Ghost diffusing
itself in our hearts, and producing in us resignation to the
Divine Will.

Oh ! how delightful and sweet it is to attend, with the
utmost care and goodwill, to God's service, and to corre
spond with the sublime duties of our vocation. I am con
vinced that we shall find peace and comfort when all our
cares are thus placed in what is firm and substantial, and
when we regard all the rest with indifference, as a some
thing ephemeral. I am glad to learn from what you tell
me that you take to poetry as a pastime. You do well.
Poetry, however, can only be a trifle to amuse the wearied
spirit and refresh it for serious studies. We are not poets,
but Priests. If you follow these principles you will find re
creation ; for the purpose of profiting by it, carefully avoid
all profane and secular company. For diversion, associate
only with good Priests and in decent and decorous amuse
ments. Devotion to the most Holy Mother of God is also

300 LIfE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

a marvellous remedy against the gloom that overclouds
the mind. The benign light of this our star comforts us in
every peril.

MILAN : May 5, 1826.*

Although he was thus exhorting others to banish
sadness, it was commonly supposed that he did not
banish it from himself. His friends in Rovereto feared
that he was oppressed by excessive study, and that
what they deemed ' an overwrought religious fer
vour ' would destroy the cheerfulness of his mind,
as well as the vigour of his constitution. His cousin
Leonardo Rosmini, in a humorous letter, gave ex
pression to this affectionate alarm, and Don Antonio
replied by a sprightly description of how he and his
companions lived in Milan : —

Your letter gave me very great pleasure, not only
because it was yours, but because of its exuberant
hilarity, which is a pledge to me that your soul is serene
and gladsome. Doubtless, you will always possess this
contentment, since you have discovered the true road to
happiness to be by virtue. As to my own condition, I shall
briefly tell you what I can.

Know, then, that I get up early and after a hurried
toilet send word, forthwith, to my companions to be ready
if they desire to accompany me to the church. In the
meantime, while they are hesitating, perhaps, to rise from
their soft repose, or still engaged in stretching their some
what inert and stiffened limbs, I say my morning prayers
to our Lord, for His propitious favour during the journey
of this life. At the termination of Divine Lauds, I go at
once to the neighbouring church, which is consecrated to
the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord. It is a church well

1 Epistolario, Letter 1.

FJRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 30 r

calculated to inspire devotion, not only on account of the
life-sized statues over the altars — chiefly representing scenes
from the Passion of Christ — but also because it is a memo
rial of St. Charles Borromeo, who used to frequent it. In
the contiguous house, distinguished already as the abode of
holy Priests, he gathered together his dear Oblates, at a
time when discipline had decayed among the clergy.

After offering up the Holy Sacrifice, and partaking of
the soul's celestial nourishment, the body has its sustenance
administered in the shape of a moderate breakfast. After
wards come the hours of study, which really occupy the
best part of the day, seeing that they keep us very thought
fully engaged till noon. Then, with an interval of fresh
repose to reinforce the enfeebled body and also to refresh
the mind, we reciprocally visit one another, like so many
friars in their cells, as we have separate rooms during the
hours of study. There we are occupied until four o'clock,
when the signal is given to lay aside books and papers.
These put in a corner, the writing-desk must give place to
the dinner-table, volumes to plates, and pens to forks.
And we are so attentive to the dinner bell that nobody
keeps the rest of the company waiting in the refectory ;
whence it would seem that we are all rivals in the diligent
performance of such work. . . . There remains much to
say about our dinner, much about recreation, much more
about our walk. But what would you ? The limited space
of this sheet of paper does not correspond with my desire,
and so I am forced to reserve what more I might say on
these ' grave topics ' for a better opportunity. Meanwhile
pray for us.

MILAN : May 6, 1826.'

About the same time a letter from one of his old
professors, Don G. B. Locatelli, Archpriestof Rove-
reto, drew from him this tribute to the goodness and

1 Epistolario, Letter li.

302 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

piety of the Milanese, whose virtues he could all the
more effectually extol, as his keen sight could not
avoid seeing their defects, and his impartial pen did
not refuse to criticise them : —

. . . My sojourn in Milan does not displease me.
Here I find religion far more prevalent than I expected,
and, so far, do not think there is another city like it. The
principal families are saintly. At this jubilee season, it is
really impressive to meet in the streets people of every class
visiting the churches, reciting aloud prayers, and perform
ing other pious and penitential works. The alms-deeds
and liberality of the gentry are very great. Asylums,
churches, hospitals, and every good thing of that sort, are
soon built by them. It is enough to make known the want
of such a thing, and the money is forthwith obtained.

The clergy do not seem to me to be very learned, but
solid and truly pious; while, as regards discipline, they
are rather austere than relaxed. I find them to be ex
tremely prudent and reserved ; diligent in their ministerial
duties, they never meddle with affairs that do not concern
them.

The only Religious Order is that of the Barnabites, re
cently restored by the Archbishop. At present, they have
some young subjects, but not many trained Religious. There
are some Oblates of St. Charles at Ro, and at S. Sepolcro ;
but they are not recognised by the authorities. The orato-
tories for youth, originated specially by B. Federico,
seem to me to be both beautiful and useful.

The general character of the Milanese is excellent,
though they are wanting in that external polish which
gives such grace to the countenance, customs, manners,
and dialect of the Venetians ; but in the Lombard's serious
ness there is a sturdiness of temper which gives a manly
tone to their affability and courtesy. Their simplicity
pleases me much. Great decorum is observed in noble
families, and with greater splendour than is usual among

FIRST YEARS STAY AT MILAN. 303

he Venetians. At the same time, there is a certain free-
iom and familiarity which relieves a stranger from embar-
•assment, especially an awkward one, like myself. Maurizio
>ends you his greetings ; and I beg of you to salute kindly
)ur clergy for me. I have seen Don Pietro Beltrami's jubilee
;ract. For a long time no better one has been printed at
Milan. We Roveretans may be contented with our position,
,vhen in some things we surpass even great cities.
MILAN : Sunday within the Octave of Ascension, I826.1

Nearly every letter he wrote from Milan in those
days bore similar testimony to the religious character
}f the people. It was a something intensely gratify
ing to see God so generally loved and glorified.
No matter what special subject he had to deal with,
ihis topic crept in, as one which had such an edify
ing influence on himself that he could not resist im
parting it to others. For instance, when answering
i communication from Don Giulio Todeschi, that
required him to say much on a subject in no way
:alling for allusion to the state of Milan, he could
not help passing aside to this grateful theme : —

This city pleases me more than any I have seen, pre-
:isely because its people are singularly pious — practising a
solid, and I will even say a robust devotion.

Everywhere around may be noticed the great works of
5t. Charles Borromeo, not only in the noble edifices which
externally adorn the city, but, what is far more important,
n the good and magnificent sentiments diffused among its
:lergy and people, and transmitted as a most precious
.egacy from father to son. It is with these sublime sen-
:iments that he has built an interior city and erected mag
nificent structures in the heavenly Jerusalem. How many

1 Epistolario, Letter lii.

304 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

do not see them because they are invisible ! Let us thank
the Divine goodness that we see them, and rejoice greatly
at such a sight. . . . Maurizio and Nicolo salute you. I
shall be a little while longer absent from home, so, if you
wish to write to me, you can direct your letter to this city.
Pray to our Lord that I may profit somewhat by the many
good examples which are here continually before my eyes,
and that they may help to correct my defects. Farewell.
MILAN : May 9, i826.1

At the commencement of the letter addressed
to Don Locatelli, Rosmini incidentally mentioned
the alarming condition of the celebrated Vincenzo
Monti's health, an apoplectic stroke having just pro
strated that mischievous personage. Monti was a
dark blotch on Milanese piety — a representative
blotch, in so far as the leaders of sensist philosophy
were representative men. He was an adept in
Italian literature of the antique sensistic school, and
ranked as one of the most classic poets in modern
Italy ; but his moral and political principles were so
exceedingly loose that he could not be credited with
having any at all. He had been equally ready to
glorify Napoleon or the Austrian emperor as a god,
and to denounce either as a demon, just as personal
expediency suggested. The false philosophy which
Monti did so much to bring into favour at most of
the Universities, made religion, as well as politics, a
matter of mere convenience to himself, and to most of
those who ventilated their views through the Biblio-
teca Italiana. He was the bitter personal and
literary opponent of Rosmini's valued friend Cesari,

Letter liii.

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 305

and the vehement, supporter of Gioia and the others
who had instinctively arrayed themselves against
the Roveretan champion of Christian philosophy as
opposed to their own pernicious teachings.

Nevertheless, Rosmini, having an opportunity,
turned charitably towards this man's spiritual needs,
and, seeing that he was in the grasp of death, hoped
to fix his restless soul on the necessity of making some
preparation for eternity. The erratic old poet was
only one of the many waverers, young and old, to
whom Don Antonio acted the part of a special mis
sionary, and among whom he did an incalculable
amount of good. Although Monti's infirmities,
physical and other, were such as promised to the
young apostle no immediate results, he persevered
in the duty, with how little hope may be gathered
from what he thus said to Don Locatelli.

Here, Monti has had an apoplectic stroke, and it is to
be devoutly wished that he would, ere it be too late, give
some external tokens of religion, demanded by his inexplic
ably inconstant life. It is a pity that he is so deaf, as it
makes conversation painful, and renders reasoning at any
length impossible. I regard him as a man of good heart ;
but this you know is not sufficient. On the other hand,
some false friends deceive him as to his actual condition.
What is still worse is that, while he fears to die, the hope of
life is strong in him. This hope is often fatal to those
advanced in years.

While Rosmini was trying to rescue this un
happy man from the abyss on the brink of which
false philosophy left him, a letter from Rovereto
brought news of a little triumph elsewhere, that
VOL. i. x

3o6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

promised to rescue many souls from some other ills
which were protected by a political outcome of this
philosophy. The ecclesiastical authorities at Trent
were, at last, allowed to complete the arrangements
Don Antonio had induced them to begin for the
reception of the Daughters of Charity in that
diocese. This was a victory, though a small one,
over the political double dealings which made it
difficult for Catholics, in Catholic countries, to use
Catholic organisations for rescuing the helpless from
the miseries or the dangers brought on and fostered
by a state-craft having its source in false philosophy.
Politicians, full of the fallacies thus generated, had
come to detest any moral agencies the State did not
create, and, forgetting what Religious Orders had
done for civilisation in the past, sought to deprive
them of opportunities to preserve it in the future. •
The policy of this state-craft was to crush religious
societies, and to cry down, ignore or curb all re
ligious zeal that threatened to be useful.

Owing to the efforts of this policy the excellent
Order of Madame Canossa could not easily extend (
its labours to places where they were much needed.
Many towns in Austria were in want of the services !
of the Order ; but politicians so misrepresented the
nature of these services that people generally were
led to distrust them. Thus, although the Daughters
of Charity had been long and beneficially engaged
in their pious work throughout the adjoining Italian
provinces, even some of the Tyrolese Priests were
indisposed to welcome them as cordially as they de-

FIRST YEAR 'S STAY AT MILAN.

307

served. Rosmini, who had his heart and mind fixed
on destroying the poisonous philosophy to which
this state of things was primarily clue, was careful,
meanwhile, to set himself, wherever he could,
against its immediate outflow. Hence, he took
great pains to let his countrymen have correct in
formation about the Daughters of Charity, and did
his utmost to smooth a path, at best but thorny, for
those self-sacrificing ladies. Among others who
needed this information was his intimate friend Don
Giulio Todeschi of Mezzotedesco, to whom he gave
this short but sufficient account of the Canossa Order
in the course of a letter dealing with the ordinary
points of familiar correspondence :—

Your letter commences with what is a very agreeable
subject ; for such to me is that of the Daughters of Charity.
Yes, I hope they will very soon be established in Trent.
The Emperor has given a convent to the excellent Madame
Canossa, and some Tyrolese sisters are even now ready to
take possession. It is only necessary to repair the dwelling,
which, being in a very bad condition, may cause some little
delay. All that, however, will be set right as soon as pos
sible through the zeal of our Vicar General who has shown
himself to be full of Apostolical Charity.

What you say, as to my sister going to be Superioress at
Trent, is incorrect. She is a simple novice, who, in due
time, will be sent to that house chosen for her by her Supe
riors according to the needs of her Institute.

As you desire to know the general object of this Sister
hood, let me tell you that it is to take special care of a
class which is the most despised and neglected, and, con
sequently the most helpless in Society ; and, on that
account, it is the class which is clearest to our Divine
Master— namely, the very poor ; to assist s'ck females in

x 2

308 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

the hospital, and if the Parish Priest wishes it, to teach
women Christian doctrine in the parish church, under his
direction ; besides, to have a school where poor girls might
be instructed in reading, writing, and in other things which
it is useful for poor women to know. They also extend
their care to the improvement of education in the villages
by receiving into the convent, for seven months in the year,
good young peasant girls of talent, with the view of educat
ing them, so as to qualify them to take charge of rural
schools, as good mistresses, well-mannered and pious.

After caring for the wants of the poor, the Daughters
of Chanty, if they have time and strength, will turn their
attention to those in better circumstances. In large cities,
as here in Milan, they do great good by gathering together
in their convent, at a certain time of the year, pious ladies
to enable them to make spiritual retreats. The Milanese
have lately, with the greatest edification, availed themselves
of this convenience.

The life then of these excellent sisters is, as their name
indicates, all charity. It is a life of active and robust virtue.
For their own spiritual support they have, meanwhile, their
Community exercises, consisting chiefly in mental prayer,
which is the secret of keeping enkindled the fire of divine
love. The virtue that I myself know these good sisters to
possess is marvellous. There is a perfect and unchanging
friendship among them, the truest purity of conscience,
together with liberty of spirit and uninterrupted gladsome-
ness. All this sweetens the most heavy labours, in the
discharge of which they are truly indefatigable.

MILAN : May 9, 1826.'

Without knowing how actively Rosmini was
engaged in what related to her own Order, Madame
Canossa busily occupied herself in what concernec
the Institute she besought him to found. As th(

1 Epistolario, Letter liii.

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 309

plan he had drawn up provided for members of the
new Order accepting the Pastoral Office in its widest
signification, she wrote to him, remonstrating against
this departure from a custom that time and experi
ence had proved to be good. He admitted the
reasonableness of her fears ; but her objections to
the seeming innovation were answered in such a way
as satisfied her that as much could be said for as
against this feature of the proposed Society.1 He
showed that Jesus Christ had placed the germ of
all perfection in the Pastoral Ministry, and that
'there are no two things which go so well together
as the religious profession and the Pastoral Office,
professing, as both do, the perfection of life which
consists in nothing else than charity.' Having dis
posed of the strongest arguments that might be
urged against combining Religious Life with the
pastorate of souls, he concluded his long letter
thus :—

Pardon the freedom with which I entreat you to reflect
well on this important matter, from which so much good
may flow to Holy Church, provided what we propose is
written in the Divine Decrees. Believe me, that even the
Religious who, of his own free will, flies from the world,
would not fly from it in a spirit of perfection, if he were to
< refuse to leave the delightful silence of the cloister to assist
I his brethren when called forth by the voice of Charity.
•' Perfect flight from the world should, henceforth, be made
in spirit, after the manner of the Apostles ; and we ought
not be satisfied with a mere external flight. I am well
aware that the most agreeable life is that which finds us with
drawn completely from this most dangerous and wretched
1 See Appendix, Letter v.

3io LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

world ; but we should not seek what is most agreeable
and what we like best rather than what is most pleasing to
God and most useful to His Holy Kingdom. Let us then
live in solitude with the heart ; but let us not refuse to leave
it with the body, when the voice of the Superior, which
should be for us as the voice of God Himself, calls us.

Milton held that ' Society must proceed from the
•mind rather than from the body,' and Blair once
described solitude as ' the society where no body
intrudes/ The mind and the heart find in them
selves all the fulness of society, as St. Bernard proved,
for he was ' never less alone than when alone.' It
matters not, then, where the body is ; if the mind be
not there, a solitude is there in which the heart lacks
not society. To train men so that they should thus
live ' in the solitude of the heart ' while ministering
to the spiritual needs of their neighbours, would be
to revive in a new way the anchoret system of Apo
stolic times, and establish in the midst of society,
where all intrude, a solitude where no one intrudes.
Rosmini attached the utmost importance to this self-
retirement, even in the case of those who were not
' bound by the sweet bonds of Religious Life.' He
thought it undesirable for men who were not dis
ciplined to ' solitude of heart ' to withdraw from
social intercourse, lest the cares of life should lead
them into a fatal gloom ; but he insisted that they
must always keep the mind girt with sublime religious
thoughts, lest social intercourse should lead them
into an equally fatal levity of spirit.

Although the state of human society was not so

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 31 1

bad in his day as it has since been made by the
tenets his adversaries have succeeded in propagat
ing", he had frequent occasions to counsel those who
were on the verge of moral ruin, either from dejec
tion or frivolity. One of these occasions presented
itself when he heard that Professor Bartolomeo
Stofella of Rovereto had fallen a victim to melan
choly, partly from yielding to family sorrows and
partly from having confounded social seclusion with
solitude of heart. A letter from this desponding
friend gave him an opportunity of at once reproach
ing and consoling him in the following manner, and
with the best results :—

Among the many things in your letter which gave me
pleasure, the one thing that grieved me was to find you
always sadly harping on these lines :—

I love to roam alone in pensive mood,
And slowly pace thro' dreary solitude.

Ah ! pray do not always seek excuse to shun the
beaten path of your fellow-men ! Let human society rather
alleviate and comfort you, if you have the misfortune to
be in affliction and sorrow. I mean that it should allevi
ate you with the comfort of prudent counsels, and not
merely divert you with the clatter of foolish gossippings,
which not only deafen the ear but confuse the mind.
The relief which one seems to take from that noisy external
agitation (which afterwards leaves the soul more confused,
clouded, and miserable than before) is very different from
that which relieves one by shedding on man the tranquil
ray of truth. This ray descending, so to speak, in the
night that is then on us, dispels its obscurity and enables
us to notice peacefully how agitated and confused things
are in it. It likewise discloses to us the mode of reducing

3i2 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

them to order, thus calming, as it were, the mounting bil
lows of a stormy sea.

Yes, I understand it, you are not pleased with the life
you lead. The heavy fatigues to which the school subjects
you, and the many hours of the best part of the day which
you are obliged to sacrifice thereto — then, the weariness
which follows during the remainder of the day — many
thoughts about your relations — your very health, often
sickly and for the most part weak — all these things com
bine to agitate and disturb you. You should, however,
know how to have patience — you should know how to
make an offering of these troubles to our Lord, so as to
turn the evil to your good. How admirable our Divine
religion always is in the consolation it affords to us poor
mortals ! How rich it is in the sublitnest reasons, the most
touching affections, and the most heavenly, supernatural
means to fortify our feeble hearts, and to transform almost
into impassible angels, paltry men, who are full of in
firmities. As for me, the more I study the matter, my
dear friend, the more thoroughly am I persuaded of all
this.

Our religion is a friend, or a compassionate mother,
strewing flowers overall our thorns, and administering balm
to soothe the bitterness of our every misfortune. She comes
into us, she enthrones herself in our very heart, and from
that seat diffuses, like the sun, an all-embracing serenity
through the whole man, who is thus transported into a
luminous paradise ; — she, as it were, lays hold of him and
fastens him to Eternity. O God ! what an object of true
wisdom ! In fact, if we meditated well upon eternity alone,
we should better know what little value to set on all that
is of earth. Eternity it is that reproaches us for having
turned our affections towards some ephemeral object,
whilst we should have reserved them for what was everlast
ing ; it makes us think with sorrow of even the least frac
tion of time that we have irreparably lost. Well does
this teacher make me comprehend how much reason the

MUST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 313

Saints had to charge with insanity a world that strove so
hard to possess things which would soon have to be irre
coverably abandoned.

It is indeed madness, for the sake of such trifles, to
wage war, nourish animosities, cause slaughter, encounter
great heat and cold, and consume one's self in continual
toils and endeavours to overcome anxieties and cares ; —
for the sake of these things, let me repeat, which man must
soon give up for ever, returning naked to that earth whence
he came, without having done anything for eternity !
If this be not a deplorable madness, whatever else can
be ? God grants us time and the way to collect treasures
that endure for ever ; but we make no account of them,
preferring to waste all the precious time of life, not fearing
to find ourselves at the point of death destitute of the
many merits with which we might have been enriched ; —
not fearing to appear, devoid of any virtue, at the tribunal
of an Almighty and most just Gocl, to render a most
rigorous account of all the graces we have lost, of all the
inspirations we have left unheeded, and of all our ingrati
tude towards that God who had lavished upon us His most
abundant mercies ! We know that the present life is the
allotted time for mercy ; we know that the future is re
served for justice, and, yet, with what little reflection we
allow the whole of life to pass away ! — the whole of that
time in which to work out our salvation ! thus with indiffer
ence continually drawing nigh to the hour of reckoning !
What stupidity ! what madness ! it would be incredible if

experience did not show it to exist

MILAN : July 16, 1826.'

He considered that men were most happy when,
by becoming foolish according to the principles of
the world, they became wise according to our Lord
Jesus. In his opinion, practical membership of the

1 Epistolario, Letter liv.

3 14 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Church of Christ was ' the perfection of all society,'
and the one grand remedy against the depressions
of heart with which mere human society, in the midst
of its gaieties, afflicted men. All his intelligence, all
his sympathies, all his affections were so knit up
with the Kingdom of Christ, that there was no hap
piness for him except in the closest union with the
Church. A letter which he wrote before making a
short visit to Rovereto, in 1826, incidentally shows
how profoundly he felt this. The letter was to an
old schoolfellow, Don Giovanni Stefani, who had
been for some time in Lisbon as tutor to a prince of
the Portuguese Royal Family and had just been
prevailed on to continue in that capacity for some
time longer :—

I am glad that you remain, because I bethink me that
you will be able to benefit your young pupil. Do all you
can to make him feel the dignity of being a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ — of that immense, that divine
Society which deserves all our love, and towards which it
is right that all our thoughts should be turned. Beautiful
is human friendship, but far more beautiful is the love of
Holy Church. Love of family is praiseworthy, so is love
for one's birthplace or nation. Ah ! Let our love for
family, for native place, for country, be so many different
means to promote the glory of God's Church ? They
should be considered by the Christian only as parts of a
greater and higher society — that of the Church. Since
we have received the Grace that our family and nation
should be in the Church of Jesus Christ, ought not the
part to be subservient to the whole ?

Seek to print this deeply in your pupil's mind. Happy
will he be if he should receive the impression and carry it
with him uncancelled all his life. Even though you should

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 315

fail to make a real impression, you will be happy to have
used all your endeavours in the attempt. As regards the
merit acquired before God, the effort alone is equivalent to
having formed a devout son to the Church of Jesus Christ.
In that way, while you will be useful to the youth, you will
assuredly be more useful to yourself. . . .

MILAN : September 13, I826.1

Rosmini's love for Christ's Kingdom on earth,
if practically accepted by princes and peoples, would
have thrown down the petty boundaries of national
prejudice or tribal hate, to build up, in its stead, a
patriotism of the most exalted kind — the patriotism
of Christian Chanty — the patriotism of Redeemed
humanity — the patriotism that should embrace all
nations as subject to the Celestial King, and thus
leave mankind to that repose which a narrower
patriotism must, from its very nature, be continually
and brutally disturbing. Like Lord Bacon, he had
' taken all knowledge for his Province ; ' 2 but, unlike
Bacon, he gave the rule of this Province to Heaven
and not to Earth, making it provide for the loftier
and permanent rather than for the lower and
transient interests of the whole human race. There
fore, like Him for Whom Bacon's Province had no
set place, he took all men to be his fellow-subjects,
his brethren, his neighbours, in the one grand king
dom of Christ's Charity — that Province of the New
Law which comprises all knowledge and includes all
men. Within this alone patriotism is a virtue of
the sublimest kind. It is the patriotism of the New

1 EpistolariO) Letter Iv.

2 Bacon's Letter to Lord Burleigh.

3i6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Law, the patriotism of Chanty, and he thus explains
it to us :—

' Even in the Old Law it was discerned that the
expression near or neighbour could not be properly
understood of a propinquity wholly material (since
it was quite possible that an enemy, instead of a
kinsman or friend, might be living near one's house),
but was intended to express a spiritual proximity, a
nighness of heart, inasmuch as he who loves is, by
affection, near and neighbour to the person loved.
Therefore the Jew, not knowing that he should love
other than a Jew, held that only the Jew was his
neighbour. But Christ, loving all men, and, in Him
self, rendering every man lovable, has made all in
the world neighbours. Thus the Jewish expression
remains true, with a new signification ; for it is true,
no less by the Old than the New Testament, that
" we should love our neighbour"-— with this differ
ence, however : the supernatural love known to the
Old Law had not strength enough to extend itself
beyond the nation ; whereas, in the New Law, by
the Redemption and Grace of Christ, there were
given to it wings powerful enough to carry it
through all the world. The Old Law as to loving
our neighbour continues, then, in force ; but there is
a New Law, in which Christ ordains that " we our
selves should voluntarily become neighbours to all
in the world, by loving all."

Thus the precept of Charity is at once old and
new — the aim of the Old Law and subject-matter of

1 Rosmini's Discourses.— Dis. ' On love of our neighbour.'

FIRST YEAR'S STAY AT MILAN. 317

the New. In the Old Law the love which brought
the Jew nigh to the Jew consisted in the natural
inclinations sanctified — the affections of parents, of
children, of husband and wife, of fellow-citizens and
compatriots ; but, in the New, the love which brings
man nigh to man is that Charity which Christ had
for all men, and that which we, through Christ and
in Him, have for all who are loved by Christ.

3i8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER XXL

ROSMINI, AWAITING 4 THE MANIFESTATION OF PRO
VIDENCE,' ACTIVELY WORKS FOR THE GLORY OF
GOD AND THE VINDICATION OF TRUTH.

(A.D. 1826-1827.)

His Milan household an illustration of the instability of mere human
arrangements — Strength of institutions designed for God's glory-
He goes to Rovereto with the Chevalier Carlo Rosmini and Mauri-
zio Moschini— Calls at Brescia and Verona — Is urged to join the
Jesuits — Once more at the ' old Homestead' — His mother still seeks
to keep him in his native diocese — What he thinks of taking the
Pastoral Ministry — Indifferent to all but God's Will — Returns to
Milan with Don Fenner as Secretary — Mellerio and Manzoni meet
him — His share in Manzoni's Promessi Sposi — How he awaits the
manifestation of Providence — His estimate of human power in the
salvation of souls — Why he prefers a good heart 10 great talent —
His efforts to restore Christian Philosophy — Progress of the Nuovo
Saggio — Literary war with the dechristiani^ing sensists — His philo
sophical productions of this time — Depends on Prayer more than
on Reason — Lives on earth as being always in the visible presence
of God — ' His conversation is in Heaven ' — Philosophy and Reason
would be traitors without Prayer and Piety.

BEFORE Rosmini had been a year at Milan his little
household threatened such a change as furnished
him with a practical commentary on the instability
of the most hopeful human arrangements. Tom-
maseo, once more weary of living up to ' a rule of
life,' sought once more the dangerous liberty of
being his own master, and he obtained it. He con-

HIS MILAN HOUSEHOLD. 319

tinued, however, to work occasionally for his bene
factor, but selected Florence as the seat of his
labours. There he gave himself up to preparing;
his Antologia without much satisfaction to himself
or Rosmini. Moschini lost his health and had
' medical orders ' to go back to Rovereto in the
hope of recovering it. The coachman's services
were no longer required, and the cook was soon the
only one left of the companions originally chosen to
form the Milan establishment.

If such were the vicissitudes of a small family

in so short a time, what fortune awaited a large

Community that aspired to live for ages ? But his

ittle dulce domum was of human origin, mainly for

luman ends, and had not been set up with all that

:are and all those safeguards which must, surely,

protect an institution suggested by Heaven and

founded exclusively for the glory of God and the

;piritual good of men. This, too, would probably

liave its vicissitudes in some respects like the other,

:;ince it was in some respects human ; but Provi-

lence never yet left an institution of Its own special

reation at the mercy of human inconstancy. Know-

ng this, Rosmini employed every means to make

ure that Providence was the real designer of the

>roject suggested by the saintly Canossa. We have

.Iready seen what these means were, and how care-

ul he was to test their value in every possible

orm. Never did the Founder of a Religious

)rder more warily take every step to his object—

lever more fearingly, or more prayerfully, or more

32o LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

deeply impressed with its sacredness and his own
unworthiness.

In the Autumn of 1826, Don Antonio decided on
making a few weeks' visit to Rovereto, partly to
console his mother, partly to look after family in
terests, and partly to have another opportunity of a
personal consultation with the Foundress of the
Daughters of Charity, as Verona would be the most
convenient resting-place on the way to and from
the Tyrol. Maurizio Moschini was to accompany
him home as an invalid of whose restoration to
sound health the Milanese physicians had little
hopes Another companion was to be the historian
of Milan — the Chevalier Carlo Rosmini — whose
physical condition also required change of air. The
day before they started, Rosmini dined with Man-
zoni at Brusuglio, where he met some of the intel
lectual wanderers whose thoughts he was successfully
leading back to the truths and duties of Faith.

On the way to Verona he stayed for a few hours
in Brescia with Don Brunati, and with some Jesuit
Fathers who were amongst his warmest friends,
and who, knowing that his soul was bent on the
Religious State, used all their powers of persuasior
to court him into the Society as offering the besl
field for his genius, learning and zeal. To no OIK
did he yield in love and admiration for ' the tru(
children of St. Ignatius ; ' but the voice that spoke s<
constantly within him did not prompt him to joii
them, and he faithfully followed its whisperings t<
proceed elsewhere.

SHORT VISIT TO ROVERETO. 321

At Verona he remained a day, the greater part
of which was given to prayer and consultation with
Don Bertoni, and an interview with Madame
Canossa and his sister on the subject of the Insti
tute. His sister was no longer merely a guest
studying the educational system of the Daughters
of Charity, but a novice practising ' the way of per
fection ' as laid down by their rule, and on the eve
of taking the vows. Having stored up in his mind
and heart the hints and consolations that came from
his conferences with these holy people, he con
tinued the journey to Rovereto. There a hearty re
ception greeted him on all sides, the * welcome back '
being of that kind which one usually associates with
a return after long absence. Once more, the fond
mother and devoted retainers were comforted by his
presence. Once more, the little domestic oratory
had its morning Mass. Once more, the poor gathered
in the courtyard of the palazzo to receive alms from
his own hands. Once more, our Lady's shrine on
the Mount had its most fervent votary. Once more,
he deserted library had its industrious master to
itilise its contents. Once more, the public Academy
lailed its brightest member, and listened to his
earned disquisitions. Once more, the hospitable
nansions of his kinsmen and friends thronged with
quests eager to show their respect for one who
cast gleams of sanctity on their gladness ' and who
lever refused to recognise the reasonable claims of
>ocial intercourse.

This visit to Rovereto, however, was short ; but
VOL. i. v

322 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

in that stay of a few weeks, the untiring energies of
Don Antonio accomplished a great deal for the
moral and intellectual benefit of himself and others.
His mother, though now more seasoned to the
thought of his permanent absence, made yet another
effort to persuade him that he ought to remain with
the parochial Clergy of his native diocese. Not
trusting to her own reasonings, which were purely
those of the heart, she sought the aid of friends
whose virtues and talents had most weight. Few
of these were ready to promote her wishes in this
matter, for they saw more clearly than maternal
sentiment permitted her to see, that her son was
already doing an Apostle's duty, not for one parish or
one diocese but for the whole Church. One of the
few who consented to do as she desired was Don
Giulio Tocleschi ; he did so, however, in such a
timid, indirect way, that Rosmini hardly suspected
the drift of his advice as to ' taking upon himself
the Pastoral Ministry.' Therefore, he made but a
passing, though a sufficiently expressive, allusion to
the subject in the following letter : —

Your letters are always dear to me, because there flows
from them an oil which is so fragrant that its odour affects
the innermost sense of the soul and thence diffuses itself
thrillingly ; because, in short, they ah\ ays contain the name
of our Lord and Redeemer. Oh ! with what truth and reason
St. Bernard said that to him would be insipid the book in
which he did not meet with the most lovable of all names
— the name of JESUS. So, indeed, it ever should be ; —
every thing which is not seasoned and signed with this
name should be tasteless to Redeemed men. Unhappy
me ! I am not worth}' to pronounce it. ...

HIS OWN DESJRE. 323

At Milan, there are many oratories for young men
A'hich are exceedingly useful. I used to go to them on
'estival days, when able, and, although I gave short dis-
:ourses and spiritual conferences when asked, I was really
;here more to learn than to teach. But, as you have very
.veil said — for all that I regard with so much pleasure
exercises relating to the welfare of souls, our Lord has not
railed me, as yet, to this sublime ministry. I am thoroughly
persuaded that He has, with good reason, kept me a step
Backward, as one may say, from His ' Inner Sanctuary/
or so it seems to me I should designate the Pastoral
Ministry.

I certainly do not desire, or at least wish to desire,

nything more than the fulfilment of God's adorable Will.

\nd can I desire anything, except to serve my Lord and

ay God in that way wherein He wills me to serve Him ?

For what have I in Heaven ; and, besides Thee, what do

desire upon earth ? ' Most happy should I be were I, at

nee, to become a faithful, and not a wicked and perfidious,

srvant as I now am. It appears to me, or I am mistaken,

lat I am indifferent to any kind of service (be it low, con-

;?mptible and small, or great and laborious), which our

.ord may require of me , — all, yes truly, all would seem

le same to me, provided only one thing followed — that I

as at last a good and faithful servant.

Ah ! my dear friend and brother in Christ, urgently
ray to our Lord to give me this grace, — I desire nothing
.ore than this. . . .
ROVERETO : Septemlcr 30, 1826.'

Owing to the unsatisfactory state of Carle

o J

smini's health, Don Antonio returned to Loni-
ardy before winter set in. He took with him as
scretary, in place of Moschini, Don Andrea Fenner,
nd, on their arrival in Milan, this clergyman was

1 l'".pisfolario, Letter Ivi.
Y 2

324 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

announced in the public journals as ' corrector of th<
press to the Roveretan philosopher/ Count Mellerio
and Manzoni were the first friends to call on
Rosmini immediately after his return.

Mellerio, who shared his confidence as to the
projected Religious Order, was anxious to know
how the affair prospered, and what further light God
had vouchsafed to give him, directly or through
Madame Canossa. Rosmini could only assure his
friend that the plan was matured, and that the good
Marchioness continued to name Milan as the place
where God's Will would be further manifested to him.

Man/oni, who shared his confidence as to the
scientific works in which he was engaged, sought
his counsel with regard to some of his own literary
labours. Who can tell what effect these literary
consultations had on the Promessi Sposil It is
pretty certain that some of the manuscript and all
the proof sheets were submitted to Rosmini, and,
though it is not very likely that he meddled at all
with the polished diction of Manzoni, there is reason
to believe that he left the impress of his hand there,
for many turns of thought, many pointed reflections,
many moral adornments that enrich the work have
a strong Rosminian flavour.

The year 1827 found Rosmini calmly waiting for
the special indications of Providence which Madame
Canossa told him to expect. He went on assidu
ously providing for the spiritual weal of the pious
souls committed to his charge. His charitable deeds
in connection with the Milan Oratories increased.

XETU£ATS TO MILAN. 325

Although the publication of his philosophical works,
ombined with his studies, occupied more time than
sual, his amazing activity of mind and body enabled
im to continue without interruption all the aid he
ave to those who laboured for ' God's little poor,' or
ho strove to win back to Christ such souls as had
sen led astray by the seductive teachings of false
• hilosophy. How much he prized this co-operation
. the salvation of souls we already know : yet, he
•dued little mere human power in these efforts, as
i* took occasion to tell his sister Margherita in the
jllowing letter :

I am glad that your sisters labour, as you tell me, so
i eerfully, and I doubt not you ardently desire to imitate
lem. A soul saved to our Lord is, assuredly, a great gain,
'.it this is not human work. Man can only reach the ear
i an ineffectual way ; but it is God changes the heart.
. this affair, therefore, we are not only ants, as you say,
It even much less. However, it is an infinite Grace, which
no demands our gratitude, that God vouchsafes to accom-
j ny our useless efforts on the exterior man, with His
<:ret operation on the interior. In this way, He is pleased
t make man what may be termed a co-operator with His
i'vine Son, which is the greatest, and, yet, the most
I miliating dignity that man can think of. I say the most
1 miliating, remembering from Whom he receives it, be-
tath Whom he must humble himself, not only on account
( his own nothingness, but again through gratitude. . . .

MILAN : January 4, I827.1

A curious little short-lived controversy which
i rang up in these days had Rosmini for its centre,
is genius was admitted by the bitterest of his
1 EpistolariO) Litter Ivii.

326 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NI.

assailants, the champions of sensistic irreligion ; but
some of them insisted that he valued genius more i
than goodness of heart, whereas his friends claimed
that he looked on genius as a possession infinitely
less desirable than a good heart. Not only in Milan,
but also in Rovereto, there were those who con- I
tended that his practical charities, which kept pace •
with his intellectual works, were rather due to his
genius than to his heart, inasmuch as the heart was, I
according to them, directed by the genius and not
independent of it. Others declared that, being a
genius, he was bound to regard a good heart, which
is no uncommon possession, as far inferior to a pos
session that was very rare ; still others held that if he
had merely a good heart men would not admire him
as much as they did, though they might love him
no less. Don Orsi of Rovereto, who undertook to
get Rosmini's own view on the subject, put the
inquiry somewhat in this way : ' Which is preferable,
an excellent intellect with a perverse heart, or a
feeble intellect with a good heart ? ' The reply was
prompt and conclusive : —

My solution of this question is, you must already know,
your own. The following seem to me to be the principal
reasons : —

I. Talent is a gift ; the use of it is an act of our own
Now, of itself, talent does not help us to employ it well
it may rather tempt us to use it improperly. The heart, or I
the contrary, inclines us to make a proper use of the talenlj
we possess. Hence, the endowment of the heart is mon
valuable, because it is that which disposes us to do wel
those acts which proceed from ourselves. It is, in shor' •

TALENT VERSUS HEART. 327

virtue ; and we all know that only virtue can entitle a man
to praise, as belonging to himself.

2. Talent, if badly employed, does not make us happy.
The heart, on the contrary, by inclining us to virtue helps
us to obtain happiness. Experience furnishes us with con
tinual proof of the fact, and history illustrates it. Setting
aside the arrogance of the philosophers of Greece and other
nations, Solomon, Origen, and Tertullian were brought to
unhappiness by their talents.

3. Jesus Christ never praised the gifts of mere intellect,
but always those of the heart.

4. Great intellect is a property even of the Devil,—
that is to say, of the most wicked of creatures : not so the
heart.

5. Men love a good heart more than high intellect.
Hence, even the world considers great geniuses as being
dangerous. They usually have many enemies, while
those who have a good heart are loved by everybody.

Having satisfied your questions, I hasten to close this
letter. Greet all, especially your dear brother. It seems
to me that, through Divine Grace, I labour more than
usual. I see clearly that it is the will of God that I must
still be far from you. Before the work I am engaged on is
completed, at least four years must elapse. The labour
seems to grow under my hands. The Lord truly spreads
flowers for me over the rough paths, all along which I find
the ruins of gigantic geniuses. Adieu.
MILAN: January^, 1827. ]

The labour alluded to in the above letter aimed
at nothing less than the complete restoration of
philosophy. It was, indeed, a formidable task, and
that portion of it on which he was then specially
engaged — The new Essay on the Origin of Ideas—
was destined to open a most important epoch in the

1 Epistolario, Letter Iviii.

328 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

history of science. Therefore, it would take a long
time ; and, although he had been for many years
occasionally working at it, four years more of con
stant labour would hardly have sufficed to complete it,
if he was not a man of unflinching industry. But, in
order to give, meanwhile, a sample of the knowledge
he meant to propose for the restoration of philosophy
he began to publish at once (1827) in Milan the first
volume of his Opitscoli Filosofici. This volume
contained several essays. Two were on Divine
Providence, and discussed the limits set to human
reason in its pronouncements on God's dealings with
man, and also defined the laws which govern the
distribution of temporal good and evil ; another was
on the Unity of Education ; and another on the
Idyl and the New Italian Literature.

' The writers of the Biblioteca Italiana] says
Don Paoli, ' were still waiting with ears erect for
what the young Abate, who had recently come
amongst them, would have to say for himself.'
Well, they heard him and one of them threw down
the gauntlet ; but the Roveretan would not take it
up, * as it was the challenge of a polemic who could
not be serious.' Rosmini ' contented himself with
writing in the preface to the second volume of the
Opuscoli, and on the same page, the objections of
the assailant side by side with the replies of the
assailed.' In this way, every impartial reader might
see, at a glance, that Rosmini was attacked mainly
because of the fancied prejudices which it was then
customary to attribute to such ecclesiastics as ven-

CONTEST WITH THE SENSISTS. 329

tured to demonstrate the harmony between the
truths of Reason and those of Revelation. It was
on this occasion that he said in a letter to Don
Orsi, 'The article in the Bihlioteca Italiana has
made me laugh. They say it is by Gioia or Gironi.'

In the same letter to Don Orsi we find an inter
esting scrap of information as to the progress of the
New Essay on the Origin of Ideas : ' Since my return
to Milan I have written more than two hundred
pages of the work on which I am engaged, and at
least one hundred and fifty of these are large-sized
pages. Nevertheless, I can find time for rest, and
for holding conversations with some few friends.
One of those whom I see the most frequently is
Manzoni, whose company I enjoy very much.'1

The second volume of the Opuscoli was already
in hand, though not immediately published. In it
he recast and enlarged the treatise on Happiness
which he had published at Rovereto in 1822. Its
new tit^e was An Essay Or* Hope, and its object to
nullify the desolating teachings of Ugo Foscolo.
Among the other treatises in this volume was An
Examination of the Opinions of M. Gioia in favour
if Fashion, and the Exposure of the same author's
philosophy. Both essays were intended to counter
act the sensistic views then in vogue, and both won
much fame for the author throughout all Italy, where
|Gioia's writings had hitherto held an unchecked
popularity.

Gioia was perhaps the most attractive of the

1 Unpublished Letter, dated Milan, January 23, 1827.

330 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Italian authors who at that time held a far-reach
ing influence, most hurtful to truth and sound
morality. In fact, his dangerous renown was so
great that every new writer was expected to do it
homage. But the Roveretan Abate, instead of highly
commending, strongly condemned it, by laying bare
the hideous character of the tenets on which it was
poised. Gioia made pleasure the idol of man's
worship and the sole principle of ethics; he took
from the ' transmontane utilitarians ' the most ruinous
maxims of political economy, and presented them, in
his many books, under the alluring garb of a popular
style, which was made very effective by a bold,
derisive smartness borrowed from the French writers
of the last century. All this was far too well calcu
lated to captivate unwary readers, and, as a matter
of fact, it had already ' corrupted the heart and in
tellect of the flower of Italian youth.'

Rosmini fearlessly struck at the strongholds of
this baneful system, and the celebrated writer who
defended it was so enraged that he could at first
find no other reply than what Don Paoli calls 'a
torrent of abuse.' But he came to regret this, and
it is very probable that he owed to our Christian
champion's writings the nobler sentiments which he
manifested at the close of his life ; for ' he felt it his
duty to publicly declare that he died retracting and
detesting his errors.'

The more Rosmini thus laboured successfully to
overthrow error, and the more his works became the
theme of much public discussion and no little praise,

7/AV HUMILITY. 331

the more thorough were his humility and his depend
ence on, and confidence in, God. This is very evi
dent in all his letters of that time, whether they were
written with much deliberation or thrown off as hur
riedly as the following note to the Baron Don Giulio
Todeschi : —

I am here immersed in studies. I thank God who
gives me strength for the work. Every day I more and
more understand the Divine Will. I must remain here for
some time yet. How pleasant it would be for me were I
so placed that I could converse personally with my good
friends, — with my good Giulio.

I beg and entreat of you to recommend me warmly to
our Lord. Would that I had a spark of that fervour which
you mention in your dear letter ! Would that I had drawn
profit from the recent Christmas solemnities, during which
Jesus came to visit us ! Had not my heart been harder
than stone, certainly I ought, as you say, to have been
duly softened and melted with grief for my faults, and with
gratitude to the Divine goodness. But, it was not so, my
dear Giulio, it was not so. I am always as heretofore —
nay worse. Non pcccator, peccatum sum. I am comforted
only by the thought that it is when our misery is extreme
that the Divine mercy shines forth more resplendently.
God will not deny Himself one of the greatest of His
glories, which consists in raising up children to Abraham
from the very stones. Let us unite together earnestly in
prayer — in prayer continuously ; let us detach ourselves
more and more from all earthly things ; and let us at
length live in the way we shall wish, at the moment of
death, that we had lived.

Oh ! what happiness ! To live on earth as if we were in
Heaven, and could say — our conversation is in Heaven.
What contentment ! To be able to hope that Christ livcth
in us. ' I live ; but now not I, Christ liveth in me.'

332 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

This is the one grand object of my desires and the
most soul-absorbing of my aspirations. But what afflicts
me is to think of the distance I still am therefrom ! How
I resist and oppose the Divine Grace !

I embrace you in the Lord. Writing thus hastily I
scarcely form intelligible letters. Adieu. Love me in our
Lord, in Whom I also love you.

MILAN: February^ 1827. l

Rosmini's constant endeavour was to live on
earth as if he were in Heaven — as if he were always
in the visible presence of God. He often declared
to his intimate friends that * if he could have followed
his own wish, and if duty to his neighbour had not
forbidden it, his whole life would have been spent
i n meditation and prayer.' 2 But, as we have had
occasion to see more than once, he continued to
make * duty to his neighbour,' whatever form it took,
a continued act of prayer. Not only his works of
charity, in every shape, but his recreations and his
ordinary acts of social intercourse, as well as all his
studies and all his writings, were of God, for God,
in God. Fond as he was of philosophy, and highly
as he valued reason, he looked upon both as certain
to be dangerous traitors, if Prayer and Piety did not
shield him from their treachery. His private and
public life thus put into practice a lesson that can be
well described somewhat in the phraseology of a
distinguished British scholar : 3 Philosophy may be

1 Epistolario, Letter lix.

2 Don Francesco Barone, Orazione nei solenni Funerali delV Abate
Rosmini, Torino, 1855.

3 Sir Wm. Drummond, Preface to Academical Questions (speaking
of Prejudice and Reason),

ALWAYS WITH GOD. 333

trusted to guard the outworks for a short space of
time, when Prayer and Piety perchance slumber in
the citadel, but should Prayer and Piety fall into a
lethargy, Philosophy will quickly erect a standard of
its own. Prayer can dispense with Philosophy, but
Philosophy cannot dispense with Prayer. Each
can support the other, arid if they act in concord
they are invincible. ' He who will not reason is a
bigot ; he who wall not pray is a fool, while he who
dares not is a slave.' It is thus he felt ; and it is
thus that the Truth held him from bondage — held
him in * the freedom wherewith Christ has made us
free ; ' it is thus that he lived on earth as if he were
in Heaven, and could say ' our conversation is in
Heaven.'

334 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER XXII.

ROSMINI CONTINUES THE WARFARE AGAINST TPIE
FOES OF REVELATION.

(A.D. 1827.)

He refuses to be a Jesuit, but urges others to join that Order — Beauty
of the Religious State — What he sa\s of the '-livery of St. Ignatius'
—How delicately he avoids influencing anyone to join the Order
he is himself founding— What he thinks of surrendering one's own
judgment to that of Superiors— Two possible exceptions to the rule
--What he deems the surest means of bringing hearts into close
union with God — The Science of the Saints applicable to all states
of life, but not alike safely or easily practised in all — Religious Life
the port of refuge from worldly storms — Necessity of mastering
human affections to reach this port — Himself as an example of
triumph in this — Shows his sister that true union of hearts cannot
be, except in God — Explains the principle of obedience as laid
down in the Jesuit Rule — Agrees with St. Thomas as to the mode
of choosing a Religious Order — Commends a compendium of medi
tation by a Jesuit — Sorrow for the death of Carlo Rosmini, the
historian — Patience in affliction — The war against the propagators
of anti-Christian philosophy — Teaches the leaders ofirreligion how
to conduct controversies — The world, as it is, must needs have evils
— Opposes godless education and foreshows its dangers — Men led
by sensist philosophy are most intolerant— Virtue and truth, being
a check to human passions, are detested by the champions of it re
ligion — He is evidently * called' to resist the inroads of sensistic
error — All philosophy mere vanity without religion — The Gospel
shines above all human systems — Revelation and true philosophy
perfectly harmonious — A great and pious historian's prayer to God
answered in the person of Rosmini.

ALL Rosmini's friends knew of his tenacious affec
tion for the Religious State ; but few of them knew

URGED TO BE A JESUIT. 335

anything of the special call that kept him back from
joining any existing Religious Order. There was,
therefore, nothing unseemly in those who were thus
ignorant of the true condition of affairs freely em
ploying all their influence to support the invitations
which some Jesuit Fathers were pressing upon him
to enter the great Society.1 But, though he would
not become a Jesuit himself, he embraced every op
portunity of leading others to choose that Order,
when he found them inclined to the Religious State,
or hesitating as to a choice in it. Amongst those
whom his counsel thus ' directed to the rule of
Ignatius ' was the estimable Don Brunati of Brescia,
who, on having resolved to quit Secular Life, com
municated his decision to Rosmini, as to the
prompter of his course. Don Antonio replied :—

Your letter brought me news that was not indeed sur
prising, but very agreeable. What surprise could your
resolution give me, since I was already aware that your
heart was burning with the love of God, — was, in fact, all
Mis ? For me, it is not more marvellous to see a man
who is imbued with such sentiments, drawn to the Religious
Life, than to see fish attracted by the bait or a bird by its
bod.

Be comforted, then, — ' Be strong and of good courage '
Deut. xxxi. 7), because our Lord so loves you as to create
n your heart such holy desires. Yes, yes, nothing is more
Beautiful, nothing more advisable than to fly from this
vorld and take refuge in the safe ^ort of Religion where one
s sheltered from the stormy waves that submerge all else.

1 Tommaseo (Rivista Cont.) sa>s that this influence came mainly
rom some of his personal friends in the Society at Innsbruck ; but the
rathers who happened to be staying at Brescia and Verona were its
mmediate means.

336 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Nothing is more desirable than to make a solemn Consecra
tion of ourselves to our Lord in this secure harbour. Then we
enter as it were our nuptial coueh. Oh how fragrant are
the pure roses wherewith all there is strewn ! How magni
ficent is this nuptial couch in the eyes of the faithful ! —
aye, even the magnificence of Solomon's couch loses in
comparison ! I believe you to be blest, then, in these
espousals, to which our Lord has been pleased to elevate
you.

But, my dear friend, can I any longer conceal from you
what I have for a long while jealously kept as a secret in
my heart ? No ; not after the confidence you have reposed
in me. Well, then, know that I also have come to a
similar determination ; that is to say, I have resolved to
quit the world and to enter the Religious State.

But, you will eagerly ask whether I think of wearing
the livery of Ignatius ? I so greatly love his livery that I
could cover it with kisses : it is the livery which (if I may
licitly say so) belongs to Christ's Pretorian guards. How
ever, God calls me to something else ; and you know how
attentively His voice should be listened to and how faith
fully followed. I am, as I have said, called to something
else ; but still to the Religious State. In being of Ignatius
you do not cease to be of Jesus, to whom I shall belong,
also, I hope ; and, therefore, we shall be in the service of
the same Captain, and, in Him, we shall love one another
as fellow-soldiers under the same banner.

Perchance you would like to know more. I may tell
you all when next I see you ; for the present let the
intimation I have given you suffice. Not, however, that I
know the time set by our Lord, for the accomplishment of
this project, any more than you know it. Therefore, let us
together pray, and pray unceasingly ; for, from Him alone
all must come. Embracing you I tell you, once again, to
pray.

See with how much delicacy he refrained from

HOLY OBEDIENCE. 337

saying anything about the Order he was himself on
the eve of founding, lest personal affection should
turn Don Brunati's thoughts from the Society he had
already recommended, to that for which he might,
without impropriety, have induced him to wait. He
excelled in the power of thus blending considerate-
ness and self-denial, because he excelled in true dis
interestedness. No less skilful was he in the art
of removing difficulties such as Don Brunati raised
with regard to ' the obedience which demanded
the surrender of one's own judgment to that of
Superiors.'

You wish to know my opinion upon the duty of sub
jecting one's own judgment entirely to the authority of
another, as is the practice in the Society of Jesus. St.
Ignatius was well aware of the strength which his Society
would acquire, if he established in it the greatest uniformity
possible in all things, and thence also the greatest agree
ment in doctrines. I do not deny that there may be some
cases difficult to overcome. Yet, generally speaking, the
submission of the understanding is the first requisite of a
^ood Religious. All other virtues, even though heroic, can
be of no advantage to him, unless he knows hovv to obtain
:he mastery over himself, in this particular, so as to sacri-
ice his own views to the authority of his Superiors. This
t is which, in a body composed of many members, pre
serves unity and the blessings of harmony.

Now, this is not impossible in ordinary cases ; commonly
speaking the things on which our minds are prone to differ
rom others are not self-evident. Therefore, not having
evidence on our side, it becomes simply an effort of self-love
:o affirm one's own opinion as certain, instead of leaving it
)pen to doubt. But from the moment that one doubts
me's own opinion, it is no longer difficult to embrace that
VOL. i. /

338 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

of others by preferring their judgment to one's own. Would
not he who had a really humble opinion of himself natur
ally act thus ?

I confess, notwithstanding, that in this matter I should
have a great difficulty in two cases (which, however, seem
to me very rare) and these are: — i. If in some opinion
which I have adopted, I find, after having divested myself
of all self-love, such evidence as there is, for instance, in a
mathematical demonstration. 2, If I find that the opinion
which I am desired to embrace is evidently/^/^.

In these two cases, it is impossible for one, nay one ought
not, to give an internal assent, but to retain one's own
opinion — -without, however, causing disturbance in the Corr,
munity, if one should not succeed in convincing Superiors
of its truth. These cases, however, are, as I have said,
extremely rare. It is almost always our self-love which
gives to our opinions a greater degree of certainty than
really belongs to them. A man who has become truly
humble and foolish, for Jesus Christ, seldom finds a case
like this ; but, it is not altogether impossible, and I admit
that it would be somewhat embarrassing. The Religious, in
short, should be thoroughly predisposed to lay aside his
own opinion, and to embrace that of others ; but, he ought
to add to profound humility, and to the inward contempt
of self, a tender and unswerving love of truth, in obedience
and in charity.

MILAN: Aprilq, 1827.*

From his earliest years, it gave him intense
pleasure to try and bring hearts into close union
with God ; and from his earliest years he felt that
profound humility, passive obedience, active charity,
constant prayer, and complete self-denial were the
surest means for this. Hence, whenever he found
pious men, like Don Brunati, eagerly in quest of close

1 Epistolarto, Letter 1\.

RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR LIFE.

339

union with God, he pointed out the gate to the
cloister and exhorted them to enter, that they might
take the safest path to what they sought.

Frequently, however, he was appealed to by those
who craved this union, without being in a position
to adopt the Religious State. For them, too, he pre
scribed 'the science of the Saints,' with instructions
as to how each one could shape his course by it, no
matter what his state in life may be. But he knew
full well that as surely as the man who chooses to
walk through fields infested by venomous reptiles
has far less chance of escaping danger than the man
who prefers to take a well-protected path, so they
who endeavour to attain union with God, while
surrounded by the many allurements of the world,
have far less chance of reaching it than they who
seek it through the shelter of the cloister.

Therefore, although he could not hold out the
same assurances of security to those who strive to
draw very near to God through the embarrassments
and excitements of the world, he none the less
encouraged all to persevere in the struggle to per
fection, even amidst the worst distractions of social
life ; for he knew that many Saints had practised
the most heroic virtues, even when brought daily in
contact with the most hideous vices, and he knew
that the noblest self-sacrifice was sometimes found
where self-interests most abounded.

He did not shut his eyes to the fact that even
those who had passed into * the port of refuge/ as
he loved to call the Religious State, were not free

z 2

340 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

from some of the most dangerous worldly influences,
so long as they had not the completest detachment
from all human affections. But study and expe
rience had long since convinced him that, while
complete detachment from human affections was
essential to thorough union with God, this detach
ment was infinitely less attainable in Secular than in
Religious Life. He could speak with all the more
authority on this subject since he had, himself,
mastered human attachments as effectively as if he
had been all his life a cloistered monk. Now, it
had cost him much to tone these attachments
down, for his nature was of the most affectionate
kind. No son, no brother, no man had deeper love
of kindred and country and home and friends than
he ; but he earned the Grace which made this natural
love absolutely subordinate to the love of God. So
much had he subdued even its most legitimate mani
festations, that his sister, of whom he had ever been
very fond, and whose heart Grace had also long
since detached from mere human affections, could
not help, in a moment of womanly softness, remind- i
ing him that she was entitled to a sister's love, as if
he had for a moment forgotten it. In reassuring
her he took care to let her understand that it was .
only in God true ' union of hearts ' could be pre
served :

For your last letter I thank you all the more, as it was
a blooming one, like the season in which we are ; like that
too, it invites us to raise our thoughts towards the ineffable
goodness of the Creator, who continually loads us with

TRUE UNION OF HEARTS. 341

benefits. Yes, let us be grateful to Him ; let us think con
tinually of Him ; in short, belong to Him entirely. Is not
this the only happiness of our hearts ? I know it is thus
your heart speaks. It is thus I feel that mine speaks, by
the Grace of our Lord, to which I respond imperfectly.

There can be nothing more delicious than this union of
wills and affections which I trust exists between us. I
infer from a certain passage in your letter, that you suspect
that my affection for you has decreased. Even if I desired
it, I could not but love you ; and I love you with more
than a brother's affection. The infrequency of my letters
should not make you doubt : attribute this to my affairs,
and to the defect of negligence which I have in many
things of secondary importance. As regards my soul,
believe it to be full of affection for you. I often remember
you before our Lord, and it gives me great pleasure to
speak of you, or to hear tidings of you, especially when they
come direct from yourself. This is natural in me ; but, I
hope it is also rooted in our Lord, as I wish all my affec
tions to be. I hope likewise that it will make it all the more
dear to you, to find that we meet together in our Lord in
perfect unity of heart. He is the true centre of the greatest
love, of the greatest alliance of hearts : nay, He is the only
centre, the ocean of love. . . .

MILAN : April 14, 1827. J

Rosmini's remarks on the submission of one's
own judgment to that of Superiors did not quite
satisfy his Brescian correspondent, in so far as the
principle of obedience seemed to be applied amongst
the Jesuits. Don Brunati, therefore, wrote to him
again, intimating a wish to choose another Order, and
asking his opinion of the Benedictines, with special
reference to the one difficulty which continued to

Letter Ixi.

342 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

be an obstruction. Still desirous of holding him to
the original choice, Rosmini met the whole case in
this manner: —

Confidence in God is what alone can assure us as to many
things in which, without it, we should be ever wavering and
in suspense. This need of intrusting all to God has been
vividly brought home to us by Jesus Christ, on more than
one occasion, as when He taught us to pray with the petition
' And lead us not into temptation.' Only God can preserve
us from occasions such as those in which the strongest
virtue may be exposed to danger, — occasions which are
to be found even in Religion but much more in the World.
It is for this that it has been said of Jesus Christ Himself—
'He hath given His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee
in all Thy ways.' The same may be said of all those who
are one with Christ, or who fully trust in Him. We are
travellers on this earth and we know not whither we are
going — whether into places full of dangers and difficulties
or into those that are easy and safe. Confidence in God is
the only thing that can fully reassure us, in the midst of
all uncertainties ; and this must, in my opinion, remove
from the soul all anxiety about the point in question.

Moreover, the precept of St. Ignatius is not so absolute
as some might suppose ; for, when enunciating it, he adds
' as far as is possible ' (quoad id fieri poterit). Thus, in the
1st Chapter of the Third Part, speaking of the preservation
of the novices in the things useful for their souls, and for
their advancement in virtue, he says this: — 'Let all the
brethren, as far as possible, hold the same sentiments and
language, as the Apostle teaches.' So, also, in the last
chapter of the Constitutions, where he teaches the way in
which the whole body of the Society ought to be maintained
in vigour, and increased, he touches on agreement in
doctrines, but ever with the same clause — ' as far as this is
possible.' It is, of course, true that all this moderation
would be of no avail under Superiors who were over-

TRUE INDIFFERENCE. 343

exacting ; but this, let me repeat, is not to be feared from
God's mercy. Even if He allowed the danger, it is certain
that He would give to the Religious who hoped in Him the
means of deliverance from all embarrassment. In fine, I
believe that there is no reason why we should have any
hesitation in giving ourselves to Religion, — that being an
act most agreeable to God, who never allows Himself to be
outdone in generosity.

As for what you say touching the Benedictines, I can
give you no other advice than that you should mature the
affair by long and frequent prayer. I have always derived
much pleasure and consolation from the last article of the
Second Part of St. Thomas's Summa, wherein he proves
that, as regards entering into Religion or not, one should
never take counsel, not even with one's friends; because, to
enter Religion is a thing so evidently good, in itself, that it
requires no counsel ; but counsel is necessary, in order to
choose which among the various Religious Institutes is the
one most suited to us.

Read this article, for it appears to me to be full of the
Spirit of God. It will give you the sam? consolation that
it has given to me. For the rest, do not allow yourself to
be influenced by inclination towards, or aversion from, any
particular thing or any particular office. Do you think
yourself qualified for preaching, or for the confessional ?
Leave that for your Superior to decide, and put yourself in
a state of perfect indifference to all, so as to be ready even
to preach, to hear confessions, or to do anything else for
which you are less inclined by nature, or fitted by habit.
It appears to me that the first and principal requisite, in
order to know the Will of God, and to make a good choice,
is to establish one's self in a state of full and perfect in
difference to all things.

O most beautiful indifference ! so much recommended
by the Saints ! This is that virtue which removes all the
obstacles to the Divine illuminations. It is only with this
that we can hear, in our hearts, even the softest whisper-

344 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

ings of our Lord ; in Whom continue to love me, and to
Whom commend me in your prayers.

MILAN : May 4, 1827.'

This letter had the desired effect ; for Don
Brunati soon consoled his director with the assur
ance that the indifference he recommended ' had
reconciled him to the resolution of trying to practise \
holy obedience in the Society of Jesus.' In order
to carry out this determination he was about to
leave at once for Rome, in the company of Mons.
Ostini then Internuncio at Vienna. Rosmini, well
pleased with the result, made the expression of his
congratulations the medium of commending 'an
epitome of Christian meditation ' which ought to be i
specially acceptable to one who was about to take a
long journey for the purpose of joining the Order
whence this little lesson emanated :

What an excellent opportunity you have of making the !
journey to Rome with the excellent Ostini ! I should envy
you, if it were my time to go. Happy you, if, at the end
of your journey, you hope to find, not only the Gesu, but
Jesus \ Oh ! if this were our whole desire ! At least it
should be so, that we may all be absorbed in unity.

I was reading, a few days ago, a beautiful and instruc
tive lesson, in the life of that admirable man Father
CarafTa, who was the seventh General of the Society of
Jesus. He there says that he used to meditate on three
letters— one black, another red, and a third white. These
meant : — his own sins, the sufferings of his Saviour, and
the glory of the Blessed. In these three points I really
seemed to see a compendium of all Christian meditation.
By the black letter, we may learn to know ourselves, and

1 EpistolariOy Letter Ixii.

DEATH OF HIS COUSIN. 345

direct our endeavours to the purification of our souls ; by
the red one, we can excite ourselves to imitate Jesus in the
mortifying of all our human nature, without excepting any
portion of it ; while by the last, or white letter, we are
admonished to resist the discouragement and anguish of
soul which the sorrow for our sins and the greatness of our
sufferings might otherwise bring upon us ; imitating, also,
in this, Christ who, when joy was set before Him, endured
the Cross (Heb. xii. 2). One may say that such is, likewise,
the substance of that admirable book The Exercises of St.
Ignatias, which I always keep close by me. . . .

MILAN : June 3,

Shortly after the date of this letter, Milanese
literary circles — indeed all circles of society in the
city of St. Ambrose — had cause for mourning.
The popular historian, Carlo Rosmini had just died
rather suddenly. Although he had lived ' like a
recluse moving amongst men,' the news of his death
cast a gloom on the whole city. He had never
married, and the onlypassion to which he was said to
have ever yielded was that for literature ; but for all
that he freely allowed himself to be captivated by this,
never, in the course of his long life of 70 years, did
the charms of literature blind him to the beauties
and the obligations of religion. On the contrary,
he made the beauties of literature so dependent on
the intrinsic charms of religion that without them he
would have found little attraction in literature. No
home in Milan was without some expression of
regret that the venerated Chevalier had been taken
away ; but none missed him so much as his cousin

1 EphtolariOj Letter Ixiii.

346 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI,

Don Antonio, and their intimate friends Count
Mellerio and Alessandro Manzoni. In a letter to
Luigi Sonn of Rovereto, Rosmini thus feelingly
mentioned the loss they had been called on
to bear, and made it the occasion of counselling
patience in affliction to his correspondent, who was,
at the time, troubled with trials of his own : —

I have received the two letters which you sent me.
The answer that I make to you is brief, as befits a man
whose mind is depressed and embittered by sorrow. The
reason you have already heard. Last Saturday a terrible
stroke deprived my cousin and friend Carlo of life — at the
very hour in which the family vainly expected him home to
dinner. His loss, which is deplored by all his friends
(whose great grief attests how mu^h he was loved), has also
most acutely pierced my heart. The wound is only soothed
by reflecting on the Divine Mercy, and on the goodness of
that soul which has departed, and which was wont to live
in the body as if any hour were to be his last.

Such was his purpose, as I have heard him many times
repeat. I have written on this subject to my brother and
mother.

Keep yourself, I pray you, comforted and cheerful.
This I hold to be the best counsel and the best medicine
that can be given. You very properly call the malady
which afflicts your throat — sad. I feel all the force of that
word, because a like malady troubled me last year, and in
such a manner that every day blood came from my throat ;
and I am not yet quite free from the inconvenience.
Cheerfulness of mind and a thorough submission to the
Divine Will (which is ever full of a love and a pity beyond
our comprehension) is a marvellous moral antidote, that
has its influence also on the body. Cheerfulness imparts
to our body a movement and vitality that is indescribable,
and this helps the circulation of the blood, loosening it, so

THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH. 547

;o say, from that stagnancy from which this kind of ailment
seems to proceed.

MILAN : June 5, 1827.*

All this time the intellectual contest between
Rosmini and the propagators of dechristianising
philosophy went on, without allowing him many long-
intervals of rest. On all sides, and in every form,
:he Italian champions of sensualism and infidelity
attacked him in and through his works. Foremost
n every assault were Gioia and Romagnosi. The
.atter assailed him with special virulence, for having
attempted to disturb the sensistic notions then float-
ng about as to Divine Providence in relation to
:he distribution of good and evil. The treatise in
ivhich Rosmini successfully vindicated the Catholic
/iew of this most important question was intended to
destroy, at the very root, all the objections advanced
3n behalf of irreligion. There could be no better proof
rf the importance of his Essay, or of the good that
t had done and was certain to do, than the violent
ibuse it thus forced from the enemies of religion.

It was in reproducing this, with the other two
essays which form The Theodicy, that Rosmini
irranged in the preface all the objections made by
Romagnosi, face to face with the answers which the
;rue Christian had to offer. He clearly showed how
ill the objections sprang from ignorance of physical
:ognitions ; he entered fully into the grand problem
rf the nature and origin of evil, and demonstrated that
:he possibility of evil is inherent in the nature of limited
1 Epistolary Letter Ixiv.

348 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

beings, and that to expect a world without evils of
any sort, is to expect from God contradictions and
impossibilities ; he proved that when evil and good
come, finally, to be weighed one against the other,
the good will outweigh the evil to an extent that
could have been possible in no other way than that
which the Sovereign Goodness and Wisdom of the
Creator had ordained. The treatise is, therefore,
highly metaphysical ; however, like the rest of that
great work, the conceptions are so sublime and
original, and the style is so vigorous, that the reader
is not fatigued by the aridity usually found in
abstractions, but finds his soul raised above the
world and thrilled with the loftiest and most re
freshing sentiments of truth, of wisdom, of religion.

Hoping to induce his adversaries to see the
necessity of moderating the rancorous spirit which
seemed to animate them, he published the famous
Essay on the Etiquette of Literary Men. 1 his had,
at once, a salutary effect on the popular mind ; but,
for that very reason, it exasperated his opponents.
The quiet but telling censures which it dealt out
to literary offenders so well fitted those who led the
cohorts of irreligion that they were furious — Gioia
especially so.

Now, Gioia had more than once fiercely re
sented Rosmini's criticisms on sensistic philosophy.
He even went so far as to abuse personally the
editors of the Modenese periodical in which his own
opinions were first calmly examined and charitably
exposed by ' the Roveretan philosopher.1 Nay, he

THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH.

349

stepped out of his way to revile all those, especially
ecclesiastics, who stood out for ' Faith in Truth and
in God/ stigmatising them as 'Ostrogoths' and
'obscurantists.' A long appendix to his Galateo
was made the means of reiterating all his errors
and his invectives against the severe morality of
Christianity. Rosmini felt obliged to reply once
more to the sophisms and aberrations of this
antagonist, and4 he did so in a way that set before
literary men the genuine mode of conducting con
troversies.

Not only in Milan but also in Modena and
Florence, the press was kept busy at the essays
which the defender of Christian truth poured forth
against the teachers of error. As Florence was then
the head-quarters of the pamphleteers who were
stoutly advocating the establishment of Godless
Schools, it was there that he published his admirable
essay on The Unity of Education. The forcible
reasoning of this treatise told well against the irre
ligious tendencies of those days, and was the first
strong barrier erected against the policy which has
since taken a fatal hold of our own country. He
explained clearly the first principles on which the
whole theory of education depended, and demon
strated, in a way that was both new and irrefragable,
that religion is and must be the beginning and the
end of all education. He then applied himself to
solve the problem of so harmoniously combining
individual, domestic, national, and cosmopolitan
education that the egotism neither of the family nor

350 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

of the individual should prove an obstacle to the
development of the national spirit ; he showed that
the spirit of nationality, on the one hand, should set
no wall of separation between those beings who,
having been bought by the Blood of Christ, know
no longer any distinction of Jew or Greek, but form
one single brotherhood ; and that the vastness of
the cosmopolitan and national circle, on the other
hand, should not impair the sentiments of citizenship,
or of the family or of the individual. In short, he
laid down the principles by which to answer all the
gravest questions on education — questions which the
profoundest thinkers of our days are still agitating
without coming near any satisfactory solutio.a.V'

Although this warfare for the best interests of
religion pressed heavily on his time, he found it
covenient to continue the Nuovo Saggio on the Origin
of Ideas, as well as two other important works — the
Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Right.
Day by day, he felt more and more deeply that God
called him to lift philosophy from its ruins and make
it subserve all the purposes of Revealed Religion.
It was the solemn consciousness of a vocation which
every incident in his life, and the counsel of his holiest
and sagest friends confirmed. ' I feel within me a
voice commanding, a force impelling me to this
duty,' he wrote to Tommaseo. ' In the first of my
Philosophical Essays I have traced some outlines of
that science which is always before my mind, like an
ever-present picture the sight of which greatly cheers
me. I pray you, nay I conjure you, to assist me in

THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH. 351

what I am thus endeavouring to do. Spread abroad
the good principles, and help to recall men from the
intellectual lethargy into which they have fallen ;
raise them up from matter to spirit. I know well
what fortitude is required in order to withstand the
total mental prostration that is produced by the
crushing weight of our mortal body. But all Philo
sophy is mere vanity if it be not subservient to
Religion — if it only inflate us instead of edifying and
humbling us. This clanger of pride, which is so apt
to mix itself up with the natural speculation of the
understanding, is the only thing that sometimes
alarms me ; but I get rid of this false fear by
placing an unbounded confidence in the Grace of
God/ l

In the preface to his works, he tells us that he

saw the Gospel shining above all systems, ' like the

sun untouched by the clouds of the atmosphere of

earth/ and he felt certain that though heaven and

earth should pass away the word of God should not

pass away. He knew, indeed, that ' divine Wisdom

has no need of any philosophical system for the

salvation of men, and that it is in all respects perfect

n itself. But he knew also that ' no dissension

:an arise between Revelation and a true philosophy,

:or truth can never be contrary to truth/ since it is

nost simple in its origin and never inconsistent with

tself. He considered that ' the errors, the pre-

udices, and the doubts which arise from the imper-

ection of reason, and which interpose so many

1 Unpublished Lef.er, dated Milan, November 8, 1827.

352 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

obstacles to the full assent that is due to revealed
truth, may and ought to be solved and dispersed by :

reason itself. He remembered that the Catholic

.
Church, ' especially in the last Council of Lateran,

invited and excited philosophers' to apply their
studies to this duty. But the duty had been long
neglected, and, as a consequence, false philosophy
' invaded every human institution, art, and science,'
producing a hideous perversion 'in the mental and :
moral life of individuals, families, and nations.' j
Influenced by this false philosophy, ' the passion and I
the base calculation of material interests, gradually \
became the only counsellors, the only masters of
men's minds, ' which were left open to every preju- <
dice and ready to give their immediate assent to the I
most extravagant propositions, or to withhold it
from the most plainly demonstrated truth,' on any
trivial pretence.

Men thus misled even plumed themselves on
being enslaved to the most preposterous opinions, -\
and therefore disdained a nobler subjection. They I
became ' credulous even to absurdity but incredulous I
even to evidence.' While they claimed the right I
to legislate for all the world they began to be, them
selves, intolerant of any law. They trampled or
their duties while ' intoxicated with their own judg nj
ment.' Their deeds showed treachery and selfish l|
ness, while their words seemed to glow with philan H
thropy. Embracing irreligion, they willingly los
themselves in shameless licentiousness. ' Finding >j
virtue and truth a check to all this, they cast then i

THE CHAMPION OF CHRISTIAN TRUTIL 353

aside as inventions of superstition ' or at least as
things which had no proven existence.

Human society, thrown on the current of false
philosophy, had been thus drifting rapidly towards
the fatal reefs of irreligion, when Rosmini arose, —
evidently called forth by Heaven,— not merely to
,varn men of the dreadful dangers ahead, but to
juide them back to the safe channel of truth— nay,
o the source of all truth, God Himself. The duty
^as one which none but the most gifted could uncler-
ake. It required an intellect of surpassing power,
s well as learning of the most extensive and the
•rofoundest kind, and a moral character as perfect as
lan can have. Above all these it needed ' a call
'om on High.' It is hardly possible to follow the
areer of Rosmini, examining it by the light of his
ords and deeds, without feeling that he possessed
the essential qualifications in a remarkable degree.
Yet he greatly distrusted himself. Like St.
lomas of Aquin, St. Dominic and St. Ignatius, in
eir time and place, he shrank from his ' special
1 ; ' held back, by humility, though impelled to
e work not only by mysterious interior monitions,
t by the firm conviction that, in order to resist
e ruinous inroads of error, it was urgently neces-
ry to bring reason into the closest possible union
th Faith, and Philosophy into the most perfect
rmony with Theology.

In fact, he was forced by Providence into the
•uggle for Truth and for the Church of Truth,
if to represent the Almighty's answer to this
VOL. i. A A

354

LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

prayer of the illustrious Abb6 Rohrbacher : 'May
God raise up a man to finish the work which
He inspired Boetius to begin, a man like him in
genius and in virtue, who shall luminously arrange
all human sciences and show their accordance with
that which is Divine, and shall appear to the Church
the perfect model of a true Catholic and a true
philosopher.' 1

1 Rohrbacher's ( Universal History of the Catholic Church/ Book xiv.

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 355

CHAPTER XXIII.

ROSMINI RECEIVES THE EXPECTED MANIFESTATION
OF PROVIDENCE.

(A.D. 1827.)

s health at this time — How he came to know the Abb^ Lowen-
briick — Attractive qualities of the Abbe— Contrast between him
and Rosmini — Gospel prudence and human enthusiasm — Hopes
and aims — Ldwenbriick'b first lesson in religious Passivity— He is
given 'the models of all charity' — The indications of Providence
at length plainly visible — How Monte Calvario, Domodossola, was
found to be chosen by our Lord for the new Society — Lowenbriick
is sent to Domodossola— His report satisfies all — Why the plan of
the new Institute was not shown to the Abbe until he was at
Calvario — Rosmini foresees what awaits him as Founder and
Philosopher — Lowenbriick's objections to the plan fully answered —
Testing the spirit of the Abb£ — Rosmini seeks to have no associates
but those manifestly sent by Providence — LowenbriicK's restless
spirit checked by Rosmini's wonderful calmness.

\HTLE obeying the call to do battle for intellectual
jcjirity Rosmini did not neglect the call to serve the
iterests of spiritual and corporal charity. With
p.yerful patience he waited for the special indica-
tiis of Providence which Madame Canossa led
hi to expect at Milan. The month of May 1827
hjl just passed, and his earnest supplications * for the
iii^rcession of the Mother of Divine Grace were
^(umulated in Our Lady's presence.' June came,

A A 2

356 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

and with it the first rays of ' the promised manifes
tation.1

Humanly speaking, he was in no condition to
give them a fitting reception, because the bright
month found him suffering from the first serious
symptoms of a physical malady that afterwards
afforded him frequent opportunities of practising
exemplary Christian fortitude.1 But, spiritually
speaking, he was in the best possible state for recog
nising and following the monitions of Providence, in
whatever form they presented themselves. The
form in which they actually did present themselves
was, as we shall see, by no means dazzling, or ever
such as ordinary men would take to be very notable
On the contrary, it came in such an apparently tam(
and commonplace manner, that most men wouk
pass it by as indicating nothing.

We already know that during Rosmini's stay a
Milan, the Count Mellerio was his most constan
visitor. On the 7th of June, this nobleman callec
as usual, to see his friend, whom he entertained wit
an account of a certain Abbe Lowenbruck, whos
outspoken zeal for religion had made his residenc
in France no longer acceptable to many in the

1 Up to the twenty-fifth year of his age, Rosmini had enjoyed su<
perfect health that, in after years, he often referred to it as supplying
means of estimating the delight of living in the state of original inn
cence ' before Adam bequeathed the curse of the fall to the human rac
He inherited fr m the Rosmini-Serbatis what Don Paoli calls 'ancesti
inflammation of the liver.' This family malady did not show itself
him until (822, when the symptoms were very slight. In 1826
declared itself more decidedly, and in 1827 took an acute form whi
never afterwards left him wholly free from its tormenting presence.

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 357

country or agreeable to himself. The French
Minister at Turin furnished him with letters of intro
duction to some of the noblest personages in Milan,
Count Mellerio being one of those thus favoured.
The Abbe belonged to Metz in Lorraine ; but he
lad come to Italy directly from Rouen, where his
ansparing denunciations of certain vices that were
lot only locally but nationally popular, earned for
lim an enmity which endangered his personal safety,
md forced him into temporary exile. Rosmini was
nuch interested in Count Mellerio's description of
he persecuted Priest's sufferings, zeal, and intense
lesire to be associated with those who should syste-
natically devote themselves to the winning of souls
o God.

Not the least of the qualities which commended
he pious stranger to Don Antonio's heart was this
eagerness to organise, or aid in organising, an insti-
ute for resisting the forces of modern impiety,
udging that the best way to begin was with a con
gregation of missionaries ' for the improvement of
he clergy,' he had planned an Order of that kind,
vlellerio, well knowing that such a disposition would
.ttract to each other his old and new friends, pro-
>osed that they should dine with him together, as
oon as Rosmini's health permitted. Although still
inwell, Don Antonio would not allow his health to
>e an obstacle in the way of an immediate meeting.
Vccordingly, he arranged to spend the following
vening (June 8) at Mellerio's house. There he
net the Abbe Lowenbruck, whose exuberant

358 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

eloquence was all directed to topics that never failed
to fascinate Rosmini. Before they were long
together, the Roveretan Philosopher and the French
Missionary learned to esteem each other more even
than their host had hoped.

Although no two men seemed to be less alike,
there were so many links of sympathy between them,
so many turns of thought common to both, and,
above all, they had such a sameness of purpose, that
the dissimilarity of their natural character formed
no barrier to a warm friendship. Both were equally
zealous for God and the Church ; but Lowenbrlick's
zeal was somewhat oppressively evident, and little
under control. He was all aglow with energy, an
energy that had in it much that might pass for ' ex
travagance of spirit.' Feverishly restless, full oi
stir and bustle in everything, he was eager to rush
forth and conquer the world to God, without pausing
to ask if anything more was necessary than an en
thusiastic will, a perpetual activity of tongue, and ar
unwearied roaming through the highways and by
ways of the world, pressing all to ' the feast of the
Lord.' He would preach to men in and out o
season, and whether they could understand him 01
not, as he relied quite as much on the effect of en
thusiasm as on the force of reason.

Rosmini's zeal, on the contrary, was subdued
partly by its own intensity and partly by a lorn
course of discipline which enabled him to divest it
at will, of whatever had the appearance of disorde
or singularity. He was invariably calm and self

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE.

359

collected. Although never wanting in true energy,
and often moved by strong impulses, he was never
carried away by excitement, never fidgetty, never
worried. Therefore he had none of the vagaries,
none of the checks to perseverance, which spoiled
and sometimes neutralised the zeal of the other. No
less eager than Lowenbriick to win all men to God,
he measured the means at every point, and fully
realised the magnitude of the task and the insio-ni-

° o

ficance of the agents. Hence, though he was always
vigilantly looking for the occasions of doing good to
others, and always sedulously working for the salva
tion of himself and his neighbour, he never took a
step forward without first coolly convincing himself
that God's Will directed him, and God's Grace guided
him to the object. Unlike Lowenbriick, he trusted
not at all to the aid of mere enthusiasm, but, in
everything, to the co-operation of reason.

Now, this marked diversity in character, instead of
serving to keep them asunder helped to draw them
together ; for the one saw in the other qualities
which he seemed himself to need, and, since both alike
strove for the glory of God and the good of men,
there was fair promise of such a beneficial exchange
of gifts as might impart strength and harmony to
their united action. At all events, it is certain that
Rosmini hoped much from the evidences of mental
and physical activity, as well as piety, which he dis
covered in Lowenbriick.

Count Mellerio contrived to leave them inter
changing their views without fear of interruption,

360 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

and before they separated for the night he could per
ceive that they had come to an understanding whicl
promised well. Next day, they met again to com«
pare notes and discuss several points of difference
to the best means of accomplishing the purpose whicl
they both had in view. As the Abbe's bubbling
enthusiasm had simmered down to an edifying mode
ration, after a night's reflection, Rosmini reasonably
concluded that its extravagances were within easy
reach of control.

It is, indeed, true, that the fervent Lorrainese
was still far more eager to bring all the world, forth
with, into the path of truth and virtue than to bring
himself, first of all, within any set rules for his own
sanctification. But when Rosmini insisted on this
indispensable preliminary, Lowenbriick's overflowing
zeal subsided quite enough for him to see that he
must begin with his own soul, before he could be in
a true position to labour effectively for the souls of
others. His recognition of this fact, though tardily
given, led Rosmini to hope that, in a little while, he
would prove to be as docile as he was already

energetic.

Within the first three days of their acquaintance
they had prayed together at every shrine in Milan,
and visited the Carthusian monastery of Pavia, dis
cussing, the while, every form of institute or congre
gation for religious purposes which presented itself
to the fertile mind of the Frenchman, who was still
eager to establish a society of missionary preachers.
He drew highly-coloured pictures of the means and

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. ;6

results ; but the other could not discover much that
was practical in the means, or better than visionary
in the results.

Rosmini did not, at once, communicate the
details of his own well-devised project, further than
showing how certain features of his companion's pro
posals were embraced in it, and how some others
were inconsistent with the set purpose of self-sancti-
fication as the first requisite, or with the principle of
dependence on Providence, both of which formed its
cardinal points. Lowenbrtick soon saw that, com
pared with Rosmini's fixed and luminous policy, all
his own plans were dim and clriftless ; he soon came
to admit that mere human expedients (however
good), when they sprang from mere human impulse
(however ardent and pure), were not sufficient for the
grand purpose on which his soul was bent. Recog
nising this, and knowing how vacillating all his own
emotions were, he decided on surrendering his zeal
to the guidance of a master mind, that put no
confidence in mere human impulse. Therefore he
resolved to become a disciple of Rosmini, and learn
from him how to apply the Science of the Saints to
the organisation of a society for forming Saints
and doing the work of the Saints.

The first lessons he received taught him to take
the Following of Christ as his text-book, and our
Lord as the model on Whose life his own life
should be shaped — the pattern of perfect Charity,
in all its phases. Amongst those who had success
fully taken this course, Si. Thomas of Aquin was

362 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

set before him as the model of intellectual charity,
St. Augustin as the model of universal charity, St.
Ignatius as the model of governative charity, and
St. Francis of Sales as the model of charity in the
details of daily life. l It was a new study for the
restless Abbe, and so long as he applied himself to
it the superabundant natural benevolence which in
cessantly tossed him to and fro, without allowing
him to produce any good results, was kept within
wholesome bounds.

Finding himself spiritual, and, to some extent,
temporal director of this new friend, as well as of
two or three pious Priests, who were also desirous
of seeking perfection under his guidance, Rosmini
felt that the time had come for giving1 effect to the

o o

project which had so long held a firm hold of his
mind and heart. Neither St. Francis, St. Dominic,
nor St. Ignatius had a more numerous or more

piously importunate set of subjects to start with ;
and the circumstances — whether as regards the
individuals or the times— were no less pressing or
encouraging in his case than in theirs. It seemed
to him that the ' indication of Providence ' which the
saintly Canossa told him to wait for in Milan was
plainly visible. He was ready to act on it ; but, as
yet, Providence had not pointed out the place ol
commencement. Many consultations were held or
the subject with his intimate friends ; but none o:

1 Another version of this names St. Augustin as the model o
intellectual charity in all its forms, St. Francis of Sales as the mode
of ' interior spirit,' and St. Ignatius as the model of exterior and in
tenor government, in all that relates to the ' body of the Institute.'

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. ,363

them knew of an abode, or locality even, where the
Founder and his first associates might most con
veniently retire, to take further counsel with God
' in complete solitude.' There was no spot near
Milan like the mountain retreats around Rovereto ;
though, even if there were, he would require some
special evidence that the place was chosen by Provi
dence for the purpose in view.

With calm earnestness, he sought li^ht from On

o o

High even as to this. No anxiety was visible in
him, no restlessness, but a tranquil biding of his
time for some distinct sio-n of God's Will. All the

members of his little family united, twice a day, in
fervent prayer for this sign, and he obtained, through
Count Mellerio, the prayers of many devout Milanese
for the same intention.

One clay, as Rosmini and his household were
thus engaged Don Luigi Polidori (intimate friend
of Count Mellerio, and brother of Cardinal Polidori)
unexpectedly entered, having come from St. Celso
expressly to make a communication which seemed
to be an answer to their supplications. When the
little devotion was ended he informed Rosmini that
while offering up the Holy Sacrifice for their object
that very morning (it was June 13, 1827*) his
thoughts were suddenly carried to the summit of
Monte Calvario, over Domodossola, and a something
seemed to speak in his mind saying, ' this is the
place/

Count Mellerio joined them while they were

1 The Feast of Rosmini's ' patron/ St. Anthony of Padua.

364 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

conversing on the subject, and as he was a native
of one of the Ossola valleys, and had a noble man
sion in Domo, close to the sacred Mount, he was
more than delighted with this announcement, which
but anticipated one he was himself about to make.
He, too, had had his mind directed to Monte
Calvario, during his morning prayers for their
common intention, and he had actually come to
give Rosmini a sketch of the place. It was already
'a sacred place' which the clergy of Novara fre
quented for their spiritual retreats.

After they heard Mellerio's description, all
agreed that the spot was exactly such as met the
conditions they had separately thought best, not
only for the commencement but for the perpetuation
of the work contemplated by the proposed Institute.
That very evening, it was decided to send Lowen-
brilck to Domodossola, he being the least occupied
and the most robust. His immediate business was
to examine the condition of the house, ascertain
what steps were necessary to its possession, and
report generally on whatever might interest and
inform those for whom he acted. He went at once,
duly provided with letters from Count Mellerio to
persons having authority or influence in the locality.

The impetuous Lorrainese lost no time on the
journey or in making his investigations, for within
three days after he had left Milan his first report
was received. It was so favourable, nay so enthu
siastic, as to the fitness of the place, and at the
same time so hopeful with regard to possession,

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 365

that Rosmini had no longer any doubt as to God's
Will in the matter. Then, for the first time, he
thought it prudent to place before Lowenbriick the
whole plan of the proposed Institute. The distrac
tions of Milan were a sufficient reason for having
withheld the details of the project from such an
excitable person, while he stayed there ; but every
thing favoured a thorough study of the whole
design while the Abbe was on the Ossolan Calvario,
in sight of the sacred memorials of the Passion, and
amid the sobering solitude which he described so
rapturously. A draft of the plan was therefore sent
to him, and with it the following letter : —

I hasten to send you the plan of that Institute to which
God seems to call me. Read it ; think over it ; take
counsel about it with our Lord. What consolation it
would be for me if you, also, had a similar call. The
mercy of God would ' shorten the times.' I should never
have thought that the realisation of this calling was so
near its commencement. If you find that your spirit
accords with mine, I should take this discovery as a token
given me by God that His hour is already come. 7 know
well what aivaits me — ' and how am I straitened until it be
accomplished ' (St. Luke xii. 50)-

1 beg of you to meditate attentively on all that I have
set before you in that paper, and to probe your spirit, in
order that you may see whether it is in harmony with
mine. Let me repeat that, if I find it to be so, I am ready
to begin forthwith. As I have already told you in conver
sation, one obstacle in my way was the work which I am
engaged in writing, and which I believe to be in accordance
with God's Will. But, having taken further counsel with
our Lord, I find this impediment is no longer so strong as to

366 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

cause me to postpone the commencement of the enterprise
explained in my letter, the moment God offers me the
occasion. One should never neglect an occasion offered
by God, and it will, therefore, be my duty to reconcile the
prosecution of that work with the duty of organising the
new society.

The principal end of the proposed congregation is, as
you can see, to form the Priest on the pattern of Jesus
Christ. Nothing that is found in this pattern should be
excluded. It is a question of putting before one's mind the
pattern of the Priesthood in the fullest and the most perfect
sense, and, therefore also, the pattern of the greatest sacri
fice. It is a question of being able to say, in the closest
union with the great High Priest, I sanctify myself for
them (St. John xvii.). What a sanctification is not this !
What vows of blood are not ours !

The place described by you for the commencement of
the work appears to be admirably suited for it. It would
seem as though Providence had prepared it for us. O how
incomprehensible are Its judgments ! and how unsearch
able Its ways ! From how far Divine Goodness takes
Its measures ! combining and weaving them together,
in one tissue, for the formation of that plan which
has been pre-ordained ' from the foundation of the
world ! ' My dearest Brother in Jesus Christ, I leave you
in osculo sancto. Let Mary be our mother, that we may
ask our Lord to look on the children of His handmaid.
May the glory of Jesus in His Church be our good upon
the earth ! So be it ! Amen for ever !

Pray for your unworthy brother.
MILAN : June 16, I827.1

He had often said to Mellerio and Tommaseo
what he here repeated to Lowenbriick — ' I know
what awaits me'; and often had he assured them
that his soul was distressed until the burden, the

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixv.

THE INDICATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 367

Cross, which our Lord intended for him was on his
shoulders. He seemed to foresee clearly the trials,
the disappointments, the sufferings, he should have
to endure as the Founder of an Order, and as the
champion of truth. The personal vituperation which
the propagators of irreligion poured upon him, gave
him a foretaste of what he would have to bear as
the restorer of Christian philosophy. He wTas, in
deed, already committed to the struggle with them,
and eager to carry it on, no matter what vexations
it might cause him. But the principle guiding his
course led him to see that God's Will required him
to take up new crosses — to pass on to the foundation
of the Institute and to the acceptance of the dis
comforts and sorrows, which that, too, might bring
upon him. Therefore he promptly prepared to leave,
for a time, the literary and scientific labours he so
much loved, in order to assume the other labours in
which the French Abbe was desirous of aiding him,
and to which all his most trusted friends were urging
him.

In replying to Rostrum's letter, Lowenbruck
showed that he had carefully read the sketch of the
new Order, and that, in the main, the plan commended
itself to his adoption. He would have liked it better
had it provided more for ' dashing forward,' than for
proceeding staidly, or had it made ' missionary enter ^
prise and preaching ' its leading, if not its exclusive
work. Although the Abbe was well disposed to
have charge of a parish, \\ith the right of roaming at
will beyond the parochial bounds, he doubted the

368 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMTNI.

wisdom of uniting the Pastoral Office with that of
Superior in the Society. To his thinking, there
were many practical difficulties in the way of making
a union of these two offices workable. But for the
rest, he seemed eager to be associated with the new
Institute, and expressed himself in most hopeful
terms as to its future.

Rosmini, without delay, wrote an elaborate answer
to his objections, but before touching them assured
the Abbe that his ardour in the matter was consoling.
'I take it as a new proof of our Lord's Will. As I have
told you, I am quite ready, For the present, how
ever, we are not in a position to come together;
several things must take place before that, and of
these the two principal are: — First, that we prove our
spirit a little longer in God's presence by prayer, and,
as to ourselves, by an epistolary correspondence, in
order to ascertain whether our minds are in accord,
and whether it is one and the same spirit calls us.
Next, that we receive the blessing of the Holy Father,
in order that, from the very outset, we may be incor
porated with the Church— a thing especially requisite
because of the special nature of the Institute. While
waiting for all this, we should keep ourselves united
in spirit, if not in body ; beseeching the Lord of
mercies to unite us in body also, when and how it
pleases His adorable Will' 1

He then replied, at considerable length and with
his usual clearness, to the objections raised against the
union of the Pastoral Office with that of Superior in

1 See Appendix, Letter vi. (Epistolario, Letter Ixvi.),

DEPENDING ON PROVIDENCE. 369

the Order, and concluded thus : — ' You must bear in

mind that the conjunction of the Pastoral Office with

that of Superior in the Society is such a characteristic

feature of the Institute I have planned, that if we

were to exclude this feature it would no longer be

;he same Institute, but another. Before despatching

;his letter, I show it to our excellent friend Count

Mellerio, who salutes you. I have the greatest con-

idence in him, and hope, as you well remark, that he

ilso is an instrument for good in the hands of our

'^ord. I rejoice that you find the mount over

Domodossola so well adapted for our purpose.

The description I have heard of it makes me, too,

>f that opinion. Much as I desire to see it, I must

rait yet a little longer;

By thus loyally following the monitions of Provi -
ence, in small things as well as great, he meant to
repare a fitting nursery for the Order which God
esired him to found. Through loyalty to the same
rinciple, he continued to exhort others to corre-
pond with the grace of their vocation, without once
ttempting to use his influence for the increase of
is own spiritual family. They who came to him,
ke Lowenbriick, or who were already spiritually
ependent on him, like those recommended to him
y Madame Canossa, he looked upon as having been
mt by Providence. Other excellent subjects, like
)on Brunati of Brescia, needed only a hint, and
leir call to the Religious State would have become a
ill to join the Order he was organising. That word
e would not utter, lest man, rather than God,

VOL. I. B B

370 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

should sway them. In this he was, possibly, too
punctilious ; but so were such great Founders as St.
Francis and St. Dominic.

Just as he was on the eve of setting out for
Domodossola, he received a letter from Don Brunati,
to say that he had completed his arrangements for
entering the Religious State. The writer so expressed
himself that Rosmini had merely to say 'join us,'
and Don Brunati would have gladly done. so. But,
instead of such an invitation, he sent the following
letter as a voucher of their separation : —

I have thanked God for the Grace which He has granted
to you, in calling you to a perfect life. The consent obtained
from your Bishop is a seal on the reality of your vocation.
How many obligations towards God has not one contracted
who has received from Him such special Graces ! He who
understands their high value can only feel himself con
founded, and, as it were, annihilated in the consciousness of
his having nothing whatever to give in return for so great
a gift Happy you who feel this greatness which is so
humiliating! How delighted I shall be, if you allow me
to embrace you before you set out. I wait for you with
impatience. Do not tear yourself away from me, — perhaps
for a long time, — without letting me see you.

I thank you for the Mass you said for my good cousin. I
Our Lord has, I firmly trust, taken him to Himself; and
in doing so he wished, as you say, to show how liable
human things are to fail us at any moment. Every da>
we receive such lessons, if we had only understanding tc
profit by them.

It may be that, in a few days, I shall go on a visit tc
the birth-place of St. Charles, and perhaps even to Moun
Varallo, where, by devout meditations, he prepared himsel
for death, or rather for a second birth. Would that yoi
were with me ! How delighted I should be to b«

PREPARING FOR CALVARTO. 371

ble to make this little excursion with you before our
:paration. Wherever you be, I shall ever love you in the
?arts of Jesus and Mary, where friends are inseparable
tid friendship is immortal. In osculo sancto.
MILAN : July 3, i827.1

Don Brunati's intimate knowledge of the region

o o

urough which Rosmini was about to pass, on his
'ay to Domodossola, would have made this dear
liend a valuable companion ; but he was certain to
(scover the object of the visit, and such a discovery
light interfere with the choice he had already en-
(iuraged him to make. Therefore, when they met
i Milan, Rosmini advised him to proceed without
tinecessary delay to his destination, and then took
live, without allowing him to suspect that he who
= earnestly counselled adhesion to the Jesuits, was
ctually engaged in founding an Order of his own.

Meanwhile, Lowenbrtick, having succeeded in
mting two rooms of the old house on Monte Cal-
rio, got permission to rescue them from ruin, and
rike them somewhat more fit than he found them
human beings to dwell in. But, when he had
/en orders for the necessary repairs and seen the
m at work, he soon became tired of superintending
: >m ; all the more, as he was not allowed to carry
::t some extravagant plans of his own. Then his
institutional impatience led him to complain of
Ung left so long alone at Monte Calvario. Any-
': ng resembling solitude was little to his taste, and
3 er a month's rambling through the lonely hill tracks

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixvii.
B B 2

372 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

around Domodossola, always * in search of souls to
be saved,' he longed for other company than moun
taineers, whose language he did not understand, and
for other sights than wood-girt gorges, foaming
torrents, and snow-capped mountains. He there
fore entreated Don Antonio to call him back tc
Milan, or join him forthwith at Calvario.

The restless Abbe was unable to understand
how thoroughly Rosmini held all his own move
ments free from mere human impulse, and hero
completely a supernatural composure restrained his
natural desires. Much as he wished to be at Domo
dossola, he wished more to be sure that he went a
the right time and in the right way. Fearing t( !
take any step precipitately, he made even the leas
of his preparations with prayerful sedateness.

Lb'wenbriick would have him hasten to opei

the house at once, and set the proposed Order in

motion without more ado. It was not thus impetu

ously that Antonio Rosmini ever began 'anything

His hand was to the plough, and all his thought'

with all his acts, were directed imperturbably foi

ward. It was not human but divine influences the

led him on or held him back. God * had alread

made known to him many things.' We have h

own words for this remarkable declaration, and \.

who wrote them was one of the humblest and mo

dispassionate of men. He added, ' I should be c

unfaithful servant were I to speak otherwise, or n<

to follow what I believe to be God's Will in th

undertaking.' l

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxvii.

fffS FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA,

373

CHAPTER XXIV.

ROSMINl's FIRST VISIT TO MONTE CALVARTO,
DOMODOSSOLA.

(A.D. 1827.)

leceives a * permit ' to pass into northern Piedmont— Travels in sight
of scenes sacred to St. Charles Borromco — Muses on that Saint's
birth and life — Stops at Stresa in front of the Borromean Isles —
Grieves that no memorial of the Saint there embodies practically
the great lessons of his life — How he is himself destined to supply
the want in that very place — Passes on to the foot of the Simplon
— Sketch of Domodossola — The Sanctuary of Monte Calvario —
His first visit to the Sacred Mount — What he saw and thought on
the way — The Via Cntcis and its chapels — The Ruins on the hill —
The magnificent valley of the Ossola — How what he beheld
affected him.

"OWARDS the end of July 1827, Rosmini had com-
leted his arrangements for making a first visit to

o o

)omodossola. Owing to the unsatisfactory political
stations between Sardinia and Austria he had some
ifficulty in getting a regular passport from Lom-
ardy to Piedmont. It is very probable — indeed it
as been asserted as a matter beyond doubt — that
le party influences which hindered the publication
f his panegyric on Pius VII., still fettered his
iDurse in this as in other respects. Be that as it
lay, every obstacle was at length overcome by
leans of a special * permit ' to travel in the Lake

374 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

District, within which lay the places he desired to
visit. Count Mellerio, not content with giving him
a formal introduction to Cardinal Morozzo, took the
trouble of writing privately to that eminent Prelate,
in order to secure for his friend a most kindly re
ception. Manzoni and others also offered to furnish
him with letters to persons of distinction in the
diocese ; but he would have none that did not
specially relate to his object, and Mellerio's to the
Cardinal sufficed for this.

On July 30 he was at Novara. Cardinal
Morozzo happened to be absent, but his represen
tative cordially welcomed the Roveretan Abate, :
and was in a position to give the necessary per
mission for himself and Lowenbriick to do what
they proposed in the remotest nook of the diocese.
Next day he passed on, by the public coach, to
Arona on the Lago Maggiore. Travelling thence
alongside the magnificent lake, over the fine Simplon
road (Napoleon's one real gift to Italy), he had an
opportunity of meditating on the life of St. Charles

Borromeo in sight of scenes intimately linked with

his memory.

Just outside Arona he beheld the ruins of the
grand old castle where the Saint was born, and
probably thought of the miraculous light that sud
denly filled the room in which the event took place,
as a light foreshowing how the holy nephew of
Pope Pius IV. was to dispel the moral gloom which
had settled down on all that region.1 Not far from

1 Don Vincenzo De-Vit, in his Life of St. Charles Borromeo

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 375

the old castle he saw, in the colossal statue over
looking the town, a grateful recognition of the
Saint's triumph over the darkness he had battled
against for a quarter of a century. So onward,
mile by mile of the journey, he met with some
pleasing vestiges of the great Prelate, whose sanctity
seemed to tint the natural beauties of the lakeside
scenery, lending it supernatural hues that shone
more resplenclently than all else he saw ; for Ros-
mini beheld all things more with the eyes of the
soul than of the body.

When he was in full view of the famous Borro-
mean Isles, the charm they imparted to the strag
gling villages skirting the lake was not lost on him ;
but he thought less of that than of the absence of
some permanently useful memorial to commemorate,
near by, the Saint's practical charity. He knew that
the patrician glories of the Borromean family were
splendidly preserved in the palatial villas and
gardens of the Isles, but where were the glories of

(// Lago Maggiore, vol. ii., p. 192), tells us that on the night of this
Saint's birth 'a great and extraordinary light was seen by many
shining upon the chamber where the child was born. It fore
showed the splendour of that marvellous sanctity which he was to
attain.' Pope Paul V. in the decree of Canonization records that 'this
light was like a glowing white zone, about four feet wide, and extend
ing from the turret of the castle to the bastion, exactly from east to
west, so as to encircle the room in which Charles was born.' Cesare
de Cucchetti, whose father was captain of the guard, and who was
himself in charge of the fortress on the occasion, described on oath
the appearance of this wonderful light in the terms adopted by the
Pope. His testimony was confirmed by all the guards then on duty.
Like declarations were solemnly made by several domestics who, on
that occasion, had to rise before dawn in order to discharge their
respective offices in the household. (Sec Prof. Antonio Sala's Vita di S.
Carlo, p. 3, Milan, 1858.)

376 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

the Saint fittingly represented or expressed in the
hamlets and towns on the shore ? It is, indeed,
true that local traditions embalmed them, and an
altar, here and there, in the village churches
enshrined them ; it is also true that, here and there,
along the lake coast in front of the Isles, there
dwelt pious Priests and people who were as * living
monuments to the spiritual revival ' which St. Charles
had been the means of effecting. But, for all that,
as Rosmini stopped a few minutes in Stresa, close
to ' the beautiful Isles,' he could not help saying to
himself, as he afterwards said to Madame Bolon-
garo, that he missed from the scene some service
able and significant testimony to the purifying
labours of St. Charles.1 The colossal statue near
Arona was well enough in its way ; but better still,
and more to the purpose, would have been a college
or an asylum near the parish church of Stresa, on
•the wooded beach, or on the green mountain side
behind the quaint village, which had then a mean,
unthrifty appearance, notwithstanding ' the wealth
of natural charms ' that encircled it.

He found time to visit the noble parish church,
which the piety and generosity of the Bolongaro
family had enriched and beautified. What he saw
there pleased him much, but seemed to make more'
evident the want he noted — that, so close to scenes
hallowed by precious memories of a great Saint,
there was no special institution to practically embody
and transmit the grand lessons of so grand a life.

1 Rivisla Contemp. Torino, 1856.

FIJtST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 377

How marvellous are the ways God ! Ere long, the
deficiency which the pious traveller deplored was to
be supplied by himself, almost in spite of himself.
Ere long, Providence would cause to be erected in
that very place, overlooking the Borromean Isles, a
noble college bearing Rosmini's own name, and
giving to the locality a memorial of sanctity quite
in keeping with the heart of St. Charles. Ere long,
that poor village was to grow prosperous, materially
and spiritually, through the influence of him who
was then contemplating its condition, without for a
moment thinking that he would ever have any per
sonal connection with it.

But, as highly favoured servants of Gocl have
been permitted, sometimes, to see into the future,
perchance the saintly Roveretan had been thus
privileged ? Had he, then, some premonition that
for years he should himself reside in Stresa, to
renew, after a manner of his own, the battles of
Charity which the illustrious Borromeo had spent
his life in fighting ? Had he an interior presage
warning him that he should pass from earth to
Heaven nigh to the spot where he then mused ? l
Did he, perhaps, foresee that his body would
repose in a shrine on ' the green mountain side '
behind the village ? — a shrine surmounted by a
white marble statue of masterly design and exqui-

1 The little albergo or inn at which Rosmini alighted, while the
:oach delayed for a few minutes at Stresa, stood near the Palazzo
Bolongaro. He much admired this fine villa, then the only important
)ne in the locality. Fifteen years afterwards it was left to him by
vill ; he dwelt in it for some time, and in it died. It is now the
)alace of the Duchess of Genoa.

378 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

site finish ? — a shrine enclosed within the elegant
church of a commodious and stately college ? — a
shrine that was to associate him and his name with
St. Charles Borromeo, B. Catherine of Pallanza,
B. Arialdo and other holy personages whose lives
had shed the lustre of heaven on the region of the
lake ? — a shrine to which pious pilgrims would
resort, not only from the country of the Borromean
Isles but from the far off Isles of Britain ? No ; we
take it that he foresaw nothing whatever of this ;
for he was thinking not of himself at all, but of God
and of what St. Charles had done for the glory of
God, and of what should have been done to identify
this place with that glory.

Full of such thoughts he resumed his seat in the
coach and continued his journey through the pic
turesque valley of the Toce, on to the foot of the
Simplon. By evening he was in sight of Domo-
dossola, an interesting little town of Swiss- Italian
character, 'peering through the foliage of sylvan
embowerments.' Had he been well acquainted with
the local topography he might have easily recognised
Monte Calvario, on the crest of ' the sacred hill/
long before he got a glimpse of the town over
which ' its steep cliff kept watch and ward.' But
though he noticed a ruined tower on the hilltop,1

1 This castle which, from the original name of the mount, was called
Mattarella or Matterello was already in ruins and deserted towards the
middle of the seventeenth century, when two zealous Capuchin friars,
who were preaching in Ossola, formed the design of exhorting the in-
habitarts to choose the hill as a most suitable place for the erection of
the Stations of the Cross. By this means, not only the people of the

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 379

and thought the site admirably fitted for the pur
poses of a Sanctuary, he knew not yet that he was
admiring the spot chosen by Providence for the
commencement of the new Order As he entered
the town the sun had sunk behind the western
mountains, which threw out deep dreary shadows
wrapping all the place in gloomy shade ; but the
Roveretan was familiar enough with such sunsets to
see a balmy brightness within the gloom and to
deem the general • effect ' nor too sombre nor too
gay.'

The town stood raised somewhat above the
valley level, on a plateau to itself facing the immense
rotunda formed by the Lepontian Alps, known of old
as Alpi Attreziane. Before the construction of the
Simplon Road (in 1810) Domodossola was an
obscure village ; but it had, even then, a dignity
superior to the many other hamlets that dotted the
bosom of the great valley, or the bleak sides and
the woody dales of the surrounding mountains.

town and district but strangers from a distance might be enabled to
assemble and publicly meditate on the Passion of our Blessed Lord,
and thus increase their religious fervour while gaining the spiritual
favours and rich indulgences which the Church has attached to this
devotion. The design was communicated to some rich and pious
people of the locality, who approved it and resolved to erect, forth
with, a sanctuary which should faithfully represent the sorrowful
stations of our Saviour's awful journey from the house of Pilate to the
spot on which the great Sacrifice was consummated. No sooner was
this decided on than steps were taken to obtain the property, includ
ing the ruined castle, from the King of Spain. The Governor of
Milan, who held the Province for the Crown, supported the movement,
and Mount Mattarella was ceded for the purposes of a Sanctuary and
became Monte. Calvario — Vita di Don Luigi Genii li per Francesco
Puecher. Lugano, 1850.

380 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

This dignity centred in the fact that it retained
the name by which the whole province was known —
Ossola — and that its parish church was popularly
styled the Domo> to distinguish it from the other
'houses of God/ which were thus declared to be its
juniors, if not its offspring. Gradually, the moun
taineers came to speak of this village quite as often
by the name they gave its church, as by the name
it had inherited, and so, in course of time, the two
designations were made one — Domo-d"-ossola.

After the completion of the Simplon Road, the
village began to lose its obscurity and its littleness ;
fqr its position as the first ' posting stage ' on the
Italian side of the Alps opened up an era of expan
sion, and secured to it the custom of many travellers
who, otherwise, might never have taken the trouble
to visit it or the magnificent and ever-varying
scenery of the district. The population speedily
increased, and at the time of Rostrum's visit was
about 2,000. The finest house in the place belonged
to Count Mellerio, and was remarkable rather for
size than beauty. As its noble owner preferred to
reside in a more southerly latitude, this mansion
was applied to purposes of education for the benefit
of the neighbourhood — a course, by the way, to
which the ' absentees ' of that region were not more
partial than those with whom we associate the title
in our own country. But Mellerio was an excep
tional man in most respects — one of those men in
whose nature all the elements of good were so
cultured by religion, that nothing which was unpro-

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 38 r

ductive of good had a chance of growing up in his
heart.

When Rosmini arrived at the diligence office,
he found Lowenbriick with Mellerio's agent waiting
to welcome and conduct him to the lodgings they
had hired in the town for his short stay. These
lodgings were near the handsome parish church—
the Domo — whither he immediately went to make
a visit of homage and thanksgiving. As the * thick
shades of night were fast approaching/ it was
decided not to go up to Calvario until next

morning.

Meanwhile, he heard once more all about the
history of the Mount, known of old as the Matte-
rella — how the tower and keep were erected, in the
eighth century, by Lombard adventurers resolved to
lord it over the inhabitants of the plain ; how the
Church came to convert that fortress of barbaric
tyranny into a stronghold of Christian mercy ; how
it served for generations as an episcopal palace ;
how the Capuchin Friars (whose monastery lay half
concealed on the hillside) had long ago won for it a
sacred character, and consecrated it to a commemor
ation of the awful scenes connected with the
Calvary; how the Bishop of Novara, in 1658,
officially decreed that it should be known, ever
after, as Sacro Monte Calvario ; how Signer Capis of
Domo, influenced by the eloquence of the Capuchins
and assisted by the pious people of the district,
commenced, in 1760, to build along the winding
path to The Mount, regular chapels, instead of

382 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

the little pillars formerly marking the successive
Stations of the Cross ; how the place came to lose
all its ancient material splendour without losing any
of its ' sacred spiritual character.'

That this character survived all else was to
Rostrum's thinking one of the most suggestive facts
in the history of The Mount. Its formidable keep
and the episcopal palace were gone, and represented
by no more than battered ruins. The mighty men
who once wielded power within its walls, and the
proud ones who lived in state there had not left
even their names behind. Mellerio's agent could
tell him nothing trustworthy about them ; for the
best legends of the locality failed to supply more
than confused mythical information ; and there was
no other. Had Don Antonio ever read Spenser's
Ruins of Time he might have recalled this pass
age :-

How many great ones may remembered be,
Who in their days most famously did flourish,
Of whom no word we have nor sign now see,
But as things wiped out with a sponge do perish.

It is not thus that it fares with the ' sacred
spiritual character ' which can withstand the ravages
of time and outlive all greatness that is merely
human. This character clung to The Mount, and,
as enduring as its rocks, lived on through storm and
calm, without any essential change. A palace and a
stronghold the place might still be deemed, but of
a sort in keeping with the sacred character it never
lost — that associated with Calvary.

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 383

Having obtained permission to celebrate an
early Mass in the parish church, Don Antonio was
ready by 7 o'clock in the morning to accompany
the Abbe Lowenbruck and Signor Chiossi (Mellerio's
agent) to The Mount. When they emerged from
the trees, screening the street in which Rosmini
lodged, the Sacred Hill was fully in sight and
seemed to be but a short distance off; in fact
hardly outside the boundaries of the little town.
This, however, was an optical illusion, for many
thriving fields and little vineyards lay between the
town and the base of the hill ; but the side first in
view, being ' as steep and perpendicular as the
' Tarpeian Rock,' so cheated the eye as to leave the
impression of close proximity.

The better to reach The Mount they had to
take a road which appeared to lead in a different
direction. Having walked on for a few minutes,
through a dreary waste made by the floods of the
Toce, they came to a great archway known as
Pilate's Gate. A little beyond it, in a field to the
right, they saw a large wooden cross and pillarct
marking the spot where once stood the first of the
chapels dedicated to the leading scenes of our Lord's
Passion. Don Antonio was informed that when
Napoleon invaded this part of Italy, the little chapel
-vas used as a powder magazine, and the desecration
inded in an explosion which left not a trace of the
itructure. Passing away from this sacl memorial of
i sacrilegious invasion, they were soon in front of a
:hapel constructed with more elaborate care and on

384 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

a larger scale than any of the wayside sanctuaries
abounding in the neighbourhood. It was the first
still standing of the regular series of chapels erected,
as Stations of the Cross, at convenient intervals,
on either side of the steep, zig-zag ascent to The
Mount.

This chapel, facing the level road that led
straight from Pilate's Gate and the town, seemed to
end the highway, so abrupt was the change of
course towards the Mount, instead of continuing the
path away from it. In a few moments they were at
the next turn, or rather sharp angle of the road,
where a pillaret marked the site of a chapel of
which not a vestige remained. Mellerio's agent said
that there had never been more than a pillaret at
this spot ; but others are of a contrary opinion.
There the real ascent of the hill began , there the
road seemed once more to lead away from The
Mount ; there it narrowed and became more rugged
and steep, but pleasantly lined by umbrageous forest
and chestnut trees all the way up. Soon they came
to another chapel, where they paused for prayer
and rest. Thence on and up they went, slowly and
prayerfully, Rosmini (as he afterwards told Tom-
maseo) all the while musing on the various scenes of
the Passion, and blessing God for having invited
him to a place in so many ways admirably fitted to
commemorate the journey to Calvary.

Thus going on and on, up and up, now in the
direction of The Mount, now as if moving away
from it, slower and slower at each stage of the con-

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 385

stantly rising roadway, they saluted chapel after
chapel until at length the flattened summit was
reached and they entered what was for them the
crowning chapel of all — that of the Crucifixion.1
Here they remained for some minutes in prayer,
after which they joined Canon Capis, the Rector
ind (to all intents and purposes) lord paramount
}f Matterella — that is, of The Mount and its
ippurtenances. His dwelling was near at hand
—the house in which Lowenbrlick had a room,
md for the full possession of which they came to
treat

It was a nobly placed, poorly constructed, and
niserably neglected abode. The site, however, and

1 It was a small but elegant octagonal church, its portico and
>iazza paved with stone. Above the high altar was presented to the
;ontemplation of devout pilgrims the image of the Crucified, larger
ban life, having at its feet the virgin Mother, the beloved disciple,
.nd the penitent Magdalen. Right and left on either side a chapel
vas built, in one of which was represented the deposition from the
ross ; in the other, the Sacred Infant, flying from the arms of His
Jessed Mother to embrace the cross presented to Him by an angel
rom heaven in the name of the Eternal Father ; a tender allegory
all of truth. In the Cupola, Christ risen from the dead, clothed with
ght and bearing the standard of victory, floated in the air. Around
ne Church in the angles of the walls were placed statues of the
rophets David, Solomon, Isaias, Jeremias, Daniel, Micheas, Zacharias,
nd Aggeus, each having over his head an inscription taken from his
wn writings in allusion to the great mystery. The square niche over
le high altar, in which was placed the crucifix, was closed by a red
.Ik curtain ; this when thrown back disclosed an ample choir, as
irge as the church, its walls and vault stored with representations of
lysteries relating to the Crucified Redeemer. From the right side of
le sanctuary a small corridor led to a narrow stairs which descended
) a chapel under the church and facing a garden ; this chapel was
illed the sepulchre, because in it was represented the vault in which
y the dead body of Christ, covered with a transparent veil, supported
y adoring angels at the head and feet.— Puecher's Vita di Don L.
•entilt.

VOL. I. C C

386 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

its associations were all that Rosmim could have
desired.1 From every point the view was enchant
ing ; but to him it was most beautiful for being so
rich —

In those deep solitudes and awful dells
Where heavenly-pensive contemplation dwells.

All around him were the lofty Alps ; some in the
distance retaining their glistening snow domes,
others nearer refreshing the sight by the rarely
tinted verdure with which they were clad to their
peaks, and greeting the ear with gurgling strains
that came like weird music to make the prevail
ing stillness more marked and solemn — the music
of numerous little torrents foaming down to the
immense basin of Ossola, where the Toce took up
the silvery streamlets and carried them to the Lago
Maggiore.

1 At the left side of the Sanctuary was the sacristy, through which
you passed into a stone-paved corridor conducting to the cells, used by
those pious persons, priest or lay, who might wish to retire there in
order to make a spiricual retreat. Another part of the house was
assigned to the Rector of the Sanctuary, whose duty it was to reside
there in order to preserve everything in decent order, and perform the
sacred offices in the church. From this building you passed to the
place where the Castle of Matterella stood. Of this castle there still
remain (after building the Sanctuary, the Chapels and the Capuchin
Convent from its materials), a large wall which traverses the entire
width of the summit, and a square tower which rises from a rock at
the highest point of the hill, the remainder of which is covered by a
coppice and garden. From here a vast and magnificent view is
obtained of the town of Domodossola, of many villages with their
churches and campanili, scattered about the sides of the surrounding
hills, of the winding course of the Toce, of the devastating torrents
Bogna, Divena, Isomo, and Melezzo, of the openings of the neighbour
ing valleys, of the snow-capped Alpine peaks, of fields and vineyards,
meadows, marshes and sand?. — Puecher's Vita de Don L. Gentili.

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 387

Passing beyond the house through the battered
walls of the tower and keep — crumbling memorials
of mediaeval state and power — Rosmini was soon
beneath the shady trees of the garden terrace, on
the crest of the lofty cliff overlooking the whole
valley. If he had not been from boyhood familiar
with magnificent scenery of a like character, the
view then before him would have had as over
whelming an effect on him as it had on the French
Abbe. * When I first stood there,' said the charmed
Lowenbrlick, ' I was like one spell-bound and could
not speak/ Rosmini could speak, and his words
were those of the Royal Psalmist, ' O magnify
the Lord with me, and let us extol His name to
gether.'

What he saw greatly delighted him, and none
the less that the whole seemed to be a beautified
ind hallowed enlargement of scenes which recalled
:he view from a favourite hill above Rovereto. ' While
le looked out on the vale of the Ossola, from the
ippointed nursery of his spiritual posterity, it was
lardly possible for him to avoid thinking of it
n connection with the nursery of his ancestors.'1
\part from this, we infer from fragments of con-
^ersation preserved by some of his earliest and most
owly-placed associates, that the view at first ap-
>eared to him much as it did to the fancy of a later
isitor — like a vast saloon in nature walled by
mountains ; its carpet a diversified vegetation
streaked with streams and fertile fields and bare

1 Tommasseo, Rivis/a Content. , 1855.
c c 2

388 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

marshes, over which rippling surges on countless
pebbles chafed ' ;

Its roof the sky untainted,

Sun, moon, and stars the lamps that give it light,
Clouds, by the Celestial Artist painted,
Its pictures bright ;

its furniture villages gemmed with cupolas and cam
paniles that seem to be for ever brightly reflecting
the praises of God.

Beneath him lay the town of Domodossola, look
ing more diminutive than it really was. But,
making every allowance for the height at which he
stood above it, there was little in its extent and less
in its elegance to compare favourably with the view
of Rovereto from the sanctuary of the mount he loved
to visit when at home. Nevertheless, there were so
many features of resemblance between both mounts
and both views that he had no difficulty in blending
the cherished memories of the past with the prompt
ings of the present. Although Domodossola pre
sented no such city-like appearance as Rovereto, the
grandeur of its natural scenery was more marked,
more imposing, and far more cheering ; while, as for
monuments of Christian piety, these were as nume
rous and as various in the valley of Ossola as in his
native vale of Lagarina.

Having satisfied himself that all he saw more
than justified the brightest descriptions of the place
Rosmini returned to the church for a few minutes t(
pray. He then accompanied Canon Capis to dis
cuss matters connected with the repair and occu

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 389

pancy of that portion of the establishment which
they had consented to rent. It was with much
difficulty that favourable terms could be obtained —
indeed, it is only by a stretch of courtesy that the
terms actually agreed on can at all be called favour
able. However, they were the only terms he
could then get, and, as he had made up his mind to
begin on this Mount, they were favourable in so far
as they gave him an opportunity of carrying out his
purpose. The Canon was quite ready to have
Rosmini and his friends as tenants-at-will, and to
permit them to spend as much money as they
pleased in repairs and improvements, but he was
indisposed, at that time, to give them much accommo
dation in the dilapidated buildings, or to concede
anything likely to lead to a permanent hold on the
place. Nay, he was not willing to allow them even
the privilege of walking when they pleased in the
gardens, unless they chose to pay for it. These
were by no means hopeful features in the business ;
but Rosmini felt so sure that God had called him
there and designed the place for the objects of this
call, that he was content with the agreement, and
confidently left the rest to Providence.

The most ruinous portion of the edifice was
forthwith hired for a few years, at a substantial
annual rent, and a kind of limited partnership estab
lished as regards the garden. Then certain favours
were obtained as to the use of the chapel, -and an
arrangement made for sharing in the . spiritual
labours of the district. Lowenbruck, after much

390 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

persuasion, consented to remain and see to the par
tial restoration of the structure in accordance with
plans suggested by Rosmini, who had to leave for
Rovereto to provide the means necessary for the
work. Meanwhile, in order to relieve the loneliness
of which Lowenbruck complained, a useful com
panion was found for him in a Franciscan lay
brother named Peter. This kind old friar was one
of those who were driven from their convent in
Domodossola by the cruel decrees of 1810, when
that and many other religious houses were sup
pressed. He sought shelter on the Mount, where
he had, at length, an excellent chance of assisting
another to bear discomforts and solitude with a
pious composure never wanting to himself.

Although Lowenbruck had been previously told
that this visit was to be merely a ' flying ' one, he
hoped Rosmini would have remained long enough
to have made himself acquainted with all the
hamlets in the neighbourhood, and to have joined
in a preaching tour among the mountaineers. The
wish was characteristic of the Abbe, and its dis
covery gave Rosmini an opportunity of once more
explaining the special objects for which they had
chosen this solitude, and of once more commending
to his attention the principles of the proposed Insti
tute which set so high a value on the orderliness of
charity in all its forms. He warned him to control
a zeal that was only wasted, since it was not likely
to be productive of any good so long as he was un
able to speak in the language of the people. More-

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA.

39 1

over, the mountaineers were, on the whole, very
pious, practical Catholics, whose spiritual interests
were not neglected. For the rest, he consoled him
with the assurance that their separation should not
be a long one, and that when he returned they should
act together in any missionary duties to which they
might be called. He then reminded him of what he
had said in a letter written from Milan on July 6, to
this effect : —

Next Lent I shall come to reside in Domodossola.
We shall spend Ash Wednesday in fasting and prayer
together. From the very outset Jesus must be our pattern,
in the work which only He can carry to perfection. Pro
bably I shall bring with me a good companion, and we
shall thus be the better able to comfort and support one
another with the words, ' Where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there am I in their midst.' O happy
mountain solitude where we are to be united in prayer
and in the fast of our Lord ! He then will teach us all
things, and remind us of what we have hitherto heard from
the Church ; but these things would remain as though
dead and forgotten, if the Paraclete, ' which the Father
sends in the name of the Son did not quicken them into
life.'

Lent (he continued) will be the best time for writing the
constitutions ' according to the pattern which will be shown
'us on the mount.' Should the six weeks of Lent not suffice
for the work, we shall continue it until Whitsuntide.
I firmly believe that God has already made known to me many
things. I shall set them before you, that you may judge
whether they are from our Lord. I should be an unfaithful
servant were I to speak otherwise, or not to follow God's
Will in this undertaking. I proceed slowly, indeed ; not
through coldness but through fear. I have no wish to be
beforehand with God nor to be tardy in following His

392 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Will ; but I fear the first defect more than I do the second.
However, God is good, and has given his Saints repeated
calls, even to the third time, often urging them on with
goads too sharp for their resistance. Surely, He Who has
given language to man knows how to speak Himself. He
Who has made babes eloquent cannot fail in making His
own utterances clear and effective. Let us well employ the
time that remains for us between now and February 20 —
let us employ it in attending to the voice of God, and in
making more and more certain our holy vocation.1

As a means of restraining Lowenbriick's eager
ness to go forth preaching to people who did not
understand him, Rosmini besought him to devote
much of his time to the study of their language.
* While I am away/ said he, ' putting in order my
temporal affairs, do you endeavour to acquire some
knowledge of Italian, so that, on my return, we
may be able to interchange our thoughts more easily
than we can at present/ 2

Before leaving, Don Antonio got many promises
from Lowenbruck that he would do his utmost to
follow the advice given to him ; that he would en
deavour earnestly to overcome the spirit of im
patience and discontent which sprang from an ex
cessive and ill-regulated ardour ; and that he would,
with all humility, accommodate himself to circum
stances which Providence had so evidently designed
for the spiritual well-being of both. Many dis
appointments, annoyances and hardships were, doubt
less, still in store for them ; but if the call they had

1 Epislolario, Letter Ixviii. See Appendix, Letter vii.

2 Cronica Contempor.^ Torino, 1856,

FIRST VISIT TO DOMODOSSOLA. 393

answered had come indeed from God, they should
be able to bear all without a murmur ; nay, to
welcome all their trials as favours.

Lowenbruck took these admonitions in good part,
as he was wise enough to understand that the friend
who thus gently pointed out his faults and their
remedy, not only did him a true service but paid him
a high compliment. For Rosmini it was always an
unpleasant duty to censure any one, and, when he
undertook the task, he assumed, as in this case, that
the friend censured possessed many excellent quali
ties, else he would be incapable of listening, calmly
and profitably, to the mention of his failings. He
and Lowenbruck then parted, the one full of promises
of amendment, and the other full of hope that the
promises would bear fruit worthy of the object they
both had at heart,

394 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

CHAPTER XXV.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO.
(A.D. 1827.)

He retains to Milan — An invitation to Rome — Why he does not
accept it — Lowenbriick's phantasies — How Rosmini rebukes them
— Man's nothingness— The first thing to be done on the Mount —
Count Padulli to represent Rosmini in Rome — Visit to Verona —
Madame Canossa's gratitude to God for granting her petitions —
In Rovereto once more — Moschini's illness — The means for pre
serving the spirit of the Institute — Prosperity should make men
humble — The Exercises of St. Ignatius his special study — Bad
health no hindrance to his twofold vocation.

ROSMINI returned to Milan on August z. He was

o «-*

so full of the object which had led him to Domo-
dossola that he determined to remain in Milan no
longer than was necessary for setting in proper
order, and entrusting to competent hands, the charit
able and literary works with which he was identified
in that city. This done, he would proceed to
Rovereto, to complete arrangements for making a
home on the dreary Mount. Count Mellerio and
the few others who were acquainted with the pur
pose of his visit to Monte Calvario had the satisfac
tion of hearing from his own lips a most interesting
account of all he had seen and done there. What
he felt and hoped with regard to the results of his
visit was freely discussed with these friends. Al-

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 395

though the obstacles still in his way seemed to be
numerous, and were set forth by him in the strongest
light, his pious counsellors were persuaded that, as
God so evidently designed the place for the pur
pose and directed the steps that had been thus far
:aken, He would prosper the holy enterprise to the
snd.

Amongst the letters which had accumulated
luring his short absence, was one from Canon Sil-
/estri Belli entreating him to visit Rome, where the
nterests of Christian philosophy claimed his pre
sence, and where many friends were desirous of
giving him a cordial welcome. Had this invitation
•cached him two months earlier, he would have
ound it so much in keeping with what might have
hen seemed most expedient that it would have
>een difficult for him to have declined it. But the
,Vill of God was now so apparent that he could not
>e drawn aside from the path to which It plainly
>ointed. This path led not to Rome, at present,
>ut to the rugged hill, where, as he foresaw, many
evere trials to the flesh and the spirit awaited him.
Vhen he should have taken all the steps required of
iim at this juncture, it may be that God's Will
light guide him to Rome ; but, until then, he must
ot think of moving in that direction, and so he
}ld Don Silvestri :

Every time you speak to me about going to Rome
ou arouse in my heart a great temptation. You must
now that I have long had an intense desire to go, but I
ave always resisted it. You will ask me the reason why.

396 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

It arises from the rules of conduct which I have embraced.
I should be disquieted and inconsolable if I could believe
that I had done my own will rather than the Will of God.
On this account, I am thoroughly passive with respect to
deliberations of that sort, feeling assured that if God re
quires any thing of me He will make it known to me in an
unmistakable way.

You cannot imagine the tranquillity produced in me by
living in accordance with this rule. The Lord disposes all
things with sweetness, and it is this sweetness that one
enjoys in following God's arrangement of events. How
ever, I may tell you that my journey to Rome seems to me
a settled thing, though I do not yet well know the time in
which I can accomplish it : — perhaps sooner than I expect.

Let us pray, my dear friend, let us pray with one]
accord, and let the centre of our thoughts be Holy Church,
for which I beg of our Lord to allow me to die.

MILAN : August 6, 1827. l

Rosmini had been barely half-way on his return
journey to Milan, when the Abbe Lowenbriick
began to set at naught some of the sage counsels he
had received. He did not. it is true, violate them
in the letter so much as in the spirit ; for, while he
felt bound to abstain from exhibiting his zeal in
preaching to the poor mountaineers, who did not
understand him, he felt free to talk confidential!)
with some of the better instructed people of the
neighbourhood, telling them wonderful stories aboui
the grand designs of the Abate Rosmini. Lowen
brtick was not a poet ; yet his active imaginatior
was constantly giving to some ' airy nothing a loca
habitation and a name.' As if to atone for wha

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixix.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO.

397

were to him the substantial miseries of the present,
his plastic fancy built up a splendid future for the
bleak hill on which he lived, and made Rosmini its
genius. He spoke of his talents, of his learning, of
his wealth, of his influence and of his plans, in terms
so exaggerated that Mellerio's agent deemed it a
duty to warn him of the impropriety of such a course,
and to communicate with the Count on the subject.
Mellerio promptly let Don Antonio know what his
igent had reported. When thus informed, on
August 9, Rosmini wrote to Lowenbrtick a long
letter couched in kindly terms, but still stern
enough to check the phantasies of his too enthusi
astic friend.1

I fear (he said to him) that your temperament,
perhaps a little too ardent, has prevented your observing
:hat prudence which I have so much recommended to you,
ind of which we have such great need. It has come to my
knowledge that you have overstepped this prudence by
saying things which have no foundation whatever, and
vvhich, even if they had, it would be wiser not to speak
about. I do not believe that you intended to deceive, for
\ have confidence in the sincerity of your soul ; but I am
greatly afraid that you have deceived yourself by convcrt-
ng into a reality some fair idol of your imagination. For
:he love of our Lord ! let us be cautious and prudent, and
et us say rather too little than too much ; especially as to
".hings which may be favourable to our undertaking. This,
ny dear friend, is of great importance to us. Words
ndiscreetly spoken or written may be fraught with immense
ianger to the work which God seems to wish at our hands.
vVe shall have to answer for this to Him. Every im-

1 See Appendix, Letter viii. (Epistolario, Letter Ixx.)

398 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

prudence we are guilty of may gain for us the title of
unfaithful servant — serve nequam — which God avert.

He then explained to him, once more, the spirit
according to which he sought to regulate his own
course, a spirit ' which should ever animate our
Society, if it please God to give us associates.' This
spirit was to keep them thoroughly persuaded that,
of themselves, they were nothing, that all their
natural abilities were, of themselves, powerless to
do even the least thing pleasing to God, or of the
least use to their own or their neighbours' souls.
How then could they, of themselves, give increase
or glory to the Church of Jesus Christ ?

Jesus, Head of the Church, is He who, alone and un
aided, does all. He has no need of any one, and He is
so jealous of His glory that He unfailingly confounds those
who presume that they are, of themselves, able to accom
plish anything for His glory or for His Church. Convinced
of this, the Christian should not only not think himself
necessary, but he should continually regard himself as
being the unprofitable servant he indubitably is. There
fore, not being necessary, he should never have any anxiety
or solicitude about doing great things ; nor should he act
in the things of God as an adventurer or enterpriser, as
men do in the affairs of the world, when seeking to make
themselves famous or powerful. In the things of God we
should do just the contrary.

As Lowenbrtick was much concerned for the afflic
tions of the Church, and seemed to think thai
the petty persecution which had sent himself intc
exile, identified him more than others with those afflic
tions, he found therein an excuse for many ol

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARTO. 399

his excesses. Rosmini besought him to be perfectly
tranquil with regard to the vicissitudes of the
Church.

Be sure (he wrote to him) that Jesus Christ still lives;
that He has all power in Heaven and on Earth ; that He
does all that He wishes, and that nothing happens without
being ordained for His greater glory — for His more com
plete triumph. What then remains for the Christian to
do ? To work out his own sanctification, to purify his own
conscience, to bemoan his own sins, to acknowledge his
own weakness, to recognise his own nothingness, to pray,
ind to consume himself in the fire of unbounded love.

Rosmini next dwelt on the duties of a Christian
is regards undertakings beneficial to his neighbour
Dr useful to the Church, and showed, at some length,
low the principles of the proposed Institute met
ivery condition required for accepting and duly per-
brming these duties. He concluded that part of his
etter thus :—

Let us be candid, let us be sincere. Candour will
:nable us to embrace the good actually before us, without
jiving a thought to any other. Sincerity will not permit
is to speak of more than we know and that our Lord
lesires us to know. Let us not aspire to do great things,
»ut simply to do whatever God wills us to do.

With regard to the ' great things ' to be done on
The Mount — the 'great things' of which sanguine
^owenbriick had talked so much — Rosmini quietly
isposed of them in this way : —

What are we going to do, my friend ? Nothing more
lan to make a retreat of forty days, nothing more than to
bserve fast together after the example of our Divine

400 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

Master. This we know ; or at least we think we know it,
because it is a thing close at hand, and circumstances
appear favourable to its accomplishment. Do we know
more than this ? Nothing which we are in a position to
communicate to others. Let us then be contented and not
speak about things we are not certain of. If we were to
die to-morrow, we should leave nothing unfinished ; for
we are every moment fulfilling God's Will. If we talk of
doing anything in the future God will punish us for it, as
we shall have been unmindful of His words. Lent, indeed,
may reveal to us something else ; and when the time shall
have come for doing that something, the time will have
come for speaking of it. Far, then, be from us all human
artifice, all exaggeration. We should never wish for any
thing by such means, since we wish to do only that for
which God provides us nobler means.

He wound up these admonitions by reminding
the Abbe that when they were about to part in
Domodossola they agreed to propose, each to the
other, a subject for their daily meditation. In ac
cordance with that agreement, he proposed to
Lowenbrtick the subject of man's nothingness and
absolute dependence on Providence. Then, with a
humility which he sincerely felt and always acted
on, he requested that his friend would, in turn, pro
pose a subject for his meditation, adding : —

If at the same time you administer a brotherly reproof
for some defect that you may have seen in me, during the
time we were together, you will confer on me a great
benefit. Meanwhile, think over what I have written to
you, and be reserved as to our affairs when speaking or
writing to your friends, and especially careful to avoid
building on future expectations which are without any
present foundation ; for all this would be contrary to the

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 401

spirit of truth, of simplicity, and of confidence in Divine
Providence. Besides, it can do us no good, but rather
much injury.

Lowenbriick made no immediate response to
this letter ; but Mellerio's agent, without knowing
that any such remonstrance had been sent, reported
a marked improvement in the proceedings of the
Abbe. After a week's delay Rosmini again addressed
him :—

Let us trust in God, and let us hold fast to the maxim
which I explained to you in my last letter, to which I am
anxiously awaiting your reply. Let us not take the least
step which is not founded in the prudence and truth of our
Lord. I repeat to you, let us not ambition to do great
things, nor take trouble to ourselves about the future. Let
it be the Lord Who leads us, nay Who impels us, as it
were, at every step ; so that we may not move a foot
without having solid grounds for hoping that it is not man
who moves us, but Jesus Christ in man. O happy are we
if we walk with such caution ! Thus are we dead to our
selves, because our life is hidden with Jesus Christ in
God. ' I live ; not I, indeed, but Christ liveth in me.'

I love you much, my dear friend in the Lord : peace,

patience, and perseverance be to us. We know not what

*ve are doing ; nor even what we are asking for. ' We

inow not what we should pray for, as we ought,' saith the

\postle. Where then can we put our confidence ? Listen

:o what follows — ' But the Spirit Himself asketh for

is with unspeakable groanings ; ' and again, ' Pie that

.earcheth the hearts knoweth what the Spirit desireth,

>ecause He asketh for the Saints, according to God '

Rom. viii. 26, 27). This, therefore, is our duty, that the

My Spirit pray in us, according to God, begging for all

hat concerns holiness. The rest will be done by God,

/ho searches the bottom of our hearts, to find if they are

VOL. I. D D

402 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

well disposed. What will He do then ? He will show us
what we ought to do, as well as the way, and the time, and
the place in which He pleaseth that we should do it. Then
we shall do what we do understandingly ; for God will
have set His light before us, and we shall no longer do
anything of ourselves, but God will do all in us.

To Him be glory for ever. Amen.

MILAN: August 16, I82;.1

About this time Count G. Padulli, one of the
few who shared in the secret of the projected Insti
tute, came to him from Verona bearing some en
couraging messages from the Marchioness de
Canossa. As Padulli intended to visit Rome in
September, it was suggested that he might act there
somewhat in the capacity of an agent for Rosmini.
With that view, the following letter to Cardinal
Capellari was handed to him : —

Availing myself of the opportunity presented by the
visit of my excellent friend Count Giovanni Padulli, to the
capital of the Christian religion, I take the liberty oi
placing before your Eminence the first volume of my
minor philosophical works, recently published.

In accordance with your sage counsel, I have warml) I
recommended the affair of the Institute to the prayers o ;
pious persons, in order that, if the \vork comes from God
God Himself, working in His servants, may carry it out
It is a great consolation for me to have always remainei
passive, and to have taken no step in it without havin:
been, I will say, compelled to do so by the clear Will c
God. On the other hand, I could do nothing else ; for,
feel in myself an extreme insufficiency, and a certai
shrinking from what may happen to me, if indeed God he

ordained it.

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxi.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 403

Padulli will be able to tell you, by word of mouth,
some particulars about the affair ; for he is one of the very
few who know anything of it.

I hope that the light your Eminence will communicate
to me concerning the two papers, which I sent you by
means of the Consul Alborghetti, will bring me comfort.
I have great confidence in your Eminence, and I foresee
that the affair will be more yours than mine. Thus
importunate am I ; and yet, because of my passivity, I
am slow to do anything if others do not move me.

MILAN : August 17, I827.1

On the following clay Rosmini (accompanied as
far as Verona by Count Padulli) left Milan for
Rovereto. He passed through Brescia without
resting there, as on former occasions. At Verona,
however, he stopped, as usual, to consult with the
Marchioness de Canossa and his sister. When he
;had given to them an account of the little flock en-
; itrusted to his care at Milan, he alluded to the steps
he was now taking for the organisation of the Insti
tute, and reported all that could interest them with
jregard to his visit to Domodossola. The Mar-
" bhioness, filled with gratitude to God for having thus
Plainly indicated His approval of * the call ' she had
; been the means of giving, requested him to join her-
,. i;elf and his sister in their Oratory to praise and
.f ! hank God, and to beseech Him to strengthen His
Hi I ervant for the completion of the work thus auspi-
iously begun.2 Her joy was all the greater because
he had been so many years urging him to the
! lourse which he had at last been obliged, as it were,

1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxii. 2 Bertoni's Mcmor. di Canossa.

D D 2

404 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NI.

to take — so many years praying for this result, so
many years hoping to see him committed to the
great duty. Her entreaties had prevailed, her
prayers had been answered. Henceforth, her
prayers and hopes would be directed, with all the
greater confidence, to the success of a Society with
the origin of which God had so intimately associated
herself.

After a short visit to the homes of Don G.
Bertoni and Count Padulli, Rosmini proceeded to
Rovereto. His mother and brother expected him ;
but, as they knew that his return was connected
with some business arrangements for making his
residence elsewhere more permanent, their happiness
was not unmixed ; for all that, his presence
brought, as usual, joy to all, and he himself felt, as
fully as ever, the sweet pleasure he always experi
enced in the bosom of his family. Moschini's con
tinued illness was the only thing to cast a saddening
shade on the joy of being at home once more. No
gloom, indeed, found its way into the sick chamber
of that saintly youth, who was full of happiness at
the near prospect of going to God ; but all who
loved him — that is, all who knew him — could not help
feeling heavy of heart when they saw death stealthily
approaching to deprive them of one so worthy of
their affection, one so young and so full of promise
in everything good. Rosmini did not escape this
sadness ; but, though he had greater reason than all
others to feel the loss that was impending, he had
more strength to contemplate it with resignation.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 405

The customary home welcomes were not quite
over before he set about regulating his temporal
affairs, with special reference to the great spiritual
work to which he had been called.

A private letter from Domodossola to Count
Mellerio was forwarded to Don Antonio, and
reached him the day after his arrival in Rovereto.
It relieved him from some misgivings as to the
preliminary steps taken ; for it gave proof that the
Abbe Lowenbriick had profited by the reprimand,
to which no direct reply had as yet been sent. A
letter from the Abbe himself, which was received
at the same time, touched on other matters, and
was mainly confined to the expression of some
doubts as to whether the plan of the proposed
Institute sufficiently provided the means best calcu
lated to preserve the spirit of its foundation. Ros-
mini immediately answered these objections :— •

.... Coming, in the order of time, so long after all
the others, this Institute will be able to derive profit
from the lights of all ; so that it will be found to concen
trate, in itself, what the Holy Ghost has distributed
amongst the different religious Orders, as regards their
means of preservation. As he who has the more enemies
should have the more support, so, in times when the Faith
is attacked from very many quarters, there should arise a
Society which will be armed at all points in its service.
But be it always understood that the natural frailty of the
men composing any such organisation must never cease to
be an object of fear ; for, there is no man who can be sure
of himself. To prove this, God allowed that all the
religious Orders should more or less deviate from their
primitive spirit ; so that no flesh might glory in His sight.

406 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Every assembly of men is corruptible, save the Church
of Jesus Christ ; for Jesus, with tears and vehement
entreaties, obtained this exception from His Father, as a
special favour. Therefore, the Church is the work of God
and not of man, and it is the only work founded on the
Divine Word, which is the firmament of the spiritual
universe, according to the saying — ' Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but My words shall not pass away.' That apart,
as we do not confide in human councils, I hope, my dear
friend, that God will give us lights to form an Institute as
strong as is necessary, and endowed with powerful means
to preserve itself in our Lord and in His Holy Spirit, for
the time to come.

I do not wonder that the Institute should appear to
you somewhat indefinite and diffuse, because of its great
extension ; for I have not had time to communicate all
things to you as minutely as I shall yet do. You will then
see that this indefmiteness exists, if I may so say, only in
theory : in practice, the Order is sufficiently restricted to
ensure solidity. Its definition, reduced to a few words,
would be the following : — An Institute in which the
members, especially the Priests, endeavour to perform,
with the greatest perfection, all the duties of their own
state, in order to be an example to others, and who, there
fore, must strive to attain to the highest degree of holiness.
And since Charity towards others, preached with evan
gelical prudence, enters, as a part, into their own sanctifica-
tion, they must attend to its exercise also, in the order
prescribed by charity itself. Consequently, they are first to
practise spiritual charity towards Priests, as being the more
excellent charity, seeking before all the sanctification of
these.

To descend to particulars : We shall unite ourselves
together in prayer and in study, which will be the two
duties undertaken in the choice we ourselves have made of
the interior life. And to what will our study be directed ?
According to the discretion of our Superiors, it will be

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 407

directed to acquire a profound knowledge of our sacerdotal
state, in order to be able to impart this knowledge to
others. Should a Superior, for instance, see amongst us
members qualified to give spiritual retreats, he will direct
these to prepare themselves for such duty ; and thus will
be realised this branch of the sanctification of the clergy.

But it is impossible for me to express myself clearly
in a letter, without writing a treatise. It is, therefore,
better to remain for the present in tranquillity of spirit,
persevering in prayer, and wholly committed to the hands
of Divine Providence ; following all the lights which It
will give us.

ROVERETO : August 24, I827.1

While Rosmini was steadily following the lights
which Divine Providence set before him in Rovereto,
Mellerio and his Milan friends, guided by the same
light, were using all their influence to remove exist
ing obstacles, and to bring the favour of ecclesiasti
cal authority to the aid of the new Society. Their
efforts promised success in every direction. When
Mellerio (who was on the eve of visiting Domodos-
sola) pictured to him the brightness of the prospect,
Rosmini hastened to remind him that prosperity
should always make men have more and more
humility in themselves, and more and more confi
dence in God.

Thanks for all you have done ; and these will not be
the last thanks that I shall have to offer you, since I
always avail myself of your valued friendship. I am rejoiced
at the leave granted by the Archbishop. Our friend sent
me a copy of his letter. All the rest, so far, goes on well ; —
nay, to a nicety, as you express it. So much the more
1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxiii.

4oS LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

should we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
The thorns have not yet appeared. God will treat us with
this tenderness, as long as we are spiritually infants.
Knowing this to be God's mode of treatment, prosperity
should be a motive for our humbling ourselves.

However, in our humiliation let us be joyful, and let us
with open and free hearts (for free we are) enjoy God's
gifts, without thinking of aught else. * Eat those things
that are placed before you, without thinking of the
morrow ; — continuing always in the giving of thanks.' It
seems to me that the thought of being children of so good
a God should afford us great consolation. Even if we fall
short in something, He is neither exacting nor insistent, as
men are ; but readily forgives and compassionates us,
looking at the heart, ' for we have an advocate with the
Father.'

In spirit and in truth, there is the law of Christians ;
let us not impose upon ourselves intolerable burdens ; but
let us be humble and offer ourselves to our Lord that He
may do with us what we have not been able to do ourselves.
Verily, He alone makes the yoke sweet and the burden
light. Of ourselves, we are unable to lift a straw from the
earth. I have said this for my own consolation ; for it is
a consolation for me to speak \vith my friends of these
things, — with friends to whom, as I know, the voice of the
Lord is not new, nor are His words unwelcome.

ROVERETO : August 30, I827.1

We have had occasion to say, more than once,
that Rosmini never allowed travelling or visiting to
interfere much with the regular course of his studies ;
for these had charms which were second only to the
religious duties he loved to practise under all cir
cumstances, and with a never-failing strictness.

Epistolario, Letter Ixx.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 4°9

Hitherto his studies were directed rather more to
philosophy than to asceticism, though the spiritual
element pervaded all his thoughts, no matter what
he studied. During this visit, however, his studies
were turned almost exclusively to asceticism as such.
The reason for this must be obvious. He was occu
pied in clearing the ground for the foundation of a
religious Order, and these were the studies nearest
akin to the object. The text-book he then used at
home was the * Exercises of St. Ignatius.' A thorough
study of this prized volume was carried on by him,
for the most part near the bedside of Moschini, who
loved to linger over every line, and draw forth
spiritual honey from every sentence. The effect of
these exercises on that clear patient, the brilliant
light which his remarks often threw upon certain
obscure passages, made the little volume doubly
precious to Rosmini.

It was while he was much absorbed in these
studies that he had the consolation of receiving from
Lowenbriick a submissive letter — the first contain
ing any direct allusion to the shortcomings which
had been so gently censured. The Abbe was
penitent, and ready to admit that no man was quite
so good as he ought to be, not even his mentor.
Rosmini replied :—

It was only yesterday that I received your two letters.
I have returned thanks to God that you are in perfect
accord with me in the sentiments I have explained to you ;
for this has been a fresh proof to me of what I had already
expected, and I am glad that I have not misunderstood

4io LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

you. Be assured that I love and esteem you, and sincerely
hold myself as unworthy to be your servant. One thing I
desire and yearn for in our Lord is, that it may never come
to pass that any success we may obtain should lead us to
trust in ourselves, and to take even one step of our own
motion, without having first consulted the Lord ; for ' all
flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as a flower of the
fields.'

I see from your letter that you are well aware that
every man is imperfect, and that I myself am so in parti
cular. This gives me great confidence and courage. For,
I firmly trust that you will be disposed to sustain me, and
to bear with my innumerable faults. Of this I have great
need, and, for the love of Christ, I earnestly conjure you to
give it to me. So much the more do I need it, since, as I
told you, weakness is what may be called my habitual
state, and it gives me great consolation to see that my
brethren bear with me.

I am passing these days in familiarising myself with
the ' Exercises of St. Ignatius/ It is a book which seems to
me all the greater the more I meditate upon it, and I hope
that it will be of much use to us, as it was of the utmost use
to the infant Company of St. Ignatius, being very efficacious
in gaining the heart to virtue, — nay, to the very highest per
fection. If these Exercises no longer produce as great effects
as formerly, it is, perhaps, because the method prescribed
by that man of God, who was deeply versed in spiritual
things, is no longer so closely adhered to as formerly. In
this as in all other things, men wish to innovate through a
presumptuous hope of doing better. Hence it happens that
the ' Exercises of St. Ignatius ' have become so enfeebled
and nerveless as no longer to obtain that sure effect which
could be secured by the rigorous method of the Saint.
But of this more when we are together.

Let us persevere in prayer, by means of which we shall
obtain all things through Christ. I am unceasingly occu
pied about our association ; and, although my health is

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 411

very weak and my infirmities are many, I, however, fear
nothing.

How much I prize those words you wrote to me, ' For
when I am weak then I am powerful ' (cum enini infinnor
tiuic potens sum). Then, indeed, it is that we hope in God,
when we feel that we have nothing to rely on in ourselves.
We have need of experience. The knowledge of the mind
is too cold and inefficacious of itself, without the knowledge
gained by experience, which was the knowledge of the
Saints and of Christ, according to the Apostle's words :
' From those things which He suffered He learned
obedience.'

ROVERETO : August 31, I827.1

Although Rosmini was much troubled at this
time by ailments which constant application to study
and ascetic habits fostered, he usually described them
as slight physical attacks intended for his spiritual
good. But his physician, Dr. Ramondini, looked
upon them as likely to bring about serious conse
quences, if proper precautions were not soon adopted
and persevered in. The doctor warned his patient
of this, adding that if he so diminished his labours
and austerities as to leave himself much more leisure
of mind and body, his constitution was hale enough
to justify hopes of a very long life ; whereas, if he
decided not to follow his advice, or if he perchance
neglected it, some years of suffering were in store for
him, to be followed by a comparatively early death.
This frank opinion of a skilled physician did not in
the least alarm Rosmini. He regarded his studies,
austerities and infirmities as alike from God for God.
1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxv.

4i2 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

In obedience to his physician he consented to take
the waters of Recoaro from time to time ; he also
agreed to use mercurial frictions, and to neglect
nothing which might, in that way, be prescribed for
him ; but his confidence in God soared above all
human remedies. He felt persuaded that, however
much he might have to suffer, God's Will required
that he should not pause in the work before him,
and that, whatever he might have to endure, or how
ever soon to die, this work should be finished before
our Lord would call him hence. It was the two
fold work of his vocation — the restoration of Chris
tian philosophy and the foundation of the Institute
of Charity.

4*3

CHAPTER XXVI.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO.

(A.U. 1827.)

His mother's new efforts to keep him at home — The Cross
his only love — He sustains others against the assaults he has
himself to meet — Provides for the work on Calvario — Lowenbriick
and the water supply on the Mount — External circumstances in
dications of God's Will — The poverty and mortification proper to
the new Institute — The ornamental and the necessary — Mellerio's
visit to Monte Calvario — Two Bishops visit Rosmini at home —
Moschini's illness — The Cross our only treasure — How to win it-
Golden rule of humility — Man's nothingness — Death of Maurizio
Moschini — Rosmini knows of it miraculously — His eulogy on
Moschini.

ALTHOUGH the Countess Rosmini had reason to
know that her son's presence in Rovereto was con
nected with arrangements for making his abode
elsewhere more permanent, she was not without
hopes of changing his purpose. She knew that the
Bishop and Clergy of Trent were eager to keep him
amongst them. She knew that the people of Rove
reto desired him to remain at home. She had many
relations and friends in elevated positions, who, for
the good of the diocese, would be glad to promote
her own fond wishes. Therefore, while he was in
dustriously providing the means, and settling his
affairs for an absence of long duration, she was as

4i4 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMTNI.

industriously bringing all those influences to bear on
his course.

Monsignor Luschin, Bishop of Trent, supported
by the representations of Monsignor Sardagna, its
former Vicar Capitular (and at this time Bishop of
Cremona), entered cordially into his mother's views.
Forthwith the rectorship of the diocesan seminary
was pressed upon him, and other posts of dignity
and responsibility were placed within his reach. All
these offers were accompanied by arguments based
on the great need of his services, and appealing
strongly to the claims which his native diocese had
upon him. But God had already so plainly indicated
the work set for him, that no inducements, no blan
dishments availed to turn him in the least from the
path in which he was moving. The miserable
home, with its certain privations, on the bleak hill
above Domodossola, was now dearer to him than the
most stately residence and enticing comforts that
could be associated with ecclesiastical preferments.

It is, however, but right to say that none of those
who tried to persuade him used arguments addressed
to his personal interests under any guise. They all
knew how worse than vain, how very offensive to
him, any attempt of that kind would be. Far more
to the purpose were the educational wants of the
diocese, and the urgent calls from more than one
populous parish for such aid as he could beneficially
give. He replied to the Bishop, as to the others,
that he was ready to abandon Milan and Domodos
sola, and his special studies, and all other undertak-

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 415

ings, the moment he was convinced that God's Will
required him to do so. It would be more agreeable
to himself to stay and labour where they asked him ;
but after prayerful reflection he came to the con
clusion that God's Will demanded the sacrifice he
was about to make. Some of his zealous tempters,
who appealed mainly to his natural affections, were
made to understand that unless such affections be
sanctified by Divine love they cannot be good or
useful.

While his family and friends were thus importu
nate with every variety of affectionate lure, he was
himself engaged in supporting another against some
what similar assaults. This was Count Padulli, a
widower who had resolved to tear himself away from
the endearments of home in order to be more com
pletely in the service of Christ. Rosmini, when
passing through Verona, on his way to Rovereto,
visited the Count's family, and had then an oppor
tunity of forming a decided opinion as to the great
ness of the sacrifice his friend was making. The fond
dissuasions that beset Padulli were in many respects
so like those now brought to bear on himself, that
the following letter to that nobleman may be taken
as the echo of his own answer to his own tempters :

The tender affection you manifest for your children is
natural, and will become a means of promoting their true
welfare ; because, the sentiments which accompany your
affection show that your natural love is sanctified by a
more exalted love, — that is, by the love of our Lord Jesus
crucified, in Whom we should love all things. This love
of Jesus sanctifies the natural affections, so directing them

4i 6 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

that they do not blind us, but rather assist us to accomplish
all that we find to be good for others. Human and natural
affections, of themselves, do not understand what is good ;
but affections governed by the love of Jesus know what is
truly good, and make use of human things to render thanks
for the attainment of that true good outside of which
there is only the appearance of good.

How rationally you act in resolving to place your
whole self at the feet of Jesus crucified ! From Him you
will receive strength to discharge the duties of your present
state, and to accomplish your holy vocation. From Him
you will receive light to direct, in the path of holiness, the
children given to you by our Lord, until our Lord Himself
crowns His own work : for He never abandons any one
who confides in Him.

You feel some misgivings arising from a consciousness
of your own weakness. And, in truth, so long as we think
only of ourselves, any fear is reasonable. Poor, indeed, is
man when abandoned to himself. But let us give thanks
to our Lord, because (as you very properly remark) when
we abandon ourselves to God He then gives us His own
courage and His very strength. I cannot but urge you to
be always more and more impressed by this truth. All
the study of the Christian's life consists in two points : —
' In the knowledge of ourselves, and in the knowledge of
God.'

The thorough knowledge of these two things produces in
the Christian two effects opposed to each other, and both
immensely great. Self-knowledge brings with it the
greatest fear and the greatest discouragement, while know
ledge of God, on the contrary, infuses an unlimited hope
and an indescribable courage. Let us take care that one of
these two feelings is never separated from the other in our
hearts.

Wherefore, dear friend, let us fear, let us tremble, but,
at the same time, let us have full confidence. We must
remember that we not only do wrong to God by presump-

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 417

tion, but also by diffidence. Neither temerity nor pusill
animity can befit a Christian.

Is not this a happy condition, that we not only can
have courage in all the circumstances of life, but also that
we are obliged in conscience to have it ? O the unspeak
able goodness of God ! He takes offence at our being
disheartened. He exacts from us a courage as great (if
that were possible) as His own, — an infinite courage. Who
would impose this obligation except God ? — except a God
infinitely good and infinitely powerful to help us ? Let us,
then, with the Apostle, say in our distresses : ' If God be
with us who is against us ? ' But the Apostle adds, ' How
is one to know whether God wills to be on our side ? ' He
answers : Have you not a manifest sign given by the
Heavenly Father who did not spare His own Son but
gave Him for us all ? And if he has given us His Son, how,
then, has He not, with Him, given us all things ? As He
has given what is more, can He refuse what is less ? What !
will He not give all the graces necessary for the circum
stances in which we find ourselves ?

Assuredly, then, you do well in placing yourself and
all you have at the foot of the Cross ; since, according to
St Paul, this is the pledge that has been given us by the
Eternal Father, and the sure guarantee that He will also
grant us all other things ;— nay, it is the fount of all the
graces that we need.

I exhort you, therefore, to be courageous in the Lord,
and to fear nothing in all that you are going to undertake.
Banish every doubt and discouragement, by one sole glance
at the crucifix, whence flows all our strength and wisdom.
Nay, you should make it a duty of conscience to have
courage, because it is certain that Jesus takes care of the
Christian who entrusts himself and all he has to Him.
Let us, therefore, not incur the reproach which Christ
made to His disciples, when they were still unconfirmed :
' Men of little Faith, why do you doubt ? ' All turns out
well for those who commit themselves entirely to the hands
VOL. I. E E

4i 8 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

of Him who disposes of all things. Let us not be scan
dalised at any thing. Let us not hesitate. Let us work
with holy daring, with liberty of conscience, and with
faith.

When you are in Rome I will write to you something
more particular. For the present enough. Let us live
from day to day with joy, in prayer and thanksgiving.
May our common mother Mary assist us !

ROVERETO : September 7, 1827.*

With a 'holy daring' that had regard to nothing
beyond the Will of God, he continued the business
for the settlement of which he had come home. All
the money which could be conveniently transferred
from his Rovereto agent was forwarded to Milan,
where Count Mellerio kindly undertook to see it
duly banked. A specified annual amount was fixed
on as a future contribution to the same fund from
which he was to draw as occasion required. The
home charities he had founded, or habitually assisted,
were not allowed to suffer because of these arrange
ments. A sufficient sum for immediate use was
sent, through Mellerio, directly to Lowenbruck, of
whose proceedings the reports were still favourable.
The Abbe himself wrote frequently, and gave hope
ful accounts about himself and the works he directed.
One of his greatest fears had just been so suddenly
and completely dispelled that he took the circum
stance as denoting God's marked approval of the
undertaking. The incident is too characteristic not
to be mentioned. Lowenbruck was very fond of
good water. Now there was a very insufficient
1 Epistolario, Letter Ixxvi.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 419

supply of water, and the quality of the beverage
was not good. He had a nervous dread of the
supply running dangerously short some night, while
all day he was afraid that it was slowly poisoning
him.

Although excellent water abounded in the neigh
bourhood, and was visible in almost every direction,
the murmur of little brooks and greater torrents

perpetually announcing that it was not far distant ;
nevertheless there was much difficulty in getting the
necessary quantity for the purposes of the house.
A good spring-well of the purest water was known
to be near the deserted Capuchin convent ; but
through neglect of the most ordinary means to keep
it clear of natural obstructions it was no longer easy
to reach it, and the water, flowing into pools and
streamlets through the little marshes beyond it, was
impregnated with vegetable matter that made it
neither palatable nor wholesome. To fetch better
water from other streamlets severely taxed the
carriers, who had to go down some distance to a
ravine, and then, laden with full buckets, make the
steep ascent to the hilltop. The water thus brought
was not of the best ; and as it did not long preserve
its freshness, this trying little journey had to be re
peated several times during the clay. The anxious
Abbe" had devised all manner of ingenious schemes
for overcoming these difficulties ; but not one of
them was found practicable.1 His nervous fear was

1 Through the skilfully directed efforts of Don Luigi Lanzoni, the
present (1882) General of the Institute of Charity, all the difficulties

E E 2

420 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

at its highest point, and despair of being able to im
prove matters had set in. While praying for relief,
Brother Peter suddenly came to him to say that ' the
blessed spring' near the convent was found to be
accessible, that its water was ' the purest and best
in the world/ and that it could be delivered at the
house more readily and regularly than any water
under the old arrangement. Investigation soon
satisfied him of this, and the pious Abbe took it as
a distinct manifestation of God's special favour. As
full of confidence as he had been shortly before of
fear, he made much of the circumstance in a letter
to Rosmini, who, when replying, barely alluded to
the incident, passing quickly from it to the fact that
external circumstances must always be, for the man
of God, indications of the Divine Will.

I have received your kind letters, and have delayed
answering them, because I saw all things going on so well
that I did not like to multiply letters without necessity.
Thanks to our Lord for the water He has provided for us.
Both from yourself and my friend, I learn that the works
are going on. May God be blessed !

Here, I am much occupied with our most important
business. God grant that my labours may be of service
for that which is the true foundation of every thing, — the
formation of our spirit. To-morrow I go to meet the
Bishop of Trent, who is coming on a visit. I cannot do
less than ask his blessing on the work before he leaves us;
but this will be in strict secrecy between ourselves. I also

which Lowenbriick's plans failed to touch have been completely
mastered, and the home on Monte Calvario is now supplied in the
greatest abundance with excellent water brought by pipes from Monte
Cuculo.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVAR1O. 421

expect shortly the Bishop of Trevlso, a friend of mine in
whom I have great confidence. But let our trust be in
God alone. The favour of men never gives me encourage
ment without at the same time alarming me. Ah !
wretched me ! were I to put my confidence in them ! God
grant that I may die rather than that I should trust in
man, or in human things. I beg of you to remember, in
your prayers, to beseech from God the grace that we may
hope in Him alone, and that we may only see in external
circumstances the words which He directs to us as a means
of manifesting His Divine Will. Only that, and nothing
else. Let us attach no weight to them, just as we attach
none to the mere voice or writing of a king, but only to his
will as expressed in or by them. In this way we shall be
entirely abandoned to Divine Providence, without offending
by presumption or rashness ; for we have a fixed rule to
follow, namely External circumstances as signs of God's
Will. It is for this reason that, without these signs, we
remain in the Contemplative State, and that thence (by
means of these signs, and not of our own will) we prudently
pass into the Active State, as I have explained in the short
Latin description of the Society. This, it seems to me, is
the road of peace and tranquillity ; this is the sure way
either to silence what St. Peter styles ' the ignorance of
imprudent men/ or to bear, with gladness, persecutions to
which we have not given occasion, and which are, therefore,
really ' for justice sake.'

I am longing to embrace you, and am eagerly looking
for the dawning of that 2Oth day of February which is to
find us together. Ah ! may God grant that all be for His
glory ! May God grant that we really come together in
His name ! and that there be established in us this ground of
our hope : ' I say to you that if two of you shall consent
upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask,
it shall be done to them by My Father Who is in Heaven '
(Mat. xviii. 19). Let us find ourselves met together in
God. Let us two be as one, that we be one in Christ, as

422 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

Christ and His Father are one. Oh ! ineffable oneness !
Oh desirable consummation ! May our Lord absorb and
consume us in Himself! He is as fire, He can receive
sacrifice, and He does receive it, if it comes from the
heart, if it is complete.

ROVERETO : September 24, 1827. l

Notwithstanding the means of consolation that
the Abbe found in his improved water supply, he
was still far from reconciled to the position of things.
He could not yet bring himself to bear privations
with heroic resignation, while the thought of having
to endure them continually, and as a matter of course,
gave him a good deal of uneasiness. Fretted by
misgivings thence springing, he became rather petu
lant, and complained much about trifles, such as not
receiving letters more frequently from Rosmini, or
not getting permission to purchase furniture of a
kind likely to relieve the dreariness of his mountain
home. There ran through his letters so many traces
of doubt as to his own vocation to the life they pro
posed to lead, that Rosmini decided on testing them
by alluding pointedly to the principles of poverty
and mortification which members of the new Insti
tute ought to practise.

Your letter of the I5th inst, which I have just received,
shows that you are somewhat anxious on account of my
silence. Although such anxiety must be now removed by
the letter which you should have received from me since
your note, nevertheless I hasten to send this to corroborate
the other. Have no doubts, my dearest friend in Jesus
Christ, have no doubts. Assuredly, you would neither

iOy Letter Ivii.

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 423

hesitate nor imagine the possibility of any coldness on my
part, if you knew how much I loved you, and how much I
felt indebted to you for your cares and labours : although
they are borne for your neighbours, they still appear to
me as though done for myself alone.

I am full of ardour, my dear friend, but I am, at the
same time, feeble. God will strengthen me. After all, the
only reason why I have been remiss, in the correspondence
between us, was merely that of not wishing to needlessly
multiply letters ; since, the less we write the better, per
haps, for the secrecy of the affair. Besides, there was really
nothing requiring an answer from me. I beg of you to
bear this in mind every time that my letters seem to
be slow in reaching you; for that may occur again,
and I do not wish it to be taken as a sign that I love you
less, or that our common affair has become distasteful ;
but only that I have not thought it necessary to write to
you immediately, or that I have no leisure to do so.

Ah ! how I desire to be with you ! I have myself no
doubt whatever of the oneness of our spirit : may this be
God's work ! Let us trust in Him only, let us abandon
ourselves to Him, without presumption. External circum
stances should be to us as signs which we must use for
interpreting His Holy Will. Let us not do our will but
His, and do it in all peace, tranquillity and patience.
Patience is necessary for us, and it is that virtue which
Christ has taught us by His life and by His death.

I have been considering about the furniture, which
must be made in accordance with that kind of poverty we
intend to profess. For this purpose, I have written down
a few short rules expressive of our external poverty. I
beg of you to examine them, in order that you may see
whether the poverty I have described as the most suited to
our object be really that best calculated to obtain it. If
these rules are approved by you they may be of service, by
guiding us in the selection of furniture for the house. Ail
this should breathe but one spirit : — edification, and a con-

424 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSM1NI.

tempt for mere human comforts ; so there should be nothing
which might allure or distract our mind (which ought to be
wholly occupied with God), nor the affections of our heart
(which ought to be full of God alone).

From these few rules you will see that in my opinion
the greatest poverty possible ought to be observed in the
house and in its furniture, especially in the cells. The
principle whence springs my way of thinking is what I
have expressed in the first rule — ' That it is very profitable
for us, on looking around, to see everywhere an extreme
poverty of ornamentation, in order to remind us that we
were born naked, and that naked we must return to Christ;
but, at the same time, that nothing should be wanting
which may either instruct us or help towards our perfec
tion.' We should not be subjected to too many privations,
whether voluntary or prescribed by rule ; simply because
we ought to make an oblation of ourselves in charity.
Therefore, we should not be deprived of the necessary
strength, since all our forces should be spent in this. Hence
it is that I have said, — ' it is not conveniences which ought to
be deficient, but only all ornament' And by conveniences
I do not understand those things which help us to be
indolent, but those which help us to be the more active ; —
for, there are these two kinds of conveniences. It is for this
same reason that I do not think it advisable to prescribe
any general corporal austerities, but only to provide that
those the Church ordains for all the faithful be well and
devoutly observed. I leave it, however, for each one to do,
in particular, whatever the spirit suggests to him ; subject
to the approval of his Confessor or Superior ; provided,
also, that he does not diminish the strength which should
be wholly spent in the love of God by the prayer proper to
the state he has chosen, and in the love of his neighbour, by
the charitable offices undertaken at his neighbour's request
and assigned him by his Superior. This forms the second
state of the Society.

I shall add nothing more, except that I embrace you in

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVAR1O. 425

our Lord, in Whom I wish us both to be made one and
altogether absorbed.

ROVERETO : September^, I82;.1

About the time that Lowenbrtick. had digested
the contents of this letter, Count Mellerio arrived in
Uomodossola with money and advice for the Abbe.
The money was welcome, but as the advice did not
coincide with the ' hermit's ' views of what was at
once most comfortable and desirable for the hermit
age, it can hardly be that it was very welcome.
Nevertheless the amiable Abbe gave no signs of
disrelishing it. Indeed, he appeared to be so
heartily taken up with the work entrusted to him,
that Mellerio saw no reason to suspect the presence
of any form of discontent. Therefore, when he
wrote to Rosmini a report of his visit, he described
Lowenbrlick as, on the whole, satisfied with his lot,
though somewhat weary of being alone, for Canon
Capis seldom favored him with his company, and
the society of Brother Peter was hardly to his liking,
since the old friar was prone to be rather too much
of an admonitor.

Rosmini did not reply with his usual prompti
tude to Mellerio's letter. The Bishops of Trent
and Cremona were, at the time, his guests, and the
illness of Moschini had just then taken an alarming
turn. Here was a combination of obstacles pretty
certain to fritter away his time and over-task his
strength. When not personally entertaining his
illustrious visitors he was by the bedside of his
1 Episijlai'iO) Letter Ixxviii.

426 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

dying secretary, ministering most tenderly to the
numerous little wants of body and soul which no one
else there had such skill in discovering. With the
Bishops he had to discuss new forms of the old
arguments to induce him to remain in the diocese.'
Thoroughly tired of this topic, as of everything that
related mainly to himself, he used to seek relief in
frequent visits for a few minutes to Maurizio, with
whom he talked on a subject that never wearied him
• — the sufferings of our Lord, and the joy of those
who died consumed by His love. After a few days'
stay the Bishops left for Trent, and he accepted an
invitation to visit them there, if possible, during the
following week. Meanwhile, other distinguished
guests claimed his hospitality, and it was the middle
of October before he had leisure enough to acknow
ledge the receipt of Mellerio's letter :—

This letter you will receive late for too reasons : First,
on account of the illness of the good Maurizio, who appears
to be on his death-bed, if God does not interpose His
power. He received the holy viaticum a few days ago.
What a consolation it is for me to see him so well prepared
for the great journey ! He reposes in the hands of God
with an enviable tranquillity. If God should now take
him to Himself, I hope, confidently, that it will prove to
be a favourable moment.

The other reason was a sudden arrival of Prelates. Two
Bishops were here at the same time, and I had to keep
them company almost the whole day. Afterwards, other
guests arrived who have made me lose a great deal of time.
May God forgive me, as I hope He will.

I am extremely pleased with the visit you have paid
to Domodossola, and all the more as it seems you made it

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 427

somewhat against your will. I am especially gratified by
the news you give me of the hermitage and of its hermit.
God can do all things, and He is the more wonderful the
more He works alone. When I think I see God working,
so to say, more of Himself, then I have greater courage,
as His Will seems to be thus more manifest. Hew merci
ful He would be if He were to look kindly upon our under
taking ! If I am horrified when I look within myself,
what will God see in me with that glance which can dis
cover depravity even in angels ?

I take your friendship and kinship with the minister
Brignole — of whom you say so much in so few words — as
another token of Divine Providence and of God's mercy.
How willingly I shall make his acquaintance, for which
you offer me such an excellent opportunity.

I thank you for all your kindness and friendship.
Would that I could prove to you in some way the grati
tude I feel !

ROVERETO : October 14, I827.1

An unexpected improvement in Moschini's con
dition gave some slight hopes of his recovery : it
also supplied the attending physicians, and the
Countess Rosmini with a good pretext for renewing
their request that Don Antonio (whose own health
needed much care) should visit the sick chamber less
frequently, and shorten the times of his stay there.
He yielded when the saintly patient joined in the
advice, and reminded him that the regular corre
spondence was probably in arrears, since he, the
secretary, could no longer assist in it. Two clays
sufficed to dispose of the unfinished correspondence.
Amongst the letters then despatched was an impor-

1 EpistolariO) Letter Ixxix.

428 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

tant one in Latin to Prince Alessandro von Hohen-
lohe ; it besought the prayers of that holy Priest for
the new Institute, and gave him full information of
all that had been done in the matter, and of all that
was in progress and in contemplation. There were
communications to be sent off touching literary and
scientific subjects, others on business, and others on
social topics. All these were dealt with more con
cisely than usual, but in a way that well befitted the
occasion. As the letters in which Rosmini most de
lighted — those on purely spiritual subjects — pre
sented special attractions under such circumstances
as found him housed with the dying, he took the
opportunity of pouring out his soul's thoughts on
these without stinting the expression of them.

There were many letters awaiting reply, especi
ally those from the little flock he had left at Milan,
which gave him the opening he desired. To all he
expatiated on the Cross as the treasure of treasures.
Suiting the mode of application to each of his corre
spondents, he pointed out the defects they had to
overcome, the humility they had to practise in order
to win this priceless treasure. Some of his friends
objected that as no one was without defects of a
more or less grave character, no one could secure
the treasure hidden in the Cross. He replied that
to be fully conscious of defects was the first step to
be rid of them, and a sincere consciousness of our
defects was evidence of that humility through which
the treasure had to be reached. He reminded them
that St. Benedict set down the following as the

PREPARING FOR MONTE CALVARIO. 429

seventh cardinal degree of humility, and St. Thomas
of Aquin commended it as a golden rule : c Sincerely
to esteem ourselves baser and more unworthy than
every one, even the greatest sinner.' * St, Augus
tine maintained that no one could ' without pre
sumption, pride, and sin, think better of himself
than of the worst of sinners.' 2 St. Ignatius of
Loyola, as every one knows, when surrounded by
marked tokens of God's special favour, used to
speak of himself as ' the most miserable of sinners/
and sign his letters ' Ynigo, little in good.' Of the
many letters which Rosmini wrote in those days, on
various phases of this subject, one to Don Boselli of
Milan is given here, not because it is the best, but
because it is the shortest, and as illustrative of the
man as the longest could be.

For your kind remembrance of me I am thankful, and
I also thank Signer Francesco, our friend in the Lord.
He writes to me that he is wholly taken up with gold and
gems,3 as if he would suggest a pleasing contrast between
the state of his body and that of his spirit, with the
favourite symbol of which I am well acquainted ; it is the
Cross, and therefore rather of wood than of gold. He
holds the very same sentiments that your letter leads me
to deem yours. Ah ! how great is this treasure ! How
precious is this wood ! May our Lord enable us to com
prehend its inexhaustible wealth ! Therein we shall have
all wisdom, all perfection, all good, all fulness of joy, and
stability in the fulness. And if this should not be ours
immediately in fact, we shall have it in hope — in a hope

1 St. Bened., Reg. c. vii. 3 Vide St. Aug. de Virginit.

3 This Francesco kept a jeweller's shop in Milan.

430 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

that confoundeth not — a hope that is better than fact,
because founded in faith ; and this has a merit far superior
to the reward, if the reward could be considered as entirely
separated from the merit.

That which you say about defects in the practice of our
little religious exercises, should humble, without terrifying
us, and may be even encouraging. Our Lord permits this
effect of our nothingness, that we may see the more
clearly how, of ourselves, we have not power to lift a straw;
and our religious exercises are really but as a straw, or
even less, when contrasted with what holy men in the past
have done by the help of the Lord. I not only see that I
am infinitely the most imperfect of all, but I feel it
thoroughly, and my heart suggests that, in His goodness,
God will always act thus towards us ; until, in this school,
we shall have learned to despise ourselves — in a word, to
know ourselves.

Let us beg of our Lord to give us this precious know
ledge of ourselves, joined with a knowledge of His good
ness, in order that we may not be dismayed. Jesus is able
to shed upon our minds the enlightening rays that show us
the two pivots upon which all knowledge turns — that we
are nothing, and that He is everything. This knowledge
will conduct us to the complete sacrifice of our whole
selves, because, recognising our nothingness, we will
arrogate nothing to ourselves, but consecrate all to Jesus.
Then we shall have complete tranquillity ; then external
things will not be strong enough to disturb us, since we
shall have our foundation in the truth — because that which
is nothing can neither be disturbed nor mortified by men.
Nothingness is incapable of being anything, and He Who
is everything cannot stand in need of nothingness. When
we shall have become as nothing to ourselves, there will
have then ceased in us every agitation and anxiety, all
precipitancy and over-eagerness. We shall then allow God
to extract from our nullity what He pleases, and we shall
always readily obey His creative Will alone, just as all

DEATH OF MO SC HINT. 431

things obey it. Let us learn from these to know that
Voice and not to resist it.

O ! blessed is that human passiveness which, becoming
as plastic as wax, is easily impressed by the spirit of God !
I mention these things, because of my own defects, for I
am more full of evil than others. I conclude entreating
you to pray unceasingly that our Lord provide for the
wants of Holy Church, and give to His divine Son a glory
infinite ; causing Him to reign in all men and in all things.

Prayer ! prayer ! prayer ! that is our need. We know
the means. Jesus has told us what it is. When we fail to
make use of it — whose is the fault ?

ROVERETO : October 7, I827.1

The improvement in Moschini's health seeming
to continue, Rosmini consented to go and spend a
day with the Bishop of Trent as promised. He left
on the morning of October 21, intending to return
next day. When he took leave of his young friend,
promising to be with him again on the morrow, he
was greeted with a peculiar smile, which seemed to
say, ' You know not what shall be on the morrow.'
Monsignor Strosio 2 assures us, on the best authority,
that while Rosmini was driving back from Trent,
the following afternoon, he suddenly turned towards
his companion in the carriage and exclaimed, gazing
at something near them, 'Alas! Moschini is dead.'
He then leaned backwards, and without uttering
another word remained in profound meditation until
they reached the door of the house in Rovereto, when
he asked, in soft mournful tones, ' Is it long since
he departed ? ' The hour named in reply corre-

1 EpistolartOy Letter Ixxx.

2 Difcsa dcllafama e della vita di A. Rosmini.

432 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINL

sponded, to a moment, with that which Rosmini's
companion had carefully noted on hearing the ex
clamation ' Moschini is dead.'

When the faithful Moschini was duly laid in his
grave, lamented by all who assisted at the solemn
ceremony — lamented, even though they were all per
suaded that he had gone where the Saints reign with
Christ — Rosmini had nothing more to detain him in
Rovereto. He would have left ere this (for the
affairs he came about were already settled to his
satisfaction), but he foresaw that his beloved secre
tary was on the eve of going to God, and he wished
to be near him up to the last. Before starting for
Milan he sent to Count Mellerio this brief notifica
tion of the loss they had to deplore : —

The good Maurizio has been withdrawn from me, in his
visible presence, since the 22nd of this month. Our Lord
was pleased to spare me the pain of seeing him depart
within my arms. I was absent from Rovereto only one
day, on a visit to the Bishop of Trent, and it was on that
day God took him from me.

Blessed be God ! with Whom, I have no doubt, he
now is in bliss ; still, I ardently pray for his well-regulated
soul, lest, after all, there should remain any blemish to
wipe away — it is so easy for us to defile ourselves in the
mire in which we here are.

I beg of you to notify your friends of this sad event,
for I would ask the chanty of their prayers also.

ROVERETO : October 31, 1827. 1

Shortly afterwards Don Antonio returned to
Milan, where Moschini had made many personal

riO) Letter Ixxxi.

DEATH OF MOSCHINI. 433

friends whom his admirable life had greatly edified,
and to whom the history of his death, impressively
told by Rosmini, became a source of new and lasting
edification. Not only they who had been intimately
connected with him, but all who knew how much
Rosmini loved him, felt it a duty to express their
condolence in a more or less formal way. It was in
reply to one of these — Signor F, Arrivabene of
Mantua — that Don Antonio penned the following
terse eulogium on his saintly secretary : —

I was about to write to you as to the death of our
Maurizio, when I found myself forestalled by a letter from
you, full of words to comfort my sorrow, because it was
full of my sorrow ; that is, of a grief like unto mine, result
ing from a common friendship, and which seems to vent
itself in the relief of another as in its own. However,
yours is sorrow for a distant friend, while I bewail the loss
of one who was constantly at my side, a companion of my
studies, and I will even say my partner for a long time in
every woe and weal of life. I have known intimately, and
have admired, the virtues of Maurizio ; I have seen them
increase almost daily. They have grown, I should say,
under my very eyes, after that manner in which they are
always accustomed to grow in a good man. I should have
wished to have drawn as much profit from his example as
I did from the assiduity of his labours, and from his assist
ance in literary affairs. I saw him taken off in the full
bloom, when he already promised the richest fruit. He
had a sound mind, virginal, like his heart, and well regu
lated, like his life. He did not seem to be of this earth
nor of this age. How many things did not his lofty spirit
already embrace ! With what avidity did not that soul
hold fast to the good and the beautiful, whenever he saw
them, wherever they presented themselves ! How many
holy projects had he not already conceived ; had he not

VOL. I. F F

434 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

already matured in his mind ! How many things had he
not already taken in hand ! Perhaps they were too much
for his fragile constitution ; perhaps that which the more
endeared him to us — his indefatigable ardour for good —
helped to deprive us sooner of his presence.

Grateful for your expressions towards me, who have no
higher merit than that of having been the friend of your
friend Maurizio, let me offer myself to you in place of him,
if I can be of any service to you.

MILAN: December^ I82/.1

It is the special privilege of those who have lived
saintly lives to retain their holy influence after death.
Maurizio Moschini was often fondly styled, by his Ro-
vereto friends, ' a lamp of the sanctuary.' When he was
no longeron earth, he became, to all who had known
him, as a star in Heaven to brighten their paths and
guide them over the course he had passed. His
youngest brother, Felice, who had come to assist in
nursing him during the severe illness he bore so
patiently to the last, soon felt that if sufferings like
Maurizio's were as a rod, it was a rod resembling
Aaron's which blossomed beauteously and produced
the fruit of unending peace. Ere long Felice took
his brother's place as * a lamp of the sanctuary,' and
he was not the only youth of those days whose career
the example of Maurizio benignly swayed : it still
sways the course of many a timid and weary pilgrim
in this ' vale of tears.'

Possibly, as some have asserted, Rosmini's grief
for the loss of young Moschini was mixed with a
little natural disappointment that his trusted secre-
1 EpistolariO) Letter Ixxxii.

AN ENVOY TO HEAVEN. 435

tary should have been taken away from him just as
the Institute was about to begin its existence, — that
Institute for the foundation of which Maurizio had
so heartily prayed and worked — that Institute
amongst whose first members he so eagerly longed
to be numbered. Doubtless, Rosmini had counted
more or less on this member, and probably thought
much of the special good one so rich in virtues was
likely to accomplish. But they greatly misjudged
Rosmini who supposed that he ever set his heart on
the aid of any man, however good and gifted. He
trusted so little to mere human co-operation, as such,
that its withdrawal for whatever reason, and however
suddenly, little troubled him, even when this with
drawal seemed to seriously threaten or actually dis
concert his best plans ; not that he was wholly in
sensible to the feelings of disappointment thence
ordinarily arising, but that he was so wholly reliant
on Providence, that these feelings were deprived of
power to distress him. He felt, indeed, sincere joy
at the prospect of seeing realised Moschini's ardent
wish to be one of the first members of the new Order,
but the joy was centred in the sanctification of that
dear friend's soul. This sanctification having been
secured already, and by the very means which the
Institute was to employ, there was nothing left to
give Rosmini real disappointment, nor was there
anything to grieve him sorely, except some feeling
akin to that which caused our Lord to weep with
those who wept at the grave of Lazarus. For the
rest, though Maurizio was not spared to participate,

436 LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI.

on earth, in the opening exercises of the new Order,
his intention had already for a long time consecrated
him to it, and he was expected to do his part in
Paradise. Hence his brother Felice was justified
in describing him as ' the first Envoy of the Order
to the Court of Heaven/ Felice himself most
worthily representing this envoy in its ranks here
below, when these ranks were, at length, solemnly
ranged with the noble companies forming the regular
army of the Church Militant.

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H. M. Paget. Extra fcp. Svo. cloth,
price 35-. 6</.

LEANDER (Richard] — FANTASTIC
STORIES. Translated from the German
by Paulina B. Granville. With Eight
Full-page Illustrations by M. E.
Fraser-Tytler. Crown Svo. price $s.

LEE (Holme] — HER TITLE OF HONOUR.
A Book for Girls. New Edition.
With a Frontispiece. Crown Svo.
price 5-r.

LE WIS (Mary A.) —A RAT WITH THREE
TALES. New and Cheaper Edition.
With Four Illustrations by Catherine
F. Frere. Price 3-r. 6d.

MAC KENNA (S. J.]— PLUCKY FEL
LOWS. A Book for Boys. With Six
Illustrations. Fifth Edition. Crown
Svo. price 3.?. 6d.

AT SCHOOL WITH AN OLD DRAGOON.
With Six Illustrations. New and
Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo. price
3J. 6d.

MALDEN (//. E.]— PRINCES AND PRIN
CESSES: Two Fairy Tales. Illustrated.
Small crown Svo. price 2s. 6d.

MASTER BOBBY. By the Author of
'Christina North.' With Six Illus
trations. Fcp. Svo. cloth, price 3^. 6d,

MC CLINTOCK (Z.)— SIR SPANGLE
AND THE DINGY HEN. Illustrated.
Square crown Svo. price 2s. 6d.

NAAKE (J. T.)— SLAVONIC FAIRY
TALES. From Russian, Servian,
Polish, and Bohemian Sources. With
4 Illustrations. Crown Svo. price $s.

PELLETAN(E.)— THE DESERT PASTOR.

JEAN JAROUSSEAU. Translated from

the French. By Colonel E. P. De

L'Hoste. With a Frontispiece. New

Edition. Fcp. Svo. price 3^. 6d.
REANEY (Mrs. G. .S.)— WAKING AND

WORKING ; or, From Girlhood to

Womanhood. New and Cheaper

Edition. With a Frontispiece. Cr.

Svo. price 35. 6d.
BLESSING AND BLESSED : a Sketch of

Girl Life. New and Cheaper Edition.

Crown Svo. cloth, price $s. 6d.
ROSE GURNEY'S DISCOVERY. A Book

for Girls. Dedicated to their Mothers.

Crown Svo. cloth, price $s. 6d.
ENGLISH GIRLS: Their Place and Power.

With Preface by the Rev. R. W. Dale.

Third Edition. P'cp. Svo. cloth,

price 2s. 6d.
JUST ANYONE, and other Stories. Three

Illustrations. Royal i6mo. cloth, price

u. 6d.
SUNBEAM WILLIE, and other Stories.

Three Illustrations. Royal i6mo.

price is. 6d.
SUNSHINE JENNY and other Stories.

3 Illustrations. Royal i6mo. cloth,

price is. 6d.

38 A List of Keg an Paid, Trench, & Go's Publications.

ROSS (Mrs. E.}, ('Nelsie Brook') —
DADDY'S PET. A Sketch from
Humble Life. With Six Illustrations.
Royal i6mo. price is.

SADLER (S. W.\ R.N.— THE AFRICAN
CRUISER: a Midshipman's Adventures
on the West Coast. With Three
Illustrations. New and Cheaper Edi
tion. Crown 8vo. price 2s. 6d.

SEEKING HIS FORTUNE, and other Stories.
With Four Illustrations, New and
Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

SEVEN AUTUMN LEAVES FROM FAIRY
LAND. Illustrated with Nine Etchings.
Square crown 8vo. price 3^. 6d.

STOCKTON (Frank R.}— A JOLLY FEL
LOWSHIP. With 20 Illustrations.
Crown Svo. cloth, price 5*.

STORR (Francis] and TURNER (ffiwss).
CANTERBURY CHIMES ; or, Chaucer
Tales retold to Children. With Six
Illustrations from the Ellesmere MS.
Second Edition. Fcp. Svo. cloth,
price 3-r. 6^

STRETTON (Hesba)— DAVID LLOYD':
LAST WILL. With Four Illustra
tions. New Edition. Royal i6mo.
price 2s. 6d.

THE WONDERFUL LIFE. Sixteenth
Thousand. Fcp. Svo. cloth, price
2J-. 6d.

SUNNYLAND STORIES. By the Autlior
'Aunt Mary's Bran Pie/ Illustrated.
Second Edition. Small 8vo. price
3*. 6d.

TALES FROM ARIOSTO RE-TOLD FOR ji
CHILDREN. By a Lady. With 3 Illus
trations. Crown Svo. cloth, price
4-r. 6d.

WH1TAKER (Florence}— CHRISTY'S IN-
HERITANCE. A Londos Story. Illus
trated. Royal i6mo. price is. 6d.

ZIMME RN (//.)— STORIES IN PRECIOU«
STONES. With Six Illustrations
Third Edition, Crown 8.vo. price

LONDON : PRINTED BY

SPOTTISV.'OODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET

B 3646 ,M3 1883
V.I SMC
MACWALTER, GABRIEL

STUART.
LIFE OF ANTONIO ROSMINI

SERBATI : FOUNDER OF
AKE-2480 (MB)

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