"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.... [Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]
TradCatKnight Newsletter (June, 2014) “Fight the Good Fight!”
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
Brethren, let us remember this day St. Paul an ex murderer turned into
an Eagle by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He saw with the Eyes of
charity and his wings of faith and hope sustained him throughout his
many journeys and afflictions. Let us call to mind this day that there
are many “fights” that man will engage himself in but are they “good”?
St. Paul preached Christ crucified and this was his only joy, comfort
and glory in the early Church where he was commanded to spread the
gospel. And is this same command from Christ any different in reality to
what we have been called to do whether clergy or laity? Yea, we have
for us a model of the “good fight”. Many men this hour fight and compete
for greater profits, for a more esteemed position, for worldly honors
or for the latest car model. Men will drive themselves into bad health
all for the sake of things BUT they will give no notice to the Creator
of “things” by which we receive anything at all! The “good fight” has
ends in eternal life by keeping the proper norm of Faith, a Faith, which
is being trampled upon by her enemies who are seeking their religion of
“absolute equality”.Therefore, the “good fight” is for the Faith and
is nothing less for it deals with our immortal souls. It deals with the
Source of our happiness and rest which is in Jesus Christ. It is not even a fight
for greater spiritual gifts or favors for even this is imperfect and
does not show that the soul is willing to love the Lover Himself for Who
He is! Will we be able to say I have fought the “good fight” or be
accused of fighting for selfish cause? This supposed “gain” of anything
less than Christ Who is our ALL. St. Paul journeyed many lands all
for the love of God because in union with Christ he followed the course
plotted out for him. This is where true joy stems from knowing that we
keep the course. It is not in the latest gift or favor or experience for
such are sometimes given to those who are truly weak in Love and need a
“boost” from the Divine to carry onward to spiritual marriage. He first
journeyed within before he journeyed the world and battled himself in
his “blindness” that he may be relieved of his carnal sight in exchange
for the inner eyes of an eagle. St. Paul helped to flourish the Faith
and we will have to fight the “good fight” not only to maintain It, but
then after chastisement, to further increase it in the world. Therefore,
start now & be bold have no fear but spread your wings. St. Paul
said “my course” and this of course, ought to be interpreted as
finishing the course God has willed for us. In a self -centered and
self- absorbed modern world how many finish their own course and not
Gods course for them! They only find out at deaths door that they shall
plummet off the cliff as a lemming into the Abyss beneath but all the
while thinking themselves to be an eagle. Man alone is wretched and in
need of the Divine Wind to keep the eagle flying in the blue skies above
and yet do we thank God for this every day? Will you now start to be
more serious in your interior journey by taking more serious this proper
understanding of “my course? Do ye seek to please yourself or satisfy
the Immaculate & Sacred Hearts? Verily, will we be able to say I
have kept the Faith? Since Vatican II there is a new modernist faith.
Can those following Vatican II objectively say they are keeping the
Faith? Answer, In the Negative and we can only pray for invincible
ignorance to excuse those following blindly the prelates and Popes since
Vatican II. Keeping the Faith to St. Paul fueled his heart and soul; it
was worth more than even his own life. It caused him many afflictions
and sufferings of which he was most grateful for. And yet how many of us
complain and murmur when we are given a little cross to carry for the
day. How many complain when what God allows interferes with our own
selfish will and desires. Complaining cost the Israelites to continue on
in circles prolonging their reach to the Promised Land. The Promised
Land is spiritual marriage with Our Lord in seventh floor of the
Fortress of the Soul in this life and ultimately the Beatific Vision in
the next. God will want to see who will “keep this faith” unto the very
end when all hell breaks loose on earth but will we not have the peace
of our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts to carry us thru? Can we say I
battled and fought; I finished His Will and kept the Faith? This is what
St. Paul would ask every Catholic believer this day. Do I love myself
that much so as to deny the ancient Faith of all times in order to fit
in with the Vatican II Modernist’s of this “passing day”. Nay, in this
interior Way even in the open blue skies in spiritual marriage with Our
Lord there is always more we can expect. Therefore, let us close our
eyes and envision ourselves at the end of this cliff as a little eagle
and spread our wings wide and then open our eyes! Fear or Faith; fright
or flight what shall it be? Self or His Sacred Heart, our Source and
End. If you are only willing to give God 90% then you should not expect
to fly off of the cliff. For the 10 percent of self you will retain is
enough to cause you to plummet. It is all or nothing good friends. #EagleoftheFortress.
“Fight the Good Fight”
Fight onward O’ Soldiers of Christ In this darkness of night For a battle is not won until All the enemies have perished out of sight Press onward in loves holy course In the Catholic faith which takes us into flight Be willing to say as testimony in loves confession I am ready to bleed and lay down my life Have clear vision in grace to take a stand For truth is truth it is either black or white Will ye stand on the edge of cliffs in fear Or will ye leap and rest upon the divine Wind So that ye may reach His Heart in the unknown heights To whom do you love and what will ye die for Is not eternity enough of reward To fight the Good Fight?
1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou
art called, and hast confessed a good confession before many witnesses.
Cardinal Pie (1815–1880) was a great churchman of 19th
century France, one of the great defenders of the Faith against that
liberalism which was eating up the world from the French Revolution
(1789) onwards. Pope Pius X kept his works by his bedside and read them
constantly. No doubt the Cardinal’s profound grasp of the key ideas
driving the modern world played a major part in enabling Pius X to
obtain a 50-year reprieve, say from 1907 to 1958, for the doomed
Catholic Church.
Doomed? But the Catholic Church cannot be doomed! True, by God’s
protection it will last to the end of the world (Mt. XXVIII, 20), but at
the same time by God’s Word we know that by then the Faith will
scarcely be found on earth (Lk. XVIII, 8), and that it will have been
given to the forces of evil to defeat the Saints (Apoc. XIII, 7). These
are two important quotes to bear in mind in 2014, because everything
around us today tells us that the followers of Christ must be prepared
for one seeming defeat after another, e.g. the fall of the Society of St
Pius X. Here is what Cardinal Pie had to say on the matter, some 150
years ago:—
“Let us fight, hoping against hope itself, which is what I wish
to tell faint-hearted Christians, slaves to popularity, worshippers of
success and shaken by the least advance of evil. Given how they feel,
please God they will be spared the agonies of the world’s final trial.
Is that trial close or is it still far off? Nobody knows, and I will not
dare to make a guess. But one thing is certain, namely that the closer
we come to the end of the world, the more and more it is wicked and
deceitful men who will gain the upper hand. The Faith will hardly be
found on earth, meaning that it will almost have disappeared from
earthly institutions. Believers themselves will hardly dare to profess
their belief in public, or in society.
“The splitting, separating and divorcing of States from God which
was for St Paul a sign foretelling the end, will advance day by day. The Church, while remaining always a visible society, will be reduced more and more to dimensions of the individual and the home.
When she started out she said she was being shut in, and she called for
more room to breathe, but as she approaches her end on earth, so she
will have to fight a rearguard action every inch of the way, being
surrounded and hemmed in on all sides. The more widely she spread out in
previous ages, the greater the effort will now be made to cut her down
to size. Finally the Church will undergo what looks like a veritable
defeat, and the Beast will be given to make war on the Saints and to
overwhelm them. The insolence of evil will be at its peak.”
These are prophetic words, coming truer by the day, not at all
pleasant to admit, but anchored in Scripture. A wise Anglican Bishop
(Butler) said in the 18th century, “Things are what they are. Their
consequences will be what they will be. Why then should we seek to
deceive ourselves?” Notice especially how the Cardinal foresees the
impossibility of defending the Faith on any larger scale than just the
home. Not everybody agrees that we have already reached that point in
2014. I might wish they were right, but I have yet to be persuaded that
with disintegrated people one can make an integrated society. Contrast
with us democratic citizens of today the Roman centurion in the Gospel
who understood a chain of command and recognized naturally the authority
of Our Lord (Mt. VIII, 5–18) – how Our Lord praised him!
Patience. See next week how the Cardinal himself reacted to what he foresaw. He was no defeatist!
Kyrie eleison.
TradCatKnight Presents: "And the Earth Shall Swallow Up..."
INTENSE short video on the sinkhole Phenomena in these endtimes! *Takes me about 4-6 hours to make a video for you all, PLEASE do your part and SHARE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RNokFM5R90
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is but a special form of devotion to Jesus. We shall know just what it is and what distinguishes it when we ascertain its object, its foundations, and its proper act.
Special object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart
The nature of this question is complex and frequently becomes more
complicated because of the difficulties arising from terminology.
Omitting terms that are over-technical, we shall study the ideas in themselves, and, that we may the sooner find our bearings, it will be well to remember the meaning and use of the word heart in current language.
(a) The word heart awakens, first of all, the idea
of a material heart, of the vital organ that throbs within our bosom,
and which we vaguely realize as intimately connected not only with our
own physical, but with our emotional and moral life. Now this heart of flesh is currently accepted as the emblem of the emotion and moral life with which we associate it, and hence the place assigned to the word heart in symbolic language, as also the use of the same word to designate those things symbolized by the heart. Note, for instance, the expressions "to open one's heart", "to give one's heart", etc. It may happen that the symbol
becomes divested of its material meaning that the sign is overlooked in
beholding only the thing signified. Thus, in current language, the word
soul no longer suggests the thought of breath, and the word heart brings to mind only the idea of courage and love. But this is perhaps a figure of speech or a metaphor, rather than a symbol. A symbol is a real sign, whereas a metaphor is only a verbal sign; a symbol
is a thing that signifies another thing, but a metaphor is a word used
to indicate something different from its proper meaning. Finally, in
current language, we are constantly passing from the part to the whole,
and, by a perfectly natural figure of speech, we use the word heart to
designate a person. These ideas will aid us in determining the object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart.
(b) The question lies between the material, the metaphorical, and the symbolic sense of the word heart; whether the object of the devotion is the Heart of flesh, as such, or the love of Jesus Christ metaphorically signified by the word heart; or the Heart of flesh, but as symbol of the emotional and moral life of Jesus, and especially His love for us. We reply that worship is rightly paid to the Heart of flesh, inasmuch as the latter symbolizes and recalls the love of Jesus, and His emotional and moral life. Thus, although directed to the material Heart, it does not stop there: it also includes love, that love which is its principal object, but which it reaches only in and through the Heart of flesh, the sign and symbol of this love. Devotion to the Heart of Jesus alone, as to a noble part of His Divine Body, would not be devotion to the Sacred Heart as understood and approved by the Church, and the same must also be said of devotion to the love of Jesus
as detached from His Heart of flesh, or else connected therewith by no
other tie than that of a word taken in the metaphorical sense. Hence, in
the devotion, there are two elements: a sensible element, the Heart of flesh, and a spiritual
element, that which this Heart of flesh recalls and represents. But
these two elements do not form two distinct objects, merely co-ordinated
they constitute but one, just as do the body and soul, and the sign and the thing signified. Hence it is also understood that these two elements are as essential to the devotion as body and soul are essential to man. Of the two elements constituting the whole, the principal one is love, which is as much the cause of the devotion and its reason for existence as the soul is the principal element in man. Consequently, devotion to the Sacred Heart may be defined as devotion to the adorable Heart of Jesus Christ in so far as this Heart represents and recalls His love; or, what amounts to the same thing, devotion to the love of Jesus Christ in so far as this love is recalled and symbolically represented to us by His Heart of flesh.
(c) Hence the devotion is based entirely upon the symbolism of the heart. It is this symbolism that imparts to its meaning and its unity, and this symbolism is admirably completed by the representation of the Heart as wounded. Since the Heart of Jesus appears to us as the sensible sign of His love, the visible wound in the Heart will naturally recall the invisible wound of this love. This symbolism also explains that the devotion, although giving the Heart an essential place, is but little concerned with the anatomy of the heart or with physiology. Since, in images of the Sacred Heart, the symbolic expression must dominate all else, anatomical accuracy is not looked for; it would injure the devotion by rendering the symbolism less evident. It is eminently proper that the heart as an emblem be distinguished from the anatomical heart: the suitableness of the image is favourable to the expression of the idea. A visible heart is necessary for an image of the Sacred Heart, but this visible heart must be a symbolic heart. Similar observations are in order for physiology, in which the devotion cannot be totally disinterested, because the Heart of Flesh toward which the worship is directed in order to read therein the love of Jesus, is the Heart of Jesus, the real, living Heart that, in all truth, may be said to have loved and suffered; the Heart that, as we feel ourselves, had such a share in His emotional and moral life; the Heart that, as we know from a knowledge, however rudimentary, of the operations of our humanlife, had such a part in the operations of the Master's life. But the relation of the Heart to the love of Christ is not that of a purely conventional sign, as in the relation of the word to the thing, or of the flag to the idea of one's country; this Heart has been and is still inseparably connected with that life of benefactions and love. However, it is sufficient for our devotion that we know and feel this intimate connection. We have nothing to do with the physiology of the Sacred Heart nor with determining the exact functions of the heart in daily life. We know that the symbolism of the heart is a symbolism founded upon reality and that it constitutes the special object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which devotion is in no danger of falling into error.
(d) The heart is, above all, the emblem of love, and by this characteristic, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is naturally defined. However, being directed to the loving Heart of Jesus, it naturally encounters whatever in Jesus is connected with this love. Now, was not this love the motive of all that Christ did and suffered? Was not all His inner, even more than His outward, life dominated by this love? On the other hand, the devotion to the Sacred Heart, being directed to the living Heart of Jesus, thus becomes familiar with the whole inner life of the Master, with all His virtues and sentiments, finally, with Jesusinfinitelyloving and lovable. Hence, a first extension of the devotion is from the loving Heart to the intimate knowledge of Jesus, to His sentiments and virtues, to His whole emotional and moral life; from the loving Heart to all the manifestations of Its love.
There is still another extension which, although having the same
meaning, is made in another way, that is by passing from the Heart to
the Person, a transition which, as we have seen, is very naturally made. When speaking of a large heart our allusion is to the person, just as when we mention the Sacred Heart we mean Jesus. This is not, however, because the two are synonymous but when the word heart is used to designate the person, it is because such a person is considered in whatsoever related to his emotional and moral life. Thus, when we designate Jesus as the Sacred Heart, we mean Jesus manifesting His Heart, Jesus all loving and amiable. Jesus entire is thus recapitulated in the Sacred Heart as all is recapitulated in Jesus.
(e) In thus devoting oneself to Jesus all loving and lovable, one cannot fail to observe that His love is rejected. God is constantly lamenting that in Holy Writ, and the saints have always heard within their hearts the plaint of unrequited love. Indeed one of the essential phases of the devotion is that it considers the love of Jesus for us as a despised, ignored love. He Himself revealed this when He complained so bitterly to St. Margaret Mary.
(f) This love is everywhere manifest in Jesus and in His life, and it alone can explain Him together with His words and His acts. Nevertheless, it shines forth more resplendently in certain mysteries from which great good accrues to us, and in which Jesus is more lavish of His loving benefactions and more complete in His gift of self, namely, in the Incarnation, in the Passion, and in the Eucharist. Moreover, these mysteries have a place apart in the devotion which, everywhere seeking Jesus and the signs of His love and favours, finds them here to an even greater extent than in particular acts.
(g) We have already seen that devotion to the Sacred Heart, being directed to the Heart of Jesus as the emblem of love, has mainly in view His love for men. This is obviously not that it excludes His love for God, for this included in His love for men, but it is above all the devotion to "the Heart that has so lovedmen", according to the words quoted by St. Margaret Mary.
(h) Finally, the question arises as to whether the love which we honour in this devotion is that with which Jesus loves us as Man or that with which He loves us as God; whether it is created or uncreated, His human or His Divine Love. Undoubtedly it is the love of God made Man, the love of the IncarnateWord. However, it does not seem that devout persons think of separating these two loves any more than they separate the two natures in Jesus.
Besides, even though we might wish to settle this part of the question
at any cost, we would find that the opinions of authors are at variance.
Some, considering that the Heart of Flesh is connected with humanlove only, conclude that it does not symbolize Divine love which, moreover, is not proper to the Person of Jesus, and that, therefore, Divine love is not the direct object of the devotion. Others, while admitting that Divine love apart from the IncarnateWord is not the object of the devotion, believe it to be such when considered as the love of the IncarnateWord, and they do not see why this love also could not be symbolized by the Heart of flesh nor why, in this event, the devotion should be limited to createdlove only.
Foundations of the devotion
The question may be considered under three aspects: the historical, the theological, and the scientific.
(a) Historical foundations
In approving the devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Church did not trust to the visions of St. Margaret Mary; she made abstraction of these and examined the worship in itself. Margaret Mary'svisions could be false, but the devotion would not, on that account, be any less worthy or solid. However, the fact is that the devotion was propagated chiefly under the influence of the movement started at Paray-le-Monial; and prior to her beatification, Margaret Mary'svisions were most critically examined by the Church, whose judgment in such cases does not involve her infallibility but implies only a humancertainty sufficient to warrant consequent speech and action.
(b) Theological foundations
The Heart of Jesus, like all else that belongs to His Person, is worthy of adoration, but this would not be so if It were considered as isolated from this Person and as having no connection with It. But it is not thus that the Heart is considered, and, in his Bull"Auctorem fidei", 1794, Pius VI authoritatively vindicated the devotion in this respect against the calumnies of the Jansenists. The worship, although paid to the Heart of Jesus, extends further than the Heart of flesh, being directed to the love of which this Heart is the living and expressive symbol. On this point the devotion requires no justification, as it is to the Person of Jesus that it is directed; but to the Person as inseparable from His Divinity. Jesus, the livingapparition of the goodness of God and of His paternal love, Jesusinfinitelyloving and amiable, studied in the principal manifestations of His love, is the object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as indeed He is the object of the Christian religion. The difficulty lies in the union of the heart and love, in the relation which the devotion supposes between the one and the other. Is not this an error long since discarded? If so, it remains to examine whether the devotion, considered in this respect, is well founded.
(c) Philosophical and scientific foundations
In this respect there has been some uncertainty amongst theologians,
not as regards the basis of things, but in the matter of explanations.
Sometimes they have spoken as if the heart were the organ of love, but this point has no bearing on the devotion, for which it suffices that the heart be the symbol of love, and that, for the basis of the symbolism, a real connection exist between the heart and the emotions. Now, the symbolism
of the heart is a fact and every one feels that in the heart there is a
sort of an echo of our sentiments. The physiological study of this
resonance may be very interesting, but it is in no wise necessary to the devotion,
as its foundation is a fact attested by daily experience, a fact which
physiological study confirms and of which it determines the conditions, but which neither supposes this study nor any special acquaintance with its subject.
The proper act of the devotion
This act is required by the very object of the devotion, since devotion to the love of Jesus for us should be pre-eminently a devotion of love for Jesus. It is characterized by a reciprocation of love; its aim is to loveJesus who has so loved us, to return love for love. Since, moreover, the love of Jesus manifests itself to the devout soul as a love despised and outraged, especially in the Eucharist, the love expressed in the devotion naturally assumes a character of reparation, and hence the importance of acts of atonement, the Communion of reparation, and compassion for Jesus suffering. But no special act, no practice whatever, can exhaust the riches of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The love which is its soul embraces all and, the better one understands it, the more firmly is he convinced that nothing can vie with it for making Jesus live in us and for bringing him who lives by it to loveGod, in union with Jesus, with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength.
Historical ideas on the development of the devotion
(1) From the time of St. John and St. Paul there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, Who so loved the world as to give it His only-begotten Son, and to the love of Jesus, Who has so loved us as to deliver Himself up for us. But, accurately speaking, this is not the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as it pays no homage to the Heart of Jesus as the symbol of His love for us. From the earliest centuries, in accordance with the example of the Evangelist, Christ's open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. But there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries, any worship was rendered the wounded Heart.
(2) It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side of the wound Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolized the wound of love. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercianmonasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought, that the devotion arose, although it is impossible to say positively what were its first texts or were its first votaries. To St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and the author of the "Vitis mystica" it was already well known. We cannot state with certainty to whom we are indebted for the "Vitis mystica". Until recent times its authorship had generally been ascribed to St. Bernard
and yet, by the late publishers of the beautiful and scholarly
Quaracchi edition, it has been attributed, and not without plausible
reasons, to St. Bonaventure
("S. Bonaventura opera omnia", 1898, VIII, LIII sq.). But, be this as
it may, it contains one of the most beautiful passages that ever
inspired the devotion to the Sacred Heart, one appropriated by the Church for the lessons of the second nocturn of the feast. To St. Mechtilde (d. 1298) and St. Gertrude (d. 1302) it was a familiar devotion which was translated into many beautiful prayers and exercises. What deserves special mention is the vision of St. Gertrude on the feast of St. John the Evangelist, as it forms an epoch in the history of the devotion. Allowed to rest her head near the wound in the Saviour's she heard the beating of the Divine Heart and asked John if, on the night of the Last Supper, he too had felt these delightful pulsations, why he had never spoken of the fact. John replied that this revelation had been reserved for subsequent ages when the world, having grown cold, would have need of it to rekindle its love ("Legatus divinae pietatis", IV, 305; "Revelationes Gertrudianae", ed. Poitiers and Paris, 1877).
(3) From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, the devotion was propagated but it did not seem to have developed in itself. It was everywhere practised by privileged souls, and the lives of the saints and annals of different religious congregations, of the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carthusians, etc., furnish many examples of it. It was nevertheless a private, individual devotion of the mystical order. Nothing of a general movement had been inaugurated, unless one would so regard the propagation of the devotion to the Five Wounds, in which the Wound in the Heart figured most prominently, and for the furtherance of which the Franciscans seem to have laboured.
(4) It appears that in the sixteenth century, the devotion took an onward step and passed from the domain of mysticism into that of Christianasceticism. It was constituted an objective devotion with prayers
already formulated and special exercises of which the value was
extolled and the practice commended. This we learn from the writings of
those two masters of the spiritual life, the piousLanspergius (d. 1539) of the Carthusians of Cologne, and the devout Louis of Blois (Blosius; 1566), a Benedictine and Abbot of Liessies in Hainaut. To these may be added Blessed John of Avila (d. 1569) and St. Francis de Sales, the latter belonging to the seventeenth century.
(5) From that time everything betokened an early bringing to light of the devotion. Ascetic writers spoke of it, especially those of the Society of Jesus, Alvarez de Paz, Luis de la Puente, Saint-Jure, and Nouet, and there still exist special treatises upon it such as Father Druzbicki's (d. 1662) small work, "Meta Cordium, Cor Jesu". Amongst the mystics and pioussouls who practised the devotion were St. Francis Borgia, Blessed Peter Canisius, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Jesus; also Venerable Marina de Escobar (d. 1633), in Spain; the Venerable Madeleine St. Joseph and the Venerable Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament, Carmelites, in France; Jeanne de S. Mathieu Deleloe (d. 1660), a Benedictine, in Belgium; the worthy Armelle of Vannes (d. 1671); and even in Jansenistic or worldly centres, Marie de Valernod (d. 1654) and Angélique Arnauld; M. Boudon, the great archdeacon of Evreux, Father Huby, the apostle of retreats in Brittany, and, above all, the Venerable Marie de l'Incarnation, who died at Quebec in 1672. The Visitation seemed to be awaiting St. Margaret Mary; its spirituality, certain intuitions of St. Francis de Sales, the meditations of Mère l'Huillier (d. 1655), the visions
of Mother Anne-Marguerite Clément (d. 1661), and of Sister
Jeanne-Bénigne Gojos (d. 1692), all paved the way. The image of the
Heart of Jesus was everywhere in evidence, which fact was largely due to the Franciscan devotion to the Five Wounds and to the habit formed by the Jesuits of placing the image on their title-page of their books and the walls of their churches.
(6) Nevertheless, the devotion remained an individual or at least a private devotion. It was reserved to Blessed Jean Eudes (1602-1680) to make it public, to honour it with an Office, and to establish a feast for it. Père Eudes was above all the apostle of the Heart of Mary; but in his devotion to the Immaculate Heart there was a share for the Heart of Jesus. Little by little the devotion to the Sacred Heart became a separate one, and on 31 August, 1670, the first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated with great solemnity in the Grand Seminary of Rennes. Coutances followed suit on 20 October, a day with which the Eudistfeast was thenceforth to be connected. The feast soon spread to other dioceses, and the devotion was likewise adopted in various religious communities. Here and there it came into contact with the devotion begun at Paray, and a fusion of the two naturally resulted.
(7) It was to Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a humble Visitandine of the monastery at Paray-le-Monial, that Christ chose to reveal the desires of His Heart and to confide the task of imparting new life to the devotion. There is nothing to indicate that this pious religious had known the devotion prior to the revelations, or at least that she had paid any attention to it. These revelations were numerous, and the following apparitions are especially remarkable: that which occurred on the feast of St. John, when Jesus permitted Margaret Mary, as He had formerly allowed St. Gertrude, to rest her head upon His Heart, and then disclosed to her the wonders of His love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse the treasures of His goodness,
and that He had chosen her for this work (27 Dec., probably 1673);
that, probably distinct from the preceding, in which He requested to be honoured under the figure of His Heart of flesh; that, when He appeared radiant with love and asked for a devotion of expiatory love — frequent Communion, Communion on the First Friday of the month, and the observance of the Holy Hour (probably June or July, 1674); that known as the "great apparition" which took place during the octave of Corpus Christi, 1675, probably on 16 June, when He said, "Behold the Heart that has so lovedmen . . . instead of gratitude I receive from the greater part (of mankind) only ingratitude . . .", and asked her for a feast of reparation of the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi, bidding her consult Father de la Colombière, then superior of the small Jesuit house at Paray; and finally, those in which solemn homage was asked on the part of the king, and the mission of propagating the new devotion was especially confided to the religious of the Visitation and the priests of the Society of Jesus. A few days after the "great apparition", of June, 1675, Margaret Mary made all known to Father de la Colombière, and the latter, recognizing the action of the spirit of God, consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart, directed the holy Visitandine to write an account of the apparition, and made use of every available opportunity discreetly to circulate this account through France and England. At his death, 15 February 1682, there was found in his journal of spiritual retreats a copy in his own handwriting of the account that he had requested of Margaret Mary, together with a few reflections on the usefulness of the devotion. This journal, including the account and a beautiful "offering" to the Sacred Heart, in which the devotion was well explained, was published at Lyons in 1684. The little book was widely read, even at Paray, although not without being the cause of "dreadful confusion" to Margaret Mary, who, nevertheless, resolved to make the best of it and profited by the book for the spreading of her cherished devotion. Moulins, with Mother de Soudeilles, Dijon, with Mother de Saumaise and Sister Joly, Semur, with Mother Greyfié, and even Paray, which had at first resisted, joined the movement. Outside of the Visitandines, priests, religious, and laymen espoused the cause, particularly a Capuchin, Margaret Mary's two brothers, and some Jesuits, among the latter being Fathers Croiset and Gallifet, who were destined to do so much for the devotion.
(8) The death of Margaret Mary, 17 October 1690, did not dampen the ardour of those interested;
on the contrary, a short account of her life published by Father
Croiset in 1691, as an appendix to his book "De la Dévotion au Sacré
Cœur", served only to increase it. In spite of all sorts of obstacles,
and of the slowness of the Holy See, which in 1693 imparted indulgences to the Confraternities of the Sacred Heart and, in 1697, granted the feast to the Visitandines with the Mass of the Five Wounds, but refused a feast common to all, with special Mass and Office, the devotion spread, particularly in religious communities. The Marseilles plague, 1720, furnished perhaps the first occasion for a solemnconsecration and public worship outside of religious communities. Other cities of the South followed the example of Marseilles, and thus the devotion became a popular one. In 1726 it was deemed advisable once more to importune Rome for a feast with a Mass and Office of its own, but, in 1729, Rome again refused. However, in 1765, it finally yielded and that same year, at the request of the queen, the feast was received quasi officially by the episcopate of France. On all sides it was asked for and obtained, and finally, in 1856, at the urgent entreaties of the Frenchbishops, Pope Pius IX extended the feast to the universal Church under the rite of double major. In 1889 it was raised by the Church to the double rite of first class. The acts of consecration and of reparation were everywhere introduced together with the devotion. Oftentimes, especially since about 1850, groups, congregations, and States have consecrated themselves to the Sacred Heart, and, in 1875, this consecration was made throughout the Catholic world. Still the pope did not wish to take the initiative or to intervene. Finally, on 11 June, 1899, by order of Leo XIII, and with the formula prescribed by him, all mankind was solemnlyconsecrated to the Sacred Heart. The idea of this act, which Leo XIII called "the great act" of his pontificate, had been proposed to him by a religious of the Good Shepherd from Oporto (Portugal) who said that she had received it from Christ Himself. She was a member of the Drost-zu-Vischering family, and known in religion as Sister Mary of the Divine Heart. She died on the feast of the Sacred Heart, two days before the consecration, which had been deferred to the following Sunday. Whilst alluding to these great public manifestations we must not omit referring to the intimate life of the devotion in souls,
to the practices connected with it, and to the works and associations
of which it was the very life. Moreover, we must not overlook the social
character which it has assumed particularly of late years. The Catholics of France, especially, cling firmly to it as one of their strongest hopes of ennoblement and salvation. Source: New Advent
Please be sure to Watch my extensive Meditational Series on the Sacred Heart of Jesus
St Bernard: (Military Orders) In Praise of the New Knighthood
Part Two
The following passages are taken from a treatise written in the early
12th century by the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, on behalf of
the fledgling Knights Templar. It might be viewed as a combination of
exhortation to the Knights, and advertisement to the population in
general. Officially it is an answer to a letter written to Bernard by
his friend Hugh de Payens, one of the founders of the Templars.
CHAPTER THREE
ON THE NEW KNIGHTHOOD
BUT THE KNIGHTS OF CHRIST may safely fight the battles of their
Lord, fearing neither sin if they smite the enemy, nor danger at their
own death; since to inflict death or to die for Christ is no sin, but
rather, an abundant claim to glory. In the first case one gains for
Christ, and in the second one gains Christ himself. The Lord freely
accepts the death of the foe who has offended him, and yet more freely
gives himself for the consolation of his fallen knight.
The knight of Christ, I say, may strike with confidence and die
yet more confidently, for he serves Christ when he strikes, and serves
himself when he falls. Neither does he bear the sword in vain, for he is
God's minister, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of
the good. If he kills an evildoer, he is not a mankiller, but, if I may
so put it, a killer of evil. He is evidently the avenger of Christ
towards evildoers and he is rightly considered a defender of Christians.
Should he be killed himself, we know that he has not perished, but has
come safely into port. When he inflicts death it is to Christ's profit,
and when he suffers death, it is for his own gain. The Christian glories
in the death of the pagan, because Christ is glorified; while the death
of the Christian gives occasion for the King to show his liberality in
the rewarding of his knight. In the one case the just shall rejoice when
he sees justice done, and in the other man shall say, truly there is a
reward for the just; truly it is God who judges the earth.
I do not mean to say that the pagans are to be slaughtered when
there is any other way to prevent them from harassing and persecuting
the faithful, but only that it now seems better to destroy them than
that the rod of sinners be lifted over the lot of the just, and the
righteous perhaps put forth their hands unto iniquity.
What then? If it is never permissible for a Christian to
strike with the sword, why did the Savior's precursor bid the soldiers
to be content with their pay, and not rather forbid them to follow this
calling? But if it is permitted to all those so destined by God, as is
indeed the case provided they have not embraced a higher calling, to
whom, I ask, may it be allowed more rightly than to those whose hands
and hearts hold for us Sion, the city of our strength?
Thus when the transgressors of divine law have been expelled, the
righteous nation that keeps the truth may enter in security. Certainly
it is proper that the nations who love war should be scattered, that
those who trouble us should be cut off, and that all the workers of
iniquity should be dispersed from the city of the Lord. They busy
themselves to carry away the incalculable riches placed in Jerusalem by
the Christian peoples, to profane the holy things and to possess the
sanctuary of God as their heritage. Let both swords of the faithful fall
upon the necks of the foe, in order to destroy every high thing
exalting itself against the knowledge of God, which is the Christian
faith, lest the Gentiles should then say, "Where is their God?"
Once they have been cast out, he shall return to his heritage
and to his house, which aroused his anger in the Gospel, "Behold," he
said, "your house is left to you desolate." He had complained through
the Prophet: "I have left my house, I have forsaken my heritage," and he
will fulfill that other prophecy: "The Lord has ransomed his people and
delivered them. They shall come and exult on Mount Sion, and rejoice in
the good things of the Lord."
Rejoice Jerusalem, and recognize now the time in which you are
visited! Be glad and give praise together, wastes of Jerusalem, for the
Lord has comforted his people. He has ransomed Jerusalem. The Lord has
bared his holy arm in the sight of all peoples. O virgin of Israel, you
were fallen and there was none to raise you up. Arise now and shake off
the dust, O virgin, captive daughter of Sion. Arise, I say, and stand on
high. See the happiness which comes to you from your God. You will no
longer be referred to as the forsaken one, nor your land any more termed
a wilderness; for the Lord takes his delight in you, and your land
shall be peopled. Raise your eyes, look about you and see; all these are
gathered together and come to you. Here is the help sent to you from
the Holy One! Through them is already fulfilled the ancient promise, "I
will make you the pride of the ages, a joy from generation to
generation. You will suck the milk of the nations and be nourished at
the breasts of their sovereignty." And again, "As a mother consoles her
children, so will I console you, and in Jerusalem you will be
comforted."
Do you not see how frequently these ancient witnesses
foreshadowed the new knighthood? Truly, as we have heard, so we have now
seen in the city of the Lord of armies. Of course we must not let these
literal fulfillments blind us to the spiritual meaning of the texts,
for we must live in eternal hope in spite of such temporal realizations
of prophetic utterances. Otherwise the tangible would supplant the
intangible, material poverty would threaten spiritual wealth and present
possessions would forestall future fulfillment. Furthermore, the
temporal glory of the earthly city does not eclipse the glory of its
heavenly counterpart, but rather prepares for it, at least so long as we
remember that the one is the figure of the other, and that it is the
heavenly one which is our mother.
CHAPTER FOUR
ON THE LIFE STYLE OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE
AND NOW AS A MODEL, or at least for the shame of those knights of
ours who are fighting for the devil rather than for God, we will
briefly set forth the life and virtues of these cavaliers of Christ. Let
us see how they conduct themselves at home as well as in battle, how
they appear in public, and in what way the knight of God differs from
the knight of the world.
In the first place, discipline is in no way lacking and obedience
is never despised. As Scripture testifies, the undisciplined son shall
perish and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, to refuse obedience is
like the crime of idolatry. Therefore they come and go at the bidding
of their superior. They wear what he gives them, and do not presume to
wear or to eat anything from another source. Thus they shun every excess
in clothing and food and content themselves with what is necessary.
They live as brothers in joyful and sober company, without wives or
children. So that their evangelical perfection will lack nothing, they
dwell united in one family with no personal property whatever, careful
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You may say that
the whole multitude has but one heart and one soul to the point that
nobody follows his own will, but rather seeks to follow the commander.
They never sit in idleness or wander about aimlessly, but on the
rare occasions when they are not on duty, they are always careful to
earn their bread by repairing their worn armor and torn clothing, or
simply by setting things to order. For the rest, they are guided by the
common needs and by the orders of their master.
There is no distinction of persons among them, and deference is
shown to merit rather than to noble blood. They rival one another in
mutual consideration, and they carry one another's burdens, thus
fulfilling the law of Christ. No inappropriate word, idle deed,
unrestrained laugh, not even the slightest whisper or murmur is left
uncorrected once it has been detected. They foreswear dice and chess,
and abhor the chase; they take no delight in the ridiculous cruelty of
falconry, as is the custom. As for jesters, magicians, bards,
troubadours and jousters, they despise and reject them as so many
vanities and unsound deceptions. Their hair is worn short, in conformity
with the Apostle's saying, that it is shameful for a man to cultivate
flowing locks. Indeed, they seldom wash and never set their
hair--content to appear tousled and dusty, bearing the marks of the sun
and of their armor.
8. When the battle is at hand, they arm themselves interiorly
with faith and exteriorly with steel rather than decorate themselves
with gold, since their business is to strike fear in the enemy rather
than to incite his cupidity. They seek out horses which are strong and
swift, rather than those which are brilliant and well-plumed, they set
their minds on fighting to win rather than on parading for show. They
think not of glory and seek to be formidable rather than flamboyant. At
the same time, they are not quarrelsome, rash, or unduly hasty, but
soberly, prudently and providently drawn up into orderly ranks, as we
read of the fathers. Indeed, the true Israelite is a man of peace, even
when he goes forth to battle.
Once he finds himself in the thick of battle, this knight sets
aside his previous gentleness, as if to say, "Do I not hate those who
hate you, O Lord; am I not disgusted with your enemies?" These men at
once fall violently upon the foe, regarding them as so many sheep. No
matter how outnumbered they are, they never regard these as fierce
barbarians or as awe-inspiring hordes. Nor do they presume on their own
strength, but trust in the Lord of armies to grant them the victory.
They are mindful of the words of Maccabees, "It is simple enough for a
multitude to be vanquished by a handful. It makes no difference to the
God of heaven whether he grants deliverance by the hands of few or many;
for victory in war is not dependent on a big army, and bravery is the
gift of heaven." On numerous occasions they had seen one man pursue a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.
Thus in a wonderous and unique manner they appear gentler than
lambs, yet fiercer than lions. I do not know if it would be more
appropriate to refer to them as monks or as soldiers, unless perhaps it
would be better to recognize them as being both. Indeed they lack
neither monastic meekness nor military might. What can we say of this,
except that this has been done by the Lord, and it is marvelous in our
eyes. These are the picked troops of God, whom he has recruited from the
ends of the earth; the valiant men of Israel chosen to guard well and
faithfully that tomb which is the bed of the true Solomon, each man
sword in hand, and superbly trained to war.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM
THEIR QUARTERS indeed are in the very temple of Jerusalem, which
is not as vast as the ancient masterpiece of Solomon, but is no less
glorious. Truly all the magnificence of the first temple lay in
perishable gold and silver, in polished stones and precious woods;
whereas all the beauty and gracious charming adornment of its present
counterpart is the religious fervor of its occupants and by their
well-disciplined behavior. In the former, one could contemplate all
sorts of beautiful colors, while in the latter one is able to venerate
all sorts of virtues and good works. Indeed holiness is the fitting
ornament for God's house. One is able to delight there in splendid
merits rather than in shining marble, and to be captivated by pure
hearts rather than by gilded paneling.
Of course the facade of this temple is adorned, but with weapons
rather than with jewels, and in place of the ancient golden crowns, its
walls are hung round about with shields. In place of candlesticks,
censers and ewers, this house is well furnished with saddles, bits and
lances. By all these signs our knights clearly show that they are
animated by the same zeal for the house of God which of old passionately
inflamed their leader himself when he armed his most holy hands, not
indeed with a sword, but with a whip. Having fashioned this from some
lengths of cord, he entered the temple and ejected the merchants,
scattered the coins of the money changers, and overturned the chairs of
the pigeon venders, considering it most unfitting to defile this house
of prayer by such traffic.
Moved therefore by their King's example, his devoted soldiers
consider that it is even more shameful and infinitely more intolerable
for a holy place to be polluted by pagans than to be crowded with
merchants. Once they have installed themselves in this holy house with
their horses and their weapons, cleansed it and the other holy places of
every un-Christian stain, and cast out the tyrannical horde, they
occupy themselves day and night in both pious exercises and practical
work. They are especially careful to honor the temple of God with
zealous and sincere reverence, offering by their devout service, not the
flesh of animals according to the ancient rites, but true peace
offerings of brotherly love, devoted obedience and voluntary poverty.
10. These events at Jerusalem have shaken the world. The islands
hearken, and the people from afar give ear. They swarm forth from East
and West, as a flood stream bringing glory to the nations and a rushing
river gladdening the city of God. What could be more profitable and
pleasant to behold than seeing such a multitude coming to reinforce the
few? What, if not the twofold joy of seeing the conversion of these
former impious rogues, sacrilegious thieves, murderers, perjurers and
adulterers? A twofold joy and a twofold benefit, since their countrymen
are as glad to be rid of them as their new comrades are to receive them.
Both sides have profited from this exchange, since the latter are
strengthened and the former are now left in peace. Thus Egypt rejoices
in their conversion and departure while Mount Sion rejoices and the
daughters of Juda are glad to acquire these new protectors. The former
glory in being delivered from their hands, while the latter have every
reason to expect deliverance by means of these same hands. The former
gladly see their cruel despoilers depart, while the latter gladly
welcome their faithful defenders; so that the one is agreeably
heartened, while the other is profitably abandoned.
This is the revenge which Christ contrives against his enemies,
to triumph powerfully and gloriously over them by their own means.
Indeed, it is both a happy and fitting thing that those who have so long
fought against him should at last fight for him. Thus he recruits his
soldiers among his foes, just as he once turned Saul the persecutor into
Paul the preacher. Therefore I am not surprised that, as our Savior
himself has affirmed, the court of heaven takes more joy in the
conversion of one sinner than in the virtues of many just men who have
no need of conversion. Certainly the conversion of so many sinners and
evil doers will now do as much good as their former misdeeds did harm.
11. Hail then, holy city, sanctified by the Most High for his own
tabernacle in order that such a generation might be saved in and
through you! Hail, city of the great King, source of so many joyous and
unheard-of marvels! Hail mistress of nations and queen of provinces,
heritage of patriarchs, mother of apostles and prophets, source of the
faith and glory of the Christian people! If God has permitted you to be
so often besieged, it has only been to furnish brave men an occasion for
valor and immortality.
Hail promised land, source of milk and honey for your ancient
inhabitants, now become the source of healing grace and vital sustenance
for the whole earth! Yes, I say, you are that good and excellent soil
which received into its fruitful depths the heavenly seed from the heart
of the eternal Father. What a rich harvest of martyrs you have produced
from that heavenly seed! Your fertile soil has not failed to furnish
splendid examples of every Christian virtue for the whole earth--some
bearing fruit thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. Therefore
those who have seen you are most happily filled with the great abundance
of your sweetness and are well nourished on your munificent bounty.
Everywhere they go they publish the fame of your great goodness and
relate the splendors of your glory to those who have never seen it,
proclaiming the marvels accomplished in you even to the ends of the
earth.
Indeed, glorious things are told of you, city of God! Now then we
will set forth something of the delights in which you abound, for the
praise and glory of your name.
St Bernard: (Military Orders) In Praise of the New Knighthood
Part One
The following passage is taken from a treatise written in the early
12th century by the Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, on behalf of
the fledgling Knights Templar. It might be viewed as a combination of
exhortation to the Knights, and advertisement to the population in
general. Officially it is an answer to a letter written to Bernard by
his friend Hugh de Payens, one of the founders of the Templars.
The full text, along with comprehensive notes, may be found
in The Cistercian Fathers Series: Number Nineteen, The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux: Volume Seven, Treatises III, translated by Conrad Greenia, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1977.
Prologue
TO HUGH, KNIGHT OF CHRIST AND MASTER OF CHRIST'S MILITIA:
BERNARD, IN NAME ONLY, ABBOT OF CLAIRVAUS, WISHES THAT
HE MIGHT FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT
IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, MY DEAR HUGH, you have asked me not once or twice,
but three times to write a few words of exhortation for you and your
comrades. You say that if I am not permitted to wield the lance, at
least I might direct my pen against the tyrannical foe, and that this
moral, rather than material support of mine will be of no small help to
you. I have put you off now for quite some time, not that I disdain your
request, but rather lest I be blamed for taking it lightly and hastily.
I feared I might botch a task which could be better done by a more
qualified hand, and which would perhaps remain, because of me, just as
necessary and all the more difficult.
Having waited thus for quite some time to no purpose, I have now done
what I could, lest my inability should be mistaken for unwillingness. It
is for the reader to judge the result. If some perhaps find my work
unsatisfactory or short of the mark, I shall be nonetheless content,
since I have not failed to give you my best.
CHAPTER ONE
A WORD OF EXHORTATION FOR THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE
IT SEEMS THAT A NEW KNIGHTHOOD has recently appeared on the earth, and
precisely in that part of it which the Orient from on high visited in
the flesh. As he then troubled the princes of darkness in the strength
of his mighty hand, so there he now wipes out their followers, the
children of disbelief, scattering them by the hands of his mighty ones.
Even now he brings about the redemption of his people raising up again a
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.
This is, I say, a new kind of knighthood and one unknown to the
ages gone by. It ceaselessly wages a twofold war both against flesh and
blood and against a spiritual army of evil in the heavens. When someone
strongly resists a foe in the flesh, relying solely on the strength of
the flesh, I would hardly remark it, since this is common enough. And
when war is waged by spiritual strength against vices or demons, this,
too, is nothing remarkable, praiseworthy as it is, for the world is full
of monks. But when the one sees a man powerfully girding himself with
both swords and nobly marking his belt, who would not consider it worthy
of all wonder, the more so since it has been hitherto unknown? He is
truly a fearless knight and secure on every side, for his soul is
protected by the armor of faith just as his body is protected by armor
of steel. He is thus doubly armed and need fear neither demons nor men.
Not that he fears death--no, he desires it. Why should he fear to live
or fear to die when for him to live is Christ, and to die is gain?
Gladly and faithfully he stands for Christ, but he would prefer to be
dissolved and to be with Christ, by far the better thing.
Go forth confidently then, you knights, and repel the foes of the
cross of Christ with a stalwart heart. Know that neither death nor life
can separate you from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, and in
every peril repeat, "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the
Lord's." What a glory to return in victory from such a battle! How
blessed to die there as a martyr! Rejoice, brave athlete, if you live
and conquer in the Lord; but glory and exult even more if you die and
join your Lord. Life indeed is a fruitful thing and victory is glorious,
but a holy death is more important than either. If they are blessed who
die in the Lord, how much more are they who die for the Lord!
2. To be sure, precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of
his holy ones, whether they die in battle or in bed, but death in battle
is more precious as it is the more glorious. How secure is life when
the conscience is unsullied! How secure, I say, is life when death is
anticipated without fear; or rather when it is desired with feeling and
embraced with reverence! How holy and secure this knighthood and how
entirely free of the double risk run by those men who fight not for
Christ! Whenever you go forth, O worldly warrior, you must fear lest the
bodily death of your foe should mean your own spiritual death, or lest
perhaps your body and soul together should be slain by him.
Indeed, danger or victory for a Christian depends on the
dispositions of his heart and not on the fortunes of war. If he fights
for a good reason, the issue of his fight can never be evil; and
likewise the results can never be considered good if the reason were
evil and the intentions perverse. If you happen to be killed while you
are seeking only to kill another, you die a murderer. If you succeed,
and by your will to overcome and to conquer you perchance kill a man,
you live a murderer. Now it will not do to be a murderer, living or
dead, victorious or vanquished. What an unhappy victory--to have
conquered a man while yielding to vice, and to indulge in an empty glory
at his fall when wrath and pride have gotten the better of you!
But what of those who kill neither in the heat of revenge nor in
the swelling of pride, but simply in order to save themselves? Even this
sort of victory I would not call good, since bodily death is really a
lesser evil than spiritual death. The soul need not die when the body
does. No, it is the soul which sins that shall die.
CHAPTER TWO
ON WORLDLY KNIGHTHOOD
WHAT, THEN IS THE END OR FRUIT of this worldly knighthood, or
rather knavery, as I should call it? What if not the mortal sin of the
victor and the eternal death of the vanquished? Well then, let me borrow
a word from the Apostle and exhort him who plows, to plow in hope, and
him who threshes, to do so in view of some fruit.
What then, O knights, is this monstrous error and what this
unbearable urge which bids you fight with such pomp and labor, and all
to no purpose except death and sin? You cover your horses with silk, and
plume your armor with I know not what sort of rags; you paint your
shields and your saddles; you adorn your bits and spurs with gold and
silver and precious stones, and then in all this glory you rush to your
ruin with fearful wrath and fearless folly. Are these the trappings of a
warrior or are they not rather the trinkets of a woman? Do you think
the swords of your foes will be turned back by your gold, spare your
jewels or be unable to pierce your silks?
As you yourselves have often certainly experienced, a warrior
especially needs these three things--he must guard his person with
strength, shrewdness and care; he must be free in his movements, and he
must be quick to draw his sword. Then why do you blind yourselves with
effeminate locks and trip yourselves up with long and full tunics,
burying your tender, delicate hands in big cumbersome sleeves? Above
all, there is that terrible insecurity of conscience, in spite of all
your armor, since you have dared to undertake such a dangerous business
on such slight and frivolous grounds. What else is the cause of wars and
the root of disputes among you, except unreasonable flashes of anger,
the thirst for empty glory, or the hankering after some earthly
possessions? It certainly is not safe to kill or to be killed for such
causes as these.
