登陆注册
5237300000162

第162章 Lectures XIV and XV(10)

This was an altogether exceptional favor, rarely accorded even to Saints themselves, and all the more marvelous in that Louis dwelt always in courts and among great folks, where danger and opportunity are so unusually frequent. It is true that Louis from his earliest childhood had shown a natural repugnance for whatever might be impure or unvirginal, and even for relations of any sort whatever between persons of opposite sex. But this made it all the more surprising that he should, especially since this vow, feel it necessary to have recourse to such a number of expedients for protecting against even the shadow of danger the virginity which he had thus consecrated. One might suppose that if any one could have contented himself with the ordinary precautions, prescribed for all Christians, it would assuredly have been he. But no! In the use of preservatives and means of defense, in flight from the most insignificant occasions, from every possibility of peril, just as in the mortification of his flesh, he went farther than the majority of saints. He, who by an extraordinary protection of God's grace was never tempted, measured all his steps as if he were threatened on every side by particular dangers. Thenceforward he never raised his eyes, either when walking in the streets, or when in society. Not only did he avoid all business with females even more scrupulously than before, but he renounced all conversation and every kind of social recreation with them, although his father tried to make him take part; and he commenced only too early to deliver his innocent body to austerities of every kind."[211]

[211] Meschler's Life of Saint Louis of Gonzaga, French translation by Lebrequier, 1891, p. 40.

At the age of twelve, we read of this young man that "if by chance his mother sent one of her maids of honor to him with a message, he never allowed her to come in, but listened to her through the barely opened door, and dismissed her immediately.

He did not like to be alone with his own mother, whether at table or in conversation; and when the rest of the company withdrew, he sought also a pretext for retiring. . . . Several great ladies, relatives of his, he avoided learning to know even by sight; and he made a sort of treaty with his father, engaging promptly and readily to accede to all his wishes, if he might only be excused from all visits to ladies." [212]

[212] Ibid., p. 71.

When he was seventeen years old Louis joined the Jesuit order,[213] against his father's passionate entreaties, for he was heir of a princely house; and when a year later the father died, he took the loss as a "particular attention" to himself on God's part, and wrote letters of stilted good advice, as from a spiritual superior, to his grieving mother. He soon became so good a monk that if any one asked him the number of his brothers and sisters, he had to reflect and count them over before replying. A Father asked him one day if he were never troubled by the thought of his family, to which, "I never think of them except when praying for them," was his only answer. Never was he seen to hold in his hand a flower or anything perfumed, that he might take pleasure in it. On the contrary, in the hospital, he used to seek for whatever was most disgusting, and eagerly snatch the bandages of ulcers, etc., from the hands of his companions.

He avoided worldly talk, and immediately tried to turn every conversation on to pious subjects, or else he remained silent.

He systematically refused to notice his surroundings. Being ordered one day to bring a book from the rector's seat in the refectory, he had to ask where the rector sat, for in the three months he had eaten bread there, so carefully did he guard his eyes that he had not noticed the place. One day, during recess, having looked by chance on one of his companions, he reproached himself as for a grave sin against modesty. He cultivated silence, as preserving from sins of the tongue; and his greatest penance was the limit which his superiors set to his bodily penances. He sought after false accusations and unjust reprimands as opportunities of humility; and such was his obedience that, when a room-mate, having no more paper, asked him for a sheet, he did not feel free to give it to him without first obtaining the permission of the superior, who, as such, stood in the place of God, and transmitted his orders.

[213] In his boyish note-book he praises the monastic life for its freedom from sin, and for the imperishable treasures, which it enables us to store up, "of merit in God's eyes which makes of Him our debtor for all Eternity." Loc. cit., p. 62.

I can find no other sorts of fruit than these of Louis's saintship. He died in 1591, in his twenty-ninth year, and is known in the Church as the patron of all young people. On his festival, the altar in the chapel devoted to him in a certain church in Rome "is embosomed in flowers, arranged with exquisite taste; and a pile of letters may be seen at its foot, written to the Saint by young men and women, and directed to 'Paradiso.'

They are supposed to be burnt unread except by San Luigi, who must find singular petitions in these pretty little missives, tied up now with a green ribbon, expressive of hope, now with a red one, emblematic of love," etc.[214]

[214] Mademoiselle Mori, a novel quoted in Hare's Walks in Rome, 1900, i. 55.

I cannot resist the temptation to quote from Starbuck's book, p.

388, another case of purification by elimination. It runs as follows:--

"The signs of abnormality which sanctified persons show are of frequent occurrence. They get out of tune with other people; often they will have nothing to do with churches, which they regard as worldly; they become hypercritical towards others; they grow careless of their social, political, and financial obligations. As an instance of this type may be mentioned a woman of sixty-eight of whom the writer made a special study.

同类推荐
  • 临济慧照玄公大宗师语录

    临济慧照玄公大宗师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 东朝纪

    东朝纪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 元始五老赤书玉篇真文天书经

    元始五老赤书玉篇真文天书经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 中天紫微星真宝忏

    中天紫微星真宝忏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Desperate Remedies

    Desperate Remedies

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 我家小青梅超甜哒

    我家小青梅超甜哒

    白亦皓十一岁那年,宁悠苏一家搬到了隔壁。刚见面不久,这个五岁的小家伙就对白亦皓说:“我以后要嫁给哥哥。”从此之后,小家伙每天都开始黏着他,吃饭要坐在一起,看电视要坐在一起,写作业要坐在一起,就连睡觉小家伙也要黏着他。刚开始白亦皓觉得宁悠苏就是一个粘人精,可相处的时间越久,白亦皓发现自己真的是越来越喜欢这个小家伙了……长大后的某一天,白亦皓这个妖孽,一脸冷漠的壁咚着宁悠苏,“小家伙,小时候你不是说要嫁给我吗?怎么去勾搭其他男人了?”某苏一脸蒙圈。───正是因为你的出现,才使生活变得迷人新人新文,请多多指教,(100%甜文请放心食用)
  • 那颗星照亮了她

    那颗星照亮了她

    一位平凡学生与当红巨星之间的美好友谊……
  • 木槿花西月锦绣(6):菩提煅铸明镜心

    木槿花西月锦绣(6):菩提煅铸明镜心

    冥冥之中,仿佛有命运之手在不断牵引,花木槿最终打开了神秘的紫陵宫。在这里,她发现了原氏和自己来到这个世界的最后的秘密……欲望,野心,杀戮,王位,权力,交织着血浓于水的亲情、弥足珍贵的友情,还有,这一世注定凄艳的爱情……错入乱世风云,面对铁血山河,心中却渴望那一曲缠绵的《长相守》……花西夫人,该何去何从?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 合租恋人:恶魔的呆萌女孩

    合租恋人:恶魔的呆萌女孩

    (全文完结,大家放心观看和收藏。)她的身边出现过两个让她记忆尤深的人,同样都拥有天使容颜,却有着不同的命运。一个让她学会了什么是喜欢,他说:“明天过后我会给你一个惊喜。”另一个让她学会了如何去守护一个人,他说:“我会为你活下去。”可是她身边的位置只有一个,那么上天究竟眷念的是谁呢?顾子陌:现在,我找到了我的整个世界,那就是你。夏婕儿:我听到最令自己心疼的一句话是,“我叫顾子陌。”不是顾少,也不是顾子淇,不是别的什么人,而是爱你的顾子陌。
  • 命定之爱:零点零一我爱你

    命定之爱:零点零一我爱你

    优秀的人身边,总有那么一两个和自己作对的人。就算并没有真的输什么,但命运总喜欢给自己开玩笑。尤景兰对此深有感触。和沈均认识二十年,从小争到大,她没有输过什么,虽然有过让步,但是沈均也有过。然而,名校扛把子专业毕业的她,进入了跨国上市集团担任总经理助理,毕业年薪六位数靠后,本应是让人羡慕的对象。却万万没想到,上司就是那个隐藏身份二十年的冤家。没办法,班要上,恋爱要谈,也要结婚。和学长顾亦天走过两年多,终于是要论及婚嫁,本是唯一一件令人高兴的事了。然而婚礼前夕发现出轨。奶奶去世。尤景兰站在人生迷茫的路口,正不知道前路在哪里。却是那个和自己过不去二十年的人,站在路口的前方,向她伸出了手。尤景兰,跟我来。
  • 狼牙尖上的温柔

    狼牙尖上的温柔

    《狼牙尖上的温柔》是对梦境的迷恋的影像释放,残忍和宁静的并置,实现的欲望与未竟的渴望、暴力、爱情、性、死亡、意象的组合。 小说呈现了浓浓的魔幻色彩,人狼混杂、生死交融的奇异世界,荒诞、奇异,没有逻辑却又合乎情理,那么荒诞又那么神奇。小说把触目惊心的现实和迷离恍惚的幻觉结合在一起,通过夸张和虚实交错的艺术笔触来网罗人事,编织情节。这种似是而非,变幻想为现实而又不失其真,弥漫着浓重而强烈的神奇气氛。魔幻是途径,表现生活现实是目的。《狼牙尖上的温柔》是对梦境的迷恋的影像释放,残忍和宁静的并置,实现的欲望与未竟的渴望、暴力、爱情、性、死亡、意象的组合。
  • 傲世太子妃,妖孽不要跑

    傲世太子妃,妖孽不要跑

    她是二十一世纪的第一天才杀手,只是经常被人说是脑子有坑,但是一朝转变,她竟然变成了血族的公主,这特么是什么鬼?那家伙是谁?你别说,长得也忒好看了,就是一张禁欲脸很是勾起她熊熊的挑逗欲啊。什么,龙族太子?哎呦呦,那就更加想调戏了~“尘尘~你知道为什么我会爱上你么?”尘洛用自己的食指轻轻戳着龙绝尘的手臂,眼睛还眨巴两下,龙绝尘很是诧异,妖孽的看着自己的小女票,很是玩味的挑起尘洛的下巴,问:“为何?”“因为我爱你的时候你是天啊,我自然是爱上天啊~”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 重生娱乐圈之天后归来

    重生娱乐圈之天后归来

    [新书《星辰王座:绝色逆天幻术师》已发布]她是歌坛顶级天后,在最绚烂的年华含冤而死。一朝重生,成为人人可欺的废柴练习生。失去了绝色容颜?没关系,她的天籁歌声让所有女星都望尘莫及被嘲笑出身卑贱?没关系,她的真实身份尊贵到让全世界都颤抖————————————————一个歌坛天后,重生成废材练习生,重返巅峰故事。QQ群:108464644(验证:夏婉瑛)
  • 重生系统之学霸归来

    重生系统之学霸归来

    亲爱的玩家你好,欢迎你进入XX的笔记本的世界,请输入您的游戏名_________“XX的?”玩家是否决定使用“叉叉的”作为您的游戏名?“你才叉叉的,你全家都叉叉的。”玩家是否决定使用“你才叉叉的你全家都叉叉的”作为您的游戏名?严朵拿起锤子……天上掉下个游戏机,不知是福还是祸日常文轻松向,女主出场是中学生,咱们要和谐,所以CP会非常晚出现,介意者慎点。
  • 十牛图和颂

    十牛图和颂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。