Letters35 Letter XXXV. To Magister Hugo farsrr. (A.D. 1128)
Letter XXXV. To Magister Hugo farsrr. (A.D. 1128)
He commends to him the cause of a certain Humbert, and warns him not to blush at retracting a certain erroneous opinion.
To his very dear brother and co-abbot, Brother BERNARD, health and assurance of the most sincere affection.
I commend to your protection, with the greatest confidence in your goodness, the poor man Humbert, who is said to have been unjustly disinherited. I have undertaken, for the love of God, to plead his cause with your Count, and I hope that you will help me, with the assistance of the Lord of Heaven, to reconcile him with his earthly prince, so that he may be restored to his country, his wife and children, his property and friends; for by taking the trouble to effect this you will both free from the hands of a sinner a man who is in distress, and will be labouring at the same time for the welfare of his oppressor. You will show yourself helpful to me in no small degree, without mentioning that by performing the office of a peacemaker you will prepare for yourself a high place among the children of God. Let us speak now of another matter. It has been reported to you, as I hear, that I have thrown into the fire the letter that your Holiness lately favoured me with. Be so kind as to believe that I preserve it carefully, for would it not have been the effect of envy, or rather of madness, rashly to condemn a work useful and praiseworthy, in which there was nothing but what was sound in faith, salutary in doctrine, and tending to spiritual edification? I ought, however, to except one passage, because between friends no timid and dangerous flattery ought to influence them against the truth. One passage, I confess, troubled and still troubles me, that in which you endeavoured to sustain and defend in beginning your work an opinion which you had put forth already in an interview between us respecting the Sacraments. If you will reflect upon the doctrine that you supported in that interview you will see whether it agrees or no with the teaching of the Church. It will be a mark of your candour and humility not to be ashamed to be corrected if you have ever held an opinion not conformable to sound doctrine. Farewell.
Charissimo fratri et coabbati suo HUGONI, frater BERNARDUS, debitum sincerissimae dilectionis affectum.
Humbertum istum, injuste, ut aiunt, exhaeredatum, cujus nos pro Dei amore apud vestrum Comitem causam tueri suscepimus, de vestra confidentes charitate vestro patrocinio committimus, per vos, ut fideliter speramus, terrae principi, coeli Domino cooperante, reconciliandum; patriae, uxori, filiis, rebus et amicis suis restituendum. Hoc autem satagendo, et egenum de manu peccatoris liberabitis, et oppressoris ipsius nihilominus saluti consuletis: nobis quoque vos non mediocriter officiosum exhibebitis; sed et officium implendo pacificorum, vobis inter filios Dei sedem in excelso collocabitis. De caetero, epistolam illam, quam ad me jam olim scribere Sanctitas vestra dignata est, non me (sicut vos audisse audivi) incendio tradidisse, sed penes me adhuc servare noveritis. Quid enim hoc livoris, imo furoris fuisset, opus utile et laudabile, ubi nihil nisi quod sanae fidei, quod doctrinae saluberrimae, quod aedificationis spiritualis est deprehendi, temerario damnare judicio? excepto, quia inter amicos contra veritatem nulla debet esse meticulosa, cum sit periculosa, palpatio, quod hoc me, fateor, movit et movet, quod illam inter nos jam ante habitam de sacramentis collationem, in principio praedicti opusculi defendere et astruere conati estis. In qua utique collatione, si vestrae summam sententiae bene meministis, an sensui conveniat ecclesiastico, vos videritis. Vestrae autem ingenuae humilitatis est non erubescere corrigi, si quid aliquando aliter sapuistis. Valete.