Letters32 Letter XXXII. To the abbot of saint nicasius at Rheims. (Circa A.D. 1120)
Letter XXXII. To the abbot of saint nicasius at Rheims. (Circa A.D. 1120)
He consoles this abbot for the departure of the Monk Drogo and his transfer to another monastery, and exhorts him to patience.
1. How much I sympathize with your trouble only He knows who bore the griefs of all in His own body. How 2. In order, then, that this dreadful tempest may not submerge you, nor the frightful abyss swallow you up, and the unfathomable pit shut her mouth upon you, employ all the efforts of your prudence not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good. You will overcome if you fix solidly your hope in God, and wait patiently the issue of the affair. If that monk shall return to a sense of his duty, whether for fear of you, or because of his own painful condition, well and good; but if not, it is good for you to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, nor to wish uselessly to resist His supreme ordering; because if it is of God it cannot be undone. You should rather endeavour to repress the sparkles of your indignation, however just, by a reflection which a certain saint is said in a similar case to have uttered. For when some of his monks were mixing demands with bitter reproaches because he did not require back again a fugitive who had fled to another monastery in defiance of his authority, "By no means," he said, "wheresoever he may be, if he is a good man, he is mine."
3. I should be wrong to counsel you thus, if I did not oblige myself to act thus. For when one of my brethren, not only a professed religious, but also nearly akin to me, was received and retained at Cluny against my will I was afflicted, indeed, but endured it in silence, praying both for them that they might be willing to return the fugitive, and for him, that he might be willing of his own accord to return; but if not, leaving the charge of my vengeance to Him who shall render judgment to the patient and contend in equity for the meek of the earth. Please to warn Brother Hugo, of Lausanne, with your own mouth, and as from me, not to believe every spirit, and not to be induced rashly to desert the certain for the uncertain. Let him remember that perseverance alone is always attacked by the devil, because it is the only virtue which has the assurance of being crowned. It will be safer for him simply to persevere in the vocation wherein he is called than to renounce it under the pretext of a life more perfect, at the risk of not being found equal to that which he had the presumption to attempt.
1. Quanto affectu tibi condoleam, scit ille qui nostros omnium dolores in corpore suo tulit. Quam libenter tibi, si scirem, consulerem; si possem, succurrerem: tam efficaciter ipse mihi qui omnia scit, et omnia potest, in cunctis meis necessitatibus consulat et succurrat. Si frater Drogo de sua discessione me consuluisset, absit ut consentirem: si post discessionem ad nos divertisset, absit ut susciperem. Denique, quod solum potui, ad abbatem qui eum suscepit, nostras mox, sicut scis, pro eo litteras misi. Et nunc super hoc quid tibi ultra possum facere, pater? Jam vero quantum ad te pertinet, optime mecum novit Sanctitas tua, perfectos solere viros non solum in spe, sed et in tribulationibus gloriari, consolante eos Scriptura, et sic loquente: Vasa figuli probat fornax, et homines justos tentatio. Juxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde; et, Per multas tribulationes oportet nos introire in regnum coelorum; et, Omnes qui pie volunt vivere in Christo, persecutionem patiuntur. Nec idcirco tamen immerito his quos in anxietate positos videmus, amicis nostris compatimur; quibus utique dum exitum ignoramus, defectum metuimus: quoniam quidem sicut sanctis et electis tribulatio operatur patientiam, patientia probationem probatio spem, spes autem non confundit; sic damnandis et reprobis tribulatio parit e contrario pusillanimitatem, pusillanimitas perturbationem, perturbatio desperationem, et illa interimit.
2. Ne ergo haec te tam horrenda (quod Deus avertat) demergat tempestas aquae, ne hujus tam tremendae abyssi absorbeat profundum, neve urgeat super te tam inexplebilis puteus os suum: sollicite studeat humilis prudentia tua non vinci a malo, sed vincere in bono malum. Vinces autem, spem tuam in Deo fortiter figendo, et rei finem longanimiter exspectando. Et si quidem ille resipuerit, sive ob tui timorem, sive ob suum laborem; bene: sin autem, bonum est tibi humiliari sub potenti manu Dei, et nequaquam velle resistere supernae dispositioni; quia si ex Deo est, non poterit dissolvi. Conandum est potius tibi, tuae licet justae indignationis stimulos illa reprimere sententia, quam quidam sanctorum in simili fertur causa protulisse. Siquidem instigantibus eum quibusdam fratribus atque increpantibus, cur suum in sui injuriam ab alia susceptum Ecclesia fugitivum non requireret: « Nequaquam, » inquit, « Ubicunque enim est, si bonus est, meus est. »
3. Fraudulenter tibi et non fideliter consulo, si idipsum a meipso non exigo. Nam, cum unus noster non solum religione professus, sed et carne propinquus, Cluniaci me invito et susceptus sit, et detineatur; doleo quidem, sed sileo, orans et pro illis ut velint ablatum reddere, et pro illo ut velit sponte redire: sin vero, servans ei vindictam qui facturus est judicium injuriam patientibus, et arguere habet in aequitate pro mansuetis terrae. Fratrem Hugonem de Lausanna ore tuo, et nostro spiritu commonemus non omni spiritui credere, et ne cito moveatur certa pro incertis deserere, sciens diabolum soli semper perseverantiae insidiari, quam solam virtutum novit coronari: tutiusque esse in ea vocatione qua vocatus est, simpliciter perseverare, quam sub specie quasi melioris boni, id quidem quod jam coepit, dimittere, nec ad id quod praesumit, fortassis sufficere.