Graces, for they give delight, but men are good and wise by means of the divine as

sistance."

66

Αγαθοὶ δὲ

Καὶ σοφοὶ κατὰ δαίμον ̓ ἄνδρες
Ἐγένοντ. *

Urbanity when separated from religious charity, is rather the law of war than a treaty of peace between men." This is what Manzoni says.† Without that charity a man may appear courteous at times, but as St. Bernard said of Peter Abailard, he will be unlike himself-externally a John, and within a Herod.‡ Even his apparent kindness will be sometimes exercised with a view to wound more deeply. Don Alonzo the wise, king of Naples, hearing one day a certain man praising his enemy, "Remark," said he, "the artifice of the man, and you will see that his praises are only for the purpose of doing him more injury." And such was the fact, for he pretended to approve of his designs during six months, in order that afterwards people might be more disposed to give credit to the calumnies which he was preparing against him. Urbanity in the world seems only a kind of symbol to satisfy those who would have nothing to say in first accosting each other but words like those with which Louis XI. approached the duke of Burgundy, "Mon frère m'assurez vous? mon frère m'assurez vous ?" The love of God and the direction of the intention to his glory is the only source of real, and sincere and lasting courtesy. Divine love beholds Jesus in the person of the lowliest brother, and, therefore, prompts a thousand kind, generous, and amiable actions, to serve, benefit, and please others, such as men unvisited from on high, would have been discouraged from performing by many obvious earthly reflections and interests, which are never directed by any higher motive than that of personal and selfish benefit even when they seek to gain respect and love. It is very curious to observe, how the religion of Catholic Christians tended to form the character, not only of a courteous and humble gentleman, but also to dictate actions of that kind of generosity which seems so amiable in young persons of noble, open and warm hearts. For it taught men to be generous and liberal, not indeed through vanity and the desire of passing for a person of a higher order, but for Christ's sake, reminding them that it was better to give than to receive; and that it was often as great charity to be liberal to humble persons as to give alms to the poor. The great apostle of the nations furnishes a beautiful example in point when writing to Philemon concerning his poor servant Onesimus, he says, "If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it." Morever the eye of faith has regard to the ineffable mysteries of the Christian altar, of which every one may be a partaker; and the thought of this seems to entitle the very persons of men to somewhat of veneration. The meek courtesy and loving address of holy men is so invariable an attendant upon sanctity, that the Church at the second vespers of *Pindar, Olymp. IX. † Osservazioni sulla Morali Cattolica, 56. + Epist. cxciii.

a Confessor Pontiff sings the Psalm which begins with "Memento Domine David et omnis mansuetudinis ejus," words which had also formed part of the introit for the day. The kindness and expressions of affection with which a stranger is received by those who live a heavenly life, might be described in the words of Dante, where he says of one spirit which approached him in such guise:

So bright, that in my thought I said: The love
Which this betokens me, admits no doubt.*

Such was the greeting that St. Paul gave to St. Anthony when he received him. into his cell in the desert, when there followed even a gentle strife, each contending who should give the other greater honor. Such too is the greeting which one is always sure to receive from a man of the interior life on entering his humble dwelling. In the chapels of Vallombrosa, the affability of its holy eremites is attested on their tombs. May it be allowed me to mention an instance of the courtesy of religious men which occurred to me on a journey through the forests of Lucerne. Perhaps so lowly an instance will best accord with the present argument. It is one of those many humble themes which rest in the memory as if to mock the ambition of elevated musings. One evening then, arriving at the little ancient town of Sursee, I took a walk outside the wall, and finding a convent of Capuchins on the way-side, I went into the church. Two old friars with long white beards were at their devotions. When it struck eight it seemed a signal to them to withdraw, but as they rose up and saw me kneeling near the door, one of them returned and resumed his position. After a while he again rose and whispered to a servant who knelt by his side. It was not till I rose to leave the church that the brother advanced with the keys to lock the doors; for so great was their delicacy that they would rather abate a little of their rule than appear to act discourteously to an obscure and youthful stranger. Such were those barefooted meek ones, who sought God's friendship in the cord. Meekness must follow the humility which we have seen was the spirit of religious men ; for the doctrine taught was this "non nocet, si omnibus te supponas: nocet autem plurimum, si vel uni te præponas ;" and it was even observed by writers of these ages, that the positive precepts of religion inspire politeness. Thus, speaking of our Lord's rule for those invited to a feast, John of Salisbury says, "Although this might seem rather the edict of religion than of civility, yet, 'ego religionis formam à civilitate non divido cum nihil civilius sit quam cultui virtutis insistere." "§ St. Boniface, in his Mirror of Novices, gives them instruction in politeness at table, which comprises every thing that would now be desired to qualify men for the most refined society. It is curious to find him noticing a thousand vulgarities which have been infused into the manners of France by the sophists, and which shock every well-bred

* Parad, XIX.

+ Dante, Parad. XII.

§ De Nugis Curialium, lib. VIII. c. ix.

De Imit. lib. I. 7.

stranger, rendering the connection between a religious education and real good manners very striking. Men of this world are so full of all unkindness, so steeled in proud selfishness and mistrust, that they cannot believe the gentle courtesy of monks and holy persons of the interior life to be sincere. They cannot believe that these men of God should, as they profess to do, really feel joy in serving a stranger, concern at not being able instantly to relieve each of his slightest wants, that they should really think themselves honored by receiving him into their poor cell, and afflicted at the thought of his going away all this seems to them as something hollow, affected, ridiculous, hateful, "abominatio est superbis, humilitas," says St. Bonaventura. Alas, for them who know not what it is to love men in and for Jesus! "And why do you suppose," asks the Father guardian of Franciscans at La Flèche, in the Paradise of the Seraphic Religion of St. Francis,— "Why do you suppose are our friars so gracious and gentle to every one who approaches them? Do you imagine that it is in order that they may conciliate their friendship, and take advantage of their good opinion, like those money-catchers whose kindness lasts so long as the good fortune of those whose purses they envy? No; but it is the property of these sublime souls to live always contented, and this interior joy of their conscience cannot but break forth outwardly, since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh."* The beautiful passage in the Morals of St. Gregory, which condemns the false civility of the world, and commends the gracious simplicity of the just, comes in part of the office which every man separate to the Church recites in due course.

"The wisdom of the world," it says, "teaches to conceal the heart by machinations, to veil one'e sense with words, to show as true what is false, and to prove false what is true, to love under a palliated name the wickedness of duplicity, for perversity of mind is called urbanity. Whereas, on the contrary, the wisdom of the just is to feign nothing, to be open in words, to love what is true, and to avoid all falsehood; but this simplicity of the just is derided by the wise of this world, to despise innocence and truth;"† and thus that sweet benignity, soft as young down, which encompasses the saintly, and even heroic character, loses that title of respect "Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud." As when one traverses the Campagna of Rome, and on some sudden fear hastens to a house which seems to offer shelter, but finds it desert, empty, shut up, or open only through decay, one feels that the desolation is more horrible and fearful to the imagination than the wildness of the waste where there is no such mockery of walls,

the heart sink within one at the sound and show of that hollow courtesy which smiles at a distance, but which on approach suffers all to be barred and silent. But such were not religious manners in ages of faith, and warmth of affection was not excluded, but expressed by gracious manners. The description which Pliny gives of Fuscus Salinator applies to them. "Puer simplicitate, comitate juvenis,

* Le Sacré Mont d'Olivet, par F. Elzeare l'Archer. Paris, 1614.

Lib. X. cap. XVI. in Job xii.

senex gravitate."* The Catholic religion, by enabling men to live without being slaves to the world, facilitated the acquisition of this youthful grace. The chorus says to Trugous in the old play, that if he could finish his labors he would be seen to lay aside all his former harsh manners, and he would appear gentle.

Καὶ πολὺ νεώτερον, ἀπ-
αλλαγέντα πραγμάτων.

"Man," as Leo the great says, "created in the image of God was to be an imitator of his Author, and this is the natural dignity of our race, if there should shine in us, as if in a certain mirror, the form of divine benignity." The social state in the middle ages had a degree of refinement from the influence of religion which, at the time delighted and surprised reflecting men. Thus Petrarch describes his arrival at Cologne on the vigil of St. John the Baptist, and says, “I was astonished to observe in that barbarous land such civility, such a beauty of buildings, such gravity in the men, and such elegance in the matrons." The greatest attention was even paid among the lower classes to the observances of civility, as the regulations of their own society show; for in the fourteenth century in France, if a mason uttered an uncivil word, he paid a fine of ten farthings to the person he had offended. But the engaging manners of the poor proceeded from a very different principle from the fear of punishment, as may still, indeed, be seen in those happy Catholic cantons of Switzerland and the Tyrol, of Styria and Carinthia, where the children come forth to kiss their little hands to the stranger, the youths receive him as a brother, and lead him to the deepest pool, or to the wildest path that promises the sport most dear to them; the old men, like Homeric fathers mild, pass him by with smiles and looks of affection; the matrons invoke the adorable name of the Saviour to bless him, and where the form of greeting with all is to say, "Praised be Jesus Christ," that the sweet pledge of everlasting union may be returned in the answer, "for ever." Ah! it is here that God, through the meekness of his children, gives joy to the heart of youth. What traveller in Italy has not been struck with the meekness and benignity of the holy men who receive strangers to monastic hospitality! Dante, in Paradise, remembers

-The bright courtesy
Of friar Thomas and his goodly lore.‡

For one, at least, I can never omit an occasion to praise those venerable priests in the peaceful cloisters of Camaldoli, who with the noble air and imposing majesty of princes, waited like humble domestics upon me unworthy, disdaining no kind of servile office; men who knew how to unite the utmost dignity with the utmost grace, so that whom I venerated as angels I began to love as brothers; men of such rare benignity, so disinterested, so unearthly, that to one who before had friends they could give a new idea of friendship; men in short, who had + Cant. XII.

* Epist. VI. 26.

+ Epist. iv.

learned to believe with Pope St. Leo the Great, that "the love of our neighbor is the love of God."*

To observe their habit one would have supposed them ancient sages from the groves of Plato, but the sweetness and heavenly calm of their countenances, proclaimed that they were of the school of Christ. Ah! since it cannot be given me to recompense them, may I be allowed to leave this frail memorial of their goodness, and to satisfy the demand of my heart by testifying what an impression it wrought there. To recompense them is the privilege only of the Author of benignity, of the Source and Inspirer of love. I took leave of them with sighs, but it was only for myself, with wishes as fruitless that I could have added to their happiness; but the brief contigencies of the mortal course could not affect those who moved already in another sphere of being-they were already possessors of that peace which is to last forever "justi autem in perpetuum vivent et apud Dominum est merces eorum." The Church in the most imposing of her ceremonies, and in the person of her supreme pontiff takes occasion to express this divine charity. The holy father on creating a new cardinal, before the solemn and august assembly of the sacred college, throws aside, as it were, his dignity, receives him in open arms, and twice bestows the kiss of peace. Each venerable brother then salutes him with the same marks of tenderness. Thus even en in the most stately and formal parts of her ritual, there is some development of the loving principle, some sweet manifestation of charity, of a friendship that is to be eternal. For the general instruction of her children, the precepts and manners of the Church were express and uniform. The sweet evening hymn, in the little office that was so dear to men in the middle ages, that all the efforts of art were unceas ingly employed in multiplying beauteous copies, in addressing her, who, above all, was meek, made equal account of meekness and of purity:

Mites fac et castos.

"O my soul," cries Bellarmin, "if thou art a garden of the celestial Husbandman, take heed lest thorns should be found in thee; but let there be the tree of charity, and the lily of chastity, and the violet of humility." Behold the model in all ages held up to the faithful. Men will speak vain things, and use violence, and study deceits all the day long, and speak great things against them, and challenge them to argument-but they are to remember him who "as a deaf man, heard not; and was as a dumb man, not opening his mouth; who became as one that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth."† St. Anselm, in his sublime Meditations, prays to God that he would take away obstinacy from his sentiments, and rudeness from his manners.‡

"Behold what is meek courtesy," says St. Ambrose. "The superior comes to visit the inferior, that the inferior may be assisted: Mary to Elizabeth-Christ

*Serm. ix. de Jejun.

Psalm xxxvii.

Medit. sop. I. § 2.