Volume II, Treatise V, Chapter III

That a Religious Ought not to Return to His Native Place, Even Though It Were to Preach There

Some through the hope of prompting their relations to God’s service, let themselves be overcome with the temptations of returning to their native place; and when these temptations disguise themselves in this manner, under the appearance of good, they are ordinarily the more dangerous; because we then look upon them not as temptations, but as holy inspirations. St. Bernard upon these words, ‘catch for us those little foxes, which destroy the vineyards,” (Canticle of Canticles 2:15), says, that oue of these foxes that spoil our Lord’s vineyard, and which to his knowledge had been the ruin of many religious, was the desire they had, to convert their relations to God. And ordinarily speaking, kindred or alliance, is an obstacle to the fruit that might be reaped amongst souls; because your relations, who have familiarly conversed with you in the world, can scarce have that respect and veneration for you which the ministry of the gospel requires; and it is for this reason, that our Saviour himself says, “verily, I say unto you, that no prophet is well received in his own country.” (Luke 4:24) And when God would make Abraham patriarch of the faithful, he commanded him to leave his country, to quit his parents and friends, and to go into Mesopotamia, where no one knew him. The Divine providence also used the like conduct in regard of St. Paul. “He prayed in the temple of Jerusalem, and on a sudden was ravished in spirit, and beheld our Lord, who said to him: make haste, go presently out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive that testimony thou shalt give of me;” to whom St. Paul answered, “thou art not ignorant, 0 Lord, that they know very well that I have led many into prison who believed in thee, and that I have persecuted them in their synagogues, and when they shed the blood of thy martyr Stephen, I assisted at his death, to which I consented, and kept the habits of those that stoned him.” It is no matter, replies our Lord, “go, for I will send thee a great way off, amongst the gentiles.”——(Acts 22:17, &c.) God sent the apostle into a country far distant, that he might produce greater fruit in souls; and do you think, that you shall be able to produce the like amongst your relations? What fruit will you be able to produce? How can you urge them to a’contempt of those things of the world, and of the commodities of this life, whilst you are with them, and they see you enjoy the same; and whilst this tenderness of flesh and blood, causes you to remain amongst them?

On this subject Father Ribadineira relates a pleasant occurrence. (In dialog. manuscrip.) He says, that one of our Society having a tender affection for his mother, went to Messina, where she lived, to visit her. Here entering one day into a church, where they were exorcising a possessed person, before a great multitude of people, he presently assisted the priests, by conjuring and threatening the devil in God’s name; but the wicked spirit, by way of answer to all that was said, only counterfeited the voice of a young child, when it calls and cries after its mother. All that assisted, who knew the religious, and the cause of his return home, presently understood the devil’s pleasant conceit, and fell into loud laughter; but he on the contrary, stood astonished, full of shame and confusion. May they not treat you after the like manner, when you are amongst your parents, preaching of mortification and of all other virtues?

Sulpicius Severus relates a story of another nature, upon the same subject, which ought to make us tremble. He says, that a tribune of Egypt, a very rich man, and of high rank, was obliged on account of his office, to pass through the desert of the Anchorets, where having had a long conference with St. John the abbot, on things appertaining to salvation, he was so deeply affected by his words, that although he was married, and had a son, yet he presently forsook the world, and took so much to heart the new life he embraced, that in a short time he surpassed even the most ancient hermits, that were renowned for virtue. In this state, a thought occurred to him, that since he was so disabused of the things in this world, it would be better for him to go and labour for the salvation of his wife and son, than to live in solitude to procure only his own; and being deceived by his apparent zeal and charity, after having lived four years in the desert, he set out for home. The religious of a monastery where he passed, and to whom he had communicated his design, endeavoured to dissuade him from it, by representing to him, that it was an illusion of the devil, who had already deceived many others in the same manner. However, he gave no credit to all they said; so that persisting in his resolution, he took his leave of them; bit he was scarce out of the gates of the monastery, when he was on a sudden possessed by the devil, and that after so violent a manner, that he foamed at the mouth, and tore his own flesh with his teeth. He was with great pain and trouble brought back to the monastery, where they were forced to shut him up, and in chains—neither the prayers of the holy religious offered for him, nor the conjurations they used in the exorcisms of the devil that tormented him, had any effect upon him for the space of two years. At the end of this time, it pleased God to deliver him; whereupon he returned to the desert, well corrected and chastised, serving as an example and lesson to others, to persevere in their holy vocation, and not permit themselves to be seduced by the false appearance of zeal. By this example we see, how a religious ought to reject all thoughts of returning to his native place, and of visiting his relations; because if this, in the opinion of saints, be a dangerous temptation, even when it is done with a view to their salvation, how great a one must it needs be esteemed, when it is done only for their own or their relations’ satisfaction?

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