Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues [1]

Citation preview

PRACTICE OF PERFECTION AND

CHRISTIAN VIRTUES

PRINTED JOHN

IN GREAT BRITAIN BY

GR~FFIN,

ROEHAMPTON

FATHER ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ, S.].

PRACTICE OF PERFECTION AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUES .

tf /- ~/~ {~t· ;-

BY

ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ OF

THE

SOCIETY

OF

JESUS

!/

1/11.-

I

. DONE INTO ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME

DIRECT

FROM

THE SPANISH

BY

JOSEPH RICKABY OF

IN

THE

SAME

TWO

SOCIETY

VOLUMES

VOLUME ONE TREATISES I-XI

LONDON. THE MANRESA PRESS: ROEHAMPTON. 19 2 9

.au>

~

IMPRIMI POTEST: HENRICUS KEANE,

S.]., Praep. Provo Angliae.

LONDINI, DIE I I FEBRUARII, 19~9.

IMPRIMATUR:

+ FRANCISCUS, Episcopus Menevensis. 13

FEB.,

19 2 9.

" There is no doctrine, however· good in itself, that may not be made bad use of by one who does not know how to apply it properly." No hay doctrina par buena que sea de que no pueda uno usar mal 5i no la sabe aplicar como conviene. TR. viii., CH. go. /1"'~ ~-IZ L

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TRANSLATOR'S PREPACE i\.LPHO~SUS

RODRIGUEZ (not to be confounded with his

~anoni~~d namesake, a Jesuit laybrother) ~~~~9I!!=c,~

YCillCicl01id i~152~, entered th~Society ?f,jesus in 1546, ~nd di~d;-;>Ir~b~~~~EYl"=!§!9~,,~'B~tfor~C:;~~O'~srt'to Rome, where he sat in the Fifth General Congregation of the Society, h~~~P~}2!~hi,§"whol~.lif~!!! __~P§lj.g,~ tea~Jling Moral Theology, gov~.rni9-La . ,,,CQUeg~a§.EectQx,,.,~.£!h2g_a~m" M_e:ts,.!er of Novices atld ~pir!.!t:1a)"father and composing this work. It came out in three parts, all which appeared together in 1609. Of its composition he tells us Himself : "It being the custom in our Society for an Exhortation to be addressed to the Comnlunity at least every fortnight, and I having been engaged in that office for more than forty years, addressing as well the novices as their Seniors in Religion, I have gathered together much matter which my Superiors thought it would be for the service of God for me to revise and put in order." The first cotnplete English translation came out in 1699. The anonymous translator has recently been identified as Sir John Warner, S.J., Bart. Father Warner, most unhappily, overlooking the original Spanish, translated the French version of Regnier des Marais. Des Marais took considerable liberties with th~ text in putting the somewhat rugged Spanish into an elegant Louis Quatorze garb. His loose renderings, and more besides, passed into the English translation. Corrections were made in the Kilkenny edition of 1809; but never to this day has the baleful influence of Des Marais been wholly eliminated. It has cost the present translator a world of toil and trouble. In my veneration for the quaint old seventeenth century version, still read amongst us, I

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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

endeavoured to base my work upon that, instead of doing what I was ultimately forced to do, translating straight from the Spanish. The translation has been revised throughout by a native Spaniard, who is also a competent English scholar. To him I return my hearty thanks. I have borne in mind, and beg my reader to bear in mind, that I am a Translator only, and not an Editor. It has been Rodriguez's good fortune in our day, laudari a laudato viro. Writing to the Heads of Religious Orders on the training of their young religious, His Holiness Pius XI. says, 19 March, 1924 : "Most useful to read through and study will be the writings of St. Bernard, and 'of the Seraphic Doctor St. Bonaventure, as also of Alphonsus Rodriguez. So far from the virtue and efficacy of these works having failed and become exhausted by lapse of time, it seems to have grown and increased" (Acta Ap. Sedis, vol. 16, p. 142). The temptation has been great to correct or explain here and there some of the forced or even untenable applications of Holy Scrip- ~ ~ ture, and some of the stories which ar,e historically in- ~ ~ accurate. On reflection however we prefer to leave them as they are; they profess to be but illustrations of the lesson.s he desires to teach. Some day we', may see an historico-critical edition of this classic work; for the Ejercicio de Perfeccion y Virtudes Cristianas is a classic; and we present it as Rodriguez wrote it, our one object being to produce an English translation as accurate as possible. It is presumed that no one will read Treatise xxiii. on Manifestation of Conscience, in ignorance of the new Canon Law, Canon 530. In references to the Psalms, since they are' generally so short, only the number of the Psalm, as, found in the Vulgate, has been given. JOSEPH RICKABY,

S. J •

LIFE OF ALPHONSUS RODRIGUEZ BY AN EARLY ED!TOR THE celebrated father, Alphons!1~"~(?~out standing high in their esteem? Take care of this then, and make no account of the opinion 3:ng .._ esteem of men. That would be going back to the world which thou hast left. Do not return to it in heart: little will it avail thee to be here in Religion in body, if in heart thou art in the world, desiring the applause and esteem of men. ' With these thoughts those Saints aroused and animated themselves greatly. We too should ·arouse and animate ourselves with the same, to go forward and overcome all difficulties that we meet with in Religion. When you feel difficulty in~_~_ order of obedience, arouse yourself with these words: ' For what purpose have you come into Religion ? Was it perchance to do your own wiU? Certainly not, but to follow the will of another. Why then do you wish to do your own?' When. you feel any effect of poverty, you should animate yourself with this: , Did you perchance come here to seek your own conveniences, to have everything completely to your satisfaction, and to want nothing? Know you not that you have come to be poor, and to suffer need like a real poor man? What have you to complain of then?' When you think th~t people do not make enough of y.