« Catholic divines, it would appear that the deeper theologian a man is, the less does he give way to this studious desire of making difficulties easy at any cost short of denying what is positively defide. They seem to handle truth religiously just in the way that God is pleased to give it us, rather than to see what they can make of it themselves by shaping it for controversy, and so by dint of skillfull manipulation squeeze it through a difficulty. The question is not, « what will men say of this ? How will this sound in controversy ? will this be objected to by heretics ? » but, « Is this true ? is this kind of thing approved by the Church ? Then what can I get out of it for my own soul ! Ought not my views to be deeper than they are ! »….
« If, then, any one unaccustomed to the literature of Catholic Countries, and with their ears unconsciously untuned by the daily dissonance of the errors and unbelief around them, should be startled by this volume, let him pause before he pronounces judgment. Persons, who have unfortunately more call to defend their religion than time to study it, fancy they gain a sort of mock strength, or at least pleasantly and triumphantly surprise an adversary, when they throw over-board to his mercy, as sailors throw meat to a shark, anything wonderful, as though it were necessarily superstitious. But in this way a man may make wild works of solemn things without knowing it, and he whets rather than stays the appetite of his opponent, who presently follows him up again with a new and indeed, in his case, an unanswerable charge of inconsistency. A Catholic, do what he will, cannot weed his religion of the supernatural ; and to discriminate between the supernatural and the superstitious is a long work and a hard one, a work of study and of reverent meditation. O how hard it is, if men do not kneel to meditate, to hear a thing denied all around them everyday, and yet maintain a joyous and unshaken faith therein ! It may seem to him then a serious question whether be himself is not out of harmony with the mind of the Church ; whether his faith is not too feeble, and his distrust of God’s wonders too overweening and too hold ; whether, in short, for the good of his own soul, he may not have the principle of rationalism to unlearn, and the temper of faith, sound, reasonable, masculine, yet child-like faith, to broaden, to heighten, and to deepen in himself. The enemy of souls has directed the brilliant but shallow and ungodly eloquence of irreligious reviews against the canonized servants of God, although neither sparkling sarcasm, nor wordy antithesis, nor patronising impertinence avail to hide the foolishness, the want of depth, and the absence of all grasp of philosophical principles or sound historical learning which these poor effusions show.
« Now, as before,the foolishness of the cross, the simplicity of the faith, the calm trustful dignity of the Church, and the untremulous voice of her infaillible decrees will prevail : the noisy profaneness will spread knowledge without impairing faith ; and the lowly obscure disciples of our blessed Lord will not be robbed of their consolation through an idle and a craven fear of provoking a pointless taunt. We must not, therefore, necessarily conclude that scandal is being given if clamour is raised, or if the real latent infidelity of the clamour be clothed in the pomp of sober words or frightened piety. Piety is never frightened but where faith is weak, and although it would be wicked indeed to run so much as a risk of offending out of a mere spirit of wanton enterprise, it would be worse still to impair our heritage of truth to withhold now what the Evil one himself is showing us needed now, and to keep profaneness quiet at the expense of his honour who worketh wonders. O in how many may not weak faith be strenghtened, and by how many may not dangerous and unsound principles be abandoned, and from how many minds may not stray sympathies with heresy be weeded out, and how many hearts may there not be moved to higher things, to loftier aims, to more heavenly vocations. » (T. W. Faber, The life of St. Rose, preface.)
Aujourd’hui, nous dit l’illustre et saint abbé de Hohenlohe :
« Les devoirs du prêtre sont d’une grande étendue et pleins de difficultés. Le monde observe le ministre de la religion avec des yeux de lynx, et plus il est élevé plus il est exposé aux jugements des hommes. Le monde n’épie rien tant que les défauts d’un ecclésiastique ; déjà l’ombre de la moindre faute l’offense grièvement. Le prêtre même le plus intact ne saurait toujours éviter la pierre d’achoppement. Les actions les plus
