Ludwig of Blois

ON THE VENERABLE FATHER LOUIS BLOSIUS, ABBOT OF LIESSIES, IN BELGIUM.

Year of Christ 1566.

From the Prolegomena of the Monks of Liessies.

Section I. Why the life of Louis Blosius is published here.

[1] Although I have resolved to publish here only the Acts of those Saints whose sanctity has been either confirmed by the public authority of the Church and consecrated at the altars, or celebrated by the ancient piety of the peoples, I nevertheless could not and ought not to pass over in this place the venerable man Louis Blosius, who, though honored by no public cult as yet, is widely celebrated for the praise of his most innocent life; Why the life of Blosius is published here. lest I be charged with ingratitude, since Blosius fostered our Society in its very cradle with benign patronage, and the equal goodwill of his successors toward our Order has continued to the present day — especially that of Anthony Winghe, the fourth Abbot of Liessies after Blosius, about whom we have treated at length in the Prolegomena. There was also the consideration that, since the fruit of Blosius's writings has been immense everywhere, I judged it would be pleasing to readers to know also the character and life of one whose books were so highly esteemed.

[2] This Life was compiled from the archives of the monastery of Liessies, and from other documents and trustworthy witnesses, by ^a certain Doctor of Sacred Theology of the Order of St. Benedict. By whom it was written. But when he offered it to the monks of Liessies before it was published, they — and especially Abbot Winghe (who was ^a man of the keenest judgment) — altered the order and style of the narrative in various ways, so that it could seem already to be another Life; wherefore it seemed best to the monks of Liessies themselves, to us, and to other friends, that the name of that former author should be withheld.

[3] This Life was first published with the works of Blosius, which in the year 1632 the monks of Liessies had elegantly printed, illuminated by their own learned annotations, arranged in ^a new order, with the most ample approbation of the three noble Academies of Cologne, The last edition of Blosius's works. Ingolstadt, and Douai. They added very many eulogies of illustrious and learned men concerning the life and writings of Blosius, which we here omit, as well as various Prolegomena concerning the augmented and embellished works of Blosius, the third article of which, containing ^a chronological catalogue of those same works, we have transcribed here, since it also seems to pertain to his life. Two years later our Stephen Binet published in French ^a book on the principal founders of religious orders, whose images are seen in the choir of the church of Liessies, and among them he also mentions Blosius, not as the author of ^a new order but as the reformer of an ancient monastery; and he declares in the dedication that he saw at Liessies three kinds of saints: Commendation of the monastery of Liessies. the dead, in their relics; the painted, in their images; the living, namely the Religious themselves and Abbot Winghe — though he had been forbidden by them to praise the latter. But neither could he say nothing at all; and even if he and the other writers were to be silent, the neighboring woods and hills would speak, which seem in ^a manner to leap for joy at their holiness, as those Arabian rocks did at the passing of the children of God.

Section II. The writings of Blosius. From the Prolegomena of Liessies.

[4] We believed it would not be unwelcome to the reader if we set forth in this place the very chronological order and, as it were, the birth-years of the Blosian writings. This we did the more willingly because James Froius, our confrere (who was the first to publish all the works of Blosius joined together in one volume), although he believed he had followed the same order (as may be seen in his Preface), did not in fact follow it in all respects. The works of Blosius in the order of years in which they were published. This is evident at least in the case of the Inner Chamber of the Faithful Soul, to which he assigned ^a place far before the Psychagogia; whereas Blosius himself, in the letter at the end of the Inner Chamber, urges the person to whom he writes to take up the Psychagogia, which he says he had collected in previous years from Saints Augustine and Gregory.

[5] And indeed, although Blosius first of all in his youth made ^a Latin translation of the Comparison of the King and the Monk from the Greek of St. Chrysostom, we nevertheless (since he was not so much the author as the translator of that opuscule), together with Arnold Wion, Antonio Possevino, 1527. Comparison of the King and the Monk, translated. and others, shall count as his first offspring or work the Mirror of Monks, which Blosius published under the name of Abbot Dacrianus (who is none other than Blosius, as is demonstrated by solid arguments in Articles VI and VII of the same Prolegomena), printed by Bartholomew Gravius at Louvain in quarto in the year 1538, 1538. Mirror of Monks. which was about the eighth year of his abbatial government. The same Mirror he had reprinted by the same Gravius in 1549 in octavo, and he added the Letter of Twelve Instructions under the same name of Dacrianus, Letter of Twelve Instructions. with brief Appendices to each Instruction; which Appendices he later expanded and again appended to the same Instructions in the Handbook for Little Ones, with ^a brief preface added besides, which is absent from the second edition of the Mirror; and the Instructions, with the words changed from time to time, appear differently in one edition than in the other. To this second edition he appended ^a Rhythmical Salutation to Jesus and Mary; and the Imperial privilege, dated in the year 1538, was prefixed to it, in which it is stated that this Mirror had been examined and permitted by Ruard Tapper, Chancellor of the Academy of Louvain.

[6] 1539. Canon of the Spiritual Life. He wrote the Canon of the Spiritual Life in the year 1539, as may be seen in its Preface addressed to Cardinal Quignonez. The same Canon, with the addition of an Epitome of the Life of Christ from the four Gospels, ^a Treasury of Pious Prayers, ^a Marrow of Psalmody, and ^a short Office of the Hours of Jesus and Mary, he published again (but under the title Paradise of the Faithful Soul) in 1540, printed by William Montanus at Antwerp in octavo, 1540. Paradise of the Faithful Soul. with the approbation of Ruard Tapper and other theologians. The Canon of the Spiritual Life then appeared separately, augmented and polished, in 1549 in octavo, at Louvain from the press of Gravius, with the Jubilation of the Loving Soul added at the end. To this edition is prefixed another Imperial privilege of the year 1549, in which it is stated that both this Canon and the four following booklets — namely the Treasury, the Handbook, the Psychagogia, and the Eye-Salve — had been examined and approved by the same Ruard Tapper. This edition of the Canon was reprinted in duodecimo by Wolfgang Eder at Ingolstadt in the year 1585, who added Endologies, Prayers, and Meditations adapted to the seven days of the week.

[7] Blosius published ^a Treasury very different from the first, printed by Gravius in 1549 in octavo. 1549. Treasury. For, having transferred to another book — which he later wrote and entitled Pious Prayers — most of the Endologies of the first edition, he substituted other new Endologies and devout Prayers, and before the Prayer to Jesus near the end he inserted Psalm 118, divided into twenty-two octonaries, as if twenty-two brief Psalms, as he says. Although we, following James Froius, omitted it in our edition as sufficiently well known, we wished to present to the reader the heading that Blosius prefixed to the Psalm, because it is pious and worthy of serious consideration by those who recite that Psalm so often in the Divine Office. It is as follows: "A Psalmody of wonderful sweetness and wonderful power, in nearly every verse of which the faithful soul lovingly directs its words to God and mixes ^a pleasing conversation with Him, through the words law, commandments, precepts, testimonies, ways, justifications, judgments, eloquent sayings, and similar expressions, which are frequently repeated in this Psalmody, so that the law of love and the lovable will of God may be understood." At the end of this Treasury, thus renewed, the Author speaks thus: "Here we place the end of the Treasury of Pious Prayers. For we intend, if God grants it, shortly to write ^a Handbook for Little Ones, at the end of which we shall also add some Prayers and Doxologies."

[8] The Handbook for Little Ones he fulfilled and published in the very year 1549 in which he promised it, through Gravius in octavo, in two books: of which the first contains the Letter of Twelve Instructions Handbook for Little Ones. under the name of Dacrianus, with the words somewhat varied from the first edition, with very full and devout Appendices; the second is principally concerned with preparation for ^a happy death. To this edition the following conclusion of the opuscule was added by Blosius at the end: "He who delights more earnestly in the pursuit of praying and praising God, if these are not sufficient for him, has the entire Psalter of David, and also other excellent Prayers and Doxologies composed by the Fathers. He may dwell upon these according to the grace granted to him from heaven. We too have recently published ^a Treasury of Pious Prayers, at the end of which we have placed one Prayer to Jesus, singularly useful for those who strive for the advancement of virtues, and after it we have appended another containing Daily Commendations." Since the Author removed this conclusion in later editions, and it is missing in the edition of Froius and subsequent ones, we judged it should not be restored to the text.

[9] In the same year 1549 the Psychagogia, collected from the holy Fathers, was published, printed by Bartholomew Gravius at Louvain in octavo. Psychagogia. This was later printed in duodecimo by the widow of Martin Nutius in 1560.

[10] Shortly after, Blosius published the Eye-Salve for Heretics, and Gravius printed it in 1549 in octavo. In its brief preface he enumerates several booklets already published by him, Eye-Salve for Heretics. in these words: "We have published the following: In our youth we translated from the Greek the booklet of St. John Chrysostom in which ^a King is compared with ^a true Monk. Afterward at various times we wrote the Canon of the Spiritual Life, the Treasury of Prayers, the Handbook for Little Ones, the Psychagogia collected from the most blessed Pontiffs Augustine and Gregory, and lastly this Eye-Salve. We earnestly desire that these unpolished and unadorned Opuscules of ours may redound to the eternal glory of God, and we willingly submit them to the judgment of the Apostolic Church and the correction of the orthodox Fathers."

[11] Attached to the Eye-Salve at that time was the Comparison of the King and the Monk, which Lord Blosius had rendered into Latin from the Greek of St. Chrysostom as ^a youth in the year 1527, instructed in the Greek language by Nicholas Clenard, ^a man most skilled in that tongue. He dedicated it to the noble youth John Molembasius, with whom he had grown up in the course of studies. Concerning this Eye-Salve (as concerning other topics of the Controversies of the Faith happily and bravely treated by Blosius), the reader will find our observation in Section Ten, which is entitled Defense of the Faith.

[12] The Chapel of the Faithful Soul saw the light around the year of Christ 1549. Chapel of the Faithful Soul. It comprises ^a Spiritual Tablet, Pious Prayers transferred here from the first edition of the Treasury (as we said above), Endologies to Jesus and Mary, Sayings of certain Fathers that are truly golden, and the Marrow of Psalmody. This Marrow of Psalmody, previously published in the Paradise of the Soul under the Greek title of Myelodochium, was subsequently somewhat altered by Blosius and dedicated to this Chapel; we have finally restored it to the original location of the Paradise of the Faithful Soul.

[13] That the Spiritual Instruction was written by Blosius in the year 1551 is established from the Letter prefixed to it, addressed to Florentius de Monte. 1551. Spiritual Instruction. The reader should note that this Letter is full of Blosian zeal, piety, and doctrine against the depraved morals of undevout men and the shameless obstinacy of heretics. Attached to the Instruction is an Appendix from John Tauler and others; likewise an Exercise of pious prayers with Endologies; also an Apology for John Tauler against Eck, praised by Cardinal Bellarmine in his book on Ecclesiastical Writers and by Antonio Possevino in his Apparatus, when they treat of John Tauler. All of these were printed together at Louvain by Antonio Maria Bergagne in octavo in the year 1553, having first been reviewed and admitted by Peter Curtius, Pastor of St. Peter's, afterward Bishop of Bruges.

[14] The Brief Rule for the Spiritual Beginner was printed with the preceding Instruction in 1553, 1553. Rule for the Beginner. and again separately in sextodecimo by the same Bergagne in 1555, with certain Pious Exercises and Thirteen Short Precepts added, and approved by the same Peter Curtius.

[15] The Consolation of the Fainthearted, which is ^a true panacea for healing all the ailments of afflicted souls and desolate consciences, 1555. Consolation of the Fainthearted. was published by Martin Nutius in 1555 in duodecimo. Added to the Consolation was ^a Paraclesis drawn from the Scriptures, which Blosius himself transferred here from the Paradise. The Consolation was printed again in 1559 in the same format by the widow of Martin Nutius.

[16] The Spiritual Pearl was published at Louvain in octavo by John Waem in the year 1555. It contains an Epitome of the Life of Christ from the four Gospels, Spiritual Pearl. far more copious than that which Blosius had previously placed in the Paradise; an Exposition of the Lord's Passion, collected mostly from Tauler; ^a Compilation of Most Useful Instructions; Articles of the Life of Christ; ^a Little Spark of Divine Love; Certain Short Exercises of Divine Prayers; and Six Psalms of Wonderful Sweetness and Power.

[17] The Inner Chamber of the Faithful Soul (in which the reader will find ^a Spiritual Mirror, ^a Spiritual Necklace, 1558. Inner Chamber of the Faithful Soul. ^a Spiritual Crown, and ^a Spiritual Casket) was published at Antwerp in 1558, and again in the same place in 1564 by the widow of Martin Nutius in duodecimo.

[18] He held forth the Torch for illuminating heretics and recalling them from error, 1562. Torch. and in his last production, four years before his death, Blosius brought it into the light in the year 1562, published by Peter Zangrius at Louvain in duodecimo.

[19] Behold for you, pious reader, over ^a span of twenty-four years, the outstanding fecundity of our Abbot Louis Blosius: who, although distracted now by the public affairs of the Church and the fatherland, now by the private cares of restoring our monastery to ^a better form, now by other impediments, nevertheless published such varied opuscules for the benefit of souls, whether ascetical or polemical, with God inspiring and breathing upon him. These opuscules, published separately at their respective times, were collected as scattered members into one body first of all by the first publisher of all of Blosius's works joined in one volume, James Froius, our confrere, All the works of Blosius published together. ^a disciple of Blosius, who must always be named by us with ^a recommendation of grateful memory, and who afterward became Abbot of Hasnon. Nor did he only publish them, but also illuminated them with various chapter summaries, annotations, and other embellishments, as he testifies in his Preface. They were printed at Louvain by John Bogardus in 1568 in folio, two years after the pious Author's departure from this life, with the approbation of Lawrence Metsius, Licentiate in Sacred Theology, who later became Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch. Afterward the same works of Blosius appeared again at Cologne in folio in 1572 and 1589 from the heirs of Maternus Cholinus. Again in quarto in the same place from Bernard Gualter in 1606, 1615, 1618, and 1625. Anew in quarto in 1622 at Paris from the Societas minima. Finally at Augsburg in 1626, in five small volumes in duodecimo, from Andreas Aperger, edited and reviewed by Romanus Hay, ^a monk of our Order in Swabia.

[20] These Works also have this distinction: that they have been translated into the various languages of various peoples — German, Flemish, Translated into many languages. Spanish, Italian, French, and English. From which it is easily apparent with what applause and fruit they have been received by all nations. Indeed, in ^a few years they were reprinted six times or more in the Spanish language. Nor did this fervor of reading them, or its fruit, remain within Europe. It sailed to the very Provinces of the Indies. For thither, as we have learned from the most weighty testimony of ^a certain venerable man from the Spanish Congregation of our Order, the most numerous copies of the Blosian Works were transmitted — yet never enough to satisfy the most ardent devotion of the faithful.

LIFE.

By ^a Benedictine Monk.

PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.

To the Reverend Fathers and Lords in Christ, most religious men, serving God under the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict, ^a professor of the same Rule wishes everlasting happiness.

[1] The occasion for writing this Life. Since from the beginning of my religious conversion, and indeed from my very novitiate in the Order of our Holy Father Benedict, I had drawn much spiritual nourishment from the ascetical writings of the venerable Father Louis Blosius, I was inflamed with ^a great desire to know more closely and deeply his life and his illustrious deeds. For I did not doubt that the outstanding course of his entire life, and its quasi-living form, would add sharper spurs to virtue for me, upon whom even the silent precepts and the image sketched in his writings had already, while I was still ^a novice, instilled so much love. Having therefore entered into friendship with the monks of Liessies, I had nothing more at heart than to inquire of those most religious Fathers concerning the character and holy life of the venerable Blosius; and after I had learned of these things with the greatest delight of my soul, I first began to wonder that the illustrious deeds of this outstanding Father had been so long concealed by the excessive modesty of his sons; and then I thought I must endeavor with all my strength to break their unprofitable silence, so that so great an ornament of our Order and of Belgium might shine forth with the merited praise of his deeds — judging it not enough to vindicate his worthy memory from destruction and oblivion either by his published books, filled with piety and the divine spirit, which are widely circulated and worn by the hands of the devout, or by that distinguished eulogy which Aubert Miraeus composed from material supplied by the monks of Liessies; unless also ^a historical narrative of his holier life were added, for the public good and the private benefit of those who, having drawn salutary teachings from reading his books, might conceive more courage and vigor for imitation upon seeing the examples of virtues in the Author himself. In the Belgian Eulogies. "For precepts received through the ears are usually much slower to move the minds of men than examples seen with their own eyes."

[2] Wherefore I resolved to collect into one work and publish what I learned from various writings of the monastery of Liessies, from the trustworthy report of the senior Fathers (some of whom were pupils of Blosius himself), and from other truthful testimonies and most certain documents; Whence the Author drew what he writes. hoping that this labor of mine would not be unwelcome to those who will enjoy the instructions of this most pious man, with great increase of spiritual progress. And although it might seem unseemly for the lowest and most imperfect monk to exhibit publicly for the view of all ^a portrait of the highest and most perfect, drawn in colors not sufficiently worthy, I hope nevertheless that this effort and zeal of mine may be readily pardoned, both by those critics who judge the actions of others with ^a purer eye, and especially by God, who is accustomed to regard not so much the work itself as the sincere affection with which it is undertaken. Nor will He, as I trust, despise this endeavor of mine, but in His goodness will rather make it not useless or unwelcome to those eager for religious perfection and rivals of Blosian virtue.

[3] This small work of mine, venerable Fathers and Lords, I have dedicated especially to you, so as to arouse in your minds ^a greater appetite for tasting and time and again ruminating upon the pious writings of the venerable Blosius, which, in more closely attaining the spirit of our Rule, far surpass, in the judgment of the most skilled interpreters, all the other commentaries on the same Rule that have appeared thus far. I earnestly beg you to deign to accept in good part, with equal candor, whatever my affection has produced by laboring rather than polished by licking, and to be mindful of me before God.

CHAPTER I.

The birth, homeland, and parents of Blosius.

[4] Louis Blosius was born of the ancient and illustrious stock of the Blois and Barbancon families, The homeland, lineage, and parents of Blosius. during the pontificate of Julius II and the reign of Emperor Maximilian I, in the year of our Lord 1506, at the beginning of October, in that village of the Province of Liege which, situated not far from the town of Beaumont in Hainaut, is called Donstienne in the vernacular — the castle of his maternal estate. The coat of arms of the Blois family (commonly called de Blois) traces its lineage in ^a long line from the most illustrious ancestors, namely the Counts of Blois and Champagne, most renowned in all of France and in both Britains. The house of Barbancon, moreover, counts the most excellent princes among its number and is reckoned among the princely houses in the Belgian nobility. From this most illustrious blood on both sides, Louis had for his father Adrian Blosius, son of Gerard Blosius, Lord of Jemignes, by Margaret Hennin, and himself Lord of Jemignes and also of Warelles; who served Philip of Austria, King of Spain, the first of that name, and Prince of the Belgian Provinces, as both Councillor and Chamberlain. His mother was Catherine of Barbancon, daughter of John of Barbancon, and the heiress and Lady of the village of Donstienne, thenceforth more ennobled by the birth of Louis. Born of these parents, no less renowned for the glory of their virtue than for the splendor of their lineage, Blosius was brought up from his very earliest years in every exercise of domestic piety.

[5] From the same marriage-bed of his most excellent parents, Louis had five full brothers — William, Charles, Richard, Adrian, and Gerard — Brothers and sisters. and four sisters: namely Margaret and Antonia, ^a Canonesses of Andenne on the Meuse; and Frances and Catherine, ^b Canonesses of Moustier on the Sambre in the territory of Namur. The brothers rendered the glory of their domestic nobility more illustrious, both by the military glory of arms, by unshaken fidelity to their Princes, and by distinguished service in public affairs. William, the eldest, served the Most Serene Queen Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Governess of Belgium for her brother the Emperor Charles, as Councillor and household officer, and was Prefect of the Royal Stables. Adrian both led military ranks and governed first Avesnes and then Charlemont; Richard governed Beaumont — frontier towns of Belgium bordering France — with distinguished fidelity to their Prince. And of Adrian this particular distinction is recorded: that although he often engaged with the enemy, he never retreated, but was always ^a terror to them; so dear to his soldiers that they commonly called him Father. Charles was ^a Canon of the celebrated Church of St. Lambert at Liege and Provost of St. Martin's. Richard, weary of the court and of worldly cares, renounced his honors and, as ^a private man, spent his last years piously at Liessies with his brother.

[6] Louis, however, variously enhanced the distinction of birth he had received from his ancestors by treading underfoot the pomp of the world and walking the humble and lowly paths of Christ's counsels — by the innocence of his life, by meditation on heavenly things, by the observance of religious statutes, by the composition of ascetical books breathing piety and erudition, by the outstanding splendor of his virtues, and finally by the spiritual lineage of holy sons, as is shown throughout the whole course of his life. He also preceded his brothers and sisters by example in the pursuit of the one and true nobility of virtue. For, to pass over the rest, Frances, the youngest by birth but the greatest in the emulation of virtues, ^a true sister of Louis in spirit as well as in blood, followed her brother as the father and guide of the spiritual life and way, and, preferring humility and solitude to the pomps and vanities of the world with ^a canonry of Jesus Christ, she consecrated herself to perpetual virginity. And so that she might enjoy the pious exhortations of her brother with the greater convenience and freedom, the more she was removed from the crowd, she asked for and obtained permission to live apart in ^a room of the castle of Liessies (which is surrounded by water and separated from the cloister of the Religious, not far from the church, serving in wartime for security and in peacetime for receiving guests), and there to devote herself to God alone until the end of her life, under her brother's direction. And this solitude she embraced so dearly and closely that for the ten full years by which she survived her brother, she never set foot elsewhere than to the oratory of Liessies for the performance of her daily prayers, where, to guard against the wandering of her eyes and mind, she enclosed herself in ^a pew shut in on every side (which her brother had ordered to be erected for this purpose) and prayed to God. Whoever saw this disciple hanging upon the lips of her brother and master would be pleasantly reminded of the sisters of Saints ^c Gregory Nazianzen, ^d Bernard, and Thomas Aquinas, who were formed in piety by the instruction of their brothers, and would call Frances truly blessed in such ^a brother, and would proclaim that, just as ^e Scholastica was given by God to St. Benedict and ^f Hiltrude to Blessed M. Guntard, the first Abbot of Liessies, so Frances had been given by God to Louis as his spiritual pupil and the heiress of the noblest virtues.

[7] These few things out of many concerning the house and blood of Louis seemed not to be omitted. For although the praise of true nobility is acquired by one's own virtue, and no one's happiness or greatness should be measured by the glory of others, yet not ^a little dignity accrues to Louis both from the fact that, trampling underfoot the pride of secular nobility, he chose ^a humble life in religion following the example of Christ, and from the fact that he went before his brothers and sisters with the torch of light toward the nobility of soul to be pursued through outstanding virtues, now by the teachings of his doctrine, now by the examples of his life.

CHAPTER II.

Education. Sojourn with Prince Charles. Vocation to the religious life.

[8] Blosius rendered the nobility of blood received from his parents much more illustrious by his outstanding natural qualities and excellent education. For he was adorned with those gifts of mind and body The pleasing natural disposition of Blosius. which were wonderfully suited not only to enhancing the splendor of his stock but also to the lot for which he was divinely destined. His manners were candid and gentle; his intellect was docile and made for grasping both divine and human knowledge. Above all there shone forth in him ^a certain gentleness of soul and meekness, which, imbibed with his mother's milk — or rather drawn from heaven — he preserved throughout his entire life. By these qualities he achieved this: that he was dear and welcome to all with whom he dealt intimately. There was no one who looked more closely at the boy's natural qualities who did not foretell something illustrious of him in the future.

[9] The particular care and solicitude of his domestic education with his parents was that he should be trained first of all in piety from his very infancy. Then, so that he might more easily attain to the grades and titles of honor that his most illustrious parents designated for him by hope and aspiration, they bade him set out to the court of Charles, Lord of the Belgians (who afterward became the fifth of that name Emperor of the Romans), He is sent to the Court. so that, enrolled among the pages of honor under the guardianship and favor of so great ^a Prince, he might gradually open for himself the way to higher offices. Charles, delighted by his outstanding natural qualities and most gentle manners, embraced him during his stay at court with ^a remarkable goodwill, which he retained throughout the rest of his life, wonderfully increased by the outstanding reputation of his singular piety and learning, and which he attested by many proofs. For he commanded that Blosius, now become an Abbot, should be his Almoner; and he used him both familiarly in the spiritual affairs of the soul with ^a most sweet veneration of holiness, Dear to Charles V. and privately admitted him to his counsel on weighty affairs of state, and willingly read his ascetical books, and offered him the more illustrious mitres of ecclesiastical dignity. Indeed, the first foundations of all the favor that he enjoyed in abundance with the Emperor in his more advanced age were laid during that boyhood companionship.

[10] Blosius therefore spent his tender years in the Court of Prince Charles among the illustrious pages, imbued with those arts and manners by which every noble youth ought to strive for glory and meet the expectations of his noble parents. But God turned the parents' plans for Louis, more splendid than salutary — for they hoped he would proceed from the training ground of courtly fortune to ^a glory worthy of such nobility — to better counsels; and while he was occupied with the customary exercises of courtly youth and military rudiments, He presented this noble opportunity of embracing the Cross, trampling upon the world, entering the religious life, and aspiring to heaven. He received ^a deep wound in the head, He is wounded. uncertain indeed in its cause, but by the providence of God, who was already then ordering all things for the salvation of Blosius and of many others. While the surgeon applied his skill and hand to treating the wound, probing the opening with his instrument, he discovered that the wound could not be healed unless it were enlarged by an incision. Having informed Blosius of this and easily persuaded him to consent and submit, he asked him in what shape he wished the scar to be formed. "I wish for ^a Burgundian Cross," said Louis. So it was done, not without ^a presentiment on the part of those standing by and of Blosius himself, who, making ^a pious allusion and in ^a way prophesying about ^a change of life, said that, branded with this as it were stigma of the Cross, he was to be devoted to the perpetual service of Jesus Christ crucified: Hence the occasion of his conversion. so that he who had received the Cross in jest and play might afterward take up his own Cross willingly and seriously and follow Christ fixed upon the Cross. From this, as from ^a symbol of ^a new life, he began his holy designs of exchanging vanity for piety and the yoke of the devil for the yoke of Christ. For soon after this wound of the head was healed, he received ^a life-giving wound of the heart; and the joy of the world was turned to weariness, the desire for honor into disgust, and the abundance of riches into nausea; and as earthly delights grew bitter for him, he resolved, at God's inspiration, that he must seek other pleasures for himself in the paradise of the religious life, and pass from the camp of Charles to the standard of Christ and the warfare of the Cross. Truly ^a fortunate wound of the head for Blosius, which opened his heart to the holy counsels of God. Therefore, ^a despiser of honors, flowing riches, and pleasures, in the fourteenth year of his life he transferred his hopes and thoughts from the courtly life to flight from the world and entrance into religion — an imitator of our Holy Father Benedict even in this conversion from his tender years, who (as St. Gregory the Great testifies) "from the very time of his boyhood, when he could have freely enjoyed temporal things, already despised the world as though it were withered, with its flower; and he drew back the foot that he had, as it were, placed at the world's entrance." Preface to Book 2 of the Dialogues.

CHAPTER III.

Novitiate of the cenobitic life in the monastery of Liessies; and ^a description of the same monastery.

[11] When Blosius had conceived these divinely inspired plans for ^a new and spiritual life, he did not deliberate long as to which monastery he should enter. He becomes ^a monk at Liessies. For both by the will of his parents and because it was better known to him on account of the proximity of his homeland, he immediately chose Liessies, in which, as ^a new combatant, he would submit himself to be trained in ^a spiritual novitiate by religious institutions. Nor indeed at that early age of youth could he have noticed the manners of that monastery, which were at that time less religiously ordered — partly because that prudence is not proper to that age, and partly because many such things are taken in ^a better sense by outsiders.

[12] Certainly the excellent outcome showed that Blosius had been led by the divine hand in this choice, so that he might shortly afterward remedy the domestic ills of that monastery, which was then wonderfully enhanced by him through examples of the religious life, He afterward wonderfully enhanced that monastery. the establishment of outstanding statutes of regular discipline, the addition of various ornaments both to the house and to the church, writings published throughout the entire world, and finally the remains of his venerable body deposited there. I thought it would be neither unpleasant to the reader nor useless to present here on this occasion ^a description of this monastery, for the benefit of the many who may know it only by name, and because it will serve to cast some light upon the life of Blosius.

[13] Liessies, therefore, or Lescia in the ancient vocabulary (which even St. Bernard used in Letter 326), in the vernacular French tongue called Liessies — Its situation. which by ^a somewhat obsolete or corrupted word seems to sound like "joy," or "seat of joy," as if one were to say Liesse-ici — is ^a place on the borders of Hainaut, bordering on that region of France called Thierache, situated upon the river Helpe, girdled almost all around by woods and little hills in the manner of ^a crown. Nearly nine hundred years are counted from those heroic times of Pippin, King of the Franks, when the illustrious Count Wibert of Poitou, Its foundation. most dear to the King, weary of the envy which, as the Annals of Liessies say, burned against him at the Prince's Court, requested and obtained from the same King that place of Liessies as an honorary gift; to which, as to ^a harbor from the tossing of court life, he withdrew with his most sweet wife Ada, ^a woman of the most noble French lineage, and his children and household, to provide for his private tranquility and piety. For this reason he built there ^a monastery for religious men professing the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict, and dedicated and consecrated it in the name and honors of St. Lambert, Bishop of Tongeren or Maastricht, ^a who had not long before been crowned with the glory of Martyrdom. This monastery acknowledges with the most delightful memory of sanctity and with blessing, and venerates with thanksgiving, Wibert together with his most illustrious wife Ada as its founders; Blessed M. Guntard, son of Wibert and Ada, as its first Abbot; First Abbot. and St. Hiltrude, Guntard's sister, as its benefactress. This is that Hiltrude, Patroness of the monks of Liessies, Hiltrude the virgin lives holily. who, having rejected the marriage of Hugo, Prince of Burgundy, fled for ^a time from her parents' house, leaving behind her only sister, named Berta, who would marry Hugo, and consecrated her own virginity, intact, to Christ her Spouse, duly veiled by the Bishop of Cambrai. And since she had learned that it is safest for virgins to lie hidden, out of love for solitude she chose as her dwelling ^a humble cell adjoining the Oratory of the Religious; in which, enclosed for seventeen years, she led ^a heavenly life on earth in divine offices and holy contemplations, and kindled within herself desires for eternal goods by the fervent exhortations of her brother, the holy Abbot Guntard, until, at the Spouse's call, she happily departed to Him, enrolled in the catalogue of Saints in the Ecclesiastical Calendar on September 27.

[14] This example of fraternal piety toward ^a sister, as it was once received from our Holy Father Benedict and St. Scholastica, and emulated by Guntard in St. Hiltrude, so Louis recently renewed it (as we have just said) in Frances. Moreover, there exist among the monks of Liessies undying memorials of the holy family and its such outstanding merits toward the monastery it founded. For the most holy parents, by ^a pious and holy hereditary donation, committed their entire possession (Berta having died without children) to the trust of their daughter Hiltrude, on this condition: that after her death she would by her father's testament name the monastery of Liessies as the heir in her last will. She endows Liessies. This testament the same parents, who survived Hiltrude, wished to be deposited and preserved in their daughter's tomb, not far from the aforesaid cell. When they had then departed this life, their most pious son, Abbot Guntard, performed their funeral rites, observing to the letter their last will, breathing piety, by which they had directed that their bodies be buried in the threshold or portico of the church — both because they considered themselves unworthy of being buried within, and because they hoped that in this way they would obtain more auxiliary prayers from the faithful who passed by and trod upon them (with the monument silently reminding them). Finally, Blessed Guntard himself, having died most holily, was buried by the hands of the most devout Brothers in the middle of the Oratory. In these beginnings and these founders Liessies glories in the Lord that it was born and reared. Afterward, augmented and adorned by the pious diligence of posterity with ^a sacred and inestimable treasury of relics, it is counted among the celebrated abbeys of Hainaut, That monastery is now famous. not so much for the extent of its revenues or estates, or the authority of its lordships, or the grandeur of its buildings, as for the profits of frugality, the praises of regular discipline and religious hospitality, and finally for its most convenient workshops and dwellings suited to the use of monastic life — of all of which it must acknowledge the principal splendor and honor as received from the venerable Blosius.

[15] Into this monastery, with God as his leader and guide, Louis entered at the age of fourteen, and having been received by the Reverend Lord Giles Gippus (who then presided as Abbot over the monks of Liessies), Blosius is admitted by Abbot Giles Gippus. putting off the old man and putting on the new, he assumed the sacred habit of religion and was tonsured as ^a novice on October 25, in the year of salvation 1520; and at the completion of his novitiate year, he made his solemn religious vow.

[16] The discipline of the monastery of Liessies was indeed at that time considerably impaired; but Gippus, ^a man advanced in years and praiseworthy in character, as soon as he saw Louis and observed in him both that outstanding natural disposition combined with ^a good upbringing, and certain sparks of the Holy Spirit already dwelling within him and of ^a more fervent zeal, flashing forth from his countenance and words, embraced him as an angel destined by God — sensing in his mind, as it were prophetically, that he would be the one who would someday raise up and restore the declining discipline of the monastery, which he himself, broken by old age, wished but was unable to restore, holding the helm after him. Relying on this hope, he entrusted that young shoot, planted in the paradise of Liessies and clothed by himself with the habit of our Holy Father Benedict, to John Meurissius, who was then ^a monk of proven virtue and Master of novices, He is trained by John Meurissius. to be watered and brought up with special care. Under this Master, Louis laid those foundations of the religious life which afterward rose to the great mass of virtues that we shall describe.

CHAPTER IV.

After the novitiate, studies of letters at the Academy of Louvain.

[17] Since from the very beginnings of his conversion Blosius had devoted himself with the whole force of his mind to every pursuit of religious perfection, Zealous for virtue. with the grace of God singularly assisting him and gradually preparing His servant for the work for which he was chosen, he emerged from his novitiate displaying in himself the perfect form of religious virtues; whence he drew the young into emulation, the elders into admiration, his equals into veneration, and all into love for himself. Indeed, he always had in John Meurissius, the Master and Director of his novitiate, ^a herald and praiser, since the latter confessed that he was far outstripped by Blosius in the course of perfection. Concerning this Meurissius it should not be passed over in silence here that he willingly submitted himself to his former novice and pupil; and when Blosius was made Abbot, he served in the office first of Steward and then of Prior, and in all things obeyed his Abbot until the year 1555, in which he died — and thus for twenty-five full years he was the pupil of his own novice in the spiritual school, just as we read was once done with ^a Blessed Romanus and our Holy Father Benedict.

[18] Considering such great perfection in this novice over ^a three-year period, Abbot Giles both promised himself great things concerning him and gladly heard similar things reported by others, especially those more advanced in years. Meanwhile Blosius thought nothing of himself, determined nothing about himself, committed himself entirely to be governed by divine providence, and served the Lord at Liessies with readiness and cheerfulness in joy and holiness, devoting himself entirely to divine things. But ^a great ornament of piety and ^a safeguard of virtue was lacking: erudition. Wherefore Abbot Giles, in his prudence, judged it would be more beneficial if Blosius would polish and adorn his virtue with the knowledge of letters, for the subsequent benefit of many. He is sent to Louvain for studies. Therefore, having been duly initiated in regular discipline, he sent him from the monastery of Liessies to the Academy of Louvain to be perfected in the embellishments of good letters. The Academy of Louvain, mother of the good arts and Athens of divine and human wisdom, numbered among its many and most distinguished Masters of Sacred Theology Ruard Tapper, John Driedo, and others, whose acquaintance Blosius greatly benefited from. Louvain also had at that time among its illustrious Professors of Philology and humane literature Nicholas Clenard, most skilled in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, under whose tutelage especially Blosius, devoting himself to the liberal arts, attained no small knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages. He studies the Greek and Hebrew languages. Various booklets to which he gave Greek titles testify to this, as can be seen in the Treasury, Endologies, Doxologies, Psychagogia, and others. The same is shown by the inscriptions in the Greek language scattered throughout the monastery and the church, drawn from ^a rare knowledge of Greek letters. There is also ^a lasting monument of his progress in Greek letters under Master Clenard: the distinguished translation of the golden Opuscule of St. John Chrysostom entitled Comparison of the King and the Monk, which he rendered from Greek into Latin while engaged in studies at Louvain in the twenty-first year of his age. It survives among the works of Blosius, dedicated to the noble youth with whom he then dealt familiarly, John de Lannoy Molembasius, whom the Emperor Charles V afterward enrolled (for he had been ^a Chamberlain both to him and later to his son Philip) in the Order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, on account of his outstanding integrity of life and the ancient dignity of his lineage, in the year 1545.

[19] And lest, amid the academic exercises and the pursuit of learning, the pursuit of piety should grow lukewarm, as often happens, or he should be infected by any contagion of secular society, whatever time remained from the school of letters he consecrated entirely to the cultivation of his soul. He devotes himself chiefly to virtue. Accordingly, with those whom he perceived to be joined to God by ^a holier life, he formed ^a close friendship; he hung upon their words; he committed himself to be guided and directed by them — always considering it of the greatest importance that he return from the Academy to the Abbey holier rather than more learned.

[20] How truly the labor and industry of the young Blosius throughout his entire academic course of polite letters sought what he later prescribed for others and wished to have so diligently commended, his own admonitions in his Statutes, given long afterward, concerning preserving the spirit amid literary exercises, more than sufficiently demonstrate. In these there stands that excellent passage in which he commands that one must guard against knowledge puffing up, in these memorable words: "We permit the Brothers at the proper time and age to devote themselves to polite letters, provided that through the pursuit of them they do not take upon themselves the stain of pride and vainglory, but refer all things purely to the honor of God. Humility must be retained in studies. Otherwise it is better for monks to be unlettered than elegant: ^a useful simplicity, through which humility is better preserved, is sufficient." To the same end he prescribes elsewhere: "If anyone is seen to devote himself to polite letters entirely for vanity, and on account of their study to neglect the care of piety, let him be hindered and kept from that vain and damnable occupation." Likewise the passage in which he instructs the Master of letters (if one should happen to be added to the Master of morals for training the younger or less educated) in these words: "Let him read to them such books from which, together with skill in letters, they can learn either piety, or at least not learn vanity or iniquity." Then, giving the reason for the Statute: "Unless," he says, "youth exercised in the study of letters is restrained by the bridle of the fear of God, it will easily, seized by the love of eloquence and enticed by its sweetness, neglect the care of piety; and, become as it were heathen and without God, will rush headlong into ^a precipice of vices."

[21] How perfectly Blosius himself attained what he prescribed for others and wished to have so carefully commended, his pious and learned Opuscules speak abundantly. And indeed, from that spirit of Christian submission seems to have proceeded that moderation of style The style of Blosius is polished but modest. which we observe in his works, in which, though he by no means avoids ^a pure and polished Latinity, he shrinks from those elegant and soft verbal blandishments, as it were. Nothing in his writings is swollen or extravagant, nothing that savors of the vanity of the age — which is the glory of few writers — so that in the Preface to his Canon of the Spiritual Life he said of himself, no less excellently than modestly, that he could not speak eloquently even if he wished, nor would he wish to even if he could.

CHAPTER V.

He is appointed Coadjutor of his Abbot, Giles Gippus.

[22] The monastery of Liessies owes very much to its Abbot Giles Gippus, if only for this reason: that he appointed Blosius as his Coadjutor Blosius becomes Coadjutor to the Abbot. and future successor. For, now nearly decrepit, feeling his shoulders unequal to sustaining so great ^a burden, and fearing that ^a less suitable person might afterward be substituted for him, he thought in good time about choosing ^a successor. And so, by divine inspiration, as the event showed, having first consulted God and then the senior and better monks, in the year of salvation 1527 he adopted Blosius as the associate and helper of his cares as well as his dignity. That the Spirit of God intervened in this adoption no one will doubt who considers that Blosius — the youngest in age, nearly the last in vocation, not yet initiated into the dignity of the priesthood, having performed no offices in the monastery, inexperienced and unwilling, and absent on account of his studies — was chosen as Coadjutor of his Abbot not merely by the Abbot's wish but also by the vote and will of the monks. But how much Blosius, who was most devoted to Christian submission, already then recoiled from all prelacy, and with what just considerations he weighed that formidable care of souls, He recoils from the prelacy. the very letters that he sent to his novice master, John Meurissius, from Louvain amply testify. For Meurissius, by repeated persuasion and encouragement, had raised up his former pupil — cast down by this news full of sorrow — into good hope, lest, out of an ill-timed love of humility, he should cast off or reject this burden that, by the will of God and for the great good of the monastery of Liessies, was to be placed upon his neck. But Blosius speaks in his letters in such ^a way that you may see the soul of the young man most full of senile prudence, mature virtue, and the divine spirit.

[23] "Louis, ^a humble servant of Christ, to his dearest confrere, Lord John Meurissius, all joy to be received in heaven. You have done well, beloved of God, who have consoled me, your spiritual son, His letter to Meurissius. whom you knew to be anxious, as far as could be done by letter. I, for my part, give you thanks; may God deign to repay the favor, for I cannot. Dearest Brother, I neither wish nor am able to contradict the Lord Abbot, to whom I gave my hand in profession, into whom I transferred my whole will. I am ^a useless beast of burden of Christ: whatever burden is placed upon me, I shall not murmur. I shall endure it if I can; if I cannot, I shall collapse under the burden. It will be better to be crushed under the weight with obedience than to have God as an enemy without obedience. But would that this ministry to which I am destined had nothing troublesome in it besides burdens, labors, anguishes, and miseries! I would not only not shrink from it, but would even vehemently desire it, knowing that through these things heaven is found. But behold, besides these it is also full of dangers — dangers, I say, not of the body but of the soul. What profit, I ask, was it to have fled the world, when I am compelled to return to the world again? Rightly I should now cry out with David: 'The sorrows of my heart are multiplied.' Psalm 24:17. Meanwhile the morals of the monastery, which I both hear The monastery of Liessies was then less flourishing in discipline. and have myself learned by experience while I lived there, are greatly foreign to the Rule of our Father Benedict and, in short, to all religion, and these increase both my grief and my fear. But who am I that I should be able to correct them? Often indeed I shed tears, often I pray before the Lord, that He may deign to convert His Congregation to ^a better life and to penance. But my sins prevent me from deserving to be heard. It is therefore your part, dearest confrere, to show yourself diligent in the pursuit of prayer, lest God, offended (which God forbid) by ^a multitude of sins, should utterly turn away His face from this Congregation. But enough of this. You have, dearest Brother, what I fear, and you have why I fear it. I do not refuse the ministry, but I am distressed on account of the danger of the ministry. I hope, however, that my Lord Jesus Christ, who does not despise ^a contrite and humbled heart, will be with me in all things, especially if you pray for us constantly. To Him be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Farewell, and pray to the Lord for me. Louvain, the day before the Kalends of August, in the year 1527. Your humble confrere, Brother Louis Blosius."

CHAPTER VI.

He is recalled from the Academy. He is elected Abbot of Liessies.

[24] What Blosius had piously and prudently declined, he did not wish to reject obstinately. For to him who consulted the mouth of the Lord it seemed good for the glory of God, the benefit of Liessies, and the salvation of many souls, to submit his neck to the yoke of the Lord and to accept the honors offered, not sought, and those entangled with great difficulties, out of love for God and the observance of obedience. Having therefore been elected Coadjutor of Liessies by the consent of all, in the following year, which was the twenty-eighth of that century, he was legitimately approved, in the twenty-second year of his age and the seventh of his monastic profession. Nevertheless, he continued his residence at Louvain, enhanced by that title, for two years; until in the thirtieth year, on the day after the Kalends of March, Giles Gippus, Abbot of Liessies, dies. Giles Gippus, the thirty-third Abbot of Liessies, already ^a septuagenarian, having presided for more than thirty years, died in the Lord and was buried at Liessies in the Choir. There the image of Gippus, piously kneeling before the Blessed Virgin, placed by Blosius at the entrance to the Choir, renews his memory with blessing; but nothing does so as much as the fact that he designated such ^a successor for the monks of Liessies. For which reason all posterity who shall profit unto eternal salvation from the books, the admonitions, and the examples of Abbot Blosius, shall owe to Gippus forever, with the sweetest recollection, ^a monument of gratitude and veneration.

[25] From the shade into the dust, then — from Louvain to Liessies — Blosius is recalled; and after the due funeral rites were performed for Gippus, Blosius returns to Liessies. having been substituted in his place, he received possession of the prelacy on July 12 of the same year 1530, according to custom and rite. The same year then had three consecutive days both illustrious with the honors of Blosius and rich with the abundance of divine graces, which the monks of Liessies recall with sweet remembrance. The day is November 11, on which he was ordained to the priesthood; the twelfth, on which he offered the first-fruits of the sacred host to God; He becomes ^a Priest, then Abbot. the thirteenth, on which, in ^a great assembly of dignitaries of both orders, he was duly consecrated, received the pastoral staff of the Abbot, and was enrolled as number thirty-four in the register of the Abbots of Liessies (not indeed from the first foundation of the monastery, but from its reconstruction after the destruction by the Norsemen and the return of the monks).

CHAPTER VII.

How he conducted himself in the first years of his prelacy.

[26] Blosius, having taken up the burden of governing the monastery and well aware that he had been called not to leisure and luxuries but to cares and labors, first resolved not to spare himself and to omit nothing that pertained to the proper and diligent discharge of so great an office or to promoting the salvation of those committed to him. But in this difficult situation it was not easy for him to decide to what he should chiefly direct his cares and mind; for he weighed, on the advice of wise men, that one must sometimes yield to the times, and that it matters greatly what one undertakes first, lest by acting in ^a wrong order one should stumble at the very threshold of the planned work and fail entirely to achieve the intended goal. To him, therefore, as he wavered and persisted in the most frequent prayers, the divine Providence was present; and to him who had inspired the desire for restoring regular discipline, it also suggested the appropriate means. He endeavors to remove ingrained abuses. First, therefore, he judged that he must chiefly labor to remove in ^a timely manner the graver abuses of the monastery, which had crept into the morals of the Religious partly through the calamity of the times, partly through the connivance of Superiors, and partly through the frailty of human nature, and to restore gradually to its former luster the deformed face of monastic discipline. It was indeed an arduous and troublesome work that he was undertaking, to the completion of which little strength and help accrued from his age, his most recently assumed dignity, and the not so lengthy span of his religious life — especially since the morals of many, now confirmed by what amounted to ^a long prescription of years, resisted. Although he foresaw all these things and others of the kind in his mind, he nevertheless persisted in his purpose, trusting that God, who had given him this pious intention, would supply him with effective aid and would provide that his younger age (which usually tends to have less authority) would not be despised or bring any impediment to his well-conceived plan; and for this reason he strove to adorn the life he had hitherto led, blameless and innocent, with new and more fervent actions of virtue, so that he might become ^a pattern for his flock and present himself as an outstanding example of the religious life to all his charges — rightly judging that the authority of an Abbot among his subjects depends not so much on age and number of years as on the exact observance of the Rule.

[27] Although the solicitous and provident Pastor employed these good arts, Some resist. he was nevertheless unable at the very outset to bring his monks to what he desired. For since nature itself inclines toward its own comforts, minds accustomed to license are not easily bent in ^a better direction. Whence there were some who bore it rather ill that the consolations of ^a freer life, granted to them for so many years, were now being taken away; for it is difficult to be torn from those things to which one has grown accustomed without ^a great sense of pain. Wherefore they began, one after another, to ask Blosius to allow them to continue living according to the morals to which they had been accustomed. This was no small torment to the pious Father's mind; yet he did not on that account abandon his plan of salutary counsel, prepared rather to groan under the burden than to yield, and interpreting the more difficult delays of the beginnings as signs of ^a happier success in the future. He therefore bravely endured whatever was objected against him, swallowed all annoyances, dissembled many things, and waited for the opportune time to carry out his plans — imitating the industry of ^a skilled helmsman who, if he encounters less favorable winds, does not on that account deflect toward idle sloth and shameful rest, nor does he direct the course of his vessel where the greater force of the winds drives, but to accommodate the storm he angles his sails and catches the breezes where he can; and he even evades the waves he cannot break, so that he may at last reach where he is heading. So indeed Blosius, judging that he should temporize somewhat in the reform he had undertaken until the obstinacy of certain persons was broken, meanwhile angled the sails of his wit and (as he was accustomed to do in such doubtful situations) fell suppliantly before the divine goodness, Blosius prays for his monks. opened the bosom of his mind to God, and besought Him to be pleased to soften those whom He found less obedient to his so just admonitions, by inspiring in them ^a desire for ^a better life. To obtain this more easily, he drew from his eyes secret tears known to God alone, as witnesses of his prayer. From these he sought solace and help. These, following St. Bernard, he called his weapons, with which he would conquer the resisting minds of his monks. These are the tears from which was composed the ^a Mirror of Monks, which he was already then planning with prudent counsel and which he published in the eighth year after his consecration as Abbot, setting it before the true sons of our Holy Father Benedict, and especially the monks of Liessies, for their contemplation, concealing his own name and most opportunely assuming for those times the name of Dacrianus, which in Latin signifies "the Weeper."

CHAPTER VIII.

The beginnings of restoring discipline are impeded. Blosius, during the tumults of the French war, is compelled to flee with his monks to Ath.

[28] Some consent to the reform. While Blosius, intent on tears and prayers in this manner, watched over the restoration of regular discipline with scarcely any fruit other than that of good will and pious effort, it can scarcely be expressed what grave afflictions of soul and internal conflicts he endured in these first years after assuming the governance, in tolerating the imperfections of his subjects. Yet he never laid down the constancy of purpose he had once seized, nor became slower in pursuing it; rather, from the difficulties set before him, with the sparks of his generous mind and divine charity being increased, he directed all the effort and energy of his soul to this one thing: to seek out the means by which he might more and more impel the reluctant will of his monks to embrace the purity of ^a more religious discipline. The consideration of the office imposed upon him kindled him, and the will of Christ, the best Pastor, who commended His sheep to him and charged him not to neglect those straying from the right path of Religion. At last patience prevailed, and the goodness of God, looking upon the holy efforts and pious tears of His afflicted servant, turned the minds of certain disciples to undertake the way of ^a holier life. This mercy of the divine goodness filled the mind of the best Father with incredible delight.

[29] Raised therefore into hope of ^a better outcome, now fondly caressing his own wishes as if already present and promising himself better things, War between the French and Belgians in the year 1537. behold, the tumults of war that arose in the year of our Lord 1537 between the Emperor Charles V and Francis I, King of France, brought the smoke and embers of ^a miserable conflagration into the territories of Belgium by devastating incursions, and utterly broke off the hoped-for progress of the reform. This has been the ancient and often-lamented calamity of the monks of Liessies: ^a that in the tumults of ^a French war, the first rumor and fear always reaches them. Accordingly, with the turbulent times of war now imminent, such fear invaded the monks of Liessies and among them Abbot Blosius, who feared more for his monks than for himself, that most of them were compelled to leave the monastery (a few remaining for its protection) and to flee and scatter, each to wherever seemed safest. The refuge of Liessies was at Ath and Mons. Blosius's predecessor Gippus had once built from the foundations one house at Mons in Hainaut and another at Ath, to which the monks of Liessies, driven from their monastery by the dangers of war, might flee for refuge. To this house at Ath, Blosius, Blosius withdraws to Ath. in order to provide by his absence for his own safety and that of his monks and for the preservation of the monastery, took refuge with three other monks of Liessies (whom the ardor for ^a better life had kindled) — not as if to exile, but as if to ^a promontory of good hope. But who, in this calamity of the times, would not immediately have judged all the efforts of the pious Father to be futile? Yet this was being guided by divine providence: that both the merits of Blosius might receive ^a greater increase, and ^a better opportunity for undertaking the reform, to be unanimously embraced by all the monks of Liessies (as the sequel will show), might be prepared. For it is God's custom to favor the holy efforts of His servants most especially when the situation seems utterly desperate.

CHAPTER IX.

In the house at Ath he contemplates prescribing ^a stricter discipline for his monks.

[30] The chance flight of Blosius to the house at Ath opened the appointed refuge of divine grace. For here he resolved to seize the opportunity again of introducing into the morals of the monastery the stricter discipline He begins the reform with ^a few. that he had already planned in his mind, so that what he had not been able to extract from the full Congregation of Liessies — that they should more perfectly submit their necks to the sweet yoke of the Lord through reform — this he might begin with those three whom he had brought with him and drawn to his way of thinking, associates of one mind in the house and, as it were, forerunners of the new observance. The divine Providence seemed to favor these holy designs, since the seeds that Blosius, the leader and Master of spiritual wisdom, was sowing in his three unanimous disciples were observed to be taking root and the form of the new life to be growing stronger than the old; with certain other Brothers also returning who had been scattered hither and thither by flight, into the fellowship of the same life.

[31] Made more joyful by these happy beginnings, Blosius thought it would be more beneficial for ^a life tranquil in the Lord and henceforth undisturbed by any storms of war if he were to leave the residence of Liessies — so dangerous and unsettled during the French wars — and, converting it into ^a priory (which would be the seat of ^a few), were to transfer the monks from Liessies to Ath and there build ^a secure new monastery. It did not seem untimely to him that, after ^a selection was made, he should allow those whom he saw less obedient to his wishes to live according to their own ways in the new Priory of Liessies and other places, while those whom he found lovers of ^a better life and flexible to the norm of stricter discipline he would enclose within the new precincts of the monastery at Ath, under his own care and protection, and form with new precepts of the heavenly life. Thus indeed those whom the Holy Spirit has once touched with His sacred fire never satisfy themselves until they have reached what, in that kind of life they have set before themselves, is considered the highest. Animated by this spirit, Blosius, measuring the strength of others by the most ardent fire of his own breast, [Here, with his monks, leaving Liessies, he plans to live according to the bare prescription of the Rule.] resolved within his mind to prescribe for himself and his monks in this house at Ath the exact Rule of St. Benedict in all its rigor, to be observed to the letter, with all dispensations and relaxations whatsoever rejected and repudiated that, up to that day, either the custom of subjects or the indulgent leniency of Superiors had introduced against its observance. And just as he had begun the strictest observance of the Rule with those three religious of the best will in the house at Ath, by way of trial, so he resolved to live henceforth with the rest who would come to the new monastery. For nothing seemed so arduous to him that he did not hope he could accomplish it, with God as his author. These were the first and most certain plans of the venerable Abbot Blosius: to live according to the prescription of the bare Rule, which he judged would not be difficult for those whom the same flame of ardor that kindled him would also kindle. Which he would without doubt have also prescribed for all his posterity to observe, had not contrary counsel from the Emperor Charles V himself and other obstacles (as the following chapters will declare) intervened.

CHAPTER X.

The stricter discipline is opposed by the evasion of certain monks and the envy of rivals.

[32] It is established by the records of both ancient and recent history that no one has ever undertaken illustrious things for the glory of God and the salvation of souls The monks murmur. without the sluggishness of the human mind or the perverse envy of rivals immediately barking in opposition. Our Holy Father Benedict is witness, who, when he was planning to introduce new statutes of the religious life into the Western lands, was persecuted at the very outset not only by laymen but even by priests and monks in ecclesiastical dignity, with invidious words and deeds, and even by the administration of poison. Wherefore it should not seem surprising that the great disciple and imitator of St. Benedict, Blosius, encountered the same hazard of resistance and envy at the very beginnings of introducing the strict Benedictine observance into practice. For that rigor of life seemed excessive to certain of his monks, and the austerity he was embracing was considered poorly suited to human strength, especially in these latter ages — particularly by those who had already grown accustomed to laxer morals. I pass over the complaints of certain others, born of pain, who had returned to Liessies after the tumults of war: some said that honorable liberty was being turned into shameful servitude, others that the consolations of the body were being banished from the monastery, some that the longstanding custom of relaxations, established through time immemorial, was now being abolished by the exact observance of the Rule, and still others said other things, which are more easily imagined than written down.

[33] The evil spirit also envied these holy beginnings, and just as he had once raised up against the auspicious beginnings of our Holy Father Benedict ^a certain malicious priest named Florentius, A certain other person publicly attacks him. so also against the piety of Blosius he stirred up ^a certain audacious fellow — ^a pupil of some religious family (I deliberately judge it proper to withhold the name of the Order) — who in public sermons to the people poured out his rage and bile against this holy manner of life, and from the sacred pulpit publicly hurled at Blosius himself and the sons of Blosius the epithets of innovators, hypocrites, ambitious men, ostentatious practitioners of rigid austerity, and other common insults as if from ^a street cart. Blosius, ^a true emulator of St. Benedict, was silent at these taunts and patiently bore the man's insolence; but certain very grave and most prudent listeners did not tolerate the most frivolous madness of the preacher — or rather reviler — and reported the matter to the Superior of the Order, so that he might be ordered to retract the infamous sermon, to sing ^a recantation, and to pay ^a penalty for the offense of so atrocious an injury. And so it was done; and indeed that man was punished, but not amended, nor did he depart from his envy; on the contrary, made more insolent by the punishment itself, he resolved to add revenge. For he resolved to persecute Blosius and his associates in secret, He inflicts other damages on his house. since he could not or dared not injure them openly; and inflamed with the fury of avenging injuries he had never received, in the dead of night he had the pipes and channels of the house of Blosius broken — so that he might afflict with temporal damages those whom he was henceforth forbidden to provoke with the insolence of his tongue. And these things, far from deterring the mind of the pious Father Blosius — who was well aware that such machinations were carried out by the art and instigation of the malignant demon — from the purpose he had once undertaken, rather spurred him on to hope for better things.

CHAPTER XI.

By command of Emperor Charles V he returns from Ath to Liessies, and considers prescribing ^a milder rule of life for his monks.

[34] Blosius rejoiced in spirit, although tossed by various storms of contradictions, that he had at least some of his monks as followers of his will and counsel in this rigid manner of living according to the full prescription of the Benedictine Rule; and he hoped that their number would gradually increase with the help of the good God. But while these things were being done in the house at Ath, and having laid the foundations of the discipline that the pious Abbot was planning to establish there, he had already made some progress in the work — the monks who had remained in the monastery of Liessies, or had returned there and brought back their belongings since the state of affairs was now more tranquil and the heat of war was dying down, fearing that if Blosius remained at Ath any longer, by their own folly the house of Liessies might become more deserted in the future, openly opposed the auspicious plans of their Abbot. For, placed between two extremes, they saw on the one hand the loose license of ^a lax discipline at home at Liessies, and from it feared the ruin and destruction of the ancient monastery; and on the other hand, if they should take upon their shoulders at Ath, under their Abbot, as great ^a weight of the stricter life as they could conjecture from those beginnings, they foresaw ^a despair of perseverance on account of the excessive austerity. For this reason they sought and found ^a middle course and way. At the request of his monks he is ordered by the Emperor to return to Liessies. By ^a petition they obtained from the Emperor Charles an order that Blosius with his monks should return from the refuge at Ath to the residence of Liessies; meanwhile making ^a promise that if he were willing to relax somewhat from the rigor of the discipline begun at Ath and to reduce it to some moderate norm of living, they would be in his power and ready to order their life and morals according to the prescription of his laws, to endure for posterity.

[35] At this unexpected command of the Emperor, Blosius was astonished and at first somewhat disturbed and grieved, if such auspicious beginnings of ^a better life should so quickly vanish into smoke and wind. Then he hesitated for ^a while, not sufficiently deciding within himself whether it was better to continue on the narrow path he had already begun, or to deflect somewhat from the stricter way of life in order to attach more monks to the same fellowship of life. For there was no lack of arguments and reasons inclining to either side. Having therefore communicated the matter both with himself and with God, he at last believed it would be more beneficial and more conducive to the honor of God if, complying with the wish of his monks who had remained at Liessies and with the Emperor's command (which he could not easily set aside), he returned from Ath to Liessies with his monks, intending afterward to do what he should judge best for the glory of God and the salvation of his Brothers. For he was accustomed to begin nothing of any importance, to set nothing in motion, without first invoking the Wisdom of God from heaven. And even if we were to pass this over in silence, those most pious and most fervent prayers composed by him for this purpose, which are found throughout the Blosian books, amply attest to it. Moreover, the true lover of humility was firmly persuaded He consults God and prudent men about ^a milder reform. that human wisdom depends on divine, and that the mouth of the Lord speaks and reveals its oracles through the mouths of men. Wherefore, lest by following his own counsels alone in this plan of introducing ^a milder life he should choose what was less pious, or, having lost the pole-star of divine providence, be carried imprudently onto shoals and quicksands, he judged that he must anchor himself by both divine and human prudence — by prayer, I say, and by the counsel of others. And he gave assurance to his monks of Liessies that, since he now found them, by the authority of God, ready to abandon the broader path of their former license, he too would without doubt relax somewhat from the kind of stricter life he had begun, if grave men who were conspicuous for their eminence in doctrine and virtue, and skilled in the hidden mysteries of the Holy Spirit, should judge in the Lord that this should be done, after the whole matter had been referred to them. This kind promise of the pious Father greatly refreshed the monks of Liessies, who had previously been deterred by the rigor of that more austere life.

CHAPTER XII.

By the counsel of wise men and the example of other Congregations, he adopts ^a moderate way of life.

[36] Blosius therefore returned to Liessies; and having first poured out the most fervent prayers to God, when he had then consulted no few men distinguished in learning and piety on ^a matter of such weight, and had at last received from their judgment By the counsel of wise men he tempers the rigor of the Rule. that nothing violent is perpetual, that moderate measures promise more firmness for the future, that bodily strength does not always correspond to generous souls, and that consequently it seemed that greater account should be taken of his monks (whose welfare and salvation he ought chiefly to promote) than of his own fervor, and other things suited to persuading moderation — this man, resigned to the good pleasure of God, received these things as if they had been pronounced by God Himself; and he at last allowed himself to be led to the judgment that his desire for ^a stricter life according to the exact prescription of the Benedictine Rule, to which he was otherwise most strongly attached, should be set aside in favor of the wishes of his dearest sons, who inclined toward ^a middle way. Nor was there any danger of error to be feared in undertaking the plan of ^a milder discipline, which seemed to have been adopted with the approval of wise and pious men, and indeed with God Himself as its author.

[37] Thus it came about that, leaving the principal rigor of the Rule of our Holy Father Benedict in the mortification of the body to others who believed themselves equal to ^a greater austerity, he himself prescribed ^a moderate manner of living for his monks of Liessies. And indeed there is no lack of testimonies by which we may prove that Blosius obtained no less praise among men A moderate rigor is more durable. than merit before God in this matter. For there are those who remember that he was commended by the most Reverend Bishops and other prudent men for having allowed the impulse of his spirit, driving him toward strict rigorous discipline, to be recalled by the counsel of others, leaning more on the prudence of others than on his own, and to be reduced to ^a more durable plan of ^a tempered life; and for having achieved by this counsel ^a result both more honorable to God and more salutary to himself and his monks, because he had indulged more in reason than in fervor. Moreover, it is not necessary to recall very many examples, both of those who, having professed the highest rigor, judged that some moderation should be applied by the common judgment of the Order, with the approbation also of the Apostolic See; and of those who from the very beginning of their foundation chose for themselves ^a more moderate way of life, with the great approbation of the Christian world. They felt, indeed, that it was better to make some concession to human weakness than after ^a short time to see with sorrow very many who, overcome by difficulty, succumbed to the labor: for all may admire and look up to those rigid institutions of life, but not many undertake them; many may emulate them, but few can imitate them. It was therefore better to propose ^a norm of living from which no one could withdraw, since rigid and austere institutions of life, when they begin to be relaxed, not rarely turn into dissolution. That this was the mind of Blosius in framing his Statutes, no prudent person will be able to doubt.

[38] Moreover, these Blosian Statutes and the outstanding discipline that exists from them in the monastery of Liessies were commended by others distinguished in dignity and prudence, and especially by Maximilian de Berghes, the most illustrious Archbishop of Cambrai, The Blosian Statutes praised by the Archbishop of Cambrai. in this letter written about three years after the death of Blosius, after the completion of ^a visitation of the same monastery:

"Maximilian de Berghes, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See Archbishop and Duke of Cambrai, Count of the Cambresis, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, etc. To the Reverend Father in Christ, the Lord Abbot, the Prior, and the rest of the Religious of the monastery of Liessies, immediately subject to us, of the Order of St. Benedict, greeting in the Lord. Although we have found that all monastic discipline has long since been established among you in such order, by the labor, zeal, and vigilance of Lord Louis Blosius, of happy memory, your last deceased Abbot, who was among the foremost in religiousness and devotion, that not undeservedly the good odor of your Congregation penetrates widely and spreads far, both on account of the outstanding piety of the aforesaid Lord, and also on account of the praiseworthy imitation of him which you retain — so that from there very many men, and those of no common judgment, have drawn their plans for reforming religion — nevertheless we were unwilling, even though we judged that nothing needed correction among you, to pass you by while conducting ^a visitation of our diocese; but, having seized the present opportunity, among the Abbatial Churches we approached this one first, having completed the visitation of our city of Cambrai, so that from it we might carry something of better order, formation, and monastic observance to others, and so that we might honor your virtue with well-deserved praises; and so that, if nothing else, at least we might hand down to you for observance those decrees — following the example of the Apostle Paul — which were established and ordained by the Fathers." Then, after ^a few words about the Decrees of the Council of Trent, which do not pertain to this matter, he continues: "We admonish and beseech you in our Lord Jesus Christ that with all possible diligence all should watch — but especially the Superiors, from whom an account of these things will be required — that regular discipline should not in any way decline or fail in you from that praiseworthy degree; which, as it has been observed hitherto, has been to your honor and praise," and so forth, with which he spurs the monks of Liessies to diligent observance of the Blosian Statutes.

CHAPTER XIII.

To prepare the minds of his monks for the reform, he proposes the Mirror of Monks, written by himself under the name of Dacrianus, to be read to them.

[39] Brought to the judgment, then, by the counsel of pious and learned men, that he should adopt ^a tempered manner of living, leaving the stricter one behind, Blosius at last undertook the restoration of regular discipline that he had variously and greatly meditated upon within himself during the first nine or so years of his prelacy, and had sought with so many tears and prayers. In the beginning, however, he considered it necessary that the manner of living he had already conceived in his mind should be reduced into some form and order through written Statutes — both so that the matter would be more durable and so that it would be drawn up with greater weight of prudence and maturity of judgment. He writes the Mirror of Monks and has it read. While he was diligently engaged in this no less outstanding than laborious work, before however he should complete those Statutes or deliver them to his monks for observance, by ^a truly salutary and wise counsel he arranged for the Mirror of Monks by Dacrianus, already written by him without the knowledge of the monks of Liessies and opportunely printed at that very time, to be read aloud daily in the Chapter House, as it is called. How providently this had been devised by him the outcome of the matter confirmed. For in this his Dacrianus, the pious Weeper deplores at length the neglected and nearly collapsed discipline of the ancient ascetical life in his own monastery and elsewhere. Certainly whoever carefully peruses it will clearly perceive, as in ^a mirror of the Blosian mind, with what ardent desires that man burned to restore to its pristine vigor the regular observance wherever it seemed to have collapsed.

[40] And since in that Mirror, as in ^a prelude to the reform, he was providing ^a kind of preliminary medicine for the languishing souls of his Brothers, Why he prefixed to it the name of Dacrianus. skillfully and prudently, so as to insinuate himself into their minds more easily as one unknown, so to speak, he administered the admonitions of salvation under the borrowed but distinguished name of Dacrianus, as if of ^a venerable antiquity. For this Opuscle, set before religious men who had strayed not ^a little from their ancient discipline, was as ^a Mirror for disfigured minds, in which they might behold their own blemishes and, having beheld them, cleanse them; and as an antidote for the sick, through which they might burn more and more with the desire for restoration and be more effectually disposed to embrace it. But if he had prescribed this to the monks of Liessies to be read in their regular Chapter under his own name, it would either have been entirely neglected by them, or certainly would not have adhered to their affections so deeply. Moreover, if anyone carefully reads through that golden booklet, he will be compelled to confess that the heart from which flowed such sweetness of devotion must have been overflowing with heavenly charisms. Indeed, what that mystical Dacrianus narrates therein, humbly but most emphatically, about the progress of ^a certain anonymous Brother, is to be understood of Blosius himself — this is the constant assertion of the monks of Liessies.

CHAPTER XIV.

By what considerations he introduced the tempered manner of living confirmed by Paul III.

[41] The monks of Liessies had already more than sufficiently beheld the blemishes of their mind in that Mirror of Dacrianus He composes and promulgates his Statutes. and were extremely well disposed to cleanse them, when Blosius polished the Statutes to be preserved for all the posterity of his monks and laid the foundations of the restoration he had long contemplated and delineated in his mind. These he then promulgated to his willing and eager Religious (with very few exceptions, to whom the ancient customs did not yet entirely displease) in the year of our Lord 1539, and he ensured that they would be most holily observed by them and by their successors to the present day (with the help of God's grace and the vigilance of the Prelates). Thereafter, when the observance of these Statutes had been introduced and received into practice among the monks of Liessies over the course of about six years, with great joy and fruit of the spirit, Pope Paul III confirmed and approved Confirmed by Paul III. this new manner of living according to the Rule of St. Benedict as tempered by the Blosian Statutes, on the sixth day before the Ides of April, in the year 1545, by ^a Bull given and signed most fully for this purpose, by the authority of the Apostolic See.

[42] Why he tempered the external rigor through them. Moreover, besides the reasons already cited above by which Blosius was led to temper the Rule of St. Benedict through his Statutes, he did not lack other considerations. For the divinely inspired man perceived that the form of Statutes would be more conducive to the greater glory of God and the richer benefit of the monks of Liessies which, while relaxing somewhat the external rigor of the Benedictine Rule — so well suited to those former times and regions — would be so tempered, especially in external labors, that while it would not shrink from the common exercises of piety, it would be more durable on account of that fitting moderation of rigor and not subject to the seeking of dispensations. Indeed, the more effort it devoted to cultivating the soul rather than to breaking the body, the less it would either impede or retard the careful diligence in celebrating the Divine Offices, so greatly recommended by our Holy Father Benedict and prescribed by Blosius himself for the monks of Liessies (since it is, as it were, the soul of the religious life). That Blosius had these pious considerations in favor of the form and utility of the tempered reform cannot be doubted by anyone who is willing to hear him speaking for himself. For he prudently recorded in ^a written note, in his own hand, the considerations he had received as from the Holy Spirit. Let the kind reader therefore hear him discoursing both modestly on his own behalf and forcefully on behalf of the introduction of his Statutes, in the following manner:

[43] He gives the reason for his mitigation. "How easy and foreign to rigid austerity our manner of living is, is clear from our Statutes and from the Bull of Pope Paul III, who from certain knowledge approved and confirmed the same manner of living. This manner of living and most mild reform was received and introduced in these times so that transgressions may be better avoided and the integrity of religion may be preserved by all the Brothers with greater readiness of mind and may endure more conveniently — that is, so that it should not be necessary to open the door to frequent relaxations and to depart from the institutions one has undertaken. Truly, those who are drawn by God and to whom God gives strength can fittingly embrace among us ^a moderate austerity and pursue abstinence: as, for instance, if anyone, while the Brothers take their refection twice ^a day, should sup very sparingly in honor of God; or should otherwise abstain from many things that sensuality inordinately craves and should undertake somewhat rigorous exercises for the sake of God. He who finds among us that he is more eager for serving God when he eats can eat continually, if the Rule allows him to eat. Again, he who finds himself more ready for spiritual things when he does not eat can not eat. Whether this or that is done, if it is done purely for the honor of God, it is pleasing to God. Therefore our cenobitic manner of living ought not to be despised because it is mild and easy, especially since true sanctity and perfection do not properly consist in ^a great austerity of life Perfection does not consist in austerity. but in the true mortification and resignation of self, in true humility and charity, and purity of heart. Otherwise the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, would not have been perfect, since she is nowhere read to have maintained outwardly ^a singular austerity of life, as St. John the Baptist did. Indeed, those who have pious hearts and wish to be attentive and diligent about their salvation can most conveniently make progress among us as well in holy virtues and please God: where, that is, with innumerable occasions of evil cut off, most devout lessons are recited daily. For those who bear worldly, hard, proud, and perverse hearts abuse the occasions of living well everywhere; and whether they are in ^a mild or ^a severe Order, they miserably neglect their salvation," etc.

[44] Thus far Blosius on his own behalf and on behalf of his Statutes. Here it should be noted that other things are added in the same place by Blosius, in which he forbids — and indeed in the most weighty words — that any of his successors, He forbids anything to be changed in the Statutes. under whatever appearance or cause, should change anything in the manner of life he had handed down, because he believed that nothing in it could be found so difficult that even the most delicate person could not undertake it. He then adduces the distinguished pedagogue of the religious life, Florentius the Carthusian (who wrote the golden booklets on the Institution of the Christian Life), from whom he takes ^a few words entirely conformable to his own considerations already stated, with which he also seals the same written note. "Whence" (says Blosius in the same note) "in Chapter 28 of the fourth book of the Institution of the Christian Life we read these words:"

[45] "Hold it for certain that your state, in whatever religious and praiseworthy society of an approved rule you are placed (where the three substantial vows of religion, The judgment of Florentius the Carthusian on moderating rigor. namely Obedience, Chastity, and Poverty, are observed), is equally instituted by God and pleasing to God as any other monastic Order, however severe and perfect it may be considered; and you will be able in it to live ^a life no less pleasing, or perhaps even more agreeable, to God than in another much harsher one; and thus consequently you will also be able (if you yourself will it) to heap up for yourself ^a greater accumulation of merits and perfection of life than another in any rigid institution of life whatever. It can certainly happen, as indeed it does, that in some more relaxed kind and Order of monastic life, men are meanwhile found to be holier and more perfect than in ^a lofty and very harsh one."

[46] "And in the twenty-fourth chapter of the same book" (Blosius continues), "these words are found: Persuade yourself that all monastic Orders are nothing but one Order, as far as their aim, essence, and substance are concerned, since they all proceed from God and were instituted and adapted according to the example of the life of Christ and His Disciples. There is no doubt It is sometimes safer to live in ^a milder Order than ^a severe one. that, by the grace of God, in ^a milder kind of monastic life you can not only serve and please God equally as perfectly and holily as in another very harsh one, but you can also render ^a service more pleasing to God (if you will), and become holier and more perfect, and amass greater merits for yourself. And in truth (such is the weakness of human nature for the most part in these times) it would perhaps be safer to live in ^a milder Order than in one excessively severe and intolerable." And Blosius concludes: "So much from that source. Which words indeed" (he says) "since they were written by ^a most enlightened man most closely united to God (as is most clearly evident to the prudent reader), ought not to be held in low esteem by anyone."

[47] You have, then, kind reader, the pious considerations of the pious Blosius, in which he had as authors and supporters not only men of ^a later age illustrious in ascetical piety (of whom that Florentius spoke so elegantly in favor of Blosian moderation), but also followed the examples and admonitions of the ancients. For ^a St. Pachomius, the Father and Legislator of so many thousands of monks, The Rule of St. Pachomius was very moderate. when he was pondering his reasons with God in prayer while composing his Statutes, received from the hand of an Angel, like another most gentle Moses in the desert, tablets of Rules from heaven, in which are read things most similar to the Blosian considerations. For with these words the Angel of the Lord gives precepts to Pachomius about the precepts to be given, just as we are confident the Holy Spirit gave them to Blosius: "Permit each one" (says the Angel) "to eat and drink according to his strength, and according to the measure of what they eat, compel them to work; and forbid neither moderate eating nor fasting. Impose heavier tasks upon those who are stronger and who eat more, but lighter ones upon those who are weaker and who abstain." When, moreover, Pachomius seemed to complain to his Angel dictator, burning with great ardors, about the number of twelve daily, evening, and nightly prayers as being too small and easy, too soft and light ^a burden imposed upon his monks at Tabennisi, the Angel responded in such ^a way that he seems to be providing ^a preface for the Blosian Statutes: "I have established these" (he said) "which the weaker could perform without labor. Moreover, those who are perfect have no need of this law. For those who are nourished by purity of mind and divine contemplation, dwelling in their own cells, do not cease to pray." What could that heavenly spirit have said more conformable or better suited to the considerations of the Blosian mind?

CHAPTER XV.

He goes before his monks by his example.

[48] What the Apostle urges upon his Timothy and all other rulers and pastors of souls — that they should strive to commend themselves among their sheep not by the multitude of their years but by the greatness of their virtues — this we observe was followed by Blosius, who was venerable more for the grey hair of his character than of his years, in this restoration of monastic life. "Be an example to the faithful in word, in conduct, in charity, in faith, in chastity." 1 Tim. 4:12. Accordingly, he added the example of his life to the word of his doctrine, judging it the shortest path to the perfection of his disciples if the life of the teacher went before. For that eloquence alone extorts agreement from its listeners where the hand of the orator does not disagree with his tongue. What he prescribes, Blosius is the first to do. Nothing whatsoever did Blosius show by saying and teaching of which he had not expressed ^a living exemplar in his own conduct and life. For (as the great Gregory affirmed of our most holy Patriarch Benedict) he could not teach otherwise than he lived. Book 2 of the Dialogues, Chapter 36. Therefore, first of all, just as an eagle provoking its young to fly and hovering over them teaches by its example to ascend to the heavens and the sun and to beat its wings for ^a loftier flight, so Blosius, while vehemently desiring that his sons be lifted up to the heavenly life, himself first soared aloft by the conspicuous example of all the virtues, to capture the divine delights in spiritual exercises and to gather the strength of soul for the future restoration. Indeed, like ^a good shepherd, he did not merely drive his sheep with the staff and with authority, but went before them on foot and by example whom he governed. He himself observed his Statutes universally and most rigorously before all others; to the Divine Offices, First to all common activities. to the common meal, and to every solemn assembly of the Community, he not so much came as preceded, as far as occupations, illnesses, or the interruptions of more distinguished guests permitted. It was part of the same virtue that, having performed the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, when already of mature age, he provoked his monks by example to the love of divine things and the frequent practice of the same duties of piety, as will be recounted more fully in Chapter XVII.

[49] This custom of Abbot Blosius of going before his monks in the observance of the Statutes descended from him to posterity and has continued to the present day. For as it became established in Blosius, His successors imitated him. so the practice continued in his successors, of animating their subjects by example to the pursuit of the religious life. Nor did this lamp of the Blosian reform, placed upon the lampstand, shine only for the monks of Liessies and those of the household, but also for those outside and more remote. For the Emperor Charles V of glorious memory, at once the Greatest and the Most Pious, Blosius reforms other monasteries. wished to use the services of Blosius above all others in reforming certain monasteries of our Order throughout Belgium; in which, with excellent success, by his prudence, by the gentleness of his manners, and by salutary admonitions, Blosius restored the observance of regular discipline.

CHAPTER XVI.

The practice of sacred reading.

[50] For implanting, nourishing, and increasing piety in souls, Blosius considered two things to be of the greatest importance: namely, the reading of spiritual books, by which God speaks to us, and prayer, by which we are united to God in familiar conversation. In reading he gave the first place to the Sacred Scriptures, as his writings everywhere testify, He diligently reads the Scriptures, the Holy Fathers, and the mystical writers. so that the eulogy of St. Jerome concerning Nepotian may be applied no less truly to Blosius: that by assiduous reading and prolonged meditation he had made his breast ^a library of Christ. After the Scriptures came the assiduous reading of the holy Fathers, especially Gregory and Augustine. Nor were those masters of mystical theology — Tauler, Suso, and Ruysbroeck — less familiar to him, as anyone even slightly acquainted with Blosius can easily see. Finally, those heavenly delights with which the Works of certain holy women are suffused were most sweetly savored by him: above all those of Gertrude, Catherine of Siena, Mechtild, and Bridget. So great and so eager was his diligence in perusing these that Tilmann Bredenbach, Doctor of Sacred Theology, writes of him in the Dedicatory Epistle to the Revelations of Divine Piety of St. Gertrude, published by him in the year 1579, as follows: He perused the Revelations of St. Gertrude twelve times ^a year. "Whence it came about that the most learned and most pious Abbot Louis Blosius, formerly known to me intimately, perused these books twelve times ^a year with the most ardent affection, as I learned from the report of ^a certain intimate of his." The same is testified by the most religious John de Castaniza, Abbot of our Order in Spain, in his Prologue to the same Revelations.

[51] The spiritual reading that he himself practiced so frequently and pleasurably, he earnestly commended to his monks of Liessies; and besides the private reading customarily practiced according to the pious affection of each, he both commanded his monks He inculcates pious reading in his monks and prescribes it three times daily. and himself carefully observed it to be publicly practiced especially at three times. First, that at table, for the entire time the Religious refresh the body with food, the spiritual nourishment of Reading should be provided for the soul. He valued this public reading so highly that for its sake, as far as guests permitted, he most delighted in the common refectory. For whenever the dignity of the guests or the closeness of kinship was not such as to compel him to recline with them, he commended them to the Religious Steward to be treated courteously and very kindly, while he himself betook himself to the desired reading of the Religious table. Although even at the hospitable table of the Abbot he ordered reading from ^a devout booklet, useful and not unpleasant for the comprehension of the guests, for ^a certain period of time. But that Conventual reading, as they call it, he sought more eagerly as being more his own. Second, that before the Religious come out in the afternoon to common conversation for the honest relaxation of the mind, they should be summoned to the Chapter House, where for half an hour ^a book of ^a devout and spiritual author should be read aloud, from which they may draw what they can soon pour forth among themselves in holy and religious conversations. Third and finally, that for ^a quarter of an hour, when all have assembled in the Oratory, before Compline begins, at the end of the day ^a pious and devout reading from the lives and conferences of the Saints should be set before them.

[52] To the adoption of such spiritual reading for the use and fruit of piety, it is relevant that Blosius commanded that it should not be lawful for any book to be found in the common or private library from which the sincere piety of the Brothers might be diverted to any harmful, secular, or vain curiosity. He forbids his monks vain and curious books. He also took care that in spiritual reading not ^a painted vanity of words but solid piety of soul should be sought; and he gave this admonition in these golden words: "Furthermore, we admonish the Brothers themselves not to require verbal elegance untimely in spiritual matters — not because we condemn ornament of speech, but because we disapprove the perverse judgment of certain monks for whom nothing is pleasing, nothing attractive, unless it is elegantly expressed." And shortly, after he had taught that progress in the interior life must be acquired through Scriptures that are simple in words and humble in teachings, he adds: "The farther they are from innocent simplicity and true humility, the farther the Holy Spirit withdraws from them. A true monk must be so disposed that he desires to know nothing and considers himself to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. But if he desires and labors to know other things, he ought to desire this only so that he may make greater progress in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and holy piety."

CHAPTER XVII.

Prayer, and the ascetical booklets that proceeded from it.

[53] His judgment on prayer. After sacred reading, the other nurse of piety is devout prayer. Blosius ardently loved both and embraced both with the sweetest affection — and for this reason we can call him ^a blessed Abbot, just as he himself calls those monks blessed who are devoted to reading and prayer, in these words from his Statutes: "Blessed are those monks who establish their holy recreations and delights in the exercises of sacred reading and pious prayers, and in this way console their exile, until, called hence, they receive those things which God has prepared there for those who love Him."

[54] His zeal for it. Most blessed indeed, by his own reckoning, is Blosius declared to be, who established his holy recreations and delights in sacred reading and pious prayers. To his beloved Jesus, the goal of his desires, he recalled himself most easily and most willingly from any occupations by ^a long practice of piety, and delighted with Him in the sweetest embraces. Here he burned, here he glowed, here he refreshed himself; hence he sent forth his ejaculatory prayers and pious booklets, as sparks from an interior furnace. For the booklets published by him are in the eyes and hands of all; of which I cite certain ones that brilliantly testify to this. For what else is the Greek word Psychagogia than "Recreation of the Soul"? — which floods the soul with pure delights from the contemplation of the joys of the heavenly paradise. And to see clearly that Blosius received the most pleasant ornaments for the polishing of piety in no different way than ^a maiden receives the instruments of vanity, one must enter the Inner Chamber of the Faithful Soul, where you will find both ^a Mirror, and ^a Necklace, and ^a Crown, and ^a Casket, and ^a Treasury, or cabinet of ornaments, so that you can lack nothing for the equipment of adorning the soul.

[55] In that class of delightful booklets should also be placed the Chapel of the Faithful Soul, in which every manner and way is opened for entering upon ^a friendship of love with God; This is evident from his books. in whose title this eulogy is read: "This booklet contains precious things and an immense treasure." Also the Spiritual Pearl, lest the soul lack its gems, which is woven together like ^a chain of jewels from pious considerations on the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ; in whose Preface he exclaims: "Truly blessed is that soul which always has the lovable life and passion of the beloved Jesus Christ, like ^a precious pearl, kept hidden in the casket of its memory, and carries it with itself everywhere. It cannot be expressed how much benefit ^a devout and frequent meditation or reading of the life of the Lord Jesus brings." Finally, the Marrow of Sacred Psalmody, which he extends with nearly two hundred Doxologies of Davidic words, with this title prefixed: "The Marrow of Sacred Psalmody, whose individual words, more precious than gems and sweeter than nectar, will wonderfully gladden ^a pious and holy soul." I would be doing something already done if I wished to show from those most pious books — from which the whole world has imbibed Blosian piety — in what esteem and in what delight he held the ascetical and prayerful booklets happily adapted to the promotion of piety. Blosius was altogether, as in all the rest of his life, so in cultivating piety and caring for his conscience, ^a most devoted lover of both the sweetest tranquility and the most tranquil sweetness. Let him who wishes to see this run through the Psychagogia and the Consolation of the Fainthearted. These are like two breasts of the great mother and nurse of all, the Mercy of God, which nourishes her little children with the sweetest hope both of sins forgiven in this life and of rewards to be possessed in the next. From these two, as from fountains, the pious soul of Blosius overflowed with an abundance of heavenly joy together with the deepest and sweetest peace of conscience.

[56] Moreover, with what diligence and with what fruit Blosius engaged in those ascetical exercises of his, and practically immersed himself in them, it is not necessary to learn elsewhere: he himself, thinking of nothing less than himself, gives testimony, He continually delights with Christ through ejaculatory prayers. when, as if speaking of another Brother known to him, but in truth of himself (as is the ancient tradition of Liessies, and as the prudent reader will easily conjecture), he relates in the Mirror of Monks that ^a Brother well known to him delighted in the sweetest aspirations and ejaculatory prayers, suited to every opportunity of affairs, times, and business, with Christ the Lord; and he soon adds: "I know well enough that the same Brother, from the continued practice of this kind of holy exercise, obtained great consolation and an outstanding fruit of his labor." He has similar passages about ^a Brother known to him in the conclusion of the Handbook in its first edition, which he afterward removed in subsequent editions — fearing, no doubt, that he would reveal too much of himself. He affirms in that place that he knew ^a certain cultivator of piety who, He recites all the prayers of the Handbook daily. if he was not impeded, diligently completed every day all the short prayers there preceding, and nearly all those placed in the same Handbook, either by pronouncing them with his mouth or by ruminating on them in his mind, and he held them from memory so that, when the opportunity of time and place presented itself, he could direct his mind to divine things for ^a long time and sweetly without the aid of ^a book.

[57] From that pure mind, holding its conversation continually in heaven, there burst forth throughout the day those words that Blosius in the same place ascribes to that Brother known to him: His pious words. "O Lord my God! O my Creator and Redeemer! O my hope and my refuge! O sweetness of my heart and life of my soul! O my salvation and my supreme and only good! When shall I be undefiled before You? When shall I ardently love You? Have mercy on me," etc. Finally, Blosius says of that Brother, that is, of himself, as we rightly interpret: "He also strove diligently to order his whole life according to the precepts of the Letter published under the name of Lord Abbot Dacrianus, placed in the aforesaid Handbook." [Life according to the Letter of Twelve Instructions. Piety toward the Blessed Virgin.] "From which exercises he declared that he had profited greatly in spirit, giving immense thanks to the most bountiful liberality of God."

[58] So profound an ascetic could not fail to be also an outstanding devotee of the Virgin Mother of God; concerning which truth, should anyone doubt it, let him consult his Endologies, most full of affection and love toward the Virgin Mother.

[59] Nor did all this piety remain in Blosius alone: the generous Father wished this good to be shared by his sons. To draw them more deeply into the wine cellar, that is, into the secrets of prayer, he employed this remarkable stratagem full of prudence and humility. The Exercises of St. Ignatius performed by him. At that time St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and after him, from his training, his Companions, who had recently ^a come to Belgium, were preeminent in this mastery of spiritual exercise; and not long afterward, with Blosius among other leading men advocating, they were admitted by Royal Diploma. With these, the humble Abbot, after twenty years spent in the prelacy, secluded himself at Louvain, so that he might be among the first to be cultivated by spiritual exercises. The Annals of the Society testify to this at the year of our Lord 1553, with this honorable mention of Blosius: "Among the others who at Louvain salutarily exercised themselves in the discipline of praying and meditating according to the Society, the first place was held by Louis Blosius, Abbot of Liessies, ^a man noble for his writings and monuments no less than for the memory of his virtues." Blosius did not then indeed need that most efficacious stimulus to piety; yet he both profited himself and truly (which was what he chiefly desired) drew his monks by his example.

[60] Thus the deed of Blosius was interpreted by the Reverend Father Quintin Charlart, ^a Belgian, Professor of Sacred Theology at Rome, one of the first Fathers of the Society of Jesus His humility in this matter praised. who were sent from Italy to Belgium. He writes thus from Rome to Abbot Blosius on October 23, 1553, on this matter: "Reverend Father in Christ, I had indeed heard that your Paternity had come to Louvain not long ago for performing the exercises of our Society; but when Lord John Boucquiau and James, your former faithful servant in the Lord, came to us, and I learned from them that the matter was indeed so, I could not but congratulate your Paternity in the Lord for having wished so greatly to humble yourself as not to have disdained to undergo and experience the novitiate of our Society; not so much for yourself, I well know, as to entice and provoke others by such an example. What praises I should bestow upon this work of virtue — of outstanding charity, I say — I know not. Therefore it is more expedient to be silent and to admire it attentively, rather than to fail to depict it to the life on this paper."

[61] There survives ^a letter of Blosius himself to the Reverend Father Adrian Adriani of the Society of Jesus, written from Liessies in the year 1550, which is both ^a most certain index of his piety and ^a witness to the sacred meditations delivered to the monks of Liessies by Ursmar Goisson of Beaumont, ^a Priest of the same Society. It reads as follows: "JESUS. I am grateful, my Lord, Exercises delivered at Liessies to the younger monks. to your Charity for having deigned to commend me to the prayers of your Founder and Superior. This is ^a most desired and immense benefit for me. For I hope that the Lord God, on account of him and your prayers, will be propitious to me. I believe Lord Ursmar has indicated to you by letter that certain exercises have been delivered to our young men. Would that this had been done twenty years ago! For then things would perhaps go much better with the elders. We praise the most benign God, who through you has taught us this method. From it both the honor of God Himself and the salvation of souls will follow, as I trust. Lord Ursmar is now absent from the monastery, but will return within four days. Farewell in the Lord Jesus. Liessies, the day after All Souls." Moreover, besides Blosius himself, ten monks in all were cultivated in piety through these exercises, as can be seen from the notes that are still preserved at Liessies.

[62] Nor was Blosius so devoted to private prayers and meditations that he did not with the same ardor of soul assiduously attend the Divine Office, Blosius was always present at the Divine Office. which is publicly performed by the Community according to the prescription of the Benedictine Rule. It is established from the report of the elders that he was always present at the public celebration of the Divine Offices and Sacrifices and performed the sacred duty together with the monks. This example of the best Father has had such force among his successor Abbots to this day that they consider it ^a point of conscience if they are not present with the rest at the divine praises. He affirmed He was therefore reluctant to be absent from the monastery. that although he departed from the monastery for the most weighty and necessary affairs of state, or at the command of Princes, he nevertheless bore it most grievously that in the meantime, while he was absent, he should be deprived of those sweetest delights in which he reveled in the common psalmody of the Brothers.

[63] Moreover, in the exercise of prayers and meditations he was less fond of violent impulses or devotion bursting forth outwardly: His sweet devotion. he preferred (as far as it lay in his power) to melt gently and without commotion. Hence, whether he was himself celebrating the divine sacrifice of the Mass, or was assisting the celebrating Priest, with the modesty of ^a body composed to veneration, with ^a sweet tranquility, with the windows of his eyes closed, as if conversing with God within, he was gradually and insensibly raised in mind. The elders who had observed him in person declared that he was more like an angel than ^a man.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Exhortations given to the monks of Liessies.

[64] It is an oracle of the divine Paul addressing Timothy, whom he was arming and encouraging for the care of the salvation of the flock entrusted to him: "Attend to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine." 1 Tim. 4. This Blosius eagerly seized upon as ^a warning given to himself. For being entirely devoted to reading, exhortation, and doctrine, he gently led the souls of his Liessies sons to every form of piety by reading, exhorting, and teaching. It would indeed be desirable for posterity that it might be possible to enjoy perpetually those Blosian exhortations of the living voice, as ardent in love as they were overflowing with sweetness, by which he urged his monks to embrace and tightly clasp the observance of religious discipline: but since it is not permitted to hope for this, at least this much must now be done, that those things which, expressed by the Blosian pen, still live Certain of his exhortations exist in manuscript. and by their paternal voice cry out in the souls of the Liessies sons with great fruit in exhorting and teaching, should from time to time be recalled to pious and grateful memory. Several Exhortations delivered by him and committed to writing have until now lain hidden in ^a remote corner of the monastery of Liessies: now three of them, which by ^a certain overpowering persuasiveness could draw all Religious without exception to an ardent zeal for perfection, will be brought into the public light. The plan of publishing them was three are here made public. both that the life of Blosius might thereby become more illustrious, and that the good of souls might be publicly served, and finally that the studious observer of this ascetical restoration introduced by Blosius might understand how great ^a help the impulse of the Holy Spirit speaking in Blosius was in the souls of the Liessies monks, for eagerly seizing and strictly embracing the new manner of living under the Blosian Statutes. The first of these Exhortations is that sweetest Prologue to the Statutes, in which the most gentle Father embraces with certain arms of inflamed charity the novices coming to the monastic life, saying:

[56] 1. Exhortation: Prologue to the Statutes. "Blessed are those to whom Jesus speaks interiorly, saying: Come apart into ^a desert place. Blessed, I say, are those whom the Lord transfers from the great and spacious sea, from the innumerable dangers of this world, to the harbor of monastic life: where ^a truly quiet and secure life is led; where tranquillity, peace, and joy of spirit abound; where, free from the care and occupation of passing things, holy men freely serve the King of ages day and night. The happiness of the religious state. Whose sole concern, that is, is that through the unconquered resolve of obedience, through the pleasant assiduity of prayers, through the honeyed exercises of sacred reading, through the sweet baptisms of holy tears, they might please the supreme God. In ^a congregation of monks living according to the Rule, all things are full of piety, all things full of sweetness. Here the fragrance of every kind of virtue breathes gracefully: here the roses of charity blaze with fiery redness; here the lilies of chastity shine with snowy whiteness; here the violets of humility, blooming in the lowest places, gladden even the heavens themselves. Nowhere here does tumult, nowhere confusion have ^a place: clamors and quarrels are banished far from here; everywhere grateful quiet and friendly solitude. Here the bravest athletes in the arena of spiritual conflict daily overcome invisible enemies and conquer themselves. To which blessed spectacle indeed the Angels fly most readily, and wonderfully strengthen the soldiers of Christ: and it comes about that the Angels dwelling in heaven dwell with men on earth, and men living on earth dwell with Angels in heaven, in mutual familiarity. Blessed therefore are those who, having overcome the storms of the world, take refuge in the safe and pleasant harbor of holy Religion, that there spending the remainder of their life in the service of God with joy, they may at last receive the inestimable reward of the heavenly kingdom and rejoice without end."

[66] 2. Exhortation: Prognostike for novices. After that sweet Prologue, the second of the Exhortations is distinguished by ^a Greek name and title, Prognoristike, in Latin Praecognitio ("Foreknowledge"), so called because the novices who come to be enrolled and invested in the fellowship of the monastery of Liessies, at the very entrance, before they are even admitted to the monastic habit itself, are accustomed to be seriously instructed, as in ^a certain preliminary exercise and rudiment of the gymnasium, and as it were forewarned, and beforehand fully informed of those things which they will hereafter have to do and to suffer in the monastic exercise. It begins thus: "When anyone comes to us to receive the habit of monastic life, having been enrolled in the service of Christ, even if he be elderly, learned, noble, or otherwise constituted in some dignity, before he is invested, this Prognostic writing shall be delivered to him word for word:"

[67] "Dearest one, if you desire to be received into our fellowship, and to live with us in the monastery, and to serve Christ the Lord, it is necessary first of all that you fulfill in deed what the Savior says: 'Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.' Luke 9:23 If therefore you are prepared for the sake of God to leave all things Hardships to be endured in Religion. and truly to deny yourself; if you are prepared utterly to relinquish your own will and to break, as far as lies in you, your vicious inclinations and passions; if you are prepared manfully to renounce all the pomps, pleasures, and enticements of the world; if you are prepared with the help of God to abandon all pride and haughtiness and to embrace whatever is humble and simple; if you are prepared for the love of Christ to endure reproaches, injuries, temptations, and various troubles and afflictions of body and heart; if, I say, you feel yourself prepared for the fulfilling and enduring of all such things, you may safely undertake the monastic life, trusting in the most benign mercy of God: otherwise, if you are not prepared for ^a total abandonment of yourself, it is not expedient that you enter Religion irreligiously. ^a In the monastery, you will have to live not by your own but by another's judgment, and to show humble obedience in all things. When something is commanded you according to God and the requirements of holy Religion, it will be necessary for you to carry it out without contradiction or murmuring. Perfect obedience. When you wish to rest, perhaps you will be wearied with labors; when you prepare yourself for lofty things, perhaps you will be cast down to the lowest; in short, when you wish to do this or that, perhaps you will be told to do something else; and in all things you must strive to follow most promptly the will of the one commanding. Nor will you ever be able to say: In these things I am prepared to obey, but in those I refuse to obey. It will be necessary for you to obey simply in all things that are reasonably commanded, and which are not evil in themselves or contrary to your holy profession. You will indeed frequently feel various tribulations and difficulties in this breaking of your wills and inclinations: often the devil, often the flesh, or men not having the true fear of God, will suggest to you that you murmur and contradict: but it will be necessary for you to persevere patiently in your holy resolution and to repel the worst suggestions. It will no longer be permitted to you to seek superfluous or delicate things at inopportune times; it will not be permitted Penance. to indulge in immodest dissipations or in the other frivolities of ^a lax life; but having entirely forsaken the slipperiness and vanity of the world, having left the broad way of the worldly, you will have to enter upon the narrow and laborious way of penance all the days of your life. You will have to endure simplicity, even penury of necessary things, to fast frequently, to preserve perpetual integrity of chastity; to apply yourself to prayers, meditations, and sacred readings, to observe the discipline of silence and quiet, to lead ^a life withdrawn from the company of the worldly, to leave the monastery rarely, to have absolutely no thing whatsoever, however small, as one's own, to strive continually for purity of heart, to seek only heavenly things, to assist day and night unflaggingly at the divine office and ministry, whether in heat or cold; in short, to adhere faithfully to all things befitting holy Religion, and prudently to reject all things contrary to the same. But if, having abandoned the fear of God, you should ever (God forbid) begin to live negligently, or even to disturb or burden the Superior and other Brethren with pride, disobedience, murmurings, and contradictions, you should know that you will assuredly be strictly punished. Nevertheless, let not the above-mentioned difficulties frighten you; but distrusting yourself utterly, place all your confidence in the Lord Jesus. For he strengthens the weak and raises up the fallen; he makes rough ways smooth and turns bitter things to sweet. We must hope in the grace of God. He makes those things which seem unbearable to men not only most easy but even most pleasant through his grace. He it is who said: 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.' Matt. 11:28 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; for my yoke is sweet and my burden is light.' The entrance to the way of salvation is for the most part narrow, sad, and difficult; but afterwards, as divine love increases and the heart expands through charity, the course of God's commandments is completed with inexpressible joy. To him be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

[68] 3. Exhortation: Paternal, or Epilogue to the Statutes. The third of the Blosian persuasions for ^a more fervent observance of regular discipline is that which the sons of Liessies, as it truly is, so call and venerate as ^a Paternal Exhortation, so named by the venerable Blosius, their best Father. It is ^a hortatory Epilogue which he appended to his Statutes as ^a kind of crowning conclusion, in these words: "Dearest sons, who have received the habit of holy life, who have submitted to the sweet yoke of the Lord: I exhort, I admonish, and I pray you in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that mindful of your vocation you flee all iniquity and despise vanity. Look more attentively upon the whole world, see how it grows and declines, how it contains nothing stable in itself, but like dust scattered by the wind, so it vanishes, and the desire of it. Consider that the present life is ^a vapor appearing for ^a little while; consider that all flesh is grass, and its glory like the flower of grass, which soon falls and withers. Think upon these things, and raising your minds upward, leaving behind perishable things, hasten toward those things which have no end. The benefit of the religious vocation. Know, my sons, know your happiness. Behold, the Lord has chosen you as his inheritance: he has led you out of the dangers and manifold snares of this world: he has taken you from the most turbulent sea and transferred you into ^a most tranquil harbor, into ^a most pleasant paradise, into the monastery of holy Religion: that there day and night, like spotless lambs, you may stand in his sight, ready to see his desirable face. Truly, 'He has not dealt thus with every nation'; he has not shown such great benevolence to all. Be grateful therefore to so lovable ^a Lord: serve with ^a perfect heart so sweet ^a Spouse of your souls. Remember the Saints of God, both men and women, who many ages ago preceded you in the monastic resolution: let it come to your mind how they, having utterly despised the vanity of the world, served God purely and wholly under regular discipline."

[69] Union with Jesus, necessary for ^a monk. I beseech you, little sons, friends of God, co-heirs of Christ, who have been reborn into the newness of spiritual life, who have chosen the better part: run unceasingly after the footsteps of the most radiant Lamb; do not delay in the love of Jesus Christ. Let Him be the sweetness of your souls; let Him be the consolation of your pilgrimage; let Him be the sweet seasoning of all your labors. Bind Him to your spotless minds; sigh for Him day and night; seek Him diligently in books, in the oratory, in the cloister, in the refectory, in the garden, in the cell, in your bed, and wherever you are, until the shadows decline and the day breathes, until this wretched life reaches its end and the eternal one begins. Make your monastery like ^a welcome sepulcher for yourselves, in which you may rest ^a little while, until, rising again, you may appear with Christ in glory. Let it be ^a cross for you to leave, even for ^a short time, the tranquility of the holy place — to leave the sweet embraces of Him to whom your souls are betrothed. In the solitude of the monastery, Jesus is possessed; in the throngs of the world, He is lost. Avoid, therefore, the tumults of the world; decline superfluous associations with the worldly, so that throughout the whole time of your life, living and conversing with Jesus and with His Mother Mary, you may deserve to be transferred at last to the eternal glory prepared for the devoted worshippers of Jesus and Mary. In the service of God, in sacred readings, prayers, and meditations, establish your dear delights. Rejoice and exult in the spirit that you have been set apart to serve the eternal King.

[70] The Divine Offices to be diligently performed. Be diligent in the Divine Offices; perform them not from some dry habit, but studiously and from sincere charity. Pronounce and chant all the most sacred words of the Divine Offices themselves, which the Holy Spirit has dictated, integrally and with reverence, in devout voices, believing firmly that not even the smallest syllable, nor the singing of ^a single note, nor ^a slight little bow is lost there, provided your spirit is vigilant, your intention upright, and your affection pure. Those who can attend to God more freely and intimately, let them give thanks to the Lord Himself and not despise others. But those who have neither the opportunity nor the grace to devote themselves greatly to particular prayers or contemplations, let them strive at least to attend willingly and devoutly to the common praises of God, and to the prayers and readings.

[71] Love spiritual progress, and diligently avoid whatever you perceive impedes it in you. Again I admonish you, sons of light: abstain from carnal desires which war against the soul; abstain from much wine; abstain from the bitter pleasures of this world. Walk in the observances of sacred Religion, not as the unwise, but as the wise, knowing what the will of God is. Keep inviolate the integrity of your Rule and your Statutes (which are most easy and most mild), as far as lies in you. Other virtues necessary for ^a Religious. Abhor the damnable stain of proprietorship; do not give place in yourselves to the devil. Always preserve among yourselves the bond of peace, the unity of spirit, and the affection of love. For without these, the monastery in which you live cannot be the dwelling place of the holy Angels; rather, it will be the domicile of evil spirits. Therefore have charity; pursue it, like newborn infants, without guile. Let no murmuring, no hatred, no detraction, no obstinate suspicion, no envy ever long have place among you, so that in the house of God nothing may appear except the things of peace. With all meekness and an abundance of love, let each one bear the other; let each one tolerate, as far as lies in him, the defects of the other; let each one help the other; let each one have compassion on the other; let each one admonish the other. Let the younger revere and honor the elders; likewise, let the seniors love the young and encourage them to the pure observance of holy Religion both by example and by word. Let each one strive to break his own will and to bend it to the judgment of the Superior with spiritual joy; and let him promptly carry out without contradiction the things that are commanded. Flee the swelling of presumption and arrogance, hateful to God. Flee the precipice of vainglory; love to be known by God alone, to be unknown to others. Love to be subject rather than to preside, and to learn rather than to teach, because this is the will of God, this is your sanctification. So, so order your life; so conquer the world, so the devil, so the flesh, so nature itself, that the Holy Spirit may rest upon you who are humble, quiet, and trembling at the words of the Lord.

[72] But do not be troubled, nor be excessively fainthearted, if you are sometimes burdened in the monastic vocation; if you feel weariness of soul and dryness of heart in the service of God; if you are afflicted by the annoyances of temptations and the pressures of tribulations. Rather, be steadfast, and through brief labor and brief tedium, hasten to the joys of eternal blessedness. One must not despair in temptations. Yet ^a little while, and all sorrows will cease; yet ^a little while, and you will be transferred to everlasting rest and glory. Then you will rejoice for the days in which you saw evil, and your bones will sprout like the grass. Then the Lord will comfort you as ^a mother comforts her children, and in Jerusalem you will be comforted. Then your heart will wonder and rejoice and expand, when you see the beauty of that holy city; when face to face you will contemplate the God of gods in Zion; when you will possess what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has ascended into the heart of man — which blessings may Jesus Christ our Lord deign to bestow upon us all, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God forever and ever. Amen.

a Nearly the same admonitions were given to St. Simeon Stylites by an Elder, as we related on the fifth of January in his life.

CHAPTER XIX.

The Preservation and Enlargement of the Monastery Buildings.

[73] The religious house of Liessies was so established by previous superiors that neither convenience of workshops, nor security of the cloister, nor pleasantness of habitation was greatly wanting. Nevertheless Blosius added many things; and he also planned many more, which at his death he left either sketched or outlined. It will perhaps not be unwelcome to the reader if I append ^a recent occurrence which, although not of very great moment, is nonetheless relevant to the matter we are discussing here. Blosius had procured for himself an ichnography, or plan, A design for the church and dormitory left by Blosius. both for extending the Church in length and for reshaping the Dormitory to more convenient use, as the model of an excellent work. Death intervened before he could carry the plan into execution. When afterward the successors of Blosius had already changed the form of the Dormitory for the better comfort of the monks and had resolved upon extending the foundation of the Church, behold, they happened quite by chance upon that very Blosian design, to their great joy, because, with plans agreeing with those of Blosius, they had unknowingly, as it were, fulfilled the last will of their good Father, expressed in those documents as it were in codicils, in the very same form and design. Prudent and pious indeed was the plan of Blosius: since the monks of Liessies, held in very strict enclosure, seldom go out into the open or public, they might be enclosed more pleasantly in their voluntary prison if, besides that interior familiarity joined with God, the house, cells, porticoes, gardens, and other things would also cheer them outwardly with ^a more convenient pleasantness.

[74] With this plan, in addition to the common garden of the Convent — pleasant enough and spacious, enclosed on each side by walls, and on the side facing the meadows and wooded hills, watered by the river Helpe flowing past — he ordered private little gardens to be arranged for each of his monks individually. Here, during the time of religious relaxation Little gardens and the recreation of the monks. allotted to them in the afternoon hours, they honorably pass the time either in cultivating their little garden or in other manual work, or in honest conversations and walks, or in the harmonious singing of music, or finally in reading or discussion of pious matters. Nevertheless, lest the purity of Religion or the poverty be in any way harmed by the cultivation, use, and fruit of private gardens, the provident Father made this provision in his Statutes: Although we do not disapprove of the Brothers keeping little gardens, trees, violet beds, and similar things for honest recreation and exercise, yet no one should hold such things as his own property, just as nothing else.

[75] Besides these individual little gardens of the monks, Blosius enclosed with ^a wall ^a somewhat larger piece of ground adjacent to the Convent garden, not far from the residence of the Prelates, and wished it to be ^a garden destined for the relaxation of the Abbot. He confessed that he had been led to this plan The Abbot's little garden. with the intention that, if perchance any of the future Abbots should not be as frequently captivated as he was by the delight of sacred studies, he might at least have ^a place where, apart from others, he might enjoy that useful and pleasant repose and relaxation of mind and body. Pious sayings inscribed there. Here too he applied himself to fostering his own devotion or to exciting that of others. For above the doors and windows of this little garden and the small portico that is seen there, brief and most pious sayings, devised by him and written at the command of Blosius, are read: "LET THE BEAUTY OF FLOWERS AND OF OTHER CREATURES CARRY THE HEART INTO ADMIRATION AND LOVE OF GOD THE CREATOR. LET THE PLEASANTNESS OF THE GARDEN RECALL TO MIND THE BEAUTY OF PARADISE. THIS PLACE IS DEDICATED NOT TO VANITY BUT TO PIETY. LET THINGS DISPLEASING TO GOD DEPART FROM HERE. LET HEAVENLY THINGS BE SOUGHT. LORD GOD, HOW ADMIRABLE YOU ARE! YOU HAVE DELIGHTED ME IN YOUR HANDIWORK, AND IN THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS I SHALL EXULT. THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN PRAISE GOD, THAT MAN MAY PRAISE HIM FROM THE HEART."

[76] From these things it is clear that Blosius, in the management of domestic affairs, aimed at reaping eternal gains and benefits from temporal ones, and spiritual from corporeal ones. He also gave notable testimony that he had always carefully guarded against any loss of heavenly and divine things in the gain of household affairs, when he decreed the following concerning lawsuits not to be lightly undertaken: He forbids lawsuits to be lightly undertaken. "As regards the resources and external goods of the monastery, let care be taken that lawsuits on their account be not too easily undertaken against anyone. Nevertheless, let them be reasonably guarded and defended. Indeed, it is more honorable to embrace ^a settlement through arbitrators, whether offered or even to seek one not offered, than to pursue cases lightly. And moreover, it is sometimes better to endure ^a moderate loss of temporal things by prudently keeping silence and hoping in God, than to suffer ^a great loss of interior goods by obstinately litigating over external ones. Therefore, let internal things always be preferred to external, and eternal things to perishable; and let greater care be had for spiritual things than for temporal."

[77] Indeed, in accumulating wealth and increasing the revenues of the monastery, although he was most capable in this matter, he labored very little. For the monks of Liessies, frugality was ^a great revenue. In domestic affairs he used to say that Frugality was ^a great revenue. This is the revenue by which alone Blosius left the monks of Liessies wealthy after him. In other respects, on account of his love of poverty, he was sparing and attentive to resources; but where the glory of God and the salvation of souls and the good reputation of the monastery Liberality for the glory of God. and the honorable comforts of the Brethren both in sickness and in health required it, he did not spare expenses. However, all extravagances in feasting and gifts on account of investitures, professions, dedications, and first Masses he abolished, both to preserve poverty and lest the sacred and spiritual solemnity of those days be violated. In other matters an accurate observer of good management, he was in no respect avaricious or sordid.

CHAPTER XX.

Sacred Matters, and the Honors of God and the Saints Increased. Relics Adorned.

[78] He who was so vigorous in preserving and adorning the fabric of his religious household could not fail to embrace the adornment of the church and of sacred things with singular care. Care of sacred matters: And indeed there exist such outstanding monuments of his zeal in amplifying the worship of God and the Saints that whoever beholds them even now in the church of Liessies is compelled to confess that he had inscribed the Davidic sentence, which he wrote upon the sacred walls of the church, more deeply in his heart: "Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells." Ps. 25:8. This is that beauty, this is that majesty of the house of God which is seen in the devout gravity and grave devotion of performing the stated and solemn ceremonies of the Divine Offices and Sacrifices; of the Divine Offices: in celebrating the Gregorian chant clearly, slowly, sonorously, and at proper intervals or pauses, distinctly and articulately; in short, in performing every work of God rightly and becomingly, with inward savor and outward modesty. This pious majesty Blosius laudably instituted, and his successors have preserved it to the present day.

[79] After the Divine Offices, sacred buildings for the glory of God and the Saints were close to his heart. In this he was elegant, exact, generous, and overflowing. Here he wished Of sacred buildings. pomp to vie with grace, material with art, majesty with piety, for the building, adorning, and enriching of the basilica of God and the Saints. Among the other buildings, we see as ^a monument of Blosius He builds the Choir and the high altar. the august mass of the Choir, where, besides other ornaments, there stands, by his provision, the principal altar of the Choir, upon which rises ^a panel of white marble which, in the most elegant symmetry of Vitruvian architecture, through arranged orders of columns, displays the mysteries of the passion and death of our Savior, sculpted by the art of statuary, which no one beholds without reverent admiration.

[80] Furthermore, Blosius applied himself to the honor of the sacred Relics as if he neglected all else. He erected first of all ^a chapel for the reverential, clean, and safe preservation of the sacred bodies of the Saints, He preserves and adorns the Relics of the Saints. their holy bones and Relics. Those Relics which the Abbots of earlier years had received, well attested, partly from ^b Henry, Emperor of the East, partly from Theodore, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and from other Bishops and Princes, he arranged in ^a most beautiful order, enclosed them in reliquaries of gold and silver, adorned them with gems and precious stones, and affixed to each labels inscribed in his own hand on parchment. Lest these, however, should perish with the passage of time, or falling from the sacred bones to which they were attached should cast doubt upon their authenticity, his successors had them engraved on small silver plates. This splendid treasury of sacred Relics the present Abbot, who has now presided over that monastery for twenty-two years, has notably enlarged with pious care and solicitude; and the other monks of Liessies guard it with such devotion and veneration — the fervor propagated from Blosian times — that ^a certain Bishop of great renown and other distinguished men have not hesitated to affirm that the Relics of the Saints nowhere dwell more happily than at Liessies.

[81] Blosius also transferred to the monastery of Liessies the sacred body of ^c St. Etto, Bishop and Confessor of Ireland. For the holy remains, having been ^d donated to the same monastery in the year of our Lord 1162 with the approval of Nicholas, Bishop of Cambrai, He transfers the Relics of St. Etto the Bishop to Liessies. had been preserved for many years in the Oratory of the Priory under the jurisdiction of Liessies, situated in the village of Dompierre, one mile from the town of Avesnes. Because Blosius was frequently compelled on account of French disturbances to transfer them across the mountains for safety, he feared that they might eventually fall into the power of enemies. By prudent counsel he obtained from Pope Paul IV the faculty of transferring them to Liessies; and having received the Pontifical diploma of that concession, dated July 22, 1555 (having broken through with steadfast spirit various serious difficulties which the inhabitants of Dompierre and the Lord of Avesnes raised lest they be deprived of them), he in fact solemnly ^e transferred them on July 25, 1556, after on the preceding day, with the kind permission of the Most Reverend Bishop of Chalcedon, Martin Cuperus, Suffragan of Cambrai, he had arranged at Mons (where they were then preserved) in the Oratory of the Liessies house for the head to be separated from the rest of the body and enclosed in ^a separate reliquary.

[82] In general, Blosius labored piously and usefully in amplifying the honors of the Saints in various ways: he composed catalogues, established their authenticity, published their glory, honored them with the merits and homage of his life, and emulated their virtues. In the notes of Blosius there are ^a number of things piously and learnedly annotated He zealously promotes the honor of the Saints in various ways. that serve to establish the authenticity and increase the veneration of sacred Relics. In seeking, discovering, and recording these, Blosius was most assiduous. In this regard, outstanding is his annotation concerning sacred Relics brought from Constantinople, which he recorded in his own written notes in these words: "Most people are accustomed to wonder how we received from Constantinople, ^a city of Greece, the Relics of the Prophets, who were nearly all buried in Judaea. But they will cease to wonder if they consider what Blessed John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, says at the very beginning of ^a certain Homily which he wrote about Elijah the Prophet; for he says thus: Relics of the Prophets: 'Formerly indeed the people of the Jews gloried in possessing the Prophets, and it was truly ^a special field of the Prophets. But now this very glory has been taken from them by the Church. For behold, the very bodies of the Prophets are with us. For it is not fitting that ^a barren people should still have the Prophets as farmers; nor is it seemly that the Prophets should still be preserved among those who crucified the God whom they foretold.'" ^f Again, some can hardly believe of St. John the Baptist: that we possess true Relics of Blessed John the Baptist, asserting that they were formerly entirely cremated by the Pagans. If they had carefully read the histories, they would easily recognize that very many of the most sacred bones of Blessed John himself, while being burned by the Gentiles, were gathered up and rescued by faithful Christians. For in chapter 28 of the eleventh book of the Ecclesiastical History we read: "In the times of Julian, as if with reins loosened, the ferocity of the Pagans boiled over into every cruelty. Rufinus, bk. 2, ch. 28. From which it happened that at Sebaste, ^a city of Palestine, they invaded the tomb of John the Baptist with rabid minds and accursed hands, scattered his bones, and having gathered them again, burned them with fire, and dispersed the holy ashes mixed with dust throughout the fields and countryside. But by the providence of God it happened that certain monks from Jerusalem, from the monastery of Philip, ^a man of God, came there at that same time for the purpose of prayer. When they saw so great ^a sacrilege being committed by human hands indeed but with bestial minds, preferring death to being tainted by such an impious deed, they mingled among those who were collecting the bones for burning, and gathering them more carefully and reverently, as far as circumstances permitted, they secretly withdrew while others were either stupefied or raving, and brought the venerable Relics to the devout Father Philip."

a A far more august chapel for this purpose was erected by Antonius Winghe, Abbot, and splendidly adorned.

b In the year 1206, when Baldwin, his brother having been killed by the King of the Bulgarians through the cruelest tortures, he assumed the Empire; he died in the year 1216. Both were sons of Baldwin the Magnanimous, Count of Hainaut and Flanders.

c We shall give the Life of St. Etto on July 10, and shall treat of this translation, concerning which there exists ^a diploma of Robert de Croy, Archbishop of Cambrai, dated July 17, 1556, in which he recites the Bull of Paul IV mentioned here.

d By William of Dompierre, ^a nobleman, from whose family Guido of Dampierre and other Counts of Flanders descended, as Blosius himself noted in ^a certain memorandum. Another Dompierre, or Dampetram, or Dominicum Petri, from which this cognomen attached to the Counts of Flanders, is cited by Miraeus in his Belgian Chronicle at the year 1300.

e He left, however, as the Pontiff had commanded, ^a portion of the relics of St. Etto in the village of Dompierre, and repaired and adorned the reliquary damaged by age and the injuries of time. But more on this when we treat of the life of St. Etto.

f These matters will be reported more fully on the 29th of August and the 24th of February.

CHAPTER XXI.

Tranquillity of Soul, Gentleness, Charity.

[83] As oil floats calmly and sweetly upon all liquids, so upon all the virtues of the most gentle Blosius there overflowed

Page 448 ^a certain sweetness and tranquillity of charity. Of this tranquil charity and gentle meekness, both in his deeds and in his writings, Blosius was always ^a living exemplar. This charity, gentleness, Singular sweetness in Blosius. and mildness is the foundation and basis of the whole Blosian life, doctrine, and ascetical practice. This gentleness, like the sweetest milk, flows from the Blosian pen as from the breast of ^a nurse, and runs gently and sweetly through all his works. It shines forth in his writings. In this gentleness he founded that consoling doctrine of Good Will so often inculcated in his booklets. In this spirit of mildness and gentleness he dictated the entire economy of his moderate life and Statutes, and led his monks of Liessies to the exact observance of those same Statutes, not as slaves by severity and threats, but as sons by love and gentleness.

[84] It is by this spirit that he prevails upon the reader of his writings, through ^a sweet introversion, to assist securely and gently, with the richness of devotion, at the divine offices of piety and the sacrifices — by praying, chanting, and meditating; and to converse with his neighbors He commends this to others. without disturbance or bitterness — by speaking, acting, and living. In the Statutes Blosius exhorts the Master of Novices to be, toward humble and obedient disciples, as ^a pious father or pious mother. But if perchance he must deal somewhat harshly with the obstinate, let him remember mercy and gentleness even while correcting and chastising. "Let him pour," he says, "not wine only but also oil upon the wounds of the undisciplined, so that they may be healed." For Blosius, that pious Samaritan most full of the bowels of compassion, both poured oil no less than wine upon the wounds of his own, and wished the same to be poured by others. This gentleness in words and deeds, in joyful and sorrowful circumstances, in the virtues and vices of his sons, he preserved always with the unshaken tranquillity of soul.

[85] No one ever heard him correcting faults with harsh words. Hence these formulae of reproof were habitual with him toward those monks Most mild in correcting his own. who had strayed from the right path, as if addressing another person: "Dom N. did what he ought not; he will suffer what he would not." Or, "Dom N. did what he wanted; he will suffer what he does not want." In the same spirit of mildness he was also accustomed to correct the conventual servants and other members of his household, assuming the countenance and words of one admonishing and exhorting rather than rebuking or scolding, usually with this formula: "Could you not do this or that with somewhat greater modesty?" Or, "Could you not attend to so easy ^a matter more diligently?" The tranquillity of his soul shone as in ^a mirror in the modesty of his countenance and the sweetness of his speech. At every hour the approaches to him were easy. No one heard him revealing agitation of mind with raised voice; no one observed in him ^a bitter expression or ^a vehement gesture. There was no one to whom he did not willingly and promptly grant access to himself; nor did he ever dismiss ^a sorrowful Brother from his presence without the remedy of gentle consolation, nor by any gesture or nod indicate that the interruptions of those seeking comfort in their afflictions from their most excellent Father were burdensome to him.

[86] If it sometimes happened that someone, in laying complaints before him, showed unmistakable signs of ^a disturbed mind, he himself was not greatly moved, but with his countenance composed to serenity, he said humanely and most affectionately: He gently admonishes the agitated. "I beg you, my Brother, to go away from me until you return to yourself; and when that commotion has subsided, then come back to me at once. For now, until the mind has somewhat quieted, neither can you prudently ask for what would make for peace, nor can I suggest counsel that would be profitable in the matter." He dwelt within himself, and enjoying the delights of quiet with his own soul, was called forth by no tumult, nor did he go out from himself; in the most dissimilar circumstances always similar to himself, and in the midst of the turbulence of affairs, present to his own solitude. There was nothing that he could not with his gentleness, like the slenderest woodworm, steadily penetrate and accomplish; and (which is no slight praise, Mildness fosters authority. nor common to all placed in dignity) he so employed his gentle mildness that neither did his mildness detract from his authority, nor his authority from his mildness.

[87] He does nothing and says nothing rashly. Things to be said and done he first weighed within himself with prudent gentleness before he said or did them, lest some word or deed should imprudently slip out which might bring pain or regret of mind either to others or to himself. He judged hasty counsel to be inimical to peace and gentleness and prone to retraction; he accomplished great things with great deliberation, the more successfully the more slowly. He did not dispatch matters of great moment, or petitions in serious affairs submitted either by the Brethren or by others, on the spot; but receiving them kindly, requesting ^a delay for considering them and forming plans, he meanwhile bade them go away and return to him when he had deliberated maturely. To those returning, he openly declared what he had long meditated, and resolutely determined what he judged best to do. Sometimes also he committed his decisions to writing, ^a praiseworthy custom; for by experience as his teacher he had learned that in this way he could command more tranquilly and his subjects could obey more securely. He sometimes admonished in writing. The monks of Liessies preserve certain autograph memoranda of this kind in Blosius's own hand, which he employed especially when he wished something to be observed with more diligent care in the offices or workshops, or when he judged it necessary to deal with someone by way of ^a private admonition with somewhat stricter correction, outside the public places of reproof — lest, that is, he should exceed the measure of his mildness in words, he transacted the matter in writing.

CHAPTER XXII.

Hospitality.

[88] Generous to guests. Companion to the charity and gentleness we have just described was that notable courtesy and urbanity of Blosius in receiving guests in the Benedictine manner, by which he both excelled at home and spread abroad ^a good odor and an amiable reputation of piety and charity far and wide. He set before the table ^a pious affability as the best seasoning; and with truly admirable wit, he was modestly cheerful, devoutly urbane, and soberly generous. Even conversations that were introduced contrary to propriety Prudent and urbane in conversation. he either gently cut short or skillfully deflected with ingenious piety to the praise of God or to some salutary instruction, with such grace and dexterity that those very persons who might have been offended either did not notice, or if they did notice, nevertheless silently rejoiced that they had been so sweetly led by the hand of Blosius from idle talk to useful discourse.

[89] Although singularly devoted to poverty, he did not wish to be sparing in expenses on this account, always discerning with singular judgment what befitted the dignity of the guests and what befitted his own. Nor did he ever believe that any number of guests would be ^a burden, but counted them with ^a grateful heart among the blessings of God. Hence on one occasion there arose that witty complaint of his. For some considerable time his house and table had been without guests; thereupon Blosius, turning to one of the conventual servants (as they call them), with whom on account of his probity and candor he would sometimes exchange pious or familiar conversation: He believes he receives God in his guests. "What is this," he said, "Anselm?" (for that was the servant's name) "Does God forget us, or is He angry, since He has not visited us in guests for so long?" From which it is easy to conjecture with what countenance he received guests, he who believed he was embracing the Lord in his guests; so that it is no wonder that Blosian hospitality was celebrated on the lips and in the writings of men. Let Tilmann Bredenbach, Doctor of Sacred Theology, ^a writer of no small repute, be ^a witness. He, in ^a Letter to his Brothers prefixed to ^a Fascicle of Sacred Prayers compiled from the works of Blosius, speaks thus of him: "The Reverend Father Dom Blosius," he says, "was endowed with an almost angelic spirit and the sweetest manners and an admirable benevolence toward all, as you, my Brother Theodoric (who once in my company conversed familiarly with that Reverend Father Blosius himself for several days), have been accustomed to recall, asserting that you never saw ^a graver man than that venerable Dom Peter Homphaeus, formerly Dean of Emmerich, nor ^a sweeter or gentler man than the Reverend Dom Blosius. Would that he had many Superiors of monasteries, and Prelates and Prefects of clerics and Religious, similar to himself, who would devote equal effort with such paternal and most moderate affection to instilling true piety and religion into the souls of their subjects! Surely the Catholic Church would reflourish in ^a great and almost principal part of itself. For by this one method and way, the most sacred ointment of the divine Spirit, with which Christ the Lord was anointed above His fellows, would flow from the head, Christ, to the beard, to the members nearest in dignity and authority to Christ, and then to the hem of the whole garment, to the entire flock of the Lord; and the Apostle would obtain his wish, that instead of ten thousand pedagogues in Christ, we might have many thousands of Fathers. 1 Cor. 4:15. Blessed be God, who, filling the desires of His own with good things, still causes salutary stars to shine forth and illumine His Church in many places, however much Satan may burst with rage, the heretics gnash their teeth, and all who hate Zion be turned backward." These are his words about Blosius. The testimony of this most weighty and most learned man is to be valued all the more because it was written not for flattery (being indeed fourteen years after the pious death of Blosius) but for the memory and admiration of the virtue which he, as an eyewitness, had observed in Blosius.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Chastity and Cleanliness.

[90] The flower of unblemished chastity, which Blosius brought into the world when born from his mother's womb, he preserved while living amid the license of the court, and at his death carried it intact and untouched with him into the tomb of the earth. Six aids to chastity: 1. Temperance. For the protection of his chastity there were six principal safeguards. The first was singular temperance in food and drink, without which no virtue can be safe among so many enemies — in which Blosius showed himself truly exceptional and placed the greatest defense of chastity. For even at table, more concerned about nourishing the spirit than the body, he dipped each morsel of food (as he himself used to say) in the blood of Christ. Having always before his eyes that admonition of St. Jerome concerning temperance — "A belly boiling with wine easily foams into lust" — he banished from his community, with the gravest words, the mother of licentiousness, namely the loose and free drinking of wine and all feasting, including that done in secret. On how strictly this was to be observed, he thus addresses his successors: "Here, here," he says, "let the Prelate be supremely vigilant, if he wishes holy Religion to be honorably preserved." And in the Paternal Exhortation to his sons: "I admonish you," he says, "sons of light, abstain from carnal desires which war against the soul; abstain from much wine; abstain from the bitter pleasures of this world." In offering wine to guests he was generous, not prodigal. He abhorred equal draughts He issued equal portions. and the violent practice of compelling one another to drink deeply, and he called that custom ^a most pernicious plague which the devil had introduced into the world. Well known is his answer to ^a great man who invited him to respond with an equal draft and threatened, if he did not comply, to pour ^a cup full of wine into his lap: he replied bravely and wittily that he would rather have his lap stained than his conscience.

[91] 2. Avoidance of dangers. The second safeguard of chastity was the avoidance of dangers, which St. Jerome and other Fathers so often inculcate both by their counsels and by their examples. For this reason Blosius frequently commended in his Statutes, as the two bulwarks of religious chastity, the love of silence and of solitude. He forbids immodesty. Conversations, walks for the sake of recreation (which he himself calls Spatiamenta), and other relaxations he either granted his monks sparingly, or so regulated them that he forbade unrestrained laughter, profane songs, and all unbecoming games in which the body had to be violently agitated by running, throwing, or other indecent gestures, or monastic garments had to be removed or awkwardly arranged. He excludes women from the cloister. Furthermore, he not only barred the company of women from the monastic cloister, but also prevented the free and indiscriminate access of men. Hence, outside the times of the regular colloquy, in the conventual spaces there appears ^a tranquil and devout solitude, full of pious reverence, as of ^a hermitage. And since the subject of women has arisen, he deemed that such circumspection was to be employed in dealing with them, even in the smallest matters, that perhaps he might seem excessively timid and scrupulous to someone less experienced in spiritual things. For in his Instructions and counsels to his successor Abbots (which he included in certain codicils, He forbids sending them little gifts. as he himself calls them), treating of violet beds, flowers, and similar things which monks are accustomed to cultivate in their little gardens, he adds: "For it is not fitting that ^a monk should too easily extend and offer something of this kind by hand to any woman. And it is utterly detestable that such things should be sent by ^a monk to women or girls, out of levity of mind and sensual friendship." He abolishes the Priories. This same avoidance of dangers was also the reason why he recalled his monks from the Priories, in which the purity of Religion was exposed to truly great dangers, to the safe refuge of monastic enclosure.

[93] The third was the custody of the eyes, which, like ^a closed helmet of the head, easily repels all attacks against chastity. 3. Custody of the eyes. In this matter Blosian modesty shone so singularly that by the composure of his eyes and countenance, and by his whole bodily bearing, he everywhere kindled those who beheld him to ^a love of chastity. He was well aware that chastity is harmed by poorly guarded eyes. For this reason, since he judged it dangerous for women to appear before the eyes of religious men, he strove, as far as was proper, to remove their sight from his monks. For this reason, whereas previously in the Conventual garden, to which monks had access at certain afternoon hours, women had worked at spreading, gathering, and loading hay onto wagons, he provided in the aforesaid codicils that this should no longer be done, in these words: "The grass of the Conventual garden, He does not wish women to appear before his monks. by my regulation, is customarily mowed, turned, dried, and loaded onto wagons by men or youths, not however by women or girls — especially during those hours when the Brothers are able to walk in the garden, even if it costs more to have it done by males than by females. For it is better to suffer some loss in the purse than in the soul."

[94] 4. Mortification of the body. The fourth was mortification of the body. He affirmed that the blooming chastity of the soul flourished in the mortification of the flesh, like ^a lily among thorns. In this matter Blosius did two things worthy of note. First, in his initial reform of strict observance, he pursued the extreme degree of bodily mortification that was possible in the Religious family of our Holy Father Benedict. Then, when he withdrew from that first rigor, led more by the counsel of others than by his own desire, he did not however cast off that singular shield of chastity, the mortification of the flesh; but he himself always undertook various bodily mortifications and taught that they were to be undertaken. And to this end he labored especially, that together with moderate bodily mortifications, the corrupt desires of the soul might be broken, and that, as it were, from this twofold aid ^a twofold safeguard might accrue for the protection of chastity.

[95] 5. Piety. The fifth was piety of soul. For he used to say that the pleasures of the flesh grow bitter and die when the delights of the Spirit seem to grow sweet and live. He also called piety the nurse of chastity, from whose breasts how much hatred of impurity and love of purity Blosius imbibed, all his writings abundantly attest. Through continual familiarity with God — which in the books of his mystical asceticism he calls Introversion, ^a not unsuitable term — he said that all outward pleasures of the senses grew stale. The more he kindled this familiarity with God by numerous and ardent aspirations, the more he felt himself growing cold in the love of creatures.

[96] The sixth was outward cleanliness. For an index, indeed even ^a certain safeguard, of interior chastity is that outward cleanliness which has always been greatly beloved by the saintly lovers of chastity: 6. Outward cleanliness. in which the luster and beauty of Blosian chastity shone wondrously. If he found anything in the cells of the Brothers, I will not say too dirty, but less becomingly arranged, he showed that it displeased him, saying that cleanliness of soul and body, interior and exterior, should join hands and walk at an equal pace; and following the example of St. Bernard, poverty was to be loved, not filth. Blosius held most dear in the face and hands ^a natural cleanliness, in clothing ^a becoming poverty; in the chamber and all furnishings privately, and publicly in the kitchen, refectory, guest table and house, in the church, in everything an elegant and spotless appearance, breathing everywhere chaste cleanliness and clean chastity. This he prescribed for himself, this for others; this his successors eagerly accepted and steadfastly maintained. Hence in the sacristy, the furnishings of the church and altar, and above all in the custody of the Relics, such exquisite and unblemished care for cleanliness.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Magnanimity. Endurance of Adversities.

[97] The Prophet Holy Job affirmed that the life of man upon earth is ^a warfare. Job 7:1. This warfare requires steadfast and magnanimous fighters against those enemies who can have no peace terms, nor even ^a truce, with man as long as he lives. In this warfare Blosius called the monastery the arena or field A monk must fight continually. in which monks, with great spirit, must daily fight to the death against the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, in the war of mortification.

[98] Nor was any less fortitude required to endure those evils which also befall the servants of God daily from the chances of war and fortune. He displayed ^a truly unconquerable greatness of steadfast soul, an illustrious spectacle to God and Angels, in sustaining and overcoming the calamities with which he struggled. Four times within twenty-one years, with the commonwealth disturbed by wars, he experienced the French in hostile devastation: Various French incursions into Hainaut. once in the year 1537 after the half-millennium, when at the time of the beginning of the reform of his monastery he was compelled to flee to Ath; again after six years, when from both sides, in the midst of Liessies, he beheld from the vicinity the smoke and embers of the cities of Maubeuge and the fortress of Trélon from the French conflagration, to say nothing of other things; ^a third time after nine years, when Trélon was plundered and destroyed; and finally after six more years, when the French, having broken through the gates, devastated the monastery of Liessies by plundering and pillaging. Amid these most bitter calamities both of the commonwealth and of his own affairs, there was everywhere immense disturbance and loss of possessions; but Blosius himself suffered no adverse thing to break the constancy of his soul, to darken its serenity, or to disturb its tranquillity. The constancy of Blosius. In every calamity he said that trust in God was ^a refuge safe from the storm, frequently repeating this familiar saying: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector and my refuge." Ps. 90. In this refuge he lay most safely hidden; to this, as to ^a harbor, he brought his ship out of the waves.

[99] The magnanimity of Blosius was also constant and unconquerable because he most prudently separated true goods from false, eternal from perishable, the outward goods of fortune from the inward goods of the soul, and so assigned their proper values to each that he considered those alone to be true losses by which the happiness or blessedness of souls was forfeited. When the French, pouring into Hainaut with ^a passion for plundering and the furies of war, had foully devastated the territory of Liessies, Adrianus, the brother of Blosius, led his forces against them together with other military troops of the fatherland, and with incredible glory of valor and courage routed and put the French soldiers to flight. When, after this brilliant feat, He mourns the destruction of souls even in victory. exultant reporters congratulated Blosius and the rescued monks of Liessies and applauded Adrianus for his illustrious victory won by valor, as if in triumph, Blosius alone among all abstained from giving any signs of joy. Instead, drawing deep sighs from his heart, he said: "It is not, it is not for ^a Christian heart to rejoice where so much Christian blood is shed; and an easy and brief victory is perhaps followed by the eternal destruction of so many souls." O divine utterance, worthy of ^a Christian man — one who, immovable in all else, is shaken only by the losses of souls!

[100] Constancy at the funerals of his brothers. He displayed the same greatness of soul at the death of his dearest brothers Richard and Adrianus. The former was his domestic companion and comfort in the affairs of Ludwig; the latter was also his protection, so that the loss could have shaken even ^a brave man. But Blosius stood immovable in mind and countenance; and complaining of nothing, he continued on, relying rather on the providence of God than on trust in human aid. I could produce ^a number of other examples of this kind; but nothing can equally testify to the Blosian spirit and unconquerable strength as the many difficulties he overcame and exhausted when he first introduced the reform of regular discipline. He found some of his monks less obedient, and even some defiant and resistant, as we have said above; but he overcame them all by constancy, and by invincible patience at last bent even the most fiercely resistant.

CHAPTER XXV.

Liberality toward the Poor. Contempt of Wealth and Honors.

[101] It is ^a part of magnanimity to despise money for the glory of God or the benefit of one's neighbor; and as it is the mark of ^a small soul to love money, so it is the mark of ^a truly great soul to suffer the loss of money in order to gain Christ. Blosius was called the Father of the poor. Wonderfully strict and sparing toward himself, Blosius was generously inclined toward others in their various needs, and opening the wide embrace of his charity to all, he justly earned the name of Father of the Poor. He was accustomed to return more cheerful from alms given to the poor, and he also encouraged others to works of mercy. There survives ^a golden admonition left by him to his successors in these words: "Let not the pernicious desire of acquiring more rule among men dedicated to God, He inculcates liberality upon his successors. which is known to have very often overturned the discipline of Religion in many congregations. Nor let base and illiberal stinginess rule; but let alms be given according to the resources of the monastery, with charity. For the surplus of monasteries belongs not so much to the monasteries themselves as to the poor." What he wrote in words, he performed in deeds. The Emperor Charles V had given Blosius ^a goblet remarkable for the value of its metal and the elegance of its workmanship. As soon as he received it, he gave it as ^a gift to the Church of Chimay, which had suffered ^a great loss at that time from hostile devastation, judging that he would be more pleasing to God by generously alleviating the calamity of others than by keeping at home ^a gift received from so great an Emperor.

[102] The monastery of Liessies, an asylum of the poor. In straitened domestic circumstances he expanded his charity toward the needy with great spirit. He held the first concern for all the poor, but especially for those who were almost neighbors in the vicinity. He earnestly recommended them to the stewards, that they might provide for them more abundantly. This he inculcates repeatedly in his Statutes; this he brought into practice. This, as far as the not very great resources of Liessies permitted, took root so deeply and grew so immensely under Blosius that we now commonly see the monastery of Liessies rightly called an Asylum of the Poor.

[103] The poverty which he relieved in others by compassion and generous giving, he himself gladly embraced for himself. He loved ^a poor life Blosius refuses dignities. far removed from opulent honors. He vigorously shunned wealth and honors freely offered, trampling and crushing the pomp of the world with magnanimous humility. Indeed, as much as some pursue the titles of dignities by canvassing, so much did he shun them by declining. The Emperor Charles once attempted, but in vain, to elevate Blosius from his Liessies — that lesser prelacy, indeed — to greater and more splendid heights of honor. For Blosius magnanimously and humbly refused the Archbishopric of Cambrai destined for him by the Emperor: The Archbishopric of Cambrai. ^a fact which Maximilian de Berghes, himself ^a man by no means ambitious, after he had submitted his own neck to so great ^a burden, used to reproach Blosius with in familiar jest, as though it were really fair that Blosius, in order to consult his own quiet and private comfort, should transfer so formidable ^a burden to weaker shoulders. Thus did that man judge himself — as prudently and friendly as he did humbly and candidly.

[104] He declines ^a wealthier abbey, employing an intercessor. The Emperor also offered Blosius the wealthier Abbey of St. Martin at Tournai, that he might wish to exchange it for his Liessies, for the good of the Church. But mindful of what St. Ambrose had declared — that religious devotion is free from all ambition, and that dangers will be all the greater as the dignity is loftier Ambrose, bk. 4 on Luke, ch. 4. — he never allowed it to be thrust upon him. In order to shake this from his shoulders, he went to Brussels to petition the Emperor and succeeded. While he was moving about in the Emperor's palace in ^a new and unusual manner of canvassing, seeking to remove the prelacy of St. Martin from himself, something occurred not unworthy of narration. He happened upon ^a certain Prince, ^a man not the least among the Emperor's nobles, who, judging himself obligated by Blosius's favor, thought the occasion had come to demonstrate his gratitude by offering Blosius his help and influence before the Emperor (with whom he was especially in favor), and declared himself ready and willing if Blosius sought anything and wished to use his recommendation before the Emperor. Then Blosius, as the matter stood, declared his distress of mind at the Abbey of St. Martin, should he be forced to accept it. He wished rather to grow old at Liessies in the modest lot that had fallen to him among the sons of Liessies and was already being peacefully and joyfully possessed in the Lord, than to take on new honors with new burdens. Accordingly, he asked that if the man wished to repay the favor, he would interpose his influence with the Emperor in the matter of refusing this Abbey — that he had come to beg the Emperor to be permitted, with his good grace, to be freed, and to die in his little nest at Liessies. The other man, astonished at the novelty of the thing, offered his services since Blosius so wished. Then, departing from Blosius to the Emperor, he said: "Behold, august Caesar, I bring ^a truly new and unprecedented form of petition. The Abbot of Liessies, Blosius, far differently from what others are accustomed to do, begs and implores Your Majesty through me that he may be released from the prelacy of St. Martin and be permitted to live and die at his own Liessies. Thus he, and thus I, beseech Your Majesty." At this the Emperor said, wondering: "Let it be done, and since Blosius so asks, let him live and die among his own." Thus indeed Blosius was more illustrious by his contempt of dignities and honors than most men are by seeking and bearing them.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Zeal against Rising Heresies and Vices.

[105] In the calamitous times of the Church of Belgium, when from France and Germany the heretical plague was creeping from all sides into the Belgian provinces, Blosius appears to have been given by God, among others, as ^a defender and champion against the rising and spreading heresies and their preachers. Among his opuscula are seen those two works written against the Innovators, from which Blosius possesses ^a splendid testimony of his zeal for the house of God: the Collyrium of the Heretics, divided into two books, and the Torch, adapted to enlighten and recall heretics from error. Of the first, he prefaces ^a few but fitting words His writings against the heretics: and openly and faithfully declares his sentiments toward the enemies of the Faith, beginning thus: "Moved by pious commiseration toward the perishing heretics, I wrote this Collyrium." And soon, explaining why he calls it ^a Collyrium The Collyrium of the Heretics. (which in the Greek word signifies ^a ready medicine for curing afflictions of the eyes): "In which," he says, "I have gathered ^a few things that seemed suited to curing the eyes of the heretics themselves. We shall abundantly achieve what we desire if this modest and rough labor of ours can either heal some of those already infected by heresy, or preserve unharmed some of those not yet infected. For in those things which we have published hitherto, we seek not the praises of men but the salvation of souls."

[106] The Torch. The purpose of writing the Torch he explains in the Preface: it was of such ^a kind that from forty sayings and decrees of the ancient Fathers and the most holy Councils, he might kindle as many lamps, as it were, and place them upon ^a candlestick; not so much to give light to all who are in the house of the Church, as to light ^a beacon for those who are swept by the winds of novelty into shoals or rocks, by which they might direct their course and sail ^a straight and certain way into the harbor. The Torch, with the opinions of the ancient Fathers collected together, is ^a work so complete in every respect that it leaves scarcely any part of those matters now controverted in the faith untouched. And yet in his modesty Blosius judges it thus: "This Torch, showing after ^a fashion the face of the primitive Church, was collected in the month of October in the year of our Lord 1561; which, although it may seem confused in the manner of ^a miscellany, can nevertheless be of benefit to heretics, if they themselves are willing to read and weigh it diligently." Appendix to the Torch at the end.

[107] After the Torch, by an ingenious fiction he addresses the Philocaenopolitans — those whom the ^a Most Reverend Bishop Lindanus, burning with zeal of God for the Catholic Church, The Appendix to the Torch addressed to the Philocaenopolitans. in his golden booklet calls the Dubitantii ("Doubters"). The title of the Blosian Appendix, after the Torch, is set forth thus: "The Expostulation of Jesus Christ concerning the ingratitude of Philocaenopolis, whose governors love new and depraved doctrine and favor heretics." Now Philocaenopolis, if we render it word for word in Latin, means "City loving novelties." The rulers of this city, who, while calling themselves Catholics and boasting of being sons of the holy Mother Roman Church, yet tolerated with impunity the crimes of many heretics sowing novelties, and by their connivance strengthened the sprouting heresies — Jesus Christ, justly protesting, thus addresses through Blosius: "O imprudent governors of the city! Who has so bewitched you that you should permit those men to attack the truth and freely preach another faith than that which was once delivered by the most holy Fathers and preserved by the most illustrious and true Senators and by the faithful people?" And he adds other things which, if read attentively, will easily enable anyone to perceive that even then Blosius foresaw those events which the Belgian Philocaenopolis, ^a few years later, lamentably brought about and suffered, afflicted by these same authors or supporters of the new doctrine.

[108] A letter on the faith to ^a fallen kinswoman. Besides these works that were given to the public, there has lain hidden until now in Blosius's files ^a manuscript Letter, in which he endeavors, with the most numerous and most powerful arguments, to bring back to the Church ^a certain kinswoman of his who had been seduced from the fold of Christ by those wolves clothed in sheep's skin and had fled her fatherland to the territory of Germany, so that she might imbibe the poison of heresy with greater license and liberty. Since this Letter now sees the light among his other works, I have judged it superfluous to transcribe it here. These were the literary labors of Blosius by which he fought most bravely against heresies on behalf of the holy Church of God. Those weapons may perhaps seem brief and at first glance slender, if compared with all that armor of the mighty which God afterward raised up in His Church; yet they are altogether solid, Brief but powerful, these writings of his. and possess all the force, and as it were the substance and marrow, of those arguments that are customarily advanced at greater length against the enemies of our religion. And this is especially to the credit of Blosius: that at the very outbreak of the most pernicious schism, he was able so dexterously, on nearly every question, to strike at the throat of that monstrous beast.

[109] Nor indeed were the deeds of Blosius inferior to his writings for the return of the seduced to the bosom of the Church, or for the strengthening of Catholics. For he accomplished much in his life for the recovery of souls seduced from the fold of the Church and from eternal salvation, and for the establishment of Catholics. The Most Serene ^b Mary, Queen of Hungary, sister of Emperor Charles, governed the Belgian Provinces. The Queen of Hungary commends noblemen to him for conversion. She, knowing well the remarkable ardors with which Blosius was inflamed by his zeal for the Church of God, and having learned from several Bishops that he excelled with both hands, namely in virtue and in doctrine, for drawing Innovators back from their perfidy, entrusted to his prudence and piety certain men distinguished by their nobility who had shamefully defected from the faith of their ancestors, so that, impelled by the domestic examples of Blosian life and by daily discussions while they were in the monastery, they might be brought back to the way of salvation from which they had wandered through deviant errors. Among these one stands out above the rest, ^a man of exceptional nobility, whose name I deliberately pass over in silence. He brings ^a man of princely rank back to the faith and to piety. The monastery of Liessies had been assigned to him by Queen Mary as ^a kind of honorable prison; and in it he also found salvation. For Blosius, having kindly housed the man for several months, so moved him by sharp and fervent admonitions and indeed by the examples of ^a most upright life that he not only abjured his heresy but also attained ^a remarkable perfection of Christian life, as Blosius himself testified in ^a letter written to the Queen, which I thought it worthwhile to insert here in Latin translation. He writes thus: "My Lady, the great commiseration by which I am moved toward Lord N., exiled to our monastery of Liessies, compelled me to write these things to Your Majesty. I find the man to be of truly honorable character and disposition, diligently observing the things prescribed to him. As for the Catholic faith, he is now more confirmed in it than if he had never departed from it, so that I am fully confident that, with divine grace assisting, there will not easily be danger of ^a new fall for him hereafter. He greatly detests his former offense, not more eloquently in words than in his life and conduct; for he assists daily at the Sacrifice and the rest of the Divine Office, and he holds entirely orthodox views concerning the Sacraments, Constitutions, and Ceremonies of holy Mother Church. Wherefore, if Your Majesty in your singular clemency were to restore him to his former liberty, He intercedes for his freedom. it would be ^a thing, as I indeed believe, that you would never regret. I speak more confidently about him because, having now lived with him for seven full months, I have found him sincere and free from all pretense, although he admits that he once employed some dissimulation in concealing and hiding his errors. He fell seriously indeed, and he does not deny it, deceived by the persuasion of certain malicious persons; but he has already paid grievous penalties besides — infamy and the afflictions of prison — having been reduced to the very straits of death. He has never once asked me, even by ^a word, to do or write anything on his behalf; yet I observe that he is sometimes greatly cast down by sadness and weariness. He is by nature more inclined to melancholy; wherefore I fear that some despair may creep upon him unless timely solace and relief from his calamity be brought to him. This much at least I beg Your Majesty to grant him: that he be permitted to go beyond the precincts of the monastery for honest recreation of the mind, on the condition that he may not be absent at night without the permission of Your Majesty. If this is granted to the wretched man, he will at least perceive that the aim is not that he should die in these miseries, and he will all the more eagerly press on and maintain his pious resolutions. For the rest, I pray the Creator of all, my Lady, to bestow every happiness upon Your Majesty. Liessies, the 7th of August, 1550.

Your Majesty's most humble and obedient Chaplain, Ludovicus Blosius.

By this letter Blosius obtained for his fortunate captive not only freedom but also his former possessions and honors. Having been restored to his own, he not only lived piously according to the Blosian norm, but also ordered his entire household almost in the manner of ^a religious community. And whenever the conversation turned to Blosius, he did not hesitate to call him ^a blessed and heavenly man, testifying solemnly that he had once seen him at prayer with his whole face, like the sun, Blosius was seen shining like the sun. shining with ^a light poured down from heaven.

[110] Akin to the crime of heresy is magic. By the devil as enchanter, both those who are infected with heresy and those who are initiated into magic are driven headlong. Therefore an appendix to this will be ^a man of distinguished nobility (whose name also, in deference to the honor of his illustrious descendants, we willingly suppress in silence) who had been carried away to such ^a degree of madness that he had purchased at great price ^a ring enchanted by ^a sorcerer, by which he believed himself to possess the fortune of Gyges. By this ring, as if bound by ^a secret pact, ^a demon devoted himself to servitude in the form of ^a handsome man, prompt and ready for everything. Yet while he seemed to serve his master, he had made his master's soul ^a slave to himself, and, lacerating it with the slavish scourges of conscience, he compelled it to serve the harshest servitude. Now, through God's working, that familiar spirit, on account of the stings of conscience, began to please less and less; now ^a way was being sought to break the fetters. Behold, the acquaintance which he had with Blosius proved to be the man's salvation. He effectively recalls ^a certain man from familiarity with ^a demon. For when he heard Blosius, in his usual manner, discoursing in honeyed words about the mercy of God toward sinners, he was moved with all his heart and, weeping and groaning, laid before him all the snares of his captive conscience and the faith pledged with the domestic demon. At this Blosius strove with great effort; he raised the man's spirit to ^a sure hope; he assured him that, if he wished to purge his conscience through the Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, the mercy of God would be ready and easy for him. What more? He purges his soul, breaks the bonds of the devil, and passes from ^a lost life to amendment, from the companionship of an evil spirit to the frequentation of the Sacraments. And the demon, cast out from that stronghold, labored in vain to recover it. For when that nobleman, now ^a servant of God and enemy of the devil, was walking upon the raised rampart of his castle, intent upon prayer, that hostile servant, the evil spirit, appeared He breaks the assault of the demon by prayers. in the form of ^a very black he-goat and attempted with violent force to hurl his former master into the moat filled with water. But in vain. For by invoking God through prayers (mindful of the admonitions of Blosius), the man, now solidly pious, drove the specter from him, and thenceforth led ^a life free from all infestation of the evil spirit and pleasing to God.

[111] Nor was it enough for Blosius, in the zeal of his charity, to embrace those who were estranged from the true faith or seduced by the demon; with the same ardor he seized every opportunity to promote piety and to aid the Christian commonwealth. Blosius supports the Society of Jesus. For this reason he labored to have the Society of Jesus received in Belgium; he favored it with all his strength, and when its innocence was assailed by calumnies and nearly crushed, he defended it by ^a weighty letter written to Viglius Zuichemus, then President of the Privy Council. I thought it fitting to transcribe this letter here, faithfully translated from the French, so that the Fathers of the Society of Jesus who read these things may remember what they owe to our Blosius, and especially what helpers they formerly had; so that our own monks may continue to support, favor, and promote those same Fathers as valiant fellow soldiers against the enemies of the faith, with ^a Blosian — that is, faithful and religious — charity; and so that the rest may understand how great is the perpetual harmony of upright and virtuous minds, when the most ancient of the Orders so readily took up the defense and adornment of this Society, which was then still recent and almost in its infancy, commended to itself by virtue alone. The Letter, then, reads as follows:

[112] ^c "My Lord, when I recently dined with you at your residence, mention was made of the men of the Society of Jesus, as you know, and the conversation was then drawn out at length. I wished to speak with you privately about them and to explain more clearly what I thought; Letter of Blosius to Zuichemus on behalf of the Society. but since I found no suitable opportunity to do so, I judged that I must now write to you concerning the whole matter. My Lord, I have long had ^a great familiarity with Master Adrian, Provost of the Society of Jesus at Louvain, and with others of the same Society. Whence I judge that same Master Adrian to be ^a true servant and friend of God. This much is abundantly clear: that this Society, as the latest Order of consecrated men, has been divinely raised up in these times in the Church for the salvation of many — although ^a great number of people, not only from the common sort but also sacred personages and even Religious, either detract from their reputation or are little inclined in their favor. Great and illustrious things are certainly being accomplished through them by God in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Indies, and elsewhere in the world. The Apostolic Nuncio spoke of them to me in the most honorable terms when I went to greet him at Halle, and showed that he held them in high esteem and encouraged me to deal with them on familiar terms. Nor is the fruit they have thus far produced at Louvain obscure. To this the Chancellor, Doctor Ruard, ^a man of the highest prudence, devotion, and faith, can more fully testify. Yet certain persons, either out of ignorance of the truth or malice of mind, interpret what is rightly and salutarily done by them in ^a contrary sense. But of course such things at their beginnings are usually odious to many — which we read also happened to the families of St. Francis and St. Dominic. That indeed should meet with the singular approval of good and prudent men: that they do not publicly profess, as others do, after one year, but only after seven or eight; which practice averts many inconveniences that might be feared. As for the privileges with which the Pontiff has adorned them, these are absolutely necessary for their vocation. And although they are more ample than those granted to other Orders by the ancient laws of the Pontiffs, The privileges of the Society are harmful to no one. they are nevertheless not contrary to the public peace of the Church or to right discipline; rather, if the matter be rightly weighed in its proper balance, they are most consonant with virtue, the benefit of souls, and the common good. Two Popes in succession, succeeding each other to that supreme dignity, have confirmed this Society after mature deliberation; and most of the Christian Princes have long since adopted ^a most gracious attitude toward them. Those men, who are as eminent in dignity and judgment as they are prudent in all their affairs, he who thinks they saw nothing in so great ^a matter — him I should judge to have departed from right reason. Would that, as in other provinces of the Christian world, so also in our Belgium, some Colleges of theirs might be established! He desires Colleges of the Society to be established in Belgium. Indeed, I would be confident that this would have the very greatest effect both for the propagation of the worship of God and for the support of the salvation of souls. But I fear that we may not yet be worthy of this gift of Almighty God. My Lord, if the matter should so turn out that their cause were to be discussed before the Emperor, or the Queen, or certainly in the Council, you would indeed, as I believe, do ^a thing pleasing to God if you would oppose them as little as possible. He who cares for ^a right conscience of mind should not oppose such endeavors more fiercely, lest he fight against God while believing himself to fight for God. Divine counsels are not to be measured by human reasonings, which exceed all reason. I desire, my Lord, that you receive these things with ^a receptive and gracious mind, which I have written impelled by the sole zeal for truth and divine honor; and I pray that God Almighty may long preserve you in safety. Farewell. Brussels.

Your humble servant, Ludovicus Blosius, Abbot of Liessies.

a The eulogy and catalogue of the writings of William Lindanus, first Bishop of Roermond and then of Ghent, may be found in the Bibliotheca Belgica of Andreas Valerius.

b The widow of Louis, King of Hungary, she administered the Belgian provinces from the year 1530 to 1556.

c I formerly translated this letter into Latin, which was found among the records of our College at Louvain, and communicated it to the monks of Liessies.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Final Illness.

[113] When already everything in our wretched Belgium was tending toward tumults and disturbances, which soon erupted to the great destruction of the Catholic cause and the public welfare, the time was approaching when the good Lord had decreed to reward His faithful servant, who was living in continual meditation upon death and heavenly desires, and to bring him into His joy. Blosius seems to have foreknown or foreseen his death. That this had not escaped Blosius, he himself gave no slight indication, when he prepared himself and all his affairs as though he were about to set out shortly upon the journey of all flesh. It is established by reliable report that shortly before he departed from the living, while attentively considering the immense destruction of souls which the recently arisen heresy was infecting with its pestilential plague and casting down to hell, and the wolves rising up on all sides — masters of false doctrine threatening destruction to the fold of the Church — he foresaw with ^a certain more profound gaze of mind that far graver calamities were impending over Belgium from the bestial fury of the heretics. By this thought he felt so deep ^a wound of grief inflicted upon his heart, and felt the bowels of his interior charity and compassion so moved, that he was already weary of ^a longer life, He prays to God that he may die. and with the most earnest prayers begged God to take away his soul and, with Blessed Paul, to be dissolved from the body and to be with Christ. And when he pressed the same petition more urgently, and with more intense devotion entreated the eternal Divinity's clemency for the salvation of men miserably perishing, he obtained what he asked: namely, that the miseries which he had foreseen by the keen sight of his mind as future, he would not, having departed this life, behold with mortal eyes. Phil. 1. And so it came to pass entirely: for in that very year 1566, which was infamous for the fury of the Iconoclasts and gave rise to so many calamities for Belgium, Blosius departed from this life, lest the smoke of his burning fatherland and of churches set ablaze should infect those pious eyes.

[114] Now the origin of the illness from which his blessed death followed was this. About the middle of the preceding year, having been summoned to the Synod of the Province of Cambrai by the Most Illustrious Lord Maximilian de Berghes, Blosius attended together with other Prelates of the Church. He suffers from ^a fever caused by an injured leg. Returning from the Synod to the monastery, not long afterward, while walking about to inspect the workmen who were setting up ^a framework of timbers for ^a certain building, he happened to strike his leg against ^a certain beam lying crosswise on the ground, and suffered ^a fairly slight wound. From the slight wound ^a slow fever flared up, which, secretly consuming Blosius for three full months, confined him to his chamber and fixed him to his bed. Grieved in spirit at the illness of Blosius, his most beloved friend, Dom Jean Lentailleur, the celebrated Abbot of Anchin, sent his own personal physician, ^a man most distinguished by experience. The patient did not spurn the remedies of medicine, but the malignant force of the disease overcame all art and help. Meanwhile, in patience and hope, in exultation and trembling, the vigilant servant awaited the coming of the Lord.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Death and Burial.

[115] The stubborn illness had now been wasting him for four months He is fortified by the Sacred Anointing. when, on the Kalends of January of the year 1566, sensing that the time of his dissolution was at hand, he of his own accord, with no one prompting him, asked to be duly armed by Sacred Anointing for the final struggle, and for all his sons to be summoned to the dying Father's last words. Then, anointed with the holy oil in the Christian manner, and at the same time imbued with an incredible joy of soul, he pronounced to his monks — who had encircled the sick man's bed (truly his crown and joy in the Lord), imploring with tearful eyes and sorrowful countenance the blessing of their dying Father — that celebrated Protestation of ^a dying man from the Enchiridion Parvulorum which he had published, which he had committed to memory through long use, clearly, devoutly, and sweetly. Bk. 2, ch. 2. He recites the Protestation of ^a dying man. After this, with ^a swan-like voice, the venerable and lovable Father addressed his little sons with final words, most full of trust toward God and of love toward the sons he had raised, so that the sons of Liessies ought to keep always in their hands, always in their hearts, this testament of ^a Father most loving of his children, and these tablets of his last and most holy will. This last oration of his ^a certain Religious of Liessies faithfully translated from the French into Latin, rendering word for word, thus:

[116] "My dearest Brothers and friends, both younger and older, His last address to his monks. you have heard the Protestation just now pronounced by me, which I here renew and confirm again in the presence of God and of you. It has come about by the will of God, as you know, that we have lived together for quite ^a long time; and I know well that, given human frailty, it could hardly have been otherwise than that something adverse should from time to time have occurred between us over so long ^a span, which gave some occasion for mutual offense. He asks pardon of his monks. Wherefore, as I have already besought you before, so also now I beseech you with as much affection as I can, that you be willing to forgive me whatever I may ever have said or done by which I caused any injury or annoyance either to the greater or to the lesser among you. I in turn, if any of you has sinned against me in any way, most willingly and from ^a sincere heart entirely forgive it. And although it belongs rather to God than to me to forgive sins, nevertheless, as far as lies in me, together with God, I forgive you all things from my heart. For the rest, hold steadfastly, I beg you, to the right way of living, and be mindful of your vocation. He exhorts them to live religiously. Seek the pure glory of God everywhere in all things, fervent with the holy zeal of Religion. Let not the pleasures of this world detain you. You see in what state I am now placed: you must not persuade yourselves otherwise; everyone must come to this point at some time. The strongest and most robust among you will have to endure in their time the same straits that I now suffer. What then, I ask, would it profit you if, as the Sacred Scripture admonishes us in the Gospel, you had gained the whole world but suffered the loss of your own soul? Matt. 16:26; Mark 8:36. On the other hand, if you have led ^a life of virtue, if you have sought God, it will be ^a great consolation to you when you are placed in that final crisis. The decree of death is inescapable. Sooner or later, whether to our salvation or — God forbid — to our damnation, we must die: from this world, which quickly passes and perishes, we must at last depart. Consider therefore seriously, and take care that you prepare yourselves daily for ^a salutary death, which will without doubt open for you ^a happy entrance into eternal life. He desires to die. As for myself, I prefer, if it so please God, to depart from here at this very hour rather than to remain here longer, especially because the world is now wholly set in wickedness, and threatens, as far as I foresee, worse things for us. When therefore God shall have called me hence, be, I beg you, my Brothers, quiet and tractable, not turbulent and stiff-necked, not dissolute and casting off the bridle of discipline. Walk gently in holy humility and obedience, pursuing the tenor of your life honorably as you have begun, and performing the Divine Office devoutly. For if you were to do otherwise, God would be offended, all good men would be scandalized, and the mark of infamy would be branded upon you as well. Let other Religious congregations serve as your example. For those that are rightly established conduct themselves well and prudently after the death of their Prelate, until God provides another. You know what ^a good reputation you have always had among all men. Take care that you do not lose and destroy this good name after my death. Not that you must persevere in good solely for the sake of this good reputation; but because, while ^a good odor is spread abroad concerning you, this redounds to the honor of God and of holy Religion. Above all, take care He inculcates charity and other virtues. that you live together in the bond of peace and mutual love, not biting or stinging one another, but avoiding all rancor, envy, and contention. Have among yourselves ^a charity that is pure, not feigned or painted, nor of ^a double mind: ^a charity, I say, that has driven deep roots into the heart, not one that is produced only by the mouth and tongue. When, moreover, God shall have provided you with another Prelate, be obedient to him in all things that are consonant with reason. Finally, strive so to order your life He implores their prayers. that your prayers may be of help to me — above all, that I may persevere firm and steadfast in the right faith, even to the last breath of life. Meanwhile, in good hope I trust that I shall see you all in the joys of paradise before God. For the rest, I commend you all to God. Pray for me, and go in peace."

[117] These were the words of ^a most excellent Simeon, by which he both asked to be dismissed by God and commended the glory of his people — that is, the salvation of his future Liessies posterity — to them and to their good God and Lord from the depths of his heart. And when he had thus poured out the bowels of his piety and mercy to console his sons, who were most sorrowful at the death of their sweetest Father, whom they saw breathing his last, they, at his wish, withdrew to pour out prayers for his happy departure. Then, having obtained the solitude he most desired, in which to prepare himself for ^a good and blessed departure from this life, Blosius began with great delight of soul to commune alone with God alone, toward whom he yearned with all his heart, and as it were to rehearse the approaching delights of paradise. At last, after many struggles, burning and aflame with desires for the heavenly fatherland, having been duly fortified by all the sacraments of the Church, ^a man singular in all things for his religion and holiness of life, full of good works, full of humble and magnanimous trust in God, full of many merits, having spent nearly forty-five years in religious discipline and more than thirty-five in the prelacy, He dies on January 7, 1566. he flew from this exile into the divine embrace (as ^a constant reputation of sanctity bids us hope) on the seventh day of January, at the age of fifty-nine, leaving behind the greatest grief for him among the highest and the lowest alike. That was indeed ^a sorrowful day for the sons of Liessies, on which, bereft of their best Father, they lost their sweetest spiritual solace and their strongest support. Yet there lives and will live among his posterity the most sweet memory of the most holy restoration which Blosius planted and watered, which, with God giving the increase, so grew while he lived, as we have seen, and now among his posterity, most faithful observers of their Father's Statutes, flourishes before the eyes of all through the observance of ninety and more years. Blosius, while he lived, was of moderate stature, His appearance. with an oblong, somewhat thin face, of ^a pale and swarthy complexion, with somewhat large eyes that breathed heaven and God, ^a nose slightly aquiline, ^a sparse beard sprinkled with grey, and his whole countenance composed to piety and modesty.

[118] After Blosius's death, due funeral honors were paid with that display of piety that befitted ^a man of distinguished birth, yet more distinguished for the nobility of his virtues, and one who had already attained ^a public reputation for sanctity. The Office on the day of the funeral The funeral. was performed by the Most Reverend Dom Martin Cuperus, from Abbot of Crespin made Bishop of Chalcedon and Suffragan of Cambrai, who, as he had always most lovingly esteemed the living Blosius, so most willingly rendered the supreme honor to him in death. The burial. The precious deposit of the sacred remains of Blosius's body was then laid in the ground at the entrance to the Choir of Liessies, before the gate they call the Golden Gate, beneath ^a small marble slab, with this very brief epitaph and design:

1565.

LOYS

DE BLOIS

ABBE

34.

But lest anyone err when reading the year 1565, one should note that the year number there was reckoned according to the Old Style, for the New Style had not yet been introduced into Belgium. According to the Old Style (which began the year from the feast of Easter), the month of January, on the seventh day of which Blosius departed this life, belonged to the year 1565.

[119] Two metrical epitaphs. The Reverend Dom Peter Philicinus, Dean of Binche, inscribed the following Epitaphs on the sepulcher of Blosius:

Stop your step, whoever passes here, stop, traveler, And read what it will profit you not ^a little to have read. One to whom neither our age nor the age of old produced ^a like, Nor will future centuries see his equal: Blosius the Prelate lies enclosed beneath this silent urn, A man surpassing every praise. For let no one recall his learned piety, His pious learning, which surpasses every light; Which does not now cease to shine throughout the whole world, And will continue to shine unto the last day. The glory of Abbots and the golden crown of priests He was in life, the flower and leader of virgins: Free from every stain, ^a mirror and ^a rare jewel, The very idea of Religion, in which he shone: A generous patron and nourisher of scholars, And inclined, almost to the point of lavishness, toward the poor, A refuge for the wretched, ^a harbor, ^a solace, and likewise He became all things to all men, with the Apostle. 1 Cor. 9:22. What of the fact that he also teaches all by his published books, By monuments most worthy even of cedarwood? Therefore with good reason the sacred Graces and holy Muses Mourn him, and the threefold world groans in sorrow. But let tears pass, and let lamentations of grief depart: Let ^a measure be set to sad complaints. Rather let us pray that the Lord may give rest to his ashes, And may the spirit return to heaven, whence it came; That he may forever sing eternal praises to God, Joyful among the blessed choirs of Heaven's citizens.

ANOTHER.

Blosius, alas, has fallen and is concealed in this tomb — Blosius, the august honor of Religion.

[120] [His bones were solemnly transferred into ^a marble tomb by the Archbishop of Cambrai.] In that humble place we have described, the venerable body of Blosius rested until the year 1631. Then indeed his sons at Liessies erected an elegant sepulcher of various marbles for him in the middle of the choir. Into this his bones were transferred from the former tomb by the Most Illustrious Lord Franciscus van der Burch, Archbishop of Cambrai, on the fifteenth of June, which was then the Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity. On the sepulcher the following epitaph is inscribed in capital letters (as they call them): Epitaph of the new tomb.

D. O. M.

TO THE REVEREND DOM LUDOVICUS BLOSIUS,

THE THIRTY-FOURTH ABBOT OF THIS MONASTERY,

OF THE NOBLE BLOOD OF THE BLOIS FAMILY,

MOST ILLUSTRIOUS

FOR HIS RELIGIOUS LIFE,

HIS ASCETICAL BOOKS,

THE RESTORATION OF MONASTIC DISCIPLINE,

BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD.

SINCE FOR SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

HE HAD LAIN

BENEATH THE NEIGHBORING SLAB OF HIS TOMB,

ANTONIUS, THE THIRTY-SEVENTH ABBOT,

AND THE MONKS OF LIESSIES,

TO THEIR MOST SWEET FATHER,

HAVING TRANSFERRED HITHER

HIS VENERABLE BONES

AND

LAID THEM TO REST MORE HONORABLY,

IN TOKEN OF

PIOUS GRATITUDE

AND

VENERATION,

FOR THE EVERLASTING MEMORY OF POSTERITY,

THIS MONUMENT

IN THE YEAR OF SALVATION 1631

THEY PLACED.

HE GOVERNED FOR THIRTY-FIVE YEARS.

HE LIVED FIFTY-NINE.

[121] Description of the new tomb. This new sepulcher stands out (seven feet long, four feet wide), rising two feet from the ground; and on its four sides it displays the following eulogies of Blosius, inscribed on four white marble tablets, drawn from Ecclesiasticus:

HE WAS FILLED

AS WITH A RIVER

WITH WISDOM.

WITH ALL HIS HEART

HE PRAISED

THE LORD.

HE SHALL HAVE PRAISE,

AND AMONG THE BLESSED

HE SHALL BE BLESSED.

IN HIS LIFE

HE PROPPED UP

THE HOUSE.

[122] This monument was erected to the honor of Blosius, to propagate his memory to posterity. Although he could leave no more illustrious monument of himself than his most piously composed writings and the excellent discipline he restored to the monastery. The zeal for preserving this discipline he seems to have bequeathed, as ^a most ample inheritance, to his two disciples who successively administered that monastery. Successors of Blosius: 1. Quirinus Douillet. The first was Quirinus Douillet of Ath, who in the same year that Blosius died assumed the government, inaugurated with solemn rite on October 28, the feast of St. Martin, and who then departed this life on April 26, in the year of Christ 1578, at the age of fifty-five, leaving behind great sorrow for his loss. For he was ^a man gentle and kind to all, yet one who tempered his dove-like manner with notable prudence.

[123] 2. Nicolaus le Francq. He was succeeded by Nicolaus le Francq, born at Mons in Hainaut, himself also ^a product of the training and discipline of Blosius, consecrated for the happy conduct of his office in the year 1578, on the feast of St. Andrew. The life of this man too could justly be committed to writing for the glory of God and the example of posterity, if the modesty of the monks of Liessies would permit it — so brilliantly did he shine with extraordinary examples of religious mortification and other virtues. He departed this life on June 22, 1610, at the age of seventy-two.

[124] 3. Antonius de Winghe. After these came the one who still presides over that monastery, Antonius de Winghe, born at Louvain in the year 1562 on July 16, and having professed the monastic life at Liessies on the last day of April 1591. He assumed the government on September 2, in the third month after the death of his predecessor, in the same year 1610. ^a

a He died with ^a great reputation for sanctity in the year 1637, on August 31, and was buried at Mons in Hainaut, in the church of the Society of Jesus. He was succeeded in December of the same year by Thomas Luytens, the thirty-eighth Abbot of Liessies. 4. Thomas Luytens.

EPILOGUE.

[125] These are the things I had, Reverend Fathers and Lords in Christ, few out of many, concerning the virtues of Ludovicus Blosius, to write down in summary and as it were by sampling. In those few things, like Timanthes in painted panels, I have left much more than I have written for the admirers of Blosius's deeds and writings alike to gather and understand. I ask that you accept those few things with equanimity; and that you may use and enjoy them for the eternal good of your souls, I humbly pray to God Almighty. More indeed ought to have been written by me concerning the life and virtues of Blosius, out of my singular love for so illustrious ^a man of our Order; but this was prevented partly by the injury of the times, partly by the negligence of predecessors, and partly — and indeed most of all — by the modesty of the monks of Liessies. Nevertheless, by this brief composition of mine I have hoped to achieve this much: that those who have come to know even these few things about the character and conduct of so great ^a man may daily receive greater and more abundant increments of the fruits of his righteousness from reading the newly illustrated pious works of Blosius; and especially the Religious Congregation of Liessies, heir of Blosian piety, to which I most earnestly desire this labor of mine in writing his life, such as it is, to be both welcome and useful. Farewell, and pray for me; and in his Blosius, praise God.