Third Consideration. On the Example of the Saints.
Consider the example of the saints of every condition: what have they not done to love God and remain faithful to Him? Behold these martyrs, invincible in their resolve: what torments have they not suffered to persevere therein? Behold these persons so fair, so flourishing, the ornament of their sex, whiter than the lily in purity, more ruddy than the rose in charity, some twelve, others thirteen, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five years old, suffering a thousand kinds of martyrdom rather than renounce their resolve, not only in matters of faith, but also in matters of devotion; some dying rather than abandon their virginity, others rather than cease to serve the poor, comfort the afflicted, or bury the dead. O God! What constancy this fragile sex has shown on such occasions!
Look upon so many holy confessors: with what strength they despised the world! How steadfastly they held to their resolve! Nothing could shake them; they embraced it without reserve, and maintained it without exception. My God! What does Saint Augustine not say of his holy mother? With what perseverance did she not pursue her purpose of serving God during marriage and during widowhood? And Saint Jerome, how does he speak of his dear daughter Paula, amid so many trials and so many different accidents that she had to endure? But what shall we not do ourselves, after such excellent examples? They were what we are; they laboured for the same God, for the same virtues: why should we not do as much in our condition and according to our vocation, to uphold victoriously the holy protestation we have made, that we are God’s?
Consider the example of the saints of every condition: what have they not done to love God and remain faithful to Him? Behold these martyrs, invincible in their resolve: what torments have they not suffered to persevere therein? Behold these persons so fair, so flourishing, the ornament of their sex, whiter than the lily in purity, more ruddy than the rose in charity, some twelve, others thirteen, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five years old, suffering a thousand kinds of martyrdom rather than renounce their resolve, not only in matters of faith, but also in matters of devotion; some dying rather than abandon their virginity, others rather than cease to serve the poor, comfort the afflicted, or bury the dead. O God! What constancy this fragile sex has shown on such occasions!
Look upon so many holy confessors: with what strength they despised the world! How steadfastly they held to their resolve! Nothing could shake them; they embraced it without reserve, and maintained it without exception. My God! What does Saint Augustine not say of his holy mother? With what perseverance did she not pursue her purpose of serving God during marriage and during widowhood? And Saint Jerome, how does he speak of his dear daughter Paula, amid so many trials and so many different accidents that she had to endure? But what shall we not do ourselves, after such excellent examples? They were what we are; they laboured for the same God, for the same virtues: why should we not do as much in our condition and according to our vocation, to uphold victoriously the holy protestation we have made, that we are God’s?