Fathers of
the Council of Trent.

Q. We know that St. John Chrysostom, as well as St. Thomas, eloquently
defended the religious state; what does this holy and learned doctor
say on this point?

A. St. Chrysostom says: "If we knew that a place was unhealthy and
subject to pestilence, would we not withdraw our children from it,
without being stopped by the riches that they might heap up in it, or
by the fact that their health had not as yet suffered? . . . Among
seculars shipwrecks are more frequent and sudden, because the
difficulties of navigation are greater; but with anchorites storms are
less violent, the calm is almost undisturbed. This is why we seek to
draw _as many as we can_ to the religious life."

Q. St. Jerome read every known author of his time, and summed up in
himself the doctrine of all; what does he teach about exhorting others
to embrace the religious state?

A. St. Jerome writes thus to Heliodorus: "I invite you: make haste.
You have made light of my entreaties; perhaps you will listen to my
reproaches. Effeminate soldier! What are you doing under the paternal
roof? Though your mother tear her hair and rend her garments, though
your father stand on the threshold and forbid your departure, you must
be deaf to the voice of nature, and hasten with unmoistened eye to
enlist under the banner of Christ; love for God and fear of hell
easily break all chains."

Q. Does St. Augustine teach the same doctrine?

A. Yes; St. Augustine says: "I have been passionately fond of the
perfection of the evangelical counsels; with God's grace I have
embraced them. With all the power I have I exhort others to do the
same; and I have companions whom I have succeeded in persuading."

Q. What does St. Bernard teach about this question?

A. Enumerating the advantages of religious above persons living in the
world, St. Bernard says: "They live more purely, they fall more
rarely, they rise more speedily, they are aided more powerfully, they
live more peacefully, they die more securely, and they are rewarded
more abundantly."

The influence which St. Bernard exercised by his letters and burning
words was so effectual, so irresistible, that he was soon surrounded
by a company of young men, who not only changed their way of life, but
bound themselves to him to follow the holy path which God had traced
out for him.

His biographers tell us that the doctrine and eloquence of St. Bernard
concerning the religious st