refore the penguins are baptized."

"Do you think so?" asked St. Guenole. "And what then do you believe that
baptism really is? Baptism is the process of regeneration by which man
is born of water and of the spirit, for having entered the water covered
with crimes, he goes out of it a neophyte, a new creature, abounding in
the fruits of righteousness; baptism is the seed of immortality; baptism
is the pledge of the resurrection; baptism is the burying with Christ in
His death and participation in His departure from the sepulchre. That
is not a gift to bestow upon birds. Reverend Fathers, let us consider.
Baptism washes away original sin; now the penguins were not conceived in
sin. It removes the penalty of sin; now the penguins have not sinned.
It produces grace and the gift of virtues, uniting Christians to Jesus
Christ, as the members to the body, and it is obvious to the senses that
penguins cannot acquire the virtues of confessors, of virgins, and of
widows, or receive grace and be united to--"

St. Damascus did not allow him to finish.

"That proves," said he warmly, "that the baptism was useless; it does
not prove that it was not effective."

"But by this reasoning," said St. Guenole, "one might baptize in the
name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by aspersion or
immersion, not only a bird or a quadruped, but also an inanimate object,
a statue, a table, a chair, etc. That animal would be Christian, that
idol, that table would be Christian! It is absurd!"

St. Augustine began to speak. There was a great silence.

"I am going," said the ardent bishop of Hippo, "to show you, by an
example, the power of formulas. It deals, it is true, with a diabolical
operation. But if it be established that formulas taught by the Devil
have effect upon unintelligent animals or even on inanimate objects, how
can we longer doubt that the effect of the sacramental formulas extends
to the minds of beasts and even to inert matter?

"This is the example. There was during my lifetime in the town of
Madaura, the birthplace of the philosopher Apuleius, a witch who was
able to attract men to her chamber by burning a few of their hairs along
with certain herbs upon her tripod, pronouncing at the same time certain
words. Now one day when she wished by this means to gain the love of a
young man, she was deceived by her maid, and instead of the young man's
hairs, she burned some hairs pulled from a leather bottle, made out