Our Blessed Father was so absolutely indifferent to the goods of this world
that I never heard him so much as once complain of the loss of almost all
his episcopal revenue, confiscated by the city of Geneva. He used to say
that it was very much with the wealth of the Church as with a man's beard,
the more closely it was clipped the stronger and the thicker it grew
again. When the Apostles had nothing they possessed all things, and when
ecclesiastics wish to possess too much, that too much is reduced to
nothing.
His one hunger and thirst was for the conversion of souls, living in wilful
blindness to the light of truth which shines only in the one true Church.
Sometimes, he exclaimed, sighing heavily: "Give me souls, and the rest take
to Thyself." Speaking of Geneva, to which city, in spite of its rebellion,
he always applied terms of compassion and affection, such as "my dear
Geneva," or "my poor Geneva," he said to me more than once: "Would to
God that these gentlemen had taken such small remains of my revenue as
they have left to me, and that we had only as small a foothold in that
deplorable city as the Catholics have in La Rochelle, namely, a little
chapel in which to say Mass and perform the functions of our religion! You
would then soon see all these apostates come back to their senses, and we
should rejoice over the return to the Church of these poor Sunamites, who
are so forgetful of their duty."[1] This fond hope he always nourished in
his breast.
He used to say that Henry VIII. of England, who at the beginning of his
reign was so zealous for the Catholic faith, and wrote so splendidly
against the errors of Luther, that he acquired for that reason the glorious
title of Defender of the Faith, having, by yielding to his passion, caused
so great a schism in his kingdom, even had he desired at the close of
his life to return to the bosom of the Church which he had so miserably
abandoned, would, on setting to work to attain this most happy end, have
found the impossibility of recovering for the clergy and restoring to them
the property and wealth which he had divided among his nobles, a serious
difficulty.
"Alas!" our Blessed Father exclaimed, commenting upon this fact, "to think
that a handful of dust should rob Heaven of so many souls! The business of
every christian, and especially of the clergy, is the keeping of God's law.
The Lord is the portion of their inheritance and of their cup. He would
have made to them an abundant restitution of all that had been theirs, by
gentle but effective means. They whose thoughts are fixed upon the Lord
will be nourished by Him. The just are never forsaken nor reduced to beg
their bread; they have only to lift their eyes and their hopes to God and
He will give them meat in due season; for it is He who gives food to all
flesh. Moreover, it is much easier to suffer hunger with patience than to
preserve virtue in the midst of plenty. It is not every one who can say
with the Apostle: _I know how to abound, and I know how to suffer need_.[2]
A thousand fall on the left hand of adversity, but ten thousand on the
right hand of prosperity; for iniquity is the outcome of luxury, and the
sin of the cities of the plain had its origin in a superabundance of bread;
that is to say, in their wealth. To be frugal and devout is to possess a
great treasure."
[Footnote 1: Cantic. vi. 12.]
[Footnote 2: Philipp. iv. 12.]