He was a great enemy to every sort of spiritual restriction and constraint,
and was fond of quoting the words of St. Paul: _Where the spirit of God is,
there is liberty_.[1] And again: _You are redeemed with a great price, do
not make yourselves slaves again_.[2] He had advised a lady of rank to work
with her own hands, in order to avoid sloth, and, as she was well to do,
he suggested to her to devote her manual labour to the adornment of altars
or to the service of the poor, following the advice of the Apostle, who
counsels us to labour with our hands to provide for the wants of the needy.
This lady, who always followed his suggestions to the very letter as if
they were commands, having done some little piece of work for herself, felt
a scruple about the matter, as though she had failed in the exact obedience
which she had resolved to yield, not only to the commands of the holy
Prelate, but even to his opinions. She therefore, asked him if she ought
to give in alms exactly what a piece of work she had done for herself was
worth. Moreover, having been advised to fast on Fridays she wished, she
said, in order to gain more merit to make a vow that she would always
practise this mortification.
Here is his reply: "I approve of your Friday fasts, but not that you should
make any vow to keep them, nor that you should tie yourself down, tightly
in such matters. Still more do I approve of your working with your hands,
spinning and so forth, at times when nothing greater or more important
claims your attention, and that what you make should be destined either for
the altar or for the poor, I should not, however, like you to keep to this
so strictly, that if it should happen that you do something for yourself or
for your family you should feel obliged to give the poor the value of your
work. For, holy liberty and freedom must reign, and we must have no other
law than love, which, when it bids us to do some kind of work for our own
family or friends, must not be looked upon as if it had led us to do wrong.
Still less does it require us to make amends, as you wished to do seeing
that whatever it invites us to take in hand, whether for the rich or for
the poor, is equally pleasing to our Lord." What do you think of this
doctrine, you who go by rule and measure in valuing an act of virtue? Is
liberality displayed towards the rich, in your opinion, worth as much as
alms given to the poor? See now, this holy Bishop follows a very different
rule, and measuring the one action and the other by the golden standard of
charity, esteems them as equal, provided both be done with equal charity.
[Footnote 1: II. Cor. iii. 17.]
[Footnote 2: Cor. vii. 23]