"THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" is republished. This work--this inestimable
work, is at length given to the public. Hitherto the circulation of it
was confined to those who could afford to purchase it in TWELVE volumes,
and at a proportionate price. It is now stereotyped, printed in good
character, on fine paper, and published at a price not only below its
value, but below the hopes of the publisher. It is therefore now, and
for the first time, that "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS" are, properly
speaking, given to the public.
And what is the nature and character of this work, which is thus placed
within the reach of almost every family in Ireland? We presume to say,
that "The Lives of the Saints" is an historical supplement to the Old
and New Testaments; an illustration of all that God has revealed, and of
all the sanctity which his divine grace has produced among the children
of men. It is a history, not so much of men, as of all ages and nations;
of their manners, customs, laws, usages, and creeds. It is a succinct,
but most accurate and satisfactory account of all that the Church of God
has done or suffered in this world from the creation to almost our own
days: an account not extracted from authentic records only, but one
which exhibits at every page the living examples, the speaking proofs,
of whatever it sets forth or asserts. As drawings taken by an artist,
and afterwards carved on plates of steel or copper, present to us views
of a country, or of the productions of the earth and sea, so "The Lives
of the Saints" exhibit to the reader images the most perfect of whatever
the human race, in times past, has yielded to God in return for his
countless mercies.
But "The Lives of the Saints" are not confined to history, though they
embrace whatever is most valuable in history, whether sacred,
ecclesiastical, or profane. No! This work extends farther; it presents
to the reader a mass of general information, digested and arranged with
an ability and a candor never surpassed. Here, no art, no science, is
left unnoticed. Chronology, criticism, eloquence, painting, sculpture,
architecture--in a word, whatever has occupied or distinguished man in
{008} times of barbarism or of civilization; in peace or in war; in the
countries which surround us, or in those which are far remote; in these
later ages, or in times over which centuries upon centuries have
revolved; all, all of these are treated of, not flippantly nor
ostentatiously, but with a sobriety and solidity peculiar to the writer
of this work.
But there is one quality which may be said to characterize "The Lives of
the Saints." It is this: that here the doctrines of the Catholic Church
are presented to us passing through the ordeal of time unchanged and
unchangeable, while her discipline is seen to vary from age to age; like
as a city fixed and immoveable, but whose walls, ramparts, and outworks,
undergo, from one period to another, the necessary changes, alterations,
or repairs. Here are pointed out the persecutions which the Saints
endured,--persecutions which patience overcame, which the power of God
subdued. Here are traced the causes of dissension in the Church; the
schisms and heresies which arose; the errors which the pride and
passions of bad men gave birth to; the obstinacy of the wicked,--the
seduction of the innocent,--the labors and sufferings of the just; the
conflicts which took place between light and darkness,--between truth
and error; the triumph, at one time of the city of God, at another, the
temporary exaltation of the empire of Satan. In this work, we see the
great and powerful leaders of God's people, the pastors and doctors of
the Church, displaying lights gives them from heaven, and exercising a
courage all-divine; while crowds of the elect are presented to us in
every age retiring from the world, hiding their lives with Christ in
God, and deserving, by their innocence and sanctity, to be received into
heaven until Christ, who was their life, will again appear, when they
also will appear along with him in glory. Here we behold the Apostles,
and their successors in the several ages, calling out to the nations who
sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, "Arise, thou who sleep eat,
and Christ will enlighten thee!"--men of God, and gifted with his power,
who, by preaching peace, enduring wrongs, and pardoning injuries,
subdued the power of tyrants, stopped the mouths of lions, upturned
paganism, demolished idols, planted everywhere the standard of the
cross, and left to us the whole world illuminated by the rays of divine
truth. Here is seen the meek martyr who possessed his soul in
patience,--who, having suffered the two of goods, the loss of kindred,
the lose of fame, bowed down his head beneath the axe, and sealed, by
the plentiful effusion of his blood, the testimony which he bore to
virtue and to truth. Here the youthful virgin, robed in innocence and
sanctity, clothed with the visible protection of God, is seen at one
time to yield up her frame, unfit, as yet, for torments, to the power of
the executioner; while her spirit, ascending {009} like the smoke of
incense, passed from earth to heaven. At another time we behold her
conducted, as it were, into the wilderness by the Spirit; where, having
left the house of her father, the allurements of the world, and the
endearments of life, she dedicates her whole being to the service of
God, and to the contemplation of those invisible goods which he has
reserved for those who love him.
In "The Lives of the Saints" we behold the prince and the peasant, the
warrior and the sage, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the
peasant and the mechanic, the shepherd and the statesman, the wife and
the widow, the prelate, the priest, and the recluse,--men and women of
every class, and age, and degree, and condition, and country, sanctified
by the grace of God, exhibiting to the faithful reader models for his
imitation, and saying to him, in a voice which he cannot fail to
understand, "Go thou and do likewise."
It is on this account we have ventured to designate "The Lives of the
Saints" an historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments. We think
this work deserves to be so considered, on account of the close
resemblance it bears to the historical portions of holy writ. Let the
divine economy, in this respect, be for a moment the subject of the
reader's consideration.
When God was pleased to instruct men unto righteousness, he did so, as
the whole series of revelation proves, by raising up from among the
fallen children of Adam men and women of superior virtue,--men and women
whose lives, like shining lights, could direct in the ways of peace and
justice the footsteps of those who looked towards them. He did more: he
caused the lives of those his servants whom he sanctified and almost
glorified in this world, to be recorded by their followers; and his own
Spirit did not disdain to inspire the men who executed a work so
salutary to mankind. From Adam to Noe, from Noe to Abraham, from Abraham
to the days of Christ, what period is not marked by the life of some
eminent saint; and what portion of the Old Testament has always been and
still is most interesting to true believers? Is it not that which
instructs us as to the life and manners of those patriarchs, prophets,
and other holy persons of whom we ourselves are, according to the
promise, the seed and the descendants? The innocence of Abel, the cruel
deed of Cain, the piety of Seth, the fidelity and industry of Noe,
furnish to us the finest moral instruction derived from the primeval
times. The life of Abraham is perhaps the most precious record in the
Old Testament! Who even now can read it, and not repose with more
devotion on the providence of God? Who can contrast his life and conduct
with that of all the sages of paganism, and not confess there is a God;
yea! a God who not only upholds this {010} world, and fills every
creature in it with his benediction, but who also conducts by a special
providence all those who put their trust in him,--a God who teaches his
elect, by the unction of his Spirit, truths inaccessible to the wise of
this world; and who makes them, by his grace, to practise a degree of
virtue to which human nature unassisted is totally unable to attain? The
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is exceedingly glorified by the
virtues of those great men; and that glory is exalted, and we are led to
adore it, because the lives of those men have been written for our
instruction. Is not Moses the keystone, as it were, of the Jewish
covenant? Are they not his trials, his meekness, his attachment to God
and to God's people, his incessant toils, and patience, and
long-suffering, even more than the miracles wrought by his
interposition, which render the law published by him, and the ministry
established by him, worthy of all acceptation in our eyes? Who can
contemplate the rejection of Saul, and the election of David,--the
wisdom of Solomon in early life, and his utter abandonment in his latter
days,--and not be stricken with a salutary dread of the inscrutable
judgments of a just God? Who can read the life of Judith, and not
wonder?--of Susanna, and not love chastity and confide in God? Who has
read the prophecies of Isaiah, and not believed the gospel which he
foretold? And what example of a suffering Saviour so full, so perfect,
and expressive, as that exhibited in the life of Jeremiah? If thus,
then, from the beginning to the day of Christ, the Spirit of God
instructed mankind in truth and virtue, by writing for their instruction
"the Lives of the Saints," what can better agree with the ways of that
God, than to continue the record--to prolong the narrative? If this mode
of instruction has been adopted by the master, should it not be
continued by the servant?--if employed when the people of God were only
one family, should it not be resorted to when all nations were enrolled
with that people? if this mode of instruction was found useful when the
knowledge of the Lord was confined to one province, should it not be
preserved when that knowledge covered the whole earth even as the waters
cover the sea? And is it not therefore with justice we have said that
"The Lives of the Saints" might not improperly be designated "an
historical supplement to the Old and New Testaments?"
And in good truth, who can peruse the life of Peter, and not be animated
with a more lively faith? Who can read of the conversion of Paul, of his
zeal and labor, and unbounded love,--who can enter with him into the
depths of those mysterious truths which he has revealed, and contemplate
along with him the riches of the glory of the grace of God, and not
esteem this world as dung; or experience some throes of those heavenly
desires, which urged him so pathetically to exclaim, "I {011} wish to be
dissolved, and to be with Christ?" Who can read the life of the
evangelist John, and not feel the impulse of that subdued spirit, of
that meek and humble charity, which so eminently distinguished him as
the "beloved disciple of the Lord?" And if we advance through the
several ages that have elapsed since our Saviour ascended into heaven,
we shall find each and all of them instructing us by examples of the
most heroic virtue. The age of the martyrs ended, only to make room for
that of the doctors and ascetics; so that each succeeding generation of
the children of God presents to us the active and contemplative life
equally fruitful in works of sanctification. An Athanasius, a Jerom, a
Chrysostom, or an Augustin, are scarcely more precious as models in the
house of God, than an Anthony, a Benedict, an Arseneus, or a Paul. Nor
has the Almighty limited his gifts, or confined the mode of instruction
to those primitive times when the blood of the Mediator was as yet warm
upon the earth, and the believers in him filled more abundantly with the
first-fruits of the Spirit. No; he has extended his grace to every age!
Only take up the history of those holy persons, men and women, whose
lives shed a lustre upon the Church within these last few centuries, and
you will acknowledge that the arm of the Lord is not shortened, and, to
use the words of the Psalmist, that "_Sanctity becometh the house of the
Lord unto length of days,_" or to the end of time.
As therefore it hath pleased God to raise up for our help and
edification so many and so perfect models of Christian perfection, and
disposed by his all wise providence that their lives should have been
written for our instruction, we should not be faithful co-operators with
the grace given to us, if we did not use our best efforts to learn and
to imitate what our Father in heaven has designed for our use.
But "The Lives of the Saints" are a history, not so much of men, as of
all ages and nations,--of their manners, customs, laws, usages, and
creeds. And in this licentious age, an age of corrupted literature, when
that worldly wisdom or vain philosophy which God has declared to be
folly, is again revived; in this age, when history has failed to
represent the truth, and is only written for base lucre's sake, or to
serve a sect or party, what can be so desirable to a Christian
community, as to have placed in their hands a sincere and dispassionate
account of the nations which surround us, and of the laws and manners
and usages, whether civil or religious, which have passed, or are
passing into the abyss of time? If the wisdom of God warns us "to train
up youth in the way in which they should walk," and promises that "even
when old they will not depart from it," there is no duty more sacred, or
more imperative or parents and pastors, than to remove from their reach
such {012} books as are irreligious, immoral, or untrue, and to place in
their hands such works only as may serve to train their minds and
affections to the knowledge of truth and to the love of virtue.
History is, of its nature, pleasing and instructive; it leaves after it
the most lasting impressions; and when youth, as at present, is almost
universally taught to read, and works of fiction or lying histories
placed constantly in their way, is it not obvious that every parent and
every pastor should be careful not only to exclude from their flocks and
families such impious productions, but also to provide the youth
committed to their care with works of an opposite description? But we
make bold to say, that in no work now extant can there be found
condensed so vast a quantity of historical information as is contained
in "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS:" nor is it the store of knowledge here
amassed which renders the work, as a history, of so much value; but it
is the judicious arrangement, the undoubted candor, the dispassionate
judgment of men, manners, and things, which the venerable historian
everywhere displays.
He has been able to trace events to their true causes; to point out the
influence of religion upon human policy, and of that policy on the
Church of God; to exhibit the rise and fall of states and empires,--the
advancement or declension of knowledge,--the state of barbarism or
civilization which prevailed in the several countries of the world,--the
laws, the manners, the institutions, which arose, were changed,
improved, or deteriorated, in the kingdoms and empires which brought
forth the elect of God in every age: but in his narration there is
always found to prevail a spirit, wanted in almost every history written
in our times--a spirit which assigns to the power and providence of God
the first place in the conduct of human events, and which makes manifest
to the unbiased reader the great and fundamental truth of the Christian
Religion, that "all things work together to the good of those who,
according to the purpose or design of God, are called to be Saints."
The great characteristic, however, of this work, and that which,
perhaps, in these times and in this country, constitutes its chief
excellence, is, that it exhibits to the reader the doctrine and
discipline of the Catholic Church,--the former always the same,
"yesterday, to-day, and forever"--the latter receiving impressions from
abroad, and moulding itself to the places, times, and circumstances, in
which the Church herself was placed. In other works may be found
arguments and proofs in support of the dogmas of faith and the doctrines
of the Catholic Church, set forth in due order and becoming force; but
such works are of a controversial nature, and not always suited to the
taste or capacity of every class of readers: not so "The Lives of the
Saints." This work presents to us the religion of Christ as it was first
planted, as it grew {013} up, and flourished, and covered with its shade
all tribes, and tongues, and peoples, and nations. The trunk of this
mighty tree is placed before our eyes, standing in the midst of time,
with ages and empires revolving about it, its roots binding and
embracing the earth, its top touching the heavens, its branches strong
and healthful--bearing foliage and fruits in abundance. But to drop this
allegory. "The Lives of the Saints" demonstrate the doctrines of the
Church, by laying before us the history of the most precious portion of
her children: of her martyrs, her doctors, her bishops; of holy and
devout persons of all ranks and conditions; of what they believed, and
taught, and practised, in each and every age: so that if no Gospel had
been written, or liturgy preserved, or decree recorded, we should find
in "The Lives of the Saints" sufficient proofs of what has always, and
in every place, and by all true believers, been held and practised to
the Church of God.
In this work there is no cavilling about texts, no disputes about
jurisdiction, no sophisms to delude, no imputations to irritate, no
contradictions to confound the reader; but in place of all these there
is found in it a simple detail of the truths professed, and of the
virtues practised by men and women, who were not only the hearers of the
law but the doers thereof. Whosoever seeks for wisdom as men seek for
gold, will find it in the perusal of "The Lives of the Saints:" for here
not theory or speculation, but living examples, make truth manifest, and
exhibit at once and together all the marks of the Church of God in the
life and conduct of her children. These children will all be found to
have denied themselves, to have taken up the cross, to have followed
Christ, and to have convinced the world by their sanctity that they were
the children of God--that they were perfect even as their heavenly
Father was perfect. These children of the Church will be found a
Catholic or universal people, collected from all ages and nations,
offering the same sacrifice, administering or receiving the same
sacraments, and yielding to the same authority a reasonable obedience.
Finally, there will be found included in this great family the Apostles
and their disciples, and the descendants of those disciples,--faithful
men keeping the deposit of the faith, or transmitting it to others
through all the vicissitudes to which this world is a prey, even to that
hour when the dead will arise and come to judgment. Thus it is that "The
Lives of the Saints" put to silence the gainsayers, and convince, not by
argument, but by historical and incontrovertible details of facts and of
the lives of men, that the Church of God is _one_, that she is _holy_,
that she, though universal, is not divided, that she is built upon the
Apostles, as upon an immoveable {014} foundation, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner-stone. This work strips schism of her mask, and
stops the mouth of heresy. It points out, with an evidence not to be
impeached, the day of separation,--when schism commenced, and the hour
of revolt and rebellion, when the heretic said, like Lucifer, in the
pride of his heart, "I WILL NOT SERVE." If ever there was a work which
rendered almost visible and tangible to the sight and touch of men that
promise of the Redeemer to his Church, "_And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against her,_" surely this work is "THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS."
Who, therefore, is a Catholic, and would not possess such a treasure?
How great is the benefit derived to the public from the low price and
convenient form in which this work is given to them! If infidelity, and
immorality, and heresy have opened wide their mouths, and are everywhere
devouring their victims, is it not a blessing from God that the children
of the Church should be preserved from them, and fed with the wholesome
food of pious reading? If the spirit of error or of that worldly wisdom
which is folly with God, has filled our shops and streets with
circulating poison in the shape of books, is not the Spirit of truth,
and of Him who has overcome the world, to have also such means of
instruction as may save and strengthen those whom God, by his grace, has
translated into the kingdom of his beloved Son? Accept, therefore gentle
reader, of "The Lives of the Saints;" Which, for their own worth's sake,
and for your good, we have endeavored to recommend. And with it permit
us also to recommend to your pious prayers the spiritual wants of him
who has thus addressed you.
+JAMES DOYLE
{015}
AN ACCOUNT
OF
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
OF THE
REV. ALBAN BUTLER;
INTERSPERSED WITH
OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SUBJECTS OF SACRED AND PROFANE LITERATURE
MENTIONED IN HIS WRITINGS.
BY CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ.
BARRISTER AT LAW.
Quare quis tandem me reprehendat, si quantum ad caeteris festos dies
ludorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates, et ad ipsam requiem
animi et corporis conceditur temporis: Quantum alii tempestivis
conviviis, quantum aleae, quantum pilae, tantum mihi egomet ad haec studia
recolenda, sumpsero.