Before his conversion he had said like all unbelievers: "If I believed
that Jesus Christ is God, and that eternal life is not a decoy, I would
not hesitate to change all my habits, to follow as far as possible the
rules of religion, and, in any case, to live chaste." And he was
surprised that people he knew, who were in these conditions, did not
maintain an attitude higher than his own. He who had so long indulgently
forgiven himself became singularly intolerant, so soon as he had to do
with a Catholic.
He now understood the injustice of his judgments, and confessed that
between faith and practice was a gulf difficult to overpass.
He did not like to discuss this question with himself, but it returned
and took possession of him all the same, and he was obliged to admit the
meanness of his arguments, the despicable reasons for his resistance.
He was still honest enough to say: "I am no longer a child; if I have
Faith, if I admit Catholicism, I cannot conceive it as lukewarm and
unfixed, warmed up again and again in the saucepan of a false zeal. I
will have no compromise or truce, no alternations of debauch and
communions, no stages of licentiousness and piety, no, all or nothing;
to change from top to bottom, or not change at all."
Then he drew back in alarm, endeavoured to escape the part he was about
to take, endeavoured to exculpate himself, cavilling for hours, invoking
the most wretched motives for remaining as he was, and not budging a
jot.
"What am I to do? If I do not obey orders, which I feel with increasing
force, I am preparing for myself a life of uneasiness and remorse, for I
know well I ought not to remain for ever on the threshold, but to
penetrate into the sanctuary and stay there. And if I make up my
mind--no indeed--for then I must bind myself to a heap of observances,
bend to a series of rules, assist at mass on Sunday, abstain on Friday,
live like a bigot, and look like a fool."
And then to help his revolt, he thought of the air, the look of people
who frequented the churches; for two men who looked intelligent and
clean, how many were without doubt rascals and impostors!
Almost all had a side-long look, an oily voice, downcast eyes, immovable
spectacles, clothes like sacristans as if of black wood, almost all told
thin beads ostentatiously, and with more strategy and more knavery than
the wicked, took toll from their neighbours on leaving God.
The devout women were still less reassuring, they invaded the church,
walking about as if quite at home, disturbing everybody, upsetting
chairs, knocking against you without begging pardon; then they knelt
down with much ado, in the attitude of contrite angels, murmured
interminable paternosters, and left the church more arrogant and sour
than before.
"It is not encouraging to have to mix with this flock of pious geese,"
he exclaimed.
But soon, against his will, he made answer to himself: "You have nothing
to do with others, were you more humble, these people would certainly
seem less offensive; at any rate they have the courage you lack, they
are not ashamed of their faith, and are not afraid to kneel to God in
public."
And Durtal remained dumfounded, for he had to admit that the riposte
struck home. It was clear his humility was at fault, but what was worse,
he could not free himself from human respect.
He was afraid of being taken for a fool; the prospect of being seen on
his knees, in church, made his hair stand on end; the idea, that, if he
ever had to communicate, he would have to rise and go to the altar in
the sight of all, was intolerable to him.
"If that moment ever come it will be hard to bear," said he; "and yet I
am an idiot, for what have I to do with the opinion of people I do not
know?" but much as he might repeat that his alarms were absurd, he
could not get over them, or free himself from the fear of ridicule.
"After all," he said, "even if I decide to jump the ditch, to confess
and communicate, that terrible question of the senses would always have
to be resolved. I must determine to fly the lusts of the flesh, and
accept perpetual abstinence. I could never attain to that.
"Without counting that in any case, the time would be ill-chosen were I
now to make such an effort, for never have I been so tormented as since
my conversion; Catholicism unfortunately excites unclean suggestions
when I prowl about it, without entering."
And to this exclamation another answered at once: "Yes, but you must
enter."
He was irritated at this change of front without change of place, and he
tried to turn the conversation, as though it had been held with another,
whose questions perplexed him; but he came back to it all the same, and,
in his annoyance, summoned all his reasoning powers to his aid.
"Come, let us try to take stock at any rate! It is plain that as I have
drawn near the Church, my unclean desires have become more frequent and
more persistent; and yet another fact is certain that I have been so
used up by twenty years of debauchery that I ought not to have any
further carnal appetites. In fact, if I chose it, I could perfectly well
remain chaste; but then I must bid my miserable brain be silent, and I
have no power to do so! It is frightful all the same that I am more
excited than in youth, for now my desires go a-travelling, and since
they have not their ordinary shelter they go off in search of evil
haunts. How may this be explained? It is a sort of dyspepsia of the
soul, which cannot digest ordinary meats, and tries to feed on spiced
dreams, highly seasoned thoughts; it is then want of appetite for
wholesome meals which has begotten this greediness for strange dishes,
this trouble of the mind, this wish to escape from myself, and jump were
it but for a moment over the permitted limits of the senses.
"In that case Catholicism would play a part at once repellent and
depressing. It would stimulate these sick desires, and weaken me at the
same time, would give me over to nervous emotions without strength to
resist them."
Wandering thus in self-examination, he came to a dead stand where was no
issue, arriving at this conclusion: "I do not practise my religion,
because I yield to my baser instincts, and I yield to these instincts
because I do not practise my religion."
Brought up thus by a dead wall, he resisted, asking if this last
observation were indeed true; for, after all, nothing proved that if he
approached the Sacraments he would not be attacked with even greater
violence. It was even probable he would be, for the devil makes a dead
set at pious people.
Then he rebelled against the cowardice of these remarks, and cried: "I
lie, for I know well, that if I made the least sign of resistance, I
should be powerfully aided from on high."
Clever at self-torture, he continued to harass his soul, always on the
same line. "Suppose," he said, "for the sake of argument, that I have
tamed my pride, and subdued my body, suppose that at present there were
nothing to do, but to go forward, I am still brought up, for the final
obstacle terrifies me.
"Up to now I have been able to walk alone, without earthly assistance,
without advice; I have been converted without the help of anyone, but
now I cannot make a step without a guide, I cannot approach the altar
without the aid of an interpreter, and the bulwark of a priest."
And once more, he drew back, for in former times he had been intimate
with a certain number of ecclesiastics, and had found them so mediocre,
so lukewarm, above all so hostile to Mysticism, that he was revolted at
the very notion of laying before them the schedule of his requirements
and his regrets.
"They will not understand me," he thought; "they will answer that
Mysticism was interesting in the Middle Ages, but has now become disused
and is in any case quite out of touch with the modern spirit. They will
think me mad, will assure me, moreover, that God does not want so much,
will advise me with a smile, not to make myself singular, to do as
others, and to think like them.
"I have indeed no intention of entering on the way of Mysticism, but
they may at least allow me to envy it and not inflict on me their
middle-class ideal of a God.
"For, not to deceive oneself, Catholicism is not only that moderate
religion that they offer us; it is not composed only of petty cases and
formulas; it is not wholly confined to rigid observances, and the toys
of old maids, to all that goody-goody business, which spreads itself
abroad in the Rue Saint Sulpice; it is far more exalted, far purer, but
then we must penetrate its burning zone, and seek in Mysticism, the art,
the essence, and the very soul of the Church.
"Using the powerful means at her disposal, we then have to empty
ourselves, and strip the soul, so that Christ if He will may enter it;
we have to purify the house, to cleanse it with the disinfectant of
prayer and the sublimate of Sacraments; in a word, to be ready when the
Guest shall come and bid us to empty ourselves wholly into Him, as He
will pour Himself into us.
"I know thoroughly well, that this divine alchemy, this transmutation of
the human creature into God, is generally impossible, for the Saviour,
as a rule, keeps His singular favours for His elect; but after all,
every one, however unworthy, is presumably able to attain that majestic
end, since God only decides, and not man, whose humble acquiescence
alone is requisite.
"I see myself saying that to the priests! They will tell me I have no
business with mystical ideas, and will give me in exchange the petty
religion of rich women; they will wish to mix themselves up with my
life, to inquire about the state of my soul, to insinuate their own
tastes; they will try to convince me that art is dangerous, will
sermonize me with imbecile talk, and pour over me their flowing bowls of
pious veal broth.
"I know what I am; at the end of a couple of interviews I shall rebel,
and become wicked."
Durtal shook his head, remained in thought, and began again,--
"Yet one must be just; perhaps the secular clergy are only the leavings,
for the contemplative orders and the missionary army carry away every
year the pick of the spiritual basket; the mystics, priests athirst for
sorrows, drunk with sacrifice, bury themselves in cloisters or exile
themselves among savages whom they teach. So when the cream is off, the
rest of the clergy are plainly but skim milk, the scourings of the
seminaries.
"Yes, but after all," he continued, "the question is not whether they
are intelligent or narrow, it is not my business to take the priest to
pieces to discover under the consecrated rind the nothingness of the
man; not my business to abuse his inadequacy since it is thoroughly
suited to the understanding of the crowd. Would it not be, after all,
more courageous and more humble to kneel before a being of whose brains
you know the weakness?
"And then ... then ... I am not reduced to that, for indeed I know one
in Paris, a true mystic. Suppose I go and see him!"
And he thought of a certain Abbé Gévresin, with whom he had formerly
some acquaintance; he had often met him at a bookseller's in the Rue
Servandoni, old Tocane, who had rare books on liturgy and the lives of
the saints.
Learning that Durtal was looking for works on Blessed Lidwine, the
priest was at once interested in him, and on leaving the shop they had a
long conversation. The abbé was very old and walked with difficulty,
therefore he willingly took Durtal's arm, who saw him home.
"The life of that victim of the sins of her time is a magnificent
subject," he said; "you remember it, do you not?" and as they walked he
sketched its lines, broadly.
"Lidwine was born towards the end of the fourteenth century, at
Schiedam, in Holland. Her beauty was extraordinary, but she lost it
through illness at the age of fifteen. She recovered, but while skating
one day with her companions on the frozen canals, she fell and broke a
rib. From the time of that accident to her death she was bed-ridden. She
was afflicted with most frightful ailments, her wounds festered, and
worms bred in her putrefying flesh. Erysipelas, that terrible malady of
the Middle Ages, consumed her. Her right arm was eaten away, a single
muscle held it to the body, her brow was cleft in two, one of her eyes
became blind, and the other so weak that it could not bear the light.
"While she was in this condition, the plague ravaged Holland, and
decimated the town in which she lived; she was the first attacked. Two
boils formed, one under her arm, the other above the heart. 'Two boils,
it is well,' she said to the Lord, 'but three would be better in honour
of the Holy Trinity,' and immediately a third pustule broke out on her
face.
"For thirty-five years she lived in a cellar, taking no solid food,
praying and weeping, so chilly in winter, that each morning her tears
formed two frozen streams down her cheeks.
"She thought herself still too fortunate, and entreated the Lord not to
spare her, and obtained from Him the grace that by her sufferings she
might expiate the sins of others. Christ heard her prayers, visited her
with His angels, communicated her with His own hand, gave her the
delight of heavenly ecstasies, and caused her festering wounds to exhale
delicious perfumes.
"At the moment of her death He stood by her, and restored her poor body
to its former soundness. Her beauty, so long vanished, shone out again,
the town was moved, the sick came in crowds, and all who drew near were
healed.
"She is the true patroness of the sick," concluded the abbé, and, after
a silence, he added,--
"From the point of view of the higher mysticism, Lidwine is wonderful,
for in her we can verify that plan of substitution which was, and is,
the glorious reason for the existence of convents."
And as, without answering, Durtal questioned him with a look, he went
on,--
"You are aware, sir, that in all ages, nuns have offered themselves to
heaven as expiatory victims. The lives of saints, both men and women,
who desired these sacrifices abound, of those who atoned for the sins of
others by sufferings eagerly demanded and patiently borne. But there is
a task still more arduous and more painful than was desired by these
admirable souls. It is not now that of purging the faults of others, but
of preventing them, hindering their commission, by taking the place of
those who are too weak to bear the shock.
"Read Saint Teresa on this subject; you will see that she gained
permission to take on herself, and without flinching, the temptations of
a priest who could not endure them. This substitution of a strong soul
freeing one who is not strong from perils and fears is one of the great
rules of mysticism.
"Sometimes this exchange is purely spiritual, sometimes on the contrary
it has to do only with the ills of the body. Saint Teresa was the
surrogate of souls in torment, Sister Catherine Emmerich took the place
of the sick, relieved, at least, those who were most suffering; thus,
for instance, she was able to undergo the agony of a woman suffering
from consumption and dropsy, in order to permit her to prepare for death
in peace.
"Well, Lidwine took on herself all bodily ills, she lusted for physical
suffering, and was greedy for wounds; she was, as it were, the reaper of
punishments, and she was also the piteous vessel in which everyone
discharged the overflowings of his malady. If you would speak of her in
other fashion than the poor hagiographies of our day, study first that
law of substitution, that miracle of perfect charity, that superhuman
triumph of Mysticism; that will be the stem of your book, and naturally,
without effort, all Lidwine's acts graft themselves on it."
"But," asked Durtal, "does this law still take effect?"
"Yes: I know convents which apply it. Moreover, Orders like the
Carmelites and the Poor Clares willingly accept the transfer to them of
temptations we suffer; then these convents take on their backs, so to
speak, the diabolical expiations of those insolvent souls whose debts
they pay to the full."
"All the same," said Durtal, shaking his head, "if you consent to take
on yourself the assaults intended for your neighbour, you must make
pretty sure not to sink."
"The nuns chosen by our Lord," replied the abbé, "as victims of
expiation, as whole burnt-offerings, are in fact few, and they are
generally, especially in this age, obliged to unite and coalesce in
order to bear without failing the weight of misdeeds which try them, for
in order that a soul may bear alone the assaults of Satan, which are
often terrible, it must be indeed assisted by the angels and elect of
God." And after a silence the old priest added,--
"I believe I may speak with some experience in these matters, for I am
one of the directors of those nuns who make reparation in their
convents."
"And yet," cried Durtal, "the world asks what is the good of the
contemplative Orders."
"They are the lightning conductors of society," said the abbé, with
great energy. "They draw on themselves the demoniacal fluid, they absorb
temptations to vice, preserve by their prayers those who live, like
ourselves, in sin; they appease, in fact, the wrath of the Most High
that He may not place the earth under an interdict. Ah! while the
sisters who devote themselves to nursing the sick and infirm are indeed
admirable, their task is easy in comparison with that undertaken by the
cloistered Orders, the Orders where penance never ceases, and the very
nights spent in bed are broken by sobs."
"This priest is far more interesting than his brethren," said Durtal to
himself as they parted; and, as the abbé invited his visits, he had
often called on him.
He had always been cordially welcomed. On several occasions he had
warily sounded the old man on several questions. He had answered
evasively in regard to other priests. But he did not seem to think much
of them, if Durtal might judge by what he said one day in regard to
Lidwine, that magnet of sorrows.
"Notice," he said, "that a weak and honest soul has every advantage in
choosing a confessor, not from the clergy who have lost the sense of
Mysticism, but from the monks. They alone know the effects of the law of
substitution, and if they see that in spite of their efforts the
penitent succumbs, they end by freeing him by taking his trials on
themselves, or by sending them off to some convent in the country where
resolute people can use them."
Another time the question of nationalities was discussed in a newspaper
which Durtal showed him. The abbé shrugged his shoulders, putting aside
the patriotic twaddle. "For me," he said calmly, "for me my country is
that where I can best pray."
Durtal could not make out what this priest was. He understood from the
bookseller, that the Abbé Gévresin on account of his great age and
infirmity was incapacitated for the regular duties of the priesthood. "I
know that, when he can, he still says his mass each morning in a
convent; I believe also he receives a few of his brethren for confession
in his own house;" and Tocane added with disdain, "He has barely enough
to live on, and they do not look on him with favour at the archbishop's
because of his mystical notions."
There ended all he knew about him. "He is evidently a very good priest,"
repeated Durtal; "his physiognomy declares it, and his mouth and eyes
contradict each other; his eyes certainly declare his entire goodness,
his lips, somewhat thick, purple and always moist, have on them an
affectionate but somewhat sad smile, and to this his blue eyes give the
lie--blue, childlike eyes which laugh out astonished under white
eyebrows in a rather red face, touched on the cheeks like a ripe
apricot, with little points of blood.
"In any case," said Durtal, waking from his meditations, "I am very
wrong not to continue the relations into which I have entered with him.
"Yes, but then nothing is so difficult as to become really intimate with
a priest; first by the very education he receives at the seminary the
ecclesiastic thinks himself obliged to disperse his affections and not
concentrate himself on particular friendships; then, like a doctor, he
is a man harassed with business, who is never to be found. You can catch
them now and then between two confessions or two sick calls. Nor even
then are you quite certain that the eager welcome of the priest rings
true, for he is just the same to all who come to him, and indeed, since
I do not call on the Abbé Gévresin for his help or advice, I am afraid
of being in his way, and of taking up his time, hence I am acting with
discretion in not going to see him.
"Yet I am sorry; suppose I write, or go to him one morning, but what
have I to say to him? I ought to know what I want before I allow myself
to trouble him. If I go only to complain, he will answer I am wrong not
to be a communicant, and I have nothing to answer. No: the better plan
is to meet him as by chance, on the quays, where no doubt he sometimes
looks over the book-stalls, or at Tocane's, for then I can talk to him
more intimately, at least less officially, about my vacillations and
regrets."
So Durtal searched the quays, and never once met the abbé. He went to
the bookseller's, and pretended to look over his stock, but as soon as
he pronounced the name Gévresin, Tocane exclaimed, "I have heard nothing
of him, he has not been here for the last two months."
"I will not turn back, but just disturb him in his own house," said
Durtal, "but he will wonder why I came back after so long an absence.
Besides the awkwardness I feel in calling on people whom I have
neglected, I am also troubled by thinking the abbé may suspect some
interested object in my visit. That is not convenient; if I had but a
good pretext; there is certainly that life of Lidwine which interests
him, I might consult him on various points. Yes, but which? I have not
concerned myself with that saint for a long time, and must read over
again the meagre old books on her biography. After all, it will be
simpler and better to be frank, and say, 'This is why I have come; I
want to ask advice, which I have not determined to follow, but I have so
much need of speaking, of giving the reins to my soul, that I beg you to
be so kind as to lose an hour for my sake.'
"He will do it certainly and willingly.
"Then that is agreed on; suppose I go to-morrow?" But he checked himself
at once. "There was nothing pressing; there was plenty of time; better
take time and think; ah, yes, here is Christmas close upon us, I cannot
decently trouble a priest who has his penitents to confess, for there
are many communicants on that day. Let him get his hard work over, and
then we will see."
He was at first pleased at having invented that excuse, then he had to
admit in his heart that, after all, there was not much in it, for there
was nothing to show that this priest, who was not attached to a parish,
was busy in hearing confessions.
It was hardly probable, but he tried to convince himself that it might
be so after all, and his hesitation began again. Angry at last with the
discussion, he adopted a middle course. For greater certainty, he would
not call on the abbé till after Christmas, but he would not be later
than a given time; he took an almanack, and swore to keep his
promise--three days after that feast.