St. Syncletica

From her ancient Life, "by a Writer of the same Age believed "by many to have "been St. Athanasiua.

ST. SYNCLETICA was born at Alexandria, about the latter part of the third century, of noble and wealthy Christian parents, whom God had blessed with four children, two sons and two daughters. One of the sons died very young, the other, having attained to the age of twenty-five, when, at the desire of his parents, he was contracted to a young lady, and when all things were prepared for solemnizing the marriage, he was suddenly carried off by death into another region, where they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Syncletica, the eldest of the two daughters, from her tender years consecrated her heart to the love of Christ, and accustomed herself to the exercises of Christian piety and solid devotion, taking always far more care of the soul than of the body. As she advanced in age she increased in virtue and in the love of purity, which determined her to choose no other spouse but

Jesus Christ. For the love of him she rejected the most advantageous worldly offers that could be inado her; and instead of the outward ornaments of the body, which those of her ago and quality are usually so fond of, she diligently procured the better ornaments of the interior house of her soul, where she desired to entertain the King of kings, who is beautiful above the sons of men. Hence she carefully shunned all dangerous worldly diversions and unprofitable recreations, seeking always the conversation of such as entertained her with godly discourses and exhortations to piety, to whom she hearkened with the most diligent attention, laying up their words in her memory, and meditating frequently upon them. In the mean time she waa exceeding temperate, and mortified in her eating and drinking, looking upon this virtue as the best preservative of purity; and though by her fasting and other austerities, her countenance became both pale and meagre, yet she regarded it not, being not so desirous to please the eyes of men as those of God; and finding by experience that what weakened the body served to invigorate the soul. However, she was always discreet in these corporal mortifications, and took all possible care to conceal them, from being either seen or observed by others.

Her parents dying, left her mistress of all their worldly substance; so that now finding herself at full liberty to follow the call of God, and to retire alto

Aether from the world, after having made a sufficient trial of herself, by way of preparation for those aus terities she designed to embrace, she disposed of all her wealth in favor of the poor; and cutting off her hair, in token of her renouncing the world and all its superfluities, she withdrew herself from the town, and chose a sepulchre, or monument, in the neighborhood, for her dwelling place, during the remainder of the days of her mortality, taking also along with her her youngest sister, who was also desirous of following the same kind of life. Here she lived separated in a manner from the conversation either of men or women, in the exercises of mortification, penance, and continual prayer. — Her food was coarse bread made of bran; — her ordinary drink was water, and her bed the bare ground; and as the watchful enemy plied her with frequent and troublesome temptations, she opposed to all his assaults the buckler of faith, with the helmet of hope and confidence in our Lord, to whom she had continual recourse; and on these occasions she re doubled her austerities in order to keep the flesh in subjection, yet so as still to have an eye upon the salt of prudence and discretion, wherewith our Lord wills hat all the sacrifices we offer to him should be seasoned, Levit. ii. 13. Far from conceiving a good opinion of herself for having quitted her worldly goods, she kept herself always humble; by thinking she was

Btill at a very great distance from what she ought to i\ t 8T. SYNCLETICA.

bo, and instead of contenting herself with that voluntar.; poverty which she had embraced when she renowned all exterior possessions, she made it her chiefeet labor to purify her soul, as well from all desires and afleotions to any thing created, as from all those spiritual vices that are apt to lurk secretly in the interior.

Notwithstanding her utmost endeavors to hide her eminent vnUies from the eyes of others, and to avoid, as much as possible, all commerce with the world, yet, as the almighty had so ordered it for his own greater glory, and the good of a great number of souls, she could not keep herself so closely concealed as to prevent the sweet odour of her sanctity from breaking forth from her sepulchre, and spreading herself, by degrees over the whole neighborhood. Hence many devout virgins came to visit her, desiring to profit by her heavenly conversation, and to learn from her lips the lesson:! of religious perfection and of a truly christian life. At first humility would not suffer her to converse with theni, or give them the instructions they desired; but wheu (hey pressed her to speak on di vine matters, she coutented herself with edifying them by her silence, sighs and tears, till at length charity prevailing over humility, she yielded to their importunity, and gave them many excellent lessons for the regulating of their lives, set down at large by oar author in her life, as a rule for such holy virgins as aapfce after religious perfection, of whom she is generally considered the mother and foundress.

She begins by inculcating to them as her principal lesson, to have always before their eyes, and to imprint deeply in their hearts the two principal commandments: thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, &c. and thy neighbor as thyself: which she tells them are an abridgment of the whole divine law, and comprise all the perfection God de sires from us. — That in the exercise of this divine love, those who desire to dedicate themselves to God, must fix no bounds to themselves, but endeavor always to advance: — that they must not content themselves with being the land that bringeth forth only thirty fold, but must labor to bring forth sixty, and a hundred fold: — that as it would be infinitely dangerous to fall from a higher to a lower degree of virtue, from bringing forth sixty, to bring forth only thirty fold, it being so natural when we once begin to sink downwards, to fall lower and lower, till we fall head long down the precipice, so we must never think of standing still in the way of God, which would in effect be going backwards; but as the apostle admonishes, Philip, iii. 13, 14, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I pursue towards the mark, for the prize oj the supernal vocation of God hi Christ Jesus.

In the next place she tells them, that in ordei to

SVC ST. SYNCLLTICA.

preserve and maintain the purity of their souls and bodies, they must exercise themselves in the mortification of their sensual appetite, not only with regard to eating- and drinking, but also with respect to the guard they ought to keep upon their eyes, their ears, their tongue, <fec., lest the angels of darkness, who are the robbers and murderers that are always endeavor ing to do us as much mischief as they can, should steal into our soul by any avenue that, should be left unguarded: therefore she recommends a spirit of recollection and retirement, and to have as little communication as possible with -the world; for how, says she, can a house surrounded on all sides by smoke, escape being sullied and made black within, if the doors and windows are always open? She adds, that they must, according to our Lord's prescription, be ever wise as serpents, and innocent as doves, wisely watching against all the deceits and assaults of the wicked one, who is ever besieging them within and without; and in all their actions keep close to God, by purity and simplicity, both in their intention and affection; and that the arms they must continually make use of in this warfare, are the exercises of a spiritual life, more especially fasting and fervent prayer.

She proceeds in the next place to treat of the ad vantages of voluntary poverty, and of quitting all things for Christ, by showing that nothing can be of greater service to a soul that has, by the exercise of other virtues, and the custom of mortifying herself in eating, drinking, hard lodging, &c. first to learn to be content with little, and cheerfully sacrifice her own will, inclinations, and pleasures to God; for no sooner do we renounce the perishable goods of the earth, than we easily learn to turn our eyes towards heaven, to seek that hidden treasure which alone is able tc make us rich for eternity, in the happy possession of God himself. Oh! what a shame, would she say, that we should not be ready to undergo all kinds of labors and sufferings for acquiring so invaluable a treasure, when we daily behold the children of this world expose themselves to far greater labors, suffer ings, and dangers, for the sake of a little worldly dirt. She also warns them against making a parade of their virtues, or publishing their good actions, by making them the subject of their conversation with others; for as a treasure that lies exposed to the public is quickly taken away and lost to its owner, so virtue presently fades and evaporates, when we make a show of it, or publish it to the world. Praise and applau&e are ever apt to weaken the vigor of the soul; whilst on the other hand, it commonly receives an additional increase of strength from affronts, reproaches and in juries. She therefore exhorted them to rejoice under Bufferings, and endeavor, by prayer and spiritual cant icles, to banish sadness in general away from them as an enemy, that wholesome sorrow only excepted,

\vkich is according to God, by which we grieve for havinor offended him.

She goes on by strenuously recommending a constant watchfulness over their hearts, that they be ever earful and diffident of their own strength, and neve think themselves secure in this life. Upon which occasion she treats at large on the excellence and necessity of self-knowledge and humility, and warns them against the pernicious consequences of pride, self-conceit, and presumption, which she tells them are the most heinous of all sins, as well as against the pas sions of anger, resentment, remembrance of injuries, envy, and detraction, the daughters of pride, which being spiritual sins, frequently overlooked and neglect ed, are apt to leave mortal wounds behind them in the most noble parts of the soul; — wounds the more hard to be cured, as they are generally less appre hended.

The Saint also gave her spiritual daughters many other excellent lessons, inserted by the author of her life at large, who assures us, that what she taught them by words, she continually enforced by her ex ample; and that no tongue was capable of expressing the spiritual advantages, that those who were so hap pyas to hear her, received from her heavenly conversation, and the incredible fruits which her instructions produced in many souls.

Syncletica continued her regular exercises of devo* tt>fland penance, advancing daily more and more in* trie iove of God, till she arrived at the age of fourscore yeHNs; at which time our Lord was pleased to permit her u> be afflicted by the most violent interior pains and Diseases, joined with as horrible temptations as if Satan had obtained permission from God to put her patience to as severe a trial, and torment her as much as he did Job, with a complication of the most severe sufferings. She passed through this course of penance for tl*e space of three years and a half, with an incredible patience and courage, to the great edification of all that approached her, to whom she ceased not to preacn both by word and example. Towards the lattei part of this time, a cancer in her mouth was added to the rest of her sufferings, which spread itself so far as to consume a great part of her face, and which, besides the pain and the insupportable stench it caused, prevented her from being able either to eat or to speak. In this condition she remained suffering, like a martyr, for the space of three months, support ed only by divine grace, till the end of her life approaching, she was favored with a rapt, or ecstacy, in which she beheld the glory and light of the heavenly mansions that were prepared for her, with troops of angels and holy virgins, who invited her to come and oin their happy company. Returning to herself, she tound herself able to give her last instructions to the virgins that surrounded her; exhorting them particuiarly to constancy, courage, and perseverance in their holy undertaking, and telling them, that within three days, at an hour which she named, she should be taken away from them. Accordingly when that hour arrived, her pure soul took its flight from this vale of tears, and went to take possession of the kingdom of her heavenly Bridegroom. Her name stands re corded in the Roman Martyrology on the fifth of January.