Letter III. To M. Antoine Revel, Named to the See of Dol

On the virtues necessary for the episcopal office, and the way to acquire them.

ANNECY, end of 1603.

SIR, — I have received two of your letters, but I have not yet answered them because when they arrived I was not here, but in Piedmont, whither I was obliged to go on account of the temporal revenues of this see. Now, sir, I send you the document from Rome which you desire. I have opened it to see whether it con tains all you want, and I see all is there, and some thing more which does not concern you, and does not affect the document as to what is required for you. So there is my promise fulfilled in that particular. If any difficulty remain, please use the same confidence with me about it. I assure you, sir, that I shall never weary of doing services for your pleasure and for your soul, which I hope God will employ for the service of many others.

The other part of my promise is harder for me to put into effect, on account of the incessant occupations which overwhelm me; for I think I am in an office more burdensome than any other of its kind. But still I give you here an outline of what I have to put before you.

You are entering upon the ecclesiastical state, and at the same time you mount to the very summit of that state. I will say to you what was said to a shepherd who was chosen to be king over Israel: Thou shall le changed into another man* You must be other, in your interior and in your exterior; and to make this great and solemn change you must revolutionise your spirit and alter it throughout. Would to God that our charges, more tempestuous than the sea, had also that property which the sea has of making those who embark upon it cast up and vomit forth all their evil humours! But it is not so here; for very often we embark and spread our sails to the wind in very sickly state, and the farther we sail and voyage

• I Kings x. 6.

over the high seas, the more evil humours we beget. Well, praised be God, who has given you the desire not to do thus! I hope that he will also give you the power not to do it, that his work may be perfect in you.

To help you in this alteration you must use the living and the dead. The living, because you must find one or two thoroughly spiritual men of whose conversation you may be able to avail yourself. It is an extreme benefit to have those to whom we can give our spiritual confidence. I pass over M. du Val, who is good at all things and universally fitted for such offices. I tell you another — M. Galemant, cwri of Aumale. If by chance he were at Paris, I know fchat he would help you much. I mention to you a third, a man to whom God has given much, and whom ft is impossible to approach without great profit — M. de Berulle. He is entirely such as I would wish to be myself. I have hardly seen a soul which pleases me as his does; in fact, I have not seen one nor come across one; but there is this drawback, that he is extremely occupied. You may make use with as much confidence of him as of any one, but with some regard for his engagements. I have a great friend whom M. Eaubon knows, M. de Soulfour; he is very capable in these matters. I should like you to know him, as I consider you would get much benefit from him.

As to the dead, you must have a little library of spiritual books of two kinds — the one for you as an ecclesiastic, the other for you as bishop. Of the first sort you should have some before entering on your charge, and should read them and reduce them to practice; for we must begin with the private (monastique) life before coming to the active and public life. I beg you to have the entire works of Granada, and to make them your second breviary. Cardinal [St. Charles] Borromeo had no other theology to preach with, and yet he preached excellently. But that is not its chief utility: the chief is, that it will train your soul to the love of true devotion, and to all the spiritual exercises which are necessary for you. My advice is, that you begin to read him in his large Guide to Sinners, then that you proceed to the Memo rial, and then read him all; but to read him with fruit you must not simply hasten to get him down; you must weigh him and see his value, and, chapter after chapter, you must ruminate him, and apply him to your soul with many considerations and prayers to God. You must read him with reverence and devotion, as a book containing the most useful inspirations which the soul can receive from on high; and in this way must you restore all the powers of your soul, purging them by the detestation of all tbeir bad incli nations, and applying them to their true end by firm and high resolutions.

After Granada, I strongly recommend to you the works of Stella, particularly on the vanity of the world, and all the works of Francis Arias, a Jesuit. The Con fessions of St. Augustine will be extremely useful to you, and if you follow my advice you will take them in French, in the translation of M. Hennequin, bishop of Kennes. Bellintani, a Capuchin, is also very good for expressing with clearness many excellent considera tions on all the mysteries of our faith, and it is the same with the works of Costerus, a Jesuit. And at the last moment I remember to recommend to you the

Spiritual Letters of John of Avila, in which I am certain you will find many useful considerations for yourself and others; and at the same time I recommend to you the Epistles of St. Jerome, in his excellent Latin.

As bishop, to help you in the management of affairs, have Cardinal Toletus's book of Cases of Conscience, and study it well; it is short, easy, and safe; you will find it enough for the beginning. Read the Morals of St. Gregory, and his Pastoral Care; St. Bernard in his letters, and in his books On Consideration. Or if you choose to have an abridgment of both, get the book entitled Stimulus Pastorum, by the Archbishop of Braga, in Latin, printed by Kerner. The Decreta of the Church of Milan is necessary for you; but I do not know whether it is printed at Paris. Also I want you to have the life of the Blessed Cardinal Borromeo, written by Charles a Basilica Petri, in Latin, for therein will you see the model of a true pastor; but, above all, have always in hand the Council of Trent and its Catechism.

I do not think that will be too little for you during the first year, for which alone I speak; afterwards you will be better instructed, and this from the very fact of having made progress in the first year, if you confine yourself within the simple limits I propose. But please excuse me for treating so confidently with you; for I cannot act in any other way on account of my high opinion of your goodness and friendliness.

I will yet add these two words: the one is, that it is of immense importance for you to receive consecration with a great reverence and devotion, and with a thorough appreciation of the greatness of your ministry. If you were able to get the discourse of Stanislaus

Scolonius upon it, entitled, at least according to my copy, De sacrd episcoporum consecratione et inauguratione, it would help you much; for in truth it is an excellent piece. You know that the commencement in all things is very important; and one can truly say, the first in each kind is the measure of the rest.

The other point is, that I earnestly wish you much confidence and a particular devotion with regard to the holy Angel, guardian and protector of your diocese; for it is a great consolation to have recourse to him in all the difficulties of one's charge. All the Fathers and theologians agree that bishops, besides their own particular Angel, have the assistance of another, who is deputed for their office and charge. You must have much confidence in the one and the other, and by frequently invoking them contract a certain familiarity with them, and specially, for affairs, with the one of the diocese, as also with the holy patron of your cathedral. For the rest, sir, you will gratify me if you love me intimately, and give me the consolation of writing to me familiarly; and be assured that you have in me a servant and brother in vocation as faithful as any one.

I forgot to say to you that you should by all means take the resolution of preaching to your people. The most holy Council of Trent, after all the Ancients, has decreed that a bishop's first and chiefest office is to preach, and let no consideration divert you from this. Do not do it in order to become a great preacher, but simply because it is your duty and God's will. The paternal sermon of a bishop is worth more than all the art of the elaborate discourses of other kinds of preachers. There is needed very little for good preaching, in a bishop; for his sermons should be on necessary and useful, not on curious or recondite, things; his words simple, not studied; his manner paternal and natural without art or effort; and short as he may be, or little as he may say, it is always a great thing.

Take all I have said as the beginning, for the beginning will afterwards teach you the rest. I see that you write your letters so well and fluently, that, in my opinion, you will, with but a little determination, make good sermons; still, sir, I say that you must have no little resolution, but much, and of a good and invincible kind. I beseech you to recommend me to God; I will return you an equivalent, and will all my life be, sir, your, &c.