The Ideal of the Monastic Life found in the Apostolic Age

214 Pages·1950·5.199 MB·English

by  DOM GERMAIN MORIN, O.S.B. OF THE ABBEY OF MAREDSOUS TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY C. GUNNING

THE IDEAL OF THE
MONASTIC LIFE FOUND
IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE
BY
DOM GERMAIN MORIN, O.S.B.
OF THE ABBEY OF MAREDSOUS
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
C. GUNNING
WITH A PREFACE BY
DOM BEDE CAMWO.
OF DOWNSIOS. 1r"
THE 40-
ST. yiN UWE
The Newman Press
Westminster, Maryland
1950
I hereby approve of Dom Germain Morin's
book, " Monastique et le, Vie Chretienne
des Premiers Joints," and authorize its translation
into English according to arrangements made
with Dom Bede Comm, O.B.B.
COLUMBA MARMION,
Abbot of Maredsous.
Die 90 Oetobris,1913.
gild" 1Dbotat.
FR. INNOCENTIUS AMP., O.P.
CENSOR DEPIITATIM.
Imprimatur.
EMI. CAN. SURMONT,
VIOAILIIIS GENERAL'S.
WESTMONABTEBII,
Dic13 SlovemIrrist1915.
AU rights reserved
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EDITOR'S PREFACE
been asked by the Abbot of Maredsous
I HAVE
to prepare this translation of Dom Germain
Morin's work for the press, and to write a few
words of introduction. I cannot refuse one to
whom I owe so much, but it is obviously quite
unnecessary, if not impertinent, for me to say
anything in commendation of either the author
or his book.
Dom Morin has a European reputation as a
savant, and the University of Oxford has
honoured not so much him as itself in giving
him a Doctor's degree honoris causa.
His discoveries in the field of patristic study,
his illuminating treatment, to take only one
example, of the problem of the authorship of
the Quicunque vult, his enormous labours in
preparing a complete and final edition of the
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE
works of St. Coesarius of Arles, his brilliant
studies on the most difficult questions of
liturgical research, have indeed made his name
famous in the annals of erudition. The French
edition of this work was published anony-
mously, but the present writer has been fortu-
nate enough to succeed in persuading the
learned author to allow his name to appear in
this translation.
To those who do not know Dom Morin, save
as a savant, these simple pages may come as a
revelation.
For here we find no parade of erudition, no
affectation of research. We have the humble
and devout monk speaking simply and earnestly,
to his brethren in the cloister, of the eternal
truths and of those special obligations which
the monastic life imposes. The whole work
breathes the simple piety of the ages of faith,
and is impregnated with that peace of heart
and liberty of spirit which are characteristic of
the true son of St. Benedict.
Yes, this is no mere collection of pious
exhortations; it is a work full of solid doctrine
founded on the Benedictine Rule, and on the
EDITOR'S PREFACE vii
writings of the Saints and Fathers, by one who
has drunk deeply of their spirit.
If we read these pages attentively, we shall
be more and more impressed by the fact that,
simple as they seem, they are very far from
being commonplace, but are indeed the fruit of
no ordinary mind. Only one; in fact, who,
like Dom Morin, was deeply versed in the
annals of monastic antiquity could possibly
have written them.
The present writer had the happiness of
being a member of the Community to whom
these meditations were first addressed. It was
his very first retreat as a Catholic, and he has
never forgotten it. Some of the meditations,
especially, perhaps, that on the Analogy
between Baptism and the Monastic Ceremony
of Profession, left an impression on his mind
which has never been effaced. It is therefore
to him a special pleasure to introduce this work
to the English-speaking world.
It will be found most useful, not merely to
Benedictines, for whom it was first intended,
not merely to religious, for whom it has so
many precious lessons, but to all Christians
vii EDITOR'S PREFACE
who are inferested in those eternal verities
which were at once the strength and consola-
tion of our fathers -in the faith, and in those
great and sacred principles which formed in
the Benedictine cloister such giants of sanctity
as Gregory, Anselm, and Dunstan, to whom
Christendom in general and England in
particular owe so enormous a debt.
DOM BEDE CAMM,
Monk of Downside Abbey.
Feast of St..Dunstan, April 19, 1914.
PREFACE
ABout twenty years ago a certain Benedictine
Abbot suddenly ordered one of his monks, still
young and inexperienced, to deliver before an
important ccimmunity the conferences usual in
the course of the annual Retreat.
As this Retreat coincided with the week of
Pentecost, the monk thought that he could not
do better than demonstrate, from the manner
of life of the primitive Christians immediately
after the descent of the Spirit, the origin and
model of the life that should be led by monks.
So he took for his text the verses from the
Acts of the Apostles ii. 37-46, not commenting
upon the whole passage in order, but confining
himself to the principal features which referred
to his subject.
The notes which he made for these con-
ferences were for a long time forgotten, unless
x
PREFACE
occasionally one of Ms brethren used them for
giving spiritual exerciees in his turn.
Certainly, if the author had followed his
own feeling, they would never have been used
at all. But lately he has been obliged to
consent that the substance of them should be
published in a little review, called the Mes-
senger of Saint Benedict, and this first publica-
tion, although fragmentary and mixed up here
and there with sketches on different subjects,
has aroused in a certain number of people a
strong desire fo see the whole collected and
brought out in its original form.
After having resisted as long as. he possibly
could, the author at last gave way, thinking
that it was Ms duty to put aside Ms personal
disinclination for the sake of the spiritual
advantage of his neighbour, which, he was
told, rightly or wrongly, was concerned in this
publication.
Naturally, certain details have been elimin-
ated which belonged to the particular con-
ditions of the audience for whom these pages
were prepared. But, on the other hand, the
references of most of the texts and quotations
PREFACE xi
have been added in notes. Of most of them
only; for there are some which come from
purely oral instruction—from Dom Gueranger,
for example; from Maurus Wolter, and other
great monks of our time. The author has no
longer within his reach the works from which he
borrowed two or three other quotations with-
out always noting accurately the place whence
they were taken. The reader must be so good
as to trust him on this point, and believe that
everything that he attributes to an author is
really by that author. Having made the
search for and worship of the truth the prin-
cipal business of his life, he would never allow
himself to deceive in this matter, even with a
view to edification.
Neither must it be forgotten that these
pages were written long ago, and many points
would have required completion. Perhaps, on
the other hand, certain pages would not appear,
if they had been written more recently. After
all, there will not be much cause to complain
of that. Origen says, in his eighteenth Homily
on Exodus, that the preacher of the Gospel
should have that enthusiasm and youthfulness
xii PREFACE —
of soul attributed to Judah in the "Blessings
of the Patriarchs "— Oeuli ejus rubri a vino.
No coldness, no feebleness, no colourlessness'in
his language; but a kind of holy inebriation,
something that rejoices the friends of God and
heals the wounds of the soul.
Happy are they who have received this gift
of spiritual youth, and the power of communi-
cating it! Happy, above all, are they, and
much more rare, who have known how to
preserve and cherish it, even to old age.
Ash Wednesday, 1912.
,