other place: "Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord." And in Ecclesiastes [Apocrypha]: "Blessed is the man that hath a virtuous wife." And a few lines after: "A good wife is a good portion." And according to apostolic authority: "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." The divine grace has permitted our country of France to experience this truth, since, by the prayer of his wife Clotilda, rather than by the preaching of saints, King Clovis, being converted to the faith of Christ, the whole kingdom was so subjected to the divine law, that, by the example of the higher classes, the lower classes were invited to perseverance in prayer. This perseverance is especially recommended to us in the parable of the Lord: "Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." By this importunity of prayer, thus to speak, Moses, as I mentioned above, softened the severity of divine justice, and changed its sentence. You know, dearest, how much affection your convent heretofore was accustomed to show me in prayer, when I was present. At the close of the canonical hours, the sisters were accustomed to offer for me a special supplication to the Lord. After the psalmody of the anthem and the response, they added the fol lowing prayers and collect : 66 Responsum.-Forsake me not, withdraw not thyself from me, O Lord." "Versus.-Be thou, O Lord, always ready to defend me." "Preces.-Preserve thy servant, my God, who putteth his trust in thee. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee." "Oratio.-O God, who, through the least of thy servants, hast been pleased to gather together in thy name thy handmaidens, we beseech thee to grant unto him, as well as us, to persevere in thy will. Through our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. But now in my absence from you, I have the more need of your prayers, since I am overwhelmed with anxiety on account of increasing peril. I supplicate and beseech you, and beseech and supplicate you, that I may experience now in my absence the sincerity of the tenderness which you exhibited to me when I was with you, by your adding at the end of the canonical hours this formula of prayer: Responsum.--Forsake me not, O Lord, the Father and Governor of my life, lest I fall before my adversaries, and mine enemy rejoice over me." "Versus.-Take thy arms and thy shield, and arise in my defence, lest he rejoice." "Preces. Preserve thy servant, my God, who putteth his trust in thee. Send unto him, O Lord, the help of thy Holy One; and from Sion protect him. Be to him, O Lord, a tower of fortitude in the presence of his enemies. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee." "Oratio. O God, who through thy servant hast been pleased to gather together thy handmaidens, we beseech thee to protect him from all adversity, and to return him safe to thy handmaidens. Through our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. If the Lord should deliver me into the hands of my enemies, and they prevailing over me, should destroy me, or, by any fortune whatever, should I, absent from you, go the way of all flesh, I beseech you to transfer my body, whether it may have been buried or may lie exposed, to your cemetery, where our daughters, yes, our sisters in Christ, more frequently beholding my tomb, may be invited to pour forth their prayers for me to the Lord. I suppose that no place can be safer and more salutary for a contrite and penitent soul, than that which is appropriately consecrated to the true Paraclete, that is, to the Comforter; and is especially adorned with that name. Neither do I believe that there is a more appropriate place for Christian burial, among the faithful, than the cloisters of females devoted to Christ. It was women who were solicitous concerning the burial of the Lord Christ Jesus, who, both before and after his burial, used precious ointments, who faithfully kept watch at the sepulchre, and wept the loss of their spouse. They also were first consoled by the appearance and the words of the angel that announced the resurrection of Christ, and soon after they merited to taste the joys of his resurrection, to see him twice appear, and to touch him with their hands. Finally, above all things, I ask you, who are now too solicitous on account of the perils to which my body is exposed, to be especially solicitous in regard to the safety of my soul, to exhibit to me when I am dead how much you have loved me during my life, by awarding to me the special and particular benefit of your prayers. Live, you and your sisters-live, and remember me in Christ.* * In the original, a couplet: "Vive, vale, vivantque tuæ, valcantque sorores, Vivite, sed Christo, quæso, mei memores." XXVI. LETTER OF HELOISE TO ABELARD. "Ah wretch! believed the spouse of God in vain, I ought to grieve; but cannot what I ought; I mourn the lover, not lament the fault; I view my crime, but kindle at the view, Now turned to heav'n, I weep my past offence, "Tis sure the hardest science to forget! How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, Unequal task! a passion to resign, For hearts so touched, so pierced, so lost as mine. Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state, |