The lives of the fathers of the eastern deserts; or, The wonders of God in the Wilderness ...

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

k FOUNTAIN 8PRINQ6 UF IN THE DESERT. AT THE FfiAYBfi OF ST ANTHONT.-Fim «.

Contents

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Introduction •• •• •• •• •• - 9

Si. John the Baptist - - 17

Appendix

A Collection of remarkable Sayings, Aphorisms, and

Examples, of the Eastern Solitaries, out of Rufinus, 537 Out of an ancient writer, translated by Pelagius the

Out of the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus and

9t Soohronius, •• - «* 379 j?asi?^(g3 u The Saints of the Desert ! " what a subject to be brought before the- minds of this worldly-wise and self- worshipping generation ! — how can men and women who live but to indulge their tastes, and fancies, and gratify their passions, understand or appreciate the antiquated custom of crucifying the flesh, and macerating the body by vigils and fasts, and giving up all the fascinations of this world to devote the whole being, heart, and soul to God from whom it came ? — " And then it is only the Catholics who practise these things, or are at all influenced by such notions. It is only the Church of Rome that inculcates such unnatural doctrines, and teaches people to forget themselves and be as though they were not." Very true, and it is only for Catholics that these pages

VI PREFACE.

are expected to have any interest. We have no idea of penetrating the depths of the burning deserts, and entering the cavern or cell where the solitary abides in uninterrupted commune with his God, to lay bare the beautiful recesses— the calm, untroubled depths of his super-human soul — merely to expose them to the derision of the unbeliever. The saints of the desert — the religious of the cloisters — all the monastic orders whether active or contemplative are the pride and glory of the Church — they are her richest treasures — her chosen children, who sit ever at her feet drinking in her divine precepts and literally putting them in practice ; they are the blooming wreaths wherewith she crowns her beloved Spouse, because they are His faithful imitators, and her docile pupils. It is true — very true — that the children of this world who are wiser in their generation than the children of light have little or nothing in common with theso saintly personages, and that in their eyes our Anthonys, our Anselms, our Teresas, nay even our Jeromes, our Gregorys, and our Basils beat

PREFACE. VH

but a sorry figure — nay, the divine Precursor himself — the first of our solitaries — must seem little better than a fool, because he practised) to the very letter, this spirit of self-denial which the world cannot understand, but which the Church of God has ever inculcated, and still does inculcate.

This work of Dr. Challoner's has long been familiar to the Catholic public, and it is a very fair collection of the Eminent Saints of the Desert, but on looking over it recently, prior to its re-publication, it struck me that there were a few important omissions. I looked in vain for the lives of St. Jerome — St. Gregory Naziarizen, or his illustrious friend, St. Basil the Great, and knowing that some portion of the lives of each of those great saints was spent 'a solitude, I thought it would be an acceptable addition to the work to give the monastic lives of those three illustrious doctors, who have rendered and do still render such invaluable service to the Church. This portion of their live 3 I found in a French work entitled Viis des yffi PREFACE.

Peres du desert, and it is with much pleasure that I now give their rightful place to these three great Fathers of the Oriental Church. As for the style of the translation I shall say nothing, for I had only to make the best of a bad bargain, as there was no style at all in the original. However, in a work of this kind, which is chiefly read by pious Christians, I have not much to dread from criticism, and with that conviction I proceeded in my task, being more anxious to do honor to the sainted memory of these great men — who may be truly called " pillars of tha Church " — than to produce a finished piece of composition.

Montreal, July 1852