under the patronage of St Joseph and St Dominic

By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, remembering Zion;
on the poplars that grew there we hung up our harps. . . Ps 136

CHURCH'S FATHERS & DOCTORS

Argument from St Irenaeus

St Irenaeus, the second bishop of Lyons, wrote his "Against the Heresies" in the second century.  This is an extract.  more

St Benedict and Monasticism

The Rule of St Benedict is 1,450 years old.  It is not too far fetched to say that we owe all that is most valuable in western culture to the influence of this document. more

Bellarmine's Advice

The Church quotes the following from the writings of St Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church, in her Office of Readings.  It is good, sound and practical; the best of advice.

“That first and great commandment is not only profitable for the man who keeps it or for God who commands it: the other commandments of God also make perfect him who obeys them, improve him, instuct him and make him illustrious; in a word, they make him good and holy.  If you understand this, realise that you have been created for the glory of God and for your own eternal salvation; this is your end, this is the object of your soul and the measure of your heart.  You will be blessed if you reach this goal, but miserable if you are cut off from it.

“Therefore consider that to be for your real good which brings you to your goal, and that to be really bad which cuts you off from this goal.  Prosperity and adversity, riches and poverty, health and sickness, honour and ignominy, life and death should not be sought after for themselves by the wise man nor are they to be avoided for themselves; if they contribute to the glory of God and your eternal happiness, they are good and to be sought after; if they are obstacles to this, they are evil and to be avoided.”

St Robert Bellarmine, The ascent of the Mind to God, I

Michael Baker
15th January 2007