PL 39 · cols. 2026–2030

Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 138-154

Sermons CXLIV–CXLVI

PL 39:2026

ipsorum operum retributione satiari, sicut in Evangelio legimus, Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt iustitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur (Matth. V, 6).

to be satisfied by the recompense of those very works, as we read in the Gospel, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied (Matt. 5:6).

4. De parcimonia pauperes reficiantur. Illam enim compensationem magis eligere debemus, ut a cibis quibus nos abstinemus, eos pauperibus ac debilibus largiamur; secundum illud quod scriptum est, Beati qui contenti sunt esurire, ut alii reficiantur. Satis Deo acceptum est munus, quando indigens saturatur, quando nudus vestitur, quando ira non perficitur, et iracundiae tempus non reservatur, quando malum pro malo non redditur. Tunc grata sunt Deo nostra jejunia, si illi qui necessitate jejunant, reficiantur a nobis. Tunc illam Domini sententiam audire merebimur, Amen dico vobis, quamdiu fecis⟨t⟩is uni ex minimis istis, mihi fecistis (Id. XXV, 40). O benignissimum Dominum ad edomandam hominum avaritiam, qui sibi dari dicit, quod vel minimo pauperi donatum fuerit! Vobis autem, fratres, praestet Domini misericordia, ut ei jejuniis et eleemosynis in bonis operibus serviatis, ut ad aeternam et veram vitam vos perducat ipse, qui vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

4. Let the poor be refreshed from our frugality. For we ought rather to choose this compensation: that the foods from which we abstain we bestow on the poor and the weak; according to that which is written, Blessed are those who are content to hunger, so that others may be refreshed. That gift is truly acceptable to God when the needy man is filled, when the naked is clothed, when anger is not carried through, and no time is kept in reserve for wrath, when evil is not repaid with evil. Then are our fasts pleasing to God, if those who fast from necessity are refreshed by us. Then shall we deserve to hear that saying of the Lord, Amen I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to Me (Matt. 25:40). O most kind Lord, for taming the avarice of men, Who says that whatever has been given to even the least poor man is given to Him! But to you, brethren, may the mercy of the Lord grant that you serve Him with fasts and almsgiving in good works, so that He Himself may lead you to eternal and true life, Who lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

SERMO CXLIV. In Quadragesima, V.

Sermon 144. On Lent, 5.

1. Jejunii utilitas ostenditur exemplis Moysi et Adae. Adest nobis venerabile et medicinale Quadragesimae tempus, charissimi, per quod jejunantes peccatorum nostrorum vulnera curare debemus. Quantum sit ergo bonum jejunii, quantumque homini gratiae conferat, brevi sermone exemplis additis disseramus. Moyses primus quadraginta diebus ac noctibus cum jejunasset, Legem Domini accipere meruit, per quam populis imperaret. Impetraverunt unius hominis jejunia, quod totius populi saturitas desperaverat. Adve⟨r⟩tamus ergo quanta sit inter jejunium et saturitatem distantia, inter ventrem vacuum et pulmones epulis aestuantes. Moyses ergo quia jejunavit, Dominum vidit (Exod. XXIV, 18): populus, quia manducavit et bibit, idola fabricatus est. Sed quid de Moyse et Israelitica multitudine loquar? Princeps ille humani generis Adam, quamdiu jejunavit servans mandatum, in paradiso fuit: ubi vero comedit, ejectus est de paradiso (Gen. III). Et qui in paradiso Dei virgo fuerat, ejectus de paradiso cognovit uxorem. Semper enim juncta est saturitati lascivia. Vicina sibi sunt venter et genitalia, et pro membrorum ordine ordo vitiorum. Ejecit ergo nos de paradiso cibus; reducat esuries, reducat jejunium. Diximus ergo quid sanctus Moyses meruit jejunando: deinde et cunctos videamus

1. The usefulness of fasting is shown by the examples of Moses and Adam. The venerable and healing season of Lent is upon us, dearly beloved, through which by fasting we ought to cure the wounds of our sins. Let us therefore discuss in a brief sermon, adding examples, how great is the good of fasting, and how much grace it confers on man. Moses first, when he had fasted forty days and nights, deserved to receive the Law of the Lord, by which he might command the peoples. The fasts of one man obtained what the fullness of the whole people had despaired of. Let us therefore notice how great is the distance between fasting and fullness, between an empty belly and lungs seething with feasts. Moses, then, because he fasted, saw the Lord (Exod. 24:18): the people, because it ate and drank, made idols. But why should I speak of Moses and the Israelite multitude? That first prince of the human race, Adam, as long as he fasted keeping the commandment, was in paradise: but when he ate, he was cast out of paradise (Gen. 3). And he who in the paradise of God had been a virgin, once cast out of paradise knew his wife. For lewdness is always joined to fullness. The belly and the genitals are neighbours to one another, and the order of the vices follows the order of the members. Food, then, cast us out of paradise; let hunger lead us back, let fasting lead us back. We have said, then, what holy Moses merited by fasting: next let us also look at all

2. Item Eliae. Sancto Eliae jejunanti etiam elementa famulata sunt. Hic denique tribus annis et sex mensibus coelum clausit (III Reg. XVII, 1; Jacobi V, 17): ad cujus vocem etiam supernum descendit incendium (IV Reg. I, 10). Et cum eum Jezabel regina vellet occidere, et fessus sub arbore frondosa jaceret in solitudine, angelus ad eum mittitur, et dicit ei: Sume paululum panis et aquae (III Reg. XIX, 5). Videto quanta s⟨i⟩t Dei clementia erga jejunantes, charissimi. Non sufficiebat, quia angelum ad jejunantem Dominus miserat, qui eum, ut cibum sumeret, admoneret: sed etiam praecipit ut longius fugi⟨a⟩t persequentem. Ait ergo, Sume paululum panis et aquae. Quadraginta enim dierum jejunio perrecturus erat per desertum usque ad montem Sina. Numquid ei Dominus qui coelum et terram fecerat, cujus omnis est creatura, non potuit

2. Likewise of Elijah. To holy Elijah, as he fasted, even the elements were made to serve. He indeed shut up the sky for three years and six months (1 Kgs. 17:1; Jas. 5:17): at his voice even fire descended from on high (2 Kgs. 1:10). And when Queen Jezebel wished to kill him, and he lay weary under a leafy tree in the wilderness, an angel is sent to him, and says to him: Take a little bread and water (1 Kgs. 19:5). See how great is the clemency of God towards those who fast, dearly beloved. It was not enough that the Lord had sent an angel to the fasting man, to admonish him to take food: but He also commands him to flee further from his pursuer. He says therefore, Take a little bread and water. For he was to travel on a fast of forty days through the desert as far as Mount Sinai. Could the Lord, Who had made heaven and earth, Whose is every creature, not

Editors' notes and page, col. 2026

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2026

Alias, de Tempore 65.

Elsewhere, [Sermon] 65 on the Season.

(printed under page 275)

(b) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2026

In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Dubium relinquunt Lovanienses, supposititium asserunt Verlinus et Vindingus. Hieronymo in Remigiano codice, in aliis fere manuscriptis Augustino tribuitur: sed falsa, ut stilus evincit, inscriptione. Manuscripti plerique sermonem ordiuntur ab his verbis, «Moyses quadraginta diebus ac noctibus,» etc. De caetero nonnihil passim variant, praesertim in fine, ubi haec omittunt, « sed jejunia nostra ut plena sint, » etc., sermonemque ita concludunt: « Saltem paucis diebus Domino « vivere debeamus. » Porro quod hic num. 1 de Adam legitur, iisdem fere verbis dicitur infra in serm. 147, n. 2.

Now placed in the Appendix for the first time. The Louvain editors leave it doubtful; Verlinus and Vindingus declare it spurious. In the Remigius codex it is attributed to Jerome, in almost all other manuscripts to Augustine; but, as the style proves, by a false title. Most manuscripts begin the sermon with the words "Moses, for forty days and nights," etc. For the rest they vary somewhat here and there, especially at the end, where they omit the words "but that our fasts may be full," etc., and close the sermon thus: "at least for a few days we ought to live for the Lord." Further, what is read here in no. 1 about Adam is said in almost the same words below in sermon 147, no. 2.

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in eremo per angelum prandium mittere, sicut Danieli in lacum leonum per Habacuc misit (Dan. XIV, 33)? Sed sciebat Deus prophetam suum tentantem diabolum aliter superare non posse, nisi jejuniis eruditus insidiantis inimici tentamenta repelleret.

send him a meal by an angel in the desert, just as He sent one to Daniel in the lions' den by Habakkuk (Dan. 14:33)? But God knew that His prophet could not otherwise overcome the devil who was tempting him, unless, schooled by fasts, he drove back the temptations of the enemy lying in wait.

3. Item Danielis, Joannis Baptistae, et ex ipso Evangelio. Distantia inter jejunum et saturum. Daniel quoque ille futurorum gnarus, et adventus Domini conscius, et eversionis Jerusalem manifestissimus praedicator, ideo Vir desideriorum appellatus est, quia panem desiderii non comedit, et potum concupiscentiae non bibit, quia magis Christum quam epulas desiderabat. Joannes quoque praecursor Domini locustis in eremo et agresti melle nutritur, non animalium carnibus, non volucrum suavitatibus. Poterat utique juxta Jordanem positus piscium sibi exhibere delicias: sed poenitentiam praedicaturus, doctrinam rigoris et jejunii exemplo suo magis debuit docere quam voce. In Evangelio quoque cum quidam daemone plenus Domino fuisset oblatus, quem Apostoli curare nequiverant; interrogantes audiunt a Domino, istius modi genus non posse ejici nisi orationibus et jejuniis (Matth. XVII, 20). Videte ergo, charissimi, quanta sit jejuniorum virtus, ut id facere jejunia valeant, quod Apostoli nequiverant. Omitto caetera: sed unusquisque consideret quanta sit inter jejunium et saturitatem distantia, inter ventrem vacuum et refertum, inter rubentem faciem et ora pallentia, inter os jejunum et labia crapula dissoluta, inter oppressum epulis sensum, et inediae tenuitate vigilantem.

3. Likewise of Daniel, of John the Baptist, and from the Gospel itself. The difference between the fasting man and the sated. Daniel too, that man who knew things to come, who was aware of the Lord's coming, and who most plainly foretold the overthrow of Jerusalem, was called the Man of desires for this reason, that he did not eat the bread of desire and did not drink the drink of concupiscence, because he desired Christ more than feasts. John too, the forerunner of the Lord, is nourished in the desert on locusts and wild honey, not on the flesh of animals, not on the delicacies of birds. Placed as he was beside the Jordan, he certainly could have furnished himself with the delights of fish; but being about to preach penance, he had to teach the doctrine of rigour and fasting by his own example rather than by his voice. In the Gospel too, when a certain man full of a demon had been brought to the Lord, whom the Apostles had been unable to cure, on asking they hear from the Lord that a kind of this sort cannot be cast out except by prayers and fasts (Matt. 17:20). See then, dearly beloved, how great is the power of fasts, that fasts are able to do what the Apostles had been unable to do. I pass over the rest: but let each one consider how great is the difference between fasting and satiety, between a belly empty and one stuffed, between a ruddy face and pale features, between a fasting mouth and lips loosened by drunkenness, between a mind weighed down by feasts and one kept watchful by the thinness of abstinence.

4. A quibus abstinendum et quare. Jejunia non sint sola. Non dico hebdomadas, non duplicata, non multiplicata jejunia; sed vel singulos dies absque ciborum luxuria transigamus. Cessent lavacra, vina vel carnes: non quod creaturam Dei judicemus esse damnandam; sed qui toto anno nobis viximus, saltem vel paucos dies vivamus et Domino. Sed jejunia nostra ut plena sint et sufferta, misericordiae pinguedine saginentur; demus esurientibus prandium nostrum. Nec putes, jejunia sola sufficere ad sananda vulnera peccatorum, nisi medicamento eleemosynae recreentur. Jejunium ergo tuum te castiget, sed laetificet alterum: et ita fructuosae erunt angustiae tuae, si alteri latitudinem praestent. Sic jejuna, ut in alio manducante prandisse te gaudeas. Hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus (II Cor. IX, 7). Nam manducante paupere de bonis tuis, prandet Christus qui se in paupere esurire testatur.

4. From what we must abstain, and why. Let fasts not be alone. I do not speak of weeks, nor of doubled, nor of multiplied fasts; but let us at least spend single days without luxury in food. Let baths, wines or meats cease: not that we judge a creature of God to be worthy of condemnation; but that we who have lived for ourselves the whole year may at least for a few days live also for the Lord. But that our fasts may be full and well stuffed, let them be fattened with the richness of mercy; let us give our meal to the hungry. Nor should you think that fasts alone suffice to heal the wounds of sins, unless they are restored by the medicine of almsgiving. Let your fast, then, chastise you, but gladden another: and thus your straits will be fruitful, if they furnish breadth to another. Fast in such a way that in another who eats you may rejoice to have dined. For God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). For when a poor man eats of your goods, Christ dines, Who testifies that He hungers in the poor man.

SERMO CXLV. In Quadragesima, VI.

Sermon 145. In Lent, 6.

1. Quadragesimae diuturnitas non fastidienda. Hos sanctae Quadragesimae dies, fratres charissimi, debemus omni veneratione suscipere, nec longiorem numerum hujus temporis fastidire: quia quanto plures dies sunt jejunii, tanto major est causa remedii; ⟨q⟩uanto prolixior abstinentiae cursus, tanto redemptio copiosior est salutis; quanto austerior cura vulnerum, tanto medicina est salubrior peccatorum. Deus enim qui est nostrarum medicus animarum, congruum tempus instituit, quod et justis satis sit ad orandum, et ⟨p⟩eccatoribus sufficiat ad rogandum; illis requiem postulantibus, his veniam deprecantibus. Congruum enim tempus est Quadragesimae, nec breve est ad exorandum, nec longum est ad promerendum. Quadraginta enim dierum jejuniis quaevis iniquitas peccatoris exorari potest, et quantavis severitas judicis mitigari. Illi longum et fastidiosum forte sit tempus, qui nec orat de culpa, nec sperat de venia. Desperatio enim nec confiteri de scelere, nec indulgentiam novit sperare de judice. Sanctus igitur et salutaris Quadragesimae

1. The length of Lent is not to be loathed. These days of holy Lent, dearest brethren, we ought to receive with all veneration, and not to loathe the rather long number of this season: for the more days of fasting there are, the greater the cause of healing; the longer the course of abstinence, the more abundant the redemption of salvation; the more severe the care of wounds, the more wholesome the medicine of sins. For God, Who is the physician of our souls, has instituted a fitting season, which may both be enough for the just for praying and suffice for sinners for entreating; the former asking for rest, the latter begging for pardon. For the season of Lent is fitting: it is neither short for obtaining by prayer nor long for meriting. For by fasts of forty days any iniquity whatever of a sinner can be prayed away, and any severity whatever of the judge can be softened. To him perhaps the time may be long and wearisome who neither prays concerning his fault nor hopes for pardon. For despair knows neither how to confess its crime nor how to hope for indulgence from the judge. Holy, therefore, and salutary, of Lent,

Editors' notes and page, col. 2027

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CXLV› · call in col 2027

Alias, de Tempore 69.

Elsewhere, [Sermon] 69 on the Season.

(printed under page 276)

(b) ‹anchor: In Quadragesima, VI› · call in col 2027

In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Lovaniensibus erat dubius, falsus Verlino et Vindingo. Maximi nomen praefert in Remigiano codice. Continet nonnullas sententias sermonis inter Ambrosianos trigesimi primi: de quo Ambrosiano sermone dicendum rursus infra ad sermonem 147.

Now placed in the Appendix for the first time. The Louvain editors held it doubtful; Verlinus and Vindingus, spurious. In the Remigius codex it bears the name of Maximus. It contains some sentences of the thirty-first sermon among the Ambrosian [sermons]; of that Ambrosian sermon more must be said below, at sermon 147.

1 ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2028 Ms. n., et diligentia deprecatur. Ms. vero rm., et deprecatio justi requiem promeretur.

Ms. n., "and is entreated with diligence." But Ms. rm., "and the prayer of the just merits rest."

2 ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2028 Ita duo Mss. At editi, purgatorium. Ms. autem rm., pyraterium.

So two manuscripts. But the printed editions, "purgatorium". Ms. rm., however, "pyraterium".

3 ‹anchor: a jejuno intemperans› · call in col 2028 In Ms. rm., prandens.

In Ms. rm., "prandens" ("one who dines").

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cursus est, quo judex adducitur ad misericordiam, peccator ad poenitentiam, justus ad requiem. His enim diebus solito amplius et divinitas miseretur, et delinquentia deprecatur, et justitia p⟨r⟩omeretur. Patent enim omnia, et coeli ad indulgendum, et peccator ad confitendum, et lingua ad postulandum.

is the course by which the judge is led to mercy, the sinner to penance, the just man to rest. For in these days, more than is usual, both the divinity shows mercy, and delinquency makes supplication, and justice earns merit. For all things lie open: both the heavens for granting pardon, and the sinner for confessing, and the tongue for asking.

2. Quadragenarius numerus mysticus. Diluvium effectus misericordiae. Salutaris, inquam, et mysticus est quadragenarius numerus. Nam primum cum mundi faciem iniquitas hominum possideret, tot dierum curriculo Deus effusis de coelo imbribus universam terram diluvio superfudit (Gen. VII, 4). Vides ergo jam illo tempore mysterium in figura dispositum. Nam sicut tunc quadraginta diebus pluit ad purgandum mundum; ita et nunc quadraginta diebus miseretur ad hominem purificandum. Quanquam et illius temporis diluvium misericordia dicenda est, quo iniquitas oppressa est, et justitia conservata. Pro misericordia enim factum est, ut et justi evaderent, et iniqui amplius non peccarent. Pro misericordia plane videmus illud fuisse diluvium, quo, veluti baptismo quodam, totius mundi facies est innovata: scilicet ut qui perditorum hominum scelere sordebat ad crimina, beati Noe habitatione floreret ad gratiam; et qui iniquitatis erat prostibulum tunc, modo fieret domicilium sanctitatis.

2. The number forty is mystical. The Flood an effect of mercy. Salutary, I say, and mystical is the number forty. For first, when the iniquity of men possessed the face of the world, for the course of so many days God, pouring out rains from heaven, flooded the whole earth with a deluge (Gen. 7:4). You see therefore that already at that time a mystery was arranged in figure. For just as then it rained for forty days to purge the world, so also now He shows mercy for forty days to purify man. And yet the flood of that time too is to be called mercy, by which iniquity was crushed and justice preserved. For it was done out of mercy, so that both the just might escape and the wicked might sin no more. Plainly we see that that flood was out of mercy, by which, as if by a kind of baptism, the face of the whole world was renewed: namely, so that what had been fouled to the point of crimes by the wickedness of lost men might flourish to grace through the dwelling of blessed Noah; and what was then a brothel of iniquity might now become a dwelling of holiness.

3. Diluvium nostri similitudo Baptismi, necnon Quadragesimalis jejunii. Diluvium, inquam, illud hujus nostri fuit similitudo Baptismatis. Hoc enim tunc gestum est, quod nunc agitur: hoc est, ut exuberantibus aquarum fontibus periclitarentur vitia, justitia sola regnaret, mergerentur in profundum peccata, sanctitas vicina coelo portaretur. Tunc enim, sicut dixi, hoc agebatur, quod nunc agitur in Ecclesia Christi. Nam sicut Noe arca submersis omnibus vitiis peccatorum adulta ferebatur; ita Baptismatis fonte coelo vicina portatur Ecclesia, et deletis omnium superstitionibus idolorum, fides regnat in terris, quae de Salvatoris arca procedit. Sanctum ergo et sacratum Quadragesimae tempus est, quod statim ab initio coepit inter justos injustosque discernere, bonos a malis quodam judicio separare. Quod quidem similiter fieri etiam in hac nostra Quadragesimae observatione perspicimus. Nam per hos quadraginta dies separantur mali a bonis; hoc est, luxuriosus a casto, a jejuno intemperans, a christiano gentilis: separatur, inquam, malus a bono; hoc est, peccator a justo, diabolus a sancto, haereticus a fideli. Relictis enim his omnibus ad similitudinem diluvii tanquam in naufragio saeculi, sola ad instar arcae illius in altum cum suis virtutibus elevatur Ecclesia.

3. The Flood a likeness of our Baptism, and also of the Lenten fast. That flood, I say, was a likeness of this Baptism of ours. For then was done what is now done: that is, that by the overflowing fountains of the waters vices should be imperilled, justice alone should reign, sins should be sunk into the deep, and holiness should be borne up near to heaven. For then, as I said, that was being done which is now done in the Church of Christ. For just as Noah's ark, with all the vices of sinners submerged, was borne along full-grown, so by the font of Baptism the Church is borne near to heaven, and with the superstitions of all idols destroyed, faith reigns on earth, which proceeds from the Saviour's ark. Holy therefore and consecrated is the time of Lent, which straightway from the beginning began to discern between the just and the unjust, and to separate the good from the wicked by a kind of judgement. And indeed we perceive this happening likewise in this our observance of Lent. For through these forty days the wicked are separated from the good; that is, the lustful from the chaste, the intemperate from the fasting, the gentile from the Christian: the wicked man, I say, is separated from the good; that is, the sinner from the just, the devil from the saint, the heretic from the faithful. For with all these left behind, after the likeness of the flood, as in the shipwreck of the world, the Church alone, after the manner of that ark, is raised on high with her virtues.

4. Ecclesia, arca tricamerata. Vox Noe praedicantis excidium mundi. Nam et nos, etsi peccatores, ad imitationem sancti Noe annuntiamus vobis m⟨u⟩ndi futurum esse excidium; et illos tantummodo dicimus periculum evasuros, quos triplex arca intra se gremio religionis incluserit. Triplex enim arca est Ecclesia; quia Trinitatis continet sacramentum. Nam cum dicit Scriptura bicameratam et tricameratam eam fuisse, utique demonstrat triplici divinitatis illam gratia esse distinctam (Id. VI, 16, sec. LXX). Annuntiamus igitur sicut Noe, mundi futurum esse naufragium, et ad hanc domum confugere omnes homines admonemus. Et sicut Noe filios suos in arca recepit; ita et nos filios nostros optamus in ista arca suscipere. Quisquis enim in hac domo vult habitare nobiscum, noster est filius. Sed dicit aliquis, sancti Noe praedicationis vocem in Scripturis minime esse descriptam.

4. The Church, a three-chambered ark. The voice of Noah proclaiming the destruction of the world. For we too, though sinners, in imitation of holy Noah announce to you that the destruction of the world is to come; and we say that only those will escape the danger whom the threefold ark has enclosed within itself in the bosom of religion. For the Church is a threefold ark, because it contains the sacrament of the Trinity. For when Scripture says that it was two-chambered and three-chambered, it surely shows that it was distinguished by the threefold grace of the divinity (Gen. 6:16, LXX). We therefore announce, like Noah, that the shipwreck of the world is to come, and we admonish all men to flee for refuge to this house. And just as Noah received his sons into the ark, so we too desire to receive our sons into this ark. For whoever wishes to dwell with us in this house is our son. But someone says that the voice of holy Noah's preaching is not set down at all in the Scriptures.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2028

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: adulta ferebatur› · call in col 2028

Morel, Elem. Crit., p. 82, censet legendum, ad alta ferebatur. Haec lectio eo magis est probanda, quod statim Ecclesia tanquam caelo vicina repraesentatur. M.

Morel, Elements of Criticism, p. 82, judges that one should read "ad alta ferebatur" ("was borne on high"). This reading is all the more to be approved because the Church is at once represented as near to heaven. M.

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Audi igitur. Noe etsi tacebat voce, opere ⟨l⟩oquebatur; silebat lingua, fabricatione clamabat. Nam utique cum operaretur opus novum, et nulli aliquando compertum, admonebat cunctos, novis periculis nova tabernacula praeparari. Loquebatur ergo opere, et dicebat illud evangelicum Domini dictum, Si mihi non creditis, operibus credite (Joan. X, 38); et credendo, periculum evadere poteritis: praestante Domino nostro Jesu Christo, qui vivit et regnat cum Patre et Spiritu sancto in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Hear, then. Although Noah was silent in voice, he spoke by his work; his tongue was silent, but he cried out by his building. For indeed, while he was carrying out a new work, one never known to anyone before, he was warning everyone that new tabernacles should be prepared for new dangers. So he was speaking by his work, and saying that saying of the Lord in the Gospel, If you do not believe Me, believe the works (John 10:38); and by believing you will be able to escape the danger: by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ages of ages. Amen.

SERMO CXLVI. In Quadragesima, VI.

Sermon 146. In Lent, 6.

1. Jejunium inutile ab iniquitate non recedentibus. Superiore Dominica diximus, hoc esse fidei nostrae opus primum, ut horum quadraginta dierum curriculo devotissime jejunemus, et istam esse causam salutis nostrae, si hoc tempore abstinentiae operam commodemus. Atque ideo, fratres dilectissimi, inspicere debemus quae sit hujus forma jejunii; ut respiciamus quanta sit ejus utilitas. Est enim interdum inutile et inane jejunium, quod licet ventrem et omnia viscera succo saturitatis exhauriat, non tamen acceptum est Deo; quia mentem et intimos sensus minime a vinculo iniquitatis evacuat. Quid enim prodest jejunare visceribus, et luxuriare venatibus; abstinere a cibis, et errare peccatis; castigare corpus inedia, mentem exercere nequitia; vinum forte non bibere, et ebrium cogitatione malignitatis incedere? Nisi quod facilior est causa saturi sive temulenti, quam iniqui pariter et jejuni. Ille enim peccare aliquando desinit, qui ebrius aliquando obdormit: hic autem errare non cessat, qui exercitatus malo, et jejuniis semper invigilat. Inutile et inane est tale jejunium, quod inedia membra debilitat, et animam a perditione non liberat. De quo jejunio dicit sanctus propheta ex persona Domini: Utquid mihi jejunatis? Non tale jejunium elegi, dicit Dominus (Isai. LVIII, 5).

1. Fasting is useless for those who do not withdraw from iniquity. Last Sunday we said that this is the first work of our faith, that during the course of these forty days we should fast most devoutly, and that this is a cause of our salvation, if at this season we apply our effort to abstinence. And therefore, dearly beloved brethren, we ought to examine what the form of this fast is, so that we may consider how great its usefulness is. For there is at times a useless and empty fasting, which, although it drains the belly and all the inward parts of the juice of fullness, is nevertheless not acceptable to God, because it does not in the least empty the mind and the innermost senses of the bond of iniquity. For what does it profit to fast in the bowels and to riot in hunting; to abstain from foods and to stray in sins; to chastise the body with want of food and to exercise the mind in wickedness; perhaps not to drink wine, and yet to go about drunk with the thought of malice? Except that the case of the man who is full or tipsy is easier than that of the man who is at once wicked and fasting. For the former at some point ceases to sin, since when drunk he at some point falls asleep; but the latter does not cease to stray, since, practised in evil, he also keeps ever watchful in his fasts. Useless and empty is such a fast, which weakens the limbs by want of food and does not free the soul from perdition. Of this fast the holy prophet says in the person of the Lord: Why do you fast for Me? Not such a fast have I chosen, says the Lord (Isa. 58:5).

2. Piis etiam exercitiis non vacantibus, sed venationi. An putatis illum jejunare, fratres, qui primo diluculo ad ecclesiam non vigilat, non beatorum martyrum loca sancta perquirit; sed surgens congregat servulos, disponit retia, canes producit, saltus silvasque perlustrat: servulos, inquam, secum pertrahit, fortasse magis ad ecclesiam venire cupientes; et voluptatibus suis peccata accumulat aliena, nesciens reum se futurum tam de suo delicto, quam de perditione servorum? Tota igitur die venatibus immoratur, nunc clamorem immoderatum efferens, nunc silentium latenter indicens; laetus si aliquid repererit, iratus si id quod non habebat, amiserit: et tanto studio gerit, quasi ideo indictum jejunium fuerit, ut venetur. In his ergo luxuriis, fratres, dicite quis cultus sit Dei, quae mentis possit esse devotio; qui propterea jejunat, non ut Deo aut orationibus vacet, sed ut tota die otiosus et liber proprias exerceat voluptates? Quamvis igitur qui hujusmodi es, frater, vespere ad domum redeas, quamvis declinante jam sole manduces; potes videri tardius refecisse, non tamen Domino jejunasse. Nec enim potes videri voluntatem tuam exercens, fecisse Domini voluntatem. Haec enim voluntas est Domini, ut jejunemus a cibis pariter et peccatis. Abstinentiam indicamus corpori, ut a vitiis magis

2. [Fasting is useless] also for those who do not devote themselves to pious exercises, but to hunting. Or do you think, brethren, that that man fasts who at first dawn does not keep watch at the church, does not seek out the holy places of the blessed martyrs, but rising gathers his slaves, sets out the nets, brings forth the dogs, roams through the glades and woods: drags his slaves along with him, I say, who perhaps would rather come to church; and to his own pleasures he heaps up the sins of others, not knowing that he will be guilty as much for his own offence as for the perdition of his slaves? So the whole day he lingers over his hunting, now raising an immoderate clamour, now covertly enjoining silence; glad if he has found something, angry if he has lost what he did not have: and he goes about it with such zeal, as though the fast had been proclaimed precisely so that he might hunt. In these riotous pursuits, then, brethren, tell me what worship of God there is, what devotion of mind there can be in one who fasts for this reason, not to devote himself to God or to prayers, but so that the whole day, idle and free, he may exercise his own pleasures? Therefore, though you who are such a man, brother, return home in the evening, though you eat when the sun is already declining, you may appear to have taken refreshment rather late, but not to have fasted to the Lord. For neither can you appear, while doing your own will, to have done the will of the Lord. For this is the will of the Lord, that we should fast from foods and from sins alike. We impose abstinence on the body, so that from vices rather

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Footnotes

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Alias, ex Vignerianis 13.

Elsewhere, no. 13 of Vignier's [sermons].

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In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Ambrosio adscribitur in veteri codice Remigiano, estque inter Ambrosianos in posterioribus excusis ordine 41, incipiens, « Diximus superiore Dominica. » Quo exordio designatur forte sermo apud Ambrosium 29, qui incipit, « Testimonium perhibet. » Haec enim ibi leguntur: « Istud autem praeceptum ejus est primum, ut his quadraginta diebus, jejuniis, orationibus, vigiliis operam commodemus. » Videtur sapere Caesarium, qui id in fine homiliae ex editis a Baluzio tertiae delibavit quod hic in venatores latius dicitur ac vehementius. De num. 4 vide supra serm. Appendicis 141, n. 3, et homil. 3 ex editis a Baluzio; de num. 5, supra serm. 141, n. 4, et 142, n. 5.

Now placed in the Appendix for the first time. In the old Remigius codex it is ascribed to Ambrose, and among the Ambrosian [sermons] in the later printings it is forty-first in order, beginning "We said last Sunday." By that opening is perhaps meant sermon 29 in Ambrose, which begins "He bears witness." For there one reads: "But this is his first precept, that in these forty days we give our effort to fasts, prayers and vigils." It seems to savour of Caesarius, who at the end of the third of the homilies edited by Baluze touched briefly on what is said here more fully and more vehemently against huntsmen. On no. 4 see above, Appendix sermon 141, no. 3, and Homily 3 of those edited by Baluze; on no. 5, above, sermon 141, no. 4, and 142, no. 5.

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animam abstinere possimus. Frenum enim quoddam est luxuriantis animae corpus exhaustum. Quisquis enim jejunat et peccat, lucrum escarum fecisse videtur, non salutis: et parcendo copiis replesse cellarium, non mentem saginasse virtutibus.

we may keep the soul abstinent. For a worn-out body is a kind of bridle on a wanton soul. For whoever fasts and sins appears to have made a profit on food, not on salvation; and by sparing his provisions to have filled his storeroom, not to have fattened his mind with virtues.

3. Dominorum in servos nequitia. Servus heri frater, canibus tamen posthabitus. Nonnulli autem divinorum immemores praeceptorum, ita circa servos suos et subditos sibi potestatem dominationis exercent, ut in his diebus non dubitent flagris eos caedere, poenis afficere, compedibus praepedire; et si forte cum ad reficiendum venitur, tardius minister adfuerit, statim eum verberibus laniare, et prius se satiare servuli sanguine, quam convivii voluptate. Horum tale jejunium est, quasi ideo jejunatum est, non ut divinitatis misericordiam provocaret, sed ut clamorem familiae ingemiscentis effunderet. Quisquis autem Dei misericordiam promereri cupit, ipse debet prior esse misericors. Scriptum est enim, Qua mensura mensi fueritis, eadem mensura remetietur vobis (Luc. VI, 38). Et quod magis dolendum est, christianus dominus christiano in his diebus servo non parcit, minime respiciens quod etsi servus est conditione, gratia tamen frater est. Etenim similiter Christum induit, iisdem participat sacramentis, eodem quo et tu, utitur Deo Patre; cur te non utatur ut fratre? Sunt enim plerique, qui de venationibus redeuntes, magis canum quam servorum gerunt curam, qui faciunt eos juxta se vel accumbere vel dormire, quotidianum illis cibum sua praesentia ministrantes, qui utrum servi eorum fame moriantur, ignorant: et, quod est gravius, si diligenter his praeparatum non fuerit, pro cane servus afficitur. Vides etiam in nonnullorum domibus nitidos et crassos canes discurrere; homines autem titubantes et pallentes incedere. Isti ergo miserebuntur pauperibus aliquando, qui minime servis suis miserentur?

3. The wickedness of masters towards slaves. The master's slave a brother, yet ranked below dogs. Some, however, forgetful of the divine precepts, exercise the power of lordship over their slaves and those subject to them in such a way that in these days they do not hesitate to beat them with whips, to afflict them with punishments, to hobble them with fetters; and if perhaps, when they come to take refreshment, the attendant is rather slow to be at hand, they at once tear him with blows, and sate themselves with the little slave's blood before they sate themselves with the pleasure of the meal. The fast of such men is as though the fasting had been done for this purpose: not to call forth the mercy of the Godhead, but to pour forth the outcry of a groaning household. But whoever desires to merit the mercy of God ought himself first to be merciful. For it is written: With the measure with which you have measured, with that same measure it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38). And what is more to be lamented, a Christian master does not spare a Christian slave in these days, by no means considering that, although he is a slave by condition, yet by grace he is a brother. For he has likewise put on Christ, he partakes in the same sacraments, he has the same God for Father as you do; why should he not have you as a brother? For there are very many who, returning from hunting, take more care of their dogs than of their slaves, who make the dogs lie or sleep beside them, serving them their daily food in their own presence, while they do not know whether their slaves are dying of hunger; and, what is graver, if the food has not been carefully prepared for the dogs, the slave is punished on the dog's account. You see too in the houses of some men sleek and fat dogs running about, but human beings going about tottering and pale. Will these men, then, ever have pity on the poor, who have no pity at all on their own slaves?

4. Jejunium Deo acceptum. Scire igitur debemus, fratres, acceptum esse Deo jejunium, non solum ut abstinentia corpora castigemus, sed etiam humilitate animas induamus. Simus ad servulos mites, blandi ad extraneos, ad egenos misericordes, pacifici ad omnes. Surgentes primo diluculo ad ecclesiam festinemus, referamus Deo gratias, peccatis veniam postulemus, rogantes praeteritis delictis indulgentiam, futuris cautelam. Tota die sit nobis assidua vel oratio, vel lectio. Qui litteras nescit, sanctum magistrum perquirens, ejus confabulatione pascatur. Nulli actus saeculi, actus divinitatis impediant: non ludus tabulae mentem avocet, non voluptas canum sensus abducat, non negotii compendium animum aviditate pervertat. Quidquid enim aliud praeter mandatum Dei feceris, quamvis abstineas, non jejunas. Hoc est enim jejunium salutare, ut sicut abstinetur corpus ab epulis, ita et anima refrenetur a vitiis.

4. The fast acceptable to God. We ought, then, to know, brethren, that fasting is acceptable to God not only so that we may chastise our bodies by abstinence, but also so that we may clothe our souls with humility. Let us be gentle towards our slaves, courteous towards strangers, merciful towards the needy, peaceable towards all. Rising at first dawn, let us hasten to church, let us give thanks to God, let us ask pardon for our sins, begging indulgence for past offences and caution for those to come. Let prayer or reading be constant with us the whole day. Let him who does not know letters seek out a holy teacher and be fed by conversation with him. Let no acts of the world hinder the acts of godliness: let no game at the board call the mind away, let no pleasure in dogs lead the senses astray, let no gain in business pervert the mind with greed. For whatever else you do besides the command of God, though you abstain, you are not fasting. For this is the wholesome fast: that just as the body is kept from feasts, so too the soul is reined back from vices.

5. Prandia pauperibus eroganda. Jejunium sine eleemosyna, negotiationis genus. Illud etiam, fratres, ad perfectionem jejunii tacendum non est, ut qui abstinemus, et minime prandemus, hoc tempore prandia nostra pauperibus erogemus. Haec enim est vera justitia, si te esuriente, de tuo cibo alius saturetur: et tu pro delictis tuis Dominum roges, et ille pro te satiatus exoret. Utrumque tibi proficiet, et tua fames, et saturitas mendicorum. Caeterum qui sic abstinet, ut nihil pauperibus de suis epulis largiatur, videtur quaestum sibi fecisse suum jejunium, et negotiationem exercuisse parcendo. Ad hoc enim abstinuit, non ut placeret Deo, sed ne amplius erogaret; et ideo bona est eleemosyna cum jejunio. Quasi enim quoddam negotiationis genus est, ut tam parce vivat, ut abstinentia sua monachos clericosque praecedat. Nisi hoc interest, quod illi hoc quaestus causa faciunt, nos salutis: illi pecuniae compendio animas suas macerant; nos propter animarum lucrum nostra corpora castigamus.

5. Meals to be given out to the poor. Fasting without almsgiving, a kind of trade. This too, brethren, must not be passed over in silence concerning the perfection of fasting: that we who abstain and take no midday meal should at this season give our meals to the poor. For this is true righteousness, if while you go hungry another is filled from your food, and you ask the Lord on behalf of your offences, and he, once filled, prays for you. Both will profit you: your hunger and the fullness of the beggars. But he who abstains in such a way that he bestows nothing of his food on the poor appears to have made his fast a profit for himself, and to have carried on trade by sparing. For he abstained to this end, not to please God, but so as not to spend more; and therefore almsgiving with fasting is good. For it is a kind of trade, as it were, to live so sparingly that by one's abstinence one outdoes monks and clerics. Except that there is this difference: they do it for the sake of gain, we for the sake of salvation; they wear down their souls to save money, we chastise our bodies for the gain of souls.

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