Life of St. Leonard of Port-Maurice - O. F. M. (1676-1751) #226862

Consequently, in the following pages I have endeavoured to make a fair division and give equal prominence to the two sides of the Saint's life, so admirably summarized by him in his letter to Brother Stephen (p. The initial difficulty, however, still remains, and I must endeavour to justify myself 1n presenting what to many must always seem an impossible ideal. Now, no one Would dream for a moment of advocating anywhere to-day the construction of a religious house on the lines of Incontro — it was peculiar to country, time, and people, a monument to admire, but not to imitate. But what of the spirit animating these heroic missionaries who — for brief spaces of life — were bent on being solitaries? Is there, perchance, no connection between their wonderful success as preachers and this, to us unseemly, hankering after a mountain top. Is there not something in their outlook on the world we may do more than admire? Indeed, they stand before us as the embodiment of a great spiritual truth, which they laid hold of m act as Well as mind, but which we may well ponder over and clutch at from afar, be it ever so slightly. Were I propounding some theory of my own on the foundations of the apostolic life, I might well be asked for credentials, but I am leaving the Saints to speak. There are not wanting to-day manuals on preaching, excellent, I understand, in every way.