Sole Subquestion: On the office and obligation of the preacher

THE office of preaching is deservedly regarded as the nobler and more arduous, the more that Nature and Grace as it were vie in contributing their gifts to its fulfillment; whence although many daily clamor in the pulpits under the guise of preachers, very few discharge that office as is fitting; because it is rarest of all that nature agrees with grace in all things.

ALTHOUGH many conditions on the part of body and soul, as has already been indicated, are required for this noble function, they can nevertheless be reduced to Authority and Sufficiency.

The reason of Authority is gathered from D. Bonaventure in the place cited, and was proved above disp. 1. quaest. 1. num. 27. and it is evident from Jerem. 23. they ran, but I did not send them, Tim. 3. How shall they preach, unless they be sent, Haebr. 5. Nor does any man take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was: whence Christ, in whom is the supreme power, says of himself: For I did not come of myself, but he sent me, clearly. Hence Isaias was unwilling to go of himself, but said: Behold me, send me, and the Lord answered go, and you shall say to this people, etc. Behold the authority of one sent.

The SIGNS of a true mission from God are indicated by the Saintly Doctor on cap. 9. of Luke. The first is, if the preacher obtains authority from a Pontiff, and especially from the Supreme Pontiff, who holds the place of Christ on earth. The second is, if he has a true zeal for his own and others' salvation, not seeking his own things, according to that of 1. Cor. 4. For we do not preach ourselves. The third is, if the hearers of the sermon show fruit in their works, as is said of the Apostles, who were sent and interpreted, Ioan. 15. I have placed you, that you may go, and bring forth fruit.

HENCE the Seraphic Father St. Francis, in cap. 9. of the rule, which is wholly about Preachers, thus begins: Let the Brothers not preach in the diocese of any Bishop when it has been forbidden them by him. He speaks negatively, has been forbidden, as St. Bonaventure observes, because since the power of preaching does not derive its efficacy from the grant of Jurisdiction, as does the power of receiving confessions, an express declaration of that authority is not required by the rule, but a reasonable presumption suffices, especially if such be the preachers as rest upon the approbation of the institution of the Apostolic See, as the Saintly Doctor says in the same place. Besides this authority of the Pontiff, there is required for religious that they be authorized by their own Prelates; so it was enacted in the said cap. 9. of the rule, where it is thus written after the aforesaid words: And let no brother at all dare to preach to the people unless he has been examined and approved by the General minister of this fraternity, and the office of preaching has been granted to him by him.

This differs not much from the Decree of the Council of Trent, sess. 5. cap. 2. except that it demands an express license of the Bishop; for it thus runs: Religious of whatever order, unless they have been examined and approved by their superiors as to life, morals, and learning, cannot preach even in the churches of their own orders without their license; with which license they are bound to present themselves personally before the Bishops and ask their blessing before they begin to preach; In churches, however, which are not of their orders, they are bound to have, beyond the license of their superiors, also the license of the Bishop, without which they can by no means preach in those churches not of their orders; and the Bishop is to grant that license gratis: And since custom, which has prevailed for a long time now, is the best interpreter of a decree, one must abide by it in the individual dioceses; for in many places the Most Reverend Bishops are accustomed, out of the affection they bear toward Religious, to delegate their vicissitudes in this matter to those Religious' own Prelates; elsewhere for the principal seasons of the year a personal presentation according to the tenor of the council is required, as when one is to preach in the time of Advent or Lent; since indeed the Council so ordained in favor of the Bishops, they can, as they prudently judge, leave the whole matter committed to the zeal and discretion of the Religious Prelates, as is customary in many places; in other places, however, one must abide by the letter of the Council, as is observed by custom there.

But where the Bishop's license has once been had, if the Parish Priests object, St. Bonaventure warns on the said cap. 9. that malice should rather be borne than scandal caused; Yet if from ceasing a graver evil is feared, as that the Parish Priest oppose himself in order to sow heresy or cockle himself, then the Episcopal Authority is to be used, that the greater evil may be averted; and even the lesser, which can be a scandal to some, is to be prudently forestalled as far as possible.

But if any religious preaches without the requisite blessing of the Bishop, or while he himself objects, beyond sinning against his rule, if he be a Minorite he can further be punished by the Bishop himself according to the Constitution of Gregory XV. issued in the Bull Inscrutabili 9. Febr. 1622. the tenor of which is had thus: and finally let the Bishop have the authority of coercing and punishing any exempt persons, both secular and Religious, who in alien churches which are not of their orders without the Bishop's license, or in their own churches, or those of their orders, without asking his blessing, or while he himself objects, have presumed to preach, etc. so also reports Bonagratia V. praedicatores, num. 374.

As to the Authority of one's own Prelate, which the Friars Minors are bound to have by prior examination before they preach; although the Rule specifies that it is to be given by the general minister alone according to the letter; yet since that was provided so that dangers might be forestalled, the rule is not violated while the license of examining and approving is granted to others; for as Bishops take care that those to be ordained be examined by others, and the presidents of Universities are accustomed to depute others to examine those whom they are going to endow with the insignia of the Doctorate; so the General minister can by others examine and approve those whom he is going to elect to the office of preaching, although the rule has: Unless he has been examined by the general minister of this fraternity. He himself, however, is bound to bestow the authority. So D. Bonaventure loco cit. and if of the sufficiency of him who is to be promoted to the grade of preacher there is no doubt at all, a prior examination is not necessary; but it suffices that the account of his sufficiency be made known to the General, and he himself can send letters as preacher; so the Saintly Doctor cit.

These things said concerning the granting of Authority may suffice: Truly concerning its removal, or suspension, certain things are to be noted.

First, the Lateran Council under Leo X. suspends those who preach false and uncertain miracles; as also prophecies lightly founded in sacred scripture, or in no way approved by the Apostolic See; unless the Ordinaries of the places, with three or four more learned men deputed for their examination, have permitted it, while they have not had the opportunity of consulting the aforesaid See.

Second, the Council of Trent sess. 5. cap. 2. de reform. after D. Bonaventure's exposition on the Psalt. upon those words of Psalm. 49. But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare, etc. assigns three cases in which preaching is prohibited, and suspension even of Religious can be inflicted by the Bishop, as legate of the Apostolic See; yet it is not incurred ipso facto.

The first case is, if erroneous propositions are preached; but what Doctors understand by an erroneous proposition I said in this Tome above, where I treated of heresy.

The second case is, if scandalous propositions are preached, to which the Saintly Doctor reduces loco cit. the notorious crime of the preacher himself; for this is wont to give birth to no small scandal, for it is shameful if the voice bite the life, and there be indeed the voice of Jacob, but the hands of Esau, as the Saintly Doctor says here ex 27. Genes.

The third case is, if the propositions that are preached be heretical.

To these are added the prohibitions made by Alexander VII. 3. Decemb. 1661. in the Bull which begins: Sollicitudo omnium, where various statutes of Paul V. Sixtus IV. and Pius V. concerning the same are renewed, that no one in a sermon to the people or other public acts may defend the opinion of D. Thomas concerning the conception of the Most Blessed Virgin, by not asserting her to be immaculate; others also are prohibited who preach the opinion of D. Thomas to be sinful or heretical, see Bonagratia cit. num. 380.

As to the sufficiency required for the office of preacher, the Saintly Doctor places it on the part of the soul in solid learning and a clean conscience, thus he has in the exposition on Psalm. 158. upon those words: let my supplication draw near.

That he may acquire a clean conscience, he ought first to attend to his own salvation before the edification of others, in the example of Elias, who first went into the desert, and came to the mount of God in Horeb, where he was taught, as the Saintly Doctor says, ad 2. Lucae; afterward he was sent to anoint Kings and Prophets, 3. Reg. 19. so Christ himself first began to do, then to teach.

But concerning the acquisition of learning, St. Bonaventure notes ad cap. 8. sup. prope finem that eight things are very useful to a preacher; namely the knowledge of wisdom through investigation: the commemoration, through frequentation: the declaration, through love: the Operation, through fulfillment; the contestation, through disputation, the communication, through conference; the circumduction, through interrogation; finally the assumption, through incorporation. For by investigating we know: by frequenting we commit the ideas of things to memory: by loving, we delight in the things we learn; by operating, we fulfill them; by disputing, we solve difficulties for ourselves and others; by conferring, we communicate to others what we know; by interrogating, we return by discursive circuits to the same point, and convince others more of the truth; finally we assume knowledge as it were incorporated in gesture and voice, and so persuade others of it more easily.

The sufficiency of the Preacher on the part of the body the Saintly Doctor describes, Apologet. quaest. 4. First, he ought to be of competent age, lest being too much a boy he seem to handle boyish things; which condition is to be held not so much from the series of years as from an honest gravity of countenance and manly composition. Second, he ought to be free of every notable deformity of body and head, for those who are too short, fat, or hunchbacked, are not apt for persuading, but are easily held in contempt; Third, the strength of body is the more necessary for this office, because it is to be carried out strongly and manfully. Fourth, competent eloquence procures a singular grace for preaching, for which many things are necessary on the part of voice and gesture, which are treated of professedly among the Rhetoricians.

Whoever recognizes in himself these conditions, both of body and soul, and of learning and conscience, there remains that for the utility of the people he pour forth the Word of God in a threefold manner, that I may speak with D. Bonaventure on those words of Psalm 118. in labiis meis pronunciavi, etc. Namely wisely, eloquently, and confidently: Wisely, that he teach; eloquently, that he please; confidently, that he move: for preaching foolishly, confusedly, and timidly, he neither teaches, nor pleases, nor moves.

Then the Saintly Doctor admonishes, in cap. 6. Lucae, that the Preacher teach useful things, not subtle ones; that he be also free from ostentation in sign, from ambition in mind; from flattery in word, and from respect of persons in deed.

But on those words of the same cap. 6. And he taught the multitudes, the Seraphic Doctor exhibits the form of Apostolic preaching, while he teaches that a good Preacher ought now to stand, now to sit; now to see, presently to ascend; which are to be taken not only corporally, but with a worthier title spiritually; namely that he stand, intending rightly; at times sit, contemplating quietly; see, discerning well; and ascend, acting perfectly; all which the Saintly Doctor concludes with that of Jerem. 6. Stand upon the ways, behold the rectitude of intention, and see, and ask, which be the good way, behold the solicitude of discretion. And walk in it, that is, in the exercise of action¹, and you shall find refreshment for your souls, namely through the repose of contemplation. ¹ N. Editor's note: the print/OCR reads 'pet actionis scilicet exercitium'; rendered as 'per actionis' because 'pet' is not Latin and 'per' is required by the parallel 'per otium contemplationis' later in the same quotation.

¶ Of such a good Preacher the Saintly Doctor weaves much from the Holy Fathers, lib. 1. Phar. cap. 14.

¶ GREGORY, lib. 6. Moral. cap. 17. thus describes the true herald of Christ: He is the more in God's love with God who draws very many to the love of him: The Redeemer of the human race showed miracles by day in the cities; and gave himself to the pursuit of prayer by spending the night in vigil; that he might intimate to perfect preachers, namely, that they should not utterly desert the active life out of love of speculation, nor altogether despise the joys of contemplation through excess of operation, but contemplating in quiet should found what, speaking toward their neighbors, they plant.

¶ JEROME, lib. 1. in Lament. cap. 1. tom. 4. He is the Ecclesiastical Doctor who moves tears, not laughter, who rebukes sinners, who says that no one is blessed, no one is happy.

D. AUGUSTINE de doctrina Christiana, lib. 4. cap. 17. he who strives by speaking to persuade that a thing is good, despises none of these three, namely that he teach, that he delight, and that he bend, but prays and acts, that he be heard intelligently, gladly, obediently.

AMBROSE, lib. 2. de Virg. at the beginning tom. 4. He who teaches ought to excel above him who is taught.

ISIDORE de summo bono, lib. 3. cap. 36. sent. 5. The just preacher ought first to act well, that consequently he may be able to teach well.

¶ BERNARD super Cantica, serm. 16. The threefold cord, which is not easily broken, for drawing souls out of the prison of the devil and drawing them after you to the Celestial Kingdoms: if you judge rightly, if you utter worthily, and if you confirm by living.

SENECA epist. 52. most excellently draws forth the parts of a true preacher thus: Let us choose not those who pour forth great words with celerity, but those who teach by their life; who when they have said what is to be done, prove this very thing by doing what they teach; and after certain words: Choose as Doctor him whom you admire more when you see him than when you hear him.

¶ Nor is it a wonder that Men illustrious in doctrine and sanctity have so exalted this office of preaching as to celebrate it with every praise, and in it to demand most exquisitely whatever is required for the preeminence of human life, namely the sweet symphony of mouth and work: Hence Christ himself, the Apostles themselves, and those saints who are read of as more illustrious in both testaments, were appointed to preach; and truly he is a heavenly man who, announcing heaven to others, expresses it in himself as it were; whence the Seraphic Doctor, on those words of Psal. 17. he bowed the Heavens, and descended, compares Preachers to clouds, because doubtless clinging continually to the heavens, they ought to thunder with threatenings, flash with miracles, and rain down doctrines.

On the other hand, since it is most shameful that a Preacher of Christ signify one thing with his mouth and another with his work, D. Bonaventure in the said lib. Pharetra, cap. 15. darts the most acute sentences of the Fathers against such a one, as it were chosen arrows.

¶ GREGORY super Ezechiel, hom. 18. of such a Preacher writes thus: It is most shameful for us there to fall by neglect, whence by preaching we have tried to raise others up; and super, lib. 4. Reg. ind. 12. cap. 76. what we preach with the tongue we destroy by examples: while with works we teach iniquity, and mere votes we put forward as things that are just. We wear away our bones with fastings, and swell in mind: we cover the body with despised garments, and surpass purple in elation of heart; we lie in ashes, and receive lofty things, Doctors of humility, leaders of pride.

JEROME epistola 2. ad Nepot. Delicate is the master who with full belly disputes about fastings: A robber too can accuse avarice; the mouth of the Priest of Christ let it accord with his mind.

ISIDORE lib. 2. de summo bono, cap. 2. sent. 10. To the heaping up of a greater guilt it pertains that anyone know what he ought to follow, and be unwilling to follow what he knows; and lib. 3. cap. 37. sent. 1. he who does not live as he teaches makes the truth itself which he preaches contemptible.

CHRYSOSTOM de compunctione cordis, lib. 1. at the end: To teach and not to do confers not only no gain, but very great loss; For great is the condemnation of him who composes indeed his sermon; but negligently neglects his life and his work.

AUGUSTINE as cited by the Seraphic Doctor, there, more strongly inveighs against Preachers of this sort. Hear yourself, O hardest, most savage, most deaf Doctor; what good to me a tongue of gold and a heart of iron.

BERNARD serm. de convers. ad clericos, cap. 31. on those words: Blessed are the peacemakers, thus speaks: Consider diligently, not the peaceable, but the peacemakers are commended; for there are those who say and do not: surely as the hearers of the law are not just, but the doers; so not the announcers of peace, but the makers are called blessed.

SENECA finally in an epistle thus concludes, as cited by the Saintly Doctor: this is most shameful, what is wont to be objected to us, that we speak words, not handle works.

These things the Saintly Doctor, in the said cap. 16. described from the writings of the Fathers; in the following chapter, however, he brings forth excellent sentences from the same Fathers against those usurping Preaching; which fit almost within what has been said: see it itself.

¶ AS to the manner and matter of what is preachable, St. Francis briefly designates it, in the said cap. 9. of the Rule, admonishing in these words, that in the preaching they make, their words be chaste and examined for the utility and edification of the people, announcing to them vices and virtues, punishment and glory with brevity of speech.

¶ To which the Council of Trent sounds in accord, in the place cited above; exhorting the heralds of the divine word with like words: Faithful preachers according to their capacity shall feed with salutary words, saying what it is necessary for all to know for salvation, announcing to them with brevity and easiness of speech, the vices which they ought to shun, and the virtues which they ought to pursue, that they may be able to escape eternal punishment and attain heavenly glory. Finally as to the reprehension, whether special or general, which each one is bound to employ in preaching, that he may more efficaciously compel sinners to repentance; the Saintly Doctor explains it pre-eminently in Apologet. cap. 2. which chapter Bonagratia transcribed almost word for word, Verb. Praedicator, cited above, indicating that therein is exhibited an excellent doctrine for preachers.

SINCE therefore the Saintly Doctor shrewdly established the difference between the Judge and the Preacher, he pursues his office in reproving sinners thus: The Doctor or Preacher, who ought to instruct hearers of diverse kinds, that he may render virtues the more commendable, necessary to salvation, shows the vices opposed to them, how harmful and detestable they are. And in certain kinds of men certain vices are more customary, as among Merchants fraud and lies; among Soldiers rapine and burnings; and so of others; it is necessary that on account of the general instruction, although he accuse the genus of men specially, he admonish them to beware of the vices that lie in wait specially for themselves, as the Physician teaches Patients laboring under diverse infirmities to abstain from the foods more harmful to themselves and from others. For nothing profits the sick, if he were to say: Beware of all harmful foods generally, unless he specified in each affection what was specially harmful to them, or profitable to health. But what is said, that the Preacher ought to accuse all sinning in general, and not descend to species, this is to be understood of the notable specification of persons, not of vices, or states, or offices, which cannot properly be described without the expression of the office or state of those who have been accustomed to offend specially in this. For it can thus congruously be said in general: You Artificers frequently sin in this; and you Soldiers in this; and you Religious in that; you Clerics in that other; and so of the others, if there are many there of each of those kinds to whom he speaks, so that no one, that each one conscious to himself of such a sin may be compunct, and be confounded in himself, and no one be made specially notable of this, whom the evidence of falsehood otherwise does not make notable, or who does not betray himself to be guilty, attributing to himself specially with a murmur what was said generally, according to that of the Poet. Conscius ipse sibi, de se putat omnia dici. For the faithful Doctor ought to intend only correction and edification, not the confusion or defamation of anyone present or absent. Wherever therefore it is presumed that someone is made specially notable of a sin previously unknown to others by the preaching, whence a grievance or scandal can arise, it is better to be silent, and to speak rather other edifying things: But he who is accustomed to do the contrary shows himself contentious, or envious, or imprudent, or greedy of vain glory, who since he would not otherwise be accepted among men, seeks glory for himself from the infamy of others: whom by confounding you exasperate, him you more slowly edify, and wound with the sting of rancor.