دانلود کتاب The Ideal of the Monastic Life found in the Apostolic Age

IHAVEbeenaskedbytheAbbotofMaredsous to prepare this translation of Dom Germain Morin's work for the press, and to write a few words of introduction. I cannot refuse one to whom I owe so much, but it is obviously quite unnecessary, if not impertinent, for me to say anything in commendation of either the author or his book.
Dom Morin has a European reputation as a savant, and the University of Oxford has honoured not so much him as itself in giving him a Doctor's degree honoris causa.
His discoveries in the field of patristic study, his illuminating treatment, to take only one example, of the problem of the authorship of the Quicunque vult, his enormous labours in preparing a complete and final edition of theworks of St. Coesarius of Arles, his brilliant studies on the most difficult questions of liturgical research, have indeed made his name famous in the annals of erudition. The French edition of this work was published anony- mously, but the present writer has been fortu- nate enough to succeed in persuading the learned author to allow his name to appear in this translation.
TothosewhodonotknowDomMorin,save as a savant, these simple pages may come as a revelation.
For here we find no parade of erudition, no affectation of research. We have the humble and devout monk speaking simply and earnestly, to his brethren in the cloister, of the eternal truths and of those special obligations which the monastic life imposes. The whole work breathes the simple piety of the ages of faith, and is impregnated with that peace of heart and liberty of spirit which are characteristic of the true son of St. Benedict.
Yes, this is no mere collection of pious exhortations; it is a work full of solid doctrine founded on the Benedictine Rule, and on thewritings of the Saints and Fathers, by one who has drunk deeply of their spirit.
If we read these pages attentively, we shall be more and more impressed by the fact that, simple as they seem, they are very far from being commonplace, but are indeed the fruit of no ordinary mind. Only one; in fact, who, like Dom Morin, was deeply versed in the annals of monastic antiquity could possibly have written them.
The present writer had the happiness of being a member of the Community to whom these meditations were first addressed. It was his very first retreat as a Catholic, and he has never forgotten it. Some of the meditations, especially, perhaps, that on the Analogy between Baptism and the Monastic Ceremony of Profession, left an impression on his mind which has never been effaced. It is therefore to him a special pleasure to introduce this work
to the English-speaking world. Itwillbefoundmostuseful,notmerelyto
Benedictines, for whom it was first intended, not merely to religious, for whom it has so many precious lessons, but to all Christians
who are inferested in those eternal verities which were at once the strength and consola- tion of our fathers -in the faith, and in those great and sacred principles which formed in the Benedictine cloister such giants of sanctity as Gregory, Anselm, and Dunstan, to whom Christendom in general and England in particular owe so enormous a debt.
DOM BEDE CAMM,
Monk of Downside Abbey.
Feast of St. .Dunstan, April 19, 1914.
PREFACE
ABout twenty years ago a certain Benedictine Abbot suddenly ordered one of his monks, still young and inexperienced, to deliver before an important ccimmunity the conferences usual in the course of the annual Retreat.
As this Retreat coincided with the week of Pentecost, the monk thought that he could not do better than demonstrate, from the manner of life of the primitive Christians immediately after the descent of the Spirit, the origin and model of the life that should be led by monks. So he took for his text the verses from the Acts of the Apostles ii. 37-46, not commenting upon the whole passage in order, but confining himself to the principal features which referred to his subject.
The notes which he made for these con-
ferences were for a long time forgotten, unless
occasionally one of Ms brethren used them for giving spiritual exerciees in his turn.
Certainly, if the author had followed his own feeling, they would never have been used at all. But lately he has been obliged to consent that the substance of them should be published in a little review, called the Mes- senger of Saint Benedict, and this first publica- tion, although fragmentary and mixed up here and there with sketches on different subjects, has aroused in a certain number of people a strong desire fo see the whole collected and brought out in its original form.
After having resisted as long as.he possibly could, the author at last gave way, thinking that it was Ms duty to put aside Ms personal disinclination for the sake of the spiritual advantage of his neighbour, which, he was told, rightly or wrongly, was concerned in this publication.
Naturally, certain details have been elimin- ated which belonged to the particular con- ditions of the audience for whom these pages were prepared. But, on the other hand, the references of most of the texts and quotations
have been added in notes. Of most of them only; for there are some which come from purely oral instruction—from Dom Gueranger, for example; from Maurus Wolter, and other great monks of our time. The author has no longer within his reach the works from which he borrowed two or three other quotations with- out always noting accurately the place whence they were taken. The reader must be so good as to trust him on this point, and believe that everything that he attributes to an author is really by that author. Having made the search for and worship of the truth the prin- cipal business of his life, he would never allow himself to deceive in this matter, even with a view to edification.
Neither must it be forgotten that these pages were written long ago, and many points would have required completion. Perhaps, on the other hand, certain pages would not appear, if they had been written more recently. After all, there will not be much cause to complain of that. Origen says, in his eighteenth Homily on Exodus, that the preacher of the Gospel should have that enthusiasm and youthfulness of soul attributed to Judah in the "Blessings of the Patriarchs"— Oeuli ejus rubri a vino. No coldness, no feebleness, no colourlessness'in his language; but a kind of holy inebriation, something that rejoices the friends of God and heals the wounds of the soul.
Happy are they who have received this gift of spiritual youth, and the power of communi- cating it! Happy, above all, are they, and much more rare, who have known how to preserve and cherish it, even to old age.
Ash Wednesday, 1912