Chapter XXVIII.

Mercy must be freely shown even though it brings an odium of its own. With regard to this, reference is made to the well-known story about the sacred vessels which were broken up by Ambrose to pay for the redemption of captives; and very beautiful advice is given about the right use of the gold and silver which the Church possesses. Next, after showing from the action of holy Lawrence what are the true treasures of the Church, certain rules are laid down which ought to be observed in melting down and employing for such uses the consecrated vessels of the Church.

136. It is a very great incentive to mercy to share in others’ misfortunes, to help the needs of others as far as our means allow, and sometimes even beyond them. For it is better for mercy’s sake to take up a case, or to suffer odium rather than to show hard feeling. So I once brought odium on myself because I broke up the sacred vessels to redeem captives—a fact that could displease the Arians. Not that it displeased them as an act, but as being a thing in which they could take hold of something for which to blame me. Who can be so hard, cruel, iron-hearted, as to be displeased because a man is redeemed from death, or a woman from barbarian impurities, things that are worse than death, or boys and girls and infants from the pollution of idols, whereby through fear of death they were defiled?

137. Although we did not act thus without good reason, yet we have followed it up among the people so as to confess and to add again and again that it was far better to preserve souls than gold for the Lord. For He Who sent the apostles without gold537    S. Matt. x. 9. also brought together the churches without gold. The Church has gold, not to store up, but to lay out, and to spend on those who need. What necessity is there to guard what is of no good? Do we not know how much gold and silver the Assyrians took out of the temple of the Lord?538    2 [4] Kings xxiv. 13. Is it not much better that the priests should melt it down for the sustenance of the poor, if other supplies fail, than that a sacrilegious enemy should carry it off and defile it? Would not the Lord Himself say: Why didst thou suffer so many needy to die of hunger? Surely thou hadst gold? Thou shouldst have given them sustenance. Why are so many captives brought on the slave market, and why are so many unredeemed left to be slain by the enemy? It had been better to preserve living vessels than gold ones.

138. To this no answer could be given. For what wouldst thou say: I feared that the temple of God would need its ornaments? He would answer: The sacraments need not gold, nor are they proper to gold only—for they are not bought with gold. The glory of the sacraments is the redemption of captives. Truly they are precious vessels, for they redeem men from death. That, indeed, is the true treasure of the Lord which effects what His blood effected. Then, indeed, is the vessel of the Lord’s blood recognized, when one sees in either redemption, so that the chalice redeems from the enemy those whom His blood redeemed from sin. How beautifully it is said, when long lines of captives are redeemed by the Church: These Christ has redeemed. Behold the gold that can be tried, behold the useful gold, behold the gold of Christ which frees from death, behold the gold whereby modesty is redeemed and chastity is preserved.

139. These, then, I preferred to hand over to you as free men, rather than to store up the gold. This crowd of captives, this company surely is more glorious than the sight of cups. The gold of the Redeemer ought to contribute to this work so as to redeem those in danger. I recognize the fact that the blood of Christ not only glows in cups of gold, but also by the office of redemption has impressed upon them the power of the divine operation.

140. Such gold the holy martyr Lawrence preserved for the Lord. For when the treasures of the Church were demanded from him, he promised that he would show them. On the following day he brought the poor together. When asked where the treasures were which he had promised, he pointed to the poor, saying: “These are the treasures of the Church.” And truly they were treasures, in whom Christ lives, in whom there is faith in Him. So, too, the Apostle says: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.”539    2 Cor. iv. 7. What greater treasures has Christ than those in whom He says He Himself lives? For thus it is written: “I was hungry and ye gave Me to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink, I was a stranger and ye took Me in.”540    S. Matt. xxv. 35. And again: “What thou didst to one of these, thou didst it unto Me.”541    S. Matt. xxv. 40. What better treasures has Jesus than those in which He loves to be seen?

141. These treasures Lawrence pointed out, and prevailed, for the persecutors could not take them away. Jehoiachim,542    2 [4] Kings xxiii. 35. who preserved his gold during the siege and spent it not in providing food, saw his gold carried off, and himself led into captivity. Lawrence, who preferred to spend the gold of the Church on the poor, rather than to keep it in hand for the persecutor, received the sacred crown of martyrdom for the unique and deep-sighted vigour of his meaning. Or was it perhaps said to holy Lawrence: “Thou shouldst not spend the treasures of the Church, or sell the sacred vessels”?

142. It is necessary that every one should fill this office, with genuine good faith and clear-sighted forethought. If any one derives profit from it for himself it is a crime, but if he spends the treasures on the poor, or redeems captives, he shows mercy. For no one can say: Why does the poor man live? None can complain that captives are redeemed, none can find fault because a temple of the Lord is built, none can be angry because a plot of ground has been enlarged for the burial of the bodies of the faithful, none can be vexed because in the tombs of the Christians there is rest for the dead. In these three ways it is allowable to break up, melt down, or sell even the sacred vessels of the Church.

143. It is necessary to see that the mystic cup does not go out of the Church, lest the service of the sacred chalice should be turned over to base uses. Therefore vessels were first sought for in the Church which had not been consecrated to such holy uses. Then broken up and afterwards melted down, they were given to the poor in small payments, and were also used for the ransom of captives. But if new vessels fail, or those which never seem to have been used for such a holy purpose, then, as I have already said, I think that all might be put to this use without irreverence.

CAPUT XXVIII.

Misericordiam etiam cum invidia propria largius exercendam: ad quod refertur memorabilis vasorum sacrorum in captivorum redemptionem ab Ambrosio fractorum historia, et pulcherrima de auri et argenti quae Ecclesia possidet, legitimo usu praecipiuntur. Hinc postquam ex facto sancti Laurentii quinam 0139C veri sint Ecclesiae thesauri ostensum est, regulae in conflandis atque impendendis vasis initiatis servandae proponuntur.

136. Hoc maximum incentivum misericordiae, ut compatiamur alienis calamitatibus (Dist. 86, cap. Pulchra, § Compatiamur), necessitates aliorum, quantum possumus, juvemus; et plus interdum quam possumus. Melius est enim pro misericordia causas 0140A praestare, vel invidiam perpeti, quam praetendere inclementiam; ut nos aliquando in invidiam 103 incidimus, quod confregerimus vasa mystica, ut captivos redimeremus, quod arianis displicere potuerat; nec tam factum displiceret, quam ut esset quod in nobis reprehenderetur. Quis autem est tam durus, immitis, ferreus, cui displiceat quod homo redimitur a morte, femina ab impuritatibus barbarorum, quae graviores morte sunt: adolescentulae, vel pueruli, vel infantes ab idolorum contagiis, quibus mortis metu inquinabantur?

137. Quam causam nos etsi non sine ratione aliqua gessimus; tamen ita in populo prosecuti sumus, ut confiteremur, multoque fuisse commodius astrueremus, ut animas Domino quam aurum servaremus 0140B (Matth. X, 9). Qui enim sine auro misit apostolos, Ecclesias sine auro congregavit. Aurum Ecclesia habet (12, quaest. 2, cap. Aurum); non ut servet, sed ut eroget, et subveniat in necessitatibus. Quid opus est custodire quod nihil adjuvat? An ignoramus quantum auri atque argenti de templo Domini Assyrii sustulerint (IV Reg. XXIV, 13)? Nonne melius conflant sacerdotes propter alimoniam pauperum, si alia subsidia desint, quam ut sacrilegus contaminata asportet hostis? Nonne dicturus est Dominus: Cur passus es tot inopes fame mori? Et certe habebas aurum, ministrasses alimoniam. Cur tot captivi deducti in commercio sunt, nec redempti, ab hoste occisi sunt? Melius fuerat ut vasa viventium servares, quam metallorum.

0140C 138. His non posset responsum referri. Quid enim diceres: Timui ne templo Dei ornatus deesset? Responderet: Aurum sacramenta non quaerunt: neque auro placent, quae auro non emuntur. Ornatus sacramentorum redemptio captivorum est. Vere illa sunt vasa pretiosa, quae redimunt animas a morte. Ille verus thesaurus est Domini, qui operatur quod sanguis ejus operatus est. Tunc vas Dominici sanguinis 0141A agnoscitur, cum in utroque viderit redemptionem; ut calix ab hoste redimat, quos sanguis a peccato redimit. Quam pulchrum, ut cum agmina captivorum ab Ecclesia redimuntur, dicatur: Hos Christus redemit! Ecce aurum quod probari potest, ecce aurum utile, ecce aurum Christi quod a morte liberat, ecce aurum quo redimitur pudicitia, servatur castitas.

139. Hos ergo malui vobis liberos tradere, quam aurum reservare. Hic numerus captivorum, hic ordo praestantior est, quam species poculorum. Huic muneri proficere debuit aurum Redemptoris, ut redimeret periclitantes. Agnosco infusum auro sanguinem Christi non solum irrutilasse, verum etiam divinae operationis impressisse virtutem redemptionis 0141B munere.

140. Tale aurum sanctus martyr Laurentius 104 Domino reservavit, a quo cum quaererentur thesauri Ecclesiae, promisit se demonstraturum. Sequenti die pauperes duxit. Interrogatus ubi essent thesauri quos promiserat, ostendit pauperes dicens: Hi sunt thesauri Ecclesiae. Et vere thesauri, in quibus Christus est, in quibus fides est. Denique Apostolus ait: Habemus thesaurum in vasis fictilibus (II Cor. IV, 7). Quos meliores thesauros habet Christus, quam eos in quibus se esse dixit? Sic enim scriptum est: Esurivi, et dedistis mihi manducare: sitivi, et dedistis mihi bibere: hospes eram, et collegistis me (Matt. XXV, 35). Et infra: Quod enim uni horum fecistis, mihi fecistis (Ibid., 40). Quos meliores Jesus habet thesauros, 0141C quam eos in quibus amat videri?

141. Hos thesauros demonstravit Laurentius, et vicit, quod eos nec persecutor potuit auferre. Itaque Joachim qui aurum in obsidione servabat, nec dispensabat alimoniae comparandae; et aurum vidit eripi, et se in captivitatem deduci (IV Reg. XXIV, 13). Laurentius qui aurum Ecclesiae maluit erogare pauperibus, quam persecutori reservare, pro singulari suae interpretationis vivacitate sacram martyrii accepit coronam. Numquid dictum est sancto Laurentio: Non debuisti erogare thesauros Ecclesiae, vasa sacramentorum vendere?

142. Opus est ut quis fide sincera et perspicaci providentia munus hoc impleat. Sane si in sua aliquis derivat emolumenta, crimen est: sin vero pauperibus 0141D erogat, captivum redimit, misericordia est. Nemo enim (12, q. 2, cap. Aurum, § Nemo potest) potest dicere: Cur pauper vivit? Nemo potest queri, quia captivi redempti sunt: nemo potest accusare, quia templum Dei est aedificatum: nemo potest indignari, 0142A quia humandis fidelium reliquiis spatia laxata sunt: nemo potest dolere, quia in sepulturis Christianorum requies defunctorum est. In his tribus generibus vasa Ecclesiae etiam initiata confringere, conflare, vendere licet.

143. Opus est ut de Ecclesia mystici poculi forma non exeat, ne ad usus nefarios sacri calicis ministerium transferatur. Ideo intra Ecclesiam primum quaesita sunt vasa quae initiata non essent: deinde comminuta, postremo conflata, per minutias erogationis dispensata egentibus, captivorum quoque pretiis profecerunt. Quod si desunt nova, et quae nequaquam initiata videantur, in hujusmodi usus, quos supra diximus, arbitror omnia pie posse converti.