The
South has been blessed throughout her history by the presence of Christian
gentlemen, from Sir William Berkeley to Gen James Johnston Pettigrew to Donald
Davidson. These are noteworthy figures
in the history of the [u]nited States, which in general produce rather flat,
uninteresting figures who are more interested in worldly affairs like
money-getting and politics than with the deeper things of the soul.
This
does not mean, however, that these gentlemen of Dixieland have reached the
pinnacle of human perfection. That
achievement belongs to the Saints of the Orthodox Church alone, a world of
completely unique teachings and experiences most of the South has been sundered
from until quite recently. What might a
Southern gentleman look like, then, if he attained the perfect healing of soul
and body by following the Orthodox Way?
The history of pre-Schism Western Europe offers us some strong hints in
the lives of her Orthodox Saints. Having
pondered the life of St Pepin in Part I, let us now look at the life of St
Gerald of Aurillac:
St Gerald of Aurillac (+909)
[Count of Aurillac or Orilhac, Patron of
Upper Auvergne.] THIS virtuous nobleman was born in 855, and
inherited from his parents the most tender sentiments of piety and religion. It
being the custom of that age for lords to lead their vassals to war in person,
the art of war was looked upon as a necessary part of his education; but a
lingering illness detained him a long time at home, during which he took so
much delight in studies, prayer, and holy meditation, that he could never be again
drawn into the tumultuous scene of a worldly train of life. By rooted habits of
perpetual strict temperance and assiduous devotion he entered upon a
penitential course of life. After the death of his parents he gave almost the
whole revenue of his large estate to the poor, reserving a very small pittance
for his own subsistence: he went meanly clad, in a manner suitable to the
austere life he had embraced, fasted three days a week, never supped, and kept
always a very frugal table. He rose every morning at two o’clock, even in
journeys, said the morning part of the divine office, and meditated till
sunrise; then he heard mass, and divided the whole day between the duties of
religion and those of his station, devoting a great part of it to prayer and
pious reading. He had usually a good book read to him at table; but after
meals, allowed himself a little time for relaxation and conversing with his
friends, though his discourse turned always upon something serious: in his
pilgrimages and journeys he always took with him some holy priests with whom he
might pray, and always chose a lodging next to some church. At prayer he
appeared quite absorbed in God. Calling once at the monastery of Solemniac,
during the long office on Ascension-day, he stood unmoved in such devout
contemplation as never to seem to perceive the seat and form richly covered
that was prepared for him. The monks, from his very countenance and attitude,
learned with what profound sentiments of adoration, awe, and love, we ought to
present ourselves before God. He had such an abhorrence of praise and flattery
that he discharged from his service any one who discovered anything that tended
to manifest his virtue; and, if he was a slave, ordered him to be chastised.
All miraculous cures which God wrought by his means he most carefully
concealed. He found great satisfaction in visiting the tombs of St. Martin and
other saints, being transported at the remembrance of the bliss which their
happy souls now enjoy in the beatific vision. Acts of charity to the poor, and
of justice to his vassals, were a great part of his external employments; and
it was his chief care to make up all quarrels among them, to exhort all to
virtue, and to furnish them with the best means for their spiritual instruction
and advancement. In a spirit of sincere devotion and penance he performed an
austere pilgrimage to Rome, and after his return founded at Aurillac a great
church under the invocation of St. Peter, in 884, in the place of that of St.
Clement, which his father had built there, together with a Benedictin abbey.
This monastery our saint enlarged and enriched, and with great care and
solicitude procured the most perfect observances of the Order to be established
in it. He had some thoughts of taking himself the monastic habit, but was
dissuaded by St. Gausbert, bishop of Cahors, his director, who represented to
him that, in the station in which God had placed him in the world, he was able
to promote the divine honour to greater advantage in the service of his
neighbour, and that he ought to acquit himself of the obligations which he owed
to others. Seven years before he died he lost his sight: in that state of
corporal darkness his soul was employed in contemplating the divine
perfections, and the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem; in bewailing his distance
from God, and his own spiritual miseries, and those of the whole world, and in
imploring the divine mercy. His happy death happened at Cezeinac in Quercy, on
the 13th of October, 909. His body was conveyed to Orilhac, and interred in the
monastery, where it was honoured with many miracles, attested by St. Odo of
Cluni, and others. The town of Aurillac was raised about the abbey, and
has been long the capital of Upper Auvergne.
--Rev Alban Butler, https://www.bartleby.com/210/10/135.html
--
Holy
Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema
to the Union!
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