CHAPTER XII. The Example of the Saints.

CONSIDER the example of the Saints on all sides, what have they not
done in order to love God and lead a devout life? Call to mind the
Martyrs in their invincible firmness, and the tortures they endured in
order to maintain their resolutions; remember the matrons and maidens,
whiter than lilies in their purity, ruddier than the rose in their
love, who at every age, from childhood upward, bore all manner of
martyrdom sooner than forsake their resolutions, not only such as
concerned their profession of faith, but that of devotion; some dying
rather than lose their virginity, others rather than cease their works
of mercy to the sick and sorrowful. Truly the frail sex has set forth
no small courage in such ways. Consider all the Saintly Confessors, how
heartily they despised the world, and how they stood by their
resolutions, taken unreservedly and kept inviolably. Remember what S.
Augustine says of his mother Monica, of her determination to serve God
in her married life and in her widowhood; and S. Jerome and his beloved
daughter S. Paula amid so many changes and chances. What may we not
achieve with such patterns before our eyes? They were but what we are,
they wrought for the same God, seeking the same graces; why may not we
do as much in our own state of life, and according to our several
vocations, on behalf of our most cherished resolutions and holy
profession of faith?
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