The Lives of the Saints Volume 1 - St. Patrick's Basilica

prayer, a person may become a very great saint," they had previously
declared, (Art. 21,) "that even those which are passive, and approved of
by St. Francis of Sales and other spiritualists, cannot be rejected."
The authors on these subjects, whom our author particularly recommended,
were Balthazar, Alvarez de Paz, and St. Jure. The latter was one of the
Jesuits who came into England during the reign of Charles the First. His
most celebrated work is, a Treatise on the Knowledge and Love of God, in
five volumes,--a noble effusion of the sublimest piety. The only work by
which he is known in this country is, his Life of the Baron de Renty:
our author esteemed it much, but thought it censurable for mentioning,
in terms of commendation, the mode in which the baron, to save his
honor, indirectly put himself in the way of fighting a duel.
Another spiritualist, whom our author greatly admired, was the
celebrated Henry Marie de Boudon. He frequently mentioned, in terms of
the highest admiration, the humility and resignation with which Boudon
bore the calumnies of his prelate and fellow-clergy. He often related
that part of his life, when, being abandoned by the whole world, a poor
convent of religious received him into their house, and he knelt down to
thank God that one human being still existed who was kindly disposed to
him. His writings are numerous: the style of them is not elegant, and
they abound with low expressions; but they contain many passages of
original and sublime eloquence. Our author was also a great admirer of
the works of Father Surin, particularly his _Fondemens de la Vie
Spirituelle_, edited by Father Bignon. In this species of writing, few
works, perhaps, will give the reader so much pleasure as the _Morale de
l'Evangile_, in 4 vols. 8vo., by Father Neuvile, brother to the
celebrated preacher of that name. It is to be hoped that it will be
translated into English.[1] Our author greatly lamented the consequences
of the altercation between Fenelon and Bossuet. He thought the
condemnation which had been passed {035} on it on the abuses of
devotion, had brought devotion itself into discredit, and thrown a
ridicule on the holiness of an interior life. Of Fenelon he always spoke
with the highest respect. One of the editors of the last edition of his
works is now in England: he has declared that it appeared from Fenelon's
papers, that his exertions, to the very last, to ward off the sentence
of the condemnation of his works, were most active. This enhanced the
value of his sacrifice. Our author thought that Valart had abundantly
proved that Thomas of Kempis was not the author of the Imitation of
Christ; but that he had not proved it to be written by Gersen, the abbot
of Vercelli: he also differed from Valart in his opinion of the general
merit of the works of Thomas of Kempis; his treatises _De Tribus
Tabernaculis_ and _De Verâ Compunctione_ (the latter particularly) he
thought excellent.[2]
Footnotes:
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