Untitled - Saints' Books

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CHAP, in.]
Sanctity Necessary for the Priest. 49
In this," says St. Leo,
a Christian consists, that
he
gets rid of the earthly and puts on the heavenly man."
Hence Jesus Christ has said: Be you therefore perfect, as
also your heavenly Father is perfect? But the sanctity of
the priest should be very different from that of seculars.
Between priests and the rest of men," says St. Ambrose,
there should be nothing in common as to works and
as to conduct." And the : saint adds, that as greater
grace is given to the priest, so his life should be more
4
holy than that of seculars. And St. Isidore of Pelusium
says that between the sanctity of a priest and a good
secular the difference should be as great as between
heaven and earth. 5
St. Thomas teaches that every one is
obliged
to prac
tise what is suited to the state that he has chosen. 8
And according to St. Augustine, a man by entering the
ecclesiastical state imposes on himself the obligation
of being holy. 7 And Cassiodorus calls the clerical pro
fession a heavenly life. 8 The priest is, as Thomas a
Kempis says, bound to greater perfection than all
others, 9 because the priesthood
is the most sublime of
1 "Dum terreni hominis imago deponitur, et coelestis forma suscipitur."
De Pass. s. 14.
2 "
Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut et Pater vester coelestis perfectus
ts\."Matth. v. 48.
3 "
Nihil in Sacerdote commune cum studio atque
usu multitudinis."
Epist. 6.
4 "
Debet praeponderare vita sacerdotis, sicut
praeponderat gratia."
Epist. 82.
6
Tantum inter " Sacerdotem et quemlibet probum interesse debet,
6 "
quantum inter ccelum et terram discriminis est." Epist. 1. 2, ep. 205.
Quicunque profitetur statum aliquem, tenetur ad ea quse illi
statui conveniunt."
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7
Clericus duas res professus est, et sanctitatem et clericatum."
Semi. 355, E. B.
Professio clericorum, vita ccelestis."
Sacerdos ad majorem tenetur perfectionem sanctitatis." Imit.
Chr. 1. 4, c. 5.
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