Untitled - Saints' Books

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CHAP, iii]
Sanctity Necessary for the Priest. 63
virtue, must himself be holy and blameless." 1 Pope
Hormisdas has written: "Let him be blameless that
presides over others in order to reform them." 2 And
St. Denis has pronounced that celebrated sentence, that
no one should dare to become the guide of others, un
less by
his virtues he has made himself most like to
God. 3 And according to St. Gregory, the sermons of
the priest whose life is not edifying, excite contempt
and produce no fruit. 4
St. Thomas adds, For the same
reason are disregarded all the spiritual functions of such
a one."
Speaking of the priest of God, St. Gregory
Nazianzen writes: "The
priest must first be cleansed
before he can cleanse others; he must first himself ap
proach God before he can lead others to him; he must
first sanctify himself before he can sanctify others; he
must first be himself a light before he can illumine
others." c
The hand that must wash away the stains and defile
ments of others must not be polluted, says St. Gregory.
In another place he says that the torch that does not
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Qui in erudiendis atque instituendis ad virtutem populis praeerit,
necesse est ut in omnibus sanctus sit, et in nullo reprehensibilis. De
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2
Offic. eal. 1. 2, c. 5.
Irreprehensibiles esse oportet, quos necesse est praeesse corrigendis."
Ep. ad Episc. Hispan,
3
In divino omni non audendum "
aliis ducem fieri, nisi, secundum
omnem habitum suum, factus sit deiformissimus et Deo simillimus."
De Ecd. Hier. c. 3.
4
"Cujus vita despicitur, restat ut ejus praedicatio contetnnatur."-
In Evang. horn. 12.
5 "
Et eadem ratione, omnia spiritualia ab eis exhibita."
SuppL q.
36, a. 4.
6 "
Purgari prius oportet, deinde purgare;
ad Deum appropinquari, et
alios adducere; sanctificari, et postea sanctificare; lucem fieri, et alios
illuminare." Apologet. I.
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curat.
Necesse est ut esse munda studeat manus, quae
Past. p. 2, c. 2.
aliorum sordes