De arte praedicatoria

Speaking to those of the cloister, Scripture says: Behold how good, and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.¹ And elsewhere, the Psalmist in the person of one of the cloister: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, etc.² Although among moral philosophers, unity is noted with the most celebrated praises; among theologians it lies beneath no small mysteries. For without spiritual unity, neither is grace possessed in the present, nor will glory be conferred in the future. Without unity, all religion is blown away, heavenly love languishes, faith itself perishes, obedience fails.

Unity in divine matters produces harmony, among angels concord, in churches obedience. For there is a super-heavenly unity, a heavenly unity, a sub-heavenly unity. Super-heavenly unity is in the concord of the Trinity, where there is a unity that unites and a unity that is united. The unity that unites and is united is the Holy Spirit, who unites the Father with the Son; whence it is said: One with the Father together with the Son. And elsewhere he is said to be the kiss and love of the Father and the Son. And he is a unity that is united, because he is united to the Father and the Son, through the divine nature as mediator. The unity that unites without being united is the divine nature, which unites the three persons to one another, but is not itself united to them, because it is not a person. The unity that is united without uniting is the Father, because he is united to the Son and the Holy Spirit, but neither of them is united to him, or through him. Of the unity that unites and is united it is also said: Now, Holy Spirit, be to us one with the Father together with the Son. Of the unity not united it is also said: In majesty there is unity. Of the unity that is united but does not unite, Hilary says: In the Father there is unity, etc.

Now heavenly unity is in the concord of the angels; and there is there a threefold unity: unity of nature, unity of grace, unity of glory. Unity of nature, because all are ministering spirits: unity of grace, because they are confirmed in grace: unity of glory, because all are glorified in eternal blessedness. In this threefold unity there is diversity in the ranks of dignities, in the knowledge of hidden mysteries. There is also there a harmonious dissonance, a consonant discord, a diverse unity, a united diversity, a consenting dissent, a uniting diversity. Now sub-heavenly unity ought to be, and is, in the Church, threefold: unity of faith, unity of charity, unity of obedience. So that the lesser may obey the greater, and the greater condescend to the lesser with measured custom. To convey the merit of this unity, therefore, one man descending into the pool is healed;³ one son of a widow is raised up;⁴ the ark is completed to within one cubit;⁵ one man is sent to announce David's victory; one man announces to Job the death of his children, by which he alone is freed from danger.⁶ All things that pertain to the ecclesiastical state, unity embraces, singularity informs all: for there is one God, one faith, one baptism,⁷ one law, one king, one Church, one grace, one glory. Among religious, likewise, there ought to be a threefold unity: unity of religion, unity of possession, unity of charity. Unity of religion, that they be uniform in habit, in food, in vigils, in fasts. But certain irregular ones except themselves from the rule of this unity, desiring to recline on softer beds, to attend fewer vigils, to use more delicate foods, to keep little or no silence. For certain monks mark their humble habit in one way or another, either by shaking off dust, or by a certain elegant arrangement of its parts; for they either place their feet more tightly in their shoes, or tighten their sleeves, or fold back their hood over their ears.

They also seek more delicate foods as far as they are able, and insofar as they can, if not the substance, at least they change the form; for if one wants beans or other simple foods prepared in one way, another wants them another way. Some break silence, and if not with words, at least with signs, and thus redeem the torches of words with a multitude of signs. Some either omit or interrupt their vigils. There also ought to be unity in possession, so that all things are common to them. For a monk ought to have nothing of his own, for he ought to have nothing proper either in possessing or in willing. That they ought to have nothing of their own in fact, let them understand from the example of Ananias, who expired at the feet of Peter,⁸ because he had kept back something of his own. And for the instruction of those of the cloister the Lord says: Unless a man renounce all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple.⁹ Yet it does not suffice to renounce one's own possessions in fact, unless they are renounced in will also, whence Peter also speaks of this renunciation of will: Behold, we have left all things, and followed you.¹⁰ A cloistered person, therefore, who desires to have something of his own, looks back like the wife of Lot, draws his hand back from the plow, and like Dinah the daughter of Jacob, desires the finery of foreigners. Those, therefore, who except something of their own from the common possession, purchase the place of Judas the betrayer and thief. O cloistered one, who have left many things in the world, do not return to the world through desire for a single coin. Let not the desire for a single coin capture you, whom the treasure of riches did not deceive; fear lest the devil's snare capture you in the smallest thing, when it did not deceive you in the greatest. The cloistered person also ought to cast aside his own will, so that just as there is community in religion, so let there be in will; that not only may all things be common to them as regards property, but also as regards consent, that all may agree in one will, all may consent in one charity, so that it may truly be said of them: They had one heart and one soul.¹¹ Those of the cloister are also bound to have unity of charity, that they may find their own progress in the progress of their neighbor; and in the failing of another, mourn their own failing. Let the wiser instruct the less skilled, let the healthy grieve with the sick, let the sound rejoice with the sound, and thus let the cloistered life be an image of the heavenly life; so that just as in eternal life there will be equal joy despite unequal brightness, so in the cloistered life, despite unequal degrees of charity, there be a uniform bond of love. From this threefold unity, the cloistered person is called a monk, as it were a guardian of unity. For if he does not keep the first unity, he becomes irregular; if the second, an apostate; if the third, a schismatic. Let there be in the cloistered community a unity that unites and is united, that is, the prelate uniting his subjects by authority, united to his subjects by charity; let there be there a unity that is united but does not unite, that is, the subject who, though he does not unite others, joins himself to others by charity. Let there be there a unity that unites without being united, that is charity, which although it unites the cloistered, is nevertheless in the present firmly bound to none. Let there be in them unity of nature, that they love it in themselves; let there be unity of grace, that they impart to one another the grace conferred upon them. Let there be unity of glory, that with one hope they tend toward the glory of eternal life. Let there be unity of faith, lest they be heretics. Let there be unity of charity, lest they be schismatics. Let there be unity of hope, lest they be obstinate; so that of them especially it may be said: Behold how good it is, as regards men's opinion, and how pleasant, as regards devotion of mind, for brothers to dwell together in unity.¹² In one religion, in one possession, in one charity; that they may be able to attain to that unity of which it was said by the Prophet: One thing I have asked of the Lord, etc.¹³