An Embittered
Rationalist Would Note That The Reading Of Voltaire, At This Period, Was
Punished With Three Years' Galley-Slavery
And that several thousand
citizens were hanged for expressing liberal opinions; he will suggest
that belief in the supernatural, rejected
By the thinking classes, finds
an abiding shelter among royalty and the proletariat.
It occurs to me, a propos of Fra Egidio, to make the obvious statement
that an account of an occurrence is not necessarily true, because it
happened long ago. Credibility does not improve, like violins and port
wine, with lapse of years. This being the case, it will not be
considered objectionable to say that there are certain deeds attributed
to holy men of olden days which, to speak frankly, are open to doubt; or
at least not susceptible of proof. Who were these men, if they ever
existed? and who vouches for their prodigies? This makes me think that
Pope Gelasius showed no small penetration in excluding, as early as the
fifth century, some few acta sanctorum from the use of the churches;
another step in the same direction was taken in the twelfth century when
the power of canonizing saints, which had hitherto been claimed by all
bishops, became vested in the Pope alone; and yet another, when Urban
VIII forbade the nomination of local patron saints by popular vote.
Pious legends are supposed to have their uses as an educative agency. So
be it. But such relations of imperfectly ascertained and therefore
questionable wonders suffer from one grave drawback: they tend to shake
our faith in the evidence of well-authenticated ones. Thus Saint Patrick
is also reported to have raised a cow from the dead - five cows, to be
quite accurate; but who will come forward and vouch for the fact? No
one. That is because Saint Patrick belongs to the legendary stage; he
died, it is presumed, about 490.
Here, with Saint Egidio, we are on other ground; on the ground of bald
actuality. He expired in 1812, and the contemporaries who have attested
his miraculous deeds are not misty phantoms of the Thebais; they were
creatures of flesh and blood, human, historical personages, who were
dressed and nourished and educated after the fashion of our own
grandfathers. Yet it was meet and proper that the documentary evidence
as to his divine graces should be conscientiously examined. And only in
1888 was the crowning work accomplished. In that year His Holiness Leo
XIII and the Sacred Congregation of Cardinals solemnly approved the
evidence and inscribed the name of Egidio in the book of the Blessed.
To touch upon a few minor matters - I observe that Fra Egidio, like the
Flying Monk, was "illiterate," and similarly preserved up to a decrepit
age "the odorous lily of purity, which made him appear in words and
deeds as a most innocent child." He was accustomed to worship before a
favourite picture of the Mother of God which he kept adorned with
candles; and whenever the supply of these ran out, he was wont to
address Her with infantile simplicity of heart and in the local dialect:
"Now there's no wax for You; so think about it Yourself; if not, You'll
have to go without." The playful-saintly note.
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