SEVENTIETH SERMON
ON ST. AGNES AS A VALIANT WOMAN.
Subject.
St. Agnes was a valiant woman in overcoming all the attacks made on her virginal purity. Preached on the feast of St. Agnes.
Text.
"Who shall find a valiant woman?" (Prov 31:10)
Introduction.
Is it then so rare to see a valiant woman that Solomon must ask who shall find one? " The price of her is as things brought from afar off, and from the uttermost coasts." Solomon, hadst thou been able to foresee the future, and to cast thy eyes on the Christian times that were to come, thou wouldst have seen, not only one, but many women more brave and heroic than the strongest men; and thou wouldst have beheld with astonishment even young maidens and little children defying kings and tyrants, and gaining the victory over all the attacks of men in the most difficult and dangerous combats. So it is, my dear brethren. Let us now, of so many heroines, consider only one, whose feast we celebrate to-day the holy virgin and martyr Agnes. Agnes was still almost a child, yet she was a valiant woman. This name she deserved by her contempt of the world, as I have shown elsewhere, when speaking of her extraordinary wisdom. This name she deserved by her constancy in enduring terrible torments and a martyr's death, as I explained last year, when I spoke of he as a lamb among the wolves. This name she especially earned by the combat she sustained against her purity; this latter will now form my whole subject, to her undying praise, namely:
Plan of Discourse.
Agnes was a valiant woman by the victory she gained against the dangerous assaults made on her virginal purity.
Heroic virgin! to follow thy example in this we stand in need of a powerful grace from God, which we beg of the Spouse of virgins by the merits of her whom the Divine Word chose to be His Mother when she heard the angel say: Hail, Mary, full of grace.
Then enemies of our souls use two kinds of arms, especially when they assail our purity: they either captivate by promises and caresses, or they have recourse to threats, violence, and force, Of the two kinds I find examples in the Holy Scriptures: one in Joseph, the other in Susanna. The former was constantly assailed by the wife of his master, who used all sorts of cajolery to induce him to commit the horrible sin, as we read in the thirty-ninth chapter of the Book of Genesis; Susanna was threatened by the two wicked elders that if she did not consent to sin she should be accused and stoned as an adulteress. Oh, how many souls are nowadays brought to ruin and destruction by those means! To resist violence and not to be influenced by the threat of public shame and disgrace requires great strength of mind and bravery; to refuse a proffered pleasure and not to be led astray either by flattery or promises requires an uncommon degree of virtue. How little is necessary to excite sinful desires! For many a one a chance company or occasion, a gentle word, a look, a glance cast from afar at another, nay, a bare thought, is temptation enough to sully the purity, if not of the body, at least of the heart. Therefore there is a divine command obliging us to remove all dangers to our souls in this respect, and so carefully to close eyes, ears, and all our senses, with our hearts and minds as well, that we may avoid not only a sinful act, but even refrain from taking wilful pleasure, though it be only for a moment, in an impure thought. And although God exhorts us in other matters to meet temptation calmly, and grapple with the enemy of our souls, yet when there is question of a temptation against purity the only remedy He gives, even to the holiest souls who are most practised in virtue, is immediate flight. Now when both temptations come at once, namely, great violence and threats along with great blandishments and promises, and that, too, in such circumstances that there is no way of avoiding them, do you not think that an heroic virtue and wonderful bravery as well as prudence are required to overcome the assault, and remain uninjured by it? " Who shall find a valiant woman?" I may well ask; a woman, nay, a man, a hero brave enough to conquer in such a combat; where can he be found? Agnes was obliged to enter into this formidable contest. Whatever blandishments and promises the deceitful world could hold forth, whatever terrors a cruel tyranny could invent, were all employed and used against Agnes in order to deprive her of the treasure of her virtue; yet she conquered them all, and preserved her virginal chastity unhurt. Imagine, my dear brethren, on the one side a young maiden of thirteen years of age, endowed by God with most excellent gifts of nature and grace, and on the other side a young nobleman, the son of the chief magistrate of Rome, who in those days came next after the emperor himself. The father and son both begged most humbly that Agnes would agree to marry the son. We need not now dwell on the efforts made by the young man to secure her consent; on the assiduity of his attentions, on the rich presents he made all of which were steadily rejected by Agnes. For these things are sufficiently known from the history of her life.
Let us only consider the greatness of the temptation in its circumstances. Renowned and tried was thy chastity, O Joseph, and in the Old Law it could not be sufficiently admired, and even now, after the coming of Christ, we must still praise and wonder at it; for thou didst reject the shameful proposals of the wife of Putiphar, and, leaving thy mantle in her hands, didst at once take to flight. Yet thy virtue is not equal to that of Agnes, which is all the more deserving of our admiration as the combat she had to sustain at first appeared in no way contrary to decency or honor, and she might easily have agreed to the proposal made to her. If Joseph had consented he would not have gained any thing more than he had already, for he enjoyed full control over all his master's goods. The proffer made to Agnes would have added notably to her honor, position, and happiness in the eyes of the world. Joseph's consent could not have been given without imperiling his life and honor if his master found him out; if Agnes had consented she would have had as her friends the noblest families of Rome. What horrified Joseph was the gravity of the sin he would have committed against his earthly master, and against his sovereign Lord in heaven: " How can I do this wicked thing, and sin against my God?" He who has a little conscience and sense of decency left, no matter how violent the temptation may be, when he remembers that God is present everywhere, who threatens him with the eternal fire of hell, must necessarily feel a horror and aversion to sin. On the other hand, the proposal made to Agnes was in itself lawful, for the matrimonial state, if rightly entered into, is even a holy one one in which she could still have enjoyed the friendship of God. Joseph, by consenting to the proposal of the impure woman, would have ruined his own soul; Agnes, by consenting, might have had the well-founded hope of gaining the soul of her husband, and perhaps also many of his relatives, to the true God and the Christian faith, once she had won his affections.
In a word, what strengthened Joseph against temptation was the fear of offending God's supreme majesty; what strengthened Agnes in her purpose, and made her despise the proffered goods and delights of the world, was simply the love she had of virginal purity, and her zealous and burning love for Jesus, to whom she had already given and consecrated her whole heart, her body and soul. Therefore she repelled all attacks with this one word, as St. Ambrose tells us: " You offer me a spouse; I have found a better one." You offer me a bridegroom of noble birth; I have found a better one, who is the King of heaven and earth; you offer me a spouse of great beauty; I do not want him I have found a better one, whose beauty makes the joy and delight of the angels; you offer me one who is rich; I will not accept him; I have found one to whom all the treasures of the earth belong; the spouse you offer me is only a mortal man; therefore I will not have him; I have found one who is God and man at the same time, who died once for me, and now cannot die any more; Him alone will I love, for Him alone will I live and die. Do what you please; this is my fixed determination; you will never make me change, never make me turn away my love from Christ.
Christian virgins, who by divine inspiration and the disposition of Providence have made a vow of chastity, these words are for you also, as St. Ambrose says. Learn, with feelings of the deepest gratitude, what a special grace the Lord God has shown you, since He has chosen you as His spouses in preference to so many others; so that you can make this boast, and in all difficulties, troubles, temptations console yourselves with this comforting thought: I have found a better one; I have chosen the best bridegroom in heaven or on earth; I must not and cannot be untrue to Him! Learn to love Him alone, with all your hearts, for He wishes to have you for Himself alone, and cannot bear that others should have the least share in you. Learn that you cannot love too much Him who has loved you from eternity, who for your sake has become man, and who on account of His infinite, immeasurable goodness is alone worthy of all love.
Learn, also, you married people, and all others, whatever may be the state in life to which the Lord has called you, that the love of God must always hold the chief place in your hearts. Husbands, love your wives; wives, love your husbands; for such is the will and commandment of God. Ye poor, love those who do you good; ye afflicted, love those who comfort you; ye persecuted, love those who protect you; for such is the law of nature and gratitude. Let each one love his neighbor, and even his worst enemy; for such is the command of Christ. But, as far as your state in life allows, love no mortal, no good, no joy, or pleasure as much as you love your God; still less should you love anything or any one against the will and law of your God. Think and say, with Agnes, although not quite in the same sense: You offer me a spouse, but I have found a better; I have a better Lord, whom I must obey, serve, and love far above all things.
Finally, this answer of Agnes changed friendship into enmity, favor into hatred, love into rage and cruelty. What! said they; shall we tolerate this in a mere child, and allow her to defy us so hardily and obstinately? What kindness and love could not effect must now be done by anger and vengeance; she has refused the honor offered her; let her now be made the prey of the very lowest. Hear! you must select one of these alternatives: either give up your God and sacrifice to our deities, or else your virginal honor shall be exposed to shame and public disgrace. Wicked proposal, than which the demon himself could not have invented a more hateful one! She must lose either her faith or her honor! Poor child, what will you do now? Here I imagine I see a Susanna in the hands of the godless elders, who make to her the same proposal: Either consent to our wishes, or you shall be publicly stoned as an adulteress. " Susanna," says the Scripture, "sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side; for if I do this thing it is death to me," since my soul shall die by sin; "if I do it not I shall not escape your hands;" I am straitened on every side! Still she was better off than Agnes; there was one choice left her which did not involve her honor, and she accepted it at once: If, said she, I have to sin or die, then I will choose death: " It is better forme to fall into your hands without doing it than to sin in the sight of the Lord."
Oh, if Agnes had had the choice of death, how soon would she not have been ready with her answer! Sword and spear, wheel and gallows, fire and gridiron all the torments of the world come and fall upon me; this is what I have been wishing for, what alone I seek to be martyred and be made a holocaust and burnt-offering to my Bridegroom. But, ah, what shall I do now? Give up my faith I cannot and will not. Yet to submit to that disgrace of losing my purity is a hard and terrible thing even to think of. I am straitened on all sides, she might well have said with more reason than Susanna. Her only resource was a still and secret sigh to her Spouse Jesus. Al mighty God, whom I love with all my heart, Thou knowest my thoughts and wishes; Thou seest the straits in which I am placed; Thou alone canst help me now. Thou hast given me the faith, I have given Thee my virginity; things have come to such a pass that I must lose one or the other. Without Thee I shall lose both those treasures; with Thy help I can keep them both. I will keep the faith; do Thou preserve my virginity. I offer Thee my life, arid commend my honor to Thee. Thou didst save Jonas in the belly of the whale; Thou wert able to save Daniel in the den of the hungry lions; Thou wert able to preserve the three youths unhurt in the fiery furnace at Babylon; Thou canst as easily save my honor from those impure robbers. I resign my self into Thy hands; whosoever trusts in Thee will never be confounded. Thus prayed Agnes in the secrecy of her heart.
Meanwhile the shameful threat was still more shamefully carried into execution; Agnes was brought by force into a house of ill fame. Oh, truly, far more tolerable to Tobias was his sudden blindness, more desirable to Job the ulcer that tortured him! Willingly would Agnes have changed with either; willingly would she have become blind and leprous, so as to excite horror in all who saw her. ye angels who came to comfort Job on the dung-hill, to give Tobias his sight back again, and who hitherto preserved the innocence of Agnes, have you no means now of saving her virginal honor from the utmost danger? Truly, they have, my dear brethren; you need not fear for Agnes; the same God to whom she once for all gave her body and soul has already worked a miracle to keep from all danger the pledge entrusted to Him, for He surrounded her and the place of shame with such splendor that not an eye could behold her, nor dared any one come near her without being at once dazzled, or struck dead to the ground, or compelled to acknowledge the truth of the Christian faith, and publicly to praise the true God. Thus does the Lord God know how to protect His own who love Him and trust in Him in their necessities, and to put to shame even by little children all the power and violence and assaults of men. We wish thee joy, holy virgin! The fight is fought, and the victory in thy hands! Now thou mayest sing to thy beloved Lord that canticle of the Wise Man intoned in thy honor by the Church: " I will give glory to Thee, Lord, my King, and I will praise Thee, God, my Saviour. . . . For Thou hast been a helper and protector to me, and Thou hast preserved my body from destruction; . . . out of the hands of them that sought my life, . . . from the oppression of the flame which surrounded me; and in the midst of the fire I was not burnt. "
We wonder. at this, my dear brethren, and with reason. But we must not expect such a miraculous preservation of innocence unless we carefully avoid all dangers and occasions. To no purpose should we pray to God for help, to no purpose should we Go(L place our confidence in Him, and expect Him to keep us from sin, if by our own fault we open the doors and windows, that is, the outward senses, to temptation. God worked a miracle to preserve the purity of His holy spouse Agnes in the midst of dangers because against her will and by violence she was brought into those dangers. But can we expect to be saved by a miracle in dangers that we seek and love, into which we go through wantonness, or culpable negligence and carelessness? Oh, no! that will never do! God protected Joseph in the danger to which he had not given occasion; the same God allowed David, although he was a man after His own heart, to fall shamefully in a far lesser danger because he did not guard his eyes from an unchaste look. God saved Susanna from shame in an extreme danger into which she had been forced; the same God allowed Dina to be disgraced because she left her tent to see the foreign women, as we read in the Book of Genesis. In a word, my dear brethren, to see, hear, speak, read, and think of what can excite unlawful desire and rebellious passions, to frequent all sorts of company without necessity in which the poison of impure love is wont to insinuate itself gently and gradually by eyes and ears to do this, and yet expect to preserve holy purity of the heart, would be a miracle indeed, humanly speaking, but one that God would certainly not work in such circumstances for our advantage. Let us, then, all learn from Agnes to have God before our eyes always, in all our actions, to love Him constantly with all our hearts, to avoid the occasions of sin as well as we can, to fly with childlike confidence to Him in prayer in all the temptations that come in our way against our will, and to resist and bravely overcome them. Then, with the valiant woman whom we admire in the child Agnes, we shall win the crown in heaven promised to all who fight manfully and conquer. Amen,