daughter left to him after the death of his wife, he cherishes with the tenderness of a grandmother, with maternal diligence and paternal benignity; towards his household he is neither harsh in his manner of speech, nor disdainful of counsel, nor persevering and exact in detecting offences. He rules those subject to him not with power but with equity-putes eum domum propriam non possidere, sed potius administrare. Truly all men of our habit might derive a most useful lesson from his example; for with the peace of our order I must say it-plus ego admiror sacerdotalem virum quam sacerdotem."* The most august and religious Emperor Theodosius, as Socrates relateth, disposed his palace in such a manner, that it was not different from a monastery; and Antonio de Escobar and Mendoza remarks that the same may be said of the house of the illustrious Don Ferdinand de Andrade et Sotomayor. The Longobard princes styled their houses holy, as Gisulph II., in his diploma to Monte Cassino, "in hunc nostrum sacratissimum Beneventanum palatium ;" and Arichis in that ending "scriptum in sacratissimo nostro palatio ;" and in that "actu Beneventu in fœlicissimo Palatio ;" and Athenulph in that signed "in sacro nostro Palatio." Everywhere on the vigils of festivals, it was the custom to invite the curate to bless the interior of houses, and sprinkle them with holy water. The master of the family was enjoined to meet the clergy at the gate, and conduct them through the apartments with devotion; and the councils admonished the parish priests to seize this occasion to instruct the heads of houses, as to their obligation to show a good example to their servants. This benediction of houses concluded with these words-" Manete pacifici in domo vestrâ ; det vobis Dominus requiem et pacem et consolationem undique ab universis inimicis vestris-benedicat vos de throno suo, stantes et ambulantes, dormientes, vigilantes; et familia vestra vigeat usque ad tertiam et quartam generationem." What bodes, you ask, this sacerdotal type of the domestic state? It bodes peace, and love, and quiet, a just supremacy, a sweet and happy life. At this voice, which soothes and penetrates, as a French poet sings, men who had been inclining to the miseries of doubt, are brought back to faith by the observation of its power. They are brought to believe in the family, in repose, in happiness; the heart dissolves in joy and love and prayer. Tears are felt flowing to the eyelids. They raise their hands to heaven, and a holy word issuing from their lips, is received by angels and chronicled for ever. *Sidon. Ap. Epist. lib. iv. 9. + La Tradition de l'Eglise sur les Bénédictions, 60. CHAPTER V. THE ROAD OF SERVANTS. HAT men had not to go far from the paternal house to find avenues leading to the Church, has been already partly shown; but many other paths in this direction immediately issuing from it, still remain to be explored; of which the next for us to follow may be that of servants, considered in their twofold action, according to their position either in families within or in those without her communion. In regard to the first of these conditions, we shall find that servants were most effectual ministers to carry on the great work of domestic guidance, under the government of the family; and that the history and circumstances of their state pointed to the Church as having first produced it, and as being still the source from which the principles of security must emanate. Between the slave of the ancient world, the servus, so called from servando, as having been preserved from death in war as one of the captives,*-and the free domestic of the Catholic house, as also between the latter and the servant of the modern society, where the principles and manners of faith have been renounced, the distance under every modification of form may be considered immeasurable. It is true, Plato would have men live with slaves as with unfortunate friends; and he says also, "It is in the manner that men treat those whom they can illtreat with impunity, that we can discern whether they sincerely love justice or not. He who has nothing to reproach himself with in regard to his conduct to his slaves, will be the best qualified to teach virtue."+ Plutarch said as much, though, to belie his words, he left an atrocious example, in which cruelty was combined with derision and cold-blooded observation of his own detestable cunning, to an extent hardly credible. Cicero urges masters to beneficence, though in words that imply the abject state of those whose cause he advocates; saying, "Est autem non modo ejus, qui sociis et civibus, sed etiam ejus, qui servis, qui mutis pecudibus præsit, eorum quibus præsit, commodis utilitatique servire." Cato the Censor, too, amongst the humane masters of antiquity, might be cited, though his avowed care to entertain always quarrels and divisions among his slaves, *S. August. de Civ. Dei, 19. † De Legibus, vi. Ep. lib. 1. through fear of their being united in good fellowship; and the reasons he assigned for preferring those who slept long to the wakeful, left sufficient indications of the relation existing between himself and them. It is true also that instances of great fidelity were found in slaves, as are related in the chapter of Valerius, De fide servorum erga dominos, which he says are the more laudable as being to be expected less: thus, Philocrates slew himself through grief at the death of his master, C. Gracchus; and a youth endured torture without disclosing the guilt of his master, M. Antonius; and the slave of Urbinius Panopion contrived, in order to save his master, to be slain in his place. Slavery, too, continued to exist partially for some ages in the Christian society. Even after the conversion of the empire, the abuse maintained its ground. It was only in the feudal ages that slaves were put in possession of the chief elements of social life.* St. Bridget, when in the city of Naples, had a vision, which she disclosed by orders to Bernard the archbishop, to remind him of the many horrible sins committed in that city; amongst which she says the worst of all is the purchase of pagan and infidel slaves by many Christians, who afterwards have no care to have them baptized and converted to the faith. She adds that some keep their servants and slaves in such abjection and ignominy as if they were dogs; that other masters afflict their servants, and exasperate them with contumelious words; so that some of these servants fall into a state of despair, and wish to kill themselves; which sins greatly displease God and the whole court of heaven; because God loves those whom He has created, and to save whom He came into the world, assuming flesh, and sustained his passion and death upon the cross. Know, however," she concludes, "that those who purchase such pagans and infidels with the intention of making them Christians, and of instructing them in the faith and in virtues, and with the intention of giving them their liberty,such masters merit much, and are acceptable with God; but for those who act differently there is reserved a grievous punishment."+ Similar instances occurred in England and elsewhere; but without delaying longer at this point, we may observe that the state of salaried domesticity was known in all Christendom at the end of the eleventh century. It was a state of trust; for it appears from the assizes of Jerusalem that the servant on entering the family bound himself by oath to be faithful during the term of his service. It was a state that required wise and discreet government; therefore the author * Troplong de l'Influence du Christianisme sur le Droit civil des Romains, 357. + Revelationum S. Birgettæ lib. vii. c. 28. Pérennes de la Domesticité. of the Ménagier de Paris advises his wife, in consideration of her extreme youth and inexperience, to choose and govern her servants with the advice of Agnes the Beguine, a nun not cloistered, who lived with her pour l'aprendre contenance sage et meure, et la servir et endoctriner."* This state, with its virtues and reciprocal relations, constitutes a most inviting path, leading from the paternal house to the Catholic Church, since clearly it is from her that it draws its origin and its grace. For, in the first place, what can more proclaim a supernatural source than the dignity and peace imparted to its position? Let us dwell here awhile. The domus et fidæ dulcia membra domus occupy a wide space in the pages of early Christian instruction. "In the house of a just man living by faith," says St. Augustin, "and still journeying far from that celestial city, even he who commands is the servant of those whom he seems to command; for he does not rule through the cupidity of rule, but through the desire of fulfilling his duty; not through the pride of authority, but through the mercy of providing for others." This is the lesson pressed upon the great all through the middle ages, and to their close. Fleury, after citing the words "The Son of man is not come to be served, but to serve," adds, "A truly Christian master, therefore, ought to regard himself as being before God the least person in his house, since he is the farthest from the poverty and humility of Jesus Christ; for true greatness consists, without doubt, in resembling the Man-God."+ St. Bonaventura, speaking of the order of Charity, cites the words of St. Ambrose, that after our children we should love our domestics. The holy text was stronger still: "Si est tibi servus fidelis, sit tibi quasi anima tua." Hear how the religious rule speaks of the domestic state : "Non eligitur domina et reprobatur ancilla; æqualiter baptizatæ, simul Christi corpus et sanguinem sumunt." For the patriarchs, most holy in regard to earthly things, distinguished between servants and sons; but with respect to the future hope, they consulted equally for both, who were equally signed with the same rite of circumcision.|| Initiated in the same divine mysteries which proclaimed the equality of master and servant, the domestics of the house, down to the lowest valet and stable-boy, were taught to respect themselves as Catholics. "Let every servant in my house," says the Prince de Conty, "hear mass every * D. ii. a. 3. + Les Devoirs des Maistres et des Domestiques, i. S. Bon. Compend. Theolog. Veritatis, lib. v. c. 30. § Ecclus. xxxiii. || Regula S. Leandri, c. xiii. ap. Luc. Holstein. Codex Regularum. day. When I am travelling, this custom must be no less strictly observed. All my attendants each morning must assist at mass. On Sundays and festivals they must all hear it together, and in the church which shall be prescribed to them on the evening before, at night prayers, by the chaplain."* Thus everywhere the morning sacrifice and the evening prayers reunited the masters and servants of each house at the feet of Him who makes no acceptation of persons; and the whole day had passed in such sweet household, such composed and seemly fellowship, such faithful and such fair equality, that poets borrowed images from its harmony when they wished to describe the felicity of heaven.t Let us, however, enter on details. Of the affectionate bond which attached Christian servants to their masters, we find early instances. In one of the catacombs at Rome were these words inscribed in Greek letters: 66 Hic Gordianus, Galliæ nuncius, jugulatus pro fide cum familia tota quiescunt in pace. Theophila ancilla fecit.” It was a reciprocal affection. The servant was, strictly speaking, a member of the family, and interested in all that concerned it. Such continued for ages to be his condition. In feudal times, generally chosen from the poor tenants on the estate, the idea of changing domestics, according to the caprice or passion of the day, was never contemplated. "L'herbe," said the old proverb, alluding to servants, "qu'on cognoit, on la doit bien lier à son doigt." "What a charm," says the Baron de Prelle, "when masters and servants grow old together! What a joy to old age, when it is served by ancient domestics, accustomed to its mode of life! There are families thus favoured. I have known no house happier in this respect than that of the great Seguier, chancellor of France. All his servants had grown old with him; so that if one did not always see the same faces, one saw always the same persons. As their constitutions were not so strong as his own, most of them broke down on the way; and he saw them perish before himself, leaving but little behind them, though after forty years' service in the house of a chancellor. All this must be regarded as part of the felicity of this great man, adding to the sweetness of his old age." "There ought to be a room in every house," says Fleury, "appropriated to servants when sick. If they cannot be well treated at home, they should be sent to some surgeon's house, or to some other * Règlement de M. le Prince de Conty. + Dante, iii. 15. Le Roux de Lincy, Le Livre des Proverbes Français. § Le Baron de Prelle, Considérations sur les Avantages de la Vieillesse dans la Vie Chrestiene politique, civile, économique et solitaire, 314. |