Hunolt Sermons/Volume 12/Sermon 58
FIFTY-EIGHTH SERMON
ON THE HOLY POPE AND MARTYR ST. CLEMENT,
Subject.
St. Clement was like the apostles: 1. In his patience; 2. In the signs and wonders he performed. Preached on the feast of St. Clement in the Collegiate Church of St. Paulinus.
Text.
" The signs of my apostleship have been wrought on you, in all patience, in signs and wonders." (2 Cor 12:12)
Introduction.
Although I was a persecutor of the Church of Christ; although I am the last of those who were called and appointed to the apostolate by the Lord; although I must acknowledge that I am nothing, yet I am not less than the great apostles: "I have no way come short of them that are above measure apostles, although I be nothing." Why so? Because I have shown amongst you all the marks of the apostolic office; namely, in all patience, in signs and wonders. This confession regarding himself is made by St. Paul, the great teacher of the nations. My dear brethren, in the same words I can, it seems to me, with reason praise the holy Pope and martyr Clement, whose feast is celebrated to-day in this church. For if the marks of an apostle, according to the words of St. Paul, consist in all patience, in signs and wonders, certainly Clement is not unlike the great apostles, as I mean to show in this panegyric.
Plan of Discourse.
St. Clement was like the apostles in all patience; the first part. St. Clement was like the apostles in signs and wonders; the second part.
Both to the honor and glory of this Saint; both with a brief moral lesson for the good of our souls, which we expect from God, through the hands of Mary and of the holy angels.
If I had nothing more to say of St. Clement than that he was a companion and fellow- worker of St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, as the latter calls him in the Epistle to the Philippians, " who have labored with me in the gospel with Clement and the rest of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life," a then I should have sufficiently proved the first part of my proposition, that in all patience he is like the apostles. For what a wonder of the world is proposed to me when Paul is named! After Our Lord Himself, who had so many hardships, trials, and difficulties to contend with as he? Humble as he was, and convinced that he was the greatest sinner in the world, unworthy the name of a servant of Christ, yet he boasts that he did more than the other apostles, that he is more than they: " They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise); " yet I dare say it, " I am more." St. Chrysostom wonders at these words, and thus apostrophizes St. Paul: "Show us what that more is, and how thou dost excel the others." Holy apostle, you say you are more than the others; show us how that is. Perhaps you are more learned, and have received more special wisdom from God to interpret the Scripture, to discover the mysteries hidden therein, and to convince all of the truth of Christianity? No; it is not in such things that I am more. Then it will perhaps be in your great eloquence with which you fearlessly attack the enemies of the faith, and make judges and kings tremble when you open your mouth? No; it is not that, either, that I boast of. And what, then? Did you perhaps perform more miracles than the others? Wrong again. Now I know what it is; you allude to your wonderful visions, to your ecstasies and revelations, to your journey to the third heaven? Neither is it that.
I will tell you what it is: My renown as an apostle consists in this, that I have been more humiliated than the others, have endured more crosses and trials, have been more persecuted and hunted from one place to another, and more frequently scourged and beaten: " In many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often;" in toilsome journeys by day and night; " in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren; in labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." There are the trials of which I have received a greater share than the others; and it is in them that I glory, for them I owe the most to my God, since He has deigned to send them to me so abundantly. " For such a one I will glory," if it is allowed me.
Now I draw this conclusion, my dear brethren. St. Clement was the companion and assistant of St. Paul in his labors in preaching the gospel; therefore he was also his companion in suffering persecutions, dangers, and manifold contradictions. For when two persons are on the same journey they are in the same circumstances; if it rains and hails on the one, the other will get wet, too; the same wind that whistles in the ears of the one will also annoy his companion; if the sun burns one, it will not spare the other; if the one has a poor lodging, the other must share it with him. Therefore if things went always so hard with Paul, as he describes, his companion and fellow-worker, wherever he went with him, could not have been much better off; and on this head alone he can boast with his master that he performed his apostolic office with all patience in enduring dangers and trials.
And how much had he not to endure after the death of Paul, when he was raised to the highest dignity of the Christian Church, and was made third Pope after St. Peter? The trials of life consist of three kinds: some affect the soul, such as sadness, desolation, fear, and anxiety; others affect the body, such as those pains that attack the flesh and the outward senses; the third sort affect our good name and reputation, such as humiliations, detractions, injuries, insults, public shame, and disgrace. To the very end of His servant Clement's life God proved him by all these kinds of tribulations, as Ribadeneira says in his Life. In the first place, he had to suffer in his good name, for he was publicly decried and accused as a hypocrite, a traitor, a blasphemer, a seducer of the people, a wizard by wicked people who hated him for the innocence and holiness of his life; thus he was made odious in the whole city of Rome as a worthless man, and was brought before the judges, who, although they knew his innocence, yet to avoid a tumult among the people were forced to banish him from the city. Thus we may say of him what St. Athanasius said of St. Antony, who for a long time sought an opportunity of martyrdom in the city of Alexandria, and not finding any, left the city in order to spend his life in the desert in fasting and watching, in hunger and thirst, and in all kinds of austerities for the love of God; so also did the Lord preserve His vicar on earth, St. Clement, for still greater sufferings, and allowed him to be banished from Rome to the Chersonese, that he might there in exile endure a longer martyrdom, and have more opportunity for practising patience.
Again, what bitter pangs and sorrow must not the holy man have felt at being so violently separated from his Christians of Rome, whom he loved more than his own soul, and who ran after their dear father and only consolation with tears in their eyes; whom, nevertheless, he had to leave like so many sheep amid the fierce wolves, while his only comfort was in the hot tears he shed! And how he must have deplored the wretched state of the Christians, of whom he found two thousand in his exile, who had already been sent there by the tyrant, and were condemned to severe labor, unprovided with the necessaries of life! Clement now found himself in the midst of this oppressed, famished, thirsty, emaciated people like a poor banished father among his children, to whom he cannot give a bit of bread. What bitter sorrow he felt we can easily imagine; as his Life says: " He grieved with the sorrowing, and wept with mourners." I will say nothing of the perpetual anguish, fear, and care that oppressed him for the Church entrusted to his vigilance, for the sheep of the fold of Christ whom he ever carried in his heart, whose lot was ever a source of anxiety to him an anxiety that increased when he heard that they were persecuted on all sides by the enemies of the faith, that they were martyred and put to death most cruelly.
Finally, we can easily imagine from all this what bodily pains he had to undergo when we consider the miserable slavery to which he was condemned, with his companions. They had to sleep on the ground, and during the day to drag about huge stones, to polish and smoothe them, a work to which they were driven by blows and scourges, and meanwhile they were obliged to suffer hunger and thirst; truly, their bodies could have found little comfort under such circumstances. In this misery Clement had to suffer until at last he was condemned to a martyr's death; a heavy anchor was tied round his neck, and he was sunk into the sea. Thus this holy martyr of Christ, having spent his life in suffering, closed it in suffering also, and therefore he can boast that he was like the apostles in all patience, and that he was one of those to whom Our Lord says in the gospel "As tho Father hath sent Me, I also send you." He sent Me into the world to teach and further His glory; in the same way I send you, My dear disciples; go into the whole world and teach all nations. My Father sent Me to take up My cross, to die on the cross, and by My cross and passion to enter into My glory; in the same way I send you to endure many persecutions, to live and die in crosses and trials for My name's sake.
Let us for our own edification reflect a little on this, my dear brethren. Patience under many trials is the mark by which the apostles and true disciples of Christ are recognized, as St. Gregory remarks: " The disciples are sent into the world by the Lord, not for the joys of the world, but for suffering." By this they must prove themselves true disciples and followers of Christ. So, I say, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers, patience under adversity is the chief mark and characteristic by which we may certainly recognize and know those who are predestined to heaven. For as St. Paul says, the eternal Father has ordained that they whom He has called to eternal life should by suffering be made conformable to the image of His crucified and suffering Son. This likeness God enables them to put on by giving them opportunities of practising patience under trials; and He gives this blessing to those whom He loves as His own friends and children. "For unto you it is given for Christ," says St. Paul; and this high destiny is yours, " not only to believe in Him," for many go to hell in spite of their faith, "but also to suffer for Him." It is by patience under adversity that we must especially prove that we have the Christian virtues, that we truly love God with all our hearts. It requires no great skill to keep the Lord before our eyes, to praise and bless Him as long as He gives us everything we desire and wish for; but it is a great virtue when He takes all from us, when He gives us the bitter chalice to drink, when He strikes us with His rod it is a great virtue then to kiss the chastising hand, to be satisfied with the will of God, and always to think and say, with the patient Job: "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" Finally, it is patience under adversity that must prepare for us the road to the kingdom of God and eternal glory: "Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God." What a great mistake we then make when we look on trials as signs of the divine anger, and murmur against them! Let us then, my dear brethren, daily encourage ourselves to practise this patience, and show our readiness to bear with resignation for God's sake, and as long as He pleases, the cross He has laid on our shoulders, and those which He may have ordained for us in the future. What joy, what contentment of heart we shall feel at the end, if, like St. Clement, we shall be able to congratulate ourselves, and say: My life is ended in this world, and ended in many trials, but yet in all patience! I return to St. Clement; as we have seen, he was like the apostles in his patience under adversity; he was also like them in signs and wonders, as I shall briefly prove in the
Second Part.
In his first sermon on SS. Peter and Paul St. Augustine describes the manifold powers given by God to those whom He called to the apostolate. "The Lord gave the apostles power over nature, that they might heal it; over the demons, that they might overthrow them; over the elements, that they might change them; over death, that they might contemn and conquer it." Such power and might did St. Clement receive from God even while he was still in this mortal life. To give a detailed description of all the wonderful miracles he performed would be impossible for me. Ribadeneira, in his Life, imitates painters when they wish to represent a great army of soldiers on a small canvas; they paint one or two files of soldiers fully and in detail, but behind them they put in perspective a number of indistinct heads, swords, and spears, thus leaving to our imaginations the multitude of soldiers which the canvas cannot contain. So does our author, when describing the life of Clement. He relates only one or two miracles, in order to give us an idea of the others, and then refers to a great number of them in a few words, without order or detail; "many and astounding were the miracles he daily wrought."
Clement, like the apostles, had power over nature to heal it. By his prayers the eyes of his persecutors were blinded; by his prayers the blind recovered their sight, and were brought to the light of the true faith. It seemed no miracle any longer for him to cure all kinds of sicknesses and maladies by the mere sign of the cross, so frequent every day were the cures he wrought in this manner; and thereby he drew the hearts of men to him self to such an extent that many of those whom he converted left house and home and friends when he was sent into banishment, and voluntarily followed him over the sea, preferring to be with their dear master in misery than to live without him in liberty and prosperity.
Clement had power over the demons to overthrow them. The over evil spirits themselves felt that whenever he came near them, and at his command were obliged to leave the bodies of the possessed and the statues of the idols. A year after his arrival in the Chersonese there was not an idolatrous temple to be found in the whole surrounding country; all the pillars and statues of the demons were overturned, broken up, and destroyed utterly, and in their places sixty-five churches were erected to the true God; moreover, every day over fifty heathens who had adored the devil were made members of the true Church by baptism.
He had power over the elements to change them. This Clement showed when, like another Moses, he caused a spring of water to gush forth from the earth by striking it with a rod. The Christian slaves had to suffer from thirst, along with the other miseries that oppressed them, and had to carry water on their backs a distance of two miles. The compassionate father could not bear the sight of such misery among his children; he made them all kneel down and pray; he joined his supplications with theirs, and behold, a lamb appeared, pointing with its foot to a place on the hill where water was to be found. Hardly had Clement gone thither, and begun to dig, when suddenly a spring of the purest and sweetest water bubbled forth, and became a torrent.
Finally, he had power over death, which he despised and conquered as a victorious martyr; and after death his sacred body was the greatest wonder of all. The heathen magistrate feared that the Christians would venerate him as a god, and that not the least particle of him might remain for their veneration, he caused the holy man to be sunk into the depths of the sea. All the Christians cried out with one voice: Let us all pray that we may recover the holy body; and behold, the otherwise ungovernable sea separated for the distance of a thousand paces, and opened for them a path in the midst. They entered boldly, and walked along the bottom of the sea, until, to their great surprise, they found a chapel built by the angels, and in it a small stone coffin, in which the sacred body was, while beside it lay the anchor with which it had been sunk. And the same miracle was repeated every year as long as the body remained there; during that time the sea would divide and remain so for seven days, so that the faithful had an opportunity of visiting the sacred relics; and, as Metaphrastes testifies, they obtained from God everything they asked for during those days.
The following remarkable incident is related by the holy Bishops Ephraim, Gregory, and others: A woman with her little son grave, visited the grave of Clement in the sea; the child, tired out, fell asleep, and the mother forgot it at the grave and returned with the other Christians to the land. When the usual time had elapsed the sea flowed over the chapel. The afflicted mother began to weep and lament the fate of her son; she could find neither counsel nor consolation, and, as she thought, her only resource was to bewail the untimely death of her dear little one. The following year, in spite of her misfortune the year previous, she made her usual pilgrimage to the shrine of the holy martyr, fell down on her knees without further thought, and began her prayers, when, happening to lift up her eyes to the place where she had lost the child a year ago, she found it sleeping calmly as she had left it. She could hardly contain herself for joy and astonishment; she woke the child, embraced it, and asked what it had been doing, and how its life had been saved; but the child could only say that it had been asleep; how long, it knew not.
Truly O God, Thou art wonderful in Thy saints, to whom Thou hast given power over all created things, to make their glory and Thine known! You wonder, Israelites, at your Moses, who at the command of God opened a way for you in the Red Sea. Only once did that wonder happen amongst you, while this was continued for many years. Learn from this how much more glorious and illustrious the Almighty knows how to render His faithful servants in the law of grace. One thing we must here remark for our instruction, my dear brethren: St. Clement was like the apostles in the signs and wonders he worked; but how did he work them? As we have seen, not one did he perform without prayer, and the chief of them the procuring the water from the rock to refresh the Christians, and the dividing of the sea to make an open way for the people were the result of the united prayers of all the Christians assembled there; let us all pray unanimously, they said.
Behold, I now say with St. Augustine, what great power and efficacy with God the prayers and devotions have that many offer together! When in the beginning the Lord God made the light, He looked at it and saw that it was good: " And God saw the light that it was good." And the same He said of the firmament, of the water, of the earth, and of all other creatures individually. But when He considered them altogether He found, as it were, that their goodness and beauty were increased: "And God saw all things that He had made, and they were very good." How did it happen that God then found them very good? Such is the question asked by St. Augustine, and his answer is that we must learn from this that if the devotions we perform in private are good in the sight of God, the same devotions, when performed with others, and in public, are much more pleasing and agreeable to Him. It is good to praise and adore God at home, or privately in the church, but still better to unite our prayers with those of our Christian brethren, according to the saying of the Prophet: " Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us extol His name together." It is certain that such a united prayer is much more efficacious in obtaining what we wish and desire, be cause the one makes up with his devotion for that in which the other is deficient. And this is founded on the infallible word of God in the Gospel of St. Matthew: " I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Now if two or three can do so much, what cannot be effected by a devotion in which many are united of all classes, ages, and sexes; in a sodality united to pray and praise God? Oh, says Tertullian, in that way they constitute, so to speak, an army to storm heaven, and to compel the Almighty, as it were, to restrain His chastising hand, and to grant them the graces they desire.
Should not this, dear sodalists, be to us an encouragement to be more zealous in attending the meetings of this sodality? In future, then, when the feast-days of the brethren here arrive, think of the words: " Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us extol His name together." Let us go to praise the Lord in concert! We will try it, and shall see that the divine promise will be fulfilled: "If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father who is in heaven." Amen.