LIFE OF
St. Catharine of Sienna.
PROLOGUE
David, the prophet of Christ, son of Isai, the sweet singer of Israel, said, when speaking of the coming of the Messiah: "Let these things be written unto another generation; and the people that shall be created, shall praise the Lord." The holy man Job, desiring to announce the Resurrection, exclaimed: "Who will giant that my words may be written ? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book ? with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint-stone?" These passages of Holy Writ prove to us that whatever can glorify God and edify men, ought not to be related in one age and in one locality, but should be written down and taught to those who live, or who will live hereafter. Solomon said, Oeneratio proeterit et generatio advenit (Eccl. i. 4) One generation goes, and another comes. It is not just that one generation should alone possess what may be useful to all, and that the works of divine wisdom, which are worthy of never-ending praise, should obtain a transient eulogium. Moses also wrote of the beginning of Creation and the history of the human race until his own
