SECT. VI.
XLIII. I have observed, that for the sincere conversion or turning of mens hearts, benignity and gentle treatment has done miracles, in cases where rigour has been found ineffectual. Two illustrious examples of this sort, which in different ages have been exhibited on the theatre of France, occur to me at present. The first is that of Peter Abelard, a most subtle logician, and famous broacher of heresies in the twelfth century. The adventures of this man were extraordinary, and he for the most part experienced adverse fortune. He suffered many persecutions, some of which were unjust ones; but neither the just nor the unjust were capable of subduing his mind, or mitigating the contentious vivacity of his spirit. His errors, after innumerable debates, were condemned by the council of Sens, at which St. Bernard assisted. He appealed from the sentence to Pope innocent the Second, who confirmed the decision of the council; and added to it, that his books should be burnt, and the author imprisoned for life. Abelard had an infinite number of enemies, many of whom were not so from their zeal to religion, but from many other very different motives. As an augmentation of his misfortunes, there was scarce any one who did not exclaim against him, and cry aloud for the execution of the sentence. In this deplorable situation of Abelard, there was only one man who had generosity enough to take the favourable side of the question, and interest himself on his behalf. This was that most pious and wise person St. Peter the Venerable, abbot of the great monastery of Cluny, who solicited and obtained of the Pope, Abelard’s pardon. He also reconciled him with St. Bernard, which amounted to the same thing as indemnifying him against the public hatred. Besides this, as a remedy for all his reverses of fortune, he offered him an asylum in his monastery of Cluny, which monastery received him in its arms like a loving father, and gave him the habit of a monk.
It will be proper to observe here, that Eloisa, a sensible, beautiful, and noble French lady, was in her youth in love with, and beloved by Abelard, to such an excess, that their love broke through all the fences of honour. Historians relate a very singular circumstance of this woman, which is, that Abelard being desirous of marrying her, she, notwithstanding her prodigious fondness for him, rejected the proposal, and chose rather to continue his concubine than be his wife, alledging as her motive for this conduct, that she would not, by her marriage, deprive the church of the great lustre that might be reflected on it by the sublime genius of Abelard, although in the end, she, by the importunities and threats of her friends and relations, was prevailed on to espouse him. She afterwards took the veil, and became an exemplary religious. She always maintained a very tender and affectionate correspondence with Abelard, but at the same time in very chaste terms, and such as were conformable to the rules of virtue and decorum. As soon as she was informed of Abelard’s death, she begged of St. Peter the Venerable, that he would let her have his body, that she might bury it in the convent where she was prelate; and the pious abbot granted her request. It appears by the epistles of Abelard, that Eloisa was universally beloved and respected for her virtue and discretion. He says, the bishops loved her as a daughter, the abbesses as a sister, and the seculars a mother.
The effect which this generous benignity of St. Peter the Venerable had upon Abelard, was admirable. He not only became a monk, but a most exemplary one, and a shining pattern of all kinds of virtues, of which St. Peter the Venerable gives irrefragable testimony in his letter to Eloisa on the occasion of his death, which letter is filled with the highest eulogiums on the virtues of Abelard. He says in one part of it, that he does not remember to have seen a man so humble as him; and in another, that it was matter of admiration, to observe a person so famous and of so great a name, have so lowly an opinion of himself. In another, he says, his understanding, his tongue, and his works, were always employed on celestial objects. And in another, he compares him to the great Gregory in the following words: Nec (sicut de magno Gregorio legitur) momentum aliquod præterire sinebat, quin semper aut oraret, aut legeret, aut scriberet, aut dictaret. These eulogiums are confirmed, and if possible exceeded, in the Chronicle of the Monastery of Cluny, which says, that, from the time of his taking the habit of a monk, his thoughts, words, and actions, were always divine: Et deinde mens ejus, lingua ejus, opus ejus, semper divina fuere.
XLIV. So that this man, who could not be made to bend to the most learned men of France, who were engaged in continual controversies with him; nor to the force of the civil power, exerted against him various times at the instance of his enemies; nor to the ecclesiastical prelates, nor to the authority of a council, nor to the zeal and learning of a St. Bernard: This man, I say, on whom all these exertions had no influence, submitted to the gentle, compassionate, and benevolent spirit of St. Peter the Venerable. The estimation and tenderness, with which this saint always regarded Abelard after his conversion, was very great, as is evident from two epitaphs he wrote to grace his tomb. I shall insert a part of each of them here, by which may be seen the high opinion he entertained of the learning and wisdom of this eminent man.
First Epitaph.
Gallorum Socrates, Plato maximus Hesperiarum,
Noster Aristoteles, Logicis, quicumque fuerunt,
Aut par, aut melior, studiorum cognitus orbi
Princeps, ingenio varius, subtilis, & acer.
Second Epitaph.
Petrus in hac petra latitat, quem mundus Homerum
Clamabat, sed jam sidera sidus habent.
Sol erat hic Gallis, sed eum jam fata tulerunt:
Ergo caret Regio Gallica sole sua.
Ille sciens quidquid fuit ulli scibile, vicit
Artifices, artes absque docente docens.
XLV. The second example, which is still more striking and illustrious than the first, is that of the Huguenots in the reign of Charles the ninth, in the diocese of Lisieux in Normandy. The learned Dominican John Henuyer, who had been confessor to Henry the second, was bishop of that diocese, when orders came from the king to the governor of Normandy, to put to the sword all the Huguenots of that province. The venerable prelate opposed the execution of the order as far as it related to his own diocese efficaciously, by declaring that he would sooner submit his own throat to the knife, than consent to the death of those heretics, whom he had always considered as sheep of his flock, although they had gone astray; and used such other arguments, as prevailed on the governor to suspend the execution of the orders; and the king, moved with the firmness and zeal of the pious bishop, revoked the decree with respect to the Huguenots of that bishopric. The hand of Omnipotence heaped blessings on the paternal affection which bishop Henuyer manifested to his flock, and on the pious exertion he made to save their lives at all events; and (O wonderful to relate!) in none of the other parts of France, where rivers of Huguenot blood had been spilt in the execution of the king’s orders, was the heresy extinguished; but on the diocese of Lisieux only, did God confer this great blessing. The experience of the paternal bowels and feeling of their prelate for them, made such an impression on the hearts of the Huguenots of that district, that they all, without a single exception, became converts to the catholic faith. Thus does benignity triumph over the most stubborn hearts, when managed and conducted with a pious zeal and consummate prudence.