The
death of the princess, whose marriage they were negotiating, whilst engaged in
a second embassy at her father's court, having relieved Diego and Dominic from
their charge in this affair, they determined to take the occasion of their
absence from the diocese, to visit Rome on pilgrimage before returning to
Spain. Many motives concurred in inducing them to undertake this journey; but
with Diego the most powerful one was the desire to obtain permission from Pope
Innocent III to resign his bishopric, and undertake the labours of an apostolic
missionary life among the Cuman Tartars, who were then ravaging the fold of
Christ in Hungary and the surrounding countries. It would seem as if the
impressions made on the minds of these two great men by what they had witnessed
of the sufferings of the Church in their journey through Europe, had been of
that kind which is never effaced, and which, whenever it touches the soul, is
to it the commencement of a new life. In them it had kindled the desire to
devote themselves to a far wider field of labour than the limits of one
diocese: they had both received the heroic call of the apostolate. The state of
the Church at that time was one which might well make such an appeal to hearts
ready to receive it. "Without were
fightings, within were fears." Whilst hordes of savage and heathen
enemies were pressing hard on the outworks of Christendom, and watering the
ground with the blood of unnumbered martyrs, heresy, as we have seen, was at
work within the fold; and during this memorable year, Diego and Dominic had in
some degree been eye-witnesses of both these evils. We know in what manner they
had been thrown among the Albigenses of France, and it is at least probable,
that in the course of their Danish journey they had become in some way more
vividly aware of the dangers of which the northern nations were exposed. Pope
Innocent, however, knew the value of Diego too well to grant him the permission
he sought, and exhorted him not to abandon that charge which God had given him
in his Church, but to reassume the care of his diocese; and after a short
residence in Rome, the two friends accordingly prepared to return to Spain, it
being then the March of the year 1205.
They
had come to Rome as pilgrims, and it was in the same spirit that, on their
journey home, they turned from the direct road in order to visit the celebrated
abbey of Citeaux, which the fame of S. Bernard had made illustrious throughout
Europe. The charm of its religious character and associations captivated the
heart of Diego; doubtless the failure of his deeply-cherished plan had been no
little pain to him, and his return to Osma was a hard obedience. He was
suffering under that strange thirst to strip himself of the world, which
sometimes attacks the soul at the very time when it bows to the law that forces
it back to the world's duty. Very willingly would he have remained at Citeaux,
and commenced his noviciate in that school of holy living; but as this could
not be, he contented himself with taking the habit of the order, and soliciting
that he might carry some of the religious back with him to Spain, to learn from
them their rule and manner of life. It is interesting to us to know that he was
probably moved to this by the example of our own S. Thomas of Canterbury, who,
several years before, had received the religious habit at the same monastery,
whilst in exile from his diocese, and whose popularity as a saint was just at
that time at its greatest height. After this he no longer delayed his homeward
journey; but, accompanied by Dominic and some of the Cistercian brethren, he
set out for Spain, and soon arrived in the neighbourhood of Montpellier.
And
here, if we may so speak, the will of God awaited them. Those inward stirrings
which both had felt, yet had not fully comprehended, had truly been the
whisperings of the Divine voice; and dimly feeling in the dark, in obedience to
the hand that was beckoning them on, the dream of a martyr's crown among the
Cumans, or a monk's cowl at Citeaux, had, as it were, been two false guesses as
to what that whisper meant. This feature in what we may call the vocation of S.
Dominic is worthy of notice, because whilst we are often inclined to regret
that more details of his personal life have not been preserved, there is a
peculiarity in this early portion of it, not without its interest. His call was
not sudden, or miraculous, or even extraordinary; it was that which is the
likeliest to come to men like ourselves; particular impressions of mind were
given just at the time when circumstances combined together gradually to develop
the way in which those impressions could be carried out. He was always being
led forward, not knowing whither he went. As sub-prior of Osma he probably saw
nothing before him but the ordinary community-life of the cathedral chapter.
Then came the journey to Denmark, on a mission whose ostensible subject was a
failure, but whose real end in the designs of God was accomplished when it
brought him into the presence of the heresy which it was his destiny to
destroy. Yet though we have reason to believe that, from the time of his first
collision with the Albigenses, a very clear and distinct idea was formed in his
mind of some future apostolate of preaching, it is evident that he had no
equally clear and determinate view in what direction he was to work; and it hung
on circumstances alone, and on the will of another, to decide whether or no he
were to end his days as a nameless missioner among the Tartars. He was on the
road back to his old home, preparing to take up again the old duties and the
old life, which had been interrupted by two years, rich with new thoughts and
hopes now, as it seemed, to be for ever abandoned; and then, when he had made
what was probably a painful sacrifice of great desires, those mysterious
orderings of Providence, which we call chance and coincidence, had prepared for
him, under the walls of Montpellier, a combination of events which was to make
all clear.
The
alarming progress and character of the Albigensian heresy had at length
determined the Roman Pontiff on active measures for its suppression. A
commission had been appointed for that purpose, the most distinguished members
of which were Arnold, abbot of Citeaux, and Rudolph and Peter de Castelnau, the
Papal legates. These were, all three, Cistercian monks, and with them were
associated several other abbots of the same order. They found their task a
difficult one, for the country was entirely in the power of Count Raymond of
Toulouse, the avowed protector of the Albigenses; and unhappily the bishops and
clergy, by their coldness and indifference, too often even by yet more culpable
irregularities, were themselves the chief causes of the spread of the evil.
Innocent III, in a letter to his legates, speaks in bitter and yet in touching
terms of this degeneracy of those who should have been foremost in the ranks. "The
pastor," he says, "has become a
hireling; he no longer feeds the flock, but himself; wolves enter the fold, and
he is not there to oppose himself as a wall against the enemies of God's
house." This scandal was of course the great weapon used by the
heretics, in all their conferences with the legates. It was a short and
triumphant argument to quote the words of the Gospel, "By their fruits
shall ye know them;" and then to point at the careless and worldly
character of the priesthood. Baffled and confounded in all their efforts, the
Catholic leaders had met to consult together in the neighbourhood of
Montpellier; and it was whilst discussing the gloomy prospects of their
commission that they heard of the arrival of the two travelers. Their
reputation, and the interest they had shown in the state of the distracted
province on the occasion of their former visit, were well known, and the
legates sent them an invitation to assist at the conference. It was accepted,
and the disappointments and perplexities of the whole case were laid before
them.
The
chief difficulty in their way was the impossibility of convincing the heretics
that the truth of the Christian faith depended, not on the good or bad example
of individuals, but on the sure and infallible word of God made known to them
through the Church. Diego inquired very particularly concerning the mode of
life adopted by the legates and their opponents, and gave it as his opinion
that the great obstacle which had hindered the work of souls, had been the
neglect of Evangelical poverty among the Catholic missioners. For "he
remarked," says Blessed Jordan, "that the
heretics attracted men by persuasive means, by preaching, and a great outward
show of sanctity, whilst the legates were surrounded by a numerous suite of
followers, with horses and rich apparel. Then he said, 'It is not thus, my
brothers, that you must act. They seduce simple souls with the appearances of
poverty and austerity: by presenting to them the contrary spectacle, you will
scarcely edify them; you may destroy them, but you will never touch their
hearts.'" The words of Diego, if they convinced his hearers, were yet
a little unwelcome. None had the courage to be the first to follow the hard
counsel, and they felt the want of one possessed of the chief authority among
them to set the example of an austere reform, and enforce its adoption by the
others. "Excellent
father," they said to Diego, "what would you
have us do?" Then the spirit of God came upon him, and he said "Do as I am
about to do;" and, calling his attendants, he gave orders that they
should return to Osma with all the equipages and followers who accompanied him.
A little company of ecclesiastics alone remained, of whom Dominic was one; but
they retained nothing of external pomp, and affected only the bearing and
manners of the humblest missioners. The example was instantly followed by the
other legates, and each one sent away all his followers and baggage, retaining
only the books necessary for the recital of the Divine Office, and for the
confutation of the heretics. More than this, feeling the power of Diego's
character and influence, they unanimously elected him as head and chief of the
Catholic body, and Innocent III, to whom the whole of the circumstances were
made known, hesitated not to grant him the permission which he had before
refused in the case of the Cumans: he was authorized to remain in the French
provinces for the service of the faith.
Source:
Alemany, Most Reverend J. S., D. D. Life of St.
Dominic and a Sketch of the Dominican Order. New York: P.
O'Shea Publisher, 1867
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