Franz Hunolt

“ Behold, I must again say to you, children of Treves, what great ancestors you have, how noble your descent! They are saints crowned in heaven, whom men now honor above all the kings and emperors of the world. You are children of the saints; oh, what a great honor and glory! O holy ancestors, now citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, what thanks do not your children and descendants owe you, since you have prepared for them such a glorious road to heaven! In what honor should we not hold you and your relics that we have amongst us, which have brought us such a great name and renown! ”

“ He offers me far more precious treasures than you or the whole city of Rome can give; His beauty is incomparable, His power irresistible, His wisdom inscrutable, His riches inexhaustible; at His nod sun, moon, stare, the earth, the heavens, the angels stand in awe, ready to obey Him. What are you thinking of? The treasure you offer me is a stone dug out of the earth, what my Beloved will give to me is an eternal good; the honor you promise me is a breath of vapor that passes, while my Bridegroom will give mean unfading crown of glory ”

“ I will continue, with Thy grace, as I have begun, to sacrifice my understanding and will to Thee by obedience, my goods by poverty, my body by chastity, my whole self by a long martyrdom, renouncing any hope and desire of worldly honors and pleasures. It is indeed little to offer such a great Lord; but it is all I have; all Thou hast given me. I expect no reward except, with St. Agnes, Thee, my Beloved. Oh, what a consolation for a soul! ”

“ This great festival brings before our minds a daughter of Treves who has brought more honor and glory to this city than all the heroes, princes, and kings who were born or have dwelt here, namely, that dear mother of Treves who now in heaven holds her careful and protecting hands over you, bearing the cross in her arms the great and holy Empress Helen. This is that blessed woman who has laid hold of the tree of life and retained it to her great good fortune. A renown for her than which none can be greater; a treasure for us and all Christians than which none can be more precious! ”

“ Heroic martyrs who have suffered so much for the honor of Jesus Christ, I admire your patience under torments when I consider the racks on which you were flayed alive, the ice-cold water in which you were drowned, the arrows and spears with which you were pierced, the swords and axes with which you were beheaded, the crosses and wheels on which you were fixed, the lions and tigers whose teeth mangled and tore you; and I ask myself in amazement: How is it possible for weak flesh and blood in such a frail nature to bear all this so bravely, and to overcome it with patience and joy? ”

“ No one will be the Andrew; no one will be the first to show due honor to his God. If others like myself do it, such is the un-Christian excuse put forward, then I will follow them; but I am ashamed to be the first. As if it were a shame to be the first among the servants of God! Fie! Should not every one look on it as the greatest honor and glory to be before others in good? If the favor of a mortal sovereign is to be gained, if a handful of money is to be made anywhere, if a lucrative post is to be obtained, do we then think or say: I am ashamed to be the first? ”

“ What else but that they bear their trials unwillingly, and because they cannot help themselves, and that if they could they would keep the cross at a great distance. They are like the wheels of a wagon that always keep on creaking and rattling. Is not this a state of things that we may well deplore and bewail? unhappy and thrice miserable mortals! To have to suffer, and to suffer without merit or profit! To have to suffer, and to suffer without human or divine consolation! To have to suffer, and in suffering only to increase one's sorrow! ”

“ If the city of Rome wondered long ago at the virtue of Lawrence when she beheld him leading a life of chastity in the bloom of youth, giving all his treasures to the poor, fighting so zealously for the glory of God, and restoring the blind to sight by the mere sign of the cross, much more do I wonder at Lawrence lying bound on the glowing coals, and suffering the most atrocious torments. ”

“ Do you, holy martyrs, and thou especially, Queen of martyrs, virginal mother Mary, and you, holy angels, who fought on the side of the martyrs, obtain that profit for us by your prayers!
So close is the union and bond of nature between parents and children children, ancestors and their posterity, that the latter inherit from the former their honor or shame, their glory or disgrace rather than their wealth or poverty. Such is the express testimony of the Holy Ghost: " The glory of children are their fathers. On the other hand, " a father without honor is the disgrace of the son." ”

“ Now, my dear brethren, if there were in the world a doctor who knew a sure remedy for all diseases, who could heal all the afflicted, even the most desperate cases, at once, and without putting them to any pain, what a great reputation would he not enjoy! What crowds of people would not come to him from all would be parts! And how would it be if one could address him easily in any place? How, if he consented to perform his cures without money or reward, and solely at the humble petition of those in need of his aid? Would not such a man be almost idolized? ”

“ Let each -one enter into himself and ask himself with me: If I were now to die, where should I find a place among you, saints of God? Should I be among the apostolic saints? Ah, where is my zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls? Should I find a place among the holy martyrs? Ah, where is my patience? A fast day, a short interruption of sleep, a word of contradiction is more than enough for me. Should I be with the holy confessors? Where is my humility, mortification, penance? Should I, be in the choir of holy virgins? ”

“ Death may not be turned aside by money; the Author of life may not be bribed; in that hour rich and poor are on an equality. Wo to you if you have no other consolation to hope for! Call, in your need, on those whose favor you now rely on so confidently, in whose service you now wear out body and soul, for whose sake you now risk soul and conscience; see whether death will have any respect for them. ”

“ Of what good is it to me to be a great lord, to rule over lands and people, if I am blind, deaf, lame, deformed, and dare not show myself in public? What use can I make of the most delicate food, the most agreeable company, the most pleasant conversation, if my body is writhing in pain, if sickness gives me a disgust for every thing? No; a healthy man with his piece of dry bread is far better off, and leads a far more pleasant life, than a sick man seated at a royal table groaning under the costliest viands. In a word, in this mortal life health is more valuable than anything else. ”

“ Reasoning men, endowed with free will, ye brave and faithful servants of God, and you, especially, heroic martyrs of Christ, you indeed show far more honor to the Divine Majesty, far more glory and homage, when with your own free will and choice, for the sake of God's glory, you fight against yourselves, freely conquer your own natural inclinations, sacrifice goods and life for His honor and glory, and go cheerfully to torments and death, against which your nature struggles most violently, impelled solely by your desire to prove to the world your love for God. ”

“ Our ancestors are saints of God; what a shame if their children should be wicked! Our ancestors were martyrs of Christ; what a shame if their children should be martyrs of the world, the flesh and the devil! Our ancestors did not allow a cruel death to make them deviate from the path of rectitude, from the love of God; what a shame for their children if human respect and the fear of a slight loss, not to speak of the fear of death, should make them renounce God by sin! Our ancestors, to gain heaven, to save their souls, sacrificed life, and goods, and all they possessed ”

“ Oh, what a cruel, and, at the same time, what a glorious spectacle it must have been to behold those gray-haired old men, venerable matrons, tender virgins, young boys, mothers with their children, running with joyful cries out of their houses, vying with each other in offering themselves to the points of the swords and spears, contending with pious zeal who should be the first to hasten to the slaughter, as if it were a wedding-feast, and suffering death with every sign of joy and exultation! ”

“ Does it not cost a deal of trouble to bear an angry look with patience, to overcome the love, fear, or respect for a mere mortal, to hold our own passions in check, so that they may not go too far? Ah, even lesser difficulties are sometimes powerful enough to take from us all strength and courage, so that we forget the laws of our faith, God, and heaven. What resolution, then, should we come to if we saw the instruments of torture ready, displayed before our eyes, and a painful death awaiting us? ”

“ Thou hast by thy sufferings on earth honored thy Saviour and thy God; rejoice now, happy soul; everlasting shall be the honor and glory that thou shalt receive as a reward in heaven! For all eternity shalt thou see and experience in thyself the truth of the words of the divine promise: " Who soever shall glorify Me him will I glorify."
Not the soul alone of this glorious disciple, but his body also received this reward; for as it had suffered and fought so well for Him, Our Lord endowed it with extraordinary glory in recompense for the torments it endured. ”

“ Let us, with the utmost care, seek wealth and riches, but, with Bernard, let them be heavenly riches, that no thief, nor misfortune, nor adversity, nor death can deprive us of. Let us seek honor and esteem, but let them be that undying honor and glory that will be ours for all eternity. Let us seek pleasures and delights, but let them be those of which the Apostle speaks, that surpass all human understanding. ”

“ Love has not such power over them! Their trials, their want, their poverty, their misery, their pain seem too much for them; they wish to be freed from suffering, and so impatience or desperation presses that cry from them. But a wish of that kind is of no good, and when it is the result of despair it does not help to heaven. Come, death, that I may be freed from this torment! What! do you really mean that? If your invitation were accepted, and death came to you in your despair, where would you go to? ”

“ Oh, far greater, nay, countless, was the number of the heroic and truly Christian soldiers whom Treves could then point to as being quite ready, without even a word of command, to cast themselves into a torrent of blood for God and their faith, who were not to be overcome by any cruelty, who made a feast and a triumph of pains and torments. Heroes were they whom Treves could then point to. What kind of heroes? Old men, weak women, little children. What did they dare to do? To triumph over cuts and wounds, torture and butchery, fire and flame. ”

“ I must learn from yourself how I am to value you. As long as everything prospered with you, and you lived in peace, plenty, and pleasure, you said to Me a thousand times that you wished to serve Me, to love Me, to be and to remain Mine; but I may not trust too much to these bare words of yours; in prosperity you yourself cannot say whether you love Me or yourself most; whether you do not serve Me more for My gifts than for Myself; whether you are not still a mere child in virtue, that must be fed with milk, or a man who can digest solid food. ”

“ Oh, no! we do not want any Valerian or Diocletian to come against us with fire and sword, with glowing gridirons, and similar instruments of torture, to prove our faith, our virtue, our love of God! Of sorrow, trouble, pain, and difficulties we find more than enough daily, more than we wish for, indeed, to prove our virtue, if we only bore them with patience and resignation for Thy sake! We have opportunities enough to mortify our eyes, ears, tongue, senses, and inclinations every hour and moment ”

“ What is harder and more bitter than for a father to leave his wife and dear children by a premature death, without the hope of ever seeing them again in this life? Indeed, the relations of the dying man are often kept away from his death-bed, lest they should add by their presence to his pains. Now, was there ever a spouse dearer to her husband than Mary to St. Joseph? Had ever father a more loving child than Jesus was to him, in whose presence he found his daily consolation, as we have seen already? ”

“ O holy apostle, what a glory and honor for thee to be so like Jesus, the Son of God, in all things! If the eternal Father has elected for heaven those " whom He foreknew, He also pre-destinated to be made conformable to the image of His Son," how high must thou not have ascended in glory, since from the very beginning of thy life to the end thou hast so closely imitated this divine Son in all thy actions! To the end of thy life, I say; for in this respect nothing but the mode of death interferes with the perfection of the resemblance to the death of Christ on the cross. ”

“ Let us all prostrate ourselves at His feet, and bury in eternal oblivion every thing we have done to displease each other! Yes, at Thy feet, Lord, we now lay all the injuries we have hitherto suffered, and that we have still to bear; to Thee do we sacrifice our anger, hatred, desire of revenge as an offering we owe Thee, our sovereign Lord; we will love each other as Thou wishest us, Thy children, to love ”

“ Would you be satisfied if God forgave you only in the way in which you forgive, according to your imperfect idea of charity? Oh, wo to you, poor mortal, if Christ only abstains from doing evil to you! And wo to you if He forgives you only in outward show! Wo to you if He persecutes you with an implacable hatred, although He shows it not outwardly! Wo to you if He does not love you! Wo to you if He does not good to you! ”