Saint-Simonians

“ An idler is a parasite; he devours what others produce and makes no return. Wealthy idlers are thieves; another class of idlers consists of beggars, and this last class of do-nothings, we are told by Saint-Simon, is scarcely less contemptible and dangerous than the first. [45] This makes it sufficiently evident that the Saint-Simonians were acting in the spirit of their master in proposing the abolition of inheritance.
Again, this new society would not be ascetic, like the old Christianity—Saint-Simon’s kingdom was of this world. ”

“ Once, indeed, Enfantin rebuked the homage of his disciples with the words: “No one of us is God: I am only a man.”
The Saint-Simonians in an early stage of their proselytism formed a “Sacred College of Apostles,” consisting of six leaders. These chiefs were Enfantin, Bazard, Buchez, Rodrigues, Laurent, and Rouen. The younger and less influential disciples were organized as a subordinate order. They established missions and bishoprics in Toulouse, Montpellier, Sorèze, Lyons, in fact, in all parts of France, and also carried the new gospel to foreign lands, as Belgium and Algeria. ”

“ So many people had already gained enormously by their own exertions that it was not doubtful Law could gain for me even more rapidly. But I never would lend myself to it. Law addressed himself to Madame de Saint-Simon, whom he found as inflexible. He would have much preferred to enrich me than many others; so as to attach me to him by interest, intimate as he saw me with the Regent. He spoke to M. le Duc d'Orleans, even, so as to vanquish me by his authority. ”

“ It is sufficient to say that it is a great mistake to regard Saint Simon as a mere selfish aristocrat in the cant sense. He would have had the kingdom justly and wisely governed for the benefit of the whole nation, but he regarded the nobility, and, above all, the peers, as the pre-destined instruments of government. 'Much for the people, but nothing by the people,' was his political motto.
The importance of Saint Simon in literature is, however, entirely independent of his standpoint as a politician, though that standpoint was not without influence on his literary characteristics. ”

“ Many disguised priests are now gliding and sliding here and there among the people, persuading them that a rosary which has been consecrated is a perfect preservative against the cholera. [20] The Saint-Simonists regard it as an advantage of their religion that none of their number can die of the prevailing malady, because progress is a law of nature, and as social progress is specially in Saint-Simonism, so long as the number of its apostles is incomplete none of its followers can die. ”

“ For nowhere in the world do the Simonians any longer exist. Moreover by getting many under his influence Simon took away from his disciples the danger of death, which Christians were taught was taken away, teaching them that there was no difference between it and idolatry. And yet in the beginning the Simonians were not plotted against. For the evil daemon who plots against the teaching of Jesus, knew that no counsel of his own would be undone by the disciples of Simon. ”

“ At last, on the 7th of August, the affair was finally accommodated through the intercession of Monseigneur. The Grand Prieur demanded pardon of the Prince de Conti in the presence of his brother, M. de Vendome, who was obliged to swallow this bitter draught, although against his will, in order to appease the Princes of the blood, who were extremely excited.
Nearly at the same time, that is to say, on the 29th of May, in the morning Madame de Saint-Simon was happily delivered of a child. God did us the grace to give us a son. He bore, as I had, the name of Vidame of Chartres. ”

“ Of the history of the Simonian sect, we know very little more than has been said. The Fathers accuse the Simonians of leading immoral lives, of teaching the advisability of promiscuous intercourse, and of being addicted to magic [635] . Irenaeus declares that they worshipped an image of Simon in the likeness of Jupiter, and another of Helena in the shape of Athena [636] , to which Hippolytus adds that they were exceedingly angry if any one ventured to call these statues either Simon or Helena and instantly cast him forth of the sect as being ignorant of their mysteries [637] . ”

“ Yet luxury did in fact pervade the Church of Bernard's time, and simony was as wide as western Europe. This crime was the offspring of the entire social state; it was part and parcel of the feudal system and the whole matter of lay investitures. One sees that simony was no extraneous stain to be washed off from the body ecclesiastic, but rather an element of its actual constitution. The eradication had to come through social and ecclesiastical evolution, rather than spasmodic reformation.
One may turn from the invectives of the great saint to forms of satire more frankly literary. ”

“ There was a man in Jerusalem, named Simeon. He was a just and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Ghost was upon him and revealed to him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
He came by the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child Jesus, Simeon took Him up in his arms, blessed God, and said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for my eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people, Israel. ”

“ To show that his annoyance did not extend to my wife, but that it was solely and wholly directed against me, he bestowed, about eight months after, several marks of favour upon Madame de Saint-Simon. She was continually invited to the suppers at Trianon—an honour which had never before been granted her. I only laughed at this. Madame de Saint-Simon was not invited to Marly; because the husbands always, by right, accompanied their wives there, apartments being given for both. At Trianon it was different. Nobody was allowed to sleep there except those absolutely in attendance. ”

“ Comparatively unimportant changes of opinion respecting the details of his practical programme, as well as other minor points, will be omitted in this presentation.
We find running through all the writings of Saint-Simon, from his first work, “Lettres d’un Habitant de Genève,” to his last one, the “Nouveau Christianisme,” an aim and purpose which may be considered the leading feature of his system. It is the attempt to discover an authority which shall rule the inner life of man as well as his external acts. ”

“ And he taught many men, and arrayed them in the garb of the monastic life, and they became like angels of God; and he died in peace and inherited the kingdom of heaven. And when the Archbishop of Antioch heard that Saint Abba Simon was dead, he came, bringing with him priests, and deacons, and officers, and they took away the body of Saint Simon with great honor, and brought it to the city of Alexandria, with spiritual songs and psalms. And they laid it in a church there, and many signs, and wonders, and great healings took place through it. Salutation to Simon of the Pillar. ”

“ All men saw him not bodily, but he is announced to all men, let him believe who will. He who believes in him, sees him now with his faith, and in the eternal life with his eyes. Simeon yet said, "He is a light for the enlightening of the gentiles, and a glory to thy people Israel." All these words concerning the child, Simeon spake to the heavenly Father, who sent him to men. He is the true light who scattered the darkness of this life, as he himself said in his gospel, "I am the light of all the world; he who followeth me shall not come into darkness, but he shall have the light of life." ”

“ Simon,—by what motives was his father actuated when he gave him this name? Simon, who denied our Lord Jesus Christ, Simon who was the creator of the historical crime of simony, or sacrilege. I direct my question through all historical ages: was there ever in the world a father who predestined his child's career thus by the mere name? What inveterate cynicism, what dreadful criminal instincts! You will deny and trade with a people's holiest possession,—its native land. Yes, gentlemen, all this is implied in the name of Simon. ”

“ On the one hand we hear that Samaria received the seed of the Word from the apostles and Simon in despair had to flee, on the other hand Justin, a native of Samaria, tells us, a century after this supposed event, that nearly all the Samaritans are Simonians. The accounts of Simon's death again are contradictory; if Simon perished so miserably at Rome, it is the reverse of probable that the Romans would have set up a statue in his honour. But, indeed, it is a somewhat thankless task to criticize such manifest inventions ”

“ This saint visited St. Simeon Stylites on his pillar and had his fortune told. He ate coarse pulse and wild herbs, never tasted bread for thirty years, founded a monastery for an unlimited number of monks, dug one grave large enough to hold the whole community, when he received strangers, and had not food enough, he prayed for its miraculous increase and had it multiplied accordingly, prophesied while he was dying, died in 529, and had his hair shirt begged by a count, who won a victory with it. ”

“ This Simon's father was Antonius, and his mother Rachel. By nation he is a Samaritan, from a village of the Gettones; by profession a magician, yet exceedingly well trained in the Greek literature; desirous of glory, and boasting above all the human race, so that he wishes himself to be believed to be an exalted power, which is above God the Creator, and to be thought to be the Christ, and to be called the Standing One. ”

“ It would seem that those who are guilty of simony are not fittingly punished by being deprived of what they have acquired by simony. Simony is committed by acquiring spiritual things in return for a remuneration. Now certain spiritual things cannot be lost when once acquired, such as all characters that are imprinted by a consecration. Therefore it is not a fitting punishment for a person to be deprived of what he has acquired simoniacally. ”

“ Saint-Simonism was universally jeered at, but it is quite a mistake to think that ridicule is detrimental in France. On the contrary, it is an excellent means of getting anything known and of spreading the knowledge of it abroad; it is in reality a force. Saint-Simonism is at the root of many of the humanitarian doctrines which were to spring up from its ashes. One of its essential doctrines was the diffusion of the soul throughout all humanity, and another that of being born anew. ”

“ In the central aisle of the church of San Bernardino, [24] and over the chapel which belongs to the Brotherhood of the Magdalene, Liberale painted the story of the Purification. The figure of Simeon in this work has received much commendation, as has that of the Infant Christ, whom the old man, holding in his arms, embraces with great affection. A priest who is standing on one side of the picture is also very beautiful; he lifts his face to heaven, and spreading forth his arms, appears to be returning thanks to God for the salvation of the world. ”

“ In the third picture, Simon has painted the saint returned after seven years absence from beyond the seas. He has passed thrice forty days in the Holy Land, and is now standing in the choir attending Divine service; a number of singing boys are near; the saint is here tempted by the devil, but the fiend is driven away by the firm determination not to offend the laws of God, which is manifested in Ranieri. who is aided by a figure which Simon meant to represent Constancy. ”

“ Simon's chantry was founded by Simon Symeon in 1381-2, "for the soul of Duke Henry, for the healthful estate of John of Gaunt, his son, Henry, earl of Derby, Simon Symeon and Elizabeth his wife, for their souls after death and the souls of the fathers and mothers of Simon and Elizabeth and all the faithful departed." On the day of Simon's obit, the office and mass of the dead were to be sung, and one of the canons was to say mass at the altar which Simon had constructed in the north part of the church, and three masses were to be said daily at the same altar. ”

“ There was bitterness in his voice, and everyone knew he was thinking of his children in Capernaum.
Jesus felt great sympathy for Simon, and his answer was very gentle. "Yes, Simon, you have given up much. But you need not fear—a man who gives up his home and his property for my sake will never be sorry. He will receive back a hundred times over the eternal gifts which God gives those who love him. Many who now are rich will be the last in God's Kingdom; but those who are poor for my sake will be the very first in his Kingdom!"
That night the disciples stayed in Tarichaea. ”

“ Then he answered and said, “The dough in the leaven” (meaning Gentile customs, which corrupt the customs of Israel even as leaven changeth [pg 5] bread) “and servitude to the Kingdom.” Then I said, “Why therefore do we not rise up against the Gentile Kingdom?” But he answered, “Joseph, son of Simeon, busy thyself with the Law. Whosoever is busied in the Law for the Law’s sake deserveth many things; and not only so, but he is worth the whole world. He is called friend, beloved; loveth God, loveth mankind; pleaseth God, pleaseth mankind. ”

“ Seigneur Claudius was one of his chief vassals and a good friend, and would doubtless have had no objection to a marriage. Simon might never have gone to Italy.
But there was room in this heart for only one love. And there was only one course his life could take now.
Somehow, with the sight of this maiden and the realization that he might have fallen in love with her once but never could now, a door closed in Simon's mind. His destiny lay in Italy. He could no more forget Sophia and return to Château Gobignon like a snail crawling into its shell than he could spit himself on his own sword. ”