by William Ferree, SM

A conference on Father Chaminade’s System of Virtues given by V. Rev. William J. Ferree, SM, at Villa St. Jean (c. 1936); translated from the French.

I would like to speak to you this evening about a subject which has interested me for years, but which I have begun to see clearly, it seems, only during these last months in the Seminary. I mean the system of asceticism which the Good Father bequeathed to us: The Virtues of preparation, purification, and consummation.

One might ask himself just where the great difficulty lies in understanding these virtues, because the ordinary form in which this system is presented to us has nothing complicated about it. Which is true, for the ordinary form of presentation is a simple historical enumeration and definition. We say glibly that “by this method the first generations of the Society of Mary were formed” ( Schellhorn VI, 55) or that the theory of the three divisions of virtues “forms the basis of the first directories of the Institute,” and that “its influence made itself felt a long time after the death of the Founder” (S.F. II, 443). But if we take this historical viewpoint, we run the risk of gazing passively, like tourists in a museum where the most beautiful works of man’s genius are arranged so regularly along the walls, that the tourists, so pressed to see other things, do not even suspect that before their eyes unfolds the painful development of the human spirit throughout the ages.

But once we cease looking passively and attempt a bit of analysis, difficulties—great difficulties—arise on all sides. Let us see some examples of these. In 1822 Good Father Chaminade wrote a brief letter to the Sister Novices at Agen: “Your Institute is the way which must lead you (to heaven). The Virtues of preparation are, in the Institute, those which elsewhere have made great saints; the virtues of purification are proposed to the predestined, and the third order of virtues, those of consummation, are the virtues of Jesus Christ and of Mary. May the grandeur (sublimity) of these perspectives not astonish you; they are those of God . . .”

In these few words there are, or it would be more exact to say, there were for me when I read them the first time, three enigmas:

1) The Virtues of preparation are, in the Institute, those which elsewhere have formed great saints. Why this opposition between the Institute and “elsewhere,” in the question of sanctity. Is this just an effect of the style of Brother David, to whom Father Chaminade dictated the letter? Or did the Founder really wish to suggest that that which sufficed for a great sanctity elsewhere was just the beginning of the Institute? This last interpretation seems more exact; but then, how to explain it?

2) The “virtues of purification are proposed only to the predestined.” Just what exactly could this mean? Is it merely rhetoric, where one would not insist too much on the literal meaning? Or does it express a reality as great as the words?

3) The third enigma does not strike the attention like the first two, but once discovered, it is even more mystifying than the others. “The virtues of consummation are the virtues of Jesus and Mary.” We expect to find there something truly sublime: the first group of virtues by themselves have made great saints; the second are proposed only to the predestined; but these last are the very virtues of Christ. Father Chaminade does not name them here, and if we had only this text, our imagination would wear itself out trying to reconstruct such sublime ideals. Very naturally, we would search among the highest supernatural virtues and the most intimate mystical union with God. And other appreciations of these virtues of consummation that we find would also impel us to search even higher. For the very name of “consummation” Father Chaminade seems to have inspired himself by an exhortation of St. Bernard: “You have vowed not only all sanctity, but the perfection of all sanctity, and its highest consummation.” (S.F. II, 463a) The Founder saw in them “the consummation of the mystical life, or the life of the risen Christ, to which we must aspire” (S.F. II, 464a). And in the same letter which serves as text for this conference, he takes pains to forewarn his readers: “May the grandeur of these perspectives not astonish you; they are those of God” himself. His disciples echo these sublime appreciations: “There is nothing more heroic” said one of them, “nor more sublime, and it is the summit of perfection. How have I dared to explain to you what I do not understand myself, that of which I have barely the first notions?” (S.F., II, 465).

What are, then, these incomprehensibly sublime virtues? Here is the third enigma: they are humility, modesty, abnegation, renouncement of the world. Nothing more, and I assure you that the first time I saw them enumerated, I was really deceived. In effect, if one wished to judge a priori (to give a prior judgment), these four virtues of humility, modesty, self-abnegation, and renouncement of the world, seem to have the character of a beginning of spiritual life, rather than its consummation; above all of a consummation so sublime, that it truly merited the estimation that we saw it given by Father Chaminade and his disciples. How explain this contradiction?

There are also other difficulties, but the above suffice to show that there is much spadework to be done before we can say that we understand exactly what is meant by this system of spiritual life which we call the three kinds of virtues. Because it is really a system; a system, I believe, which is marvelously conceived, and which we should make relive if we wish to see the SM live up to the fullness of its grand mission.

We do not have time to trace even a broad outline of this system in this brief conference, but I propose to suggest a solution for each of the enigmas with which we have been amusing ourselves. In these three little explanations we can give an account, I believe, of the astonishing riches which await us here and elsewhere in the work of Father Chaminade if we take pains to avoid looking around us passively like the aforementioned tourists in their museum, but seek unceasingly the profound why of all we have received from our Venerated Founder. There has been already so much work accomplished along this line since the time of B. P. Simler, that we may be led to believe that there is nothing left to do, but everything seems to indicate that the task of the future is just as large, to say the least, as that of the past.

Before giving solutions to our enigmas, we must remove two evidently erroneous concepts. The first is the belief that Father Chaminade only sought in this system of virtues a practical, simple method to train his novices. This thesis cannot be upheld, and it would be easy to cite conclusive texts about this point. The three types of virtues pertain to our entire life, and not only to the years of formation.

The second error would be the belief that our historical perception of these virtues is definitive. Actually, the documents that we have seem to indicate clearly that the theory was in process of evolution in the mind of Father Chaminade. This point is easy to proves, and it is important for one who would wish to analyze the system to its very essence, because we do not know if Father Chaminade attained the term of this evolution. There may still be developments to make in the very elaboration of the theory.

Now, let us return to our three enigmas. First, if the work “of preparation was sufficient by itself to make great saints elsewhere,” why does it not suffice likewise in the Institute? To answer this question, it is necessary to establish the exact end of the work in question.

The SM is the incarnation, so to say, of an ideal—the most faithful imitation of Jesus Christ Son of God, become son of Mary for the salvation of men. In becoming members of this Society we consecrate ourselves totally to this ideal. In our entire life, there is not a single power of body or soul that should escape this total consecration. That is asking very much, and in wanting such a totality (of consecration), the Founder was obliged to supply us with powerful means. He found them.

In the vows of religion, and you know what force he wished to give these vows, he found the fundamental means. But the vows (as such), excepting Chastity—concern, above all, our exterior acts. If there were only that (think of the strict obligation of the vow of obedience—how rarely the vow is invoked), how many actions of our life would escape our consecration. So he added the insistence of the Spirit of the Vows, and behold the means of gathering together under our consecration even these acts (especially the interior ones) that ordinarily do not fall under matter of the vows.

But there are still many actions—by far the majority in an ordinary life—which are not fully voluntary and thus escape almost entirely even this much more extensive consecration of the “spirit of the vows.” Now, the virtues of preparation are precisely the way that Father Chaminade chose to consecrate even these ordinarily non-voluntary, and therefore non-consecrable, acts. It is simply a question of making them voluntary: Thus silence of the words is defined: “To speak only when one wills to,” and therefore the consecration becomes a possible thing: “to will it only when it is necessary.” The necessity, evidently, is when our ideal demands it.

So this ideal—objectively so universal—is assured from thenceforth of a universality almost so absolute in our interior as in our exterior. For the first time it even becomes possible to consecrate ourselves totally, as Father Chaminade desired it, to this ideal “so great, so magnificent, so universal.” The realization of this ideal has not yet begun, properly speaking, yet right at the beginning we are, so to say, at the summit; we are in proportion of working at it as we should. There is the proper meaning of the virtues of preparation “in the Institute.” “Elsewhere,” for example, among the desert Fathers, this work of domination over one’s faculties, of self-mastery, truly made great saints, but in the Institute this is only a preparation—a preparation for the imitation of Jesus Christ become son of Mary for the salvation of men.

Let us attack the second of our enigmas: the virtues of purification are proposed only to the predestined. I shall proceed a bit faster here because it is easy to supply the details, once the solution is suggested. Even after we have acquired the virtues of preparation—that is, a real and totally effective consecration to our ideal—certain things in our corrupt natures can betray us even to the point of becoming unfaithful. The virtues of purification put us in condition to uproot these causes of our faults. What are these causes? They are within us and are these: hesitations, our inclination to evil, our weakness. One does not have to be very conversant with ascetical literature to be astonished that the four traditional causes are here reduced to three. The ordinary enumeration is: malice, ignorance, concupiscence, weakness. One can easily recognize the last three in the system of Father Chaminade, but where is the first—malice? The explanation is very simple: the virtues of purification are proposed to the predestined, that is, to those who have no malice, properly speaking, because their will is totally consecrated to the ideal of which we have already spoken.