An Apology for the Religious Orders

AGAINST THOSE WHO ATTACK THE RELIGIOUS STATE AND PROFESSION

THE AUTHOR EXPLAINS HIS INTENTION IN UNDERTAKING THIS WORK

“Lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken malicious counsel against thy people, and have consulted against thy Saints. They have said: ‘Come, and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation; and let the name of Israel be remembered no more’” (Ps. Ixxxii.).

Almighty God, the Lover of mankind, makes use of us, as St. Augustine says (Book I, De doctrina Christiana), both for the sake of His own goodness, and for our advantage. He makes use of us for His own goodness, that man may glorify Him. “Every one that calleth upon My name, I have created him for My glory” (Isa. xliii. 3). He, likewise, makes use of us for our own advantage, in order that He may give salvation to all. “Who will have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. ii. 4). At the birth of Our Lord, an angel proclaimed this harmony between God and man, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will” (St. Luke ii. 14).