Where did St. Bernard say that incontinence in ecclesiastics is one of the greatest persecutions the Church could suffer?
score:2
St. Alphonsus bases his statement upon what St. Bernard wrote in sermon 33 of his 86 Sermons on the Song of Solomon p. 224, where he commentates on Isaias 38:17 ("Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter"). St. Alphonsus writes this right after what you quoted:
On the words of Ezechias [sic], "Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter" ("Ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima") [Is. 38:17], says the holy Doctor [St. Bernard],
[Grimm's 🇬🇧 transl. of St. Alphonsus's 🇮🇹 transl. of the 🇻🇦:]
the Church has suffered much from the sword of the tyrant and from the infection of heresy, but she suffers still more from the incontinence of the unchaste ecclesiastic, who by his scandals drags the bowels out of his own mother.
St. Bernard's original 🇻🇦 in the 🇮🇹 original of St. Alphonsus:
Amara prius in nece martyrum, amarior in conflictu haereticorum, amarissima in luxuria ecclesiasticorum ["lust of clerics"]. Pax est, et non est pax: pax a paganis, pax ab haereticis, et non pax a filiis; filii propriam matrem eviscerant.
[The 🇻🇦 in the 🇬🇧 transl. of St. Alphonsus is a bit different:]
Amara prius in nece Martyrum, amarior in conflictu hæreticorum, amarissima in moribus domesticorum ["domestic morals"]. Pax est, et non est pax: pax a paganis, pax ab hæreticis, sed non profecto a filiis.
St. Alphonsus's 🇮🇹 transl. is somewhat free-flowing:
La chiesa, dice, patì già grande amarezza dai tiranni che uccisero tanti martiri; maggiore amarezza patì poi dagli eretici che infettarono tanti suoi sudditi; ma la più grande amarezza e persecuzione è quella che ora patisce dagli stessi suoi figli, che sono gli ecclesiastici disonesti, i quali co' loro scandali cavan le viscere ad essa lor propria madre.
[DeepL transl.:]
The church, he says, already suffered great bitterness from the tyrants who killed so many martyrs; greater bitterness did she then suffer from the heretics who infected so many of her subjects; but the greatest bitterness and persecution is that which she now suffers from her own children, who are the dishonest ecclesiastics, who with their scandals gouge out the bowels of their own mother.
Eales's 🇬🇧 transl. of St. Bernard:
It was bitter at first in the death of the martyrs; more bitter afterwards in the conflict with heretics; but most bitter of all now in the [evil] lives of her members. […] Peace it is, and yet it is not peace. There is peace from heathens, and from heretics; but not from her own sons.
Thus it seems there are a two different MSS of St. Bernard with slight variations between them. The MS St. Alphonsus used is less "sanitized".
More post
- 📝 Did Jonah think that God exists only in Israel?
- 📝 How does Jesus show love by suffering?
- 📝 How do trinity-believers explain these verses from John 17?
- 📝 Is there extra-biblical evidence for the Exodus?
- 📝 Should non-believers be allowed in church?
- 📝 What was Calvin's view of capital punishment?
- 📝 Why can't we boil down the three fonts of Catholic ethics to two?
- 📝 Does Christianity claim itself to be the final revelation from God?
- 📝 Have any 20th/21st century Ecclesiologists developed a framework/models for describing/categorising the functions of the visible church?
- 📝 According to Young Earth Creationism, how did carnivores come into existence?
- 📝 What does Romans 13:13-14 mean by "behave decently, as in the daytime"?
- 📝 How do Swedenborgians understand Jesus' words on marriage in the resurrection in Matthew 22:30?
- 📝 What are the major Christian Festivals
- 📝 Did Martin Luther take exception to the gospels in any way?
- 📝 According to Pentecostalism, was the Pope biblically justified in saying that an unbelieving man is in heaven?
- 📝 What is the difference between classical and revised dispensationalism?
- 📝 How Christians are expected to accommodate or view the existence and presence of other religions vis a vis Christianity?
- 📝 Do Proverbs and Ecclesiastes have polar opposite views of wisdom?
- 📝 How common is intinction in the Catholic Church?
- 📝 How should the Mass be explained to a first time visitor?
- 📝 Who Said: "God Did Not Become Man in Order for Man to Become a Theologian''?
- 📝 What is the Roman Catholic view on Matthew 23:9?
- 📝 Are Matthew, Mark and Luke the same book in different version?
- 📝 In the bible, who saw the light and was blinded?
- 📝 Is there a biblical basis for Satanists and/or Pagans giving sacrifice as depicted in pop culture and modern media?
- 📝 What does it mean that John's Gospel does not have an account of the institution of the Eucharist?
- 📝 From a Catholic perspective, did Adam's body undergo any change after the fall?
- 📝 How was the 70 weeks of Daniel understood over the ages?
- 📝 What is the archaeological evidence for Sodom and Gomorrah?
- 📝 Is it possible (intellectually honest) to 'contextualise' the 'anti-divorce' passages, but not the 'anti-h*m*sexual' ones?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Where did St. Bernard say that incontinence in ecclesiastics is one of the greatest persecutions the Church could suffer?
- 📝 Why did the people believe that no one would know where the Christ came from?
- 📝 Where did Augustine say that the same fire that tortures the damned purifies the elect?
- 📝 Where did Aquinas say that the "greatest penalty of sin is the loss of the sense of sin"?
- 📝 Why did so many early church fathers say that sex was a consequence of the Fall?
- 📝 Where did the notion that Adam and Eve ate an APPLE come from?
- 📝 What did Jonathan Edwards have to say about the fact that he owned slaves?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic tradition that Mary did not have pain giving birth to Jesus come from?
- 📝 Why did Jesus say that "Mary has chosen the better part"?
- 📝 Where did the belief that Saul fell from a horse come from?
- 📝 Where did the idea that Cherubs were baby Angels originate?
- 📝 Why did Ezekiel say that God gave laws to the people that were not good?
- 📝 Where and/or when did the tradition that Methuselah died seven days before the Flood (for a period of mourning) originate?
- 📝 Why did Eve say that "touching" the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil would kill you?
- 📝 When and where did Pope Paul VI say the "Mass is the most perfect form of prayer"?
- 📝 Where does the Scripture say that you need to be in the state of Divine Grace in order to go to Heaven?
- 📝 Where did the claim that "the Bible we have today is unreliable because of retranslation" come from?
- 📝 Where did St. Jerome say this quote about the manger of the nativity?
- 📝 What did the early Church Fathers (pre-Nicea A.D. 325) have to say about faith, baptism and if it is the act of baptism that saves?
- 📝 Where did the idea that Catholics can have a break from their Lenten discipline on Sunday originate?
- 📝 What things did John the Baptist say that the elders and priests did not believe?
- 📝 Did Pope Francis say that the Gospel is radical?
- 📝 Where did Augustine say "It is certain that few are saved"?
- 📝 Why did Clement of Alexandria say that the name of Jesus, Iesous, has a Greek origin, not a Hebrew one?
- 📝 Why did Joseph and Mary take one day's time to realize that Jesus had been left behind at the Temple?
- 📝 Where in the Bible does it say that God is creating a new earth?
- 📝 Where does Augustine say that the rapture of the saved soul will "flow over" into the glorified body?
- 📝 In John 1:45–51, did Jesus prophesy that Nathanael was one of the 144,000 Jews in Revelation 7 and 14?
- 📝 Where did Martin Luther say that he placed "his Christ higher than any dogma or council"?
- 📝 Where in the Bible does it say that sacrifice can only be done on the temple?