Discourses on Various Occasions
By , late Superior of the Barefooted Carmelites of Paris, and Preacher of the Conferences of Notre Dame. Translated by LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON. With a Biographical Sketch. New York : G. P. Putnam and Son.
JUDGING Father Hyacinthe by these efforts, one finds him a man by no means so great as he appears in the act which has lately caught the attention of mankind. We do not think the reader will be struck by the clearness, the force, or the eloquence of his style ; these traits, which he has in degree, seem to have been exaggerated in the enthusiasm and affection of his hearers ; as happens with the merits of most preachers. As to Father Hyacinthe’s liberality, it is the charity, the toleration, which has been felt by many good men of his church for those they consider in error; but it means nothing like Protestantism, and does not allow for anything but an ecclesiastical Christianity. The morality he preaches is very pure and sweet, and you feel the thorough excellence of a warm-hearted, poeticalminded man in all he says. But the value of his life is not in what he has said, but in what he has done; and his future course alone can fix this value. At present he has for conscience’ sake disobeyed the orders of the Carmelite general, and is excommunicated. The logical conclusion of this is entire separation from the Roman Church, and union with the Christians who believe that conscience is the church in every soul. But Father Hyacinthe has not as yet followed his act to a logical conclusion ; he has simply performed an act of magnanimous defiance. We must all wait; but in the mean time we can all honor him, perhaps not as a very profound or acute mind, but as a pure and courageous spirit, which has so far been true to itself.
The sermons here are almost entirely upon secular topics, and are rather more remarkable for political than religious liberality, for they distinctly pronounce against the personal government and military spirit of Cæsarism. The biographical sketch is slight, but interesting.