If you perceive in any of your companions this liberty of sight of which I speak, prudently admonish her of it, to the end that a speedy correction may hinder her from going on in what she had begun. But if after the admonishment she does the same again, though on another day, whosoever finds it out must not fail to make it known and declare the person as one wounded, that she may be healed. The fault, however, must first be made evident to a second or third person, that she may be convicted by the testimony of two or three witnesses and corrected with due severity.
This instruction agrees with the counsel both of the Apostle and of the Gospel. St Paul says : “Brethren, and if a man be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness” (Gal. vi. i). And our Saviour says : ” But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the
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mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand” (Matt, xviii. 15, 16).
Extreme care must be taken in examining and correcting faults, because if we do not amend them now we shall suffer loss in the future, according to the Apostle’s words : ” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. x. 31). It is then far better to correct one’s life now than to run the risk of perishing at the end.
The one who is glad to be corrected is truly wise. Wherefore it is written : ” Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee ” (Prov. ix. 8). The foolish man is angered when corrected. And what does the Apostle say to his disciple ? ” Preach the word ; be instant in season, out of season ” (2 Tim. iv. 2).
The preaching ” in season ” is to be understood as referring to those that willingly listen to the words of instruction, whilst the expression “out of season ” refers to them that hear it only against their will. Similarly those that correct the faults of others must sometimes be importunate, and speak “out of season.” But this importunity arises not from anger but charity. And it often occurs that the person who resents a reprimand, later on comes to see with how much charity the correction was made, and then she studies to profit by the admonition and amend her conduct.
Nor ought you to think it wrong when you make known such faults; for truly you would not be blameless yourselves if, by your silence, you permitted your sister to be lost, whom
you might have corrected by discovering her fault. For if one of your sisters had a wound in her body which she would willingly keep secret fearing an operation, would it not be cruelty in you to conceal it, and an act of charity to make it known? With how much more reason, then, ought you to manifest her ill - behaviour, lest corruption enter her heart !
If it would be cruel to keep back the knowledge of a sister’s bodily ailment, it would be much more so not to point out a wound that exists in the soul. Indeed to conceal it would be to become answerable for the death of that soul, since by silence it was allowed to perish. Then both would be condemned, one for the commission of the sin, the other for passing it over in silence. Again, if it is cruelty not to disclose a fault, on the other hand it is an act of mercy not to allow it to remain hidden. And no greater act of mercy can be performed than to restore life to one in danger of perishing. Great will be the reward that is earned by such a helper from the Almighty who has said : ” Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. v. 7).
St James says : ” He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (St James v. 20).
Now the rule that should be observed in disclosing faults is laid down in the next portion of the rule : —
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But before it be made known to others who are to convict her, in case she denies the fault, it should first be declared to the superior, when the person admonished has neglected to amend, that so, by a secret correction, she may be reformed and the fault kept from the knowledge of others.
When a fault has been committed in secret, it is to be corrected by any who may come to the knowledge of it. Then if the guilty one should neglect the admonition, the fault is to be declared to the superior, that she may privately correct the sister, so that if the wrong can be remedied in private it may not be made known to all. If then the sister denies the charge, witnesses should be called, and being convicted by them, she should be more severely punished, as is laid down in the following words of the rule: —
If she denies the accusation, then let witnesses be brought that she may be convicted by two or three. The charge being proved against her, she must undergo the corrective penalty according to the judgment of the superior, or priest, or bishop to whom it belongs to decide.
If one will not be corrected by easy chastisement she must be more severely punished — as it is necessary to have recourse to a painful operation when milder treatment does not suffice to cure a disease. A transgressor must be reprimanded publicly, if she refuses to be corrected
tn private — so that the wound that cannot be healed by simpler means must be treated by the more painful method of disclosure.
But public offences are not to be dealt with in a private way. Open defaulters must be rebuked openly, that whilst they are cured by public censure, others, that might imitate this bad example, may be corrected at the same time. The offender that has refused secret admonition, being openly convicted, shall submit to the appointed punishment.
If she refuses to submit, or will not leave of her own accord, she shall be expelled from the convent. Nor is this cruelty, but charity, lest the contagion should infect and ruin many.
It is preferable that one be condemned for the safety of many than that many live in danger through the bad influence of one. Hence our Lord says in the Gospel : ” If thy right eye scandalise thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand scandalise thee, cut it off and cast it from thee ” (St Matt. v. 29, 30). By the right eye or right hand we may understand any friend intimately connected with our life. For in the needs of life the eye is of great service, even as the hand that administers to us. Any one, therefore, that contributes to our spiritual welfare is as the right eye
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or right hand. A friend that can assist us to this degree must yet be severed from the body, that is, from the community, if at the same time she be an occasion of scandal to others in the service of God. For it is better to forego the pleasant or useful company of one person, than through that one to expose the whole body to danger.
And this which I have said concerning correction of fixing the eyes is to be faithfully and diligently observed in detecting, forbidding, declaring, convicting, and punishing other offences, with love of the persons and detestation of the offences.
So the same Holy Doctor, St Augustine, has said in another place : We must so love men that we have no consideration for their errors. It is one matter to love them and another to hate their errors.
There may be found some who rebuke the failings of their neighbours rather in the bitterness of hatred than out of charity, and not so much with a view to correct them as to give vent to the bad feeling they have in their hearts. This is certainly not according to God’s will, as it is prompted by revenge rather than by a love of discipline. Let us all beware that we do not reprimand our sisters in anger or rancour, but always in mildness and chanty. And if at times, when the fault is serious, we cannot avoid harshness in our words, let gentleness always remain in our hearts, according as the Apostle commands :
” You that are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness ” ; and he adds this good reason : “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. vi. i). Look then into yourself as well, when you have to correct another and acknowledge that you also are a sinner and subject to frailty, lest you also be grievously tempted, if your admonition proceeds more from irritation than from compassion. Let the correction be prompted by love for the persons and hatred of all vices. And let this love of the neighbour and hatred of all that is wrong always be maintained, so that we may be severe with error but at the same time have a tender compassion for the weakness of human nature.
But if any one should have gone so far in evil as to receive letters or little presents from any one in secret, provided she confess it of her own accord, let her be spared, and prayer made for her.
A sister who receives anything in secret is considered to have gone far in evil, because this is an infringement of an important rule of our state of life. One may well be thought to incur a serious danger who wilfully breaks a rule so universally binding throughout the religious state. If the holy prophet Eliseus had not considered it a grievous fault on the part of his disciple, Giezi, to take a reward secretly from Naaman, the Syrian, he would not have brought upon him the dreadful infliction of leprosy. The example
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shows us that one who commits a like offence amongst us deserves severe punishment. Nevertheless, if a sister should offend in this manner and acknowledge her fall of her own accord, she is to be spared, and prayer is to be made for her. For the sin at once becomes less serious when it is disclosed by voluntary and humble confession. So David exclaims : ” I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin ” (Ps. xxxi. 5).
But if she be taken in the fault and convicted, then shall she be severely punished, according to the judgment of the superior, or priest, or bishop.
The greater the fault, the heavier must be the penalty, and it must be regarded as a grievous matter to hide the wrong that has been done. St Jerome has these words concerning the secret reception of letters and small presents : — ” Chaste and holy love is not increased by the exchange of letters, kerchiefs, and other little keepsakes ; whoever finds pleasure in such things is seduced by vanity, and the more delight a soul takes in these lower satisfactions, so much the more is it estranged from those of a nobler kind.”
Very serious evils may be occasioned by such an irregularity. The religious who is careful to shun all sins does not merely aim at avoiding things that are decidedly bad in themselves, but
everything besides that would give occasion to any wrong action, or to even a suspicion. And we, whom it behoves to live holily and to give good example to others, must shun all that can bring the slightest suspicion upon us.
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