Chapter I.
A treatise on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, explaining why the story of Saint Joseph follows them. He is presented as the epitome of chastity; the text also briefly discusses the love of his parents, the envy of his brothers towards him, and the forgetting of the wrongs he suffered.
The lives of the saints are a guide for others to live by. And so we more fully grasp the orderly sequence of the Scriptures; so that as we read about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the other righteous ones, we may follow in their footsteps, like a path of innocence that has been opened to us by their virtue. And as I have often reflected on them, today the story of Saint Joseph comes to mind. In him, many virtues were present, but especially notable was his chastity. It is therefore just that when you learn from Abraham the fervent devotion of faith, from Isaac the sincere purity of mind, from Jacob the singular patience of the soul and labor; from that generalization of virtues, you direct your mind to the very types of disciplines. For although those virtues are more diffuse, these are more explicit and more readily penetrate the mind in proportion as they are more circumscribed and determined.
2. Therefore, let Saint Joseph be proposed to us as a mirror of chastity. For in his manners, in his actions, purity shines forth, and a certain radiance of grace accompanies his chastity. Hence he was loved more by his parents than the other children. But this matter was a cause for envy, because it could not be passed over in silence.
3. Therefore, from here the argument of the whole history proceeded; at the same time, so that we may know that a perfect man does not move to seek revenge for the injury of pain, nor does he repay evil for evil. Hence David says: If I have repaid those who do evil to me (Psalm 7:5). But what would be the reason that Joseph deserved to be preferred over the others, if he either harmed those who harmed him or loved those who loved him? For many people do this. But that is remarkable, if you love your enemy, which the Savior teaches (Matthew 5:44). Therefore, by right, he is to be admired, who did this before the Gospel; that when injured, he would pardon, when tempted, he would forgive, when betrayed, he would not retaliate, but instead repay with kindness for insult; which all of us have learned after the Gospel, but cannot preserve.
4. Let us therefore learn from the envy of the saints; so that we may imitate their patience: and let us understand that they were not superior by nature, but by observation; not ignorant of vices, but corrected them. And if envy has even affected the saints, how much more careful should we be not to inflame sinners?