Certainly, beloved, we too are human, we also carry weaknesses. You disturbed us yesterday, and in our own disturbance, we feared more for you, lest you sadden the Spirit of God within us, through whom we serve you. How do you think, brothers, that I, now standing and about to speak to you, could be disturbed, considering - as I have already mentioned - how obedient you usually are and how disobedient you became in our presence, as if we teach disobedience, as if we do not hold your reins within our measure, to lead you to the Lord? And yet, beloved - which you have heard from Him, and it is true - however great our care is for you or about you, can it be greater than His who serves you especially, who presides in such a way that he is subject? We seem to preside from a higher place: but so great is the burden of concern and care that it makes us under your feet. Finally, tread upon us and live. What is it, my brothers, what is any virtue in a servant of God without obedience? What then is obedience? You love charity: its daughter is obedience, the daughter of charity. But charity cannot be sterile. Let no one deceive you, let no one say: "I do not have obedience, but I have charity." You absolutely do not have charity. Wherever this mother is, she bears children. If she is there, she has given birth; if she has not given birth, she is not there. The root is hidden, brothers, the fruit is visible. I do not believe it is clinging to the soil unless I see what hangs on the branch. Do you have charity? Show me its fruit: let me see obedience, let me rejoice in obedience, let me embrace the offspring, to recognize the mother.
You will not be obedient if, believing in man, you scorn God.
Behold how great goods seem to be had even by the deceitful. Yesterday we heard the praises of a true martyr: what torments he endured, how immense, how many, how numerous! If charity is lacking, it is madness. Wherefore do we praise, wherefore do we proclaim, wherefore do we rejoice together, if not because we see in what Church, for what faith, what he resisted to the commanding king? Not indeed because he resisted the one commanding, but because it is a sin to obey in what the one commanding orders, for that is not even to be called obedience where something destructive and sacrilegious is commanded. For just as there is no faith when something false is believed, so there is no obedience where something useless is commanded. For how could I call obedient one who believes man and despises God? Authorities are established in this world, and above all authorities is divine power. You would not be obedient if by obeying perhaps you as a servant despised your lord for your father. I say this: if perhaps you were a servant, and your father and your fellow servant commanded you differently from what your lord had ordered, and you obeyed rather your father than your lord, would I not call you disobedient and a subverter of order? He, indeed, should be listened to more who has greater power, he who has legitimate authority. Therefore, I would not call you obedient if you obeyed the curator against the proconsul, the proconsul against the emperor; thus I do not call obedient one who obeys the emperor against God.
Martyr Vincent obeying God emerged as a victor.
Whence then obedient, whence holy, whence the acquirer of the true crown, Vincent, whence the victor of so many passions and congruous to his name? Whence? See who was commanding, to whom he was commanding, what he was commanding. The emperor commanded, he commanded a Christian, he commanded that he offer incense to idols. If you consider the rank of the commander, the emperor commanded a provincial. "A certain place of obedience is given, when I hear who commanded, to whom he commanded." But wait, listen to what he commanded: to offer incense to idols. "Who does not offer incense to idols, let him be punished." Now the provincial obeys, if a higher power orders nothing against it. But raise your ear, hear two voices: hear one from the tribunal, hear another from heaven. What did you hear from the tribunal? "Who has not sacrificed to the gods, let him be punished." What from the heavens? "Sacrificing to the gods, he shall be uprooted." Here let your obedience be tested, martyr. Discern the voices, distinguish the powers. See him who commands, rather fear Him who prohibits. This is the crown of martyrdom, this is the triumph, with the devil conquered and trampled underfoot, whom the martyr feared when enticing, whom he despised when angry. He himself expressed this, just as those things were heard which were read, he expressed it with his own voices: when he who was raging seemed to wish to show mercy, then he seemed most of all to be avoided. For deceptive mercy harmed more than overt cruelty. In the roar of the angry, he did not fear the lion; in the blandishment of the merciful, he did not hide that he feared the dragon. For he himself is the lion and the dragon about whom it is said: "You will trample on the lion and the dragon."
The devil, lion, and dragon do not spare the believing people.
Therefore, let no one say, dearest brothers, let no one say—because anyone who says this deceives himself—that the Church does not now suffer persecution because the emperors are Catholic, because they order everything for the Church and are vigilant for its growth, being accountable to God for their empire. Let no one say the Church does not suffer persecution: it does not suffer from the lion, but the dragon does not sleep. Hear that lion, as Peter commemorates in the open passion of the saints and exhorts the martyrs to the triumph of victory: "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." For then the fearful threats and great cruelty of the Gentiles against the saints of God, then the oncoming force of contrary commands and the great raving of powers: the lion was roaring, but neither did the dragon cease. You have heard Peter exhorting against the lion, hear now Paul making you cautious against the dragon: "I have espoused you to one husband." For many wanted to be the husbands of one woman. Consider, however, brothers, consider what many husbands do to one woman. This makes her detest what should be thought upon, not uttered to cause horror. There were many men wanting to be the husband of one woman. But he, the friend of the bridegroom and zealous for the bridegroom, not for himself: "I have espoused you," he says, "to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest as the serpent seduced Eve, so also your minds should be corrupted from the chastity of God, which is in Christ." He feared her being corrupted not by the savageness of the lion, but by the blandishment of the dragon. Peter advised you to neither fear the lion for God's sake, Paul advises you to be vigilant against the dragon for God's sake, and in God, to trample on both the lion and the dragon.
True faith teaches that the saints must die for Christian doctrine.
For you wish to know what kind of dragon this is, how to avoid his snares, how great is the cunning of the enemy? Behold, already for nearly six thousand years, in the temptations of the saints, having been trained, he has made many false gods against the one true God. But one Son of God came, foretold by his preceding heralds; the Son of God came, dissolved the works of the devil like the binding of that foal, taught by word, confirmed by example; showed that the one true God should be worshiped, that He should be adored, not angels in His place, since even angels, because they love God, because love especially reigns in them, want God to be loved with them, not themselves instead of God. When He thus [the Christian doctrine] had taught, He taught this: it is necessary for the saints to die, if need be, for this doctrine. For what doctrine? One that has love from a pure heart and a good conscience and genuine faith. For this He taught the saints of God to die and commended them to the Church to be venerated. How to be venerated? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His holy ones. Hence, the death of Peter is precious, hence the death of Paul is precious, hence the death of Vincent is precious, hence the death of Cyprian is precious. Why precious? From pure love and a good conscience and genuine faith. That serpent saw this, that ancient serpent saw that martyrs are honored, temples are deserted: with that cunning and venomous vigilance against us, because he could not implant false gods among Christians, he made false martyrs. But oh you, Catholic offspring, compare with us for a little while these false martyrs with the true martyrs, and with pious faith distinguish what the devil tries to deceitfully and venomously confuse.
"It is not punishment that crowns martyrs, but cause."
He wants to obscure the distinction between true and false martyrs for us, he wants to extinguish the eye of the heart so that we do not discern these things; he wanted to counter them with a similar appearance, but let us heed the apostle speaking against the devil about certain people: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. What is the power of godliness? Charity. It is that very mother of obedience. Therefore, observe the appearance with which the devil tries to join false martyrs to true martyrs. "Behold," he says, "they also endure persecution." Still, O enemy, you still confuse. Persecution, you say, they endure. Furthermore, oppose robbers, murderers, parricides, adulterers, poisoners: do not all these also endure persecution? Did not my Lord foresee you and by foreseeing warn me—whom I want and yours, whether you will or not, because he is also mine even if I had been unwilling, but he is my Lord to my benefit, because I want, to my detriment, if I had not wanted—did not that ancient enemy foresee you when he was encouraging his own disciples towards the glory of suffering: Blessed, he says, are they who endure persecution for righteousness’ sake. Against all your poisons, against your polyglot audacity, a single word has prevailed: for righteousness’ sake. Because of this word, murderers endure persecution and are not martyrs; adulterers endure and are not martyrs. You now show your martyrs: you boast that they suffer, I inquire why they suffer. You praise the punishment, I examine the cause. The cause, I say, I examine, I seek the cause. Tell me why he suffers whom you proclaim suffers. For righteousness? Prove this: for this is the cause of martyrs. It is not the punishment that crowns martyrs, but the cause.
True doctrine is recommended in Psalm 42, 1.
O enemy and cunning deceiver, against your false martyrs the true martyrs cried out in the psalm: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an ungodly nation. Judge me, he said, and distinguish my cause. See, beloved, how much he omitted: he wished his cause to be distinguished. For the cause is distinguished. The true martyr did not say: "Distinguish my fasts," for they also fast; he did not say: "Distinguish my works which I do around the poor," for they also do these; he did not say: "Distinguish my baptism," for they also have the same; he did not say: "Distinguish my creed," for they also confess the same; in all things he found himself similar, he prayed only that his cause be distinguished. Distinguish my cause. I fast, and he fasts. But why me, why him? I for Christ. "But I also," he says, "for Christ." Indeed, for Christ? If for Christ, surely also for the words of Christ; if against the words of Christ, assuredly against Christ. "And what," he says, "of Christ, against which I suffer?" Do you thus rage in false suffering, that your heart has fallen away from true preaching? Look to the very common Lord, whom you confess with me, and yet do not believe.
In the Gospels, Christ and the Church, his bride, are shown together.
See if Christ did not want to show both Himself and His Church, so that those invited to the wedding and clothed in the wedding garment would not err in either the groom or the bride. How did the groom show himself? It was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise on the third day. I recognize the groom: this is what the prophets said, this is what those servants who were sent before to invite to the wedding said. It was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise on the third day. He showed Himself to them in this way, demonstrating to the doubters what was fulfilled in Him according to the prophets. What about the bride? Did He remain silent? Immediately, He showed her as well. For He saw that she, consequently, was also desired. It was necessary, He said, for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. Behold, I see the groom, I recognize him. What about the bride? And repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Recognize this Church expressed from the mouth of Christ, foretold by the proclamation of the prophets; if you are a martyr, hold this, in this and for this shed your blood, give what was granted to you beforehand. Listen to the apostle John: Therefore, he says, Christ laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. Awake: for the brothers, not against the brothers. What benefit is there if you confess the groom, if you honor the household head, and his spouse, I do not say neglect, but pursue with false accusations? You, man, having a wife whom you did not redeem with your own blood, nevertheless love her so that if anyone served you, watched over your house daily, prostrated at your feet, praised you in all ways, never and nowhere kept silent about your praises, but said one crime about your wife, all that he had served would be in vain.
The confessions of true and false martyrs are compared.
Therefore, let the confessions of true and false martyrs be brought forward and compared. Let us place before our eyes what we witnessed yesterday. For we saw a most delightful spectacle: a martyr struggling against a wicked persecutor, never yielding in true faith in any punishment, Vincent triumphing everywhere. We saw, we participated. That reading spoke with our heart: we were delighted. That serpent, jealous of the martyrs, that viper which Vincent was wary of in its flattery, since it could not accuse that suffering, incited a rebellion among us. Let those who offered their tongues to its service recognize this and grieve. For what did those voices mean: "Say the Mass," "say the Mass, say the Mass," except to prevent that martyr from being praised a little longer? Therefore, let the confessions of true and false martyrs be compared. You say you are a martyr because you resist authority. What authority commands you? Behold, I hear what was commanded of true martyrs, and let me hear what is commanded of you. I see how gloriously they refused because I see what they refused; show me what you refuse: let me compare your voices, let me see what to imitate, what to follow. "Offer incense to the gods." "I refuse." We heard the glorious voice of the true martyr, let us also hear from the other side: "Reconcile with your brother." O abominable voice, and one not only worthy of condemnation by the supreme God but also by human authorities! "Reconcile with your brother." "I refuse." Certainly, you suffer against Christ.
The sower of discord, the devil.
Open the Gospel, read: If you offer your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. If, he says, you remember that your brother has something against you. What does it mean "has something against you"? You have offended him, you have acted unjustly against him. Go be reconciled to your brother: from the reconciled I receive the gift. Why do you offer a gift at the altar of God when in your heart is the seat of the devil? Who sowed discord there? Who planted it? Who ultimately inhabits it? Is it not he who is always the sower of discords, the author of dissensions, the origin of quarrels? If Christ said this about two people, concerning this he injected so much care, so much fear, he demands concord so, as if saying: "You offer one thing, I indicate another. I accept what you offered, if you bring what I indicated," if this in two people, how much more in two peoples? If having such a cause against one person is dangerous and destructive, how much more against the world, how much more against the entire bride of Christ, spread among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem?
Donatus's followers denounced Caecilianus to the emperor.
Do you perhaps have a case against me? For the Lord says this: If you remember that your brother has something against you. You will then say to me: "Your brother, he says, has something against you, I have something against you, for you have nothing against me." Let us then inquire: if it is found in me, I will correct it; if it is found in you, you correct it. Explain to me the case you have against me, I will quickly state the one I have against you. I have this against you, which my Lord has against you. You speak accusations against His bride, and His bride is the world in His holy and faithful ones, against whom you bring charges. Have you known anything, or have you judged? In what tribunal did you sit, when the world stood before you to be heard? You do not know your neighbor’s case: certainly, how did you judge the world’s case? I read the records, I show who the traitors were, I read that those who accused Caecilian, the innocent one, confessed their own crimes, I read that your elders first brought the case of Caecilian, bishop of this city, to Emperor Constantine in the public archives: nevertheless, I do not impute to you the crimes of your elders. All acts are in my favor, and I do not charge you with others’ crimes. But you produce nothing to at least convict my elders, and accuse me who was born much later. "If then," he says, "you do not impute to me the deeds of my elders, why do you impute to me your deeds?" What are my deeds? "Because you are not with me." And what harm to you because I am not with you? Did I not say that I have a case against you, which my Lord has against you? Listen to Him speaking: He who is not with me is against me.
Conclusion of the sermon.
Therefore, beloved, as much as we could, and even beyond what perhaps we could, compelled by your eagerness to recall yesterday's sorrow, we have been more talkative than perhaps the weakness of standing, either ours or yours, required. But this I especially admonish and to this I rather conclude the speech, that, since I mentioned the Lord's saying not to be heedlessly heard: If you offer your gift at the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother, let our hearts be reconciled to one another. First and foremost, do not think that either yesterday or at any time your bishop is angry with you out of hatred but out of love: what is due to you for Christ is never removed from his heart. Let yesterday's clouds clear up; not only the charity, which never departed, but also the former joy should be restored, so that we may be equally concerned, as we have exhorted you in Christ, to serve the weak for usefulness, not for harmful will. For, beloved, because we must serve the weak, when he perhaps asks for food or when he refuses food, that he be forced to take it with annoyance and anxiety or some importunity lest he die, because thus it is served to the weak, therefore it is not given to him, even if he asks for poison. Do not, therefore, become accustomed to the great evil of disobedience. Nor should anyone again say: "What then? Did we ask for poison because we wanted to move the pulpit from place to place?" Disobedience is poison, it first kills a man. Surely, brothers, do we blame this because you asked? Truly we speak to your charity because even if you had asked for a somewhat longer time, still asking you could not displease us, as you did displeasing in being angry and saying: "Let the masses be held." This is what we wish you to grieve. When you ask, if it seems fitting, it is granted to you; if it does not seem fitting, turn from the request to obedience; however, if you wish to break out into anger, into reproach, into lashing out at those who serve you in Christ with such great anxiety, now this is poison, if not death itself. Do not, brothers, we beg you, we beseech you; distinguish the church of God from theaters. Here all those things which are done wrongly in theaters are usually punished, usually healed, usually led to confession and penance, not introduced here. May God avert rising up, roaring, dominating here both from your hearts and from our grief, and may we always rejoice in your obedience.