1. Introduction
  2. The Founder's spirit of mortification
  3. The Bishop and the Superior General
  4. Mortification in the Congregation
  5. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

“Most wish to go to heaven by a road other than that of abnegation, renunciation, forgetfulness of self”. [1]

Saint Eugene de Mazenod, founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, had the soul of an apostle. For himself and his colleagues, his original insight was to model themselves on Jesus and the Apostles who established the Kingdom of God through the cross and all the sacrifice that entailed. That is why, in addition to what he wrote in the Preface, the Founder energetically described the way he wanted his sons to walk. “Gospel workers must also hold Christian mortification in high esteem if they want their work to produce abundant fruit. As a result, all members of the Society will devote themselves mainly to interior mortification, to denying their self-will in everything and in imitation of the Apostles, striving to embrace with joy the sufferings, scorn and humiliations of Jesus Christ”. [2]

The Founder, like all individuals consecrated to Christ, understood that the cross is the law of all redemption. Christ himself did not consider that he was immune to this law. “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God”. [3]

Redemption won by Christ is far superior to salvation brought by the Old Covenant, not only in virtue of there being a different victim, but especially because of the loving will expressed by Christ at the inception of his offering. “And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ”. [4]

For himself, Saint Paul desired no other glory than that of the cross. “As for me, the only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world”. [5]

The reason why those who follow him also embrace the cross is that they are his members; their cross is a continuation of his. The disciples of Christ offer him personally their own humanity so that he can continue to save the world by lavishing on it the infinite merits of his passion. Jesus suffered to establish the Reign of God, and all those who share in his work must likewise share in his sufferings. Evidently, the Christian does not presume to make any further addition to the specific redemptive value of the cross where nothing is lacking, but he does associate himself with the “trials” of Jesus, that is, with his apostolic sufferings. Really united to Christ in virtue of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, the Christian belongs bodily to Christ [6]. That is why the life of his body, his sufferings and even his death become mystically that of Christ who lives in him and achieves glory from it. [7]

The Founder’s spirit of mortification

In the mind of the Founder, mortification is a normal commitment flowing from ascetic love, the kind of love through which the soul becomes aware of being bathed in the light issuing from Christ crucified: “Jesus Christ’s interior life was one of continual martyrdom and a perpetual cross. Consequently, I will concentrate on conforming my existence to his through the practice of internal and external mortification”. [8]

Our regard for the cross of Christ will manifest itself by a resolve to carry it continually in our bodies, so to speak. The cross we will wear on our breasts will stand as a certificate of authenticity for our mission to various peoples. “These will also be inclined to show respect; and the missionaries themselves will be taught an ongoing lesson of humility, patience, charity and the other virtues they must practice in the course of their most holy and lofty ministry”. [9]

Beginning with his entry into the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in 1808, I would now like to briefly retrace our Founder’s spiritual journey with regard to the theme we are considering.

All of the Founder’s biographers and the other studies done on his life and his autobiographical writings show that Eugene de Mazenod allotted a special place to mortification of every aspect of his being. Before dealing with the testimony of the various texts, I would like to outline the motives that inspired the young seminarian, then the priest and even the venerable bishop to attach special importance to voluntarily accepting to suffer as a means of achieving a greater conformity with Christ the Savior.

His motives for doing penance can be attributed to different realities of the spiritual journey common to every Christian who desires to follow the Lord more closely.

The first consistently recurring motive found in his efforts to develop his interior life is that of making reparation for his sins. He often accuses himself of having spent too much time in the state of sin; that is why he must make reparation through penance. Later on, we will see how he arrived at the simple conclusion: if I am a disciple of Christ, like him, I must accept suffering. His second motive is that of making reparation for the offences Christians have committed against the holiness of God. From his very first years in the seminary, he started a group among the seminarians to make reparation for the offences committed by Christians at carnival time. [10] Another motive which often surfaces – especially during his years as a young priest – is that of assigning himself penances in order to recover and maintain on an ongoing basis the fervor of his union and devotion to the Lord.

Eugene de Mazenod plunged headlong into the apostolate. One day, however, he became aware that the penances he had taken on in addition to his exhausting apostolic activity had undermined his health, while his apostolic work in itself offered a broad field open for him to practice abnegation.

With regard to the apostolate, Father Joseph Morabito, in his book, Je serai prêtre, rich in spiritual theology, reveals another of the Founder’s profound motives for seeking self-purification. This motive is very closely associated with his own particular charism: “With his priesthood and his sins as sources, there sprang forth a sentiment of humility and a reaction which was personal to him: to put his priesthood at the service of the most humble children in the Master’s family”. [11]

Another observation remains to be made with regard to the Founder’s spirit of mortification, an observation which Father Morabito very astutely pointed out. Why did the Founder leave us such detailed personal notes in which he inveighs, sometimes mercilessly, against his own sins and unworthiness? The author responds: “When one has done something wrong, there are two ways of making reparation: the first is to consign one’s sin to the oblivion of forgetfulness if it is a public sin, and to cloak it in silence if it is a secret sin; the second is to acknowledge one’s sin, humble oneself, revealing oneself for who one truly is, for one’s humiliation and for the glory of God. The first course of action is characteristic of ordinary folk; the second is that of the saints”. [12]

In the light of these general observations which give us a sense of how the Founder understood penance, let us now examine his writings and his life to see the ardour with which he committed himself to following his convictions.

He defined his own condition as being that of sharing in the “ecclesiastical” state. In his mind, this put him in a very lofty position. On the one hand, it led him to disassociate himself from those members of the clergy who were not living up to the dignity their state demanded, and on the other hand, he carefully guarded against ill-considered haste in his own preparation. The following texts will reveal to us the burning enthusiasm which Eugene, the seminarian, would apply to his chosen path.

“God would not be happy with my being willing to neglect taking every precaution that might assure the success of my ministry. God’s grace has already got enough to contend with in my lack of virtue and multitudinous imperfections without my creating further difficulties of an exterior nature that I could easily erase. I want to disappear, I want people to forget Eugene so that there can be no risk of mistaking him for the priest. I want to take on the challenge only when I am armed at all points and morally sure of not compromising the honour of the faith entrusted to me”. [13]

While at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, the young Eugene sought to dispose his soul in the best possible way to please God. He would certainly repent of his sins, but that would be done with the greatest trust in God. The one who aspires to be a minister closer to God must strive to live a Christian life superior to that of the ordinary faithful.

“Absolute devotedness to the orders of the superiors, perfect submission to their least command, however puerile it seems to someone who has lived to be 26 in the fullest independence, even as regards piety”. [14]

A frank and truthful examination of his past life pressed him strongly to take on a life of penance to atone for his past sins and to bring himself up to the standards demanded by his new state in life. With his own hand, he drew up a list of the penances he was to do: to rise from bed at the waking call, to remain on his knees during meditation; never to take a second helping at meals; to fast on Fridays by omitting breakfast and eating little at the noon meal and supper. But he did not limit himself to corporal penances; there were spiritual penances as well: “[…] I will try above all to mortify my spirit, to stifle the disorderly desires of my heart, bring this will of mine into submission; I will do all I can to overcome my temperament […]” [15]

In the course of this retreat before his ordination to the priesthood, he deplored the falling off of his fervor. The solution he proposed was to vigorously renew his bodily mortifications because he was becoming aware that they were burdensome. Consequently, he concentrated his efforts on the strict observance of the rule: to rise earlier in the morning in order to get more things done; to reject anything that would distract him from his studies; to resume recitation of the rosary three times a week; to recite the Divine Office more slowly. [16]

From December 1 to December 21 of 1811, he made his retreat in immediate preparation for the priesthood. His meditation on the Prodigal Son led him to ask himself what he would have to do to satisfy the justice of God. Even if the Prodigal Son’s father does not demand any atonement upon his return, the Scriptures often speak of the necessity of penance to atone for sin. Adam and David did penance. All the saints were exemplary when it came to penance. Was he any less a sinner? Or did he enjoy a deeper understanding of the Savior’s teachings? He then listed the virtues he wanted to practice through penance. One of the main virtues listed was humility, not only humility before one’s superiors, but humility before inferiors as well. Another area of mortification was the struggle against fastidiousness and what he termed sensuality, but which was probably a concern for comfort. To oppose these tendencies, his main recourse was mainly to bodily penance. [17]

As soon as he was ordained he drew up for himself a way to follow, since he had now attained the goal he so desired. At the end of December 1811, he established his program which he called “general resolution”: “General resolution to be wholly for God and for everyone, to flee the world and all it may offer as sops, etc., to seek only the cross of Jesus Christ and the penance due to my sins, to seize every opportunity that arises to mortify myself, trample nature under foot and deny it without letting up. As St. Peter says, I will not set my heart on any earthly thing: Obsecro vos tamquam advenas et peregrines abstinere vos a carnalibus desideriis [I urge you … while you are visitors and pilgrims to keep yourselves free from the selfish passions that attack the soul.] (1 Peter 2:11)”. [18]

In 1812 when he had been a priest for some time, he drew up a personal rule for himself in an attempt to more easily master his fervor. A section dealing with penance is not lacking: “To try to obtain that the Lord will hear my prayers, I will join to the most exact observance of his Law the practice of mortification in such a manner that it flows through all my actions, and into every circumstance of my life, reminding me that the whole life of Jesus my model was a perpetual cross and a continual martyrdom”. [19]

After a few years in the priesthood, Eugene examined himself on the lasting quality of his fervor. In the course of a retreat, he set down in writing suitable means for perseverance in this area: “If I want to progress as I ought this year, it is indispensable that I be stern with myself and let nothing sway me from the exact observance of my personal rule”. [20]

He imposes on himself a bodily penance proportionate to the exercise of piety that was omitted or badly executed; and if that is not enough, he imposes it upon himself by vow. From this set of exterior failings, he then goes on to a greater internal mastery of pride, vanity, self-love, “an acute tendency of speaking about the good I do” [21] and sensitivity of the heart. So then, his penance was not exclusively exterior, but interior as well. His manner of struggling interiorly against his defects is truly admirable. For example, in opposing envy, he commits himself to speak well of all those who may have stolen the spotlight from him and his accomplishments.

In 1814 during a retreat, he returns to the theme of mortification, especially interior mortification: “Work on the virtue of gentleness, on mortification in the use of my tongue when I am crossed, on humility, self-love […]” [22]

From this retreat we have various meditations on God, the four ends of man and the sacerdotal state. The idea which surfaces most often is that of his moral situation in the face of these great realities. The conclusion is always the same: God loved me and I was ungrateful. If I want to be like Jesus Christ in glory, I will have to be like him in his humiliations and sufferings, like Jesus on the cross. [23]

In the fourteenth meditation, he is struck by a truth in regard to God’s plan of salvation: “[…] Jesus Christ who is Eternal Wisdom having chosen humiliations and self-emptying to make reparation for his Father’s glory, it follows necessarily that this is the most suitable means to glorify God. [24]

It was his hope that this thought would prove continually useful in his life.

In the course of that same retreat, in the meditation on the suffering of Jesus Christ during the circumcision, the young priest confronts mortification in a systematic way. His director, to whom he owes obedience, will not permit him to punish his body as he would wish. His thirst for mortification causes him to think up other ways of keeping his body in check. It is at this point that his mortification becomes rather subtle. He goes from a mortification which is more exterior to one that is more interior. He wants to be more diligent in service, in the sacrifice of his comforts, in mortification of the eyes, speech and taste.

“But that is not all. Mortification of the mind and heart must not be forgotten. […] To continually stamp out those passions that would be reborn from their embers, to calm the first movements of a heart susceptible to a number of disordered affections, to combat especially that self-love, eternal enemy of our every action that it corrupts […]”. [25]

His retreat at Bonneveine in 1816 undoubtedly shows some progress. He has grown aware that the limited time he has allotted for sleep and meals has ruined his health. He believed that he was like the other saints: “The saints’ example seduced me, but it seems God in his goodness does not ask the same of me, as he seems to be warning me by a lessening of my energy and the upsetting of my health”. [26]

These reflections reveal to us that it is not so much Eugene who is ardently seeking the means to suffer with his Lord; quite the opposite is true. It is the Spirit himself who is guiding him by the hand to discover in the very gift of self a means of sanctification. As Father Morabito pointed out, from this time on for Eugene there was no more duality in his quest for personal sanctification and the apostolate. The apostolate itself became the exclusive way for the gift of self. It is a total self-sacrifice: “I must above all be really convinced that I am doing God’s will when I give myself to the service of my neighbour, immerse myself in the external business of our house, etc., and then do my best without worrying if, in doing work of this kind, I am unable to do other things which I would perhaps find more to my taste and seem more directly adapted to my own sanctification”. [27]

From now on he is aware that he cannot be his own judge with regard to ascetic endeavors. The Holy Spirit leads him to understand that he must rely on his spiritual director. Indeed, in his 1817 retreat, he once again resolves to allow himself to be guided by the advice of his director without indulging in excess in one direction or the other. The following year, he brings this point up again and focuses on it more sharply with a vague sorrow for having to abandon the penitential practices which had made him grow in his love of the Lord, of the priesthood and the apostolate: “I felt the need of leading a still more mortified life and I ardently desired to do it. One thing alone distressed me and that is the fear that it will meet with opposition and my director will take advantage of the vow of obedience I have made to him to put obstacles to what seems to me evidently God’s will. […] I will plead with my director to let me follow the attraction that pulls me strongly to lead a penitential life. I believe it would be to go against the spirit of God to try to resist this any longer, on the pretext that my health needs attention”. [28]

The Bishop and the Superior General

While he was Bishop and Superior General, the Spirit of God who was guiding him led him to understand that the time devoted to the thousand and one things of his ministry constituted a sacrifice in itself.

“Young people of good will, you will not succeed in making me feel guilty, distressed as I am that I cannot do more. When one gets up at 5 o’clock in the morning and goes to bed about midnight, when one does not allow oneself a half hour walk, when one is from dawn to dusk at the service of everybody and when one spends at one’s desk, pen in hand, all the time of which demands or tactless interruptions do not rob one, one cannot reproach oneself for not doing one’s duty”. [29]

In his 1831 annual retreat notes, the Founder wrote a brief commentary on the Rules, rules he wrote himself. But when we read it, we would not think that he was the author. He quotes the Rules as an endeavor of God and the Church. He gives the impression of being somewhat like a novice reading them for the first time as he expresses his astonishment when faced with the beauty and vigor of its directives.

In commenting on article 6, he wrote: “These things are all precious. They are eminently suited to keep us in the spirit of our vocation, to have us acquire new virtues and the most abundant merits; that is why the Rule insists that the missionary, especially one who has rendered the most striking services to the Church, procured the most glory for God and saved the greatest number of souls in the exercise of the holy missions, hasten joyfully into the bosom of our communities there to make himself forgetful of man and renew himself by the practice of obedience and humility and all the hidden virtues, in the spirit of his vocation and the fervour of religious perfection, without neglecting his other duties”. [30]

Obviously, the Founder did not have himself in mind when he wrote these words; he was thinking of the ideal Oblate. However, we know that in practice in his life he left us the example of an Oblate according to the Rule.

Mortification in the Congregation

1. ACCORDING TO THE RULES FROM 1818 TO 1966

In the first edition of the Rules, chapter VIII was dedicated to mortification and bodily penance. It drew its inspiration from a paragraph in the Rule of Saint Alphonsus; the paragraph was entitled: “Concerning mortification and bodily penance”. But the Founder made some significant changes in regard to fasting, the “discipline” and sleep. He omits two articles and adds two others.

In the first French manu of 1818 [31], the Founder began the paragraph on mortification with an admonition for the Gospel workers that if they wished their work to bear fruit, they would have to take mortification into account, especially interior mortification of the will and the passions. He continued with a list of days when Oblates were called upon to fast as an exercise of external mortification. For this fast, he even specifies the amount of food that could be consumed. The Founder did not prescribe any flagellation, but by the fact that he mentions what Saint Philip Neri and Saint Alphonsus prescribed for their members, he seems to be inviting his fellow Oblates to follow suit. Among the different mortifications listed is one where he recommends sleeping on a pallet rather than on a comfortable bed since the comfortable bed might lead to prolonged rest and in consequence run counter to mortification. [32]

In the first text of the Rule the Nota bene [33] found in the chapter on the ends of the Institute would become the famous Preface of all subsequent editions. In it, the Founder had already traced out the way of penance for the new missionaries who were called to be new apostles and to proclaim the Gospel, even by means of mortification: “To live in a habitual state of self-denial […] working ceaselessly to become humble, gentle, obedient, lovers of poverty, penitent, mortified, detached from the world and from family, filled with zeal, ready to sacrifice our goods, our talent, our rest, our persons and our lives for the love of Jesus Christ”. [34]

The period from 1819 to 1825 was one of refining. This work is found in a document known under the title of the Honorat Manus I and II. [35]

In Manu I under the paragraph heading “Concerning mortification and bodily penance”, fasting on Friday, which is either preceded or followed by a fast day, is suppressed, and there is the addition of a prohibition of using the discipline without the superior’s permission. [36] In manu II, the fasts during the octave of Christmas and the vigil of the feast of Saint Paul are suppressed and there is added the fast for the vigil of the patron saint of the local church.

Manu III offers nothing new and manu IV, the last in the process of refinement, is identical to manu V, known as the Jeancard manu. The Jeancard manu is the one the Founder presented in Rome; it can no longer be found. Manu VI is a copy based on the Jeancard manu.

In the 1843 revision, no changes were made. In the 1850 revision, there was added, “Exercises at the end of the year”: exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to beg God’s pardon for all the acts of unbelief and for the sins committed during the year. There is added as well a fast day on the vigil of the feast of the Sacred Heart while the fast on the vigil of the feast of Saint Alphonsus is suppressed. In his resolutions made during his 1818 retreat at Saint-Sulpice, Eugene de Mazenod had made the decision to be content with the first piece of bread given him at breakfast without asking for a second piece. [37] He would continue this habit even after he left the seminary and wanted to insert it into the Rule. But he had to take into account the often overwhelming work the missionaries were called to do and also the needs of the students for whom this practice was often relaxed as years went by. [38]

As for the discipline, at the beginning in 1818, it was optional. But the custom was to use it every Friday. The Founder gave us on example of this by whipping himself until he drew blood. [39] Even in 1826 it was not obligatory. However, the Founder often promoted it in his writings and in his letters. [40] Also in 1826, the use of a mattress was left as an open question, but the Founder always remained constant in his use of a pallet. [41] In 1908, when treating of the vow of chastity, the following addition was made: “To achieve [the purity of the angels] let us apply ourselves assiduously to the practices of oraison and mortification […]”. In the 1926 revision, the article on breakfast was suppressed as it was no longer possible to observe it. The article on the bed was toned down as well. [42]

2. THE 1966 REVISION

When they speak of the apostolic man, the Constitutions and Rules of 1966 remind the Oblates of the need for mortification to overcome self-complacency or shyness, sloth or rashness through imitation of “the one who emptied himself taking the form of a slave”. [43] “In a society where the spirit of atheism and unbelief are powerful”, the Oblate is urged, like Saint Paul “to pay off the debt which the afflictions of Christ still leave to be paid, for the sake of his Body, the Church”. [44] Relying on the help of grace he will generously accept the purifications which God sends him or inspires him to practice, in order to be better able to love men with the heart of Christ” [45]. Finally, the Constitutions encourage the scholastics, under the patronage of Mary Immaculate, to “develop a missionary spirituality based on the self-denial which is necessary if they are to follow Christ”. [46]

To confront the dangers inherent in their ministry the missionaries will practice mortification, moderation and custody of the senses. [47] In the paragraph dealing with our prayer life, the Rule reminds us that we must accept “all the trials of the ministry, the inconveniences of community life, and personal afflictions”, and strive to correspond “generously with the invitations of the Lord to other forms of personal penance”. [48]

3. THE 1982 CONSTITUTIONS AND RULES

Just as the 1966 Constitutions contain no detailed section dedicated to penance, so too the 1982 Constitutions are lacking such a section. Nevertheless, the need for mortification is vigorously affirmed. In the first part which deals with the Oblate charism, Constitution 4 plants the cross of Jesus in the very heart of the Oblate mission. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified: the present sufferings we endure in our bodies are a sign that the life of Christ is likewise present.

Constitution 18 takes up again the theme of mortification as one of the means of ensuring fidelity to our vow of chastity. Constitution 34 refers to the principle of mortification which is rooted in ministry and the common life, and in the inspiration that comes from the Lord as well. [49]

4. MORTIFICATION AMONG THE NOVICES AND SCHOLASTICS

Mortification has been a constant tradition in all of the houses of formation in the Congregation. In a 1951 [50]report on the novitiates, Father Daniel Albers, the then Director of Studies, notes that all novices do public penance, at least the penance which consists in extending their arms in the form of a cross during the reading of Sacred Scripture. But he observes that already at that time, “the young are loath to engage in such practices, less through a lack of the spirit of mortification […] than because of the fact that they look upon them as ‘artificial posturing’. We strive to make them understand that these penitential gestures maintain the penitential spirit and for some individuals even prove to be an authentic and profitable exercise of mortification and humility. They highlight the failing for which they have been taken on and in addition manifest a spirit of docility with regard to the Master of Novices who considers these practices important, but does not impose anything”. [51]

In the novitiates, penances are performed for reasons related to the apostolate. These are generally found in all schools of spirituality of the time. They definitely reveal a constant belief in these practices throughout the Church. Moreover, the Founder reminds us in the Preface: “If priests could be formed, afire with zeal for man’s salvation, priests not given to their own interests, solidly grounded in virtue – in a word, Apostolic men deeply conscious of the need to reform themselves, who would labour with all the resources at their command to convert others – then there would be ample reason to believe that in a short while people who had gone astray might be brought back to their long-unrecognized responsibilities”.

In his article on the spiritual life of the scholastic, Father Maurice Gilbert dedicated one whole section of it to asceticism. Taking as his starting point Saint Vincent Ferrier’s maxim that one must “adapt one’s body to the service of Christ”, he concluded that if the service of Christ takes on many forms, one’s ascetical practices must adapt according to the nature of the service required. The ascetical life of the scholastic should adapt itself to his life of study in preparation for the apostolate. [52]

The scholastic’s life should also take into account his relationship with the world. In our eyes, article 726 of the 1926 Rule can appear exaggerated, but is consecrated life in itself not a sharing in the “portion” of the Lord?

“They will make it their duty to flee from the world, to shun conversations with laymen, and to hold in abhorrence the pomps and amusements and profane maxims of worldlings. They will repress curiosity to hear news and rumours. They will keep away from every kind of meeting, show and public amusement, and will take care not to loiter in the streets, looking at the various objects which usually attract the curiosity of frivolous people attached to the world.”

Father Gilbert wrote: “For the scholastic who wishes to sacrifice himself, opportunities are everywhere to hand: an exam to prepare for, a boring course to accept joyfully, an outing to deliberately pass up, to replace dolce far niente [sweet repose and rest] with a research project. […] Sometimes the desire to see the life of perfection as fully in harmony with nature or one’s culture is so strong that one risks watering down and rendering insipid the demands of Christian and religious asceticism. Like any other religious, the scholastic must not shrink from sacrifice, nor sidestep the cross. But he must above all concentrate on the asceticism demanded by his life as a student religious. He should also concentrate on mortification of those numerous activities and tendencies, perhaps good in themselves, but which he will have to renounce to conform perfectly to the service of Christ”. [53]

CONCLUSION

To conclude, I would like to quote a passage from the most recent biography of the Founder, written just before his beatification. This is taken from the chapter entitled: “The Human Being, Man of the Spirit, the Apostle”: “The intensity and depth of Bishop de Mazenod’s spiritual life could not go unnoticed by his diocese. His austerity especially impressed them. His intransigence in the matter of abstinence was common knowledge, even at official receptions, including those of His Imperial Majesty. Whenever meat was served at these receptions on days of abstinence, the Bishop refused every course, and even refused to unfold his napkin. It was commonly known that he increased his fasts and observed them so strictly that his evening collation on days of fast became restricted to a glass of water and a few mouthfuls of bread. Even in his old age, the prelate refused to reduce either the number or the rigor of his fasts and to those who cited his old age as a justification for lessening them, he replied: “My eighty years might dispense me from fasting, but they do not dispense me from doing penance for my sins”. As for his corporal chastisements, he never ceased inflicting them on himself from the days of his seminary training”. [54]

In the area of mortification, many things have changed, not only in Christian practice, but also in theological and ascetical thought. Nevertheless, the demands of the Gospel, apostolic preaching and the example of the saints have made such a profound impact on us that it would be difficult for the followers of Christ in any age to ignore them.

Nicola Ferrara