From the Editor’s Desk (Wednesday, September 6, 2017, Gaudium Press) In the life of St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusians, we find a fact which presents to the most serious criticism all the historical characters of authenticity; a fact arrived in Paris in broad daylight, in the presence of several thousand witnesses, the details of which were collected by contemporaries, and finally which gave birth to a great religious Order. St. Bruno witnessed this fact.
Raymond Diocres, a professor at the Sorbonne, and a man with a universal reputation for learning and apparent virtue, died in Paris. Three days later, his coffin, beautifully adorned with the symbols of his profession, was brought into the cathedral with solemnity, accompanied by his fellow professors, by a large group of students and many priests.
Hundreds attended the funeral service; innumerable candles were lit and prayers were offered for him by those who had admired the great knowledge and virtues of the illustrious deceased.
But when the choir came to the passage in the Office of the Dead: ‘What are my faults and my sins? My misdeeds and my sins make known to me!’ which Holy Job asks in Scripture, suddenly the corpse, which was lying exposed on its bier, moved before their eyes, sat up, and cried out in accents of desperation which matched the despair in his eyes: ‘By the judgement of God, I have been accused, judged and condemned’.
Having said this, he fell back, never to move again. Thus the world- renowned professor had hidden vice under the appearance of virtue. But God, who scrutinizes hearts, knew his sins and punished him for them.
Related Images:
