Caput XXI
The Fall of Two Nuns
Two nuns who left their convent on a permitted errand seized the occasion to taste the world, forgot God, and met wretched ends — one dying young of illness, the other perishing in childbirth after bearing a monstrous child.
Two nuns from the convent of girls near our Balma returned to secular life three years ago. The younger of them, after her arm had swollen up, ended her life a short time later. The elder, however, joined herself to a certain wicked man and gave birth to such a monstrous child that its neck was longer than a full forearm. But when she had prostituted herself again, she did conceive indeed but could not bring the child to birth until, her belly having ruptured, she perished. For up to the time at which they had gone out, they had conducted themselves well. Moreover, they were permitted to go out for this purpose: to bring something back to the monastery from the affairs of their parents, who had perhaps recently died. But seizing this occasion to taste the world, they forgot God. From which it appears how dangerous is the freedom to sin.
Alypius at the Theater and a Dying Girl's Hidden Thread
Alypius is dragged to the theater and gradually seduced by spectacle despite his resolve, and a dying girl is tormented by a demon until she surrenders a hidden silken thread she had kept in disobedience.
This is confirmed by the fall of Alypius, a friend of Saint Augustine, who, when urged by certain friends to go to the theater, declared he would have nothing to do with such a spectacle, regarding it as profane. But they dragged him there by force. He shut his eyes and, unable to resist those who pulled him along, swore he wouldn't see anything there. But when a sudden burst of laughter rang out through the theater, he forgot himself and opened his eyes. At once his heart was so enticed that only after a long time could Augustine draw him away from that kind of spectacle. So whoever does not want to be burned should not let a leaping spark settle on their skin, even for a moment.1 Nor should we pass over what happened in that same monastery: a certain girl who was dying was visited by the evil enemy, and trembling violently, she remembered that she was keeping a needle without permission. The sisters brought it from the place where she said it was, but the demon did not leave. But she, realizing that she still had something of her own — the very thing the evil enemy was pressing for — at last recalled it.
God's Condescension in Small Things
The dying girl's peaceful death after surrendering her hidden possession leads to a humble reflection on how God deigns to work even small wonders in our unworthy time.
"Then," she said, "I have a silken thread belonging to the bed-frame." Once it was found and brought to her, the devil departed at once, and the girl passed away as if with a smile. These things may perhaps be judged small and unworthy of the telling; but if God — who, as it is said, does great and inscrutable things — has deigned to do these things in our own time, how highly should we value them, since we had not been worthy even of such things?
Read the original Latin
Duae sanctimoniales de monasterio puellarum, quod juxta nostrum Balma situm est, ante hoc triennium ad saecularem vitam regressae sunt. Quarum junior intumescente brachio vitam post paululum finivit. Major vero cuidam scelesto se conjunxit, et partum ita monstruosum peperit ut longius collum haberet quam sit una ulna. Sed cum se iterum prostituisset, concepit quidem, sed edere partum non potuit quousque dirupto ventre interiit. Fuerant enim usque ad tempus illud quo exierant bene conversatae. Ad hoc autem egredi permissae sunt, ut de rebus parentum, qui forte nuper obierant, aliquid monasterio reportarent. Sed hac occasione saeculum pergustantes oblitae sunt Deum. Ex quo apparet quam periculosa sit peccandi licentia.
Quod et Alipius amicus sancti Augustini lapsu suo probat, qui cum hortaretur a quibusdam amicis theatrum adire, detestatus est videre hujusmodi lusum tanquam profanum. At illi hunc manibus trahebant. Ille claudens oculos, nec contrahentibus reniti valens, jurabat non se ibi quidquam visurum. Sed cum subito cachinnus in theatro increpuisset, oblitus est, et oculos aperuit. Cum illico ita cor ejus illectum est, ut vix post multum tempus ab hujusmodi ludo posset ab Augustino remorari. Quisquis ergo non vult uri, exsilientem igniculum non sinat super cutem suam, licet paululum, remorari. Nec praetereundum est, quod in praedito coenobio cuidam puellae morienti malignus hostis apparuit, quae vehementer intremiscens, recordata est quod unam aculam sine licentia haberet, quam de loco, ubi hanc esse dixit, sorores detulerunt, sed daemon non recessit. Illa vero aliquid proprium se adhuc habere cognoscens pro quo malignus hostis instaret, tandem recordata.
Tum, ait, filum sericum ad spondam habeo, quo vix reperto et allato, mox diabolus recessit, et puella quasi subridens migravit. Ista forsitan parva et indigna relatu judicabuntur; sed si Deus, qui, ut dictum est, facit magna et inscrutabilia, ista nostro tempore facere dignatus est, quam magnipendimus, quia nec talibus digni fueramus?
Notes
- 1 ↩The metaphor of the spark (igniculum) and burning (uri) is a proverbial warning against exposing oneself to even the smallest occasion of sin.
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