Page:Life and life-work of Mother Theodore Guerin Foundress.djvu/56

44 of the Church! What has become of the spirit of sanctity exhibited by a St. Martin, St. Gregory of Tours, St. Denys, St. Bruno and the Chartreuse, St. Bernard and Citeaux, St. Benedict and Cluny? What of post-mediseval holiness in a St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis de Sales, Pere Eudes, M. Olier, and St. John de la Salle? But if, as Tertullian says, the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, shall not that saving tide be the agency of restoration in a land whose soil has been saturated with the blood of its own children? Wonderful, admirable providence of God! If the martyred Carmelite, Ursuline, and Dominican sanctified the scaffold or fed the flame at the stake, scarcely had they vanished when, from the ashes, came forth willing hearts to continue, though in other forms, that life of faith and love which always exercises an irresistible force for good.

He who could raise up children to Abraham from the very stones brought forth here and there fresh flowers to beautify His garden, souls to be interested in God's work; souls to labor and to suffer for the glory of the King and His kingdom; souls to lift up the gates of Sion and to unfurl again to the winds the blazing banners of beauty and truth, the royal ensigns of Christ and His Church. Thus we see spring up, almost simultaneously, new workers, new associations, and new orders and congregations throughout France, and we pause but to ask, "Hast thou known the gift of God in this thy day, O thou land of predilection?" The diocese of Mans early enjoyed the privilege of possessing zealous laborers among its clergy. The small as well as the great profited by their sacerdotal