Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/516



510 THE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS IN FRANCE.

indefatigable for the glory of God and the extension of His kingdom. Since by the misfortune of the times, you find yourselves either already struck or threatened by the fatal laws of dispersion you must recognize that these very circiunstances impose upon you the duty of defending with more zeal than ever the integrity of your religious spirit against the contamination of the world and of holding yourselves ever ready and ever armed against all attacks.

On this point you will recall the different instructions which have been addressed to Regulars by the Apostolic See, and these other prescriptions which have emanated from your own superiors. Let both one and the other keep their full vigor and be most conscientiously observed. And now, religious of every age, young and old, lift your eyes to your illustrious founders. Their maxims speak to you, their statutes guide you; their examples are before your eyes. Let your sweetest and holiest desires be to hear them, to follow them, to imitate them. It is thus that multitudes of your ancestors have acted in times of trial; it is thus they have transmitted to you a rich heritage of sublime courage and virtue. Long to make yourselves worthy of your sires and of your brethren in order that you may be able, all of you, to say, while justly glorifying yourselves, We are the sons and brothers of the saints. It is thus that you will obtain the greatest ad- vantage for yourselves, for the Church, and for society. By spurring yourselves onward to reach that degree of sanctity to which God has called you, you will fulfil the designs of Providence in your regard and you will merit the abundant recompense which He has promised you. The Church â€” your tender mother â€” who has heaped favors upon you, will obtain, in return for it all, a more faithful and more efficacious cooperation than ever in its mission of peace and salvation. Peace and salvation; they are the two urgent needs of society at the present time, which so many causes tend to corrupt and degrade.