The Praiseworthy Fool

In this number St. Paul counted himself, together with his companions, when he said: “We are fools for Christ’s sake.”¹ For the world of that day held it a piece of folly that these men should suffer so much shame and injury for Christ’s sake. But folly of that kind is wisdom with God. Of these most praiseworthy fools the world has found a good many already, and there is still no shortage of them.

Who is this, who stands in such favour with the Holy See, and with so many great crowned heads? He might even have become Archbishop of Milan, had he not refused the dignity. It is Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux. Once a priest came to him and asked for the holy habit: that is, he wanted to become a monk. Bernard answered that he could lead a perfect life elsewhere too, if he would. The priest took this for a rebuff and struck him in the face so hard that he nearly went head over heels. When the others were for avenging the insult by every means, the holy man held them back with all his strength, saying: “God has forgiven me so often; why should I not forgive him?” So Marulus, book 5.²

“I’m no such fool,” says many a worldling. “Devil take me, if that had happened to me, I’d have trimmed that parson’s tonsure for him, so he’d remember me all his days. I’d have taken his measure with a Spanish cane, in plain German, till he had to count the strokes like notes of music. What do you bet he’d have come to me with his Praesta, quaesumus and begged for mercy!”³ Behold! The man who does not avenge himself on his enemies and cares nothing for worldly regard is taken by the world for a fool. But this folly is wisdom with God: “But I say to you, Love your enemies.”⁴

Who is this, who lives in a hut so mean that he can hardly turn round in it? His clothing is nothing but a shaggy sack; his bed nothing but a mat woven of coarse rushes; his kitchen nothing but the bare earth, where a poor pot of cabbage stands by the fire; his cellar nothing but a brook running by; his company the wild beasts. Who is this? It is Arsenius, the very man who could have been all in all at the court of the Emperor Arcadius. He could have enjoyed all the revenues of the kingdom of Egypt; he could have been the right hand of that great monarch, and so half a ruler of the world. But he despised and laughed at all of it, and so on, and became a hermit.⁵

“I’m no such fool,” says many a worldling. “A man must look to his honour and his reputation, after all. Even a common vapour from the ground tries to rise on high. The very word honor begins with an aspiration, as if every decent fellow ought to aspire to honour.⁶ My parents left me all that money precisely so that sooner or later I should get on. If Saul could go from driving asses to being a king,⁷ why shouldn’t I try everything and try again, to make something more of myself? A stork builds its nest up high; am I to be worse than that clatterer? A tree strives upward by nature; I’d have to be a stock and a block not to do the same. It’s better to be served than to serve, after all. People think more of a tower than of a low shepherd’s hut. The dawn shines on a high mountain sooner than on a mean molehill.” Behold! The man who despises honours and dignities is taken by the world for a fool. But this folly is wisdom with God, for He has said: “Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart,” and: “The Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister.”⁸

Who is this, in so filthy a cowl, rinsing the dishes in the kitchen? Washing the muddy feet of the poor pilgrims as they arrive? Scourging his body daily with hard iron chains? Wearing a rope of hair on his bare flesh, and never once filling himself even with mouldy bread? Who is this? It is Gallicanus, a near connection of the great Emperor Constantine and commander-in-chief of the whole Roman army. He left everything for the love of Jesus Christ, became a monk, and took up this strict and hard way of life.⁹

“I’m no such fool,” says many a worldling. “I mean to get to heaven all the same. Doesn’t it say, Thou shalt love thy neighbour? And who is a nearer neighbour to me than my own body? This fellow can’t bear a hair shirt or horsehair at all, except under the saddle. Scourging and whipping he isn’t used to in the least. Why, an angel took pity on the poor ass when Balaam beat her!¹⁰ Fasting is quite impossible for me: my stomach takes fright at fish, like young Tobias at the river Tigris.¹¹ That John in the desert ate locusts for his food I’ll believe for the time being;¹² meanwhile a capon will do me no such harm as a cock did Peter,”¹³ and so on. Behold! To lead a strict and hard life and chastise the body as it deserves is a piece of folly to the world; but with God Almighty it is wisdom: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences,” and “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.”¹⁴

Who is this? He has a note in his hand. He rings at the convent gate and asks for the Father Preacher, and tells him the whole story: how last Tuesday he found a purse with a hundred ducats in it, and a ring with a very costly diamond besides. He begs the Father to take the trouble of reading out the note after the sermon, and announcing that whoever has lost this money should apply at such-and-such a place.¹⁵

“I’d be no such fool,” says another. “The fellow didn’t know how to use his luck. I’d have kept my mouth shut, I would. Why can’t everyone look after his own things? I’d have said to that money: Come here, my little fish! A man may wait a long time before a cow like that calves for him.”¹⁶ Behold! The man who walks by his conscience and will not burden himself with ill-gotten money, him the world holds for a fool. But this folly is wisdom with God: “For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?”¹⁷

Who is this? He is stripped half naked; he comes crawling on all fours, with a saddle on his back like an ass and a bridle in his mouth; and in this fashion he parades into the public square, where a crowd of people has gathered, most of whom took him for a raving fool. Who is this? It is Blessed Jacopone, of the Order of St. Francis, who sought nothing else but to be despised and laughed at by the world. But such folly is wisdom with God.¹⁸

Who is this? He dances in front of the church before many thousands of people, wearing a fur coat turned inside out, shaggy side outwards; he cuts all sorts of odd capers, snaps his fingers, and gives everyone a fool’s show they never expected. This is St. Philip Neri, held in the highest esteem by the Pope and all the Cardinals. So that people should not take him for a saint, he made himself out a perfect fool. But such folly was wisdom with God.¹⁹

Who is this? He goes about dressed like a Capuchin, but wears on his head a black hat that the said Philip Neri has put on him. He has a little bunch of flowers behind his ear, and he drinks from a flask before all the people in the middle of the square in Rome, while the boys run after him in a great crowd, shouting, “Capuchin in a hat! Capuchin in a hat!” This is the blessed and holy man Brother Felix, a Capuchin, famous everywhere for his great holiness. Only so that the world might despise and mock him, he did these things, absurd as they look. But such folly was wisdom with God.²⁰

O what a fair and praiseworthy company, what a holy company of such fools! All of them, with Paul, became fools for Christ’s sake: “We are fools for Christ’s sake.” Only do not let yourselves be frightened off, you fervent Christians, when the consumptive world laughs at you for your devout conduct and Christian life and holds you for fools.²¹ Was not Christ the Lord himself, the Saviour of the world, held and treated no otherwise at the court of Herod?²² Was not His name, and His Gospel, treated no otherwise: “unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness”?²³ Let us rather follow St. Gregory, who earnestly exhorts us all: “If we truly desire to be wise, let us leave behind a harmful wisdom, and learn a praiseworthy folly.”²⁴