[{{{type}}}] {{{reason}}}
{{/data.error.root_cause}}{{texts.summary}} {{#options.result.rssIcon}} RSS {{/options.result.rssIcon}}
{{/texts.summary}} {{#data.hits.hits}}
{{{_source.title}}} {{#_source.showPrice}} {{{_source.displayPrice}}} {{/_source.showPrice}}
{{#_source.showLink}} {{/_source.showLink}} {{#_source.showDate}}{{{_source.displayDate}}}
{{/_source.showDate}}{{{_source.description}}}
{{#_source.additionalInfo}}{{#_source.additionalFields}} {{#title}} {{{label}}}: {{{title}}} {{/title}} {{/_source.additionalFields}}
{{/_source.additionalInfo}}
preserving the good things bestowed by heaven
so sparkles in each one
that they merit other virtues as well.a
Third,
the lily of virginity and chastity
diffuses such a wondrous fragrance among them
that they forget earthly thoughts
and desire to meditate only on heavenly things.
So great a love of their eternal Spouse arises in their hearts that the integrity of their holy feelings keeps them
from every habit of their former life.
Fourth,
all of them have become so distinguished
by their title of highest poverty
that their food and clothing rarely or never
manage to satisfy extreme necessity.b
20Fifth,
they have so attained the unique grace
of abstinence and silence
that they scarcely need to exert any effort
to check the prompting of the flesh
and to restrain their tongues.c
Sixth,
they are so adorned with the virtue of patience
in all these things,
that adversity of tribulation,
or injury of vexation
- The monastic tradition presented humility as the foundation of all virtue, e.g., Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermo I in Nativitate Domini (PL 183:115): “Be eager to humble yourselves, for [humility] is the foundation and guardian of the virtues.” “No gem,” writes Bernard, “is more resplendent ... than humility.” Cf. Bernard, De Consideratione ad Eugenium papam tertiam libri quinque II 13. “What is as pure,” he asks, “or as perfect as humility of heart?” Bernard, In Annuntiatione, Sermo III, 9. Thomas, however, places it in the second position in the life of the Poor Ladies even though he echoes the earlier approach in suggesting that humility “preserves the good things bestowed by heaven” and enables them to “merit other virtues as well.”
- In this instance the Latin titulus [title] is a canonical term signifying the source of one’s adequate support. In the phrase altissimae paupertatis titulo [the title of the highest poverty] Thomas uses the term in a paradoxical way to indicate that the source of support of the Poor Ladies is poverty.
- The vast amount of medieval literature on silence flows from the monastic tradition in which it was viewed as a form of abstinence. Cf. Carolyn Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley: University of California, 1987); Rudolph Bell, Holy Anorexia (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).