HEADING V
THE POWER OF WOMAN
Women accomplished true apostolate in history. Therefore they can accomplish it: the consequence is an inarguable logical value. Rather let us ask ourselves: from where does such power come in the gender that is called weak? To principal causes explain the fact: woman is strong at heart: woman is strong in her position.
[Strength of heart]
The woman's strength does not lie in her intelligence, but in her heart: I would like to say, with a modern author, in her weakness, in her spirit, in her beauty, placed at the service of her heart.
In man, the heart is half his being; in woman, it is the whole: more superficial in the rest, so De Bonald1 writes, the woman is more profound in love. - Love, in the life of man, does not have but episodes, while in the woman it is the story of her whole life, thus Staël2 writes, with perhaps some exaggeration. It is certain, however, that in the woman, the heart predominates and it could be seen in her tenderness, gentleness, spirit of sacrifice, delicateness, intuition. Observe the affection of a daughter towards her father or mother: the affection
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of a bride for her groom, although he is still rough and uncaring: the affection of a sister for her brothers although these are scornful: the affection of a mother for her children although these are ungrateful: these are proofs of the great heart of women.
Now: force is resisted by force, and the stronger one wins; face to face with intelligence, one uses reasoning and the argument is won by one who has better reasons and tighter logic. Likewise, between two hearts the greater one wins: between man and woman, the latter prevails. Woman does not reason out her ideal, but intuits it, and made her own, she loves it with her entire being and tends to it with all her energies, passionately3 upholds it before man.
She upholds it with weakness. Something that is quite marvelous! The weaker one is, the stronger shall be her prayer. If the poor is even poorer, he is more effective before the rich: if the baby is smaller, more easily does he disarms even a monster of cruelty. And this is the strength of woman: she is queen inasmuch as she prays ahead of man; should she want to command or reason out, her empire would crumble.
And she utilizes this prayer not only before man in order to strengthen her desires: but especially before God. She prays for man: she prays with the trust of a child: she
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prays often with the constancy of a martyr. She prays and God listens to her. Now who does not know that prayer is omnipotent before God's heart? Who does not know that God gives everything to one who prays well? Behold then the woman who due to her weakness becomes strong with God's strength: behold woman who wins because she has God with herself.
Woman holds up her dominion through beauty: beauty that grows in virtue, in modesty, in decency. In the book of Ecclesiasticus, it is written: Avert your eyes from a comely woman; gaze not upon the beauty of another's wife. - Through woman's beauty many perish, for lust for it burns like fire.4 And, on the other hand, beauty combined with virtue, moves the heart of man, makes him lean on to her: but it does not win him over if not in order to raise him to the Lord.
She supports him with her spirit: man considers things, abstracts, generalizes; woman analyzes everything, turns everything alive. Woman feels God, feels virtue, feels what is beautiful and good: and in her feeling, she loves and in loving, she communicates persuasively, and persuading communicates an entirely special unction of her heart. And man, I would say, becomes dominated, I would say, often enchanted.
She supports him with sacrifice: but sacrifice that is accomplished in thousands of little things that man often despises.
Woman, in carrying out her sublime mission, has at her service loving concern,
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firm and sweet exhortations, reprimands that are full of tender gentleness, prayers spiced with burning tears, looks that are a revelation, an inspiration, an intuition, a suggestion and enchanting smiles, a bit of all these together: and with such means she forestalls falls, raises one who tumbles and urges towards what is good!
Watch how many things a woman achieves, how nothing escapes her, how she foresees everything, disposes of everything. And this is a too frequent fact that it is not adequately appreciated: and yet it is most true. Quite difficult it is to appreciate the expressions of tenderness of a sister, the bride's delicate and minute expressions of concern, the continuous and most refined cares of a mother. She does not spare efforts, vigils, privations, blood, life: and suffering, she enjoys suffering, and dying she enjoys being consumed, if only to get what she wants. And man remains won over, falls at her feet, gives up and says: Ask whatever you want. Command.
[In the heart of the home]
Still, woman is powerful in her domestic and social position: and this, for her, is worth as much as the best strategic point for a captain. She, as daughter, as spouse, as mother is more than a man at home. Now, what can a daughter not do on the mind of her parents and that of her younger brothers? There have been entire families raised in a Christian manner by an elder sister. Not taking into consideration this fact, too, there have been many situations that it would make it quite
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ordinary, for a good daughter to hold back a thousand times her parents and brothers and sisters from so many excesses: wherein a good daughter teaches her dear ones, big and small, religious truths so naturally and delicately that she is passed unnoticed: wherein a daughter of solid piety spreads the perfume of her own soul within the walls of the home; wherein she draws her relatives to church, to God's word, to the holy sacraments; wherein she gently induces everyone to speak meekly, to mutual forbearance, for love of work.
A noble single lady, sister of a famous lawyer, a bachelor, was once asked why she turned down many offers of marriage from young, good, rich and honorable men... The lady raised her eyes to heaven, then lowered them and covered her face while blushing as she said: Ah! My brother's soul! She was the victim that had sacrificed everything to remain beside her brother, so to save him. And she already had done so much!
Then the wife, adding freedom that comes from her being her husband's companion to the strength of affection, can do even much more. How many times is religious marriage fulfilled through her, it is because of her that prayers are done at home, it is through her that the husband goes to mass and the sacraments!
And also there where the priest's voice no longer reaches; also to that man who thinks of nothing but work and profits; also to that
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dishonest man who dreams of nothing but pleasures and passions; also to that unhappy man who is overwhelmed by the fever of honor or from the thirst of vengeance; also to these can the voice of an angel always or almost always reach: the sweet, insinuating, listened to voice of a wife. How many times is the sight of St. Cecilia renewed,5 she who leads the husband to Christ's priest.
How many times is repeated what happened to Emilio Littré,6 a positivist philosopher, evolutionist historian, senator for life, zealous Mason, who received baptism during the last days of his life. The merit of his conversion, however, and this amazed the world, belongs to her wife and daughter: they obtained it through sacrifice, prayer, services, with sweet words, with the Virgin's medal: arguments that are much stronger on the heart than logic to the mind.
Oh, how many husbands are there in eternity who have to render justice to their benefactress and say: through my wife I am saved!
Finally, woman touches the apex of her power when she is raised to the dignity of mother: strength of love, freedom of speech, divine authority over her children come together in her. And it is the mother precisely who forms the soul of children: the father sees things get done, but the mother creates conscience in action: the father traces as if the skeleton of education,7 but it is the mother who completes it, vivifies it: the father acts on the child who is present; the mother, also on him who is far
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by her gaze, on the child who survives her death.
Montaigne8 and Smiles9 agree together: The home10 depends in fact on the woman so it can and must assert that the happiness or the unhappiness of the same home is due to her making. And De Maistre:11 The greatest thing the world has is formed on the mother's knees: man.
This truth is ever so evident and is of ordinary experience that it does not need any explanation. The experience of Coriolanus12 who gives in to her mother, if this is true, is not but one of the countless episodes of every day life.
How many times can one repeat what St. Ambrose told St. Monica: It is impossible that the son of so much tears would ever get lost!
What remains now is to see how much woman can do through her social position. However, aside from what already appears in what has been said above, we shall see other things more clearly in the second part.
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1 Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald was born in Millau in the Aveyron, France, on 30 October 1787 and died in Lyon on 25 February 1870. A priest since 1811, he was for sometime the chaplain of the Dauphin of France, Charles X. In 1852, he was made senator. A proponent of the struggle against political and ecclesiastical Gallicanism (which tended to impose the supremacy of the State over the Church in France and to temper the authority of the pope along with that of bishops, priests and French faithful), he promoted the reform of liturgical books of the Gallican rite in order to uproot from them the Janseenist infiltrations. Against the state monopoly of schools, he defended the rights of the freedom of instruction.
2 Anne Louise Germaine Necker, baroness of Staël-Holstein (1766-1817) was born in Paris on 22 April 1766. Since her youngest years, she was a reckless person, a coquette so eager to emerge as much as to get the attention of others. She died in Paris on 14 July 1817. Her opera omnia, in 17 volumes, was published (1820-1821) by her son, Baron Auguste de Staël.
3 DA has passionatamente instead of appassionatamente.
4 Cf. Sir 9:8, also 25:21; 36:22; 42:12; Prv 11:22; 31:30.
5 See below, DA 140, note 17.
6 Maximilien-Paul-Emile Littré was a versatile writer on science aside from being a fine philosopher and philologist. Born in Paris on 1 February 1801, he died also in Paris on 2 June 1881. From 1867, he was the director of the Revue de philosophie positiviste. Atheism, materialism, socialism were experienced by Littré as acts of faith to which to dedicate himself with humility and extreme openness. He knew Italian and translated into French Dante Alighieri's Inferno from the Divina Commedia.
7 DA has di educazione instead of dell'educazione.
8 Michele Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) was a French moralist. He arrived at his skepticism, inspired by good sense and tolerance, through observations of contradictions and the relativity of human nature and things.
9 Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), Scottish author, the eldest of eleven children left behind by the death of the father to a widow of limited means of livelihood. His enthusiasm, trust and self-study, that explain his great popularity, are attributed to her mother.
10 DA wrongly has causa = cause, instead of casa = home.
11 Joseph de Maistre was a politician, writer and philosopher, uncompromising Catholic and Freemason. He was born in Chambéry, in the Savoy territory (a region belonging currently to Southeastern France at the boundaries with Italy and Switzerland) on 1 April 1753. He died in Turin on 26 February 1821).
12 Caius or Cneus Marcius Coriolanus, after his victory over the Volks (493 B.C.) was unjustly accused of tyranny. He took refuge among the conquered people and with them marched to Rome. He, however, was dissuaded by the prayers of two women, his wife Volumnia and his mother Vetruria.