Opera Omnia

INSTRUCTION XIV
VIRTUE AND VOW OF POVERTY
Saint Francis of Assisi wedded Lady Poverty. Dante described this mystical wedding in his Paradise; Giotto frescoed it in the Basilica of Assisi. One day the Saint met Lady Poverty on a road in Umbria. She was on her way back to heaven because no one on earth had offered her hospitality. She was in rags; but to Saint Francis she looked so beautiful that he won her heart; and he took her as his spouse.

The five functions of poverty

Poverty is the greatest wealth; every little renunciation in pleasure, clothing, living conditions is a great conquest for heaven.

Pauline poverty has five functions: it renounces, it produces, it conserves, it provides and it edifies.
It renounces the administration and independent use of goods; it renounces comforts, pleasure and preferences; everything is for use only.
It produces by diligent work; it produces enough for undertakings and personnel.
It conserves the things it has in use.
It provides for the Institute's needs.
It edifies, countering the tendency to greed.

Gospel faith in Providence

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious,

saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well (Mt 6:24-33).

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Art. 86. Only the Holy See can dispense from the religious vows, whether temporary or perpetual, once lawfully made in the Society; Superiors have no power to release from them with the exception of the case of legitimate dismissal of a Professed member in temporary vows according to the norm of article 95.
Art. 87. By the effect of the religious Profession, a member is bound by the obligations of his state and enjoys its rights, according to the present Constitutions, under the authority of the Superiors, each according to his condition and rank. Professed in temporary vows enjoy the same privileges, indulgences, and spiritual favors which the Professed in perpetual vows enjoy; if death should overtake them, they have a right to the same suffrages as well.
Art. 88. The time for enjoying active and passive voice is to be computed from the first Profession made in the Society. However,
a) All Professed members in temporary vows, likewise Clerical students who have not yet been raised to the priesthood, even if perpetually professed, lack active and passive voice.

b) Professed Disciples in perpetual vows enjoy active and passive voice in the elections, whether of delegates to the Provincial Chapter or of delegates to the General Chapter; however, in the elections which are held in the General Chapter they enjoy only active voice.
c) Priests in perpetual vows enjoy active and passive voice in all elections, according to the norm of the Constitutions.
Art. 89. A transfer to the state of a Clerical member is not granted to the Disciples after they have been professed. To the Clerical students, even if they are perpetually professed, there can be granted, for a grave reason, a transfer to the status of a Disciple; and they are not thereby held to make their Novitiate over again. However, it is always advisable to exact from them a suitable probation.
Art. 90. Those who leave the Society for any cause or reason whatsoever are to know that they can demand nothing from it, either for labors performed or under any other pretext, the prescript of article 36 being strictly observed.
Art. 91. A Professed in temporary vows, once the time of the vows has expired, can freely leave the Society. So likewise can the Superior General, following on the decision of the respective major Superior with his Council, and after consulting the General Council, for just and reasonable causes, exclude the Professed from renewing his temporary vows or from making his perpetual Profession, but not for reason

of infirmity, unless it be proved with certainty that the infirmity had been deceitfully concealed or misrepresented before Profession.

Effective and affective poverty, virtue and vow

There is effective poverty, side by side with affective affluence; people who live in poverty but who have disordered desires that lead to stealing, deceit and illegal work.
There is affective poverty, side by side with effective affluence; to the point of begging alms to give to God and to one's neighbor.
Blessed is the rich man who is found blameless, and who does not go after gold (Sir 31:8).
Poverty as a virtue has a positive side: it is the pursuit of spiritual goods which are eternal, the ongoing yearning for the greatest good, God! It is to detach the heart from the things of this world and to use everything as a springboard to reach him. Even food and rest are taken to sustain us in God's service and in the apostolate.
The vow is a means; it is a stronger commitment so as to practise the virtue better.
The spirit of poverty (the first beatitude) is a top-rate virtue when there are deep convictions, when there is love and delight in privation and sacrifice so as to carry them out prompte, faciliter, delectabiliter.¹ Thus it was for countless canonized saints and for many more non-canonized ones.

Jesus, Teacher of poverty

By example. Saint Bernard says of him: Pauper in nativitate, pauperior in vita, pauperrimus in cruce.²
Saint Paul wrote of him to the Corinthians: For your good the Word of God who was rich became poor, so that his poverty might become your wealth [cf. 2 Cor 8:9].
The stall for animals, the manger which was his first cradle, the exile in Egypt, the little home at Nazareth, his carpenter's trade, his public life supported by alms; stripped of his clothes, given gall, myrrh and vinegar to drink, a cross for a bed, a sepulchre lent out of charity. The eucharistic clothing, species, is a piece of bread, common nourishment. His preferences were for the poor: pauperes evangelizantur.³
By teaching. The first beatitude concerns poverty: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [Mt 5:3]. If it is the first rung of holiness then those who fail to go up, or those who step down, are in fact renouncing perfection.
It was said of him: Nonne hic est fabri filius? Nonne hic est faber?⁴
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head [Lk 9:58].
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor… and come follow me [Mt 19:21].
You who have left everything and have followed me, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life [cf. Mt 19:28-29].

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things shall be yours as well [Mt 6:33].
Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts [Mt 10:9]
Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple [Lk 14:33].

Those who strip themselves of wealth become rich in grace, merits, peace and glory. In poverty holiness is easier.
It is a source of purification, ardour and charity.
Poverty does away with lust and pride; it prepares an atmosphere of spirituality (Saint Ignatius).
Poverty is the guardian of so many virtues.
It is a fact today, generally speaking, that some religious Institutes ask for alms in a way that is in keeping with the area in which they live. But the Capuchin friar, who goes from door to door and has much poorer clothes, housing and food, prepares more saints for the Church. And, among them, the most canonized are beggars, sacristans and door-keepers.
Authentic holiness is only and always gospel holiness.
Those who have a true spirit of poverty acquire more easily the spirit of prayer and the desire for heaven. That is where their treasure is: Ubi thesaurus vester est, ibi et cor vestrum erit.⁵
Poverty in an Institute guarantees good spirit and stable development, and the blessing of fine and numerous vocations.

God does not send candidates where people do not work or where there is waste, even in little things, such as smoking.
He who is attached to a person, even by a strand of thread, is like a caged bird. He cannot launch his flight towards the heights of holiness.

Mary, a poor woman

Mary. We think of her as she was: a woman of the people, the wife of a carpenter. Because she and Joseph did not have much money they could not afford to rent a room in Bethlehem.
The wise and hard-working woman who took care of the house, kitchen, cleaning, washing and the like, concerned for Jesus in his infancy, childhood and adult life; concerned for Joseph for as long as he was alive; concerned for John the Apostle and the other Apostles after the death of Jesus; concerned right up to the time she was assumed body and soul into heaven. She lived the life of the perfect housewife as described in Proverbs (31:10-31).
Very few words of Mary's are recorded in the Gospels but those that are full of scriptural wisdom. As regards poverty: [God] has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away (Lk 1:52-54).
Mary comes to the aid of the poor and uses her power of entreaty for them. At the wedding of Cana the wine ran out during the celebration. This was a sign that it was a poor family. Among those invited were Mary, Jesus, and a few fishermen, the first disciples of Jesus. Mary is aware of the situation and mentions it to Jesus. The water is changed into wine and the newly-weds are saved embarrassment.
For those who desire the virtue of poverty Mary obtains

the grace to love work, to support deprivation and sacrifice with equanimity, to aspire to spiritual gifts and to receive them.
Many times religious enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle than they had at home.
Let us remember that the needs for daily life are to come from our work. For extraordinary expenses (a church, a house, a machine and so on) at least part of it can come from the charity of others.
A person who had a right to do so gave me this opinion of a religious who presented himself elegantly dressed, affectedly polite, pretentious at table, in his dealings and demands: The more cultivated his external behaviour the more barren his interior life; in other words, his knowledge, prayer life, and zeal.

Saint Paul: teacher and witness

Saint Paul writes to Saint Timothy: As for the rich of this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God… (1 Tim 6:17).
He praises the charity of Philemon towards the Christians of Colossae: For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints (the faithful) have been refreshed through you (Philem v. 7).
He writes to Saint Timothy: There is great gain in godliness with contentment… but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money

is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs (1 Tim 6:6.8-10).
To the Hebrews: …You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one (Heb 10:34).
To the Philippians: Paul thanks them for the offerings received; then he adds: …I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want (Ph 4:11-12).
Paupertas est veluti muras religionis diligenda⁶ (Saint Ignatius of Loyola).
Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation! [Lk 6:24]. Woe! Look at all the abbeys, monasteries and institutes that are set to fall or have already tumbled down. It is a warning for us.
The rich are not only those who have a lot and delight in it. Some people have only a little but they treasure it and go out of their way to increase it in any way they can. This is effective poverty but affective wealth.

Various forms of poverty. Work

All Institutes are bound to poverty but not all of them to the same degree. The poverty of a Cistercian is one thing; that of the Jesuit another. Saint Thomas Aquinas outlines the norm: Religious poverty's value is instrumental, that is to say, it is in view of the twofold goal to which it is ordered: sanctification and the apostolate.

It is more difficult to observe poverty where, of necessity, there is more than one person administering goods; it depends on the nature of the Institute. Still, vigilance is needed.
The virtue of poverty then is more for the individual than for the Institute. The latter has to ensure the development of its undertakings and guarantee its own existence and progress. Still, there are limits even here. Bear in mind: trust in God, the spirit of poverty, no wasting time or food, appropriate assistance to the needy, and so on.
All Institutes are bound to work; it is a natural law, and a penance due to sin. Profession adds new laws; it does not dispense with them.
An obligation on all Institutes, rich and poor, is that before seeking donations there is the duty to work. The possibility of working is already God's providence. Pius XII set this out very clearly in the Constitution Sponsa Christi.
To train a young person for work means to promote him, enrich him, and to provide for him in this world and for eternity.
When a person lives a disciplined life, masters his senses and circumstances, he will be respected and admired within his family and society; his life will be beneficial to himself and to others; he will give a good contribution to humanity and to the Church. Be a man! Vir, vis, strength.
The saints were all great workers. In proportion to their lifespan, how much they worked and how many avenues their initiatives opened up! Such saints as Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Bernard [of Clairvaux], Francis de Sales, Joseph Cottolengo, John Bosco, Alphonsus Rodriguez, John

Baptist de la Salle, John of the Cross, Albert the Great, Camillus de Lellis, John M. Vianney, Dominic [Guzman], Alphonsus de Liguori, and many others: all of them worked! They gave pride of place to interior work; this then resulted in those marvellous, prolific and humanitarian undertakings that arouse such admiration in everyone.
Saint Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: When we were with you, we gave you this command: If any one will not work, let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living (2 Thess 3:10-12). We labour, working with our own hands (1 Cor 4:12). He was a great worker. He insists over and over that ministraverunt me manus istae⁷ for his necessities and for those who were with him, working even at night in the trade learned in his youth. He speaks of himself: in plagis… in laboribus, in vigiliis…⁸ (2 Cor 6:5). He is the most fitting interpreter and imitator of Jesus Christ; even in work his life is in Christ: Mihi vivere Christus est.⁹

The work of the Pauline

Jesus the worker produced commonplace things; Saint Paul made army tents; whereas the work of the Pauline (priest or brother) has a particular trait: it is a direct apostolate. Through his work he gives the truth; he discharges a role of preaching which has now become mission and is approved by the Church.

Saint Paul, in fact, praises maxime qui laborat in verbo et doctrina¹⁰ (1 Tim 5:17).
A sound rule is early to bed and early to rise.
When you have worked and you are not making ends meet, invoke Divine Providence, make a dignified request for beneficence, and enjoy being able to imitate the poverty of Jesus, Mary and Saint Paul, living in hardship.
Confessors, preachers, teachers and the like are among workers unsurpassed.
Some want the luxury of the vow but not the exercise of poverty; they take and demand everything. Drone religious are sometimes the most demanding.
There are those who use a car as if it were their own. They decide on its use, deprive others of it, and manage it independently and freely, which is precisely what the vow forbids.
If there are needs these can be met through our printing and our distribution in an intelligent and prudent way.
When we work in an apostolic way vocations increase, we pay for machines and houses, we conform to our mission, we win the approval of God and men, we win heaven.

Enemies of poverty

The enemies of poverty are:
a) The concupiscentia oculorum.¹¹ Someone wrote: Given the lust for money, every person is basically, to some degree, an owner, a capitalist, a covetous person who is sleeping. But, on reaching adulthood,

he wakes up. Thus it happens that some people do work for outsiders and then keep the money.
b) The concupiscentia carnis.¹² This occurs when there is laziness, when people want money to satisfy their passions, greed, curiosity, independence, amusements and convenience. The Institute has to provide for necessities.
c) The superbia vitae.¹³ This is ambition. While decency is necessary, vanity is a passion. Judging superficially, the world shows partiality to the rich, even in church.
d) A worldly spirit, the bad example of confreres, the negligence of superiors, the material prosperity of an Institute. People reach a point of keeping even the Mass stipend.

In a religious Congregation the vow [of poverty] forbids:
a) appropriating something of the Institute's for one's personal use. Consequently, the so-called peculium (a nestegg) is ruled out by the Constitutions;
b) giving things away, selling, changing or disposing of them, spending independently, lending, or ruining things through carelessness;
c) accepting things for one's personal use and without permission; unjustified claims for one's health;
d) Refusing roles and tasks.

Qualities of poverty:
It is to be loved, chosen, preferred to wealth and comforts, out of love for Jesus Christ.
It is to be practised in food, dress, housing, furniture; preferring common life.

Understood in the gospel sense poverty in spirit is to love the poor; it is to avoid frequent contacts with the rich; it is to preach, in a gospel spirit, on detachment from earthly goods.

Observations

a) For as long as he enjoys good health, the religious in perpetual vows should provide for the support of at least three-four persons. This is for the expenses incurred in his formation, for those of other aspirants, for the needs of his old age. Is not this the obligation the father of a family shoulders?
b) Accustom the aspirants to the practice of poverty: they are to pay what is prescribed by the Institute; they are to become accustomed to community food and to work; there has to be cleanliness and order; they are to take care of things, furniture, and clothing; they are to learn how to master themselves practising mortification.
c) To educate people without the abneget semetipsum¹⁴ will not produce good Christians, much less good religious. If, instead, the aspirant is accustomed to modest self-denial he will be prepared for overall renunciation when he makes profession and lives in accordance with the Gospel and the example of Jesus Christ.
d) The folly of the cross: Saint Paul, the Curé of Ars, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo, Saint Teresa.
e) In God's Church only those who loved and practised poverty did things that lasted. Either they left examples which were a source of

edification, or they devoted themselves to apostolic works, or they reached true holiness.
f) Fr Chevrier has outlined a concise and complete program of the holy life of the true poor person of Jesus Christ:
He is content with little…;
he lets nothing deteriorate;
he is grateful for everything;
he believes he has always more than he merits;
he is happy with the courtesies shown him;
he bemoans nothing, seeking the poverty of Jesus Christ;
he works to earn his daily bread;
he loves doing the more difficult and lowly things;
he dreads what savors of luxury, vanity, affluence, comfort;
he seeks how to help others;
he takes care of what he has;
he avoids waste and lavishness;
he does not make useless expenses for clothes, housing, food, adornments;
he is economical without being mean.
g) There is a clear distinction between shortcomings against poverty and shortcomings against justice. The Master of Novices and Superiors have to explain this; reminding those who have taken things which belong to the Institute, culpably damaged them or given them to others without permission, and so on, of the need for restitution.

The spirit of poverty supposes:

- The practice of justice, even in small things;
- the conviction that the goods of this world are for man's natural and eternal life;
- good health;
- cleanliness and the proper use of time;
- a correct grasp of economic management.
To take care of the house, clothes, furniture, work tools and the like is a reasonable request. A wholly common and wise administration, provident and yet farsighted, is clearly indispensable in a family; to shun ambition, passing satisfactions, the superfluous, hoarding knick knacks, says a lot.
Generally speaking, it is much easier to build churches and houses than it is to make them holy, filling them with merits, vocations, apostolate and prayer, resulting in joyful religious life; easier than to make them an antechamber and readying place for heaven. Tuis fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non tollitur, et dissoluta terrestris huius incolatus domo, aeterna in caelis habitatio comparatur.¹⁵
If houses are to be maintained they must be taken care of. It is true that walls, doors, windows, furniture and such things must all be of sturdy material, as you would expect in a community with young people. Apart from that, however, everyone must use things with care and respect, treating them as property of the Church (through the Institute). Poverty demands care and attention on every side.
Cleanliness, order, ventilation, frequent repairs

from the roof to the pavement, painting, and so on, show that we have respect for ourselves and for the apostolate. Not out of place here are the words: Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae.¹⁶ When death is at hand, the view of our room and surroundings, objects, books, clothes, furniture and so on (even the prie-dieu) ought to remind us only of the holy use we made of them! In fact, everything is simply for our use, a tool for fashioning an eternal crown and preparing a beautiful place in heaven: Dispone domui tuae, quia morieris tu, et non vives.¹⁷
Our corpse will exit the door for ever. And let us prepare suitable tombs for religious! But may our soul be ready to make its definitive entrance into heaven: Veni… coronaberis.¹⁸ After having sanctified our home on earth.