of the perfection according to virtue. A 37. On his own ordination. 38. Catechetical discourse. 39. On virginity, 40. On the creation of man. 41. On the soul, to his sister. 42. On the Song of Songs, thirty-five discourses. 43. To those struggling against rebukes.
PROLEGOMENA TO THE MORELLIAN EDITION
TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND REVEREND FEDERICO BORROMEO, CARDINAL OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN, CLAUDIUS MORELLUS [WISHES] HEALTH AND PROSPERITY.
Since Basil the Great, most illustrious Cardinal, writing to the blessed Ambrose, prelate of Milan, after a brilliant enumeration of the greatest benefits of the Lord and our God toward the human race, says that he is extolling the supreme glory of God the Best and Greatest, who through every age chooses those who are pleasing to Himself, B choosing those who are well-pleasing unto Him, when in his own age, in particular, he had drawn a man from the royal city, a man of note, to whose fidelity the prefectship of an entire nation had been entrusted, a man of generous mind, born of an illustrious lineage, renowned for the splendor of his life, for the power of his speech, and for his distinction in handling civil affairs, to the assiduous care of the flock of Christ, and had transferred him from the judges of the earth to the apostolic presidency—a man C from the royal city, entrusted with the rule of an entire nation, lofty in spirit, in the brightness of his birth, in the renown of his life, in the power of his words, in affairs of life conspicuous—who drew him to the care of the flocks of Christ, and from the judges of the earth transferred him to the presidency of the apostles. If these praises, most remote from all flattery, were rightly paid by so great an archbishop of Caesarea to a most holy prelate of Milan, should they not be transferred to the most blessed Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, your uncle, who already enjoys his fatherland and heavenly kingdom, and to you, adorned with equal purple, with candor of soul, with excellence of doctrine, and with modesty and sanctity of life and morals? But now, when we were looking for an excellent patron and defender D for the edition of the legitimate works and fruits of the august genius of St. Gregory of Nyssa, bishop, and brother of that Basil, to blunt the virulent shafts of malicious Zoilus-like critics; upon whom rather ought we to have cast our eyes than upon him by whose name both the Christian commonwealth and the holy Roman Church are recreated? For in him is contained the most auspicious omen for Rome: a name well-matched to good deeds, for "Igneus est vigor et cœlestis origo" (Fiery is the vigor and heavenly the origin) of the Borromei, which I shall never regret having praised formerly in Saint Charles, whom you follow with almost equal steps. Wherefore, receive the watchful prelate Nyssenus—the most sharp-sighted high priest—who comes to you of his own accord with his most dear pledges of the mind, long hidden, with that kindness, benevolence, humanity, and alacrity with which you are accustomed to cultivate the monuments of the ancient saints, especially the Greek and Latin Fathers; and place him, grave in piety and merits, in the more prominent part of your most opulent library, with which you exhilarate all lovers of learning. Thus, indeed, great Federigo, keeping the inviolable covenant of the chaste Muses, you will be called grace for making those mindful of You, deserving by your deeds, and you will compare him with yourself in the immortality of the name. Fare well for long, O sturdy sprout of the Borromei. Paris. In the year of salvation 1615.