"EX UNO DISCE OMNES."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 184, 6 October 1876, Page 11

"EX UNO DISCE OMNES."

In our last issue we inserted a letter given by the late Very Eev. Father Petit-Jean to two members of the Order rf Sisters of Mercy, who left Wellington a short time since for | the purpose of proceeding to Europe, there to labour for the j advancement of their mission in New Zealand. This letter '< was not originally intended for publication. Tt was given to j the Sisters in order to serve th< j m as an introduction to the Superiors of Convents in the old country ; and no one else would, probably, ever have heaid of it had not accident invested it with extended interest, and led to its being published in our columns. It is, therefore, a most clear and valuable indication of the motives by which one well qualified to judge believed that the members of a religious order would be guided, for it is impossible that any suspicion can be attached to it of having been written for the purpose of exciting public sympathy, and phrased accordingly. We must take it as an undeniable testimony to the spirit that actuates, at least, one religions k order ; and there will be few found amongst us who will refuse by this one order to judge of all the rest, whether founded by St. Dominic, St. Fraxcis, or any other saint. Now, what are the inducements held out to Sisters of Mercy in Europe, which are supposed strong enough to persuade them to leave their native land and come to the other end of the world ; and so supposed by au aged priest, himself member of an order, and who had, during a long life, had the most ample opportunities of gaining experience of the inclinations and motives of others, who, like him, were professed religious ] The times are critical, ho says, and there is urgent need of help. There is not a word, spoken by him with regardjto temporal advantages to be reaped by emigration in this instance ; nothing of successful gold-digging or fertile land, or a high scale of wages. He simply says that those who are already working hard out here have need of help, -which means that there is here a field for labor, that in this world can yield to the laborer no reward, but which will require in incessant round of duties, in themselves distasteful at best, and in many cases capable of being justly qualified -by a much stronger adjective than that. Do we not thus gain an insight into a life, that those

given up to worldly pursuits are incapable of realising but which all must acknowledge to be beautiful and holy— a life devoted to the good of others, and that seeks alone an opportunity of practising this devotion in the highest degree. | And not less edifying are the obstacles that Father PetitJean thought it incumbent on him to remove from before the view of some who, but for these, would probably be disposed to emigrate. " Let none be deterred," he wrote, "from proceeding to New Zealand, for fear of being deprived of facilities for observing rules, and prosecuting the work of perfecS tion. I have the opportunity of observing that, in the very convent of Wellington in particular, the discipline of the order is perfectly observed, and the means of sanctification are the same as at home." The only thing judged likely to prevent, religious from changing the scene of their labors is a fear, lest under the altered circumstances they should be hindered from persevering in their course of self-denial and devotion. We see, then, clearly, "that these people do not live for themselves. Their lives are totally given up to God, and to their neighbor for the love of God. Wherever they are settled, there is to be found a body of men or women, as the case may be, engaged in busily working for the good of the general community of that place. Those who aid in their establishment are, therefore, helping to forward the interests, not of private individuals — for monks and nuns, as we see, have no worldly interests — but of society, of themselves, of their children, and of all around them ; and we can think of no undertaking more meritorious in a spiritual, or wiser in a temporal point of view, than that of co-operating with those who are endeavoring to found, maintain, or extend conventual settlements in any country whatever.