Christian Leaders

"Following the doctrines put forth by Ann Lee, and elaborated by her successors, they hold:"

"She never learned to read or write. Aside from her strictly religious teachings, she appears to have inculcated upon her followers the practical virtues of honesty, industry, frugality, charity, and temperance."

"She possessed remarkable powers and faculties of mind in nature, which were greatly enlarged and strengthened by the gift of God. At times, when under the power and operation of the Holy Ghost, her countenance shone with the glory of God, and her form and actions appeared divinely beautiful and very angelic. The power and influence of her spirit, at such times, was great beyond description; and no one was able to gainsay or resist the authority by which she spoke. Tho her words were few, yet they always seemed adapted to the occasion, and it did not appear that she ever spoke in vain. Her whole soul appeared to be always engaged in the work of God, and the Spirit of God seemed to breathe through all her words and actions. She inspired into the hearts of her faithful children the greatest fear of God, and excited their highest admiration, love and respect. But in reproving sin and sinners, the power of her spirit seemed irresistible, and often struck terror into the souls of every one present. Her admonitions were sharp, powerful and penetrating; yet while she struck at that which was evil, she seemed always anxious to separate and preserve the good."

"Be diligent with your hands, for godliness does not lead to idleness."

"You ought not to cross your children unnecessarily, for it makes them ill-natured."

"You ought to dress yourself in modest apparel, such as becomes the people of God, and teach your family to do likewise. You ought to be industrious and prudent, and not live a sumptuous and gluttonous life, but labor for a meek and quiet spirit, and see that your family is kept decent and regular in all their goings forth, that others may see your example of faith and good works, and acknowledge the work of God in your family."

"You can never enter the kingdom of God with hardness against any one, for God is love, and if you love God you will love one another."

"Put your hands to work and give your hearts to God."

"You ought never to speak to your children in a passion; for if you do, you will put devils into them."

"Do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live; and as you would if you knew you must die tomorrow."

"It is now spring of the year, and you have all had the privilege of being taught the way of God; and now you may all go home and be faithful with your hands. Every faithful man will go forth and put up his fences in season, and will plow his ground in season, and put his crops into the ground in season; and such a man may with confidence look for a blessing."

"When I confessed my sins, I labored to remember the time when and the place where I committed them. And when I had confessed them, I cried to God to know if my confession was accepted; and by crying to God continually I traveled out of my loss."

"The first step of obedience that any of you can take is to confess your sins to God before his witnesses."

"If you confess your sins, you must confess them to God; we are but his witnesses."

"The lives of the saints can be seen in Pauline terms as the fruits of the Spirit at work in human beings, or, in the words of John Henry Newman, as the proper and true evidence of the God of Christianity."

"I can freely forgive you, and I pray God to forgive you. It is God that forgives you; I am but your fellow-servant."

"Unauthorized cults did not entirely cease in the later Middle Ages but in the long run they were unlikely to survive if they lacked the papal approval which they should have had. A modern authority concludes: in canonization as in other matter medieval theory could not always be enforced in practice, and it was not until the Roman Church had lost the Northern peoples and had undergone the counter reformation, that the decrees of Urban VIII (1623-44) were able to bring about the complete control of the cult of the saints which had been so long desired. It is a paradox that among those who rejected the Roman obedience were the peoples who had been foremost in acknowledging papal authority in this sphere of Christian practice."

"We are the people who turned the world upside down."

"The reform of the Roman calendar in 1969 regulated further the cults of saints and introduced a systematic selection by historical criteria for both universal veneration throughout the Roman Church and for purely local cult. The reform was part of the programme of aggorniamento initiated by John XXIII (1958-62) and continued by Paul VI (1963-78). It was widely held that the accumulation of saints in the calendar over many centuries had led to over-emphasis on their feast days as the expense of the more important Temporal Cycle of the calendar composed of Advent, Lent, and the Sundays throughout the year. Long before, particular Orders such as the Benedictines had enjoyed a more selective calendar than the Roman Church as a whole: it might be said that the effect of the reform was to bring the whole Church to a situation in several ways similar to that of the Benedictines. The opportunity was taken also to upgrade or downgrade certain feasts, to restore some of them to their original days, to transfer others from Lent and Advent, and to omit entirely some who had previously enjoyed a considerable cult. These included SS. Philomena and Margaret of Antioch at the same time saint were selected for universal veneration by deliberate choice from each century of the Church's history and from many countries. Examples of these include martyrs from Australasia, Uganda, Korea, and Vietnam. Their historical significance as representatives of particular non-European countries was duly considered. Others who had long been venerated everywhere in Christendom were approved for particular churches, countries, or religious orders. The committee charged with this selection was particularly severe on a number of early martyrs. Where historical scholarship has shown that there is no solid foundation for believing them to be martyrs, they are no longer venerated as such. The preponderance of saints of Roman origin has been ended, and the number of popes culted universally reduced to fifteen."

"Of one hundred people who take up the spiritual life, eighty turn out to be charlatans, fifteen insane, and only five, maybe, get a glimpse of the real truth. Therefore, beware."

"Long ago the famous Bollandist Hippolyte Delehaye wrote: 'Happy is the saint who finds a biographer worthy of him.' The remark is as true today as when it was first penned many years ago. On the whole the quality of recent candidates for canonization has not been high. Too often individuals have been made to fit into conventional patterns of piety which make it difficult to capture individual character. In addition to this problem is that of language, especially for the martyrs of the Far East. Latin and 'live' European languages are indispensable here, but cannot be a total substitute for the native languages of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. However, the effort had to be made to present these saints to English readers, to whom they are usually unfamiliar. For quite different reasons the numbers and significance of the martyrs of the French Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and 20th century Mexico are little known to most English readers. Hence it seemed useful to include them in this volume along with the other recently canonized saints mentioned above. It is salutary to remember that Christian martyrs are not confined to the early centuries, but still exist today. No doubt in the 21st century as well as in previous ones men and women will give their lives for Christ, while others will inspire by comparable generosity in other walks of life an provide exemplars for generations yet to come."

"The public veneration of saints in the Christian Church is known to have existed in the 2nd century. As will be shown below, it developed in local communities; it was based on the saint's tomb; it was a consequence of the general belief that a martyr who shed his blood for Christ was certainly in Heaven and able to exercise intercessory prayer on behalf of those who invoked him. It has often been asserted that the cult of saints was both a borrowing from and a substitute for the polytheistic cults of the ancient Graeco-Roman world. In its crude form the theory is completely unconvincing, especially when the nature of the cults is considered and placed in its context of Christian doctrine, worship, and life. But it can readily be conceded that many eternal elements such as anniversaries, shrines, incubation, and iconography have all been at the very least deeply influenced by pagan Mediterranean models. Nevertheless, the cults of saints originated in the beliefs and practice of Jewry and early Christianity."

"The soul can only receive impulses from another soul, and from nothing else. We may study books all our lives, we may become very intellectual; but in the end we shall find that we have not developed at all spiritually (...). This inadequacy of books to quicken spiritual growth is the reason why, although almost every one of us can speak most wonderfully on spiritual matters, when it comes to action and the living of a spiritual life, we find ourselves awfully deficient. To quicken the spirit, the impulse must come from another soul. The person from whose soul such an impulse comes is called the guru, the teacher; and the person to whose soul the impulse is conveyed is called the sishya, the student."

"Saints do not die. It is their lot, To die while on this earth To all that God is not."

"The master by residing in the Tao, sets an example for all beings. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he doesn't know who he is, people recognize themselves in him. Because he has no goal in mind, everything he does succeeds."

"During the 4th century devotion to the martyrs spread rapidly. This took place through entries in the calendar of one local church being shared by others. Also in the 4th century came the extension of cults to selected confessors and virgin; the ascetic, monastic life came to be regarded as something of a substitute for martyrdom, and those who pursued it faithfully as worthy of the same honour. Zealous bishops also were perceived as sharing the teaching role of Christ to a supreme degree. Whilst the earliest saints to be venerated had been martyrs such as Polycarp, Ignatius, and the Martyrs of Lyons soon Anthony and Athanasius in the East, with Augustine and Martin in the West were similarly honoured shortly after their death. For both categories the saint's tomb was the indispensable start of the cult."

"Men, she thought, had always been able to seek holiness when they wanted to because some woman was back at home taking care of their obligations. That’s why most of the saints were men and why most of the women saints were virgins."

"By the way, I have been reading the last volume of the Bible (the Epistles & Apocalypse) in your modern edition. I long for notes; but even half understood the stuff is extraordinary. What could be more remote from polite religion than this palpitating, ... eschatological, revolutionary delusion? And what fisticuffs—controversial and perhaps physical—among these new-born saints!"

"Mother Ann Lee, in her personal appearance, was a woman rather below the common stature of woman; thick set, but straight and otherwise well proportioned and regular in form and features. Her complexion was light and fair, and her eyes were blue, but keen and penetrating; her countenance was mild and expressive, but grave and solemn. Her natural constitution was sound, strong and healthy. Her manners were plain, simple, and easy. She possessed a certain dignity of appearance that inspired confidence and commanded respect. By many of the world who saw her without prejudice she was called beautiful; and to her faithful children she appeared to possess a degree of dignified beauty and heavenly love which they had never before discovered among mortals."

"Through the ages zealous bishops had intervened to suppress false cults, but only in the late 12th and 14th centuries did the authorization of new cults become juridically reserved to the Holy See. Not much could be done systematically about old cults or about the proliferation of relics by any authority except through exhortation, but at least the cults of new saints were put on to a legal basis which many of the best minds of the age helped establish and administer. This reserve was formerly believed to be the work of Alexander III (1159-81); recent scholarship has shown it to be the work rather of Innocent III (1199-1216), who in fact built on and consolidated the work of his predecessors. The growing centralization of the Church following the Gregorian Reform was also a powerful factor in establishing the new legal requirement. Papal commissions were appointed to investigate the life and miracles of candidates for canonization. Only if the life was seen to have been worthy were the miracles then examined. These two subjects of enquiry have remained standard from then until the present day, while the enquiries themselves were conducted according to the best standards of the time."

"It is absurd to suppose, if this is God’s world, that men must always be selfish barbarians."

"When the first just and friendly man appeared on the earth, from that day a fatal Waterloo was visible for all the men of pride and fraud and blood."

"The truly civilized man has no enemies."

"Democracy is on trial in the world, on a more colossal scale than ever before."

"It is a world of startling possibilities."

"Golden hours of vision come to us in this present life, when we are at our best, and our faculties work together in harmony."

"Religion is as healthy and normal as life itself."

"Good Will is the mightiest practical force in the universe."

"The voyeurism in the martyrologies was employed not to evoke outrage against torture but to inspire reverence for the bravery of the martyrs. As in the story of Jesus, torture was an excellent thing. The saints welcomed their torments, because suffering in this life would be rewarded with bliss in the next one. The Christian poet Prudentius wrote of one of the martyrs, “The mother was present, gazing on all the preparations for her dear one’s death and showed no signs of grief, rejoicing rather each time the pan hissing hot above the olive wood roasted and scorched her child." Saint Lawrence would become the patron saint of comedians because while he was lying on the gridiron he said to his tormenters, “This side’s done, turn me over and have a bite.” The torturers were straight men, bit players; when they were put in a bad light it was because they were torturing our heroes, not because they used torture in the first place."

"Stay in the company of lovers. Those other kinds of people, they each want to show you something. A crow will lead you to an empty barn, A parrot to sugar."

"Socrates was the chief saint of the Stoics throughout their history; his attitude at the time of his trial, his refusal to escape, his calmness in the face of death, and his contention that the perpetrator of injustice injures himself more than his victim, all fitted in perfectly with Stoic teaching."

"Here are just a few saints whose names, if not their causes of death, are widely known. Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus and the first Pope, was crucified upside down. Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, met his end on an X-shaped cross, the source of the diagonal stripes on the Union Jack. Saint Lawrence was roasted alive on a gridiron, a detail unknown to most Canadians who recognize his name from the river, the gulf, and one of Montreal’s two major boulevards. The other one commemorates Saint Catherine, who was broken on the wheel, a punishment in which the executioner tied the victim to a wagon wheel, smashed his or her limbs with a sledgehammer, braided the shattered but living body through the spokes, and hoisted it onto a pole for birds to peck while the victim slowly died of hemorrhage and shock. (Catherine’s wheel, studded with spikes, adorns the shield of the eponymous college at Oxford.) Saint Barbara, namesake of the beautiful California city, was hung upside down by her ankles while soldiers ripped her body with iron claws, amputated her breasts, burned the wounds with hot irons, and beat her head with spiked clubs. And then there’s Saint George, the patron saint of England, Palestine, the republic of Georgia, the Crusades, and the Boy Scouts. Because God kept resuscitating him, George got to be tortured to death many times. He was seated astride a sharp blade with weights on his legs, roasted on a fire, pierced through the feet, crushed by a spiked wheel, had sixty nails hammered into his head, had thefat rendered out of his back with candles, and then was sawn in half."

"The saints of Christianity have been drawn from all classes, yet the book of the would probably show that most of them were drawn from the and had led poor, dull, illiterate lives. The saints of Hellenism were drawn from another class. They are Pindar and Pericles and Thucydides and Socrates, and those men before whose minds had passed visions of art or the conception of science, or the dream of a race of beings living a beautiful, complete, and human life."

"I recalled the myth that I had once heard as a university student — thirty-six hidden saints in the world, all of them doing the work of humble men, carpenters, cobblers, shepherds. They bore the sorrows of the earth and they had a line of communication with God, all except one, the hidden saint, who was forgotten. The forgotten one was left to struggle on his own, with no line of communication to that which he so hugely needed. Corrigan had lost his line with God: he bore the sorrows on his own, the story of stories."

""How do you expect me to become a saint?""By wanting to," said Lax, simply. ... "All that is necessary to become a saint is to want to be one. Don't you believe that God will make you what He created you to be, if you consent to let him do it? All you have to do is desire it."A long time ago, St. Thomas Aquinas had said the same thing—and it is something that is obvious to everybody who ever understood the gospels."

"The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint."

"Both thought and feeling are determinants of conduct, and the same conduct may be determined either by feeling or by thought. When we survey the whole field of religion, we find a great variety in the thoughts that have prevailed there; but the feelings on the one hand and the conduct on the other are almost always the same, for Stoic, Christian, and Buddhist saints are practically indistinguishable in their lives. The theories which Religion generates, being thus variable, are secondary; and if you wish to grasp her essence, you must look to the feelings and the conduct as being the more constant elements. It is between these two elements that the short circuit exists on which she carries on her principal business, while the ideas and symbols and other institutions form loop-lines which may be perfections and improvements, and may even some day all be united into one harmonious system, but which are not to be regarded as organs with an indispensable function, necessary at all times for religious life to go on. This seems to me the first conclusion which we are entitled to draw from the phenomena we have passed in review."

"Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint."

"We belong to the Society of Friends, a community of love, a family of persons. In so far as we are not just another “denomination,” we know also that the salvation of our age is in our keeping; that is, that it lies in the divine-human society which is "rooted and grounded in love." This is the unity which alone can make one world out of "one world", and not one nightmare, one hell, one burned-out cinder. We know also and in a way we respond to the fact that we have a mission, we are "called to be saints"."

"It could be argued that normal life is after all nothing but a chain of clever compromises. The man who understands how to live well, the Lebenskünstler as the Germans call him, is nothing but a virtuoso in compromises. The hero and the saint, on the other hand, are "clumsy," quixotic, and maladroit. They have nothing of the Lebenskünstler and cannot help inflicting upon themselves wound after wound. The virtuoso of life, no less than the bonvivant, is a thoroughly feminine as well as effeminate product."