The action of holiness in history (1)

By Dom Prosper Guéranger   |   2 October 2024

Extract from The Christian Sense of history

Can the Christian historian, once he is satisfied that he has broadly sketched out the supernatural character of the annals of human history, then believe himself dispensed from recording events of lesser importance, sown by divine power and goodness in the course of the ages in order to revive the faith in successive generations? He will be wary of such ingratitude and, as thrilled as he is to recognise that not in vain has the Redeemer of the world promised the visible signs of his intervention to his faithful until the end, he will be just as eager to initiate his brethren into the joy which he has experienced in encountering along his path a thousand rays of an unexpected light. Each one of these luminaries, though related more or less directly to the three great centres,¹ offers its own testimony of God’s fidelity to His promises and a precious confirmation which springs forth over the whole. Human history can thus contain miracles of detail, which have had more than an individual significance and which have resonated from great distance. 

It is not necessary to add that, in order to enter into a serious and truly historical account, they must be certain from the point of view of impartial critique. Thus, the apparition of the Cross to Constantine has the right to figure seriously in the annals of the fourth century. As much can be said for the prodigies that were worked in Jerusalem in the same era, when Julian the Apostate wanted to rebuild the temple of Solomon. The miracles of Saint Martin, so influential in the extinction of idolatry among the Gauls, cannot be passed over in silence any more than those of Saint Philip Neri in Rome and of Saint Francis Xavier in the Indies, which, despite the blasphemies of the Reformation and the decadence of the papal Church in the sixteenth century, attested that she was nonetheless the unique heiress of the promises and sanctuary of the true Faith. From the Christian point of view, would it not be leaving a gap in history to remain silent about the prodigious deeds that accompanied the introduction of the Gospel to almost all the places where it has been preached? 

For example, the miracles of the monk, Saint Augustine of Canterbury in his apostolate in England, and those which have been reported in the missions of the illustrious promoters of religious life, both in the East and the West, from Saint Anthony in the desert of Egypt to Saint Francis and Saint Dominic, among the other fathers of the thirteenth century? The chain of these marvels continues into our own time; it would thus be misunderstanding the role of the Christian historian to think that one had done enough by simply mentioning the deeds of this nature which occurred at the origin of Christianity. They have been constant, so to say, and they continue to be so; they are the pledge of the supernatural presence of God in the activity of humanity. Finally, they have had a real influence on peoples; one must thus take them into account if one judges them to be true; it is one’s duty to record them and to assign them their role and their significance.

One hastens to add that not every form of history requires detailed research of supernatural facts; nor need ecclesiastical history be, strictly speaking, the only thing to which the Christian consecrates his talent for writing and recounting. Let this talent be exercised in all its forms; whether the history is general or specialised, whether it takes the form of memoirs or biography; all is well, provided that it is Christian; but the historian must expect to encounter the supernatural element early and often on his route; may he never then fail in his duty! 

If you want to write the history of France, nothing could be better, so long as you are up to the task; but just you wait until you come up against Joan of Arc. Now, what will you make of this marvellous figure? You will not deny, nor describe ambiguously, facts which are now cleared up to the highest possible degree. Will you seek to explain them naturally? This would be a waste of time; there is nothing naturally less explicable than the mission and actions of the Maid of Orleans! Will you see in them the application of a providential law that governs human events, or even the destiny of France in particular? But in them, every sort of providential rule and ordinary law is inverted; we see nothing, either before or after, which leads us to think that God does such things in the general government of the world. Will you then say, in the academic style, that, all things considered, the mission of Joan of Arc remains inexplicable and that those who have wanted to explain it humanly have thrown themselves into difficulties that they could not get out of? Rather go all the way and frankly confess that history contains miracles and that the mission of Joan of Arc is one of them. Plainly admit that the shepherd girl of Domrémy truly saw saints and heard voices, that God clothed her with His invincible strength, that He put in her the spirit of prophecy, that He Himself made her victorious on the ramparts of Orleans, that He assisted her with the superhuman virtue of the martyrs in the sublime sacrifice which was to end this miraculous career. But after that, take care to draw the inductions which readily present themselves in the wake of these marvellous facts. Who then is Joan of Arc? Is she simply a meteor with which God was pleased to dazzle us, with no other purpose than to show His power? Reason forbids us to think so, and faith shows us, in this unequalled manifestation of divine predilection for France, the intention to save a very Christian kingdom from the yoke of heresy, which Protestant England would have laid heavily upon her a century later.

This series continues next week with The action of holiness in history (2).

The Christian Sense of history is available to buy on the Voice of Family website.

Note:

1. The “three great centres” described by Dom Guéranger in the same work are 1) the divine governance of the Hebrews, 2) the conversion of the Gentiles, and 3) the preservation of the Church. ↩︎