examination of the heart 342 FOR THE FEAST OF ST. CASIMIR, CONFESSOR Before Holy Communion 1. “Let your loins be girt” (Lk 12:35) [DRB]. Consider, what a great value the angelic virtue possesses, to which the heavenly Teacher so fervently encouraged His disciples. “We gird our loins,” says the Roman Doctor, “when we curb through modesty the dissoluteness of the flesh.”152 Truly, nothing is more precious, more excellent, more pleasing to God than chastity. Know, that St. Casimir valued it even more than his own life. When he was bedridden, the doctors advised him to contract an appropriate marriage as the most effective remedy for his deadly disease. He rejected high-mindedly the disgraceful medicine and uttered that maxim to be admired by all ages and imitated by all who are bound by law to chastity: “I prefer to die, than to be defiled.” He said so and supported the words by deed.153 Oh, how happy you shall be, if in aspiring to such a great virtue you will equal this most irreproachable saint, at least when you are attacked by impure spirits! 2. “your lamps burning” (Lk 12:35). Reflect, that next to the girdle of chastity, St. Casimir was far from lacking the lamp of good deeds. In addition to other I, § 2): Humilitas fundamentum ædificii spiritualis. (“Humility is the foundation of the spiritual edifice.”) A footnote also refers the reader to see St. Augustine’s Sermon 10 — De Verbis Domini. Cf. Augustinus, De sancta Virginitate — Liber Unus, in: PL, vol. 40, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1865, p. 416 (cap. 35). 152 Gregorius Magnus, XL Homiliarum in Evangelia: Liber I —Homilia XIII (Luc. XII, 35-40), in: PL, vol. 76, Ateliers catholiques du Petit-Montrouge, Paris 1857, p. 1123 (n. 1481). Cf. Cornelius à Lapide, The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide: S. Luke’s Gospel, Trans. Thomas W. Mossman, 4th ed., vol. 4, John Grant, Edinburgh 1908, p. 301 (Ch. XII, 35): “Mystically. We gird our loins when we restrain the luxury of the flesh by abstinence (continentiam), says S. Gregory (Hom. xiii).” 153 Cf. L. Siekaniec, NCE, vol. III, p. 178 (s.v. Casimir, St.): “Not wishing to renounce his celibacy, he rejected his father’s plans for him to wed the daughter of Emperor Frederick III of Germany.” Cf. BLS, (s.v. March 4 — St. Casimir, King): “At the age of twenty-five, sick of a lingering illness, he foretold the hour of his death and chose to die a virgin rather than take the life and health which the doctors held out to him in the married state.” Cf. IC crit. ed., p. 226 (footnote 22).
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