St. Bernardine’s Preaching Technique

ST. BERNARDINE S PREACHING TECHNIQUE THE Divine Word is synonymous with omnipotence: Quoniam ipse dixit, et facta sunt.1 Human speech partakes of this prerogative to a certain extent. At any rate, it is one of the most difficult and most glorious exercises of the created intellect. La Bruyère, a French moralist, affirmed that "the art of speech resembles in one way the ^rt of war: there is greater risk, but success is obtained quicker.”2 Among the different uses of speech, without doubt the noblest is preaching. It springs from the profoundly Christian thought that it is our duty to guide our fellow-men and to work for their eternal salvation. In obedience to the injunction of its Founder, Christianity has instituted this free teaching of morals, this public course of dogma, this constant appeal for justice, which falls from even the lowliest Christian pulpit as a celestial manna. How many people, occupied with their personal interests, would never hear of duty, virtue, sacrifice, or immortal hopes, if there were no such thing as preaching? The humblest preacher, even if his delivery is faulty, surpasses the subtlest philosopher because he accomplishes a divine mission. How much greater is the orator who uses his convictions and his ardent charity to stir up souls, if he is at the same time a saint and a learned man. He finds his way into hearts and brings about such changes as morally to transform a whole city and even a whole country. This is what happened in France, in the Fourteenth Century, with the Spaniard, Vincent Ferrer ; and Italy, in the Fifteenth Century, witnessed the same transformation under Bernardine of Siena. Bernardine was an authentic preacher. He was not a grandiloquent talker who, with elaborated periods, rendered dull the most touching questions of faith or morals. He was not a pedant who displayed his erudition. He was not a vain man in quest of a reputation for himself, or attempting to satisfy his human ambition. He was a man of God "who uses speech only for thought, and thought only for truth and virtue.”3 Before beginning his mission, he spent a long time in preparation. He possessed not only the knowledge which Fénelon requires of an orator,4 but also the powerful attractive force of a virtuous and ascetic life. "It is the man, not the sermon that preaches,” Cardinal Manning pointed out; "the sermon is what the man is; and from this point of view, the preparation required for a preacher is not that of the sermon but that of the man.”5 His mission begun, Bernardine devoted himself entirely to his work. In order to have no obstacle to his apostolate, he refused three bishoprics. For the same reason, he did not want to hear confessions of either men or women. He complained that many priests say Mass, but few are willing to preach. Therefore he insisted on the necessity of preaching. "To choose between Mass and the sermon, it would be preferable to miss Mass rather than miss the sermon.”6 The reason is obvious; if we do not preach, faith disappears, truth gives way to error, 1. Psalm 32:9. 2. La Bruyère, Les Caractères (Nelson édition), p. 520. 3. Fénelon, Lettre a l’Académie (Larousse édition), p. 27. 4. Ibid. 5. Manning, The Eternai Priesthood, p. 182. 6. Banchi, Le Prediche Volgari (Siena, 1880-88, 3 vols.), I, 66. 328 PREACHING TECHNIQUE 329 and salvation is jeopardized. "O citizens, do you want to save Siena?... Listen to the Word of God.”7 For almost forty years the apostle sowed that Word of God with ex­ traordinary joy. "How happy I am when I preach! The joy of preaching is so great that every sermon adds a pound to my weight.”8 It is not sur­ prising that this jovial little friar should have restored sacred oratory in the Italy of the Quattrocento. His contemporaries unanimously praised his eloquence and its influence upon his country. It seems that he, par excellence, merited the title, so arbitrarily granted, of Prince of Orators. To appreciate St. Bernardine’s technique, we must distinguish two cate...