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The Quotable Saint
THE
QUOTABLE
SAINT

Rosemar y Ellen Guiley


The Quotable Saint

Copyright © 2002 by Visionary Living, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:

Facts On File, Inc.


132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The quotable saint / [compiled by] Rosemary Ellen Guiley.


p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8160-4375-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4381-3003-3 (e-book)


1. Christian life—Quotations, maxims, etc. 2. Christian saints—Quotations, maxims, etc. 3. Christian
life—Catholic authors. I. Guiley, Rosemary.

BX2350.3.Q86 2002
230—dc21 2002023540

Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses,
associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York
at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755.

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Cover design by Cathy Rincon

Printed in the United States of America

MP Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.


CONTENTS

Preface vii

Introduction ix

The Quotable Saint 1

Appendix: The Saints 311

Bibliography 340

Index 347
PREFACE

The Quotable Saint is organized alphabetical- early Christianity were focused on refuting
ly by topic. Some of the long entries, such heresies and establishing the theology of the
as CHRIST, GOD, and PRAYER, are subdivided church. Mystics were focused on their inner
into categories, and the subheadings are in lives, and preachers and missionaries gave
alphabetical order. I did not alphabetize the their full attention to exhorting people on
saints by name within topics, in order to virtues, vices, sin, and repentance. Some
provide variety. However, if I used more saints were very prolific, while others left
than one quotation from a particular saint behind few written works.
within the same topic, I grouped all those My general definition of saint was those
quotations together. individuals recognized by the church as
In choosing the material, I sought to pro- canonized, beatified, and declared venera-
vide a broad representation of works and ble. There are exceptions, such as the her-
saints, from well-known to lesser-known mits, monks, and abbots known as Desert
throughout the history of Christianity. I Fathers; the holy men whose writings are
researched treatises, sermons, orations, compiled in The Philokalia; and individuals
books, journals, personal writing, autobi- considered saints by acclaim or martyrdom.
ographies, biographies, and diaries of mysti- I included Julian of Norwich, whose cause
cal experiences. My primary objective was for beatification stalled because of lack of
to find nuggets of wisdom that would res- information about her personal life, but
onate with the interests and concerns of whose mystical work, Revelations of Divine
daily life in present times, so that this book Love, is significant.
would be useful, illuminating, and inspiring The words of the saints make them come
to the reader. Many lesser-known saints deliv- alive in a vivid way. I hope that through this
ered magnificently in that respect, sometimes book the reader can become better
outshining their more famous associates. The acquainted with them, so that they are no
writings of the saints of course reflect their longer remote, exalted figures, but wise peo-
roles and concerns of their own times. For ple we can envision meeting and talking
example, many of the towering figures of with today.

vii
INTRODUCTION

“Words are truly the images of the soul,” and suffering. As I went deeper into the writ-
Basil the Great once wrote in one of his let- ings, I felt more and more uplifted. The
ters. No better description can be made of message of the saints is not so much the con-
the writings of the saints. For centuries, sequences of sin, but the call to the right life:
golden wisdom and inspiration have poured to embody the virtues and unite with God.
forth from those whose holiness has given Of course, they often had to write for the
them the exalted status of sainthood, either needs of their audiences, and sometimes
by popular acclaim or by official church people listen only when they hear of the
recognition. In their lives and mystical expe- potential dire consequences of their
riences, in their religious studies and prac- actions—or their failure to act.
tices, the saints have looked into the depths For several years, I read nothing but works
of their souls and recorded what they found about the saints and by the saints. Toward
there. the end of the research, I suddenly realized
The compilation of this book was a spiri- how profoundly this spiritual study had
tual journey for me. For a long time, I have changed me—the way I think, my outlook,
been reading and researching the saints as my behavior, my spiritual consciousness.
part of the broad net I have cast for my own One cannot immerse one’s self in spiritual
spiritual study. After completing The Encyclo- thought without being changed by it. If you
pedia of Saints, a collection of biographical take this book and read a little of it every
profiles of saints and their lives and works, it day, and spend a few minutes meditating on
was natural to focus more closely on their the wisdom of the saints, you will experi-
personal works: their explanations of theolo- ence significant inner changes, too. Those
gy and dogma; their views on virtues and changes will in turn change your outer world
vices; their mystical views on God, Christ, for the better.
Mary, creation, heaven and hell, the soul Contemplation of spiritual wisdom is
and the human condition; their poignant essential for our well-being. “Every day keep
diaries and letters detailing their triumphs, turning over in your mind some thought
fears, accomplishments, and sufferings; and which has deeply impressed you and fallen
their personal ecstasies and experiences in into your heart. Unless you exercise your
the presence of the divine. The result is The powers of thought, the soul becomes
Quotable Saint, a distillation of the thoughts numb,” advised Theophan the Recluse, the
and insights of saints, which continue to Russian bishop who translated The
illuminate and inspire us in daily life. Philokalia writings of the Eastern fathers and
At times I felt weighed down by what ascetics into Russian. Much of our reading
seemed like an emphasis on sin, penance, and entertainment in daily life is soul-

ix
Introduction

numbing. But the words of the saints stim- comes from The Ladder of Divine Ascent;
ulate soul-searching. Climacus (klimakos) means “ladder.” There
I cannot say that I have a favorite saint, or are 30 chapters in the book, which corre-
even several favorite saints, as a result of this spond to the first 30 years of Jesus’ life.
research and contemplation. Each saint They provide steps in the spiritual ladder of
weaves a unique strand in a tapestry of grand ascent to God. Each step describes a certain
design. I appreciate the intellectual thought virtue or passion and the path that can lead
of saints such as Augustine and Thomas from it. The book offers no formulae, but
Aquinas equally with the heart-centered mys- instructs that “the life you have is hidden
ticism expressed by the women visionaries with Christ in God.” The stages of the spir-
such as Gertrude the Great, Hildegard of itual life set forth by John are the break with
Bingen, and Julian of Norwich. Each has its the world; the practice of asceticism; the
place and its power. struggle against the passions; the practice of
I would give the titles “golden- simplicity, humility, and discernment; and
mouthed,” “honey-mouthed,” and “gold- union with God.
en-streamed” to many saints besides John John Climacus’s work is but one of many
Chrysostom, Bernard of Clairvaux, and by numerous other saints that have strong
John Damascene, respectively. I was quite merit. The works of the saints are like jew-
taken with the writings of some other els in a crown—they are all beautiful.
saints as well. For example, the Divine I also especially appreciated the visionary
Mercy in My Soul of Faustina Kowalska writings of women saints, among them—
moved me deeply. The sermons of Vincent besides those already mentioned—
Ferrer express a succinct and crisp wis- Catherine of Siena, Catherine of Genoa,
dom. The writings of Josemaría Escrivá dis- Teresa of Ávila, Mary of Agreda, Elisabeth of
pense a most practical advice. The letters Schönau, Mechtilde of Magdeburg, Maria
of Paulinus of Nola about early Christianity Maddalena de’ Pazzi, and others. Women,
are illuminating. Overall, I resonated pro- shut out of the central authority of the
foundly with the mystical insights of the church, often established their authority
Desert Fathers and the Eastern saints, such through direct experience.
as collected in The Philokalia. I highly rec- The women visionaries reveal an essential
ommend John Climacus’s The Ladder of part of the spiritual quest. No matter how
Divine Ascent. much we read and study, each of us ulti-
A mystic and abbot of Sinai, John mately discovers Truth through our own
Climacus was regarded as one of the direct experience and understanding.
Eastern Fathers of the Church. After study- In all, the wisdom of the saints helps us
ing at the famous monastery at Mount by providing shining lamps to light our way.
Sinai, he retired to a cave and spent 20 years The saints’ wisdom is timeless. The same
in near isolation, studying the lives of the concerns, difficulties, struggles, insights,
saints and practicing severe austerities. He yearnings, aspirations, and triumphs that
visited monks in Egypt. In 600 he became have engaged them over the centuries are
abbot of the Sinai monastery, and attracted found in the hearts and minds and lives of
many pilgrims. His surname, Climacus, people today. Their wisdom transcends reli-

x
Introduction

gious boundaries and speaks to all people, on Prayer & Meditation, “Keep the thought
everywhere. of God continually before you, and walk
Reading the wisdom of the saints turns always in his presence.”
our thoughts to different and higher planes.
Peter of Alcantara counseled in his Treatise —Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Ph.D.

xi
A
Abortion good in agriculture, in teaching, in any sort
of trade.
—John Chrysostom, On the First Letter to the
The woman who destroys voluntarily a Corinthians
fetus incurs the pain of murder.
—Basil the Great, letter to Amphilochios
Action
Abundance Action is worth nothing without prayer:
prayer grows in value with sacrifice.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
God, my God, because you are mine, I
lack nothing.
—Gertrude the Great, Spiritual Exercises
Never be men or women of long action
and short prayer.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
God feeds the fowls, and daily
sustenance is furnished the sparrows,
and to those creatures who have no sense We cannot preach what we do not
of things Christian, do you think that to practice.
a servant of God, do you think that to —Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge
one devoted to good works, do you think
that to one dear to the Lord anything will
be lacking? Adoration
—Cyprian of Carthage, Works and Almsgiving
What an honor it is for your body to be
Giving and receiving—this is the principle spiritually sacrificed in the hour of your
of the multiplication of goods. It holds adoration before the Blessed Sacrament!

1
Adultery

What a privilege for your soul to do here The ambitious are not satisfied by the
below what the angels and saints are doing attainment of certain honors: their
in heaven so sweetly and gloriously although ambition and pride continually increase;
you have not their understanding nor their and their inquietude, their envy, and their
light but only the feeble light of faith. fears are multiplied.
—Louis de Montfort, letter —Alphonsus Liguori, sermon

May your prayer always be a real and Poor worldings! they labor and toil to
sincere act of adoration of God. acquire an increase of wealth and property;
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge but never enjoy repose: the more they
accumulate riches, the greater their
disquietude and vexation.
Adultery —Alphonsus Liguori, sermon

Avoid the slippery dangers of exacting state


There is nothing polluted in the human
service. Position has an inviting title, but it
frame except a man defile this with
brings evil slavery and a wretched end. He
fornication and adultery.
who now delights in desiring it, later
—Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses
repents of having desired it. It is pleasant
to mount the summit, but fearsome to
Never seek another woman’s couch; never descend from it; if you stumble, your fall
yearn for physical union with anyone else. from the top of the citadel will be worse.
Adultery is a grave matter: it is an outrage —Paulinus of Nola, letter
against nature.
—Ambrose, Hexaemeron

A man who has a spouse joined to him Angels


and in a legal marriage secretly pollutes the
wife of his neighbor and, in her turn, a CREATION AND NATURE OF ANGELS
woman takes the husband of another
woman. This is the worst iniquity and vast Each angel is imprinted by the creative
is the number of those who offend in this Word of God with the forms of all things,
way. The earth is full of the uncleanness of spiritual and corporeal.
fornication. —Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
—Elisabeth of Schönau, The Book of the Ways of God
When God created the angels in heaven he
established them in his grace.
Ambition —Francis de Sales, Oeuvres

Men in high places are driven by insatiable In my opinion, an angel is characterized by


ambition to clutch at still greater prizes. the fact that he is not tricked into sinning.
And nowhere is there any final satisfaction, —John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
because nothing there can be defined as
absolutely the best or the highest. God loves in the Seraphim as charity,
—Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God knows in the Cherubim as truth, is seated

2
Angels

in the Thrones as equity, reigns in the because it is the form of the body and,
Dominations as majesty, rules in the therefore, is part of man.
Principalities as principle, guards in the —Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
Powers as salvation, acts in the Virtues as Ladder of Created Things
strength, reveals in the Archangels as light,
assists in the Angels as piety. An angel by a single glance intuits an
—Bernard of Clairvaux, De Coinsideratione object and at the same moment sees its
causes and effects and penetrates not only
His holiness is so great that all the Powers to its accidents but also to its substance.
and Virtues tremble before Him. He sees not only physical objects but also
—Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul spiritual ones.
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
Ladder of Created Things
Cherubim means knowledge in abundance.
They provide an everlasting protection for
that which appeases God, namely, the Angels can without effort and without
calm of your heart, and they will cast a hands and instruments and in scarcely a
shadow of protection against all the attacks moment of time mold a body for
of malign spirits. themselves so that intelligent men would
—John Cassian, Conferences judge it a human body seeing that it walks,
speaks, eats, drinks, and can be touched,
felt, and even washed.
The angels were created in the empyrean
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
heavens and in the state of grace by which
Ladder of Created Things
they might be first to merit the reward of
glory. For although they were in the midst
of glory, the Divinity itself was not to be The holy angels were created at the same
made manifest to them face to face and time with heaven and earth and are like
unveiled, until they should be merited certain bright, spiritual stars so that they
such a favor by obeying the divine will. can be called the sons of God; when they
—Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God saw heaven and earth come forth from
nothing and stand on nothing and still rest
most firmly on their own stability, they
Those closest to God in heaven, the
doubtless praised the omnipotence of the
Seraphim, are called the fiery ones because
Craftsman with immense awe and
more than the other angels they take their
rejoicing.
fervor and ardor from the intense fire of
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
God. Ladder of Created Things
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
Ladder of Created Things
The angels cherish no envy or jealousy;
they are full of true and burning charity.
If an angel is compared to the rational
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
human soul, he can be rightly enough
Ladder of Created Things
called a perfect soul just as a soul can be
called an imperfect angel. . . . An angel is
a complete and perfect spiritual Good angels, therefore, cannot mediate
substance; the human soul is a between miserable mortals and blessed
diminished and imperfect substance immortals, for they themselves also are

3
Angels

both blessed and immortal; but evil cherubim were the contemplatives, who
angels can mediate, because they are possessed divine wisdom in an eminent
immortal like the one party, miserable like degree. Among the Seraphim were those
the other. who loved God with an ardent love.
—Augustine, The City of God —Vincent Ferrer, sermon

The good angels, therefore, hold cheap all Angels that have fallen have acquired a
that knowledge of material and transitory noetic volition which is perpetually evil,
things which the demons are so proud of while the good angels possess one that is
possessing—not that they are ignorant of perpetually good and has no need of a
these things, but because of the love of bridle.
God, whereby they are sanctified, is very —Gregory Palamas, Topics of Natural and Theological
dear to them, and because, in comparison Science and on the Moral and Ascetic Life:
of that not merely immaterial but also One Hundred and Fifty Texts
unchangeable and ineffable beauty, with
the holy love of which they are inflamed, God delineated all the beauty in the works
they despise all things which are beneath of divine omnipotence in the first angel.
it, and all that is not it, that they may with God adorned him like the starry heavens—
every good thing that is in them enjoy that with all the stars and with the beauty of
good which is the source of their the greening of every kind of sparkling
goodness. rock. And God called him Lucifer because
—Augustine, The City of God that angel bore the light from the One who
alone is eternal.
Think how, when Christ reached heaven —Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
with the blessed Fathers, many
thousands of them gathered in the first For the angels owe both their spirits and
street; that of the Angels. These were the lives to God. For all eternity they will
souls who, in this world, saved behold God’s fiery splendor. Out of this
themselves by means of penance; each, splendor they will glow like flames.
seated on his throne, over which his —Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
name had already been written, and each
placing his crown on his head. With the
God is the brightest of lights which can
Choir of Archangels were those who
never be extinguished, and the choirs of
saved their souls by spiritual works.
angels radiate light from the Divinity.
Among the Principalities were those who
Angels are pure praise without any trace of
had saved themselves by works of mercy.
a bodily deed.
Among the Powers were those who saved
—Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
themselves by great patience in adversity.
Among the Virtues were those who saved
themselves by patience bearing ill-will to DUTIES AND ACTIVITIES
no one. Among the Dominations were OF ANGELS
gathered the earthly Lords, Rulers and
Judges, who had ruled those under them We have no right to claim that the Angels
with great justice. Among the Thrones should obey us—but we can be absolutely
were those who, for love of Christ, had sure that the Holy Angels hear us always.
lived a life of great poverty. Among the —Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge

4
Angels

We should believe that the angelic spirits book. They attend us. They speak to us in
are especially present to us when we give a reasonable way, just as God inspires
ourselves in a special way to divine them to do. In the sight of God they praise
services, that is, when we enter a church people who do good deeds but turn away
and open our ears to sacred reading, or from whose who are evil.
give our attention to psalm-singing, or —Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
apply ourselves to prayer, or celebrate the
solemnity of mass. At the orders of the Queen the angels
—Bede the Venerable, homily on the Gospels frequently assisted the Apostles in their
travels and tribulations and in the
God is man’s universal teacher and persecutions as well of the gentiles and the
guardian, but his teaching to men is Jews, as of the demons, who continually
mediated by angels. excited evil-minded men against the
—Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica preachers of the Gospel. The angels often
visited them in visible shapes, conversing
with them and consoling them in the
I have great reverence for Saint Michael the name of the most blessed Mary. At other
Archangel; he had no example to follow in times they performed the same office
doing the will of God, and yet he fulfilled interiorly without manifesting themselves;
God’s will faithfully. sometimes they freed them from prison;
—Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul sometimes they warned them of dangers
and snares; sometimes they accompanied
I would fain be secure as the angels are them on their way or carried them from
secure, toiling not, but serving God one place to another where they were to
without stay. preach, or informed them of what they
—Abbot John of Short Stature, saying were to do according to the circumstances
peculiar to certain places or peoples. Of all
Thus God ordains, we think, that the these things they also kept their blessed
angels should have the knowledge by Lady informed; for She took care of all of
which they constantly sing reverent hymns them and labored with them more than all
of praise and love for God. They have no of them together.
other desire than to see God and sing —Mary of Agreda, The Mystical City of God
God’s praises.
—Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works The reason why God, who is everywhere
and can easily speak to the hearts of men
by himself, should wish nonetheless to
And just as the sun’s rays indicate the sun,
send angels seems to be so that men may
the angels reveal God by their hymns of
understand that God has a care for human
praise. And just as the sun cannot exist
affairs and that he rules and directs
without its light, the Godhead could not
everything, for men can easily persuade
be if it were not for the angels’ praise.
themselves that divine inspirations are
—Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
their own reasonings and plans. But when
they see and hear that angels are sent by
The angels who shine like the stars feel God and that the things that the angels
sympathy for our human nature and place predict come true as they foretold, they
it before God’s eyes just as if it were a cannot doubt that God oversees human

5
Angels

affairs and especially directs and arranges certain negative imperfection which,
those which relate to the eternal salvation however, does not render them
of his elect. displeasing to God. Confirmed in grace,
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the their imperfection can no longer cause
Ladder of Created Things them to fall from beatitude, nor cause
them to commit any sin. Their
imperfection lies in the fact that, although
It is rightly and truly said in Scripture that
they enjoy the clear vision of God, they
all the works of the angels and the
do not always clearly and fully recognize
inspirations they impart are also
his will, so that while waiting to have a
accomplished or granted by God. For
clearer knowledge, they do as perfectly as
ordinarily these works and inspirations are
they are able what they judge to be most
derived from God by means of the angels,
comfortable to the divine good pleasure,
and the angels also in turn give them one
although at times there are different
to another without delay. . . .
opinions among them.
Consequently, the nearer the higher spirits
—Francis de Sales, Oeuvres
(and those that follow) are to God, the
more purged and clarified they are by a
more general purification; the last spirits The bad spirit knows well how to
receive a fainter and more remote transform himself into an angel of light.
illumination. Humans, the last to whom Aware of the pious desires of the soul, he
this loving contemplation of God is will begin by seconding them, but soon he
communicated, when God so desires, will begin to lead it to his own ends. Thus
must receive it according to their own at first he will feign to consent to your
mode, in a very limited and painful way. good and holy thoughts, and even applaud
—John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul them, but by degrees he will draw you into
his hidden snares and entangle you in his
dark meshes.
True visions ordinarily come from the good —Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises
angel, even if Christ is represented, for he
hardly ever appears in his own Person. If a
person receives true visions from the good Pride and nothing else caused an angel to
angel, God permits the bad angel to fall from heaven. And so one may
represent the false ones of the same kind. reasonably ask whether one may reach
Thus an incautious person can be heaven by humility alone without the help
deceived, as many have been. of any other virtue.
—John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
—John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul

FALLEN ANGELS GUARDIAN ANGELS


Iniquity was found among them, and God Whenever you are in need of anything, or
cast them out because they rebelled are facing difficulties, whether great or
against him. Imperfection was found small, invoke your Guardian Angel, asking
among them not only before their him to sort the matter out with Jesus, or to
confirmation in grace, but since then. For carry out the particular service you may
they were not made so entirely perfect require.
that there does not remain in them a —Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge

6
Angels

Get into the habit of praying to the Is there a greater happiness than to imitate
Guardian Angel of each person you are on earth the choir of angels?
following up. Their Angel will help them —Basil the Great, letter to Gregory of Nazianzus
to be good and faithful and cheerful, so
that when the time comes they will be We should show our affection for the
able to receive the eternal embrace of angels, for one day they will be our coheirs
Love from God the Father, God the Son, just as here below they are our guardians
God the Holy Spirit, and from the Blessed and trustees appointed and set over us by
Virgin. the Father.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge —Bernard of Clairvaux, sermon

Greetings, holy angel of God, guardian of Your tears were collected by the angels and
my soul and body. Through the most were placed in a gold chalice, and you will
dulcet heart of Jesus Christ, the Son of find them when you present yourself
God, for love of him who created you and before God.
me, for love of him who commended me —Padre Pio, Send Me Your Guardian Angel
to you at baptism, take me into your most
faithful fatherly care. May I, then, aided by
you, pass through the torrent of this life So if we detect an angel by the effect he is
along a spotless path until, with you, I producing, let us hasten to pray since our
come gladly to see that mellifluous face heavenly guardian has come to join us.
which you see: that merriest radiance of —John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
imperial divinity, dulcet beyond all
sweetness. Although the angels are superior to us in
—Gertrude the Great, Spiritual Exercises many ways, yet in some respects . . . they
fall short of us with regard to being in the
image of the Creator; for we, rather than
The powers of Hell will assail the dying they, have been created in God’s image.
Christian; but his angel guardian will come
—Gregory Palamas, Topics of Natural and Theological
to console him. His patrons, and St. Science and on the Moral and Ascetic Life:
Michael, who has been appointed by God One Hundred and Fifty Texts
to defend his faithful servants in their last
combat with the devils, will come to his God gave to us human beings the place
aid. and honor of the fallen angels so that we
—Alphonsus Liguori, sermon might complete God’s glory, which is
something those angels had refused to do.
—Hildegard of Bingen, Book of Divine Works
HUMANS AND ANGELS
Since God often sends us his inspirations We are not angels but have bodies, and it
by means of his angels, we ought is madness for us to want to become
frequently to offer him our aspirations angels while we are still on earth, and as
through the same channel. . . . Call on much on earth as I was.
them and honor them frequently, and ask —Teresa of Ávila, Life
their help in all your affairs, temporal as
well as spiritual. Our soul is also marked with nine levels
—Francis de Sales, The Devout Life when within it the following are arranged

7
Anger

in orderly fashion: announcing, declaring, Let good men love their fellow citizens, the
leading, ordering, strengthening, angels; let wicked men shudder at the
commanding, receiving, revealing and power of the angels, servants of the wrath
anointing. These correspond level by level of almighty God, from whose hands no
to the nine choirs of angels. In the one can snatch them.
human soul the first three of these levels —Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the
pertain to human nature; the next three, Ladder of Created Things
to effort and the last three, to grace.
Having attained these, the soul, by Let us be like the holy Angels now. If you
entering into itself, enters the heavenly wish to place your son in the court of a
Jerusalem, where beholding the choirs of king or bishop, you will have to begin to
angels, it sees in them God, who dwells teach him court manners beforehand. So it
in them and performs all operations. is with us; if one day we are to be in the
—Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey Into God Angelic Court, we must learn how, while
we are still here, the manners of the
The Angels of God accompanied the Angels.
—Vincent Ferrer, sermon
faithful when the light of His truth only
dawned in the world. And now that the
day sprung from on high was visited, and Oh, that God who is loved by the
exalted our nature to a union with the seraphim, served by the angels, feared by
Divinity, will these beneficent beings be the powers, and adored by the
less associated or delighted to dwell with principalities, is offended by such a vile
the soul that is panting for heavenly joys worm of the earth as man. Marvel at this,
and longing to join in their eternal O ye heavens!
Alleluias? Oh, no, I will imagine them —Anthony Mary Claret, autobiography
always surrounding me and in every
moment will sing with them “Holy, holy, If you remembered the presence of your
holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth Angel and the angels of your neighbors,
are full of Thy glory!” you would avoid many of the foolish
—Elizabeth Seton, Collected Writings things which slip into your conversations.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way

If you are willing to listen to the Lord of


For if you have chosen the life of angels,
the angels, my soul, you will have no
you have passed the confines of human
reason to envy the angels their lofty place
nature and crossed over to the bodiless
or how they move at tremendous speeds state.
without tiring. For you will not only be
—Basil the Great, On Ascetic Discourse
equal to the angels when you are freed
from the body, but also, when you return
to the body that Christ “has made like to
the body of glory” (Philippians 3:21), you Anger
will possess together with your body
heaven as your own home. Above all everyone should in conversation
—Robert Bellarmine, The Mind’s Ascent to God by the try to avoid anger or bad temper, or
Ladder of Created Things showing he is annoyed with someone, and

8
Anger

no one should hurt another in word or impervious to insults, and comes by hard
deed, or in any way. work and the sweat of one’s brow.
—Vincent de Paul, Common Rules or Constitutions of —John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
the Congregation of the Mission

The first step toward freedom from anger is


If an angry man were to raise the dead, to keep the lips silent when the heart is
because of his anger he would not please stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent
God. when the soul is upset; the last, to be
—Abbot Agatho, saying totally calm when unclean winds are
blowing.
—John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Never have I suffered to remain in my
heart a thought that angered me.
—Abbot Silvanus, saying It is impossible to destroy wild beasts
without arms. It is impossible to achieve
freedom from anger without humility.
I exhort you earnestly never to give way to
—John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
anger; and never, under any pretext
whatever, let it effect an entrance into your
heart. The memory of insults is the residue of
—Francis de Sales, The Devout Life anger. It keeps sins alive, hates justice,
ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the
mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes
As a general thing, self-control and prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail
contempt for calumny and evil reports are driven into the soul.
more successful remedies than resentment,
—John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
disputes and revenge.
—Francis de Sales, The Devout Life
All the days of their life, persons addicted
to anger are unhappy, because they are
Ah, my dear Lord, what melancholy
always in a tempest.
company is that person who is a slave to
—Alphonsus Liguori, sermon
anger!
—John Baptiste Marie Vianney, sermon
When a person is indignant at some injury
which he has received, you may, by
Anger never travels alone. It is always exhorting him to patience, extinguish the
accompanied by plenty of other sins. fire; but, if you encourage revenge, you
—John Baptiste Marie Vianney, sermon may kindle a great flame.
—Alphonsus Liguori, sermon
Angry men betray themselves not
knowingly, but because they can’t hide Nothing so converts anger into joy and
things. gentleness as courage and mercy. Like a
—Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica siege-engine, courage shatters enemies
attacking the soul from without, mercy
Freedom from anger is a triumph over those attacking it from within.
one’s nature. It is the ability to be —Gregory of Sinai, The Philokalia

9
Animals

If you have a dispute with someone, make But to a mind that is drunk with fury
peace with that person before the sun goes every right thing that is said appears
down. wrong.
—Benedict, Rule —Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule

He wants us to smother anger when it is I will never get angry, but suffer in silence,
still only a spark. If it grows to the full and offer to God everything that gives me
flame of its fury, it does not get checked pain.
without bloodshed. —Anthony Mary Claret, autobiography
—Peter Chrysologus, sermon
Be slow to anger, quick to learn, also slow
The full victory is to keep silent when to speak, as St. James says, equally quick
another shouts, to make no reply when he to listen.
provokes. Then you get the reward both —Columban, letter, c. 610
for your patience and for your brother’s
correction, if insult is consigned to Say what you have just said, but in a
oblivion. But, when words follow upon different tone, without anger, and your
words, fuel is supplied to a fire. argument will gain in strength and, above
—Valerian, homily all, you won’t offend God.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
If one of you should be cross with another
because of some hasty word, the matter Don’t recall to your memory anything your
must at once be put right and you must neighbor may have said in a moment of
betake yourself to earnest prayer. acrimony, whether he insulted you to your
—Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection face, or spoke evil of you to another and
that person has come and reported it to
you. If you let yourself become angry, it is
We should make it a point never to do but a short step from anger to hatred.
anything when we are “hot and bothered,”
—Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on Charity
but strive first of all to calm down, to hand
ourselves over to the will of God and of
the Immaculate and then to act with
serenity so that we may not commit
blunders.
Animals
—Maximilian M. Kolbe, letter to friars in Japan, 1941
Like me, creatures have received a being
which is in some sort the efflux of his
Keep a guard on your anger and do not August perfections; but they have not, like
seek revenge for any injury that may be me, the honor of being the living image of
done to you. God, and made in his likeness.
—Vincent Ferrer, sermon —Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

Conquer your rage with wise, rational All creatures were given to man to lead
thought. Offer it up as a sacrifice to God. him to his proper end.
—John Chrysostom, letter during exile —Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises

10
Attachment

The love of the crow for its young is unseemliness of the body: lest under
laudable! When they begin to fly, she pretense of hiding the unseemliness, thou
follows them, gives them food, and for a fall into another kind of unseemliness by
very long time provides for their thy extravagant dress.
nourishment. —Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses
—Basil the Great, homily on the Hexaemeron

Appetites
Anxiety see DESIRES; LUST; PASSIONS

see WORRY

Arguing
Appearance Don’t argue. Arguing seldom brings light,
for the light is quenched by passion.
It is not your outward appearance that you
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
should beautify, but your soul, adorning it
with good works. Although the body, to be
precise, should be made beautiful, though
in a measured way. Arrogance
—Clement of Alexandria, The Teacher
It is a greater thing to change one’s
disposition than to change one’s dress. We
Study to be neat, and let nothing about
part with arrogance less easily than with
you be slovenly or disorderly. It is an
gold and jewels.
affront to those with whom you associate
—Jerome, letter to Oceanus
to be unsuitably dressed, but avoid all
conceits, vanities, finery and affectation.
Adhere as far as possible to modesty and
simplicity, which, doubtless, are the best Atonement
ornaments of beauty, and the best
atonement for its deficiency. Atonement: this is the path that leads to
—Francis de Sales, The Devout Life Life.
—Josemaría Escrivá, The Way
Let your dress be neither elegant nor
slovenly, and let it not be noticeable by
any strangeness that might attract the Attachment
notice of passers-by and make people
point their finger at you. There are even spiritual souls who possess
—Jerome, letter to Eustochium, 384 what they have with such attachment and
take such pleasure in seeing and reflecting
But let thine apparel be plain, not for on what they do, that they commit a kind
adornment, but for necessary covering: not of idolatry, making and adoring as many
to minister to thy vanity, but to keep thee idols as they have actions.
worth in winter, and to hide the —Francis de Sales, Oeuvres

11
Attachment

Righteousness is the natural and essential proclivities in this life will hereafter live a
food of the soul, which can no more be divine and truly eternal life in communion
satisfied by earthly treasures than the with Christ.
hunger of the body can be satisfied by air. —Gregory Palamas, To the Most Reverend
If you should see a starving man standing Nun Xenia
with mouth open to the wind, inhaling
draughts of air as if in hope of gratifying Thus when the soul renounces its
his hunger, you would think him lunatic. attachment to inferior things and cleaves
But it is no less foolish to imagine that through love to God and submits itself to
the soul can be satisfied with worldly him through acts and modes of virtue, it is
things which only inflate it without illuminated and made beautiful by God
feeding it. and is raised to a higher level, obeying his
—Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God counsels and exhortations; and by these
means it regains the truly eternal life.
If you truly love God and long to reach —Gregory Palamas, Topics of Natural and Theological
the kingdom that is to come, if you are Science and on the Moral and Ascetic Life:
truly pained by your failings and are One Hundred and Fifty Texts
mindful of punishment and of the eternal
judgment, if you are truly afraid to die, But as long as we have peace with the
then it will not be possible to have an natures of this world we remain enemies of
attachment, or anxiety, or concern for God and of his angels and all his saints.
money, for possessions, for family —Anthony, letter
relationships, for worldly glory, for love
and brotherhood, indeed for anything of
earth. To die to the world is no light matter, but a
—John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent business of the greatest difficulty and
importance. Those find it most difficult
who do not know the power of God’s
But how great soever a man’s attachment grace and have not tasted the sweetness of
to the things of this world may be, he His love, but are carnal, not having the
must take leave of them at death. Naked Spirit; all carnal objects become insipid
he has entered into this world, and naked when once we taste the divine sweetness.
he shall depart from it. —Robert Bellarmine, The Art of Dying Well
—Alphonsus Liguori, sermon

Therefore let him who desires to live well


For all visible things on earth which are and to die well enter into the chamber of
lovable and desirable—riches, glory, wife, his heart and not deceive himself; but
children, in a word everything of this seriously and attentively consider over and
world that is beautiful, sweet, and over again whether he is in love with the
attractive—belong not to the soul but only pomps of this world, or with sins, which
to the body, and being temporary, will pass are the works of the Devil; and whether he
away as quickly as a shadow. gives them a place in his heart, and in his
—Dimitri of Rostov, The Inner Closet of the Heart words and actions. And thus, either his
good conscience will console him, or his
He who through the power of the Spirit evil conscience will lead him to penance.
has extirpated his materialistic worldly —Robert Bellarmine, The Art of Dying Well

12
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how this integration of them originates. To these questions let us
now address ourselves.

§ 190–1. Already, in § 78, reference has been made to the


occasional development of foliar organs into axial organs: the special
case there described being that of a fox-glove, in which some of the
sepals were replaced by flower-buds. The observation of these and
some analogous monstrosities, raising the suspicion that the
distinction between foliar organs and axial organs is not absolute,
led me to examine into the matter; and the result has been the
deepening of this suspicion into a conviction. Part of the evidence is
given in Appendix A.
Some time after having reached this conviction, I found on
looking into the literature of the subject, that analogous irregularities
had suggested to other observers, beliefs similarly at variance with
the current morphological creed. Difficulties in satisfactorily defining
these two elements, have served to shake this creed in some minds.
To others, the strange leaf-like developments which axes undergo in
certain plants, have afforded reasons for doubting the constancy of
this distinction which vegetal morphologists usually draw. And those
not otherwise rendered sceptical, have been made to hesitate by
such cases as that of the Nepaul-barley, in which the glume, a foliar
organ, becomes developed into an axis and bears flowers. In his
essay—“Vegetable Morphology: its History and Present Condition,”[7]
whence I have already quoted, Dr. Masters indicates sundry of the
grounds for thinking that there is no impassable demarcation
between leaf and stem. Among other difficulties which meet us if we
assume that the distinction is absolute, one is implied by this
question:—“What shall we say to cases such as those afforded by
the leaves of Guarea and Trichilia, where the leaves after a time
assume the condition of branches and develop young leaflets from
their free extremities, a process less perfectly seen in some of the
pinnate-leaved kinds of Berberis or Mahonia, to be found in almost
every shrubbery?”
A class of facts on which it will be desirable for us here to dwell a
moment, before proceeding to deal with the matter deductively, is
presented by the Cactaceæ. In this remarkable group of plants,
deviating in such varied ways from the ordinary phænogamic type,
we find many highly instructive modifications of form and structure.
By contemplating the changes here displayed within the limits of a
single order, we shall greatly widen our conception of the
possibilities of metamorphosis in the vegetal kingdom, taken as a
whole. Two different, but similarly-significant, truths are illustrated.
First, we are shown how, of these two components of a flowering
plant, commonly regarded as primordially distinguished, one may
assume, throughout numerous species, the functions, and to a great
degree the appearance, of the other. Second, we are shown how, in
the same individual, there may occur a re-metamorphosis: the
usurped function and appearance being maintained in one part of
the plant, while in another part there is a return to the ordinary
appearance and function. We will consider these two truths
separately. Some of the Euphorbiaceæ, which simulate Cactuses,
show us the stages through which such abnormal structures are
arrived at. In Euphorbia splendens, the lateral axes are considerably
swollen at their distal ends, so as often to be club-shaped: still,
however, being covered with bark of the ordinary colour, and still
bearing leaves. But in kindred plants, as Euphorbia neriifolia, this
swelling of the lateral axes is carried to a far greater extent; and, at
the same time, a green colour and a fleshy consistence have been
acquired: the typical relations nevertheless being still shown by the
few leaves that grow out of these soft and swollen axes. In the
Cactaceæ, which are thus resembled by plants not otherwise allied
to them, we have indications of a parallel transformation. Some
kinds, not commonly brought to England, bear leaves; but in the
species most familiar to us, the leaves are undeveloped and the axes
assume their functions. Passing over the many varieties of form and
combination which these green succulent growths display, we have
to note that in some genera, as in Phyllocactus, they become
flattened out into foliaceous shapes, having mid-ribs and something
approaching to veins. So that here, and in the genus Epiphyllum,
which has this character still more marked, the plant appears to be
composed of fleshy leaves growing one upon another. And then, in
Rhipsalis, the same parts are so leaf-like, that an uncritical observer
would regard them as leaves. These which are axial organs in their
homologies, have become foliar organs in their analogies. When,
instead of comparing these strangely-modified axes in different
genera of Cactuses, we compare them in the same individual, we
meet with transformations no less striking. Where a tree-like form is
produced by the growth of these foliaceous shoots, one on another;
and where, as a consequence, the first-formed of them become the
main stem that acts as support to secondary and tertiary stems;
they lose their green, succulent character, acquire bark, and become
woody. In resuming the functions of axes they resume the structures
of axes, from which they had deviated. In Fig. 71 are shown some of
the leaf-like axes of Rhipsalis rhombea in their young state; while
Fig. 72 represents the oldest portion of the same plant, in which the
foliaceous characters are quite obliterated, and there has resulted an
ordinary stem-structure. One further fact is to be noted. At the same
time that their leaf-like appearances are lost, the axes also lose their
separate individualities. As they become stem-like, they also become
integrated; and they do this so effectually that their original points of
junction, at first so strongly marked, are effaced, and a consolidated
trunk is produced.
Figs. 71–72.

Joined with the facts previously specified, these facts help us to


conceive how, in the evolution of flowering plants in general, the
morphological components that were once distinct, may become
extremely disguised. We may rationally expect that during so long a
course of modification, much greater changes of form, and much
more decided fusions of parts, have taken place. Seeing how, in an
individual plant, the single leaves pass into compound leaves, by the
development of their veins into mid-ribs while their petioles begin to
simulate axes; and seeing that leaves ordinarily exhibiting definitely-
limited developments, occasionally produce other leaves from their
edges; we are led to suspect the possibility of still greater changes in
foliar organs. When, further, we find that within the limits of one
natural order, petioles usurp the functions and appearances of
leaves, at the same time that in other orders, as in Ruscus, lateral
axes so simulate leaves that their axial nature would by most not be
suspected, did they not bear flowers on their mid-ribs or edges; and
when, among Cactuses, we perceive that such metamorphoses and
re-metamorphoses take place with great facility; our suspicion that
the morphological elements of Phænogams admit of profound
transformations, is deepened. And then, on discovering how
frequent are the monstrosities which do not seem satisfactorily
explicable without admitting the development of foliar organs into
axial organs; we become ready to entertain the hypothesis that
during the evolution of the phænogamic type, the distinction
between leaves and axes has arisen by degrees.
With our preconceptions loosened by such facts, and carrying
with us the general idea which such facts suggest, let us now
consider in what way the typical structure of a flowering plant may
be interpreted.

§ 192. To proceed methodically, we must seek a clue to the


structures of Phanerogams, in the structures of those inferior plants
that approach to them—Archegoniatæ. The various divisions of this
class present, along with sundry characters which ally them with
Thallophytes, other characters by which the phænogamic structure
is shadowed forth. While some of the inferior Hepaticæ or
Liverworts, severally consist of little more than a thallus-like frond,
among the higher members of this group, and still more among the
Mosses and Ferns, we find a distinctly marked stem.[8] Some
Archegoniates (or rather Rhizoids) have foliar expansions that are
indefinite in their forms; and some have quite definitely-shaped
leaves. Roots are possessed by all the more-developed genera of the
class; but there are other genera, as Sphagnum, which have no
roots. Here the fronds are formed of only a single layer of cells; and
there a double layer gives them a higher character—a difference
exhibited between closely-allied genera of one group, the Mosses.
Equally varied are the developments of the foliar organs in their
detailed structures: now being without mid-ribs or veins; now having
mid-ribs but no veins; now having both mid-ribs and veins. Nor must
we omit the similarly-significant circumstance, that whereas in the
lower Archegoniates the reproductive elements are immersed here
and there in the thallus-like frond, they are, in the higher orders,
seated in well-specialized and quite distinct fructifying organs,
having analogies with the flowers of Phænogams. Thus, many facts
imply that if the Phænogamic type is to be analyzed at all, we must
look among the Archegoniates for its morphological components,
and the manner of their integration.
Already we have seen among the lower Cryptogamia, how, as
they became integrated and definitely limited, aggregates acquire
the habit of budding out other aggregates, on reaching certain
stages of growth. Cells produce other cells endogenously or
exogenously; and fronds give origin to other fronds from their edges
or surfaces. We have seen, too, that the new aggregates so
produced, whether of the first order or the second order, may either
separate or remain connected. Fissiparously-multiplying cells in some
cases part company, while in other cases they unite into threads or
laminæ or masses; and fronds originating proliferously from other
fronds, sometimes when mature disconnect themselves from their
parents, and sometimes continue attached to them. Whether they
do or do not part, is clearly determined by their nutrition. If the
conditions are such that they can severally thrive better by
separating after a certain development is reached, it will become
their habit then to separate; since natural selection will favour the
propagation of those which separate most nearly at that time. If,
conversely, it profits the species for the cells or fronds to continue
longer attached, which it can only do if their growths and
subsequent powers of multiplication are thereby increased, it must
happen, through the continual survival of the fittest, that longer
attachment will become an established characteristic; and, by
persistence in this process, permanent attachment will result when
permanent attachment is advantageous. That disunion is really a
consequence of relative innutrition, and union a consequence of
relative nutrition, is clear à posteriori. On the one hand, the
separation of the new individuals, whether in germs or as developed
aggregates, is a dissolving away of the connecting substance; and
this implies that the connecting substance has ceased to perform its
function as a channel of nutriment. On the other hand, where, as we
see among Phænogams, there is about to take place a separation of
new individuals in the shape of germs, at the point where the
nutrition is the lowest, a sudden increase of nutrition will cause the
impending separation to be arrested; and the fructifying elements,
reverting towards the ordinary form, thereupon develop in connexion
with the parent. Turning to the Archegoniates, we find among them
many indications of this transition from discontinuous development
to continuous development. Thus the Liverworts give origin to new
plants by cells which they throw off from their surfaces; as, indeed,
we have seen that much higher plants do. “According to Bischoff,”
says Schleiden, “both the cells of the stem (Jungermannia [now
Lophocolea] bidentata) and those of the leaves (J. exsecta) separate
themselves as propagative cells from the plant, and isolated cells
shoot out and develop while still connected with the parent plant
into small cellular bodies (Metzgeria furcata), which separate from
the plant, and grow into new plants, as in Mnium androgynum
among the Mosses.” Now in the way above explained, these
propagative cells and proliferous buds, may continue developing in
connexion with the parent to various degrees before separating; or
the buds which are about to become fructifying organs may similarly,
under increased nutrition, develop into young fronds. As Sir W.
Hooker says of the male fructification in Metzgeria furcata,—“It has
the appearance of being a young shoot or innovation (for in colour
and texture I can perceive no difference) rolled up into a spherical
figure.” On finding in this same plant, that sometimes the
proliferously-produced frond buds out from itself another frond
before separating from the parent, as shown in Fig. 46, it becomes
clear that this long-continued connexion may readily pass into
permanent connexion. And when we see how, even among
Phænogams, buds may either detach themselves as bulbils, or
remain attached and become shoots; we can scarcely doubt that
among inferior plants, less definite in their modes of organization,
such transitions must continually occur.
Figs. 73–76.

Let us suppose, then, that Fig. 73 is the frond of some primitive


Archegoniate, similar in general characters to Pellia epiphylla, Fig.
43; bearing, like it, the fructifying buds on its upper surface, and
having a slightly-marked mid-rib and rootlets. And suppose that, as
shown, a secondary frond is proliferously produced from the mid-rib,
and continues attached to it. Evidently the ordinary discontinuous
development, can thus become a continuous development, only on
condition that there is an adequate supply, to the secondary frond,
of such materials as are furnished by the rootlets: the remaining
materials being obtainable by itself from the air. Hence, that portion
of the mid-rib lying between the secondary frond and the chief
rootlets, having its function increased, will increase in bulk. An
additional consequence will be a greater concentration of the
rootlets—there will be extra growth of those which are most
serviceably placed. Observe, next, that the structure so arising is
likely to be maintained. Such a variation implying, as it does,
circumstances especially favourable to the growth of the plant, will
give to the plant extra chances of leaving descendants; since the
area of frond supported by a given area of the soil, being greater
than in other individuals, there may be a greater production of
spores. And then, among the more numerous descendants thus
secured by it, the variation will give advantages to those in which it
recurs. Such a mode of growth having, in this manner, become
established, let us ask what is next likely to result. If it becomes the
habit of the primary frond to bear a secondary frond from its mid-
rib, this secondary frond, composed of physiological units of the
same kind, will inherit the habit; and supposing that the supply of
mineral matters obtained by the rootlets suffices for the full
development of the secondary frond, there is a likelihood that the
growth from it of a tertiary frond, will become an habitual
characteristic of the variety. Along with the establishment of such a
tertiary frond, as shown in Fig. 74, there must arise a further
development of mid-rib in the primary frond, as well as in the
secondary frond—a development which must bring with it a greater
integration of the two; while, simultaneously, extra growth will take
place in such of the rootlets as are most directly connected with this
main channel of circulation. Without further explanation it will be
seen, on inspecting Figs. 75 and 76, that there may in this manner
result an integrated series of fronds, placed alternately on opposite
sides of a connecting vascular structure. That this connecting
vascular structure will, as shown in the figures, become more
distinct from the foliar surfaces as these multiply, is no unwarranted
assumption; for we have seen in compound-leaved plants, how,
under analogous conditions, mid-ribs become developed into
separate supporting parts, which acquire some of the characters of
axes while assuming their functions. And now mark how clearly the
structure thus built up by integration of proliferously-growing fronds,
corresponds with the structure of the more-developed
Jungermanniaceæ. Each of the fronds successively produced,
repeating the characters of its parent, will bear roots; and will bear
them in homologous places, as shown. Further, the united mid-ribs
having but very little rigidity, will be unable to maintain an erect
position. Hence there will result the recumbent, continuously-rooted
stem, which these types exhibit: an embryo phænogam having the
weakness of an embryo.[9]
A natural concomitant of the mode of growth here described, is
that the stem, while it increases longitudinally, increases scarcely at
all transversely: hence the old name Acrogens. Clearly the
transverse development of a stem is the correlative, partly of its
function as a channel of circulation, and partly of its function as a
mechanical support. That an axis may lift its attached leaves into the
air, implies thickness and solidity proportionate to the mass of such
leaves; and an increase of its sap-vessels, also proportionate to the
mass of such leaves, is necessitated when the roots are all at one
end and the leaves at the other. But in the generality of Acrogens,
these conditions, under which arises the necessity for transverse
growth of the axis, are absent wholly or in great part. The stem
habitually creeps below the surface, or lies prone upon the surface;
and where it grows in a vertical or inclined direction, does this by
attaching itself to a vertical or inclined object. Moreover, throwing
out rootlets, as it mostly does, at intervals throughout its length, it is
not called upon in any considerable degree, to transfer nutritive
materials from one of its ends to the other. Hence this peculiarity
which gives their name to the Acrogens, now called Archegoniates,
is a natural accompaniment of the low degree of specialization
reached in them. And that it is an incidental and not a necessary
peculiarity, is demonstrated by two converse facts. On the one hand,
in those higher Acrogens which, like the tree-ferns, lift large masses
of foliage into the air, there is just as decided a transverse expansion
of the axis as in dicotyledonous trees. On the other hand, in those
Dicotyledons which, like the common Dodder, gain support and
nutriment from the surfaces over which they creep, there is no more
lateral expansion of the axis than is habitual among Acrogens or
Archegoniates. Concluding, as we are thus fully justified in doing,
that the lateral expansion accompanying longitudinal extension,
which is a general characteristic of Phanerogams as distinguished
from Archegoniates, is nothing more than a concomitant of their
usually-vertical growth;[10] let us now go on to consider how vertical
growth originates, and what are the structural changes it involves.

§ 193. Plants depend for their prosperity mainly on air and light:
they dwindle where they are smothered, and thrive where they can
expand their leaves into free space and sunshine. Those kinds which
assume prone positions, consequently labour under disadvantages in
being habitually interfered with by one another—they are mutually
shaded and mutually injured. Such of them, however, as happen, by
variations in mode of growth, to rise higher than others, are more
likely to flourish and leave offspring than others. That is to say,
natural selection will favour the more upright-growing forms.
Individuals with structures which lift them above the rest, are the
fittest for the conditions; and by the continual survival of the fittest,
such structures must become established. There are two essentially-
different ways in which the integrated series of fronds above
described, may be modified so as to acquire the stiffness needful for
maintaining perpendicularity. We will consider them separately.
Figs. 77, 78.

A thin layer of substance gains greatly in power of resisting a


transverse strain, if it is bent round so as to form a tube: witness the
difference between the pliability of a sheet of paper when outspread,
and the rigidity of the same sheet of paper when rolled up.
Engineers constantly recognize this truth, in devising appliances by
which the greatest strength shall be obtained at the smallest cost of
material; and among organisms, we see that natural selection
habitually establishes structures conforming to the same principle,
wherever lightness and stiffness are to be combined. The cylindrical
bones of mammals and birds, and the hollow shafts of feathers, are
examples. The lower plants, too, furnish cases where the strength
needful for maintaining an upright position, is acquired by this rolling
up of a flat thallus or frond. In Fig. 77 we have an Alga which
approaches towards a tubular distribution of substance; and which
has a consequent rigidity. Sundry common forms of lichen, having
the thallus folded into a branched tube, still more decidedly display
the connexion between this structural arrangement and this
mechanical advantage. And from the particular class of plants we are
here dealing with—the Archegoniates—a type is shown in Fig. 78,
Riella helicophylla, similarly characterized by a thin frond that is
made stiff enough to stand, by an incurving which, though it does
not produce a hollow cylinder, produces a kindred form. If, then, as
we have seen, natural selection or survival of the fittest will favour
such among these recumbent Archegoniates as are enabled, by
variations in their structures, to maintain raised postures; it will
favour the formation of fronds that curve round upon themselves,
and curve round upon the fronds growing out of them. What, now,
will be the result should such a modification take place in the group
of proliferous fronds represented in Fig. 76? Clearly, the result will be
a structure like that shown in Fig. 79. And if this inrolling becomes
more complete, a form like Jungermannia cordifolia, represented in
Fig. 80, will be produced.
Figs. 79, 80.
Figs. 81–89.
Figs. 90, 91.

When the successive fronds are thus folded round so completely


that their opposite edges meet, these opposite edges will be apt to
unite: not that they will grow together after being formed, but that
they will develop in connexion; or, in botanical language, will become
“adnate.” That foliar surfaces which, in their embryonic state, are in
close contact, often join into one, is a familiar fact. It is habitually so
with sepals or divisions of the calyx. In all campanulate flowers it is
so with petals. And in some tribes of plants it is so with stamens. We
are therefore well warranted in inferring that, under the conditions
above described, the successive fronds or leaflets will, by union of
their remote edges, first at their points of origin and afterwards
higher up, form sheaths inserted one within another, and including
the axis. This incurving of the successive fronds, ending in the
formation of sheaths, may be accompanied by different sets of
modifications. Supposing Fig. 81 to be a transverse section of such
type (a being the mid-rib, and b the expansion of an older frond;
while c is a younger frond proliferously developed within it), there
may begin two divergent kinds of changes, leading to two contrasted
structures. If, while frond continues to grow out of frond, the series
of united mid-ribs continues to be the channel of circulation between
the uppermost fronds and the roots—if, as a consequence, the
compound mid-rib, or rudimentary axis, continues to increase in size
laterally; there will arise the series of transitional forms represented
by the transverse sections 82, 83, 84, 85; ending in the production
of a solid axis, everywhere wrapped round by the foliar surface of
the frond, as an outer layer or sheath. But if, on the other hand,
circumstances favour a form of plant which maintains its uprightness
at the smallest cost of substance—if the vascular bundles of each
succeeding mid-rib, instead of remaining concentrated, become
distributed all round the tube formed by the infolded frond; then the
structure eventually reached, through the transitional forms 86, 87,
88, 89, will be a hollow cylinder.[11] And now observe how the two
structures thus produced, correspond with two kinds of
Monocotyledons. Fig. 90 represents a species of Dendrobium, in
which we see clearly how each leaf is but a continuation of the
external layer of a solid axis—a sheath such as would result from the
infolded edges of a frond becoming adnate; and on examining how
the sheath of each leaf includes the one above it, and how the
successive sheaths include the axis, it will be manifest that the
relations of parts are just such as exist in the united series of fronds
shown in Fig. 79—the successive nodes answering to the successive
points of origin of the fronds. Conversely, the stem of a grass, Fig.
91, displays just such relations of parts, as would result from the
development of the type shown in Fig. 79, if instead of the mid-ribs
thickening into a solid axis, the matter composing them became
evenly distributed round the foliar surfaces, at the same time that
the incurved edges of the foliar surfaces united. The arrangements
of the tubular axis and its appendages, thus resulting, are still more
instructive than those of the solid axis. For while, even more clearly
than in the Dendrobium, we see at the point b, a continuity of
structure between the substance of the axis below the node, and the
substance of the sheath above the node: we see that this sheath,
instead of having its edges united as in Dendrobium, has them
simply overlapping, so as to form an incomplete hollow cylinder
which may be taken off and unrolled; and we see that were the
overlapping edges of this sheath united all the way from the node a
to the node b, it would constitute a tubular axis, like that which
precedes it or like that which it includes. And then, giving an
unexpected conclusiveness to the argument, it turns out that in one
family of grasses, the overlapping edges of the sheaths do unite:
thus furnishing us with a demonstration that tubular structures are
produced by the incurving and joining of foliar surfaces; and that so,
hollow axes may be interpreted as above, without making any
assumption unwarranted by fact. One further correspondence
between the type thus ideally constructed, and the
monocotyledonous type, must be noted. If, as already pointed out,
the transverse growth of an axis arises when the axis comes to be a
channel of circulation between all the roots at one of its extremities
and all the leaves at the other; and if this lateral bulging must
increase as fast as the quantity of foliage to be brought in
communication with the roots increases—especially if such foliage
has at the same time to be raised high above the earth’s surface;
what must happen to a plant constructed in the manner just
described? The elder fronds or foliar organs, ensheathing the
younger ones, as well as the incipient axis serving as a bond of
union, are at first of such circumference only as suffices to inclose
these undeveloped parts. What, then, will take place when the
inclosed parts grow—when the axis thickens while it elongates?
Evidently the earliest-formed sheaths, not being large enough for the
swelling axis, must burst; and evidently each of the later-formed
sheaths must, in its turn, do the like. There must result a gradual
exfoliation of the successive sheaths, like that indicated as beginning
in the above figure of Dendrobium; which, at a, shows the bud of
the undeveloped parts just visible above the enwrapping sheaths,
while at b, and c, it shows the older sheaths in process of being split
open. That is to say, there must result the mode of growth which
helped to give the name Endogens to this class.
Figs. 92–94.
Figs. 95–99.

The other way in which an integrated series of fronds may acquire


the rigidity needful for maintaining an erect position, has next to be
considered. If the successive fronds do not acquire such habit of
curling as may be taken advantage of by natural selection, so as to
produce the requisite stiffness; then, the only way in which the
requisite stiffness appears producible, is by the thickening and
hardening of the fused series of mid-ribs. The incipient axis will not,
in this case, be inclosed by the rolled-up fronds; but will continue
exposed. Survival of the fittest will favour the genesis of a type, in
which those portions of the successive mid-ribs that enter into the
continuous bond, become more bulky than the disengaged portions
of the mid-ribs: the individuals which thrive and have the best
chances of leaving offspring, being, by the hypothesis, individuals
having axes stiff enough to raise their foliage above that of their
fellows. At the same time, under the same influences, there will tend
to result an elongation of those portions of the mid-ribs, which
become parts of the incipient axis; seeing that it will profit the plant
to have its leaves so far removed from one another, as to prevent
mutual interferences. Hence, from the recumbent type there will
evolve, by indirect equilibration (§ 167), such modifications as are
shown in Figs. 92, 93, 94; the first of which is a slight advance on
the ideal type represented in Fig. 76, arising in the way described;
and the others of which are actual plants—Haplomitrium Hookeri,
and Plagiochila decipiens. Thus the higher Archegoniates show us
how, along with an assumption of the upright attitude, there does go
on, as we see there must go on, a separation of the leaf-producing
parts from the root-producing parts; a greater development of that
connecting portion of the successive fronds, by which they are kept
in communication with the roots, and raised above the ground; and
a consequent increased differentiation of such connecting portion
from the parts attached to it. And this lateral bulging of the axis,
directly or indirectly consequent on its functions as a support and a
channel, being here unrestrained by the early-formed fronds folded
round it, goes on without the bursting of these. Hence arises a
leading character of what is called exogenous growth—a growth
which is, however, still habitually accompanied by exfoliation, in
flasks, of the outermost layers, continually being cracked and split by
the accumulation of layers within them. And now if we examine
plants of the exogenous type, we find among them many displaying
the stages of this metamorphosis. In Fig. 95, is shown a form in
which the continuity of the axis with the mid-rib of the leaf, is
manifest—a continuity that is conspicuous in the common thistle.
Here the foliar expansion, running some distance down the axis,
makes the included portion of the axis a part of its mid-rib; just as in
the ideal types above drawn. By the greater growth of the
internodes, which are very variable, not only in different plants but
in the same plant, there results a modification like that delineated in
Fig. 96. And then, in such forms as Fig. 97, there is shown the
arrangement that arises when, by more rapid development of the
proximal end of the mid-rib, the distal part of the foliar surface is
separated from the part which embraces the axis: the wings of the
mid-rib still serving, however, to connect the two portions of the
foliar surface. Such a separation is, as pointed out in § 188, an
habitual occurrence; and in some compound leaves, an actual
tearing of the inter-venous tissue is caused by extra growth of the
mid-rib. Modifications like this, and the further one in Fig. 98, we
may expect to be established by survival of the fittest, among those
plants which produce considerable masses of leaves; since the
development of mid-ribs into foot-stalks, by throwing the leaves
further away from the axes, will diminish the shading of the leaves,
one by another. And then, among plants of bushy growth, in which
the assimilating surfaces become still more liable to intercept one
another’s light, natural selection will continue to give an advantage
to those which carry their assimilating surfaces at the ends of the
petioles, and do not develop assimilating surfaces close to the axis,
where they are most shaded. Whence will result a disappearance of
the stipules and the foliar fringes of the mid-ribs; ending in the
production of the ordinary stalked leaf, Fig. 99, which is
characteristic of trees. Meanwhile, the axis thickens in proportion to
the number of leaves it has to carry, and to put in communication
with the roots; and so there comes to be a more marked contrast
between it and the petioles, severally carrying a leaf each.[12]

§ 194. When, in the course of the process above sketched out,


there has arisen such community of nutrition among the fronds thus
integrated into a series, that the younger ones are aided by
materials which the older ones have elaborated; the younger fronds
will begin to show, at earlier and earlier periods of development, the
structures about to originate from them. Abundant nutrition will
abbreviate the intervals between the successive prolifications; so
that eventually, while each frond is yet imperfectly formed, the
rudiment of the next will begin to show itself. All embryology justifies
this inference. The analogies it furnishes lead us to expect that when
this serial arrangement becomes organic, the growing part of the
series will show the general relations of the forthcoming parts, while
they are very small and unspecialized. What will in such case be the
appearances they assume? We shall have no difficulty in perceiving
what it will be, if we take a form like that shown in Fig. 92, and
dwarf its several parts at the same time that we generalize them.
Figs. 100, 101, 102, and 103, will show the result; and in Fig. 104,
which is the bud of a dicotyledon, we see how clear is the
morphological correspondence: a being the rudiment of a foliar
organ beginning to take shape; b being the almost formless
rudiment of the next foliar organ; and c being the quite-
undifferentiated part whence the rudiments of subsequent foliar
organs are to arise.

Figs. 100–104.
Figs. 105–106.

And now we are prepared for entering on a still-remaining


question respecting the structure of Phænogams—what is the origin
of axillary buds? As the synthesis at present stands, it does not
account for these; but on looking a little more closely into the
matter, we shall find that the axillary buds are interpretable in the
same manner as the terminal buds. So to interpret them, however,
we must return to that process of proliferous growth with which we
set out, for the purpose of observing some facts not before named.
Delesseria hypoglossum, Fig. 105, represents a seaweed of the same
genus as one outlined in Fig. 40; but of a species in which
proliferous growth is carried much further. Here, not only does the
primary frond bud out many secondary fronds from its mid-rib; but
most of the secondary fronds similarly bud out several tertiary
fronds; and even by some of the tertiary fronds, this prolification is
repeated. Besides being shown that the budding out of several
fronds from one frond, may become habitual; we are also shown
that it may become a habit inherited by the fronds so produced, and
also by the fronds they produce: the manifestation of the tendency
being probably limited only by failure of nutrition. That under fit
conditions an analogous mode of growth will occur in fronds of the
acrogenic type, like those we set out with, is shown by the case of
Metzgeria furcata, Figs. 45, 46, in which such compound prolification
is partially displayed. Let us suppose, then, that the frond a, Fig.
106, produces not only a single secondary frond b, but also another
such secondary frond b’. Let us suppose, further, that the frond b is
in like manner doubly proliferous: producing both c and c’. Lastly, let
us suppose that in the second frond b’ which a produces, as well as
in the second frond c’ which b produces, the doubly-proliferous habit
is manifested. If, now, this habit grows organic—if it becomes, as it
naturally will become, the characteristic of a plant of luxuriant
growth, the unfolding parts of which can be fed by the unfolded
parts; it will happen with each lateral series, as with the main series,
that its successive components will begin to show themselves at
earlier and earlier stages of development. And in the same way that,
by dwarfing and generalizing the original series, we arrive at a
structure like that of the terminal bud; by dwarfing and generalizing
a lateral series, as shown in Figs. 107–110, we arrive at a structure
answering in nature and position to the axillary bud.

Figs. 107–110.
Facts confirming these interpretations are afforded by the
structure and distribution of buds. The phænogamic axis in its
primordial form, being an integrated series of folia; and the
development of that part by which these folia are held together at
considerable distances from one another, taking place afterwards; it
is inferable from the general principles of embryology, that in its
rudimentary stages, the phænogamic shoot will have its foliar parts
more clearly marked out than its axial parts. This we see in every
bud. Every bud consists of the rudiments of leaves packed together
without any appreciable internodal spaces; and the internodal
spaces begin to increase with rapidity, only when the foliar organs
have been considerably developed. Moreover, where nutrition falls
short, and arrest of development takes place—that is, where a
flower is formed—the internodes remain undeveloped: the unfolding
ceases before the later-acquired characters of the phænogamic
shoot are assumed. Lastly, as the hypothesis leads us to expect,
axillary buds make their appearances later than the foliar organs
which they accompany; and where, as at the ends of shoots, these
foliar organs show failure of chlorophyll, the axillary buds are not
produced at all. That these are inferable traits of structure, will be
manifest on inspecting Figs. 106–110; and on observing, first, that
the doubly-proliferous tendency of which the axillary bud is a result,
implies abundant nutrition; and on observing, next, that the original
place of secondary prolification, is such that the foliar surface on
which it occurs, must grow to some extent before the bud appears.
On thus looking at the matter—on contemplating afresh the ideal
type shown in Fig. 106, and noting how, by the conditions of the
case, the secondary prolifications must cease before that primary
prolification which produces the main axis; we are enabled to
reconcile all the phenomena of axillary gemmation. We see harmony
among the several facts—first, that the axillary bud becomes a
lateral, leaf-bearing axis if there is abundant material for growth;
second, that its development is arrested, or it becomes a flower-
bearing axis, if the supply of sap is but moderate; third, that it is
absent when the nutrition is failing. We are no longer committed to
the gratuitous assumption that, in the phænogamic type, there must
exist an axillary bud to each foliar organ; but we are led to conclude,
à priori, that which we find, à posteriori, that axillary buds are as
normally absent in flowers as they are normally present lower down
the axis. And then, to complete the argument, we are prepared for
the corollary that axillary prolification may naturally arise even at the
ends of axes, should the failing nutrition which causes the dwarfing
of the foliar organs to form a flower, be suddenly changed into such
high nutrition as to transform the components of the flower into
appendages that are green, if not otherwise leaf-like—a condition
under which only, this phenomenon is proved to occur.

§ 195. One more question presents itself, when we contrast the


early stages of development in the two classes of Phænogams; and
a further answer, supplied by the hypothesis, gives to the hypothesis
a further probability. It is characteristic of a monocotyledon, to have
a single seed-leaf or cotyledon; and it is characteristic of a
dicotyledon, to have at least two cotyledons, if not more than two.
That is to say, the monocotyledonous mode of germination
everywhere co-exists with the endogenous mode of growth; and
along with the exogenous mode of growth, there always goes either
a dicotyledonous or polycotyledonous germination. Why is this? Such
correlations cannot be accidental—cannot be meaningless. A true
theory of the phænogamic types in their origin and divergence,
should account for the connexion of these traits. Let us see whether
the foregoing theory does this.
The higher plants, like the higher animals, bequeath to their
offspring more or less of nutriment and structure. Superior
organisms of either kingdom do not, as do all inferior organisms,
cast off their progeny in the shape of minute portions of protoplasm,
unorganized and without stocks of material for them to organize; but
they either deposit along with the germs they cast off, certain
quantities of albuminoid substance to be appropriated by them while
they develop themselves, or else they continue to supply such
substance while the germs partially develop themselves before their
detachment. Among plants this constitutes one distinction between
seeds and spores. Every seed contains a store of food to serve the
young plant during the first stages of its independent life; and
usually, too, before the seed is detached, the young plant is so far
advanced in structure, that it bears to the attached stock of
nutriment much the same relation that the young fish bears to the
appended yelk-bag at the time of leaving the egg. Sometimes,
indeed, the development of chlorophyll gives the seed-leaves a
bright green, while the seed is still contained in the parent-pod. This
early organization of the phænogam must be supposed rudely to
indicate the type out of which the phænogamic type arose. On the
foregoing hypothesis, the seed-leaves therefore represent the
primordial fronds; which, indeed, they simulate in their simple,
cellular, unveined structures. And the question here to be asked is—
do the different relations of the parts in young monocotyledons and
dicotyledons correspond with the different relations of the primordial
fronds, implied by the endogenous and the exogenous modes of
growth? We shall find that they do.
Figs. 111–122.

Starting, as before, with the proliferous form shown in Fig. 111, it


is clear that if the strength required for maintaining the vertical
attitude, is obtained by the rolling up of the fronds, the primary
frond will more and more conceal the secondary frond within it. At
the same time, the secondary frond must continue to be dependent
on the first for its nutrition; and, being produced within the first,
must be prevented by defective supply of light and air, from ever
becoming synchronous in its development with the first. Hence, this
infolding which leads to the endogenous mode of growth, implies
that there must always continue such pre-eminence of the first-
formed frond or its representative, as to make the germination
monocotyledonous. Figs. 111 to 115, show the transitional forms
that would result from the infolding of the fronds. In Fig. 116 (a
vertical section of the form represented in Fig. 115) are exhibited the
relations of the successive fronds to each other. The modified
relations that would result, if the nutrition of the embryo admitted of
anticipatory development of the successive fronds, are shown in Fig.
117. And how readily the structure may pass into that of the
monocotyledonous germ, will be seen on inspecting Fig. 118; which
is a vertical section of an actual monocotyledon at an early stage—
the incomplete lines at the left of its root, indicating its connexion
with the seed.[13] Contrariwise, where the strength required for
maintaining an upright attitude is not obtained by the rolling up of
the fronds, but by the strengthening of the continuous mid-rib, the
second frond, so far from being less favourably circumstanced than
the first, becomes in some respects even more favourably
circumstanced: being above the other, it gets a greater share of
light, and it is less restricted by surrounding obstacles. There is
nothing, therefore, to prevent it from rapidly gaining an equality with
the first. And if we assume, as the truths of embryology entitle us to
do, an increasing tendency towards anticipation in the development
of subsequent fronds—if we assume that here, as in other cases,
structures which were originally produced in succession will, if the
nutrition allows and no mechanical dependence hinders, come to be
produced simultaneously; there is nothing to prevent the passage of
the type represented in Fig. 111, into that represented in Fig. 122.
Or rather, there is everything to facilitate it; seeing that natural
selection will continually favour the production of a form in which the
second frond grows in such way as not to shade the first, and in
such way as allows the axis readily to assume a vertical position.
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