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THE CORONATION 233
ness, which is due to priesthood. The sacerdotal dignity
and the precious vestments of virtue are soiled by con
tagion with the worldly the anointed of the Lord, conse
;
crated solely to his worship and intercourse, have lapsed
from their noble and godlike station ; they have lost their
beauty in debasing themselves to vile actions, unworthy
of their exalted position among men. They affect vanity;
serve their own in
they indulge greed and avarice ; they
terest; they love money, they place their hopes in treas
ures of silver and gold; they submit to the flatteries and
to the slavery of the worldly and powerful ; and, to their
still lower degradation, they subject themselves to the pet
ty whims of women, and sometimes make themselves par
ticipants in their counsels of malice and wickedness.
There is
hardly a sheep in the fold of Christ, which rec
ognizes in them the voice of its Pastor, or finds from
them the nourishment of that redeeming virtue and holi
ness, which they should show forth. The little ones ask
for bread, and there is none to distribute (Thren. 4, 4).
And if it is dealt out in self-interest or as a compliment,
how can it afford wholesome nourishment to the neces
sitous and infirm from such leprous hands?
How shall
the heavenly Physician confide to such administrators the
medicine of life?
Or how can the guilty ones intercede
and mediate mercy for those who are less, or even equal
ly, guilty?
245. These are the reasons why the prelates and priests
of our times do not perform the miracles of the Apostles
and disciples, and of those who in the primitive Church
imitated their lives by an ardent zeal for the honor of the
Lord and the conversion of souls. On this account the
treasures of the blood and death of Christ in the Church
do not bear the same fruits, either in his priests and
ministers, nor in the other mortals; for if they neglect
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