Christian Nurse and Her Mission in the Sick Room-François-Xavier Gautrelet

Part one of The Christian Nurse and Her Mission in the Sick Room.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, and for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lola Janey.

The Christian Nurse and Her Mission in the Sick Room by François-Xavier Gautrulet, translated by John Mason Neale.

Chapter one.

Of the excellence of his work of charity and of the esteem in which it ought to be held.

If it be true that of all the graces which God can bestow on man, the most precious is that of a good death, since it is that which consecrates and crowns all others.

If, which cannot be denied of all the moments of our existence, the most critical and dangerous is that in which we pass from the world, since it is that which irrevocably determines our eternal state, it is certain that of all the services that can be rendered to our neighbor, the most excellent is that of assisting him to die well.

The Church, tender and enlightened mother of the faithful, provides for the needs of all her children.

There is no misery which does not find succor in her maternal bosom.

In one place, the child abandoned by unnatural and guilty parents finds charitable hands to tend it, while along with the temporal care necessary to the body, ministrations yet more precious are lavished on the soul.

In another, penitence finds a home to lament its crimes, and under the care of sisters, the victim of sin atone for past guilt by the tears of true repentance.

Again, to solace the misery of the poor, charity disguises itself under a thousand different forms, and everywhere raises monuments which attest to the fecundity of its divine action.

Can the sick man be left by her? Impossible.

It is doubtless a blessed work to go to the assistance of the indigent, to wipe away the tears of the unhappy.

It is a glorious task to restore to its first beauty a soul that has been soiled and disfigured by vice.

But watched by the pillow of the dying, and as a vigilant sentinel, to ward off the dangers that threaten the soul, while occupied in soothing the pain of the body, to sustain it in its weakness, to defend it against the enemies which assault, against the fears which agitate, against the temptations which would overwhelm, to guide with a firm and able hand into the harbor of eternity this frail bark ever on the point of being dashed against terrible rocks, to open a passage into heaven for a spirit whose ruin has been sworn by the banded powers of hell, and thus to assure its eternal felicity, O God, how great, how excellent, how admirable a work! We may say it boldly, there is nothing more important in the natural order, and we may as boldly add, nothing more sublime in the supernatural order of things.

And why? Because there is no moment when the body is racked by greater sufferings and stands in more pressing need and comfort.

Because there is no moment in which the soul incurs so fearful a danger, is exposed to so tremendous an attack, is liable to such terrible temptations.

Because the business in hand is the preservation of a soul from the worst of evils, from everlasting misery, and that preservation eternal.

Because the matter in hand is no less than the assurance of blessedness without limit of time, without measure in degree.

Because then salvation, man's one only work, has to be dealt with in one moment and entire, and by a single action it is thenceforth definitively and irrevocably lost or won.

Imagine that you had saved and restored to his family a beloved father who, but for you, must have perished.

Would not the remembrance of the action be a perpetual comfort? Might not even your country assign you a reward in token of her gratitude? And yet you have done a thousand times more if you have assisted anyone to die well.

Whether you consider the evils from which you preserve him or the blessings which you procure him.

Part one of The Christian Nurse and Her Mission in the Sick Room.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, and for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lola Janey.

The Christian Nurse and Her Mission in the Sick Room by François-Xavier Gautrulet, translated by John Mason Neale.

Chapter one.

Of the excellence of his work of charity and of the esteem in which it ought to be held.

If it be true that of all the graces which God can bestow on man, the most precious is that of a good death, since it is that which consecrates and crowns all others.

If, which cannot be denied of all the moments of our existence, the most critical and dangerous is that in which we pass from the world, since it is that which irrevocably determines our eternal state, it is certain that of all the services that can be rendered to our neighbor, the most excellent is that of assisting him to die well.

The Church, tender and enlightened mother of the faithful, provides for the needs of all her children.

There is no misery which does not find succor in her maternal bosom.

In one place, the child abandoned by unnatural and guilty parents finds charitable hands to tend it, while along with the temporal care necessary to the body, ministrations yet more precious are lavished on the soul.

In another, penitence finds a home to lament its crimes, and under the care of sisters, the victim of sin atone for past guilt by the tears of true repentance.

Again, to solace the misery of the poor, charity disguises itself under a thousand different forms, and everywhere raises monuments which attest to the fecundity of its divine action.

Can the sick man be left by her? Impossible.

It is doubtless a blessed work to go to the assistance of the indigent, to wipe away the tears of the unhappy.

It is a glorious task to restore to its first beauty a soul that has been soiled and disfigured by vice.

But watched by the pillow of the dying, and as a vigilant sentinel, to ward off the dangers that threaten the soul, while occupied in soothing the pain of the body, to sustain it in its weakness, to defend it against the enemies which assault, against the fears which agitate, against the temptations which would overwhelm, to guide with a firm and able hand into the harbor of eternity this frail bark ever on the point of being dashed against terrible rocks, to open a passage into heaven for a spirit whose ruin has been sworn by the banded powers of hell, and thus to assure its eternal felicity, O God, how great, how excellent, how admirable a work! We may say it boldly, there is nothing more important in the natural order, and we may as boldly add, nothing more sublime in the supernatural order of things.

And why? Because there is no moment when the body is racked by greater sufferings and stands in more pressing need and comfort.

Because there is no moment in which the soul incurs so fearful a danger, is exposed to so tremendous an attack, is liable to such terrible temptations.

Because the business in hand is the preservation of a soul from the worst of evils, from everlasting misery, and that preservation eternal.

Because the matter in hand is no less than the assurance of blessedness without limit of time, without measure in degree.

Because then salvation, man's one only work, has to be dealt with in one moment and entire, and by a single action it is thenceforth definitively and irrevocably lost or won.

Imagine that you had saved and restored to his family a beloved father who, but for you, must have perished.

Would not the remembrance of the action be a perpetual comfort? Might not even your country assign you a reward in token of her gratitude? And yet you have done a thousand times more if you have assisted anyone to die well.

Whether you consider the evils from which you preserve him or the blessings which you procure him.