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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93143	The holy life of Monr. De Renty, a late nobleman of France and sometimes councellor to King Lewis the 13th. Wrintten [sic] in French by John Baptist S. Jure. And faithfully translated into English, by E.S. Gent.; Vie de Monsieur de Renty. English	Saint-Jure, Jean-Baptiste, 1588-1657.; E. S., Gent.	1657 (1657)	Wing S334; Thomason E1587_2; ESTC R203459	200,696	375

with a Father to whom he had communicated his inclinations to leave all who told me that one day he desired of him with many tears and on his knees his advice in the matter and that he was never more surpriz'd than to see Monsieur de Renty at his feet and in these sentiments of poverty And I have heard him say that the touch from God to separate him from the creatures and to make him quit the manner of living suitable to his birth was so powerful over his soul that if another touch from the same hand had not kept him back at the same time he had abandoned all and according to the example of S. Alexis had gone to live a poor life as he did but that God that imprinted this desire of poverty in him did hinder the effecting of it to keep him in the state wherein he had placed him which was to him no small cross because the desire torments and afflicts the soul in proportion to its vehemency when it cannot arrive to the possession of the thing desired But because he was absolutely conformable as it was his duty in all things to the will of God he bare this cross as contrary as it was to his affection with great peace and a perfect submission to what God had ordered Another witness of like authority gives him this testimony He told me said he often in the confidence we had together that he was ashamed when he entred into his house to see himself so well lodged in this world and that it was one of his greatest afflictions to have so much wealth and to be so much at ease that he should be ravished to see himself reduced to bread and water and to get the same by labour and the sweat of his b●ows Having one day asked him how he could be so quiet amongst all the fa●idious accidents and incommodities that he suffered He answered me upon condition that I would keep it secret that through Gods mercy he found himself in a disposition of peace and state of indifferency in affliction as well as in joy and that he had no sentiments any more of fear or desire of any thing And of this my self hath seen the experience in some difficulties where the better part of his estate ran a great hazard without any appearance of the least commotion in him and his words were Seeing God hath given me the management of this estate I will do to preserve it what shall behove me and then it is all one to me what success shall follow Another reports thus He had the Evangelical poverty in its perfection being in●irely estranged in spirit and thought in heart and affection from all the wealth of the world and he told me that he fealt no greater cross than to have riches and that he should be extreamly glad to be a beggar and unknown if it had been the will of God Hence it came that he bare a kinde of holy envy towards the poor that he deemed them very happy that in beholding them he said sometimes with sighing but with a sigh that one might see came from the bottom his heart Ah! that I am not as they that he honour'd lov'd caress'd and kneel'd before them not onely in humility but in esteem of their estare in its disposing us so much to the perfection of the new Law and resemblance it hath with Jesus Christ Being one day visiting the poor in the great Hospital of Caen he was seen bare headed and on his knees upon the floor of the great Hall beating in a Morter some Drugs for the use of the poor sick people such was the respect and honour that he bore to those for whom he laboured that it put him into that posture But for an end let us hear him tell us himself his sentiments upon this matter and although he speak of himself le ts make no scruple to believe him as being a person most worthy of credit Behold therefore what he wrote to the Nun abovementioned Sister Margaret of the Holy Sacrament my most holy Sister I have it in my heart that the Holy Childe Jesus the Infancy of Jesus was one of the Mysterie● to which more particularly and profitably he applyed himself as we shall see in its due place would have something of me which he hath a desire I should beg of him and dispose my self for the obtaining of it And I avow to you that the more there comes to me of the riches of this world the more do I discover the malignity the eto affixed and that they produce nothing but garboil and trouble and afford not much means of doing good My heart is most strongly carried to an effective st●ipping my self of all and to follow him alone seeing he is my way as being the most poor and depressed amongst all his followers But that I know that it would be a presumption to believe my self capable of this estate and a temptation to put my self upon it being at present related as I am I ●ould pant and sigh thither ward very much that which I will draw hence is this that being ignorant of the coursels of God I cannot tell how he will dispose of me for the future and I offer my self up to whatsoever it shall please him knowing that with him I can do every th●ng as without him I have neither the power nor will for any thing My most dear Sister I have great need of doing penance and to be humbled I am greatly ashamed of my condition and of what I am I have the commodity and abundance of all things of this world but my family and estate of things permits it not to be otherwise and I see the Churches and the poor upon whom I would bestow it all at least as much as I may in justice part with or else to be poor as the poor are so that I may be no more ashamed of being better provided than they Thus you have his thoughts which by Gods permission are come to light to make us see what grace can do in a heart well disposed and to what a pitch arrives this perfect Poverty of spirit SECT 2. His outward Poverty THe high esteem and affection which this great servant of God had of the forsaking the goods of this world being not able to contain it self within the Interior of his soul appear'd outward and visible in a thousand effects and carried him on to the poverty Exterior in all ways possible for not to speak of the great Alms he gave to the poor far different from the course of many who though full of riches yet never think of using them according to Gods rule he divested himself of very many things to be impoverished as much as he could for he parted with some books because richly bound wore no cloa●hes but plain and close together used no gloves what season soever or at least a rare thing it was to see him have any in effect

and Annih●lation 312 Sect. 1. More of the same subject 317 Sect. 2. Continuation of the same subject 328 Chap. 10. Of his Corporal Death 335 The Conclusion of the Work how we ought to read the Lives of Saints 346 ERRATA PAge 88. l. ult for som read from p. 90. l. 2. for a boot of hay-ropes r. a bottle of hay p. 91. l. 15. for possessing it all r. possessing it at all THE HOLY LIFE OF Mon r De RENTY c. PART I. CHAP. 1. Of his Birth Infancy and Youth SO great and glorious were the vertues and good deeds of the late deceased Mon r de Renty that I can begin my discourse no otherwise than by ingenuously confessing my disabillity to set them out as they deserve not even so much of them as appeared outwardly to the eyes of men and much lefs the inward Treasure that lay hid in his Soul though that be the principall Yet notwithstanding undertake I must to write something thereof as not able to deny the requests of many persons of Piety and quality who well knowing that I had enjoyed the happiness of his acquaintance in a singular maner for divers years together even when he was in the very height of the glory of his Vertues and that so great a Treasure so much concerning the glory of God and the publicue good as this excellent and perfect Christian life of his was ought by no means to be buried in Oblivion did judge me in a sort obliged to prevent so great a damage Come we therefore to the business for the greater Glory of God who is admirable in his Saints and of our Lord Jesus Christ who replenished this rare man with his Graces and abundant communication of his Spirit and let us do it in the strength of that Divine assistance which as I stand in very great need of so I humbly beg it with all my soul Monsieur de Renty draws his Original from one of the most Noble Houses of Artois which is that of R●nty famous for its An●iquity for its great Alliances and in particular to the House of Crowy whence came the Dukes of Arscot and Princes of S●may for the Honorable Employment of its Ancestors and their Noble Acts in Arms and Battels and above all for its Piety a great testimony whereof was left in the year 1570. by Wambert called the good Count of Renty and Hamburg his Lady who were not contented onely to found and richly endow within their Territories an Abbey under the name and protection of St. Denis which had the blessing to have a Saint for Abbot to wit St Bertulphe but went on encreasing more and more like the Morning light in vertue and good works and built besides that three other Churches one dedicated to St Peter another to St. Martin and the third to St. Wast Monsieur Renty was the onely Son of Charls de Renty and Magdalen of Pastoureau who also descended by her Mother from the same House of Renty He was born at Beny in low Normandy in the Diocess of Bajeaux in the year of Grace 16●● having the Poor to present him at the Fon● God so ordering it by a particular Providence that the Poor should be Godfathers to him who afterwards during his life should be a Sollicitor Protector and Father of the Poor He was at the Font named Gaston and at Confirmation John Baptist being brought up where he was born till he was between six or seven years of age and then by the Lady his Mother was he brought to Paris and lived there with her about two years till he was put into the Colledge of Navarre and from thence sent to Caen to the Colledge of the Jesuit Fathers having with him for his conduct a Tutor being a Church-man and besides him a Governour who unhappily prov'd an Huguenote and might in ●he sequel have been notably prejudicial to him in corrupting his faith and manners But God out of his singular and paternal care of him as intending to make him one day a great instrument of his glory and of the salvation of many souls preserved him from the pernitious intents and endeavours of that dangerous man and became himself his Governor which occasioned him since then to say that God from his infancy had been most gratio ● to him and as David saith of himself had been hi● keeper from his mothers womb As he had naturally a very good wit piercing reach and great judgement so was he very notable and famous for his progress in his studies from the which notwithstanding he was taken at the age of seventeen and put into an Academy as they call their Schools of Gentile Exercises at Paris where he shewed himself most dextrous and accomplish'd in all the Exercises there taught but that which most of all pleased and as I may so say charmed him was the Mathematicks which he applyed himself to with such diligence that he deprived himself of all sorts of divertisemenis which youth is given to and therein attained to such proficiency that he understood them perfectly and composed therein some Books But the time being now come when God was minded to go closer to the work he had in hand and to dispose this choice soul to the execution of those things which he was designed for it pleased him so to order it that a Stationer to whom Monsieur de Renty often repaired to buy such Books as he stood in need of for satisfying the curiosity and ardent desire he had of knowledge in all Sciences suitable to his condition did one day present to him the famous little Book of the Imitation of Christ and desired him to read it but he having as then his minde taken up with other notions made no account of it for that time The Stationer having brought him another day some Books that he had need of presented the same again to him and with some earnestness besought him to be pleased to read it thereupon he yielded and read it and was thereby so enlightned and touched as before him a great multitude of persons of all sorts had been that entertaining now no other thoughts or affections he resolv'd to minde seriously his salvation and give himself up to God so that amongst the great fruits and signal victories obtained by that book we may well reckon for one this work of grace and change wrought upon Monsieur de Renty who also from that time forward had that Book in so great love aad esteem that he always carried it about him and made use thereof on all occasions The gracious effect which the reading of this Book wrought in his soul was so great that it bread and enkindled in his heart the thought and desire to quit the world to consecrate himself entirely to the service of God and to make himself a Carthusian although he could not but see himself to be an onely Son the Heir of a great Estate and endowed with qualities and perfections

have so great a vertue as to cure that disease What then having no better I prayed to God for his blessing upon that if it might be for his glory and the good of the Patient God did it for coming to visit her again I found her well recovered The Prioress asking him if he did thus often he answered Yes when he was desired it for these being poor people have no other help neither have I any better remedies I know my Saviour is not tyed to Medicines we must have faith in him where we can do nothing our selves and that out of his bounty he hath bestowed on me She replyed but this is then a miracle And doth not he work miracles for us every day said he And do you such for the poor said the Prioress To which he answered with great humility and well beseemingness in these words My Lady Prioress calls that a miracle which our Lord hath wrought for my part I have no share in it but onely by bestowing on the poor such as I have make what you please of it all my reflection thereupon is onely to return praise to my Saviour Christ when the cure is done If the Holy Scriptures command us to honour the Physician for our necessity of him Undoubtedly those are much more to be honoured who proceed in their cures not so much according to the method and direction of Galen and Paracelsus as that of God SECT 4. His zeal for the Salvation of his Neighbour THis part of Charity will appear greater and more ardent in Monsieur Renty than the former as being the most sublime and noblest degree of it as saith S. Thomas And the first in regard of its object the Soul which is incomparably more excellent than the body And secondly in regard of the things bestowed in this way of Charity which infinitely surpass those other as much as an eternal possession in the heavens conveyed by the one superlatively exceeds bread silver health supplied by the other Wherefore his holy prudence clearly perceiving a difference was transported with far other affections to the one than to the other And being continually inflamed with the love of God and his Son Jesus Christ uncessantly sought all ways and used all means to make them known and beloved both here and eternally by all men preventing what he could any offence or sinning against them daily pondering with himself the inexplicable goodness and tenderness of God towards the souls of men which have been so dear to him and cost him such an invaluable price He entred into the same affections loving and desiring their salvation according to that Model This zeal of his was admirable having all the qualities to render it perfect Being in the first place universal extended to all in France out of France yea all the world over Insomuch that he said to one of his Familiars that he was ready to serve all men not excepting one and even to lay down his life for any one upon occasion He earnestly desired to convert to enlighten with the knowledge of God to inflame with his love to sanctifie and save the whole world if it had been in his power of which Paris being as it were an Epitome he went through all the quarters and streets of that vast City searching out what he could remove or bring in for the glory of God and salvation of souls And the same Spirit of God that conducted him in this inquiry blessed his endeavours and gave him the favour to rectifie what was out of course to confirm the wayering to strengthen what was in order to root out vice and plant vertue Which he did in so many several ways as a man would think it impossible but what cannot a man do that is zealous disinterested and full of God He performed what possibly he could in his own person not sparing any cost nor losing one minute of time and wherein his power and strength of body or minde falling short of his desires proved deficient he engaged others Whereupon he procured Missions at his own charge in his own Countreys of Normandy and Brie and by joynt contribution of others erected the like in many other Provinces where he had no Land as in Burgundy Picardy Chartrain and elsewhere And here it will not be amiss to take his own words concerning these out of a Letter my self received from him relating to a Mission in his Lordship of Citry in Brte The M●ssion was begun here on Whitsunday a day that bringeth with it an extraordinary benediction the peoples hearts are touched with great sense of repentance which they manifest by abundance of tears Many restitutions and reconciliations are made common and publique prayers are made in Families swearing and cursing are redressed And this Reformation extends it self to three or four leagues round about us Amongst many others there came a young maid whose life had been very v●cious who returned home a real Co●vert giving an ample testimony of her repentance relinquishing her former acquaintance Whereby I finde that this was the very end for which my Saviour brought me hither and ingaged my abode in this place These operations of grace filled him up with unspeakable joy which often distilled into tears for having to do in that which made for the glory of God and benefit of souls We have it from an eye-witness who hath seen tears stand in his eyes and demanding the cause received from him this answer I profess they proceed from that excessive joy I take to see so many touched with remorse evidencing their conversion by making restitutions by being reconciled to their enemies burning their idle and vain books ●uitting their former occasions of sin commencing a life altogether new We have seen him likewise in the Church of Citry so transported with zeal that he hath swept the Church carried out the dirt himself rung the bell to assemble the people thither In all his Missions he commonly imployed some Secular Priests of his acquaintance living in community and settled at Caen for those employments who have quitted themselves herein with great benediction and notable success He writ divers Letters to their Superiour earnestly entreating and conjuring him to promote this business seriously and heartily giving him account of what Missions were established and what were in a hopeful way what he had done in them himself and to whom else he had spoken with such courses as were to be taken to make them effectual The year he dyed this was written in a Letter to the same person concerning a Mission he had projected in the Town of Drieux of the Diocess of Chartres I have sollicited soveral persons to joyn in setting up a Massion every year and I shall go my self along with it as oft as I can to serve and obey your orders in visiting the sick and giving alms to the needy And for the same design to assemble some companies of people whom God hath wrought upon by your preaching