Translator’s Preface

This book is for lovers, although it could be called a book of sermons, or a treatise on the spiritual life, or an outline of the spirit of the Institute of Charity. In it, we hear Antonio Rosmini (1797–1855), priest and founder of the Institute of Charity, speaking to his brethren as he develops theological truths precious to spiritual writers throughout the ages and offers fresh insight into the nature of the religious congregation which he founded. None of this, however, goes to the heart of the matter. Rather, Rosmini is describing with great intensity God, whom he would love with his whole heart, and his neighbour, whom he would love as himself. In doing this, he also provides, albeit unconsciously, a portrait of himself as lover whose deepest interest is found not in what he knows but in what he loves. Lovers will understand his purpose and penetrate his heart.

The book is also for those who want to love, but either feel themselves incapable of love or ignorant of how to love. Rosmini, for whom there was no other Way than Christ, shows how we are placed in the Way of love and carried along by it in this life until we come to perfect union with Truth and Life in the Spirit before the Father.

The book is not always easy to read. Rosmini, the lover, is also an original thinker, a theologian of note, a great scholar in many fields and a person endowed with awesome concentration. Commended by Pope John Paul II as one of those masters whose spiritual journey is also a significant example of a process of philosophical inquiry enriched by engaging the data of faith (cf. Fides et Ratio, 74), he seems, even for the Holy Father,

We are face to face with a lover of God and neighbour who is also a master of the spiritual life prepared to use his great powers of thought and immense erudition in the service of faith and love.

The difficulties experienced by readers today can be summed up under the headings: style, vocabulary, concentration. The style, dependent to some extent on Rosmini’s youthful enthusiasm for the flowery Italian romanticism of his time, and combined with his determined efforts to make himself clear at all costs, is the antithesis of the ‘sound bites’ which are our order of the day. Steps have been taken in translation, therefore, to overcome what is often seen as Rosmini’s rhetorical excesses, and it may be that the heartfelt meaning of his words is clearer as a result. Little can be done about the length of the sermons, however, except to read them slowly and reflectively, and perhaps feel a pang of commiseration for the brethren who listened to them.

Rosmini’s vocabulary presents difficulties of a totally different kind. The precision of his words is often dependent upon a mind-set which necessarily escapes those approaching him for the first time through these homilies. In addition, the restrictive significance given to many of his words in recent times detracts considerably from the basic sense which Rosmini saw in them. They are, however, unavoidable if Rosmini’s thought is to be presented faithfully. Examples are: justice, object, perfection, end, charity and society, all of which are explained briefly by the editor in the appendix to this volume.

The last difficulty — the call to concentration — cannot be eased by translator or editor. But a word of encouragement may not be out of place. Often the concentration needed to assimilate the teaching in these pages seems to be gifted by the text itself. The intimacy of loving union which Rosmini describes in the great sermon on charity (4th in the series), and the breathless urgency of sacrifice to which love calls (5th sermon) is sufficient not only to sustain interest but to enthrall minds and hearts as the beauty and dignity of union are unveiled to the listener.
At this point it becomes clear that Rosmini is thinking not only of his own brethren but of all Christians. The members of his Institute will have their own means of reaching the perfection of love, but they will not have a different end from that of others.

In spirit Rosmini’s heart reaches out to all:

And this is the spirit of the whole Church, the only charism left by Rosmini to his Institute. The society of love on which Rosmini has set his own heart is the Church herself to which his Society of Charity is wholly subject.

These homilies are offered so that all may be encouraged to love, and to share in love. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him (1 Jn 4: 16)