The Right Kind of Madness
Abbe Gayraud, then deputy for Finistere, was defending the Religious Congregations in the French Chamber; the question of their expulsion was being discussed and the Abbe was praising Religious and pointing out what greatness of soul it required to renounce the world, act as lightning-conductors for the anger of God and lead a life of self-immolation in union with Jesus Christ. The orator spoke of the Brothers of St. John of God who devote themselves to the service of the insane, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, whose food consists of what is left from the table of the old people they tend, and who, with them, live on what they beg from door to door.
A deputy of the Left, extremely anti-Catholic, exclaimed impatiently: 'They are all lunatics!'
'Yes, Monsieur Allemane,' quickly retorted the Abbe, drawing himself up to his full height, the better to mark the moral littleness of his interlocutor. 'Yes, they are lunatics. Their madness was diagnosed centuries ago by S. Paul as the "folly" of the Cross.'
-Raoul Plus, S.J.
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From Principles and Practices
Compiled by Rev. J. Hogan of The Catholic Missionary Society
Published by Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., Publishers To The Holy See
Nihil Obstat; Eduardus J. Mahoney, S.T.D. Censor deputatus.
Imprimatur; Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius generalis.
First printed in 1930
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