hilip Neri, to
whom he had a great devotion and for whose spiritual doctrine he had
a high admiration. The following is from an exponent of that
doctrine, and is much in point:

"Although our Fathers and lay brothers [Oratorians] make no vow of
obedience, as do religious, they are, nevertheless, no way inferior
in the perfection of this virtue to those who profess it in the
cloister with solemn vows. They supply the want of vows with love,
with voluntary promptitude, and perfection in obeying every wish of
the superior. And it is a thing for which we must indeed thank God,
that without the obligation of obeying under pain of sin, without
fear of restraint or other punishment (except that of expulsion in
case of contumacy), all the subjects are prompt in this obedience,
even in things most humiliating and severe, according to the terms of
the rule. All take pleasure in meeting the wishes of the superior,
etc." (_The Excellences of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri,_ p. 136.
London: Burns & Oates.)

Father Hecker did not dream that by relinquishing the vows he and his
companions in the Paulist community had cast away a single incentive
to virtue capable of moving such men as they, or had even failed to
secure any of the insignia adorning the great host of men and women
in the Catholic Church whose entire being has been given up to the
divine service. "The true Paulist," said he once, "should be fit and
ready to take the solemn vows at any moment." He felt strongly the
truth of the following words of the Jesuit Lallemant:

"A desire and hunger after our perfection, a determined will to be
constantly tending towards it with all our strength--let this be
always our chief object and our greatest care. Let us bear in mind
that this care is more of the essence of religion [i.e., of a
religious order] than vows themselves; for it is on this that our
whole spiritual progress depends. Herein consists the difference
between true religious and those who are so only in appearance and in
the sight of men. Without this care to advance in perfection the
religious state does not secure our salvation; but nothing is more
common than to deceive ourselves on this point." (_The Spiritual
Doctrine of Father Louis Lallemant, S.J,_ p. 111. New York: Sadlier &
Co.)

With regard to stability, men of stable character need no vow to
guarantee adherence to a divine vocation, and men of feeble character
may indeed vow themselves into an outward st