'Virtus enim laudata crescit in immensum' : Dominican preaching as the art of compassion

Abstract

The title of this paper is taken from a phrase contained in Lecture Four on Chapter Ten of the Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews by Thomas Aquinas. I wish to state clearly from the outset that I will be taking this particular lecture as the starting point and basis for my presentation on the path of the preacher in his mission of proclaiming the Word of God. The phrase quoted above (which, translated into English would read "praised virtue grows exceedingly") is to be taken within the context not only of the Epistle itself but also of the exposition of the commentator. The motto is not original with Thomas. It is already to be found in Ovid who, writing his Epistulre ex Ponto from bis place of exile in Scythia Minor (on the shores of the Black Sea), to which he had been banished on orders from Augustus Caesar, at one point complains that, in spite of his eulogy to oratory, he has no audience to whom he could recite his works.' As one may imagine, Thomas was, of course applying his version of the phrase in a far different context.