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[THE CREATION OF CARDINALS]
SPEECH OF PIUS II
MARCH 8, 1460 |
My sons,
you have received a most high and exalted dignity. In being called to
the Apostolic College you will become our counselors and co-judges of
the world. It will be your duty to decide between cause and cause, blood
and blood, leprosy and leprosy. As successors of the apostles you will
sit around our throne; you will be senators of the city and the equals
of kings, in very truth the hinges of the world, which must turn and regulate
the gate of the Church Militant. Consider what men, what minds, what integrity
this dignity demands. This office calls for humility, not pride; generosity,
not greed; temperance, not drunkenness; self-control, not lust; knowledge,
not ignorance; every virtue, no vice. If heretofore you have been vigilant,
you must now practice vigilance against a malignant foe who never sleeps
for thinking whom he may devour. If you have been generous, pour out now
your wealth in noble causes and especially in succoring the poor. If temperate
in food and drink, now especially shun luxury. Refrain from avarice, do
away with cruelty, banish arrogance. Have holy books ever in your hands.
Day and night be learning something or teaching others. So act that your
light shall shine before all men and, finally, be such as you thought
cardinals ought to be before you yourselves rose to this eminence.
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PIUS II
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