Butler devotes over 25 pages in Volume VI (June) to the horrifying, astounding, miracle-working, inhuman (“seraphic”), and incredible John Francis Regis. And whom does Butler credit with the creation of this creature, Saint John Francis Regis? His mother!
Butler describes this scene as kicking off JFR’s life-long devotion to God:
His parents, John Regis, who was descended from a younger branch of the noble house of Deplas in Rovergue, and Magdelin Darcis, daughter to the lord of Segur, were distinguished amongst the nobility of Lower Languedoc [the French Riviera of the Renaissance] by their virtue. . . . Francis [our saint] was one of the youngest brothers. At five years of age he fainted away hearing his mother speak of the horrible misfortune of being eternally damned; which discourse made a lasting impression on his tender heart.
Yup. Mom put the scare of hell into her five year old such that he fainted in terror and was never thereafter the same. Butler continues his discussion of JFR’s youth:
In his childhood he never discovered any inclinations to the amusements of that age. The same disposition made him refuse at his school to join his companions in the innocent diversions of an age generally too eager for play.
Now, fast-forward to many, many years later. JFR is a well-known cleric, in the Jesuit Order, and has spread his influence widely, making an indelible imprint on all in his orbit. Here is how Butler praises (in case you missed it, that description of JFR’s childhood was meant to be inspirational rather than appalling!) Saint John Francis Regis as an elderly man:
His love of the the cross, and his thirst of sufferings and humiliations was insatiable, and he was accustomed to say, that to suffer for God deserved not the name of suffering . . . . When persecuted and beaten, he was heard to cry out, “O my God! that I could suffer still more for thy holy name!” He found true pleasure in hunger, cold, and all manner of hardships, saying once to his companions, “I own (i.e., “I believe fully”) that life would be intolerable if I had nothing to suffer for Jesus Christ: it is my only comfort in this world.”
There were never any modulations in the fears and needs and passions that drove JFR throughout the entirety of his earthly life. No doubt he would not have had the lasting impact (at one point scaring his friends witless when he discovered their tendencies to party) he did, had he not been raised to fervently believe that God is an horrific sadist who can only be satiated by masochism such as can be (and, sadly, often is) imputed to Jesus.
John’s parents made it possible for him to spend his life chasing after miseries (as if life doesn’t provide enough, anyhow) in order to keep at bay that horrific fear of eternal damnation instilled into his heart at age 5.
