Even in the ages of faith, servitude was never a congenial atmosphere for the growth of sanctity. Chattel slavery and serfdom bred an impoverished character, and rare is it to find in the calendar the name of a saint in the middle ages born or brought up in bondage to a master,—save in the case where freedom had been achieved or granted in early life.

Not that the miracle of the grace of God is withheld when social or economic conditions are unfavourable. The holy and humble of heart are discerned amongst rulers in high places, men and women of great estate, and are found in the most unlikely places. Many are the bishops, not a few are the kings and queens, and at least there is one emperor in the ranks of the saints. Even the Borgia family could produce a St. Francis. But the slave and the serf were, it seems plain, always hampered in the quest of holiness, badly handicapped in the struggle to bring the will into complete conformity with the Will of God. Compelled to subordinate the will to the devices of another or to the caprices of society the soul can hardly yield the fine fruits of sanctity.

(In this matter the middle ages of faith must not be confounded with the apostolic age and the immediately succeeding centuries. The slave of the Roman Empire won the freedom of the soul in a heathen world, and the gift of God made of small account the changes and chances of human fortune.