Saint Elzear's Rule of Life for His Household
Let us remember first of all Saint Elzear was a layman.
Saint Elzear made the following regulations for his family:
1. Everyone in my family shall daily hear Mass, whatever business they may have. If God be well served in my house, nothing will be wanting.
2. Let no one swear, curse, or blaspheme, under pain of being severely chastised, and afterward shamefully dismissed. How can I hope that God will pour forth His heavenly blessings on my house, if it is filled with such miscreants who devote themselves to the devil? Or, can I endure stinking mouths which infect houses and poison the souls of others?
3. Let all persons honor chastity, and let no one imagine that the least impurity in word or action shall ever go unpunished in Elzear's house. It is never to be hoped for of me.
4. Let all men and women confess their sins every week; and let no one be so unhappy as not to communicate at least on all the principal festivals; namely, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and all the feasts of Our Lady.
5. Let no persons be idle in my house. In the morning, the first thing shall be, that everyone raise his heart to God with fervent prayer and oblation of himself, and of all his actions; then let all go to their business, the men abroad, the women at home. In the morning a little more time shall be allowed for meditation; but away with those who are perpetually in the church to avoid the business of their employments. This they do, not because of a love of contemplation, but because they desire to have their work done for them. The life of the pious woman, as described by the Holy Ghost, is not only to pray well, but also to be modest and obedient, to ply her work diligently, and to take good care of the household. The ladies shall pray and read in the mornings, but shall spend the afternoon at some work.
6. I will have no playing at dice, or any games of hazard. There are thousands of innocent diversions, though time passes soon enough without being idly passed away. Yet I desire not my castle to be a cloister, not my people hermits. Let them be merry, and sometimes divert themselves; but never at the expense of conscience or with danger of offending God.
7. Let peace be perpetually maintained in my family. Where peace reigns, there God dwells. Where envy, jealousy, suspicions, reports, and slanders are harbored in one family, two armies are formed, which are continually upon the watch and in ambush to surprise one another, and the master is besieged, wounded and devoured by them both. ... Slanderers, detractors, and disorderly servants tear one another to pieces.
8. If any quarrel happen, I will have the precept of the apostle inviolably observed, that the sun set not before it be appeased; but, in the instant that it falls on us, let is be squashed, and all manner of bitterness laid in the tomb of forgetfulness.
9. Every evening all my family shall assemble to a pious conference, in which they shall hear something spoken of God, the salvation of souls, and the gaining of paradise. What a shame it is, that though we are in this world save only to gain heaven, we seldom seriously think of it: and scarcely ever speak about it but only occasionally!
10. I most strictly command that no office or servant under my jurisdiction or authority injure any man in his good, honor, or reputation, or oppress any poor person, or ruin any one under the color of doing my business.
