“Annihilate yourself before God, abide in patience, and await in peace the voice of your Master, who said to His disciples ‘in patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras’ (Within patience, you possess your soul).  It will not be long before He speaks; but permit Him to speak, and let the humble sentiment of your heart, which sees itself so far removed from the perfect virtues of the Order to which you aspire, make you tremble for fear of being promoted without being as firmly established as your Divine Master desires you to be in everything which He requires of you.  Labour on, therefore, with courage…All the good and all the benediction of your future life depend on the holy dispositions with which you approach your ordination (lay vocation), and on your obedience to the law of the Divine Master.  He never willingly accepts the services of one who enters His house by force, and who has not waited for His election and vocation with reverence, humility, and patience.”

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So, too, in their public disputations he bade them argue, not to display their knowledge, but simply to ascertain the truth…To dispute from a motive of vanity, he said, was to pledge ourselves never to yield.  It was to act the part of Lucifer, who would be content with nothing short of the highest throne in heaven.  To confess one’s own ignorance and acknowledge another s ability, as it was the part of true candor and humility, so it was torture to the proud.  In the schools let them keep before their eyes, and adore in their hearts, Jesus Christ in the midst of the doctors.  Although He had in Himself all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, yet He was found listening and asking questions.  In imitation of this profound humility on the part of the Son of God, they were to beware of playing the master in their disputations, but comport themselves as to appear to be rather seeking to be enlightened than instructing and enlightening others.   –Edward Healy Thompson, M.A.”The life of Jean-Jacques Olier: Founder of the Seminary of St. Sulpice”