St. Charles of Sezze "Immodesty"

The Danger of Immodesty

Page, 274-275 of the autobiography of St. Charles of Sezze. “One woman who had been educated in a convent was given to this vanity, and, besides dressing immodestly, bathed everyday in perfumed water. God punished her for this and for the bad example she was giving, by taking her husband away in death and sending on her a horrible sickness that covered with suppurating sores those members of her body through which she had been immodest. This even disfigured one of her eyes. Whereas she had formerly dressed vainly and immodesty, she now had to clothe herself fully out of necessity.

The other case of a woman whom I corrected charitably, asking her to dress properly, pointing out by some examples how much this displeased God, as well as that she was giving scandal. I promised I would pray for her if she did this. Seeing how obstinate her blindness made her I said with a particular feeling that came from our Lord: “The time will come when you will have to dress properly!” Because of a lawsuit not long after that, she lost all she possessed and became terribly sick. Since the courts had taken everything, even mattresses and clothing, she was reduced to using an abandoned straw bed, and for clothes she had to do with some dirty rags that had once been a sheet. When finally she sent for me I found her in the greatest misery. She was sorry for her sins and begged God to pardon her. Then she asked me out of charity to find her a blouse and a clean sheet, for the following day she was to receive Holy Communion. I asked my companion what he thought about this. Because it was getting late and we were on the slope of Monte Cavallo, a great distance from our monastery of Monte Cavallo, a great distance from our monastery of St. Peter in Montorio, he judged it would be better to go back home and not give the Superior reason to punish us for returning at night. I told him to have no fears about that. Every time we are ready to show charity our Lord will even permit the sun to stand still and not advance. O how wonderful is God! How much charity pleases Him! We went to find a blouse, brought it to the woman and then returned to the monastery, and our Lord caused it to happen that we saw the sun in the very same position it had been when we left the sick person the first time. The next day I found sheets for her and another blouse, a modest one, with some other alms. This is how God corrects and punishes sins of vanity in this life. It makes us think, too, of the next!”