The Faith Handed Down by the Fathers

This, then, is that humility toward God. This is the genuine faith of the ancient fathers, which still remains intact among their successors. And the apostolic virtues they so often displayed bear unquestioned witness to this faith, not only among us but also among unbelievers and those who refuse to believe. For, keeping the simple faith of the fishermen in simplicity of heart, they did not receive it in a worldly spirit, through the syllogisms of logic or the eloquence of a Cicero. They learned by the experience of a pure life and stainless actions, by correcting their faults, and, to speak more truly, by visible proofs, that the character of perfection is found in that faith without which neither devotion toward God, nor cleansing from sin, nor amendment of life, nor perfection of virtue can be secured. [a]