Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
—1 Peter 1:3 ESV
In the year 1791, Martin Boos (1762–1825) entered on the duties of the priestly office in the Roman Catholic Church with an unspotted character. From his earliest years his conduct had been irreproachable; his application to his literary and theological studies had been faithful and successful, and he was habitually conscientious and devout.
Twenty years later (1811), he wrote of the “immense pains” that he took to be an extremely pious man, in these words:
“For years together, even in winter, I laid on the cold floor. I scourged myself until I bled. I fasted and gave my bread to the poor. I spent every available hour in the church or the cemetery. I confessed and took the sacrament almost every week; in short, I gained such a reputation for holiness that I was appointed prefect of the congregation by the ex-Jesuits. But what a life I led! The prefect, with all his sanctity, became more and more absorbed in self, melancholy, anxious and formal. The saint was exclaiming over and over in his heart, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?’ (Romans 7:24 ESV). And no one replied, ‘The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (cf. Romans 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 1 Peter 1:3; etc.). No one gave the sick man that spiritual truth, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17 ESV); and when I had obtained it, and found the benefit of it, the whole world, with all its learning and spiritual authority, would have persuaded me that I had swallowed poison, and was poisoning all around me; that I deserved to be hung, drowned, buried alive, banished or burned.”
The young priest’s own historic account of the change he underwent is very simple and direct. In 1788 or 1789, Boos visited a sick lady who was respected for her deep humility and exemplary piety. He said to her, “You will die very peacefully and happily.”
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“Because you have led such a pious and holy life,” he replied.
The good woman smiled at his response, and said, “If I leave the world relying on my own righteousness I am sure I will be lost. But relying on Jesus my Savior, I can die in comfort. What a clergyman you are! What an admirable comforter! If I listened to you, what would become of me? How could I stand before the divine tribunal, where all must give an account even of their careless words? Which of our actions and virtues would not be found insufficient if laid in the divine balances? No; if Christ had not died for me, if he had not made satisfaction for me, I would have been lost forever, despite all my good works and pious conduct. He is my hope, my salvation, and my eternal happiness.”
Martin Boos found instruction where he did not seek it. He entered the house of affliction to console without knowing the True Consolation. At first he was astounded and ashamed to learn from a simple-hearted woman on her deathbed what he—after all his studies—should have known, but did not. Fortunately for him, he was humble enough to accept the truth when conveyed to him by the most basic of instruments. It made an indelible impression on his mind and formed the foundation of his future faith and life.
Martin Boos, after having been made God’s instrument of a spiritual awakening in Germany similar to those of George Whitfield (1714–1770) and John Wesley (1703–1791) in England and America, passed away a true saint on August 29, 1825.
—Ron Metheny
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