11. The virtue of silence, especially in Church, is very great. Let no sentence of the divine lessons escape you; if you give ear, restrain your voice, utter no word with your lips which you would wish to recall, but let your boldness to speak be sparing. For in truth in much speaking there is abundance of sin. Prov. x. 19. To the murderer it was said: “Thou hast sinned, be silent,” Gen. iv. 7. that he might not sin more; but to the virgin it must be said, “Be silent lest thou sin.” For Mary, as we read, kept in heart all things that were said concerning her Son, S. Luke ii. 19. and do you, when any passage is read where Christ is announced as about to come, or is shown to have come, not make a noise by talking, but attend. Is anything more unbecoming than the divine words should be so drowned by talking, as not to be heard, believed, or made known, that the sacraments should be indistinctly heard through the sound of voices, that prayer should be hindered when offered for the salvation of all?