Benedict of Nursia

In his own words on Isaiah

• Isaiah 42:3

  [The abbot] must be aware of his own frailty and remember that it is forbidden to break the already bruised reed. We do not mean that he should countenance the growth of vice but that he use discretion and tenderness as he sees it expedient for the different characters of his brothers. He is to endeavor much more to be loved than to be feared.

  RULE OF ST. BENEDICT 64