Volume 13: Time After Pentecost (Part IV)

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

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THE LITURGICAL YEAR

ABBOT PROSPER GUÉRANGER, O.S.B.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

BOOK IV

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY THE BENEDICTINES OF STANBROOK ABBEY

JUBILEE YEAR 2000 LIMITED EDITION

©

LORETO

LORETO PUBLICATIONS P. O. Box 603 Fitzwilliam, NH 03447 Phone: (603) 239-6671 Fax: (603) 239-6127

LORETO PUBLICATIONS

The Liturgical Year 15 Volume Set ISBN: 1-930278-03-9 Volume XIII — Time After Pentecost Book IV ISBN: 1-930278-16-0

Printed in the Czech Republic by Newton Design&Print Ltd (www.newtondp.co.uk)

I. On hearing Mass during the Time after Pentecost

II. On the Office of Vespers for Sundays and Feasts during the Time after Pentecost

III. On the Office of Compline during the Time after Pentecost

PROPER OF THE SAINTS

July 8.—SAINT ELIZABETH, Queen of Portugal . . . 35 July 10.—THE SEVEN BROTHERS, Martyrs, and SAINTS RUFINA AND SECUNDA, Virgins and Martyrs . . 45 July 11.—SAINT PIUS I, Pope and Martyr . . . . 57 July 12.—SAINT JOHN GUALBERT, Abbot . . . . 64 Commemoration of Saints Nabor and Felix, Martyrs . 72 July 13.—SAINT ANACLETUS, Pope and Martyr . . . 75 July 14.—SAINT BONAVENTURE, Cardinal and Doctor of the Church . . . . . . . 84 July 15.—SAINT HENRY, Emperor . . . . . 85 July 16.—OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL . . . . 88 July 17.—SAINT ALEXIUS, Confessor . . . . . 103 July 18.—SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS, Confessor . . 110 Same Day.—SAINT SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS, Martyrs . . . . . . . 121 July 19.—SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL, Confessor . . . 125 July 20.—SAINT JEROME EMILIANI, Confessor . . . 132 Same Day.—SAINT MARGARET, Virgin and Martyr . . 136 July 21.—SAINT PRAXEDES, Virgin . . . . . 147 July 22.—SAINT MARY MAGDALEN . . . . . 153 July 23.—SAINT APOLLINARIS, Bishop and Martyr . . 172 Commemoration of Saint Liborius, Bishop and Confessor . 176 July 24.—SAINT CHRISTINA, Virgin and Martyr . . . 178 July 25.—SAINT JAMES THE GREAT, Apostle . . . Commemoration of Saint Christopher, Martyr . . 186 July 26.—SAINT ANNE, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary . 188 July 27.—SAINT PANTALEON, Martyr . . . . . 201 July 28.—SAINTS NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR, Martyrs, and SAINT INNOCENT, Pope and Confessor . . 203 July 29.—SAINT MARTHA, Virgin . . . . . 209 Commemoration of Saints Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrice, Martyrs . . . . July 30.—SAINTS ABDON AND SENNEN, Martyrs . . . 217 July 31.—SAINT IGNATIUS, Confessor . . . . . 218 August 1.—SAINT PETER'S CHAINS . . . . . 220 Commemoration of the Seven Brothers Machabees . . 229 August 2.—SAINT ALPHONSUS, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church . . . . . . 234 Commemoration of Saint Stephen I, Pope and Martyr . 237 August 3.—FINDING OF SAINT STEPHEN, Protomartyr . . 246 August 4.—SAINT DOMINIC, Confessor . . . . . 248 August 5.—OUR LADY OF THE SNOW . . . . . 253 August 6.—THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD . . . 263 Same Day.—SAINT SIXTUS II, Pope and Martyr, and SAINTS FELICISSIMUS AND AGAPITUS, Martyrs . . 271 August 7.—SAINT CAJETAN, Confessor . . . . . 285 Commemoration of Saint Donatus, Bishop and Martyr . 289 August 8.—SAINTS CYRIACUS, LARGUS, AND SMARAGDUS, Martyrs . . . . . . . 294 August 9.—VIGIL OF SAINT LAURENCE . . . . . 295 Commemoration of Saint Romanus, Martyr . . . 297 August 10.—SAINT LAURENCE, Deacon and Martyr . . 299 First Vespers . . . . . . . 304 Second Vespers . . . . . . . 316 August 11.—SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA, Martyrs . 325 August 12.—SAINT CLARE, Virgin . . . . . 329 August 13.—SAINT RADEGONDE, Queen of France . . 337 Commemoration of Saints Hippolytus and Cassian, Martyrs 345 August 14.—VIGIL OF THE ASSUMPTION . . . . 347 Commemoration of Saint Eusebius, Confessor . . August 15.—THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 351 First Vespers . . . . . . . 352 Second Vespers . . . . . . . 355 August 16.—SAINT JOACHIM, Confessor, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary . . . . . . 370 Mass . . . . . . . . 378 Same Day.—SAINT ROCH, Confessor . . . . 393 August 17.—SAINT HYACINTH, Confessor . . . . 394 Same Day.—THE OCTAVE DAY OF SAINT LAURENCE . . 401 August 18.—FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION . . . . . . . 405 Commemoration of Saint Agapitus, Martyr . . . 408 August 19.—FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION . . . . . . . 413 August 20.—SAINT BERNARD, Abbot and Doctor of the Church 418 August 21.—SAINT JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL, Widow . . . . . . . . 421 August 22.—THE OCTAVE DAY OF THE ASSUMPTION . . 425 Commemoration of Saints Timothy, Hippolytus, and Symphorian, Martyrs . . . . . 431

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

CHAPTER THE FIRST

ON HEARING MASS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

On the Sundays, if the Mass at which the faithful assist be the parochial, or, as it is often called, the public Mass, two solemn rites precede it, and they are full of instruction and blessing: the Asperges, or sprinkling of the holy water, and the procession.

During the Asperges, you should unite with the intentions which the Church has in this ceremony, so venerable by its antiquity: you should pray for that purity of heart, which is needed for worthily assisting at the mysteries wherein God Himself becomes present and unites heaven and earth so closely together.

ANTIPHON OF THE ASPERGES

Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.

Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and I shall be cleansed; thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

Ps. Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

Ps. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.

V. Gloria Patri, &c.

V. Glory, &c.

Ant. Asperges me, &c.

Ant. Thou shalt sprinkle, &c.

V. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam;
R. Et salutare tuum da nobis.

V. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy.
R. And grant us thy salvation.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.

V. Dominus vobiscum.
R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.

OREMUS

Exaudi nos, Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus: et mittere digneris sanctum angelum tuum de caelis, qui custodiat, foveat, protegat, visitet, atque defendat, omnes habitantes in hoc habitaculo. Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

R. Amen.

LET US PRAY

Graciously hear us, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God: and vouchsafe to send thy holy angel from heaven, who may keep, cherish, protect, visit, and defend all who are assembled in this place. Through Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

The procession, which in many churches immediately precedes a solemn Mass, is a prelude to the great act which is about to be accomplished. It originated from the monastic practice of going through the cloisters every Sunday chanting certain appointed responsories; while the hebdomadarian went through all the conventual places, blessing each of them.

But see, Christians, the Sacrifice begins! The priest is at the foot of the altar; God is attentive, the angels are in adoration, the whole Church is united with the priest, whose priesthood and action are those of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Let us make the sign of the cross with him.

THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

V. Introibo ad altare Dei.
R. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.

I unite myself, O my God, with thy holy Church, who thrills with joy at the approach of Jesus Christ thy Son, who is the true altar.

Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta; ab homine iniquo et doloso erue me.

Like her, I beseech thee to defend me against the malice of the enemies of my salvation.

Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea: quare me repulisti? et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus?

It is in thee I have put my hope; yet do I feel sad and troubled at being in the midst of the snares which are set for me.

Emitte lucem tuam et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua.

Send me, then, him who is the light and the truth; it is he will open the way to thy holy mount, to thy heavenly tabernacle.

Et introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.

He is the Mediator and the living altar; I will draw nigh to him and be filled with joy.

Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus: quare tristis es anima mea? et quare conturbas me?

When he shall have come, I will sing in my gladness. Be not sad, O my soul! why wouldst thou be troubled?

Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.

Hope in him, who will soon show himself unto thee as thy Saviour and thy God.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

V. Introibo ad altare Dei.
R. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.

I am to go to the altar of God, and feel the presence of him who desires to give me a new life.

V. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R. Qui fecit caelum et terram.

This my hope comes not from any merits of my own, but from the all-powerful help of my Creator.

The thought of being about to appear before his God, excites in the soul of the priest a lively sentiment of compunction. He cannot go further in the holy Sacrifice without confessing, and publicly, that he is a sinner, and deserves not the grace he is about to receive. Listen with respect to this confession of God's minister, and earnestly ask our Lord to show mercy to him; for the priest is your father; he is answerable for your salvation, for which he every day risks his own. When he has finished, unite with the servers, or the sacred ministers, in this prayer:

Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et dimissis peccatis tuis, perducat te ad vitam aeternam.

May almighty God have mercy on thee, and, forgiving thy sins, bring thee to everlasting life.

The priest having answered Amen, make your confession, saying with a contrite spirit:

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatae Mariae semper Virgini, beato Michaeli archangelo, beato Joanni Baptistae, sanctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus sanctis, et tibi, pater, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem archangelum, beatum Joannem Baptistam, sanctos apostolos Petrum et Paulum, omnes sanctos, et te, pater, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

I confess to almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles Peter and Paul, to all the saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed; through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, all the saints, and thee, Father, to pray to the Lord our God for me.

Receive with gratitude the paternal wish of the priest, who says to you:

Misereatur vestri omnipotens Deus, et dimissis peccatis vestris, perducat vos ad vitam aeternam.

May almighty God be merciful to you, and, forgiving your sins, bring you to everlasting life.

R. Amen.

Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus.

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins.

R. Amen.

Invoke the divine assistance, that you may approach to Jesus Christ.

V. Deus, tu conversus vivificabis nos.
R. Et plebs tua laetabitur in te.

V. O God, it needs but one look of thine to give us life.
R. And thy people shall rejoice in thee.

V. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam.
R. Et salutare tuum da nobis.

V. Show us, O Lord, thy mercy.
R. And give us to know and love the Saviour whom thou hast sent unto us.

V. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
R. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto thee.

The priest here leaves you to ascend to the altar; but first he salutes you:

V. Dominus vobiscum.

V. The Lord be with you.

Answer him with reverence:

R. Et cum spiritu tuo.

R. And with thy spirit.

He ascends the steps, and comes to the Holy of holies. Ask, both for him and yourself, deliverance from sin:

OREMUS

Aufer a nobis, quaesumus Domine, iniquitates nostras; ut ad Sancta sanctorum puris mereamur mentibus introire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

LET US PRAY

Take from our hearts, O Lord, all those sins which make us unworthy to appear in thy presence; we ask this of thee by thy divine Son, our Lord.

When the priest kisses the altar out of reverence for the relics of the martyrs which are there, say:

, Oramus te, Domine, per me- Generous soldiers of Jesus rita sanctorum tuorum, quorum Christ, who have mingled your reliquie hic sunt, et omnium own blood with his, intercede sanctorum: ut indulgere digne- for us that our sins may be for- ris omnia peccata mea. Amen. given: that so we may, like you,

approach unto God. If it be a High Mass at which you are assisting, the priest here blesses the incense, saying:

Ab illo benedicaris, in cujus Mayst thou be blessed by honore cremaberis. Amen. him, in whose honour thou art

to be burned. Amen.

He then censes the altar in a most solemn manner. This white cloud, which you see ascending from every part of the altar, signifies the prayer of the Church, who addresses herself to Jesus Christ; while the divine Mediator causes that prayer to ascend, united with His own, to the throne of the majesty of His Father.

The priest then says the Introit. It isa solemn open- ing anthem, in which the Church, at the very commence- ment of the holy Sacrifice, gives expression to the senti- ments which fill her heart.

It is followed by nine exclamations, which are even more earnest, for they ask for mercy. In addressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing round the altar of heaven, one and the same as this before which you are kneeling.

. To the Father : Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us| Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us| Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us! To the Son : Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us| Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us!

Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us!

P———— A tr ale Se

--- PAGE 018 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 9 To the Holy Ghost:

Kyrie elcison. Kyrie eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us |

Then, mingling his voice with that of the heavenly host, the priest intones the sublime canticle of Bethle- hem, which announces glory to God, and peace to men. Instructed by the revelations of God, the Church con- tinues in her own words the hymn of the angels.

THE ANGELIC IIYMN

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonz vo- luntatis.

Laudamus te: benedicimus te: adoramus te: glorificamus te: gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

Domine Deus, Rex czlestis,
Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine, Fili unigenite, Jesu
Christe.

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Fi-
lius Patris.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, mi- serere nobis.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, su- scipe deprecationem nostram.

Quisedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissi-
mus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen,

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace to men of good will.

We praisethee: we bless thee: we adore thee: we glorify thee: we give thee thanks for thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son.

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.

Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our humble prayer.

Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For thou alone art holy, thou alone art Lord, thou alone, O Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Ghost, art most high, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The priest then turns towards the people and again salutes them, as it were to make sure of their pious attention to the sublime act for which all this is but the

preparation.

--- PAGE 019 --- 10 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Then follows the Collect or Prayer, in which the Church formally expresses to the divine Majesty the special intentions she has in the Mass which is being celebrated. You may unite in this prayer, by reciting with the priest the Collects which you will find in their proper places; but on no account omit to join with the server of the Mass in answering Amen.

After this comes the Epistle, which is, generally, a portion of one or other of the Epistles of the apostles, or a passage from some book of the Old Testament. While it is being read, give thanks to God, who, not satisfied with having spoken to us at sundry times by His messengers, deigned at last to speak to us by His well- beloved Son.

The Gradual is an intermediate formula of prayer be- tween the Epistle and the Gospel. Most frequently, it again brings before us the sentiments already expressed in the Introit. Read it devoutly, that so you may more and more enter into the spirit of the mystery proposed to you this day by the Church.

The song of praise, the Alleluia, is next heard. Let us, while it is being said, unite with the holy angels, who are, for all eternity, making heaven resound with that song, which we on earth are permitted to attempt.

It is now time for the Gospel to be read. The Gospel is the written word; our hearing it will prepare us for the Word, who is our Victim and our Food. If it bea High Mass, the deacon prepares to fulfil his noble office, that of announcing the good tidings of salvation. He prays God to cleanse his heart and lips. Then, kneeling before the priest, he asks a blessing; and, having re- ceived it, at once goes to the place where he is to sing the Gospel.

! Heb. i. 2.

--- PAGE 020 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

II

As a preparation for hearing it worthily, you may thus pray, together with both priest and deacon:

Munda cor meum ac labia mea, omnipotens Deus, qui la-
bia Isaiz prophete calculo mun- dasti ignito; ita me tua grata miseratione dignare mundare, ut sanctum Evangelium tuum digne valeam nuntiare. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Dominus sit in corde meo, et
in labiis meis: ut digne et com- pe annuntiem Evange- ium suum: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Alas | these ears of mine are but too often defiled with the world's vain words: cleanse them, O Lord, that so I may hear the words of eternal life, and treasure them in my heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Grant to thy ministers thy grace that they may grep: 4 explain thy law; that so all, both pastors and flock, may be united to thee for ever. Amen.

You will stand during the Gospel, as though you were

awaiting the orders of your Lord; at the commencement, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, lips, and breast; and then listen to every word of the priest or deacon. Let your heart beready andobedient. ' While my Beloved was speaking,' says the bride in the Canticle, ‘my soul melted within me.'! If you have not such love as this, have at least the humble submission of Samuel, and say: ' Speak, Lord ! thy servant heareth.'*

After the Gospel, if the priest says the Symbol of faith, the Credo, you will say it with him. Faith is that gift of God, without which we cannot please Him. It is faith that makes us see ' the light which shineth in darkness,' and which the darkness of unbelief ' did not comprehend.' Let us then say with the Catholic Church, our mother:

THE NICENE CREED.

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

Credo in unum Deum, Pa- trem omnipotentem, factorem celi et terre, visibilium omni- um et invisibilium.

1 Cant. v. 6. 1 1 Kings iii, 1o.

--- PAGE 021 --- 12

Etin unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Del unigeni- tum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia szcula, Deum de Deo, lu- men de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non fa- ctum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, de- scendit de celis. Et incarna- tus est de Spiritu Sancto, ex Maria Virgine; ET HOMO FACTUS EST. Crucifixus etiam pro no- bis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in celum; sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos; cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Do- minum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul ado- ratur et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam sanctam Catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Con- fiteor unum baptisma in remis- sionem peccatorum. Et ex- Specto resurrectionem mortuo- rum, et vitam venturi szculi. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. And born of the Father before all ages; God of God; light of light; true God of true God. Begotten, not made; consub- stantial with the Father; by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And became incar- nate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: AND WAS MADE MAN. He was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suffer- ed,and wasburied. Andthethird day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father. ‘And he is to come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who pro- ceedeth from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Fatherand the Son is adored and glorified ; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy Cath- olic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the re- mission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen,

The priest and the people should, by this time, have their hearts ready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass, which is called the Oblation, and immediately follows that which was named the Mass of Catechumens, on account of its being formerly the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had a right to be present.

See, then, dear Christians! bread and wine are about

--- PAGE 022 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 13

to be offered to God, as being the noblest of inanimate creatures, since they are made for the nourishment of man; and even that is only a poor material image of what they are destined to become in our Christian Sacrifice. Their substance will soon give place to God Himself, and of themselves nothing will remain but the appearances. Happy creatures, thus to yield up their own being, that God may take its place! We, too, are to undergo a like transformation, when, as the apostle expresses it, ' that which is mortal will be swallowed up by life." Until that happy change shall be realized, let us offer ourselves to God as often as we see the bread and wine presented to Him in the holy Sacrifice; and let us glorify Him, who, by assuming our human nature, has made us ' partakers of the divine nature.'?

The priest again turns to the people with the usual salutation, as though he would warn them to redouble their attention. Let usread the Offertory with him, and when he offers the Host to God, let us unite with him in saying:

Suscipe, sancte Pater, omni- All that we have, O Lord, potens, eterne Deus, hanc im- comes from thee, and belongs maculatam hostiam, quam ego to thee; it is just, therefore, indignus famulus tuus offero that we return it unto thee. tibi, Deo meo vivo et vero, pro But how wonderful art thou in innumerabilibus peccatis et of- the inventions of thy immense fensionibus et negligentiis meis, love! This bread which we are etproomnibuscircumstantibus, offering to thee is to give place, sed et pro omnibus fidelibus ina few moments, to the sacred christianis vivis atque defun- Body of Jesus. We beseech ctis; ut mihi et illis proficiat ad thee, receive, together with this salutem in vitam «eternam. oblation, our hearts which long Amen. to live by thee, and to cease to

live their own life of self.

When the priest puts the wine into the chalice, and then mingles with it a drop of water, let your thoughts

laCor. v. 4 * a St. Peter i. 4.

--- PAGE 023 --- 14

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

turn to the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which is the source of our hope and our salvation, and say:

Deus, qui humanz substan-
tiz dignitatem mirabiliter con- didisti, et mirabilius reformasti : da nobis per hujus aqu et vini mysterium, ejus divinitatis esse consortes, qui humanitatis no- stra fieri dignatus est particeps, Jesus Christus, Filius tuus, Do- minus noster: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia szcula
seculorum. Amen.

O Lord Jesus, who art the true vine, and whose Blood, like agenerous wine, has been poured forth under the pressure of the cross! thou hast deigned tounite thy divine nature to our weak humanity, which is signified by this drop of water. Oh, come and make us partakers of thy divinity, by showing thyself to us in thy sweet and wondrous visit.

The priest then offers the mixture of wine and water, beseeching God graciously to accept this oblation, which is so soon to be changed into the reality, of which it is

now but the figure. priest:

Offerimus tibi, Domine, cali-
cem salutaris, tuam deprecantes clementiam: ut in conspectu di- vinee Majestatis tu, pro nostra ettotius mundi salute, cum odo- re suavitatis ascendat. Amen.

Meanwhile, say, in union with the

Graciously accept these gifts, Osovereign Creator of all things. Let them be fitted for the divine transformation, which will make them, from being mere offerings of created things, the instru- ment of the world's salvation.

After having thus held up the sacred gifts towards heaven, the priest bows down; let us, also, humble our-

selves, and say:

In spiritu humilitatis, et in animo contrito, suscipiamur a te, Domine: et sic fiat sacrifi-
cium nostrum in conspectu tuo em ut placeat tibi, Domine

eus.

Though daring, as we do, to approach thy altar, O Lord, we, cannot forget that we are sin- ners. Have mercy on us, and delay not to send us thy Son, who is our saving Host.

Let us next invoke the Holy Ghost, whose operation is

about to produce on the altar the presence of the Son of God, as it did in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the divine mystery of the Incarnation. --- PAGE 024 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 15

Veni, Sanctificator omnipo- ^ Come, O divine Spirit, make tens sterne Deus, et benedic fruitful the offering which is hoc sacrificium tuo sancto no- upon the altar, and produce in mini preparatum. ourheartshim whom they desire.

If it be a High Mass, the priest, before proceeding any further with the Sacrifice, takes the thurible a second time, after blessing the incense in these words:

Per intercessionem beati Mi- Through the intercession of chaelisarchangeli, stantisadex- blessed Michael the archangel, tris altaris incensi, et omnium standingatthe righthand of the electorum suorum, incensum altar of incense, and of all his istud dignetur Dominus bene- elect, may our Lord deign to dicere, et in odorem suavitatis bless this incense, and to receive it for an odour of sweetness. .ThroughChristour Lord. Amen.

He then censes first the bread and wine which have just been offered, and then the altar itself; hereby invit- ing the faithful to make their prayer, which is signified by the incense, more and more fervent, the nearer the solemn moment approaches. St. John tells us that the incense he beheld burning on the altar in heaven is made up of the ' prayers of the saints'; let us take a share in those prayers, and with all the ardour of holy desires let

accipere: Per Christum Domi- num nostrum. Amen.

us say with the priest:

Incensum istud, a te benedi- ctum, ascendat ad te, Domine,
et descendat super nos miseri- cordia tua.

Dirigatur, Domine, oratio
mea sicutincensum in conspectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum. Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et
ostium circumstantiz labiis meis; ut non declinet cor meum in verba malitiz, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis.

May this incense, blessed i thee, ascend to thee, O Lord, and may thy mercy descend upon us.

Let my prayer, O Lord, be di- rected like incense in thy sight: the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and a door round about my lips; that my heart may not incline to evil words, to make excuses in sins.

Giving back the thurible to the deacon, the priest says:

Accendat in nobis Dominus
ignem sui amoris, et flammam eterna caritatis. Amen.

May the Lord enkindle in us the fire of his love, and the flame of eternal charity. Amen.

--- PAGE 025 --- TIME AFTER PENTECOST

But the thought of his own unworthiness becomes more intense than ever in the heart of the priest. The public confession which he made at the foot of the altar is not enough; he would now at the altar itself express to the people, in the language of a solemn rite, how far he knows himself to be from that spotless sanctity where- with he should approach to God. He washes his hands. Our hands signify our works; and the priest, though by his priesthood he bear the office of Jesus Christ, is, by his works, but man. Seeing your Father thus humble him- self, do you also make an act of humility, and say with him these verses of the psalm:

16

PSALM 25

Lavabo inter innocentes ma- nus meas: et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine.

Ut audiam vocem laudis; et enarrem universa mirabilia tua.

Domine, dilexi decorem do-
mus tue, et locum habitationis glorie tue.

Ne perdas cum impiis, Deus,
animam meam, et cum viris sanguinum vitam meam.

In quorum manibus iniquita- tes sunt: dextera eorum repleta est muneribus.

Ego autem in innocentia mea ingressus sum: redime me, et miserere mel.

Pes meus stetit in directo: in ecclesiis benedicam te, Domine.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spi- ritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in secula szculorum. Amen.

I, too, would wash my hands, O Lord, and become like unto those who are innocent, that so I may be worthy to come near thy altar, and hear thy sacred canticles, and then go and pro- claim to the world the wonders of thy goodness. I love the beauty of thy house, which thou art about to make the dwelling- place of thy glory. Leave me not, O God, in the midst of them that are enemies both to thee and me. Thy mercy having sepa- rated me from them, I entered on the path of innocence and was restored to thy grace; but have pity on my weakness still ; redeem me yet more, thou who hast so mercifully brought me back to the right path. In the midst of these thy faithful people: I give thee thanks,

lory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

--- PAGE 026 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 17

The priest, taking encouragement from the act of humility he has just made, returns to the middle of the altar, and bows down full of respectful awe, begging of God to receive graciously the Sacrifice which is about to be offered to Him, and expresses the intentions for which

it is offered. Let us do the same.

Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offerimus ob memoriam Passionis, Resur- rectionis et Ascensionis Jesu Christi Domini nostri: et in ho- norem beate Maria semper Vir- ginis, et beati Joannis Bapti- Ste, et sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et istorum, et omnium sanctorum. ut illis pro- ficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem: et illi pro nobis intercedere dignentur in calis, quorum memoriam agimus in terris. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O holy Trinity, graciously ac- ^ thesacrifice we have begun.

e offer it in remembrance of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Permit thy Church to join with this intention that of honouring the ever glorious Virgin Mary, the blessed Baptist John, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the whose relics lie here under our altar awaiting their resurrection, and the saints whose memory we this day celebrate. Increase the glory they are enjoying, and receive the prayers they address to thee for us.

The priest again turns to the people; it is for the last

time before the sacred mysteries are accomplished. He teels anxious to excite the fervour of the people. Neither does the thought of his own unworthiness leave him ; and before entering the cloud with the Lord, he seeks support in the prayers of his brethren who are present. He says to them:

Orate frates: ut meum ac Brethren, pray that my Sacri- vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fice, which is yours also, may be

fiat apud Deum Patrem omni- acceptable to God, our almighty potentem. Father.

This request made, he turns again to the altar, and you will see his face no more until our Lord Himself . Shall have come down from heaven upon that same altar.

--- PAGE 027 --- 18 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Assure the priest that he has your prayers, and say to

Suscipiat Dominus sacrifici- May our Lord accept this

um de manibus tuis, ad laudem Sacrifice at thy hands, to the

et gloriam nominis sui, ad utili- praise and glory of his name,

tatem quoque nostram totius- and for our benefit and that of

que Ecclesie suz sancte. his holy Church throughout the world.

Here the priest recites the prayers called the Secrets, in which he presents the petition of the whole Church for God's acceptance of the Sacrifice, and then immedi- ately begins to fulfil that great duty of religion—thanks- giving. So far he has adored God, and has sued for mercy; he has still to give thanks for the blessings be- stowed on us by the bounty of our heavenly Father, the chief of which is His having sent us His own Son. The blessing of a new visit from this divine Word is just upon us; and in expectation of it, and in the name of the whole Church, the priest is about to give expression to the gratitude of all mankind. In order toexcite the faithful to that intensity of gratitude which is due to God for all His gifts, he interrupts his own and their silent prayer by terminating it aloud, saying:

Per omnia szcula seculorum. For cver and ever.

In the same feeling, answer your Amen / Then he con- tinues:

Y. Dominus vobiscum. Y. The Lord be with you.
. Et cum spiritu tuo. Hj. And with thy spirit. . Sursum corda ! Y. Lift up your hearts |

Let your response be sincere: Hy. Habemus ad Dominum. om We have them fixed on

And when he adds:

Y. Gratias agamus Domino Y. Let us give thanks to the Deo nostro. Lord our God.

--- PAGE 028 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

I9

Answer him with all the earnestness of your soul:

E. Dignum et justum est.

Hj. It is meet and just.

Then the priest:

THE PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nostibisem- per et ubique gratias agere: Do- mine sancte, Pater omnipotens, eterne Deus: per Christum Do-
minum nostrum. Perquem ma- jestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt Potestates; Cali calorumque Virtutes ac beata Seraphim, so- cia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas deprecamur sup- plici confessione dicentes:

Itistruly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we Should always and in all pus give thanks to thee, O

oly Lord, Father almighty, eternal God; through Christ our Lord; by whom the Angels praise thy majesty, the Domi- nations adore it, the Powers tremble before it; the Heavens and the heavenly Virtues, and the blessed Seraphim, with common jubilee, glorify it. To- gether with whom, we beseech theethat we may be admitted to join our humble voices, saying:

Here unite with the priest, who, on his part, unites himself with the blessed spirits, in giving thanks to God for the unspeakable gift; bow down and say:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus sabaoth |

Pleni sunt czli et terra gloria

tua. Hosanna in excelsis | Benedictus qui venit in nomi- ne Domini.

Hosanna in excelsis !

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts |

Heaven and earth are full of u^ glory. . osanna in the highest | Blessed be the Saviour who is

coming to us in the name of the Lord who sends him.

Hosanna be to him in the

highest!

After these words commences the Canon, that mys- terious prayer, in the midst of which heaven bows down

to earth, and God descends unto us.

The voice of the

priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the altar all is

silence.

It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, ' in the

--- PAGE 029 --- TIME AFTER PENTECOST

quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the almighty Word came down from His royal throne.* Let a profound respect stay all dis- tractions, and keep our senses in submission to the soul. Let us respectfully fix our eyes on what the priest does in the holy place.

20

THE CANON OF THE MASS

In this mysterious colloquy with the great God of heaven and earth, the first prayer of the sacrificing priest

is for the Catholic Church, his and our mother.

Te igitur, clementissime Pa- ter, per Jesum Christum Fili- um tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus, uti accepta habeas et benedicas haec dona, hec munera, haec Sancta sacrificia illibata; in primis qua tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta Catholica; quam pacificare, custodire, ad- unare, et regere digneris toto orbe terrarum, una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N. et Antistite nostro N. et omnibus orthodoxis atque Catholice et apostolice fidel cultoribus.

O God, who manifestest thy- self unto us by means of the mysteries which thou hast en- trusted to thy holy Church our mother, we besecch thee, by the merits of this sacrifice, that thou wouldst remove all those hindrances which oppose her during her pilgrimage in this world. Give her peace and un- ity. Do thou thyself guide our holy Father the Pope, thy Vicar on earth. Direct thou our Bishop, who is our sacred link of unity; and watch over all the orthodox children of the Catho- lic, apostolic, Roman Church.

Here pray, together with the priest, for those whose interests should be dearest to you.

Memento, Domine, famulo-
rum famularumque tuarum N. et N., et omnium clrcumstan- tium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio: ps quibus tibi offerimus, vel qui tibi offer- unt hoc sacrificium laudis pro se suisque omnibus, pro redem- ptione animarum suarum, pro

Permit me, O God, to inter- cede with thee for special bless- ings upon those for whom thou knowest that I have a special obligation to pray: * * * Apply to them the fruits of this divine Sacrifice, which is offered unto theein the nameof all mankind, Visit them by thy grace, pardon

1 Wisd. xviii. 14, 15.

--- PAGE 030 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

spe salutis et incolumitatis suz; tibique reddunt vota sua eterno Deo vivo et vero.

21

them their sins, grant them the blessings of this present life and of that which is eternal.

Here let us commemorate the saints; they are that portion of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which is called the Church triumphant.

Communicantes, et memor- iam venerantes, in primis glori- ose semper Virginis Mariz, Genitricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beatorum apostolorum ac m rum tu- orum, Petri et Pauli, Andree, Jacobi, Joannis, Thome, Ja- cobi, Philippi, Bartholomzi, Matthzi, Simonis, et Thaddzi: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriani, Laurentii, Chrysogoni, Joannis et Paul, Cosma et Damiani, et omnium Sanctorum tuorum: quorum meritis precibusque concedas, ut in omnibus protectionis tuc muniamur auxilio. Per eum- dem Christum Dominum no- strum. Amen.

But the offering of this Sacri- fice, O my God, does not unite us with those only of our breth- ren who are still in this transi- ent life of trial: it brings us closer to those also who are already in ssion of heaven. Therefore it is that we wish to honour by it the memory óf the glorious and ever Virgin Mary, of whom Jesus was born to us; of the apostles, confessors, vir- gins, and of all the saints; that they may assist us by their powerful intercession to be worthy of this thy visit, and of contemplating thee, as they themselves now do, in the man- sion of thy glory.

The priest, who up to this time has been praying with

his hands extended, now joins them, and holds them over the bread and wine, as the high priest of the old Law was wont to do over the figurative victim; he thus expresses his intention of bringing these gifts more closely under the notice of the divine Majesty, and of marking them as the material offering whereby we express our dependence, and which, in a few instants, is to yield its place to the living Host, upon whom are laid all our iniquities. Hanc igitur oblationem ser- Vouchsafe, O God, to accept

vitutis nostre, sed et cunctae familie tuz, quesumus, Domi- ne, ut placatus accipias: dies-

the offering which this thine assembled family presents to thee as the homage of its most

--- PAGE 031 --- 22

que nostros in tua pace dispo- nas, atque ab zterna damna- tione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum jubcas grege numerari. Per Christum Dominum no- Strum. Amen.

Quam oblationem tu, Deus,
in omnibus, quaesumus, bene- dictam, adscriptam, ratam, rati- onabilem, acceptabilemque fa- cere digneris: ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

happy servitude. In return, give us peace, save us from thy wrath, and number us among thy elect, through him who is coming to us—thy Son, our Saviour.

: Yea, Lord, this is the moment when this bread is to become his sacred Body, which is our food; and this wine is to be changed into his Blood, which is our drink. Ah! delay no longer, but bring us into the presence of this divine Son, our Saviour |

And here the priest ceases to act as man; he now be-

comes more than a mere minister of the Church. His word becomes that of Jesus Christ, with its power and efficacy. Prostrate yourself in profound adoration, for the Emmanuel—that is, '* God with us'—is coming upon

our altar.

Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit panem in sanctas ac ve- nerabiles manus suas: et eleva- tis oculis in celum, ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, deditque discipulis suis, dicens: Accipite, et manducate ex hoc omnes. Hoc EST ENIM

What, O God of heaven and earth, my Jesus, the long-ex-

ected Messias, what else can I

o at this solemn moment, but adore thee in silence, as my Sovereign Master, and open to thee my whole heart, as to its dearest King? Come, then, O Lord Jesus, come !

CORPUS MEUM.

The divine Lamb is now lying on our altar! Glory and love be to Him for ever! But he has come that He may be immolated. Hence the priest, who is the mini- ster of the designs of the Most High, immediately pro- nounces over the chalice the sacred words which follow, that will produce the great mystical immolation, by the separation of the Victim's Body and Blood. After those words, the substances of both bread and wine have ceased to exist; the species alone are left, veiling, as it were, the Body and Blood of our Redeemer, lest fear

--- PAGE 032 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 23

should keep us from a mystery, which God gives us for the very purpose of infusing confidence into our hearts. While the priest is pronouncing those words, let us asso- ciate ourselves to the angels, who tremblingly gaze upon this deepest of wonders.

Simili modo postquam cena- tum est, accipiens et hunc pra- clarum Calicem in sanctas ac ve- nerabiles manus suas, item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, dedit- que discipulis suis dicens: Acci- pite et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic EST ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI NOVI ET JETERNI TESTAMENTI, MYSTERIUM FIDEI; QUI PRO VO- BIS ET PRO MULTIS EFFUNDETUR IN REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. Hec quotiescumque feceritis, in mel memoriam facietis.

O precious Blood | :hou price of my salvation | I adore thee | Wash away my sins and make me whiter than snow. O Lamb ever slain, yet ever liv- ing, thou comest to take away the sins of the world! Come, also, and reign in me by thy power and by thy love.

The priest is now face to face with God. He again

raises his hands towards heaven, and tells our heavenly Father that the oblation now on the altar is no longer an earthly material offering, but the Body and Blood,

the whole Person, of His divine Son.

Unde et memores, Domine,
nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta, ejusdem Christi Filii tui Domini nostri tam beatz Passi- onis, nec non et ab inferis Re- surrectionis, sed et in czlos gloriose Ascensionis: offerimus praeclare Majestati tuz de tuis donis ac datis, Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam im- maculatam: Panem sanctum vite eterne, et Calicem salutis perpetua.

Supra quz propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris: et ac- cepta habere, sicuti accepta ha- bere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium Pa-

Father of infinite holiness,the Host so long expected is here be- forethee! Behold this thy eter- nal Son, who suffered a bitter Passion, rose again with glory from the grave, and ascended triumphantly into heaven. He is thy Son; but he is also our Host, Host pure and spotless, our meat and drink of ever- lasting life.

Heretofore thou acceptedst the sacrifice of the innocent lambs offered unto thee Abel; and the sacrifice whi Abraham made thee of his son

--- PAGE 033 --- 24

triarch nostri Abrahz, et quod tibi obtulitsummussacerdos tu- us Melchisedech, sanctum sacri- ficium, immaculatam Hostiam.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Isaac, who, though immolated, yet lived; and lastly the sacri- fice, which Melchisedech pre- sented to thee, of bread and

wine. Receive our Sacrifice,

which surpasses all those others. It is the Lamb of whom all others could be but figures; it is the undying Victim; it is the Body of thy Son, who is the Bread of life, and his Blood, which, whilst a drink of immortality for us, is a tribute adequate to thy glory.

The prie3t bows down to the altar, and kisses it as the throne of love on which is seated the Saviour of men.

Supplices te rogamus, omnl- potens Deus, jube hzc perferri
per manus sancti angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspe- ctu divinz Majestatis tue: ut quotquot ex hac altaris partici-

But, O God of infinite power! these sacred gifts are not only on this altar here below: they are also on that sublime altar in heaven, which is before the throne of thy divine Majesty. These two

patione, sacrosanctum Filii tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpse- rimus, omni benedictione ca- lesti et gratia repleamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

tars are one and the same, on which is accom- plished the great mystery of thy p and our salvation. Vouchsafe to make us partakers of the Body and Blood of the

august Victim from whom flow every grace and blessing.

Nor is the moment less favourable for our making supplication for the Church suffering. Let us, therefore, ask the divine Liberator, who has come down among us, that He mercifully visit, by a ray of His consoling light, the dark abode of purgatory; and permit His Blood to flow, as a stream of mercy's dew, from this our altar, and refresh the panting captives there. Let us pray expressly for those among them who have a claim upon our suffrages.

Memento etiam, Domine, fa-
mulorum famularumque tua- rum N. et N., qui nos praces- serunt cum signo fidei, et dormi- untinsomno pacis. Ipsis, Do-

Dear Jesus! let the happiness of this thy visit extend to every prem of thy Church. Thy ace gladdens the elect in the holy city; even our mortal eyes

--- PAGE 034 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS

mine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis, et pacis, ut indulgeas, de- precamur, Per eumdem Chri- stum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

25

can see thee beneath the veil of our delighted faith; ah! hide not thyself from those brethren of ours, who are imprisoned in the abode of expiation. Be thou refreshment to them in their flames, light in their dark- ness, and peace in their agonies of torment.

This duty of charity fulfilled, let us pray for ourselves, sinners, alas! and who profit so little by the visit which our Saviour pays us. Let us, together with the priest,

strike our breast, saying:

Nobis quoque peccatoribus famulis tuis, de multitudine miserationum tuarum speranti- bus, partem aliquam et societa- tem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis apostolis et martyribus; cum Joanne, Stephano, Ma- thia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alex- andro, Marcellino, Petro, Feli- citate, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnete, Cacllia, Anastasia, et omnibus sanctis tuis: intra quo- rum nos consortium, non =sti- mator meriti, sed venie, qua- sumus, largitor admitte; per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem hac omnia, Domine,
semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis et praestas nobis; per ipsum et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiri- tus Sancti, omnis honor et gloria.

Alas | we are r sinners, O God of all ndr! yet do we hope that thine infinite mercy will grant us to share thy king- dom; not indeed by reason of our works, which deserve little else than punishment, but be- cause of the merits of this Sacri- fice, which we are offering un- to thee. Remember, too, the merits of thy holy apostles, of thy holy martyrs, of thy holy virgins, and of all thy saints. Grant us, by their intercession, grace in this world, and glory eternal in the next: which we ask of thee, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son. It is by him thou bestowest upon us thy blessings of life and sanctification: and by him also, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, may honour and glory be to thee!

While saying the last of these words the priest has taken up the sacred Host, which was upon the altar; he has held it over the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the divine Victim, in order to show that He is now immortal. Then raising up both chalice and Host,

3

--- PAGE 035 --- 26 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

he offers to God the noblest and most perfect homage which the divine Majesty could receive.

This sublime and mysterious rite ends the Canon. The silence of the mysteries is interrupted. The priest con- cludes his long prayers by saying aloud, and so giving the faithful the opportunity of expressing their desire that his supplications be granted:

Per omnia szcula szculorum. For ever and ever.

Answer him with faith, and in a sentiment of union with your holy mother the Church:

Amen. Amen | I believe the mystery which has just been accom- plished. I unite myself to the offering which has been made, and to the petitions of the Church.

It is now time to recite the prayer taught us by our Saviour Himself. Let it ascend to heaven together with the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. How could it be otherwise than heard, when He Himself who drew it up for us is in our very hands now while we say it? As this prayer belongs in common to all God's children, the priest recites it aloud, and begins by invit- ing us all to join in it; he says:

OREMUS LET US PRAY
Preceptis salutaribus moniti, Having been taught by a et divina institutione formati, saving precept, and following audemus dicere: the form given us by divine instruction, we thus presume to speak:

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Pater noster qui es in czlis, — OurFather, whoartinheaven, sanctificetur nomen tuum: ad- hallowed be thy name: thy veniat regnum tuum: fiat volun- kingdom come: th will be done tas tua sicut in czlo et in terra. on earth ae it is in Leaven, Give Panem nostrum quotidianum us this day our daily bread:

Am.

--- PAGE 036 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 27

da nobis hodie: et dimitte no- and forgive us our trespasscs, bis debita nostra, sicut et nos as we forgive them that tres- dimittimus debitoribus nostris: pass against us, and lead us not etnenosinducasintentationem, into temptation.

Let us answer with a deep feeling of our misery:

Sed libera nos a malo. But deliver us from evil.

The priest falls once more into the silence of the holy mysteries. His first word is an affectionate Amen to your last petition—deliver us from evil—on which he forms his own next prayer: and could he pray for any- thing more needed ? Evil surrounds us everywhere; and the Lamb on our altar has been sent to expiateit and to

deliver us from it.

Libera nos, quesumus, Domi- ne, ab omnibus malis, preteri- tis, presentibus et futuris: et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beatis apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus sanctis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris: ut ope misericordie tue adjuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in uni- tate Spiritus Sancti Deus.

How many, O Lord, are the evils which beset us| Evils past, which are the wounds left on the soul her sins, which strengthen her wicked propen- sities. Evils present—that is, the sins now, at this very time, upon our soul; the weakness of this poor soul, and the tempta- tions which molest her. There are, also, future evils—that is, the chastisement which our sins deserve from the hand of thy justice. In presence of this

ost of our salvation, we be- seech thee, O Lord, to deliver us from all these evils, and to accept in our favour the inter- cession of the Mother

of Jesus, of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul and Andrew: liber-

ate us, break our chains, give us Son, who with thee liveth and

: through Jesus Christ, thy

gneth God.

The priest is anxious to announce the peace, which he has asked and obtained; he therefore finishes his prayer

aloud, saying:

Per omnia szcula szculorum. Hj. Amen.

World without end. KR. Amen.

--- PAGE 037 --- 28 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Then he says: Pax Domini sit semper vobis- May the peace of our Lord cum. be ever with you. To this paternal wish reply: Ry. Et cum spiritu tuo. Hy. And with thy spirit.

The mystery is drawing to a close; God is about to be united with man, and man with God, by means of Com- munion. But first, an imposing and sublime rite takes place at the altar. So far, the priest has announced the death of Jesus; it is time to proclaim His resurrection. To this end, he reverently breaks the sacred Host; and having divided it into three parts, he puts one into the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the im- mortal Victim. Do you adore, and say:

Hac commixtio et consecra- Glory be to thee, O Saviour tio Corporis et Sanguinis Domi- of the world, who didst in thy ni nostri Jesu Christi, fiat acci- Passion permit thy precious pientibus nobis in vitam zter- Blood to be separated from thy nam. Amen. sacred Body, afterwards unit-

ing them again together by thy divine power.

Offer now your prayers to the ever-living Lamb, whom St. John saw on the altar of heaven, ' standing though slain ’:* say to this your Lord and King, who has taken upon Himself all our iniquities in order to wash them away by His Blood: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata — Lamb of God, who takest mundi, miserere nobis. away the sins of the world, have

mercy on us ! Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest mundi, miserere nobis. away the sins of the world, have mercy on us| Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata Lamb of God, who takest mundi, dona nobis pacem. away the sins of the world, give us peace. Peace is the grand object of our Saviour's coming into the world: He is the Prince of peace.^ The divine Sacra-

1 Apoc. v. 6. * Ju ix. 6.

--- PAGE 038 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 29

ment of the Eucharist ought, therefore, to be the mystery of peace and the bond of Catholic unity; for, as the apostle says, ‘ all we who partake of one Bread are all one bread and one body. It is on this account that the priest, now that he is on the point of receiving, in Com- munion, the sacred Host, prays that fraternal peace may be preserved in the Church, and more especially in this

portion of it, which is assembled around the altar.

Pray

with him, and for the same blessing :

Domine Jesu Christe, qui dix-
isti apostolis tuis: Pacem relin- quo vobis, pacem meam do vo- bis: ne respicias peccata mea, sed fidem Ecclesiz tuz: eamque secundum voluntatem tuam pacificare et coadunare digneris. Qui vivis et regnas Deus, per om-
nia secula seculorum. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thine apostles, ' My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you':regard not my sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant her that peace and unity which is according to thy will. Who livest and reignest God, for. ever and ever. Amen.

If it be a High Mass, the priest here gives the kiss of peace to the deacon, who gives it to the subdeacon, and

he to the choir.

During this ceremony, you should excite

within yourself feelings of Christian charity, and pardon your enemies, if you have any. Then continue to pray

with the priest:

Domine Jesu Christe, Fili Dei
vivi, qui ex voluntate Patris, co-operante Spiritu sancto, per mortem tuam mundum vivifi- casti: libera me per hoc sacro- Sanctum Corpus et Sanguinem tuum, ab omnibus iniquitati- bus meis, et universis malis; et fat me tuis semper inhzrere mandatis, et a te nunquam se- parari permittas: Qui cum eo- dem Deo Patre et Spiritu san- cto vivis et regnas Deus in sz-
cula seculorum, Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living , who according to the will of the Father, through the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, hast, by thy death, given life to the world; deliver me by this thy most sacred Body and Blood from all mine iniquities, and from all evils; and make me always adhere to x commandments, and never suffer me to be separated from thee, who with the same God the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God for ever and ever. Amen.

! 1 Cor. x. 15.

--- PAGE 039 --- 30

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

If you are going to Communion at this Mass, say the following prayer; otherwise, prepare yourself for a spiri-

tual Communion :

Perceptio Corporis tui, Do- mine Jesu Christe, quod ego in- dignus sumere prasumo, non mihi proveniat in judicium et condemnationem: sed pro tua pietate prosit mihi ad tutamen- tum mentis et corporis, et ad medelam percipiendam. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre,

Let not the participation of thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, pre- sume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but, through thy mercy, may it be a safeguard and remedy both to my soul and body. Who with God the Father, in the

in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus
per omnia secula szculorum. Amen.

When the priest takes the Host into his hands, in order to receive it in Communion, say: Come, my dear Jesus, come |

unity of the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest , for ever and ever. Amen.

Panem czlestem accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo.

When he strikes his breast, confessing his unworthi- ness, say thrice with him these words, and in the same dispositions as the centurion of the Gospel, who first used them:

Domine, non sum dignus ut Lord | I am not worthy that intres sub tectum meum: sed thou enter under my roof; say tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur it only with one word of thine, anima mea. and my soul shall be healed.

While the priest is receiving the sacred Host, if you also are to communicate, profoundly adore your God, who is ready to take up His abode within you; and again say to Him with the bride: ' Come, Lord Jesus, come I’?

But should you not intend to receive sacramentally, make here a spiritual Communion. Adore Jesus Christ who thus visits your soul by His grace, and say to Him :

1 Apoc. xxii. 20.

--- PAGE 040 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 31

Corpus Domini nostri Jesu I give thee, O Jesus, this Christi custodiatanimam meam heart of mine, that thou mayst in vitam eternam. Amen. dwell in it, and do with me

what thou wilt.

Then the priest takes the chalice, in thanksgiving, and says:

Quid retribuam Domino m What return shall I make to omnibus qua retribuit mihi? the Lord for all he hath given Calicem salutaris accipiam, et tome? I will take the chalice nomen Domini invocabo. Lau- of salvation and will call upon dans invocabo Dominum, et the name of the Lord. Prais- ab inimicis meis salvus ero. ing I will call upon the Lord,

and I shall be delivered from

mine enemies.

But if you are to make a sacramental Communion, you should, at this moment of the priest's receiving the pre- cious Blood, again adore the God who is coming to you, and keep to your prayer: ‘ Come, Lord Jesus, come !'

If you are going to communicate only spiritually, again adore your divine Master, and say to Him:

Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu I unite myself to thee, my Christi custodiat animam meam beloved Jesus! do thou unite in vitam eternam. Amen. thyself to me, and never let us

be separated.

It is here that you must approach to the altar, if you are going to Communion.

The Communion being finished, while the priest is purifying the chalice the first time, say:

Quod ore sumpsimus, Domi- Thou hast visited me, O God, ne, pura mente capiamus; et de in these days of my pilgrimage: munere temporali fiat nobis re- give me grace to treasure up medium sempiternum. the fruits of this visit, for my

future eternity.

While the priest is purifying the chalice the second time, say:

Corpus tuum, Domine, quod Be thou for ever blessed, O

sumpsi,etSanguisquem potavi, my Saviour, for having ad- adhaereat visceribus meis: et mitted metothesacred mystery

--- PAGE 041 --- 32

praesta ut in me non remaneat scelerum macula, quem pura et sancta refecerunt Sacramenta. Qui vivis et regnas in szcula

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of thy Body and Blood. May my hcart and senses preserve, by thy grace, the purity thou hast imparted to them, and

may I be thus rendered less un- worthy of thy divine visit.

The priest having read the anthem called the Commu- nion, which is the first part of his thanksgiving for the favour just received from God, whereby He has renewed His divine presence among us, turns to the people, greet- ing them with the usual salutation; and then recites the prayer, called the Postcommunion, which is the con- tinuation of the thanksgiving. You will join him here also, and thank God for the unspeakable gift He has just lavished upon you, of admitting you to the celebration and participation of mysteries so divine.

As soon as these prayers have been recited, the priest again turns to the people; and, full of joy at the immense favour he and they have been receiving, he

szculorum. Amen.

says:

Dominus vobiscum.

The Lord be with you.

Answer him.

Et cum spiritu tuo.

And with thy spirit.

The deacon, or (if it be not a High.Mass) the priest

himself, then says:

Ite, missa est. Ry. Deo gratias.

Go. the Mass is finished. Hy. Thanks be to God.

The priest makes a last prayer, before giving you his

blessing; pray with him:

Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas, obsequium servitutis mez; et rasta ut sacrificium, quod ocu- is tue Majestatis indignus ob- tuli, tibi sit acceptabile, mihi- que et omníbus pro quibus illud obtuli sit, te miserante, propitia-

Eternal thanks be to thee, O adorable Trinity, for the mercy thou hast shown to me, in per- mi me to assist at this divine Sacrifice. Pardon me the negligence and coldness wherewith I have received so

--- PAGE 042 --- THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 33

bile. Per Christum Dominum great a favour; and deign to

nostrum. Amen. confirm the blessing, which thy minister is about to give me in thy name.

The priest raises his hand, and blesses you thus:

Benedicat vos omnipotens May the almighty God, Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiri- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, tus Sanctus. bless you !

Hy. Amen. Hy. Amen,

He then concludes the Mass, by reading the first four- teen verses of the Gospel according to St. John, which tell us of the eternity of the Word, and of the mercy which led Him to take upon Himself our flesh and to dwell among us. Pray that you may be of the number of those who received Him when He came unto His own people,

and who, thereby, were made sons of God.

Y. Dominus vobiscum.
E. Et cum spiritu tuo.

Y. The Lord be with you. Hy. And with thy spirit.

THE LAST GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii se-
cundum Joannem.

Cap. I.

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et De- us erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per qus facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil; quod fa- ctum est, in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum; etlux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrz eam non comprehenderunt. Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joannes, Hic venit in testimonium, ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine, ut omnes crederent per illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium per- hiberet de lumine. Erat lux

The beginning of the holy Gospel according to John.

Ch. I.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might belleve through him. He was not the light, -

--- PAGE 043 --- 34

vera, qua illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum. In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis po- testatem filios Dei fieri; his qui credunt in nomine ejus: qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex vo- luntate carnis, neque ex volun- tate viri, sed ex Deo, nati sunt. ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, et habitavit in nobis: et vidi- mus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre, plenum gra- tie et veritatis.

Ey. Deo gratias.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

but was to give testimony of the light. That was the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the sons of ; to them that be- lieve in his name, who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, and dwelt among us; and we saw hisglory, asit were the glory of the Only- Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Hy. Thanks be to God.

--- PAGE 044 --- VESPERS 35

CHAPTER THE SECOND

ON THE OFFICE OF VESPERS, FOR SUNDAYS AND FEASTS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

HE Office of Vespers, or Evensong, consists firstly of the five following psalms. For certain feasts some of these psalms are changed for others appro- priate to the day; we here give those for Sunday. After the Pater and Ave have been said in secret, the Church commences this Hour with her favourite suppli- cation:

Y. Deus, in adjutorium meum Y. Incline unto my aid, O intende. God.

Hj. Domine, ad adjuvandum . Hy. O Lord, make haste to me festina. help me.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spi- Glory be to the Father, and to ritui Sancto. the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Sicut erat in principio, et As it was in the beginning, is nunc, et semper, et in secula now, and ever shall be, world seculorum. Amen. Alleluia. without end. Amen. Alleluia.

ANT. Dixit Dominus. ANT. The Lord said.

The first psalm is a prophecy of the future glory of the Messias. The Son of David shall si on the right hand of the heavenly Father. He is King; He is priest; He is Son of Man, and Son of God. His enemies will attack Him, but He will crush them. He will be humbled; but this voluntary humiliation will lead Him to the highest glory.

PSALM IO9

hand, and reign with me.

--- PAGE 045 --- 36

Donec ponam inimicos tuos: scabellum pedum tuorum.

Virgam virtutis tuz emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in
medio inimicorum tuorum.

Tecum principium in die vir- tutis tuz in splendoribus san- ttorum: ex utero ante lucife- rum genui te.

Juravit Dominus, et non pce-
nitebit eum: Tu cs Sacerdos in mternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

Dominus a dextris tuis: con-
fregit in die ira suze reges.

judicabit in nationibus, im- plebitruinas:conquassabit capi- ta in terra multorum.

De torrente in via bibet: pro- pterea exaltabit caput.

ANT. Dixit Dominus Domino
meo: Sede a dextris meis.

ANT. Magna opera Domini.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Until, on the day of thy last coming, I make thy enemies thy footstool.

O Christ! the Lord thy Father will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: from thence rule thou in the midst of thy enemics. With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength, in the brightness of the saints: For the Father hath said to thee: From the womb before the day- star I begot thee.

The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: he hath said, speaking lo thee, the God-Man:

ou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Mel- chisedech.

Therefore, O Father, the Lord, thy Son, is at thy right hand: he hath broken kings in the day of his wrath.

He shall a/so judge among na- tions: in that terrible coming, he shall fill the ruins of the world: he shall crush the heads in the land of DRY.

He cometh mow in humility: he shall drink in the way of the torrent of sufferings: there- fore, shall he lift up the head.

ANT. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord.

The following psalm commemorates the mercies of God to His people, the promised Covenant, the Redemp- tion, His fidelity to His word. But it also tells us that the name of the Lord is terrible because it is holy; and concludes by admonishing us that the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of wisdom.

--- PAGE 046 --- VESPERS 37

PSALM IIO

Confitcbor tibi, Domine, in
toto corde meo: in consilio ju- storum et congregatione.

Magna opera Domini: exqui- sita in omnes voluntates ejus.

Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus: et justitia ejus manet in seculum szculi.

Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus: escam dedit timenti-
bus se.

Memor erit in seculum testa- menti sui: virtutem operum suorum annuntiabit populo sno,

Ut det illis hereditatem Gen- tium: opera manuum ejus veri- tas et judicium.

Fidelia omnia mandata ejus, confirmata in seculum szculi: facta in veritate et equitate.

Redemptionem misit populo suo: mandavit in aeternum te- stamentum suum.

Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus: initium sapientie timor Domini.

Intellectus bonus omnibus fa- cientibus eum: laudatio ejus manet in seculum seculi.

ANT. Magna opera Domini: exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.

ANT. Qui timet Dominum.

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: in the council of the just, and in the congregation.

Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his wills.

His work is praise and mag- nificence: and his justice con- tinueth for ever and ever.

He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: he hath given food to them that fear him.

He will be mindful for ever of his covenant with men: he will show forth to his people the power of his works.

That he may give them his Church, the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of his hands are truth and judgment.

All his commandments are faithful, confirmed for ever and ever: made in truth and equity.

He hath sent redemption to his people: he hath thereby com- manded his covenant for ever.

Holy and terrible is his name: the fear of the Lord is the begin- ning of wisdom.

A good understanding to all thatdoit: his praise continueth for ever and ever.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his wills.

AwT. He that feareth the Lord.

The next psalm sings the happiness of the just man,

and his hopes on the day of his Lord's coming.

It tells

us, likewise, of the confusion of the sinner who shall have despised the mysteries of God's love towards mankind.

--- PAGE 047 --- 38

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

PSALM III

Beatus vir qui timet Domi- num: in mandatis ejus volet nimis.

Potens in terra erit semen ejus: generatio rectorum bene- dicetur.

Gloria et divitiz in domo ejus: et justitia ejus manet in szcu- lum seculi.

Exortum est in tenebris lu- men rectis: misericors et mise- rator et justus.

Jucundus homo, qui misere- tur et commodat, disponet ser- mones suos in judicio: quia in :ternum non commovebitur.

In memoria zterna erit ju- stus: ab auditione mala non ti- mebit.

Paratum cor ejus sperare in Domino, confirmatum est cor ejus: non commovebitur donec despiciat inimicos suos.

Dispersit, dedit pauperibus; justitia ejus manet in seculum saculi: cornu ejus exaltabitur in gloria.

Peccator videbit et irascetur, dentibus suis fremet et tabescet: desiderium peccatorum pcribit.

ANT. Qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus cupit nimis.

ANT. Sit nomen Domini.

Blessed is the man that fear- eth the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in his command- ments.

His seed shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.

Glory and wealth shall be in his house; and his justice re- maineth for ever and ever.

To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness; he is merciful, and compassionate, and just.

Acceptable is the man that Showeth mercy and lendeth; he Shall order his very words with judgment: because he shall not be moved for ever.

The just shall be in everlast- ing remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing.

His heart is ready to hope in the Lord; his heart is strength- ened: he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies.

He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his justice re- maineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.

The wicked shall see, and shall be angry; he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

ANT. He that feareth the Lord Shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.

ANT. May the name of the Lord.

The psalm Laudate pueri is a canticle of praise to the Lord, who from His high heaven has taken pity on the human race, and has vouchsafed to honour it by the

Incarnation of His own Son.

--- PAGE 048 --- -——— cC

VESPERS 39

PSALM II2

Laudate, pueri, Dominum: laudate nomen Domini.

Sit nomen Domini benedi- ctum: ex hoc nunc et usque in sacculum.

A solis ortu usque ad occa- sum: laudabile nomen Domini.

Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus: et super czlos gloria
ejus.

Quis sicut Dominus Deus no-
ster quiin altis habitat: et humi- lia respicit in clo et in terra?

Suscitans a terra inopem: et de stercore erigens pauperem:

Ut collocet eum cum princi- pibus: cum principibus populi suf.

Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo: matrem filiorum laxtan- tem.

ANT. Sitnomen Domini bene- dictum in szcula.

ANT. Deus autem noster.

Praise the Lord, ye children; praise ye the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord; from henceforth now and for ever.

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.

The Lord is high above all nations: and his glory above the heavens.

Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: and look- eth down on the low things in heaven and in earth ?

Raising up the needy from the earth: and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill;

That he may place him with pence with the princes of his

e. Pho maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children. ANT. May the name of the Lord be for ever blessed. ANT. But our God.

The fifth psalm, Is exitu, recounts the prodigies wit-

nessed under the ancient Covenant: they were figures, whose realities were to be accomplished in the mission of the Son of God, who came to deliver Israel from Egypt, emancipate the Gentiles from their idolatry, and pour out a blessing on every man who will consent to fear and love the Lord. .

PSALM II3

domus Jacob de populo - baro

Facta est Judza sanctificatio ejus: Israel potestas ejus.

When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people.

Judea was made his sanc- tuary, Israel his dominion.

--- PAGE 049 --- 40

Mare vidit ct fugit: Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.

Montes exsultaverunt ut arie- tes: et colles sicut agni ovium.

Quid est tibi mare quod fugi- sti: et tu, Jordanis, quia con- versus es retrorsum ?

Montes exsultastis sicut arle- tes: et colles sicut agni ovium?

A facie Domini mota est ter- ra: a facie Dei Jacob.

Qui convertit petram in sta- gnaaquarum: et rupem in fontes aquarum.

Non nobis, Domine, non no-
bis: sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Super misericordia tua, et ve- ritate tua: nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus eorum?

Deus autem noster in czlo:
omnia quecumque voluit fecit.

Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum: opera manuum ho- minum.

Os habent, et non loquentur: oculos habent, et non videbunt.

Aures habent, et non audient: nares habent, et non odorabunt,

Manus habent, et non palpa- bunt: pedes habent, et non am- bulabunt: non clamabunt in gutture suo.

Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea: et omnes qui confidunt in eis.

Domus Israel speravit in Do- mino: adjutor eorum et prote- ctor eorum est.

Domus Aaron speravit in Do- mino: adjutor eorum et prote- ctor eorum est.

Qui timent Dominum, spera- verunt in Domino: adjutor eo- rum et protector eorum est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.

The mountains skipped like rams: and the hills like the lambs of the flock.

What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back ?

Ye mountains that yeskipped like rams: and ye hills like lambs of the flock ?

At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob.

Who turned the rock into | ew of water, and the stony

ills into fountains of waters.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us: but to thy name give glory.

For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake:' lest the Gentiles should say: Where is their God ?

But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he would.

The idols of the Gentiles are Silver and gold: the works of the hands of men.

They have mouths, and speak not: they have eyes, and see not.

They have ears and hear not: they have noses, and smell not.

They have hands, and fecl not: they have feet, and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat.

Let them that make them be- come like unto them: and all such as trust in them.

The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.

he house of Aaron hath ho in the Lord: he is their he ud and their protector.

hey that feared the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.

--- PAGE 050 --- ~ 4

— oco

—

VESPERS 41

Dominus memor fuit nostri:
et benedixit nobis.

Benedixit domui Israel: bene- dixit domui Aaron.

Benedixit omnibus qui timent Dominum: pusillis cum majori- bus.

Adjiciat Dominus super vos:
super vos, et super filios vestros.

Benedicti vos a Domino: qui fecit celum et terram.

Calum cali Domino: terram autem dedit filiis hominum.

Non mortui laudabunt te, Domine: neque omnes qui de-
scendunt in infernum.

Sed nos qui vivimus, benedi- cimus Domino: ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum.

ANT. Deus autem noster in

calo: omnia quecumque voluit fecit,

The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us.

He hath blessed the house of Israel: hehath blessed the house of Aaron.

He hath blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great.

May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your children.

Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has given to the children of men.

The dead shall not praise thec, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.

But we that live bless thc Lord: from this time now and for ever.

ANT. But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoeverhe would.

After these five psalms, a short lesson from the holy Scriptures is read. It is called Capitulum, because it is

always very short.

CAPITULUM

Benedictus Deus et Pater
Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Pater misericordiarum et Deus
totius consolationis, qui conso- latur nos in omni tribulatione nostra.

Ry. Deo gratias.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who com- forteth usinall our tribulations.

Hy. Thanks be to God.

Then follows the hymn. We here give the one for Sun- days, which was composed by St. Gregory the Great. It

sings of creation, and celebrates the praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, the light.

4

--- PAGE 051 --- 42

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

HYMN!

Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens: Primordiis lucis nova, Mundi parans originem.

Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari precipis: Illabitur tetrum chaos,

Audi preces cum fletibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine Vite sit exsul munere: Dum nil perenne cogitat,

Seseque culpis illigat.

Caleste pulset ostium, Vitale tollat premium: Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum.

Moving Pater piissime, ue com Smee, Cn piritu Regnans per omne voa RN Amen.

O infinitely good Creator of the light! by thee was produced the light of day, providing thus the world's beginning with the beginningof thenew-madelight.

Thou biddest us call the time, from morn till eve, day; this day is over; dark night comes on— oh! hear our tearful prayers.

Let not our soul, weighed down by crime, misspend thy gift of life, and, forgetting what is eternal, be earth-tied by her sins.

Oh! may we strive to enter our heavenly home, and bear away the prize of life: may we shun what would injure us, and cleanse our soul from her defile- ments.

Most merciful Father! and thou his Only-Begotten Son, co-equal with him, reigning for ever with the holy Paraclete | grant this our prayer. Amen.

The versicle which follows the hymn, and which we here give, is that of the Sunday: those for the feasts are

given in their proper places. NA Dirigatur, Domine, oratio

7 Sicut incensum in conspe- ctu tuo.

E Mer my prayer, O Lord. UN. Like incense in thy sight.

1 According to the monastic rite, it is as follows :

RY breve. Quam Sasloate sunt.

2 Pe tua, ap: 50 mnia in entia c pera.

Gloria Patri, etc. Quam.

Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens ; Primordiis lucis nova Mundi parans originem.

Qui mane perc vesperi

Diem vocari Tome du chaos illatitur, Audi preces cum fictibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine Vitae sit exsul munere, Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illi

Cslorum pulset intimum, Vitale tollat premium : Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne imum.

Praesta Pater piissime Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu lito

Regunans per omne szculum. Amen

--- PAGE 052 --- Cp oce—— —-DO— — © VESPERS 43 Then is said the Magnificat antiphon, which is to be

found in the proper.

After this, the Church sings the

canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in which are celebrated

ing.

OUR LADY'S CANTICLE (St. Luke i.)

Magnificat: anima mea Do-
minum.

Et exsultavit spiritus meus: in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancille suz: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes gen- erationes,

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanctum nomen ejus.

Et misericordia ejus a proge- nie in progenies: timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede: et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum: recordatus misericordie suz.

Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros: Abraham et semini ejus in szcula.

My soul doth magnify the Lord. T

And my it hath rejoiced in God my ar !

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name.

And his mercy is from genera- tion unto generation: to them that fear him.

He hath shown might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exal- ted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy.

As he spoke to our fathers: to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

--- PAGE 053 --- 44 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The Magnificat antiphon is then repeated. The
Prayer, or Collect, is given in the proper of each feast.

Y. Benedicamus Domino. Y. Let us bless the Lord. Ry. Deo gratias. . Thanks be to God. Y. Fidelium anima per mi- . May the souls of the faith-

sericordiam Dei requiescant in ful departed, through the mercy pace. of God, rest in peace. H. Amen. KR. Amen.

--- PAGE 054 --- COMPLINE 45

CHAPTER THE THIRD

ON THE OFFICE OF COMPLINE, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

HIS Office, which concludes the day, commences

by a warning of the dangers of the night: then immediately follows the public confession of our sins, as a powerful means of propitiating the divine justice, and obtaining God’s help, now that we are going to spend so many hours in the unconscious, and therefore dangerous, state of sleep, which is also such an image of death.

The lector, addressing the priest, says to him:

Jube, domne, benedicere. Pray, father, give me thy

blessing. The priest answers:

Noctem quietam et finem per- May the almighty Lord grant fectum concedat nobis Dominus us a quiet night and a perfect omnipotens. end.

Hy. Amen. Hj. Amen.

The lector then reads these words, from the first Epistle of St. Peter:

Fratres: Sobrii estote, et vigi-
late; quia adversarius vester diabolus, tamquam leo rugiens, circuit quaerens quem devoret: cui resistite fortes in fide. Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.

Brethren, be soberand watch; for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist ye, strong in faith. But thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.

--- PAGE 055 --- 46 The choir answers: Hy. Deo gratias.

Then the priest:

Y. Adjutorium nostrum in no- mine Domini.

The choir: Ey. Qui fecit celum et terram.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Hy. Thanks be to God.

Y. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Hj. Who hath made heaven and earth.

Then the Lord's Prayer is recited, in secret; after which the priest says the Confiteor, and, when he has

finished, the choir repeats it.

The priest, having pronounced the general form of

absolution, says:

y. Converte nos, Deus, salu-
taris noster.

Hy. Et averte iram tuam a nobis.

Y. Deus, in adjutorium me-
um intende.

Hy. Domine, ad adjuvandum
me festina.

Gloria Patri, etc.

ANT. Miserere.

Y. Convert us, O God, our Saviour.

KR). And turn away thine anger from us.

Y. Incline unto my aid, O God

Hj. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory, etc.

ANT. Have mercy.

The first psalm expresses the confidence with which the just man sleeps in peace. but the wicked know not

what calm rest is.

PSALM 4

Cum invocarem exaudivit me Deus justitie mez: in tribula-
tione dilatasti mihi.

Miserere mei: et exaudi ora- tionem meam.

Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde: ut quid diligitis

When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me.

Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.

O ye sons of men how long will ye be dull of heart? why do

--- PAGE 056 --- COMPLINE

vanitatem et quaritis menda- cium ?

Etscitotequoniam mirificavit Dominus sanctum suum: Domi-
nus exaudiet me cum clama- vero ad eum.

Irascimini et nolite peccare: qua dicitis in cordibus vestris, in cubilibus vestris compungi- mini.

Sacrificate sacrificlum justi- tiz, et speratein Domino: multi dicunt: Quis ostendit nobis bo- na?

Signatum est super nos lu- men vultus tui Domine: dedisti
letitiam in corde meo.

A fructu frumenti, vini et olei sui: multiplicati sunt.

In pace in idipsum: dormiam et requiescam.

Quoniam tu, Domine, singu-
lariter in spe: constituisti me.

47

you love vanity, and seek after lying ?

Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy One wonder- ful: the Lord will hear me, when I shall cry unto him.

Be ye angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for *hem upon your beds.

Offer up the sacrifice of jus- tice, and trust in the Lord: many say, Who showeth us good things ?

The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: thou hast given gladness in my heart.

By the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they are multiplied.

In peace, in the self-same I will sleep, and I will rest.

For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.

The second psalm gives the motives of the just man's

confidence, even during the dangers of the night.

There

is no smare neglected by the demons; but the good

angels watch over us with brotherly solicitude.

Then,

we have God Himself speaking and promising to send

us a Saviour.

PSALM QO

Qui habitat in adjutorio altis- simi: in protectione Del cali commorabitur.

Dicet Domino, Susceptor meus es tu et refugium meum: Deus meus, sperabo in eum,

Quoniam ipsc liberavit me de laqueo venantium: et a ver- bo aspero.

He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.

He shall say unto the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.

For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters; and from the sharp word.

--- PAGE 057 --- 48

Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi : et sub pennis ejus sperabis.

Scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus: non timebis a timore no- cturno.

A sagitta volante in die, a negotio perambulante in tene- bris: ab incursu, et daemonio meridiano.

Cadent a latere tuo mille, et decem millia a dextris tuis: ad te autem non appropinquabit.

Verumtamen oculis tuis con- siderabis: et retributionem pec- catorum videbis.

Quoniam tu es, Domine, spes
mea: Altissimum posuisti refu- gium tuum.

Non accedet ad te malum: et flagellum non appropinquabit tabernaculo tuo.

Quoniam angelis suis man- davit de te: ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.

In manibus portabunt te: ne forte offendas ad lapidem pe- dem tuum.

Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis: et conculcabis leo- nem et draconem.

Quoniam in me speravit, libe- rabo eum: protegam eum, quo- niam cognovit nomen meum.

Clamabit ad me, et ego exau- diam eum: cum ipso sum in tribulatione; eripiam eum, et glorificabo eum.

Longitudine dierum replebo eum: et ostendam {lli salutare meum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.

His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.

Of the arrow that flieth in the day: of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.

But thou shalt consider with thine eyes: and shalt see the re- ward of the wicked.

Because thou hast said: Thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the Most High thy refuge.

There shall no evil come unto thee, nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.

For he hath given his angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways.

In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt walk upon the asp and basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.

God will say of thee: Because he hoped in me, I will deliver him: I will protect him, because he hath known my name.

He will cry unto me, and 1 will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.

I will fill him with length of days: and I will show him my salvation,

--- PAGE 058 --- )

*

COMPLINE 49

The third psalm invites the servants of God to persevere with fervour in the prayers they offer during the night. The faithful should say this psalm in a spirit of gratitude to God, for raising up in the Church adorers of His holy name, whose grand vocation is to lift up their hands, day and night, for the safety of Israel. On such prayers de- pend the happiness and the destinies of the world.

PSALM I33

Ecce nunc benedicite Domi- num: omnes servi Domini.

Qui statis in domo Domini: in atriis domus Dei nostri.

In noctibus extollite manus vestras in sancta: et benedicite Dominum.

Benedicat te Dominus ex
Sion: qui fecit celum et terram.

ANT. Miserere mihi, Domine,
et exaudi orationem meam.

Te lucis ante terminum, cm Creator, poscimus, ria clementia

r et custodia.

Proc. Jant somnia,

Et noctium y. .atasmata; Hostemque nostrum comprime, Ne polluantur corpora.

Behold | now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord.

Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord.

Say to Israel: May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and earth.

ANT. Have mercy on me, O Lord, and hear my prayer.

HYMN!

Before the closing of the light, we bcseech thee, Creator of all things! that in thy clemency, thou be our protector and our

May the dreams and phan- toms of night depart far from us: and do thou repress our enemy, lest our bodies be pro- faned.

1 According to the monastic rite, as follows :

Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut solita clementia Sis praesul ad custodiam.

Procul recedant somnia Kt noctium phantasmata ;

Hostemque nostrum compri;

Ne polluantur corpora. lige Praesta, Pater omni; b

Per Jesum Christum Dominum,

Tw tecum in um cum to Spiritu. Amen,

--- PAGE 059 --- 50

Prasta, Pater piissime, Patrique compar Unicc, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne s;eculum.

Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Most merciful Father, and

thou his only-begotten Son, co- equal with him. reigning for

ever, with the holy Paraclete, grant this our prayer! Amen.

CAPITULUM

(Jeremias xiv.)

Tu autem in nobis es, Domi- ne, et nomen sanctum tuum invocatum est super nos: ne derelinquas nos, Domine Deus
noster.

Ey. In manus tuas, Domine:* Commendo spiritum meum. In manus tuas.

Y. Redemisti nos, Domine
Deus veritatis. * Commendo.

Gloria. In manus tuas.

y. Custodi nos, Domine, ut
pupillam oculi.

ly. Sub umbra alarum tua- rum protege nos.

ANT. Salva nos,

But thou art in us, O Lord, and thy holy name hath been invoked upon us: forsakeus not, O Lord our God.

E. Into thy hands, O Lord:* I commend my spirit. Into thy hands.

Y. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord God of truth. * I com- mend.

Glory. Into thy hands.

Y. Preserve us, O Lord, as the apple of thine eye.

Ky. Protect us under the shadow of thy wings.

ANT. Save us.

The canticle of the venerable Simeon, who, while holding the divine Infant in his arms, proclaimed Him to be the Light of the Gentiles, and then slept the sleep g just, is admirably appropriate to the Office of C

Holy Church blesses God for having dispelled

rK-

ness of night by the rising of the Sun of justice; it is for love of Him that she toils the whole day through, and rests during the night, saying: ‘I sleep, but my heart

watcheth.'!

! Cant. v. 2.

--- PAGE 060 --- COMPLINE

51

CANTICLE OF SIMEON

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine: secundum verbum tu-
um in pace.

Quia viderunt oculi mel: sa- lutare tuum.

Quod parasti: ante faciem omnium populorum.

Lumen ad revelationem gen- tium: et gloriam plebis tue Israel.

Gloria.

ANT. Salva nos, Domine, vigi-
lantes: custodi nos dormientes, ut vigilemus cum Christo, et re- quiescamus in pace.

OREMUS,

Visita, quaesumus, Domine,
habitationem istam, et omnes insidias inimici ab ea longe re- pe angeli tui sancti habitent n ea, quí nos in pace custodi- ant: et benedictio tua sit super nos semper. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Fi- lium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia secula
seculorum.

. Amen.

. Dominus vobiscum.

. Et cum spiritu tuo.

. Benedicamus Domino. . Deo gratias.

Benedicat et custodiat nos omnipotens et misericors Domi- nus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus

Ej. Amen.

Now dost thou dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace.

Because mine eyes have seen NC rr pne

ich thou hast prepared: before the face of all ege

A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of

thy people Israel. Glory, etc.

ANT. Save us, O Lord, while awake, and watch us as we =r that we may watch with Christ and rest in peace.

LET US PRAY,

Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this house and family, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy: let thy holy angels dwell herein, who may keep us in peace, and may thy blessing be always upon us. Through

esus Christ our Lord, th

n, who liveth and relgneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world with- out end. HJ. Amen.

Y. The Lord be with you.

EH. And with thy spirit.

Y. Let us bless the Lord.

NH. Thanks be to God.

May the almighty and merci- ful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless and preserve us.

HN. Amen.

--- PAGE 061 --- 52

ANTHEM TO THE

Salve Regina, Mater miseri- cordia.

Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Eva.

Ad su flentes in

iramus, gementes et c lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo. advocata nostra, il- los tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte;

Et Jesum, benedictum fru- ctum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende;

O clemens,

O pia,

O dulcis Virgo Maria.

¥. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Ry. Ut digni efficiamur pro- missionibus Christi.

OREMUS,

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui gloriose "Virginis Matris Marie corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante praparasti: da ut cujus commemoratione leta- mur, ejus pia intercessione ab instantibus malis et a morte qure liberemur. Per eum- um Christum Dominum no- strum.

H. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

BLESSED VIRGIN

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy.

Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping, in this vale of tears.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate | thine eyes of mercy towards us;

And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus;

O clement,

O loving,

O sweet Virgin Mary !

Y. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

Hy. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ,

LET US PRAY.

O almighty and everlasting God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost didst pre- pare the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother, to become the worthy habitation of thy Son: grant that we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death, by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice. Through the same Christ our Lord.

FR. Amen.

--- PAGE 062 --- COMPLINE 53

Y. Divinum auxilium mane- Y. May the divine assistance at semper nobiscur. remain always with us.

Hy. Amen. HN. Amen! Then, in secret, Pater, Ave, and Credo.

1 [n the ic vite this is as follows :

P

R7. Etcum fratril is absentib R7. And with our absent brethren. Amen. Amen.

--- PAGE 063 ---

--- PAGE 064 --- ——

—

Proper of fhe Sainfs

--- PAGE 065 ---

--- PAGE 066 --- -——P

PROPER OF THE SAINTS 57

Pyopey of the Saints

Jury 8

SAINT ELIZABETH QUEEN OF PORTUGAL

N the footsteps of Margaret of Scotland and of Clotilde of France, a third queen comes to shed her brightness on the sacred cycle. Born at the southern extremity of Christendom, where it borders on Muslim lands, she was destined by the Holy Ghost to seal with peace the victories of Christ, and prepare the way for fresh conquests. The blessed name of Elizabeth, which for half a century had been rejoicing the world with its sweet perfume, was given to her, foretelling that this new-born child, as though attracted by the roses which fell from the mantle of her Thuringian aunt, was to cause these same heavenly flowers to blossom in Iberia. There is a mysterious heirship among the saints of God. The same year in which one niece of Elizabeth of Thuringia was born in Spain, another, Blessed Margaret of Hungary, took her flight to heaven. She had been consecrated to God from her mother’s womb, as a pledge for the salvation of her people, in the midst of terrible disasters; and the hopes so early centred in her were not frustrated. A short life of twenty-eight years, spent in innocence and prayer, earned for her country the blessings of peace and civilization; and then Margaret bequeathed to our saint of to-day the mission of con- tinuing in another land the work of her holy prede- cessors. The time had come for our Lord to shed a ray of His

5

--- PAGE 067 --- 58 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

grace upon Spain. The thirteenth century was closing, leaving the world in a state of dismemberment and ruin. Weary of fighting for Christ, kings dismissed the Church from their councils, and selfishly kept aloof, preferring their own ambitious strifes to the common aspiration of the once great body of Christendom. Such a state of things was disastrous for the entire West; much more, then, for that noble country where the crusade had multi- plied kingdoms as so many outposts against the common enemy, the Moors. Unity of views, and the sacrifice of all things to the great work of deliverance, could alone maintain in the successors of Pelayo the spirit of the grand memories of yore. Unfortunately these princes, though heroes on the battlefield, had not sufficient strength of mind to lay aside their petty quarrels and take up the sacred duty entrusted to them by Provi- dence. In vain did the Roman Pontiff strive to awaken them to the interests of their country and of the Christian name; these hearts, generous in other respects, were too stifled by miserable passions to heed his voice; and the Muslim looked on delightedly at these intestine strifes, which retarded his own defeat. Navarre, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal were not only at war with each other; but even within each of these kingdoms father and son were at enmity, and brother disputed with brother, inch by inch, the heritage of his ancestors.

Who was to restore to Spain the still recent traditions of Ferdinand III? Who was to gather again these dissentient wills into one, so as to make them a terror to the Saracen and a glory to Christ ? James I of Aragon, who rivalled St. Ferdinand both in bravery and in con- quests, had married Yolande, daughter of Andrew of Hungary; whereupon the cultus of the holy Duchess of Thuringia, whose brother-in-law he had thus become, was introduced beyond the Pyrenees; and the name ot Elizabeth, changed in most cases into Isabel, became, as it were, a family jewel, with which the Spanish princesses have loved to be adorned. The first to bear it was the daughter of James and Yolande, who married

--- PAGE 068 --- SAINT ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL 59

Philip III of France, successor of St. Louis; the second was the granddaughter of the same James I, the saint whom the Church honours to-day, of whom the old king, with prophetic insight, loved to say that she would surpass all the women of the race of Aragon.

Inheriting not only the name, but also the virtues of the ' dear St. Elizabeth,” she would one day deserve to be called ‘ the mother of peace and of her country.’ By means of her heroic self-renunciation and all-powerful prayer, she repressed the lamentable quarrels of princes. One day, unable to prevent peace being broken, she cast herself between two contending armies under a very hailstorm of arrows, and so forced the soldiers to lay down their fratricidal arms. Thus she paved the way for the happy event, which she herself was not to have the consolation of seeing: the reorganization of that great enterprise for the expulsion of the Moors, which was not to close till the following century under the auspices of another Isabel, her worthy descendant, who would add to her name the beautiful title of * the Catho- lic” Four years after Elizabeth's death the victory of Salado was gained by the united armies of all Spain over 600,000 infidels, showing how a woman could, under most adverse circumstances, inaugurate a brilliant crusade, to the immortal fame of her country.

Elisabeth Aragonie regibus ortam, Christi anno millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo pri- mo, in prasagium future sanctimoniz parentes, preter morem, relicto matris avieque nomine, a magna ejus mater- tera, Thuringiz domina, sancta Elisabeth, in baptismo nomi- natam voluere, Ubi nata est, statim patuit, quam felix re- gum regnorumque esset futura

acatrix: natalitia enim ejus

titia perniciosas avi patris- que dissensiones in concordiam convertit. Pater vero crescen-

Elizabeth, of the royal race of Aragon, was born in the year of our Lord 1271. Asa presage of her future sanctity, her parents, contrary to custom, passing over the mother and grandmother, gave her in bap- tism the name of her mater- nal great-aunt, St. Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia. No sooner was she born, than it became evident what a blessed peacemaker she was to be between kings and kingdoms; for the joy of her birth put a happy period to the miserable

--- PAGE 069 --- 60

tis postea filiz admiratus in- dolem, affirmabat fore, ut una Elisabeth reliquas Aragoni- orum regum sanguine creatas feminas virtute longe supe- raret. Sic coelestem ipsius vi- tam in contemnendo corporis ornatu, in fugiendis voluptati- bus, in jejuniis frequentandis, in divinis precibus assidue recitandis, in caritatis operibus exercendis, veneratus, rerum suarum regnique felicitatem unius filie meritis referebat acceptam. Tandem ubique nota, et a multis principibus exoptata, Dionysio Lusitania regi Christianis ceremoniis rite est in matrimonium collocata.

juncta conjugio, non mi- norem excolendis virtutibus, quam liberis educandis ope- ram dabat, viro placere stu- dens, sed magis Deo. Me- diam fere anni partem solo pane tolerabat et aqua: que in quodam ipsius morbo di- vinitus versa est in vinum, cum id a medicis prescriptum bibere recusasset. Pauperis femina ulcus horrendum exo- sculata, derepente sanavit. Pe- cunias pauperibus distribuen- das, ut regem laterent, hiberno tempore in rosas convertit. Virginem caecam a nativitate illuminavit: multos alios solo crucis signo a gravissimis mor- bis liberavit: plurima id genus miracula patravit. Monaste- ria, collegia, et templa non modo exstruxit, sed etiam magnifice dotavit. In regum

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

quarrels of her father and grandfather. As she grew up, her father, admiring the nat- ural abilities of his daughter, was wont to assert that Eliza- beth would far outstrip in virtue all the women de- scended of the royal blood of Aragon; and so great was his veneration for her heavenly manner of life, her contempt of worldly ornaments, her abhorrence of pleasure, her assiduity in fasting, prayer, and works of charity, that he attributed to her merits alone the prosperity of his kingdom and estate. On account of her widespread reputation, her hand was sought by many princes; at length she was, with all the ceremonies of Holy Church, united in matri- mony with Dionysius, king of Portugal.

In the married state she gave herself up to the exer- cise of virtue and the educa- tion of her children, striving, indeed, to please her husband, but still more to please God. For nearly half the year she lived on bread and water alone; and on one occasion when in an illness she had refused to take the wine prescribed by the physician, her water was mirac- ulously changed into wine. She instantaneously cured a poor woman of a loathsome ulcer by kissing it. In the depth of winter she changed the money she was going to distribute to the poor into roses, in order to conceal it from the king. She gave sight to a virgin born blind, healed many other persons of grievous distempers by the mere sign

--- PAGE 070 --- SAINT ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL 61

discordiis componendis admira- bilis fuit: in privatis publicis- que mortalium sublevandis ca- lamitatibus indefessa.

Defuncto rege Dionysio, si- cut virginibus in prima etate, in matrimonio conjugibus, ita viduis in solitudine fuit om- nium virtutum exemplar. Il- lico enim religiosis sancte Clare vestibus induta, regio funeri constanter interfuit, ac paulo post Compostellam pro- ficiscens, multa ex holoserico, argento, auro, gemmisque do- naria pro regis anima obtulit. Inde reversa domum, quidquid sibi carum aut pretiosum supe- rerat, in sacros ac pios usus

convertit: absolvendoque suo,

vere regio Conimbricensi vir- ginum conobio, et alendis pauperibus, et protegendis vi- duis, defendendis pupillis, mi- seris omnibus juvandis intenta, non sibi, sed Deo, et mortalium omnium commodis vivebat. Reges duos filium et generum pacificatura, Stremotium no- bile oppidum veniens, morbo ex itinere contracto, ibidem a Virgine Deipara visitata sanctissime obiit, anno mille- simo trecentesimo trigesimo sexto, die quarta Julii. Post mortem multis miraculis cla- ruit, presertim suavissimo cor- poris jam per annos fere tre- centos incorrupti odore; semper etiam regine sancte cogno- mento celebris. Tandem anno jubilei, et nostrae salutis mil-

of the Cross, and performed a great number of other miracles ofalike nature. She built and amply endowed monasteries, hospitals, and churches. She was admirable for her zeal in composing the differences of kings, and unwearied in her efforts to alleviate the public and private miseries of man- ind

After the death of King Dionysius, Elizabeth, who had been in her youth a model to virgins, and in her married life to wives, became in her solitude a pattern of all virtues to widows. She immediately put on the religious habit of St. Clare, assisted with the greatest fortitude at the king’s funeral, and then, proceeding to Com- postella, offered there for the repose of his soul a quantity of silk, silver, gold and precious stones. On her return home she consumed in holy and pious works all she had that was dear and precious to her; she com- pleted the building of her truly royal monastery of virgins at Coimbra, and, wholly engaged in feeding the poor, protecting widows, sheltering orphans, and assisting the afflicted in eve way, she lived not for Decent. but for the glory of God and the well-being of men. On her way to the noble town of Estremoz, whither she was going in order to make peace between the two kings, her son and son-in-law, she was seized with illness; and in that town, after having been visited by the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, she died a most holy death, on the fourth day of July, in the year 1336.

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lesimo sexcentesimo vigesimo quinto, totius Christiani orbis concursu et applausu, ab Ur- bano Octavo rite inter Sanctos adscripta est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

After death she was glorified by many miracles, especially by the sweet fragrance of her body, which has remained in- corrupt for nearly three hun-

dred years; and she is always distinguished by the name of the ''holy queen." At length, in the year of jubilee, of our salvation 1625, with the unani- mous applause of the assem- bled Christian world, she was solemnly enrolled among the saints by Pope Urban VIII.

O blessed Elizabeth ! we praise God for thy holy works, as the Church this day invites all her sons to do.! More valiant than those princes in whose midst thou didst appear as the angel of thy fatherland, thou didst exhibit in thy private life a heroism which could equal theirs, when need was, even on the battlefield. God's grace was the motive-power of thy actions, and His glory their sole end. Often does God gain more glory by: abnegations hidden from all eyes but His, than by great works justly admired by a whole people. It is because the power of His grace shines forth the more; and it is generally the way of His providence to cause the most remarkable blessings bestowed on nations to spring from these hidden sources. How many battles celebrated in history have first been fought and won in the sight of the Blessed Trinity, in some hidden spot of that supernatural world, where the elect are even at war with hell, nay, struggle at times even with God Himself; how many famous treaties of peace have first been concluded between heaven and earth in the secret of a single soul, as a reward for those giant struggles which men mis- understand and despise! Let the fashion of this world pass away; and those deep-thinking politicians, who are said to rule the course of events, the proud negotiators and warriors of renown, all, when judged by the light of eternity, will appear what they truly are: mere decep- * [nvitatory.

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tions screening from the sight of men the only names truly worthy of immortality.

Glory then be to thee, through whom the Lord has deigned to lift a corner of the veil that hides from the world the true rulers of its destinies. In the golden book of the elect, thy nobility rests on better titles than those of birth. Daughter and mother of kings, thyself a queen, thou didst rule over a glorious land ; but far more glorious is the family throne in heaven; where thou reignest with the first Elizabeth, with Margaret and with Hedwige, and where others will come to join thee, doing honour to the same noble blood which flowed in thy veins.

Remember, O mother of thy country, that the power given thee on earth is not diminished now that the God of armies has called thee to thy heavenly triumph. True, the land of Iberia, which owes its independence principally to thee, is no longer in the same troubled condition; but if at the present day there is no fear of the Moors, on the other hand, Spain and Portugal have fallen away from their noble traditions; lead them back to the right path, that they may attain the glorious destiny marked out for them by Providence. Thy power in heaven is not restrained within the borders of a king- dom; cast, then, a look of mercy on the rest of the world; see how nations, recognizing no right but might, waste their wealth and their vitality in wholesale bloodshed ; has the time come for those terrible wars which are to be harbingers of the end, and wherein the world will work its own destruction ? O mother of peace! hear how the Church, the mother of nations, implores thee to make full use of thy sublime prerogative; stop these furious strifes; and make our life on earth a path of peace, leading up to the joys of eternity.

* Collect of the day.

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Jury 10

THE SEVEN BROTHERS MARTYRS AND SS. RUFINA AND SECUNDA VIRGINS AND MARTYRS

HREE times within the next few days will the

number seven appear in the holy liturgy, honour- ing the Blessed Trinity, and proclaiming the reign of the Holy Spirit with His sevenfold grace. Felicitas, Sym- phorosa, and the mother of the Machabees, each in turn will lead her seven sons to the feet of Eternal Wisdom. The Church, bereaved of her apostolic founders, pursues her course undaunted, for the teaching of Peter and Paul is defended by the testimony of martyrdom, and, when persecutions have ceased, by that of holy virginity. Moreover, ‘ the blood of martyrs is the seed of Chris- tians ’:* the heroes who in life were the strength of the Bride give her fecundity by their death; and the family of God's children continues to increase.

Great indeed was the faith of Abraham, when he hoped against all hope that he would become the father of nations through that same Isaac whom he was com- manded to slay: but did Felicitas show less faith, when she recognized in the immolation of her seven children the triumph of life and the highest blessing that could be bestowed on her motherhood ? Honour be to her, and to those who resemble her! The worldly-wise may scorn them; but they are like noble rivers transforming the desert into a paradise of God, and fertilizing the soil of the Gentile world after the ravages of the first age.

! TERTULLIAN, Apolog. 50.

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Marcus Aurelius had just ascended the throne, to prcve himself during a reign of nineteen years nothing but a second-rate pupil of the sectarian rketors of the second century, whose narrow views and hatred of Christian simplicity he embraced alike in policy and in philosophy. These men, created by him prefects and proconsuls, raised the most cold-blooded persecution the Church has ever known. The scepticism of this imperial philosopher did not exempt him from the general rule that where dogma is rejected, superstition takes its place; and monarch and people were of one accord in seeking a remedy for public calamities in the rites newly brought from the East, and in the extermination of the Christians. The assertion that the massacres of those days were carried on without the prince's sanction not only does not excuse him, it is moreover false; it is now a proven truth that, foremost among the tyrants who destroyed the flower of the human race, stands Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, stained more than Domitian or even Nero with the blood of martyrs.

The seven sons of St. Felicitas were the first victims offered by the prince to satisfy the philosophy of his . courtiers, the superstition of the people, and, be it said, his own convictions, unless we would have him to be the most cowardly of men. It was he himself who ordered the prefect Publius to entice to apostasy this noble family whose piety angered the gods; it was he again who, after hearing the report of the cause, pronounced the sentence and decreed that it should be executed by several judges in different places, the more publicly to make known the policy of the new reign. The arena opened at the same time in all parts not only of Rome, but of the empire; the personal interference of the sovereign intimated to the hesitating magistrates the line of conduct to pursue if they wished to court the imperial favour. Felicitas soon followed her sons; Justin the philosopher found out by experience what was the sincerity of Caesar's love of truth; every class yielded its contingent of victims to the tortures which this would-be wise master of the world

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deemed necessary for the safety of the empire. At length, that his reign might close as it had begun in blood, a rescript of the so-called mild emperor sanctioned whole- sale massacres. Humanity, lowered by the unjust flattery heaped upon this wretched prince even up to our own day, was thus duly rehabilitated by the noble courage of a slave such as Blandina, or of a patrician such as Cecilia.

Never before had the south wind swept so impetu- ously through the garden of the Spouse, scattering far and wide the perfume of myrrh and spices. Never before had the Church, like an army set in array, appeared, despite her weakness, so invincible as now, when she was sustaining the prolonged assault of Casarism and false science from without, in league with heresy within. Want of space forbids us to enter into the details of a question which is now beginning to be more carefully studied, yet is far from being thoroughly understood. Under cover of the pretended moderation of the Antonines, hell was exerting its most skilful endeavours against Christianity, at the very period which , opened with the martyrdom of the Seven Brothers. If the Caesars of the third century attacked the Church with a fury and a refinement of cruelty unknown to Marcus Aurelius, it was but as a wild beast taking i spring upon the prey that had wellnigh escaped

Such being the case, no wonder that the Church has from the very beginning paid especial honour to these seven heroes, the pioneers of that decisive struggle which was to prove her impregnable to all the powers of hell. Was there ever a more sublime scene in that spectacle which the saints have to present to the world ? If there was ever a combat which angels and men could equally applaud, it was ney this of July 10, 162; when in four different suburbs of the Eternal City, these seven patrician youths, led by their heroic mother, opened the campaign which was to rescue Rome from these upstart Caesars and restore her to her immortal destinies. After

--- PAGE 076 --- THE SEVEN BROTHERS, MARTYRS 67

their triumph, four cemeteries shared the honour of gathering into their crypts the sacred remains of the martyrs; and the glorious tombs have in our own day furnished the Christian archaologist with matter for valuable research and learned writings. As far back as we can ascertain from the most authentic monuments, the sixth of the Ides of July was marked on the calendars of the Roman Church as a day of special solemnity, on account of the four stations where the faithful assembled round the tombs of ' the Martyrs.' This name, given by excellence to the seven brothers, was preserved to them even in time of peace—an honoür by so much the greater as there had been torrents of bloodshed under Diocletian. Inscriptions of the fourth century found even in those cemeteries which never possessed their relics, designate July 11 as the ' day following the feast of the Martyrs.’ The honours of this day, whereon the Church sings the praises of rue fraternity, are shared by two valiant sisters. À century had passed over the empire, and the Antonines were no more. Valerian, who at first seemed, like them, desirous of obtaining a character for moderation, soon began to follow them along the path of blood. In order to strike a decisive blow, he issued a decree whereby all the principal ecclesiastics were condemned to death without distinction, and every Christian of rank was bound under the heaviest penalties to abjure his faith. It is to this edict that Rufina and Secunda owed the honour of crossing their palms with those of Sixtus and Lawrence, Cyprian and Hippolytus. They belonged to the noble family of the Turcii Asterii, whose history has been brought to light by modern discovery. Accord- ing to the prescriptions of Valerian, which condemned Christian women to no more than confiscation and exile, they ought to have escaped death; but to the crime of fidelity to God they added that of holy virginity, and so the roses of martyrdom were twined into their lily- wreaths. Their sacred relics lie in St. John Lateran's, close to the baptistery of Constantine; and the second Cardinalitial See, that of Porto, couples with this title

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the name of St. Rufina, thus claiming the protection of

the blessed martyrs.

Let us read the short account of their martyrdom given us in to-day’s liturgy, beginning with that of the

Seven Brothers.

Septem fratres, filii sancte
Felicitatis, Roma in perse- cutione Marci Aurelii Antonini a Publio prafecto primum blanditiis, deinde terroribus tentati, ut Christo renunti- antes, deos venerarentur: et sua virtute, et matre hortante, in fidei confessione perseveran- tes, varie necati sunt. Janu- arius plumbatis casus: Felix et Philippus fustibus contusi: Silvanus ex altissimo loco prz- ceps ifie est: Alexan- der, Vitalis, et Martialis capi- te plectuntur. Mater eorum quarto post mense eamdem martyrii palmam consecuta est: illi sexto Idus Julii spiritum Domino reddiderunt.

Rufina et Secunda, sorores virgines Romanz, rejecto con- nubio Armentarii et Verini,

uibus a parentibus desponsa uerant, quod Jesu Christo virginitatem vovissent, Vale- riano et Gallieno imperatori- bus comprehenduntur. Quas cum nec promissis, nec terrore Junius prafectus a proposito posset abducere, Rufinam pri- mum virgis cedi jubet: in

uibus verberibus Secunda ju- icem sic interpellat: Quid est, quod sororem meam honore, me afficis ignominia? Jube

At Rome, in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the prefect Publius tried first by fair speeches and then by threats to compel seven bro- thers, the sons of St. Felicitas, to renounce Christ and adore the gods. But, owing both to their own valour and to their mother's words of encourage- ment, they persevered in their confession of faith, and were all put to death in various ways. Januarius was scourged to death with leaded whips, Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs, Silvanus was thrown headlong from a great height, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial were beheaded. Their mother also gained the palm of martyrdom four months later. The brothers gave up their souls to our Lord on the sixth of the Ides of July.

Rufina and Secunda were sisters and virgins of Rome. Their parents had betrothed them to Armentarius and Veri- nus, but they refused to marry, saying that they had conse- crated their virginity to Jesus Christ. They were, therefore, (—— during the reign

the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. When Junius, the prefect, saw he could not shake their resolution either by prom- ises or by threats, he first ordered Rufina to be beaten with rods. While she was

--- PAGE 078 --- THE SEVEN BROTHERS, MARTYRS

ambas simul cadi, qua simul Christum Deum confitemur. Quibus verbis incensus judex imperat utramque detrudi in tenebricosum et feetidum car- cerem. Quo loco statim claris- sima luce et suavissimo odore completo, in ardente balnei so- lio includuntur. Et cum inde etiam integra evasissent, mox saxo ad collum alligato in Tiberim projecta sunt; unde ab angelo liberate, extra Ur- bem via Aurelia milliario de- cimo, capite plectuntur. Qua- rum corpora a Plautilla ma- trona in ejus praedio sepulta, ac postea in Urbem translata, in Basilica Constantiniana pro- pe Baptisterium condita sunt.

69

being scourged, Secunda thus addressed the judge: ‘Why do you treat my sister thus honourably, but me dishonour- ably? Order us both to be scourged, since we both confess Christ to be God. Enraged by these words, the judge ordered them both to be cast into a dark and fetid dungeon; immediately a bright light and a most sweet odour filled the prison. They were then shut up in a bath, the floor of which was made red-hot; but from - this also they emerged unhurt. Next they were thrown into the Tiber with stones laid to their necks, but an angel saved them from the water, and they

were finally beheaded ten miles out of the city on the Aure- lian Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla, on her estate, and were afterwards translated into Rome, where they now repose in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.

‘ Praise the Lord, ye children, praise the name of the Lord: who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.' Such is the opening chant of this morning's Mass. But say, O blessed ones ! was your admirable mother barren who gave seven martyrs to the earth ? Fecundity, according to this world, counts for nothing before God; this is not the fruitfulness intended by that blessing which fell from the lips of the Lord when in the beginning he made man to his own image. ‘Increase and multiply ' was spoken to a holy one, a son of God, bidding him propagate a divine offspring. As the first creation, so was all future birth to be: man, in communicating his own existence to others, was to transmit to them at the same time the life of their Father in heaven; the natural and the super- --- PAGE 079 --- 70 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

natural life were to be as inseparable as a building and its foundation; nature without grace would be but a frame without a picture. All too soon did sin destroy the harmony of the divine plan; nature violently separated from grace could produce only sons of wrath. Yet God was too rich in mercy to abandon the design of His immense love; and having, in the first instance, created us to be His children, He would now re-create us as such in His Word made Flesh. Reduced to a shadow of what it would have been, the union of Adam and Eve, unable to give birth straightway to sons of God, was dismantled of that glory beside which the sublime privileges of the angels would have paled; nevertheless it was still the figure of the great mystery of Christ and the Church. Sterile according to God and doomed to the death she had brought upon her race, it was only by participation in the merits of the second Eve, that the first could be called the mother of the living. Great honour indeed was still to be hers, and she would be able in part to repair her fall, but on condition of yielding to the rights of the Bride of the second Adam. Far better than Pharaoh’s daughter rescuing Moses and con- fiding him to Jochebed, could the Church say to every mother on receiving her babe from the waters: ' Take this child and nurse him for me. And every Christian mother, anxious to correspond to the Church's trust in her and proud of being able to realize God's primitive intentions, might well repeat with regard to this second childbirth, those words uttered by a superhuman love: My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.! Shame upon her that would forget the sublime destiny of her child to be a son of God! A far less crime would it be were she, through negligence or by design, to stifle in him by an education exclusively directed to the senses that intelligence which distinguishes man from the animals subjected to his power. Fortheattainment of man's true end, the super- natural life is more necessary than the life of reason; for ! Gal, tv. 19.

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a mother to make no account of it, and to suffer the divine germ to perish after being planted in the infant’s soul at its new birth from the sacred font, would be to do unto death the frail being that owed its existence to her.

Far otherwise, O martyrs, did your illustrious mother understand her mission ! Hence, though her memory is honoured on the day when four months after you she quitted this earth, yet this present feast is the chief monument of her glory. She, more than yourselves, is celebrated in the readings and chants of the holy Sacrifice, and in the lessons of the Night Office. And why is this ? Because, says St. Gregory, being already the handmaid of Christ by faith, she has to-day become His mother, according to our Lord's own word, by giving him a new birth in each of her seven sons. After having made such a complete holocaust of you to your heavenly Father, what will her own matryrdom be, but the long- desired close of her widowhood, the happy hour which will reunite her in glory to you who are doubly her sons ? Henceforward, then, on this day which was to her the day of suffering, but not of reward; when after passing seven times over through tortures and death, she had yet to remain in banishment, it is but just that her children should rise and make over to her, as of right, the honours of the triumph. Henceforth, though still an exile, she is clothed with purple, dyed not twice, but seven times; the richest daughters of Eve own that she has surpassed them all in the fruitfulness of martyrdom; her own works praise her in the assembly of the saints. On this day, O sons and mother, and ye two noble sisters who share in their glory, listen to our prayers, protect the Church, and make the whole world heedful of the teaching conveyed by your beautiful example !

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Jury 1x

SAINT PIUS I POPE AND MARTYR

A HOLY Pope of the second century, the first of the eleven hitherto graced with the name of Pius, rejoices us to-day with his mild and gentle light. Although Christian society was in a precarious con- dition under the edicts of persecution, which even the best of the pagan emperors never abrogated, our saint profited by the comparative peace enjoyed by the Church under Antoninus Pius to strengthen the founda- tions of the mysterious tower raised by the divine Shepherd to the honour of the Lord God.! He ordained by his supreme authority that, notwithstanding the con- trary custom observed in certain places, the feast of Easter should be celebrated on a Sunday throughout the entire Church. The importance of this measure and its effects upon the whole Church will be brought before us on the feast of St. Victor, who succeeded Pius at the close of the century.

The ancient legend of St. Pius I, which has lately been altered, made mention of the decree, attributed in the Corpus juris to our Pontiff,” concerning those who should carelessly let fall any portion of the Precious Blood of our Lord. The prescriptions are such as evince the profound reverence the Pope would have to be shown towards the Mystery of the Altar. The penance en- joined is to be of forty days if the Precious Blood have fallen to the ground; and wheresoever it fell, it must, if possible, be taken up with the lips, the dust must be FIF and the ashes thereof thrown into a consecrated place.

! HrenMAS. Pastor. * Cap. Si per negligentiam, 27, Dist. 11. de Consecratione.

--- PAGE 082 --- SAINT PIUS I

Pius, hujus nominis primus, Aquileiensis, Ruffini filius, ex presbytero sancte Romana Ecclesie Summus Pontifex cre- atus est, Antonino Pio et Marco Aurelio imperatoribus augustis. Quinque ordinatio- nibus mense decembri, episco-

os duodecim, octodecim pres- Eo terce creavit. Exstant non- nulla ab eo prazclare instituta, presertim ut Resurrectio Do- mini nonnisi die Dominico celebraretur. Pudentisdomum in ecclesiam mutavit, eamque ob PEastantien supra ceteros titulos, utpote Romani Pon- tificis mansionem, titulo Pas- toris dicavit, et in qua sepe rem sacram fecit, et multos ad fidem conversos baptizavit, ac in fidelium numerum adscrip- sit. Dum vero boni Pastoris munus obiret, fuso pro suis ovibus et Summo Pastore Christo sanguine, martyrio co- ronatus est quinto Idus Julii, ac sepultus in Vaticano.

73

Pius, the first of this name, a citizen of Aquileia, and son of Rufinus, was priest of the holy Roman Church. During the reign of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius he was chosen Sovereign Pontiff. In five ordinations which he held in the month of December, he ordained twelve bishops and eighteen priests. Several ad- mirable decrees of his are still extant; in particular that which ordains that the Resurrection of our Lord is always to be celebrated on a Sunday. He changed the house of Pudens into a church, and because it surpassed the other titles in dignity, inasmuch as the Ro- man Pontiffs had made it their dwelling-place, he dedicated it under the title of Pastor. Here he often celebrated the holy mysteries, baptized many who had been converted to the faith, and enrolled them in the ranks of the faithful. While he was thus fulfilling the duties of a good shepherd, he shed his blood for his sheep and for Christ the Supreme Pastor, being crowned with martyrdom on the fifth of the Ides of July. He was buried in the Vatican.

We call to mind, O glorious Pontiff, those words written under thine eye, which seem to be a commentary on thy decree concerning the Sacred Mysteries: ' We receive not,' cried Justin the Philosopher to the world of that second century: ' We receive not as common bread, nor as common drink, the food which we call the Eucharist; but just as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so have we been taught that the food made Eucharist by the prayer formed of His own word,

6

--- PAGE 083 --- 74 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

is both the Flesh and the Blood of this Jesus who is made flesh.” This doctrine, and the measures it so fully justifies, found, towards the close of the same century, other authentic witnesses who, in their turn, would almost seem to be quoting from the prescriptions attributed to thee. ‘We are in the greatest distress,’ said Tertullian, ' if the least drop from our chalice, or the least crumb of our Bread fall to the ground.? And Origen appealed to the initiated to bear witness to ' the care and veneration with which the sacred gifts were surrounded, for fear the smallest particle should fall; which, if it happened through negligence, would be considered a crime.? And yet in our days heresy, as destitute of knowledge as of faith, pretends that the Church has departed from her ancient traditions by paying exaggerated homage to the divine Sacrament. Obtain for us, O Pius, the grace to return to the spirit of our fathers; not, indeed, with regard to their faith, for that we have kept inviolate, but as to the veneration and love with which that faith inspired them for the Chalice of Inebriation, that richest treasure of earth. May the Pasch of the Lamb unite, as thou didst desire, in one uniform celebration, all who have the honour to bear the name of Christian !

1 Apolog. I. 66. * De Corona, iil. * In Ex, Homll, xili.

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Jury 12

SAINT JOHN GUALBERT ABBOT

EVER, from the day when Simon Magus was

baptized at Samaria, had hell seemed so near to conquering the Church as at the period brought before us by to-day’s feast. Rejected and anathematized by Peter, the new Simon had said to the princes, as the former had said to the apostles: ' Sell me this power, that upon whomsoever I shall lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.” And the princes, ready enough to supplant Peter and fill their coffers at the same time, had taken upon themselves to invest men of their own choice with the government of the churches; the bishops in their turn had sold to the highest bidders the various orders of the hierarchy; and sensuality, ever in the wake of covetousness, had filled the sanctuary with defile- ment.

The tenth century had witnessed the humiliation of the supreme pontificate itself; early in the eleventh, simony was rife among the clergy. The work of salva- tion was going on in the silence of the cloister; but Peter Damian had not yet come forth from the desert; nor had Hugh of Cluny, Leo IX, and Hildebrand brought their united efforts to bear upon the evil. A single voice was heard to utter the cry of alarm and rouse the people from their lethargy; it was the voice of a monk, who had once been a valiant soldier, and to whom the crucifix had bowed its head in recognition of his generous for- giveness of an enemy. John Gualbert, seeing simon introduced into his own monastery of San Miniato, left it and entered Florence, only to find the pastoral staff in the hands of a hireling. The zeal of God's House was devouring his heart; and going into the public squares,

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he denounced the bishop and his own abbot, that thus he might, at least, deliver his own soul.

At the sight of this monk confronting single-handed the universal corruption, the multitude was for a moment seized with stupefaction; but soon surprise was turned into rage, and John with difficulty escaped death. From this day his special vocation was determined: the just, who had never despaired, hailed him as the avenger of Israel, and their hope was not to be confounded. But like all who are chosen for a divine work, he was to spend a long time under the training of the Holy Spirit. The athlete had challenged the powers of this world; the holy war was declared: one would naturally have expected it to wage without ceasing until the enemy was entirely defeated. And yet, the chosen soldier of Christ hastened into solitude to ' amend his life,” according to the truly Christian expression used in the foundation- charter of Vallombrosa.! The promoters of the disorder, startled at the suddenness of the attack, and then seeing the aggressor as suddenly disappear, would laugh at the false alarm; but, cost what it might to the once brilliant soldier, he knew how to abide, in humility and sub- mission, the hour of God's good pleasure.

Little by little other souls, disgusted with the state of society, came to join him; and soon the army of prayer and penance spread throughout Tuscany. It was des- tined to extend over all Italy, and even to cross the mountains. Settimo, seven miles from Florence, and San Salvi, at the gates of the city, were-the strongholds whence the holy war was to recommence in 1063. Another simoniac, Peter of Pavia, had purchased the succession to the episcopal see. John, with all his monks, was resolved rather to die than to witness in silence this new insult offered to the Church of God. His reception this time was to be very different from the former, for the fame of his sanctity and miracles had caused him to be looked upon by the people as an oracle.

! Melioranda vita gratia; Littere donationis Ita Abbatisse; UcHELLI, IIL, 299 vel 231.

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No sooner was his voice heard once more in Florence than the whole flock was so stirred that the unworthy pastor, seeing he could no longer dissemble, cast off his disguise and showed what he really was: a thief who had come only to rob and kill and destroy. By his orders a body of armed men descended upon San Salvi, set fire to the monastery, fell upon the brethren in the midst of the Night Office, and put them all to the sword; each monk continuing to chant till he received the fatal stroke. John Gualbert, hearing at Vallombrosa of the martyr- dom of his sons, intoned a canticle of triumph. Florence was seized with horror, and refused to communicate with the assassin bishop. Nevertheless, four years had yet to elapse before deliverance could come; and the trials of St. John had scarcely begun. St. Peter Damian, invested with full authority by the Sovereign Pontiff, had just arrived from the Eternal City. All expected that no quarter would be given to simony by its sworn enemy, and that peace would be restored to the afflicted Church. The very contrary took place. The greatest saints may be mistaken, and so become to one another the cause of sufferings by so much the more bitter as their will, being less subject to caprice than that of other men, remains more firmly set upon the course they have adopted for the interests of God and His Church. Perhaps the great bishop of Ostia did not sufficiently take into consideration the exceptional position in which the Florentines were placed by the notorious simony of Peter of Pavia, and the violent manner in which he put to death, without form of trial, all who dared to withstand him. Starting from the indisputable principle that inferiors have no right to depose their superiors, the legate reprehended the conduct of the monks, and of all who had separated themselves from the bishop. There was but one refuge for them, the Apostolic See, to which they fearlessly appealed, a proceeding which no one could call uncanonical. But there, says the historian, many who feared for themselves, rose up against them, declaring that these monks were

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worthy of death for having dared to attack the prelates of the Church; while Peter Damian severely reproached them before the whole Roman Council. The holy and glorious Pope Alexander II took the monks under his own protection, and praised the uprightness of their intention. Yet he dared not comply with their request and proceed further, because the greater number of the bishops sided with Peter of Pavia; the archdeacon Hildebrand alone was entirely in favour of the Abbot of Vallombrosa.!

Nevertheless, the hour was at hand when God Himself would pronounce the judgment refused them by men. While overwhelmed with threats and treated as lambs amongst wolves, John Gualbert and his sons cried to heaven with the Psalmist: ' Arise, O Lord, and help us; arise, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord ? Arise, O God, and judge our cause. At Florence the storm continued to rage. St. Saviour’s at Settimo had become the refuge of such of the clergy as were banished from the town by the persecution; the holy founder, who was then residing in that monastery, multiplied in their behalf the resources of his charity. At length the situation became so critical that one day in Lent of the year 1067 the rest of the clergy and the whole population left the simoniac alone in his deserted palace and fled to Settimo. Neither the length of the road, deep in mud from the rain, noi the rigorous fast observed by all, says the narrative written at that very time to the Sovereign Pontiff by the clergy and people of Florence, could stay the most delicate matrons, women about to become mothers, or even children. Evidently the Holy Ghost was actuat- ing the crowd; they called for the judgment of God. John Gualbert, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, gave his consent to the trial; and in testimony of the truth of the accusation brought by him against the Bishop of Florence, Peter, one of his monks, since known as Peter Igneus, walked slowly before the eyes of the multitude through an immense fire, without receiving

! Vita S. J. Gualb. ap. BARON, ad an. 1063.

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the smallest injury. Heaven had spoken: the bishop was deposed by Rome, and ended his days, a happy penitent, in that very monastery of Settimo.

In 1073, the year in which his friend Hildebrand was raised to the Apostolic See, John was called to God. His influence against simony had reached far beyond Tuscany. The Republic of Florence ordered his feast to be kept as a holiday, and the following words were engraved upon his tombstone:

TO JOHN GUALBERT, CITIZEN OF FLORENCE, DELIVERER OF ITALY.

Let us read the notice which the Church consecrates to his blessed memory, though with a few differences of

detail.

Joannes Gualbertus, Flo- rentiz nobili genere ortus, dum patri obsequens rem mili- tarem sequitur, Ugo, unicus ejus frater, occiditur a con- sanguineo: quem cum solum et inermem sancto Parasceves die Joannes armis ac militi- bus stipatus obvium haberet, ubi neuter alterum poterat declinare, ob sancte Crucis reverentiam, quam homicida supplex, mortem jamjam subi- turus, brachiis signabat, vi- tam ei clementer indulget. Hoste in fratrem recepto, pro- ximum sancti Miniatis tem- plum oraturus ingreditur, ubi adoratam Crucifixi imaginem caput sibi flectere conspicit. Quo mirabili facto permotus Joannes, Deo exinde, etiam invito patre, militare decernit, atque ibidem propriis sibi mani- bus comam totondit, ac mo- nasticum habitum induit; ad- eoque piis ac religiosis virtu-

John Gualbert was born at Florence of a noble family. While, in compliance with his father's wishes, he was follow- ing the career of arms, it happened that his only brother Hugh was slain by a kinsman. On Good Friday, John, at the head of an armed band, met the murderer alone and un- armed, in a spot where they could not avoid each other. Seeing death imminent, the murderer, with arms out- stretched in the form of a cross, begged for mercy, and John, through reverence for the sacred sign, graciously spared him. Having thus changed his enemy into a brother, he went to pray in the church of San Miniato, which was near &t hand; and as he wasadoring the image of Christ crucified, he saw it bend its head to- wards him. John was deeply touched by miracle, and

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tibus brevi coruscat, ut mul- tis se perfectionis specimen ac normam praeberet; ita ut, ejusdem loci Abbate defuncto, communi omnium voto in superiorem eligeretur. At Dei famulus cupiens subesse potius quam praesse, ad majora di- vina voluntate servatus, ad Camaldulensis eremi incolam Romualdum proficiscitur: a quo ccelicum sui instituti vati- cinium accipit: tum suum Ordinem sub regula sancti Benedicti apud Umbrosam val- lem instituit.

Deinde, plurimis ad eum ob ejus sanctitatis famam undique convolantibus, una cum iis in socios adscitis, ad hareticam et simoniacam pravitatem exstirpandam et apostolicam fidem propagan- dam sedulo incumbit, innumera propterea in se et suis incom- moda expertus. Nam ut eum ejusque socios adversarii per- dant, noctu sancti Salvii cce- nobium repente aggrediuntur, templum incendunt, edes de- moliuntur, et monachos om- nes lethali vulnere sauciant: quos vir Dei unico crucis signo incolumes protinus reddit; et Petro ejus monacho per im- mensum, ardentissimumque ig- nem illeso mirabiliter trans- eunte, optatam sibi et suis tran- quilitatem obtinet. Inde si-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

determined thenceforward to fight for God alone, even against his father's wish; so on the spot he cut off his own hair and put on the monastic habit. Very soon his pious and religious manner of life shed abroad so great a lustre that he became to many a living rule and pattern of perfection. Hence on the death of the Abbot of the place he was unanimously chosen superior. But the ser- vant of God, preferring obedi- ence to superiority, and more- over being reserved by the divine will for greater things, betook himself to Romuald, who was then living in the desert of Camaldoli, and who, inspired by heaven, announced to him the institute he was to form; whereupon he laid the foundations of his Order under the Rule of St. Benedict at Vallombrosa.

Soon afterwards many, at- tracted by the renown of his sanctity, flocked to him from all sides. He received them into his society, and together with them he zealously de- voted himself to rooting out heresy and simony, and propa- gating the apostolic faith; on account of which devotedness both he and his disciples suf- fered innumerable injuries. Thus, his enenties in their eagerness to destroy him and his brethren, suddenly at- tacked the monastery of San Salvi by night, burned the church, demolished the build- ings, and mortally wounded all the monks. The man of God, however, restored them all forthwith to health by a single sign of the cross. Peter,

--- PAGE 090 --- SAINT JOHN GUALBERT

moniacam labem ab Etruria expulit, ac in tota Italia fidem pristine integritati restituit.

Multa funditus erexit mo- nasteria, eademque et alia zdificiis ac regulari obser- vantia instaurata, sanctis legi- bus communivit. Ad egenos alendos "sacram supellectilem vendidit: ad improbos coer- cendos elementa sibi famulari conspexit: ad daemones com- primendos crucem quasi ensem adhibuit. Demum abstinentiis, vigiliis, jejuniis, orationibus, carnis macerationibus, ac senio confectus, dum infirma vale- tudine gravaretur, Davidica illa verba persepe repetebat: Sitivit anima mea Deum fortem, vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei ? Jamque morti proximus, con- vocatos discipulos ad frater- nam concordiam cohortatur, et in breviculo, cui consepeliri voluit, jussit hac scribi: Ego Joannes credo, et confiteor fidem, quam sancti Apostoli redicaverunt, et sancti Patres in quatuor conciliis confirma- verunt. Tandem triduano an- gelorum obsequio dignatus, sep- tuagesimum octavum annum agens, apud Passinianum, ubi summa veneratione colitur, migravit ad Dominum, anno salutis millesimo septuagesi- mo tertio, quarto — Idus Julii. Quem Coelestinus Ter- tius innumeris miraculis clar-

81

one of his monks, miraculously walked unhurt through a huge blazing fire, and thus John obtained for himself and his sons the peace they so much desired. From that time for- ward every stain of simony disappeared from Tuscany; and faith, throughout all Italy, was restored to its former purity.

John built many entirely new monasteries, and restored many others both as to their material buildings and as to regular observance, strengthen- ing them all with the bulwark of holy regulations. In order to feed the poor he sold the sacred vessels of the altar. The elements were obedient to his will when he sought to check evil-doers; and the sign of the cross was the sword he used whereby to conquer the devils. Atlength, worn out by abstinence, watchings, fasting, prayer, maceration of the flesh, and finally old age, he fell into a grievous malady, during which he repeated unceasingly those words of David: ‘My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of God ? When death drew near, calling together his disciples, he exhorted them to preserve fraternal union. Then he caused these words to be written on a paper which he wished should be buried with him: ‘I, John, believe and confess the faith which the holy Spostics preached, and the holy Fathers in the four Councils have confirmed. At length, having been honoured during three days with the

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um in Sanctorum numerum gracious presence of angels, in

retulit. the seventy-eighth year of his age, he departed to the Lord at Passignano, where he is honoured with the highest veneration. He died in the year of salvation 1073, on the fourth of the Ides of July; and having become celebrated by innumerable miracles, was en- rolled by Celestine III in the number of the saints.

O true disciple of the New Law, who didst know how to spare an enemy for the love of the Holy Cross ! teach us to practise, as thou didst, the lessons conveyed by the instrument of our salvation, which will then become to us, as to thee, a weapon ever victorious over the powers of hell. Could we look upon the Cross, and then refuse to forgive our brother an injury, when God Himself not only forgets our heinous offences against His sovereign Majesty, but even died upon the Tree to expiate them ? The most generous pardon a creature can grant is but a feeble shadow of the pardon we daily obtain from our Father in heaven. Still, the Gospel which the Church sings in thy honour may well teach us that the love of our enemies is the nearest resemblance we can have to our heavenly Father, and the sign that we are truly His children.

Thou hadst, O John, this grand trait of resemblance. He, who in virtue of His eternal generation is the true Son of God by nature, recognized in thee the mark of nobility which made thee His brother. When He bowed His sacred Head to thee, He saluted in thee the character of a child of God, which thou hadst just so beautifully maintained: a title a thousand times more glorious than those of thy noble ancestry. What a powerful germ was the Holy Ghost planting at that moment in thy heart! And how richly does God recom- pense a single generous act! Thy sanctification, the glorious share thou didst take in the Church’s victory,

--- PAGE 092 --- SAINT JOHN GUALBERT 83

the fecundity whereby thou livest still in the Order sprung from thee: all these choice graces for thy own soul and for so many others hung upon that critical moment. Fate, or the justice of God, as thy contem- poraries would have said, had brought thy enemy within thy power: how wouldst thou treat him? He was deserving of death; and in those days every man was his own avenger. Hadst thou then inflicted due punish- ment upon him, thy reputation would have rather increased than diminished. Thou wouldst have obtained the esteem of thy comrades; but the only glory which is - of any worth before God, indeed the only glory which lasts long even in the sight of men, would never have been thine. Who would have known thee at the present day ? Who would have felt the admiration and grati- tude with which thy very name now inspires the children of the Church ?

The Son of God, seeing that thy dispositions were conformable to those of His Sacred Heart, filled thee with His own jealous love of the holy City for whose redemption He shed His blood. O thou that wert zealous for the beauty of the Bride, watch over her still; deliver her from hirelings who would fain receive from men the right of holding the place of the Bride- groom. In our days venality is less to be feared than compromise. Simony would take another form; there is not so much danger of bribery as of fawning, paying homage, making advances, entering into implicit con- tracts; all which proceedings are as contrary to the holy canons as are pecuniary transactions. And after all, is the evil any the less for taking a milder form, if it enables princes to bind the Church again in fetters such as thou didst labour to break? Suffer not, O John Gualbert, such a misfortune, which would be the fore- runner of terrible disasters. Continue to support with thy powerful arm the common Mother of men. Save thy fatherland a second time, even in spite of itself. Protect, in these sad times, the Order of which thou art the glory and the father; give it strength to outlive the --- PAGE 093 --- 84 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

confiscations and the cruelties it has suffered from that same Italy which once hailed thee as its deliverer. Obtain for Christians of every condition the courage required for the warfare in which all are bound to engage.

On this same day the whole Church unites in the solemn homage which Milan continues to pay, after a lapse of sixteen centuries, to two valiant witnesses of Christ. ‘Our martyrs, Felix and Nabor,' says St. Am- brose, ‘ are the grain of mustard-seed mentioned in the Gospel. They possessed the good odour of faith, though it did not appear to men; persecution arose, they laid down their arms, and bowed their heads to the sword, and immediately the grace that was hidden within them was shed abroad even to the ends of the world; so that we can now in all truth say of them: Their sound has gone forth into all the earth.'

Let us honour them and ask their intercession by the prayer which the Church addresses to God in com- memoration of their glorious combat.

COLLECT

Praesta, quesumus, Domine: Grant, we beseech thee, O
ut, sicut nos sanctorum Mar- Lord, that as the festival of tyrum tuorum Naboris et Fe- thy holy martyrs, Nabor and licis natalitia celebranda non Felix, returns for us to cele- deserunt, ita Jus suffragiis brate, it may always be accom- comitentur. Dominum. vm by their intercession.

ough our Lord, etc.

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Jury 13 ST. ANACLETUS POPE AND MARTYR

"T A name of Anacletus sounds like a lingering echo of the solemnity of June 29. Linus, Clement, and Cletus, the immediate successors of St. Peter, received from his hands the pontifical consecration; Anacletus had a less but still inestimable glory of being ordained priest by the Vicar of the Man-God. Whereas the feasts of most of the martyr Pontiffs who came after him are only of simple rite, that of Anacletus is a semi- double, because of his privilege of being the last Pope honoured by the imposition of hands of the Prince of the Apostles. It was also during his pontificate that the Eternal City had the glory of receiving within its walls the beloved disciple, who had come to fulfil his promise and drink of his Master's chalice. ‘O happy Church,’ exclaims Tertullian, ‘into whose bosom the Apostles poured not only all their teaching, but their very blood; where Peter imitated his Lord’s Passion by dying on the cross; where Paul, like John the Baptist, received his crown by means of the sword; whence the Apostle John, after coming forth safe and sound from the boiling oil, was sent to the isle of his banishment.”

By the almighty power of the Spirit of Pentecost. the progress of the faith in Rome was proportionate to the bountiful graces of our Lord. Little by little the great Babylon, drunk with the blood of the martyrs, was being transformed into the Holy City. This new- born race, so full of promise for the future, could already reckon among its members representatives of every class of society. Beside the boiling cauldron where the prophet of Patmos did homage to the new Jerusalem

* De prascript, xxxvi.

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by offering within her walls his glorious confession, two consuls, one representing the ancient patrician rank, the other the more modern nobility of the Casars, Acilius Glabrio and Flavius Clemens, together fell by the sword of martyrdom. Anacletus adorned the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, and provided a burial- place for the other Pontiffs. Following his example, the distinguished families of Rome opened galleries for subterranean cemeteries, all along the roads leading to the Imperial City. There rest innumerable soldiers of Christ, victorious by their blood; and there, too, sleep in peace, with the anchor of salvation beside them, the most illustrious names of earth.

Anacletus Athenlensis, Tra- jano imperatore, rexit Eccle- Siam. Decrevit ut episcopus a tribus episcopis, neque a paucioribus consecraretur, et Clerici sacris Ordinibus publice a proprio episcopo initiarentur: et ut in Missa, peracta conse- cratione, omnes communica- rent. Beati Petri sepulcrum ornavit, Pontificumque sepul- ture locum attribuit. Fecit ordinationes duas mense De- cembri, quibus creavit pres- byteros quinque, diaconos tres, episcopos sex. Sedit annos novem, menses tres, dies decem. Martyrio coronatus, sepultus est in Vaticano.

Anacletus, an Athenlan by birth, governed the Church in the days of the Emperor Tra- jan. He decreed that a bishop should be consecrated by no fewer than three bishops; that clerics should be publicly ad- mitted to Holy Orders, by their own bishop; and that at Mass all should communicate after the Consecration. He adorned the tomb of blessed Peter, and set aside a place for the burial of the Pontiffs. He held two ordinations in the month of December, and made five priests, three deacons, and six bishops. He sat in St. Peter's Chair nine years, three months, and ten days, was crowned with martyrdom and buried in the Vatican.

Glorious Pontiff! thy memory is so closely linked with that of Peter that many reckon thee, under a some- what different name, among the three august persons raised by the Prince of the Apostles to the highest rank in the hierarchy. Nevertheless, in distinguishing thee from Cletus, who appeared in the sacred cycle in the month of April, we are justified by the authority of the

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holy liturgy, which appoints thee a separate feast, and by the constant testimony of Rome itself, which knows better than any the names and the history of its Pontiffs. Happy art thou in being thus, as it were, lost to sight among the foundations whereon rest for ever the strength and beauty of the Church! Give us all a special love for the particular positions assigned to us in the sacred building. Receive the grateful homage of all the living stones who are chosen to form the eternal temple, and who will all lean upon thee for evermore.

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JULY 14

OUR months after the Angel of the Schools, the

Seraphic Doctor appears in the heavens. Bound by the ties of love when on earth, the two are now united for ever before the throne of God. Bonaventure’s own words will show us how great a right they both had to the heavenly titles bestowed upon them by the admiring gratitude of men.

As there are three hierarchies of angels in heaven, so on earth there are three classes of the elect. The Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, who form the first hierarchy, represent those who approach nearest to God by contemplation, and who differ among themselves according to the intensity of their love, the plenitude of their science, and the steadfastness of their justice; to the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers, correspond the prelates and princes; and lastly, the lowest choirs signify the various ranks of the faithful engaged in the active life. This is the triple division of men, which, according to St. Luke, will be made at the last day: Two shall be in the bed, two in the field, two at the mill ; that is to say, in the repose of divine delights, in the field of government, at the mill of this life’s toil. As regards the two mentioned in each place, we may remark that in Isaias the Seraphim, who are more closely united to God than the rest, perform two by two their ministry of sacrifice and praise; for it is with the angel as with man; the fulness of love, which belongs especially to the Seraphim, cannot be without the fulfilment of the double precept of charity towards God and one’s neighbour. Again, our Lord sent His disciples two and two before His face; and in Genesis we find God sending two angels

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where one would have sufficed.! I? is better, therefore, says Ecclesiastes, that two should be together than one ; for they have the advantage of their society.?

Such is the teaching of Bonaventure in his book on the Hierarchy,? wherein he shows us the secret workings of Eternal Wisdom for the salvation of the world and the sanctification of the elect. It would be impossible to understand aright the history of the thirteenth century were we to forget the prophetic vision, wherein our Lady was seen presenting to her offended Son His two servants, Dominic and Francis, that they might by their powerful union, bring back to Him the wandering human race. What a spectacle for angels when, on the morrow of the apparition, the two saints met and em- braced: ' Thou art my companion, we will run side by side,” said the descendant of the Guzmans to the poor man of Assisi; 'let us keep together, and no man will be able to prevail against us.' These words might well have been the motto of their noble sons, Thomas and Bonaventure. The star which shone over the head of St. Dominic shed its bright rays on Thomas; the Seraph who imprinted the stigmata in the flesh of St. Francis touched with his fiery wing the soul of Bona- venture; yet both, like their incomparable fathers, had but one end in view: to draw men by science and love to that eternal life which consists in knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Both were burning and shining lamps, blending their flames in the heavens, in proportions which no mortal eye could distinguish here below; nevertheless, Eternal

isdom has willed that the Church on earth should borrow more especially light from Thomas and fire from Bonaventure. Would that we might here show in each of them the workings of Wisdom, the one bond even on earth of their union of thoughts—that Wisdom who, ever unchangeable in her adorable unity, never repeats herself in the souls she chooses from among the nations to

3 Cf. Gen. xix. 1. * Eccles. Ív. 9. * De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, pars r., caps. i., ii.

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become the prophets and the friends of God. But to-day we must speak only of Bonaventure.

When quite a child, he was saved by St. Francis from imminent death; whereupon his pious mother offered him by vow to the saint, promising that he should enter the Order of Friars Minor. Thus, in the likeness of holy poverty, that beloved companion of the Seraphic Patriarch, did Eternal Wisdom prevent our saint from his very cradle, showing herself first unto him. At the earliest awakening of his faculties he found her seated at the entrance of his soul, awaiting the opening of its gates, which are, he tells us, intelligence and love. Having received a good soul in an undefiled body, he preferred Wisdom before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison with the august friend, who offered herself to him in the glory of her nobility and beauty. From that first moment, without ever waning, she was his light. Peacefully as a sunbeam glancing through a hitherto closed window, Wisdom filled this dwelling, now become her own, as the bride on the nuptial day takes possession of the bride- groom's house, filling it with joy, in community of goods, and above all of love.

For her contribution to the nuptial banquet, she brought the substantial brightness of heaven; Bona- venture on his part offered her the lilies of purity, so desired by her as her choicest food. Henceforth the feast in his soul was to be continual; and the light and the perfumes, breaking forth, were shed around, attract- ing, enlightening, and nourishing all. While still very young, he was, according to custom, sent, after the first years of his religious life, to the celebrated University of Paris, where he soon won all hearts by his angelic manners; and the great Alexander of Hales, struck with admiration at the union of so many qualities, said of him that it seemed as if in him Adam had not sinned. Asa lofty mountain whose head is lost in the clouds, and from whose foot run fertilizing waters far and wide, Brother Alexander himself, according to the expression of the

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Sovereign Pontiff, seemed at that time to contain within himself the living fountain of Paradise, whence the river of science and salvation flowed over the earth.! Never- theless, not only would he, .the irrefragable Doctor, and the Doctor of doctors, give up his chair in a short time to the newcomer, but he would hereafter derive his greatest glory from being called father and master by that illustrious disciple. Placed in such a position at so early an age, Bonaventure could say of Divine Wisdom, even more truly than of the great master who had had little to do but admire the prodigious develop- ment of his soul: ' It is she that has taught me all things; she taught me the knowledge of God and of His works, justice and virtues, the subtleties of speeches and the solutions of arguments.'?

Such, indeed, is the object of those Commentaries on the four Books of Sentences, first delivered as lectures from the chair of Paris, where he held the noblest intellects spellbound by his graceful and inspired language. This masterpiece, while it is an inexhaustible mine of treasures to the Franciscan family, bears so great testimony to the science of this doctor of twenty-seven years of age that, though so soon called from his chair to the government of a great Order, he was worthy on account of this single work to share with his friend Thomas Aquinas, who was fortunately freer to pursue his studies, the honourable title of prince of Sacred Theology.*

The young master already merited his name of Sera- phic Doctor, by regarding science as merely a means to love, and declaring that the light which illuminates the mind is barren and useless unless it penetrates to the heart, where alone wisdom rests and feasts.5 St. Anto- ninus tells us also that in him every truth grasped by the intellect passed through the affections, and thus

! Litt. ALExANDRI IV.: De fontibus paradisi flumen egrediens.

* BONAVENT. in 11. Sent., dist. xxili., art. 2, qu. 3, ad 7. * Cf. Wisd. vii. and viii.

* Litt. Sixr1 IV. Superna coelestis patria civitas; Sixr1 V. Triumphantis Hierusa - lem; Lzowis XIII. &terni Patris. ^ :

* Exp. in Lib, Sap. viii. 9, 16.

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became prayer and divine praise. ‘His aim,’ says another historian, ‘was to burn with love, to kindle himself first at the divine fire, and afterwards to inflame others. Careless of praise or renown, anxious only to regulate his life and actions, he would fain burn and not only shine; he would be fire, in order to approach nearer to God by becoming more like to Him who is fire. Albeit, as fire is not without light, so was he also at the same time a shining torch in the House of God; but his special claim to our praise is that all the light at his command he gathered to feed the flame of divine love.'? The bent of his mind was clearly indicated when, at the beginning of his public teaching, he was called upon to give his decision on the question then dividing the Schools: to some theology was a speculative, to others a practical, science, according as they were more struck by the theoretical or the moral side of its teaching. Bonaventure, uniting the two opinions in the principle which he considered the one universal law, concluded that ' Theology is an affective science, the knowledge of which proceeds by speculative contemplation, but aims principally at making us good.” For the wisdom of doctrine, he said, must be according to her name, something that can be relished by the soul; and he added, not without that gentle touch of irony which the saints know how to use: ' There is a difference, I suppose, in the impressions produced by the proposition, Christ died for us, or the like, and by such as this: The diagonal and the side of a square cannot be equal to one another.'* The graceful speech and profound science of our saint were enhanced by a beautiful modesty. He would conclude a difficult question thus: ' This is said without prejudice to the opinions of others. If anyone think otherwise, or better, as he may wel do on this point as on all others, I bear him no ill-will; but if, in this little work, he find anything deserving approval, let him give

* AwxTONINI, Chronic., p. m1, tit. xxiv., cap. 8. * H. Sepurius, Histor. seraph.

* Eccli. vi. 23. * Bonavent. Premium in 1. Sent, qu. 3.

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thanks to God, the Author of all good. Whatever, in any part, be found false, doubtful or obscure, let the kind reader forgive the incompetence of the writer, whose conscience bears him unimpeachable testimony that he has wished to say nothing but what is true, clear, and commonly received." On one occasion, however, Bona- venture's unswerving devotion to the Queen of Virgins modified with a gentle force his expression of humility: ‘If anyone, he says, ‘prefers otherwise, I will not contend with him, provided he say nothing to the detriment of the Venerable Virgin, for we must take the very greatest care, even should it cost us our life, that no one lessen in any way the honour of our Lady." Lastly, at the end of the third book of this admirable Exposition of the Sentences, he declares that ' charity is worth more than all science. It is enough, in doubtful questions, to know what the wise have taught; disputa- tion is to little purpose. We talk much, and our words fail us. Infinite thanks be to the perfecter of all dis- course, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, taking pity on my poverty of knowledge and of genius, has enabled me to complete this moderate work. I beg of Him that it may procure me the merit of obedience, and may be of profit to my brethren: the twofold purpose for which the task was undertaken.”

But the time had come when obedience was to give place to another kind of merit, less pleasing to himself, but not less profitable to the brethren. At thirty-five years of age, he was elected Minister-General. Obliged thus to quit the field of scholastic teaching, he entrusted it to his friend, Thomas Aquinas, who, younger by several years, was to cultivate it longer and more completely than he himself had been suffered. The Church would lose nothing by the change; for Eternal Wisdom, who ordereth all things with strength and sweetness, thus disposed that these two incomparable geniuses, com- pleting one another, should give us the fulness of that

! jr, Sent, dist. xliv., art. 3, qu. 2, ad 6. * 1v. Sent., dist. xxviii, qu. 6, ad 5. * jn. pt dist. xl., qu. 3, ad 6.

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is science which not only reveals God, but leads to im.

Give an occasion to the wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him.* This sentence was placed by Bona- venture at the head of his treatise on ' The Six Wings of the Seraphim,” wherein he sets forth the qualifications necessary for one called to the cure of souls; and well did he fulfil it himself in the government of his immense Order, scattered by its missions throughout the whole Church. The treatise itself, which Father Claude Acquaviva held in such high estimation as to oblige the Superiors of the Society of Jesus to use it as a guide, furnishes us with a portrait of our saint at this period. He had reached the summit of the spiritual life, where the inward peace of the soul is undisturbed by the most violent agitations from without; where the closeness of their union with God produces in the saints a mysterious fecundity, displayed to the world, when God wills, by a multiplicity of perfect works incomprehensible to the profane. Let us listen to Bonaventure’s own words: ‘ The Seraphim exercise an influence over the lower orders, to draw them upwards; so the love of the spiritual man tends both to his neighbour and to God: to God that he may rest in Him; to his neighbour to draw him thither with himself. Not only then do they burn; they also give the form of perfect love, driving away darkness and showing how to rise by degrees, and to go to God by the highest paths.”

Such is the secret of that admirable series of opuscula, composed, as he owned to St. Thomas, without the aid of any book but his crucifix, without any preconceived plan, but simply as occasion required at the request, or to satisfy the needs of the brethren and sisters of his large family, or again, when he felt a desire of pouring out his soul. In these works Bonaventure has treated alike of the first elements of asceticism and of the sublimest ‘subjects of the mystic life, with such fulness, certainty, clearness, and persuasive force, that Sixtus IV declared

! Prov. ix. 9. * BoxavzNT. De Eccles. hier., p. 11, c. ii.

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the Holy Spirit seemed to speak in him.! On reading the Itinerary of the Soul to God, which was written on the height of Alverna, as it were under the immediate influence of the Seraphim, the Chancellor Gerson ex- claimed: ‘ This opusculum, or rather this immense work, is beyond the praise of a mortal mouth." And he wished it, together with that wonderful compendium of sacred science, the Breviloquium, to be imposed upon theologians as a necessary manual? ‘By his words,’ says the great Abbot Trithemius in the name of the Benedictine Order, ' the author of all these learned and devout works inflames the will of the reader no less than he enlightens his mind. Note the spirit of divine love and Christian devotion in his writings, and you will easily see that he surpasses all the doctors of his time in the usefulness of his works. Many expound doctrine, many preach devotion, few teach the two together; Bonaventure surpasses both the many and the few, because he trains to devotion by science, and to science by devotion. If, then, you would be both learned and devout, you must put his teaching into practice.'*

But Bonaventure himself will tell us best the proper dispositions for reading him with profit. At the begin- ning of his Incendium amoris, wherein he teaches the three ways, purgative, illuminative, and unitive, which lead to true wisdom, he says: ' I offer this book not to philosophers, not to the worldly-wise, not to great theologians perplexed with endless questions, but to the simple and ignorant who strive rather to love God than to know much. It is not by disputing, but by activity, that we learn to love. As to those men full of questions, superior in every science, but inferior in the love of Christ, I consider them incapable of understanding the contents of this book; unless putting away all vain show of learn- ing, they strive, by humble self-renunciation, prayer, and meditation, to kindle within them the divine spark,

1 Litt. Su

coelestis, * GERSON Epist. cuidam Fratri Minori. . an, 1426. * Tract de exam. doctrinarum, * TRITHEM, de Scriptor. eccle.

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which, inflaming their hearts and dispelling all darkness, will lead them beyond the concerns of time even to the throne of peace. Indeed, by the very fact of their know- ing more, they are better disposed to love, or, at least, they would be if they truly despised themselves and could rejoice to be despised by others.”

Although these pages are already too long, we cannot resist quoting the last words left us by St. Bonaventure. As the Angel of the Schools was soon, at Fossa Nova, to close his labours and his life with the explanation of the Canticle of Canticles, so his seraphic rival and brother tuned his last notes to these words of the sacred Nuptial Song: ‘ King Solomon has made him a litter of the wood of Libanus : The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going-up of purple.? ‘The seat of gold,' added our saint, ' is contemplative wisdom; it belongs to those alone who possess the column of silver —1.e., the virtues which strengthen the soul; the going-up of purple is the charity whereby we ascend to the heights and descend to the valleys.”

It is a conclusion worthy of Bonaventure, the close of a sublime but incomplete work, which he had not even time to put together himself. ‘Alas! alas! alas! cries out with tears the loving disciple to whom we owe this last treasure, ‘ a higher dignity, and then the death of our lord and master prevented the continuation of this work.” And then showing us, in a touching manner, the precautions taken by the sons lest they should lose anything of their father's conferences: * What I here give,’ he says, ‘ is what I could snatch by writing rapidly while he was speaking. Two others took notes at the same time, but their papers are scarcely legible; whereas several of the audience were able to read my copy, and the master himself and many others made use of it; a fact for which I deserve some gratitude. And now at length, permission and time having been given to me, I have revised these notes, with the voice and gestures

* Incend. amoris, Prologus. * Cant. iii, 9, ro. * [lluminationes Ecclesie in Hexameron, Sermo xxiii.

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of the master ever in my ear and before my eyes; I have arranged them in order, without adding anything to what he said, except the indication of certain authorities.”

The dignity mentioned by the faithful secretary is that of Cardinal Bishop of Albano. After the death of Clement IV, and the succeeding three years*of widow- hood for the Church, our saint, by his influence with the Sacred College, had obtained the election of Gregory X, who now imposed upon him in virtue of obedience the honour of the cardinalate. Having been entrusted with the work of preparation for the Council of Lyons, con- vened for the spring of 1274, Bonaventure had the joy of assisting at the reunion of the Latin and Greek Churches, which he, more than anyone else, had been instrumental in obtaining. But God spared him the bitterness of seeing how short-lived the reunion was to be: a union which would have been the salvation of that East which he loved, and where his name, translated into Eutychius, was still in veneration two centuries later at the time of the Council of Florence. On July 15 of that year, 1274, in the midst of the Council, and pre- sided at by the Sovereign Pontiff himself, took place the most solemn funeral the world has ever witnessed. ‘I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan,’ cried out before that mourning assembly, gathered from East and West, the Dominican Cardinal Peter of Tarentaise. After fifty-three years spent in this world, the Seraph had cast off his robe of flesh, and spreading his wings had gone to join Thomas Aquinas, who had by a very short time preceded him to heaven.

The following are the proper lessons appointed for St. Bonaventure in the Breviary:

Bonaventura, Balnecregii in Etruria natus, a lethali morbo adhuc puer, beati Francisci precibus, cujus religioni, si con- valuisset, voto matris dicatus fuerat, evasit incolumis. Ita- que adolescens, fratrum Mino-

Bonaventure was born at Bagnorea, in Tuscany. While still a child, he was smitten by a mortal sickness, and his mother vowed that he should be consecrated to the order of blessed Francis if he recovered.

1 Illuminat. Eccles., Additiones.

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rum institutum amplecti vo- luit, in quo ad eam doctrine praestantiam Alexandro de Ales magistro pervenit, ut septimo post anno Parisiis magisterii lauream adeptus, libros Sen- tentiarum publice summa cum laude sit tt whe quos etiam praclaris postea com- mentariis illustravit. Nec sci- entie solum eruditione, sed et morum integritate, viteque innocentia, humilitate, mansue- tudine, terrenarum rerum con- temptu et celestium desiderio mirifice excelluit: dignus plane, qui quam perfectionis ex- emplar haberetur, et a beato Thoma Aquinate, cui summa caritate conjunctus erat, san- ctus appellaretur. Is enim, cum sancti Francisci vitam illum Scribentem comperisset: Sina- mus, ait, Sanctum pro Sancto laborare.

Divini amoris flamma suc- census, erga Christi Domini passionem, quam jugiter me- ditabatur, ac Deiparam Vir- ginem, cui se totum devoverat, singulari ferebatur pietatis af- fectu: quem in aliis etiam ver- bo et exemplo excitare, scrip- tisque opusculis augere sum- mopere studuit. Hinc illa mo- rum suavitas, gratia sermo- nis, et caritas in omnes effusa, qua singulorum animos sibi arctissime devinciebat. Quam ob rem vix quinque et triginta annos natus, Romz summo om- nium consensu Generalis Or-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

He came safely through the sickness at the Saint's prayer; and consequently when a young man, he determined to enter the institute of the Friars Minor. .He was put under the instruction of Alex- ander of Hales, and became so eminent for learning that at the end of seven years he obtained the Master's degree at Paris, and lectured publicly with great applause on the books of the Sentences, which later in life he explained by lucid commentaries. He attained great eminence, not only in knowledge and learning, but also in purity of life, innocence, humility, meekness, contempt for earthly things and desire for those of heaven; and he was manifestly worthy of being held as an example of per- fection. By blessed Thomas Aquinas, towhom he was bound by close friendship, he was called a saint, and when St. Thomas found him one day writing the Life of St. Francis, he said: ‘Let us allow one saint to labour for another.’ He was enkindled with a great flame of divine love, and was moved with particular affection for the Passion of Christ our Lord, which was his constant matter of medita- tion, and for the Virgin Mother of God, to whom he wholly vowed himself. He sought, moreover, with all his power to excite a like ardour in others both by word and example, and to increase it by his books and other writings. Hence arose that sweetness of dis- position, unction in speech and open-hearted charity to all --- PAGE 108 --- SAINT BONAVENTURE

dinis Minister electus est: sus- ceptumque munus per .duo- deviginti annos admirabili pru- dentia gessit ac laude sancti- tatis. Plura constituit regu- lari discipline et amplificando Ordini utilia; quem una cum aliis Ordinibus mendicantibus adversus obtrectatorum calum- nias feliciter propugnavit.

Ad Lugdunense Concilium a beato Gregorio decimo accer- situs, et Cardinalis Episcopus Albanensis creatus, arduis Con- cilii rebus egregiam navavit operam: qua et schismatis dissi- dia composita sunt, et ecclesi- astica dogmata vindicata. Qui- bus in laboribus, anno etatis sue quinquagesimo tertio, sa- lutis vero millesimo ducentesi- mo septuagesimo quarto, sum- mo omnium mmrore decessit, ab universo Concilio, ipso pra- sente Romano Pontifice, funere honestatus. Eum Xystus quar- tus plurimis maximisqueclarum miraculis in Sanctorum nume- rum retulit. Multa scripsit, in quibus summam eruditionem cum pietatis ardore conjungens, lectorem docendo movet; quare a Xysto quinto Doctoris Sera- phici nomine merito est insig- nitus.

99

men, by which he succeeded in binding the hearts of all so closely to himself. For these reasons, when scarcely thirty- five years old, he was elected at Rome, by acclamation, Minister-General of his Order; and he held the office which he had taken up for twenty years, with remarkable pru- dence and praiseworthy holi- ness. He made a number of regulations suited to the main- tenance of regular discipline and the extension of the Order: and he defended it, as well as the other mendicant orders, with great success against the charges of calumniators.

By Blessed Gregory X he was summoned to the Council of Lyons, and created Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He steered the Council successfully through the arduous tasks it had undertaken: as a result of which the disputes excited by schismatics were brought to an end, and the dogmas of the Church vindicated. In the midst of these labours, to the great sorrow of all who knew him, he died in 1274, in the fifty-third year of his age, and his funeral was adorned by the presence of the whole Council, and of the Roman Pontiff himself. He became renowned for many great miracles, and Xystus IV en- rolled him among the saints. He composed a number of writings, in which he exhibited great learning and ardent piety, moving the reader's heart by his instruction: and for this reason Xystus V deservedly bestowed on him the title of the Seraphic Doctor.

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Thou hast entered, O Bonaventure, into the joy of thy Lord, and what must thy happiness be now, since, as thou thyself didst say: ' By how much a man loves God on earth, by so much does he rejoice in him in heaven '??! If the great St. Anselm, from whom thou didst borrow that word, added that love is proportioned to knowledge? O thou, who wast at the same time a prince of sacred science and the doctor of love, show us how all light, in the order of grace and of nature, is intended to lead us to love. God is hidden in every- thing;? Christ is the centre of every science;* and the fruit of each of them is to build up faith, to honour God, toregulate our life, and to lead to divine union by charity, without which all knowledge is vain. For, as thou didst say,® all the sciences have their fixed and infallible rules, which come down to our soul as so many reflec- tions of the eternal law; and our soul, surrounded and penetrated with such brightness, is led, of her own accord, unless she is blind, to contemplate that eternal light. Wonderful light, reflected from the mountains of our fatherland into the furthermost valleys of our exile! In the eyes of the Seraphic Father Francis the world was truly noble, so that he called, as thou tellest us, even the lowest creatures by the name of brothers and sisters; in every beauty he discerned the Sovereign Beauty; by the traces left in creation by its Author he found his Beloved everywhere, and he made of them a ladder whereby to ascend to him.

Do thou, too, O my soul, open thine eyes, bend thine ear, unlock thy lips, and prepare thy heart, that in every creature thou mayest see thy God, hear Him, praise Him, love Him, and honour Him, lest the whole universe rise up against thee for not rejoicing in the works of His hands. Then from the world beneath thee, which has but the shadow of God and His presence, inasmuch as He is everywhere, pass on to thyself, His image by nature,

! Bonav. De perfectione vitz ad pen viii. * (Asc Le E xxvi.

* Bonav. De red artium ad theol

* De reduct. artium ad theolog. : + ünerarium mentis in Sid iii. ! Legenda Sti. Francisci viii. * Ibid. i

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reformed in Christ the Bridegroom. From the image rise to the truth of the first beginning, in unity of Essence and trinity of Persons, that thou mayest attain the repose of that sacred night where both the shadow and the image are forgotten in an all-absorbing love. But first of all thou must know that the mirror of the external world will avail thee little, unless the interior mirror of thy soul be purified and bright, unless thy desire be aided by prayer and contemplation in order to kindle love. Know that here, reading without unction, speculation without devotion, labour without piety, knowledge without charity, intelligence without humility, study without grace, are nothing; and when at length, rising gradually by prayer, holiness of life, and the contem- plation of truth, thou shalt have reached the mountain where the God of gods reveals Himself, taught by the powerlessness of thy sight here on earth to endure splendours of which nature was too feeble to give thee an indication, let thy blind intelligence remain asleep, pass beyond it in Christ, who is the gate and the way, question no longer the master but the Bridegroom, not man but God, not the light but the all-consuming fire; pass from this world with Christ to the Father, who will ^ shown to thee, and then say with Philip: ' It is enough or us.’

O Seraphic Doctor, lead us by this sublime ascent, of which every line of thy works discloses the secrets, the toils, the beauties, and the dangers. In the pursuit of that Divine Wisdom, which even in its feeblest reflec- tions no one can behold without ecstasy, guard us against mistaking for an end the satisfaction felt from the scanty rays sent down to us to draw us from the confusion of nothingness even to Itself. If these rays which pro- ceed from the eternal Beauty be withdrawn from their focus and perverted from their object, there will be nothing but delusion, deception, vain knowledge, or false pleasures. Indeed, the more lofty the knowledge and the nearer it approaches to God as the object of

* Bona, Itinerar. mentis in Deum, i. *. Ibid. vil.

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speculative theory, the more in a certain sense is error to be feared. If a man in his progress towards true wisdom, which is possessed and relished for its own sake, is drawn aside by the charms of knowledge, and rests therein, thou, O Bonaventure, hesitatest not to compare such knowledge to a vile deceiver, who would withdraw the affections of the king's son from his noble betrothed to fix them upon herself. Such an insult to an august queen would be equally grievous whether offered by a servant or by a lady of honour. Hence thou didst declare that 'the passage from science to wisdom is dangerous, unless holiness intervene.? Help us to cross the perilous pass; let science ever be to us a means of attaining sanctity and acquiring greater love.

Thou hast still, O Bonaventure, the same thoughts in the light of God. Witness the predilection thou hast more than once shown in our time for those centres where, in spite of the fever of activity which must needs keep in motion every force of nature, divine contempla- tion is still appreciated as the better part, as the only end and aim of all knowledge. Deign to continue thy protection of thy devout and grateful clients. Defend, as heretofore, the life and prerogatives of all religious Orders which are now so persecuted. To thy own Franciscan family be still a cause of increase both in numbers and in sanctity; bless the labours undertaken by it, to the joy of all the world, to bring to light as they deserve thy history and thy works. Bring back the East a third time to unity and life, and that for ever. May the whole Church be warmed by thy rays; may the divine fire thou didst so effectually nurture enkindle the earth anew !

! Illumínationes Eccl., ii. ! Ibid. xix.

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Jury 15 SAINT HENRY EMPEROR

ENRY of Germany, the second king, but the first

emperor of that name, was the last crowned repre- sentative of that branch of the house of Saxony descen- ded from Henry the Fowler, to which God, in the tenth century, entrusted the mission of restoring the work of Charlemagne and Leo III. This noble stock was rendered more glorious in the flowers of sanctity adorning its branches than in the deep and powerful roots it struck in the German soil by great and long- enduring institutions.

The Holy Spirit, who divideth His gifts according as He will, was then calling to the loftiest destinies that land which, more than any other, had witnessed the energy of His divine action in the transformation of nations. Won to Christ by St. Boniface and the con- tinuators of his work, the vast country which extends beyond the Rhine and the Danube had become the bulwark of the West, and for many years had been the scene of devastation and ruin. Far from attempting to subjugate to her own rule the formidable tribes that inhabited it, pagan Rome, at the very zenith of her power, had had no higher ambition than to raise a wall of separation between them and the Empire: Christian Rome, more truly mistress of the world, set up in their very midst the seat of the Holy Roman Empire re- established by her Pontiffs. The new Empire was to defend the rights of the common Mother, to protect Christendom from new inroads of barbarians, to win over ‘to the Gospel or else to crush the successive hordes that would come down on her frontiers—Hungarians,

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Slavs, Mongols, Tartars, and Ottomans. Happy had it been for Germany if she had always understood her true glory, if the fidelity of her princes to the Vicar of the Man-God had been equal to her people's faith.

God, on His part, had not closed His hand. To-day’s feast shows us the crowning-point of the period of fruitful labour, when the Holy Ghost, having created Germany anew in the waters of the sacred font, would lead her up to the full development of a people's perfect age. The historian, who would know what Providence requires of nations, must study them at such a period of truly creative formation. Indeed, when God creates, whether in the order of nature or of the supernatural vocation of men and societies, He first deposits in His work the principle of that grade of life for which it is destined: it is a precious germ, the development of which, unless thwarted, must lead that being to attain its end; and the knowledge of which, could we observe it before any alteration has taken place, would clearly indicate the divine intention with regard to that being. Now, many times already, since the coming of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier, we have shown that the principle of life for Christian nations is the holiness of their beginnings: a holiness as manifold as is the Wisdom of God, whose instrument these nations are to be, and as peculiar to each as are their several destinies. This holiness, beginning as it does for the most part from the throne, possesses a social character. The crimes also of princes will but too often bear this same mark, from the very fact of the princes being the representa- tives of their people before God. Then, too, we have seen' how, in the name of Mary, who through her divine Maternity is the channel of life to the whole world, a mission has been intrusted to women: the mission of bringing forth to God the families of nations (familie gentium), which are to be the objects of His tenderest love. Whereas the princes, the apparent founders of empires, stand with their mighty deeds in

* Time after Pentecost, Vol. IIL, St. Clofüde. — — * Ps. xxl. 28.

HA ERE...

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SAINT HENRY I05

the foreground of history, it is she that, by her secret tears and prayers, gives fruitfulness, a loftier aim, and stability to their undertakings.

The Holy Ghost leads many souls to imitate the Mother of God; like Clotilde, Radegond, and Bathildis, who gave the Franks to the Church in troublous times—three chosen souls—Matilda, Adelaide, and Cunigund—and added the aureole of sanctity to the imperial diadem of Germany. Over the chaos of the tenth century, whence Germany was to spring, they shone out like three bright stars, shedding their peaceful light over the Church and the world in that dark night, and thus doing more to suppress anarchy than could even the sword of an Otho. The eleventh century opened: Hildebrand had not yet arisen, and the angels of the sanctuary were weeping over many a desecrated altar, when the royal succession was brought to a beautiful close by a virginal union, as though, weary of pro- ducing heroes for the world, it would now bear fruit for heaven alone. Was such a step against the interests of Germany ? No; for it drew down the mercy of God upon the country, which, in the midst of universal corruption, could offer Him the perfume of such a holocaust.

Let earth and heaven this day unite in celebrating the man who carried out to the full the designs of Eternal Wisdom at this period of history. In his single person he discovered all the heroism and sanctity of the illus- trious race, whose chief glory it is to have been for a century a worthy preparation for so great a man. Great before men, who knew not whether to admire more his bravery or the energetic activity which made him seem to be everywhere at once throughout his vast empire, he was ever successful, putting down internal revolts, con- quering the Slavs on his northern frontier, chastising the insolence of the Greeks in southern Italy, assisting Hungary to rise from barbarism to Christianity, con- cluding with Robert the Pious a lasting peace between the Empire and the eldest daughter of the Church. 8

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But the virgin spouse of the virgin Cunigund was greater still before God, who never had a more faithful lieutenant upon earth. God in His Christ was in Henry's eyes the only King; the interest of Christ and the Church, the one principle of his administration; the most perfect service of the Man-God, his highest ambition. He understood how the truest nobility was hidden in the cloister, where chosen souls, fleeing from the universal degradation, were averting the ruin and obtaining the salvation of the world. It was this thought that led him, on the morrow of his imperial coronation, to confide to the famous Abbey of Cluny the golden globe repre- senting the world, which he, as soldier of the Vicar of Christ, was commissioned to defend. It was with the desire of imitating those noble souls that he threw himself at the feet of the Abbot of St. Vannes at Verdun, begging admission into his community, and then, constrained by obedience, returned with a heavy heart to resume the burden of government.

The following is the notice, necessarily incomplete, which the Church gives us concerning St. Henry:

106

Henricus, cognomento Pius, e duce Bavariz rex Germanie, ac postmodum Romanorum imperator, temporalis regni non contentus angustiis, pro adi- piscenda immortalitatis corona sedulam azterno Regi exhibuit servitutem. Adepto enim im- perio, religioni amplificande studiose incumbens, ecclesias ab infidelibus destructas magni- ficentius reparavit, plurimisque largitionibus et praediis locu- letavit. Monasteria, aliaque oca pia vel ipse zdificavit, vel assignatis redditibus auxit. Episcopatum Bambergensem, hzreditariis opibus fundatum, beato Petro, Romanoque Ponti- fidi vectigalem fecit. Bene- dictum Octavum, a quo imperii

Henry, surnamed the Pious, Duke of Bavaria, became suc- cessively King of Germany and Emperor of the Romans; but not satisfied with a mere temporal principality, he strove to gain an immortal crown, by paying zealous service to the eternal King. As em- peror, he devoted himself earnestly to spreading religion, and rebuilt with great magni- ficence the churches which had been destroyed by the in- fidels, endowing them gener- ously both with money and lands. He built monasteries and other pious establishments, and increased the income of others; the bishopric of Bam- berg, which he had founded

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coronam acceperat, profugum excepit, suzque sedi restituit.

In Cassinensi monasterio gravi detentus infirmitate, a Sancto Benedicto, insigni mira- culo, sanatus est. Romanam Ecclesiam | amplissimo diplo- mate muneratus, eidem tuen- dae bellum adversus Gracos suscepit, et Apuliam, diu ab illis possessam, recuperavit. Nihil sine precibus aggredi solitus, angelum Domini san- ctosque martyres tutelares pro se pugnantes ante aciem inter- dum vidit. Divina autem pro- tectus ope, barbaras nationes precibus magis quam armis expugnavit. Pannoniam ad- huc infidelem, tradita Stephano regi sorore sua in uxorem, eoque

baptizato, ad Christi fidem perduxit. Virginitatem, raro exemplo, matrimonio junxit,

sanctamque Cunegundam, con- jugem suam, propinquis ejus, morti proximus, illibatam resti- tuit.

Denique rebus omnibus, qua ad imperii honorem et utilita- tem pertinebant, summa pru- dentia dispositis, et illustribus per Galliam, Italiam et Ger- maniam, religiose munificen- tie vestigiis passim relictis, postquam heroica virtutis sua- vissimum odorem longe late- que diffuderat, sanctitate quam

107

out of his family possessions, he made tributary to St. Peter and the Roman Pontiff. When Benedict VIII, who had crowned him emperor, was obliged to seek safety in flight, Henry received him and re- stored him to his see.

Once when he was suffering from a severe illness in the monastery of Monte Cassino, St. Benedict cured him by a wonderful miracle. He en- dowed the Roman Church with a most copious grant, under- took in her defence a war against the Greeks, and gained

ession of Apulia, which they had held for some time. It was his custom to undertake nothing without prayer, and at times he saw the angel of the Lord, or the holy martyrs, his patrons, fighting for him at the head of his army. Aided thus by the divine protection, he overcame barbarous nations more by prayer than by arms. Hungary was still pagan; but Henry having given his sister in marriage to its King Stephen, the latter was baptized, and thus the whole nation was brought to the faith of Christ. He set the rare example of preserving virginity in the married state, and at his death restored his wife, St. Cunigund, a virgin to her family.

He arranged everything re- lating to the glory or advan- tage of his empire with the greatest prudence, and left scattered throughout Gaul, Italy, and Germany, traces of his munificence towards re- ligion. The sweet odour of his heroic virtue spread far and wide, till he was more

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sceptro clarior, ad regni cceles- tis premia, consummatis vite laboribus, a Domino vocatus est, anno salutis millesimo vi- gesimo quarto. Cujus corpus in ecclesia beatorum aposto- lorum Petri et Pauli Bamberg conditum fuit; statimque ad ejus tumulum multa miracula, Deo ipsum glorificante, patrata sunt: quibus postea rite pro- batis, Eugenius Tertius sancto- rum numero illum adscripsit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

celebrated for his holiness than Íor his imperial dignity. At length his life's work was ac- complished, and he was called by our Lord to the rewards of the heavenly kingdom, in the year of salvation 1024. His body was buried in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul at Bamberg. God wished to glorify His servant, and many miracles were worked at his tomb. These

being afterwards proved and certified, Eugenius III in- scribed his name upon the catalogue of the saints.

By me kings reign, by me princes rule! Thou, O Henry, didst well understand this language of heaven. In an age of wickedness, thou knewest where to find counsel and strength. Like Solomon thou didst desire Wisdom alone, and like him thou didst experience that with her are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice ;? but more blessed than David's son, thou didst not suffer thyself to be drawn away from Wisdom herself by those lower gifts, which were rather a test of thy love of God than an expression of His love for thee. The test, O Henry, was decisive; thou didst walk to the very end in the right path, following up loyally every consequence of our Lord's teaching; not content to mount with many even of the best, by the gentler slopes, thou didst run with the perfect, following closely the footsteps of ador- able Wisdom, in the midst of the paths of judgment?

Who can gainsay what God approves, what Christ counsels, what the Church has canonized in thee and thy noble spouse ? Surely kings are not placed in so pitiable a condition that the call of the Man-God cannot reach them on their thrones? Christian equality requires that princes should not be less free than their subjects to have higher ambitions than those of earth. Thou didst prove to mankind that even for the world

! Prov. viii. 15, 16. * Ibid. 18. *. Ibid. 20.

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SAINT HENRY 109

the knowledge of the holy is true prudence! By claiming the right to aspire to the highest mansions in our Heavenly Father's house (the baptismal birthright of every child of God), thou didst shine like a beacon-light under the darkest sky that ever overspread the Church; and thou didst rescue souls whom the salt of the earth, having lost its savour and being trodden under foot, could no longer preserve from corruption. It was not for thee in person to reform the sanctuary; but as chief servant of Mother Church, thou didst not fear to respect both her ancient laws and recent decrees, which are ever worthy of the Spouse, and holy as the Spirit who in every age dictates them. Thy reign was a period of sunshine before the satanic fury which was all too soon to break as a storm over the Church. While seeking first the Kingdom of God and His justice, thou didst not abandon thy fatherland, nor the nation that had placed thee at its head. To thee above all others Germany owes the establishment in her midst of that Empire which was her glory until in our times it fell, never to rise again. Long after thy departure from this earth thy holy works were of sufficient weight in the scales of divine justice to overbalance the crimes of a Henry IV or a Frederick II, which would have compromised for ever the future of Germany. From thy throne in heaven, cast down a look of pity on the extensive domain of the Holy Empire, which owed so much to thee, and which heresy has for ever dismembered. Put to con- fusion those principles, unknown to Germany in happier days, which would reconstruct, for the benefit of earthly prosperity, the grandeurs of the past without the cement of the ancient faith. Return, O emperor of glorious days ! return and fight for the Church; gather together the remains of Christendom upon the traditional ground of the interests common to all Catholic nations: then will the alliance, which thy able policy concluded, give to the world a security, a peace, a prosperity, which it can never enjoy so long as it remains on such a slippery footing, and exposed to the violence of every hostile agency.

* Prov. ix. 10.

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Jury 16 OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

OWERING over the waves on the shore of the

Holy Land, Mount Carmel, together with the short range of the same name, forms a connecting link to two other chains, abounding with glorious memories, namely : the mountains of Galilee on the north, and those of Judea on the south.

* In the day of My love, I brought thee out of Egypt into the land of Carmel,” said the Lord to the daughter of Sion, taking the name of Carmel to represent all the blessings of the Promised Land; and when the crimes of the chosen people were about to bring Judea to ruin, the prophet cried out: ‘I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of His indignation.? But from the midst of the Gentile world a new Sion arose, more loved than the first; eight centuries beforehand Isaias recognized her by the glory of Libanus, and the beauty of Carmel and Saron which were given her. In the sacred Canticle, also, the attendants of the Bride sing to the Spouse concerning His well-beloved, that her head is like Carmel, and her hair like the precious threads of royal purple carefully woven and dyed.?

There was, in fact, around Cape Carmel, an abundant fishery of the little shell-fish which furnished the regal colour. Not far from there, smoothing away the slopes of the noble mountain, flowed the torrent of Cison, that dragged the carcasses* of the Chanaanites, when Debbora won her famous victory. Here lies the plain where the Madianites were overthrown, and Sisara felt the power of her that was called the Mother in Israel Here

Cf, Jerem. ii. 2, 7. ! Ibid. iv. 26. * Cant. vii. 5. * Judg. v. 21. * [bid. 7.

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Gedeon, too, marched against Madian in the name of the Woman ferrible as an army set in array,! whose sign he had received in the dew-covered fleece. Indeed, this glorious plain of Esdrelon, which stretches away from the foot of Carmel, seems to be surrounded with pro- phetic indications of her who was destined from the beginning to crush the serpent's head: not far from Esdrelon, a few defiles lead to Bethulia, the city of Judith, type of Mary, who was the true joy of Israel and the honour of her people ;* while nestling among the northern hills lies Nazareth, the white city, the flower of Galilee.?

When Eternal Wisdom was playing in the world, forming the hills and establishing the mountains, she destined Carmel to be the special inheritance of Eve's victorious daughter. And when the last thousand years of expectation were opening, and the desire of all nations was developing into the spirit of prophecy, the father of prophets ascended the privileged mount, thence to scan the horizon. The triumphs of David and the glories of Solomon were at an end: the sceptre of Juda, broken by the schism of the ten tribes, threatened to fall from his hand; the worship of Baal prevailed in Israel. A long-continued drought, figure of the aridity of men’s souls, had parched up every spring, and men and beasts were dying beside the empty cisterns, when Elias the Thesbite gathered the people, representing the whole human race, on Mount Carmel, and slew the lying prophets of Baal. Then, as the Scripture relates, prostrating with his face to the earth, Ae said £o his servant: Go up, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. And ai the seventh peti Behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's oot.

Blessed cloud! unlike the bitter waves from which it sprang, it was all sweetness. Docile to the least breath of heaven, it rose light and humble, above the

! Cant. vi. 3, 9. * Judith xv. 1o. * Hieron. Epist. xlvi. Pauls et Eustochii ad * 3 Reg. xviii,

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immense heavy ocean ; and screening the sun, it tempered the heat that was scorching the earth and restored to the stricken world life and grace and fruitfulness. The promised Messias, the Son of Man, set His impress upon it, showing to the wicked serpent the form of the heel that was to crush Him. The prophet, personifying the human race, felt his youth renewed; and while the welcome rain was already refreshing the valleys, he ran before the chariot of the king of Israel. Thus did he traverse the great plain of Esdrelon, even to the mys- teriously-named town of Jezrahel, where, according to Osee, the children of Juda and Israel were again to have but one head in the great day of Jezrahel (i.e., of the seed of God), when the Lord would seal His eternal nuptials with a new people! Later on, from Sunam, near Jezrahel, the mother whose son was dead crossed the same plain of Esdrelon, in the opposite direction, and ascended Mount Carmel, to obtain from Eliseus the resurrection of her child, who was a type of us all.? Elias had already departed in the chariot of fire, to await the end of the world, when he is to give testimony, together with Henoch, to the son of her that was signified by the cloud ;? and the disciple, clothed with the mantle and the spirit of his father, had taken possession, in the name of the sons of the prophets, of the august mountain honoured by the manifestation of the Queen of prophets. Henceforward Carmel was sacred in the eyes of all who looked beyond this world. Gentiles as well as Jews, philosophers and princes, came here on pilgrimage to adore the true God; while the chosen souls of the Church of the expectation, many of whom were already wandering in deseris and in mountains,* loved to take up their abode in its thousand grottos; for the ancient traditions seemed to linger more lovingly in its silent forests, and the perfume of its flowers foretokened the Virgin Mother. The cultus of the Queen of heaven was already established; and to the family of her devout * Osee i. 11, and ii, 14-24. 4 ness 2 8-37. * Apoc. xi. 3, 7. eb. xi. 38.

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clients, the ascetics of Carmel, might be applied the words spoken later by God to the pious descendants of Rechab: There shall not be wanting a man of this race, standing before Me for ever.

At length figures gave place to the reality; the heavens dropped down their dew, and the Just One came forth from the cloud. When His work was done and He returned to His Father, leaving His blessed Mother in the world, and sending His Holy Spirit to the Church, not the least triumph of that Spirit of love was the making known of Mary to the new-born Christians of Pentecost. ‘What a happiness,” we then remarked, ' for those neophytes who were privileged above the rest in being brought to the Queen of heaven, the Virgin Mother of Him who was the hope of Israel! They saw this second Eve, they conversed with her, they felt for her that filial affection wherewith she inspired all the disciples of Jesus. The liturgy will speak to us at another season of these favoured ones.” The promise is fulfilled to-day. In the lessons of the feast the Church tells us how the disciples of Elias and Eliseus became Christians at the first preaching of the apostles, and being permitted to hear the sweet words of the Blessed Virgin and enjoy an unspeakable intimacy with her, they felt their veneration for her immensely increased. Returning to the loved mountain, where their less fortunate fathers had lived but in hope, they built, on the very spot where Elias had seen the little cloud rise up out of the sea, an oratory to the purest of virgins; hence they obtained the name of Brothers of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel.?

In the twelfth century, in consequence of the estab- lishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, many pilgrims from Europe came to swell the ranks of the solitaries on the holy mountain; it therefore became expedient to give to their hitherto eremitical life a form more in accordance with the habits of Western nations.

1 Jerem, xxxv. 19. * Paschal Time, Vol. IIL., p. 31 * * Lessons of 2nd Nocturn. yes

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The legate Aimeric Malafaida, patriarch of Antioch, gathered them into a community under the authority of St. Berthold, who was thus the first to receive the title of Prior-General. At the commencement of the next century, Blessed Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem and also apostolic legate, completed the work of Aimeric by giving a fixed Rule to the Order, which was now, through the influence of princes and knights returned from the Holy Land, beginning to spread into Cyprus, Sicily, and the countries beyond the sea. Soon, indeed, the Christians of the East being abandoned by God to the just punishment of their sins, the vindictiveness of the conquering Saracens reached such a height in this age of trial for Palestine, that a full assembly, held on Mount Carmel under Alan the Breton, resolved upon a complete migration, leaving only a few friars eager for martyrdom to guard the cradle of the Order. The very year in which this took place (1245) Simon Stock was elected General in the first Chapter of the West, held at Aylesford in England.

Simon owed his election to the successful struggle he had maintained for the recognition of the Order which certain prelates, alleging the recent decrees of the Council of Lateran, rejected as having been newly intro- duced into Europe. Our Lady had then taken the cause of the friars into her own hands, and had obtained from Honorius III the decree of confirmation, which originated to-day’s feast. This was neither the first nor the last favour bestowed by the sweet Virgin upon the family that had lived so long under the shadow, as it were, of her mysterious cloud, and shrouded like her in humility, with no other bond, no other pretension than the imita- tion of her hidden works and the contemplation of her glory. She herself had wished them to go forth from the midst of a faithless people; just as, before the close of that same thirteenth century, she would command her angels to carry into a Catholic land her blessed house of Nazareth. Whether or not the men of those days, or the short-sighted historians of our own time, ever

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thought of it, the one translation called for the other, just as each completes and explains the other, and each was to be, for our own Europe, the signal for wonderful favours from heaven.

In the night between the 15th and 16th of July of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship she had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries; as mistress and mother of the entire religious state she conferred upon them with her queenly hands the scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: ‘ Whosoever shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames.” But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear her scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and disastrous widowhood of the Church which followed on the death of Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d’Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel—viz., a speedy deliverance from purgatory. ‘I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal. These are the words of our Lady herself, quoted by John XXII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious bene- factress for the exercise of her mercy.

We are aware of the attempts made to nullify the authenticity of these heavenly concessions; but our extremely limited time will not allow us to follow up

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these worthless struggles in all their endless details. The attack of the chief assailant, the too famous Launoy, was condemned by the Apostolic See; and after, as well as before, these contradictions, the Roman Pontiffs confirmed, as much as need be, by their supreme authority, the substance and even the letter of the precious promises. The reader may find in special works the enumeration of the many indulgences with which the Popes have, time after time, enriched the Carmelite family, as if earth would vie with heaven in favouring it. The munificence of Mary, the pious gratitude of her sons for the hospitality given them by the West, and lastly, the authority of St. Peter’s suc- cessors, soon made these spiritual riches accessible to all Christians, by the institution of the Confraternity of the holy Scapular, the members whereof participate in the merits and privileges of the whole Carmelite Order. Who shall tell the graces, often miraculous, obtained through this humble garb ? Who could count the faithful now enrolled in the holy militia ? When Benedict XIII, in the eighteenth century, extended the feast of July 16 to the whole Church, he did but give an official sanction to the universality already gained by the cultus of the Queen of Carmel.

The holy liturgy gives the following account of the history and object of the feast:

IIO

Cum sacra Pentecostes die apostoli, coitus afflati, variis linguis loquerentur, et invocato augustissimo Jesu nomine, mira multa patrarent: viri plurimi (ut fertur), qui vestigiis sancto- rum prophetarum Eliz ac Elisei institerant, et Johan- nis Baptiste praeconio ad Chri- sti adventum comparati fue- rant, rerum veritate perspecta atque probata, Evangelicam fidem confestim amplexati sunt ac peculiari quodam affectu beatissimam Virginem (cujus

When on the holy day of Pentecost the apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spoke divers tongues and worked many miracles by the invoca- tion of the most holy name of Jesus, it is said that many men who were walking in the foot- steps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and had been

repared for the coming of Christ by the preaching of John the Baptist, saw and acknowledged the truth, and at once embraced the faith of

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colloquiis ac familiaritate fe- liciter frui potuere) adeo vene- rari ceperunt, ut primi om- nium in eo montis Carmeli loco, ubi Elias olim ascendentem nebulam, Virginis typo insi- gnem, conspexerat, eidem pu- rissimz Virgini sacellum con- struxerint.

Ad novum ergo sacellum sepe quotidie convenientes, ritibus piis, precationibus ac laudibus beatissimam Virgi- nem, velut singularem Ordinis tutelam colebant. Quamobrem fratres beate Marie de Monte
Carmelo passim ab omnibus appellari coeperunt, eumque titulum Summi Pontifices non modo confirmarunt, sed et indulgentias peculiares iis, qui eo titulo vel Ordinem, vel fratres singulos nuncuparent,
concessere. Nec vero nomen- claturam tantum magnificen- tissima Virgo tribuit et tute- lam; verum et insigne sacri scapularis, quod beato Simoni Anglico prebuit, ut coelesti hac veste Ordo ille sacer di- gnosceretur, et a malis ingru- entibus protegeretur. Ac de- mum cum olim in Europa Ordo esset ignotus, et ob id apud Honorium Tertium non

auci pro illius exstinctione instarent, adstitit Honorio no- ctu piissima Virgo Maria, pla- neque jussit, ut institutum et homines benigne complectere- tur.

Non in hoc tantum saeculo

117

the Gospel. These new Chris- tians were so happy as to be able to enjoy familiar inter- course with the Blessed Virgin, and venerated her with so special an affection, that they, before all others, built a chapel to the purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen the cloud, a.remarkable type of the Virgin ascending.

Many times each day they came together to the new ora- tory, and with pious cere- monies, prayers, and praises honoured the most Blessed Virgin as the ial protec- tress of their Order. For this reason, people from all parts began to call them the Breth- ren of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel; and the Sove- reign Pontiffs not only con- firmed this title, but also granted special indulgences to whoever called either the whole Order or individual Brothers by that name. But the most noble Virgin not only gave them her name and protection, she also bestowed upon blessed Simon the Englishman the holy eg tors as a token, wish- ing the holy Order to be dis- tinguished by that heavenly

ent and to be protected by it from the evils that were assailing it. Moreover, as for- merly the Order was unknown in Europe, and on this account many were importuning Hon- orius III for its abolition, the loving Virgin Mary appeared by night to Honorius and early bade him receive both the Order and its members with kindness. The Blessed Virgin has en-

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Ordinem sibi tam acceptum ultis prerogativis beatissima irgo insignivit; verum et in alio (cum ubique et potentia et misericordia plurimum va- leat) filios in scapularis socie- tatem relatos, qui abstinentiam modicam, precesque paucas eis prescriptas frequentarunt, ac pro sui status ratione castita- tem coluerunt, materno plane affectu, dum igne purgatorii expiantur, solari, ac in cceles- tem patriam obtentu suo quan- tocius pie creditur efferre. Tot ergo tantisque beneficiis Ordo cumulatus, solemnem beatis- simz Virginis Commemora- tionem ritu perpetuo ad ejus- dem Virginis gloriam quotannis celebrandam instituit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

riched the Order so.dear to her with many privileges, not only in this world, but also in the next (for everywhere she is most powerful and merciful). For it is piously believed that those of her children who, having been enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular, have fulfilled the small absti- nence and said the few prayers prescribed, and have observed Chastity as far as their state of life demands, will be con- soled by our Lady while they are being purified in the fire of purgatory, and will through her intercession be taken thence as soon as possible to the heavenly country. The Order, thus laden with so many graces, has ordained that this solemn commemoration of the Blessed Virgin should be yearly ob- served for ever, to her greater

glory.

Queen of Carmel, hear the voice of the Church as she sings to thee on this day. When the world was lan- guishing in ceaseless expectation, thou wert already its hope. Unable as yet to understand thy greatness, it nevertheless, during the reign of types, loved to clothe

thee with the noblest symbols.

In admiration and in

titude for benefits foreseen, it surrounded thee with

all the notions of beauty, strength, and grace suggested by the loveliest landscapes, the flowery plains, the wooded heights, the fertile valleys, especially of Carmel, whose very name signifies ' the plantation of the Lord.' On its summit our fathers, knowing that Wisdom had set her throne in the cloud, hastened by their burning desires the coming of the saving sign: at length there was given to their prayers what the Scripture calls perfect knowledge, and the knowledge of the great paths of the clouds. And when He who maketh His chariot and His ! Job xxxvil. 16.

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dwelling in the obscurity of a cloud had herein shown Himself, in a nearer approach, to the practised eye of the father of prophets, then did a chosen band of holy persons gather in the solitudes of the blessed mountain, as here- tofore Israel in the desert, to watch the least movements of the mysterious cloud, to receive from it their guidance in the paths of life, and their light in the long night of expectation.

O Mary, who from that hour didst preside over the watches of God's army, without ever failing for a single day: now that the Lord has truly come down through thee, it is no longer the land of Judea alone, but the whole earth that thou coverest as a cloud, shedding down blessings and abundance. Thine ancient clients, the sons of the prophets, experienced this truth when, the land of promise becoming unfaithful, they were forced to transplant into other climes their customs and traditions; they found that even into our far West the cloud of Carmel had poured its fertilizing dew, and that nowhere would its protection be wanting to them. This feast, O Mother of our God, is the authentic attesta- tion of their gratitude, increased by the fresh benefits wherewith thy bounty accompanied the new exodus of the remnant of Israel. And we, the sons of ancient Europe, we too have a tight to echo the expression of their loving joy ; for since their tents have been pitched around the hills where the new Sion is built upon Peter, the cloud has shed all around showers of blessing more precious than ever, driving back into the abyss the flames of hell and extinguishing the fire of purgatory. Whilst, then, we join with them in thanksgiving to thee, deign thyself, O Mother of divine grace, to pay our debt of gratitude to them. Protect them ever. Guard them in these unhappy times, when the hypocrisy of modern persecutors has more fatal results than the rage of the Saracens. Preserve the life in the deep roots of the old stock, and rejoice it by the accession of new branches, bearing, like the old ones, flowers and fruits that shall be pleasing to thee, O Mary. Keep up

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in the hearts of the sons that spirit of retirement and contemplation which animated their fathers under the shadow of the cloud; may their sisters, too, wheresoever the Holy Spirit has established them, be ever faithful to the traditions of the glorious past, so that their holy lives may avert the tempest and draw down blessings from the mysterious cloud. May the perfume of penance that breathes from the holy mountain purify the now corrupted atmosphere around; and may Carmel ever present to the Spouse the type of the beauties He loves to behold in His Bride !

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JuLy 17 SAINT ALEXIUS CONFESSOR

LTHOUGH we are not commanded to follow the saints to the extremities where their heroic virtue leads them, nevertheless, from their inaccessible heights, they still guide us along the easier paths of the plain. As the eagle upon the orb of day, they fixed their un- flinching gaze upon the Sun of Justice; and, irresistibly attracted by His divine splendour, they poised their flight far above the cloudy region where we are glad to screen our feeble eyes. But however varied be the degrees of brightness for them and for us, the light itself is unchangeable, provided that, like them, we draw it from the authentic source. When the weakness of our sight would lead us to mistake false glimmerings for the truth, let us think of these friends of God; if we have not courage enough to imitate them, where the com- mandments leave us free to do so or not, let us at least conform our judgments and appreciations to theirs: their view is more trustworthy, because farther reaching; their sanctity is nothing but the rectitude wherewith they follow up unflinchingly, even to its central focus, the heavenly ray, whereof we can scarcely bear a tempered reflection. Above all, let us not be led so far astray by the will-o'-the-wisps of this world of dark- ness as to wish to direct, by their false light, the actions of the saints: can the owl judge better of the light than the eagle ?

Descending from the pure firmament of the holy liturgy even to the humblest conditions of Christian life, the light which led Alexius to the highest point of detachment is thus subdued by the apostle to the capacity of all: ' If any man take a wife, he hath not

9

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sinned, nor the virgin whom he marrieth; nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh, which I would fain spare you. This, therefore, I say, brethren: the time is short; it remaineth, therefore, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away."

Yet it passes not too quickly for our Lord to show that His words never pass away. Five centuries after the glorious death of Alexius, the eternal God, to whom distance and time are as nothing, gave him a hundredfold the posterity he had renounced for the love of Him. The monastery on the Aventine, which still bears his name together with that of the martyr Boniface, had become the common patrimony of East and West in the Eternal City; the two great monastic families of Basil and Benedict united under the roof of Alexius, and the seed taken from the tomb by the monk-bishop St. Adal- bert brought forth the fruit of faith among the Northern nations. The Church gives us the following very short notice of our hero:

122

Alexius Romanorum nobi- lissimus, propter eximium Jesu Christi amorem prima nocte nuptiarum peculiari Dei monitu relinquens intactam sponsam, illustrium orbis terre ecclesi- arum peregrinationem suscepit. Quibus in itineribus cum igno- tus septemdecim annos fuis- set, aliquando apud Edessam, Syrie urbem, per imaginem sanctissimae Marie Virginis, ejus nomine divulgato, inde navidiscessit. Ad portum Ro- manum appulsus, a patre suo tamquam alienus pauper hos- pitio accipitur: apud quem omnibus incognitus, cum decem

Alexius was the son of one of Rome's noblest families. Through his exceeding love for Jesus Christ, he, by a spe- cial inspiration from God, left his wife still a virgin on the first night of the marriage, and undertook a pilgrimage to the most illustrious churches all over the world. For seventeen years he remained unknown, while performing these pilgri- mages, and then his name was revealed at Edessa, a town of Syria, by an image of the most holy Virgin Mary. He there- fore left Syria by sea and sailed to the port of Rome, where he

3 Cf. 1 Cor. vil. 28-31.

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towards heaven, for the angels will not despise a race that can produce such valiant combatants. The perfume of your holocaust accompanied your souls to the throne of God, and an effusion of grace was poured down in return. From the luminous track left by your martyrdom have sprung forth new splendours in our own days. With joyful gratitude we hail the provi- dential reappearance, immediately after the Vatican Council, of the tomb which first received your sacred relics on the morrow of your triumph. Soldiers of Christ ! preserve in us the gifts ye have bestowed on us; convince the many Christians who have forgotten it, that faith is the most precious possession of the just.

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Jury 19

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL CONFESSOR

INCENT was a man of faith that worketh by

charity) At the time he came into the world— viz., at the close of the same century in which Calvin was born—the Church was mourning over many nations separated from the faith; the Turks were harassing all the coasts of the Mediterranean. France, worn out by forty years of religious strife, was shaking off the yoke of heresy from within, while by a foolish stroke of policy she gave it externalliberty. The Eastern and Northern frontiers were suffering the most terrible devastations, and the West and centre were the scene of civil strife and anarchy. In this state of confusion, the condition of souls was still more lamentable. In the towns alone was there any sort of quiet, any possibility of prayer. The country people, forgotten, sacrificed, subject to the utmost miseries, had none to support and direct them but a clergy too often abandoned by their bishops, unworthy of the ministry, and wellnigh as ignorant as their flocks. Vincent was raised up by the Holy Spirit to obviate all these evils. The world admires the works of the humble shepherd of Buglose, but it knows not the secret of their vitality. Philanthropy would imitate them; but its establishments of to-day are destroyed to-morrow, like castles built by children in the sand, while the institution it would fain supersede remains strong and unchanged, the only one capable of meeting the necessities of suffering humanity. The reason of this is not far to seek: faith alone can under- stand the mystery of suffering, having penetrated its

! Gal, v. 6.

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secret in the Passion of our Lord; and charity that would be stable must be founded on faith. Vincent loved the poor because he loved the God whom his faith beheld in them. 'O God! he used to say, ‘it does us good to see the poor, if we look at them in the light of God, and think of the high esteem in which Jesus Christ holds them. Often enough they have scarcely the appearance or the intelligence of reasonable beings, so rude and so earthly are they. But look at them by the light of faith, and you will see that they represent the Son of God, who chose to.be poor; He in His Passion had scarcely the appearance of a man; He seemed to the Gentiles to be a fool, and to the Jews a stumbling-block, moreover He calls Himself the evangelist of the poor: evangelizare pauperibus misit me.! This title of evangelist of the poor is the one that Vincent desired for himself, the starting-point and the explanation of all that he did in the Church. His one aim was to labour for the poor and the outcast; all the rest, he said, was but secondary. And he added, speaking to his sons of St. Lazare: ‘ We should never have laboured for the candidates for priest- hood, nor in the ecclesiastical seminaries, had we not deemed it necessary, in order to keep the people in good condition, to preserve in them the fruits of the missions, and to procure them good priests.” That he might be able to consolidate his work in all its aspects, our Lord inspired Anne of Austria to make him a member of the Council of Conscience, and to place in his hands the office of extirpating the abuses among the higher clergy and of appointing pastors to the churches of France. We can- not here relate the history of a man in whom universal charity was, as it were, personified. But from the bagnio of Tunis, where he was a slave, to the ruined provinces for which he found millions of money, all the labours he underwent for the relief of every physical suffering were inspired by his zeal for the apostolate: by caring for the body, he strove to reach and succour the soul. At a time when men rejected the Gospel while * St. Luke iv. 18, 10

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striving to retain its benefits, certain wise men attributed Vincent's charity to philosophy. Nowadays they go further still, and in order logically to deny the author of the works they deny the works themselves. But if any there be who still hold the former opinion, let them listen to his own words, and then judge of his principles: * What is done for charity's sake is done for God. It is not enough for us that we love God ourselves; our neighbour also must love him; neither can we love our neighbour as ourselves unless we procure for him the good we are bound to desire for ourselves—viz., divine love, which unites us to our Sovereign Good. We must love our neighbour as the image of God and the object of His love, and must try to make men love their Creator in return, and love one another also with mutual charity for the love of God, who so loved them as to deliver His own Son to death for them. But let us, I beg of you, look upon this Divine Saviour as a perfect pattern of the charity we must bear to our neighbour.’

The theophilanthropy of a century ago had no more right than had an atheist or a deist philosophy to rank Vincent, as it did, among the great men of its Calendar. Not nature, nor the pretended divinities of false science, but the God of Christians, the God who became Man to save us by taking our miseries upon Himself, was the sole inspirer of the greatest modern benefactor of the human race, whose favourite saying was: ' Nothing pleases me except in Jesus Christ.' He observed the right order of charity, striving for the reign of his Divine Master, first in his own soul, then in others; and, far from acting of his own accord by the dictates of reason alone, he would rather have remained hidden for ever in the face of the Lord, and have left but an unknown name behind him.

' Let us honour,” he wrote, ' the hidden state of the Son of God. There is our centre; there is what He re- quires of us for the present, for the future, for ever; unless His Divine Majesty makes known in His own unmistakable way that He demands something else of

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us. Let us especially honour this divine Master's moderation in action. He would not always do all that He could do, in order to teach us to be satisfied when it is not expedient to do all that we are able, but only as much as is seasonable to charity and conformable to the Will of God. How royally do those honour our Lord who follow His holy Providence, and do not try to be beforehand with it! Do you not, and rightly, wish your servant to do nothing without your orders ? and if this is reasonable between man and man, how much more so between the Creator and the creature!” Vincent, then, was anxious, according to his own expression, to ' keep alongside of Providence,' and not to outstep it. Thus he waited seven years before accepting the offers of the General de Gondi's wife, and founding his establishment of the Missions. Thus, too, when his faithful coadjutrix, Mademoiselle Le Gras, felt called to devote herself to the spiritual service of the Daughters of Charity, then living without any bond or common life, as simple assistants to the ladies of quality whom the man of God assembled in his Confraternities, he first tried her for a very long time. ‘As to this occupation,’ he wrote, in answer to her repeated petitions, ' I beg of you, once for all, not to think of it until our Lord makes known His will. You wish to become the servant of these poor girls, and God wants you to be His servant. For God's sake, Mademoiselle, let your heart imitate the tran- quillity of our Lord's heart, and then it will be fit to serve Him. The Kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Ghost; He will reign in you if you are in peace. Be so, then, if you please, and do honour to the God of peace and love.'

What a lesson given to the feverish zeal of an age like ours by a man whose life was so full! How often, in what we can call good works, do human pretensions sterilize grace by contradicting the Holy Ghost! Whereas Vincent de Paul, who considered himself ‘a poor worm creeping on the earth, not knowing where he goes, but only seeking to- be hidden in Thee, my God, who art --- PAGE 137 --- 140 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

all his desire,'—the humble Vincent saw his work prosper far more than a thousand others, and almost without his being aware of it. Towards the end of his long life he said to his daughters: ' It is Divine Provi- dence that set your congregation on its present footing. Who else was it, I ask you ? I can find no other. We never had such an intention. I was thinking of it only yesterday, and I said to myself: Is it you who had the thought of founding a Congregation of Daughters of Charity ? Oh! certainly not. Is it Mademoiselle Le Gras? Not at all. O my daughters, I never thought of it, your '' sewr servante’’ never thought of it, neither did M. Portail (Vincent's first and most faithful companion in the Mission). Then it is God who thought of it for you; Him, therefore, we must call the Founder of your Congregation, for truly we cannot recognize any other.’

Although with delicate docility, Vincent cculd no more forestall the action of God than an instrument the hand. that uses it, nevertheless, once the divine impulse was given, he could not endure the least delay in following it, nor suffer any other sentiment in his soul but the most absolute confidence. He wrote again, with his charming simplicity, to the helpmate given him by God: ' You are always giving way a little to human feelings, thinking that everything is going to ruin as soon as you see me ill. O woman of little faith, why have you not more confidence and more submission to the guidance and example of Jesus Christ? This Saviour of the world entrusted the well-being of the whole Church to God His Father; and you, for a handful of young women, evidently raised up and gathered together by His providence, you fear that He will fail you! Come, come, Mademoiselle, you must humble yourself before God.’

No wonder that faith, the only possible guide of such a life, the imperishable foundation of all that he was for his neighbour and in himself, was, in the eyes of Vincent de Paul, the greatest of treasures. He

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who had pity for every suffering, even though well deserved; who, by an heroic fraud, took the place of a galley-slave in chains, was a pitiless foe to heresy, and could not rest till he had obtained either the banishment or the chastisement of its votaries. Clement XII, in the Bull of canonization, bears witness to this, in speak- ing of the pernicious error of Jansenism, which our saint was one of the first to denounce and prosecute. Never, perhaps, were these words of Holy Writ better verified: The simplicity of the just shall guide them : and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them.* Though this sect expressed, later on, a supreme: disdain for Monsieur Vincent, it had not always been of that mind. ‘I am,’ he said to a friend, ‘ most particularly obliged to bless and thank God, for not having suffered the first and principal professors of that doctrine, men of my acquaintance and friendship, to be able to draw me to their opinions. I cannot tell you what pains gi took, and what reasons they propounded to me; objected to them, amongst other things, the authority of the Council of Trent, which is clearly opposed to them; and seeing that they still continued, I, instead of answering them, quietly recited my Credo; and that is how I have remained firm in the Catholic faith.'

But it is time to give the full account which Holy Church reads to-day in herliturgy. We will only remind our readers that in the year 1883, the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the St. Vincent de Paul Conferences at Paris, the Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII proclaimed our saint the patron of the societies of charity in France.

141

Vincentius a Paulo, na- Vincent de Paul, a French-

tione Gallus, Podii non pro- cul ab Aquis Tarbellis in Aquitania natus, jam tum a puero eximiam in pauperes charitatem pre se tulit. A

man, was born at Pouy, near Dax, in Aquitaine, and from his boyhood was remarkable for his exceeding charity to- wards the poor. As a child

* Prov. xi. 3.

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custodia paterni gregis ad litteras — evocatus, humanas Aquis, divinas cum Tolosae, tum Cesarauguste didicit. Sacerdotio initiatus ac theo- logiz laurea insignitus, in Tur- cas incidit, qui captivum in Africam adduxerunt. Sed in captivitate positus herum ip- sum Christo rursus lucrifecit. Cum eo igitur ex barbaris oris, opitulante Deipara, sese pro- ripiens, ad apostolica limina iter instituit. Unde in Galliam reversus, Clippiaci primum, mox Castellionis parcecias san- ctissime rexit. Renuntiatus a rege primarius sacrorum minis- ter in Gallize triremibus, mirum quo zelo et ducum et remigum saluti operam posuerit. Monia- libus Visitationis a sancto Francisco Salesio prapositus, tanta prudentia per annos circiter quadraginta eam curam sustinuit, ut maxime compro- baverit judicium sanctissimi praesulis, qui sacerdotem Vin- centio digniorem nullum se nosse fatebatur.

Evangelizandis pauperibus, presertim ruricolis, ad decre- pitam usque etatem indefessus incubuit, eique apostolico operi tum se, tum alumnos Con- gregationis, quam sub nomi- ne Presbyterorum sacularium Missionis instituit, perpetuo voto a sancta Sede confirmato, speciatim" obstrinxit. Quan- tum autem augenda cleri dis- cipline allaboraverit, testantur erecta majorum clericorum se- minaria, collationum de divinis

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

he fed his father's flock, but afterwards pursued the study ofthe humanities at Dax, and of divinity first at Toulouse, then at Saragossa. Having been ordained priest, he took his degree as Bachelor of Theo- logy; but falling into the hands of the Turks was led captive by them into Africa.

ile in captivity he won his master back to Christ, by the help of the Mother of God, and escaped together with him from that land of barbarians, and undertook a journey to the shrines of the apostles. On his return to France he gov- erned in a most saintly manner the parishes first of Clichy and then of Chátillon. The king next appointed him chaplain of the French galleys, and his zeal in striving for the salvation of both officers and convicts was marvellous. St. Francis de Sales gave him as superior to his nuns of the Visitation, whom he ruled for forty years, with such pru- dence as amply to justify the opinion the holy bishop had expressed of him, that Vincent was the most worthy priest he knew.

He devoted himself with unwearying zeal, even in ex- treme old age, to preaching to the poor, especially to country people; and to this apostolic work he bound both himself and the members of the Con- gregation which he founded, called the Secular Priests of the Mission, by a special vow which the Holy See confirmed. He laboured greatly in pro- moting regular discipline among the clergy, as is proved

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inter sacerdotes frequentia, et sacram ordinationi premittenda exercitia, ad que, sicut et ad pios laicorum secessus, instituti sui domicilia liben- ter patere voluit. Insuper ad amplificandam fidem et pie- tatem, evangelicos misit opera- rios, non in solas Gallis pro- vincias, sed et in Italiam, Poloniam, Scotiam, Hiberniam, atque ad Barbaros et Indos. Ipse vero, vita functo Ludovico decimotertio, cui morienti hor- tator adstitit, a regina Anna Austriaca, matre Ludovici deci- miquarti, in sanctius consilium accitus, studiosissime egit, ut non nisi digniores ecclesiis ac monasteriis praficerentur; ci- viles discordia, singularia cer- tamina, serpentes errores, quos simul sensit et exhorruit, am- putarentur; debitaque judiciis apostolicis obedientia prasta- retur ab omnibus.

Nullum fuit calamitatis ge- nus, cui paterne non occur- rerit. Fideles sub Turcarum jugo gementes, infantes ex- pesitos, juvenes dyscolos, vir- gines periclitantes, moniales dispersas, mulieres lapsas, ad triremes damnatos, peregrinos infirmos, artifices invalidos, ip- sosque mente captos, ac in- numeros mendicos subsidiis et

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by the seminaries for clerics which he built, and by the establishment, through his care, of frequent conferences for priests, and of exercises reparatory to Holy Orders. t was his wish that the houses of his institution should always lend themselves to these good works, as also to the giving of pious retreats for laymen. Moreover, with the object of extending the reign of faith and love, he sent evangelical labourers not only into the French provinces, but also into Italy, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, and even to Barbary and to the Indies. On the demise of Louis XIII, whom he had assisted on his death- bed, he was made a member of the Council of Conscience, by Queen Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV. In this capacity he was most careful that only worthy men should be appointed to ecclesiastical and monastic benefices, and strove to put an end to civil discord and duels, and to the errors then creeping in, which had alarmed him as soon as he knew of their existence; moreover, he endeavoured to enforce upon all a due obe- dience to the judgments of the Apostolic See.

His paternal love brought relief to every kind. of mis- fortune. The faithful groaning under the Turkish yoke, des- titute children, incorrigible young men, virgins exposed to danger, nuns driven from their ^ monasteries, fallen women, convicts, sick stran- gers, invalided workmen, even madmen, and innumerable

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hospitiis etiamnum superstiti- bus excepit ac pie fovit. Lo- tharingiam, Campaniam, Pi- cardiam, aliasque regiones pes- te, fame, belloque vastatas, prolixe refecit. Plurima ad perquirendos et sublevandos miseros sodalitia fundavit, in- ter qua celebris matronarum coetus, et late diffusa sub nomine Charitatis puellarum Societas. Puellas quoque tum de Cruce, tum de Providentia ac Sancte Genovefe ad se- quioris sexus educationem eri- gendas curavit. Hac inter et alia gravissima negotia, Deo jugiter intentus, cunctis affa- bilis, ac sibi semper constans, simplex, rectus, humilis, ab honoribus, divitiis ac deliciis semper abhorruit; auditus di- cere: rem nullam sibi placere preterquam in Christo Jesu,

quem in omnibus studebat imitari. Corporis demum aftii- ctatione laboribus senioque

attritus, die vigesima septima Septembris, anno salutis supra millesimum sexcentesimo sexa- gesimo, aetatis suze octogesimo quinto, Parisiis, in domo Sancti Lazari, qua caput est Congre- gationis Missionis, placide ob- dormivit. Quem virtutibus meritis ac miraculis clarum Clemens duodecimus inter san- ctos retulit, ipsius celebritati die decima nona mensis Julii quotannis assignata. Hunc au- tem caritatis eximium heroem, de unoquoque hominum genere optime meritum, Leo tertius decimus, instantibus pluribus Sacrorum antistitibus, omnium Societatum caritatis in toto catholico orbe existentium, et ab eo quomodocumque pro- manantium, peculiarem apud

:of Providence,

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

beggars. All these he aided and received with tender charity into his hospitable in- stitutions which still exist. When Lorraine, Champagne, Picardy, and other districts were devastated by pestilence, famine, and war, he supplied their necessities with open hand. He founded other associations for seeking out and aiding the unfortunate; amongst others the celebrated Society of Ladies, and the now widespread institution of the Sisters of Charity. To him also is due the foundation of the Daughters of the Cross, and of St. Genevieve, who are devoted to the education of girls. Amid all these and other important undertakings his heart was always fixed on God; he was affable to everyone, and al- ways true to himself, simple, upright, humble. He ever shunned riches and honours, and was heard to say that nothing gave him any pleasure, except in Christ Jesus, whom he strove to imitate in all things. Worn out at length, by mortification of the body, labours, and old age, on Sep- tember 27, in the year of salvation 1660, the eighty- fifth of his age, he Soncatoily fell asleep, at Paris, at Saint Lazare, the mother-house of the Congregation of the Mis- sion. His virtues, merits, and miracles having made his name celebrated, Clement XII enrolled him among the saints, assigning for his annual feast July 19. Leo XIII, at the request of several bishops, declared and appointed this

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Deum Patronum declaravit et great hero of charity, who has constituit. deserved so well of the human race, the peculiar patron be- fore God of all the charitable societies existing throughout the Catholic world, and of all ' such as may hereafter be es- tablished.

How full a sheaf dost thou bear, O Vincent, as thou ascendest laden with blessings from earth to thy true country! O thou, the most simple of men, though living in an age of splendours, thy renown far surpasses the brilliant reputation which fascinated thy contem- poraries. The true glory of that century, and the only one that will remain to it when time shall be no more, is to have seen, in its earlier part, saints powerful alike in faith and love, stemming the tide of Satan's conquests, and restoring to the soil of France, made barren by heresy, the fruitfulness of its brightest days. And now, two centuries and more after thy labours, the work of the harvest is still being carried on by thy sons and daughters, aided by new assistants who also acknowledge thee for their inspirer and father. Thou art now in the kingdom of heaven where grief and tears are no more, yet day by day thou still receivest the grateful thanks of the suffering and the sorrowful.

Reward our confidence in thee by fresh benefits. No name so much as thine inspires respect for the Church in our days of blasphemy. And yet those who deny Christ now go so far as to endeavour to stifle the testimony which the poor have always rendered to Him on thy account. Wield, against these ministers of hell, the two-edged sword, wherewith it is given to the saints to.avenge God in the midst of the nations: treat them as thou didst the heretics of thy day; make them either deserve pardon or suffer punishment, be converted or be reduced by heaven to the impossibility of doing harm. Above all, take care of the unhappy beings whom these satanic men deprive of spiritual help in their last moments. Elevate thy daughters to the high level

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required by the present sad circumstances, when men would have their devotedness to deny its divine origin and cast off the guise of religion. If the enemies of the

r man can snatch from his death-bed the sacred sign of salvation, no rule, no law, no power of this world or the next, can cast out Jesus from the soul of the Sister of Charity, or prevent his name from passing from her heart to her lips: neither death nor hell, neither fire nor flood can stay him, says the Canticle of Canticles.

Thy sons, too, are carrying on thy work of evangeliza- tion; and even in our days their apostolate is crowned with the diadem of sanctity and martyrdom. Uphold their zeal; develop in them thy own spirit of unchanging devotedness to the Church and submission to the supreme Pastor. Forward all the new works of charity springing out of thy own, and placed by Rome to thy credit and under thy patronage. May they gather their heat from the divine fire which thou didst kindle on the earth; may they ever seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, never deviating, in the choice of means, from the principle thou didst lay down for them of judging, speaking, and acting, exactly as the Eternal Wisdom of Go clothed in our weak flesh, judged, spoke, and acted.’ --- PAGE 144 --- SAINT JEROME ZMILIAN 147

Jury 20

SAINT JEROME ZEMILIAN CONFESSOR

PRUNG from the powerful aristocracy which won for Venice twelve centuries of splendour, Jerome came into the world when that city had reached the height of its glory. At fifteen years of age he became a soldier, and was one of the heroes in that formidable struggle wherein his country withstood the united powers of almost all Europe in the League of Cambrai. The golden city, crushed for a moment, but soon re- stored to her former condition, offered her honours to the defender of Castelnovo, who, like herself, had fallen bravely and risen again. But our Lady of Treviso had delivered him from his German prison, only to make him her own captive; she brought him back to the city of St. Mark, there to fulfil a higher mission than the proud republic could have entrusted to him. The descendant of the Emiliani, captivated, as was Lawrence Justinian a century before, by Eternal Beauty, would now live only for the humility which leads to heaven, and for the lofty deeds of charity. His title of nobility will be derived from the obscure village of Somascha, where he will gather his newly recruited army; and his con- quests will be the bringing of little children to God. He will no more frequent the palaces of his patrician friends, for he now belongs to a higher rank: they serve the world, he serves heaven; his rivals are the angels, whose ambition, like his own, is to preserve unsullied for the Father the service of those innocent souls whom the greatest in heaven must resemble. ‘ The soul of the child,” as the Church tells us to-day by the golden mouth of St. John Chrysostom, ‘is free from all passions. He bears no ill-will towards them

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that have done him harm, but goes to them as friends, just as if they had done nothing. And though he be often beaten by his mother, yet he always seeks her and loves her more than anyone else. If you show him a queen in her royal crown, he prefers his mother clad in rags, and would rather see her unadorned than the queen in magnificent attire; for he does not appreciate accord- ing to riches or poverty, but by love. He seeks not for more than is necessary, and as soon as he has had sufficient milk he quits the breast. He is not oppressed with the same sorrows as we, nor troubled with care for money and the like; neither is he rejoiced by our transi- tory pleasures, nor affected by corporal beauty. There- fore our Lord said: Of such is the kingdom of heaven, wishing us to do of our own free will what children do by nature.”

Their guardian angels, as our Lord Himself said, gazing into those pure souls, are not distracted from the contemplation of their heavenly Father: for He rests in them as on the wings of Cherubim, since baptism has made them His children. Happy was our saint to have been chosen by God to share the loving cares of the angels here below, before partaking of their bliss in heaven. The following detailed account is given by Holy Church:

Jerome was born at Venice, of the patrician family of the JEmiliani, and from his boy- hood embraced a military life. At a time when the Republic was in great difficulty, he was placed in command of Castel- novo, in the territory of Quero, in the mountains of Treviso.

Hieronymus, e gente pa- tricia /Emiliana "Venetiis or- tus, a prima adolescentia mili- tie addictus, difficillimis Rei- publice temporibus Castro No- vo ad Quarum in montibus Tarvisinis praeficitur. Arceab hostibus capta, ipse in teter- rimum carcerem detruditur,

manibus ac pedibus vinctus; cui omni humana ope destituto beatissima "Virgo ejus preci- bus exorata, clemens adest, vincula solvit, et per medios hostes, qui vias omnes obse-

The fortress was taken by the enemy, and Jerome was thrown, bound hand and foot, into a horrible dungeon. When he found himself thus destitute of all human aid, he

* Curys, in Matt, Hom. Ixii. al. Ixiil.

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derant, in Tarvisii ctum incolumem ducit. Ur- bem ingressus, ad Deipare aram, cui se voverat, mani- Cas, compedes, catenas, quas secum detulerat, in accepti beneficii testimonium suspen- dit. Reversus Venetias, cce- pit pietatis studia impensius colere, in pauperes mire effusus, sed puerorum prasertim miser- tus, qui parentibus orbati, egeni et sordidi per urbem vagabantur, quos in ades a se conductas recepit de suo alen- dos, et Christianis moribus imbuendos.

conspe-

Per eos dies Venetias ap- pulerant beatus Cajetanus, et Petrus Caraffa postmodum Paulus quartus, qui Hieronymi spiritu, novoque instituto colli- gendi orphanos probato, illum in incurabilium hospitale ad- duxerunt, in quo orphanos simul educaret, atque agrotis pari charitate inserviret. Mox eorumdem hortatu in proxi- mam continentem profectus, Brixiz primum, deinde Bergo- mi, atque Novocomi orphano- trophia erexit: Bergomi pre- sertim, ubi prater duo, pro pueris unum, et pro puellis alterum, domum excipiendis, novo in illis regionibus exemplo mulieribus a turpi vita ad penitentiam conversis, ape-

149

prayed most earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, who merci- fully came to his assistance. She loosed his bonds, and led him safely through the midst of his enemies, who had pos- session of every road, till he was within sight of Treviso. He entered the town; and, in testimony of the favour he had received, he hung up at the altar of our Lady, to whose service he had vowed himself, the manacles, shackles, and chains which he had. brought with him. On his return to Venice he gave himself with the utmost zeal to exercises of piety. His charity towards the poor was wonderful; but he was particularly moved to pity for the orphan children who wandered poor and dirty about the town; he received them into houses which he hired, where he fed them at his own expense and trained them to lead Christian lives. Atthis time Blessed Cajetan and Peter Caraffa, who was afterwards Paul IV, disem- barked at Venice. They com- mended Jerome's spirit and his new institution for gather- ing orphans together. They also introduced him into the hospital for incurables, where he would be able to devote himself with equal charity to the education of orphans and to the service of the sick. Soon, at their suggestion, he crossed over to the continent and founded orphanages, first at Brescia, then at Bergamo and Como. At Bergamo his zeal was specially prolific, for there, besides two orphanages, one for boys and one for girls,

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ruit Somaschz demum sub- sistens, in humili pago agri Dergomensis ad Veneta di- tionis fines, sibi, ac suis ibi sedem constituit, formamque induxit congregationis, cui pro- pterea a Somascha nomen fa- ctum: quam subinde auctam et propagatam, nedum orpha- norum regimini, et Ecclesiarum cultui, sed ad majorem Chri- stiange reipublice utilitatem, adolescentium in litteris et bonis moribus institutioni in collegiis, academiis, et semi- nariis addictam sanctus Pius Quintus inter Religiosos Or- dines adscripsit, czeterique pon- tifices privilegiis ornarunt.

Orphanis colligendis intentus Mediolanum proficiscitur atque Ticinum; et utrobique collectis agminibus puerorum tectum, victum, vestem, magistros, no- bilibus viris faventibus, pro- vide constituit. Inde Soma- scham redux, omnibus omnia factus, a nullo abhorrebat opere, quod in proximi bonum cedere preevideret. Agricolis immixtus per agros sparsis, dum se illis adjutorem in me- tendis frugibus praebet, mys- teria fidei explicabat, puerorum capita porrigine fceda abster- gens, et patienter tractans cura- bat; putridis rusticorum vul- neribus medebatur eo successu, ut gratia curationum donatus censeretur. In monte, qui Somasche imminet, reperta

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

he opened a house, an unpre- cedented thing in those parts, for the reception of fallen women who had been con- verted. Finally he took up his abode at Somascha, a small village in the territory of Ber- gamo, near to the Venetian border, and this he made his headquarters; here, too, he definitely established his con- gregation, which for this reason received the name of Somas- chan. In course of time it spread and increased, and for the greater benefit of the Christian republic it under- took, besides the ruling and guiding of orphans and the taking care of sacred build- ings, the education, both liberal and moral, of young men in colleges, academies, and semi- naries. Pius V enrolled it among religious Orders, and other Roman Pontiffs have honoured it with privileges. Entirely devoted to his work of rescuing orphans, Jerome journeyed to Milan and Pavia, and in both cities he collected numbers of children and pro- vided them, through the assist- ance given him by noble per- sonages, with a home, food, clothing, and education. He returned to Somascha, and, making himself all to all, he refused no labour which he saw might turn to the good of his neighbour. He asso- ciated himself with the peas- ants scattered over the fields, and while helping them with their work of harvesting, he would explain to them the mysteries of faith. He used to take care of children with the greatest patience, even

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specu, in illam se abdidit, ubi se flagellis cadens, dies integros jejunus transigens, oratione in plurimam noctem protracta, super nudo saxo brevem som- num carpens, sui aliorumque noxarum poenas luebat. In hujus specus interiori recessu ex arido silice exstillat aqua, precibus servi Dei, ut constans traditio est, impetrata, qum usque in hodiernam diem jugi- ter manans, et in varias re- giones delata zgris sanitatem plerumque conciliat. Tandem ex contagione, qua per omnem vallem serpebat, dum zegrotan- tibus inservit, et vita functos propriis humeris ad sepulturam defert, contracto morbo, annos natus sex et quinquaginta, quam paulo ante praedixerat, pretiosam mortem obiit anno millesimo quingentesimo tri- gesimo septimo : quem pluribus in vita, et post mortem mira- culis illustrem Benedictus deci- mus quartus Beatorum, Cle- mens vero decimus tertius Sanctorum fastis solemniter adscripsit.

ISI

going so far as to cleanse their heads, and he dressed the cor- rupt wounds of the village folk with such success that it was thought he had received the gift of healing. On the mountain which overhangs Somascha he found a cave in which he hid himself, and there scourging himself, spend- ing whole days fasting, pass- ing the greater part of the night in prayer, and snatch- ing only a short sleep on the bare rock, he expiated his own sins and those of others. In the- interior of this grotto, water trickles from the dry rock, obtained, as constant tradition says, by the prayers of the servant of God. It still flows, even to the present day, and being taken into different countries, it often gives health to the sick. At length, when a contagious distemper was spreading over the whole val- ley, and he was serving the sick and carrying the dead to the grave on his own shoulders, he caught the infection, and died at the age of fifty-six. His precious death, which he had foretold a short time before, occurred in the year 1537. He was illustrious both in life and death for many miracles. Benedict XIV en- rolled him among the Blessed, and Clement XIII solemnly inscribed his name on the catalogue of the Saints.

With Vincent de Paul and Camillus of Lellis, thou, O Jerome Amilian, completest the triumvirate of charity. Thus does the Holy Spirit mark His reign with traces of the Blessed Trinity; moreover, he would

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show that the love of God which He kindles on earth, can never be without the love of our neighbour. At the very time when He gave thee to the world as a demon- stration of this truth, the spirit of evil made it evident that true love of our neighbour cannot exist without love of God, and that this latter soon disappears in its turn when faith is extinct. Thus, between the ruins of the pretended reform and the ever-new fecundity of the Spirit of holiness, mankind was free to choose. The choice made was, alas! far from being always conformable to man's interest, either temporal or eternal.

With what good reason may we repeat the prayer thou didst teach thy little orphans: ' Lord Jesus Christ, our loving Father, we beseech Thee, by Thine infinite goodness, raise up Christendom once more, and bring it back to that upright holiness which flourished in the apostolic age.’

Thou didst labour strenuously at this great work of restoration. The Mother of Divine Grace, when she broke thy prison chains, set thy soul free from a more cruel captivity to continue the flight begun at baptism and in thy early years. Thy youth was re- newed as the eagle's; and the valour which won thee thy spurs in earthly battles, being now strengthened tenfold in the service of the all-powerful Prince, carried the day over death and hell. Who could count thy victories in this new militia ? Jesus, the King of the warfare of salvation, inspired thee with His own predilection for little children; countless numbers, saved by thee from perishing, and brought in their innocence to His divine caresses, owe to thee their crown in heaven. From thy throne, where thou art surrounded by this lovely com- pany, multiply thy sons; uphold those who continue thy work on earth; may thy spirit spread more and more in these days, when Satan’s jealousy strives more than ever to snatch the little ones from our Lord. Happy shall they be in their last hour who have accomplished the work of mercy pre-eminent in our days: saved the

--- PAGE 150 --- SAINT ALEXIUS 123

et septem annos vixisset, re- was received as a guest by his

licto scripto sui nominis, san- own father, who took him for

guinis, ac totius vite cursu, a poor stranger. He lived in

migravit in coelum, Innocentio his father's house, unknown

Primo Summo Pontifice. to all, for seventeen years, and then passed to heaven, leaving a written paper which revealed his name, his family, and the story of his whole life. His death occurred in the Pontifi- cate of Innocent I.

Man of God! Such is the name given thee, O Alexius, by heaven; the name whereby thou art known in the East, and which Rome sanctions by her choice of the Epistle to be read in this day's Mass! The apostle there applies this beautiful title to his disciple Timothy, while recommending to him the very virtues thou didst practise in so eminent a degree. This sublime designa- tion, which shows us the dignity of heaven within the reach of men, thou didst prefer to the proudest titles earth could bestow. These latter were, indeed, offered thee, together with all the honours permitted by God to those who are satisfied with merely not offending Him; but thy great soul despised the transitory gifts of the world. In the midst of the splendours of thy marriage-feast, thou didst hear a music which charms the soul from earth—that music which, two centuries before, the noble Cecily, too, had heard in another palace of the queen city. The hidden God, who left the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem and on earth had not where to lay His head, discovered Himself to thy pure heart; and being filled with His love, thou hadst also the mind which was in Christ Jesus. With the freedom, which yet remained to thee, of choosing between the perfect life, and the consummation of an earthly union, thou didst resolve to be a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth that thou mightest merit to possess eternal Wisdom in thy heavenly fatherland. O wonderful paths! O unsearchable ways whereby that Wisdom ! 1 Tim. vi. 11. ? Phil. ii. 5. * Heb. xi. 13.

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of the Father guides all those who are won by love ! The Queen of heaven, as if applauding this spectacle worthy of angels, revealed to the East the illustrious name thou wouldst fain conceal under the garb of holy poverty. A second flight brought thee back, after seventeen years' absence, to the land of thy birth, and even there thou wert able, by thy valiant faith, to dwell asin a strangle land. Under that staircase of thy home, now held in loving veneration, thou wert exposed to the insults of thy own slaves, being but an unknown beggar in the eyes of thy father and mother, and of the bride who still mourned for thee. There didst thou spend, without ever betraying thyself, another seventeen years, awaiting thy happy passage to thy true home in heaven. God Himself made it an honour to be called thy God, when at the moment of thy precious death a mighty voice resounded through Rome, bidding all seek the ‘man of God.” Remember, O Alexius, what the voice added concerning that man of God: ‘ He shall pray for Rome, and shall be heard.” Pray, then, for the illustrious city of thy birth, which owed to thee its safety under the assault of the barbarians, and which now surrounds thee with far greater honours than it would have done hadst thou but upheld within its walls the traditions of thy noble ancestors. Hell boasts of having snatched that city from the successors of Peter and of Innocent: pray, and may heaven hear thee once more, against the modern successors of Alaric. Guided by the light of thy sublime actions, may the Christian people rise more and more above the earth; lead us all safely by the narrow way to the home of our heavenly Father!

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Jury 18

SAINT CAMILLUS OF LELLIS CONFESSOR

HE Holy Spirit, who desires to raise our souls

above this earth, does not therefore despise our bodies. The whole man is His creature and His temple, and it is the whole man He must lead to eternal happi- ness. The Body of the Man-God was His masterpiece in material creation; the divine delight He takes in that perfect Body He extends in a measure to ours; for that same Body, framed by Him in the womb of the most pure Virgin, was from the very beginning the model on which ours are formed. In the re-creation which followed the Fall, the Body of the Man-God was the means of the world’s redemption; and the economy of our salvation requires that the virtue of His saving Blood should not reach the soul except through the body, the divine sacraments being all applied to the soul through the medium of the senses. Admirable is the harmony of nature and grace; the latter so honours the material part of our being that she will not draw the soul without it to the light and to heaven. For in the unfathomable mystery of sanctification, the senses do not merely serve as a passage; they themselves experi- ence the power of the sacraments, like the higher faculties of which they are the channels; and the sanctified soul finds the humble companion of her pilgrimage already associated with her in the dignity of divine adoption, which will cause the glorification of our bodies after the resurrection. Hence the care given to the very body of our neighbour is raised to the nobleness of holy charity; for being inspired by this charity, such acts partake of the love wherewith our heavenly Father surrounds even the members of His beloved children.

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I was sick, and ye visited Me, our Lord will say on the last day, showing that even the infirmities of our fallen state in this land of exile, the bodies of those whom He deigns to call His brethren, share in the dignity belonging by right to the eternal, only-begotten Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit, too, whose office it is to recall to the Church all the words of our Saviour, has certainly not forgotten this one; the seed, falling into the good earth of chosen souls, has produced a hundredfold the fruits of grace and heroic self-devotion. Camillus of Lellis received it lovingly, and the mustard-seed became a great tree offering its shade to the birds of the air. The Order of Regular Clerks, Servants of the Sick, or of Happy Death, deserves the gratitude of mankind; as a sign of heaven’s approbation, angels have more than once been seen assisting its members at the bedside of the dying.

The liturgical account of St. Camillus’ life is so full that we need add nothing to it.

126

Camillus Bucclanici Theati- na dicecesis oppido ex nobili Lelliorum familia natus est matre sexagenaria, cui gravida visum est per quietem, pueru- lum Crucis signo in pectore munitum, et agmini puerorum idem signum gestantium prz- euntem, se risse. Adoles- cens rem militarem secutus, seculi vitiis aliquamdiu indul- sit, donec vigesimum quintum agens tatis annum, tanto superna gratie lumine, divinz-

ue offense dolore correptus uit, ut uberrimo lacrymarum imbre illico perfusus, anteactz vite sordes indesinenter ab- stergere, novumque induere hominem firmiter decreverit. Quare ipso, quo id contigit. Purificationis beatissimae Vir- ginis festo die, ad Fratres Mi-

Camillus was born at Bac- chianico, a town of the diocese of Chieti. He was descended from the noble family of the Leli, and his mother was sixty years old at the time of his birth. While she was with child with him, she dreamt that she gave birth to a little boy, who was signed on the breast with the cross, and was the leader of a band of children, wearing the same sign. As a young man he followed the career of arms, and gave him- self up for a time to worldly vices, but in his twenty-sixth year he was so enlightened by heavenly grace, and seized with so great a sorrow for having offended God, that on the spot, shedding a flood of tears, he firmly resolved un

* St. Matt, xxv. 36.

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nores, quos Capuccinos vocant, convolans, ut eorum numero adscriberetur, summis precibus exoravit. Voti compos semel atque iterum factus est; sed Ícedo ulcere, quo aliquando laboraverat, in ejus tibia ite- rato recrudescente, divina pro- videntie majora de eo dis- ponentis consilio humiliter se subjecit, suique victor, illius religionis bis expetitum, et susceptum habitum bis dimisit.

Romam. profectus, in no- socomium, quod Insanabilium dicitur, receptus est: cujus etiam administrationem, ob perspectas ejus virtutes sibi demandatam, summa integri- tate ac sollicitudine vere pa- terna peregit. Omnium zgro- rum servum se reputans, eorum sternere lectulos, sordes tergere, ulceribus mederi, agonique ex- tremo piis precibus et cohorta- tionibus opem ferre solemne habuit; quibus in muneribus preclara prebuit admirabilis patientie, invicte fortitudinis, et heroice charitatis exempla. Verum cum animarum in ex- tremis periclitantium, quod unice intendebat, levamini sub- sidium litterarum plurimum conferre intelligeret, triginta duos annos natus, in primis grammatice elementis tiroci-

127

ceasingly to wash away the stains of his past life, and to put on the new man. There- fore on the very day of his con- version, which happened to be the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, he hastened to the Friars Minor, who are called Capuchins, and begged most earnestly to be admitted into their number. His request was granted on this and on a subsequent occasion, but each time a horrible ulcer, from which he had suffered before, broke out again upon his leg; wherefore he humbly submitted himself to the designs of Divine Provi- dence, which was preparing him for greater things, and conquering himself he twice laid aside the Franciscan habit, which he had twice asked for and obtained.

He set out for Rome and was received into the hospital called that of the Incurables. His virtues became so well known that the management of the institution was entrusted to him, and he discharged it with the greatest integrity and a truly paternal solicitude. He esteemed himself the ser- vant of all the sick, and was accustomed to make their beds, to wash them, to heal their sores, and to aid them in their last agony with his prayers and pious exhortations. In discharging these offices he gave striking proofs of his wonderful patience, uncon-

uered fortitude, and heroic charity. But when he per- ceived how great an advantage the knowledge of letters would be to him in assisting those

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nium inter pueros iterum subire non erubuit. Sacerdotio pos- tea rite initiatus, nonnullis sibi adjunctis sociis, prima jecit Congregationis Clericorum Regularium infirmis ministran- tium fundamenta, irrito conatu obnitente humani generis hoste, nam Camillus coelesti voce e Christi crucifixi; manus etiam de ligno avulsas admirando pro- digio protendentis, simulacro emissa mirabiliter confirmatus, ordinem suum a Sede Aposto- lica approbari obtinuit; soda- libus quarto obstrictis maxime arduo voto, infirmis, quos etiam pestis infecerit, ministrandi.

uod institutum, quam foret

eo acceptum, et animarum saluti proficuum, sanctus Phi- lippus Nerius, qui Camillo a sacris confessionibus erat, com- probavit, dum ejus alumnis decedentium agoni opem feren- tibus angelos suggerentes ver- ba sepius se vidisse testatus est.

Arctioribus hisce vinculis zgrotantium ministerio man- cipatus, mirum est qua alacri- tate, nullis fractus laboribus, nullis deterritus vita periculis, diu noctuque ad supremum usque spiritum, eorum com- modis vigilaverit. Omnibus omnia factus, vilissima quaque

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in danger of death, to whose service he had devoted his life, he was not ashamed at the age of thirty-two to return again to school and to learn the first elements of grammar among children. Being after- wards promoted in due order to the priesthood, he was joined by several companions, and in spite of the opposition attempted by the enemy of the human race, laid the foun- dations of the Congregation of Regular Clerks, Servants of the Sick. In this work Camil- lus was wonderfully strength- ened by a heavenly voice coming from an image of Christ crucified, which, by an admirable miracle loosing the hands from the wood, stretched them out towards him. He obtained the approbation of his order from the Apostolic See. Its members bind them- selves by a fourth and very arduous vow—namely, to min- ister to the sick, even those infected with the plague. St. Philip Neri, who was his con- fessor, attested how pleasing this institution was to God, and how greatly it contributed toward the salvation of souls; for he declared that he often saw angels suggesting words to disciples of Camillus, when they were assisting those in their agony.

When he had thus bound himself more strictly than be- fore to the service of the sick, he devoted himself with mar- vellous ardour to watching over their interests, by night and by day, till his last breath. No labour could tire him, no peril of his life could affright

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officia demississimo obsequio, flexisque plerumque genibus, veluti Christum ipsum cer- neret in infirmis, hilari promp- toque animo arripiebat; utque omnium indigentiis presto es- set, generalem ordinis prafe- cturam, ccelique delicias, qui- bus in contemplatione defixus affluebat, sponte dimisit. Pa- ternus vero illius erga miseros amor tum maxime effulsit, dum et Urbs contagioso morbo primum, deinde extrema an- nonz laboraret inopia et Nolae in Campania dira pestis gras- saretur. Tanta denique in De- um et proximum charitate exarsit ut angelus nuncupari, et angelorum opem in vario itinerum discrimine experiri promereretur. Prophetie do- no, et gratia sanitatum pra- ditus, arcana quoque cordium inspexit; ejusque precibus nunc cibaria multiplicata sunt, nunc aquain vinum conversa. Tan- dem vigiliis, jejuniis, et assi- duis attritus laboribus, cum pelle tantum et ossibus con- stare videretur, quinque mole- stis eque ac diutinis morbis, quos misericordias Domini ap- pellabat, fortiter toleratis, sac- ramentis munitus, Rome inter suavissima Jesu et Marie no- mina, ad ea verba: Mitis atque festivus Christi Jesu tibi ad- spectus appareat: qua pra- dixerat hora, obdormivit in Domino, pridie Idus Julii, anno salutis millesimo sex- centesimo decimo quarto, =ta- tis suse sexagesimo quinto: quem pluribus illustrem mira- culis Benedictus decimusquar- tus solemni ritu sanctorum fastis adscripsit; et Leo deci- mus tertius, ex sacrorum Ca-

I29

him. He became all to all, and claimed for himself the lowest offices, which he dis- charged promptly and joy- fully, in the humblest man- ner, often on bended knees, as though he saw Christ Him- self present in the sick. In order to be more at the com- mand of all in need, he of his own accord laid aside the gen- eral government of the order, and deprived himself of the heavenly delights with which he was inundated during con- templation. His fatherly love for the unfortunate shone out with greatest brilliancy when Rome was suffering first from & contagious distemper, and then from a great scarcity of provisions; and also when a dreadful plague was ravaging Nola in Campania. Ina word, he was consumed with so great a love of God and his neighbour that he was called an angel, and merited to be helped by the angels in differ- ent dangers which threatened him on his journeys. He was endowed with the gift of proe and the grace of

ing, and he could read the secrets of hearts. By his prayers he at one time mul- tiplied food, and at another changed water into wine. At length, worn out by watching, fasting, and ceaseless labour, he seemed to be nothing but skin and bone. He endured courageously five long and troublesome sicknesses, which he used to call the ** Mercies of the Lord"; and, strength- ened by the sacraments, with the swe t names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, he fell asleep

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tholici orbis antistitum voto, ac Rituum Congregationis Con- sulto ccelestem omnium hos- pitalium et infirmorum ubique degentium patronum declara- vit, ipsiusque nomen in agoni- zantium Litaniis invocari pra- cepit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in our Lord, while these words were being said: ‘* May Christ Jesus appear to thee with a sweet and gracious counte- nance.' He died at Rome, at the hour he had foretold, on the day before the Ides of July, in the year of salvation

1614, the sixty-fifth of his age. He was made illustrious by many miracles, and Bene- dict XIV solemnly enrolled him upon the calendar of the saints. Leo XIII, at the desire of the bishops of the Catholic world, and with the advice of the Congregation of Rites, declared him the heavenly patron of all nurses and of the Sick in all places, and ordered his name to be invoked in the Litanies for the Dying.

Angel of charity, by what wonderful paths did the Divine Spirit lead thee! The vision of thy pious mother remained long unrealized; before taking on thee the holy Cross and enlisting comrades under that sacred sign, thou didst serve the odious tyrant, who will have none but slaves under his standard, and the passion of gambling was wellnigh thy ruin. O Camillus, remembering the danger thou didst incur, have pity on the unhappy slaves of passion; free them from the madness wherewith they risk, to the caprice of chance, their goods, their honour, and their peace in this world and in the next. Thy history proves the power of grace to break the strongest ties and alter the most inveterate habits: may these men, like thee, turn their bent towards God, and change their rashness into love of the dangers to which holy charity may expose them! For charity, too, has its risks, even the peril of life, as the Lord of charity laid down His life for us: a heavenly game of chance, which thou didst play so well that the very angels applauded thee. But what is the hazarding of --- PAGE 158 --- SAINT CAMILLUS OF LELLIS 131

earthly life compared with the prize reserved for the winner ?

According to the commandment of the Gospel read by the Church in thy honour, may we all, like thee, love our brethren as Christ has loved us! Few, says St. Augustine, love one another to this end, that God may be all in all.* Thou, O Camillus, having this love, didst exercise it by preference towards those suffering members of Christ's mystic Body, in whom our Lord revealed Himself more clearly to thee, and in whom His kingdom was nearerat hand. Therefore has the Church in gratitude chosen thee, together with John of God, to be guardian of those homes for the suffering which she has founded with a mother's thoughtful care. Do honour to that Mother's confidence. Protect the hospitals against the attempts of an odious and in- capable secularization, which, in its eagerness to lose the souls, sacrifices even the corporal well-being of the unhappy mortals committed to the care of its evil philanthropy. In order to meet our increasing miseries, multiply thy sons, and make them worthy to be assisted by angels. Wherever we may be in this valley of exile when the hour of our last struggle sounds, make use of thy precious prerogative which the holy liturgy honours to-day; help us, by the spirit of holy love, to vanquish the enemy and attain unto the heavenly crown !

! Homily on the Gospel of the day. In Joann. Tract. Ixxxiii.

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SAME Day

ST. SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS

OR the second time in July a constellation of

seven stars shines in the heavens. More fortunate than Felicitas, Symphorosa preceded in the arena the seven sons she was offering to God. From the throne where he was already reigning crowned with the martyr's diadem, Getulius the tribune, father of this illustrious family, applauded the combat whereby his race earned a far greater nobility than that of patrician blood, and gave to Rome a grander glory than was ever dreamed of by her heroes and poets. The Emperor Adrian, corrupt yet brilliant, sceptical yet superstitious, like the society around him, presided in person at the defeat of his gods. Threatening to burn the valiant woman in sacrifice to the idols, he received this courageous answer: 'Thy gods cannot receive me in sacrifice; but if thou burn me and my sons for the name of Christ, my God, I shall cause thy demons to burn with more cruel flames!” The execution of the mother and her sons was, indeed, the signal for a period of peace, during which the Kingdom of our Lord was considerably extended. Jerusalem, having under the leadership of a last false Messias revolted against Rome, was punished by being deprived of her very name; but the Church received the glory which the Synagogue once possessed when she produced the mother of the Machabees.

Another glory was reserved for this eighteenth day of July, in the year 1870: the (Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, presided over by the immortal Pius IX, de- finedin its constitution, Pastor ZEternus, the full, supreme, and immediate power of the Roman Pontiff over all the

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Churches, and pronounced anathema against -all who should refuse to recognize the personal infallibility of the same Roman Pontiff, speaking ex cathedra—i.e., defin- ing, as universal pastor, any doctrine concerning faith or morals. We may also remark that during these same days—viz., on a Sunday in the middle of July—the Greeks make a commemoration of the first six general councils: Nicea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and the second and third of Constantinople. Thus, during these midsummer days, we are in the midst of feasts of heavenly light; and let us not forget that it is martyrdom, the supreme act of faith, that merits and produces light. Doubtless, Divine Wisdom, who plays in the world with number, weight, and measure, planned the beautiful coincidence which unites these two days, July 18, 136, and July 18, 1870. If in these latter days the word of God has been set free ,it is owing to the bloodshed by our fathers in its defence. The liturgy gives but a very short account of the immortal combat which glorifies this day:

Symphorosa Tiburtina, Ge- Symphorosa, a native of

tulii martyris uxor, ex eo septem filios peperit, Crescen- tium, Julianum, Nemesium, Primitivum, Justinum, Stacte- um, et Eugenium: qui omnes ropter Christiane fidei pro- essionem una cum matre, Adriano imperatore compre- hensi sunt. Quorum pietas multis variisque tentata suppli- ciis, cum stabilis permaneret, mater, que filiis fidei magistra fuerat, dux eisdem ad marty- rium exstitit. Nam saxo ad collum alligato in profluentem dejicitur: cujus corpus con- quisitum a fratre ejus Eugenio sepelitur. Postridie ejus diei, qui fuit decimoquinto calendas Augusti, septem fratres singuli
ad palum alligati, varie sunt interfecti. Crescentio guttur

Tivoli, was the wife of the martyr Getulius. She bore him seven sons, Crescentius, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justin, Stacteus, and Euge- nius. Under the Emperor Adrian, they were all arrested, together with her, on account of their profession of the Christian faith. Their piety was tried by many different tortures, and, on their re- maining constant, the mother, who had taught her sons, led the way to martyrdom. She was thrown into the river, with a huge stone tied round her neck. Her brother Eu- genius searched for her body and gave it burial. The next day, which was the fifteenth of the Calends of August, the

--- PAGE 161 --- 134

ferro transfigitur: Juliano pe- ctus confoditur: Nemesio cor transverberatur: Primitivo tra- jicitur umbilicus: Justinus membratim secatur: Stacteus telis configitur: Eugenius a pectore in duas partes divi- ditur. Ita octo hostiz Deo gratissima sunt immolate. Corpora in altissimam foveam projecta sunt via Tiburtina, nono ab Urbe lapide: que postea Romam translata, con- dita sunt in Ecclesia Sancti Angeli in piscina.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

seven brothers were tied to Stakes and put to death in different ways. Crescentius had his throat transfixed; Julian was wounded in the breast; Nemesius was pierced in the heart, and Primitivus in the stomach; Justin was cut to pieces, limb by limb; Stacteus was pierced with darts, and Eugenius was cut in two from the breast. Thus eight victims most pleasing to God were immolated. Their bodies were thrown into a

deep pit on the Tiburtian Way, nine miles from Rome; but they were afterwards trans- lated into the city and buried in the Church of the Holy Angel in the Fish Market.

O Symphorosa, thou wife, sister, and mother of martyrs, thy desires are amply fulfilled; followed by thy seven children, thou rejoinest in the court of the Eternal King thy husband Getulius and his brother Amantius, brave combatants in the imperial army, but far more valiant soldiers of Christ. The words of our Lord: A man’s enemies shall be they of his own household are abrogated in heaven; nor can this other sentence be there applied: He that loveth father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me? There, the love of Christ our King predominates over all other loves; yet, far from extinguishing them, it makes them ten times stronger by putting its own energy into them; and, far from having fo set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother? it sets a divine seal upon the family and rivets its bonds for all eternity.

What nobility, O heroes, have ye conferred upon the world! Men may look up with more confidence

! St. Matt. x. 36. ! Ibid. 37. * Ibid, 35.

--- PAGE 162 --- SAINT MARGARET 153

faith of children, and preserved their baptismal inno- cence! Should they have formerly merited God's anger, they may with all confidence repeat the words thou didst love so well: O sweetest Jesus, be not unto me a Judge, but a Saviour !'

SAME Dav

SAINT MARGARET VIRGIN AND MARTYR ,

HIS same day brings before us a rival of the warrior-

martyr, St. George : Margaret, like him victorious over the dragon, and like him called in the Menza of the Greeks, the Great Martyr. The cross was her weapon; and, like the soldier, the virgin, too, consummated her trial in her blood. They were equally renowned, also, in those chivalrous times when valour and faith fought hand in hand for Christ beneath the standard of the saints. So early as the seventh century our Western island rivalled the East in honouring the fear? drawn from the abyss of infidelity. Before the disastrous schism brought about by Henry VIII, the Island of Saints celebrated this feast as a double of the second class; women alone were obliged to rest from servile work, in gratitude for the protection afforded them by St. Mar- garet at the moment of childbirth—a favour which ranked her among the saints called in the Middle Ages auxiliatores or helpers. But it was not in England alone that Margaret was invoked, as history proves by the many and illustrious persons of all countries who have borne her blessed name. In heaven, too, there is great festivity around the throne of Margaret; we learn this from such trustworthy witnesses as St. Gertrude the Great! and St. Frances of Rome,? who, though divided by a century of time, were both, by a special favour

* Legatus divinse pietatis, 1v., xlv. ! Visio xxxvi. II

--- PAGE 163 --- 154 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of their divine Spouse, allowed, while still on earth, to assist at this heavenly spectacle.

The ancient legend in the Roman Breviary was suppressed in the sixteenth century by St. Pius V as not being sufficiently authentic. We, therefore, give instead some responsories and antiphons and a collect, taken from what appears to be the very office said by St. Ger- trude; for in" the vision mentioned above allusion is made to one of these responsories, Virgo veneranda :*

RESPONSORIES

LI Felix igitur Margarita sa- Blessed Margaret, though crilego sanguine progenita: born of pagan blood: * Re- * Fidem quam Spiritu San- ceiving the faith by the Holy cto percepit vitiorum macu- Spirit, preserved it free from lis minus infecit. stain

Y. Ibat de virtute in vir- tutem, ardenter sitiens ani- ma salutem. * Fidem.

. Hac modica quidem in malitia, sed mire vigens pudicitia, preventa gratia Re- demptoris: * Oviculas pasce- bat nutricis.

y. Simplex fuit ut columba, quemadmodum serpens astuta. * Oviculas.

>

KR. Quadam die Odibrius, molestus Deo et hominibus, transiens visum in illam sparsit: * Mox in concupis- centiam ejus exarsit.

y. Erat enim nimium for-

mosa: in vultu scilicet ut rosa. * Mox. Hy. Misit protinus clientes,

ad inquirendos ejus paren- tes; * Ut si libera probare- tur, in conjugium sibi copu- laretur.

Y. She went from virtue to virtue, ardently desiring the salvation of her soul. * Re- ceiving the faith.

Hi. Knowing no evil, she blossomed in purity, being revented by the grace of our aviour. * She tended the sheep for her foster-mother,

Y. Simple as the dove and prudent as the serpent. * She tended.

Ey. Odibrius, hateful to God and men, passing one day, cast his glance upon her. * And he burned with desire of her.

Y. For she was exceeding lovely; her face like a beauti- ful rose. * And he burned.

HN. Forthwith he sent his men to inquire as to her par- entage; * For that if she were of gentle blood, he fain would take her to wife.

? Breviarium Constantiense, Augusta Vindelicorum, wcccexcix.

--- PAGE 164 --- SAINT MARGARET

Y. Sed hanc qui despon- saverat, non ita Christus pra- ordinaverat. * Ut si.

Ej. Dum tyrannus intellexit quod eum virgo despexit: * jussit eamdem iratus suis prasentari tribunalibus.

¥. Quam sperans puellarum more minis flecti subjuncto terrore. * Jussit.

Ry. Virgo veneranda in, mag- na stans constantia, verba contempsit judicis: * Nil cogi- tans de rebus lubricis.

Y. Colestis premii spe gau- dens, in tribulatione erat pa- tiens. * Nil cogitans.

Ry. Post carceris squalorem carnisque macerationem, Chri- sti dilecta: * Tenebrosis denuo recluditur in locis.

Y. Nomen Domini laudare non desinens et glorificare. * Tenebrosis.

Hy. Sancta martyre preca- tibus instante, draco fcetore plenus apparuit: * Qui hanc invadens totam absorbuit.

Y. Quem per medium signo crucis discidit, et de utero ejus illesa exivit. * Qui.

I55

Y. But Jesus Christ whose bride she was, had otherwise ordained. * For thatifshe were.

Hj. When the tyrant heard that the virgin despised him, * Enraged he caused her to be brought to his tribunal.

Y. For he hoped that, as maidens are wont, she would yield through fear of his threats. * Enraged.

KR. The worshipful virgin stood firm in her constancy, setting at nought the words of the judge. * For she thought not of vile pleasures.

Y. Rejoicing in the hope of a heavenly reward, she was patient under the trial. * For she thought not.

Hj. The beloved of Christ, after enduring the horrors of a dungeon, and the torturing of her flesh, * Is closed once more in a darksome prison.

Y. She ceases not to praise and glorify the name of the Lord. * Is closed.

Hy. While the holy martyr was instant in prayer, a foul dragon appeared; * And rush- ing upon her, he devoured her.

¥. With the sign of the cross she rent him asunder, and came forth again unhurt. *

And rushing.

ANTIPHONS

Ministri statim tenelle cor-

pe comburebant puelle; sed

, Oratione facta, igne per- mansit intacta.

The executioners burn the limbs of the tender maiden: but making her prayer she feels nought in the flame.

--- PAGE 165 --- 156 Vas immensum aqua plenum praeses imperavit afferri: et in

illud virginem ligatam demergi.

Laudabilis Dominus in suis
virtutibus, vincula manuum relaxavit, suamque famulam de morte liberavit.

Videntes hzc mirabilia bap- tizati sunt quinque millia: quos capite plecti censuit ira praefecti: quibus est addicta Christi testis invicta, bene- dicens Deum deorum in szcula seculorum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

A great vessel full of water is brought by the judge's com mand: and the virgin is cast in bound.

The Lord, who is worthy of p in His mighty deeds, oosened the fetters of His handmaid, and delivered her from death.

At the sight of these won- ders five thousand are bap- tized: the prefect in anger commands them all to be be- headed, and after them the unconquerable witness of Christ blessing the God of gods for ever and ever.

PRAYER

Deus qui beatam Marga-
ritam virginem tuam ad coelos per martyrii palmam venire fecisti: concede nobis, quasu- mus, ut ejus exempla sequentes ad te venire mereamur. Per

Dominum.

O God, who didst lead Thy blessed virgin Margaret to heaven, with the palm of mar- tyrdom, grant, we beseech thee, that by following her example, we may merit to come fo unto Thee. Through our ord.

--- PAGE 166 --- SAINT PRAXEDES 157

Jury 2r

SAINT PRAXEDES VIRGIN

OQ this day Pudentiana's angelic sister at length obtained from her Spouse release from bondage, and from the burden of exile that weighed so heavily on this last scion of a holy and illustrious stock. New races, unknown to her fathers when they laid the world at the feet of Rome, now governed the Eternal City. Nero and Domitian had been actuated by a tyrannical spirit; but the philosophical Caesars showed how abso- lutely they misconceived the destinies of the great city. The salvation of Rome lay in the hands of a different dynasty: a century back Praxedes' grandfather, more legitimate inheritor of the traditions of the Capitol than all the emperors present or to come, hailed in his guest, Simon Bar-Jona, the ruler of the future. Host . of the prince of the apostles was a title handed down by Pudens to his posterity: for in the time of Pius I, as in that of St. Peter, his house was still the shelter of the Vicar of Christ. Left the sole heiress of such tra- ditions, Praxedes, after the death of her beloved sister, converted her palaces into churches, which resounded day and night with divine praises, and where pagans hastened in crowds to be baptized. The policy of Anto- ninus respected the dwelling of a descendant of the Cornelii; but his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, would make no such exception. An assault was made upon the title of Praxedes, and many Christians were taken and put to the sword. The virgin, overpowered with grief at seeing all slain around her, and herself un- touched, turned to God and besought Him that she might die. Her body was laid with those of her relatives

--- PAGE 167 --- 158

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in the cemetery of her grandmother, Priscilla. The following is the short notice given by the Church:

Praxedes, virgo Romana, Pudentiana virginis soror, Mar- co Antonino imperatore Chri- stianos persequente, eos facul- tatibus, opera, consolatione et omni charitatis officio prose- quebatur. Nam alios domi occultabat; alios ad fidei con- stantiam hortabatur: aliorum corpora sepeliebat: iis, qui in carcere inclusi erant, qui in ergastulis exercebantur, nulla re deerat. Qua cum tantam Christianorum stragem jam ferre non posset, Deum pre- cata est, ut, si mori expedi- ret, se e tantis malis eripe- ret. Itaque duodecimo calen- das Augusti ad pietatis premia vocatur in ccelum. Cujus cor- pus a Pastore presbytero in patris et sororis Pudentiane sepulcrum illatum est, quod erat in coemeterio Priscille, via Salaria.

Praxedes was a Roman vir- gin and sister of the virgin Pudentiana. When the em- peror Marcus Antoninus per- secuted the Christians, she devoted both her time and her wealth to consoling them, and doing them every charitable service in her power. Some she concealed in her house: others she encouraged to firm- ness of faith. She buried the dead, and saw that those who were imprisoned wanted for nothing. But at length being unable to bear the grief caused by such a wholesale butchery of the Christians, she prayed God that if it were expedient for her to die He would take her away from so much evil. Her prayer was heard, and on the twelfth of the Calends of August, she was called to heaven, to receive the reward of her charity. Her body was buried by the priest Pastor in the tomb where lay her father and her sister Pudentiana, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way.

Mother Church is ever grateful to thee, O Praxedes !

Thou hast long been in the enjoyment of thy divine Spouse, and still thou continuest the traditions of thy noble family, for the benefit of the saints on earth. When, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the martyrs, exposed to the profanations of the Lombards, were raised from their tombs and brought within the walls of the Eternal City, Paschal I sought hospitality for them where Peter had found it in the first century. What a day was that of July 20, 817, when, leaving the Catacombs, 2,300 of these heroes of Christ came to

--- PAGE 168 --- SAINT PRAXEDES 159

seek in the title of Praxedes the repose which the bar- barians had disturbed! What a tribute Rome offered thee, O Virgin, on that day! Can we do better than unite our homage with that of the glorious band, coming on the day of thy blessed feast, thus to acknowledge thy benefits? Descendant of Pudens and Priscilla, give us thy love of Peter, thy devotedness to the Church, thy zeal for the saints of God, whether militant still on earth »r already reigning in glory.

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Jury 22 SAINT MARY MAGDALEN

: HREE saints, said our Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, ‘ have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalen.” The Fathers tell us that Magdalen is a type of the Gentile Church, called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness; and, indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wanderings and the love of the human race, espoused by the Word of God. Like the most illustrious characters of the law of grace, she has her antitype in past ages. Let us follow the history of this great penitent as traced by unanimous tradition: Magdalen's glory will not be thereby diminished.

When, before all ages, God decreed to manifest His glory, He willed to reign over a world drawn from nothing ; and as His goodness was equal to His power, He would have the triumph of supreme love to be the law of that kingdom, which the Gospel likens unto a king who made a marriage for his son.

Passing over the pure intelligences whose nine choirs are filled with divine light, the immortal Son of the King of ages looked down to the extreme limits of creation; there he beheld human nature, made, indeed, to know God, but acquiring that knowledge laboriously; its weakness would better show His divine condescension: with it, then, He chose to contract His alliance.

Man is flesh and blood: so the Son of God would be made Flesh; He would not have angels, but men for His brothers. He that in heaven is the Splendour of His Father, and on earth the most beautiful of the sons of men, would draw the human race with the cords of Adam? In the very act of creation He sealed His espousals by

* Revelationes S. BinctTTAe, lib. 1v., cap. 108. * St. Matt. xxii. 2. * Osee xi. 4.

--- PAGE 170 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN 161

raising man to the supernatural state of grace, and placing him in the paradise of expectation.

Alas! the human race knew not how to await her Bridegroom even in the shades of Eden. Cast out of the garden of delights, she prostituted to vain idols in their groves what was left her of her glory. For she had much beauty still. the gift of her Spouse, though she had profaned it: Thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.*

God would not suffer His love to be defeated. Leaving humanity at large to walk in the ways of folly, He chose out a single people, sprung from a holy stock, to be the guardian of His promises. Coming forth from Egypt and from the midst of a barbarous nation, this people was consecrated to God and became His inheritance. In the person of Balaam, the former Bride saw Israel pass through the desert, and filled with admiration at the glory of the Lord dwelling with him in his tent, her heart for a moment beat with bridal love. I shall see Him, she cried in her transport, but not now : I shall behold Him, but not near. From those wild heights whence the Spouse would one day call her, she hailed the Star that was to rise out of Jacob, and predicted the ruin of the Hebrew people who had supplanted her for a time.

Too soon was this sublime ecstasy followed by still more culpable wanderings! How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter ? Know thou, and see, that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God. But the ages are passing, the night will soon be over, and the day-star will arise, the sign of the Bridegroom gathering the nations. Let Him lead thee into the wilderness and there He will speak to thy heart. Thy rival knows not how to be a queen; the alliance of Sinai has produced but a slave. The Bridegroom still waits for His Bride.

At length the hour came: bending the heavens, He

* Ezech. xvi. 14. ,, * Num. xxiv. 17. * Jerem. xxxi. 22, and ii. 19.

--- PAGE 171 --- 162 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was made sin! for sinful men; and hidden under the servile garb of mortals, He sat down to table in the house of the proud Pharisee. The haughty Synagogue, who would neither fast with John nor rejoice with Christ, was now to see God justifying the delays of His merciful love. ‘Let us not, like Pharisees,’ says St. Ambrose, “despise the counsels of God. The sons of Wisdom are singing: listen to their voices, att»nd to their dances; it is the hour of the nuptials. Thus sang the prophet when he said: Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus.”?

And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment ; and standing behind at His fect, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.? ' Who is this woman ? Without doubt it is the Church,' answers St. Peter Chrysologus, ‘the Church, weighed down and stained with sins committed in the city of this world. At the news that Christ has appeared in Judea, that He is to be seen at the banquet of the Pasch, where He bestows His mysteries and reveals the divine Sacrament, and makes known the secret of salvation, suddenly she darts forward; despising the endeavours of the Scribes to prevent her entrance, she confronts the princes of the Synagogue; burning with desire she penetrates into the sanctuary, where she finds Him whom she seeks, betrayed by Jewish perfidy even at the banquet of love; not the passion, nor the Cross, nor the tomb can check her faith, or prevent her from bringing her perfumes to Christ.”

Who but the Church knows the secret of this per- fume? asks Paulinus of Nola with Ambrose of Milan; the Church, whose numberless flowers have all aromas; the Church, who exhales before God a thousand sweet odours aroused by the breath of the Holy Spirit—viz., the virtues of nations and the prayers of the saints.

^ 2 Cor. v. 21. * Axs, in Luc. * St. Luke vii. 37, 38. * Prr. Cunvsot. Sermo xcv.

--- PAGE 172 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN 163

Mingling the perfume of her conversion with her tears of repentance, she anoints the feet of her Lord, honouring in them His humanity. Her faith, whereby she is justified, grows equally with her love: soon the Head of the Spouse—that is, His divinity—receives from her the homage of the full measure of pure and precious spikenard—to wit, consummate holiness, whose heroism goes so far as to break the vessel of mortal flesh by the martyrdom of love, if not by that of tortures.

Arrived at the height of the mystery, she forgets not even there those sacred feet, whose contact delivered her from the seven devils representing all vices; for to the heart of the Bride, as in the bosom of the Father, her Lord is still both God and Man. The Jew, who would not own Christ either for head or foundation, found no fragrant oil for His head, nor even water for His feet ; she, on the contrary, pours her priceless perfume over both. And while the sweet odour of her perfect faith fills the earth, now become by the victory of that faith the house of the Lord, she continues to wipe her Master's feet with her beautiful hair—i.e., her countless good works and her ceaseless prayer. The growth of this mystical hair requires all her care here on earth; and in heaven its abundance and beauty will call forth the praise of Him who jealously counts, without losing one, all the works of His Church. Then from her own head, as from that of her Spouse, will the fragrant unction of the Holy Spirit overflow even to the skirt of her garment.

Thou despisest, O Pharisee, the poor woman weeping with love at the feet of thy divine Guest, whom thou knowest not; but 'I would rather,' cries the solitary of Nola, ' be bound up in her hair at the feet of Christ, than be seated with thee near Christ, yet without Him." Happy sinner to be, both in her life of sin and that of grace, the figure of the Church, even so far as to have been foreseen and announced by the prophets. For such is the teaching of St. Jerome and St. Cyril of

^ PauLIK. Ep. xxiii. 42.

--- PAGE 173 --- 164 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Alexandria; while Venerable Bede, gathering up, according to his wont, the traditions of his predecessors, does not hesitate to assert that ‘ what Magdalen once did, remains the type of what the whole Church does, and of what every perfect soul must ever do.”

We can well understand the predilection of the Man-God for this soul, whose repentance from such a depth of misery manifested so fully, from the outset, the success of His mission, the defeat of Satan, and the triumph of divine love. While Israel was expecting from the Messias nought but perishable goods, when the very apostles, including John the beloved, were looking for honours and first places, she was the first to come to Jesus for Himself alone, and not for His gifts. Eager only for pardon and love, she chose for her portion those sacred feet, wearied in the search after the wander- ing sheep: here was the blessed altar whereon she offered to her divine Deliverer as many holocausts of herself, says St. Gregory, as she had had vain objects of com- placency. Henceforth her goods and her person were at the disposal of Jesus; the rest of her life was to be spent sitting at His feet, contemplating the mysteries of His life, gathering up His every word, following His footsteps, as He preached the Kingdom of God. How swiftly, in the light of her humble confidence, did she outstrip the Synagogue and the very just themselves ! The Pharisee might be indignant, her sister might complain, the apostles might murmur: Mary held her peace; but Jesus spoke for her, as if His Sacred Heart were hurt by the least word said against her. At the death of Lazarus the Master had to call her from the mysterious repose wherein even then she was seated; her presence at the tomb was of more avail than the whole college of apostles and the crowd of Jews. One word from her, though already said by Martha who had arrived first, was more powerful than all the words of the latter; her tears made the Man-God weep, and drew from Him that groan which He uttered before recalling ! Bzpa in xii. Joann.

--- PAGE 174 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN 165

the dead man to life—that divine trouble of a God overcome by His creature. Oh truly, for others as well as for herself, for the world as well as for God, Mary has Chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her.

In all that we have said, we have but linked together the testimonies of a veneration universally consistent. But the homage of all the doctors together cannot compare with the honour which the Church pays to the humble Magdalen, when she applies to the Queen of heaven on her glorious Assumption day the Gospel words first uttered in praise of the justified sinner. Albert the Great? assures us that, in the world of grace as well as in the material creation, God has made two great lights—to wit, two Maries, the Mother of our Lord and the sister of Lazarus: the greater, which is the Blessed Virgin, to rule the day of innocence; the lesser, which is Mary the penitent beneath the feet of that glorious Virgin, to rule the night by enlightening repentant sinners. As the moon by its phases points out the feast days on earth, so Magdalen in heaven gives the signal of joy to the angels of God over one sinner. doing penance. Does she not also share with the Immaculate One the name of Mary, Star of the sea, as the Churches of Gaul sang in the Middle Ages, recalling how, though one was a Queen and the other a handmaid, both were causes of joy to the Church: the one being the gate of salvation, the other the messenger of the Resur- rection ??

On that great Easter day, Magdalen, like a morning star, announced the rising of the Sun of Justice, who was never more to set. ' Woman,’ said Jesus to her, 'why weepest thou? Thou art not mistaken. He seemed to say, 'It is, indeed, the Divine Gardener speaking to thee, the same that planted Eden in the beginning. But now dry thy tears; in this new garden, whose centre is an empty tomb, Paradise is restored;

! St. Luke x. 42, ' ALpErT. MAGN. in vii. Luc. * Sequence Mane prima sabbati.—Paschal Time, Vol. I., p. 287.

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the angels no longer close the entrance; here is the Tree of Life, which has borne fruit these three days past. This fruit, which thou, O woman, art eager, as of old, to seize and taste, belongs to thee now by right; for thou art no longer Eve but Mary. If thou art bidden not to touch it yet, it is because, as thou wouldst not hereto- fore taste the fruit of death thyself alone, thou mayest not now enjoy the fruit of life till thou bring back him that was first lost through thee.” Thus by the wisdom and mercy of our God, woman is raised to a greater dignity than before the Fall. Magdalen, to whom woman is indebted for this glorious revenge, has hence obtained in the Church's litanies the place of honour above even the virgins; as John the Baptist precedes the whole army of the saints on account of his privilege of being the first witness to our salvation. The testi- mony of the penitent completes that of the Precursor: on the word of John the Church recognized the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world; on the word of Magdalen she hails the Spouse triumphant over death. And, judging that by this last testimony Catholic belief is put in full possession of the entire cycle of mysteries, she to-day intones the immortal symbol, which she deemed premature for the feast of Zachary's son.

O Mary ! how great didst thou appear before heaven at that solemn moment when, before the world knew aught of the triumph of life, our Emmanuel the con- queror said to thee: Goto My brethren, and say to them : I ascend to M (y Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God. Thou didst represent us Gentiles, who were not to obtain possession of our Lord by faith till after His ascension into heaven. These brethren, to whom the Man-God sent thee, were doubtless those privileged men whom He had called to know Him during His mortal life, and to whom thou, O apostle of the apostles, hadst to announce the mystery of the Pasch; and yet, in His loving mercy, the divine Master intended

1 Sequence of Easter day. ? St. John xx. 17.

--- PAGE 176 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN 167

to show Himself that same day to many of them; and both thou and they were soon to be witnesses of His triumphant Ascension. Is it not evident that thy mission, O Magdalen, though addressed to the immediate disciples of our Lord, was to extend much further both in space and time ? As He entered into His glory, the Conqueror of death already beheld these brethren filling the whole earth. It is of them He had said in the psalm: I will declare thy name to My brethren: in the midst of the Church will I praise thee ; in the midst of a people that shall be born which the Lord hath made! It is of them and of us, the generation to come, to whom the Lord was to be declared, that He said to thee: Go to My brethren and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God. Thou didst come, and thou comest continually, fulfilling thy mission to- wards the disciples, and saying to them: I have seen the Lord, and these things He said to me.?

Thou camest, O Mary, when our West beheld thee, treading the rocks of Provence with thine apostolic feet, whose beauty Cyril of Alexandria admires. There seven times a day, raised on angels' wings towards the Spouse, thou didst point out, more eloquently than any speech could do, the way He took, the way the Church must follow by her desires, until she is reunited with Him for ever. Thou didst prove that the apostolate in its highest reach does not depend on words. Inheaven the Seraphim and Cherubim and Thrones gaze un- ceasingly upon the Eternal Trinity, without so much as glancing at this world of nothingness; and never- theless it is through them that pass the strength and light and love which the heavenly messengers in the lower hierarchies distribute to us on earth. Thus, O Magdalen, though thou clingest ever to the sacred feet which are now not denied to thy love, and thy life is unreservedly absorbed with Christ'in God, thou seemest more than any other to be always saying to us: If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above § where

! Ps. xxi. 23, 32. ? St. John xx. 18.

--- PAGE 177 --- 168 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.)

O thou, whose choice, so highly approved by our Lord, has revealed to the world the better part, obtain that that portion may be ever appreciated in the Church as the better—viz., that divine contemplation which begins here on earth the life of heaven, and which in its fruitful repose is the source of all the graces spread by the active ministry throughout the world. Death itself does not take away that portion, but assures its possession for ever, and makes it blossom into the full, direct vision. May he that has received it from the gratuitous good- ness of God never strive to dispossess himself of it! ' Happy house,' says the devout St. Bernard, ' blessed assembly, where Martha complains of Mary! But how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous of Martha !? And St. Jude tells us the awful judgment of the angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation. Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility; they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain: and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than thou, O Magdalen, become indifferent to the lost sheep; but they take the surest of all means for purifying the earth and drawing souls to God.

From thy church at Vezelay thou didst look down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross; they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade, not the least glory whereof is to have super- naturalized the sentiments of honour in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defence of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of last century; Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his

! Col. ili, 1, 2. ? Ben. Sermo iii. in Assumpt. B.V.M. * St. Jude 6

--- PAGE 178 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN

army a Temple of glory ; before the building was com- pleted he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to thee. O Mary ! bless this last homage of thy beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration thy hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and thy church at Saint Maximin, where rest thy precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with thee in His Ascension Him who once sent thee to us, saying: Go to My brethren, and say to them : I ascend to My Father, and to your Father, to My God and to your God !

169

During the different seasons of the year Holy Church inserts in their proper places, as so many precious pearls, the various passages of the Gospel relating to St. Mary Magdalen; for the particulars of her life after the Ascen- sion we are referred to the feast of her sister, St. Martha, which we shall keep in a week's time. To the liturgical pieces already given in this work in praise of St. Magda- len we add the following ancient sequence, well known in the churches of Germany, to which we subjoin a responsory and the collect of the feast from the Roman Breviary:

SEQUENCE

Laus tibi, Christe, qui es

creator et redemptor, idem et salvator, Celi, terre, maris, ange-

lorum et hominum,

Quem solum Deum con- fitemur et hominem.

Qui peccatores venisti ut salvos faceres,

Sine peccato peccati assu- mens formulam.

Quorum de grege, ut Cha- nanzam, Mariam visitasti Mag- dalenam.

Eadem mensa Verbi di-

Praise be to Thee, O Christ,

Creator, Redeemer, and Sa- viour, Of heaven and earth and

seas, of angels and of men,

Whom we confess to be both God and Man,

Who didst come in order to save sinners,

Thyself without sin, taking the appearance of sin.

Among this poor flock, Thou didst visit the Chanaanite woman and Mary Magdalen.

From the same table Thou

12

--- PAGE 179 --- 170 vini illam micis, hanc refo- vens poculis.

In domo Simonis leprosi conviviis accubans typicis,

Murmurat phariseus, ubi plorat femina criminis con- scia.

Peccator contemnit compec- cantem, peccati nescius, pceni- tentem exaudis, emundas fce- dam, adamas, ut pulchram facias.

Pedes amplectitur domini- cos, lacrymis lavat, tergit crini- bus, lavando, tergendo, un- guento unxit, osculis circuit.

Hac sunt convivia, qua tibi placent, o Patris Sapi- entia.

Natus de Virgine qui non dedignaris tangi de peccatrice.

A phariseo es invitatus, Mariz ferculis saturatus.

Multum dimittis multum amanti, nec crimen postea repetenti.

Dzmoniis eam septem mun- das septiformi Spiritu.

Ex mortuis te surgentem das cunctis videre priorem.

Hac, Christe, proselytam sig- nas Ecclesiam, quam ad filio- rum mensam vocas alienige- nam.

Quam inter convivia legis et gratie spernit pharisaei fa- stus, lepra vexat haeretica.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

didst nourish the one with the crumbs of the Divine Word, the other with Thy inebriating cup.

While Thou art seated at the typical feast in the house of Simon the Leper,

The Pharisee murmurs, while the woman weeps, conscious of her guilt.

The sinner despises his fel- low-sinner; Thou, sinless one, hearest the prayer of the peni- tent, cleansest her from stains, lovest her so as to make her beautiful.

She embraces the feet of her Lord, washes them with her tears, dries them with her hair; washing and wiping them, she anoints them with sweet ointment, and covers them with kisses.

Such, O Wisdom of the Father, is the banquet that delights Thee !

Though born of a Virgin, Thou dost not disdain to be touched by a sinful woman.

The Pharisee invited Thee, but it is Mary that gives Thee a feast.

Thou forgivest much to her that loves much, and that falls not again into sin.

From seven devils dost Thou free her by Thy sevenfold Spirit.

To her, when Thou risest from the dead, Thou showest Thyself first of all.

By her, O Christ, Thou dost designate the Gentile Church, the stranger whom Thou call- est to the children's table;

Who, at the feast of the Law and at the feast of grace, is despised by the pride of Pharisees, and harassed by leprous heresy.

--- PAGE 180 --- SAINT MARY MAGDALEN

Qualis sit tu scis, tangit te quia peccatrix, quia ve- nie optatrix.

Quidnam haberet zgra, si non isset, si non me- dicus adesset ?

Rex regum dives in om- nes, nos salva, peccatorum tergens cuncta crimina, sanc- torum spes et gloria.

171

Thou knowest what man- ner of woman she is; it is be- , cause she is a sinner that she touches Thee, and because she longs for pardon.

What could she have, poor sick one, without receiving it, - and without the physician

isting her ?

O King of kings, rich unto all, save us, wash away all the stains of our sins, O Thou the hope and glory of the saints.

RESPONSORY

Congratulaini mihi, om- nes qui diligitis Dominum, quia quem quaerebam appa- ruit mihi: * Et dum flerem ad monumentum, vidi Do- minum meum, alleluia.

Y. Recedentibus discipulis, non recedebam, et amoris ejus igne succensa, ardebam desi- derio. * Et dum.

Congratulate me, all ye that - ^ Lord; for He whom

sought appeared to me: and while I wept at the tomb, I saw my Lord, alleluia.

y. When the disciples with-

dew I did not withdraw, and

kindled with the fire of

He ove, I burned with desire. * And while.

PRAYER

Beate Marie Magdalenz, quesumus Domine, s
adjuvemur: cujus precibus ex- oratus quatriduanum fratrem Lazarum vivum ab inferis resuscitasti. Qui vivis.

We beseech eese that we may be e intercession of blessed uy Magdalen, entreated by whose prayers Thou didst raise up again to life her brother Lazarus, who had been dead four days. Who livest, etc. --- PAGE 181 --- 172 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Jury 23 SAINT APOLLINARIS BISHOP AND MARTYR

AVENNA, the mother of cities, invites us to-day

to honour the martyr bishop, whose labours did more for her lasting renown than did the favour of emperors and kings. From the midst of her ancient monuments, the rival of Rome, though now fallen, points proudly to her unbroken chain of Pontiffs, which she can trace back to the Vicar of the Man-God through Apollinaris. This great saint has been praised by Fathers and Doctors of the Universal Church, his sons and successors. Would to God that the noble city had remembered what she owed to St. Peter !

Apollinaris had left family and fatherland and all he possessed to follow the Prince of the apostles. One day the master said to the disciple: * Why stayest thou here with us? Behold thou art instructed in all that Jesus did; rise up, receive the Holy Ghost, and go to that city which knows Him not.' And blessing him, he kissed him and sent him away.! Such sublime scenes of separation, often witnessed in those early days, and many a time since repeated, show by their heroic sim- plicity the grandeur of the Church.

Apollinaris sped to thesacrifice. Christ, says St. Peter Chrysologus,* hastened to meet His martyr, the martyr pressed on towards His King; but the Church, anxious to keep this support of her infancy, intervened to defer, not the struggle, but the crown; and for twenty-nine years, adds St. Peter Damian,® his martrydom was pio- longed through such innumerable torments that the labours of Apollinaris alone were sufficient testimony

* Passio S. Apollin. ap. BoLLAwp. * Perr. CHRYS. Sermo cxxviji, * PETR. DAM. Sermo vi. de S, Eleuchadio.

--- PAGE 182 --- SAINT APOLLINARIS

173

of the faith tor those regions, which had no other witness unto blood. According to the traditions of the Church he so powerfully established, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove directly and visibly designated each of the twelve successors of Apollinaris, up to the age of peace.

The holy liturgy devotes the following lines to the

history of this brave apostle:

Apollinaris cum principe apostolorum Antiochia Ro- mam venit: a quo ordinatus episcopus, Ravennam ad Chri- sti Domini Evangelium pra- dicandum mittitur: ubi cum ad Christi fidem plurimos con- verteret, captus ab idolorum sacerdotibus graviter caesus est. Cumque ipso orante Boni- facius nobilis vir, qui diu mutus fuerat, loqueretur, ejus- que filia immundo spiritu libezata esset; iterum est in illum commota seditio. Itaque virgis caesus, ardentes carbones nudis pedibus premere cogi- tur: quem cum subjectus ignis nihil lederet, ejicitur extra urbem.

Is cum

vero latens aliquamdiu quibusdam Christianis, inde profectus est in ZJZEmi- liam, ubi Rufini patricii filiam mortuam ad vitam revocavit: ut propterea tota Rufini fa- milia in Jesum Christum cre- deret. Quare vehementer in- census prazfectus accersit Apol- linarem, et cum eo gravius agit, ut finem faciat disseminandi in urbe Christi fidem. Cujus cum Apollinaris jussa negli- geret, equuleo cruciatur: in cujus plagas aqua fervens in- funditur, saxoque os tunditur:

Apollinaris came to Rome from Antioch with the prince of the apostles, by whom he was consecrated bishop, and sent to Ravenna to preach the Gos- pel of our Lord Christ. He converted many to the faith of Christ, for which reason he was seized by the priests of the idols and severely beaten. At his prayer, a nobleman named Boniface, who had long been dumb, recovered the power of speech, and his daughter was delivered from an unclean spirit; on this account a fresh sedition was raised against Apollinaris. He was beaten with rods, and made to walk barefoot over burning coals; but as the fire did him no in- jury, he was driven from the city.

He lay hid some time in the house of certain Christians, and then went to Emilia. Here he raised from the dead the daughter of Rufinus, a patrician, whose whole family thereupon believed in Jesus Christ. The prefect was greatly angered by this conversion, and sending for Apollinaris he sternly commanded. him to give over propagating the faith of Christ in the city. But as Apollinaris paid no attention to his commands, he was tor- tured on therack, boiling water

--- PAGE 183 --- 174

mox ferreis vinculis constrictus includitur in carcere. Quar- to die impositus in navem, mittitur in exsilium: ac facto

naufragio venit in Mysiam, inde ad ripam Danubii, postea in Thraciam.

Cum autem in Serapidis templo daemon se responsa daturum negaret, dum ibi- dem Petri apostoli discipu- lus moraretur, diu conquisi- tus inventus est Apollinaris: ui iterum jubetur navigare. lta reversus Ravennam, ab iisdem illis idolorum sacer- dotibus accusatus, centurioni custodiendus traditur: qui cum occulte Christum coleret, noctu Apollinarem dimisit. Re cog- nita, satellites eum quuntur, et plagis in itine- re confectum, quod mortuum crederent, relinquunt. Quem cum inde Christiani sustulis- sent, septimo die exhortans illos ad fidei constantiam, mar- tyrii gloria clarus migravit e vita. Cujus corpus prope murum urbis sepultum est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was poured upon his wounds, and his mouth was bruised and broken with a stone; finally he was loaded with irons, and shut up in prison. Four days afterwards he was put on board ship and sent into exile; but the boat was wrecked, and Apollinaris arrived in Mysia, whence he passed to the banks of the Danube and into Thrace.

In the temple of Serapis the demon refused to utter his oracles so long as the disciple of the apostle Peter remained there. Search was made for some time, and then Apolli- naris was discovered and com- manded to depart by sea. Thus he returned to Ravenna; but on the accusation of the same priests of the idols, he was placed in the custody of a centurion. As this man, how- ever, worshipped Christ in secret, inaris was allowed to escape by night. When this became known, he was pur- sued and overtaken by the guards, who loaded him with blows and left him, as they thought, dead. He was carried away by the Christians, and seven days after, while exhort- ing them to constancy in the faith, he passed uu" om this life, to be crowned with the glory of martyrdom. His body was buried near the city walls.

Venantius Fortunatus, coming from Ravenna to our northern lands, has taught us to salute from afar thy glorious tomb. Answer us by the wish thou didst

frame during the days

of thy mortal life: May the

peace of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, rest upon you ! Peace, the perfect gift, the first greeting of an apostle,

! VzsaN. ForTUuNAT. Vita Sti, Martini, lib. 1v., v. 684.

--- PAGE 184 --- SAINT APOLLINARIS 175

the consummation of all grace: how thou didst appreciate it, how jealous of it thou wert for thy sons, even after thou hadst quitted this earth! By it thou didst obtain from the God of peace and love that miraculous inter- vention which pointed out, for so long a time, the bishops who were to succeed thee in thy see. Thou didst thyself appear one day to the Roman Pontiff, showing him Peter Chrysologus as the elect of Peter and of Apollinaris. And later on, knowing that the cloister was to be the home of the divine peace banished from the rest of the world, thou camest twice in person to bid Romuald obey the call of grace, and go and people the desert. How comes it that more than one of thy successors, no longer, alas! designated by the divine dove, should have become intoxicated with earthly favours, and so soon have forgotten the lessons left by thee to thy Church? Was it not sufficient honour for that Church, the daughter of Rome, to occupy among her illustrious sisters the first place at her mother’s side ?* For surely the Gospel sung on this feast for now twelve centuries, and perhaps more? ought to have been a safeguard against the deplorable excesses which hastened her fall. Rome, warned by sinister indications, seems to have foreseen the sacrilegious ambition of a Guibert, when she fixed her choice on this passage of the sacred text: There was also a strife amongst the disciples, which of them should seem to be the greater? And what more significant, and at the same time more touching, com- mentary could have been given to this Gospel than the words of St. Peter himself in the Epistle: The ancients therefore, that are among you, I beseech who am myself also an ancient, to feed the flock of God, not as lording it over the clergy, but being models to them of disin- terestedness and love; and let all insinuate humility one to another, for God resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth grace.* Pray, O Apollinaris, that both pastor and flocks throughout the Church may, now at

! Diplom. CLemexTis 11. Quod propulsis. * Kalendar, FRoNTON. * St. Luke xxii. 24e. m * Cf. 1 Pet. v. 1-11.

--- PAGE 185 --- 176 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

least, profit by these apostolic and divine teachings, so that we may all one day have a place at the eternal banquet, where our Lord invites His own to sit down with Peter and with thee in His Kingdom.

While Apollinaris adorns holy Mother Church with the bright purple of his martyrdom, another noble son crowns her brow with the white wreath of a confessor- pontiff. Liborius, the heir of Julian, Thuribius, and Pavasius, was a brilliant link in the glorious chain con- necting the church of Le Mans with Clement, the successor of St. Peter; he came to bring peace after the storm, and to restore to the earth a hundredfold fruit- fulness after the ruin caused by the tempest. The fanatical disciples of Odin, invading the west of Gaul, had committed more havoc in this part of our Lord's vineyard than had the proconsuls with their cold legalism, or the ancient Druids with their fierce hatred. Liborius, defender of the earthly fatherland, and guide of souls to the heavenly one, brought the enemy to be citizen of both by making him Christian. As a pontiff, he laboured with purest zeal for the magnificence of divine worship, which renders homage to God, and gives health to the earth; as apostle, he took up again the work of evangelization begun by the first messengers of the faith, driving idolatry from the strongholds it had reconquered, and from the country parts, where it had always reigned supreme: his friend St. Martin had not in this respect a more worthy rival.

Five centuries after the close of his laborious life his blessed body was removed from the sanctuary where it lay among his fellow-bishops, and scattering miracles all along the way, was carried to Paderborn; pagan barbarism once more fled at the approach of Liborius, and Westphalia was won to Christ. Le Mans and Paderborn, uniting in the veneration of their common apostle, have thus sealed a friendship which a thousand years have not destroyed.

--- PAGE 186 --- SAINT APOLLINARIS

177

PRAYER

Da, quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut beati Liborii, con-
fessoris tui atque pontificis, veneranda solemnitas et devo- tionem nobis augeat, et salu- tem. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that the vener- able solemnity of blessed Libo- rius, Thy confessor and bishop, may contribute to the increase of our devotion, and promote our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.

--- PAGE 187 --- 178 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Jury 24 SAINT CHRISTINA VIRGIN AND MARTYR

HRISTINA, whose very name fills the Church

with the fragrance of the Spouse, comes as a grace- ful harbinger to the feast of the elder son of thunder. The ancient Vulsinium, seated by its lake with basalt shores and calm clear waters, was the scene of a triumph over Etruscan paganism, when this child of ten years despised the idols of the nations, in the very place where, according to the edicts of Constantine, the false priests of Umbria and Tuscany held a solemn annual reunion.

The discovery of Christina’s tomb in our days has con- firmed this particular of the age.of the martyr as given in her Acts, which were denied authenticity by the science of recent times: one more lesson given to an PU m criticism which mistrusts everything but itself.

As we look from the shore where the heroic child was laid to rest after her combat, and see the isle where Amalasonte, the noble daughter of Theodoric the Great, perished so tragically, the nothingness of mere earthly grandeur speaks more powerfully to the soul than the most eloquent discourse. In the thirteenth century the Spouse, continuing to exalt the little martyr above the most illustrious queens, associated her in the triumph of His Sacrament of love: it was Christina's church He chose as the theatre of the famous miracle of Bolsena, which anticipated by but a few months the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi.

Let us unite our prayers and praises with those of holy Church, to honour the glorious virgin martyr.

--- PAGE 188 --- SAINT CHRISTINA

ANT. Veni, Sponsa Christi, accipe coronam quam tibi Dominus preparavit in zter-
num.

Y. Specie tua et pulchri- tudine tua,

Hy. Intende, prospere pro- cede, et regna.

179

ANT. Come, O Bride of Christ, receive the crown which the Lord hath prepared for thee unto all eternity.

Y. In thy comeliness and thy beauty,

. Set forth, proceed pros- perously, and reign.

PRAYER

Indulgentiam nobis, qua- sumus Domine, beata Chri-
stina virgo et martyr im- ploret: qua tibi grata semper exstitit, et merito castitatis et tue professione virtutis. Per Dominum.

We beseech thee, O Lord, that the blessed virgin and martyr Christina may implore for us forgiveness; who was ever pleasing to Thee by the merit of chastity, and the con- fession of Thy power. Through our Lord, etc.

--- PAGE 189 --- 180 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Jury 25 SAINT JAMES THE GREAT APOSTLE

ET us, to-day, hail the bright star which once made

Compostella so resplendent with its rays that

the obscure town became, like Jerusalem and Rome,

a centre of attraction to the piety of the whole world.

As long as the Christian empire lasted, the sepulchre

of St. James the Great rivalled in glory that of St. Peter himself.

Among the saints of God, there is not one who mani- fested more evidently how the elect keep up after death an interest in the works confided to them by our Lord. The life of St. James after his call to the apostolate was but short; and the result of his labours in Spain, his allotted portion, appeared to be a failure. Scarcely had he, in his rapid course, taken possession of the land of Iberia, when, impatient to drink the chalice which would satisfy his continual desire to be close to his Lord, he opened by martyrdom the heavenward pro- cession of the twelve, which was to be closed by the other son of Zebedee. O Salome, who didst give them both to the world, and didst present to Jesus their ambitious prayer, rejoice with a double joy: thou art not re- pulsed; He who made the hearts of mothers is thine abettor. Did He not, to the exclusion of all others except Simon His Vicar, choose thy two sons as witnesses of the greatest works of His power, admit them to the contemplation of His glory on Thabor, and confide to them His sorrow unto death in the garden of His agony ? And to-day thy eldest-born becomes the first-born in heaven of the sacred college; the protomartyr of the apostles repays, as far as in him lies, the special love of Christ our Lord. --- PAGE 190 --- SAINT JAMES THE GREAT 181

But how was he a messenger of the faith, since the sword of Herod Agrippa put such a speedy end to his mission! And how did he justify his name of son of thunder, since his voice was heard by a mere handful of disciples in a desert of infidelity ?

This new mame, another special prerogative of the two brothers, was realized by John in his sublime writings, wherein as by lightning flashes he revealed to the world the deep things of God ; it was the same in his case as in that of Simon, who having been called Peter by Christ, was also made by Him the foundation of the Church; the name given by the Man-God was a prophecy, not an empty title. With regard to James, too, then, eternal Wisdom cannot have been mistaken. Let it not be thought that the sword of any Herod could frustrate the designs of the most High upon the men of His choice. The life of the saints is never cut short; their death, ever precious, is still more so when in the cause of God it seems to come before the time. It is then that with double reason we may say their works follow them; God Himself being bound in honour, both for His own sake and for theirs, to see that nothing is wanting to their plenitude. As a victim of a holocaust, He hath received them, says the Holy Ghost, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall judge nations, and.rule over peoples ; and their Lord shall reign for ever. How literally was this divine oracle to be fulfilled with regard to our saint !

Nearly eight centuries, which to the heavenly citizens are but as a day, had passed over that tomb in the north of Spain, where two disciples had secretly laid the apostle’s body. During that time the land of his in- heritance, which he had so rapidly traversed, had been overrun first by Roman idolaters, then by Arian bar- barians, and when the day of hope seemed about to dawn, a deeper night was ushered in by the Crescent. One day lights were seen glimmering over the briars

* Wisd. ili. 6-8,

--- PAGE 191 --- 182 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

that covered the neglected monument; attention was drawn to the spot, which henceforth went by the name of the field of stars. But what are those sudden shouts coming down from the mountains, and echoing through the valleys ? Whois this unknown chief rallying against an immense army the little worn-out troop whose heroic valour could not yesterday save it from defeat ? Swift as lightning, and bearing in one hand a white standard with a red cross, he rushes with drawn sword upon the panic-stricken foe, and dyes the feet of his charger in the blood of 70,000 slain. Hail to the chief of the holy war, of which this Liturgical Year has so often made mention! Saint James! Saint James! Forward, Spain! It is the reappearance of the Galilean fisher- man, whom the Man-God once called from the bark where he was mending his nets; of the elder son of thunder, now free to hurl the thunderbolt upon these new Samaritans, who pretend to honour the unity of God by making Christ no more than a prophet. Hence- forth James shall be to Christian Spain the firebrand which the Prophet saw, devouring all the people round about, to the right hand and to the left, until Jerusalem Shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem? And when, after six centuries and a half of struggle, his standard bearers, the Catholic kings, had succeeded in driving the infidel hordes beyond the seas, the valiant leader of the Spanish armies laid aside his bright armour, and the slayer of Moors became once more a messenger of the faith. As fisher of men, he entered his bark, and gathering around it the gallant fleets of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Albuquerque, he led them over unknown seas to lands that had never yet heard the name of the Lord. For his contribution to the labours of the twelve, James drew ashore his well- filled nets from west and east and south, from new worlds, renewing Peter’s astonishment at the sight of such captures. He, whose apostolate seemed at the time of Herod III to have been crushed in the bud

* Battle of Clavijo, under Ramiro I, about 845. * Zach. xii. 6.

--- PAGE 192 --- SAINT JAMES THE GREAT

183

before bearing any fruit, may say with St. Paul: I have no way come short of them that are above measure apostles, for by the grace of God I have laboured more abundantly

than all they.!

Let us now read the lines consecrated by the Church

to his honour:

Jacobus, Zebedi filius, Jo- annis apostoli germanus fra- ter, Galileus, inter primos apostolos vocatus cum fra- tre, relictis patre ac retibus, secutus est Dominum, et ambo ab ipso Jesu Boanerges, id est, tonitrui filii sunt appel- lati. Is unus fuit ex tribus apostolis, quos Salvator ma- xime dilexit, et testes esse voluit suz transfigurationis, .et interesse miraculo, quum archi- synagogi filiam a mortuis excitavit, et adesse cum se- cessit in montem Oliveti, Pa- trem oraturus, antequam a Judais comprehenderetur.

Post Jesu Christi ascen- sum in ccelum, in Judaea et Samaria ejus divinitatem prz- dicans, plurimos ad Christia- nam fidem perduxit. Mox in Hispaniam profectus, ibi ali- quos ad Christum convertit: ex quorum numero septem postea episcopi a beato Petro ordinati, in Hispaniam primi directi sunt. Deinde Jeroso- lymam reversus, quum inter alios Hermogenem magum fidei veritate imbuisset, Herodes Agrippa Claudio imperatore ad regnum elatus, ut a Judzis

James, the son of Zebedee, and own brother of John the apostle, was a Galilean. He was one of the first to be called to the apostolate together with his brother, and, leaving his father and his nets, he followed the Lord. Jesus called them both Boanerges, that is to say, sons of thunder. He was one of the three apostles whom our Saviour loved the most, and whom He chose as witnesses of His Transfigura- tion, and of the miracle by which He raised to life the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and whom He wished to be present when He retired to the Mount of Olives, to pray to His Father, before being taken prisoner by the

ews.

After the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, James preached His divinity in Judza and Samaria, and led many to the Christian faith. Soon, however, he set out for Spain, and there made some converts to Christianity; among these were the seven men who were afterwards consecrated bishops by St. Peter, and were the first sent by him into Spain. James returned to Jerusalem, and, among others, instructed Her- mogenes, the magician, in the truths of faith. Herod Agrip-

! 2 Cor. xil. 11, and 1 Cor. xv. 10.

--- PAGE 193 --- 184

gratiam iniret, Jacobum libere Jesum Christum Deum con- fitentem capitis condemnavit. Quem quum is, qui eum du- xerat ad tribunal, fortiter mar- tyrium subeuntem vidisset, sta- tim se et ipse Christianum esse professus est.

Ad supplicium quum ra- perentur, petiit ille a Jaco- bo veniam: quem Jacobus osculatus, Pax, inquit, tibi sit. Itaque uterque est se- curi percussus, quum paulo ante Jacobus paralyticum sa- nasset. Corpus ejus postea Compostellam translatum est, ubi summa celebritate colitur, convenientibus eo religionis et voti causa ex toto terrarum orbe peregrinis. Memoria ip- sius natalis hodierno die, qui translationis dies est, ab Éc- clesia celebratur, quum ipse circa festum Pasche primus Apostolorum Jerosolymis pró- fuso sanguine testimonium Jesu Christo dederit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

pa, who had been raised to the throne under the Emperor Claudius, wished to curry favour with the Jews; he there- fore condemned the apostle to death for openly proclaim- ing Jesus Christ to be God. When the man who had brought him to the tribunal saw the courage with which he went to martyrdom, he declared that he too was a Christian.

As they were being hurried to execution, he implored James's forgiveness. The apostle kissed him, saying: ‘ Peace be with you. Thus both of them were beheaded; James having a little before cured a paralytic. His body was afterwards translated to Compostella, where it is hon- oured with the highest venera- tion; pilgrims flock thither from every part of the world, to satisfy their devotion or pay their vows. The memory of his natalis is celebrated by the Church to-day, which is the day of his translation. But it was near the feast of the Pasch that, first of all the apostles, he shed his blood at

erusalem as a witness to

esus Christ.

Patron of Spain, forget not the grand nation which owes to thee both its heavenly nobility and its earthly prosperity; preserve it from ever diminishing those truths which made it, in its bright days, the salt of the earth; keep it in mind of the terrible warning that if the salt lose its savour, it is good for mothing any more

but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men.

At the

same time remember, O apostle, the special cultus

! St. Matt. v. 13.

--- PAGE 194 --- SAINT JAMES THE GREAT 185

wherewith the whole Church honours thee. Does she not to this very day keep under the immediate protec- tion of the Roman Pontiff both thy sacred body, so happily rediscovered in our times! and the vow of going on pilgrimage to venerate those precious relics ?

Where now are the days when thy wonderful energy of expansion abroad was surpassed by thy power of drawing all to thyself ? Who but he that numbers the stars of the firmament could count the saints, the peni- tents, the kings, the warriors, the unknown of every grade, the ever-renewed multitude, ceaselessly moving to and from that field of stars, whence thou didst shed thy light upon the world ? Our ancient legends tell us of a mysterious vision granted to the founder of Christian Europe. One evening after a day of toil, Charlemagne, standing on the shore of the Frisian Sea, beheld a long belt of stars, which seemed to divide the sky between Gaul, Germany, and Italy, and crossing over Gascony, the Basque territory, and Navarre, stretched away to the far-off province of Galicia. Then thou didst appear to him and say: ' This starry path marks out the road for thee to go and deliver my tomb; and all nations shall follow after thee." And Charles, crossing the mountains, gave the signal to all Christendom to under- take those great crusades, which were both the salvation and the glory of the Latin races, by driving back the Mussulman plague to the land of its birth.

When we consider that two tombs formed, as it were, the two extreme points or poles of this movement un- paralleled in the history of nations: the one wherein the God-Man rested in death, the other where thy bod lay, O son of Zebedee, we cannot help crying out wi the Psalmist: Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable ^ And what a mark of friendship did the Son of Man bestow on His humble apostle by sharing His honours with him, when the military orders and Hospitallers were established, to the terror of the

13

--- PAGE 195 --- 186 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Crescent, for the sole purpose, at the outset, of enter- taining and protecting pilgrims on their way to one or other of these holy tombs! May the heavenly impulse, now so happily showing itself in the return to the great Catholic pilgrimages, gather once more at Compostella the sons of thy former clients. We, at least, will imitate St. Louis before the walls of Tunis, murmuring with his dying lips the collect of thy feast; and we will repeat in conclusion: ‘Be Thou, O Lord, the sanctifier and guardian of Thy people; that, defended by the protection of Thy apostle James, they may please Thee by their conduct, and serve Thee with secure minds.’

The name of Christopher, whose memory enhances the solemnity of the son of thunder, signifies one who bears Christ. Christina yesterday reminded us that Christians ought to be in every place the good odour of Christ ? Christopher to-day puts us in mind that Christ * truly dwells by faith in our hearts. The graceful legend attached to his name is well known. As other men were, at a later date, to sanctify themselves in Spain by con- structing roads and bridges to facilitate the approach of pilgrims to the tomb of St. James, so Christopher in Lycia had vowed for the love of Christ to carry travellers on his strong shoulders across a dangerous torrent. Our Lord will say on the last day: ‘ What you did to one of these my least brethren, you did it unto Me.' One night, being awakened by the voice of a child asking to be carried across, Christopher hastened to perform his wonted task of charity, when suddenly, in the midst of the surging and apparently trembling waves, the giant, who had never stooped beneath the greatest weight, was bent down under his burden, now grown heavier than the world itself. ‘Be not astonished,’ said the mysterious child, ‘thou bearest Him who bears the world. And He disappeared, blessing His carrier and leaving him full of heavenly strength.

Christopher was crowned with martyrdom under

! 3 Cor. li. 15. * Eph. iil. 17.

--- PAGE 196 --- SAINT JAMES THE GREAT 187

Decius. The aid our fathers knew how to obtain from him against storms, demons, plague, accidents of all kinds, has caused him to be ranked among the saints called helpers. In many places the fruits of the orchards were blessed on this day, under the common auspices of St. Christopher and St. James.

PRAYER

Presta, quesumus omnipo- Grant, we beseech Thee, al- tens Deus: ut, qui beati Chri- mighty God, that we who cele- stophori martyris tui natalitia brate the festival of blessed colimus, intercessione ejus in Christopher the martyr, may tui nominis amore roboremur. by his intercession be strength- Per Dominum. ened in the love of Thy name.

; Through.

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Jury 26

SAINT ANNE MOTHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

NITING the blood of kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of Anne's illustrious origin is far sur- passed by that of her offspring, without compare among the daughters of Eve. The noblest of all who have ever conceived by virtue of the command to ‘increase and multiply,” beholds the law of human generation ause before her as having arrived at its summit, at the threshold of God; for from her fruit God Himself is to come forth, the fatherless Son of the Blessed Virgin, and the grandson of Anne and Joachim. Before being favoured with the greatest blessing ever bestowed on an earthly union, the two holy grand- parents of the Word made Flesh had to pass through the purification of suffering. Traditions which, though mingled with details of less authenticity, have come down to us from the very beginning of Christianity, tell us of these noble spouses subjected to the trial of prolonged sterility, and on that account despised by their people; of Joachim cast out of the temple and going to hide his sorrow in the desert; of Anne left alone to mourn her widowhood and humiliation. For exquisite sentiment this narrative might be compared with the most beautiful histories in Holy Scripture.

‘It was one of the great festival days of the Lord. In spite of extreme sorrow, Anne laid aside her mourn- ing garments, and adorned her head and clothed herself with her nuptial robes. And about the ninth hour she went down to the garden to walk; seeing a laurel she sat down in its shade, and poured forth her prayer to the Lord God, saying: '' God of my fathers, bless me and hear my supplication, as Thou didst bless Sara and didst give

her a son !”

--- PAGE 198 --- SAINT ANNE 189

' And raising her eyes to heaven, she saw in the laurel a sparrow's nest, and sighing she said: “Alas! of whom was I born to be thus a curse in Israel ?

* * To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the birds of the air; for the birds are blessed by Thee, O Lord.

‘““To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the beasts of the earth: for they, too, are fruitful hefore thee.

‘ “To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the waters; for they are not barren in thy sight, and the rivers and the oceans full of fish praise thee in their heavings and in their peaceful flowing.

*' To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me even to the earth, for the earth too bears fruit in season, and praises thee, O Lord.”

* And behold an angel of the Lord stood by, and said to her: “ Anne, God has heard thy prayer; thou shalt conceive and bear a child, and thy fruit shall be honoured throughout the whole inhabited earth." And in due time Anne brought forth a daughter, and said: '' My soul is magnified this hour." And she called the child Mary; and giving her the breast, she intoned this canticle to the Lord:

* I will sing the praise of the Lord my God: for he has visited me and has taken away my shame, and has given me a fruit of justice. Who shall declare to the sons of Ruben that Anne is become fruitful ? Hear, hear, O ye twelve tribes: behold Anne is giving suck !" "!

The feast of St. Joachim, which the Church celebrates on the day following his blessed daughter's Assumption, will give us an occasion of completing the account of these trials and joys in which he shared. Warned from heaven to leave the desert, he met his spouse at the golden gate which leads to the Temple on the east side. Not far from here, near the Probatica piscina, where the little white lambs were washed before being offered in sacrifice, now stands the restored basilica of St. Anne.

1 Protevangelium JAcosi.

--- PAGE 199 --- 190 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

originally called St. Mary of the Nativity. Here, as in a peaceful paradise, the rod of Jesse produced that blessed branch which the prophet hailed as about to bear the flower that had blossomed from eternity in the bosom of the Father. Itis true that Sepphoris, Anne's native city, and Nazareth, where Mary lived, dispute with the Holy City the honour which ancient and constant tradition assigns to Jerusalem. But our homage will not be misdirected if we offer it to-day to blessed Anne, in whom were wrought the prodigies, the very thought of which brings new joy to heaven, rage to Satan, and triumph to the world.

Anne was, as it were, the starting-point of redemption, the horizon scanned by the prophets, the first span of the heavens to be empurpled with the rising fires of dawn; the blessed soil whose produce was so pure as to make the angels believe that Eden had been restored to us. But in the midst of the incomparable peace that sur- rounds her, let us hail her as the land of victory surpass- ing the most famous fields of battle; as the sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception, where our humiliated race took up the combat begun before the throne of God by the angelic hosts; where the serpent’s head was crushed, and Michael, now surpassed in glory, gladly handed over to his sweet Queen, at the first moment of her existence, the command of the Lord’s armies.

What human lips, unless touched like the prophet’s with a burning coal, could tell the admiring wonder of the angelic Powers, when the Blessed Trinity, passing from the burning Seraphim to the lowest of the nine choirs, bade them turn their fiery glances and contemplate the flower of sanctity blossoming in the bosom of Anne? The Psalmist had said of the glorious City whose foundations were now hidden in her that was once barren: The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains ;* and the heavenly hierarchies crowning the slopes of the eternal hills beheld in her heights to them unknown and unattainable summits approaching so near to God,

! Ps. Ixxxvi. 1.

--- PAGE 200 --- SAINT ANNE 191

that He was even then preparing His throne in her. Like Moses at the sight of the burning bush on Horeb, they were seized with a holy awe on recognizing the mountain of God in the midst of the desert of this world; and they understood that the affliction of Israel was soon to cease. Although shrouded by the cloud, Mary was already that blessed mountain whose base— i.e., the starting-point of her graces—was set far above the summits where the highest created sanctities are perfected in glory and love.

How justly is the mother named Anne, which signifies grace, she in whom for nine months were centred the complacencies of the Most High, the ecstasy of the angelic spirits, and the hope of all flesh! No doubt it was Mary, the daughter, and not the mother, whose sweetness so powerfully attracted the heavens to our lowly earth. But the perfume first scents the vessel which contains it, and, even after it is removed, leaves it impregnated with its fragrance. Moreover, it is customary to prepare the vase itself with the greatest care; it must be all the purer, made of more precious material, and more richly adorned, according as the essence to be placed in it is rarer and more exquisite. Thus Magdalen enclosed her precious spikenard in ala- baster. The Holy Spirit, the preparer of heavenly perfumes, would not be less careful than men. Now the task of blessed Anne was not limited, like that of a material vase, to containing passively the treasure of the world. She furnished the body of her who was to give flesh to the Son of God; she nourished her with her milk; she gave to her, who was inundated with floods of divine light, the first practical notions of life. In the education of her illustrious daughter, Anne played the part of a true mother: not only did she guide Mary’s first steps, but she co-operated with the Holy Ghost in the education of her soul and the preparation for her incomparable destiny; until, when the work had reached the highest development to which she could bring it, she, without a moment's hesitation or a thought of self,

--- PAGE 201 --- 192 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

offered her tenderly loved child to Him from whom she had received her.

Sic fingit tabernaculum Deo—' Thus she frames a taber- nacle for God.' Such was the inscription around the figure of St. Anne instructing Mary, which formed the device of the ancient guild of joiners and cabinet- makers; for they, looking upon the making of taber- nacles wherein God may dwell in our churches as their most choice work, had taken St. Anne for their patroness and model. Happy were those times when the sim- plicity of our fathers penetrated so deeply into the practical understanding of mysteries which their in- fatuated sons glory in ignoring. The valiant woman is praised in the Book of Proverbs for her spinning, weaving, sewing, embroidering, and household cares: naturally, then, those engaged in these occupations placed themselves under the protection of the spouse of Joachim. More than once, those suffering from the same trial which had inspired Anne's touching prayer beneath the sparrow's nest, experienced the power of her intercession in obtaining for others, as well as for herself, the blessing of the Lord God.

The East anticipated the West in the public cultus of the grandmother of the Messias. Towards the middle of the sixth century a church was dedicated to her in Constantinople. e Typicon of St. Sabbas makes a liturgical commemoration of her three times in the year: on September 9, together with her spouse St. Joachim, the day after the birthday of their glorious daughter; on December 9, whereon the Greeks, a day later than the Latins, keep the feast of our Lady's Immaculate Conception, under a title which more directly expresses St. Anne's share in the mystery; and lastly, July 25, not being occupied by the feast of St. James, which was kept on April 30, is called the Dormitio or precious death of St. Anne, mother of the most holy Mother of God : the very same expression which the Roman martyrology adopted later.

Although Rome, with her usual reserve, did not until

--- PAGE 202 --- SAINT ANNE 193

much later authorize the introduction into the Latin Churches of a liturgical feast of St. Anne, she neverthe- less encouraged the piety of the faithful in this direc- tion. So early as the time of Leo III' and by that illustrious Pontiffí express command, the history of Anne and Joachim was represented on the sacred ornaments of the noblest basilicas in the Eternal City.? The Order of Carmel, so devout to St. Anne, powerfully contributed, by its fortunate migration into our countries, to the growing increase of her cultus. Moreover, this development was the natural outcome of the progress of devotion among the people to the Mother of God. The close relation between the two cults is noticed in a concession, whereby in 1381 Urban VI satisfied the desires of the faithful in England by authorizing for that kingdom a feast of the blessed Anne. The Church of Apt in Provence had been already a century in pos- session of the feast; a fact due to the honour bestowed on that Church of having received, almost together with the faith, the saint's holy body, in the first age of Christianity.

Since our Lord, reigning in heaven, has willed that His blessed Mother should also be crowned there in her virginal body, the relics of Mary's mother have become doubly dear to the world, first, as in the case of others, on account of the holiness of her whose precious remains they are, and then above all others, on account of their close connection with the mystery of the Incarnation. The Church of Apt was so generous out of its abundance, that it would now be impossible to enumerate the sanc- tuaries which have obtained, either from this principal source or from elsewhere, more or less notable portions of these precious relics. We cannot omit to mention as one of these privileged places, the great basilica of St. Paul outside the walls: St. Anne herself, in an appari- tion to St. Bridget of Sweden, confirmed the authen- ticity of the arm which forms one of the most precious jewels in the rich treasury of that Church.

! 795-816. * Lib. pontif. in Leon. 1m. * Revelationes S. BinGiTTAS, lib. vi, cap. 104.

--- PAGE 203 --- 194 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

It was not until 1584 that Gregory XIII ordered the celebration of this feast of July 26 throughout the whole Church, with the rite of a double. Leo XIII in recent times (1879) raised it, together with that ot St. Joachim, to the dignity of a solemnity of the second class. But before that, Gregory XV, after having been cured of a serious illness by St. Anne, had ranked her feast among those of precept, with the obligation of resting from servile work.

Now that St. Anne was receiving the homage due to her exalted dignity, she made haste to show her recognition of this more solemn tribute of praise. In the years 1623, 1624, and 1625, in the village of Kerou- anne, near Auray, in Brittany, she appeared to Yves Nicolazic, and discovered to him an ancient statue buried in the field of Bocenno, which he tenanted. This discovery brought the people once more to the place where, a thousand years before, the inhabitants ot ancient Armorica had honoured that statue. Innumer- able graces obtained on the spot spread its fame far beyond the limits of the province, whose faith, worthy of past ages, had merited the favour of the grandmother of the Messias; and St. Anne d'Auray was soon reckoned among the chief pilgrimages of the Christian world.

More fortunate than the wife of Elcana, who pre- figured thee both in her trial and by her name, thou, O Anne, now singest the magnificent gifts of the Lord. Where is now the proud synagogue that despised thee ? The descendants of the barren one are now without number; and all we, the brethren of Jesus, children, like Him, of thy daughter Mary, come joyfully, led by our Mother, to offer thee our praises. In the family circle the grandmother's feast day is the most touching of all, when her grandchildren surround her with reverential love, as we gather around thee to-day. Many, alas ! know not these beautiful feasts, where the blessing of the earthly paradise seems to revive in all its freshness; but the mercy of our God has provided a sweet compensation. He, the Most High God, willed

--- PAGE 204 --- SAINT ANNE 195

to come so nigh to us as to be one of us in the flesh; to know the relations and mutual dependencies which are the law of our nature; the cords of Adam, with which He had determined to draw us and in which He first bound Himself. For in raising nature above itself, He did not eliminate it; He made grace take hold of it and lead it to heaven; so that, joined together on earth by their divine Author, nature and grace were-to be united for all eternity. We, then, being brethren by grace of Him who is ever thy grandson by nature, are, by this loving disposition of Divine Wisdom, quite at home under thy roof; and to-day's feast, so dear to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, is our own family feast. Smile then, dear mother, upon our chants and bless our prayers. To-day and always be propitious to the supplications which our land of sorrows sends up to thee. Be gracious to wives and mothers who confide to thee their holy desires and the secret of their sorrows. Keep up, where they still exist, the traditions of the Christian home. Over how many families has the bane- ful breath of this age passed, blighting all that is serious in life, weakening faith, leaving nothing but languor, weariness, frivolity, if not even worse, in the place of the true and solid joys of our fathers. How truly might the Wise Man say at the present day: Who shall find a valiant woman? She alone by her influence could counteract all these evils; but on condition of recognizing wherein her true strength lies: in humble household works done with her own hands; in hidden, self-sacrificing devotedness; in watchings by night; in hourly fore- sight; working in wool and flax, and with the spindle; all those strong things which win for her the confidence and praise of her husband; authority over all, abundance in the house, blessings from the poor whom she has helped, honour from strangers, reverence from her children; and for herself in the fear of the Lord, nobility and dignity, beauty and strength, wisdom, sweetness and content, and calm assurance at the latter day.!

3 Cf. Prov, xxxi, 10-31.

--- PAGE 205 --- 196 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

O blessed Anne, rescue society, which is perishing for want of virtues like thine. The motherly kindnesses thou art ever more frequently bestowing upon us have increased the Church's confidence; deign to respond to the hopes she places in thee. Bless especially thy faithful Brittany; have pity on unhappy France, for which thou hast shown thy predilection, first, by so early confiding to it thy sacred body; later on, by choos- ing in it the spot whence thou wouldst manifest thyself to the world; and, again, quite recently entrusting to its sons the church and seminary dedicated to thy honour in Jerusalem. O thou wholovest the Franks, who deign- est still to look on fallen Gaul as the kingdom of Mary, continue to show it that love which is its most cherished tradition. Mayest thou become known throughout the whole world. As for us, who have long known thy power and experienced thy goodness, let us ever seek in thee, O mother, our rest, security, strength in every trial; for he who leans on thee has nothing to fear on earth, and he who rests in thy arms is safely carried.

Let us offer blessed Anne a wreath gathered from the liturgy. We willfirst cull from the Menza of the Greeks, as being the earliest in date:

MENSIS JULII DIE XXV Ex Officio Vespertino

En splendida solemnitas et O briliant solemnity, day dies clara, universo mundo full of light and joy to the

jucunda, venerabilis atque.lau- whole world! This day we danda dormitio Anna gloriose, celebrate the venerable and ex qua prodiit Mater ie. praiseworthy passage of the

glorious Anne, of whom was born the Mother of life.

Qua prius infecunda et ste- She who was once unfruit- rilis, primitias nostre salutis ful and barren brought forth germinavit, Christum rogat ut the firstfruits of our salva- culparum veniam largiatur his tion; she beseeches Christ to qui cum fide eum collaudant. grant pardon of their sins to

them that sing His praises with faith.

--- PAGE 206 --- SAINT ANNE

Salve, avis spiritualis, ver- ni nuntia gratis. Salve, ovis agnam parta, que Agnum tollentem peccata mundi, Ver- bum, verbo genuit.

Salve, terra benedicta, qua virgam divinitus germinantem mundo florescere fecisti. Steri- litatem tuo partu fugasti, Anna in Deo beatissima, avia Christi Dei, qua fulgentem lucernam, Dei genitricem, edidisti: qua- cum intercedere digneris, ut animabus nostris magna mi- sericordia donetur.

Venite universe creatura, in cymbalis psalmorum An- nz pie acclamemus, quae e visceribus suis genuit divi- num Montem, et ad montes spirituales ac — tabernacula Paradisi est translata. Ad ipsam dicamus: Beata alvus tua quz vere gestavit illam qua in ventre suo portavit lumen mundi: gloriosa ubera tua, quibus lactata est ea qua Christum, cibum vite nostre, aluit. Hunc deprecare, ut ab omni vexatione et incursu inimici liberemur, et anima nostra salventur.

197

Hail, spiritual bird, groans: ing the springtime of grace!

ail, Shes mother of the ewe-lamb, who by a word con- ceived the Word, the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world !

Hail, blessed earth, whence sprang the branch that bore a divine fruit. Thy fruit- fulness put an end to barren- ness, O Anne, most blessed in God, grandmother of Christ our God, who didst give to the world a shining lamp, the Mother of God; together with her deign to intercede, that great may be the mercy granted to our souls.

Come all ye creatures, let us cry out to holy Anne with cymbals and psaltery. She brought forth the mountain of God, and was borne up to the spiritual mountains, the tabernacles of Paradise. Let us say to her: Blessed is thy womb wherein she rested who herself bore the Light of the world; glorious are thy breasts which suckled her who fed Christ the food of our life. Beseech Him to deliver us from all harassing attacks of the enemy, and to save our souls.

Let us turn to our Western lands and join in the chants of the various churches. The Mozarabic liturgy thus interprets the feelings of the once barren woman, after her prayer had been so magnificently answered:

ANTIPHONA

Confitebor tibi, Domine, in

I will pralse thee, O Lord,

toto corde meo: quia exaudisti with my whole heart; for Thou

verba oris mei.

hast heard the words of my mouth.

--- PAGE 207 --- 198

In conspectu angelo- rum psallam tibi.

Y. Deus meus es tu, et
confitebor tibi: Deus meus,
et exaltabo te.

Ry. In conspectu.

Y. Gloria et honor Patri, et Filio. et Spiritui Sancto in secula seculorum. Amen.

Ry. In conspectu.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Ry. In the sight of angels I will sing praise to Thee.

Y. Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee: my God, and I will exalt Thee.

Fy. In the sight.

Y. Glory and honour be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

Ey. In the sight.

Apt shall speak in the name of all Provence, and tell

of its glorious honour:

ANTIPHON

O splendor Provincie, no- bilis mater Marie Virginis, et Davidis filia; avia Re- demptoris. nobis opem feras venie ut vivamus cum beatis.

O glory of Provence, noble mother of the Virgin Mary, daughter of David, grand- mother of our Redeemer, bring us the grace of pardon, that we may live with the blessed.

Brittany shall declare the confidence it places in

its illustrious protectress:

RESPONSORY

Hac est mater nobis electa & Domino, Anna sanctissima Britonum spes et tutela: * Quam in prosperis adjutri- cem, in adversis auxiliatricem habemus.

Y. Populi sui memor sit semper; adsitque grata filiis suis, terra marique laboranti- bus. * Quam in prosperis.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Quam in prosperis.

Let us all unite with hymn:

Behold the mother chosen for us by our Lord, most holy Anne, the hope and protection of the Bretons. * In prosperity our helper, in adversity our succour.

Y. May she be ever mind- ful of her people, ever gracious to her children, whether on land or toiling o'er the sea. * In prosperity.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. * In prosperity.

Brittany in the following

--- PAGE 208 --- SAINT ANNE

199

HYMN

Lucis beatz gaudiis Gestit parens Ecclesia, Annamque Judaea decus Matrem Maria concinit.

Regum piorum sanguini [ne sacerdotes avos, llustris Anna splendidis Vincit genus virtutibus.

Colo favente nexuit Vincli jugalis fcedera, Alvoque sancta condidit Sidus perenne virginum.

O mira coeli gratia | Anne parentis in sinu tonos v conterit Savi onis verticem.

Tanto salutis pignore Jam sperat humanum genus: Orbi redempto previa Pacem columba nuntiat.

Sit laus Patri, sit Filio Tibique Sancte Spiritus. Annam pie colentibus Confer perennem gratiam.

Amen.

Mother Church exults with the joy of this blessed day, and sings the praise of Anne, the beauty of Judea, the mother of Mary.

Uniting the blood of holy kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of her ancestry is far outstripped by Anne's re- splendent virtues.

Neath heaven's smile she ties the nuptial bond; and in her holy tabernacle hides the unwaning star of virgins.

O wondrous grace of heaven ! Scarce is the Virgin conceived in the womb of her mother when she there crushes the head of the cruel dragon.

With such a pledge of salva- tion mankind finds hope at length; the dove has come foretelling to the re- deemed world.

Praise be to the Father, to the Son, and to Thee, O holy Spirit! To them that loving- ly honour blessed Anne, grant

everlasting grace. Amen.

We will conclude with these beautiful formule of praise and prayer to our Lord, from the Ambrosian

Missal of Milan:

PREFACE

Zterne Deus, qui beatam
Annam singulari tuz gratie privilegio sublimasti. Cui de- siderate feecunditatis munus magnificum, et excellens adeo

It is right and just to give thanks (15 Thee, © aig , who by a singular B vilege of Thy grace, hast exalted the blessed Anne. To

--- PAGE 209 --- 200

contulisti; ut ex ipsa Virgo virginum, Maria, angelorum Domina, Regina mundi, maris stella, Mater Filii tui Dei et hominis nasceretur. Et ideo cum angelis.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

whose desire of fruitfulness Thou didst give a gift so mag- nificent and so far surpassing all others, that from her was born Mary, the Virgin of vir- gins, the Lady of the angels, the Queen of the world, the star of the sea, the Mother of Thy Son, who is both God and Man. And, therefore, with the angels, etc.

ORATIO SUPER SINDONEM

Omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, qui beatam Annam,
diuturna sterilitate afflictam, gloriose prolis fcetu tua gratia fcecundasti; da, quesumus: ut, pro nobis apud te intervenien- tibus ejus meritis, efficiamur sincera fide fcecundi, et saluti- feris operibus fructuosi. Per Dominum.

O almighty everlasting God, who didst give to blessed Anne, after the affliction of a long barrenness, the grace to bear a glorious fruit; grant, we beseech thee, that, as her merits intercede with thee for us, we may be made rich in sincere faith and fruitful in works of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

--- PAGE 210 --- SAINT PANTALEON 201

Jury 27 SAINT PANTALEON MARTYR

HE East celebrates to-day one of her great martyrs,

who was both a healer of bodies and a conqueror of souls. His name, which recalls the strength of the lion, was changed by heaven at the time of his death into Panteleemon, or all-merciful—a happy presage of the gracious blessings our Lord would afterwards bestow on the earth through his means. The various translations and the diffusion of his sacred relics in our West have made his cultus widespread, together with his renown as a friend in need, which has caused

him to be ranked among the saints called helpers.

Pantaleon — Nicomediensis, nobilis medicus ab Hermo- lao Presbytero in Jesu Christi fide eruditus, baptizatus est: qui mox patri Eustorgio per- suasit, ut Christianus fieret.

uare cum Nicomedie postea

hristi Domini fidem libere praedicaret, et ad ejus doctri- nam omnes cohortaretur, Dio- cletiano imperatore equuleo tortus, et admotis ad ejus

us laminis candentibus, cruciatus est: quam tormen- torum vim quo et forti animo ferens, ad extremum gladio percussus, martyrii coro- nam adeptus est,

Pantaleon was a nobleman of Nicomedia and a physician. He was instructed in the faith and baptized by the priest Hermolaus, and soon persuaded his father Eustor- gius to become a Christian. Afterwards he freely preached the faith of our Lord Christ in Nicomedia, and encouraged all to embrace his doctrine. This was in the reign of Diocletian. He was tortured on the rack and red-hot plates were applied to his body. He bore the violence of these tortures calmly and bravely, and being finally beheaded, nas the crown of martyr-

om.

What is stronger than a lion, and what is sweeter than honey ? Greater than Samson, thou, O martyr, didst ! Judg. xiv. 18.

14

--- PAGE 211 --- 202 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in thy own person propose and solve the riddle: Out of the strong came forth sweetness.! O lion, who didst follow so fearlessly the Lion of Juda, thou didst imitate His ineffable gentleness; and as He deserved to be called eternally the Lamb, so did He will His divine mercy to shine forth in the everlasting heavenly name, into which He changed thy earthly name. Justify that title more and more for the honour of Him who gave it to thee. Be merciful to those who call on thee: to the sufferers whom a weary consumption brings daily nearer to the tomb; to physicians who, like thee, spend themselves in the care of their brethren; assist them in giving relief to physical suffering, in restoring corporal health; teach them still better to heal moral wounds, and lead souls to salvation. Judg. xiv. 14.

--- PAGE 212 --- SAINTS NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR 203

Jury 28

SS. NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR MARTYRS, AND

SAINT INNOCENT POPE AND CONFESSOR

AZARIUS and Celsus bring glory to the Church of Milan by appearing on the cycle to-day. After lying forgotten for three centuries in the obscure tomb that had received their precious remains in the time of Nero, they now receive the united homage of East and West. It was nine years since the triumphal day when Gervase and Protase, no less forgotten by the city once witness of their combat, had come to console and strengthen an illustrious bishop who was persecuted for his profession of the divine consubstantiality of the same Christ who had had all their love and faith. Ambrose, loved by the martyrs, though denied their palm, was soon to receive the white wreath of con- fession in reward for his holy works, when heaven re- vealed to him a new treasure, the discovery of which was again ' to illustrate the times of his episcopate.” Theo- dosius was no more; Ambrose was about to die; the bar- barians were at the gates. But as if simultaneous with the threat of imminent destruction to the ancient world, the hour for the first resurrection spoken of by St. John had sounded, the martyrs rose from their tombs to reign a thousand years with Christ on the renovated earth. That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen, which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornica- tion; and in her was found the blood of prophets and of

! Aus. Ep. xxii.

--- PAGE 213 --- 204 TIME AFTER PENTECOST saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. The great Pope Innocent I, whose memory seems to have been purposely united with that of the martyrs, bears witness to the deluge, wherein, during his pontificate, pagan Rome at length perished utterly, and made way for the new Jerusalem come down from heaven. Like the ancient Sion, the Rome of the Caesars would not yield to the offers of that God who alone could fulfil her desires of immortality. Ever since the triumph of the Cross under Constantine, no city of the empire had remained so obstinately given to the worship of idols, or shed so much of that noble blood which might have renewed her youth. And yet after the defeat of her vain idols God, in His patience, determined to wait a century longer, the last decade of which was a series of salutary threats and merciful interventions, the evident work of the Christ whom she still obstinately repulsed. The incursions of the Goths, allies one day, enemies the next, everywhere spreading anarchy, gave her an oppor- tunity of returning to superstitions which the Christian emperors had not tolerated; and in her dotage she welcomed the Tuscan soothsayers who had come to help her against Alaric, and allowed them to re-establish the worship of idols. Terrible was her awakening when, on the morning of August 24, 410, the true God of armies took His revenge; and while the barbarians were engaged in wholesale massacre and pillage, lightning set fire to the town and destroyed the statues in which she had so long placed her confidence and her glory.

The avengers of God, destroying Babylon, spared the tombs of the two founders of the eternal Rome. On these apostolic foundations Innocent began to rebuild the Holy City. Soon on her seven hills, purified by fire, she rose again, more brilliant than ever, the destined centre of the world of mind. It was in the year 417, the last of Innccent’s pontificate, that St. Augustine, hearing that the Pelagian heresy was condemned, cried out: ' Letters have arrived from Rome;

! Apos, xlv. 8; xvii. 24.

--- PAGE 214 --- SAINTS NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR 205

the dispute is at an end.” The Councils of Carthage and Milevis, which on this occasion had requested the confirmation of their decree by the Apostolic See, did in this but continue the uninterrupted tradition of the churches with regard to the supremacy of their mother and mistress. This fact is eloquently attested by the holy Pope Victor, who shares with the martyrs the honours of to-day. His great name calls to mind the Councils of the second century, held by his orders throughout the Church to treat of the celebration of Easter; the condemnation he pronounced, or intended to pronounce, against the churches of Asia, without anyone questioning his right to do so; lastly, the uncontroverted anathemas he hurled against Montanus and the pre- cursors of Arius.

Let us read the notice of our four saints given in to-day's office:

Nazarius a beato Lino Papa baptizatus, cum in Galliam profectus esset, ibi Celsum puerum, a se christianis prz- ceptis prius instructum, bap- tizavit: qui una Trevirim eun- tes, Neronis persecutione in mare uterque dejicitur, unde mirabiliter evaserunt. Postea Mediolanum venientes, cum ibi Christi fidem dissemina- rent, ab Anolino prefecto, constantissime Christum Deum confitentes, capite plectuntur: qun corpora extra portam

omanam sepulta sunt. Qua cum diu latuissent, Dei monitu a beato Ambrosio conspersa recenti sanguine sunt inventa, tamquam si paulo ante mar- tyrium passi essent: unde in urbem translata, honorifico sepulcro contecta sunt.

Nazarius was baptized by the blessed Pope Linus. He went into Gaul, and there baptized a child named Gelsus whom he had instructed in the Christian doctrine. To- gether they went to Treves, and in Nero's persecution were both thrown into the sea, but were saved by a miracle. They proceeded to Milan, where they spread the faith of Christ; and as they with great con- stancy confessed Christ to be God, the prefect, Anolinus, condemned them to death. Their bodies were buried out- side the Roman gate, and for a long time remained unknown. But through a divine revela- tion they were found b St. Ambrose, sprinkled wi fresh blood, as if they had but just suffered martyrdom. They were translated to the city and buried in an honourable tomb.

--- PAGE 215 --- 206

Victor in Africa natus, Se- vero imperatore rexit Eccle- siam. Confirmavit decretum Pii Primi, ut sacrum Pascha die Dominico celebraretur: qui ritus ut postea in mores in- duceretur, habita sunt multis in locis concilia: et in Nicena denique prima Synodo san- citum est, ut Pasche dies festus post quartamdecimam lunam ageretur, ne Christiani

udaos imitari viderentur.

tatuit, ut quavis aqua, modo naturali, si necessitas cogeret, quicumque baptizari posset. Theodotum coriarium Byzan- tinum docentem Christum tantummodo hominem fuisse, ejecit ex Ecclesia. Scripsit de uastione Pasche, et alia qua- am opuscula. Creavit dua- bus ordinationibus mense De- cembri presbyteros quatuor, diaconos septem, episcopos per diversa loco duodecim. Martyrio coronatus, sepelitur in Vaticano, quinto calendas

Augusti. Sedit annos novem, mensem unum, dies viginti octo.

Innocentius Albanensis, sancti Hieronymi et Augu- stini atate floruit: de quo ille ad Demetriadem virgi- nem: Sancti Innocentii, qui Apostolice Cathedrz, et beata memorie Anastasii successor et filius est, teneas fidem, nec

egrinam, quamvis tibi pru- dens, callidaque videaris, doc- trinam recipias. Eum tam- quam justum Lot subtractum Dei providentia ad Raven-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Victor, an African by birth, governed the Church in the time of the Emperor Severus. He confirmed the decree, of Pius I, which ordered Easter to be celebrated on a Sunday. Later on, Councils were held in many places in order to bring this rule into practice, and finally the first Council of Nicea commanded that the feast of Easter should be al- ways kept after the fourteenth day of the moon, lest the Chris- tians should seem to imitate the Jews. Victor ordained that, in case of necessity, baptism could be given with any water, provided it was natural. He expelled from the Church the Byzantine, Theo- dosius the currier, who taught that Christ was only man. He wrote on the question of Easter, and some other small works. In two ordinations which he held in the month of December, he made four priests, seven deacons, and twelve bishops for different places. He was crowned with martyrdom, and buried on the Vatican on the fifth of the Calends of August, after having sat nine years, one month, and twenty-eight days.

Innocent, by nation an Al- banian, lived at the time of Saints Jerome and Augustine. Jerome, writing to the virgin Demetrias, says of him: * Hold fast to the faith of holy In- nocent, who is the son of Anastasius of blessed memory and his successor in the apostolic throne; receive no strange doctrine, however shrewd and gris you may think yourself.” Orosius writes

--- PAGE 216 --- SAINTS NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR 207

nam servatum fuisse, scribit Orosius, ne Romani populi videret excidium. Is, Pelagio et Ccelestio damnatis, con- tra eorum haresim decretum fecit, ut parvuli ex Christiana etiam muliere nati, per bap- tismum renasci deberent; ut in eis regeneratione mundetur, uod generatione contraxerunt.

Obavit etiam, ut Sabbato ob memoriam Christi Domini sepulture jejunium servaretur. Sedit annos quindecim, men- sem unum, dies dicem. Qua- tuor ordinationibus mense Decembri creavit presbyteros triginta, diaconos quindecim, episcopos per diversa loco quinquaginta quatuor: sepul- tus est in ccemeterio ad Ursum Pileatum.

that, like the just Lot, he was withdrawn by God's provi- dence from Home, and pre- served in safety at Ravenna, that he might not be a wit- ness of the ruin of the Roman people. After the condemna- tion of Pelagius and Celesti- nus, he decreed, contrary to their heretical teaching, that children, even though born of a Christian mother, must be born in by water, in order that their second birth may cleanse away the stain they have contracted by the first. He also approved the obser- vance of fasting on the Satur- day in memory of the burial of Christ our Lord. He sat fifteen years, one month, and tendays. He held four ordina- tions in the month of Decem- ber, and made thirty priests, fifteen deacons, and fifty-four bishops for divers places. He was buried in the cemetery called ad Ursum Pileatum.

Glorious saints, who, either by shedding your blood

in the arena or by

promulgating decrees from the

apostolic Chair, have exalted the faith of the Lord, bless our prayers. Give us to understand the teaching conveyed by your meeting to-day on the sacred cycle. We, who are neither martyrs nor pontiffs, may, never- theless, merit to share in your glory; for the motive which explains your union to-day must be for us, each in his degree, the cause of salvation: the apostle tells us that in Christ Jesus nothing availeth but faith that worketh by charity! It is only by that faith for which you laboured or suffered that we wait for the hope of justice? and expect the crown.

O Nazarius, who, leaving all things, didst carry the name of Christ to countries that knew him not; and

* Gal, v. 6. * Ibid. s.

--- PAGE 217 --- 208 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

thou Celsus, who, though a mere child, didst not fear to sacrifice, like him, for Jesus' sake, thy family, thy country, and thy very life: obtain for us the right appre- ciation of the treasure of faith, which every Christian is called upon to show to advantage by the confession of good works and of praise. Victor, jealous guardian of that divine praise with regard to the solemnity of solemnities, and avenger of the Man-God in His divine nature; Innocent, infallible teacher concerning the grace of Christ, and witness, too, of His inexorable justice, teach us to unite confidence with fear, uprightness of belief with the susceptibility a Christian ought to have with regard to his faith, the only foundation of justice and love. Martyrs and pontiffs, may your united attraction draw us along the straight road which leads to heaven.

--- PAGE 218 --- SAINT MARTHA 209

Jury 29

SAINT MARTHA VIRGIN

AGDALEN this time was the first to meet our

Lord. Scarce a week had elapsed since her glorious passage, when she repaid her sister's former kind office, and came in her turn saying: ‘ The Beloved is here and calleth for thee.' And Jesus preventing her, appeared Himself and said: 'Come, my hostess; come from exile, thou shalt be crowned." Hostess of the Lord, then, is to be Martha's title of nobility in heaven, as it was her privileged name on earth.

Into whatever city or town you shall enter, said the Man- God to His disciples, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide." Now St. Luke relates that as they went, our Lord Himself entered into a certain town, and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house? How could we give greater praise to Magdalen’s sister than by bringing together these two texts of the holy Gospel ?

This certain town, where she was found worthy to give Jesus a lodging, this village, says St. Bernard, » is our lowly earth, hidden like an obscure borough in the immensity of our Lord's possessions. The Son of God had come down from heaven to seek the lost sheep; He had come into the world He had made, and the world knew Him not; Israel, His own people, had not given Him so much as a stone whereon to lay His head, and had left Him in His thirst to beg water from the Samaritan. We, the Gentiles, whom He was thus seeking amid contradictions and fatigues, ought we not, like Him, to show our gratitude to her who, braving

! Rasan, De vita B.M. Magd. et S. Martha, xlvii. * St. Matt. x. 11. * St. Luke x. 38. * Bean. fermo 2 in Aseump. Beats Maris Virginis.

--- PAGE 219 --- 210 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

present unpopularity and future persecution, paid our debt to Him ?

Glory, then, be to this daughter of Sion, of royal descent, who, faithful to the traditions of hospitality handed down from the patriarchs and early fathers, was blessed more than all of them in the exercise of this noble virtue ! These ancestors of our faith, pilgrims themselves and without fixed habitation, knew more or less obscurely that the Desired of Israel and the Expectation of the nations was to appear as a way- farer and a stranger on earth; and they honoured the future Saviour in the person of every stranger that presented himself at their tent door; just as we, their sons, in the faith of the same promises now accom- plished, honour Christ in the guest whom His goodness sends us. This relation between Him that was to come and the pilgrim seeking shelter made hospitality the most honoured handmaid of divine charity. More than once did God show his approval by allowing angels to be entertained in human form. If such heavenly visitations were an honour of which our earth was not worthy, how much greater was Martha's privilege in: rendering hospitality to the Lord of angels! If before the coming of Christ it was a great thing to honour Him in those who prefigured Him, and if now to shelter and serve Him in His mystical members deserves an eternal reward, how much greater and more meritorious was it to receive in person that Jesus, the very thought of whom gives to virtue its greatness and its merit. Again, as the Baptist excelled all the other prophets by having pointed out as present the Messias whom they announced as future, so Martha, by having minis- tered to the person of the Word made Flesh, ranks above all others who have ever exercised the works of mercy.

While Magdalen, then, keeps her better part at our Lord's feet, we must not think that Martha's lot is to be despised. As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office) so each of us

* Rom. xii. 4.

--- PAGE 220 --- SAINT MARTHA 211

has a different work to perform in Christ, according to the grace we have received, whether it be to prophesy or to minister. And theapostle, explaining this diversity of vocations, says: I say, by the grace that is given me, to all that are among you, not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety, and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith.* How many losses in souls, how many shipwrecks even, might be prevented by discretion, the guardian of doctrine and the mother of virtues.

‘ Whoever,” says St. Gregory with his usual discern- ment, 'gives himself entirely to God, must take care not to pour himself out wholly in works, but must stretch forward also to the heights of contemplation. Nevertheless, it is here very important to notice that there is a great variety of spiritual temperaments. One who could give himself peacefully to the contempla- tion. of God would be crushed by works and fall; another, who would be kept in a good life by the ordinary occupations of men, would be mortally wounded by the sword of a contemplation above his powers: either for want of love to prevent repose from becoming torpor, or for want of fear to guard him against the illusions of pride or of thesenses. He who would be perfect must, therefore, first accustom himself on the plain to the practice of the virtues, in order to ascend more securely to the heights, leaving behind every impulse of the senses which can only distract the mind from its purpose, every image whose outline cannot adapt itself to the figureless light he desires to behold. Action first, then, contemplation last. The Gospel praises Mary, but does not blame Martha, because the merit of the active life is great, though that of contemplation is greater.” If we would penetrate more deeply into the mystery of the two sisters, let us notice that, though the prefer- ence is given to Mary, nevertheless it is not in her house nor in that of their brother Lazarus, but in Martha's house, that the Man-God takes up His abode with those

! Rom. xii. 3. * Moral. in Job v. 26, passim.

--- PAGE 221 --- 212 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

He loves. Jesus, says St. John, loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. Lazarus, a figure of the penitents whom His all-powerful mercy daily calls from the death of sin to divine life; Mary, giving herself up even in this life to the occupation of the next; and Martha, who is here mentioned first as being the eldest, as first in order of time mystically, according to what St. Gregory says, and also as being the one upon whom the other two depend in that home of which she has the care.

Here we recognize a perfect type of the Church, where- in, with the devotedness of fraternal love, and under the eye of our heavenly Father, the active ministry takes the precedence, and holds the place of govern- ment over all who are drawn by grace to Jesus. We can understand the Son of God showing a preference for this blessed house; He was refreshed from the weari- ness of His journeys by the devoted hospitality He there received, but still more by the sight of so perfect an image of that Church for whose love He had come on earth.

Martha, then, understood by anticipation that he who holds the first place must be the servant, as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister; and as, later on, the vicar of Jesus, the prince of pre- lates in the holy Church, was to call himself the servant of the servants of God. But in serving Jesus, as she served also with Him and for Him her brother and her sister, who can doubt that she had the greatest share in these promises of the Man-God: He that ministers to Me shall follow Me, and where I am, there shall also My minister be, and My Father will honour him.

And that beautiful rule of ancient hospitality, which created a link like that of relationship between the host and a guest once received, could not have been passed over by our Emmanuel on this occasion, since the Evangelist says: As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God.* And He Himself

! St. John xi, 5. . * St. John i. 12.

--- PAGE 222 --- SAINT MARTHA 213

declares that whoever receives Him, receives also the Father who sent Him.

The peace promised to every house deemed worthy of receiving the apostolic messengers, that peace which cannot be without the spirit of adoption of sons, rested on Martha with surpassing fulness. The too human impetuosity she at first showed in her eager solicitude had given our Lord an opportunity of showing His divine jealousy for the perfection of a soul so devoted and so pure. The sacred nearness of the King of peace stripped her lively nature of the last remnants of restless anxiety; while her service grew even more active and was well pleasing to Him, her ardent faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, gave her the understanding of the one thing necessary, the better part which was one day to be hers. What a master of the spiritual life Jesus here showed Himself to be; what a model of dis- creet firmness, of patient sweetness, of heavenly wisdom in leading souls to the highest summits !

As He had counselled His disciples to remain in one house, the Man-God Himself, to the end of His earthly career, continually sought hospitality at Bethania ; it . was from thence He set out to redeem the world by His dolorous Passion; and when leaving this world, it was from Bethania that He ascerided into heaven. Then did this dwelling, this paradise on earth, which had given shelter to God Himself, to His Virgin Mother, to the whole college of apostles, seem too lonely to its inmates. Holy Church will tell us presently how the Spirit of Pentecost, in loving-kindness to us Gentiles, led into Gaul this blessed family of our Lord's friends.

On the banks of the Rhone, Martha was still the same: full of motherly compassion for every misery, spending herself in deeds of kindness. Always sur- rounded by the poor, says the ancient historian of the two sisters, she fed them with tender care, with food which heaven abundantly supplied to her charity, while she herself, the only one she forgot, was con- tented with herbs; and as in the glorious past she had

--- PAGE 223 --- TIME AFTER PENTECOST

served the Head of the Church in person, she now served Him in His members, and was full of loving- kindness to all. Meantime she delighted in practices of penance that would frighten us. Martyred thus a thousand times over, Martha with all the powers of her holy soul yearned for heaven. Her mind lost in God, she spent the whole nights absorbed in prayer. Ever prostrate, she adored Him reigning gloriously in heaven, whom she had seen without glory in her own house. Often, too, she would travel through towns and villages, announcing to the people Christ the Saviour.

Avignon and other cities of the province of Vienne were thus evangelized by her. She delivered Taras- con from the old serpent, who in the shape of a hideous monster, not content with tyrannizing over the souls of men, devoured even their bodies. It was here at Tarascon, in the midst of the community of virgins she had founded, that she heard our Lord inviting her to receive hospitality from Him in heaven, in return for that which she had given Him on earth.! Here she still rests, protecting her people of Provence, and receiving strangers in memory of Jesus. The peace of the blessed, which seems to breathe from her noble image, fills the heart of the pilgrim as he kisses her apostolic feet; and coming up from the holy crypt to continue his

: journey in this land of exile, he carries away with him, like a perfume of his fatherland, the remembrance of her simple, touching ‘epitaph: SOLLICITA NON TURBATUR —ever zealous, she is no longer troubled.

214

Martha nobilibus et copiosis parentibus nata, sed Christi Domini hospitio clarior, post ejus ascensum in coelum, cum fratre, sorore, et Marcella pedissequa, ac Maximino, uno ex septuaginta duobus disci- pulis Christi Domini, qui

1 We are fully aware of the fact that certain writers have lately called in

the authenticity of this legend. in all its simplicity. Until such

Martha was born of noble &nd wealthy parents, but she is still more illustrious for the hospitality she gave to Christ our Lord. After His Ascen- sion into heaven, she was seized by the Jews, together with her brother and sister,

question

ut we are not deterred thereby from giving it here as holy Mother Church may think fit to decide

on the matter, we, like the author, are willing to forestall her judgment.—(Tr.)

--- PAGE 224 --- SAINT MARTHA

totam illam domum bapti- zaverat, multisque aliis chri- stianis, comprehensa a Judaeis, in navem sine velo ac remi- gio imponitur, vastissimoque mari ad certum naufragium committitur: sed navis, Deo gubernante, salvis omnibus Massiliam appulsa est.

Eo miraculo, et horum predicatione, primum Mas- silienses, mox Aquenses, ac finitime gentes in Christum cre- diderunt: Lazarusque Massili- ensium, et Maximinus Aquen- sium episcopus creatur. Mag- dalena vero assueta orationi et pedibus Domini, ut optima parte contemplandz coelestis beatitudinis, quam elegerat, frueretur, in vastam altis- simi montis speluncam se con- tulit: ubi triginta annos vixit, ab omni hominum consuetu- dine disjuncta, quotidieque per id tempus ad audiendas celestium laudes in altum ab angelis elata.

Martha autem, mirabili vitz sanctitate et charitate, omnium Massiliensium animis in sul amorem et admirationem ad- ductis, in locum a viris remo- tum cum aliquot honestissimis feminis se recepit: ubi summa cum laude pietatis et pruden- tiz diu vixit: ac demum, morte sua multo ante praedicta, miraculis clara migravit ad Dominum, quarto kalendas Augusti. Cujus corpus apud Tarascum magnam habet ve- nerationem.

215

Marcella her handmaid, and Maximin, one of the seventy- two disciples of our Lord, who had baptized the whole family, and many other Christians. They were put on board a shi: without sails or oars, and left helpless on the open sea, ex- posed to certain shipwreck. But God guided the ship, and they &ll arrived safely at Marseilles.

This miracle, together with their preaching, brought the people of Marseilles, of Aix, and of the neighbourhood to believe in Christ. Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles and Maximin of Aix. Magda. len, who was accustomed to devote herself to prayer and to sit at our Lord's feet, in order to enjoy the better part which she had chosen, that is, contemplation of the joys of heaven, retired into a deserted cave on a very high mountain. There shelived for thirty years, separated from all human inter- course; and every day she was carried to heaven by theangels to hear their songs of praise.

But Martha, after having won the love and admiration of the people of Marseilles by the sanctity of her life and her wonderful charity, with- drew in the company of several virtuous women to a spot remote from men, where she lived for a long time, greatly renowned for her piety and prudence. She foretold her death long before it oc- curred; and at length, famous for miracles, she passed to our Lord on the fourth of the Kalends of August. Her body which lies at Tarascon is held in great veneration.

--- PAGE 225 --- 216 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Now that, together with Magdalen, thou hast entered for ever into possession of the better part, thy place in heaven, O Martha, is very beautiful. For they that have ministered well, says St. Paul, shall purchase to themselves a good degree, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus) The same service which the deacons, here alluded to by the apostle, performed for the Church, thou didst render to the Church’s Head and Spouse; thou didst rule well thine own house, which was a figure of that Church so dear to the Son of God. But God is not unjust, that He should forget your work and the love which you have shown in His name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints And the Saint of saints Himself, who as thy guest was indebted to thee, gave us to understand something of thy greatness, when, speaking merely of a faithful servant set over the family to distribute food in due season, he cried out: Blessed is that servant whom when his Lord shall come, He shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods. O Martha, the Church exults on this day, whereon our Lord found thee thus continu- ing to serve Him in the persons of those little ones in whom He bids us seek Him. The moment had come for Him to welcome thee eternally. Henceforth the Host, most faithful of all to the laws of hospitality, makes thee sit at His table in His own house, and, girding Himself, ministers to thee as thou didst minister to Him.

From the midst of thy peaceful rest, protect those who are now carrying on the interests of Christ on earth, in His mystical Body, which is the. entire Church, and in His wearied and suffering members, the poor and the afflicted. Bless and multiply the works of holy hospi- tality; may the vast field of mercy and charity yield ever-increasing harvests. May the zeal displayed by so many generous souls lose nothing of its praiseworthy activity; and for this end, O sister of Magdalen, teach us all as our Lord taught thee, to place the one thing necessary above all else, and to value at its true worth

! 1 Tim. iii. 13. * Heb. vi. 10. * St. Matt. xxiv. 46, 47.

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the better part. After the word spoken to thee, for our sake as well as thine own, whosoever would disturb Magdalen at the feet of Jesus, or forbid her to sit there, would deserve to have his works frustrated by offended

heaven.

217

Let us, in union with the Church, make a com- memoration of Saints Simplicius and Faustinus, martyred in the persecution of Diocletian, together with their sister Viatrice, whose name was gracefully changed into Beatrice after she had gone to heaven. The sister had had time to bury her brothers; and after her own combat she was laid to rest beside them, by the last of the celebrated Lucina. The hour for the triumph of the Church had not yet arrived; nevertheless the tomb of this illustrious trio, in the very grove of the Dea Dia of the Arvales, proclaims the victory of Christ over the most ancient superstitions of Rome. The holy pontiff Felix, who shares the honours paid to this glorious company, suffered in the time of the Arians.

PRAYER

Presta, quesumus Domine,
ut sicut populus Christianus martyrum tuorum Felicis, Simplicii, Faustini, et Beatricis temporali solemnitate con- gaudet: ita perfruatur eterna; et quod votis celebrat, com- prehendat effectu. Per Do- minum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that as thy Christian people rejoice together in the temporal solemnity of thy martyrs, Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrice, they may enjoy it in eternity, and may effectually attain to what they celebrate in desire. Through our Lord, etc.

15

--- PAGE 227 --- 218 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Jury 30 SAINTS ABDON AND SENNEN MARTYRS

HE decrees of eternal Wisdom ordained that the

West should be honoured before the East with the glory of martyrdom. Yet when the hour had come, Jesus was to have, beyond the Tigris, millions of witnesses by no means inferior to their forerunners, astonishing heaven and earth by new forms of heroism. Impatient of the delay, two noble Persians won their palm on this day by the command of Rome. By shedding their blood they paid tribute for their native land to the eternal City; and now they protect our Latin ‘Churches, and receive the prayers and praise of the West. France received a ‘goodly portion of their sacred relics; and the city of Arles-sur-Tech, in Rous- sillon, can show to an incredulous generation the sarco- phagus, from which flows a mysterious liquor, a symbol of the continual benefits bestowed on us by these holy

martyrs.

Abdon et Sennen Persm, Decio imperatore accusati, quod corpora Christianorum, quee inbumata projiciebantur, in suo praedio sepelissent, jussu imperatoris comprehenduntur, et diis jubentur sacrificare. Quod cum facere gs eid et Jesum Christum Deum con- stantissime pradicarent: tra- ditos in arctam custodiam, Romam postea rediens Decius vinctos duxit in triumpho. Qui cum in urbe ad simulacra attracti essent, ea detestati conspuerunt. Quamobrem ur- During the reign of Decius, two Persians, Abdon and Sen- nen, were accused of bury- ing on their own estate the bodies of the Christians which had been exposed. By order of the Emperor they were apprehended and commanded to sacrifice to the gods. As they refused to obey, and moreover with the greatest constancy proclaimed Jesus Christ to be God they were placed in close confinement, and when later Decius re- turned to Rome they were

--- PAGE 228 --- SAINTS ABDON AND SENNEN, MARTYRS 219

sis ac leonibus objecti sunt: uos fere non audebant at- tingere. Demum gladiis truci- dati, colligatis pedibus tracti sunt ante solis simulacrum: quorum corpora clam inde asportata, Quirinus diaconus sepelivit in suis aedibus.

led in chains in his triumphal march. They were dragged to the Roman idols, but to show their hatred of the demons, they spat upon them. Upon this they were exposed to the fury of lions and bears, but the beasts did not dare to touch them; at length they were put to death by the sword. Their bodies were dragged by the feet before the statue of the sun, but they were secretly carried -way and buried by Quirinus the deacon in his own house.

Hearken to our earnest prayers, O blessed martyrs! May the faith at length triumph in that land of Persia whence so many flowers of martyrdom have been culled for heaven. Before the time appointed for the struggle to begin in your native land, ye went to meet death elsewhere, and thus ye gained a new fatherland whereon to bestow your love. Bless us, the fellow-citizens of your choice, and bring us all to the eternal fatherland

of all the children of God.

--- PAGE 229 --- 220 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Jury 31 SAINT IGNATIUS CONFESSOR

LTHOUGH the cycle of the time after Pentecost has shown us many times already the solicitude of the Holy Spirit for the defence of the Church, yet to-day the teaching shine. forth with a new lustre. In the sixteenth century Satan made a formidable attack upon the Holy City, by means of a man who, like himself, had fallen from the height of heaven, a man prevented in early years by the choice graces which lead to per- fection, yet unable in an evil day to resist the spirit of revolt. As Lucifer aimed at being equal to God, Luther set himself up against the Vicar of God, on the mountain of the covenant; and soon, falling from abyss to abyss, he drew after him the third part of the stars of the firma- ment of Holy Church. How terrible is that mysterious law whereby the fallen creature, be he man or angel, is allowed to keep the same ruling power for evil which he would otherwise have exercised for good. But the designs of eternal Wisdom are never frustrated: against the misused liberty of the angel or man is set up that other merciful law of substitution, by which St. Michael was the first to benefit.

The development of Ignatius’ vocation to holiness followed step by step the defection of Luther. In the spring of 1521 Luther had just quitted Worms, and was defying the world from the Castle of Wartburg, when Ignatius received at Pampeluna the wound which was the occasion of his leaving the world and retiring to Manresa.! Valiant as his noble ancestors, he felt within him from his earliest years the warlike ardour which

? The Diet of Worms which condemned Luther was held in April, and on May 20 St. Ignatius received the wound which led to his conversion.,

--- PAGE 230 --- SAINT IGNATIUS 221

they had shown on the battlefields of Spain. But the campaign against the Moors closed at the very time of his birth.! Were his chivalrous instincts to be satisfied with petty political quarrels? The only true King worthy of his great soul revealed Himself to him in the trial which put a stop to his worldly projects: a new warfare was opened out to his ambition; another crusade was begun; and in the year 1522, from the mountains of Catalonia to those of Thuringia, was developed that divine strategy of which the angels alone knew the secret.

In this wonderful campaign it seemed that hell was allowed to take the initiative, while heaven was content to look on, only taking care to make grace abound the more where iniquity strove to abound. As in the previous year Ignatius received his first call three weeks after Luther had completed his rebellion, so in this year, at three weeks’ distance, the rival camps of hell and heaven each chose and equipped its leader. Ten months of diabolical manifestations prepared Satan’s lieutenant, in the place of his forced retreat, which he called his Patmos; and on March 5 the deserter of the altar and of the cloister left Wartburg.

On the 25th of the same month, the glorious night of the Incarnation, the brilliant soldier in the armies of the Catholic kingdom, the descendant of the families of Ognes and Loyola, clad in sackcloth, the uniform of poverty, to indicate his new projects, watched his arms in prayer at Montserrat; then hanging up his trusty sword at Mary’s altar, he went forth to make trial of his futute combats by a merciless war against himself.

In opposition to the already proudly floating standard of the free-thinkers, he displayed upon his own this simple device: To the greater glory of God! At Paris, where Calvin was secretly recruiting the future Hugue- nots, Ignatius, in the name of the God of armies, organ- ized his vanguard, which he destined to cover the march

3 1401.

--- PAGE 231 --- 222 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

of the Christian army, to lead the way, to bear the brunt, to deal the first blows. On August 15, 1534, five months after the rupture of England from the Holy See, these first soldiers sealed at Montmartre the definitive engage- ment which they were afterwards solemnly to renew at St. Paul’s outside the walls. For Rome was to be the rallying place of the little troop which was soon to increase so wonderfully, and which was, by its special profession, to be ever in readiness, at the least sign from the Head of the Church, to exercise its zeal in whatever part of the world he should think fit, in the defence or propagation of the faith, or for the progress of souls in doctrine and Christian life.!

An illustrious speaker of our own day? has said: * What strikes us at once in the history of the Society of Jesus is that it was matured at its very first forma- tion. Whosoever knows the first founders of the Company knows the whole Company, in its spirit, its aim, its enterprises, its proceedings, its methods. What a generation was that which gave it birth! What union of science and activity, of interior life and mili- tary life! One may say they were universal men, men of a giant race, compared with whom we are but insects: de genere giganteo, quibus comparati quasi locust videbamur.”

All the more touching, then, was the charming simplicity of those first Fathers of the Society, making their way to Rome on foot, fasting and weary, but their hearts overflowing with joy, singing with a low voice the Psalms of David.* When it became neces- sary, on account of the urgency of the times, for the new institute to abandon the great traditions of public prayer, it was a sacrifice to several of these souls; Mary could not give way to Martha without a struggle; for so many centuries the solemn celebration of the Divine Office had been the indispensable duty of every

* Caroma. Pre, Homily delivered on te eas of the bestitession of B. Pees Faber

* Num. xiii. 34. * P. RisADENEIRA, Vita Ignatii Loiolm, lib, ii, cap. vil.

--- PAGE 232 --- SAINT IGNATIUS 223

religious family, its primary social debt, and the principal nourishment of the individual holiness of its members.

But new times had come, times of decadence and ruin, calling for an exception as extraordinary as it was grievous to the brave company that was risking its existence amid ceaseless alarms and continual sallies upon hostile territory. Ignatius understood this; and to the special aim imposed upon him, he sacrificed his personal attraction for the sacred chants; never- theless, to the end of his life, the least note of the psalm- ody falling on his ears drew tears of ecstasy from his eyes.!

V'Mter his death, the Church, which had never known any interest to outbalance the splendour of worship due to her Spouse, wished to return from a derogation which so deeply wounded the dearest in- stincts of her bridal heart; Paul IV revoked it absolutely, but St. Pius V, after combating it for a long time, was at last obliged to give in. In the latter ages so full of snares, the time had come for the Church to organize special armies. But while it became more and more impossible to expect from these worthy troops, continually taken up with outside combats, the habits of those who dwelt in security, protected by the ancient towers of the Holy City, at the same time Ignatius repudiated the strange misconception which would

to reform the Christian people according to this enforced but abnormal manner oflife. The third of the eighteen rules which he gives as the crowning of the Spiritual Exercises, to have in us the true sentiments of the orthodox Church, recommends to the faithful the chants of the Church, the Psalms, and the different Canonical Hours at their appointed times. And at the beginning of this book, which is the treasure of the Society of Jesus, where he mentions the conditions for drawing the greatest fruit from the Exercises, he ordains in his twentieth annotation that he who can do so should

* J. Ruovs, in variis virtutum historiis, lib. lil., cap, if.

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

choose for the time of his retreat a dwelling from whence he can easily go to Matins and Vespers as well as to the

holy Sacrifice.

What was our saint here doing, but

advising that the Exercises should be practised in that same spirit in which they were composed in that blessed retreat of Manresa, where the daily attendance at solemn Mass and the evening offices had been to him the source

of heavenly delights ?

But it is time to listen to the Church’s account of the life of this great servant of God:

Ignatius natione Hispanus, nobili genere, Loyola in Canta- bria natus, primo catholici regis aulam deinde militiam secutus est. In propugnatione Pampelonensi accepto vulnere graviter decumbens, ex fortuita piorum librorum lectione, ad Christi sanctorumque sectan- da vestigia mirabiliter exarsit. Ad montem Serratum pro- fectus, ante aram beata Vir- ginis suspensis armis, noctem excubans, sacre militie tyro- cinium posuit. Inde, ut erat indutus sacco, traditis antea mendico pretiosis vestibus, Manresam secessit: ubi emen- dicato pane et aqua victitans, exceptisque diebus Dominicis jejunans, aspera catena cili- cioque carnem domans, humi cubans, et ferreis se flagellis cruentans, per annum com- moratus est: claris adeo illus- trationibus a Deo recreatus, ut postea dicere solitus sit: Si sacre littere non exstarent, se tamen pro fide mori paratum ex iis solum, qua sibi Manre- sz patefecerat Dominus. Quo
tempore homo litterarum plane rudis admirabilem illum com- posuit Exercitiorum librum, sedis apostolice judicio et

Ignatius, by nation a Span- iard, was born of a noble family at Loyola, in Cantabria. At first he attended the court of the Catholic king, and later on embraced a militarv career. Having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he chanced in his illness to read some pious books, which kindled in his soul a wonderful eagerness to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the saints. He went to Montserrat, and hung up his arms before the altar of the Blessed Virgin; he then watched the whole night in prayer, and thus entered upon his knighthood in the army of Christ. Next he retired to Manresa, dressed as he was in sackcloth, for he had a short time before given his costly garments to a beggar. Here he stayed for a year, and during that time he lived on bread and water, given to him in alms; he fasted every day except Sunday, subdued his flesh with a sharp chain and a hair-shirt, slept on the ground, and scourged himself with iron disciplines. God favoured and refreshed him with such wonderful spiritual

--- PAGE 234 --- SAINT IGNATIUS

omnium utilitate comproba- tum.

Ut vero se ad animarum lucra rite formaret, subsidi- um litterarum, a grammatica

inter pueros exorsus, adhi- bere statuit. Cumque nihil interim omitteret de studio

aliene salutis, mirum est, quas ubique locorum zrum- nas ac ludibria devoraverit, asperrima quaque, et vincula et verbera pene ad mortem usque perpessus: quibus tamen longe plura pro Domini sui gloria semper expetebat. Lu- teti& Parisiorum adjunctis sibi ex illa academia variarum na- tionum sociis novem, qui omnes artium magisteriis et theolo- gie gradibus insignes erant, ibidem in monte Martyrum prima ordinis fundamenta jecit: quem postea Roma instituens, ad tria consueta quarto addito de missionibus voto, sedi apos- tolice arctius adstrinxit: et Paulus tertius primo recepit confirmavitque: mox alii ponti- fices ac Tridentina synodus probavere. Ipse autem, misso ad praedicandum Indis Evange- lium sancto Francisco Xaverio, aliisque in alias mundi pla- gas ad religionem propagan- dam disseminatis, ethnice su-

225

lights, that afterwards he was wont to say that even if the sacred Scriptures did not exist, he would be ready to die for the faith, on account of those revelations alone which the Lord had made to him at Manresa. It was at this time that he, a man without educa- tion, composed that admirable book of the Exercises, which has been approved by the judgment of the Apostolic See, and by the benefit reaped from it by all.

However, in order to make himself more fit for gaining souls, he determined to pro- cure the advantages of edu- cation, and began by study- ing grammar among children. Meanwhile he relaxed nothing of his zeal for the salvation of others, and it is marvellous what sufferings and insults he patiently endured in every place, undergoing the hardest trials, even imprisonment and stripes almost unto death. But he ever desired to suffer far more for the glory of his Lord. At Paris he was joined by nine companions from that University, men of different nations, who had taken their degrees in Arts and Theology; and there at Montmartre he Jaid the first foundations of the order, which he was later on to institute at Rome. He add- ed to the three usual vows a fourth concerning missions, thus binding it closely to the Apostolic See. Paul III first welcomed and approved the Society, as did later other Pontiffs and the Council of Trent. Ignatius sent St. Fran- cis Xavier to preach the Gospel --- PAGE 235 --- 226

perstitioni haresique bellum indixit, eo successu continua- tum, ut constans fuerit omnium sensus, etiam pontificio con- firmatus oraculo, Deum sicut alios aliis temporibus sanctos viros, ita Luthero, ejusdemque temporis haereticis, Ignatium et institutam ab eo Societatem objecisse.

Sed in primis inter catho- licos instaurare pietatem cure fuit. Templorum nitor, cathe- chismi traditio, concionum ac sacramentorum frequentia ab ipso incrementum accepere.

pse apertis ubique locorum ad juventutem erudiendam in litteris ac pietate gymnasiis, erectis Romae Germanorum collegio, male nuptarum et periclitantium puellarum cc- nobiis, utriusque sexus tam orphanorum quam catechu- menorum domibus, aliisque ietatis operibus, indefessus ucrandis Deo animis instabat; auditus aliquando dicere, Si optio daretur, malle se beati- tudinis incertum vivere, et interim Deo inservire, et pro- ximorum saluti, quam certum ejusdem glorie statim mori. In daemones mirum exercuit imperium. Vultum ejus cce- lesti luce radiantem sanctus Philippus Nerius aliique con- spexere. Denique etatis anno sexagesimo quinto ad Domini sui amplexum, cujus majo- rem gloriam in ore semper habuerat, semper iu omnibus quasierat, emigravit. Quem

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in the Indies, and dispersed others of his children to spread the Christian faith in other parts of the world, thus declar- ing war against paganism, superstition, and heresy. This war he carried on with such success that it has always been the universal opinion, con- firmed by the word of pontiffs, that God raised up Ignatius and the Society founded by him to oppose Luther and the heretics of his time, as formerly he had raised up other holy men to oppose other heretics. He made the restoration of piety among Catholics his first care. He increased the beauty of the sacred buildings, the giving of catechetical instruc- tions, the frequentation of sermons and of the sacraments. He everywhere opened schools for the education of youth in piety and letters. He founded at Rome the German College, refuges for women of evil life, and for young girls who were in danger, houses for orphans and catechumens of both sexes, and many other pious works. He devoted himself unweari- edly to gaining souls to God. Once he was heard saying that if he were given his choice he would rather live uncertain of attaining the Beatific Vision, and in the meanwhile devote himself to the service of God and the salvation of his neigh- bour, than die at once certain of eternal glory. His power over the demons was wonder- ful. St. Philip Neri and others saw his countenance shining with heavenly light. Atlength in the sixty-fifth year of his age he passed to the embrace of

--- PAGE 236 --- SAINT IGNATIUS

Gregorius decimus quintus, magnis in Ecclesiam meritis e miraculis illustrem, sancto- rum fastis adscripsit, et Pius undecimus, sacrorum antisti- tum votis obsecundans, omni- um Exercitiorum Spiritualium Patronum coelestem constituit et declaravit.

227

his Lord, whose greater glory he had ever preached and ever sought in all things. He was celebrated for miracles and for his great services to the Church," and Gregory XV enrolled him amongst the saints; while Pius XI, in response to the prayers

of the episcopate, declared him heavenly patron of all Spiritual Exercises.

This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith. And thou didst prove this truth once more to the world, O thou great conqueror of the age in which the Son of God chose thee to raise up again His ensign that had been humbled before the standard of Babel. Against the ever-increasing battalions of the rebels thou didst long stand almost alone, leaving it to the God of armies to choose His own moment for engaging thee against Satan's troops, as He chose His own for withdrawing thee from human warfare. If the world had then been told of thy designs, it would have laughed them to scorn; yet now, no one can deny that it was a decisive moment in the history of the world when, with as much confidence as the most illustrious general concentrating his forces, thou gavest the word to thy nine companions to proceed three and three to the Holy City. What great results were obtained in the fifteen years during which this little troop, recruited by the Holy Ghost, had thee for its first General! Heresy was trampled out of Italy, confounded at Trent, checked everywhere, paralyzed in its very centre; immense conquests were made in new worlds, as a compensation for the losses suffered in our West; Sion herself, renewing the beauty of her youth, saw her people and her pastors raised up again, and her sons receiving an education befitting their heavenly destiny; in a word, all along the line, where he had rashly cried victory, Satan was now howling, overcome once more by the name of Jesus, which makes every knee to bow,

1 St. John v. 4.

--- PAGE 237 --- 228 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in heaven, on earth, and in hell! Hadst thou ever, O Ignatius, gained such glory as this in the armies of earthly kings ?

From the throne thou hast won by so many valiant deeds, watch over the fruits of thy works, and prove thyself always God's soldier. In the midst of the con- tradictions which are never wanting to them, uphold thy sons in their position of honour and prowess which makes them the vanguard of the Church. May they be faithful to the spirit of their glorious Father; ‘ having unceasingly before their eyes: first, God; next, as the way leading to Him, the form of their institute, conse- crating all their powers to attain this end marked out for them by God; yet each following the measure of grace he has received from the Holy Ghost, and the particular degree of his vocation.” Lastly, O head of such a noble lineage, extend thy love to all religious families, whose lot in these times of persecution is so closely allied with that of thine own sons; bless, especially, the monastic order whose ancient branches over- shadowed thy first steps in the perfect life, and the birth of that illustrious Society which will be thy everlasting crown in heaven. Have pity on France, on Paris, whose University furnished thee with foundations for the strong, unshaken building raised by thee to the glory of the Most High. May every Christian learn of thee to fight for the Lord, and never to betray his standard; may all men, under thy guidance, return to God, their beginning and their end.

* Litt. Apos. prima Instituti approbationis, Pauli III, Regimini militantis,

--- PAGE 238 --- SAINT PETER'S CHAINS 229

AUGUST I SAINT PETER'S CHAINS

OME, making a god of the man who had subju-

gated her, consecrated the month of August to Casar Augustus. When Christ had delivered her, she placed at the head of this same month, as a trophy of her regained liberty, the feast of the chains where- with, in order to break hers, Peter the Vicar of Christ had once been bound. O divine Wisdom, who hast a better claim to reign over this month than had the adopted son of Casar, Thou couldst not have more authentically inaugurated Thy empire. Strength and sweetness are the attributes of Thy works, and it is in the weakness of Thy chosen ones that Thou triumphest over the powerful. Thou Thyself, in order to give us life, didst swallow death; Simon, son of John, became a captive, to set free the world entrusted to him. First Herod, and then Nero, showed him the cost of the promise he had once received, of binding and loosing on earth as in heaven: he had to share the love of the supreme Shepherd, even to allowing himself, like Him, to be bound with chains for the sake of the flock, and led where he would not.

Glorious chains! never will ye make Peter's suc- cessors tremble any more than Peter himself; before the Herods and Neros and Caesars of all ages ye will be the guarantee of the liberty of souls. With what veneration have the Christian people honoured you, ever since the earliest times! One may truly say of the present feast that its origin is lost in the darkness of ages. According to ancient monuments, St. Peter himself first consecrated on this date the basilica on the highest of the seven hills, where the citizens of

! Martyrolog. Hieronym., Bed., Raban., Notker,

--- PAGE 239 --- 230 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Rome are gathered to-day. The name Title of Eudoxia, by which the venerable Church is often designated, seems to have arisen from certain restorations made on occasion of the events mentioned in the lessons. As to the sacred chains which are its treasure, the earliest mention now extant of honour being paid to them occurs in the beginning of the second century. Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, keeper of the prisons, had been cured by touching the chains of the holy Pope Alexander; she could not cease kissing the hands which had healed her. ‘Find the chains of blessed Peter, and kiss them rather than these, said the pontiff. Balbina, therefore, having fortunately found the apostle's chains, lavished her pious veneration upon them, and afterwards gave them to the noble Theodora, sister of Hermes.!

The irons which had bound the arms of the Doctor of the Gentiles, without being able to bind the word of God, were also after his martyrdom treasured more than jewels and gold. From Antioch in Syria, St. John Chrysostom, thinking with holy envy of the lands enriched by these trophies of triumphant bondage, cried out in a sublime transport: ‘ What more magni- ficent than these chains? Prisoner for Christ is a more beautiful name than that of Apostle, Evangelist, or Doctor. To be bound for Christ's sake is better than to dwell in the heavens; to sit upon the twelve thrones is not so great an honour. He that loves can understand me; but who can better understand these things than the holy choir of apostles ? As for me, if I were offered my choice between these chains and the whole of heaven, I should not hesitate; for in them is happiness. Would that I were now in those places, where it is said the chains of these admirable men are still kept ! If it were given me to be set free from the care of this church, and if I had a little health, I should not hesitate to undertake such a voyage only to see Paul's chains. If they said to me: Which wouldst thou prefer, to be the angel who

! Acta S, Alexandri.

--- PAGE 240 --- SAINT PETER'S CHAINS 231

delivered Peter or Peter himself in chains? I would rather be Peter, because of his chains.”

Though always venerated in the great basilica which enshrines his tomb, St. Paul's chain has never been made, like those of St. Peter, the object of a special feast in the Church. This distinction was due to the pre- eminence of him ‘ who alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven to communicate them to others,’ and who alone continues, in his successors, to bind and loose with sovereign power throughout the whole world. The collection of letters of St. Gregory the Great proves how universally, in the sixth century, was spread the cultus of these holy chains, a few filings of which enclosed in gold or silver keys was the richest present the Sovereign Pontiffs were wont to offer to the principal churches, or to princes whom they wished to honour. Con- stantinople, at some period not clearly determined, received a portion of these precious chains; she appointed a feast on January 16, honouring on that day the Apostle Peter, as the occupant of the first See, the foundation of the faith, the immovable basis of dogma?

The following is the legend of the feast in the Roman Breviary:

Theodosio juniore imper- ante, cum Eudocia ejus uxor Jerosolymam solvendi voti causa venisset, ibi multis est affecta muneribus: prae ca- teris insigne donum accepit ferrez catene, auro gemmis- que ornate: quam illam esse affrmabant, qua Petrus apos- tolus ab Herode vinctus fuerat. Eudocia catenam pie venerata, eam postea Romam ad filiam Eudoxiam misit, qua illam pontifici maximo detulit: isque vicissim illi monstravit alteram catenam: qua, Nerone impera-

During the reign of Theo- dosius the younger, Eudocia, his wife, went to Jerusalem to full a vow, and while there she was honoured with many gifts, the greatest of which was aniron chain adorned with gold and precious stones, and said to be that wherewith the apostle Peter had been bound by Herod. Eudocia piously venerated this chain, and then sentit to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia. The latter took it to the sovereign pontiff, who in his turn showed her another

! Cunys. in Ep. ad Eph., hom. viii. * Op. Milev. contra Parmen., vii., iii.

? Menza.

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tore, idem apostolus constrictus fuerat.

Cum igitur pontifex Ro- manam catenam cum ea, qua Jerosolymis allata fuerat, con- tulisset, factum est ut ille inter se sic connecterentur, ut non duz, sed una catena ab eodem artifice confecta, esse videretur. Quo miraculo tan- tus honor sacris illis vinculis haberi ccepit, ut propterea hoc nomine sancti Petri ad Vincula ecclesia titulo Eudoxiz dedi- cata sit in Exquiliis, ejusque memoriz dies festus institutus Kalendis Augusti.

Quo ex tempore honos, qui eo die profanis Gentilium cele- britatibus tribui solitus erat, Petri vinculis haberi coepit: qe tacta agros sanabant, et

zmones ejiciebant. Quo in genere anno salutis humana nongentesimo sexagesimo no- no accidit, ut quidam comes, Othonis imperatoris familiaris, occupatus ab immundo spiritu, seipsum dentibus dilaniaret. Quare is jussu imperatoris ad Joannem pontificem ducitur: qui, ut sacra catena comitis collum attigit, erumpens nefa- rius spiritus hominem liberum reliquit: ac deinceps in urbe sanctorum vinculorum religio propagata est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

chain which had bound the same apostle, under Nero.

When the pontiff thus brought together the Roman chain and that which had come from Jerusalem, they joined together in such a manner that they seemed no longer two chains, but a single one, made by one same work- man. On account of this miracle the holy chains began to be held in so great honour that a church at the title of Eudoxia on the Esquiline was dedicated under the name of St. Peter ad vixcula, and the memory of its dedication was celebrated by a feaSt on the Kalends of August.

From that time St. Peter's chains began to receive the honours of this day, instead of a pagan festival which it had been customary to cele- brate. Contact with them healed the sick, and put the demons to flight. Thus, in the year of salvation 969, a certain count, who was very intimate with the Emperor Otho, was taken possession of by an unclean spirit, so that he tore his flesh with his own teeth. By command of the emperor he was taken to the pontiff John, who had no sooner touched the count's neck with the holy chain than the wicked spirit was driven away, leaving the man entirely free. On this account devo- tion to the holy chains was spread throughout Rome, Put thy feet into the fetters of Wisdom, and thy neck into her chains, said the Holy Spirit under the ancient

alliance . .

. and be not grieved with her bands. .

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For in the latter end thou shalt find rest in her, and she shall be turned to thy joy. Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee . . . and her bands are a healthful binding. Thou shalt put her on as a robe of glory! Incarnate Wisdom, applying the prophecy to thee, O prince of apostles, declared that in testimony of thy love the day would come when thou shouldst suffer constraint and bondage. The trial, O Peter, was a convincing one for eternal Wisdom, who proportions her require- ments to the measure of her own love. But thou, too, didst find her faithful; in the days of the formidable combat, wherein she wished to show her power in thy weakness, she did not leave thee in bands; in her arms thou didst sleep so calm a sleep in Herod's prison; and, going down with thee info the pit of Nero, she faithfully kept thee company up to the hour when, subjecting the persecutors to the persecuted, she placed the sceptre in thy hands, and on thy brow the triple crown.

From the throne where thou reignest with the Man- God in heaven, as thou didst follow Him on earth in trials and anguish, loosen our bands which, alas! are not glorious ones such as thine; break these fetters of sin which bind us to Satan, these ties of all the passions which prevent us from soaring towards God. The world, more than ever enslaved in the infatuation of its false liberties which make it forget the only true freedom, has more need now of enfranchisement than in the times of pagan Caesars: be once more its deliverer, now that thou art more powerful than ever. May Rome, especially, now fallen the lower because precipitated from a greater height, learn again the emancipating power which lies in thy chains; they have become a rallying standard for her faithful children in these latter trials? Make good the word once uttered by her oon. that ‘encircled with these chains she will ever

ee.”

! Eccli. vi. 25-32. * Archconfraternity of St. Peter's Chains, erected June 18, 1867. * Arator. De Act. Apost. L. 1, v. 1070-1076.

16

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The August heavens glitter with the brightest con- stellations of the sacred cycle. Even in the sixth century, the second Council of Tours remarked that this month was filled with the feasts of saints! My delights are to be with the children of men, says Wisdom; and in the month which echoes with her teachings she seems to have made it her glory to be surrounded with blessed ones, who, walking with her in the midst of the paths of judgment, have in finding her found life and salvation from the Lord. This noble court is presided over by the Queen of all grace, whose triumph consecrates this month and makes it the delight of that Wisdom of the Father, who, once enthroned in Mary, never quitted her. What a wealth of divine favours do the coming days promise to our souls! Never were our Father’s barns so well filled as at this season, when the earthly as well as the heavenly harvests are ripe.

While the Church on earth inaugurates these days by adorning herself with Peter's chains as with a precious jewel, a constellation of seven stars appears . for the third time in the heavens. The seven brothers Machabees preceded the sons of Symphorosa and Felicitas in the bloodstained arena; they followed divine Wisdom even before she had manifested her beauty in the flesh. The sacred cause of which they were the champions, their strength of soul under the tortures, their sublime answers to the executioners were so evidently the type reproduced by the later martyrs, that the Fathers of the first centuries with one accord claimed for the Christian Church these heroes of the synagogue, who could have gained such courage from no other source than their faith in the Christ to come. For this reason they alone of all the holy persons of the ancient covenant have found a place on the Christian cycle; all the martyrologies and calendars of East and West attest the universality of

Toto Augusto . .. festivitates sunt et misse sanctorum. De observati psallendi, ^ Labbe, V, 857. pad

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their cultus, while its antiquity is such as to rival that of St. Peter's chains in that same basilica of Eudoxia where their precious relics lie.

At the time when in the hope of a better resurrection they refused under cruel torments to redeem their lives, other heroes of the same blood, inspired by the same faith, flew to arms and delivered their country from a terrible crisis. Several children of Israel, forgetting the traditions of their nation, had wished it to follow the customs of strange peoples; and the Lord, in punish- ment, had allowed Judea to feel the whole weight of a profane rule to which it had guiltily submitted. But when King Antiochus, taking advantage of the treason of a few and the carelessness of the majority, en- deavoured by his ordinances to blot out the divine law which alone gives power to man over man, Israel, suddenly awakened, met the tyrant with the double opposition of revolt and martyrdom. Judas Machabeus in immortal battles reclaimed for God the land of his inheritance, while by the virtue of their generous con- fession, the seven brothers also, his rivals in glory, recovered, as the Scripture says, the law out of the hands of the nations, and out of the hands of the kings. Soon afterwards, craving mercy under the hand of God and not finding it, Antiochus died, devoured by worms, just as later on were to die the first and last persecutors of the Christians, Herod Agrippa and Galerius Maximian.

The Holy Ghost, who would Himself hand down to posterity the acts of the protomartyr of the New Law, did the same with regard to the passion of Stephen's glorious predecessors in the ages of expectation. Indeed, it was he who then, as under the law of love, inspired with both words and courage these valiant brothers, and their still more admirable mother, who, seeing her seven sons one after the other suffering the most horrible tortures, uttered nothing but burning exhorta- tions to die. Surrounded by their mutilated bodies, she mocked the tyrant who, in false pity, wished her

! 1 Mach. ii. 48.

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to persuade at least the youngest to save his life; she bent over the last child of her tender love and said to him: My son, have pity upon me, that bore thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age. I beseech thee, my som, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them : and consider that God made them out of nothing and mankind also: so thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner. with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren.! And the intrepid youth ran in his innocence to the tortures; and the incom- parable mother followed her sons.

236

PRAYER

Fraterna nos, Domine,
martyrum tuorum corona lati- ficet: qua et fidei nostre

May the fraternal crown of Thy martyrs rejoice us, O Lord, and may it procure for

praebeat incrementa virtutum, et multiplici nos suffragio con- soletur. Per Dominum.

our faith an increase of virtue, and console us with multiplied intercession. Through, etc.

! 2 Mach. vii. 27, 28, 29.

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AUGUST 2

SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY LIGUORI BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

ESTERDAY we admired, in Peter and the Macha- bees, the substructure of the palace built by Wisdom in time to endure for eternity. To-day, in conformity with the divine ways of that Wisdom, who in her playing reaches from end to end, we are suffered to contemplate the progress of the glorious building, to behold the summit of the work, the last row of stones actually laid. Now, summit and foundation, the work is all one; the materials are all priceless: witness the diamond of fine water which displays its lustre to-day. To this great saint, great both in worksand in doctrine, are directly applied these words of the Holy Ghost: They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity. At the time he appeared an odious sect was denying the mercy and the sweetness of our heavenly Father; it triumphed in the practical conduct of even those whe were shocked by its Calvinistic theories. Under pretext of a reaction against an imaginary school of laxity, and denouncing with much ado some erroneous propositions made by obscure persons, the new Pharisees had set themselves up as zealous for the

law. Stretching the commandments, and exaggerat-

ing the sanction, they loaded the conscience with the same unbearable burdens which the Man-God re- proached the ancient Pharisees with laying on the shoulders of men; but the cry of alarm they had raised in the name of endangered morals had none the less deceived the simple, and ended by misleading even the best. Thanks to the show of austerity displayed by itsadherents, Jansenism, so clever in veiling its teachings,

3 Dan, xii. 3.

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had too well succeeded in its designs of forcing itself upon the Church in spite of the Church. Unsuspecting allies within the Holy City gave up to its mercy the sources of salvation. Soon in too many places the sacred keys were used but to open hell; the Holy Tabio, spread for the preservation and increase of life in all. became accessible only to the perfect; and these latter were esteemed such, according as, by a strange reversion of the apostle's words, they subjected the spirit of adoption of sons to the spirit of servitude and fear. As to the faithful, who did not rise to the height of this new asceticism, 'finding in the tribunal of penance, instead of fathers and physicians, only exactors and executioners," they had but to choose between despair and indifference. Everywhere legislatures and parlia- ments lent a hand to the so-called reformers, without heeding the flood of odious unbelief that was rising around them, without seeing the gathering storm- clouds.

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites : because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. . . . Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites : because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte ; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than your- selves. Not of your conventicles was it said that the sons of Wisdom are the Church of the just, for it was added: Their generation is obedience and love? Not of the fear which you preached did the psalmist sing: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom * for even under the law of Sinai the Holy Spirit said: Ye that fear the Lord, believe Him : and your reward shall not be made void. Ye that fear the Lord, hope in Him: and mercy shall come to you for your delight. Ye that fear the Lord, love Him : and your hearts shall be enlightened. Every deviation, whether towards rigour or weakness, offends

Bnicc = rte AE Yt a * Eccli. ii. 8-10.

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the rectitude of justice; but, especially since Bethlehem and Calvary, no sin so wounds the divine Heart as dis- trust; no fault is unpardonable except in the despair of a Judas, saying, like Cain: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

Who, then, in the sombre quietism into which the teachers then in vogue had led even the strongest minds, could find once more the key of knowledge ? But Wisdom, says the Holy Ghost, kept in her treasures the signification of discipline. Just as in other times she had raised up new avengers for every dogma that had been attacked, so now, against a heresy which, in spite of the speculative pretensions of its beginning, had only in its moral bearing any sort of duration, she brought forth Alphonsus Liguori as the avenger of the violated law and the doctor par excellence of Christian morality. A stranger alike to fatal rigorism and baneful indulgence, he knew how to restore to the justices of the Lord their rectitude, and at the same time their power of rejoicing hearts; to His commandments their luminous brightness, whereby they are justified in themselves; to His testimonies the purity which attracts souls and faithfully guides the simple and the little ones from the beginnings of Wisdom to its summits? It was not only in the sphere of casuistry that Alphonsus suc- ceeded, in his moral theology, in counteracting the poison which threatened to infect the whole Christian life. Whilst on the one hand he never left unanswered any attack made at the time against revealed truth, his ascetic and mystical works brought back piety to its traditional sources, the frequentation of the sacraments, and the love of our Lord and His blessed Mother. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, after examining in the name of the Holy See the works of our saint and declaring that nothing deserving of censure was to be found therein,* arranged his innumerable writings under forty separate titles. Alphonsus, however, resolved only late

! Gen. iv. 13. * Eccli. Í. 31. * Cf. Ps. xviii. 8-10. * Decretum, 14 and 18 Maii, 1803.

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in life to give to the public, through the press, the lights which flooded his soul; his first work, the golden book of Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin, did not appear till the author was nearly fifty years of age. Though God prolonged his life beyond the usual limits, He spared him neither the double burden of the episcopate and the government of the Congrega- tion he had founded, nor the most painful infirmities,

nor still more grievous moral sufferings. Let us listen to the Church’s account of his life:

Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio, Neapoli nobilibus parentibus natus, ab ineunte atate non obscura prebuit sanctitatis indicia. Eum adhuc infantem quum parentes obtulissent sancto Francisco de Hieronymo e Societate Jesu, is bene pre- catus edixit eumdem ad nona- gesimum usque annum per- venturum, ad episcopalem di- gnitatem evectum iri, maxi- moque Ecclesie bono fu- turum. Jam tum a pueritia a ludis abhorrens, nobiles ephebos ad christianam mo- destiam verbo et exemplo componebat. Adolescens, da- to piis sodalitatibus nomine, in publicis nosocomiis egrotis inservire, jugi in templis ora- tioni vacare, ac sacra mysteria frequenter obire in deliciis habebat. Pietatem littera- rum studiis adeo conjunxit,

ut sexdecim vix annos natus utriusque juris lauream in patria universitate fuerit assecutus. Patri obtemperans causarum patrocinia suscepit, in quo munere obeundo, etsi magnam sibi laudem com- parasset, fori tamen pericula expertus, ejusmodi vite insti- tutum ultro dimisit. Spreto

Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was born of a noble family at Naples, and from his early youth gave clear proofs of sanctity. While he was still a child, his parents once pre- sented him to St. Francis Jerome, of the Society of Jesus. The saint blessed him, and prophesied that he would reach his ninetieth year, that he would be raised to the epis- copal dignity, and would do much good for the Church. Even as a boy he shrank from games, and both by his words and example incited noble youth to Christian modesty. When he reached early man- hood he enrolled himself in pious associations, and made it his delight to serve the sick in the public hospital, to spend much time in prayer and in the church, and frequently to receive the sacred mysteries. He joined study to piety with such success that, when scarcely sixteen years of age, he took the degree of Doctor in both Canon and Civil Law, in the University ofhisnativecity. Inobedience to his father's wishes, he pleaded at the bar; but, while winning himself a name in the discharge

--- PAGE 250 --- SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY LIGUORI

igitur praclaro conjugio _sibi a patre proposito, avia primo- genitura abdicata, et ad aram Virginis de Mercede ense sus- penso, divinis ministeriis se mancipavit. Sacerdos factus, tanto zelo irruit in vitia, ut apostolico munere fungens, huc illuc pervolans, ingentes perditorum hominum conver- siones perageret. Pauperum presertim et ruricolarum mi- seratus, congregationem pres- byterorum instituit sanctissi- mi Redemptoris, qui ipsum Redemptorem secuti per agros, pagos et castella, pauperibus evangelizarent.

Ne autem a proposito um- quam diverteret, perpetuo se voto obstrinxit, nullam tem- poris jacturam faciendi. Hinc animarum zelo succensus, tum divini verbi pradicatione, tum scriptis sacra eruditione et pietate refertis, animas Christo lucrifacere, et ad perfectiorem vitam adducere studuit. Mi- rum sane quot odia exstinxerit, quot devios ad rectum salutis iter revocaverit. Dei Geni- tricis cultor eximius de illius laudibus librum edidit, ac de iis dum ferventius concionando disserit, a Virginis imagine in eum immisso miro splendore totus facie coruscare, et in exstasim rapi coram universo pe non semel visus est.

ominice passionis, et sacra

241

of this office, he learnt by experience what dangers beset a lawyer's life, and, of his own accord, abandoned the pro- fession. Then he refused a brilliant marriage proposed to him by his father, renounced his right of inheritance as eldest son, and, hanging up his sword at the altar of the Virgin of Mercy, he devoted himself to thedivineservice. Having been made priest, he attacked vice with such great zeal that, in the exercise of his apostolic ministry, he hastened from place to place, working wonder- ful conversions. He had a special compassion for the poor, and particularly for country people, and founded a con- gregation for priests, called ‘of the Holy Redeemer,” who were to follow the Redeemer through the fields, and ham- lets, and villages, preaching to the poor.

In order that nothing might turn him from his purpose, he bound himself by a perpetual vow never to waste any time. On fire with love of souls, he strove, both by preaching the divine word and by writings full of sacred learning and piety, to win them to Christ and to make them lead more perfect lives. Marvellous was the number of quarrels he stilled and of wanderers he brought back to the path of salvation. He had the greatest devotion to the Mother of God, and published a book on the * Glories of Mary.” More than once, while he was speaking of her with great earnestness during his sermons, a wonder- ful brightness came upon him

--- PAGE 251 --- 242

Eucharistie contemplator assi- duus, ejus cultum mirifice pro- pagavit. Dum vero ad ejus aram oraret, vel sacrum faceret, quod numquam omisit, pre amoris vehementia, vel sera- phicis liquescebat ardoribus, vel insolitis quatiebatur moti- bus, vel abstrahebatur a sen- sibus. Miram vitz innocen- tiam, quam nula umquam lethali labe fcedavit, pari cum poenitentia socians, corpus suum inedia, ferreis catenulis, ciliciis, cruentaque flagella- tione castigabat. Inter hzc prophetie, scrutationis cor- dium, bilocationis, et miracu- lorum donis inclaruit.

Ab ecclesiasticis dignitatibus sibi oblatis — constantissime abhorruit. At Clementis de- cimitertii pontificis auctoritate coactus, sancte Agathe Go- thorum Ecclesiam bernan- dam suscepit. Episcopus externum dumtaxat habitum non autem severam vivendi rationem immutavit. Eadem frugalitas, summus christiane discipline zelus, impensum in vitiis coercendis arcendisque erroribus, et in reliquis pas- toralibus muneribus obeundis studium. Liberalis in pau- peres, omnes ecclesie pro- ventus iisdem distribuebat, ac, urgente annone caritate, ipsam domesticam supellectilem in

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

from our Lady's image, and he was seen by all the people to be rapt in ecstasy. The Passion of our Lord and the Holy Eucharist were the objects of his unceasing con- templation, and he spread devotion to them in a wonder- ful degree. When he was praying before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, or cele- cr; Holy Mass, which he never failed to do, through the violence of his love he shed burning tears, was agitated in an extraordinary manner, and at times was carried out of his senses. He joined a wonder- ful innocence, which he had never stained by deadly sin, with an equally wonderful spirit of penance, and chastised his body by fasting, iron chains, hair-shirts, and scourgings even to blood. At the same time he was remarkable for the gifts of prophecy, reading of hearts, bilocation, and many miracles.

He firmly refused the eccle- siastical dignities which were offered him, but he was com- pelled by the authority of Pope Clement XIII to accept the government of the Church of St. Agatha of the Goths. As bishop, though he changed his outward dress, yet he made no alteration in the severity of his life. He observed the same moderation; his zeal for Chris- tian discipline was most ardent, and he displayed the greatest devotedness in rooting out vice, in guarding against false doc- trine, and in discharging the other duties of the pastoral charge. He was most generous towards the poor, distributing

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alendis famelicis — erogavit. Omnibus omnia factus, san- ctimoniales ad perfectiorem vivendi formam redegit, suz- que congregationis monialium monasterium — constituendum curavit. Episcopatu ob graves habitualesque morbos dimisso, ad alumnos suos, a quibus pau- per discesserat, revertitur pau- per. Demum quamvis senio, laboribusque, diuturna arthri- tide, aliisque gravissimis morbis fractus corpore, spiritu tamen alacrior, de celestibus rebus disserendi, aut scribendi finem numquam adhibuit, donec no- nagenarius, Kalendis Augusti, anno millesimo septingentesimo octogesimo septimo, Nuceriae Paganorum inter suorum alum- norum lacrymas placidissime exspiravit. Eum inde virtu- tibus et miraculis clarum Pius septimus pontifex maximus anno millesimo octingentesimo decimo sexto beatorum fastis, novisque fulgentem signis, Gre- gorius Decimussextus in festo sanctissime Trinitatis, anno millesimo octingentesimo tri- gesimo nono solemni ritu san- ctorum catalogo accensuit; tandem Pius nonus, pontifex maximus, ex Sacrorum Ri- tuum Congregationis consulto, universalis Ecclesie Doctorem declaravit.

243

to them all the revenues of his see, and in a time of scarcity of corn he sold even the furni- ture of his house to feed his

starving people. He was all things to all men. He brought religious women to lead a more

perfect life, and took care to erect a monastery for nuns of his Congregation. Severe and continual sickness forced him to resign his bishopric, and he returned to his children as poor as when he had left them. Though worn out in body by old age, labours, chronic gout, and other painful maladies, his mind was fresh and clear, and he never ceased ing or writing of heavenly things till at length, on the Kalends of August, he most peacefully expired, at Nocera dei i, amidst his weeping children. It was in the year 1787, the ninetieth year of his age. His virtues and miracles made him famous, and on this account, in 1816, Pope Pius VII enrolled him amongst the Blessed. God still glorified him with new signs and wonders, and, on the feast of the Most Blessed Trinity, in the year 1839, Gregory XVI solemnly in- scribed his name on the list of the saints; finally, Pope Pius IX, after consulting the Con-

tion of Sacred Rites, #2 ed him a-doctor of the universal Church.

' I have not hid Thy justice within my heart: I have

declared Thy truth and Thy salvation." Thus sings

the

Church in thy name to-day, in gratitude for the great service thou didst render her in the days of sinners,

* Gradual of the Mass, Ps. xxxix. 11,

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when godliness seemed to be lost. Exposed to the attacks of an extravagant pharisaism, and watched by a sceptical and mocking philosophy, even the good wavered as to which was the way of the Lord. While the moralists of the day could but forge fetters for consciences, the enemy had a good chance of crying: Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us. The ancient wisdom revered by their fathers, now that it was compromised by these foolish teachers, seemed but a ruined edifice to people eager for emancipation. In this unprecedented ex- tremity, thou, O Alphonsus, wast the prudent man whom the Church needed, whose mouth uttered words to strengthen men's hearts.

Long before thy birth, a great Pope had said that it belongs to doctors to enlighten the Church, to adorn her with virtues, to form her manners; by them, he added, she shines in the midst of darkness as a morning star; their word, made fruitful from on high, solves the enigmas of the Scriptures, unravels difficulties, clears obscurities, interprets what is doubtful; their profound works, beautified by eloquence of speech, are so many pearls which ennoble no less than adorn the

ouse of God. Thus did Boniface VIII speak in the thirteenth century, when he was raising to the rank of doubles the feasts of the apostles and evangelists, and of the four then recognized doctors, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome. But is it not a description, striking as a prophecy, faithful as a portrait, of all that thou wert ?

Glory, then, be to thee, who in our days of decadence renewest the youth of the Church, and through whom justice and peace once more embrace one another at the meeting of mercy and truth. For this object thou didst literally give unreservedly thy time and thy strength. ‘The love of God,’ says St. Gregory, ‘is never idle: where it exists it does great things: if it refuses to act, it is not love.” What fidelity was thine

* Greg, 18 Ev., hom. xxx.

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in accomplishing that awful vow, whereby thou didst deny thyself the possibility of even a moment's relaxa- tion. When suffering intolerable pain, which would appear to anyone else to justify, if not to command, some rest, thou wouldst hold to thy forehead with one hand a piece of marble, which seemed to give some slight relief, and with the other wouldst continue thy precious writings.

But still greater was the example God set before the world, when, in thine old age, He suffered thee, through the treason of one of thine own sons, to be disgraced by that Apostolic See, for which thou hadst worn away thy life, and which in return withdrew thee, as unworthy, from the very institute thou hadst founded! Then hell was permitted to join its stripes with those of heaven; and thou, the doctor of peace, didst endure terrible temptations against faith and holy hope. Thus was thy work made perfect in that weakness which is stronger than strength; and thus didst thou merit for troubled souls the support of the virtue of Christ. Nevertheless, having become a child once more in the blind obedience required under such painful trials, thou wast near at once to the kingdom of heaven and to the Crib, which thou didst celebrate in such sweet accents. And the virtue which the Man- God felt going out from Him during His mortal life escaped from thee, too, in such abundance that the little sick children presented by their mothers for thy blessing were all healed.

Now that thy tears and thy toils are over, watch over us evermore. Preserve in the Church the fruits of thy labours. The religious family begotten by thee has not degenerated; more than once, in the persecutions of last century, the enemy has honoured it with special tokens of his hatred; already, too, has the aureole of the blessed passed from the father to his sons; may they ever cherish these noble traditions ! May the eternal Father, who in baptism made ws all worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, lead

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us all happily by thy example and teachings’ in the footsteps of our most holy Redeemer into the kingdom

of this Son of His love.?

The commemoration of the illustrious Pope and Martyr, Stephen I, adds a perfume of antiquity to the holiness of this day dedicated to the honour of a com- paratively modern saint. Stephen’s special glory in the Church is to have been the guardian of the dignity of holy baptism. Baptism once given can never be repeated; for the character of child of God, which it imprints upon the Christian, is everlasting; and this unspeakable dignity of the first sacrament in no wise depends upon the disposition or state of the minister conferring it. According to the teaching of St. Austin, whether Peter, or Paul, or Judas, baptize, it is He upon whom the divine Dove descended in the Jordan, it is He alone and always that baptizes by them in the Holy Ghost. Such is the adorable munificence of our Lord, with regard to this indispensable means of salvation, that the very pagan who belongs not to the Church and the schismatic or heretic separated from her can administer it with full validity, on the one condition of fulfilling the exterior rite in its essence, and of wishing to do thereby what the Church does.

In the time of Stephen I this truth was not so univers- ally known as now. Great bishops, whose learning and holiness had justly won them the admiration of their age, wished to make the converts from various sects pass again through the laver of salvation. But the assistance promised to Peter was not wanting to his successor; and by maintaining the traditional discipline, Rome, through Stephen, saved the faith of the churches. Let us testify our gratitude to the holy pontiff for his fidelity in guarding the sacred deposit, which is the treasure of all men; and let us beg him to preserve no less effectually in us also the nobility and the rights of our holy baptism. * Collect of the Feast. * Col. I. 12, 13.

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PRAYER

Deus, qui nos beati Stephani
martyris tui atque pontifi- cis annua solemnitate letificas: concede propitius; ut cujus natalitia colimus, de ejusdem etiam protectione gaudeamus. Per Dominum.

O God, who givest us joy by the annual solemnity of blessed Stephen, Thy martyr and bishop, mercifully grant that we may rejoice in the protection of him whose festival we celebrate. Through our Lord, etc.

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AUGUST 3

RGED by the approach of Laurence's triumph,

Stephen rises to assist at his combat; it is a meeting full of beauty and strength, revealing the work of eternal Wisdom in the arrangement of the sacred cycle. But the present feast has other teachings also to offer us.

The first resurrection, of which we spoke above, continues for the saints. After Nazarius and Celsus, and all the martyrs whom the victory of Christ has shown to be partakers of His glory according to the divine promise, the standard-bearer of the white- robed army himself rises glorious from his tomb to lead the way for new triumphs. The fierce auxiliaries of God's anger against idolatrous Rome, after reducing the false gods to powder, must in their turn be subjugated; and this second victory will be the work of the martyrs aiding the Church by their miracles, as the first was that of their faith despising death and tortures. The received method of writing history in our days ignores such considerations; that is no reason why we should follow the fashion; the exactitude of its data, on which the science of this age plumes itself, is but one more proof that falsehood is as easily nurtured by omissions as by positive misstatements. Now the more profound the present silence on the question, the more certain it is that the very years which beheld the barbarians invad- ing and overturning the empire were signalized by an effusion of virtue from on high, comparable in more than one respect to that which marked the times of the apostolic preaching. Nothing less was required to reassure the faithful on the one hand, and on the other

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to inspire with respect for the Church these brutal invaders, who knew no right but might, and felt nothing but disdain for the race they had conquered.

The divine intention in surrounding the fall of Rome in ‘410 with discoveries of saints’ bodies was clearly manifested in the most important of these discoveries, the one we celebrate to-day. The year 415 had opened. Italy, Gaul, and Spain were being invaded; Africa was about to share their fate. Amidst the universal ruin the Christians, in whom alone resided the hope of the world, put up their petitions at every sanctuary to obtain at least, according to the expression of the Spanish priest Avitus, ‘ that the Lord would inspire with gentle- ness those whom He suffered to prevail.” It was then that took place that marvellous revelation which the severe critic Tillemont, convinced by the testimony of all the chronicles, histories, letters, and discourses of the time,? allows to be ‘ one of the most celebrated events of the fifth century.” Through the intermediary of the priest Lucian, John, Bishop of Jerusalem, received from St. Stephen the first martyr and his companions in the tomb a message couched in these terms: ' Make haste to open our sepulchre, that by our means God may open to the world the door of His clemency, and may take pity on His people in the universal tribulation.’ The discovery, accomplished in the midst of prodigies, was published to the whole world as the sign of salva- tion. St. Stephen's relics, scattered everywhere in token. of security and peace wrought astonishing conversions; innumerable miracles, ' like those of ancient times,” bore witness to the same faith of Christ which the martyr had confessed by his death four centuries earlier."

Such was the extraordinary character of this mani- festation, so astonishing was the number of resurrections

* Avira Epist. ad Palchon, De reliquiis S. S

* IpaT, edn SozowENis, AUGUSTINI etc. — * Mem. Eccl, ii., p. 12. + Lucia Epist. ad omnem Ecclesiam, De tione S. Stephani. * Szvzn1 Epist. ad omnem Eccl., De virtutibus S. Stephani,

* Avo. De Civit. Dei, xxii. 8, 9.

17

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of the dead, that St. Augustine, addressing his people, deemed it prudent to lift their thoughts from Stephen the servant to Christ his Master. ‘Though dead,’ said he, ‘ he raises the dead to life, because in reality he is not dead. But as heretofore in his mortal life, so now, too, he acts solely in the name of Christ; all that ye see now done by the memory of Stephen is done in that name alone, that Christ may be exalted, Christ may be adored, Christ may be expected as Judge of the living and the dead.”

Let us conclude with this praise addressed to St. Stephen a few years later by Basil of Seleucia, which gives so well in a few words the reason of the feast: * There is no place, no territory, no nation, no far-off land, that has not obtained the help of thy benefits. There is no one, stranger or citizen, barbarian or Scythian, that does not experience, through thy intercession, the

250

greatness of heavenly realities.” The following legend epitomizes and completes the history given by the priest Lucian:

Sanctorum corpora Stephani Protomartyris, Gamalielis, Ni- codemi et Abibonis, qua diu in obscuro ac sordido loco ja- cuerant, Honorio imperatore, Luciano presbytero divinitus admonito, inventa sunt prope Jerosolymam. Cui Gamaliel, cum in somnis apparuisset, gravi quadam et preclara senis specie, locum jacentium corporum commonstravit, imperans, ut Joannem Jero- solymitanum antistitem adi- ret, ageretque cum eo, ut honestius illa corpora sepe- lirentur.

Quibus auditis Jerosolymo- rum antistes, finitimarum ur- bium episcopis presbyterisque convocatis, ad locum pergit:

3 Sermo 319, al. De diversis 51.

During the reign of the Emperor Honorius the bodies of St. Stephen the Protomar- tyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibo were foünd near Jeru- salem. They had long lain buried, unknown and neglected, when they were revealed by God to a priest named Lucian. While he was asleep, Gamaliel appeared to him as a venerable and majestic old man, and showed him the spot where the bodies lay, commanding him to goto Bishop John of Jerusalem, and persuade him to give these bodies more honourable burial.

On hearing this, the Bishop of Jerusalem assembled the neighbouring bishops and clergy, and went to the spot

- Sermo 316, al. De divers; 5 tephano. "n

* Basi. SELEUC. Oratio 41, De S. Si

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defossos loculos invenit, unde suavissimus odor efflabatur. Cujus rei fama commota, magna hominum multitudo eo con- venit, multique ex variis morbis zgroti ac debiles, sani et integri domum redierunt. Sacrum autem sancti Stephani corpus, quod summa tunc cele- britate in sanctam ecclesiam Sion illatum est, sub Theo- dosio juniore Constantinopolim, inde Romam Pelagio Primo Summo Pontifice translatum, in agro Verano in sepulcro sancti Laurentii Martyris col- locatum est.

251

indicated. The tombs were found, and from them exhaled a most sweet odour. At the rumour of what had occurred, a great crowd came together, and many of them who were sick and weak from various ailments went away perfectly cured. The sacred body of St. Stephen was then carried with great honour to the holy church of Sion. Under Theo- dosius the younger it was carried to Constantinople, and from thence it was translated to Rome under Pope Pelagius I and placed in the tomb of St.

Laurence the Martyr, in Agro Verano.

What a precious addition to thy history in the sacred books is furnished us, O Protomartyr, by the story of thy finding! We now know who were those ‘God- fearing men who buried Stephen and made great mourning over him.” Gamaliel, the master of the Doctor of the Gentiles, had been, before his disciple, conquered by our Lord; inspired by Jesus to whom in dying thou didst commend thy soul, he honoured after thy death the humble soldier of Christ with the same cares which had been lavished by Joseph of Arimathea, the noble counsellor, on the Man-God, and laid thy body in the new tomb prepared for himself. Soon Nicodemus, Joseph's companion in the pious work of the great Friday, hunted by the Jews in that persecution in which thou wert the first victim, found refuge near thy sacred relics, and dying a holy death was laid to rest beside thee. The respected name of Gamaliel prevailed over the angry synagogue; while the family of Annas and Caiphas kept in its hands the priestly power through the precarious favour of Rome, the grandson of Hillel left to his descendants pre-eminence in knowledge, and his eldest line remained for four: centuries the depositories of the only moral authority

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then recognized by the dispersed Israelites. But more fortunate was he in having, by hearing the apostles and thyself, O Stephen, passed from the science of shadows to the light of the realities, from the Law to the Gospel, from Moses to Him whom Moses announced; more happy than the eldest born was the beloved son Abibo, baptized with his father at the age of twenty, who, passing away to God, filled the tomb next to thine with the sweet odour of heavenly purity. How touching was the last will of the illustrious father, when, his hour being come, he ordered the grave of Abibo to be opened for himself, that father and son might be seen to be twin brothers born together to the only true light !

The munificence of our Lord had placed thee in death, O Stephen, in worthy company. We give thanks to the noble person who showed thee hospitality for thy last rest; and we are grateful to him for having, at the appointed time, himself broken the silence kept concern- ing him by the delicate reserve of the Scriptures. Here again we see how the Man-God wills to share His own honours with His chosen opes. Thy sepulchre, like His, was glorious; and when it was opened, the earth shook, the bystanders believed that heaven had come down; the world was delivered from a desolating drought, and amid a thousand evils hope sprang up once more. Now that our West possesses thy body and Gamaliel has yielded to Laurence the right of hospitality, rise up once more, O Stephen; and together with the great Roman deacon deliver us from the new barbarians, by converting them, or wiping them off the face of the earth given by God to his Christ.

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AUGUST 4

In that clime Where springs the pleasant west wind to unfold The fresh leaves, with which Europe sees herself New-garmented; nor from those billows far, Beyond whose chiding, after weary course, The sun doth sometimes hide him; safe abides The happy pres gi under guard Of the great shield, wherein the lion lies Subjected and supreme. And there was born The loving minion of the Christian faith, The hallowed wrestler, gentle to his own, And to his enemies terrible. So replete His soul with lively virtue, that when first Created, even in the mother's womb, It prophesied. When, at the sacred font, The spousals were complete 'twixt faith and him, Where pledge of mutual safety was exchanged, The dame, who was his surety, in her sleep Beheld the wondrous fruit, that was from him And from his heirs to issue. And that such He might be construed, as indeed he was, She was inspired to name him of his owner, Whose he was wholly; and so called him Dominic.

O happy father ! Felix rightly named. O favoured mother | rightly named Joanna; If that do mean as men interpret it.}

Then, with sage doctrine and goodwill to help, Forth on his great apostleship he fared,

Like torrent bursting from a lofty vein;

And dashing 'gainst the stocks of heresy, Smote fiercest, where resistance was most stout. Thence many rivulets have since been turned, Over the garden Catholic to lead

Their living waters, and have fed its plants.*

! Dominic, belonging to the Lord; Fi happy; Joanna, grace. * Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradiso, EP ey translation).

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Tuis eulogium, truly worthy of heaven, is placed by Dante, in his ‘ Paradiso,’ on the lips of the most illustrious son of the poor man of Assisi. In the great poet's journey through the upper world, it was fitting that Bonaventure should extol the patriarch of the Preachers as in the preceding canto Thomas Aquinas, Dominic's son, had celebrated the father of the family humbly girt with the cord.

The Providence that governeth the world,

In depth of counsel by created ken

Unfathomable, to the end that she,

Who with loud cries was spoused in precious Blood, Might keep her footing towards her well-beloved, Safe in herself and constant unto him,

Hath two ordained, who should on either hand

In chief escort her: one, seraphic all

In fervency; for wisdom upon earth,

The other, splendour of cherubic light.!

O Wisdom of the Father, thou wast the one love of both; Francis' poverty, the true treasure of the soul, and Dominic's faith, the incomparable light of our exile, are but two aspects of Thee from below, expressing to us, in our time of trial and shadow, Thy adorable beauty. Speaking with no less profoundness and with greater authority, the immortal pontiff Gregory IX says: *'The Fountain of Wisdom, the Word of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose nature is goodness, whose work is mercy, does not abandon in the course of ages the vine He has brought out of Egypt; He comes to the aid of wavering souls by new signs, He adapts His wonders to the weakness of the incredulous. When therefore the day was declining towards evening, and while charity was becoming frozen by the abundance of wickedness, the light of justice was beginning to wane, the Father of the family gathered together work- men fitted for the labours of the eleventh hour; to clear His vineyard of the thorns that had overgrown it, and to drive away the multitude of mischievous little foxes that were doing their best to destroy it, He raised up the

! DANTE, Paradiso, Canto xi.

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companies of Friars Preachers and Minors with the chiefs armed for battle.” In this expedition of the Lord of hosts, Dominic was ‘ His glorious charger, full of fire in his faith, fearlessly neighing by preaching the divine word.? In October we shall see the great share in the combat taken by his brother-at-arms, who appeared as a living standard of Christ crucified, in the midst of a society where the triple concupiscence was in league "s every error, striving to overthrow Christianity itself. Finding everywhere this union of sensuality with heresy, which was henceforth to be the principal strength of false preachers, Dominic, like Francis, prescribed to his sons the most absolute renunciation of this world's

oods, and he too became a beggar for Christ's sake.

e time was past when the people, rejoicing in all the consequences of the Incarnation, made over to the Man-God the most extensive territorial domain that ever was, and at the same time placed his Vicar at the head of kings. The unworthy descendants of these high- minded Christians, after having vainly attempted to humiliate the Bride by subjecting the priesthood to the empire, reproached the Church with possessing those goods of which she was but the depository in the name of our Lord; the time had come for the Dove of the Canticle to begin, by abandoning the earth, her return journey towards heaven.

But if the two leaders of the campaign which arrested for a time the progress of the enemy were but one in their love of ay poverty, this last was the special choice of the Assisian Patriarch. Dominic’s more direct means for obtaining the glory of God and the salvation of souls was science; this was his excellent portion, more fertile than that of Caleb’s daughter. Less than fifty years after Dominic had bequeathed this inheritance to his descendants, the wisely combined irrigation, by the upper and the nether waters of faith and reason, had brought to full growth the tree of theological science,

+ Bulla Fons Sapientia, de casonisation S. Dominici

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with its powerful roots and branches loftier than the clouds, whereon the birds of all tribes under heaven loved to perch without fear and gaze upon the sun.

‘The father of the Preachers,” said the Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena, 'established his principle on the light, by making it his aim and his armour; he took upon him the office of the Word My Son, sowing My word, dispelling darkness, enlightening the earth; Mary, by whom I gave him to the world, made him the extirpator of heresies.” In the same way, as we have already seen, spoke the Florentine poet half acentury earlier. The order, called to become the chief support of the sovereign pontiff in uprooting pernicious doctrines, ought, if possible, to justify that name even more than its patriarch: the first of the tribunals of Holy Church, the Holy Roman Universal Inquisition, the Holy Office, truly invested with the office of the Word with His two-edged sword, to convert or to chastise, could find no instrument more trusty or more sure.

Little thought the virgin of Siena, or the illustrious author of the ' Divina Commedia,’ that the chief title of the Dominican family to the grat ful love of the people would be discussed in a certain apologetic school, and there discarded as insulting, or dissembled as unpleasant. The present age glories in a liberalism which has given proofs of its power by multiplying ruins, and which rests on no better philosophical basis than a strange confusion between licence and liberty; only such in- tellectual grovelling could have failed to understand that, in a society which has faith for the basis of its institutions as well as the principle of salvation for all, no crime could equal that of shaking the foundation on which thus rest both social interest and the most precious possession of individuals. Neither the idea of justice, nor still less that of liberty, could consist in leaving to the mercy of evil or evil men the weak who are unable to protect themselves: this truth was the axiom and the glory of chivalry: the brothers of Peter

* Dialogue, clviii.

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the Martyr devoted their lives to protect the safety of the children of God against the surprises of the strong armed one, and the business that walketh about $n the dark: it was the honour of the ‘saintly flock led by Dominic along a way where they thrive well who do not go astray.'?

Who could be truer knights than those athletes of the faith? taking their sacred vow in the form of alle- giance,* and choosing for their Lady her who, terrible as an army, alone crushes heresies throughout the whole world? To the buckler of truth and the sword of the word, she who keeps in Sion the armour of valiant men, added for her devoted liegemen the Rosary, the special mark of her own militia; she, as being their true commander-in-chief, assigned them the habit of her choice, and in the person of Blessed Reginald, anointed them with her own hands for the battle. She herself, too, watched over the recruiting of the holy band, attract- ing to it from among the élite youth of the universities souls the purest, the most generously devoted, and of the noblest intellect. At Paris, the capital of theology, and Bologna, of law and jurisprudence, masters and scholars, disciples of every branch of science, were pursued and overtaken by the sweet Queen amid inci- dents more heavenly than earthly. How graceful were those beginnings, wherein Dominic’s virginal serenity seemed to surround all his children! It was indeed in this the Order of light that the Gospel word was seen verified: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Eyes enlightened from above beheld the foundations of the Friars Preachers under the figure of fields of lilies; and Mary, by whom the Splen- dour of eternal Light came down to us, became their heavenly mistress and led them from every science to Wisdom, the friend of pure hearts. She came, accom- panied by Cecilia and Catherine, to bless their rest at

* Ps. xe, 6. * Dante, Paradiso, Canto x. * Howorius III., Diploma confirmans ordinem. * Promitto obedientiam Deo et B. Maris, Constitutiones Fratr. Ord. Predicat. uocum . xv. de Professione. t. Matt. v. 8.

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night, and covered them all with her royal mantle beside the throne of our Lord. After this we are not astonished at the freshness and purity, which continued even after St. Dominic, under the generalship of Jordan of Saxony, Raymund of Pennafort, John the Teuton, and Humbert de Romans, in those ‘ Lives of the Brethren,’ and ‘ Lives of the Sisters,” so happily handed down to us. It is instructive to note that in the Dominican family, apostolic in its very essence, the Sisters were founded ten years before the Brethren, which shows how, in the Church of God, action can never be fruitful unless pre- ceded and accompanied by contemplation, which obtains for it every blessing and grace.

Notre Dame de Prouille, at the foot of the Pyre- nees, was not only by this right of primogeniture the beginning of the whole order; it was here also that the first companions of St. Dominic made with him their choice of a rule, and divided the world amongst them, going from here to found the convents of St. Romanus at Toulouse, St. James at Paris, St. Nicholas at Bologna, St. Sixtus and St. Sabina in the Eternal City. About the same period the establishment of the Militia of Jesus Christ placed under the direction of the Friars Preachers secular persons, who undertook to defend, by all the means in their power, the goods and liberty of the Church against the aggressions of heresy; when the sectaries had laid down their arms, leaving the world in peace for a time, the association did not disappear : it continued to fight with spiritual arms, and changed its name into that of the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic.

Let us read in the Church's book the abridged life of the holy patriarch:

258

Dominicus, Calaroge in Hispania ex nobili Guzma-

Dominic was born at Cala- ruega, in Spain, of the noble

norum familia natus, Palentiz liberalibus disciplinis et theo- logie operam dedit: quo in studio cum plurimum profe- cisset, prius Oxomensis eccle-

family of the Guzmans, and went through his liberal and theological studies at Palencia. He made great progress in learning, and became a Canon

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siz canonicus regularis, deinde ordinis Fratrum Pradicato- rum auctor fuit. Hujus mater gravida sibi visa est in quiete continere in alvo catulum ore praferentem facem, qua editus in lucem, orbem terrarum in- cenderet. Quo somnio signi- ficabatur, fore ut splendore sanctitatis ac doctrine, gentes ad christianam pietatem in- flammarentur. "Veritatem exi- tus comprobavit: id enim et prestitit per se, et per sui Ordinis socios deinceps est consecutus.

Hujus antem ingenium ac virtus maxime enituit in ever- tendis hzreticis, qui perni- ciosis erroribus Tolosates per- vertere conabantur. Quo in negotio septem consumpsit annos. Postea Romam venit ad Lateranense concilium cum episcopo Tolosano, ut ordo, quem instituerat, ab Inno- centio tertio confirmaretur. Qua, res dum in deliberatione versatur, Dominicus hortatu pontificis ad suos revertitur, ut sibi regulam deligeret. Ro- mam rediens, ab Honorio tertio, qui proximus Innocentio suc- cesserat, confirmationem ordi- nis Pradicatorum impetrat. Roma autem duo instituit monasteria, alterum virorum, mulierum alterum. Tres etiam mortuos ad vitam revocavit, multaque alia edidit miracula, quibus Ordo Praedicatorum mi- rifice propagari coepit.

Verum cum ejusopera ubique terrarum monasteria jam adi-

Regular of the church of Osma, and afterwards instituted the order of Friars Preachers. While his mother was with child, she dreamt she was carry- ing in her womb a little dog holding a torch in his mouth, with which, as soon as he was born, he would set fire to the world. This dream signified thathewould enkindle Christian piety among the nations by the splendour of his sanctity and teaching. Events proved its truth: for he fulfilled the pro- phecy both in person and later on by the brethren of his order.

His genius and virtue shone forth especially in confounding the heretics who were attempt- ing to infect the people of Toulouse with their baneful errors. He was occupied for seven years in this undertaking. Then he went to Rome for the Council of Lateran, with the Bishop of Toulouse, to obtain from Innocent III the confir- mation of the order he had instituted. But while the matter was under consideration that Pope advised Dominic to return to his disciples, and choose a rule. On his return to Rome, he obtained the con- firmation of the Order of Preachers from Honorius III, the immediate successor of Innocent. In Rome itself he founded two monasteries, one for men and the other for women. He raised three dead to life, and worked many other miracles, in consequence of which the Order of Preachers began to spread in a wonderful manner.

Monasteries were built by his means in every part of the

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ficarentur, innumerabilesque homines religiosam ac piam vitam instituerent, Bononie anno Christi ducentesimo vige- simo primo supra millesimum, in febrem incidit: ex qua cum se moriturum intelligeret, con- vocatis fratribus et alumnis sua discipline, eos ad inno-

centiam et integritatem co- hortatus est. Postremo ca- ritatem, humilitatem, pau-

pertatem, tamquam certum patrimonium eis testamento reliquit: fratribusque oranti- bus, in illis verbis, Subvenite sancti Dei, occurrite Angeli, obdormivit in Domino, octavo

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

world, and through his teaching numbers of men embraced a holy and religious manner of life. At length, in the year of Christ 1221, he fell into a fever at Bologna. When he saw he was about to die, calling together his brethren and children, he exhorted them to innocence and purity of life, and left them as their true inheritance the virtues of charity, humility, and poverty. While the brethren were praying round him, at the words, * Come to his aid, ye saints of God, run to meet him, O ye angels,' he fell asleep in the Lord, on the eighth

of the Ides of August. Pope Gregory IX placed him among the saints.

idus Augusti: quem postea Gregorius nonus pontifex re- tulit in sanctorum numerum.

How many sons and daughters surround thee on the sacred cycle! This very month, Rose of Lima and Hyacinth keep thee company, and thy coming has long since been heralded in the liturgy by Raymund of Pennafort, Thomas Aquinas, Vincent Ferrer, Peter the Martyr, Catherine of Siena, Pius V, and Antoninus. And now at length appears in the firmament the new star whose brightness dispels ignorance, confounds heresy, increases the faith of believers. O Dominic, thy blessed mother, who preceded thee to heaven, now penetrates in all its fulness the happy meaning of that mysterious vision which once excited her fears. And that other Dominic, the glory of ancient Silos, at whose tomb she received the promise of thy blessed birth, rejoices at the tenfold splendour given by thee for all eternity to the beautiful name he bequeathed thee. But what a special welcome dost thou receive from the Mother of all grace, who heretofore, embracing the feet of her angered Son, stood surety that thou wouldst bring back the world to its Saviour! A few years passed away; and error, put to confusion, felt that a deadly struggle was engaged between itself and thy

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family; the Lateran Church saw its walls, which were threatening to fall, strengthened for a time; and the two princes of the apostles, who had bidden thee go and preach, rejoice that the word has gone forth once more into the whole world.

Stricken with barrenness, the nations, which the Apocalypse likens to great waters, seemed to have become once for all corrupt; the prostitute of Babylon was setting up her throne before the time; when, in imitation of Eliseus, putting the salt of Wisdom into the new vessel of the order founded by thee, thou didst cast this divine salt into the unhealthy waters, neutralize the poison of the beast so soon risen up again, and, in spite of the snares which will never cease, didst render the earth habitable once more. How clearly thy example shows us that they alone are powerful before God and over the people, who give themselves up to Him without seeking anything else, and only give to others out, of their own fulness. Despising, as thine historians tell us, every opportunity and every science where eternal Wisdom was not to be seen, thy youth was charmed with her alone; and she, who prevents those that seek her, inundated thee from thy earliest years with the light and the anticipated sweetness of heaven. It is from her that overflowed upon thee that radiant serenity, which so struck thy contemporaries, and which no occurrence ‘could ever alter. In heavenly peace thou didst drink long draughts from the ever- flowing fountain springing up into eternal life; but while thine inmost soul was thus slaking the thirst of its love, the divine source produced a marvellous fecundity; and its streams becoming thine, thy fountains were conveyed abroad in the streets, thou didst divide thy waters. Thou hadst welcomed Wisdom, and she exalted thee; not content to adorn thy brow with the rays of the mysterious star, she gave thee also the glory of patri- archs, and multiplied thy years and thy works in those of thy sons. In them thou hast not ceased to be one of the strongest stays of the Church. Science has made --- PAGE 271 --- 262 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

thy name wonderful among the nations, and because of it their youth is honoured by the ancients; may it ever be for them, as it was for their elders, both the fruit of Wisdom and the way that leads to her; may it be fostered by prayer; for thy holy order so well keeps up the beautiful traditions of prayer as to approach the nearest, in that respect, to the ancient monastic orders. To praise, to bless, and to preach will be to the end its loved motto; for its apostolate must be, accord- ing to the word of the Psalm, the overflowing of the abundance of sweetness tasted in communication with God. Thus strengthened in Sion, thus blessed in its glorious róle of propagator and guardian of the truth, thy noble family will ever deserve to hear, from the mouth of our Lady herself, that encouragement above all praise: ' Forüer, fortiter, viri fortes |— Courage, courage, ye men of courage !'

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AUGUST 5

OME, delivered from slavery by Peter on the first

of this month, offers to the world a wonderful spectacle. O Wisdom, who, since the glorious Pente- cost, hast spread over the whole world, where could it be more true to sing of thee that thou hast trodden the proud heights under thy victorious feet ? On seven hills had pagan Rome set up her pageantry and built temples to her false gods; seven churches now appear at the summits on which purified Rome rests her now truly eternal foundations.

By their very site, the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, of St. Laurence and St. Sebastian, placed at the four outer angles of the city of the Caesars, recall the long siege continued for three centuries around the ancient Rome, while the new Rome was being founded. Helena and her son Constantine, recommencing the work of the foundations of the Holy City, carried the trenches further out; nevertheless, the churches which were their own peculiar work—viz., Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and St. Saviour's on the Lateran, are still at the very entrance of the pagan stronghold, close to the gates, and leaning against the ramparts; just as a soldier, setting foot within a tremendous fortress which has been long invested, advances cautiously, surveying both the breach through which he has just passed, a the labyrinth of unknown paths opening before

im.

Who will plant the standard of Sion in the centre of Babylon? Who will force the enemy into his last retreat, and casting out the vain idols, set up his palace in their temples? O thou to whom was said this word of the Most High: Thou art My Son, I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, thou mighty One with

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thy sharp arrows routing armies, listen to the cry re- echoing from the whole redeemed world: With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign! But the Son of the Most High has a Mother on earth; the song of the Psalmist inviting Him to the triumph extols also the Queen standing at His right hand in a vesture of gold; if it is from His Father that He holds His power, it is from His Mother that He receives His crown, and He leaves her in return the spoils of the mighty. Go forth, then, ye daughters of the new Sion, and behold King Solomon in the diadem wherewith his Mother crowned him on the joyful day, when, taking possession through her of the capital of the world, he espoused the Gentile race.

Truly that was a day of joy, when Mary, in the name of Jesus, claimed her right as sovereign and heiress of the Roman soil! To the East, at the highest point of the Eternal City, she appeared on that blessed morning literally like the rising dawn; beautiful as the moon shining by night; more powerful than the August sun, surprised to see her tempering his heat, and doubling the brightness of his light with her mantle of snow; more terrible than an army; for from that date, daring what neither apostles nor martyrs had attempted, and what Jesus Himself would not do without her, she dispossessed the deities of Olympus of their usurped thrones. As was fitting, the haughty Juno whose altar disgraced the Esquiline, the false queen of these lying gods, was the first to flee before Mary's face, leaving the splendid columns of her polluted sanctuary to the only true Queen of earth and heaven.

Forty years had passed since the days of St. Sylvester, when the ' image of our Saviour, depicted on the walls of the Lateran, appeared for the first time to the Roman people.” Rome, still half pagan, beheld to-day the Mother of our Saviour; under the influence of the pure symbol, at which she gazed in surprise, she felt die down within her the evil ardour which made her once the

* Lectiones ii. Noct. in Dedic. Basilicae Salvatoris,

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scourge of nations, whereas now she was to become their mother; and in the joy of her renewed youth she beheld her once sullied hills covered with the white garment of the Bride.

Even from the times of the apostolic preaching, the elect, who gathered in large numbers in Rome in spite of herself, knew Mary and paid to her in those days of martyrdom a homage such as no other creature could ever receive; witness in the catacombs those primitive frescoes of our Lady, either alone or holding her divine Child, but always seated, receiving from her place of honour the praise, m es, prayers, or gifts of prophets, archangels, and kings! In the Trastevere, where in the reign of Augustus a mysterious fountain of oil had sprung up, announcing the coming of the Anointed of the Lord,Callixtus in 222 had built a church in honour of her who is ever the true fons olei, the source whence sprang Christ, and together with him all unction and all grace. The basilica raised by Liberius, the beloved of our Lady, on the Esquiline, was not, then, the most ancient monument dedicated by the Christians of Rome to the Mother of God; but it at once took, and has always kept, the first place among our Lady's churches in the city, and indeed in the world, on account of the solemn and miraculous circumstances of its origin.

Hast thou entered, said the Lord to Job, into the store- houses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail; which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war ?* On August 5, then, at God's command, the treasures were opened and the snow was Scattered like birds lighting upon the earth, and its coming was the signal for the lightnings of His judgments upon the gods of the nations. The Tower of David now dominates over all the towers of the earthly city; from her impregnable position our Lady will never cease her victorious sallies till she has taken the last hostile fort. How beautiful will thy steps be in these

! Cemeteries of Priscilla, of Nereus and Achilleus, etc. * Job xxxviii. 22, 23. 18

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warlike expeditions, O daughter of the prince, O Queen, whose standard, by the will of thine adorable Son, must wave over the whole world rescued ‘rom the power of the cursed serpent! The ignominious goddess, over- thrown from her impure pedestal by one glance of thine, left Rome still dishonoured by the presence of many vain idols. But thou, all-conquering Lady, didst continue thy triumphal march. The Church of St. Mary in Ara cel replaced, on the Capitol, the odious temple of Jupiter; the sanctuaries and groves dedicated to Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, and Proserpine hastened to take the title of one who had been shown in their fabulous history under disfigured and degraded forms. The deserted Pantheon awaited the day when it was to receive the noble and magnificent name of St. Mary ad Martyres. What a preparation for thy glorious Assumption is the series of earthly triumphs which this day inaugurates ! The basilica d St. Mary of the Snow, called also of Liberius, from its founder, and also of Sixíus, after Sixtus III, who restored it, owed to this last the honour of becoming the monument of the divine Maternity proclaimed at Ephesus; the name of S£. Mary Mother, which it received on that occasion, became, under Theodore I, who enriched it with the most precious relic, St. Mary of the Crib : all these noble titles were afterwards gathered into that of St. Mary Major, which is amply justified by the facts we have related, by universal devotion, and by the pre-eminence always assigned to it by the sovereign pontiffs. Though the last in order of time of the seven churches upon which Christian Rome is founded, it nevertheless ranked in the middle ages next to that of St. Saviour, in the procession of the greater Litanies on April 25 the ancient Roman Ordo assigned to the Cross of St. Mary's its place between that of St. Peter's and that of the Lateran. The important and numerous liturgical Stations appointed at the basilica on the Esquiline

* Museum Italicum: JoAN. Diac. Lib, de Eccl. Lateran XVI, de Episcopis et Cardinal. per patriarchatus dispositis; Ri 1 Ordin. xi., xil.

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testify to the devotion of the Romans and of all Catho- lics towards it. It was honoured by having councils celebrated and Vicars of Christ elected within its walls; the pontiffs for a time made it their residence, and were accustomed on the Ember Wednesdays, when the Station is always held there, to publish the names of the Cardinal Deacons or Cardinal Priests whom they had resolved to create.!

As to the annual solemnity of its dedication, which is the object of the present feast, there can be no doubt that it was celebrated on the Esquiline at a very early date. It was, however, not yet kept by the whole Church in the thirteenth century; for Gregory IX, in the bull of canonization of St. Dominic, whose death occurred on August 6, anticipated his feast on the fifth of the month, as being at that time vacant, whereas the sixth was already occupied, as we shall see to-morrow, by another solemnity. It was Paul IV who in 1558 definitely fixed the feast of the holy founder on August 4; and the reason he gives is, that the feast of St. Mary of the Snow having since been made universal and taking precedence of the other, the honour due to the holy patriarch might be put in the shade if his feast continued to be kept on the same day. The breviary of St. Pius V soon after promulgated to the entire world the office, of which the following is the legend:

Liberio summo Pontifice, Joannes patricius Romanus, et uxor pari nobilitate, cum liberos non suscepissent, quos bonorum hzredes relinquerent, suam haereditatem sanctissimze Virgini Dei Matri voverunt, ab ea summis precibus assidue petentes, ut in quod pium opus eam pecuniam potissi- mum erogari vellet, aliquo modo significaret. Quorum preces et vota exanimo facta beata Virgo Maria benigne

Under the pontificate of Liberius, John, a Roman pa- trician, and his wife, who was of an equally noble race, having no children to whom they might leave their estates, vowed their whole fortune to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, begging her most earnestly and continually to make known to them by some means in what pious work she wished them to employ the money. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously

* PAULUS DE AxGELIS, Basilica S. Mariz Maj., descriptio vi, v.

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audiens, bavit.

miraculo | compro-

Nonis igitur augusti, quo tempore in urbe maximi ca- lores esse solent, noctu nix partem collis Exquilini con- texit. Qua nocte Dei Mater separatim Joannem et con- jugem in somnis admonuit, ut quem locum nive conspersum viderent, in eo ecclesiam zdi- ficarent, qua Marie Virginis nomine dedicaretur: se enim ita velle ab ipsis haeredem in- stitui. Quod Joannes ad Li- berium pontificem detulit, qui idem per somnium sibi con- tigisse affirmavit.

Quare solemni sacerdotum et populi supplicatione ad collem venit nive coopertum, et in eo locum ecclesi; designavit, qua Joannis et uxoris pecunia ex- structa est, postea a Xysto tertio restituta. Variis no- minibus primum est appellata, basilica Liberii, sancta Maria ad Sed cum multe jam essent in urbe ecclesie sub nomine sancte Marie Virginis: ut qua basilica novi- tate miraculi ac dignitate cateris ejusdem nominis basi- licis praestaret, vocabuli etiam excellentia significaretur, eccle- sia sancte Marie majoris dicta est. Cujus dedicationis memoria ex nive, qua hac die mirabiliter cecidit, anniver- saria celebritate colitur.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

heard their heartfelt prayers and vows, and answered them by a miracle.

On the Nones of August, usually the hottest time of the year in Rome, a part of the Esquiline hill was covered with snow during the night. That same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them to build a church on the spot they should find covered with snow, and to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary; for it was in this manner that she wished to become their heiress. John related this to Pope Liberius, who said he had dreamt the same thing.

He went, therefore, with a solemn procession of priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and chose the site of a church, which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was afterwards rebuilt by Sixtus III. At first it was called by different names, the Liberian basilica, St. Mary at the Crib. But, since there are many churches in Rome dedi- cated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as this one surpasses all other basilicas in dignity and by its miraculous begin- ning, it is distinguished from them also by its title of St. Mary Major. On account of the miraculous fall of snow, the anniversary of the dedica- tion is celebrated by a yearly solemnity.

What recollections, O Mary, does this feast of thy

greatest basilica awaken within us !

And what worthier

praise, what better prayer, could we offer thee to-day than to remind thee of the graces we have received

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within its precincts, and implore thee to renew them and confirm them for ever? United with our Mother- Church in spite of distance, have we not, under its shadow, tasted the sweetest and most triumphant emotions of the cycle now verging on to its term ? On the first Sunday of Advent it was here that we began the year, as in the place ‘most suitable for saluting the approach of the Divine Birth, which was to gladden heaven and earth and manifest the sublime portent of a Virgin Mother.” Our hearts were over- flowing with desire on that holy Vigil, when from early morning we were invited to the bright basilica where the ‘ mystical Rose was soon to bloom and fill the world with its fragrance. The grandest of all the churches which the people of Rome have erected in honour of the Mother of God, it stood before us rich in its marble and gold, but richer still in possessing, together with the portrait of our Lady painted by St. Luke, the humble yet glorious Crib of Jesus, of which the inscrutable designs of God have deprived Bethlehem. During that blessed night an immense concourse of people assembled in the basilica awaiting the happy moment when that monument of the love and the humiliation of a God was to be brought in, carried on the shoulders of the priests as an ark of the New Covenant, whose welcome sight gives the sinner confidence and makes the just man thrill with joy.? Alas | a few months passed away, and we were again in the noble sanctuary, this time compassionating our ‘holy Mother, whose heart was filled with poignant grief at the foresight of the sacrifice which was preparing." But soon the august basilica was filled once more with new joys, when Rome ' justly associated with the Paschal solemnity the memory of her who, more than all other c: “atures, had merited its joys, not only because of the exceptional share she had had in all the sufferings of Jesus, but also because of the unshaken faith wherewith, during those long and cruel hours of His lying in the tomb, she had awaited

! Advent, p. 123. * Christmas, Vol. I. . 140, I4I. * Paselontide, p. 276. Station of Wednesday in Holy Weer, |

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His Resurrection.” Dazzling as the snow which fell from heaven to mark the place of thy predilection on earth, O Mary, a white-robed band of neophytes coming up from the waters formed thy graceful court and en- hanced the triumph of that great day. Obtain for them and for us all, O Mother, affections as pure as the white marble columns of thy loved church, charity as bright as the gold glittering on its ceiling, works shining as the Paschal Candle, that symbol of Christ the conqueror of death, which offered thee the homage of its first flames. * Paschal Time, Vol. I, p. 157.

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AUGUST 6

4 GOD, who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine

only-begotten Son, didst confirm the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers: and who, in the voice which came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner fore-signify our adoption as sons: mercifully vouchsafe to make us fellow-heirs of that King of glory, and the sharers of His bliss.” Such is the formula which sums up the prayer of the Church and shows us her thoughts on this day of attestation and of hope.

We must first notice that the glorious Transfigura- tion has already been twice brought before us on the sacred cycle—viz., on the second Sunday of Lent, and on the preceding Saturday. What does this mean, but that the object of the present solemnity is not so much the historical fact already known, as the permanent mystery attached to it; not so much the personal favour bestowed on Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, as the accomplishment of the great message then en- trusted to them for the Church ? Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead* The Church, born from the open side of the Man-God on the Cross, was not to behold Him face to face on earth; after His Resurrection, when He had sealed His alliance with her in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, it is on faith alone that her love was to be fed. But by the testimony which takes the place of sight, her lawful desires to know Him were to be satisfied. Wherefore, for her sake, giving truce, one day of His mortal life, to the ordinary law of suffering and obscurity He had taken upon Him for the world’s salvation, He allowed the glory which filled His blessed soul to transpire.

1 St. Matt. xvii. 9.

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The King of Jews and Gentiles revealed Himself upon the mountain, where His calm splendour eclipsed for evermore the lightnings of Sinai; the covenant of the eternal alliance was declared, not by the promulgation of a law of servitude engraven upon stone, but by the manifestation of the Lawgiver Himself, coming as Bride- groom to reign in grace and beauty over hearts. Elias and Moses, representing the prophets and the Law whereby His coming was prepared, from their different starting-points, met beside Him like faithful messengers reaching their destination; they did homage to the Master of their now finished mission, and effaced them- selves before Him at the voice of the Father: This is My beloved Son! Three witnesses the most trust- worthy of all assisted at this solemn scene: the disciple of faith, the disciple of love, and that other son of thunder who was to be the first to seal with His blood both the faith and the love of an apostle. By His order they kept religiously, as beseemed them, the secret of the King, until the day when the Church could be the first to receive it from their predestined lips.

But did this precious mystery take place on August 6 ? More than one doctor of sacred rites affirms that it did! At any rate, it was fitting to celebrate it in the month dedicated to Eternal Wisdom. It is she, the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror and image of God's goodness? who, shedding grace upon the Son of man, made Him on this day the most beautiful amongst all His brethren, and dictated more melodiously than ever to the inspired singer the accents of the Epithala- mium: My heart hath uttered a good word : I speak my works to the king?

Seven months ago the mystery was first announced sd the gentle light of the Epiphany; but by the virtue of the mystical seven here revealed once more, the 'beginnings of blessed hope'* which we then cele- brated as children with the Child Jesus, have grown

! Sicarp. Cremon. Mitrale, ix. 38; Berets, Rationale, cxliv.; DURAND, vii., xxii., etc.

* Alleluia verse fr. Wisd. vii. 26. * Gradual fr. Ps. xliv. 2, 3. * Lxox. in Epiph., Sermo ii. 4.

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together with Him and the Church; and the latter, established in unspeakable peace by the full growth which gives her to her Spouse, calls upon all her children to grow like her by the contemplation of the Son of God, even to the measure of the perfect age of Christ. We understand, then, why the liturgy of to-day repeats the formulas and chants of the glorious Theophany: Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem : for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee :* it is because on the mountain together with our Lord the Bride also is glorified, having the glory of God.

While the face of Jesus shone as the sun, His garments became white as snow) Now these garments so snow- white, as St. Mark observes, that no fuller on earth could have bleached them so, are the just men, the royal ornament inseparable from the Man-God, the Church, the seamless robe woven by our sweet Queen for her Son out of the purest wool and most beautiful linen that the valiant woman could find. Although our Lord personally has now passed the torrent of suffering and entered for ever into His glory, nevertheless the bright mystery of the Transfiguration will not be com- plete until the last of the elect, having passed through the laborious preparation at the hands of the Divine Fuller and tasted death, has joined in the Resurrection of our adorable Head. O Face of our Saviour that dost ravish the heavens, then will all glory, all beauty, all love shine forth from Thee. Expressing God by the perfect resemblance of true Son by nature, Thou wilt extend the good pleasure of the Father to that reflection of His Word which constitutes the sons of adoption, and reaches in the Holy Ghost even to the lowest fringes of His garment which fills the temple below Him. According to the doctrine of the Angel of the schools, the adoption of sons of God, which consists in being conformable to the image of the Son of God by nature, is wrought in a double manner: first by grace in this life, and this is imperfect conformity;

! rst Responsory of Matins from Isaias Ix. 1, * St. Matt. xvii, 2.

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and then by glory $» patria, and this is perfect conform- ity, according to the words of St. John: We are now the sons of God ; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him : because we shall see Him as He is! The word of eternity, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee, has had two echoes in time, at the Jordan and on Thabor; and God, who never repeats Himself, did not herein make an exception to the rule of saying but once what He says. For although the terms used on the two occasions are identical, they do not tend, as St. Thomas says, to the same end, but show the different ways in which man participates in the resemblance of the eternal filiation. At the baptism of our Lord, where the mystery of the first regeneration was de- clared, as at the Transfiguration which manifested the second, the whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice, the Son in His Humanity, the Holy Ghost under the form, first of a dove, and afterwards of a bright cloud; for if in baptism this Holy Spirit confers innocence symbolized by the simplicity of the dove, in the Resur- rection he will give to the elect the brightness of glory and the refreshment after suffering which are signified by the luminous cloud.

But without waiting for the day when our Saviour will renew our very bodies conformable to the bright glory of His own divine Body, the mystery of the Transfiguration is wrought in our souls already here on earth. It is of the present life that St. Paul says and the Church sings to-day: God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the Jace of Christ Jesus. Thabor, holy and divine mountain rivalling heaven? how can we help saying with Peter: ‘It is good for us to dwell on thy summit I’ For thy summit is love; it is charity which towers above the other virtues, as thou towerest in gracefulness, and loftiness, and fragrance over the other mountains of Galilee, which

^ 1 John iil. 2. * 8th Responsory of Matins fr, 2 Cor. iv. 6. * Joax. DAMASC. Orat. in Transfig, iii.

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saw Jesus passing, speaking, praying, working prodigies, but did not know Him in the intimacy of the perfect. It is after six days, as the Gospel observes, and therefore in the repose of the seventh which leads to the eighth of the resurrection, that Jesus reveals Himself to the privileged souls who correspond to Hislove. The King- dom of God is within us; when, leaving all impressions of the senses as it were asleep, we raise ourselves above the works and cares of the world by prayer, it is given us to enter with the Man-God into the cloud: there beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, as far as is compatible with our exile, we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord} * Let us then,’ cries St. Ambrose, ' ascend the mountain; let us beseech the Word of God to show Himself to us in His splendour, in His beauty; to grow strong and proceed prosperously, and reign in our souls. For behold a deep mystery! According to thy measure, the Word diminishes or grows within thee. If thou reach not that summit, high above all human Hone, Wisdom will not appear to thee; the Word shows Him- self to thee as in a body without brightness and without glory.’

If the vocation revealed to thee this day be so great and so holy, ‘ reverence the call of God,’ says St. Andrew of Crete? ‘do not ignore thyself, despise not a gift so great, show not thyself unworthy of the grace, be not so slothful in thy life as to lose this treasure of heaven. Leave earth to the earth, and let the dead bury their dead; disdaining all that passes away, all that dies with the world and the flesh, follow even to heaven, without turning aside, Christ who leads the way through this world for thee. Take to thine assistance fear and desire, lest thou faint or lose thy love. Give thyself up wholly; be supple to the Word in the Holy Ghost, in order to attain this pure and blessed end: thy deification, together with the enjoyment of unspeakable goods. By zeal for the virtues, by contemplation of the truth,

! Capit. of Sext, fr. 2 Cor. iii. 18. * Aux. in Luc, lib. vil., 12. iepisc. Cretensis, Oratio in 5

! ANDR. H YMITANI, Archiep Transfig

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by wisdom, attain to Wisdom, who is the principle of all, and in whom all things subsist.’

The feast of the Transfiguration has been kept in the East from the earliest times. With the Greeks, it is preceded by a vigil and followed by an octave, and on it they abstain from servile work, from com- merce, and from law-suits. Under the graceful name of ROSE-FLAME, rose coruscatio, we find it in Armenia at the beginning of the fourth century supplanting Diana and her feast of flowers, by the remembrance of the day when the divine Rose unfolded for a moment on earth its brilliant corolla. It is preceded by a whole week of fasting, and counts among the five principal feasts of the Armenian cycle, where it gives its name to one of the eight divisions of the year. Although the Menology of this Church marks it on the sixth of August like that of the Greeks and the Roman Martyrology, it is never- theless always celebrated there on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost; and by a coincidence full of meaning, they honour on the preceding Saturday the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, a figure of the Church. The origin of to-day’s feast in the West is not so easy to determine. But the authors who place its introduction into our countries as late as 1457, when Callixtus III promulgated by precept a new Office enriched with indulgences, overlook the fact that the pontiff speaks of the feast as already widespread and ' commonly called of the Saviour.” It is true that in Rome especially the celebrity of the more ancient feast of St. Sixtus II, with its double Station at the two cemeteries which received respectively the relics of the pontiff-martyr and those of his companions, was for a long time an obstacle to the acceptance of another feast on the same day. Some churches, to avoid the difficulty, chose another day in the year to honour the mystery. As the feast of our Lady of the Snow, so that of the Transfiguration had to spread more or less privately, with various offices and masses,” until the supreme

! CaLLixT. III Const. Inter Divine dispensationis arcana. * ScnuLTINO, on this date; TouwAs!, Antiphoner.

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authority should intervene to sanction and bring to unity the expressions of the devotion of different Churches. Callixtus III considered that the hour had come to consecrate the work of centuries; he made the solemn and definitive insertion of this feast of triumph on the universal Calendar the memorial of the victory which arrested, under the walls of Belgrade in 1456, the onward march of Mahomet II, conqueror of Byzantium, against Christendom.

Already in the ninth century, if not even earlier, martyrologies and other liturgical documents! furnish proofs that the mystery was celebrated with more or less solemnity, or at least with some sort of commemora- tion, in divers places. In the twelfth century Peter the Venerable, under whose government Cluny took possession of Thabor, ordained that ‘in all the monas- teries or churches belonging to his order, the Transfigura- tion should be celebrated with the same degree of solem- nity as the Purification of our Lady '; and he gave for his reason, besides the dignity of the mystery, the ‘ custom, ancient or recent, of many churches through- out the world, which celebrate the memory of the said Transfiguration with no less honour than the Epiphany and the Ascension of our Lord."

On the other hand at Bologna, in 1233, in the juridical instruction preliminary to the canonization of St. Domi- nic, the death of the saint is declared to have taken place on the feast of St. Sixtus, without mention of any other? It is true, and we believe this detail is not void of meaning, that a few years earlier, Sicardus of Cremona thus expressed himself in his Mitrale: ' We celebrate -the Transfiguration of our Lord on the day of St. Sixtus.’ Is not this sufficient indication that while the feast of the latter continued to give its traditional name to the eighth of the Ides of August, it did not prevent a new and greater omg from taking its ds beside it, preparatory to absorbing it altogether? For he adds:

Therefore om this same day, as the Transfiguration

1 WANDALBERT; ELDEFONS. ? Statuta Cluniac. V. * Deposition of the Prior of St. Nicholas, * Sicaxp, Mitrale, ix., xxxviii.

--- PAGE 287 --- 278 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

refers to the state in which the faithful will be after the résurrection, we consecrate the Blood of our Lord from new wine, if it is possible to obtain it, in order to signify what is said in the Gospel: I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father? But if it cannot be procured, then at least a few ripe grapes are pressed over the chalice, or else grapes are blessed and distributed to the people.’

The author of the Miírale died in 1215; yet he was only repeating the explanation already given in the second half of the preceding century by John Beleth, Rector of the Paris University? We must admit that the very ancient benedictio uve found in the Sacramen- taries on the day of St. Sixtus has nothing corresponding to it in the life of the great pope which could justify our referring to him. The Greeks, who have also this blessing of grapes fixed for August 6,* celebrate on this day the Transfiguration alone, without any com- memoration of Sixtus II. Be it as it may, the words of the Bishop of Cremona and of the Rector of Paris prove that Durandus of Mende, giving at the end of the thirteenth century the same symbolical interpretation, did but echo a tradition more ancient than his own time.

St. Pius V did not alter the ancient office of the feast, except the lessons of the first and second Noc- turns, which were taken from Origen,’ and the three hymns for Vespers, Matins, and Lauds, which resembled somewhat in structure the corresponding hymns of the Blessed Sacrament.” The hymn now used for Vespers and Matins, which we here give, is borrowed from the beautiful canticle of Prudentius on the Epiphany in his Cathemerinon:

1 St. Matt. xxvi. 29. * SicanD. Ibid.

* BereTH. Rationale, cxliv. * Eucholog.

* DunAND. Rationale, vii., xxii.

* Homil. xii. in Exod. De vultu Moysi glorificato et velamine quod ponebat in

facie sua. ' Gaude, mater pietati Exultet laudib crala concio. Novum sidus exoritur,

--- PAGE 288 --- TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD

279

HYMN

Quicumque Christum quae- ritis

Oculos in altum tollite:

Illic licebit visere

Signum perennis gloria.

Illustre quiddam cernimus,

Puy nesciat finem pati, ublime, celsum, interminum,

Antiquius celo et chao.

Hic ille Rex est Gentium, Populique Rex Judaici,

Promissus Abrahz patri, Ejusque in evum semini.

Hunc et prophetis testibus lisdemque signatoribus Testator et P ines Audire nos et credere.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,

Qui te revelas parvulis,

Cum Patre et almo Spiritu

In sempiterna secula. Amen.

All ye who seek Christ, lift up your eyes to heaven; there ye may behold the token of His eternal glory.

A certain brilliance we per- ceive that knows no ending, sublime, noble, interminable, older than heaven and chaos.

This is the King of the Gentiles, and King of the Jewish people, who was pro- mised to Abraham our father, and to his seed for ever.

The prophets testify to Him, and the Father, who testifies with them for His witnesses, bids us hear and believe Him.

O Jesus, glory be to Thee who revealest Thyself to little ones, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

Adam of St. Victor has also sung of this glorious

mystery:

SEQUENCE

Letabundi jubilemus Ac devote celebremus Hsc sacra solemnia; Ad honorem summi Dei Hujus laudes nunc diei Personet Ecclesia.

In hac Christus die festa

Suz dedit manifesta Gloria indicia;

Ut hoc possit enarrari

Hic nos suos salutari Repleat et gratia |

Come, let us sing with joy, and devoutly celebrate these sacred solemnities; let the Church resound with the pue of this day to the onour of the most high God.

For on this festal day did Christ give manifest signs of His great glory; that we may recount the same, may He give us His aid and fill us with His

grace.

--- PAGE 289 --- 280

Christus ergo, Deus fortis,

Vita dator, victor mortis, Verus sol justitiz,

Quam assumpsit carnem de Virgine,

Transformatus in Thabor cul.

mine, Glorificat hodie.

[6] | qua felix sors bonorum ! T: enim beatorum Erit resurrectio. Sicut fulget sol pleni luminis, Fulsit Dei vultus et hominis, Teste Evangelio.

Candor quoque sacra vestis Deitatis fuit testis Et future gloria. Mirus honor et sublimis: Mira, Deus, tuz nimis
Virtus est potentia.

Cumque Christus, virtus Dei,

Petro, natis Zebedzi Majestatis gloriam

Demonstraret manifeste,

Ecce vident, Luca teste, Moysen et Eliam.

Hoc habemus ex Matthzo,

Quod loquentes erant Deo Dei Patris Filio:

Vere sanctum, vere dignum

Loqui Deo et benignum, Plenum omni gaudio.

Hujus magna laus diei,

Quze sacratur voce Dei, Honor est eximius;

Nubes illos obumbravit,

Et vox Patris proclamavit: Hic est meus Filius.

Hujus vocem exaudite: Habet enim verba vitz, Verbo potens omnia.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Christ, then, the mighty God, the giver of life, and conqueror of death, the true Sun of justice, to-day trans- figured on Thabor's height, did glorify the flesh He had taken of the Virgin.

O how happy the lot of the good! For such will be the resurrection of the blessed. As shines the sun in fulness of his light, so shone the countenance of God and Man, as the Gospel testifieth.

The brightness, too, of His sacred robe gave testimony of His Godhead and of the glory to come. Wondrous the hon- our and sublime: wondrous exceedingly, O God, is the power of Thine almightiness.

And when Christ, the power of God, to Peter and the sons of Zebedee did clearly show the glory of His majesty, lo! they beheld, as Luke doth testify, Moses and Elias.

This we learn of Matthew, that they were seen speaking with God, the Son of God the Father. Oh! how noble and how holy, how good and full of all joy, to speak to God !

Great is the glory of this day, consecrated by the voice of God, and exceedingisitshonour; a cloud did overshadow them, and the Father's voice pro- claimed: ‘ This is my Son.’

Hear ye His voice: for the words of life hath He, Who can do all things by His word.

--- PAGE 290 --- TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD

Hic est Christus, rex cuncto- rum.

Mundi salus, lux sanctorum, Lux illustrans omnia.

Hic est Christus, Patris Ver- bum, Per quem perdit jus acerbum ' Quod in nobis habuit Hostis nequam, serpens dirus, Qui, fundendo suum virus Eva, nobis nocuit.

Moriendo nos sanavit

Qui surgendo reparavit

Vitam Christus et damnavit Mortis magisterium.

Hic est Christus, pax zeterna,

Ima regens et superna,

Cui de ccelis vox paterna Confert testimonium.

Cujus sono sunt turbati

Patres illi tres praefati

Et in terram sunt prostrati Quando vox emittitur.

Surgunt tandem, annuente

Sibi Christo, sed intente

Circumspectant, cum repente Solus Jesus cernitur.

Volens Christus hzc celari Non permisit enarrari, Donec, vite reparator, Hostis vite triumphator,

Morte victa, surgeret. Hc est dies laude digna a tot sancta fiunt signa;

hristus, splendor Dei Patris

Prece sancta suz matris

Nos a morte liberet.

Tibi, Pater, tibi, Nate, Tibi, Sancte Spiritus, Sit cum summa potestate Laus et honor debitus !

Amen.

281

This is Christ, the King of all, the world's salvation and the light of saints, the light enlightening all things.

This is Christ, the Father's Word, by whom He destroys the bitter law set in us by the wicked enemy, the cruel ser- pent, who, pouring out his poison upon Eve, did work our ruin.

Christ by dying healed us, who by rising restored our life and condemned the tyranny of death. This is Christ, the eternal peace, ruling both depths and height; to whom from heaven the Father's voice bore testimony.

At His voice those three aforesaid fathers were afraid, and prostrated on the earth when the word was uttered. At length they rise, Christ bidding them; they gaze around intently, but at once see none but Jesus.

Wishing these things to be concealed, Christ suffers them not to be uttered, until the restorer of life and conqueror of life's enemy should rise triumphant over death. This is the day so worthy of praise, whereon are wrought so many holy signs; may Christ, the splendour of God the Father, by the prayer of His holy

other, deliver us from death.

To Thee, O Father, Thee, O Son, and Thee, O Holy Ghost, be, together with highest power, the praise and honour due! Amen.

19

--- PAGE 291 --- 282

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The Menza of the Greeks offers us these stanzas from

St. John Damascene:

MENSIS AUGUSTI DIE VI In Matutino

Qui manibus invisibilibus formasti secundum imaginem tuam, Christe, hominem, arche- typam in figmento pulchritu- dinem ostendisti non ut in imagine, sed ut hoc ipse ex- sistens per substantiam, Deus
simul et homo.

Quam magnum et terribile visum est spectaculum hodie! e ccelo sensibilis, e terra vero incomparabilis effulsit sol justitie, intelligibilis, in monte Thabor.

Regnantium es Rex pul-

cherrimus, et ubique domi- nantium Dominus, princeps
beatus, et lumen habitans

inaccessibile, cui discipuli stu- pefacti clamabant: Pueri, benedicite; sacerdotes, con- cinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia secula.

Tamquam ccelo dominan- ti, et terra regnanti, et sub- terraneorum dominium haben- ti, Christe, tibi adstiterunt: e ' terra quidem apostoli: tam- '" quam e ccelo autem, Thesbites

lias; Moyses vero ex mortuis, canentes incessanter: Pueri, benedicite; sacerdotes, con- cinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia secula.

Segnitiem parientes cure in terra derelicte sunt, apos- tolorum delectu, o humane, ut te secuti sunt ad sublimem e terra divinam politiam, unde et jure divine tue manifesta-

O Christ, who with invisible hands didst form man to Thine own image, Thou hast shown Thine original beauty in the human frame, not as in an image, but as being this Thy- self, both God and Man.

How grand and awful was the spectacle beheld this day ! from heaven the visible sun, but from earth the incom- parable spiritual Sun of justice shone upon Mount Thabor.

Thou art the King of kings most beautiful, and Lord of all lords, O blessed Prince, dwelling in inaccessible light; to Thee the disciples, beside themselves, cried out: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

As before the Lord of heaven and King of earth and Ruler of the regions under the earth, before Thee, O Christ, there stood the apostles as from the earth, Elias the Thesbite as from heaven, Moses as from the dead; and they sang un- ceasingly: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

Leaving to the earth its wearying cares, the chosen apostles having followed Thee, O loving one, to the divine city far above the earth, are justly admitted to behold Thy

--- PAGE 292 --- TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD

tionis participes effecti, cane- bant: Pueri, benedicite; sacer- dotes, concinite; populus, su- perexaltate per omnia secula.

Agite mihi, parete mihi, populi ascendentes in mon- tem sanctum, coelestem; ab- jecta materia stemus in civi- tate viventis Dei, et inspi- ciamus mente divinitatem ma- terie em Patris et Spiri- tus, in Filio unigenito efful- gentem.

Demulsisti desiderio me, Christe, et alterasti divino tuo amore, sed combure igne a materia remoto peccata mea, et impleri eis qua in te deliciis dignum fac, ut duos saltando magnificem, o bone, adventus tuos.

283

divine manifestation, singing: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

Come to me, attend to me, re people, ascending the holy,

eavenly mountain; casting away material things, let us stand in the city of the living God, and mentally behold the immaterial divinity of the Father and the Spirit, shining forth in the only-begotten Son. Thou, O Christ, hast won me with desire, and inebriated me with Thy divine love; but burn away my sins with im- material fire, and make me worthy to be satiated with the delights that are in Thee; that exulting I may sing Thy two comings, O Thou who art so good.

It will be well to borrow also from the Church of Armenia, which celebrates this feast with so much

solemnity:

IN TRANSFIGURATIONE DOMINI

Qui transfiguratus in monte vim divinam ostendisti, te glorificamus, intelligibile Lu- men.

Ast ipsum deitatis ineffabile Lumen propriis visceribus pro- vide portasti, Maria Mater Virgoque: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Lumine abbreviato chorus apostolorum terretur; ast in te plenius habuisti ignem divi- nitatis, Maria Mater Virgoque: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Apostolis nubes lucida ten- ditur desuper; ast in te Spiritu Sanctus, virtus Altissimi, dif-

O Light intelligible, who, transfigured on the mountain, didst show Thy divine power, we glorify Thee.

But this ineffable Light of the Godhead thou didst hap- n» bear in thy womb, O 1

other and Virgin: we glori and bless thee.

The choir of the apostles trembled before the diminished Light; but in thee dwelt fully the fire of the divinity, O » Mother and Virgin: we gl and bless thee.

A bright cloud was spread over the apostles; but upon . thee was poured the Holy

--- PAGE 293 --- 284

funditur obumbrans, sancta Dei Mater: te glorificamus et bene- dicimus.

Christe, Deus noster, da
ut cum Petro et filiis Zebedal tua divina visione digni ha- beamur.

Ultra montem terrenum au- fer nos ad intelligibile taber- naculum ccelo celsius.

Exsultant hodie montes Dei Creatori obviam procedentes, apostolorum agmina et pro-

phetarum montibus seternis sociata. Hodie sponsa Regis im-

mortalis, Sion excelsa lztatur, adspiciens coelestem Sponsum lumine decorumin gloria Patris.

Hodie virga de radice Jesse floruit in monte Thabor.

Hodie immortalitatis odore manat, inebrians discipulos.

'Te benedicimus, consubstan- tialem Patri, qui venisti sal- vare mundum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Spirit, the Power of the Most High, overshadowing thee, O holy Mother of God: we glorify and bless thee.

O Christ our God, grant that with Peter and the sons of Zebedee we may be deemed worthy of Thy divine vision.

Lift us above the earthly mountain to the spiritual tabernacle higher than the heavens.

To-day the mountains of God exult, going to meet the Creator, the troops of apostles and prophets associated to the divine mountains.

To-day the bride of the immortal King, the lofty Sion rejoices, beholding her heavenly Spouse adorned with light in the glory of the Father.

To-day the rod of the root of Jesse blossomed on Mount Thabor.

To-day it breathes forth the perfume of immortality, in- ebriating the disciples.

We bless Thee, O consub- stantial Son of the Father, who didst come to save the world.

Let us conclude by addressing to God this prayer

of the Ambrosian Missal:

ORATIO SUPER SINDONEM

Illumina, quesumus Do- mine, populum tuum, et splen- dore gratie tue cor eorum semper accende: ut Salvatoris mundi, eterni luminis gloria famulante, manifestata cele- britas mentibus nostris reve- letur semper, et crescat. Per eumdem Dominum.

Enlighten, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy people, and ever kindle their hearts by the brightness of Thy grace: that through the glory of the Saviour of the world, the eternal Light, the mystery here manifested may be ever more and more revealed, and may grow in our souls. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

--- PAGE 294 --- SAINT SIXTUS II 285

SAME Day SAINT SIXTUS II POPE AND MARTYR; AND SS. FELICISSIMUS AND AGAPITUS

MARTYRS

: ISTUM in cimiterio animadversum sciatis octavo

tduum augustarum die. Know that Sixtus has been beheaded in the cemetery on the eighth of the Ides of August." These words of St. Cyprian mark the opening of a glorious period, both for the cycle and for history. From this day to the feast of St. Cyprian himself, taking in that of the deacon Laurence, how many holocausts in a few weeks does the earth offer to the most high God! One would think that the Church; on the feast of our Lord's Transfiguration, was impatient to join her testimony as Bride to that of the prophets, of the apostles, and of God Himself. Heaven proclaims Him well-beloved, the earth also declares its love for Him: the testimony of blood and of every sort of heroism is the sublime echo awakened by the Father's voice through all the valleys of our lowly earth, to be pro- longed throughout all ages.

Let us, then, to-day salute this noble pontiff, the first to go down into the arena opened wide by Valerian to all the soldiers of Christ. Among the brave leaders who, from Peter down to Melchiades, have headed the struggle whereby Rome was both vanquished and saved, none is more illustrious as a martyr. He was seized in the catacomb lying to the left of the Appian Way, in the very chair wherein, in spite of the recent edicts, he was presiding over the assembly of the breth- ren; and after the sentence had been pronounced by the judge, he was brought back to the sacred crypt. There in that same chair, in the midst of the martyrs sleeping

Cyprian, Epist. Ixxxii.

--- PAGE 295 --- 286 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in the surrounding tombs their sleep of peace, the good and peaceful pontiff’ received the stroke of death. Of the seven deacons of the Roman Church six died with him;? Laurence alone was left, inconsolable at having this time missed the palm, but trusting in the invitation given him to be at the heavenly altar in three days' time.

Two of the pontiff's deacons were buried in the cemetery of Pretextatus, where the sublime scene had taken place. Sixtus and his blood-stained chair were carried to the other side of the Appian Way into the crypt of the Popes, where they remained for long centuries an object of veneration to pilgrims. When Damasus, in the days of peace, adorned the tombs of the saints with his beautiful inscriptions, the entire cemetery of Callixtus, which includes the burial-place of the Popes, received the title ‘ of Caecilia and of Sixtus, two glorious names inscribed by Rome upon the venerable diptychs of the Mass. Twice over on this day did the holy Sacrifice summon the Christians to honour, at each side of the principal way to the Eternal City, the triumphant victims of the eighth of the Ides of August.?

Sixtus II, an Athenian, was first a philosopher, and then

Xystus secundus, Atheni- ensis, ex philosopho Christi In the

discipulus, in persecutione Valeriani accusatus quod pu- blice Christum praedicaret, com- prehensus trahitur in templum Martis, proposita ei capitali peena, nisi illi simulacro sacri- ficaret. Qua impietate con- stantissime recusata, cum ad martyrium duceretur, occur- renti sancto Laurentio, et dolenter in hunc modum in- terroganti: Quo progrederis sine filio pater ? quo sacerdos sancte sine ministro properas ?

a disciple of Christ. persecution of Valerian, he was accused of publicly preaching the faith of Christ; and was seized and dragged to the temple of Mars, where he was given his choice between death and offering sacrifice to the idols. As he firmly refused to commit such an impiety, he was led away to martyrdom. As he went, St. Laurence met him, and with great sorrow, spoke to him in this manner:

! Pontius Diac. De vita et passione S. Cypriani, xiv.

* Liber Pontific. in Sixt. II.

Sacramentaria Leon. et Gregor.

--- PAGE 296 --- SAINT SIXTUS II

Respondit: Non ego te desero fili: majora te manent pro Christi fide certamina: post triduum me sequeris, sacer- dotem levita: interea, si quid in thesauris habes, pau us distribue. Eodem igitur die interfectus est una cum Feli- cissimo et Agapito diaconis, anuario, Magno, Vincentio et tephano subdiaconis, et in cemeterio Callisti sepultus octavo idus Augusti: cateri vero in ccemeterio Pratextati. Sedit menses undecim, dies duodecim. Quo tempore ha- buit ordinationem mense De- cembri, creatis presbyteris qua- tuor, diaconis septem, episco- pis duobus.

287 * Whither thou, Father, without thy son? Whither

art thou hastening, O holy riest, without thy deacon ?' ixtus answered: *I am not forsaking thee, my son, a greater combat for the faith of Christ awaiteth thee. In three days thou shalt follow me, the deacon shall follow his priest. In the meanwhile distribute amongst the poor whatever thou hast in the Pierce! 43 He was put to death that same day, the eighth of the Ides of August, together with the deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, and the sub- deacons Januarius, Magnus, Vincent, and Stephen. The Pope was buried in the ceme- tery of Callixtus, but the other

martyrs in the cemet of Preetextatus. He sat. eleven months and twelve days; dur- ing which time he held an

ordination in the month of

December, and made four

Seasons seven deacons, and two ops.

The following Preface from the Leonine Sacramentary breathes the freshness of the Church's triumph over

persecution:

PREFACE

Vere dignum. Cognoscimus enim, Domine, on ietatis
effectus, quibus nos adeo glo- riosi sacerdotis et martyris tui Xysti semper honoranda so- lemnia, nec inter preteritas mundi tribulationes, omittere voluisti, et nunc reddita pre- stas libertate venerari.

It is truly just to return thanks to Thee, O Lord. For we know the effects of Thy I -kindness, whereby Thou wouldst not suffer us to omit the ever honourable solemnity

of Thy glorious tiff and martyr, poe the

past tribulations of the world,

and dost enable us to celebrate it now that liberty is restored.

--- PAGE 297 --- 288

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The Prayer now in use is that found in the Gregorian

Sacrament for Saints Felicissimus and Agapitus, the name of Saint Sixtus having been placed before theirs: PRAYER Deus, qui nos concedis O God, who permittest us
sanctorum M m tuorum to keep the festivals of Thy

Xysti, Felicissimi et Agapiti natalitia colere: da rfobis in eterna beatitudine de eorum societate gaudere. Per Do- minum.

holy martyrs, Sixtus, Felicis- Simus and Agapitus, grant us to rejoice in their society in eternal happiness. Through our Lord, etc.

--- PAGE 298 --- SAINT CAJETAN OF TIENE 289

AUGUST 7

AJETAN appeared in all his zeal for the sanctuary

at the time when the false reform was spreading rebellion throughout the world. The great cause of the danger had been the incapacity of the guardians of the Holy City, or their connivance by complicity of heart or of mind with pagan doctrines and manners introduced by an ill-advised revival. Wasted by the wild boar of the forest, could the vineyard of the Lord recover the fertility of its better days ? Cajetan learned from eternal Wisdom the new method of culture re- quired by an exhausted soil.

The urgent need of those unfortunate times was that the clergy should be raised up again by worthy life, zeal, and knowledge. For this object men were required who, being clerks themselves in the full accepta- tion of the word, with all the obligations it involves, should be to the members of the holy hierarchy a permanent model of its primitive perfection, a supple- ment to their shortcomings, and a leaven, little by little raising the whole mass. But where, save in the life of the counsels with the stability of its three vows, could be found the impulse, the power, and the per- manence necessary for such an enterprise? The in- exhaustible fecundity of the religious life was no more wanting in the Church in those days of decadence than in the periods of her glory. After the monks, turning to God in their solitudes and drawing down light and love upon the earth seemingly so forgotten by them; after the mendicant Orders, keeping up in the midst of the world their claustral habits of life and the austerity of the desert: the Regular Clerks entered upon the battle-

--- PAGE 299 --- 290 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

field, where by their position in the fight, their exterior manners of life, their very dress, they were to mingle with the ranks of the secular clergy; just as a few veterans are sent into the midst of a wavering troop, to act upon the rest by word and example and dash.

Like the initiators of the great ancient forms of religious life, Cajetan was the patriarch of the Regular Clerks. Under this name, Clement VII, by a brief dated June 24, 1524, approved the institute he had founded that very year in concert with the Bishop of Chieti, from whom the new religious were also called Theatines. Soon the Barnabites, the Society of Jesus, the Somaschans of St. Jerome Zmilian, the Regular Clerks Minor of St. Francis Caracciolo, the Regular Clerks Ministering to the Sick, the Regular Clerks of the Pious Schools, the Regular Clerks of the Mother of God, and others, hastened to follow in the track, and proved that the Church is ever beautiful, ever worthy of her Spouse; while the accusation of barrenness, hurled against her by heresy, rebounded upon the thrower.

Cajetan began and carried forward his reform chiefly by means of detachment from riches, the love of which had caused many evils in the Church. The Theatines offered to the world a spectacle unknown since the days of the apostles; pushing their zeal for renouncement so far as not to allow themselves even to beg, but to rely on the spontaneous charity of the faithful. While Luther was denying the very existence of God's Provi- dence, their heroic trust in it was often rewarded by prodigies.

Let us now read the life of this new patriarch:

Cajetanus, nobili Thienza Cajetan was born at Vicenza

gente Vicentie ortus, statim a matre Deiparae Virgini obla- tus est. Mira a teneris annis morum innocentia in eo eluxit, adeo ut sanctus ab omnibus

of the noble house of Tiene, and was at once dedicated by his mother to the Virgin Mother of God. His innocence appeared so wonderful from

--- PAGE 300 --- SAINT CAJETAN OF TIENE

nuncuparetur. Juris utrius- ue lauream Patavii adeptus,

omam profectus est: ubi inter prelatos a Julio secundo collocatus, et sacerdotio initia- tus, tanto divini amoris estu succensus est, ut relicta aula se totum Deo mancipaverit. No- socomiis proprio ere fundatis, etiam morbi pestilenti labo- rantibus, suis ipse manibus inserviebat. Proximorum saluti assidua cura incumbe- bat, dictus propterea venator animarum.

Collapsam ecclesiasticorum disciplinam ad formam apos- tolice vita instaurare desi- derans, ordinem Clericorum Regularium instituit, qui, abdi- cata rerum omnium terre- narum sollicitudine, nec redi- tus possiderent, nec vita sub- sidia a fidelibus peterent, sed solis eleemosynis sponte oblatis viverent. Itaque approbante Clemente septimo ad aram maximam basilice — Vaticana una cum Joanne Petro Carafa episcopo Theatino, qui postea Paulus quartus pontifex maxi- mus fuit, et aliis duobus exi- mia pietatis viris, vota solem- nia emisit. In urbis direp- tione a militibus crudelissime vexatus ut pecuniam prode- ret, quam dudum in coelestes thesauros manus pauperum deportaverant, verbera, tor- menta, et carceres invicta

patientia sustinuit. In sus- cepto vite instituto constan- tissime perseveravit, soli di- vine providentie inhzrens, quam sibi numquam defuisse

291

his very childhood that every- one called him *the saint.’ He took the ree of Doctor in canon and civil law at Padua, and then went to Rome, where

ulius II made him a prelate.

hen he received the priest- hood, such a fire of divine love was enkindled in his soul, that he left the court to devote himself entirely to God. He founded hospitals with his own money and himself served the sick, even those attacked with pestilential maladies. He displayed such unflagging zeal for the salvation of his neigh- bour that he earned the name of the ‘ hunter of souls.’

His great desire was to restore ecclesiastical discipline, then much relaxed, to the form of the apostolic life, and to this end he founded the Order of Regular Clerks. They lay aside allcare of earthly things, possess no revenues, do not beg even the necessaries of life from the faithful, but live only on alms spontaneously offered. Clem- ent VII having approved this institution, Cajetan made his solemn vows at the High Altar of the Vatican basilica, together with John Peter Ca-

a, Bishop of Chieti, who was afterwards Pope Paul IV, and two other men of distin- guished piety. During the sack of Rome, he was most cruelly treated by the soldiers, tc make him deliver up his money, which the hands of the poor had long ago carried into the heavenly treasures. He endured with the utmost patience stripes, torture, and imprisonment. He persevered unfalteringly in the kind of

--- PAGE 301 --- TIME AFTER

aliquando miracula compro- barunt.

202

Divini cultus studium, ni- torem domus Dei, sacrorum rituum observantiam, et san- ctissimz Eucharistie frequen- tiorem usum maxime promovit. Haresum monstra et latebras non semel detexit, ac profli- gavit. Orationem ad octo pas- sim horas jugibus lacrymis pro- trahebat: saepe in exstasim raptus, ac prophetiz dono illustris. Roma nocte natali- tia ad presepe Domini, in- fantem Jesum accipere meruit a Deipara in ulnas suas. Cor- pus integras noctes interdum verberationibus affligebat; nec umquam adduci potuit, ut vite asperitatem emolliret, testatus, in cinere et cilicio velle se mori. Denique ex animi dolore con- cepto morbo, quod offendi plebis seditione Deum videret, ceelesti visione recreatus, Nea- poli migravit in coelum: ibique corpus ejus in ecclesia sancti Pauli magna religione coli- tur. Quem multis miraculis in vita et post mortem gloriosum, Clemens decimus pontifex

maximus sanctorum numero.

adscripsit.

PENTECOST

life he had embraced, relying entirely upon Divine Provi- dence: and God never failed him, as was sometimes proved by miracle.

He was a great promoter of assiduity at the divine worship, of the beauty of the House of God, of exactness in holy ceremonies, and of frequent communion. More than once he detected and foiled the wick- ed subterfuges of heresy. He would prolong his prayer for eight hours, without ceasing to shed tears; he was often rapt in ecstasy and was famous for the gift of prophecy. At Rome, one Christmas night, while he was praying at our Lord's crib, the Mother of God was pleased to lay the Infant Jesus in his arms. He would spend whole nights in chastising his body with disciplines, and could never be induced to relax anything of the austerity of his life; for he would say, he wished to die in sackcloth and ashes. At length he fell into an illness caused by the intense sorrow he felt at seeing the people offend God by a sedition; and at Naples, after being refreshed by a heavenly vision, he passed to heaven. His body is honoured with great devotion in the church of St. Paul in that town. As many miracles worked by him both living *and dead made his name illustrious, Pope Clement X enrolled him amongst the saints.

Who has ever obeyed so well as thou, O great saint,

that word of the Gospel:

Be mot solicitous therefore

saying : What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or

--- PAGE 302 --- SAINT CAJETAN OF TIENE 203

wherewith shall we be clothed Thou didst understand, too, that other divine word: The workman 1s worthy of his meat? and thou knewest that it applied principally to those who labour $n word and doctrine? ou didst not ignore the fact that other sowers of the word had before thee founded on that saying the right of their poverty, embraced for God's sake, to claim at least the bread of alms. Sublime right of souls eager for opprobrium in order to follow Jesus and to satiate their love! But Wisdom, who gives to the desires of the saints the bent suitable to their times, caused the thirst for humiliation to be overruled in thee by the ambition to exalt in thy poverty the holy Provi- dence of God; this was needed in an age of renewed paganism, which, even before listening to heresy, seemed to have ceased to trust in God. Alas! even of those to whom the Lord had given Himself for their possession in the midst of the children of Israel, it could be truly said that they sought the goods of this world like the heathen. It was thy earnest desire, O Cajetan, to justify our heavenly Father and to prove that He is ever ready to fulfil the promise made by His adorable Son: Seek ye therefore ihe kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.*

Circumstances obliged thee to begin in this way the reformation of the sanctuary, whereunto thou wast resolved to devote thy life. It was necessary, first, to bring back the members of the holy militia to the spirit of the sacred formula of the ordination of clerks, when, laying aside the spirit of the world together with its livery, they say in the joy of their hearts: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: st is Thou, O Lord, that wilt restore my inheritance to me.’

The Lord, O Cajetan, acknowledged thy zeal and blessed thine efforts. Preserve in us the fruit of thy labour. The science of sacred rites owes much to thy sons; may they prosper, in |renewed fidelity to the

! St. Matt. vi. 31. ?. Ibid. x. 10. ? 1 Tim. v. 17. * St. Matt. vi. 33. * Pontificale Romanum. De clerico faciendo, ex Ps. xv. 5.

--- PAGE 303 --- 294 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

traditions of théir father. May thy patriarchal blessing ever rest upon the numerous families of Regular Clerks which walk in the footsteps of thine own. May all the ministers of Holy Church experience the power thou still hast, of maintaining them in the right path of their holy state, or, if necessary, of bringing them back to it. May the example of thy sublime confidence in God teach all Christians that they have a Father in heaven, whose Providence will never fail His children.

Let us honour the holy memory of the Bishop of Arezzo, whom the persecution of Julian the Apostate sent on this day to heaven. The following prayer, wherein the Church expresses her unchanging con- fidence in his powerful intercession, is found so far back as in the Gelasian Sacramentary; though the title of Confessor is there used instead of Martyr, it is beyond all question that Donatus died for Christ.

PRAYER

Deus, tuorum gloria sacer. O God, the glory of Thy dotum: presta quasumus; ut priests, grant, we beseech Thee, sancti martyris tui et episcopi that we may experience the Donati, cujus festa gerimus, succour of Thy holy martyr sentiamus auxilium. Per Do- and bishop, Donatus, whose minum. festival wecelebrate. Through

our Lord, etc.

--- PAGE 304 --- SS. CYRIACUS, LARGUS, AND SMARAGDUS 295

August 8

SS. CYRIACUS, LARGUS, AND SMARAGDUS MARTYRS

O-DAY a precursor of Laurence appears on the T cycle, the deacon Cyriacus, whose power over the demon made hell tremble, and entitles him to a place among the saints called helpers. He and his companions in martyrdom form one of the noblest groups of Christ's army in that last and decisive battle, wherein the eager- ness of the faithful to show that they knew how to die won victory for the Cross. Rome, baptized in the blood she had shed, found herself Christian in spite of herself; all her honours were now to be lavished upon the very men whom in the time of her folly she had put to the sword. Such are Thy triumphs, O Wisdom of God !

Mention of the three martyrs celebrated to-day is to be found in the most authentic calendars of the Church that have come down to us from the fourth century! If then, as Baronius acknowledges, there is some reason for calling in question certain details of the legend, their cultus is none the less immemorial upon earth; and the unwavering devotion of which they are the objects, especially in the sanctuaries enriched with their holy relics, proves that they have great power before the throne of the Lamb.

Cyriacus diaconus, cum Si- Cyriacus, & deacon, under-

sinio, Largo, et Smaragdo diu- tius inclusus in carcere, multa edidit miracula, in quibus Arthemiam Diocletiani filiam precibus a daemone liberavit: missusque ad Saporem Per- sarum regem, Jobiam etiam ejus filiam a nefario spiritu

! Calendarium Bucheril.

went a long imprisonment to- gether with Largus, Sisinius and Smaragdus, and worked many miracles. Amongst others, by his prayers, he freed Arthemia, a daughter of Dio- cletian, from the possession of the devil. He was sent to

* Annal, ad An. 309, vi.

--- PAGE 305 --- 296

eripuit. Rege vero ejus patre cum quadringentis ac triginta aliis baptizatis Romam rediit: ubi Maximiani imperatoris jussu comprehensus, catenis vinctus ante rhedam suam trahitur: et post dies quatuor e carcere edu- ctus, pice liquata perfusus, et in catasta extensus, demum cum Largo ét Smaragdo, aliisque TX man percussus est via , ad hortos Sallustianos. shim corpora in eadem via, ecimo septimo Kalendas Apri- lis, sepulta a Joanne presbytero, ea sexto idus Augusti a arcello pontifice, et Lucina nobili femina lineis velis in- voluta, et pretiosis unguentis condita, in ipsius Lucina pra- dium via Ostiensi, septimo ab urbe lapide translata sunt.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Sapor. King of Persia, and de- livered his daughter, Jobia, in like manner from the devil. He baptized the king, her father, and four hundred and thirty others, and then returned to Rome. There he was seized by command of the Emperor

aximian, and dragged in chains before his chariot. Four days afterwards he was taken out of prison, boiling pitch was poured over him, he was stretched on the rack, and at length he was put to death by the axe, with Largus, Sma- ragdus, and twenty others at Sallust’s Gardens on the Sala- rian Way. A priest named John buried their bodies on that same way, on the seven- teenth of the Kalends of April, but on the sixth of the Ides of August Pope Marcellus and the noble lady Lucina wrapt them in linen with precious spices, and translated them to Lucina's estate on the Ostian Way, seven miles from Rome.

The Church to-day recites this prayer in their honour:

PRAYER

Deus, qui nos annua san-
ctorum martyrum tuorum Cyriaci, Largi et ©Smaragdi solemnitate letificas: concede propitius; ut quorum natalitia colimus, virtutem quoque pas- sionis imitemur. Per Do- minum.

O God, who dost rejoice us by the annual solemnity of Thy holy martyrs, Cyriacus, Largus and Smaragdus, mercifully grant that we may imitate the virtue with which they suffered, whose festival we celebrate. Through, etc,

--- PAGE 306 --- VIGIL OF SAINT LAURENCE 297

AUGUST 9

SAINT ROMANUS MARTYR

: Fis not, My servant, for I am with thee, saith the

Lord. If thou pass through fire, the flame shall not hurt thee, and the odour of fire shall not be in thee. I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.” It was the hour of combat; and Wisdom, more powerful than flame, was calling upon Laurence to win the laurels of victory presaged by his very name. The three da since the death of Sixtus had passed at length, and the deacon’s exile was about to close: he was soon to stand beside his pontiff at the altar in heaven, and never more to be separated from him. But before going to perform his office as deacon in the eternal sacrifice, he must on this earth, where the seeds of eternit are sown, give proof of the brave faithfulness whic becomes a Levite of the law of love. Laurence was ready. He had said to Sixtus: ' Try the fidelity of the minister to whom thou didst intrust the dispensation of the Blood of our Lord. He had now, according to the pontiff's wish, distributed to the poor the treasures ‘of the Church; as the chants of the liturgy tell us on this very morning. But he knew that if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise st as nothing ,? and he longed to give himself as well. Overflowing with joy in his generosity he hailed the holo- caust, whose sweet perfume he seemed already to per- ceive rising up to heaven And well might he have sung

| gum im ruentem. m * Cant. viii, 7.

--- PAGE 307 --- 298 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the offertory of this Vigil's Mass: ' My prayer is pure, and therefore I ask that a place be given to my voice in heaven: for my judge is there, and He that knoweth n li sn is on high: let my prayer ascend to the

r ode

Sublime prayer of the just man which pierces the clouds! Even now we can say with the Church: His seed shall be mighty upon earth, the seed of new Christians sprung from the blood of martyrdom; for to-day we greet the firstfruits thereof in the person of Romanus, the neophyte whom his first torments won to Christ, and who preceded him to heaven. Let us, with the Church, unite the soldier and the deacon in our prayers:

PRAYER

Attend, O Lord, to our sup-

Adesto, Domine, suppli-
plications, and by the interces-

cationibus nostris: et, inter-

cessione beati Laurentii, martyris tui, cujus prave- nimus festivitatem, perpetuam nobis misericordiam benignus impende. Per Dominum.

sion of blessed Laurence, Thy martyr, whose festival we anti- cipate, graciously extend to us perpetual mercy. Through our Lord, etc.

PRAYER

Presta, quaesumus omni- otens Deus: ut, intercedente
to Romano, martyre tuo, et a cunctis adversitatibus

liberemur in corpore, et a ravis cogitationibus mun- emur in mente. Per Do- minum.

Offertory fr. Job xvi.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that by the intercession of blessed Roma- nus, Thy martyr, we may both be delivered from all adversi- ties in body and be purified from all evil thoughts in mind. Through our Lord, etc. ; * Verse of Gradual fr, Ps. cxi.

--- PAGE 308 --- SAINT LAURENCE 299

AUGUST 10

SAINT LAURENCE DEACON AND MARTYR

NCE the mother of false gods, but now the bride

of Christ, O Rome, it is through Laurence thou art victorious! Thou hast conquered haughty mon- archs and subjected nations to thine empire; but though thou hadst overcome barbarism, thy glory was incom- plete till thou hadst vanquished the unclean idols. This was Laurence's victory, a combat bloody yet not tumultuous like those of Camillus or of Caesar; it was the contest of faith, wherein self is immolated, and death is overcome by death. What words, what praises suffice to celebrate such a death ? How can I worthily sing so great a martyrdom?"

Thus opens the sublime poem of Prudentius, com- posed little more than a century after the saint's martyrdom. In this work the poet has preserved to us the traditions existing in his own day, whereby the name of the Roman deacon was rendered so illus- trious. About the same time St. Ambrose, with his irresistible eloquence, described the meeting of Sixtus and his deacon on the way to martyrdom.? ^ But, before both Ambrose and Prudentius, Pope St. Damasus chronicled the victory of Laurence's faith, in his majestic monumental inscriptions, which have such a ring of the days of triumph?

Rome was lavish in her demonstrations of honour towards the champion who had prayed for her deliver- ance upon his red-hot gridiron. She inserted his name in the Canon of the Mass, and moreover celebrated the anniversary of his birth to heaven with as much solem-

! PnuDENT. Peristephanon, H it. * Aur, De offic. 1. 41. V'Dz Ross, Inscript. il. 82. *

--- PAGE 309 --- 300 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

nity as those of the glorious apostles her founders, and with the same privileges of a Vigil and an Octave. She has been dyed with the blood of many other wit- nesses of Christ, yet as though Laurence had a special claim upon her gratitude, every spot connected with him has been honoured with a church. Amongst all these sanctuaries dedicated to him, the one which contains the martyr's body ranks next after the churches of St. John Lateran, St. Mary's on the Esquiline, St. Peter's on the Vatican, and St. Paul's on the Ostian Way. St. Laurence outside the Walls completes the number of the five great basilicas that form the appanage and exclusive possession of the Roman Pontiff. They represent the patriarchates of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, which divide the world between them, and express the universal and immediate jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome over all the churches. Thus through Laurence the Eternal City is completed, and is shown to be the centre of the world and the source of every grace.

Just as Peter and Paul are the riches, not of Rome alone, but of the whole world, so Laurence is called the honour of the world, for he, as it were, personified the courage of martyrdom. At the beginning of this month we saw Stephen himself come to blend his dignity of Protomartyr with the glory of Sixtus II's deacon, by sharing his tomb. In Laurence, it seemed that both the struggle and the victory of martyrdom reached their highest point; persecution, it is true, was renewed during the next half-century, and made many victims, yet his triumph was considered as the death-blow to paganism.

‘The devil, says Prudentius, ‘struggled fiercely with God's witness, but he was himself wounded and prostrated for ever. The death of Christ's martyr gave the death-blow to the worship of idols, and from that day Vesta was powerless to prevent her temple from being deserted. All these Roman citizens, brought up in the superstitions taught by Numa, hasten, O Christ,

--- PAGE 310 --- SAINT LAURENCE 301

to Thy courts, singing hymns to Thy martyr. Illustrious senators, flamens and priests of Lupercus, venerate the tombs of apostles and saints. We see patricians and matrons of the noblest families vowing to God the children in whom their hopes are centred. The pontiff of the idols, whose brow but yesterday was bound with the sacred fillet, now signs himself with the Cross, and the vestal virgin Claudia visits thy sanctuary, O Laurence.”

It need not surprise us that this day’s solemnity carries its triumphant joy from the city of the seven hills to the entire universe. ‘As it is impossible for Rome to be concealed,” says St. Augustine, ‘so it is equally impossible to hide Laurence's crown.” Every- where, in both East and West, churches were built in his honour; and in return, as the Bishop of Hippo testifies, ' the favours he conferred were innumerable, and prove the greatness of his power with God; who has ever prayed to him and has not been graciously heard ?'?

Let us, then, conclude with St. Maximus of Turin that 'in the devotion wherewith the triumph of St. Laurence is being celebrated throughout the entire world, we must recognize that it is both holy and pleasing to God to honour, with all the fervour of our souls, the birth to heaven of the martyr who by his radiant flames has spread the glory of his victory over the whole Church. Because of the spotless purity of soul which made him a true Levite, and because of that fulness of faith which earned him the martyr's palm, it is fitting that we should honour him almost equally with the apostles.”

FIRST VESPERS

Laurence has entered the lists as a martyr, and has confessed the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the antiphon wherewith the Church opens the first Vespers of the feast; and in fact, by this hour he has already

1 PRUDENT. * AuG. Serm. 303 and 302. * Maxi, TavriN. Homil. 75 and 74.

--- PAGE 311 --- 302 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

entered the arena; with noble irony he has challenged the authorities, and has even shed his blood.

On the very day of the martyrdom of Sixtus II, Cornelius Secularis,! prefect of Rome, summoned Laurence before his tribunal, but granted him the delay necessary for gathering together the riches re- quired by the imperial treasury. Valerian did not include the obscure members of the Church in his edicts of persecution; he aimed at ruining the Christians by prohibiting their assemblies, putting their chief men to death, and confiscating their property. This accounts for the fact that, on August 6, the faithful assembled in the cemetery of Pretextatus were dispersed, the pon- tiff executed, and the chief deacon arrested and ordered to deliver up the treasures which the Government knew to be in his keeping. ' Acknowledge my just and peace- able claims,” said the prefect. ‘It is said that at your orgies your priests are accustomed, according to the laws of your worship, to make libations in cups of gold; that silver vessels smoke with the blood of the victims, and that the torches that give light to your nocturnal mysteries are fixed in golden candlesticks. And then you have such love and care for the brother- hood: report says you sell your lands in order to devote to their service thousands of sesterces; so that while the son is disinherited by his holy parents and groans in poverty, his patrimony is piously hidden away in the secrecy of your temples. Bring forth these immense treasures, the shameful spoils you have won by deceiving the credulous; the public good demands them; render to Casar the things that are Caesar's, that he may have wherewith to fill his treasury and pay his armies.'

Laurence, untroubled by these words, and as if quite willing to obey, gently answered: ' I confess you speak the truth; our Church is indeed wealthy; no one in the world, not even Augustus himself, possesses such riches. I will disclose them all to you, and I will show you the treasures of Christ. All I ask for is a short delay, which

^ Elenchus, PHILGCAL.

--- PAGE 312 --- SAINT LAURENCE 303

will enable me the better to perform what I have promised. For I must make an inventory of all, count them up, and value each article.’

The prefect’s heart swelled with joy, and gloating over the gold he hoped soon to possess, he granted him a delay of three days. Meanwhile Laurence hastened all over the town and assembled the legions of poor whom their Mother the Church supported; lame and blind, cripple and beggars, he called them all. None knew them better than the archdeacon. Next he counted them, wrote down their names, and arranged them in long lines. On the appointed day he returned to the judge and thus addressed him: ‘Come with me and admire the incomparable riches of the sanctuary of our God." They went together to the spot where the crowds of poor were standing, clothed in rags and filling the air with their supplica-- tions. ‘Why do you shudder?’ said Laurence to the prefect. ‘Do you call that a vile and contemptible spectacle? If you seek after wealth, know that the brightest gold is Christ, who is the light, and the human race redeemed by Him; for they are the sons of the light, all these who are shielded by their bodily weakness from the assault of pride and evil passion; soon they will la aside their ulcers in the palace of eternal life, and wi shine in marvellous glory, clothed in purple and bearing golden crowns upon their heads. See, here is the gold which I promised you—gold of a kind that fire cannot touch or thief steal from you. Think not, then, that Christ is poor: behold these choice pearls, these spectiog gems that adorn the temple, these sacred virgins, I mean, and these widows who refuse second marriage; they form the priceless necklace of the Church, they deck her ears, they are her bridal ornaments, and win for her Christ's love. Behold, then, all our riches; take them: they will beautify the city of Romulus, they will increase the Emperor's treasures and enrich you yourself.”

1 PRUDEXT,

--- PAGE 313 --- 304 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

From a letter of Pope St. Cornelius, written a few years after these events, we learn that the number of widows and poor persons that the Church of Rome supported exceeded 1,500! By thus exhibiting them before the magistrate, Laurence knew that he endan- gered no one but himself, for the persecution of Valerian, as we have already observed, overlooked the inferior classes and attacked the leading members of the Church. Divine Wisdom thus confronted Casarism and its brutality with Christianity which it so despised, but which was destined to overcome and subdue it.

This happened on August 9, 258. The first answer the furious prefect made was to order Laurence to be scourged and tortured upon the rack. But these tor- tures were only a prelude to the great ordeal he was preparing for the noble-hearted deacon. We learn this tradition from St. Damasus, for he says that, besides the flames, Laurence triumphed over ' blows, tortures, torments, and chains.”

We have also the authority of the notice inserted by Ado of Vienne in his martyrology in the ninth century, and taken from a still more ancient source. The con- formity of expression proves that it was partly from this same source that the Gregorian Antiphonal had already taken the antiphons and responsories of the feast.

Besides the details which we learn from Pruden- tius and the Fathers, this office alludes to the converts Laurence made while in prison, and to his restoring sight to the blind. This seems to have been the special gift of the holy deacon during the days pre- ceding his martyrdom.

I. ANT. Laurentius ingressus — I. ANT. Laurencehas entered est martyr, et confessus est the lists as a martyr, and has nomen Domini Jesu Christi. confessed the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 35.

* CogNELIUS ad Fabium Antioch.

* Verbera, tormenta, caten Vincere Laurenti sola fides potuit. Hac D: " pplex altaria donis,

--- PAGE 314 --- SAINT LAURENCE 305

2. ANT. Laurentius ignem iir baee abt si aci ej

us eratus est, qui per a g work, who by the sign ous vedi um illumi- of the Cross gave sight to the navit. blind.

Ps. Confitebor tibi Domine, page 37.

3. ANT. Adhzsit anima mea 3. ANT. My soul has cleaved post te, quia caro mea igne to Thee, for my flesh has been cremata est prote Deus meus. burnt with fire for Thy sake,

O my God.

Ps. Beatus vir, fage 38.

4. ANT. Misit Dominus an- 4. ANT. The Lord sent His quum suum, et liberavit me angel and delivered me from e medio ignis, et non sum the midst of the fire, and I estuatus. have not been consumed.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39.

5. ANT. Beatus Laurentius 5. ANT. Blessed Laurence orabat, dicens: Gratias tibi prayed, saying: I give Thee ago, Domine, quia januas thanks, O Lord, that I have tuas ingredi merui. been found worthy to enter

Thy gates.

PSALM 116

Laudate Dominum, omnes Oh, praise the Lord, all ye gentes: * laudate eum, omnes nations, praise Him, all ye populi. people.

i ot confirmata est For His mercy is confirmed super nos misericordia ejus: upon us, and the truth of the * et veritas Domini manet in Lord remaineth for ever. eternum.

CAPITULUM

Fratres: Qui parce seminat, Brethren: He who soweth
parce et metet: et qui seminat sparingly shall also reap spar- in benedictionibus, de bene- ingly: and he who soweth in

dictionibus et metet. blessings, shall also reap bless- ings. HYMN Deus tuorum militum O God | Thou the inheritance,
Sors, et corona, premium, crown, and reward of Thy Laudes canentes martyris soldiers | absolve from the Absolve nexu criminis. bonds of our sins us who sing

the praises of Thy martyr.

--- PAGE 315 --- 306

Hic nempe mundi gaudia, Et blanda fraudum pabula Imbuta felle deputans, Pervenit ad ceelestia.

Pcenas cucurrit fortiter, Et sustulit viriliter, Fundensque pro te sanguinem, ZEterna dona possidet.

Ob hoc precatu supplici Te imus, piissime: In hoc triumpho martyris Dimitte noxam servulis.

Laus et perennis, gloria Patri sit, atque Filio, Sancto simul Paraclito, In sempiterna secula.

Amen.

Y. Gloria et honore coro- nasti eum, Domine.

Hy. Et constituisti eum su- per opera manuum tuarum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

For counting the joys of the world and the deceitful bait of its caresses as things em- bittered with gall, Thy martyr obtained the delights of heaven.

Bravely did he go through, and manfully did he bear, hi

ains: and shedding his blood or Thy sake, he now possesses Thy eternal gifts.

Therefore, most merciful Father | we beseech Thee, in most suppliant prayer, for- giveus, Thy unworthy servants, our sins, for it is the feast of Thy martyr's triumph.

Praise and eternal glory be to the Father, and to the Son, as also to the Holy Paraclete, for everlasting ages.

Amen.

Y. Thou hast crowned him, O Lord, with glory and honour.

Hy. And hast placed him over the works of Thy hands.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Levita Laurentius bonum opus operatus est, qui per signum crucis cacos illumi- navit, et thesauros Ecclesie dedit pauperibus.

Laurence the Levite hath wrought a good work: he restored sight to the blind by the sign of the Cross, and distributed to the poor the treasures of the Church.

The Canticle, Magnificat, Page 43.

COLLECT

Da nobis, quaesumus, om- nipotens Deus: vitiorum no-
strorum flammas exstinguere; qui beato Laurentio tribuisti tormentorum suorum incendia superare. Per Dominum.

Grant us, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, to extinguish the flames of our vices: Thou who unto blessed Laurence didst give a strength that overcame the fire of his tor- ments. Through, etc.

--- PAGE 316 --- SAINT LAURENCE 307

The August sun has set behind the Vatican, and the life and animation, which his burning heat had stilled for a time, begin once more upon the seven hills. Laurence was taken down from the rack about midday. In his prison, however, he took no rest, but wounded and bleeding as he was, he baptized the con- verts won to Christ by the sight of his courageous suffer- ing. He confirmed their faith, and fired their souls with a martyr's intrepidity. When the evening hour summoned Rome to its pleasures, the prefect recalled the executioners to their work, for a few hours' rest had sufficiently restored their energy to enable them to satisfy his cruelty.

Surrounded by this ill-favoured company, the pre- fect thus addressed the valiant deacon: ‘Sacrifice to the gods, or else the whole night long shall be witness of your torments.” ' My night has no darkness,’ answered Laurence, ‘and all things are full of light to me.” They struck him on the mouth with stones, but he smiled and said: ‘ I give Thee thanks, O Christ.’

Then an iron bed or gridiron with three bars was brought in and the saint was stripped of his garments and extended upon it while burning coals were placed beneath it. As they were holding him down with iron forks, Laurence said: ‘I offer myself as a sacrifice to God for an odour of sweetness.’ The executioners continually stirred up the fire and brought fresh coals, while they still held him down with their forks. Then the saint said: ‘ Learn, unhappy man, how great is the. power of my God; for your burning coals give me refresh- ment, but they will be your eternal punishment. I call Thee, O Lord, to witness: when I was accused, I did not deny Thee; when I was questioned, I confessed Thee, O Christ; on the red-hot coals I gave Thee thanks.’ And with his countenance radiant with heavenl beauty, he continued: ' Yea, I give Thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, for that Thou hast deigned to strengthen me.' He then raised his eyes to his judge, and said: ' See, this side is well roasted; turn me on the

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other and eat.” Then continuing his canticle of praise to God: ‘I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that I have merited to enter into Thy dwelling-place.”* As he was on the point of death, he remembered the Church. The thought of the eternal Rome gave him fresh strength, and he breathed forth this ecstatic prayer: ' O Christ, only God, O Splendour, O Power of the Father, O Maker of heaven and earth and builder of this city’s walls! Thou hast placed Rome's sceptre high over all; Thou hast willed to subject the world to it, in order to unite under one law the nations which differ in manners, customs, language, genius, and sacrifice. Behold the whole human race has submitted to its empire, and all discord and dissensions disappear in its unity. Re- member thy purpose: Thou didst will to bind the immense universe together into one Christian Kingdom. O Christ, for the sake of Thy Romans, make this city Christian; for to it Thou gavest the charge of leading all the rest to sacred unity. All its members in every place are united—a very type of Thy Kingdom; the conquered universe has bowed before it. Oh | may its royal head be bowed in turn! Send Thy Gabriel and bid him heal the blindness of the sons of [ulus that they may know the true God. I see a prince who is to come—an Emperor who is a servant of God. He will not suffer Rome to remain a slave; he will close the temples and fasten them with bolts for ever.’

Thus he prayed, and with these last words he breathed forth his soul. Some noble Romans who had been conquered to Christ by the martyr's admirable boldness, removed his body: the love of the most high God had suddenly filled their hearts and dispelled their former errors. From that day the worship of the infamous gods grew cold; few people went now to the temples, but hastened to the altars of Christ. Thus Laurence, going unarmed to the battle, had wounded the enemy with his own sword.?

The Church, which is always grateful in proportion

* ApoN, Martyrol. * PRUDENT,

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to the service rendered her, could not forget this glorious night. At the period when her children’s piety vied with her own, she used to summon them together at sunset on the evening of August 9 for a first Night Office. At midnight the second Matins began, followed by the first Mass called ' of the night or of the early morn- ing." Thus the Christians watched around the holy deacon during the hours of his glorious combat. 'O God, Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me. Hear, O Lord, my justice; attend to my supplication.'? Such is the grand Introit which, immediately after the night Vigils, hallowed the dawn of August ro, at the very moment when Laurence entered the eternal sanctuary to fulfil his office at the heavenly altar.

Later on certain churches observed on this feast a custom similar to one in use at the Matins of the com- memoration of St. Paul; it consisted in reciting a particular versicle before repeating each antiphon of the Nocturns. The doctors of the sacred liturgy tell us that the remarkable labours of the Doctor of the Gentiles and those of St. Laurence earned for them this distinction.*

Our forefathers were greatly struck by the contrast between the endurance of the holy deacon under his cruel tortures and his tender-hearted, tearful parting with Sixtus II three days before. On this account, they gave to the periodical showers of ' falling stars,' which occur about August Io, the graceful name of St. Laurence's tears : à touching instance of that popular piety which delights in raising the heart to God through the medium of natural phenomena.

MASS

* Introit, ex Ps, xvi: Antiphona apud Toxxasi, * BELETH. CXlv; StcARD. IX, xxxix; DURAND. Vit, xxiii.

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of the eternal covenant. He now gazes on the splendour of that tabernacle not made with hands, feebly figured by that of Moses, and but partially revealed by the Church herself.

And yet to-day, though still an exile, Mother Church thrills with a holy pride, for she has added something to the glory and the sanctity of heaven. She trium- phantly advances to the altar on earth, which is one with that in heaven. Throughout the night she has had her eyes and her heart fixed on her noble son; and now she dares to sing of the beauty, the holiness, the magnificence of our fatherland as though they were already hers; for the rays of eternal light seem to have fallen upon her as the veil lifted to admit Laurence into the Holy of Holies.

The Introit and its verse are taken from Psalm xcv.:

INTROIT

Confessio et pulchritudo ^ Praise and beauty are be- in conspectu ejus: sanctitas fore him: Holiness and majesty et magnificentia in sanctifi- in His sanctuary. catione ejus. .

Ps. Cantate Domino can- Ps. Sing ye to the Lord a ticum novum: cantate Domino new canticle; sing to the Lord omnis terra. Gloria Patri. all the earth. Y. Glory, etc. Confessio. Praise.

No doubt our weakness will not be called upon to endure the ordeal of a red-hot gridiron; nevertheless, we are tried by flames of a different kind, which, if we do not extinguish them in this life, will feed the eternal fire of hell. The Church, therefore, asks on this feast of St. Laurence that we may be gifted with prudence and courage.

COLLECT

Da m quasumus, om- Grant us, we beseech Thee, nipotens Deus: vitiorum no- Almighty God, to extinguish
strorum flammas exstinguere; the ^oc Él of our vices; who qui beato Laurentio tribuisti didst grant to blessed Laurence tormentorum suorum incendia to overcome the fire of his tor- superare. Per Dominum. ments. Through our Lord, etc.

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311

EPISTLE

Lectio Epistole beati Pauli
Apostoli ad Corinthios.

II. Cap. ix.

Fratres, qui parce semi-
nat, parce et metet: et qui seminat in benedictionibus, de benedictionibus et metet. Unusquisque prout destinavit in corde suo, non ex tristitia, aut ex necessitate: hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus.
Potens est autem Deus omnem
gratiam abundare facere in vobis: ut in omnibus semper omnem sufficientiam haben- tes, abundetis in omne opus bonum, sicut scriptum est: Dispersit, dedit pauperibus: justitia ejus manet in seculum Seculi. Quiautem administrat semen seminanti: et panem ad manducandum praestabit, et multiplicabit semen vestrum, et augebit incrementa frugum justitie vestre.

He hath dispersed abroad ;

Lesson of the Epistle of St..

Il. Ch. ix.

Brethren, he who soweth sparingly shall also rea sparingly; and he who sowet in blessings shall also reap of blessings. Every one as he has determined in his heart; not with sadness, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, as it is written: He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the

r; His justice remaineth or ever. And He that minis- tereth seed to the sower, will both give you bread to eat and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice.

He hath given to the poor;

His justice remaineth for ever. The Roman Church loves to repeat these words of Psalm cxi. in honour of her great archdeacon. Yesterday she sang them in the Introit and Gradual of the Vigil; again they were heard last night in the responsories, and this morning in the versicle of her triumphant Lauds. Indeed, the Epistle we have just read, which also furnishes the Little Chapters for the several Hours, was selected for to-day because of this same text being therein quoted by the apostle. Evidently the choice graces which won for Laurence his glorious martyrdom were, in the Church's estimation, the outcome of the brave and cheerful fidelity wherewith he distributed to the poor the treasures in his keeping. He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap

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sparingly ; and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap of blessings ; such is the supernatural economy of the Holy Ghost in the distribution of His gifts, as exem- plified in the glorious scenes we have witnessed during these three days.

We may add with the apostle: What touches the heart of God, and moves Him to multiply His favours, is not so much the work itself as the spirit that prompts it. God loveth a cheerful giver. Nobis iere tender, devoted, and self-forgetful, heroic with a heroism born of simplicity no less than of courage, gracious and smiling even on his gridiron: such was Laurence towards God, towards his father Sixtus II, towards the lowly; and the same he was towards the powerful and in the very face of death. The closing of his life did but prove that he was as faithful in great things as he had been in small. Seldom are nature and grace so perfectly in harmony as they were in the young deacon, and though the gift of martyrdom is so great that no one can merit it, yet his particularly glorious martyrdom seems to have been the development, as if by natural evolution, of the precious germs planted by the Holy Ghost in the rich soil of his noble nature.

The words of Psalm xvi. which formerly composed the Introit of the Mass of the night, are repeated in the Gradual of the morning Mass. The Alleluia Verse reminds us of the miracles wrought by St. Laurence upon the blind; let us ask him to cure our spiritual blindness, which is more terrible than that of the body.

GRADUAL

Y. Igne me examinasti, et — Y. Thou hast tried me by non est inventa in me ini- fire, and iniquity hath not quitas. been found in me.

Alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Levita Laurentius bo- Y. The Levite Laurence num opus operatus est: qui wrought a good work, who p signum crucis czcos il- gave sight to the blind by the uminavit. Alleluia. sign of the Cross. Alleluia.

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GOSPEL

In illo tempore: Dixit Jesus discipulis suis: Amen, amen dico vobis, nisi granum fru- menti cadens in terram, mor- tuum fuerit, ipsum solum manet: si autem mortuum fuerit, multum fructum affert. Qui amat animam suam, per- det eam; et qui odit animam suam in hoc mundo, in vitam eternam custodit eam. Si quis mihi ministrat, me sequa- tur: et ubi sum ego, illic et minister meus erit. Si quis mihi ministraverit, honorifica- bit eum Pater meus.

At that time: Jesus said to His disciples: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bring- eth forth much fruit. e that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world keepeth it unto life eternal. If any man minister to Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also shall My minister be. If any man minister to Me, him will My Father honour. The Gospel we have just read was thus commented by St. Augustine on this very feast: ' Your faith recognizes the grain that fell into the earth, and, having died, was multiplied. Your faith, I say, recognizes this grain, for the same dwelleth in your souls. That it was concerning Himself Christ spake these words no Christian doubts. But now that that seed is dead and has been multiplied, many grains have been sown in the earth; among them is the blessed Laurence, and this is the day of his sowing. What an abundant harvest has sprung from these grains scattered over all the earth ! e see it, we rejoice in it, nay, we ourselves are the harvest; if so be, by his grace, we belong to the granary. For not all that grows in the field belongs to the granary. The same useful, nourishing rain feeds both the wheat and the chaff. God forbid that both should be laid up together in the granary; although they grew together in the field, and were threshed together in the threshing-floor.

21

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Now is the time to choose. Let us now, before the winnowing, separate ourselves from the wicked by our manner di life, as in the floor the grain is threshed out of the chaff, though not yet separated from it Lrg the final winnowing. Hear me, ye holy grains, who, I doubt not, are here; for if I doubted, I should not be a grain myself: hear me, I say; or rather, hear that first grain speaking by me. Love not your life in this world: ove it not if you truly love it, so that by not loving you may preserve it ; for by not loving, you love the more. He that loveth his life in this world, dud lose it.

Thus because Laurence was as an enemy to himself and lost his life in this world, he found it in the next. Being a minister of Christ by his very title, for deacon means minister, he followed the Man-God, as the Gospel exhorts; he followed Him to the altar, and to the altar of the Cross. Having fallen with Him into the earth, he has been multiplied in Him. Though separated from St. Laurence by distance of time and place, yet we are ourselves, as the Bishop of Hippo teaches, a part of the harvest that is ever springing from him. Let this thought excite us to gratitude towards the holy deacon; and let us all the more eagerly unite our homage with the honour bestowed on him by our heavenly Father for having ministered to His Son.

The Offertory repeats the words of the Introit to a different melody; it is earth's echo to the music of heaven. The beauty and sanctity that so magnificently enhance the worship of praise around the eternal altar ought to shine by faith in the souls of the Church's ministers, as the angels beheld them shining in Laurence's soul while he was still on earth.

OFFERTORY

Confessio et pulchritudo in ^ Praise and beauty are before conspectu ejus: sanctitas et Him: holiness and majesty are magnificentia in sanctificatione in His sanctuary. ejus.

3 Auc. Sermo cccv, al. xxvi, in Nat. S. Laurent,

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At this point of the mysteries it was once Laurence's duty to present the offerings; the Church, while now presenting them, claims the suffrage of his merits.

SECRET

Accipe, quesumus Domine, ^ Graciously accept the offer-
munera dignanter oblata, et ings made to Thee, O Lord, we beati Laurentii suffragantibus beseech Thee; and by the meritis, ad nostre salutis auxi- merits of blessed Laurence Thy lium provenire concede. Per martyr, which plead for us, Dominum. grant them to become a help

to our salvation. Through, etc.

Laurence worthily fulfilled his august ministry at the Table of his Lord; and He, to whom he thus devoted himself, keeps His promise made in the Gospel, by calling him to live for ever where He is Himself.

COMMUNION

Qui mihi ministrat, me If any man minister to Me, sequatur: et ubi ego sum, let him follow Me: and where illic et minister meus erit. I am, there also shall My

After feasting at the sacred banquet of which Laurence was once the dispenser, we beg that the homage of our own service may draw down upon us, through his intercession, an increase of grace.

POSTCOMMUNION

Sacro munere satiati, sup- ^ Replenished with Thy sacred plices te, Domine, depreca- gifts, we suppliantly beseech
mur: ut, quod debite servi- Thee, O Lord, that what we tutis celebramus officio, inter- celebrate with due service, by cedente beato Laurentio the intercession of blessed martyre tuo, salvationis tue Laurence Thy martyr, we may sentiamus augmentum. Per perceive to contribute towards Dominum. Qm salvation. Through our

, etc.

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SECOND VESPERS

This morning, as soon as Laurence had given up his brave soul to his Creator, his body was taken, like precious gold from the crucible, and wrapt in linen cloths with sweet spices. As in the case of Berben the protomartyr, and of Jesus the King of martyrs, so now, too, noble persons vied with each other in paying honour to the sacred remains. In the evening of August 1o! the noble converts mentioned by Prudentius bowed their heads beneath the venerable burden; and followed by a great company of mourners, they carried him along the Tiburtian Way, and buried him in the cemetery of Cyriacus. The Church on earth mourned for her illustrious son ; but the Church in heaven was already overflowing with joy, and each anniversary of the glorious triumph was to give fresh gladness to the world.

The Office of Second Vespers is the same as that of the First, except for the last psalm, the versicle, and the Magnificat antiphon. This psalm, which
the Church sings for all her martyrs, is the r15th. It admirably expresses Laurence's exulting gratitude: his confession of faith was the cause of his triumph over suffering and over snares; he filled with his own blood the chalice committed to his care, thus proving himself a true deacon, a minister of God's altar, and a son of the Church, the handmaid of the Lord. And now that his bonds are broken, he has begun his ever- lasting service in the company of the saints, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.

PSALM II5

Credidi, propter quod locu- I have believed, therefore tus sum: * ego autem humi- have I spoken: but I have

liatus sum nimis. been humbled exceedingly. Ego dixi in excessu meo: I said in my excess: Every * Omnis homo mendax. man is a liar.

Quid retribuam Domino: What shall I render unto * Apox, Martyrolog.

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* pro omnibus quz retribuit mihi ?

Calicem salutaris accipiam: * et nomen Domini invocabo.

Vota mea Domino reddam coram omni populo ejus: * pretiosa in conspectu Domi- ni mors sanctorum ejus.

O Domine, quia ego ser-
vus tuus: * ego servus tuus, et filius ancille tuz.

Dirupisti vincula mea: * tibi sacrificabo hostiam laudis, et nomen Domini invocabo.

Vota mea Domino reddam in conspectu omnis populi ejus: * in atriis domus Do- mini, in medio tui, Jeru- salem.

317

the Lord, for all the things that He hath rendered unto

me ?

I will take the chalice of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord before all His people; precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

O Lord, forI am Thy servant: I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid.

Thou hast broken my bonds: I will sacrifice unto Thee the sacrifice of praise, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all His people: in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.

After the hymn the following versicle is sung, and then the Magnificat antiphon:

Y. Levita Laurentius bo- num opus operatus est.

Hj. Qui per signum crucis caecos illuminavit.

Y. The Levite Laurence wrought a good work.

Ry. Who gave sight to the blind by the sign of the Cross.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Beatus Laurentius dum in craticula superpositus urere- tur, ad impiissimum tyrannum dixit: Assatum est jam, versa, et manduca: nam facultates ecclesie, quas requiris, in cc- lestes thesauros manus paupe- rum deportaverunt.

While blessed Laurence was burning, stretched upon the gridiron, he said to the wicked tyrant: I am now roasted, turn and eat: as to the goods of the Church which thou demandest, the hands of the poor have already conveyed them into the heavenly trea- sures.

The Greeks in their Menza echo the homage paid by the West to the conqueror:

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

MENSIS AUGUSTI. DIE X In Matutino

Diaconus Verbi, Verbo deco- rus, vitam amore Verbi sponte litat, et cum Verbo jure nunc regnat, ipsius lztitia gloriaque inebriatus.

Contra errantium impias redargutiones, veritatis pie- tatisque armatura firmatus, falsitatis munimentum fide tua dictisque ex sententia evertisti in finem.

In Dei pulchritudine, Laurenti, fixus oculos, ter- re blanditias necnon et cru- ciatus contempsisti, o admi- rande.

Christus quum diaconus seu minister nobis donorum qua sunt ex Patre tibi in- notuisset, diaconus. illius et ipse - cupiens, per sangui- nem ipsum commi, ,0 invidende. v

Tamquam sol felix ab Occi- dente oriens, stupendum et &dmirabile valde, universam coruscationibus, illustrasti ecclesiam, o admirande, cunc- tique ardore fidei tuz calefacti sunt: ideo te omnes glorifica- mus.

The deacon of the Word, adorned with the beauty of the Word, freely lays down his life for love of the Word, and justly now he reigneth with the Word, inebriated with his joy and glory.

Strengthened with the ar- mour of truth and of piety against the wicked contradic- tions of the erring, thou by thy faith and thy wise words hast destroyed for ever the stronghold of falsehood.

With thine eyes fixed, O Laurence, on the beauty of God, thou didst contemn alike the flatteries of the world and its torments, O hero worthy of admiration !

Christ, the true Deacon who dispenses to us the gifts of the Father, had revealed Him- self to thee; and thou, long- i to be His own deacon, di go to Him by the path of love, O thou who art truly to be envied !

Like an auspicious sun, irr in the West by a prodigy exceeding wonderful, thou hast enlightened the whole Church with thy bril- liant light, O admirable martyr, and all mankind have received warmth from the ardour of thy faith: therefore do we all

glorify thee.

Let us seek from the ancient liturgies their tribute

of praise to the holy martyr.

The Leonine Sacramentary

offers us this preface, which in its noble brevity expresses in all their freshness the feelings of the Church towards

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her glorious son : ' Perfectis gaudiis expleatur oblatio. . . . Gratias iibi, Domine, quoniam sanctum Lauretinum
Martyrem tuum, te inspirante diligimus : May our offering be made with perfect joy. . . . We give thanks to Thee, O Lord, that, by Thy inspiration, we love Thy holy martyr Laurence. Such is the character of the formule which precede and follow, in the holy Sacrifice, the words we here give:

PREFACE

martyris tui tribuas jugiter suavitatem, qua et nos ame- mus ejus meritum passionis, et indulgentiam nobis semper fidelis ille patronus obtineat.

wouldst ever bestow upon our souls the sweetness of Thy blessed martyr Laurence, whereby we may love the reward of his passion, and he, as an ever-faithful patron, may obtain pardon for us.

The so-called Gothic Missal, which represents, as we know, the liturgy of the churches of France before Pepin and Charlemagne, is to-day in full harmony with the sentiments of Mother Church.

MISSA S. LAURENTI MART.

Deus, fidelium tuorum sal-
vator et rector, omnipotens sempiterne Deus, adesto votis
solemnitatis hodiernz; et eccle- sie gaudiis de gloriosa martyris tui passione beati Laurentii conceptis, benignus adspira: augeatur omnium fides tants virtutis ortu; et corda letan- tium supplicio martyrum igni- '&ntur: ut apud misericordiam tuam illius juvemur merito, cujus exsultamus exemplo. Per Dominum.

O God, the Saviour and guide of Thy faithful, al- mighty, eternal God, be pro- pitious to our prayers on this day of solemnity, and loving- ly favour the joys conceived by the Church for the glorious

assion of Thy blessed m.

urence: may the faith of all be increased by the appearance of such great virtue; and may the hearts of all who rejoice be kindled by the suffering of the martyrs: thatin presence of Thy mercy we may be aided by his merit, at whose example we exult. Through our Lord, etc.

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

IMMOLATIO MISS/E

Vere dignum et justum est, omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
tibi in tanti martyris Laurenti laudis hostias immolare: qui hostiam viventem hodie in ipsius levitz tui beati Laurenti martyris ministerio per florem casti corporis acceptisti. Cujus vocem per hymnidicym modola- mini psalmi audivimus canentis atque dicentis: Probasti cor meum, Deus, et visitasti noc-
te, id est in tenebris seculi: igne me examinasti; et non est inventa in me iniquitas. O gloriosa certaminis virtus| O inconcussa constantia con- fitentis ! Stridunt membra vi- ventis super craticulum impo- Sita, et prunis sazvientibus anhelantis, incensum suum in modum thymiamatis divinis naribus exhibent odorem. Dicit enim martyr ipse cum Paulo: Christi bonus odor sumus Deo. Non enim cogi- tabat quomodo in terra positus, & passionis periculo liberaretur, sed quomodo inter martyres in celis coronaretur. Per Christum.

It is truly right and just, O almighty, eternal God, to offer, on the solemnity of the

eat martyr Laurence, sacri-

ces of praise to Thee: who this day, by the ministry of the same martyr Laurence, Thy blessed Levite, didst receive as a living holocaust the flower of his chaste body. We have heard his voice, attuned to the harmony of the melodious Psalm, singing and saying: ‘ Thou hast proved my heart, O God, and visited it by night, that is, in the darkness of this world; Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity hath not been found in me’ O glorious valour in the strife! O un- shaken constancy of the con- fessor | His limbs are stretched and hiss upon the gridirons, while yet he lives, and gasping, breathes the fiery heat of the burning coals; and they send up their smoke like incense, a sweet odour to God. For himself said with Paul: * We are the good odour of Christ to God.’ For he thought not how on earth he might escape the danger of suffering, but how in heaven he would be crowned among the martyrs. Through Christ our Lord, etc. the mart

From the Mozarabic liturgy we will take but one

prayer for to-day:

CAPITULA

Domine Jesu Christe, qui
beatissimum | Laurentium igne charitatis tua arden- tem, et cupiditatum et pas-

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst enable the most blessed Laurence, burning with the fire of Thy charity, to overcome

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sionum incendia fecisti evin- cere: dum et aurum calcat et flammam, et in pauperum erogationem munificus et in combustionem sui corporis re- peritur devotus; da nobis obten- tu suffragii illius, ut vapore Spiritus Sancti accensi flammas superemus libidinis, et igne concrememur omnimode san- ctitatis: quo inter sanctos illos sors nostra inveniatur post transitum, pro quibus nunc tibi dependimus famu- latum.

321

the heat both of passions and of sufferings: for he trampled alike both on gold and the fire, and was found liberal in giving to the poor and faithful in the burning of his body; grant us, through his intercession, that being kindled by the breath of the Holy Spirit, we may overcome the flames of con- cupiscence and may be con- sumed by the fire of all sanctity, so that after our passage through this life, our lot may be found among those saints for whom we now offer Thee our homage.

Adam of St. Victor shall crown the day with one

of his admirable sequences:

SEQUENCE

Prunis datum Admiremur, Laureatum, Veneremur Laudibus Laurentium;

Veneremur

Cum tremore, Deprecemur

Cum amore

Martyrem egregium.

Accusatus Non negavit; Sed pulsatus Resultavit

In tubis ductilibus, Cum in ponis Voto plenis Exsultaret Et sonaret

In divinis laudibus.

Sicut chorda musicorum Tandem sonum dat sonorum Plectri ministerio;

Let us admire Laurence laid upon hot coals: let us with praises honour the laurel- crowned: let us reverence with trembling, and beseech with love, this illustrious

martyr.

Being accused, he did not deny; but being struck he answered back with a long- sounding trumpet, when in his wished-for sufferings he exulted and sounded forth the divine praises.

As the musical chord struck with the plectrum gives forth its loud melody, so he, stretched

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Sic, in chely tormentorum, Melos Christi confessorum Dedit hujus tensio.

Deci, vide ia fide tat invictus

Inter ictus, Minas et incendia:

Spes interna,

Vox superna

Consolantur

Et hortantur Virum de constantia.

Nam thesauros quos exquiris Per tormenta non acquiris Tibi, sed Laurentio. Hos in Christo coacervat, Hujus pugna Christus servat, riumphantis prazmio.

' Nescit sancti nox obscurum, Ut in poenis quid impurum Fide tractet dubia; Neque.cecis lumen daret, Si non eum radiaret Luminis presentia.

Fidei confessio

Lucet in Laurentio: Non ponit sub modio, Statuit in medio Lumen coram omnibus Juvat Dei famulum Crucis suz bajulum, Assum quasi ferculum, Fieri spectaculum Angelis et gentibus.

Non abhorret prunis volvi, Qui de carne cupit solvi Et cum Christo vivere, Neque timet occidentes Corpus, sed non pravalentes Animam occidere.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

on the lyre of the torture, sounded the strain of the con- fessors of Christ.

See, O Decius, how he stands invincible in faith, amid the blows and threats and flames: hope within, and a voice from above, console him and exhort him to constancy.

For the treasures which thou seekest are not gotten to thee by the torments, but to Lau- rence. He gathers them in Christ, and for his combat Christ keeps them for him as the reward of his triumph.

To the holy one the night knows no darkness, nor in his sufferings is he defiled by wavering faith; for he could not have given light to the blind, had not the light been present shining upon him.

The confession of faith shines bright in Laurence: he hides not the light beneath a bushel, but sets it in the midst before all. It is pleasant to the servant of God, the bearer of His Cross, to be roasted as food, to be made a spectacle to angels and to the nations.

He shrinks not from being turned upon the coals, who desires to be delivered from the flesh, and to live with Christ; nor fears he them that slay the body, but are not able to hurt the soul.

--- PAGE 332 --- SAINT LAURENCE

Sicut vasa figulorum Probat fornax, et eorum Solidat substantiam, Sic et ignis hunc assatum Velut testam solidatum Reddit per constantiam.

Nam cum vetus corrumpa- tur,

Alter homo renovatur Veteris incendio;

Unde nimis confortatus

Est athlete principatus In Dei servitio.

Hunc ardorem Factum foris Putat rorem Vis amoris

Et zelus justitiz; Ignis urens, Non comburens, Vincit prunas Quas adunas,

O minister impie.

Parum sapis Vim sinapis, Si non tangis, Si non frangis; Et plus fragrat Quando flagrat Thus injectum ignibus. Sic arctatus Et assatus, Sub labore, Sub ardore, Dat odorem Pleniorem Martyr de virtutibus.

O Laurenti, laute nimis, Rege victo rex sublimis, Regis regum fortis miles, Qui duxisti poenas viles Certans pro justitia; Qui tot mala devicisti Contemplando bona Christi, Fac nos malis insultare,

323

As the furnace proves the potter's vessels, and hardens their substance, so does the fire, roasting him, make him firm by constancy like the fired clay.

For when the old man is destroyed, the other is renewed in the burning of the old; hence the power of the com- batant is exceedingly strength- ened in the service of God.

Through the strength of his love and his zeal for justice he deems this outward heat but dew; the fire that burns but not consumes, outdoes thy heaped-up coals, O impious minister.

Thou knowest not the virtue of the mustard-seed, unless thou touch it, unless thou crush it; and more fragrant is the incense when it smokes upon the fire; even so the martyr, oppressed and burned with suffering and with heat, exhales more fully the fra- grance of his virtue.

O Laurence, exceedingly honourable, having conquered a king, thou hast become an eminent king, thou, brave soldier of the King of kings,: who didst make small account of sufferings when fighting for justice; thou who didst over-

--- PAGE 333 --- 324 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Fac de bonis exsultare come so many evils by con- Meritorum gratia. templating the good things of Amen. Christ, make us by the grace

of thy merits spurn evil and rejoice in good. Amen.

‘ Thrice blessed are the Roman people, for they honour thee on the very spot where thy sacred bones repose! They prostrate in thy sanctuary, and watering the ground with their tears they pour out their vows. We who are distant from Rome, separated by Alps and Pyrenees, how can we even imagine what treasures she possesses, or how rich is her earth in sacred tombs ? We have not her privileges, we cannot trace the martyrs' bloody footsteps; but from afar we gaze on the heavens. O holy Laurence! it is there we seek the memorial of thy passion; for thou hast two dwelling-places, that of thy body on earth, and that of thy soul in heaven. In the ineffable heavenly city thou hast been received to citizenship, and the civic crown adorns thy brow in its eternal Senate. So brightly shine thy jewels that it seemeth the heavenly Rome hath chosen thee perpetual Consul. The joy of the Quirites proves how great is thine office, thine influence, and thy power, for thou grantest their requests. Thou hearest all who pray to thee, they ask what they will and none ever goes away sad.

' Ever assist thy children of the queen city; give them the strong support of thy fatherly love, and a mother's tender, fostering care. Together with them, O thou honour of Christ, listen to thy humble client confessing his misery and sins. Iacknowledge that I am not worthy that Christ should hear me; but through the patronage of the holy martyrs, my evils can be remedied. Hearken to thy suppliant; in thy goodness free me from the fetters of the flesh and of the world.”

! PRUDBNT.

--- PAGE 334 --- SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA 325

AUGUST 11

SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA MARTYRS

| fasion is followed to-day by the son of Chro-

matius, prefect of Rome, Tiburtius, who also suffered upon burning coals for the confession of his faith. Though forty years intervened between the two martyrdoms, it was the same Holy Spirit that animated these witnesses of Christ and suggested to them the same answer to their executioners. Tiburtius, walking upon the fire, cried out: ‘ Learn that the God of the Christians is the only God, for these hot coals seem flowers to me.’

Equally near to the great archdeacon stands an illustrious virgin, so bright herself as not to be eclipsed by him. A relative of both the Emperor Diocletian, and the holy Pope Caius, Susanna, it is said, one day beheld the imperial crown at her feet. But she obtained a far greater nobility; for, by preferring the wreath of virginity, she won at the same time the palm of martyrdom.

Now, as St. Leo remarks, on the glorious solemnity whose octave we are keeping, if no one is good for him- self alone, if the favours of Divine Wisdor. profit not

only the recipient, then no one is more wise than the martyr, no eloquence can instruct the people so well as his. It is by this excellent manner of teaching that, as the Church tells us to-day, ' Laurence enlightened the whole world with the light of his fire, and by the flames which he endured he warmed the hearts of all Christians. By the example of his martyrdom, faith is enkindled and devotion fostered in our souls. The persecutor lays no hot coals for me, but he sets me on

--- PAGE 335 --- 326 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

fire with desire of my Saviour.” If, moreover, and it is not mere theory to repeat it in our days, if, as St. Augustine remarks, ‘circumstances place a man in the alternative of transgressing a divine precept or losing his life, he too must know how to die for the love of God, rather than live at enmity with him.'? Morality does not change, neither does the justice of God, who in all ages rewards the faithful, as in all ages he chastises cowards.

The Mozarabic Missal eloquently expresses the grandeur of St. Laurence’s martyrdom in this beautiful formula which precedes the Consecration on the day of his feast.

POST SANCTUS

Hosanna in excelsis: vere Hosanna in the highest. It

dignum et justum est, omni quidem tempore, sed praecipue in honorem sanctorum tuorum, nos tibi gratias, consempiterna Trinitas, et consubstantialis et co-operatrix omnium bonorum Deus, et pro beatissimi marty-
ris tui Laurentii celeberrimo die, laudum hostias immolare. Cujus gloriosum passionis tri- umphum, anni circulo revolu- tum, ecclesia tua leta con- celebrat: apostolis quidem tuis in doctrina supparem: sed in Domini confessione non im- parem. Qui niveam illam sto- lam leviticam, martyrii cruore urpureo decoravit: cujus cor in igne tuo, quem veneras mit- tere super terram, ita flam- masti: ut ignem istum visibilem non sentiret: et appositas cor- pori flammas mentis intentione superaret: ardentemque glo- bum fide validus non timeret.

! Pseudo-Avo. Sermo 30 de Sanctis,

is truly meet and just, at all times, but especially in honour of Thy saints, to return thanks to Thee, O God, co-eternal and consubstantial Trinity, co- operator of all good things, and to offer sacrifices of praise on this illustrious day of Thy: most blessed martyr Laurence, the glorious triumph of whose passion brought round again by the circle of the year, the Church doth joyfully cele- brate: for in teaching he was nearly equal to Thine apostles; but the confession of his Lord not unequal. He adorned the snow-white robe of the Levite with the purple of the blood of martyrdom: Thou didst so inflame his heart with Thy fire which Thou camest to cast on the earth, that he felt not the visible fire; by the strong purpose of his mind he overcame the flames that sur- rounded his body; and strong in faith, feared not the burn- ing coal. * Ave. Tract. in Joan. sr,

--- PAGE 336 --- SAINTS TIBURTIUS AND SUSANNA

Quique craticule superposi- tus, novum sacrificium tibi semetipsum castus minister ex- hibuit: et veluti super aram holocausti more decoctus, sa- porem Domino suavitatis in- gessit. In quo incomparabilis martyr pracordiis pariter ac visceribus medullisque liques- centibus desudavit, ac defluen- tia membra torreri invicta vir- tute patientie toleravit. In quo extensus ac desuper fixus, subjectis jacuit ac pependit incendiis: et holocaustum pie- tatis cruda coxit impietas: qua sudorem liquescentium visce- rum bibulis vaporibus suscepit. Supra quar velut super altare corpus suum, novi generis sacrificium celebrandum minis- Lid imposuit: et levita pra-

icandus ipse sibi pontifex et hostia fuit. Et qui fuerat minister Dominici corporis in offerendo semetipsum officio functus est sacerdotio.

Tuam igitur Domine in eo
virtutem, tuamque potentiam predicamus. Nam quis cre- deret corpus fragili compage conglutinatum, tantis sine te sufficere conflictibus potuisse ? quis incendiorum zstibus hu- mana astimaret membra non cedere: nisi flagrantior a te veniens interiorem hominem Íampas animasset: cujus po- tentia factum est, ut leta rore suo anima, coctione proprii corporis exsultaret: dum ver- sari se martyr precipit, et vorari: ne et paratam coronam uno moriendi genere sequere- tur: et sic lenitate cruciatuum vitalis tardaret interitus, non existeret gloriosus coronatus. Per te Dominum qui es Sal-

327

Placed upon the gridiron, Thy chaste minister offered himself a new sacrifice to Thee: and burnt as a holo- caust upon the altar, sent u a sweet savour to the Lord. There theincomparable martyr, while his heart and bowels and the marrow of his bones were melting away, . suffered his limbs to be roasted, with invincible virtue of patience. There stretched out he lay hanging over the fire: crude impiety broiled the holocaust of piety, and inhaled the hot vapours from the liquefying members. Thy minister laid his own body on the altar, a new kind of sacrifice to be celebrated. The praiseworthy Levite was to himself both pontiff and victim. And he who had been a minister at the offering of the Lord's Body, in offering him- self performed the office of priest.

It is therefore, O Lord, Thy power and Thy might that we ras in him. For who would

ieve that a body formed of fragile structure could, with- out Thee, endure such tor- ments? Who would not think that human members would yield before the heat of the fire, had not a fiercer flame, coming from Thee, fired the interior man? By Thy power it was that the soul, rejoiced with spiritual dew, exulted at the broiling of its own body: the martyr bade them turn him and devour him: lest he should obtain the crown by only one death; and thus the mildness of the torments should retard life-giving death,

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vator omnium et Redemptor animarum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

and he should be less gloriously crowned. Through Thee, our Lord, who art the Saviour and Redeemer of all souls. The following commemoration is made of SS.

Tiburtius and Susanna:

ANT. Istorum est enim reg- num coelorum, qui contempse- runt vit*m mundi, et pervene- runta »remia regni, et lave- runt s.olas suas in sanguine

Agni.

Y. Latamini in Domino, et exsultate justi.

ANT. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, who, despising an earthly life, have obtained heavenly rewards, and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

Y. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye just.

Hy. Et gloriamini omnes Hy. And glory all ye right recti corde. of heart. COLLECT M

Sanctorum Martyrum tuo- rum Tiburtii et Susanne nos, Domine, foveant continuata
praesidia: quia non desinis propitius intueri, quos talibus auxiliis concesseris adjuvari. Per Dominum.

May the constant protection of Thy holy martyrs Tiburtius and Susanna, support us, O Lord; for Thou never ceasest mercifully to regard those whom Thou grantest to be as- sisted by such helps. Through, etc.

--- PAGE 338 --- SAINT CLARE 329

AUGUST 12

Te same year in which St. Dominic, before making any project with regard to his sons, founded the first establishment of the Sisters of his Order, the com- panion destined for him by heaven received his mission from the Crucifix in the church of St. Damian, in these words: ' Go, Francis, repair My house, which is falling to ruin. The new patriarch inaugurated his work, as Dominic had done, by preparing a dwelling for his future daughters, whose sacrifice might obtain every grace for the great Order he was about to found. The house of the Poor Ladies occupied the thoughts of the seraph of Assisi, even pefore St. Mary of the Portiun- cula, the cradle of the Friars Minor. Thus, for a second time this month, Eternal Wisdom shows us that the fruit of salvation, though it may seem to proceed from the word and from action, springs first from silent con- templation.

Clare was to Francis the help like unto himself, who begot to the Lord that multitude of heroic virgins and illustrious penitents soon reckoned by the Order in all lands, coming from the humblest condition and from the steps of the throne. In the new chivalry of Christ, Poverty, the chosen Lady of St. Francis, was to be the queen also of her whom God had given him as a rival and a daughter. Following to the utmost limits the Man-God humbled and stripped of all things for us, she nevertheless felt that she and her sisters were already queens in the kingdom of heaven :' ‘ In the little nest of poverty, she used lovingly to say, ' what jewel could the bride esteem so much as conformity with a

? Regula Damianitarum, vii. 22

--- PAGE 339 --- 330 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

God possessing nothing, become a little One whom the poorest of mothers wrapt in humble swathing bands and laid in a narrow crib?" And she bravely defended against the highest authorities the privilege of absolute poverty, which the great Pope Innocent III feared to grant. Its definitive confirmation, obtained two days before the saint's death, came as the long-desired reward s forty years of prayer and suffering for the Church of od

This noble daughter of Assisi had justifed the prophecy whereby, sixty years previously, her mother Hortulana had learnt that the child would enlighten the world; the choice of the name given her at her birth had been well inspired? ‘Oh! how powerful was the virgin's light,' said the Sovereign Pontiff in the bull of her canonization; 'how penetrating were her rays! She hid herself in the depth of the cloister, and her brightness transpiring filled the house of God.” From her poor solitude, which she never quitted, the very name of Clare seemed to carry grace and light everywhere, and made far-off cities yield fruit to God and to her father St. Francis.

Embracing the whole world where her virginal family was being multiplied, her motherly heart over- flowed with affection for the daughters she had never seen. Let those who think that austerity embraced for God's sake dries up the soul, read these lines from her correspondence with Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. Agnes, daughter of Ottocar I, had rejected the offer of an imperial marriage to take the religious habit, and was renewing at Prague the wonders of St. Damian's. ‘O my mother and my daughter, said our saint, ‘if I have not written to you as often as my soul and yours would wish, be not surprised: as your mother's heart loved you, so do I cherish you; but messengers are scarce, and the roads fullof danger. Asan opportunity

= ser Vita S. Clara, gn ii. ara claris meritis, ma in ccelo claritate glorie ac in terra splendo: miraculorum pd etm clare claret — Bulla M sd) T * Bulla Canonizationis,

--- PAGE 340 --- SAINT CLARE 331

offers to-day, I am full of gladness, and I rejoice with you in the joy of the Holy Ghost. As the first Agnes united herself to the immaculate Lamb, so it is given to you, O fortunate one, to enjoy this union (the wonder of heaven) with Him the desire of whom ravishes every soul; whose goodness is all sweetness, whose vision is beatitude, who is the light of the eternal light, the mirror without spot! Look at yourself in this mirror, O queen! O bride! unceasingly by its reflection en- hance your charms; without and within adorn yourself with virtues; clothe yourself as beseems the daughter and the spouse of the supreme King. O beloved, with your eyes on this mirror, what delight it will be given you to enjoy in the divine grace! . . . Remember, however, your poor Mother, and know that for my part your blessed memory is for ever graven on my heart.” Not only did the Franciscan family benefit by a charity which extended to all the worthy interests of this world. Assisi, delivered from the lieutenants of the excom- municated Frederick II and from the Saracen horde in his pay, understood how a holy woman is a safeguard to her earthly city. But our Lord loved especially to make the princes of Holy Church and the Vicar of Christ experience the humble power, the mysterious ascen- dancy, wherewith He had endowed His chosen one. St. Francis himself, the first of all, had, in one of those critical moments known to the saints, sought from her direction and light for his seraphic soul. From the ancients of Israel there came to this virgin, not yet thirty years old, such messages as this: ' To his very dear Sister in Jesus Christ, to his mother the Lady Clare, handmaid of Christ, Hugolin of Ostia, unworthy bishop and sinner. Ever since the hour when I had to deprive myself of your holy conversation, to snatch myself from that heavenly joy, such bitterness of heart causes my tears to flow, that if I did not find at the feet of Jesus the consolation which His love never refuses, my mind would fail and my soul would melt away.

! S. Clare ad B. Agnetem, Epist. iv.

--- PAGE 341 --- 332 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Where is the glorious joy of that Easter spent in your company and that of the other handmaids of Christ ? . . . Iknew that I was a sinner; but at the remem- brance of your supereminent virtue, my misery over- powers me, and I believe myself unworthy ever to enjoy again that conversation of the saints, unless your tears and prayers obtain pardon for my sins. I put my soul, then, into your hands; to you I intrust my mind, that Fou may answer for me on the day of judgment. The

rd Pope will soon be going to Assisi; oh ! that I may accompany him, and see you once more! Salute my sister Agnes (i.e., St. Clare's own sister and first daughter in God); salute all your sisters in Christ.”

The great Cardinal Hugolin, though more than eighty years of age, became soon after Gregory IX. During his fourteen years’ pontificate, which was one of the most brilliant as well as most laborious of the thirteenth century, he was always soliciting Clare's interest in the perils of the Church and the immense cares which threatened to crush his weakness. For, says the con- temporaneous historian of our saint: ‘ He knew very well what love can do, and that virgins have free access to the sacred court; for what could the King of heaven refuse to those to whom He has given Himself ?'?

At length her exile, which had been prolonged twenty- seven years after the death of Francis, was about to close. Her daughters beheld wings of fire over her head and covering her shoulders, indicating that she, too, had reached seraphic perfection. On hearing that a loss which so concerned the whole Church was imminent, the Pope, Innocent IV, came from Perugia with the Cardinals of his suite. He imposed a last trial on the saint’s humility, by commanding her to bless, in his presence, the bread which had been presented for the blessing of the Sovereign Pontiff;* heaven approved the invitation of the Pontiff and the obedience of the saint,

IW. ad an. 1221.

* Vita S. coava lii. * Wadding ad an. 1253, though the fact is referred by others to the Pontificate of Gregory IX.

--- PAGE 342 --- SAINT CLARE 333

for no sooner had the virgin blessed the loaves than each was found to be marked with a cross.

A prediction that Clare was not to die without receiv- ing a visit from the Lord surrounded by His disciples was now fulfilled. The Vicar of Jesus Christ presided at the solemn funeral rites paid by Assisi to her who was its second glory before God and men. When they were beginning the usual chants for the dead, Innocent would have had them substitute the Office for holy Virgins; but on being advised that such a canonization before the body was interred would be considered premature, the Pontiff allowed them to continue the accustomed chants. The insertion, however, of the virgin's name in the catalogue of the saints was only

deferred for two years.

The following lines are consecrated by the Church

to her memory:

Clara nobilis virgo, Assisii nata in Umbria, sanctum Fran- ciscum concivem suum imi- tata, cuncta sua bona in elee- mosynas et pauperum sub- sidia distribuit et convertit. De saeculi strepitu fugiens, in campestrem declinavit eccle- Siam, ibique ab eodem beato Francisco recepta tonsura, con- sanguineis ipsam reducere conantibus fortiter restitit. Et denique ad ecclesiam sancti . Damiani fuit per eumdem ad- ducta, ubi ei Dominus plures
socias aggregavit, et sic ipsa sacrarum sororum collegium instituit, quarum regimen, ni- mia sancti Francisci devicta importunitate, recepit. Suum monasterium sollicite ac pru- denter in timore Domini, ac plena Ordinis observantia, annis quadraginta duobus mira- biliter gubernavit: ejus enim vita erat aliis eruditio et doc-

The noble virgin Clare was born at Assisi, in Umbria. Following the example of St. Francis, her fellow-citizen, she distributed all her goods in alms to the poor, and flee- ing from the noise of the world, she retired to a country church, where blessed Francis cut off her hair. Her relations attempted to bring her back to the world, but she bravely resisted all their endeavours; and then St. Francis took her to the church of St. Damian. Here our Lord gave her several companions, so that she found- ed a convent of consecrated virgins, and her reluctance being overcome by the earnest desire of her holy father, she undertook its government. For forty-two years she ruled her monastery with wonderful care and prudence, in the fear of God and the full observance of

--- PAGE 343 --- 334

trina, unde czatere vivendi regulam didicerunt.

Ut carne depressa, spiritu convalesceret, nudam humum, et interdum sarmenta pro lecto habebat, et pro pulvinari sub capite durum lignum. Una tunica cum mantello de vili et hispido panno utebatur, ero cilicio nonnumquam adhibito juxta carnem. Tanta se fre- nabat abstinentia, ut longo tempore tribus in hebdomada diebus nihil penitus pro sui corporis alimento gustaverit: reliquis autem diebus tali se ciborum parvitate restringens, ut alie, quomodo subsistere poterat, mirarentur. Binas quotannis (antequam zgrota- ret) quadragesimas solo pane et aqua refecta jejunabat. Vigilis insuper et orationibus assidue dedita, in his precipue dies noctesque expendebat. Diutinis perplexa languoribus, cum ad exercitium corporale non posset surgere per se ipsam, sororum suffragiis levabatur, et fulcimentis ad tergum apposi- tis, laborabat propriis manibus, ne in suis etiam esset infirmita- tibus otiosa. Amatrix praci- pua paupertatis, ab ea pro nulla umquam necessitate dis- cessit, et possessiones pro so- rorum sustentatione a Gre- gorio Nono oblatas constantis- sime recusavit.

Multis et variis miraculis virtus sue sanctitatis effulsit. Cuidam de sororibus sui mo- nasterii loquelam restituit ex- peditam: alteri aurem surdam

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the Rule. Her own life was a lesson and an example to others, showing all how to live aright. She subdued her body in order to grow strong in spirit. Her bed was the bare ground, or, at times, a few twigs, and for a pillow she used a piece of hard wood. Her dress con- sisted of a single tunic and a mantle of poor coarse stuff; and she often wore a rough hair-shirt next to her skin. So great was her abstinence, that for a long time she took absolutely no bodily nourish- ment for three days of the week, and on the remaining days restricted herself to so small a quantity of food, that the other religious wondered how she was able to live. Before her health gave way, it was her custom to keep two Lents in the year, fasting on bread and water. Moreover, she devoted herself to watch- ing and prayer, and in these exercises especially she would spend whole days and nights. She suffered from frequent and long illnesses; but when she was unable to leave her bed in order to work, she would make her sisters raise and prop her up in a sitting position, so that she could work with her hands, and thus not be idle even in sick- ness. Shehada very greatlove of poverty, never deviating from it on account of any necessity, and she firmly refused the pos- sessions offered by Gregory IX for the support of the sisters. The greatness of her sanc- re was manifested by many ifferent miracles. She re- stored the power of speech to one of the sisters of her mona-

--- PAGE 344 --- SAINT CLARE

aperuit: laborantem febre, tu- mentem hydropisi, plagatam fistula, aliasque aliis oppressas languoribus liberavit. Fra- trem de Ordine Minorum ab insaniz passione sanavit. Cum oleum in monasterio tota- liter defecisset, Clara accepit urceum, atque lavit, et inven- tus est oleo, beneficio divine largitatis, impletus. Unius panis medietatem adeo multi- plicavit, ut sororibus quinqua- ginta suffecerit. Saracenis Assisium obsidentibus, et Clarze monasterium invadere conan- tibus, =gra se ad portam afferri voluit, unaque vas, in quo sanctissimum Eucharistiae sacramentum erat inclusum, ibique oravit: Ne tradas, Do- mine, bestiis animas confiten- tes tibi, et custodi famulas tuas, quas ge sanguine redemisti. In cujus oratione ea vox audita est: Ego vos semper custodiam. Saraceni autem partim se fuga manda- runt, partim qui murum as- cenderant, capti oculis, - cipites céciderunt. Ipsa deni- que virgo, cum in extremis ageret, a candido beatarum virginum coetu (inter quas una eminentior ac fulgidior ap- pn visitata, ac sacra ucharistia sumpta, et pecca- torum indulgentia ab Innocen- tio Quarto ditata, pridie Idus Augusti animam Deo reddidit. Post obitum vero quamplurimis miraculis resplendentem Alex- ander Quartus inter sanctas virgines retulit.

335

stery, to another the of hearing. She healed one of a fever, one of dropsy, one of an ulcer, and many others of various maladies. She cured of insanity a brother of the Order of Friars Minor. Once when all the oil in the mona- stery was spent, Clare took a vessel and washed it, and it was found filled with oil by the loving-kindness of God. She multiplied half a loaf so that it sufficed for fifty sisters. When the Saracens attacked the town of Assisi and at- tempted to break into Clare's monastery, she, though sick at the time, had herself carried to the gate, and also the vessel which contained the most Holy Eucharist, and there she prayed, saying: ‘O Lord, deliver not unto beasts the souls of them that praise Thee; but preserve Thy handmaids whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious Blood. Whereupon a voice was heard, which said: 'I will always reserve you. Some of the dhl took to flight, others who had already scaled the walls were struck blind and fell down headlong. At length, when the virgin Clare came to die, she was visited by a white-robed multitude of blessed virgins, amongst whom was one nobler and more resplendent than the rest. Having received the Hol Eucharist and a plen innit gence from Innocent IV, she gave up her soul to God on the day before the Ides of August. After her death she became celebrated by numbers of mira- cles, and Alexander IV enrolled her among the holy virgins.

--- PAGE 345 --- 336 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

O Clare, the reflection of the Spouse which adorns the Church in this world no longer suffices thee; thou now beholdest the light with open face. The brightness of the Lord plays with delight in the pure crystal of thy soul, increasing the happiness of heaven, and giving joy this day to our valley of exile. Heavenly beacon, with thy gentle shining enlighten our darkness. May we, like thee, by purity of heart, by uprightness of thought, by simplicity of gaze, fix upon ourselves the divine ray, which flickers in a wavering soul, is dimmed by our waywardness, is interrupted or put out by a double life divided between God and the world.

Thy life, O virgin, was never thus divided. The most high poverty, which was thy mistress and guide, preserved thy mind from that bewitching of vanity which takes off the bloom of all true goods for us mortals. Detachment from all passing things kept thine eye fixed upon eternal realities; it opened thy soul to that seraphic ardour wherein thou didst emulate thy Father Francis. Like the Seraphim, whose gaze is ever fixed on God, thou hadst immense influence over the earth; and St. Damian’s, during thy lifetime, was a source of strength to the world.

Deign to continue giving us thine aid. Multiply thy daughters; keep them faithful in following their Mother’s example, so as to be a strong support to the Church. May the various branches of the Franciscan family be ever fostered by thy rays, and may all Re- ligious Orders be enlightened by thy gentle brightness. Shine upon us all, O Clare, and show us the worth of this transitory life and of that which never ends.

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AUGUST 13

SAINT RADEGONDE QUEEN OF FRANCE

EVER was such a booty won as that obtained

by the sons of Clovis in their expedition against Thuringia towards the year 530. Receive this blessing from the spoils of the enemy! might they well say. on presenting to the Franks the orphan brought from the court of the fratricide prince whom they had just chastised. God seemed in haste to ripen the soul of Radegonde. After the tragic death of her relatives followed the ruin of her country. So vivid was the impression made in the child's heart that long after- wards the recollection awakened in the queen and the saint a sorrow and a homesickness which nought but the love of Christ could overcome. ‘I have seen the plain strewn with dead and palaces burnt to the ground; I have seen women, with eyes dry from very horror, mourning over fallen Thuringia ; I alone have survived to weep over them all.'? . The licentiousness of the Frankish kings was as unbridled as that of her own ancestors; yet in their land the little captive found Christianity, which she had not hitherto known. The faith was a healing balm to this wounded soul. Baptism, in giving her to God, sanctified, without crushing, her high-spirited nature. Thirsting for Christ, she wished to be martyred for Him; she sought Him on the cross of self-renunciation ; she found Him in His poor suffering members; looking on the face of a leper, she would see in it the disfigured countenance of her Saviour, and thence rise to the ardent contemplation of the triumphant Spouse, whose glorious face illumines the abode of the saints.

! 1 Kings xxx. 26. * De excidio Thuringiz, 1, v. 5-36, Fortunatus ex persona Radegundis.

--- PAGE 347 --- 338 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

What a loathing, therefore, did she feel when, offering her royal honours, the destroyer of her own country sought to share with God the possession of a heart that heaven alone could comfort or gladden! First flight, then the refusal to comply with the manners of a court where everything was repulsive to her desires and recollections, her eagerness to break, on the very first opportunity, a bond which violence alone had con- tracted, prove that the trial had no other effect, as her Life says, but to bend her soul more and more to the sole object of her love.!

Meanwhile, near the tomb of St. Martin, another queen, Clotilde, the mother of the most Christian kingdom, was about to die. Unfortunate are those times when the men after God's own heart, at their departure from earth, leave no one to take their place; as the Psalmist cried out in a just consternation: Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint ^ For though the elect pray for us in heaven, they can no longer fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in their flesh, for His body, which is the Church? The work begun at the Baptistery of Rheims was not yet completed; the Gospel, though reigning by faith over the Frankish nation, had not yet subdued its manners. Christ, who loved the Franks, heard the last prayer of the mother he had given them, and refused her not the consolation of knowing that she should have a successor. Radegonde was set free, just in time to prevent an interruption in the laborious work of forming the Church's eldest daughter; and she took up in soli- tude the struggle with God, by prayer and expiation, begun by the widow of Clovis.

In the joy of having cast off an odious yoke, forgive- ness was an easy thing to her great soul;* in her monas- tery at Poitiers she showed an unfailing devotedness for the kings whose company she had fled. The fortune of France was bound up with theirs; France the cradle-

? Baudonivia, Vita Radegundis, a. ? Ps, xi. 2. * Col. i. 24. . * Baudonivia, 7.

--- PAGE 348 --- SAINT RADEGONDE 339

land of her supernatural life, where the Man-God had revealed Himself to her heart, and which she therefore loved with part of the love reserved for her heavenly country. The peace and prosperity of her spiritual fatherland occupied her thoughts day and night. If any quarrel arose among the princes, say the contem- porary accounts, she trembled from head to foot at the very thought of the country’s danger. She wrote, according to their different dispositions, to each of the kings, imploring them to consider the welfare of the nation; she interested the chief vassals in her endeavours to prevent war. She imposed on her community assidu- ous watchings, exhorting them with tears to pray with- out ceasing; as to herself, the tortures she inflicted on herself for this end are inexpressible.!

The only victory, then, that Radegonde desired was peace among the princes of the earth; when she had gained this by her struggle with the King of heaven, her joy in the service of the Lord was redoubled, and the tenderness she felt for her devoted helpers, the nuns of Sainte-Croix, could scarcely find utterance: ' You, the daughters of my choice, she would say, ‘my eyes, my life, my sweet repose, so live with me in this world, that we may meet again in the happiness of the next.’ And they responded to her love. ‘By the God of heaven it is true that everything in her reflected the splendour of her soul.” Such was the spontaneous ,and graceful cry of her daughter Baudo- nivia; and it was echoed by the graver voice of the historian-bishop, Gregory of Tours, who declared that the supernatural beauty of the saint remained even in death;? it was a brightness from heaven, which purified while it attracted hearts, which caused the Italian Venantius Fortunatus to cease his wanderings? made him a saint and a Pontiff, and inspired him with his most beautiful poems.

The light of God could not but be reflected in her,

* Baudonivia, rr. * Gnxo. Turon. De gloria confessorum, cvi. * FonTUNAT. Miscellanea, VIII, 1, 11, etc.

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who, turning towards Him by uninterrupted contempla- tion, redoubled her desires as the end of her exile approached. Neither the relics of the saints which she had so sought after as speaking to her of her true home, nor her dearest treasure, the Cross of her Lord, was enough for her; she would fain have drawn the Lord Himself from His throne, to dwell visibly on earth. She only interrupted her sighs to excite in others the same longings. She exhorted her daughters not to neglect the knowledge of divine things; and explained to them with profound science and motherly love the difficulties of the Scriptures. As she increased the holy readings of the community for the same end, she would say: ‘ If you do not understand, ask; why do you fear to seek the light of your souls ? And she would insist : * Reap, reap the wheat of the Lord; for, I tell you truly, you will not have long to do it: reap, for the time draws near when you will wish to recall the days that are now given you, and your regrets will not be able to bring them back. And the loving chronicler to whom we owe these sweet intimate details continues: 'In our idleness we listen coolly to the announcement; but that time has come all too soon. Now is realized in us the prophecy which says: I will send forth a famine into thy land : not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord For though we still read her conferences, that voice which never ceased is now silent; those lips, ever ready with wise advice and sweet words, are closed. O most good God, what an expression, what features, what manners Thou hadst given her! No, no one could describe it. The remem- brance is anguish ! That teaching, that gracefulness, that face, that mien, that science, that piety, that good- ness, that sweetness, where are we to seek them now ?’ Such touching sorrow does honour to both mother and daughters; but it could not keep back the former from her reward. On the morning of the Ides of August 587, while Sainte-Croix was filled with lamenta-

* Amos vili. 11.

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tions, an angel was heard saying to others on high: ' Leave her yet wy for the tears of her daughters

have ascended to

od.' But those who were bearing

Radegonde away replied: ' It is too late, she is already

in Paradise.'!

Lct us read the liturgical account, which will complete

what we have said:

Radegundis, Bertharii Thu- ringorum regis filia, decennis captiva a Francis abducta, cum insigni et regia esset forma, Francorum regibus cui ipsa cederet inter se decertantibus, Clotario Suessionum regi sorte obtigit; qui optimis eam ma- gistris credidit, liberalibus erudiendam disciplinis. Tum puella, avide acceptis fidei christiane documentis, et eju- rato hzreditario, inanium de- orum cultu, non precepta tantum, sed et evangelica de- crevit servare consilia. Adul- tiorem jam factam Clotarius, qui sibi dudum illam addi- xerat uxorem, in conjugium excepit: unde licet invita, quin et altera vice fuga elapsa, cun- ctis plaudentibus regina salu- tatur. Ad honores igitur solii evecta, beneficentiam in pau-

eres, assiduas orationes, cre- ras vigilias, jejunia, aliasque corporis afflictationes cum regia dignitate conjunxit, adeo ut non regina, sed monacha ju- galis ab aulicis pietatem deri- dentibus diceretur.

Ejus patientia maxime eni- tuit in tolerandis variis duri- oribusque molestiis quas ei

Radegonde was the daughter of Berthaire, King of Thurin- gia. When ten years old she was led away captive by the Franks; and on account of her striking and queenly beauty their kings disputed among themselves for the possession of her. They drew lots, and she fell to the share of Clothaire, King of Soissons. He entrusted her education to excellent masters. Child as she was, she eagerly imbibed the doc- trines of the Christian faith, and renouncing the worship of false gods which she had learnt from her fathers, she determined to observe not only the precepts, but also the counsels of the Gospel. When she was grown up, Clothaire, who had long before chosen her, took her to wife, and in spite of her refusal, in spite of her attempts at flight, she was proclaimed queen, to the great joy of all. When thus raised to the throne, she joined charity to the poor, contin- ual prayer, frequent watch- ings, fasting and other bodily austerities to her regal dignity, so that the courtiers said in scorn that the king had married not a queen, but a nun.

Her patience shone out brightly in supporting many grievous trials caused her by

1 Baudonivia.

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342 rex inferebat. Cum autem audivisset fratrem suum

germanum Clotarii jussu in- juste fuisse occisum, ab aula repente discessit, ipso rege annuente, et beatum Medar- dum episcopum adiit, instan- tissime deprecans ut Domino consecraretur. Proceres vero vehementer obsistebant ne pon- tifex eam velaret, quz solemni more nupsisset regi. At illa statim ingressa sacrarium, mo- nastica veste seipsam induit; indeque procedens ad altare, iscopum sic allocuta est:

me consecrare distuleris, plus hominem reveritus quam Deum, erit qui animam abs te meam exigat. Quibus ille verbis commotus, reginam sacro velamine initiavit, et manu imposita diaconissam conse- cravit. Pictavum deinde per- rexit, ubi monasterium vir- ginum condidit, quod postea titulo sanctz Crucis nuncu- patum est. Virtutum splen- dore pracellens, ad sacre re- ligionis amplexum innumera- biles pene virgines pertraxit: quibus, ob eximia divine in se gratie testimonia, omnium efflagitatione prafecta, mini- strare gaudebat magis quam presse. Miraculorum licet multitu- dine longe lateque refulgens, prima dignitatis penitus im- memor, vilissima et abjectis- sima quavis munia expetebat. JEgrorum, egentium, ac ma- xime leprosorum curam pra- cipue dilexit: quos e ab infirmitatibus mirabiliter libe-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the king. But when she heard that her own brother had been unjustly slain by command of Clothaire, she instantly left the court with the king's con- sent, and going to the blessed bishop Medard, she earnestly begged him to consecrate her to the Lord. The nobles strongly opposed his giving the veil to her whom the king had solemnly married. But she at once went into the sacristy and clothed herself in the monastic habit. Then, advancing to the altar, she thus addressed the bishop: ‘ If you hesitate to consecrate me be- cause you fear man more than God, there is one who will demand an account of my soul from you.’ These words deeply touched Medard; he placed the sacred veil upon the queen’s head, and impos- ing his hands upon her, con- secrated her a deaconess. She roceeded to Poitiers, and there ounded a monastery of virgins, which was afterwards called of the Holy Cross. The splen- dour of her virtues shone forth and attracted innumerable virgins to embrace a religious life. On account of her ex- traordinary gi of divine grace, all wished her to be their mistress; but she desired to serve rather than to com- mand. :

The number of miracles she worked spread her name far and gy aes she herself, for- getful of her dignity, sought out the — pi mn t offices. e loved especi to take care of the sick, the needy, and above all the lepers, whom she often cured in

--- PAGE 352 --- SAINT RADEGONDE

rabat. Ea pietate divinum altaris sacrificium prosequeba- tur, ut propriis manibus con- ficeret panes sacrandos, quos dein diversis — suppeditabat ecclesiis. Qua vero inter re- gales delicias totam se carnis mortificationi impenderat, quz- ue ab adolescentia martyrii agrabat desiderio; nunc vitam agens monasticam, rigidissima corpus domabat inedia: quin- etiam ferreis catenis lumbos accincta, membra cruciabat ardentibus carbonibus lami- nisque candentibus in carne acriter infixis, ut sic etiam caro suo modo Christi amore in- flammaretur. Clotarium re- gem, qui illam repetere et e conobio abripere decreverat jamque ad cenobium sancte Crucis iter contulerat, ipsa datis ad sanctum Germanum Parisiensem episcopum litteris adeo obsterruit, ut ad sancti prsesulis pedes provolutus illum rogaret ut a pia regina regis ac conjugis veniam efflagitaret.

Sanctorum reliquiis, variis ex regionibus allatis, mona- sterium suum ditavit. Sed et missis clericis ad Justi- num imperatorem, insignem partem ligni Dominice Cru- cis impetravit: qua solemni ritu a Pictaviensibus recepta est, gestientibus clero omni- ue populo, atque hymnos ecantantibus, quos in lau- dem almz Crucis confecerat Venantius Fortunatus, post- hec episcopus, qui Radegun-

343

a miraculous manner. She honoured the divine Sacrifice of the altar with deep piety, making with her own hands the bread which was to be consecrated, and supplying it to several churches. Even in the midst of the pleasures of a court, she had applied her- self to mortifying her flesh, and írom her childhood she had burned with desire of martyrdom; now that she was leading a monastic life she subdued her body with the utmost rigour. She girt her- self with iron chains, she tor- tured her body with burning coals, courageously fixed red- hot plates of metal upon her flesh that thus it also might, in a way, be inflamed with loveofChrist. King Clothaire, bent on taking her back and carrying her off from her monastery, set out for Holy Cross; but she deterred him by means of letters which she wrote to St. Germanus, Bishop of Paris; so that, prostrate at the holy prelate's feet, the king begged him to beseech his pious queen to pardon him who was both her sovereign and her husband.

Radegonde enriched her monastery with relics of the saints brought from different countries. She also sent some clerics to the Emperor Justin and obtained from him a large piece of the wood of our Lord's Cross. It was received with great solemnity by the people of Poitiers, and all, both clergy and laity, sang exultingly the hymns composed by Venan- tius Fortunatus in honour of the blessed Cross. This poet

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dis potiebatur sancta familiari- tate, ejusque coenobium rege- bat. Ipsa denique sanctissima regina, jam matura ccelo, pau- cis diebus antequam e vita exiret, isti apparitione sub specie speciosissimi adolescentis dignata est, et ex ejus ore has voces audire meruit: Quid adeo fruendi cupiditate tene- ris? quid tot lacrymis gemi- tibusque diffunderis ? quid tam crebro meis altaribus suppli- citer admoveris? quid tot laboribus corpusculum tuum infringis ? cum ipse tibi semper adheream. Tu gemma no- bilis, noveris te in diademate capitis mei esse e gemmis pri- maris unam. Anno tandem

uingentesimo octogesimo sep- timo purisimam animam in sinu ccelestis Sponsi, quem unice dilexerat, exhalavit, et a sancto Gregorio Turonensi in basilica beatz Mariz, ut opta- verat, sepulta fuit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was afterwards Bishop of Poi. tiers; he enjoyed the holy friendship of Radegonde and directed her monastery. At length the holy queen, bein ripe for heaven, was honour:

a few days before her death by an apparition of Christ under the form of a most beautiful youth; and she heard these words from His mouth: * Why art thou consumed by so great a longing to enjoy My presence? Why dost thou pour out so many tears and sighs ? Why comest thou as a suppliant so often to My altars? Why dost thou break down thy body with so many labours, when I am always united to thee? My beautiful pearl! Know that thou art one of the most precious stones in My kingly crown.” In the year 587 she breathed forth her pure soul into the bosom of the heavenly

Spouse who had been her only love. Gregory of Tours buried her, as she had wished, in the church of St. Mary.

Thine exile is over, eternal possession has taken the place of desire; all heaven is illumined with the bright- ness of the precious stone that has come to enrich the diadem of the Spouse. O Radegonde, the Wisdom who is now rewarding thy toils led thee by admirable ways. Thy inheritance, become to thee as a lion in the wood spreading death around thee, thy captivity far from thy native land; what was all this but love’s way of drawing thee from the dens of the lions, from the moun- tains of the leopards, where idolatry had led thee in child- hood ? Thou hadst to suffer in a foreign land, but the light from above shone into thy soul, and gave it strength. A powerful king tried in vain to make thee share his throne; thou wert a queen but for Christ, who in His

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goodness made thee a mother to that kingdom of France which belongs to Him more than to any prince. For His sake thou didst love that land become thine by the right of the Bride who shares the sceptre of her Spouse; for His sake, that nation, whose glorious destiny thou didst predict, received unstintedly all thy labours, thy unspeakable mortifications, thy prayers and thy tears.

O thou who art ever queen of France, as Christ is ever its King, bring back to Him the hearts of its people, for in their blind error they have laid aside their glory, and their sword is no longer wielded for God. Protect, above all, the city of Poitiers, which honours thee with a special cultus together with its great St. Hilary. Bless thy daughters of Sainte-Croix, who, ever faithful to thy great traditions, prove the power of that fruitful stem, which through so many centuries and such devastations has never ceased to produce both flowers and fruit. Teach us to seek our Lord, and to find Him in His holy Sacrament, in the relics of His saints, in His suffering members on earth; and may all Christians learn from thee how to love.

Not far from the sepulchre of St. Laurence, on the opposite side of the Tiburtian Way, lies the tomb of St. Hippolytus, one of the sanctuaries most dear to the Christians in the days of triumph. Prudentius has described the magnificence of the crypt, and the im- mense concourse attracted to it each year on the Ides of August. Who was this saint ? Of what rank and manner of life? What facts of his history are there to be told, beyond that of his having given his blood for Christ ? All these questions have in modern times become the subject of numerous and learned works. He was a martyr, and that is nobility enough to make him glorious in our eyes. Let us honour him, then, and together with him another soldier of Christ, Cassian of Imola, whom the Church offers to our homage at the same time. Hippolytus was dragged by wild horses over rocks and briars till his body was all torn: Cassian,

23

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

who was a schoolmaster, was delivered by the judge to the children he had taught, and died of the thousands of wounds inflicted by their styles. The prince of Christian poets has sung of him as of Hippolytus, describing his combat and his tomb.

PRAYER

Da, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut beatorum Martyrum
tuorum Hippolyti et Cassiani veneranda solemnitas, et de- votionem nobis augeat, et salutem. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the vener- able solemnity of Thy blessed martyrs, Hippolytus and Cassian| may contribute to the increase of our devotion, and promote our salvation. Through Christ our Lord, etc.

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AUGUST 14

HAT is this dawn before which the brightest

constellations pale? Laurence, who has been shining in the August heavens as an incomparable star, is wellnigh eclipsed, and becomes but the humble satellite of the Queen of Saints, whose triumph is preparing beyond the clouds.

Mary stayed on earth after her Son's Ascension, in order to give birth to his Church; but she could not remain for ever in exile. Yet she was not to take her flight to heaven until this new fruit of her maternity had acquired the growth and strength which it belongs toa mother to give. How sweet to the Church was this dependence !—a privilege given to her members by our Lord in imitation of Himself! As we saw, at Christmas-time, the God-Man carried first in the arms of His Mother, gathering His strength and nourishing His life at her virginal breast; so the mystical body of the Man-God, the Holy Church, received, in its first years, the same care from Mary as the divine Child our Emmanuel.

As Joseph heretofore at Nazareth, Peter was now ruling the house of God; but our Lady was none the less to the assembly of the faithful the source of life in the spiritual order, as she had been to Jesus in His Humanity. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost and every one of His gifts rested first upon her in all fulness; every grace bestowed on the privileged dwellers in the cenacle was given more eminently and more abundantly to her. The sacred stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful, because first of all the Most

! Carnalia in te Christus ubera suxit, ut per te nobis spiritualia fluerent.—RicuARD a S. Vicronz, in Cant. Cap. xxiii.

--- PAGE 357 --- 348 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

High has sanctified His own tabernacle, made her the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus.

Eternal Wisdom herself is compared in the Scripture to overflowing waters; to this day, the voice of her messengers traverses the world, magnificent, as the voice of the Lord over the great waters, as the thunder which reveals His power and majesty: like a new deluge over- turning the ramparts of false science, levelling every height raised against God, and fertilizing the desert. O fountain of the gardens hiding thyself so calm and pure in Sion, the silence which keeps thee from the knowledge of the profane hides from their sullied eyes the source of thy wavelets which carry salvation to the furthest limits of the Gentile world. To thee, as to the Wisdom sprung from thee, is applied the prophetic word: I have poured out rivers? Thou givest to drink to the new-born Church thirsting for the Word. Thou art, as the Holy Spirit said of Esther, thy type, ‘the little fountain which grew into a river, and was turned into a light, and into the sun, and abounded into many waters.” The apostles, inundated with divine science, recognized in thee the richest source, which having once given to the world the Lord God, continued to be the channel of His grace and truth to them.

As a mountain spreads out at its base in proportion to the greatness of its height, the incomparable dignity of Mary rested on her ever-growing humility. Neverthe- less we must not think that the Mother of the Church was to do nothing more than win heaven’s favours silently. The time had come for her to communicate to the friends of the Spouse the ineffable secrets known to her virginal soul alone; and as to the public facts of our Saviour’s history, what memory surer or more complete than hers, what deeper understanding of the mysteries of salvation, could furnish the Evangelists with the inspiration and the matter of their sublime narrations ? How could the chiefs of the Christian

* Eccli. xxiv. 40. * Esther x. 6.

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people not consult in every undertaking the heavenly prudence of her whose judgment could never be obscured by the least error, any more than her soul could be tarn- ished by the least fault ? Thus, although her gentle voice was never heard abroad, although she loved to put herself in the shade and take the last place in their assemblies, Mary was truly from that time forward, as the Doctors observe, the scourge of heresy, the mistress of the apostles and their beloved inspirer. ‘If,’ says Rupert, ' the Holy Ghost instructed the apostles, we must not therefore conclude that they had not recourse to the most sweet teaching of Mary. Yea, rather, her word was to them the word of the Spirit Himself; she completed and confirmed the inspirations received by each one from Him who divideth as He wills.” And St. Ambrose, the illustrious Bishop of Milan, speaking of the privilege of the beloved disciple at the Last Supper, does not hesitate to attribute the greater sub- limity of his teachings to his longer and more intimate intercourse with our Lady: ' This beloved of the Lord, who, resting on his bosom, drank from the depths of Wisdom, I am not astonished that he has explained divine mysteries better than all the others, for the treasure of heavenly secrets hidden in Mary was ever open to him.'? Happy were the faithful of those days, permitted to contemplate the ark of the covenant, wherein, better than on tables of stone, dwelt the plenitude of the law of love! At her side, the rod of the new Aaron, the sceptre of Simon Peter, kept its vigour and freshness, and under her shadow the true manna of heaven was accessible to the elect of this world's desert. Denis of Athens, Hierotheus, both of whom we shall soon see again beside this holy ark, and many others, came to the feet of Mary to rest on their journey, to strengthen their love, to consult the august propitiatory where the divinity had resided. From the lips of the Mother of God they gathered words sweeter than honey, calming their

! Rupert in Cant, i. * Aun. De Instit. Virg. vii.

<

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souls, ordering their life, filling their noble minds with the brightness of heaven. To these privileged ones of the first age might be addressed those words of the Spouse, who in these years was completing His gathering from His chosen garden: I have gathered My myrrh with My aromatical spices: I have eaten the honey- comb with My honey: I have drunk My wine with My milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, My dearly beloved *

No wonder that in Jerusalem, favoured with so august a presence, the first group of faithful rose unani- mously above the observance of the precepts to the perfection of the counsels; they persevered in prayer, praising God in gladness and simplicity of heart, having favour with all the people; and they were of one heart and one soul. This happy community could not but be an image of heaven on earth, since the Queen of heaven was a member of it; the example of her life, her all- powerful intercession, her merits more vast than all the united treasures of all created sanctities, was Mary's contribution to this blessed family where all things were common to all.

From the hill of Sion, however, the Church had spread its branches over every mountain and every sea; the vineyard of the King of Peace was extended among all nations; it was time to let it out to the keepers appointed to guard it for the Spouse. It was a solemn moment; a new phase in the history of our salvation was about to begin: Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear Thy voice? The Spouse, the Church on earth, the Church in heaven, all were waiting for her, who had tended the vine and strengthened its roots, to utter a word such as that which had heretofore brought down the Spouse to earth. But to-day heaven, not earth, was to be the gainer. Flee away, O my Beloved ? it was the voice of Mary about to follow the fragrant footsteps of the Lord her Son

! Cant. v. 1. *. Ibid. viii, 13. ? [bid 14.

--- PAGE 360 --- VIGIL OF THE ASSUMPTION 351

up to the eternal mountains whither her own perfumes had preceded her.

Let us enter into the sentiments of the Church, who prepares by the fasting and abstinence of this Vigil to celebrate the triumph of Mary. Man may not venture to join on earth in the joys of heaven, without first acknowledging that he is a sinner and a debtor to the justice of God. The light task imposed on us to-day will appear still easier if we compare it with the Lent whereby the Greeks have been preparing for our Lady's feast ever since the first of this month.

PRAYER

Deus, qui virginalem au- ^ O God, who didst vouch- lam beate Marie, in qua safe to choose for Thy habita- habitares, eligere dignatus es: tion the virginal womb of the da, quasumus; ut sua nos Blessed Mary, grant, we be- defensione munitos, jucundos seech Thee, that, defended by facias suz interesse festivitati. her protection, we may joyfully Qui vivis. assist at her festival. Who

livest, etc.

To this Collect of the Vigil let us add, with the holy liturgy, the commemoration of a holy confessor, whose imprisonment and sufferings at Rome, in the time of the Arians, made him wellnigh equal to the martyrs. As he is honoured with a church in the Eternal City, Eusebius is entitled to the homage of the whole world.

PRAYER

Deus, qui nos beati Euse- O God, who givest us joy by bii, Confessoris tui, annua the annual solemnity of the solemnitate lztificas: concede blessed Eusebius, Thy Con- propitius; ut, cujus natalitia fessor, mercifully grant that, colimus, per ejus ad te exempla celebrating his festival, we gradiamur. Per Dominum. may approach to Thee by fol-

lowing his example. Through our Lord, etc.

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AUGUST 15

“TO-DAY the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven;

rejoice, for she reigns with Christ for ever.” The Church will close her chants on this glorious day with this sweet antiphon, which resumes the object of the feast and the spirit in which it should be celebrated.

No other solemnity breathes, like this one, at once triumph and peace; none better answers totheenthusiasm of the many and the serenity of souls consummated in love. Assuredly that was as great a triumph when our Lord, rising by His own power from the tomb, cast hell into dismay; but to our souls, so abruptly drawn from the abyss of sorrows on Golgotha, the suddenness of the victory caused a sort of stupor to mingle with the joy of that greatest of days. In presence of the prostrate angels, the hesitating apostles, the women seized with fear and trembling, one felt that the divine isolation of the Conqueror of death was perceptible even to His most intimate friends, and kept them, like Magdalen, at a distance.

Mary's death, however, leaves no impression but peace; that death had no other cause than love. Being a mere creature, she could not deliver herself from that claim of the old enemy; but leaving her tomb filled with flowers, she mounts up to heaven, flowing with delights, leaning upon her Beloved? Amid the acclamations of the daughters of Sion, who will henceforth never cease to call her blessed, she ascends surrounded by choirs of heavenly spirits joyfully praising the Son of God. Never more will shadows veil, as they did on earth, the glory of the most beautiful daughter of Eve. Be- yond the immovable Thrones, beyond the dazzling

* Magnificat Ant. for 2nd Vesp. * Cant, viii. s.

--- PAGE 362 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 353

Cherubim, beyond the flaming Seraphim, onward she passes, delighting the heavenly city with her sweet perfumes. She stays not till she reaches the very con- fines of the Divinity; close to the throne of honour where her Son, the King of ages, reigns in justice and in power; there she is proclaimed Queen, there she will reign for evermore in mercy and in goodness.

Here on earth Libanus and Amana, Sanir and Hermon dispute the honour of having seen her rise to heaven from their summits; and truly the whole world is but the pedestal of her glory, as the moon is her footstool, the sun her vesture, the stars of heaven her glittering crown. ‘ Daughter of Sion, thou art all fair and sweet,” cries the Church, as in her rapture she mingles her own tender accents with the songs of triumph: ' I saw the beautiful one as a dove rising up from the brooks of waters; in her garments was the most exquisite odour; and as in the days of spring, flowers of roses surrounded her and lilies of the valley.’

The same freshness breathes from the facts of Bible history wherein the interpreters of the sacred Books see the figure of Mary's triumph. As long as this world lasts a severe law protects the entrance to the eternal palace; no one, without having first laid aside the garb of flesh, is admitted to contemplate the King of heaven. There is one, however, of our lowly race, whom the terrible decree does not touch; the true Esther, in her incredible beauty, advances without hindrance through all the doors. Full of grace, she is worthy of the love of the true Assuerus; but on the way which leads to the awful throne of the King of kings, she walks not alone: two handmaids, one supporting her steps, the other holding up the long folds of her royal robe, accompany her; they are the angelic nature and the human, both equally proud to hail her as their mistress and lady, and both sharing in her glory.

If we go back from the time of captivity, when Esther saved her people, to the days of Tusce great-

! Mag. Ant. of 1st Vesp. — rst Resp. of Matins fr, Cant. v. 12 and Eccli. l. 8.

--- PAGE 363 --- 354 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ness, we find our Lady's entrance into the city of endless peace represented by the Queen of Saba coming to the earthly Jerusalem. While she contemplates with rap- ture the magnificence of the mighty prince of Sion, the pomp of her own retinue, the incalculable riches of the treasure she brings, her precious stones and her spices, plunge the whole city into admiration. There was brought no more, says the Scripture, such abundance of spices as these which the Queen of Saba gave to King Solomon!

The reception given by David's son to Bethsabee, his mother, in the third Book of Kings, no less happily expresses the mystery of to-day, so replete with the filial love of the true Solomon. Then Bethsabee came to King Solomon . . . and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne, and a throne was set for the king's mother: and she sat on his right hand? O Lady, how exceedingly dost thou surpass all the servants and ministers and friends of God! ‘On the day when Gabriel came to my lowliness,' are the words St. Ephrem puts into thy mouth, ‘from handmaid I became Queen; and I, the slave of Thy Divinity, found myself suddenly the mother of Thy humanity, my Lord and my Son! O Son of the King who hast made me His daughter, O Thou heavenly One, who thus bringest into heaven His daughter of earth, by what name shall I call Thee ?? The Lord Christ Himself answered; the God made Man revealed to us the only name which fully expresses Him in His twofold nature; He is called THE SoN. Son of Man as He is Son of God, on earth He has only a Mother, as in heaven He has only a Father. In the august Trinity He proceeds from the Father, remaining consubstantial with Him; only distinguished from Him in that He is Son; producing together with Him, as one Principle, the Holy Ghost. In the external mission He fulfils by the Incarnation to the glory of the Blessed Trinity—communicating to His humanity the manners, so to say, of His Divinity,

! 3 Kings x. 10. * 2 Ibid. ii. 19. * EennaEM in Natal. Dom., Sermo iv.

--- PAGE 364 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 355

as far as the diversity of the two natures permits—He is in no way separated from His Mother, and would have her participate even in the giving of the Holy Ghost to every soul. This ineffable union is the foundation of all Mary's greatnesses, which are crowned by to-day's triumph. The days within the Octave will give us an opportunity of showing some of the consequences of this principle; to-day let it suffice to have laid it down.

* As Christ is the Lord, says Arnold of Bonneval, the friend of St. Bernard, ' Mary is Lady and sovereign. He who bends the knee before the Son kneels before the Mother. At the sound of her name the devils tremble, men rejoice, the angels glorify God. Mary and Christ are one flesh, one mind, and onelove. From the day when it was said, The Lord is with thee, the grace was irrevocable, the unity inseparable; and in speaking of the glory of Son and Mother, we must call it not so much a common glory as the selfsame glory.” 'O Thou, the beauty and the honour of Thy Mother,' adds the great deacon of Edessa, ' thus hast Thou adorned her in every way; together with others she is Thy sister and Thy bride, but she alone conceived Thee.'?

Rupert in his turn cries out: ‘ Come then, O most beautiful one, thou shalt be crowned in heaven Queen of saints, on earth Queen of every kingdom. Wherever it shall be said of the Beloved that He is crowned with glory and honour, and set over the works of His Father's hands, everywhere also shall they proclaim of thee, O well beloved, that thou art His Mother, and as such Queen over every domain where His power extends; and, therefore, emperors and kings shall crown thee with their crowns and consecrate their palaces to thee.”

FIRST VESPERS

Among the feasts of the saints this is the solemnity of solemnities. ' Let the mind of man,' says St. Peter Damian, ‘be occupied in declaring her magnificence;

! AnNoLD. CanNOTZNSIS, De laudibus Maria. * ErnazM in Natal. Dom., Sermo viii. * Rupznr in Cant, lib. iii, c. iv.

--- PAGE 365 --- 356 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

let his speech reflect her majesty. May the sovereign of the world deign to accept the goodwill of our lips, to aid our insufficiency, to illumine with her own light the sublimity of this day.”

It is no new thing, then, that Mary's triumph fills the hearts of Christians with enthusiasm. Before our times the Church showed by the prescriptions kept in the Corpus juris the pre-eminence she assigned to this glorious anniversary. us, under Boniface VIII, she granted to it, as to no other feast, except Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, the privilege of being celebrated with ringing of bells and the customary splendour in countries laid under interdict.?

In his instructions to the newly-converted Bul- garians, St. Nicholas I, who occupied the Apostolic See from 858 to 867, had already united these four solemnities when recommending the fasts of Lent, of the Ember days, and of the Vigils of these feasts—' Fasts,’ he says, ' which the Holy Roman Church has long since received and observed.”

We must refer to the preceding century the com- position of the celebrated discourse which, until the time of St. Pius V, furnished the Lessons for the Matins of the feast; while its thoughts, and even its text, are still found in several parts of the Office.* The author, worthy of the greatest ages for style and science, but screening himself under a false name, began thus: ‘You wish me, O Paula and Eustochium, to lay aside my usual form of treatises, and strive (a new thing to me) to celebrate in oratorical style the Assumption of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin. And the supposed St. Jerome eloquently declared the grandeur of this feast: ' Incomparable as is she who thereon ascended glorious and happy to the sanctuary of heaven: a solemnity, the admiration of the heavenly hosts, the happiness of the citizens of our true country, who, not content with ! Petr. DAM. Sermo in Assumpt. B.M.V. * Cap. Alma Mater, De sent, excommunicat. in vi^.

* MANSI, Xv. 403. * Especially the Mag. Ant. for 2nd Vesp., already quoted.

--- PAGE 366 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 357

giving it one day as we do, celebrate it unceasingly in the eternal continuity of their veneration, of their love, and of their triumphant joy.” Unfortunately a just aversion for the excesses of certain apocryphal writers led the author of this beautiful exposition of the great- ness of Mary to hesitate in his belief as to the glorious privilege of her corporal Assumption. This over-discreet prodeme was soon exaggerated in the martyrologies of suard and of Odo of Vienne.

That such a misconception of the ever-growing tradition should be found in Gaul is truly astonishing, since it was the ancient Gallican liturgy which gave to the West the explicit formula of that complete Assumption, the consequence of a divine and virginal maternity: * No pain in childbirth, no suffering in death, no dissolu- tion in the grave, for no tomb could retain her whom earth had never sullied.'?

When the first Carlovingians abandoned the Gallican liturgy, they bowed to the authority of the false St. Jerome? But the faith of the people could not be suppressed. In the thirteenth century the two princes of theology, St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, subscribed to the general belief in our Lady's anticipated resurrec- tion. Soon this belief, by reason of its universality, claimed to be the doctrine of the Church herself. In 1497 the Sorbonne severely censured all contrary pro- positions. In 1870 an earnest desire was expressed to have the doctrine defined; but the Vatican Council was unfortunately suspended too soon to complete our Lady's glorious crown. Yet the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception, of which our times can boast, gives us hope for the future. The corporal Assumption of our Lady follows naturally from that dogma as

! Pseudo-Hi&RONYMUS, De Assumpt. B.M.V., 1., virr., xiv.

* Missale Gothicum,

: Pa SAS ELM la sene QUE DM HANDS Servat Shen: + + « De Assum; S Maris inter du quimus. Capitulare CARoL1 MAGNI, 1. 158;

cui pro festo admittendo responsum a Lupovico Pro, capit. 11., 33, ex can. xxxvi

concilii Mogunt. anni 813.

L Persis I. Morcelli: Non tenemur credere sub pana peccati mortalis quod Virgo fuit assumpla in corpore et anima, quia nom est articulus fidei ; qualificatur: Ut ume temeraria, dalosa, impia, devotionis populi ad Virginem diminutiva, falsa ef hare- lica ; ideo revocanda ice.

--- PAGE 367 --- 358 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

its necessary result. Mary, having known nothing of ‘original sin, contracted no debt with death, the punish- ment of that sin; she freely chose to die in order to be conformable to her Divine Son; and, as the Holy One of God, so the holy one of His Christ could not suffer the corruption of the tomb.

If certain ancient calendars give to this feast the title of Sleep or Repose, Dormitio or Pausatio, of the Blessed Virgin, we cannot thence conclude that at the time they were composed the feast had no other object than Mary’s holy death; the Greeks, from whom we have the expression, have always included in the solemnity the glorious triumph that followed her death. The same is to be said of the Syrians, Chaldeans, Copts, and Armenians.

Among the last named, according to the custom of arranging their feasts by the day of the week rather than the date of the month, the Assumption is fixed for the Sunday which occurs between August 12 and 18. It is preceded by a week of fasting, and gives its name to the series of Sundays following it, up to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September.

At Rome the Assumption or Dormitio of the holy Mother of God appears in the seventh century to have already been celebrated for an indefinite length of time;! nor does it seem to have had any other day than August I5. According to Nicephorus istus,? the same date was assigned to it for Constantinople by the Emperor Maurice at the end of the sixth century. The historian notes, at the same time, the origin of several other solemnities, while of the Dormitio alone, he does not say that it was established by Maurice on such a day; hence learned authors have concluded that the feast itself already existed before the imperial decree was issued, which was thus only intended to put an end to its being celebrated on various days.?

At that very time, far away from Byzantium, the

! Liber pontific.: in Sergio I

* NicePR. CALL. Hist. Eccli., Liber xvil., cap. 28. * BENEDICT XIV de festis B.M.V., c. viii.

--- PAGE 368 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 3 NX

Merovingian Franks celebrated the glorification of ou. Lady on January 18, with all the plenitude of doctrine we have mentioned above. However the choice of this day may be accounted for, it is remarkable that to this very time the Copts on the borders of the Nile announce in their synaxaria on the 21st of the month of Tobi, our January 28, the repose of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and the Assumption of her body into heaven, they, however, repeat the announcement on Mesori 16, or August 21, and on the 1st of this same month of Mesori they begin their Lent of the Mother of God, lasting a fortnight like that of the Greeks.!

Some authors think that the Assumption has been kept from apostolic times; but the silence of the primi- tive liturgical documents is not in favour of the opinion. The hesitation as to the date of its celebration, and the liberty so long allowed with regard to it, point rather to the spontaneous initiative of divers Churches, owing to some fact attracting attention to the mystery or throwing some light upon it. Of this nature we may reckon the account everywhere spread abroad about the year 451. in which Juvenal of Jerusalem related to the Empress St. Pulcheria and her husband Marcian the history of the tomb which was empty of its precious deposit, and which the apostles had prepared for our Lady at the foot of Mount Olivet. The following words of St. Andrew of Crete in the seventh century show how the new solemnity gained ground in consequence of such circumstances. The saint was born at Damascus, became a monk at Jerusalem, was afterwards deacon at Constantinople, and lastly bishop of the celebrated island from which he takes his name; no one then could speak for the East with better authority. ' The pest solemnity,' he says, ' is full of mystery, having or its object to celebrate the day whereon the Mother of God fell asleep; this solemnity is too elevated for any discourse to reach; by some this mystery has not always been celebrated, but now all love and honour it. Silence

! Nilles, Kalendarum utri Eccl, orientalis et occidentalis,

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long preceded speech, but now love divulges the secret. The gift of God must be manifested, not buried; we must show it forth, not as recently discovered, but as having recovered its splendour. Some of those who lived before us knew it but imperfectly: that is no reason for always keeping silence about it; it has not become altogether obscured; let us proclaim it and keep a feast. To-day let the inhabitants of heaven and of earth be united, let the joy of angels and men be one, let every tongue exult and sing Hail to the Mother of God.”

Let us, too, do honour to the gift of God; let us be grateful to the Church for having given us this feast whereon to sing with the angels the glory of Mary.

The Psalms and Hymn of Vespers are the same as for the other feasts of our Lady. The Antiphons, Capitulum, and Versicle gracefully express the mystery of the day.

1. ANT. Assumpta est Ma- I. ANT. Mary is taken up ria in celum; gaudent angeli, into heaven; the angels re- laudantes benedicunt Domi- joice, and praising bless the num. Lord.

Ps. Dixit Dominus, page 35

2. ANT. Maria Virgo as- 2. ANT. The Virgin Mary sumpta est ad athereum tha- is taken up into the heavenly lamum, in quo Rex regum dwelling where the King of stellato sedet solio. kings sits on His starry throne.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39

3. ANT. In odorem unguen- 3. ANT. We run after Thee torum tuorum currimus: ado- to the odour of Thy ointments: lescentule dilexerunt te nimis. young maidens have loved

Thee exceedingly.

PsALM 121

.Letatus sum in his quae I rejoiced at the things that dicta sunt mihi: * In domum were said to me: We shall go Domini ibimus. into the house of the Lord.

! ANDR. Crt. Oratio xiii, in Dormitionem Deipara, ii.

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Stantes erant pedes nostri: * in atriis tuis, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem qua adificatur ut civitas: * cujus participatio ejus in idipsum.

Illuc enim ascenderunt tri- bus, tribus Domini: * testi- monium Israel ad confitendum Nomini Domini.

Quia illic sederunt sedes in judicio: * sedes super domum David.

Rogate qua ad pacem sunt Jerusalem: * et abundantia diligentibus te.

Fiat pax in virtute tua: * et abundantia in turribus tuis.

Propter fratres meos et proxi-
ros meos: * loquebar pacem e te.

Propter domum Domini Dei nostri: * quasivi bona tibi.

4. ANT. Benedicta filia tu a

Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem! our heart loves and confides in thee, O Mary.

Mary is like to Jerusalem, that is built as a city, which is compact together.

For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.

Because seats sat there in Judgment: seats upon the house of David; and Mary is of a kingly race.

Pray ye, through Mary, for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and may abundance be on them that love thee, O Church of our God.

The voice of Mary: let peace be in thy strength, O thou mew Sion, and abund- ance in thy towers.

I, a ge, amd of Israel, for the sake of my brethren and of my neighbours, spoke peace of thee.

Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for thee.

4. ANT. Daughter of Sion,

Domino: quia per te fructum thou art bl of the Lord: vite communicavimus. for by thee we have partaken of the fruit of life. PsarM 126

Nisi Dominus adificaverit
domum: * in vanum labora- verunt qui zdificant eam.

Nisi Dominus custodierit ci-
vitatem: * frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.

Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere: * surgite postquam

Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it.

It is vain for you to rise before light; rise ye after

24

--- PAGE 371 --- 362

sederitis, qui manducatis pa nem doloris.

Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum: * ecce hereditas Domini, filii, merces, fructus ventris.

Sicut sagittz in manu po- tentis: * ita filii excussorum.

Beatus vir qui implevit de- siderium suum ex ipsis: * non confundetur cum loquetur ini- micis suis in porta.

5. ANT. Pulchra es et de- cora, filia Jerusalem, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

you have sitten, you that eat of the bread of sorrow.

When He shall give sleep to His beloved: behold the in- heritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb.

As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.

Blessed is the man that hath filled his desire with them; he shall not be con- founded when he shall speak to his enemies at the gate.

5. ANT. Thou art beautiful and comely, O daughter of Jerusalem, terrible as an army set in array.

Psalm 147

Lauda, Jerusalem, Domi- num: * lauda Deum tuum, Sion. !

Quoniam confortavit seras ortarum tuarum: * benedixit liis tuis in te.

Qui posuit fines tuos pacem: * et adipe frumenti satiat te.

Qui emittit eloquium suum terre: * velociter currit sermo ejus.

Qui dat nivem sicut lanam: * nebulam sicut cinerem spar-

it. Mittit crystallum suam sicut buccellas: * ante faciem fri- goris ejus quis sustinebit ?

Emittet Verbum suum, et liquefaciet ea: *flabit Spiritus ejus, et fluent aqua.

Praise the Lord, O Mary, thou true Jerusalem: O Mary, O Sion ever holy, praise thy God

Because he hath strength- ened against sim the bolts of thy gates: he hath blessed thy children within thee.

Who hath placed peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the fat of corn, with Jesus, who is the Bread of life.

Who sendeth forth by thee His Word to the earth; His Word runneth swiftly.

Who giveth snow like wool; scattereth mists like ashes.

He sendeth His crystal like morsels: who shall stand be- fore the face of His cold ?

He shall send forth His Word by Mary, and shall melt them: His Spirit shall breathe, and the waters shall run.

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Qui annuntiat Verbum suum Jacob: * justitias, et judicia sua Israel.

Non fecit taliter omni na- tioni: * et judicia sua non manifestavit eis.

Who declareth His Word to Jacob: His justices and His judgments to Israel.

He hath not done in like manner to every nation; and His judgments He hath not made manifest to them.

CAPITULUM (Eccli. xxiv.).

In omnibus requiem qua- sivi, et in hereditate Domini morabor. Tunc precepit, et dixit mihi Creator omnium: et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo.

In all things I sought rest, and I shall abide in the in- heritance of the Lord. Then the Creator of all things com- manded and said to me: and He that made me rested in my tabernacle.

HYMN

Ave, Maris Stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper Virgo, Felix cceli porta.

Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore, Funda nos in pace, Mutans Eva nomen.

Solve vincla reis, Profer lumen czcis, Mala nostra pelle, Bona cuncta posce.

Monstra te esse Matrem, Sumat per te preces, Qui, pro nobis natus, Tulit esse tuus.

Virgo singularis,

Inter omnes mitis, Nos culpis solutos, Mites fac et castos.

Vitam prasta puram, Iter para tutum,

Hail, Star of the Sea ! sed Mother of God, yet ever a Virgin! O happy gate of heaven !

Thou that didst receive the Ave from Gabriel's lips, con- firm us in e, and so let Eva be changed into am Ave of blessing for us.

Loose the sinner's chains, bring light to the blind, drive from us our evils, and ask all good things for us. Show thyself a Mother, and offer our prayers to Him who would be born of thee when born for us.

Bles-

[6] erg giga Virgin and meekest of the meek, obtain us the forgiveness of our sins, and make us meek and chaste.

Obtain us purity of life and a safe pleine: that we

--- PAGE 373 --- 364

Ut videntes Jesum, Semper collztemur.

Sit laus Deo Patri,

Summo Christo decus,

Spiritui Sancto,

Tribus honor unus. Amen.

Y. Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix.

Ry. Super choros angelorum ad coelestia regna.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

may be united with thee in the blissful vision of Jesus.

Praise be to God the Father, and to the Lord Jesus, and to the Holy Ghost: to the Three one self-same praise.

Amen.

Y. The holy Mother of God has been exalted.

Hy. Above the choirs of angels to the heavenly king- dom.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Virgo prudentissima, quo progrederis, quasi aurora valde rutilans ? Filia Sion, tota for- mosa et suavis es, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol.

Virgin most prudent, whither oest thou, like to the rosy awn? Daughter of Sion, all

beautiful and sweet art thou, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun.

PRAYER

Famulorum tuorum, quasu- mus Domine, delictis ignosce:
ut qui tibi placere de actibus nostris non valemus, Genitricis Filii tui Domini nostri inter- cessionesalvemur. Quitecum.

Pardon, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the sins of Thy servants; that we, who are not able to please Thee by our deeds, may be saved by the intercession of the Mother of Thy Son. Who lives, etc.

‘ When the time came for the Blessed Mary to leave

this earth, the apostles were gathered together from all lands; and, having learnt that the hour was at hand, they watched with her. Now the Lord Jesus came with His angels and received her soul. In the morning the apostles took up her body and placed it in the tomb. And again the Lad came, and the holy body was taken up in a cloud.”

To this testimony of Gregory of Tours the whole West and East respond, extolling ‘the solemnity of

! Greo. Turon. De gloria Martyr., iv.

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the blessed night whereon the venerated Virgin made her entry into heaven.” ‘What a brilliant light ierces the darkness’ of this night, says St. John amascene;? and he goes on to describe the assembly of the faithful, eagerly pressing during the sacred night to hear the praises of the Mother of God.?

How could Rome, so devout to Mary, allow herself to be outdone ? On the testimony of St. Peter Damian, the whole people spent the glorious night in prayer, singing and visiting the different churches; and, accord- ing to several privileged persons enlightened from above, still greater, at that blessed hour, was the number of souls delivered from Purgatory by the Queen of the universe, and all visiting likewise the sanctuaries con- secrated to her name. But the most imposing of all demonstrations in the city was the memorable litany or procession, which dates back to the Pontificate of St. Sergius (687-701); up to the second half of the sixteenth century it continued to express, as Rome alone knows how, the august visit our Lady received from her Son at the solemn moment of her departure from this world.

Two principal sanctuaries in the Eternal City repre- sent, as it were, the residences or palaces of Mother and Son: the basilica of our Saviour on the Lateran and that of St. Mary on the Esquiline. As the latter rejoices in possessing the picture of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke, the Lateran preserves in a special oratory, holy of holies, the picture not made by hand of man representing the form of our Saviour upon cedar-wood.* On the morning of the Vigil the Sovereign Pontiff, accompanied by the Cardinals, went barefoot, and, after seven genuflections, uncovered the picture of the Virgin's Son. In the evening, while the bell of Ara celi gave from the Capitol the signal for the preparations prescribed

! Inter o HirpErows: Torer. De Assumptione D.M.V., Sermo iv.

* Joan. Damasc. in Dormitionem B.M.V., Homilia 1.

* Ibid., Homilia iii.

* Petr. Dam. Opusc. xxxiv. Disputat. De variis apparit. et miraculis, Cap. 3.

* Liber Pontific. in Sergio I. * Imago SS. Salvatoris acheropita, qua servatur in oratorio dicto Sancta Sanctorum.

--- PAGE 375 --- 366 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

= the city magistrates, the Lord Pope went to St. Mary ajor, where, surrounded by his court, he celebrated First Vespers. At the beginning of the night the Matins with nine lessons were chanted in the same church.

Meanwhile an ever-growing crowd gathers on the piazza of the Lateran, awaiting the Pontiff's return. From all sides appear the various guilds of the arts and crafts, each led by its own head and taking up its appointed position. Around the picture of the Saviour, within the sanctuary, stand the twelve bearers who form its perpetual guard, all members of the most illustrious families, and near them are the representa- tives of the senate and of the Roman people.

But the signal is given that the papal retinue is re- descending the Esquiline. Instantly lighted torches glitter on all sides, either held in the hand, or carried on the brancards of the corporations. Assisted by the deacons, the Cardinals raise on their shoulders the holy image, which advances under a canopy, escorted in perfect order by the immense multitude. Along the illuminated and decorated streets! amid the singing of psalms and the sound of instruments, the procession reaches the ancient Triumphal Way, winds round the Coliseum, and, passing through the arches of Constan- tine and Titus, halts for a first Station on the Via Sacra, before the church called St. Mary Minor or Nuova? In this church, while the second Matins with three lessons are being chanted in honour of the Mother, some priests wash, with scented water in a silver basin, the feet of her Son, our Lord, and then sprinkle the people with the water thus sanctified. Then the venerable picture sets out once more, crosses the Forum amidst acclama- tions, and reaches the church of St. Adrian; thence returning to mount the slopes of the Esquiline by the streets where lie the churches of that part—St. Peter- ad-Vincula, St. Lucy, St. Martin-on-the-hill, St. Prax- edes—it at last enters the piazza of St. Mary Major.

! Hirrowre. Ordo Rom. * Now St. Frances of Rome.

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Then the delight and the applause of the crowd are redoubled; all, men and women, great and little, as we read in a document of 1462,! forgetting the fatigue of a whole night spent without sleep, cease not till morning to visit and venerate our Lord and Mary. In this glorious basilica, adorned as a bride, the glorious Office of Lauds celebrates the meeting of the Son and the Mother and their union for all eternity.

Striking miracles often showed the divine pleasure in this manifestation of the people’s faith and love. Peter the Venerable? and other reliable witnesses® mention the prodigy, annually renewed, of the torches burning throughout the whole night, and being found on the morrow to be of the same weight as on the eve. In the year 847, as the procession headed by St. Leo IV passed by the Church of St. Lucy, a monstrous serpent, which had lived in a cavern hard by to the continual terror of the inhabitants, took to flight and was never seen again. In gratitude for this deliver- ance an octave was added to the feast. Four centuries later, in the pontificate of the heroic Gregory IX, when the sacred cortége stopped according to custom before the church of St. Mary Nuova, the partisans of the excommunicated Frederick II, occupying the tower of the Frangipani not far off, began to cry out: ‘ Here is the Saviour, let the Emperor come!” when suddenly the tower fell to the ground, crushing them under its ruins.*

But let us return to the great basilica where other recollections invite us. On another night we joyfully celebrated within its walls the birth of our Emmanuel. How ineffable are the divine harmonies | At the same hour, when for the first time Mary had pressed to her heart the Infant God in the stable, she herself now awakes in the arms of her Well-Beloved at the very height of heaven. The Church, who reads during this month the Books of Divine Wisdom, did well to select for to-night the Canticle of Canticles.

* Archivio della C ia di Sancta Sanclorum.

! Pere. VENERAS. De miraculis, 11. xxx. * ManaxGONI, Istoria dell’ Oratorio di Suncta Sanctorum, p. 127. * Liber Pontific. in. Leone IV * RAYNALD. ad an. 1239.

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The Bishop of Meaux thus describes this death: * The Most Holy Virgin gave up her soul without pain and without violence into the hands of her Son. It was not necessary for her love to exert itself by any extraordinary emotions. As the slightest shock causes the fully ripe fruit to drop down from the tree, so was this Praet s soul culled, to be suddenly transported to heaven; thus the holy Virgin died by a movement of divine love: her soul was carried to heaven on a cloud of sacred desires. Therefore the holy angels said: Who is she that goeth up . . . as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense?” —a beautiful and excellent comparison admirably explaining the manner of her happy, tranquil death, The fragrant smoke that we see rising up from a composition of perfumes is not extracted by force nor propelled by violence: a gentle, tempered heat delicately detaches it and turns it into a subtle vapour which rises of its own accord. Thus was the soul of the holy Virgin separated from her body: the foundations were not shaken by a violent con- cussion; a divine heat detached it gently from the body and raised it up to its Beloved.?

For a few hours that sacred body remained in our world, ' the treasure of the earth, soon to become the wonder of the heavens.” Who could tell the sentiments of the august persons gathered by our Lord around His Mother, to render her in His name the last duties? An illustrious witness, Denis of Athens, reminded Timothy, who had been there present with him, of the discourses which, coming from hearts filled with the Holy Ghost, rose up as so many hymns to the Almighty Goodness, whereby our littleness had been divinized. There was James, the brother of the Lord, and Peter, the leader of the choir, and the Pontiffs of the Sacred College, and all the brethren who had come to contemplate the body which had given us life and had borne God; above them all, after the apostles, did Hierotheus distinguish

1 Cant. iii. 6. * Bossuert, First Sermon on the Assumption.

* Dow GuÉRANGER, Essai historique sur l'abbaye de Solesmes, suivi de la descri tion de l'église abbatiale, avec l' plicati des monuments qu'elle renferme, p. "ra

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himself; for being ravished far from earth and from him- self, he seemed to all like a divine cantor.

But this assembly of men, in whom reigned the light of God, understood that they must carry out to the end the desires of her who even in death was still the humblest of creatures. Carried by the apostles, escorted by the angels of heaven and the saints of earth, the virginal body was borne from Sion to the valley of Gethsemani, where so often since that bleeding Agony our Lady had returned either in body or in heart. For a last time ' Peter, joining his venerable hands, gazed attentively at the almost divine features of the Mother of our Saviour; his glance, full of faith, sought to dis- cover through the shades of death some rays of the glory wherewith the Queen of heaven was already shining’ John, her adopted son, cast one long, last, sorrowful look upon the Virgin's countenance, so calm and so sweet. The tomb was closed; earth was deprived for ever of the sight of which it was unworthy.

More fortunate than men, the angels, whose gaze could penetrate the marble monument, watched beside the tomb. They continued their songs until, after three days, the most holy soul of the Mother of God came down to take up her sacred body; then leaving the grave, they accompanied her to heaven. Let us too, then, have our hearts on high! Let us to-day forget our exile to rejoice in Mary's triumph; and let us learn to follow her by the odour of her sweet perfumes.

Let us make our own this ancient formula which was said at Rome over the assembled people, when about to start on the solemn litany we have described above.

PRAYER

Veneranda nobis, Domine, It behoves us to honour, O
hujus est diei festivitas, in Lord, the solemnity of this qua sancta Dei Genitrix mor- day, whereon the holy Mother tem subiit temporalem; nec of God suffered temporal death;

! DioNys. AgzoPAGIT. De divinis nominibus, cap. ili., $ ii. * Dox Gu£&nANGER, ubi supra.

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tamen mortis nexibus deprimi yet she could not be held by potuit, qua Filium tuum Do- the bonds of death, who of her minum nostrum de se genuit own flesh brought forth our incarnatum. Qui tecum. Lord, Thy Son, incarnate. Who

liveth and reigneth with Thee.

MASS

Who is this King of glory ? asked the keepers of the eternal gates on the day of Emmanuel's triumphant Ascension. Their question is twice repeated in the Psalm,! and a third time in Isaias, who cries out in the name of the heavenly citizens: Who ts this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful one $n His robe, walking $n the greatness of His strength 7 In like manner do the angelic princes thrice express their admiration of the Virgin Mother. It is the sacred Canticle that tells us so. Who $s she that cometh forth as the morning rising 7 This first question, as St. Peter Damian says, refers to Mary's birth, which put an end to the night of sin.

Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices? This is the expression of the angel's astonishment at the Virgin's incomparable life, with its uninterrupted progress in all the virtues, like the sweet smoke rising from the incense.

Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved ?* Such, in the sight of the angels, was Mary rising from her tomb. She had fulfilled her mission, accomplished the prophecy, crushed the head of the serpent. The blessed spirits who accompanied her cried out to the guardians of the heavenly ramparts, in the words of the trium- phant Psalm: ' Open your gates!’ So Judith, a type of Mary returning victorious, had cried: Open the gates, for God is with us, who hath shown His power in Israel? The eternal gates were lifted up, and all the inhabitants of heaven, from the least to the greatest, went forth to

1 Ps. xxiii. 8, ro. * Isa, Ixiif. 1. Cant. vi. 5 * Ibid. iii. 6. *. [bid. viii. 5. * Judith xiii. 13.

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meet the second Judith coming up from earth’s lowly valley; and they rejoiced with far greater exultation than did Israel when David brought the figurative ark into the holy city.

Let us echo heaven's joy, and with our solemn Introit as a triumphal march, usher Mary into the true Jerusa- lem. The verse is taken from the forty-fourth Psalm, the Epithalamium, thus linking the chants of the holy Sacrifice with last night's lessons from the sacred Canticle.

INTROIT

Gaudeamus omnes in Do- Let us all rejoice in the Lord, mino, diem festum celebran- celebrating a festival day in

tes sub honore beate Mariae Virginis: de cujus assump- tione gaudent angeli, et col- laudant Filium Dei.

Ps. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi. Y. Gloria Patri. Gaudeamus.

honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for whose Assumption the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God.

Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Y. Glory, etc. Let us all.

The following prayer asks for pardon and salvation

through the intercession of the Mother of God. Its apparent want of harmony with the mystery of the feast might surprise us, did we not remember that it is only the second Collect for the day, in the Sacramentary; the first, which we have given above, said over the faith- ful at the beginning of the assembly, expressly declares that Mary could not be held by the bonds of death.

COLLECT

Pardon, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the sins of Thy servants; that we, who are not able to

Famulorum tuorum, quz- sumus Domine, delictis ig-
nosce; ut, qui tibi placere de

actibus nostris non valemus, Genitricis Filii tui Domini nostri intercessione salvemur. Qui tecum.

lease Thee by our deeds, may

saved by the intercession of the Mother of Thy Son. Who liveth, etc.

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EPISTLE

Lectio libri Sapientiz.

Eccli. xxiv.

In omnibus requiem Qqua- sivi, et in hereditate Domini morabor. Tunc precepit, et dixit mihi Creator omnium: et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo, et dixit mihi: In Jacob inhabita, et in Israel hereditare, et in electis meis mitte radices. Et sic in Sion firmata sum, et in civitate sanctificata similiter requievi, et in Jerusalem potestas mea. Et radicavi in populo honori- ficato, et in parte Dei mei hereditas illius, et in plenitu- dine sanctorum detentio mea. PM cedrus exaltata sum in

ibano, et quasi cypressus in monte Sion. Quasi palma exal- tata sum in Cades, et quasi plantatio rose in Jericho. Quasi oliva speciosa in campis, et quasi platanus exaltata sum juxta aquam in plateis. Sicut cinnamomum, et balsamum aro- matizans odorem dedi: quasi myrrha electa dedi suavitatem odoris.

Lesson from the Book of

Eccli. xxiv.

In all things I sought rest, and I shall abide in the in- heritance of the Lord. Then the Creator of all things com- manded, and said to me; and He that made me rested in my tabernacle. And He said to me: Let thy dwelling be in

acob, and thy inheritance in

srael, and take root in My elect. And so was I estab- lished in Sion, and in the Holy City likewise I rested, and my wer was in Jerusalem: and took Too in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God His fuheitencs, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints. I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress-tree on Mount Sion: I was exalted like a palm-tree in Cades, and as a rose-plant in Jericho: as a fair olive-tree in the plains, and as a plane- tree by the water in the streets was I exalted. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aro- matic balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh.

The Epistle we have just read is closely connected with the Gospel that is to follow. The rest that Mary sought is the better part, the repose of the soul in the presence of the King of Peace; and when a soul is thus full of peace, she forms the choicest part of her Lord's inheritance. No creature has attained so nearly as our Lady to the eternal, unchangeable peace of the ever- tranquil Trinity; hence no other has merited to become, in the same degree, the resting-place of God.

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A soul occupied by active works cannot attain the perfection or the fruitfulness of one in whom our Lord takes His rest, because she is at rest in Him; for this is the nuptial rest. As the Psalm says: ' When the Lord shall give sleep to His beloved, then shall their fruit be seen.’

Let us, then, who became Mary’s children on the day the Lord first rested in her tabernacle, understand these magnificent expressions of eternal Wisdom; for they reveal to us the glory of her triumph. The branch that sprang from the stock of Jesse bears the divine Flower on which rests the fulness of the Holy Ghost; but it has taken root also in the elect, into whose branches it passes the heavenly sap which transforms them and divinizes their fruit. These fruits of Jacob and of Israel—i.e., the works of the ordinary Christian life or of the life of perfection—belong pred Bia to our Blessed Mother. Rightly, then, does Mary enter to-day upon her unending rest in the eternal Sion—the true holy city and glorified people—the Lord's inheritance. Her power will be established in Jerusalem, and the saints will for ever acknowledge that they owe to her the ful- ness of their perfection.

But the plenitude of Mary's personal merits far sur- passes that of all the saints together. As the cedar of Libanus towers above the flowers of the field, far more does our Lady’s sanctity, next to that of her divine Son, surpass the sanctity of every other creature. The Angelic Doctor says: ‘ The trees to which the Blessed Virgin is compared in this Epistle may be taken to repre- sent the different orders of the blessed. This passage therefore means that Mary has been exalted above the angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, con- fessors, virgins, and all the saints, because she possesses all their merits united in her single person.”

The Gradual is taken, as was the verse of the Introit, from the 44th Psalm. In it we sing those perfections of the Bride that have caused the King of kings to call

* Tuom. AQuin. Sermo in Assumpt. B.M.V.

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TIME AFTER PENTECOST

her to Himself. The Alleluia verse tells us how the angelic army hailed the entrance of its Queen.

GRADUAL

Propter veritatem, et man- suetudinem, et justitiam, et deducet te mirabiliter dextera tua.

Y. Audi filia, et vide, et inclina aurem tuam: quia con- cupivit Rex iem tuam.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Assumpta est Maria in colum, gaudet exercitus An- gelorum. Alleluia.

Because of truth, and meek- ness, and justice, and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.

Y. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: for the King hath greatly desired thy beauty.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Mary is assumed into. heaven: the host of angels rejoiceth. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Sequentia sancti Evangelii
secundum Lucam.

Cap. x. In illo POBRE: Intravit Jesus in quod castellum:

et mulier quedam Martha no- mine excepit illum in domum suam, et huic erat soror no- mine Maria, quz etiam sedens secus pedes Domini audiebat verbum illius. Martha autem satagebat circa frequens minis- terium: quz stetit, et ait: Domine, non est tibi curz quod
soror mea reliquit me solam ministrare ? dic ergo illi ut me adjuvet. Et respondens dixit illi Dominus: Martha, Martha,
sollicita es, et turbaris erga

urima. Porro unum est ne- cessarium. Maria optimam partem elegit, qua non aufere- tur ab ea.

Sequel of the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

Ch. x.

At that time, Jesus entered into a certain town; and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house: and she had a sister called Mary, who, sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving: who stood and said, Lord, hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me. And the Lord answering said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: but one

gis necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which sll not be taken away from er.

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To this Gospel the Roman Liturgy! formerly added, as the Greek and the Mozarabic still add, the following verses from another chapter of St. Luke: As He spoke these things a certain woman from the crowd lifting up her voice said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep 1?

The words thus added turned the people's thoughts towards our Lady; still the episode of Martha and Mary in the Gospel of the day remained unexplained. We will use the words of St. Bruno of Asti to express the reason tradition gives for the choice of this Gospel. ' These two women,’ he says, ' are the leaders of the army of the Church, and-all the faithful follow them. Some walk in Martha's footsteps, others in Mary's; but no one can reach our heavenly fatherland unless he follows one or the other. Rightly, then, have our fathers ordained that this Gospel should be read on the principal feast of our Lady, for she is signified by these two sisters. For no other creature combined the privileges of both lives, active and contemplative, as did the Blessed Virgin. Like Martha she received Christ—yea, she did more than Martha, for she received Him not only into her house, but into her womb. She conceived Him, gave Him birth, carried Him in her arms, and ministered to Him more frequently than did Martha. On the other hand, she listened, ke Mary, to His words, and kept them for our sake, pondering them in her heart. She contemplated His humanity, and penetrated more deeply than all others into His Divinity. She chose the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

‘He,’ continues St. Bernard, ‘ whom she received at His entrance into this poor world, receives her to-day at the gate of the Holy City. No spot on earth so worthy of the Son of God as the Virgin's womb: no throne in heaven so y that whereon the Son of Mary places her in return. at a reception each gave to the other !

! TnoxasrI Capitulare Ev. lorum. * St. Luke xi. 27, 28, * Bnauxo Ast. Homil. cxvií. in Assumpt. S.M.V.

--- PAGE 385 --- 376 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

It is beyond the power of expression, because beyond the e of our thought. Who shall declare the genera- tion of the Son and the Assumption of the Mother ?"*

In honour of both Mother and Son, let us put this lesson of the Gospel into practice in our lives. When our soul is troubled, like Martha, or distracted with many anxieties, let us always remember, as Mary did, that there is but one thing necessary. Our Lord alone, either in Himself or in His members, should be the one object of our thoughts.

Every human thing is of more or less importance in proportion to its relation to God's glory; we should value everything in this proportion, and then the grace of God which surpasseth all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

To-day the Church on earth, represented by Martha, complains that she has been left alone to struggle and labour; but our Lord defends Mary, and confirms her in her choice of the better part. The angels are keeping a great feast in heaven; the offertory once more tells of their joy.

OFFERTORY

We must not allow anything like regret or envy to cast a shadow over our hearts. Mary has finished her pilgrimage and left our earth; but now that she has entered into her glory, she still prays for us. So says the Secret.

SECRET

Subveniat, Domine, plebi May the prayer of the Mother
tue Dei Genitricis oratio: quam of God assist Thy people, O etsi pro conditione carnis mi- Lord; though we know her grasse cognoscimus, in ccelesti to have passed out of this

! BERN. in Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo i.

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gloria apud te pro nobis inter- cedere sentiamus. Per eum- dem.

world, may we experience her intercession for us with Thee in- the glory of heaven. Through the same Lord, etc.

PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, equum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipo-
tens, eterne Deus: Et te in
Assumptione beata Mariz sem- per Virginis collaudare, bene- dicere et pradicare. ie et Unigenitum tuum Sancti Spiri- tus obumbratione concepit, et virginitatis gloria permanente, lumen zternum mundo effudit, Jesum Christum Dominum no- strum. Per quem majestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt Potes- tates; Coeli colorumque Vir- tutes, ac beata Seraphim, so- cia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas deprecamur, supplici confessione dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salva- tion, that we should always and in all places give thanks to Thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God: and that we should praise, bless and glorify Thee on the As- sumption of the blessed Mary ever a Virgin, who by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost conceived Thy only be- gotten Son, and the glory of her Virginity still remain- ing, brought forth to the world the Eternal Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. By whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the Dominations adore it, the Powers tremble before it; the heavens and the heavenly Vir- tues, and the blessed Sera- phim with common jubilee glorify it. Together with whom we beseech Thee that we may be admitted to join our humble voices, saying: Holy ! Holy | Holy ! If you loved Me, said our Lord to His disciples when

about to leave them, you would indeed be glad because I go to the Father. Let us who love our Lady be glad because she goes to her Son, and as we sing in the Com- munion anthem, the better part is hers for ever.

COMMUNION

timam partem elegit sibi Mah: quae non auferetur ab ea in eternum,

Mary hath chosen for her- self the best part: which shall not be taken from her for ever.

25

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The sacred Bread, for which we are indebted to Mary, remains always with us. May it, through her inter- cession, preserve us from all evils !

POSTCOMMUNION

Mensa ccelestis participes Having been made partakers effecti, imploramus clementiam of a heavenly banquet, we tuam, Domine Deus noster; ut, implore Thy mercy, O Lord
qui Assumptionem Dei Geni- our God: that we who cele- tricis colimus, a cunctis malis brate the Assumption of the imminentibus, ejus intercessio- Mother of God, may by her neliberemur. Per eumdem. intercession be delivered from

all threatening evils. Through the same Lord, etc.

SECOND VESPERS

The antiphons, psalms, capitulum, hymn, and versicle are the same as at First Vespers, page 360.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Hodie Maria Virgo coelos This day the Virgin Mary ascendit: gaudete, quia cum went up to heaven: rejoice Christo regnat in eternum. that she reigneth for ever with

Christ.

In all the churches of France there takes place to-day the solemn procession which was instituted in memory of the vow whereby Louis XIII dedicated the most Christian Kingdom to the Blessed Virgin.

By letters given at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Febru- ary IO, 1638, the pious king consecrated to Mary his person, his kingdom, his crown, and his people. Then he continued: ‘ We command the Archbishop of Paris to make a commemoration every year, on the Feast of the Assumption, of this decree at the High Mass in his cathedral; and after Vespers on the said day let there be a procession in the said church, at which the royal associations and the corporation shall assist, with the same ceremonies as in the most solemn ‘processions.

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We wish the same to be done also in all churches, whether parochial or monastic, in the said town and its suburbs, and in all the towns, hamlets, and villages of the said diocese of Paris. Moreover, we exhort and command all the archbishops and bishops of our kingdom to have Mass solemnly celebrated in their cathedrals and in all churches in their dioceses; and we wish the Parliaments and other royal associations and the principal municipal officers to be present at the ceremony. We exhort the said archbishops and bishops to admonish all our people to have a special devotion to the holy Virgin, and on this day to implore her protection, so that our Kingdom may be guarded by so powerful a patroness from all attacks of its enemies, and may enjoy good and lasting peace; and that God may be so well served and honoured therein, that both we and our subjects may be enabled happily to attain the end for which we were created; for such is our pleasure !'

Thus was France again proclaimed Mary's king- dom. Within a month after the first celebration of the feast, according to the royal prescriptions, the Queen, after twenty years' barrenness, gave birth on September 5, 1638, to Louis XIV. This prince also consecrated his crown and sceptre to Mary. The Assumption, then, will always be the national feast of France, except for those of her. sons who celebrate the anniversaries of revolutions and assassinations.

The following are the special prayers said every year, until the fall of the monarchy, in fulfilment of the

vow of Louis XIII. We give the original text of the Collect :

ANTIPHON

Sub tuum presidium con- We fly to thy patronage, O fugimus, sancta Dei Genitrix: holy Mother of God! despise nostras deprecationes ne de- not our petitions in our neces- spicias in necessitatibus; sed sities, but deliver us from all a periculis cunctis libera nos dangers, O ever glorious and suu, Virgo gloriosa et bene- Blessed Virgin.

cta.

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Y. Deus judicium tuum regi
da, et justitiam tuam filio regis.

Ry. Judicare populum tu- um in justitia, et pauperes tuos in judicio.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

y. Give to the king Thy judgment, O God; and to the king's son Thy justice.

Ry. To judge Thy people with justice: and Thy poor with judgment.

PRAYER

Deus, regum et regnorum
rex, moderator et custos, qui Unigenitum Filium tuum, Bea- tissima Virginis Marie filium, et ei subjectum esse voluisti, famuli tui christianissimi Fran- corum regis, fidelis populi et totius regni sui vota, secundo favore prosequere, et qui ejus- dem se Virginis imperio manci- pant, et ipsius servituti devota sponsione consecrant, perennis in vita tranquillitatis ac pacis et zternz libertatis in coelo praemia consequantur. Per eumdem.

O God of kings and of king- doms, the King and Guide and Protector, who didst will Thy only begotten Son to be the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to be subject to her; graciously regard the prayers of Thy servant the most Christian king of the Franks, of his faithful people, and of all his kingdom. They have put themselves under the rule of that Blessed Virgin and consecrated themselves by vow to her service. May they obtain in reward per- petual tranquillity and peace in this life and everlasting liberty in heaven.

We must not forget that Hungary was similarly

consecrated to the holy Mother of God by its first king, St. Stephen. From that time the Hungarians called the Feast of the Assumption the ' Day of the great Queen,’ Dies magne Domine. Our Lady recompensed the
piety of the apostolic king by calling him, on August 15, 1038, to exchange his earthly for a heavenly crown; we shall find his feast in the cycle on September 2.

In the sixteenth century the Lutherans in several places continued to celebrate the Assumption of our Lady, even after they had apostatized, because the people would not give up the feast. Many of the churches of Germany, as we learn from their breviaries and missals, were accustomed to celebrate Mary's triumph for thirty days by canticles and assemblies.

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Let us offer to Mary a garland of liturgical pieces on this day of her triumph. We could find nothing better to commence with than these beautiful and fragrant flowers produced by Gaul in early times. They are taken from the Mass of January 16, in which our forefathers celebrated both the Maternity and the

triumph of our Lady.

MISSA IN ADSUMPTIONE S. M. M. D. N.

Generose diei Dominice Genitricis inexplicabile Sacra- mentum, tanto magis pra- conabile, quantum est inter homines Assumptione Virginis singulare. Apud quem vite integritas obtinuit Filium; et mors non invenit par exem- plum. Necminus ingerens stu- porem de transitu, quam exul- tatione ferens unico beata de

partu. Non solum mirabilis pignore, quod fide concepit; sed translatione pradicabilis,

ua migravit. Speciali tripu-

io, affectu multimodo, fideli voto, fratres dilectissimi, corde
deprecemur attento: ut ejus adjuti muniamur suffragio; qua fccunda Virgo, beata de partu, clara de merito, felix pradica- tur abscessu: obsecrantes mise- ricordiam Redemptoris nostri: ut circumstantem plebem illuc dignetur introducere; quo Bea- tam Matrem Mariam, famulant- ibus Apostolis, transtulit ad honorem. Quod ipse prestare dignetur qui cum Patre et Spiritu Sancto vivit et reg- nat Deus in secula.

Ineffable is the mystery of this glorious day sacred to the Mother of our Lord; yet it is meet that we praise it exceed- ingly, for it has been made singularly honourable by the Assumption of the Virgin. In this myst we see virginity bearing a Son, and a death that never found itslike. Her

assing away was no less won- derful than her child-bearing had been joyful. Admirable in conceiving her Son by her faith, she was admirable also in her passage to God. With special joy and increased love, with faithful prayer and atten- tive heart, let us, beloved brethren, call upon Mary: that we may be aided and protected by her intercession, while we proclaim her a fruitful Virgin and a happy Mother, glorious in merits, and blessed in her death. Let us beseech our merciful Redeemer to deign to lead the people here present to the heaven whereunto He gloriously assumed His blessed Mother Mary, while the Apos- tles stood around her. May He deign to grant us this grace who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reign- eth God for ever and ever.

--- PAGE 391 --- 382

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

COLLECTIO POST NOMINA

Habitatorem Virginalis hos- pitii, Sponsum beati thalami, Dominum tabernaculi, Regem Templi, qui eam innocentiam contulit Genitrici, qua dignare- tur incarnata Deitas generari: qua nihil seculi conscia, tan- tum precibus mens attenta, tenuit puritatem in moribus, quam perceperat Angeli be- nedictione, visceribus: nec per Assumptionem de morte sen- sit inluviem: qua vite porta- vit Auctorem: fratres karissimi,
fusis precibus Dominum im- ploremus: ut ejus indulgentia illuc defuncti liberentur a tar- taro; quo Beatz Virginis trans- latum corpus est de sepulchro. Quod ipse prastare dignetur qui in Trinitate perfecta vivit.

Let us beseech the divine Guest of the Virgin's womb, the Spouse of the sacred nup- tial chamber, the Lord of the Tabernacle, the King of the Temple, who bestowed such innocence upon His Mother that His Deity deigned to take flesh and be born of her. She knew nothing of the world; and with her mind fixed upon pe she showed forth in

er manners that purity which she had conceived at the angel's greeting; and by her Assumption she was preserved from the corruption of death, she who had borne the Author of life. Yea, dearly beloved brethren, let us earnestly be- seech our Lord, that in His mercy He would save the souls of the dead from hell and bring them to that place whither the body of the Blessed Virgin was translated. May He deign to hear our prayer who liveth in

perfect Trinity.

CONTESTATIO

Dignum et justum est, omni- potens Deus, nos tibi magnas
merito gratias agere, tempore celeberrimo, die pra ceteris honorando. Quo fidelis Isra- hel egressus est de Egypto. Quo Virgo Dei Geni de mundo migravit ad Christum. Qua nec de corruptione sus- cepit contagium; nec resolu- tionem pertulit in sepulchro, pollutione libera, germine glo- riosa, assumptione secura, $a radiso dote pralata, nesciens damna de coitu, sumens vota de fructu, non subdita dolori

per pou non labori transitum, nec vita vilesitix

It is right and just, O Al- mighty God, that we duly give Thee great thanks at this glorious season, on this most venerable day, whereon the faithful Israel came forth from Eee; whereon the Virgin Mother of God passed from this world to Christ. She knew no corruption in life, no dissolution in the tomb; for she was free from all stain of sin, glorious y bi divine Offspring; and g set free by her Assumption, she was made Queen of Paradise for her dower. Ever a spotless Virgin, she was filled with joy

--- PAGE 392 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 383

nec funus solvitur vi natura. Speciosus thalamus, de quo dignus prodit Sponsus, lux

ntium, spes fidelium, pre- o daemonum, confusio Ju- dzorum: vasculum vita; taber- naculum glorie, templum cc- leste: cujus juvencule melius praedicantur merita; cum ve- teris Eva conferuntur exempla.

Siquidem ista mundo vi- tam protulit; illa legem mortis invexit. Illa prevaricando, nos perdidit; ista generando, salvavit. llla nos pomo ar- boris in num. radice percussit; ex hujus virga flos exiit, qui nos odore reficeret, fruge curaret. Ila maledictione in dolore ge- bnerat: ista benedictionem in salute confirmat. Illius per- fidia serpenti consensit, con- jugem decepit, prolem damna- vit; hujus obedientia Patrem conciliavit, Filium meruit, pos- teritatem absolvit. Illa ama- ritudinem pomi suco propinat; ista perennem dulcedinem Nati fonte desudat. Illa acerbo pes natorum dentes deterruit;

suavissimi panis blandi- menti cibo formavit: cui nullus deperet, nisi qui de hoc pane saturare fauce fastidit. Sed jam veteres gemitus in gau- dia nova vertamus. d

by the fruit of her womb. She knew no pain in childbirth, no sorrow in death. Her life and her death were above the laws of nature. She was the loveli- est of bridal chambers whence came forth the noblest of bride- grooms, He who is the light of the nations, the hope of the faithful, the spoiler of the demons, and the shame of the ews. She was a vessel of ht, a tabernacle of glory, a heavenly temple. Now, the better to proclaim the merits of this Virgin, let us compare her life with that of the first Eve. Mary brought forth life for the world, and Eve brought upon it the law of death. She by her sin ruined us, Mary by her divine Child saved us. Eve ta tps our very root by the t of the tree; Mary is the branch whence springs the flower that refreshed us with its fragrance and healed us by its fruit. Under the curse Eve brings forth her children in sorrow, Mary gives us bles- sing and salvation. Faithless Eve yielded to the serpent, deceived her husband, and ruined her children; Mary by her obedience appeased the Father's wrath, merited to have God for her Son, and saved her ity. Evegave us to drink the juice of a bitter fruit, Mary pours upon us unending sweetness from its fountain-head, her Son. Eve's bitter apple set her children’s teeth on edge, our Lady has made us the sweetest bread for our food; near her. none can perish unless he disdain to feast upon this bread. But let

us turn from mourning past evils to our present joy.

--- PAGE 393 --- 384

Ad te ergo revertimur Virgo fota, Mater intacta, nesciens virum, puerpera, honorata per Filium non polluta. Felix, per quam nobis inspirata gaudia Successerunt. Cujus sicut gra- tulati sumus ortu, tripudia- vimus partu; ita glorificamur in transitum. Parum fortasse fuerat si te Christus solo san- ctificasset introitu; nisi etiam talem Matrem adornasset e- gressu, Recte ab ipso suscepta es in Assumptione feliciter; quem pie suscepisti conceptura per fidem: ut qua terre non eras conscia, non teneret rupes inclusa.

Vere diversis insolis anima redempta: cui Apostoli sacrum reddunt obsequium, angeli can- tum, Christus amplexum, nubis vehiculum, Assumptio Paradi- sum, inter choros Virginum gloria principatum. Per Chri- stum Dominum nostrum. Cui Angeli atque Archangeli.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

To thee, then, we return, O fruitful Virgin, spotless Mother, Maiden not knowing man, ennobled not polluted by thy Son. O happy one! the joy thou didst conceive thou hast transmitted to us. We were glad at thy birth, we exulted at thy pure de- livery, and in like manner we glory in thy passing. It were a small thing that Christ sanctified thee at thine en- trance into the world, had he not also honoured thee, O worthy Mother, at thy de- parture hence. ir then did thy Son joyfully receive thee in thy Assumption, for thou didst lovingly receive Him when thou didst conceive Him by faith. Thou knewest nought of earth's bonds, how could that rocky tomb hold thee prisoner ? O soul redeemed amidst unwonted marvels | The Apos- tles pay thee the last sacred duties; the angels sing thy praises; Christ welcomes thee with His embrace; a cloud is thy chariot; thou art assumed into Paradise, there to reign in glory as Queen of the choirs of Virgins. Through Christ our Lord, to whom the angels and archangels, etc.

In the Ambrosian Liturgy the preface for the Mass of the Vigil is composed of the very same words as the Roman Collect said in the great procession described

above. from the Mass of the day:

We will borrow the two following antiphons

CONFRACTORIUM

Laetare Virgo, Mater Chri- sti, stans a dextris ejus in ves-

Rejoice, O Virgin, Mother of Christ, standing at His right

--- PAGE 394 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 385

titu deaurato, circumamicta hand in a vesture of gold, jucunditate. surrounded with delights. TRANSITORIUM

Magnificamus te, Dei Geni- trix; quia ex te natus est Chri- stus, salvans omnes, qui te

orificant. Sancta Domina,

ei Genitrix, sanctificationes tuas transmitte nobis.

We extol thee, O Mother of God; for from thee was born Christ, saving all who glorify thee. O holy Lady, Mother of God, give unto us thy

sanctifying graces.

The Mozarabic Liturgy gives us these pieces from

the Vespers of the feast :

LAUDA

Virgo Israel, ornare tym-

Hy. Et egredere in choro psallentium.

Y. Beata es Regina, qua prospicis quasi lumen.

. Et egredere.

Dominus sit semper vobis-
.cum.

Hy. Et cum spiritu tuo.

O Virgin of Israel, be ready with thy timbrels. Hj. And go forth with a choir of singers. Y. Blesed art thou, O Queen, who risest as the light. . And go forth. ay the Lord be ever with

you. Hy. And with thy spirit.

SONO

Dominus Deus cceli bene-
dicat tibi: honor regni David in manu tua.

Hy. Et adorabunt coram te I multarum gentium. Alle- uia.

Y. Audi, filia Sion, quia exaltata es, et facies tua fulget in templo Dei: Sol justitiz ingressu tuo orietur.

Ey. Et adorabunt. Dominus sit.
HE. Et cum.

May the Lord God of heaven bless thee: the honour of David's kingdom is in thy hands.

Hy. And the sons of many nations shall adore before thee. Alleluia.

Y. Hearken, O daughter of Sion, for thou art exalted, and thy countenance shineth in the temple of God: the Sun of Justice riseth up at thine entrance.

Hy. And the sons.

May the Lord.

Ej. And with.

--- PAGE 395 --- 386

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ANTIPHONA

Benedicta tu Deo altissimo, pre omnibus mulieribus.

Hy. Propter hoc non dis- cedet laus tua ab ore hominum usque in seculum.

. Non det in commotio- nem pedem tuum: neque dor- miet qui custodit te.

Hy. Propter.

Y. Gloria et honor Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto in secula seculorum. Amen.

Blessed art thou by the Most High God above all women. .

Hy. Wherefore thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men for ever.

Y. He shall not suffer thy foot to be moved, neither shall He slumber that keepeth thee.

Hy. Wherefore.

Y. Glory and honour be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Ry. Propter. Hy. Wherefore.

Dominus sit. May the Lord.

H. Et cum. Hy. And with. LAUDA

Rami mei rami honoris et gratie. Alleluia.

Hy. Ego quasi vitis fructifi- cavi suavitatem odoris. Alle- luia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Y. Ego autem, sicut oliva fructifera in domo Domini, sperabo in misericordia Dei mei in eternum, et in seculum seculi.

My branches are branches of honour and grace. Alleluia. . As the wine I have brought forth a pleasant odour. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alle- luia.

Y. But I, as a fruitful olive- tree in the house of the Lord, will hope in the mercy of my God for ever, yea, for ever and ever.

Hy. Ego quasi. Ry. As the vine. Y. Gloria et honor Patri. Y. Glory and honour be to the Father. Hy. Ego quasi. Y. Asthe vine. ORATIO Hec est, Domine Deus, Behold, O Lord God, the

potion illa Virgo Maria, qua odie a convalle lachrymarum et mundi deserto cognoscitur superassumi incumbens super dilectum Unigenitum tuum, Filiumque suum loco videlicet inenarrabili: cujus vero quasi

glorious Virgin Mary, who from the valley of tears and the desert of this world is known to have been taken up this day, leaning upon her Beloved, thine only begotten Son and her Son, even to an unspeak-

--- PAGE 396 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 387

signaculum et monile detegitur

retiosum, dum unius nature Mlud corpus confitemur Domi- nicum istius inlibatz genitricis a Divinitate assumptum. Pro- inde quesumus, ineffabilis sum- me us, ut illic extendatur nostra intentio, quo per fortem dilectionem hodie praecessit dig- na suffragatrix pro nobis ac beatissima Virgo.

Hy. Amen.

Per misericordiam tuam, Deus noster, qui es bene-
dictus, et vivis, et omnia regis in secula seculorum.

Hy. Amen.

able height. We show, as it were, her special seal and most precious jewel when we confess the unity of nature between the mmaculate Mother and the human Body taken of her by the Divinity. Therefore we beseech Thee, O ineffable, Most High God, that thither all our energy may turn, whither on this day recedes us in her mighty ove, our worthy advocate, the most Blessed Virgin.

Hy. Amen.

Through Thy mercy, O our God, who art blessed, who livest and rulest all things for ever and ever.

Amen.

The Greeks offer us this graceful composition, the first eight stanzas of which are set to the eight musical tones, while the ninth returns to the first, thus making all the modes sing the triumph of Mary.'

IN OFFICIO

Divinz majestatis nutu, un-

decumque deiferi apostoli nu- bium sublati culmine,

Ad metam ubi pervenerunt, immaculatum vas tuum, vite principium, summa veneratione salutarunt.

At ille sublimissima cce- lorum potestates, cum suo Domino accedentes, Dei capax et ilibatum corpus occursu honorabant, tremore corripie- bantur, tum ad supernas sedes procedebant.

VESPERTINO By the will of the Divine Majesty, the God-bearing

pers were taken up. from parts and borne upon the clouds;

Having reached their desti-

nation, they salute with deep- i veneration thy immaculate body. But the most high powers of heaven, coming with their Lord, honoured with their company the ess body which had held God; they were seized with trembling as they returned to the heavenly mansions.

* J. B. PrrRA, Analecta Spicilegio Solesmensi, parata I. Ixx. ex Anthologio.

--- PAGE 397 --- 388

Et arcana voce clamabant superioribus agminum ducibus: Ecce universi mundi regina, mater Dei accedit.

Tollite portas, inque su- perna recipite eam, lucis uti perpetuz matrem.

Per ipsam enim mortali- um omnium salus facta est, in quam dirigere oculos non possumus.

Ipsi namque dari dignum premium nequit; ejus enim praestantia omnem superat co- gitatum.

Idciro intemerata Deipara, semper cum vivifico rege et filio vivens, intercede continuo, ut circummunias et salves ab omni inimico impetu juventu- tem tuam. Inteenim tutelam possidemus.

Te per secula in splendori- bus, beatam dicentes.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

With mysterious voice they cried to the chiefs of the heavenly hosts: Behold the Queen of the universe, the Mother of God approaches.

Lift up your gates and re- ceive her into the highest places, as the Mother of eternal light.

The salvation of all man- kind was wrought through her, upon whom we cannot fix our gaze.

No condign honour can be given to her, for her excellence surpasses all thought.

Wherefore, O Immaculate Mother of God, ever living with the King of life, thy Son, intercede for us unceas- ingly, so as to protect and save from every attack of the enemy the youth who are ‘thine, for in thee we have our defence.

Thee we proclaim blessed in the eternal splendours.

Let us now gather from the Chaldean chants:

IN ASSUMPTIONE V. MARIE

Matrem Domini angelorum hominumque labia hominis lau- dare non sufficiunt, quam nec homines plane mente asse- quuntur, nec angeli sat per. spiciunt:

Mirandam in vita mortali, stupendam in morte vitali.

Vivens mundo mortua fuit, moriens mortuos exsuscitavit.

Ad ipsam apostoli prope- rant e longinquis, angeli de- scendunt e superis, honoris causa debiti.

The lips of man are not worthy to praise the Mother of the Lord of angels and of men, for neither can men un- derstand her, nor angels know her sufficiently:

Admirable in her mortal life, marvellous in her life-giving death, living she was dead to the world, dying she raised the dead tolife. The apostles hasten to her from distant lands, the angels descend from us high, to pay her honour

ue.

--- PAGE 398 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 389

Virtutes invicem cohortan- tur, Principatus ut flammez nubes exspatiantur, letantur Dominationes, Potestates tri- pudiant.

Throni laudem ingeminant; Seraphim clamantibus: Beatum 0 corpus gloriz; dum Cherubim illam cantibus extollunt inter ipsos procedentem.

JEthera, nubes, ipsi se sub- mittunt; tonitrua plaudunt, collaudantia Filium; pluvia et ros uberibus ejus eemulantur:

Siquidem virentia pascunt, hec autem virentium Domi- num enutrivit.

The Virtues animate each other, the Principalities come forward like flaming clouds, the Dominations rejoice, the Powers exult.

The Thrones redouble their praise: while the Seraphim cry out: O blessed and glorious body; and the Cherubim extol her with their songs, as she passes through their midst.

The sky and the clouds bend down before her; the thunder claps, praising her Son; the rain and the dew envy her breasts: for they indeed nourish the plants, but she fed the Lord of the plants.

Ralph of Tongres, who wrote in the fourteenth century of the observance of the canons in the Offices of the Church, points out the following hymn as used in his time for

to-day's feast :*

HYMN

O quam glorifica luce corus- cas,

Stirpis Davidicz regia proles:

Sublimis residens Virgo Maria,

Supra cceligenas aetheris omnes.

Tu cum virgineo mater honore,

Angelorum Domino pectoris aulam

Sacris visceribus casta parasti;

Natus hinc Deus est corpore
Christus.

Quem cunctus venerans orbis adorat,

Cui nunc rite genu flectitur omne:

A quo te, petimus, subveniente,

Abjectis tenebris, gaudia lucis.

Oh, with what glorious light thou dost shine, royal daughter of David's race: seated on high, O Virgin Mary, above all the dwellers in heaven.

Thou with thy virginal hon- our art Mother; a home in thy heart for the Lord of the angels, thou, pure one, didst prepare in thy sacred womb; the Christ born of thee is God in the flesh.

"Tis He whom the whole world doth trembling adore, He before whom each knee rightly bends; from Him we implore, by thy intercession, the dispelling of darkness, the joys of light.

! RapuLPH. De canon. observ., Prop. xiii.

--- PAGE 399 --- 390 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Hoc largire, Pater luminis

omnis, Natum per proprium, mine sacro:

Qui tecum nitida vivit

athra,

Regnans, ac moderans saecula

cuncta. Amen.

This do Thou grant, O Father of light, through Thine own Son, in the Holy Spirit: who liveth with Thee in the

in glittering heavens, reigning and

governing all the ages. Amen.

Let us conclude with this sweet Sequence:

Affluens deliciis, David regis filia, Sponsi fertur brachiis Ad coeli sedilia:

Et amica properat Sponsum, quo abierat, Quaerens inter lilia.

Hodie cubiculum Regis Hester suscipit, Sedare periculum, Quod hostilis efficit Aman instans fraudibus, Peccati rudentibus Mundo mortem conficit.

Per cceli palatia Cuncta transit ostia Intra regis atria,

Ubi sceptrum aureum, Christum, os virgineum Osculatur hodie,

Ut sit pax Ecclesia.

Vox Rachelis in Rama Hic auditur: sed drama Tibi dulce canitur,

Ubi te amplectitur Sponsus, et alloquitur, i beata frueris

usquam cunctis superis.

SEQUENCE

Flowing with delights the daughter of King David is borne in the Bridegroom's arms to the heavenly thrones; the beloved hastens, seeking the Spouse among the lilies whither He had gone.

To-day the chamber of the King opens to Esther seeking to avert the danger brought about by her enemy Aman, eager with his deceits, who prepares death for the world with the ropes of sin.

She traverses the mansions of heaven, passing through all the doors, into the court of the King: there to-day her virginal mouth kisses the gold- en sceptre Christ, that peace may be given to the Church.

Here in Rama the voice of Rachel is heard: there sweet music is sung to thee, where the Spouse embraces thee and converses with thee; the Spouse whom thou, O blessed one, enjoyest more than all the heavenly citizens.

--- PAGE 400 --- ASSUMPTION OF THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN 391

Te transmittit hodie To-day our earth sends thee Tellus cceli curize, to the heavenly court, as the David regis Thecuitem, wise woman of Thecua to King Helisei Sunamitem, David, as the Sunamitess to Ut fugati revocemur, Eliseus, that we exiles may be Et prostrati suscitemur called home, we who are cast Ad =zterna gaudia, down may be raised up even Ubi es in gloria. to the eternal joys, where thou

Amen. art in glory.

Amen.

Thou didst taste death, O Mary! But that death, like the sleep of Adam at the world's beginning, was but an ecstasy leading the Bride into the Bridegroom's presence. As the sleep of the new Adam on the great day of salvation, it called for the awakening of resurrec- tion. In Jesus Christ our entire nature, soul and body, was already reigning in heaven; but as in the first paradise, so in the presence of the Holy Trinity, it was not good for man to be alone* To-day at the right hand of Jesus appears the new Eve, in all things like to her Divine Heat in His vesture of glorified flesh: hence- forth nothing is wanting in the eternal paradise.

O Mary, who, according to the expression of th devout servant John Damascene, hast made dea blessed and happy,? detach us from this world, where nothing ought now to have a hold on us. We have accompanied thee in desire; we have followed thee with the eyes of our soul, as far as the limits of our mortality allowed; and now, can we ever again turn our eyes upon this world of darkness? O Blessed Virgin, in order to sanctify our exile and help us to rejoin thee, bring to our aid the virtues whereby, as on wings, thou didst soar to so sublime a height. In us, too, they must reign; in us they must crush the head of the wicked serpent, that one day they máy triumph in us. O day of days, when we shall behold not only our Redeemer, but also the Queen who stands so close to the Sun of Justice as even to be clothed therewith, eclipsing with her brightness all the splendours of the

saints ! ! Gen ii. 18. ? Joan, Daxasc, in Dormit. B.M.V., Homil. i.

--- PAGE 401 --- 392 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The Church, it is true, remains to us, O Mary, the Church who is also our Mother, and who continues thy struggle against the dragon with its seven hateful heads. But she, too, sighs for the time when the wings of an eagle will be given her, and she will be permitted to rise like thee from the desert and to reach her Spouse. Look upon her passing, like the moon, at thy feet, through her laborious phases; hear the supplications she addresses to thee as Mediatrix with the divine Sun; through thee may she receive light; through thee may she find favour with Him who loved thee, and clothed thee with glory and crowned thee with beauty. --- PAGE 402 --- SAINT JOACHIM 393

AUGUST 16

SAINT JOACHIM CONFESSOR, FATHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

ROM time immemorial the Greeks have celebrated

the feast of St. Joachim on the day followirig our Lady's birthday. The Maronites kept it on the day after the Presentation in November, and the Armenians on the Tuesday after the Octave of the Assumption of the Mother of God. The Latins at first did not keep his feast. Later on it was admitted and celebrated sometimes on the day after the Octave of the Nativity, September 16, sometimes on the day following the Con- ception of the Blessed Virgin, December 9. Thus both East and West agreed in associating St. Joachim with his illustrious daughter when they wished to do him honour.

About the year 1510, Julius II placed the feast of the grandfather of the Messias upon the Roman Calendar with the rank of double major; and remember- ing that family, in which the ties of nature and of grace were in such perfect harmony, he fixed the solemnity on March 20, the day after that of his son-in-law, St. Joseph. The life of the glorious patriarch resembled those of the first fathers of the Hebrew people; and it seemed as though he were destined to imitate their wanderings also, by continually changing his place upon the sacred cycle.

Hardly fifty years after the Pontificate of Julius II the critical spirit of the day cast doubts upon the history of St. Joachim, and his name was erased from the Roman breviary. Gregory XV, however, re-established his feast in 1622 as a double, and the Church has since continued to celebrate it. Devotion to our Lady's father continuing to increase very much, the Holy See

26

--- PAGE 403 --- 394 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

was petitioned to make his feast a holiday of obligation, as it had already made that of his spouse, St. Anne. In order to satisfy the devotion of the people without increasing the number of days of obligation, Clement XII in 1738 transferred the feast of St. Joachim to the Sunday after the Assumption of his daughter, the Blessed Virgin, and restored to it the rank of double major.

On August 1, 1879, the Sovereign Pontiff, Leo XIII, who received the name of Joachim in baptism, raised both the feast of his glorious patron and that of St. Anne to the rank of doubles of the second class.

The following is an extract from the decree Urbi et Orbi, announcing this decision with regard to the said feasts: ' Ecclesiasticus teaches us that we ought to praise our fathers in their generation; what great honour and veneration ought we then to render to St. Joachim and St. Anne, who begot the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, and are on that account more glorious than all others.'

‘By your fruits are you known,’ says St. John

ne; ‘ you have given birth to a daughter who is greater than the angels and has become their Queen.” Now since, through the divine mercy, in our unhappy times the honour and worship paid to the Blessed Virgin is increasing in proportion to the increasing needs of the Christian people, it is only right that the new glory which surrounds their blessed daughter should redound upon her happy parents. May this increase of devotion towards them cause the Church to experience still more their powerful protection.

MASS

Prayer is good with fasting and alms more than to lay

1 J. DAMASC, Oratio I. de V.M, Nativit. * Tobias xii. 8.

--- PAGE 404 --- SAINT JOACHIM 395

and the third for his family. The Church, wishing to honour Mary's father, begins by praising this liberality, and also his justice which earned him such great glory.

INTROIT

Dispersit, dedit pauperibus: He hath distributed, he hath justitia ejus manet in seculum given to the poor: his justice seculi: cornu ejus exaltabitur remaineth for ever and ever: in gloria. his horn shall be exalted in

glory. Ps. Beatus vir qu timet Ps. Blessed is the man that Dominum: in mandatis ejus

feareth the Lord: he delight- cupit nimis. eth exceedingly in His com- mandments. Glory, etc. He hath.

Gloria Patri. Dispersit.

MOTHER oF Gob: such is the title which exalts Mary above all creatures; but Joachim, too, is ennobled by it ; he alone can be called, for all eternity, Grandfather of Jesus. In heaven, even more than on earth, nobility and power go hand in hand. Let us, then, with the Church, become humble clients of one so great.

COLLECT

Deus, qui pre omnibus San-
ctis tuis beatum Joachim Geni- tricis Filii tui patrem esse voluisti: concede, quaesumus; ut cujus festa veneramur, ejus

quoque pepe patrocinia ar bel eumdem Do- minum.

O God, who before all Thy saints wert pleased that blessed Joachim should be the father of her who bore Thy Son, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may ever experience his patronage, whose festival we venerate. Through the same Lord, etc.

EPISTLE

Beatus vir qui inventus

Blessed is the man that is

est sine macula: et qui post found without blemish, and aurum non abiit, nec spera- that hath not gone after gold, vit in pecunia et thesauris. nor put his trust in money nor

--- PAGE 405 --- 396 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Quis est hic, et laudabimus in treasures. Who is he, and eum? Fecit enim mirabilia we will praise him ? For he in vita sua. Qui probatus hath done wonderful things in est in illo et perfectus est, his life. Who hath been tried erit illi gloria eterna: qui thereby, and made perfect, he potuit transgredi, et non est shall have glory everlasting: transgressus: facere mala, et he that could have trans- non fecit. Ideo stabilita sunt gressed, and hath not trans- bona illus in Domino, et elee- gressed, and could do evil mosynas ilius enarrabit omnis things, and hath not done ecclesia sanctorum. them: therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the Church of the saints shall declare his alms.

Joachim's wealth, like that of the first patriarchs, consisted chiefly in flocks and herds. The holy use he made of it drew down God's blessing upon it. But the greatest of all his desires heaven seemed to refuse him. His holy spouse Anne was barren. Amongst all the daughters of Israel expecting the Messias, there was no hope for her. One day the victims Joachim presented in the Temple were contemptuously rejected. Those were not the gifts the Lord of the Temple desired of him; later on, instead of lambs from his pastures, he was to present the mother of the Lamb of God, and His offering would not be rejected.

This day, however, he was filled with sorrow and fled away without returning to his wife. He hastened to the mountains where his flocks were at pasture; and living in a tent, he fasted continually, for he said: *I will take no food till the Lord my God look merci- fully upon me; prayer shall be my nourishment.'

Meanwhile Anne was mourning her widowhood and her barrenness. She prayed in her garden as Joachim was praying on the mountain! Their Pin din ascended at the same time to the Most High, and He granted them their request. An angel of the Lord appeared to each of them and bade them meet at the Golden Gate; and soon Anne could say: ‘Now I know that the Lord hath

! ErrPHANM, Oratio de laudibus Virg.

--- PAGE 406 --- 397

greatly blessed me. For I was a widow and I am one no longer, and I was barren, and lo | I have conceived I"

The Gradual again proclaims the merit of almsgiving and the value God sets upon holiness of life. The descen- dants of Joachim shall be mighty and blessed in heaven and upon earth. May he deign to exert his influence

SAINT JOACHIM

with his all-holy daughter, and with his grandson Jesus,

for our salvation.

GRADUAL

Dispersit, dedit pauperibus: justitia ejus manet in seculum saculi.

Y. Potens in terra erit semen ejus: generatio rectorum bene- dicetur.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Y. O Joachim, sancte con- jux Anne, pater alma Vir- ginis, hic famulis confer salutis opem. Alleluia.

He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever and ever.

Y. His seed shall be mighty b pon the earth: the generation of the mighty shall be blessed.

Alleluia, alleluia.

y. O Joachim, spouse of holy Anne, father of the glorious Virgin, assist now thy servants untosalvation. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii
secundum Matthaeum.

Cap. i.

Liber generationis Jesu Chris- ti, filii David, filli Abraham. Abraham genuit Isaac. Isaac autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Judam, et fratres
ejus. Judas autem genuit Phares, et Zaram de Thamar. Phares autem genuit Esron. Esron autem genuit Aram. Aram autem genuit Amina- dab. Aminadab autem genuit Naasson. Naasson autem ge- nuit Salmon. Salmon autem genuit Booz de Rahab. Booz autem genuit Obed ex Ruth. Obed autem genuit Jesse. Jesse

The beginning of the Holy Gos- pel according to St. Matthew.

Ch. i.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren; and Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begot Esron; and Esron begot Aram; and Aram begot Ami- nadab; and Aminadab begot Naasson; and Naasson begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Booz of Rahab; and Booz begot Obed of Ruth; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot

* Protevang. JACOBI.

--- PAGE 407 --- 398

autem genuit David regem. David autem rex genuit Salo- monem, ex ea qua fuit Uriz. Salomon autem genuit Ro- boam. Roboam autem ge- nuit Abiam. Abias autem ge- nuit Asa. Asa autem genuit Josaphat. Josaphat autem genuit Oziam. Ozias autem genuit Joatham. Joatham au- tem genuit Achaz. Achaz autem genuit Ezechiam. Eze- chias autem genuit Manassen. Manasses autem genuit Amon. Amon autem genuit Iu Josias autem genuit Jechoniam et fratres ejus in transmigra-
tione Babylonis. Et post transmigrationem. Babylonis: Jechonias genuit —Salathiel. Salathiel autem genuit Zoro- babel. Zorobabel autem ge- nuit Abiud. Abiud autem ge- nuit Eliacim. Eliacim autem genuit Azor. Azor autem genuit Sadoc. Sadoc autem genuit Achim. Achim autem genuit Eliud. Eliud autem ge- nuit Eleazar. Eleazar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan au- tem genuit Jacob. Jacob au- tem genuit Joseph, virum Maria, de qua natus est Jesus, qui vocatur Christus.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her who had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begot Roboam; and Roboam begot Abia; and Abia begot Asa; and Asa begot Josaphat; and Josaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Ozias; and Ozias begot Joatham; and Joatham begot Achaz; and Achaz begot Ezechias; and Ezechias begot Manasses; and Manasses be- got Amon; and Amon begot Josias: and Josias begot Je- chonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon. And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zorobabel be- got Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliacim; and Eliacim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Eleazar; and - Eleazar begot Mathan; and Mathan begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus; who is called Christ.

‘ Rejoice, O Joachim, for of thy daughter a Son is

ohn Damascene. It is

born to us," exclaims St. J in this spirit the Church reads to us to-day the list of the royal ancestors of our Saviour. Joseph, the descendant of these illustrious princes, inherited their rights and passed them on to Jesus, who was his Son according to the Jewish law, though according to nature He was of the line of His Virgin Mother alone.

St. Luke, Mary's Evangelist, has preserved the names of the direct ancestors of the Mother of the Man-God,

* J. DAuasc. Oratio I de V, M. Nativit, ex Isa. ix. 6.

--- PAGE 408 --- SAINT JOACHIM 399

springing from David in the person of Nathan, Solomon's brother. Joseph, the son of Jacob, according to St. Matthew, appears in St. Luke as son of Heli. The reason is, that by espousing Mary, the only daughter of Heli or Heliachim, that is Joachim, he became legally his son and heir.

This is the now generally received explanation of the two genealogies of Christ the Son of David. It is not surprising that Rome, the queen city who has become the Bride of the Son of man in the place of the repudiated Sion, prefers to use in her liturgy the genealogy which by its long line of royal ancestors emphasizes the kingship of the Spouse over Jerusalem. The name of Joachim, which signifies ' the preparation of the Lord,' is thus rendered more majestic, without losing aught of its mystical meaning.

He is himself crowned with wonderful glory. Jesus, his Grandson, gives him to share in His own authority over every creature. In the Offertory we celebrate St. Joachim's dignity and power.

OFFERTORY

Gloria et honore coronasti Thou hast crowned him eum: et constituisti eum super with glory and honour: and opera manuum tuarum, Do- hast set him over the works of mine. thy hands, O Lord.

‘ Joachim, Anne and Mary,’ says St. Epiphanius: ‘ what a sacrifice of praise was offered to the Blessed Trinity by this earthly trinity!” May their united intercession obtain for us the full effect of the sacrifice which is being prepared upon the altar in honour of the head of this noble family.

SECRET

Suscipe, clementissime Deus, Receive this sacrifice, O
sacrificium in honorem sancti most merciful God, offered to patriarche Joachim patris Ma- Thy majesty in honour of the rie "Virginis, majestati tuz holy patriarch Joachim, the

--- PAGE 409 --- 400

oblatum: ut, ipso cum conjuge sua, et beatissima prole interce- dente, perfectam consequi me- reamur remissionem peccato- rum, et gloriam sempiternam. Per Dominum.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

father of the Virgin Mary; that by his intercession, with that of his spouse and most blessed offspring, we may de- serve to obtain the entire re- mission of sins, and everlasting glory. Through, etc.

While enjoying the delights of the sacred mysteries, let us not forget that, if Mary gave us the Bread of Life, she herself came to us through Joachim. Let us confidently entrust to his prudent care the precious germ which we have just received, and which must now fructify in our souls.

COMMUNION

A faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord set over his family; to give them their measure of wheat in due season. Fidelis servus et prudens, uem constituit Dominus su
amiliam suam, ut det illis in tempore tritici mensuram.

The sacraments produce of themselves the essential grace belonging to them; but we need the intercession of the saints to remove all obstacles to their full opera- tion in our hearts. Such is the sense of the Post- communion.

POSTCOMMUNION

Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, per hac sacra-
menta, qua sumpsimus, in- tercedentibus meritis et pre- cibus beati Joachim, patris Genitricis dilecti Filii tui Do- mini nostri Jesu Christi, tue gratie in futuro participes esse mereamur. Per eumdem.

We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that by these mysteries which we receive, the merits and prayers of blessed Joachim, father of her who bore Thy beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for us, we may be made worthy to be partakers of Thy grace in this life, and of eternal glory in thelife to come. Through the same Lord, etc.

--- PAGE 410 --- SAINT JOACHIM 401

VESPERS

Yesterday at First Vespers the Church sang the praises of Joachim as ' a man glorious in his generation, unto whom the Lord gave the blessings of all nations, and upon whose head He confirmed His testament.” The Second Vespers are taken from the Common of a Confessor not a Bishop, the Antiphons of which are so

' full of graceful simplicity. No more fitting words could be found wherewith to praise this just man whose path, as we read in the Book of Wisdom, was truly as a brilliant light going forward and $ncreasing even to perfect day. He offered to the Lord in His temple the Virgin Mother who was to give our human nature to the Word. His life had no evening. It closed when his daughter's sanctity was attaining its zenith, and the father of the Immaculate Virgin went to carry hope to the souls of the just in limbo.

1. ANT. Domine, quinque 1. ANT. Lord, Thou gavest

talenta tradidisti mihi: ecce me five talents: behold I have alia quinquesuperlucratussum. gained five more.

Ps. Dixit Dominus, fage 35.

2. ANT. Euge, serve bone, 2. ANT. Well done, thou in modico fidelis, intra in good servant, faithful in few gaudium Domini tui. brane , enter into the joy of

y d.

Ps. Confitebor tibi, Domine, page 37.

3. ANT. Fidelis servus et 3. ANT. Faithful and pru- prudens, quem constituit Do- dent servant, whom his Lord minus super familiam suam. hath placed over his family.

Ps. Beatus vir, page 38.

4. ANT. Beatus ille servus, 4. ANT. Blessed is that ser- quem cum venerit Dominus vant, whom when his Lord
ejus, et pulsaverit januam, shall come and knock at the invenerit vigilantem. gate, He shall find watching.

Ps. Laudate pueri, page 39.

! Ant, of Magnificat at 1st Vespers.

--- PAGE 411 --- 402

5. ANT. Serve bone et fide- - intra in gaudium Domini ui.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

5. ANT. Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.

Ps. Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, page 305.

CAPITULUM

(Eccli. xxxi.).

Beatus vir, qui inventus est sine macula, et qui post aurum non abiit, nec spera- vit in pecunia et thesauris. Quis est hic, et laudabimus eum? fecit enim mirabilia in vita sua.

Blessed is the man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? For he hath done wonderful things in his life

HYMN!

Iste Confessor Domini co- —— Quem pie laudant uli per pork pop

Hac die letus meruit supre- mos Laudis honores. Qui pius, prudens, humilis, udicus,

So m duxit sine labe vitam, Donec humanos animavit aurz "Spiritus artus.

On this day the blessed confessor of the Lord, whom all nations throughout the world lovingly venerate, mer- ited the highest honours of praise.

Pious, prudent, humble, and chaste, he led a sober and spot- less life, as long as quickening breath animated his frame.

} In the Monastic Breviary it is as follows:

gin hosed = justi * Meditabitur S31 Ui ef met gry a

Iste confessor Domini sacratus Hac al lok meri cujus pm hed rg ei

Vita dum Lor am vegetavit e

Ad sacrum cujus tumulum frequenter rm cere e fuerint ta - mor! grava Restituuntur,

Unde nunc noster chorus in honorem I hymnum canit bunc libenter; t piis ejus meritis juvemur Omne per saevum.

Sit salus illi, p proc arte

porem pad pere reda we Trinus et unus. Amen.

--- PAGE 412 --- SAINT JOACHIM

i ob prestans meritum

equenter,

JEgra qua passim jacuere mem- ra

Viribus morbi domitis, saluti Restituuntur.

Noster hinc illi chorus ob- uentem Concinit laudem, celebresque palmas: Ut piis ejus precibus juvemur Omne per zvum.

Sit salus illi decus, atque virtus, i super coeli solio coruscans, otius mundi seriem guber- nat Trinus et unus. Amen.

E Potens in terra erit semen ejus.

Hy. Generatio rectorum be- nedicetur.

403

Oft does it happen, through his eminent merit, that the languishing limbs of poor suf- ferers, overcoming the power of the disease, are restored to health.

Therefore does our choir devoutly sing his praise, telling his glorious victories: may we be evermore assisted by his benevolent prayers.

Salvation and honour and power be to Him who, seated acie on His heavenly throne

e and Three, ruleth the whole universe.

Amen.

y. His seed shall be mighty

upon earth. Ry. The generation of the righteous is blessed.

ANTIPHON OF THE MAGNIFICAT

Laudemus virum gloriosum in generatione sua, quia bene- dictionem omnium gentium dedit illi Dominus: et testa-
mentum suum confirmavit su- per caput ejus.

Let us praise a man glorious in his generation, for the Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed His covenant upon his head.

The Prayer is the Collect of the Mass, page 395.

The Acts of the Saints yeproduce on March 20 this hymn from the ancient Roman Breviary, which will serve as a prayer to the father of Mary:

HYMN

O pater summa, Joachim, puelle Quz Deum clauso genuit pudore

O Joachim, father of the sovereign Maiden, who in all purity gave birth to God,

--- PAGE 413 --- 404

Promove nostras Domino que- relas, Castaque vota.

Scis un Triste quos mundi mare de- fatigat: Scis quot adnectat Satanas carove Przlia nobis.

qe hic szvis agitemur

Jam sacris junctus superum catervis, Imo praecedens, potes omne, Si vis: Nil nepos Jesus merito ne- gabit, Nil tibi nata.

Fac tuo nobis veniam precatu Donet et pacem Deitas beata: Ut simul juncti resonemus illi Dulciter hymnos. Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

present to the Lord our peti- tions and our chaste desires.

Thou knowest by what angry waves we are here tossed, whom the cruel sea of this world wearies out: thou know- est how many battles Satan and the flesh prepare for us.

Now that thou art united to the holy companies in heaven, or rather art placed at their head, thou canst do all if thou wilt: for rightly neither Jesus thy Grandson nor Mary thy daughter can deny thee aught.

Obtain by thy prayer that our blessed God may give us pardon and peace: that united with thee we may sweetly sing canticles to Him.

Amen.

Father of Mary, we thank thee. All creation owes

thee a debt of gratitude, since the Creator was pleased that thou shouldst give Him the Mother He had chosen for Himself.

Husband of holy Anne, thou showest us what would have been in paradise; thou seemest to have been re- instated in primeval innocence, in order to give birth to the Immaculate Virgin; sanctify Christian life, and elevate the standard of morals. ou art the Grand- father of Jesus: let thy paternal love embrace all Christians who are His brethren. Holy Church honours thee more than ever in these days of trial; she knows how powerful thou art with the Eternal and Almighty Father, who made thee instrumental, through thy blessed Sughd; in the temporal generation of his Eternal

n.

--- PAGE 414 --- SAINT ROCH 405

THE SAME DAY

SAINT ROCH CONFESSOR

TO years of famine, three months of defeats, three days of pestilence: the choice given to the guilty David between these three measures of expiation shows them to be equivalent before the justice of God. The terrible scourge, which makes more havoc in three days than would famine or a disastrous war in months and years, showed in the fourteenth century that it kept its sad pre-eminence; the Black Death covered the world with a mantle of mourning, and robbed it of a third of its inhabitants. Doubtless the world had never so well merited the terrible warning: the graces of sanctity poured in profusion on the preceding century had but checked for a while the defection of the nations; every embankment being now broken down, entrance was given to the irresistible tide of schism, reform, and: revolution by which the world must die. Neverthe- less God has mercy so long as life lasts; and while strik- ing sinful mankind, He gave them at the same time the saint predestined to appease His vengeance.

At his birth he appeared marked with the 'cross. When a young man he distributed his goods to the poor, and, leaving his family and country, became a pilgrim for Christ's sake. Going to Italy to visit the sanctuaries, he there found the cities devastated by a terrible plague. Roch took up his abode among the dead and dying, burying the former, and healing the latter with the sign of the cross. Himself stricken with the evil, he hid himself so as to suffer alone; and a dog brought him food. When, cured by God, he returned to Montpellier, his native town, it was only to be there seized as a spy and thrown into prison, where he died after five years. Such are Thy dealings with Thy elect, O Wisdom of God! But no sooner was he dead than

--- PAGE 415 --- 406 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

prodigies burst forth, making known his origin and history, revealing the power he still enjoyed of deliver- ing from pestilence those who had recourse to him.

e reputation of his influence, increased by fresh benefits at each visitation of plague, caused his cultus to become popular; hence, although the feast of St. Roch is not universal, this short notice was due to him. It will be completed by the following legend and prayer borrowed from the proper office for certain places in the

supplement of the Roman Breviary:

Rochus in monte Pessu- lano natus, quanta in proxi- mum caritate flagraret, tum maxime ostendit, cum se- vissima peste longe lateque per Italiam grassante, patria relicta, Italicam peregrinatio- nem suscepit, urbesque et oppida peragrans, seipsum in zgrotantium obsequium im- puse animamque suam pro

atribus ponere non dubitavit. Quod beati viri studium quam gratum Deo fuerit, miris sana- tionibus declaratum est. Com- plures enim pestilentia infectos e mortis periculo signo crucis eripuit, et integre sanitati restituit. In patriam rever- sus, virtutibus et meritis dives, sanctissime obiit, ejus- que obitum statim subsecuta est veneratio fidelium, qua in Constantiensi deinde con- cilio magnum recepisse dici- tur incrementum, cum ad pro- ulsandam ingruentem luem

ochi imago solemni pompa, omni comitante populo, per eamdem civitatem, episcopis approbantibus, est delata. Itk- que ejus cultus mirifice pro- pagatus est in universo ter- rarum orbe, qui eumdem sibi apud Deum adversus contagio-

Roch was born at Mont-

ier. He showed his great ove v ple rue qna e a cru ence rav e length and breadth of Italy; leaving his native country he undertook a journey through Italy, and passing through the towns and villages, de- voted himself to the service of the sick, not hesitating to lay down his life for his brethren. Miraculous cures bore witness how pleasing to God was the zeal of the holy man. For by the sign of the Cross he saved many who were in danger of death through the plague, and restored them to perfect health. He re- turned to his own country, and, rich in virtues and merits, died a most holy death. He was honoured by the venera- tion of the faithful immedi- ately after his death. It is said their devotion was greatly increased at the Council of Constance, when, in order to avert the pestilence that threatened them, the image of St. Roch was, with the approbation of the bishops, carried solemnly through that town followed by the whole

--- PAGE 416 --- SAINT ROCH

sam luem patronum religioso studio adoptavit. Quibus ac- curate perpensis, Urbanus Oc- tavus Pontifex Maximus, ut ejus dies festus iis in locis, in uibus forent ecclesiz sancti

ochi nomine Deo dicatae, Offcio ecclesiastico celebrare- tur, indulsit.

407

pere Thus devotion to im has spread in a wonderful way through the whole world, and he has been piously de- clared the universal protector against contagious diseases. Having carefully considered all this, Pope Urban VIII allowed his feast to be cele- brated with an ecclesiastical office in those places where there are churches dedicated to God under the invocation of St. Roch.

PRAYER

Populum tuum, quasumus Domine, continua pietate cus-
todi: et beati Rochi suffra- gantibus meritis, ab omni fac anima et corporis contagione securum. Per Dominum.

We beseech thee, O Lord, protect Thy people in Thy unceasing goodness; and through the merits of blessed Roch, preserve them from every contagion of soul and body. Through.

--- PAGE 417 --- 408 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

AUGUST 17

SAINT HYACINTH CONFESSOR

NE of the loveliest lilies from the Dominican field

to-day unfurls its petals at the foot of Mary's throne. Hyacinth represents on the sacred cycle that intrepid band of missionaries who, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, faced the barbarism of the Tartars and Mussulmans which was threatening the West. From the Alps to the northern frontiers of the Chinese Empire, from the islands of the Archi- pelago to the Arctic regions, he propagated his Order and spread the kingdom of God. On the steppes, where the schism of Constantinople disputed its conquests with the idolatrous invaders from the North, he was seen for forty years working To confounding heresy, dispelling the darkness of infidelity.

The consecration of martyrdom was not wanting. to this, any more than to the first apostolate. Many were the admirable episodes where the angels seemed to smile upon the hard combats of their earthly brethren. In the convent founded by Hyacinth at Sandomir on the Vistula, forty-eight Friars Preachers were gathered together under the rule of blessed Sadoc. One day the lector of the Martyrology, announcing the feast of the morrow, read these words which appeared before his eyes in letters of gold: AT SANDOMIR ON THE FOURTH OF THE NONES OF JUNE, THE PASSION OF FORTY-NINE MARTYRS. The astonished brethren soon understood this extra- ordinary announcement; in the joy of their souls they prepared to gather the Jar which was procured for them by an irruption of the Tartars on the very day mentioned. They were assembled in choir at the happy --- PAGE 418 --- SAINT HYACINTH 409

moment, and whilst singing the Salve Regina they dyed with their blood the pavement of the church.

No executioner's sword was to close Hyacinth's glorious career. John, the beloved disciple, had had to remain on earth till the Lord should come; our saint waited for the Mother of his Lord to fetch him.

Neither labour nor the greatest sufferings, nor, above all, the most wonderful divine interventions were wanting to his beautifullife. Kieff, the holy city of the Russians, having for fifty years resisted hi£ zeal, the Tartars, as avengers of God's justice, swept over it and sacked it. The universal devastation reached the very doors of the sanctuary where the man of God was just concluding the holy Sacrifice. Clothed as he was in the sacred vest- ments, he took in one hand tlie most holy Sacrament and in the other the statue of Mary, who asked him not to leave her to the barbarians; then, together with his brethren, he walked safe and sound through the very midst of the bloodthirsty pagans, along the streets all in flames, and lastly across the Dnieper, the ancient Borysthenes, whose waters, growing firm beneath his feet, retained the marks of his steps. Three centuries : later, the witnesses examined for the process of canoniza- : tion attested on oath that the prodigy still continued; the footprints always visible upon the water, from one bank to the other, were called by the surrounding in- habitants St. Hyacinth's Way.

The saint, continuing his miraculous retreat as far as Cracow, there laid down his precious burden in the convent of the Blessed Trinity. The statue of Mary, light as a reed while he was carrying it, now resumed its natural weight, which was so great that one man could not so much as move it. Beside this statue Hyacinth, after many more labours, would return to die. It was here that, at the beginning of his apostolic life, the Mother of God had appeared to him for the first time, saying: ' Have great courage and be joyful, my son Hyacinth! Whatsoever thou shalt ask in my name, shall be granted thee. This happy interview took

27

--- PAGE 419 --- 410 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

place on the Vigil of the Assumption. The saint gathered from it the superhuman confidence of the thaumaturgus, which no difficulty could ever shake; but above all he retained from it the virginal fragrance which embalmed his whole life, and the light of super- natural beauty which made him the picture of his father Dominic.

Years passed away: heroic Poland, the privileged centre of Hyacinth's labours, was ready to play its part, under Mary's shield, as the bulwark of Christen- dom; at the price of what sacrifices we shall hear in October from a contemporary of our saint, St. Hedwiges, the blessed mother of the hero of Liegnitz. Meantime, like St. Stanislaus his predecessor in the labour, the son of St. Dominic came to Cracow, to breathe his last sigh and leave there the treasure of his sacred relics. Not on the Vigil this time, but on the very day of her triumph, August 15, 1257, in the church of the Most Holy Trinity, our Lady came down once more, with a brilliant escort of angels, and virgins forming her court. ‘Oh! who art thou?’ cried a holy soul who beheld all this in ecstasy. ‘I,’ answered Mary, ‘am the Mother of mercy; and he whom I hold by the hand is brother Hyacinth, my devoted son, whom I am leading to the eternal nuptials.” Then our Lady intoned herself with her sweet voice: ‘I will go to the mountain of Libanus, and the angels and virgins continued the heavenly song with exquisite harmony, while the happy procession disappeared into the glory of heaven.

Let us read the notice of St. Hyacinth given by the liturgy. We shall there see that his above-mentioned passage over the Dnieper was not the only circumstance wherein he showed his power over the waves.

Hyacinth was a Pole and

Hyacinthus Polonus, nobili- born of noble and Christian

bus et Christianis parentibus

in Camiensi villa episcopatus Vratislaviensis natus est. A pueritia litteris instructus, post datam jurisprudentiae et sacris

parents in the town of Camien of the diocese of Dreslau. In his childhood he received a liberal education, and later he

--- PAGE 420 --- SAINT HYACINTH

litteris operam, inter canonicos Cracovienses ascitus, insigni morum pietate et summa eru- ditione céteros antecelluit. Ro- mz in Praedicatorum ordinem ab ipso institutore sancto Do- minico adscriptus, perfectam vivendi rationem, quam ab ipso didicerat, usque ad finem vitz sanctissime retinuit. Vir- ginitatem perpetuo coluit: mo- destiam, patientiam, humilita- tem, abstinentiam, ceterasque virtutes, ut certum religiosa vita: patrimonium, adamavit.

Caritate in Deum fervens, integras sepe noctes funden- dis precibus, castigandoque cor- pori insumens, nullum eidem levamentum, nisi lapidi inni- xus, sive humi cubans, adhi- bebat. Remissus in patriam, Frisac primum in itinere am- plissimum sui ordinis monaste- rium, mox Cracovie alterum erexit. Inde per alias Po- lonie regni provincias, aliis quatuor exedificatis, incredi- bile dictu est quantum verbi Dei predicatione et vitae in- nocentia apud omnes profecerit. Nullum diem praetermisit, quo non preclara aliqua fidei, pie- tatis atque innocentie argu- menta praestiterit.

Sanctissimi viri studium erga proximorum salutem maximis Deus miraculis illustravit. In-
ter qua illud insigne, quod Vandalum fluvium prope Viso- gradum aquis redundantem, nullo navigio usus, trajecit, sociis quoque expanso super undas pallio traductis. Ad-

411

studied law and Divinity, Having become a canon of the church of Cracow, he surpassed all his fellow-priests by his remarkable piety and learning. He was received at ‘Rome into the Order of Preachers by the founder St. Dominic, and till the end of his life he observed in a most holy manner the mode of life he learnt from him. He re- mained always a virgin, and had a great love for modesty, patience, humility, abstinence and other virtues, which are the true inheritance of the religious life.

In his burning love for God he would spend whole nights in prayer and chastising his body. He would allow him- self no rest except by leaning against a stone, or lying on the bare ground. He was sent back to his own country; but first of all on the way there, he founded a large house of his Order at Friesach, and then another at Cracow. Then in different provinces of Poland he built four other monasteries, and it seems incredible what an amount of good he did in all these places by preaching the Word of God and by the innocence of his life. Not a day passed but he gave some striking proof of his faith, his piety, and his innocence.

God honoured the holy man's zeal for the good of his neigh- bour by very great miracles. The following is one of the most striking: he crossed without a boat the river Vistula, which had overflowed, near Wisgrade, and drew his companions also across on his cloak which he

--- PAGE 421 --- 412

mirabili vite genere ad quad- raginta prope annos post pro- fessionem perducto, mortis die suis fratribus prenuntiato, ipso assumptz Virginis festo, Horis Canonicis persolutis, sacramen- tis ecclesiasticis summa cum veneratione perceptis, iis ver- bis: In manus tuas Domine,
spiritum Deo reddidit, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo quinquagesimo septimo. Quem miraculis, etiam post obitum, illustrem, Clemens Papa Octa- vus in Sanctorum numerum retulit.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

spread out over the water. After having persevered in his admirable manner of life for forty years after his pro- fession, he foretold to his brethren the day of his death. On the feast of our Lady's Assumption in the year 1257, having finished the Canonical Hours, and received the sacra- ments of the Church with great devotion, saying these words: ‘Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit,’ he gave up his soul to God. He was illustrious for miracles

in death as in life, and Pope Clement VIII numbered him among the saints.

Great was thy privilege, O Son of Dominic, to be so closely associated to Mary as to enter into thy glory on the very feast of her triumph. As thou occupiest so fair a place in the procession accompanying her to heaven, tell us of her greatness, her beauty, her love for us poor creatures, whom she desires to make sharers, like thee, in her bliss.

It is through her that thou wert so powerful in this thy exile, before being near her in happiness and glory. Long after Adalbert and Anschar, Cyril and Methodius, thou didst traverse once more the ungrateful North, where thorns and briars so quickly spring up again, where the people, whom the Church has with such labour delivered from the yoke of paganism, are continually letting themselves be caught in the meshes of schism and the snares of heresy. In his chosen domain the prince of darkness suffered fresh defeats, an immense multitude broke his chains, and the light of salvation shone further than any of thy predecessors had carried it. Poland, definitively won to the Church, became her rampart, until the days of treason which put an end to Christian Europe.

O Hyacinth, preserve the faith in the hearts of

--- PAGE 422 --- OCTAVE OF SAINT LAURENCE 413

this noble people. Obtain grace for the Northern regions, which thou didst warm with the fiery breath of thy word. Nothing thou askest of Mary will be refused, for the Mother of Mercy promised thee so. Keep up the apostolic zeal of thy illustrious Order. May the number of thy brethren be multiplied, for it is far below our present needs.

Akin to thy power over the waves, is another attrib- uted to thee by the confidence of the faithful, and justi- fied by many prodigies: viz., that of restoring life to the drowned. Many a time also have Christian mothers experienced thy miraculous power, in bringing to the saving font their little ones, whom a dangerous delivery threatened to deprive of baptism. Prove to thy devout clients that the goodness of God is ever the same, and the influence of His elect not lessened.

THE SAME Day OCTAVE OF ST. LAURENCE

T Christmas Stephen watched beside the crib, where the Infant God attracted our hearts; Laurence to-day escorts the Queen whose beauty out- shines the heavens. It was fitting that a deacon should be present at both triumphs of love, shown at Bethle- hem in the weakness of the Babe, and in heaven in the glory wherewith the Son delights to honour His Mother. During her pilgrimage through the desert of this world, the deacons are the guardians of the Bride, the Church, signified by the ancient tabernacle, wherein was the Ark of the Covenant, a figure of Mary. ‘Beloved sons,” said the Pontiff to them on the day of their consecration, ‘consider by how great a privilege, inheriting both the office and the name of the Levitical tribe, you surround the tabernacle of the testimony, which is the Church, to defend it against an untiring enemy. As your fathers carried the tabernacle,

--- PAGE 423 --- 414 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

so must you support the Church; adorn her by sanctity, strengthen her by the divine word, uphold her by the example of perfection. Levi signifies sef apart; be you then separated from earthly desires; shine with the brightness of spotless purity, as beseems the tribe beloved of the Lord.”

By this disengagement from earth which gives true liberty, the Church, who is free herself, whereas the Synagogue was a slave, clothes her deacons with a grace unknown to the Levites of old. It would be true to say of Laurence what was written of Stephen, that his face appeared as the face of an angel amongst men; from the brow of each shone the light of Wisdom who dwelt in them, and the Holy Ghost who spoke by them put a grace upon their lips. In blood not his own did the Levite of Sinai, raising his sword, consecrate his hands to Jehovah; the deacon, ever ready to give his own blood, manifests his power by a fidelity of love, not of servitude; keeps up his energy by righteousness and self-forgetfulness; and while his feet are on the earth, where he combats, his eyes are on heaven, to which he aspires, and his heart is given to the Church, who has entrusted herself to him. s

With what devotedness he guards both her and her treasures; from the precious pearl of the Body of her spouse, to the jewels of the Mother, which are her poor and suffering children; from the purely spiritual riches springing from baptism and the word of God, to those material goods, the possession of which proves the Bride's right of citizenship here below. It were well to recall this lesson in our days: God willed that the greatest martyr of the holy City should win his crown by refusing to deliver up the revenues of the Church; and yet, under the circumstances, the confiscation of the treasure was legal, at least as far as an edict of Cesar could legalize injustice. Laurence did not consider that this pretended legality authorized him to yield to the governor's demands; he had no answer but disdain

! Pontificile Ria. in Ordinat. Diaconi,

--- PAGE 424 --- OCTAVE OF SAINT LAURENCE 415

for this man who knew not that the earth being the Lord's the Bride of the Lord is responsible to Him alone in the administration of His goods. Would he have acted differently if the State had then, as later, joined hypoc- risy to tyranny, and tried to vindicate its spoliations by artful language, unknown to the straightforward highway robber ? Where are now the State and the Casar of those days ? It is no new thing for persecutors to end in shame; the imperial murderer of the great deacon had not long to wait; in less than two years, Valerian had become the footstool of Sapor, and after- wards his skin, dyed red, was hung from the roof of a Persian temple.

Laurence, meanwhile, has received more homage than was ever offered to king or Cesar. What ancient Roman conqueror ever attained to his glory ? Rome itself became his conquest: twenty-four sanctuaries dedicated to Christ in his name in the Eternal City eclipse all the imperial palaces. And throughout the world, how many important churches and monasteries rejoice in his powerful patronage. The New World imitates the Old, giving the name of St. Laurence to its towns and provinces, its islands, bays, rivers, capes, and mountains. But among all Christian kingdoms, his native Spain justly distinguishes itself in paying honour to the illustrious archdeacon; it celebrates the feast of his holy parents Orentius and Patience, who gave him birth in the territory of Huesca; and it consecrated to him the noblest monument of its grandest age, St. Laurence of the Escurial, at once a church, a monastery, and a palace, built in the form of a gigantic gridiron. Let us close the Octave with the prayer addressed to him to-day by our common Mother: ' Raise up, O Lord, in Thy Church the spirit which was followed by the blessed Levite, Laurence; that we, being filled with it, may study to love what he loved, and in our works to practise what he taught.’

We have just quoted the Collect of the octave day; it is borrowed, together with the Introit and other

--- PAGE 425 --- TIME AFTER PENTECOST

prayers of to-day, from the Mass which was anciently celebrated in the night of August ro. We take the opportunity of remarking that supernatural prodigies at various times have proved that this glorious night won for the martyr a special privilege of delivering souls from purgatory in virtue of his own fiery torture. It became the custom in Rome to pray for the dead in the basilica of St. Laurence in agro Verano, raised by the first Christian emperor over the martyr's tomb. The faithful of the Eternal City come to sleep their last sleep under its shadow, and within its walls Pius IX, of happy memory, willed to await his resurrection.

Notker gives us this fine Sequence, after which we will conclude with a prayer from the Leonine Sacramentary.

416

SEQUENCE

Laurenti, David magni mar- O Laurence, martyr and

tyr milesque fortis,

Tu imperatoris tribunal,

Tu manus tortorum cruen- tas,

Sprevisti, secutus desidera- bilem atque manu fortem,

Qui solus potuit regna supe- rare tyranni crudelis,

Cujusque sanctus sanguinis prodigos facit amor milites ejus,

Dummodo illum liceat cer- nere dispendio vita praseatis.

Casaris tu fasces contemnis et judicis minas derides.

Carnifex ungulas et ustor craticulam vane consumunt.

Dolet impius urbis prafec- tus, victus a pisce assato, Christi cibo.

Gaudet Domini conviva favo,

brave soldier of the great and true David,

The tribunal of the emperor,

The bloodstained hand of the executioners,

Are set at nought by thee, who followest the Desirable One, who is mighty at hand.

Who alone could overthrow the kingdom of the cruel tyrant,

And whose holy love maketh his soldiers prodigal of their blood,

Provided they may behold Ea, at the price of the present life.

Thou despisest the fasces of Caesar, and laughest to scorn the judge's threats.

In vain does the torturer use his iron hooks and the executioner his gridron.

The impious prefect of the city laments, overcome by the broiled fish, the food of Christ.

But the guest of the Lord

--- PAGE 426 --- OCTAVE OF SAINT LAURENCE

conresurgendi, cum ipso satu- ratus.

O Laurenti, militum David invictissime, rcgis zeterni,

Apud illum servulis ipsius

deprecare veniam semper, Martyr milesque fortis. Amen.

417

rejoices, feasting with Him on the honeycomb, the type of resurrection.

O Laurence, most invincible of all the soldiers of the eternal king David,

Ever implore of Him pardon for His servants.

O brave martyr and soldier.

Amen.

PRAYER

Auge, quaesumus Domine,
fidem populi tui, de sancti Laurentii Martyris festivitate Fri em ut ad confessionem tui Nominis nullis properare terreamur adversis, sed tanta virtutis intuitu potius incite- mur. Per Dominum.

! An allusion to the m a piece of broiled fish and some honey

Increase, O Lord, we be- seech Thee, the faith of Thy people gotten on the feast of the holy martyr Laurence; that we may by no adversities be terrified from hastening to confess Thy Name, but may rather be encouraged by the sight of such great valour. Through, etc.

<tericus scene of I Easter evening, when our risen Lord ate b before His discipl

remains.

and gave them the

--- PAGE 427 --- : 418 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

AUGUST 18

FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION

Iz the eternal decrees Mary was never separated from Jesus; together with Him, she was the type of all created beauty. When the Almighty Father prepared the heavens and the earth, His Si who is His Wisdom, played before Him in His future human- ity as first exemplar, as measure and number, as starting- point, centre, and summit of the work undertaken by the Spirit of Love; but at the same time the predestined Mother, the woman chosen to give to the Son of God from her own flesh His quality of Son of Man, appeared among mere creatures as the term of all excellence in the various orders of nature, of grace, and of glory. We need not, then, be astonished at the Church putting on Mary's lips the words first uttered by Eternal Wisdom: ' From the beginning and before the world was I created.’

The divine ideal was realized in her whole being, even in her body. To form out of nothing a reflection of the divine perfections is the purpose of creation and the law even of matter. Now, next to the face of the most beautiful of the sons of men, nothing on earth so well expressed God as the Virgin's countenance. St. Denis is said to have exclaimed on seeing our Lady for the first time: ‘ Had not faith revealed to me thy Son, I should have taken thee for God.” Whether it be authentic or not to place it in the mouth of the Areopa- gite,! this cry of the heart expresses the feeling of the ancients. We shall be the less surprised at this, if we remember that no son ever resembled his mother as Jesus did; it was the law of nature doubled in Him, since He had no earthly father. It is now the delight of the angels to behold in the glorified bodies of Jesus

! Ex pseudo-epistola Dionys. ad Paulum.

--- PAGE 428 --- FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 419

and Mary new aspects of eternal beauty, which their own immaterial substances could not reflect.

Now the unspeakable perfection of Mary's body sprang from the union of that body with the most perfect soul that ever was, excepting, of course, the soul of our Lord her Son. With us, the original Fall has broken the harmony that ought to exist between the two very different elements of our human being, and has generally displaced, and sometimes even destroyed, the proportions of nature and grace. It is very different where the divine work has not thus been vitiated from the beginning; so that in each blessed spirit of the nine choirs, the degree of grace is in direct relation to His gifts of nature! Exemp- tion from sin allowed the soul of the Immaculate One to inform the body of its own image with absolute sway, while the soul itself, lending itself to grace to the full extent of its exquisite powers, suffered God to raise it supernaturally above all the Seraphim, even to the steps of His own throne.

For in the kingdom of grace, as in that of nature, Mary's supereminence was such as became a Queen. At the first moment of her existence in the womb of St. Anne, she was set far above the highest mountains; and God, who loves only what He has made worthy of His love, loved this entrance, this gate of the true Sion, above all the tabernacles of Jacob. It was indeed impossible that the Word, who had chosen her for His Mother, should, even for an instant, love any creature more, as being more perfect. Throughout her life there was never in Mary the least want of correspondence with her preventing graces; so great perfection could not brook the least failing, the least interruption, the least delay. From the first moment of her most holy Conception till her glorious death, grace operated in her without hindrance, to the utmost of its divine power. Thus, starting from heights unknown to us, and doubling her speed at each stroke of her wings,

? Tuox. Aquirs., I* P., qu. Ixit,, art. 6.

--- PAGE 429 --- 420 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

her powerful flight bore her up to that nearness to God, where our admiring contemplation follows her during these days.

Our Lady, moreover, is not only the first-born, the most perfect, the most holy, of creatures and their Queen—or rather she is all this, only because she is also the Mother of the Son of God. If we wish only to prove that she alone surpasses all the united subjects of her vast empire, we may compare her with men and with angels, in the order of nature and of grace. But all comparison is out of the question if we try to follow her to the inaccessible heights, where, still the handmaid of the Lord, she participates in the eternal relations which constitute the Blessed Trinity. What mode of divine charity is that whereby a creature loves God as her Son? But let us listen to the Bishop of Meaux, not the least of whose merits is to have understood as he did the greatness of Mary: ' To form the holy Virgin's love, it was necessary to mingle together all that is most tender in nature and most efficacious in grace. Nature had to be there, for it was love of a son; grace had to act, forit waslove ofa God. But what is beyond our imagi- nation is that nature and grace were insufficient; for it is not in nature to have God for a son; and grace, at least ordinary grace, cannot love a son as God: we must therefore rise higher. Suffer me, O Christians, to raise my thoughts to-day beyond nature and grace, and to seek the source of this love in the very bosom of the Eternal Father. The divine Son, of whom Mary is Mother, belongs to her and to God. She is united with God the Father by becoming the Mother of His only be- gotten Son, who is common to her and the Eternal Father by the manner of His conception. But to make her capable of conceiving God, the Most High had to overshadow her with His own power—that is, to extend to her His own fecundity. In this way Mary is associated in the eternal generation. But this God, who willed to give her His Son, was obliged also, in order to com- plete His work, to place in her chaste bosom a spark

--- PAGE 430 --- FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 421

of the love He himself bears to His only Son, who is the splendour of His glory and the living image of His substance. Such is the origin of Mary's love: it springs from an effusion of God's heart into hers; and her love of her Son is given to her from the same source as her Son Himself. After this mysterious communication, what hast thou to say, O human reason ? Canst thou pretend to understand the union of Mary with Jesus Christ? It has in it something of that perfect unity which exists between the Father and the Son. Do not attempt any more to explain that maternal love which springs from so high a source, and which is an overflow of the love of the Father for His only begotten Son." Palestrina, the ancient Praneste, sends a representa- tive to Mary's court to-day, in the person of its valiant and gentle martyr, Agapitus. By his youth and his fidelity, he reminds us of that other gracious athlete, the acolyte Tarcisius, whose victory, gained on August 15, is eclipsed by the glory of Mary's queenly triumph. During the persecution of Valerian, and just before the combats of Sixtus and Laurence, Tarcisius, carrying the body of our Lord, was met by some pagans, who tried to force him to show them what he had; but, pressing the heavenly treasure to his heart, he suffered himself to be crushed beneath their blows rather than ' deliver up to mad dogs the members of the Lord.” Agapitus, at fifteen years of age, suffered cruel tortures under Aurelian. Though so young he may have seen the disgraceful end of Valerian; while the new edict, which enabled him to follow Tarcisius to Mary's feet, had scarcely been promulgated throughout the empire, when Aurelian, in his turn, was cast down by Christ, from whom alone kings and emperors hold their crowns.

PRAYER

Laztetur Ecclesia tua, Deus, Let Thy Church rejoice, O
beati Agapiti Martyris tui God, relying on the interces- confisa suffragiis: atque ejus sion of blessed Agapitus, Thy

! BossuET, First sermon for the Assumption. * Damas. in Callisti.

--- PAGE 431 --- 422 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

precibus gloriosis, et devota martyr; and by his glorious

permaneat, et secura consistat. prayers, may she remain de-

Per Dominum. vout, and be securely sup- ported. Through, etc.

As we return from Palestrina to the Eternal City, we pass on our left the cemetery of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, where were first deposited the holy relics of the pious empress Helena, who entered heaven on this day. The Roman Church deemed no greater honour could be given her than to mingle, so to say, her memory on May 3 with that of the sacred Wood which she restored to our adoring love. We shall not, then, speak to-day about the glorious discovery, which, after three centuries of struggle, gave so happy a consecration to the era of triumph. Nevertheless, let us offer our homage to her who set up the standard of salvation, and placed the Cross on the brow of princes who were once its persecutors.

PRAYER

Domine Jesu Christe, qui O Lord Jesus Christ, who
locum, ubi crux tua latebat, unto blessed Helena didst re- beate Helene revelasti, ut veal the place where Thy Cross per eam Ecclesiam tuam hoc lay hid: thus choosing her as pretioso thesauro ditares: ejus the means to enrich Thy nobis intercessione concede; Church with that precious ut vitalis ligni pretio zterna treasure: do Thou, at her inter- vite pramiaconsequamur. Qui cession, grant that by the price vivis. of the Tree of Life we may

attain unto the rewards of everlasting life. Who livest and reignest, etc.

But let us return to the empress of heaven, for Helena is but her happy handmaid and the martyrs are her army. Adam of St. Victor offers us this sweet sequence where- . with to praise her and pray to her in the midst of this

stormy sea:

SEQUENCE

Stella non erratica; that wandereth not; permit

--- PAGE 432 --- FOURTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 423

Nos in hujus vite mari

Non permitte naufragari,

Sed pro nobis salutari Tuo semper supplica.

Savit mare, fremunt venti, Fluctus surgunt turbulenti; Navis currit, sed currenti

Tot occurrunt obvia !

Hic sirenes voluptatis, Draco, canes, cum piratis, Mortem pene desperatis

Hac intentant omnia.

Post abyssos, nunc ad colum,

Furens unda fert phaselum;

Nutat malus, fluit velum, Nauta cessat opera;

Contabescit in his malis

Homo noster animalis:

Tu nos, mater spiritalis, Pereuntes libera. Tu, perfusa coeli rore, Castitatis salvo flore, Novum florem novo more Protulisti seculo. Verbum Patri c uale, Corpus intrans virginale, Fit pro nobis corporale Sub ventris umbraculo.

Te previdit et elegit

Qui potenter cuncta regit,

Nec pudoris claustra fregit, Sacra replens viscera;

Nec pressuram, nec dolorem,

Contra prima matris morem,

Pariendo Salvatorem, Sensisti, puerpera.

O Maria, pro tuorum

Dignitate meritorum,

Supra choros angelorum Sublimaris unice:

us not in this life's ocean to suffer shipwreck, but ever in- tercede for us with the Saviour born of thee.

The sea is raging, the winds are roaring, the boisterous billows rise; the ship speeds on, but her swift course what fearful odds oppose! Here the sirens of pleasure, the dragon, the sea-dogs, pirates, all at once menace wellnigh despair- ing man with death.

Down to the depths and up to the sky does the raging surge bear the frail bark; the mast totters, the sail is snatched away, the mariner ceases his useless toil; our animal man faints amid so great evils: do thou, O Mother, who art spiri- tual, save us ere we perish.

The dew of heaven being sprinkled on thee, thou, with- out losing the flower of thy purity, didst in a new manner give to the world a new flower. The Word co-equal with the Father, entering thy virginal body, took for our sakes a body in the secret of thy womb.

He who rules all things in His power, foresaw and elected thee. He filed thy sacred bosom without breaking the seal of thy virginity. Unlike the first mother, thou, O Mother, didst feel neither anguish nor pain in bringing forth the Saviour.

O Mary, by the dignity of thy merits, thou alone art raised far above the choirs of angels: happy is this day whereon thou

--- PAGE 433 --- 426 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

' she is the Mother of Him from whom the Holy Ghost proceeds; and therefore all the gifts, graces, and virtues of this Holy Spirit are administered by her hands, distributed to whom she wills, when she wills, and as she wills, and as much as she wills."

We must not, however, conclude from these words that the Blessed Virgin has a right, properly so called, over the Holy Ghost or His gifts. Nor may we ever consider our Lady to be in any way a principle of the Holy Ghost, any more than she is of the Word Him- self as God. The Mother of God is great enough not to need any exaggeration of her titles. All that she has, she has, it is true, from her Son by whom she is the first redeemed. But in the historical order of the accomplishment of our salvation, the divine pre- dilection, whereby she was chosen to be Mother of the Saviour, made her to be ' the source of the source of life,” according to the expression of St. Peter Damian.? Moreover, being Bride as perfectly as she was Mother, and united, in the fulness of all her powers of nature and of grace to all the prayers, to all the sufferings, to the whole oblation of the Son of Man, as His truly universal co-operatrix in the time of His sorrow: what wonder that she should in the days of His glory have a Bride's full share in the dispensation of the goods acquired in common, though differently, by the new 'Adam and the new Eve? Even if Jesus were not bound in justice to give it her, who would expect such a Son to act otherwise ?

Bossuet, who cannot be suspected of being carried away, and whom we therefore quote by preference, did not consider his necessary controversies with heresy an excuse for not following the doctrine of the saints. ' God,' says he, ' having once willed to give us Jesus Christ by the holy Virgin, the gifts of God are without repentance, and this order remains unchanged. It is and ever will be true, that having received by her charity the universal principle of grace, we also receive

! BERNARDIN Sz. etc. * Prt. Dax. Homilia In Nativ. B.V.

1

--- PAGE 434 --- FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 427

through her mediation its various applications in all the different states whereof the Christian life is made up. Her maternal love having contributed so much to our salvation in the mystery of the Incarnation, which is the universal principle of grace, she will eternally con- tribute to it in all the other operations, which are but dependent on the first.

Theology recognizes three principal operations of the grace of Jesus Christ: God calls us, justifies us, gives us perseverance. Vocation is the first step; justification is our progress; perseverance ends the voyage, and gives us in our true country glory and rest, which are not to be found on earth. Mary's charity takes part in these three works. Mary is the Mother of the called, of the justified, and of the perse- vering; her fruitful charity is an universal instrument of the operations of grace.”

This noble language is an authentic testimony to the tradition of the holy Church of Gaul, which by its Irenzus, its Bernard, its Anselm, and so many others, made France the kingdom of Mary. May the je teachers put to profit what they have inherited

om their great predecessors, and continue to sound the inexhaustible depths of mystery in Mary; so that one day they may deserve to hear from her lips that word of Eternal Wisdom: They that explain me shall have life everlasting 2

We borrow from the ancient processional of our English St. Edith the beautiful fecum Que est ista ; after which we will give a series of other graceful Responsories written in metre, which are to be found in the Antiphoner of Sens, 1552.

RESPONSORIES Hy. Que est ista qua pene- Hy. Who is this that hath travit celos? ad cujus tran- penetrated the heavens? At situm Salvator advenit, et whose passage the Saviour

S sur la dévoti. ih Son: Via pare Mb do M Conagtin . xxiv. 31.

1 Be X 9 Déc., 1669.

--- PAGE 435 --- 428

induxit eam in thalamo regni sui, ubi cantantur organa hym- norum: * Quz ab angelis ad laudem Regis seterni sine fine resonant semper.

Y. O Virgo Ineffabiliter ven- eranda, cui Michael Archange- lus, et omnis militia angelorum deferunt honorem, quam vident exaltatam su celos ccelo- rum. * Quz ab angelis.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Qua ab angelis.

Ry. Sanctas primitias offert Genitus Genitori: * Florem virgineum niveo candore de- corum.

Y. Non calor hunc coxit, nec frigus noctis adussit. * Florem.

Hy. Regni coelestis, per fru- ctum virginitatis, * Damna re- formantur vetitum contracta per esum.

Y. Restitui numerum gau- det sacer ordo minutum. * Damna.

. Ry. Virginitas colum post lapsum prima r it: * Sed prius in Genito, post in Geni- trice beata.

Y. Celicus ordo sacram re- veretur virginitatem. * Sed prius.

Hy. Porta Sion clausi por- tam penetrat paradisi: * Prima parens toti quam secum clau- serat orbi.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

came to meet her, and in- troduced her into His royal chamber, where music and hymns resound: * Which the angels sing unceasingly, for ever praising the Eternal

ng.

y: O Virgin unspeakably venerable, to whom Michael the Archangel and all the angelic hosts pay honour, whom they behold exalted above the heaven of heavens. * Which the angels.

Glory be to the Father, etc. * Which the angels.

Ry. Holy firstfruits does the Son offer to His Father. * The virginal flower lovely in its snowy whiteness.

Y. No heat has scorched it, nor night-cold withered it. * The virginal flower.

HN. Through the fruit of vir- ginity of the heavenly king- dom, * The loss incurred by eating the forbidden fruit is repaired.

. The sacred hierarchy re- jolces that its diminished number is restored. * The loss incurred.

a After the fall virginity is the first to recover heaven: * First of all in the Son, then in his Blessed Mother.

Y. The heavenly ranks re- i holy virginity. * First of

Ey. The gate of Sion enters the gate of closed Paradise. * Which our first mother had closed to herself and the whole world.

--- PAGE 436 --- FIFTH DAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE 429

Y. Intacte matri reseratur janua coli. * Prima.

Hj. Unam quam petiit Virgo benedicta recepit: * Ut facie Domini sine tem-

eretur. ivinum munus votum * Ut facie.

pore y.

praevenit et auxit.

H. Quindenis gradibus dum scandit ad atria vite: * Angelicum meruit "Virgo transcendere culmen.

Y. Post Genitum Genitrix meruit precellere cunctis. * Angelicum.

Hy. Ecclesie Sponsum Virgo genuit speciosum: * Qui D est et homo persona junctus in una.

Y. Sic secum Matrem ccelesti sede locavit. * Qui Deus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Qui Deus.

Y. To the spotless Mother the gate of heaven is opened. * Which our first.

Hy. The Blessed Virgin re- ceived the one thing she re- quested. * To enjoy the face of the Lord for all eternity.

Y. The divine bounty both prevented and surpassed her desire. * To enjoy.

m . While reg tege pe een 8 to the palace o life, The Virgin deserved to ie above the angelic heights.

. Next to her Son the Mother merited to surpass all others. * The Virgin.

Ry. The Virgin brought forth

eus the beautiful Spouse of the

Church. * Who is both God and man united in one Person. Y. Thus he placed His Mother with Him on His heavenly throne. * Who is. Glory be to the Father, etc. * Who is.

The following Hymn was composed by St. Peter

Damian:

HYMN

Aurora velut fulgida, Ad coeli meat culmina, Ut sol Maria splendida, Tamquam luna pulcherrima.

Regina mundi hodie Thronum conscendit gloriz, Illum enixa filium Qui est ante luciferum.

Assumpta super angelos, Excedit et MEAN,

As a brilliant aurora Mary rises to the heights of heaven, gees as the sun, most

utiful like the moon.

To-day the Queen of the world ascends to her throne of glory, the Mother of that

Son who was begotten before the day-star.

She is raised above the angels and passes beyond the

--- PAGE 437 --- 430

Cuncta sanctorum merita Transcendit una femina.

Quem foverat in gremio, t in prasepio: Nunc Regem super omnia Patris videt in gloria.

Pro nobis, Virgo virginum, Tuum deposce Filium: Per quam nostra susceperat Ut sua nobis prabeat.

Sit tibi laus, Altissime, Qui natus es ex Virgine: Sit honor ineffabili Patri, sanctoque Flamini.

Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

archangels; this one woman surpasses all the merits of the saints.

Him, whom she had cher- ished in her bosom, she placed s ; now she Mage is

m King over all in the glory: of His Father.

O Vi of virgins, implore for us thy Son: by thee He received of ours, through thee may He give us of His own.

To Thee, O Most High, be praise, who wast born of the Virgin: be honour to Thy in- effable Father and to the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

--- PAGE 438 --- SAINT BERNARD 431

AUGUST 20

78 E valley of wormwood has lost its bitterness; having become Clairvaux, or the bright valley, its light shines over the world; from every point of the horizon vigilant bees are attracted to it by the honey from the rock which abounds in its solitude. Mary turns her glance upon its wild hills, and with her smile sheds light and grace upon them. Listen fo the har- monious voice arising from the desert; it is the voice of Bernard, her chosen one. ‘Learn, O man, the counsel of God; admire the intentions of Wisdom, the design of love. Before bedewing the whole earth, he saturated the fleece; being to redeem the human race, he heaped up in Mary the entire ransom. O Adam, say no more: ““ The woman whom Thou gavest me offered me the for- bidden fruit;" say rather: ' The woman whom Thou gavest me has fed me with a fruit of blessing." With what ardour ought we to honour Mary, in whom was set all the fulness of good! If we have any hope, any saving grace, know that it overflows from her who to-day rises replete with love: she is a garden of delights, over which the divine South Wind does not rx pass with a light breath, but sweeping down from the heights, He stirs it unceasingly with a heavenly breeze, so that it may shed abroad its perfumes, which are the gifts of various graces. Take away the material sun from the world: what would become of our day ? Take away Mary, the star of the vast sea: what would remain but obscurity over all, a night of death and icy darkness ? Therefore, with put fibre of our heart, with all the love of our soul, with all the eagerness of our aspirations, let us venerate

--- PAGE 439 --- 432 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Mary; it is the will of Him who wished us to have all things through her.”

Thus spoke the monk who had acquired his eloquence, as he tells us himself, among the beeches and oaks of the forest,? and he poured into the wounds of mankind the wine and oil of the Scriptures. In 1113, at the age of twenty-two, Bernard arrived at Citeaux, in the beauty of his youth, already ripe for great combats. Fifteen years before, on March 21, 1098, Robert of Molesmes had created this new desert between Dijon and Beaune. Issuing from the past, on the very feast of the patri- arch of monks, the new foundation claimed to be nothing more than the literal observance of the precious Rule given by him to the world. The weakness of the age, however, refused to recognize the fearful austerity of these newcomers into the great family, as inspired by that holy code, wherein discretion reigns supreme;? for this discretion is the characteristic of the school accessible to all, where Benedict ‘hoped to ordain nothing rigorous or burthensome in the service of God.” Under the government of Stephen Harding, the next after Alberic, successor of Robert, the little community from Molesmes was becoming extinct, without human hope of recovery, when the descendant of the lords of Fontaines arrived with thirty companions, who were his first conquest, and brought new life where death was imminent.

‘ Rejoice, thou barren one that bearest not, for many will be the children of the barren.” La Ferté was founded that same year in Chalonnais; next Pon- tigny, near Auxerre; and in 1115 Clairvaux and Mori- mond were established in the diocese of Langres; while these four glorious branches of Citeaux were soon, to- gether with their parent stock, to put forth numerous shoots. In 1119 the Charter of charity confirmed the existence of the Cistercian Order in the Church. Thus the tree, planted six centuries earlier on the summit of ! BERNARD, Sermo. Nativ, B.M. * Vita Bernardi, L. iv. 23. * Gree. Dialogue IL, xxxvi. * S. P. Bzuzpicr. in Reg. Prolog.

--- PAGE 440 --- SAINT BERNARD 433

Monte Cassino, proved once more to the world that in all ages it is capable of producing new branches, which, though distinct from the trunk, live by its sap, and are a glory to the entire tree.

During the months of his novitiate Bernard so subdued nature that the interior man alone lived in him; the senses of his own body were to him as strangers. By an excess, for which he had afterwards to reproach himself, he carried his rigour, though meant for a desirable end, so far as to ruin the body, that indispensable help to every man in the service of his brethren and of God. Blessed fault, which heaven took upon itself to excuse so magnificently. A miracle (a thing which no one has a right to expect) was needed to uphold him henceforth in the accomplishment of his destined mission.

Bernard was as ardent in the service of God as others are for the gratification of their passions. ' You would learn of me,' he says in one of his earliest works, * why and how we must love God. And I answer you: The reason for loving God is God Himself; and the measure of loving Him is to love Him without measure.” What delights He enjoyed at Citeaux in the secret of the face of the Lord! When, after two years, he left this blessed abode to found Clairvaux, it was like coming out of paradise. More fit to converse with angels than with men, he began, says his historian, by being a trial to those whom he had to guide: so heavenly was his lan- guage, such perfection did he require surpassing the strength of even the strong ones of Israel, such sorrowful astonishment did he show on the discovery of infirmities common to all flesh.

But the Holy Spirit was watching over the vessel of election called to bear the name of the Lord before kings and people; the divine charity which consumed his soul taught him that love has two inseparable, though sadly different, objects: God, whose goodness makes us love Him; and man, whose misery exercises our charity. According tothe ingenious remark of

* De diligendo Deo, I, 1. * Vita, I, vi. 27-30.

--- PAGE 441 --- 434 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

William de Saint-Thierry, his disciple and friend, Bernard re-learnt the art of living among men.! He imbued himself with the admirable recommendations given by the legislator of monks to him who is chosen Abbot over his brethren: ' When he giveth correction, let him act prudently, and push nothing to extremes, lest whilst eager of extreme scouring off the rust, the vase be broken. . . . When he enjoineth work to be done, let him use discernment and moderation, and think of holy Jacob's discretion, who said: '' If I cause my flocks to be overdriven, they will all die in one day." Taking, therefore, these and other documents regarding that mother of virtue, discretion—let him so temper all things as that the strong may have what to desire and the weak nothing to deter them.'?

Having received what the Psalmist calls ' under- standing concerning the needy and the poor, Bernard felt his heart overflowing with the tenderness of God for those purchased by the divine Blood. He no longer terrified the humble. Beside the little ones who came to him attracted by the grace of his speech might be seen the wise, the powerful, and the rich ones of the world, abandoning their vanities, and becoming them- selves little and poor in the school of one who knew how to guide them all from the first elements of love to its very summits. In the midst of seven hundred monks receiving daily from him the doctrine of salvation, the Abbot of Clairvaux could cry out with the noble pride of the saints: ' He that is mighty has done great things in us, and with good reason our soul magnifies the Lord. Behold we have left all things to follow Thee: it is a great resolution, the glory of the great apostles; yet we, too, by His great grace have taken it ifi- cently. Perhaps, even if I wish to glory therein, I shall not be foolish, for I will say the truth: there are some here who have left more than a boat and fishing-nets.'?

* What more wonderful,' he said on another occasion, ‘than to see one who formerly could scarce abstain

^ Vita, I, vi..30. * S. P. Bauzp. Reg. lxiv. * Brew. De diversis, Sermo xxxvil. 7.

--- PAGE 442 --- SAINT BERNARD 435

two days from sin preserve himself from it for years, and even for his whole life? What greater miracle than that so many young men, boys, noble personages—all those, in a word, whom I see here—should be held captive without bonds in an open prison by the sole fear of God, and should persevere in penitential macerations beyond human strength, above nature, contrary to habit? What marvels we should discover, as you well knew, were we allowed to seek out the details of each one's exodus from Egypt, of his passage through the desert, his entrance into the monastery, and his life within its walls.”

But there were other marvels not to be hidden within the secret of the cloister. The voice that had peopled the desert was bidden to echo through the world; and the noises of discord and error, of schism and the passions, were hushed before it; at its word the whole West was precipitated as one man upon the infidel East. Bernard had now become the avenger of the sanctuary, the umpire of kings, the confidant of sovereign Pontifís, the thaumaturgus applauded by enthusiastic crowds; yet, at the very height of what the world calls glory, his one thought was the loved solitude he had been forced toquit. 'Itishigh time,’ he said, ' that I should think of myself. Have pity on my agonized conscience: what an abnormal life is mine! Iam the chimera of my time; neither clerk nor layman, I have the habit of a monk and none of the observances. In the perils which surround me, at the brink of precipices yawning before me, help me with your advice, pray for me.”

While absent from Clairvaux he wrote to his monks: ‘ My soul is sorrowful and cannot be comforted till I see you again. Alas! Must my exile here below, so long protracted, be rendered still more grievous? Truly those who have separated us have added sorrow upon sorrow to my evils. They have taken away from me the only remedy which enabled me to live away from Christ; while I could not yet contemplate His glorious

! In Dedicat, EccL, Sermo L 2. * Epist, cel.

--- PAGE 443 --- 436 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

face, it was given me at least to see you, you His holy temple. From that temple the way seemed easy to the eternal home. How often have I been deprived of this consolation? This is the third time, if I mistake not, that they have torn out my heart. My children are weaned before the time; I had begotten them by the Gospel, and I cannot nourish them. Constrained to neglect those dear to me and to attend to the interests of strangers, I scarcely know which is harder to bear, to be separated from the former or to be mixed up with the latter. O Jesus, is my whole life to be spent in sigh- ing ? It were better for me to die than to live; but I would fain die in the midst of my family; there I should find more sweetness, more security. May it please my Lord that the eyes of a father, how unworthy soever of the name, may be closed by the hands of his sons; that they may assist him in his last passage; that their desires, if Thou judge him worthy, may bear his soul to the abode of the blessed; that they may bury the body of a poor man with the bodies of those who were poor with him. By the prayers and merits of my brethren, if I have found favour before Thee, grant me this desire of my heart. Nevertheless, Thy will, not mine, be done; for I wish neither to live nor to die for myself.”

Greater in his Abbey than in the noblest courts, Bernard was destined to die at home at the hour ap- pointed by God; but not without having had his soul prepared for the last purification by trials both public and private. For the last time he took up again, but could not finish, the discourses he had been delivering for the last eighteen years on the Canticle. These familiar conferences, lovingly gathered by his children, reveal in a touching manner the zeal of the sons for divine science, the heart of the father and his sanctity, and the incidents of daily life at Clairvaux. Having reached the first verse of the third chapter, he was describing the soul seeking after the Word in the weakness of this life, in the dark night of this world, when he broke

? Epist, cxliv.

--- PAGE 444 --- SAINT BERNARD

437

off his discourses, and passed to the eternal face-to-face visiun, where there is no more enigma, nor figure, nor

shadow.

The following is the notice consecrated by the Church

to her great servant:

Bernardus, Fontanis in Bur- gundia honesto loco natus, adolescens propter egregiam formam vehementer sollicitatus a mulieribus, numquam de sententia colenda castitatis di- moveri potuit. as diabolí tentationes ut effugeret, duos et viginti annos natus, mo- nasterium Cisterclense, unde hic ordo incepit, et quod tum sanctitate florebat, in- gredi constituit. uo Ber- nardi consilio cognito, fra- tres summopere conati sunt eum a proposito deterrere: in uo ipse eloquentior ac felicior

it. Nam sic eos aliosque multos in suam perduxit sen- tentiam, ut cum eo triginta juvenes eamdem religionem susceperint. Monachus jeju- nio ita deditus erat, ut quoties sumendus esset cibus, toties tormentum subire videretur. In vigiliis etiam et orationibus mirifice se exercebat; et chris- tianam paupertatem colens, quasi coelestem vitam agebat in terris, ab omni caducarum rerum cura et cupiditate alie- nam.

Elucebat in eo humilitas, misericordia, benignitas: con- templationi autem sic addictus erat, ut vix sensibus, nisi ad offücia pietatis, uteretur: in quibus tamen prudentia laude excellebat. Quo in studio oc- cupatus, Genuensem ac Medio-

Bernard was born of a dis- tinguished family at Fontaines in Burgundy. As a youth, on account of his great beauty he was much sought after by women, but could never be shaken in his resolution of observing chastity. To escape these temptations of the devil, he, at twenty-two years of age, determined to enter the monas- tery of Citeaux, the first house of the Cistercian Order, then famous for sanctity. When his brothers learnt Bernard’s design, they did their best to deter him from it; but he, more eloquent and more success- ful, won them and many others to his opinion; so that to- gether with him thirty young men embraced the Cistercian Rule. As a monk he was so given to fasting, that when- ever he had to take food he seemed to be undergoing tor- ture. He applied himself in a wonderful manner to prayer and watching, and was a great lover of Christian poverty; thus he led a heavenly life on earth, free from all anxiety or desire of perishable goods.

The virtues of humility, mercy, and kindness shone conspicuously in his character. He devoted himself so earn- estly to contemplation, that he seemed hardly to use his senses except to do acts of charity, and in these he was remark-

--- PAGE 445 --- 438

lanensem aliosque episcopatus oblatos recusavit, professus se tanti officii munere indignum esse. Abbas factus Claraval- lensis, multis in locis zdificavit monasteria, in quibus hrs Bernardi institutio ac disciplind diu viguit. Rome, sanctorum Vincentii et Anastasii monas- terio ab Innocentio Secundo Papa restituti prefecit ab- batem illum, qui postea Suge nius Tertius Summus Pontifex fuit, ad quem etiam librum misit de Consideratione.

Multa preterea scripsit, in quibus apparet, eum doctrina po» divinitus tradita, quam abore comparata, instructum fuisse. In summa virtutum laude exoratus a maximis prin- cipibus de eorum componendis controversiis, et de ecclesias- ticis rebus constituendis, sepius in Italiam venit. Innocen- tium item Secundum Ponti- ficem Maximum in confutando Schismate Petri Leonis, cum apud imperatorem et Henri- cum Anglie regem, tum in concilio Pisis coacto, egregie adjuvit. Denique tres et sexa- ginta annos natus, obdormivit in Domino, ac miraculis illus- tris, ab Alexandro Tertio Papa inter sanctos relatus est. Pius vero Octavus. Pontifex Maxi- mus ex sacrorum Rituum Con- guns consilio sanctum

ardum universalis Eccle- siz Doctorem declaravit et confirmavit, necnon Missam et Officium de Doctoribus ab omnibus recitari jussit, atque

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

&ble for his prudence. While thus occupied he refused the bishoprics of Genoa, Milan, and others, which were offered to him, declaring that he was unworthy of so great an office. He afterwards became Abbot of Clairvaux, and built monasteries in many places, wherein the excellent rules and discipline of Bernard long flourished. When the monas- tery of SS. Vincent and Ana- stasius of Rome was restored by Pope Innocent II, St. Ber- nard appointed as Abbot the future Sovereign Pontiff, Eu- genius III; to whom he also sent his book ‘De Considera. tione.

He wrote many other works which clearly show that his doctrine was more the gift of God than the result of his own labours. On account of his great reputation for virtue, the greatest princes begged him to act as arbiter in their dis- putes, and he went several times into Italy for this pur- pose, and for arranging ec- clesiastical affairs. He was of great assistance to the Su- preme Pontiff Innocent II in putting down the schism of Peter de Leone, both at the courts of the emperor and of King Henry of Éngland, and at a Council held at Pisa. At length, being sixty-three years old, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Alexander III placed him among the saints. Pope Pius VIII, with the advice of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, declared St. Bernard a Doctor of the universal Church, and commanded all to recite

--- PAGE 446 --- SAINT BERNARD

indulgentias plenarias quotan- nis in um ordinis Cis- terciensium ecclesias visitanti- bus die hujus sancti festo con- cessit.

439

the Mass and Office of a Doctor on his feast. He also granted a plenary indulgence yearly for ever, to all who visit churches of the Cistercian Order on this day.

Let us offer to St. Bernard the following hymn, with its ingenuous allusions; it is worthy of him by the grace- ful sweetness wherewith it celebrates his grandeurs: HYMN

Lacte quondam profluentes, Ite, montes vos procul, Ite, colles, fusa quondam Unde mellis flumina; Israel, jactare late Manna priscum desine.

Ecce cujus corde sudant, Cujus ore profiuunt Dulciores lacte fontes, Mellis amnes zmuli:

Ore tanto, corde tanto Manna nullum dulcius.

Quaeris unde duxit ortum Tanta lactis copia; Unde favus, unde prompta Tanta mellis suavitas; Unde tantum manna fluxit, Unde tot dulcedines.

Lactis imbres Virgo fudit Ccelitus puerpera: Mellis amnes os leonis Excitavit mortui: Manna sylva, ccelitumque Solitudo proxima.

Doctor o Bernarde, tantis Aucte cceli dotibus, Lactis hujus, mellis hujus,

Ye mountains, once flowing with milk, depart to a distance; depart, ye hills that once p forth streams of honey;

srael, cease to boast freely of your ancient manna.

Behold one from whose heart ebb forth, and from whose mouth flow out sweeter foun- tains of milk and rival rivers of honey: than such a mouth, than such a heart no manna could be sweeter.

Thou askest whence such abundance of milk originated; whence the honeycomb, whence the swift-flowing sweetness of honey; whence such manna; and whence so many delights.

The showers of milk the Virgin Mother shed on him from heaven: the mouth of the dead lion was the source of the honeyed rivers: the woods and the solitude so nigh the heavens produced the manna.

O Bernard, O Doctor, en- riched with such gifts of heaven, shed down upon us the

--- PAGE 447 --- 440 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Funde rores desuper; dews of this milk and of this

Funde stillas, pleniore honey; give us the drops, now Jam potitus gurgite. that thou possessest the full sea.

Summa summo laus Parenti, ^ Highest praise be to the Summa laus et Filio: Sovereign Father, and highest Par tibi sit, sancte, manans raise to the Son: and be the Ex utroque, Spiritus; ike to Thee, O Holy Spirit. Ut fuit, nunc et per evum proceeding from them both, Compar semper gloria. as it was, now is, and ever

Amen. will be, equal glory eternally.

Amen.

It was fitting to see the herald of the Mother of God following so closely her triumphal car; entering heaven during this bright Octave, thou delightest to lose thyself in the glory of her whose greatness thou didst proclaim on earth. Be our protector in her court; attract her maternal eyes towards Citeaux; in her name save the Church once more, and protect the Vicar of Christ.

But to-day, rather than to pray to thee, thou invitest us to sing to Mary and pray to her with thee; the homage most pleasing to thee, ó Bernard, is that we should profit by thy sublime writings and admire the Virgin who, ‘ to-day ascending glorious to heaven, put the finishing touch to the happiness of the heavenly citizens. Brilliant as it was already, heaven became resplendent with new brightness from the light of the virginal torch. Thanks- giving and praise resound on high. And shall we not in our exile partake of these joys of our home ? Having here no lasting dwelling, we seek the city where the Blessed Virgin has arrived this very hour. Citizens of Jerusalem, it is but just that, from the banks of the rivers of Babylon, we should think with dilated hearts of the overflowing river of bliss, of which some drops are sprinkled on earth to-day. Our Queen has gone before us; the reception given to her encourages us who are her followers and servants. Our caravan will be well treated with regard to salvation, for it is preceded by the Mother of mercy as advocate before the Judge her Son.”

! BERNARD, In Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo i.

--- PAGE 448 --- SAINT BERNARD

indulgentias plenarias quotan- nis in perpetuum ordinis Cis- terciensium ecclesias visitanti- bus die hujus sancti festo con- cessit.

439

the Mass and Office of a Doctor on his feast. He also granted a plenary indulgence yearly for ever, to all who visit churches of the Cistercian Order on this day.

Let us offer to St. Bernard the following hymn, with its ingenuous allusions; it is worthy of him by the grace- ful sweetness wherewith it celebrates his grandeurs:

HYMN

Lacte quondam profluentes, Ite, montes vos procul, Ite, colles, fusa quondam Unde mellis flumina; Israel, jactare late Manna priscum desine.

Ecce cujus corde sudant, Cujus ore profluunt Dulciores lacte fontes, Mellis amnes @muli:

Ore tanto, corde tanto Manna nullum dulcius.

Quaeris unde duxit ortum Tanta lactis copia; Unde favus, unde prompta Tanta mellis suavitas; Unde tantum manna fluxit, Unde tot dulcedines.

Lactis imbres Virgo fudit Coelitus puerpera: Mellis amnes os leonis Excitavit mortui: Manna sylvz, ccelitumque Solitudo proxima.

Doctor o Bernarde, tantis Aucte cceli dotibus, Lactis hujus, mellis hujus,

Ye mountains, once flowing with milk, depart to a distance; depart, ye hills that once

oured forth streams of honey; srael, cease to boast freely of your ancient manna.

Behold one from whose heart ebb forth, and from whose mouth flow out sweeter foun- tains of milk and rival rivers of honey: than such a mouth, than such a heart no manna could be sweeter.

Thou askest whence such abundance of milk originated; whence the honeycomb, whence the swift-flowing sweetness of honey; whence such manna; and whence so many delights.

The showers of milk the Virgin Mother shed on him from heaven: the mouth of the dead lion was the source of the honeyed rivers: the woods and the solitude so nigh the heavens produced the manna.

O Bernard, O Doctor, en- riched with such gifts of heaven, shed down upon us the

--- PAGE 449 --- 440 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

Funde rores desuper; dews of this milk and of this

Funde stillas, pleniore honey; give us the drops, now

Jam potitus gurgite. that thou possessest the full sea.

Summa summo laus Parenti, Highest praise be to the Summa laus et Filio: Sovereign Father, and highest Par tibi sit, sancte, manans praise to the Son: and be the Ex utroque, Spiritus; like to Thee, O Holy Spirit. Ut fuit, nunc et per evum proceeding from them both, Compar semper gloria. as it was, now is, and ever

Amen. will be, equal glory eternally.

Amen.

It was fitting to see the herald of the Mother of God following so closely her triumphal car; entering heaven during this bright Octave, thou delightest to lose thyself in the glory of her whose greatness thou didst proclaim on earth. Be our protector in her court; attract her maternal eyes towards Citeaux; in her name save the Church once more, and protect the Vicar of Christ.

But to-day, rather than to pray to thee, thou invitest us to sing to Mary and pray to her with thee; the homage most pleasing to thee, O Bernard, is that we should profit by thy sublime writings and admire the Virgin who, ‘ to-day ascending glorious to heaven, put the finishing touch to the happiness of the heavenly citizens. Brilliant as it was already, heaven became resplendent with new brightness from the light of the virginal torch. Thanks- giving and praise resound on high. And shall we not in our exile partake of these joys of our home ? Having here no lasting dwelling, we seek the city where the Blessed Virgin has arrived this very hour. Citizens of Jerusalem, it is but just that, from the banks of the rivers of Babylon, we should think with dilated hearts of the overflowing river of bliss, of which some drops are sprinkled on earth to-day. Our Queen has gone before us; the reception given to her encourages us who are her followers and servants. Our caravan will be well treated with regard to salvation, for it is preceded by the Mother of mercy as advocate before the Judge her Son.”

! BERNARD, In Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo i.

--- PAGE 450 --- SAINT BERNARD 441

‘ Whoso remembers having ever invoked thee in vain in his needs, O Blessed Virgin, let him be silent as to thy mercy. As for us, thy little servants, we praise thy other virtues, but on this one we congratulate ourselves. We praise thy virginity, we admire thy humility; but mercy is sweeter to the wretched; we embrace it more lovingly, we think of it more frequently, we invoke it unceasingly. Who can tell the length and breadth and height and depth of thine, O blessed one ? Its length, for it extends to the last day; its breadth, for it covers the earth; its height and depth, for it has filled heaven and emptied hell. Thou art as powerful as merciful; having now rejoined thy Son, manifest to the world the grace thou hast found before God : obtain par- don for sinners, health for the sick, strength for the weak, consolation for the afflicted, help and deliverance for those who are in any danger, O clement, O merciful, O sweet Virgin Mary I’?

! Berwarp. In Assumpt. B.M.V., Sermo iv. * A tradition of the cathedral of Spires attributes to St. Bernard the addition of

this triple cry of the heart to the Salve

29

--- PAGE 451 --- 442 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

AUGUST 2I

SAINT JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL WIDOW

LTHOUGH Mary's glory is within her, beauty appears also in the garment wherewith she is clad: a mysterious robe woven of the virtues of the saints, who owe to her both their justice and their reward. As every grace comes to us through our Mother, so all the glory of heaven converges towards that of the Queen. Now among the blessed souls there are some more immediately connected with the holy Virgin. Pre- vented by the peculiarly tender love of the Mother of grace, they left all things, when on earth, to run after the odour of the perfumes of the Spouse she gave to the world; in heaven they keep the greater intimacy with Mary which was theirs even in the time of exile. Hence it is, that at this time of her exaltation beside the Son of God, the Psalmist sings also of the virgins entering joyously with her into the temple of the King. The crowning of our Lady is truly the special feast of these daughters of Tyre, who have themselves become princesses and queens in order to form her noble escort and her

u^ court.

If the saint proposed to our veneration to-day is not adorned with the diadem of virginity, she is never- theless one of those who have deserved in their humility to hear the heavenly message: Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear ; and forget thy people and thy father's house! In reply, such was her eagerness in the ways of love, that numberless virgins followed in her footsteps in order to be more sure of reaching the Spouse. She also, then, has a glorious place in the vesture of gold, with its play of colours, wherewith the

* Ps. xliv. 11,

--- PAGE 452 --- S. JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL 443

Queen of Saints is clad in her triumph. For what is the variety noticed by the psalm in the embroideries and fringes of that robe of glory, if not the diversity of tints in the gold of divine charity among the elect ? In order to bring forward the happy effect produced by this diversity in the light of the saints, Eternal Wisdom has multiplied the forms under which the life of the counsels may be presented to the world. Such is the teaching given in the holy liturgy, by bringing together the feasts of yesterday and to-day on its sacred cycle. Between Cistercian austerity and the more interior renouncement of the Visitation of holy Mary there seems to be a great distance: nevertheless the Church unites the memory of St. Jane de Chantal and of the Abbot of Clairvaux in homage to the Blessed Virgin during the happy octave which consummates her glory; it is because all rules of perfection are alike in being merely variations of the one rule, that of love, of which Mary's life was a perfect pattern. ' Let us not divide the robe of the Bride,’ says St. Bernard. ‘Unity, as well in heaven as on earth, consists in charity. Let ‘him who glories in the rule not break the rule by acting contrary to the Gospel. If the kingdom of God is within us, it is because it is not meat and drink ; but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost! To criticize others on their exterior observance, and to neglect the rule in what regards the soul, is to take out a gnat from the cup and to swallow a camel. Thou breakest thy body with endless labour, thou mortifiest with austerities thy members which are on the earth; and thou dost well. But while thou allowest thyself to judge him who does not so much penance, he perhaps is following the advice of the Apostle: more eager for the better gifts, keeping less of that bodily exercise which ts profitable to hile he gives himself up more to that godliness which ss profitable to all things? Which, then, of you two keeps the rule better? doubtless he that becomes better thereby. Now which is the better? The humbler, or

! Rom, xiv, 17. * 1 Tim. iv. 8,

--- PAGE 453 --- 444 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the more fatigued ? Learn of me, said Jesus, because I am meek and humble of heart.*

St. Frances de Sales, in his turn, speaking of the diversity of religious Orders, says very well: ‘All religious Orders have one spirit common to them all, and each has a spirit peculiar to itself. The common spirit is the design they all have of aspiring after the perfection of charity; but the peculiar spirit of each is the means of arriving at that perfection of charity—that is to say, at the union of our souls with God, and with our neighbour through the love of God.” Coming next to the special spirit of the institute he had founded together with our saint, the Bishop of Geneva declares that it is * a spirit of profound humility towards God and of great sweetness towards our neighbour, inasmuch as there is less rigour towards the body, so much the more sweet- ness must there be in the heart.” And because ' this Congregation has been so established that no great severity may prevent the weak and infirm from entering it'and giving themselves up to the perfection of divine love,’ he adds playfully: ‘ If there be any sister so generous and courageous as to wish to attain perfection in a quarter of an hour by doing more than the Com- munity does, I would advise her to humble herself and be content to become perfect in three days, following the same course as the rest. For a great simplicity must always be kept in all things: to walk simply, that is the true way for the daughters of the Visitation, a way exceedingly pleasing to God and very safe.’ With sweetness and humility for motto, the pious Bishop did well to give his daughters for escutcheon the divine Heart whence these gentle virtues derive their source. We know how magnificently Heaven justified the choice. Before a century had elapsed, a nun of the Visitation, St. Margaret Mary, could say: * Our adorable Saviour showed me the devotion to His divine Heart as'a beautiful tree which He had destined

! St Matt. xi. 29. * BERNARD. Apologia ad Gulielm,

* Entretiens spirituels, * Constitutions of tbe Visitation, Introduction. * Entretiens spirituels,

--- PAGE 454 --- S. JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL 445

from all eternity to take root in the midst of our institute. He wills that the daughters of the Visitation should distribute the fruits of this sacred tree abundantly to all those that wish to eat of it, and without fear of its failing them.”

‘Love! love! love! my daughters; I know nothing else.” Thus did Jane de Chantal, the glorious co- operatrix of St. Francis in establishing the Visitation of holy Mary, often cry out in her latter years. ' Mother, said one of the sisters, ‘ I shall write to our houses that we charity is growing old, and that, like your godfather

t. John, you can speak of nothing but love.” To which the saint replied: ‘ My daughter, do not make such a comparison, for we must not profane the saints by comparing them to poor sinners; but you will do me a pleasure if you tell those sisters that if I went by my own feelings, if I followed my inclination, and if I were not afraid of wearying the sisters, I should never speak of anything but charity; and I assure you, I scarcely ever open my mouth to speak of holy things, without having a mind to say: Thou shalt love the Lord with thy whole heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.’

Such words are worthy of her who obtained for the Church the admirable Treatise on the Love of God, composed, says the Bishop of Geneva, for her sake, at her request and solicitation, for herself and her com- panions? At first, however, the impetuosity of her soul, overflowing with devotedness and energy, seemed to unfit her to be mistress in a school where heroism can only express itself by the simple sweetness of a life altogether hidden in God. It was to discipline this energy of the valiant woman without extinguish- ing its ardour, that St. Francis perseveringly ap- fron himself during the eighteen years he directed

er. ‘Do all things,” he repeats in a thousand ways, ‘ without haste, gently, as do the angels; follow

! Letter of June 17, 1689, to Mother de Saumaise, ? Memoirs of Mother de fey, Set III, chap. v. * Treatise on the Love of God, ace; Memoirs of Mother de Chaugy.

--- PAGE 455 --- 446 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

the guidance of divine movements, and be supple to grace; God wills us to be like little children.’ And this reminds us of an exquisite page from the lovable saint, which we cannot resist quoting: ' If one had asked the sweet Jesus when He was carried in His Mother's arms, whither He was going, might He not with good reason have answered: I go not, 'tis My Mother that goes for Me: and if one had said to Him: But at least do You not go with Your Mother ? might He not reasonably have replied: No, I do not go, or if I go whither My Mother carries Me, I do not Myself walk with her nor by My own steps, but by My Mother's, by her, and in her. But if one had persisted with Him, saying: But at least, O most dear divine Child, You really will to let Yourself be carried by Your sweet Mother? No, verily, might He have said, I will nothing of all this, but as My entirely good Mother walks for Me, so she wills for Me; I leave her the care as well to go as to will to go for Me where she likes best; and as I go not but by her steps, so I will not but by her will; and from the instant I find Myself in her arms, I give no attention either to willing, or not willing, turning all other cares over to My Mother, save only the care to be on her bosom, to suck her sacred breast, and to keep myself close clasped to her most beloved neck, that I may most lovingly kiss her with the kisses of My mouth. And be it known to you that while I am amidst the delights of these holy caresses which surpass all sweet- ness, I consider that my Mother is a tree of life, and Myself on her as its fruit, that I am her own heart in her breast, or her soul in the midst of her heart, so that as her going serves both her and Me without My troubling Myself to take a single step, so her will serves us both without My producing any act of My will about going or coming. Nor do I ever take notice whether she goes fast or slow, hither or thither; nor do I inquire whither she means to go, contenting Myself with this, that go whither she please I go still locked in her arms, close laid to her beloved breasts, where I feed as among lilies.

--- PAGE 456 --- S. JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL 447

«+. . Thus should we be, Theotimus! pliable and tractable to God's good pleasure.’

The Church abridges for us far better than we could the life of St. Jane Frances de Chantal:

Joanna Francisca Fremiot de Chantal, Divione in Bur- gundia clarissimis orta na- talibus, ab ineunte etate exi- mia sanctitatis non obscuras edidit significationes. Eam enim vix quinquennem nobilem quemdam vinistam solida supra atatem argumentatio- ne perstrinxisse ferunt, col- latumque ab eo munusculum flammis illico tradidisse in hzc verba: En quomodo hzre- tici apud inferos comburentur,

ui loquenti Christo fidem

etrectant. Matre orbata, Dei- pare "Virginis tutele se commendavit, et famulam, qua ad mundi amorem eam alli- ciebat, ab se rejecit. Nihil puerile in moribus exprimens, a seculi deliciis abhorrens, martyriumque anhelans, reli- gioni ac pietati impense stude- bat. Baroni de Chantal nup- tui a patre tradita, virtutibus omnibus excolendis operam de- dit, liberos, famulos, aliosque sibi subjectos in fidei doctrina, bonisque moribus imbuere sata- gens. Profusaliberalitate pau- perum inopiam sublevabat, an- nona divinitus non raro multi-

144

great servant of God informed me not ay to Philothea in the ** Introduction to a Devout Life," I hindered

Jane Frances Frémiot de Chantal was born at Dijon in Burgundy, of noble parents, and from her childhood gave clear signs of her future great sanctity. It was said that when only five years of age she put to silence a Calvinist nobleman by substantial argu- ments, far beyond her age, and when he offered her a little

resent she immediately threw it into the fire, saying: * This is how heretics will burn in hell, because they do not be- lieve Christ when He speaks.’ When she lost her mother, she put herself under the care of the Virgin Mother of God, and dismissed a maid-servant who was enticing her to love of the world. There was nothing childish in her man- ners; she shrank from worldly pleasures, and thirsting for martyrdom, she devoted her- self entirely to religion and piety. She was given in mar- riage by her father to the

Baron de Chantal, and in this

new state of life she strove to cultivate every virtue, and busied herself in instructing

go that by addressing my speech ndered many men from

profiting by it: because they did not esteem advice given to a woman to be worth: ud

aman. I marvel th. in effect so little men. . . .

at there were men who, to be thought men, showed "Nevertheless, to imitate the great Apostle in this

who a debtor to everyone, 1 have res rm xe this treatise and speak Peg ende but if p there sh n

(and such an unreasonableness would be more tolerable in them) i den not read the instructions which are given to cog J beg | them to know that Theotimus

to whom I speak is the h spirit d

in um Kove. which

spirit is equally in women as in men.'— it reatise on the Love of Cody

* ‘Treatise on the Love of God,’ Book IX, chap. xiv. translation by Dom H. B. Mackey, O.S.B.)

(We have pue the

--- PAGE 457 --- 448

plicata: quo factum est, ut nemini se umquam Christi nomine roganti stipem abnega- turam spoponderit.

Viro in venatione interemp- to, perfectioris vite consilium iniens, continentiz voto se obstrinxit. Viri necem non solum equo animo tulit, sed, in publicum indulte venie testimonium, occisoris filium e sacro fonte suscipere sui victrix elegit. Modica familia, tenui victu atque vestitu con- tenta, pretiosas vestes in pios usus convertit. Quidquid a domesticis curis supererat tem- poris, precibus, piis lectioni- bus, laborique impendebat. Numquam adduci potuit ut alteras nuptias, quamvis utiles et honorificas, iniret. Ne au- tem a proposito castimonie observanda in posterum di- moveretur, illius voto innovato, sanctissimum Jesu Christi no- men candenti ferro pectori insculpsit. Ardentius in dies caritate fervescens, pauperes, derelictos, zgros, teterrimisque rede tot ad se adducen- os curabat; eosque non hospi- tio tantum excipiebat, pe ud batur, fovebat, verum etiam sordidas eorumdem vestes de- purgabat, laceras reficiebat, et manantibus feetido pure ulceri- bus labia admovere non ex- horrebat.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

in faith and morals her children, her servants and all under her authority. Her ter d inre- lievingthenecessitiesof thepoor was very great, and more than once God miraculously multi- plied her stores of provisions; on this account she promised never to refuse anyone who begged an alms inChrist's name.

Her husband having been kiled while hunting, she de- termined to embrace a more perfect life and bound herself by a vow of chastity. She not only bore her husband's death resignedly, but overcame her- self so far as to stand god- mother to the child of the man who had killed him, in order to give a public proof that she pardoned him. She con- tented herself with a few ser- vants and with plain food and dress, devoting her costly gar- ments to pious usages. What- ever time remained from her domestic cares she employed in prayer, pious reading, and work. She could never be in- duced to accept offers of second marriage, even though honour- able and advantageous. In order not to be shaken in her resolution of observing chas- tity, she renewed her vow, and imprinted the most holy name of Jesus Christ upon her breast with a red-hot iron. Her love

ew more ardent day by day.

he had the poor, the aban- doned, the sick, and those who were afflicted with the most terrible diseases brought to her, and not only sheltered and comforted and nursed them, but washed and mended their filthy garments, and did not shrink from putting her lips to their running sores.

--- PAGE 458 --- S. JANE FRANCES FREMIOT DE CHANTAL 449

A Sancto Francisco Sale- sio, quo spiritus moderatore usa fuit, divinam voluntatem edocta, proprium parentem, socerum, filium denique ip- sum, quem etiam vocationi obsistentem, sua e domo egrediens, pedibus calcare non dubitavit, invicta constantia deseruit, et sacri instituti Visi- tationis sancte Marie funda- menta jecit. Ejus instituti leges integerrime custodivit, et adeo paupertatis fuit amans, ut vel necessaria sibi deesse gauderet. Christiane vero ani- mi demissionis et obedientie, virtutumque denique omnium perfectissimum exemplar se praebuit. Altiores in corde suo ascensiones disponens, arduis- simo efficiendi semper id quod perfectius esse intelligeret, voto se obstrinxit. Denique, sacro Visitationis instituto ejus po- tissimum opera longe late- que diffuso, verbo, exemplo et scriptis etiam divina sapientia refertis, ad pietatem et cari- tatem sororibus excitatis, meri- tis referta, et sacramentis rite susceptis, Molinis, anno mil- lesimo sexcentesimo quadrage- simo primo, die decima tertia Decembris, migravit ad Domi- num, ejüsque animam, oc- currente sancto Francisco Salesio, in ccelos deferri san- ctus Vincentius a Paulo procul distans adspexit. Ejus corpus postea Annecium translatum est: eamque miraculis ante et pe obitum claram Benedictus ecimus quartus beatorum, Clemens vero decimus ter- tius Pontifex Maximus albo sanctorum adjecit. Festum autem ejusdem die duode- cimo Kalendas Septembris

Having learnt the will of God from St. Francis de Sales her director, she founded the Institute of the Visitation of our Lady. For this purpose she quitted, with unfaltering courage, her father, her father- in-law, and even her son, over whose body she had to step in order to leave her home, so violently did he oppose her vocation. She observed her Rule with the utmost fidelity. and so great was her love of poverty, that she rejoiced to be in want of even the neces- saries of life. She was a per- fect model of Christian humi- lity, obedience, and all other virtues. Wishing for still higher ascensions in her heart, she bound herself by a most difficult vow always to do what she thought most perfect. At length when the Order of the Visitation had spread far and wide, chiefly through her endeavours, after encouraging her sisters to piety and charity by words and example, and also by writings full of divine wisdom; laden with merits, she passed to the Lord at Moulins, baving duly received the Sacraments of the Church. She died on December 13, in the year 1641. St. Vincent de Paul, who was at a great distance, saw her soul being carried to heaven, and St. Francis de Sales coming to meet her. Her body was afterwards translated to Annecy. Miracles having made her illustrious both before and after her death, Benedict XIV placed her among the blessed, and Po Clement XIII among da saints. Pope Clement XIV

--- PAGE 459 --- 450 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

ab universa Ecclesia Clemens commanded her feast to be

decimus quartus Pontifex Ma- celebrated by the universal

ximus celebrari precepit. Church on the twelfth of the Kalends of September.

The office of Martha seemed at first to be destined for thee, O great saint! Thy father, Francis de Sales, forestalling St. Vincent de Paul, thought of making thy companions the first Daughters of Charity. Thus was given to thy work the blessed name of Visitation, which was to place under Mary's protection thy visits to the sick and neglected poor. But the progressive deterioration of strength in modern times had laid open a more pressing want in the institutions of holy Church. Many souls called to share Mary's part were prevented from doing so by their inability to endure the austere life of the great contemplative Orders. TheSpouse, who deigns to adapt His goodness to all times, made choice of thee, O Jane, to second the love of His Sacred Heart, and come to the rescue of the physical and moral miseries of an old, worn-out, and decrepit world. Renew us, then, in the love of Him whose charity consumed thee first; in its ardour thou didst traverse the most various paths of life, and never didst thou fail of that admirable strength of soul, which the Church presents before God to-day in order to obtain through thee the assistance necessary to our weakness! May the insidious and poisonous spirit of Jansenism never return to freeze our hearts; but at the same time as we learn from thee, love is only then real when, with or without austerities, it lives by faith, generosity, and self- renunciation, in humility, simplicity, and gentleness. It is the spirit of thy holy institute, the spirit which became, through thy angelic Father, so amiable and so strong; may it ever reign amidst thy daughters, keeping up among their houses the sweet union which has never ceased to rejoice heaven; may the world be refreshed by the perfumes which ever exhale from the silent retreats of the Visitation of holy Mary !

! Collect, Secret, and Postcommunion of the Feast.

--- PAGE 460 --- THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION 451i

AUGUST 22

HE alone who could understand Mary's holiness could appreciate her glory. But Wisdom, who presided over the formation of the abyss, has not re- vealed to us the depth of that ocean, beside which all the virtues of the just and all the graces lavished upon them are but streamlets. Nevertheless, the immensity of grace and merit, whereby the Blessed Virgin's super- natural perfection stands quite apart from all others, gives us a right to conclude that she has an equal supereminence in glory, which is always proportioned to the sanctity of the elect. Whereas all the other predestined of our race are placed among the various ranks of the celestial hierarchy, the holy Mother of God is exalted above all the choirs, forming by herself a distinct order, a new heaven, where the harmonies of angels and saints are far surpassed. In Mary God is more glorified, better known, more loved than in all the rest of the universe. On this ground alone, according to the order of creative Providence, which subordinates the less to the more perfect, Mary is entitled to be Queen of earth and heaven. In this sense, it is for her, next to the Man-God, that the world exists. The great theologian, Cardinal de Lugo, explaining the words of the saints on this subject, dares to say: ‘ Just as, creating all things in His complacency for His Christ, God made Him the end of creatures; so, with due propor- tion we may say He drew the rest of the world out of nothing, through the love of the Virgin Mother, so that she, too, might thus be justly called the end of all things."

! De Lugo, De Incarpat. disput. vii, sect. 11.

--- PAGE 461 --- 452 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

As Mother of God, and at the same time His firstborn, she had a right and title over His goods; as Bride she ought to share His crown. ' The glorious Virgin,’ says St. Bernardine of Siena, ‘ has as many subjects as the Blessed Trinity has. Every creature, whatever be its rank in creation, spiritual as the angels, rational as man, material as the heavenly bodies or the elements, heaven and earth, the reprobate and the blessed, all that springs from the power of God, is subject to the Virgin. For He who is the Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin, wishing, so to say, to make His Mother's princi- pality in some sort equal to His Father's, became, God as He is, the servant of Mary. If, then, it be true to say that everyone, even the Virgin, obeys God, we may also convert the proposition, and affirm that everyone, even God, obeys the Virgin.”

The empire of Eternal Wisdom comprises, so the Holy Spirit tells us, the heavens, the earth, and the abyss: the same, then, is the appanage of Mary on this her coronation day. Like the divine Wisdom to whom she gave Flesh, she may glory in God. He whose magnifi- cence she once chanted to-day exalts her humility. She who is blessed above all others has become the honour of her people, the admiration of the saints, the glory of the armies of the Most High. Together with the Spouse, let her, in her beauty, march to victory; let her triumph over the hearts of the mighty and the lowly. The giving of the world’s sceptre into her hands is no mere honour void of reality: frem this day forward she commands and fights, protects the Church, defends its head, upholds the ranks of the sacred militia, raises up saints, directs apostles, enlightens doctors, extermi- nates heresy, crushes hell.

Let us hail our Queen, let us sing her mighty deeds; let us be docile to her; above all, let us love her and trust in her love. Let us not fear that, amidst the great interests of the spreading of God's kingdom, she will forget our littleness or our miseries. She knows all that

! BERNARDIN, SEN, Sermo v de festiv. B.M., cap. 6.

--- PAGE 462 --- THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION 453

takes place in the obscurest corners, in the furthest limits of her immense domain. From her title of universal cause under the Lord is rightly deduced the universality of her providence; and the masters of doctrine show us Mary in glory sharing in the science called of vision, whereby all that is, has been, or is to be is present before God. On the other hand, we must believe that her charity could not possibly be defective: as her love of God surpasses the love of all the elect, so the tenderness of all mothers united, centred upon an only child, is nothing to the love wherewith Mary surrounds the least, the most forgotten, the most neglected of all the children of God, who are her children too. She forestalls them in her solicitude, listens at all times to their humble prayers, pursues them in their guilty flights, sustains their weakness, compassionates their ills, whether of body or of soul, sheds upon all men the heavenly favours whereof she is the treasury. Let us, then, say to her, in the words of one of her great servants: ‘O most holy Mother of God, who hast beautified heaven and earth, in leaving this world thou hast not abandoned man. Here below thou didst live in heaven; from heaven thou conversest with us. Thrice happy those who contemplated thee and lived with the Mother of life! But in the same way as thou didst dwell in the flesh with them of the first age, thou now dwellest with us spiritually. We hear thy voice; and all our voices reach thine ear; and thy continual protection over us makes thy presence evident. Thou dost visit us; thine eye is upon us all; and although our eyes cannot see thee, O most holy one, yet thou art in the midst of us, showing thyself in various ways to whom- soever is worthy. Thy immaculate body, come forth from the tomb, hinders not the immaterial power, the most pure activity of that ris of thine, which being inseparable from the Holy Ghost, breathes also where it wills. O Mother of God, receive the grateful homage of our joy, and speak for thy children to Him who has glorified thee: whatsoever thou askest of Him, He will

--- PAGE 463 --- 454 TIME AFTER PENTECOST

accomplish it by His divine power; may He be blessed for ever 1

Let us honour the group of martyrs which forms the rearguard of our triumphant Queen. Timothy, who came from Antioch to Rome, Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, and Symphorian, the glory ei Autun, suffered for God at different periods and at different places; but — 5 aides their palms on the same day of the year, and the same heaven is now their abode. ' My son, my son,’ said his valiant mother to Symphorian, ' remember life eternal; look up, and see Him who reigns in heaven; they are not taking thy life away, but changing it into a better. Let us admire these heroes of our faith; and let us learn to walk like them, though by less painful [o in the footsteps of our Lord, and so to rejoice,

PRAYER

Auxilium tuum nobis, Do- mine, quasumus, placatus im- pende: et intercedentibus bea- tis martyribus tuis Timotheo, Hi; yto et Symphoriano, d am super nos tue oe pitiationis extende. Per Do- minum.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, to be appeased, and to impart to us Thy help: and, by the in- tercession of blessed Timothy, Hippolytus, and Symphorian, Thy — extend over us the right d of Thy mercy. Through our Lord, etc.

The inexhaustible Adam of St. Victor gives us another sequence for the Assumption; it was sung at Saint

Victor on the octave day.

SEQUENCE

Gratulemur in hac die

In qua sancte fit Mariz Celebris Assumptio;

Dies ista, dies grata

Qua de terris est translata In ccelum cum gaudio.

Let us rejoice on this day whereon is epe: the As- sumption of hol ; this day, this happy Aer d. from earth she was translated into heaven with joy.

! GzaMAN, Constawtinoe, In Dormit, B.M., Oratio i.

--- PAGE 464 --- THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION 455

Super choros exaltata

Angelorum, est ata Cunctis cceli civibus.

In decore contemplatur

Natum suum, ut precatur Pro cunctis fidelibus.

Expurgemus nostras sordes

Ut illius, mundicordes, Assistamus laudibus;

Si concordent ce deri mentes,

Aures ejus intendentes Erunt nostris vocibus.

Nunc concordes hanc laudemus Et in laude proclamemus: Ave, plena gratia ! Ave, Virgo Mater Christi, Qua de Sancti concepisti Spiritus presentia !

Virgo sancta, Virgo munda,

Tibi nostrz sit jocunda Vocis modulatio.

Nobis opem fer desursum,

Et, post hujus vita cursum, Tuo junge Filio.

Tu a szclis przelecta, Litterali diu tecta Fuisti sub cortice; De te, Christum genitura, Przdixerunt in Scriptura Prophet, sed typice.

Sacramentum patefactum

Est, dum Verbum, caro factum, Ex te nasci voluit,

Quod nos sua pietate

A potestate Potenter eripuit.

Te per thronum Salomonis, Te per vellus Gedeonis ignatam.credimus; Et per rubum incombustum, Testamentum si vetustum Mystice perpendimus.

Exalted above the choirs of angels, she is set over all the citizens of heaven. She con- bed cul Jap dar ci Ue

uty, and pra; or e faithful. din

Let us cleanse away our stains, that clean of heart we may take part in her praises; if our minds be in accord with our tongues, her ears will be attentive to our voices.

Let us, then, praise her with one accord, in her praise cry out: Hail, full of e! hail, Virgin Mother of Christ, who didst conceive Him by the presence of the Holy Spirit |

Holy his vo spotless Vir- gin, may the music of our voice be pleasing to thee. Bring us help from on high, and after this life's course, unite us to thy Son.

O thou elect from all eter- nity, long wast thou hidden in the shell of the letter; of thee as future Mother of Christ, the Prophets foretold in the Scripture, but in types.

The Mystery was unveiled when the Word made Flesh willed to be born of thee, who in His love did powerfully snatch us from the power of the wicked one.

Thee by the throne of Solo- mon, thee by the fleece of Gedeon, we believe to be fore- shown, and by the bush un- burnt, if the ancient Testa- ment we mystically ponder.

--- PAGE 465 --- 456

Super vellus ros descendens Et in rubo flamma splendens (Neutram tamen laditur), Fuit Christus carnem sumens, In te tamen non consumens Pudorem, dum gignitur.

De te virga processurum

Florem mundo profuturum Isaias cecinit,

Flore Christum prafigurans

Cujus virtus semper durans Nec ccpit, nec desinit.

Fontis vitz tu cisterna, Ardens, lucens es lucerna; Per te nobis lux superna Suum fudit radium: Ardens igne caritatis, Luce lucens castitatis, Lucem summa claritatis Mundo gignens Filium.

O salutis nostra porta,

Nos exaudi, nos conforta,

Et a via nos distorta Revocare propera:

Te vocantes de profundo,

Navigantes in hoc mundo,

Nos ab hoste furibundo Tua prece libera.

Jesu, nostrum salutare,

Ob meritum singulare

Tuz Matris, visitare

In hac valle nos dignare Tuz dono gratia.

Qui neminem vis damnari,

Sic directe conversari

Nos concedas in hoc mari,

Ut post mortem munerari Digni simus requie.

Amen.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

On the fleece the dew de- scending, in the bush the flame resplendent (yet neither hurt thereby), was Christ as- suming flesh in thee, yet not destroying thy purity by His birth.

The flower that was to spring from thee, the stem, and benefit the world, Isaias sang; by the flower prefiguring Christ, whose power everlast- ing neither began nor endeth.

Thou art the reservoir of the fountain of life, thou art a lamp burning and shining: through thee the light super- nal on us hath shed its ray; burning with fire of charity, shining with light of chastity, bringing into the world thy Son, the light of supreme brightness.

O gate of our salvation, hear us and comfort us, and from our crooked ways hasten to call us back: we are calling on thee from the abyss, sailing on the sea of the world; from the furious enemy deliver us

by thy prayer.

O Jesus our salvation, by the incomparable merit of Thy Mother, deign to visit us in this valley with the gift of Thy grace. Thou who willest that no one be condemned, grant us to steer our course so straightly through this sea that after death we may be worthy to be rewarded in Thy rest.

Amen.

--- PAGE 466 --- THE OCTAVE OF THE ASSUMPTION 457

The following prayer is remarkable for the symbo- lism wherewith it is inspired. It is used at the blessing of medicinal herbs and fruits, given from time immemorial, in certain places, on the day of the Assumption.

PRAYER

Deus qui virgam Jesse, O God, who on this day Genitricem Filii tui Domini didst raise up to the height of nostri Jesu Christi, hodierna heaven the rod of Jesse, the die ad colorum fastigia ideo Mother of Thy Son our Lord evexisti, ut per ejus suffragia Jesus Christ, in order that. : et patrocinia fructum ventris through her prayers and pi M ülius, eumdem Filium tuum, tronage Thou mightest € £^ mortalitati nostre communi- municate to our mortality. thé", : cares: te supplices exoramus; same Thy Son the fruit of" ut ejusdem Filii tui virtute, womb: we humbly je ejusque Genitricis glorioso pa- Thee, that by the power Pe trocinio, istorum terra fructu- this Thy Son, and Ei e um praesidiis per tem em glorious patronage His ad sternam salutem dispona- Mother, we may, by the help of mur. Per eumdem Dominum 2 re of the ren nostrum. isposed tem for eternal itvation. Through the same Christ our Lord.

But let us close the radiant octave by hearing Mary herself speak in this beautiful antiphon, appointed amongst others in certain manuscripts to accompany the Magnificat on the feast. Our Lady there appears,
not in her own name alone, but as representing the Church, which begins in her its entrance in body and soul into heaven. The present happiness of the Blessed Virgin is the pledge for us all of the eternal felicity promised us; the triumph of the Mother of God will not

complete until the last of her children has followed her into glory. Let us, then, join in this prayer so full of sweet love: it is truly worthy to express the feelin, 2 Mary as she crossed the threshold of her avidly ome.

3o

--- PAGE 467 --- 458

TIME AFTER PENTECQST

ANTIPHON

Maria exsultavit in spiritu, et dixit: Benedico te, qui do- minaris su omnem benedi- edico habitacu-

utero meo; et rsa

manuum m, qua vont tibi in omni subje- ctione. Benedico dilectionem tuam qua nos dilexisti. Be- nedico omnia verba quz exie- runt de ore tuo, qus data sunt nobis. In veritate enim cre- dam, quia sicut dixisti sic fiet.

Alleluia.

Mary exulted in spirit and said: I bless Thee who art bless the d cing of Th v

ess the dwe y glory, P M: for” whom re

e a dwelling in my womb, and I bless all the works of Thy hands which obey Thee in all subjection. I bless Thy love wherewith Thou hast loved us. I bless all the words that have come forth from Thy mouth and are given to us. For I believe in truth that as Thou hast said, so shall it be done.

Alleluia.

Oramus te, Domine, per merita sanctorum tuorum, quorum reliquiæ hic sunt, et omnium sanctorum: ut indulgere digneris omnia peccata mea. Amen.

Generous soldiers of Jesus Christ, who have mingled your own blood with his, intercede for us that our sins may be forgiven: that so we may, like you, approach unto God.

If it be a High Mass at which you are assisting, the priest here blesses the incense, saying:

Ab illo benedicaris, in cujus honore cremaberis. Amen.

Mayst thou be blessed by him, in whose honour thou art to be burned. Amen.

He then censes the altar in a most solemn manner. This white cloud, which you see ascending from every part of the altar, signifies the prayer of the Church, who addresses herself to Jesus Christ; while the divine Mediator causes that prayer to ascend, united with His own, to the throne of the majesty of His Father.

The priest then says the Introit. It is a solemn opening anthem, in which the Church, at the very commencement of the holy Sacrifice, gives expression to the sentiments which fill her heart.

It is followed by nine exclamations, which are even more earnest, for they ask for mercy. In addressing them to God, the Church unites herself with the nine choirs of angels, who are standing round the altar of heaven, one and the same as this before which you are kneeling.

To the Father:

Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us! Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us! Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us!

To the Son:

Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us! Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us! Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy on us!

To the Holy Ghost:

Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us! Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us! Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy on us!

Then, mingling his voice with that of the heavenly host, the priest intones the sublime canticle of Bethlehem, which announces glory to God, and peace to men. Instructed by the revelations of God, the Church continues in her own words the hymn of the angels.

THE ANGELIC HYMN

Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis.

Laudamus te: benedicimus te: adoramus te: glorificamus te: gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

Domine Deus, Rex cælestis, Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine, Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe.

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram.

Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace to men of good will.

We praise thee: we bless thee: we adore thee: we glorify thee: we give thee thanks for thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son.

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.

Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Who takest away the sins of the world, receive our humble prayer.

Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For thou alone art holy, thou alone art Lord, thou alone, O Jesus Christ, together with the Holy Ghost, art most high, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The priest then turns towards the people and again salutes them, as it were to make sure of their pious attention to the sublime act for which all this is but the preparation.

Then follows the Collect or Prayer, in which the Church formally expresses to the divine Majesty the special intentions she has in the Mass which is being celebrated. You may unite in this prayer, by reciting with the priest the Collects which you will find in their proper places; but on no account omit to join with the server of the Mass in answering Amen.

After this comes the Epistle, which is, generally, a portion of one or other of the Epistles of the apostles, or a passage from some book of the Old Testament. While it is being read, give thanks to God, who, not satisfied with having spoken to us at sundry times by His messengers, deigned at last to speak to us by His well-beloved Son.

The Gradual is an intermediate formula of prayer between the Epistle and the Gospel. Most frequently, it again brings before us the sentiments already expressed in the Introit. Read it devoutly, that so you may more and more enter into the spirit of the mystery proposed to you this day by the Church.

The song of praise, the Alleluia, is next heard. Let us, while it is being said, unite with the holy angels, who are, for all eternity, making heaven resound with that song, which we on earth are permitted to attempt.

It is now time for the Gospel to be read. The Gospel is the written word; our hearing it will prepare us for the Word, who is our Victim and our Food. If it be a High Mass, the deacon prepares to fulfil his noble office, that of announcing the good tidings of salvation. He prays God to cleanse his heart and lips. Then, kneeling before the priest, he asks a blessing; and, having received it, at once goes to the place where he is to sing the Gospel.

¹ Heb. i. 2.

As a preparation for hearing it worthily, you may thus pray, together with both priest and deacon:

Munda cor meum ac labia mea, omnipotens Deus, qui labia Isaiæ prophetæ calculo mundasti ignito; ita me tua grata miseratione dignare mundare, ut sanctum Evangelium tuum digne valeam nuntiare. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Dominus sit in corde meo, et in labiis meis: ut digne et competenter annuntiem Evangelium suum: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Alas! these ears of mine are but too often defiled with the world's vain words: cleanse them, O Lord, that so I may hear the words of eternal life, and treasure them in my heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Grant to thy ministers thy grace that they may preach and explain thy law; that so all, both pastors and flock, may be united to thee for ever. Amen.

You will stand during the Gospel, as though you were awaiting the orders of your Lord; at the commencement, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, lips, and breast; and then listen to every word of the priest or deacon. Let your heart be ready and obedient. 'While my Beloved was speaking,' says the bride in the Canticle, 'my soul melted within me.'¹ If you have not such love as this, have at least the humble submission of Samuel, and say: 'Speak, Lord! thy servant heareth.'²

After the Gospel, if the priest says the Symbol of faith, the Credo, you will say it with him. Faith is that gift of God, without which we cannot please Him. It is faith that makes us see 'the light which shineth in darkness,' and which the darkness of unbelief 'did not comprehend.' Let us then say with the Catholic Church, our mother:

THE NICENE CREED.

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem cæli et terræ, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum. Et ex Patre natum ante omnia sæcula, Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, descendit de cælis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto, ex Maria Virgine; ET HOMO FACTUS EST. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas. Et ascendit in cælum; sedet ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos; cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit. Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam sanctam Catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi sæculi. Amen.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. And born of the Father before all ages; God of God; light of light; true God of true God. Begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father; by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And became incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: AND WAS MADE MAN. He was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried. And the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father. And he is to come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead; of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And one holy Catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The priest and the people should, by this time, have their hearts ready: it is time to prepare the offering itself. And here we come to the second part of the holy Mass, which is called the Oblation, and immediately follows that which was named the Mass of Catechumens, on account of its being formerly the only part at which the candidates for Baptism had a right to be present.

See, then, dear Christians! bread and wine are about to be offered to God, as being the noblest of inanimate creatures, since they are made for the nourishment of man; and even that is only a poor material image of what they are destined to become in our Christian Sacrifice. Their substance will soon give place to God Himself, and of themselves nothing will remain but the appearances. Happy creatures, thus to yield up their own being, that God may take its place! We, too, are to undergo a like transformation, when, as the apostle expresses it, 'that which is mortal will be swallowed up by life.'¹ Until that happy change shall be realized, let us offer ourselves to God as often as we see the bread and wine presented to Him in the holy Sacrifice; and let us glorify Him, who, by assuming our human nature, has made us 'partakers of the divine nature.'²

The priest again turns to the people with the usual salutation, as though he would warn them to redouble their attention. Let us read the Offertory with him, and when he offers the Host to God, let us unite with him in saying:

Suscipe, sancte Pater, omnipotens, æterne Deus, hanc immaculatam hostiam, quam ego indignus famulus tuus offero tibi, Deo meo vivo et vero, pro innumerabilibus peccatis et offensionibus et negligentiis meis, et pro omnibus circumstantibus, sed et pro omnibus fidelibus christianis vivis atque defunctis; ut mihi et illis proficiat ad salutem in vitam æternam. Amen.

All that we have, O Lord, comes from thee, and belongs to thee; it is just, therefore, that we return it unto thee. But how wonderful art thou in the inventions of thy immense love! This bread which we are offering to thee is to give place, in a few moments, to the sacred Body of Jesus. We beseech thee, receive, together with this oblation, our hearts which long to live by thee, and to cease to live their own life of self.

When the priest puts the wine into the chalice, and then mingles with it a drop of water, let your thoughts turn to the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which is the source of our hope and our salvation, and say:

Deus, qui humanæ substantiæ dignitatem mirabiliter condidisti, et mirabilius reformasti: da nobis per hujus aquæ et vini mysterium, ejus divinitatis esse consortes, qui humanitatis nostræ fieri dignatus est particeps, Jesus Christus, Filius tuus, Dominus noster: qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

O Lord Jesus, who art the true vine, and whose Blood, like a generous wine, has been poured forth under the pressure of the cross! thou hast deigned to unite thy divine nature to our weak humanity, which is signified by this drop of water. Oh, come and make us partakers of thy divinity, by showing thyself to us in thy sweet and wondrous visit.

The priest then offers the mixture of wine and water, beseeching God graciously to accept this oblation, which is so soon to be changed into the reality, of which it is now but the figure. Meanwhile, say, in union with the priest:

Offerimus tibi, Domine, calicem salutaris, tuam deprecantes clementiam: ut in conspectu divinæ Majestatis tuæ, pro nostra et totius mundi salute, cum odore suavitatis ascendat. Amen.

Graciously accept these gifts, O sovereign Creator of all things. Let them be fitted for the divine transformation, which will make them, from being mere offerings of created things, the instrument of the world's salvation.

After having thus held up the sacred gifts towards heaven, the priest bows down; let us, also, humble ourselves, and say:

In spiritu humilitatis, et in animo contrito, suscipiamur a te, Domine: et sic fiat sacrificium nostrum in conspectu tuo hodie ut placeat tibi, Domine Deus.

Though daring, as we do, to approach thy altar, O Lord, we cannot forget that we are sinners. Have mercy on us, and delay not to send us thy Son, who is our saving Host.

Let us next invoke the Holy Ghost, whose operation is about to produce on the altar the presence of the Son of God, as it did in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, in the divine mystery of the Incarnation.

¹ Cant. v. 6. ² 1 Kings iii. 10.

¹ 2 Cor. v. 4. ² 2 St. Peter i. 4.

Veni, Sanctificator omnipotens æterne Deus, et benedic hoc sacrificium tuo sancto nomini præparatum.

Come, O divine Spirit, make fruitful the offering which is upon the altar, and produce in our hearts him whom they desire.

If it be a High Mass, the priest, before proceeding any further with the Sacrifice, takes the thurible a second time, after blessing the incense in these words:

Per intercessionem beati Michaelis archangeli, stantis a dextris altaris incensi, et omnium electorum suorum, incensum istud dignetur Dominus benedicere, et in odorem suavitatis accipere: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Through the intercession of blessed Michael the archangel, standing at the right hand of the altar of incense, and of all his elect, may our Lord deign to bless this incense, and to receive it for an odour of sweetness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

He then censes first the bread and wine which have just been offered, and then the altar itself; hereby inviting the faithful to make their prayer, which is signified by the incense, more and more fervent, the nearer the solemn moment approaches. St. John tells us that the incense he beheld burning on the altar in heaven is made up of the 'prayers of the saints'; let us take a share in those prayers, and with all the ardour of holy desires let us say with the priest:

Incensum istud, a te benedictum, ascendat ad te, Domine, et descendat super nos misericordia tua.

Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum. Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et ostium circumstantiæ labiis meis; ut non declinet cor meum in verba malitiæ, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis.

May this incense, blessed by thee, ascend to thee, O Lord, and may thy mercy descend upon us.

Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed like incense in thy sight: the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth and a door round about my lips; that my heart may not incline to evil words, to make excuses in sins.

Giving back the thurible to the deacon, the priest says:

Accendat in nobis Dominus ignem sui amoris, et flammam æternæ caritatis. Amen.

May the Lord enkindle in us the fire of his love, and the flame of eternal charity. Amen.

But the thought of his own unworthiness becomes more intense than ever in the heart of the priest. The public confession which he made at the foot of the altar is not enough; he would now at the altar itself express to the people, in the language of a solemn rite, how far he knows himself to be from that spotless sanctity wherewith he should approach to God. He washes his hands. Our hands signify our works; and the priest, though by his priesthood he bear the office of Jesus Christ, is, by his works, but man. Seeing your Father thus humble himself, do you also make an act of humility, and say with him these verses of the psalm:

PSALM 25

Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas: et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine.

Ut audiam vocem laudis; et enarrem universa mirabilia tua.

Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuæ, et locum habitationis gloriæ tuæ.

Ne perdas cum impiis, Deus, animam meam, et cum viris sanguinum vitam meam.

In quorum manibus iniquitates sunt: dextera eorum repleta est muneribus.

Ego autem in innocentia mea ingressus sum: redime me, et miserere mei.

Pes meus stetit in directo: in ecclesiis benedicam te, Domine.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

I, too, would wash my hands, O Lord, and become like unto those who are innocent, that so I may be worthy to come near thy altar, and hear thy sacred canticles, and then go and proclaim to the world the wonders of thy goodness. I love the beauty of thy house, which thou art about to make the dwelling-place of thy glory. Leave me not, O God, in the midst of them that are enemies both to thee and me. Thy mercy having separated me from them, I entered on the path of innocence and was restored to thy grace; but have pity on my weakness still; redeem me yet more, thou who hast so mercifully brought me back to the right path. In the midst of these thy faithful people, I give thee thanks. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The priest, taking encouragement from the act of humility he has just made, returns to the middle of the altar, and bows down full of respectful awe, begging of God to receive graciously the Sacrifice which is about to be offered to Him, and expresses the intentions for which it is offered. Let us do the same.

Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem, quam tibi offerimus ob memoriam Passionis, Resurrectionis et Ascensionis Jesu Christi Domini nostri: et in honorem beatæ Mariæ semper Virginis, et beati Joannis Baptistæ, et sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et istorum, et omnium sanctorum: ut illis proficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem: et illi pro nobis intercedere dignentur in cælis, quorum memoriam agimus in terris. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O holy Trinity, graciously accept the sacrifice we have begun. We offer it in remembrance of the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Permit thy Church to join with this intention that of honouring the ever glorious Virgin Mary, the blessed Baptist John, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, the saints whose relics lie here under our altar awaiting their resurrection, and the saints whose memory we this day celebrate. Increase the glory they are enjoying, and receive the prayers they address to thee for us.

The priest again turns to the people; it is for the last time before the sacred mysteries are accomplished. He feels anxious to excite the fervour of the people. Neither does the thought of his own unworthiness leave him; and before entering the cloud with the Lord, he seeks support in the prayers of his brethren who are present. He says to them:

Orate fratres: ut meum ac vestrum sacrificium acceptabile fiat apud Deum Patrem omnipotentem.

Brethren, pray that my Sacrifice, which is yours also, may be acceptable to God, our almighty Father.

This request made, he turns again to the altar, and you will see his face no more until our Lord Himself shall have come down from heaven upon that same altar. Assure the priest that he has your prayers, and say to him:

Suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuis, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad utilitatem quoque nostram totiusque Ecclesiæ suæ sanctæ.

May our Lord accept this Sacrifice at thy hands, to the praise and glory of his name, and for our benefit and that of his holy Church throughout the world.

Here the priest recites the prayers called the Secrets, in which he presents the petition of the whole Church for God's acceptance of the Sacrifice, and then immediately begins to fulfil that great duty of religion—thanksgiving. So far he has adored God, and has sued for mercy; he has still to give thanks for the blessings bestowed on us by the bounty of our heavenly Father, the chief of which is His having sent us His own Son. The blessing of a new visit from this divine Word is just upon us; and in expectation of it, and in the name of the whole Church, the priest is about to give expression to the gratitude of all mankind. In order to excite the faithful to that intensity of gratitude which is due to God for all His gifts, he interrupts his own and their silent prayer by terminating it aloud, saying:

Per omnia sæcula sæculorum.

For ever and ever.

In the same feeling, answer your Amen! Then he continues:

℣. Dominus vobiscum.
℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.
℣. Sursum corda!

Let your response be sincere:

℟. Habemus ad Dominum.

℟. We have them fixed on God.

And when he adds:

℣. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.

℣. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
℣. Lift up your hearts!

Answer him with all the earnestness of your soul:

℟. Dignum et justum est.

℟. It is meet and just.

Then the priest:

THE PREFACE

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus: per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem majestatem tuam laudant Angeli, adorant Dominationes, tremunt Potestates; Cæli cælorumque Virtutes ac beata Seraphim, socia exsultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas deprecamur supplici confessione dicentes:

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always and in all places give thanks to thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God; through Christ our Lord; by whom the Angels praise thy majesty, the Dominations adore it, the Powers tremble before it; the Heavens and the heavenly Virtues, and the blessed Seraphim, with common jubilee, glorify it. Together with whom, we beseech thee that we may be admitted to join our humble voices, saying:

Here unite with the priest, who, on his part, unites himself with the blessed spirits, in giving thanks to God for the unspeakable gift; bow down and say:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus sabaoth!

Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Hosanna in excelsis!

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed be the Saviour who is coming to us in the name of the Lord who sends him.

Hosanna be to him in the highest!

After these words commences the Canon, that mysterious prayer, in the midst of which heaven bows down to earth, and God descends unto us. The voice of the priest is no longer heard; yea, even at the altar all is silence. It was thus, says the Book of Wisdom, 'in the quiet of silence, and while the night was in the midst of her course, that the almighty Word came down from His royal throne.'¹ Let a profound respect stay all distractions, and keep our senses in submission to the soul. Let us respectfully fix our eyes on what the priest does in the holy place.

THE CANON OF THE MASS

In this mysterious colloquy with the great God of heaven and earth, the first prayer of the sacrificing priest is for the Catholic Church, his and our mother.

Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per Jesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus, uti accepta habeas et benedicas hæc dona, hæc munera, hæc sancta sacrificia illibata; in primis quæ tibi offerimus pro Ecclesia tua sancta Catholica; quam pacificare, custodire, adunare, et regere digneris toto orbe terrarum, una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N. et Antistite nostro N. et omnibus orthodoxis atque Catholicæ et apostolicæ fidei cultoribus.

O God, who manifestest thyself unto us by means of the mysteries which thou hast entrusted to thy holy Church our mother, we beseech thee, by the merits of this sacrifice, that thou wouldst remove all those hindrances which oppose her during her pilgrimage in this world. Give her peace and unity. Do thou thyself guide our holy Father the Pope, thy Vicar on earth. Direct thou our Bishop, who is our sacred link of unity; and watch over all the orthodox children of the Catholic, apostolic, Roman Church.

Here pray, together with the priest, for those whose interests should be dearest to you.

Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum N. et N., et omnium circumstantium, quorum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio: pro quibus tibi offerimus, vel qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium laudis pro se suisque omnibus, pro redemptione animarum suarum, pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suæ; tibique reddunt vota sua æterno Deo vivo et vero.

Permit me, O God, to intercede with thee for special blessings upon those for whom thou knowest that I have a special obligation to pray: * * * Apply to them the fruits of this divine Sacrifice, which is offered unto thee in the name of all mankind. Visit them by thy grace, pardon them their sins, grant them the blessings of this present life and of that which is eternal.

Here let us commemorate the saints; they are that portion of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which is called the Church triumphant.

Communicantes, et memoriam venerantes, in primis gloriosæ semper Virginis Mariæ, Genitricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beatorum apostolorum ac martyrum tuorum, Petri et Pauli, Andreæ, Jacobi, Joannis, Thomæ, Jacobi, Philippi, Bartholomæi, Matthæi, Simonis, et Thaddæi: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriani, Laurentii, Chrysogoni, Joannis et Pauli, Cosmæ et Damiani, et omnium Sanctorum tuorum: quorum meritis precibusque concedas, ut in omnibus protectionis tuæ muniamur auxilio. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

But the offering of this Sacrifice, O my God, does not unite us with those only of our brethren who are still in this transient life of trial: it brings us closer to those also who are already in possession of heaven. Therefore it is that we wish to honour by it the memory of the glorious and ever Virgin Mary, of whom Jesus was born to us; of the apostles, confessors, virgins, and of all the saints; that they may assist us by their powerful intercession to be worthy of this thy visit, and of contemplating thee, as they themselves now do, in the mansion of thy glory.

The priest, who up to this time has been praying with his hands extended, now joins them, and holds them over the bread and wine, as the high priest of the old Law was wont to do over the figurative victim; he thus expresses his intention of bringing these gifts more closely under the notice of the divine Majesty, and of marking them as the material offering whereby we express our dependence, and which, in a few instants, is to yield its place to the living Host, upon whom are laid all our iniquities.

¹ Wisd. xviii. 14, 15.

Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostræ, sed et cunctæ familiæ tuæ, quæsumus, Domine, ut placatus accipias: diesque nostros in tua pace disponas, atque ab æterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum jubeas grege numerari. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Quam oblationem tu, Deus, in omnibus, quæsumus, benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, acceptabilemque facere digneris: ut nobis Corpus et Sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

Vouchsafe, O God, to accept the offering which this thine assembled family presents to thee as the homage of its most happy servitude. In return, give us peace, save us from thy wrath, and number us among thy elect, through him who is coming to us—thy Son, our Saviour.

Yea, Lord, this is the moment when this bread is to become his sacred Body, which is our food; and this wine is to be changed into his Blood, which is our drink. Ah! delay no longer, but bring us into the presence of this divine Son, our Saviour!

And here the priest ceases to act as man; he now becomes more than a mere minister of the Church. His word becomes that of Jesus Christ, with its power and efficacy. Prostrate yourself in profound adoration, for the Emmanuel—that is, "God with us"—is coming upon our altar.

Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit panem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas: et elevatis oculis in cælum, ad te Deum Patrem suum omnipotentem, tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, deditque discipulis suis, dicens: Accipite, et manducate ex hoc omnes. HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM.

What, O God of heaven and earth, my Jesus, the long-expected Messias, what else can I do at this solemn moment, but adore thee in silence, as my Sovereign Master, and open to thee my whole heart, as to its dearest King? Come, then, O Lord Jesus, come!

The divine Lamb is now lying on our altar! Glory and love be to Him for ever! But he has come that He may be immolated. Hence the priest, who is the minister of the designs of the Most High, immediately pronounces over the chalice the sacred words which follow, that will produce the great mystical immolation, by the separation of the Victim's Body and Blood. After those words, the substances of both bread and wine have ceased to exist; the species alone are left, veiling, as it were, the Body and Blood of our Redeemer, lest fear should keep us from a mystery, which God gives us for the very purpose of infusing confidence into our hearts. While the priest is pronouncing those words, let us associate ourselves to the angels, who tremblingly gaze upon this deepest of wonders.

Simili modo postquam cenatum est, accipiens et hunc præclarum Calicem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas, item tibi gratias agens, benedixit, deditque discipulis suis dicens: Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes. HIC EST ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI NOVI ET ÆTERNI TESTAMENTI, MYSTERIUM FIDEI; QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MULTIS EFFUNDETUR IN REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. Hæc quotiescumque feceritis, in mei memoriam facietis.

O precious Blood! thou price of my salvation! I adore thee! Wash away my sins and make me whiter than snow. O Lamb ever slain, yet ever living, thou comest to take away the sins of the world! Come, also, and reign in me by thy power and by thy love.

The priest is now face to face with God. He again raises his hands towards heaven, and tells our heavenly Father that the oblation now on the altar is no longer an earthly material offering, but the Body and Blood, the whole Person, of His divine Son.

Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua sancta, ejusdem Christi Filii tui Domini nostri tam beatæ Passionis, nec non et ab inferis Resurrectionis, sed et in cælos gloriosæ Ascensionis: offerimus præclaræ Majestati tuæ de tuis donis ac datis, Hostiam puram, Hostiam sanctam, Hostiam immaculatam: Panem sanctum vitæ æternæ, et Calicem salutis perpetuæ.

Supra quæ propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris: et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium Patriarchæ nostri Abrahæ, et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam Hostiam.

Father of infinite holiness, the Host so long expected is here before thee! Behold this thy eternal Son, who suffered a bitter Passion, rose again with glory from the grave, and ascended triumphantly into heaven. He is thy Son; but he is also our Host, Host pure and spotless, our meat and drink of everlasting life.

Heretofore thou acceptedst the sacrifice of the innocent lambs offered unto thee by Abel; and the sacrifice which Abraham made thee of his son Isaac, who, though immolated, yet lived; and lastly the sacrifice, which Melchisedech presented to thee, of bread and wine. Receive our Sacrifice, which surpasses all those others. It is the Lamb of whom all others could be but figures; it is the undying Victim; it is the Body of thy Son, who is the Bread of life, and his Blood, which, whilst a drink of immortality for us, is a tribute adequate to thy glory.

The priest bows down to the altar, and kisses it as the throne of love on which is seated the Saviour of men.

Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, jube hæc perferri per manus sancti angeli tui in sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divinæ Majestatis tuæ: ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione, sacrosanctum Filii tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione cælesti et gratia repleamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

But, O God of infinite power! these sacred gifts are not only on this altar here below: they are also on that sublime altar in heaven, which is before the throne of thy divine Majesty. These two altars are one and the same, on which is accomplished the great mystery of thy glory and our salvation. Vouchsafe to make us partakers of the Body and Blood of the august Victim from whom flow every grace and blessing.

Nor is the moment less favourable for our making supplication for the Church suffering. Let us, therefore, ask the divine Liberator, who has come down among us, that He mercifully visit, by a ray of His consoling light, the dark abode of purgatory; and permit His Blood to flow, as a stream of mercy's dew, from this our altar, and refresh the panting captives there. Let us pray expressly for those among them who have a claim upon our suffrages.

Memento etiam, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum N. et N., qui nos præcesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis. Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis, et pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Dear Jesus! let the happiness of this thy visit extend to every member of thy Church. Thy presence gladdens the elect in the holy city; even our mortal eyes can see thee beneath the veil of our delighted faith; ah! hide not thyself from those brethren of ours, who are imprisoned in the abode of expiation. Be thou refreshment to them in their flames, light in their darkness, and peace in their agonies of torment.

This duty of charity fulfilled, let us pray for ourselves, sinners, alas! and who profit so little by the visit which our Saviour pays us. Let us, together with the priest, strike our breast, saying:

Nobis quoque peccatoribus famulis tuis, de multitudine miserationum tuarum sperantibus, partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris cum tuis sanctis apostolis et martyribus; cum Joanne, Stephano, Mathia, Barnaba, Ignatio, Alexandro, Marcellino, Petro, Felicitate, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucia, Agnete, Cæcilia, Anastasia, et omnibus sanctis tuis: intra quorum nos consortium, non æstimator meriti, sed veniæ, quæsumus, largitor admitte; per Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem hæc omnia, Domine, semper bona creas, sanctificas, vivificas, benedicis et præstas nobis; per ipsum et cum ipso, et in ipso, est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, omnis honor et gloria.

Alas! we are but sinners, O God of all mercy! yet do we hope that thine infinite mercy will grant us to share thy kingdom; not indeed by reason of our works, which deserve little else than punishment, but because of the merits of this Sacrifice, which we are offering unto thee. Remember, too, the merits of thy holy apostles, of thy holy martyrs, of thy holy virgins, and of all thy saints. Grant us, by their intercession, grace in this world, and glory eternal in the next: which we ask of thee, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son. It is by him thou bestowest upon us thy blessings of life and sanctification: and by him also, with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, may honour and glory be to thee!

While saying the last of these words the priest has taken up the sacred Host, which was upon the altar; he has held it over the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the divine Victim, in order to show that He is now immortal. Then raising up both chalice and Host, he offers to God the noblest and most perfect homage which the divine Majesty could receive.

This sublime and mysterious rite ends the Canon. The silence of the mysteries is interrupted. The priest concludes his long prayers by saying aloud, and so giving the faithful the opportunity of expressing their desire that his supplications be granted:

Per omnia sæcula sæculorum. For ever and ever.

Answer him with faith, and in a sentiment of union with your holy mother the Church:

Amen. Amen! I believe the mystery which has just been accomplished. I unite myself to the offering which has been made, and to the petitions of the Church.

It is now time to recite the prayer taught us by our Saviour Himself. Let it ascend to heaven together with the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. How could it be otherwise than heard, when He Himself who drew it up for us is in our very hands now while we say it? As this prayer belongs in common to all God's children, the priest recites it aloud, and begins by inviting us all to join in it; he says:

OREMUS — LET US PRAY

Præceptis salutaribus moniti, et divina institutione formati, audemus dicere:

Having been taught by a saving precept, and following the form given us by divine instruction, we thus presume to speak:

THE LORD'S PRAYER

Pater noster qui es in cælis, sanctificetur nomen tuum: adveniat regnum tuum: fiat voluntas tua sicut in cælo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie: et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris: et ne nos inducas in tentationem.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation.

Let us answer with a deep feeling of our misery:

Sed libera nos a malo. But deliver us from evil.

The priest falls once more into the silence of the holy mysteries. His first word is an affectionate Amen to your last petition—deliver us from evil—on which he forms his own next prayer: and could he pray for anything more needed? Evil surrounds us everywhere; and the Lamb on our altar has been sent to expiate it and to deliver us from it.

Libera nos, quæsumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, præteritis, præsentibus et futuris: et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beatis apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus sanctis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris: ut ope misericordiæ tuæ adjuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus.

How many, O Lord, are the evils which beset us! Evils past, which are the wounds left on the soul by her sins, which strengthen her wicked propensities. Evils present—that is, the sins now, at this very time, upon our soul; the weakness of this poor soul, and the temptations which molest her. There are, also, future evils—that is, the chastisement which our sins deserve from the hand of thy justice. In presence of this Host of our salvation, we beseech thee, O Lord, to deliver us from all these evils, and to accept in our favour the intercession of the Mother of Jesus, of the holy apostles, Peter and Paul and Andrew: liberate us, break our chains, give us peace: through Jesus Christ, thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth God.

The priest is anxious to announce the peace, which he has asked and obtained; he therefore finishes his prayer aloud, saying:

Per omnia sæcula sæculorum.
℟. Amen.

World without end. ℟. Amen.

Then he says:

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

May the peace of our Lord be ever with you.

To this paternal wish reply:

℟. Et cum spiritu tuo. ℟. And with thy spirit.

The mystery is drawing to a close; God is about to be united with man, and man with God, by means of Communion. But first, an imposing and sublime rite takes place at the altar. So far, the priest has announced the death of Jesus; it is time to proclaim His resurrection. To this end, he reverently breaks the sacred Host; and having divided it into three parts, he puts one into the chalice, thus reuniting the Body and Blood of the immortal Victim. Do you adore, and say:

Hæc commixtio et consecratio Corporis et Sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, fiat accipientibus nobis in vitam æternam. Amen.

Glory be to thee, O Saviour of the world, who didst in thy Passion permit thy precious Blood to be separated from thy sacred Body, afterwards uniting them again together by thy divine power.

Offer now your prayers to the ever-living Lamb, whom St. John saw on the altar of heaven, 'standing though slain':¹ say to this your Lord and King, who has taken upon Himself all our iniquities in order to wash them

away by His Blood:¹

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, give us peace.

Peace is the grand object of our Saviour's coming into the world: He is the Prince of peace.² The divine Sacrament of the Eucharist ought, therefore, to be the mystery of peace and the bond of Catholic unity; for, as the apostle says, 'all we who partake of one Bread are all one bread and one body.'³ It is on this account that the priest, now that he is on the point of receiving, in Communion, the sacred Host, prays that fraternal peace may be preserved in the Church, and more especially in this portion of it, which is assembled around the altar. Pray with him, and for the same blessing:

Domine Jesu Christe, qui dixisti apostolis tuis: Pacem relinquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis: ne respicias peccata mea, sed fidem Ecclesiæ tuæ: eamque secundum voluntatem tuam pacificare et coadunare digneris. Qui vivis et regnas Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, who saidst to thine apostles, 'My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you': regard not my sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant her that peace and unity which is according to thy will. Who livest and reignest God, for ever and ever. Amen.

If it be a High Mass, the priest here gives the kiss of peace to the deacon, who gives it to the subdeacon, and he to the choir. During this ceremony, you should excite within yourself feelings of Christian charity, and pardon your enemies, if you have any. Then continue to pray with the priest:

Domine Jesu Christe, Fili Dei vivi, qui ex voluntate Patris, co-operante Spiritu sancto, per mortem tuam mundum vivificasti: libera me per hoc sacrosanctum Corpus et Sanguinem tuum, ab omnibus iniquitatibus meis, et universis malis; et fac me tuis semper inhærere mandatis, et a te nunquam separari permittas: Qui cum eodem Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivis et regnas Deus in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who according to the will of the Father, through the co-operation of the Holy Ghost, hast, by thy death, given life to the world; deliver me by this thy most sacred Body and Blood from all mine iniquities, and from all evils; and make me always adhere to thy commandments, and never suffer me to be separated from thee, who with the same God the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God for ever and ever. Amen.

If you are going to Communion at this Mass, say the following prayer; otherwise, prepare yourself for a spiritual Communion:

Perceptio Corporis tui, Domine Jesu Christe, quod ego indignus sumere præsumo, non mihi proveniat in judicium et condemnationem: sed pro tua pietate prosit mihi ad tutamentum mentis et corporis, et ad medelam percipiendam. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre, in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Let not the participation of thy Body, O Lord Jesus Christ, which I, though unworthy, presume to receive, turn to my judgment and condemnation; but, through thy mercy, may it be a safeguard and remedy both to my soul and body. Who with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest God, for ever and ever. Amen.

When the priest takes the Host into his hands, in order to receive it in Communion, say:

Panem cælestem accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo.

Come, my dear Jesus, come!

When he strikes his breast, confessing his unworthiness, say thrice with him these words, and in the same dispositions as the centurion of the Gospel, who first used them:

Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.

Lord! I am not worthy that thou enter under my roof; say it only with one word of thine, and my soul shall be healed.

While the priest is receiving the sacred Host, if you also are to communicate, profoundly adore your God, who is ready to take up His abode within you; and again say to Him with the bride: 'Come, Lord Jesus, come!'⁴

But should you not intend to receive sacramentally, make here a spiritual Communion. Adore Jesus Christ who thus visits your soul by His grace, and say to Him:

Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam æternam. Amen.

I give thee, O Jesus, this heart of mine, that thou mayst dwell in it, and do with me what thou wilt.

Then the priest takes the chalice, in thanksgiving, and says:

Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quæ retribuit mihi? Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo. Laudans invocabo Dominum, et ab inimicis meis salvus ero.

What return shall I make to the Lord for all he hath given to me? I will take the chalice of salvation and will call upon the name of the Lord. Praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall be delivered from mine enemies.

But if you are to make a sacramental Communion, you should, at this moment of the priest's receiving the precious Blood, again adore the God who is coming to you, and keep to your prayer: 'Come, Lord Jesus, come!'

If you are going to communicate only spiritually, again adore your divine Master, and say to Him:

Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam in vitam æternam. Amen.

I unite myself to thee, my beloved Jesus! do thou unite thyself to me, and never let us be separated.

It is here that you must approach to the altar, if you are going to Communion.

The Communion being finished, while the priest is purifying the chalice the first time, say:

Quod ore sumpsimus, Domine, pura mente capiamus; et de munere temporali fiat nobis remedium sempiternum.

Thou hast visited me, O God, in these days of my pilgrimage: give me grace to treasure up the fruits of this visit, for my future eternity.

While the priest is purifying the chalice the second time, say:

Corpus tuum, Domine, quod sumpsi, et Sanguis quem potavi, adhæreat visceribus meis: et præsta ut in me non remaneat scelerum macula, quem pura et sancta refecerunt Sacramenta. Qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Be thou for ever blessed, O my Saviour, for having admitted me to the sacred mystery of thy Body and Blood. May my heart and senses preserve, by thy grace, the purity thou hast imparted to them, and may I be thus rendered less unworthy of thy divine visit.

The priest having read the anthem called the Communion, which is the first part of his thanksgiving for the favour just received from God, whereby He has renewed His divine presence among us, turns to the people, greeting them with the usual salutation; and then recites the prayer, called the Postcommunion, which is the continuation of the thanksgiving. You will join him here also, and thank God for the unspeakable gift He has just lavished upon you, of admitting you to the celebration and participation of mysteries so divine.

As soon as these prayers have been recited, the priest again turns to the people; and, full of joy at the immense favour he and they have been receiving, he says:

Dominus vobiscum.

The Lord be with you.

Answer him.

Et cum spiritu tuo.

And with thy spirit.

The deacon, or (if it be not a High Mass) the priest himself, then says:

Ite, missa est. ℟. Deo gratias.

Go, the Mass is finished. ℟. Thanks be to God.

The priest makes a last prayer, before giving you his blessing; pray with him:

Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas, obsequium servitutis meæ; et præsta ut sacrificium, quod oculis tuæ Majestatis indignus obtuli, tibi sit acceptabile, mihique et omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli sit, te miserante, propitiabile. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Eternal thanks be to thee, O adorable Trinity, for the mercy thou hast shown to me, in permitting me to assist at this divine Sacrifice. Pardon me the negligence and coldness wherewith I have received so great a favour; and deign to confirm the blessing, which thy minister is about to give me in thy name.

The priest raises his hand, and blesses you thus:

Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.

May the almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless you!

℟. Amen.

He then concludes the Mass, by reading the first fourteen verses of the Gospel according to St. John, which tell us of the eternity of the Word, and of the mercy which led Him to take upon Himself our flesh and to dwell among us. Pray that you may be of the number of those who received Him when He came unto His own people, and who, thereby, were made sons of God.

℣. Dominus vobiscum.
℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.

℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.

THE LAST GOSPEL

Initium sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.

The beginning of the holy Gospel according to John.

Cap. I.

Ch. I.

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt: et sine ipso factum est nihil; quod factum est, in ipso vita erat, et vita erat lux hominum; et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebræ eam non comprehenderunt. Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joannes. Hic venit in testimonium, ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine, ut omnes crederent per illum. Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine. Erat lux vera, quæ illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum. In mundo erat, et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri; his qui credunt in nomine ejus: qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri, sed ex Deo, nati sunt. ET VERBUM CARO FACTUM EST, et habitavit in nobis: et vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratiæ et veritatis.

℟. Deo gratias.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light. That was the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to be made the sons of God; to them that believe in his name, who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, as it were the glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

℟. Thanks be to God.

CHAPTER THE SECOND

ON THE OFFICE OF VESPERS, FOR SUNDAYS AND FEASTS, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

THE Office of Vespers, or Evensong, consists firstly of the five following psalms. For certain feasts some of these psalms are changed for others appropriate to the day; we here give those for Sunday. After the Pater and Ave have been said in secret, the Church commences this Hour with her favourite supplication:

℣. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.
℟. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

℣. Incline unto my aid, O God.
℟. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Alleluia.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Alleluia.

ANT. Dixit Dominus.

ANT. The Lord said.

The first psalm is a prophecy of the future glory of the Messias. The Son of David shall sit on the right hand of the heavenly Father. He is King; He is priest; He is Son of Man, and Son of God. His enemies will attack Him, but He will crush them. He will be humbled; but this voluntary humiliation will lead Him to the highest glory.

PSALM 109

Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis.

The Lord said to my Lord, his Son: Sit thou at my right hand, and reign with me.

Donec ponam inimicos tuos: scabellum pedum tuorum.

Until, on the day of thy last coming, I make thy enemies thy footstool.

Virgam virtutis tuæ emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum.

O Christ! the Lord thy Father will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion: from thence rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.

Tecum principium in die virtutis tuæ in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero ante luciferum genui te.

Juravit Dominus, et non pœnitebit eum: Tu es Sacerdos in æternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

Dominus a dextris tuis: confregit in die iræ suæ reges.

Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas: conquassabit capita in terra multorum.

De torrente in via bibet: propterea exaltabit caput.

ANT. Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis.

ANT. Magna opera Domini.

¹ Apoc. v. 6.
² Is. ix. 6.
³ 1 Cor. x. 17.
⁴ Apoc. xxii. 20.

With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength, in the brightness of the saints: For the Father hath said to thee: From the womb before the day- star I begot thee.

The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: he hath said, speaking lo thee, the God-Man:

ou art a Priest for ever, according to the order of Mel- chisedech.

Therefore, O Father, the Lord, thy Son, is at thy right hand: he hath broken kings in the day of his wrath.

He shall a/so judge among na- tions: in that terrible coming, he shall fill the ruins of the world: he shall crush the heads in the land of DRY.

He cometh mow in humility: he shall drink in the way of the torrent of sufferings: there- fore, shall he lift up the head.

ANT. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord.

The following psalm commemorates the mercies of God to His people, the promised Covenant, the Redemp- tion, His fidelity to His word. But it also tells us that the name of the Lord is terrible because it is holy; and concludes by admonishing us that the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of wisdom.

--- PAGE 046 --- VESPERS 37

PSALM IIO

Confitcbor tibi, Domine, in
toto corde meo: in consilio ju- storum et congregatione.

Magna opera Domini: exqui- sita in omnes voluntates ejus.

Confessio et magnificentia opus ejus: et justitia ejus manet in seculum szculi.

Memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum, misericors et miserator Dominus: escam dedit timenti-
bus se.

Memor erit in seculum testa- menti sui: virtutem operum suorum annuntiabit populo sno,

Ut det illis hereditatem Gen- tium: opera manuum ejus veri- tas et judicium.

Fidelia omnia mandata ejus, confirmata in seculum szculi: facta in veritate et equitate.

Redemptionem misit populo suo: mandavit in aeternum te- stamentum suum.

Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus: initium sapientie timor Domini.

Intellectus bonus omnibus fa- cientibus eum: laudatio ejus manet in seculum seculi.

ANT. Magna opera Domini: exquisita in omnes voluntates ejus.

ANT. Qui timet Dominum.

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: in the council of the just, and in the congregation.

Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his wills.

His work is praise and mag- nificence: and his justice con- tinueth for ever and ever.

He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: he hath given food to them that fear him.

He will be mindful for ever of his covenant with men: he will show forth to his people the power of his works.

That he may give them his Church, the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of his hands are truth and judgment.

All his commandments are faithful, confirmed for ever and ever: made in truth and equity.

He hath sent redemption to his people: he hath thereby com- manded his covenant for ever.

Holy and terrible is his name: the fear of the Lord is the begin- ning of wisdom.

A good understanding to all thatdoit: his praise continueth for ever and ever.

ANT. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his wills.

AwT. He that feareth the Lord.

The next psalm sings the happiness of the just man,

and his hopes on the day of his Lord's coming.

It tells

us, likewise, of the confusion of the sinner who shall have despised the mysteries of God's love towards mankind.

--- PAGE 047 --- 38

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

PSALM III

Beatus vir qui timet Domi- num: in mandatis ejus volet nimis.

Potens in terra erit semen ejus: generatio rectorum bene- dicetur.

Gloria et divitiz in domo ejus: et justitia ejus manet in szcu- lum seculi.

Exortum est in tenebris lu- men rectis: misericors et mise- rator et justus.

Jucundus homo, qui misere- tur et commodat, disponet ser- mones suos in judicio: quia in :ternum non commovebitur.

In memoria zterna erit ju- stus: ab auditione mala non ti- mebit.

Paratum cor ejus sperare in Domino, confirmatum est cor ejus: non commovebitur donec despiciat inimicos suos.

Dispersit, dedit pauperibus; justitia ejus manet in seculum saculi: cornu ejus exaltabitur in gloria.

Peccator videbit et irascetur, dentibus suis fremet et tabescet: desiderium peccatorum pcribit.

ANT. Qui timet Dominum, in mandatis ejus cupit nimis.

ANT. Sit nomen Domini.

Blessed is the man that fear- eth the Lord; he shall delight exceedingly in his command- ments.

His seed shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.

Glory and wealth shall be in his house; and his justice re- maineth for ever and ever.

To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness; he is merciful, and compassionate, and just.

Acceptable is the man that Showeth mercy and lendeth; he Shall order his very words with judgment: because he shall not be moved for ever.

The just shall be in everlast- ing remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing.

His heart is ready to hope in the Lord; his heart is strength- ened: he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies.

He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his justice re- maineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.

The wicked shall see, and shall be angry; he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

ANT. He that feareth the Lord Shall delight exceedingly in his commandments.

ANT. May the name of the Lord.

The psalm Laudate pueri is a canticle of praise to the Lord, who from His high heaven has taken pity on the human race, and has vouchsafed to honour it by the

Incarnation of His own Son.

--- PAGE 048 --- -——— cC

VESPERS 39

PSALM II2

Laudate, pueri, Dominum: laudate nomen Domini.

Sit nomen Domini benedi- ctum: ex hoc nunc et usque in sacculum.

A solis ortu usque ad occa- sum: laudabile nomen Domini.

Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus: et super czlos gloria
ejus.

Quis sicut Dominus Deus no-
ster quiin altis habitat: et humi- lia respicit in clo et in terra?

Suscitans a terra inopem: et de stercore erigens pauperem:

Ut collocet eum cum princi- pibus: cum principibus populi suf.

Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo: matrem filiorum laxtan- tem.

ANT. Sitnomen Domini bene- dictum in szcula.

ANT. Deus autem noster.

Praise the Lord, ye children; praise ye the name of the Lord.

Blessed be the name of the Lord; from henceforth now and for ever.

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.

The Lord is high above all nations: and his glory above the heavens.

Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high: and look- eth down on the low things in heaven and in earth ?

Raising up the needy from the earth: and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill;

That he may place him with pence with the princes of his

e. Pho maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children. ANT. May the name of the Lord be for ever blessed. ANT. But our God.

The fifth psalm, Is exitu, recounts the prodigies wit-

nessed under the ancient Covenant: they were figures, whose realities were to be accomplished in the mission of the Son of God, who came to deliver Israel from Egypt, emancipate the Gentiles from their idolatry, and pour out a blessing on every man who will consent to fear and love the Lord. .

PSALM II3

domus Jacob de populo - baro

Facta est Judza sanctificatio ejus: Israel potestas ejus.

When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people.

Judea was made his sanc- tuary, Israel his dominion.

--- PAGE 049 --- 40

Mare vidit ct fugit: Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.

Montes exsultaverunt ut arie- tes: et colles sicut agni ovium.

Quid est tibi mare quod fugi- sti: et tu, Jordanis, quia con- versus es retrorsum ?

Montes exsultastis sicut arle- tes: et colles sicut agni ovium?

A facie Domini mota est ter- ra: a facie Dei Jacob.

Qui convertit petram in sta- gnaaquarum: et rupem in fontes aquarum.

Non nobis, Domine, non no-
bis: sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Super misericordia tua, et ve- ritate tua: nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus eorum?

Deus autem noster in czlo:
omnia quecumque voluit fecit.

Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum: opera manuum ho- minum.

Os habent, et non loquentur: oculos habent, et non videbunt.

Aures habent, et non audient: nares habent, et non odorabunt,

Manus habent, et non palpa- bunt: pedes habent, et non am- bulabunt: non clamabunt in gutture suo.

Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea: et omnes qui confidunt in eis.

Domus Israel speravit in Do- mino: adjutor eorum et prote- ctor eorum est.

Domus Aaron speravit in Do- mino: adjutor eorum et prote- ctor eorum est.

Qui timent Dominum, spera- verunt in Domino: adjutor eo- rum et protector eorum est.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.

The mountains skipped like rams: and the hills like the lambs of the flock.

What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: and thou, O Jordan, that thou wast turned back ?

Ye mountains that yeskipped like rams: and ye hills like lambs of the flock ?

At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob.

Who turned the rock into | ew of water, and the stony

ills into fountains of waters.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us: but to thy name give glory.

For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake:' lest the Gentiles should say: Where is their God ?

But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he would.

The idols of the Gentiles are Silver and gold: the works of the hands of men.

They have mouths, and speak not: they have eyes, and see not.

They have ears and hear not: they have noses, and smell not.

They have hands, and fecl not: they have feet, and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat.

Let them that make them be- come like unto them: and all such as trust in them.

The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.

he house of Aaron hath ho in the Lord: he is their he ud and their protector.

hey that feared the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.

--- PAGE 050 --- ~ 4

— oco

—

VESPERS 41

Dominus memor fuit nostri:
et benedixit nobis.

Benedixit domui Israel: bene- dixit domui Aaron.

Benedixit omnibus qui timent Dominum: pusillis cum majori- bus.

Adjiciat Dominus super vos:
super vos, et super filios vestros.

Benedicti vos a Domino: qui fecit celum et terram.

Calum cali Domino: terram autem dedit filiis hominum.

Non mortui laudabunt te, Domine: neque omnes qui de-
scendunt in infernum.

Sed nos qui vivimus, benedi- cimus Domino: ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum.

ANT. Deus autem noster in

calo: omnia quecumque voluit fecit,

The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us.

He hath blessed the house of Israel: hehath blessed the house of Aaron.

He hath blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great.

May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your children.

Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has given to the children of men.

The dead shall not praise thec, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.

But we that live bless thc Lord: from this time now and for ever.

ANT. But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoeverhe would.

After these five psalms, a short lesson from the holy Scriptures is read. It is called Capitulum, because it is

always very short.

CAPITULUM

Benedictus Deus et Pater
Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Pater misericordiarum et Deus
totius consolationis, qui conso- latur nos in omni tribulatione nostra.

Ry. Deo gratias.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord JesusChrist, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, who com- forteth usinall our tribulations.

Hy. Thanks be to God.

Then follows the hymn. We here give the one for Sun- days, which was composed by St. Gregory the Great. It

sings of creation, and celebrates the praises of that portion of it which was called forth on this first day, the light.

4

--- PAGE 051 --- 42

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

HYMN!

Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens: Primordiis lucis nova, Mundi parans originem.

Qui mane junctum vesperi Diem vocari precipis: Illabitur tetrum chaos,

Audi preces cum fletibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine Vite sit exsul munere: Dum nil perenne cogitat,

Seseque culpis illigat.

Caleste pulset ostium, Vitale tollat premium: Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne pessimum.

Moving Pater piissime, ue com Smee, Cn piritu Regnans per omne voa RN Amen.

O infinitely good Creator of the light! by thee was produced the light of day, providing thus the world's beginning with the beginningof thenew-madelight.

Thou biddest us call the time, from morn till eve, day; this day is over; dark night comes on— oh! hear our tearful prayers.

Let not our soul, weighed down by crime, misspend thy gift of life, and, forgetting what is eternal, be earth-tied by her sins.

Oh! may we strive to enter our heavenly home, and bear away the prize of life: may we shun what would injure us, and cleanse our soul from her defile- ments.

Most merciful Father! and thou his Only-Begotten Son, co-equal with him, reigning for ever with the holy Paraclete | grant this our prayer. Amen.

The versicle which follows the hymn, and which we here give, is that of the Sunday: those for the feasts are

given in their proper places. NA Dirigatur, Domine, oratio

7 Sicut incensum in conspe- ctu tuo.

E Mer my prayer, O Lord. UN. Like incense in thy sight.

1 According to the monastic rite, it is as follows :

RY breve. Quam Sasloate sunt.

2 Pe tua, ap: 50 mnia in entia c pera.

Gloria Patri, etc. Quam.

Lucis Creator optime, Lucem dierum proferens ; Primordiis lucis nova Mundi parans originem.

Qui mane perc vesperi

Diem vocari Tome du chaos illatitur, Audi preces cum fictibus.

Ne mens gravata crimine Vitae sit exsul munere, Dum nil perenne cogitat, Seseque culpis illi

Cslorum pulset intimum, Vitale tollat premium : Vitemus omne noxium, Purgemus omne imum.

Praesta Pater piissime Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu lito

Regunans per omne szculum. Amen

--- PAGE 052 --- Cp oce—— —-DO— — © Then is said the Magnificat antiphon, which is to be found in the proper.

After this, the Church sings the canticle of Mary, the Magnificat, in which are celebrated the divine maternity and all its consequent blessings. This exquisite canticle is an essential part of the Office of Vespers. It is the evening incense, just as the canticle Benedictus, at Lauds, is that of the morning.

OUR LADY'S CANTICLE (St. Luke i.)

Magnificat: anima mea Dominum.

Et exsultavit spiritus meus: in Deo salutari meo.

Quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanctum nomen ejus.

Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies: timentibus eum.

Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.

Deposuit potentes de sede: et exaltavit humiles.

Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.

Suscepit Israel puerum suum: recordatus misericordiæ suæ.

Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros: Abraham et semini ejus in sæcula.

My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and holy is his name.

And his mercy is from generation unto generation: to them that fear him.

He hath shown might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy.

As he spoke to our fathers: to Abraham and to his seed for ever.

The Magnificat antiphon is then repeated. The Prayer, or Collect, is given in the proper of each feast.

℣. Benedicamus Domino.
℟. Deo gratias.
℣. Fidelium animæ per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace.
℟. Amen.

℣. Let us bless the Lord.
℟. Thanks be to God.
℣. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
℟. Amen.

CHAPTER THE THIRD

ON THE OFFICE OF COMPLINE, DURING THE TIME AFTER PENTECOST

This Office, which concludes the day, commences by a warning of the dangers of the night: then immediately follows the public confession of our sins, as a powerful means of propitiating the divine justice, and obtaining God's help, now that we are going to spend so many hours in the unconscious, and therefore dangerous, state of sleep, which is also such an image of death.

The lector, addressing the priest, says to him:

Jube, domne, benedicere.

Pray, father, give me thy blessing.

The priest answers:

Noctem quietam et finem perfectum concedat nobis Dominus omnipotens.
℟. Amen.

May the almighty Lord grant us a quiet night and a perfect end. ℟. Amen.

The lector then reads these words, from the first Epistle of St. Peter:

Fratres: Sobrii estote, et vigilate; quia adversarius vester diabolus, tamquam leo rugiens, circuit quærens quem devoret: cui resistite fortes in fide. Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis.

Brethren, be sober and watch; for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist ye, strong in faith. But thou, O Lord, have mercy on us.

The choir answers:

℟. Deo gratias.

℟. Thanks be to God.

Then the priest:

℣. Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.

℣. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

The choir:

℟. Qui fecit cælum et terram.

℟. Who hath made heaven and earth.

Then the Lord's Prayer is recited, in secret; after which the priest says the Confiteor, and, when he has finished, the choir repeats it.

The priest, having pronounced the general form of absolution, says:

℣. Converte nos, Deus, salutaris noster.
℟. Et averte iram tuam a nobis.
℣. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.
℟. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

Gloria Patri, etc.

ANT. Miserere.

℣. Convert us, O God, our Saviour.
℟. And turn away thine anger from us.
℣. Incline unto my aid, O God.
℟. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory, etc.

ANT. Have mercy.

The first psalm expresses the confidence with which the just man sleeps in peace, but the wicked know not what calm rest is.

PSALM 4

Cum invocarem exaudivit me Deus justitiæ meæ: in tribulatione dilatasti mihi.

Miserere mei: et exaudi orationem meam.

Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde: ut quid diligitis vanitatem et quæritis mendacium?

Et scitote quoniam mirificavit Dominus sanctum suum: Dominus exaudiet me cum clamavero ad eum.

Irascimini et nolite peccare: quæ dicitis in cordibus vestris, in cubilibus vestris compungimini.

Sacrificate sacrificium justitiæ, et sperate in Domino: multi dicunt: Quis ostendit nobis bona?

Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Domine: dedisti lætitiam in corde meo.

A fructu frumenti, vini et olei sui: multiplicati sunt.

In pace in idipsum: dormiam et requiescam.

Quoniam tu, Domine, singulariter in spe: constituisti me.

When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, thou hast enlarged me.

Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.

O ye sons of men, how long will ye be dull of heart? why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?

Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy One wonderful: the Lord will hear me, when I shall cry unto him.

Be ye angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.

Offer up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord: many say, Who showeth us good things?

The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: thou hast given gladness in my heart.

By the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they are multiplied.

In peace, in the self-same I will sleep, and I will rest.

For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.

The second psalm gives the motives of the just man's confidence, even during the dangers of the night. There is no snare neglected by the demons; but the good angels watch over us with brotherly solicitude. Then, we have God Himself speaking and promising to send us a Saviour.

PSALM 90

Qui habitat in adjutorio altissimi: in protectione Dei cæli commorabitur.

Dicet Domino, Susceptor meus es tu et refugium meum: Deus meus, sperabo in eum.

Quoniam ipse liberavit me de laqueo venantium: et a verbo aspero.

Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi: et sub pennis ejus sperabis.

Scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus: non timebis a timore nocturno.

A sagitta volante in die, a negotio perambulante in tenebris: ab incursu, et dæmonio meridiano.

Cadent a latere tuo mille, et decem millia a dextris tuis: ad te autem non appropinquabit.

Verumtamen oculis tuis considerabis: et retributionem peccatorum videbis.

Quoniam tu es, Domine, spes mea: Altissimum posuisti refugium tuum.

Non accedet ad te malum: et flagellum non appropinquabit tabernaculo tuo.

Quoniam angelis suis mandavit de te: ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.

In manibus portabunt te: ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.

Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis: et conculcabis leonem et draconem.

Quoniam in me speravit, liberabo eum: protegam eum, quoniam cognovit nomen meum.

Clamabit ad me, et ego exaudiam eum: cum ipso sum in tribulatione; eripiam eum, et glorificabo eum.

Longitudine dierum replebo eum: et ostendam illi salutare meum.

He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.

He shall say unto the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.

For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters; and from the sharp word.

He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.

His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.

Of the arrow that flieth in the day: of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.

But thou shalt consider with thine eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast said: Thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the Most High thy refuge.

There shall no evil come unto thee, nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.

For he hath given his angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways.

In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt walk upon the asp and basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.

God will say of thee: Because he hoped in me, I will deliver him: I will protect him, because he hath known my name.

He will cry unto me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.

I will fill him with length of days: and I will show him my salvation.

The third psalm invites the servants of God to persevere with fervour in the prayers they offer during the night. The faithful should say this psalm in a spirit of gratitude to God, for raising up in the Church adorers of His holy name, whose grand vocation is to lift up their hands, day and night, for the safety of Israel. On such prayers depend the happiness and the destinies of the world.

PSALM 133

Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum: omnes servi Domini.

Qui statis in domo Domini: in atriis domus Dei nostri.

In noctibus extollite manus vestras in sancta: et benedicite Dominum.

Benedicat te Dominus ex Sion: qui fecit cælum et terram.

ANT. Miserere mihi, Domine, et exaudi orationem meam.

Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord.

Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord.

Say to Israel: May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and earth.

ANT. Have mercy on me, O Lord, and hear my prayer.

HYMN¹

Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut pro tua clementia Sis præsul ad custodiam.

Procul recedant somnia, Et noctium phantasmata; Hostemque nostrum comprime, Ne polluantur corpora.

Præsta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice, Cum Spiritu Paraclito, Regnans per omne sæculum.

Amen.

Before the closing of the light, we beseech thee, Creator of all things, that in thy clemency, thou be our protector and our guard.

May the dreams and phantoms of night depart far from us: and do thou repress our enemy, lest our bodies be profaned.

Most merciful Father, and thou his only-begotten Son, co-equal with him, reigning for ever, with the holy Paraclete, grant this our prayer! Amen.

¹ According to the monastic rite, as follows:

Te lucis ante terminum, Rerum Creator, poscimus, Ut solita clementia Sis præsul ad custodiam.

Procul recedant somnia Et noctium phantasmata; Hostemque nostrum comprime, Ne polluantur corpora.

Præsta, Pater omnipotens,
Per Jesum Christum Dominum, Qui tecum in perpetuum Regnat cum Sancto Spiritu. Amen.

CAPITULUM

Tu autem in nobis es, Domine, et nomen sanctum tuum invocatum est super nos: ne derelinquas nos, Domine Deus noster.

℟. In manus tuas, Domine:* Commendo spiritum meum. In manus tuas.

℣. Redemisti nos, Domine Deus veritatis. * Commendo.

Gloria. In manus tuas.

℣. Custodi nos, Domine, ut pupillam oculi.

℟. Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege nos.

ANT. Salva nos.

But thou art in us, O Lord, and thy holy name hath been invoked upon us: forsake us not, O Lord our God.

℟. Into thy hands, O Lord:* I commend my spirit. Into thy hands.

℣. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord God of truth. * I commend.

Glory. Into thy hands.

℣. Preserve us, O Lord, as the apple of thine eye.

℟. Protect us under the shadow of thy wings.

ANT. Save us.

The canticle of the venerable Simeon, who, while holding the divine Infant in his arms, proclaimed Him to be the Light of the Gentiles, and then slept the sleep of the just, is admirably appropriate to the Office of Compline. Holy Church blesses God for having dispelled the darkness of night by the rising of the Sun of justice; it is for love of Him that she toils the whole day through, and rests during the night, saying: 'I sleep, but my heart watcheth.'¹

¹ Cant. v. 2.

CANTICLE OF SIMEON

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine: secundum verbum tuum in pace.

Quia viderunt oculi mei: salutare tuum.

Quod parasti: ante faciem omnium populorum.

Lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuæ Israel.

Gloria.

ANT. Salva nos, Domine, vigilantes: custodi nos dormientes, ut vigilemus cum Christo, et requiescamus in pace.

Now dost thou dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace.

Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

Which thou hast prepared: before the face of all peoples.

A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory, etc.

ANT. Save us, O Lord, while awake, and watch us as we sleep, that we may watch with Christ and rest in peace.

OREMUS.

Visita, quæsumus, Domine, habitationem istam, et omnes insidias inimici ab ea longe repelle: angeli tui sancti habitent in ea, qui nos in pace custodiant: et benedictio tua sit super nos semper. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum.

℟. Amen.
℣. Dominus vobiscum.
℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.
℣. Benedicamus Domino.
℟. Deo gratias.

Benedicat et custodiat nos omnipotens et misericors Dominus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus.

℟. Amen.

LET US PRAY.

Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this house and family, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy: let thy holy angels dwell herein, who may keep us in peace, and may thy blessing be always upon us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

℟. Amen.
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
℣. Let us bless the Lord.
℟. Thanks be to God.

May the almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless us and keep us.

℟. Amen.

℟. Amen.

℣. The Lord be with you.

℟. And with thy spirit.

℣. Let us bless the Lord.

℟. Thanks be to God.

May the almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless and preserve us.

℟. Amen.

ANTHEM TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

Salve Regina, Mater misericordiæ.

Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Evæ.

Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes in hac lacrimarum valle.

Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte;

Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende;

O clemens,

O pia,

O dulcis Virgo Maria.

℣. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

OREMUS.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui gloriosæ Virginis Matris Mariæ corpus et animam, ut dignum Filii tui habitaculum effici mereretur, Spiritu Sancto cooperante præparasti: da ut cujus commemoratione lætamur, ejus pia intercessione ab instantibus malis et a morte perpetua liberemur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.

℟. Amen.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy.

Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping, in this vale of tears.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us;

And after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus;

O clement,

O loving,

O sweet Virgin Mary!

℣. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

LET US PRAY.

O almighty and everlasting God, who by the co-operation of the Holy Ghost didst prepare the body and soul of Mary, glorious Virgin and Mother, to become the worthy habitation of thy Son: grant that we may be delivered from present evils and from everlasting death, by her gracious intercession, in whose commemoration we rejoice. Through the same Christ our Lord.

℟. Amen.

℣. Divinum auxilium maneat semper nobiscum.

℣. May the divine assistance remain always with us.

℟. Amen.

℟. Amen.

Then, in secret, Pater, Ave, and Credo.

¹ In the choir this is as follows:

℟. Et cum fratribus absentibus.
℟. And with our absent brethren.
Amen. Amen.

Proper of the Saints

JULY 8

SAINT ELIZABETH QUEEN OF PORTUGAL

In the footsteps of Margaret of Scotland and of Clotilde of France, a third queen comes to shed her brightness on the sacred cycle. Born at the southern extremity of Christendom, where it borders on Muslim lands, she was destined by the Holy Ghost to seal with peace the victories of Christ, and prepare the way for fresh conquests. The blessed name of Elizabeth, which for half a century had been rejoicing the world with its sweet perfume, was given to her, foretelling that this new-born child, as though attracted by the roses which fell from the mantle of her Thuringian aunt, was to cause these same heavenly flowers to blossom in Iberia.

There is a mysterious heirship among the saints of God. The same year in which one niece of Elizabeth of Thuringia was born in Spain, another, Blessed Margaret of Hungary, took her flight to heaven. She had been consecrated to God from her mother's womb, as a pledge for the salvation of her people, in the midst of terrible disasters; and the hopes so early centred in her were not frustrated. A short life of twenty-eight years, spent in innocence and prayer, earned for her country the blessings of peace and civilization; and then Margaret bequeathed to our saint of to-day the mission of continuing in another land the work of her holy predecessors.

The time had come for our Lord to shed a ray of His grace upon Spain. The thirteenth century was closing, leaving the world in a state of dismemberment and ruin. Weary of fighting for Christ, kings dismissed the Church from their councils, and selfishly kept aloof, preferring their own ambitious strifes to the common aspiration of the once great body of Christendom. Such a state of things was disastrous for the entire West; much more, then, for that noble country where the crusade had multiplied kingdoms as so many outposts against the common enemy, the Moors. Unity of views, and the sacrifice of all things to the great work of deliverance, could alone maintain in the successors of Pelayo the spirit of the grand memories of yore. Unfortunately these princes, though heroes on the battlefield, had not sufficient strength of mind to lay aside their petty quarrels and take up the sacred duty entrusted to them by Providence. In vain did the Roman Pontiff strive to awaken them to the interests of their country and of the Christian name; these hearts, generous in other respects, were too stifled by miserable passions to heed his voice; and the Muslim looked on delightedly at these intestine strifes, which retarded his own defeat. Navarre, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal were not only at war with each other; but even within each of these kingdoms father and son were at enmity, and brother disputed with brother, inch by inch, the heritage of his ancestors.

Who was to restore to Spain the still recent traditions of Ferdinand III? Who was to gather again these dissentient wills into one, so as to make them a terror to the Saracen and a glory to Christ? James I of Aragon, who rivalled St. Ferdinand both in bravery and in conquests, had married Yolande, daughter of Andrew of Hungary; whereupon the cultus of the holy Duchess of Thuringia, whose brother-in-law he had thus become, was introduced beyond the Pyrenees; and the name of Elizabeth, changed in most cases into Isabel, became, as it were, a family jewel, with which the Spanish princesses have loved to be adorned. The first to bear it was the daughter of James and Yolande, who married Philip III of France, successor of St. Louis; the second was the granddaughter of the same James I, the saint whom the Church honours to-day, of whom the old king, with prophetic insight, loved to say that she would surpass all the women of the race of Aragon.

Inheriting not only the name, but also the virtues of the 'dear St. Elizabeth,' she would one day deserve to be called 'the mother of peace and of her country.' By means of her heroic self-renunciation and all-powerful prayer, she repressed the lamentable quarrels of princes. One day, unable to prevent peace being broken, she cast herself between two contending armies under a very hailstorm of arrows, and so forced the soldiers to lay down their fratricidal arms. Thus she paved the way for the happy event, which she herself was not to have the consolation of seeing: the reorganization of that great enterprise for the expulsion of the Moors, which was not to close till the following century under the auspices of another Isabel, her worthy descendant, who would add to her name the beautiful title of 'the Catholic.' Four years after Elizabeth's death the victory of Salado was gained by the united armies of all Spain over 600,000 infidels, showing how a woman could, under most adverse circumstances, inaugurate a brilliant crusade, to the immortal fame of her country.

Elisabeth Aragoniæ regibus ortam, Christi anno millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo primo, in præsagium futuræ sanctimoniæ parentes, præter morem, relicto matris aviæque nomine, a magna ejus matertera, Thuringiæ domina, sancta Elisabeth, in baptismo nominatam voluere. Ubi nata est, statim patuit, quam felix regum regnorumque esset futura pacatrix: natalitia enim ejus lætitia perniciosas avi patrisque dissensiones in concordiam convertit. Pater vero crescentis postea filiæ admiratus indolem, affirmabat fore, ut una Elisabeth reliquas Aragoniorum regum sanguine creatas feminas virtute longe superaret. Sic cœlestem ipsius vitam in contemnendo corporis ornatu, in fugiendis voluptatibus, in jejuniis frequentandis, in divinis precibus assidue recitandis, in caritatis operibus exercendis, veneratus, rerum suarum regnique felicitatem unius filiæ meritis referebat acceptam. Tandem ubique nota, et a multis principibus exoptata, Dionysio Lusitaniæ regi Christianis ceremoniis rite est in matrimonium collocata.

Elizabeth, of the royal race of Aragon, was born in the year of our Lord 1271. As a presage of her future sanctity, her parents, contrary to custom, passing over the mother and grandmother, gave her in baptism the name of her maternal great-aunt, St. Elizabeth, Duchess of Thuringia. No sooner was she born, than it became evident what a blessed peacemaker she was to be between kings and kingdoms; for the joy of her birth put a happy period to the miserable quarrels of her father and grandfather. As she grew up, her father, admiring the natural abilities of his daughter, was wont to assert that Elizabeth would far outstrip in virtue all the women descended of the royal blood of Aragon; and so great was his veneration for her heavenly manner of life, her contempt of worldly ornaments, her abhorrence of pleasure, her assiduity in fasting, prayer, and works of charity, that he attributed to her merits alone the prosperity of his kingdom and estate. On account of her widespread reputation, her hand was sought by many princes; at length she was, with all the ceremonies of Holy Church, united in matrimony with Dionysius, king of Portugal.

Juncta conjugio, non minorem excolendis virtutibus, quam liberis educandis operam dabat, viro placere studens, sed magis Deo. Mediam fere anni partem solo pane tolerabat et aqua: quæ in quodam ipsius morbo divinitus versa est in vinum, cum id a medicis præscriptum bibere recusasset. Pauperis feminæ ulcus horrendum exosculata, derepente sanavit. Pecunias pauperibus distribuendas, ut regem laterent, hiberno tempore in rosas convertit. Virginem cæcam a nativitate illuminavit: multos alios solo crucis signo a gravissimis morbis liberavit: plurima id genus miracula patravit. Monasteria, collegia, et templa non modo exstruxit, sed etiam magnifice dotavit. In regum discordiis componendis admirabilis fuit: in privatis publicisque mortalium sublevandis calamitatibus indefessa.

In the married state she gave herself up to the exercise of virtue and the education of her children, striving, indeed, to please her husband, but still more to please God. For nearly half the year she lived on bread and water alone; and on one occasion when in an illness she had refused to take the wine prescribed by the physician, her water was miraculously changed into wine. She instantaneously cured a poor woman of a loathsome ulcer by kissing it. In the depth of winter she changed the money she was going to distribute to the poor into roses, in order to conceal it from the king. She gave sight to a virgin born blind, healed many other persons of grievous distempers by the mere sign of the Cross, and performed a great number of other miracles of a like nature. She built and amply endowed monasteries, hospitals, and churches. She was admirable for her zeal in composing the differences of kings, and unwearied in her efforts to alleviate the public and private miseries of mankind.

Defuncto rege Dionysio, sicut virginibus in prima ætate, in matrimonio conjugibus, ita viduis in solitudine fuit omnium virtutum exemplar. Illico enim religiosis sanctæ Claræ vestibus induta, regio funeri constanter interfuit, ac paulo post Compostellam proficiscens, multa ex holoserico, argento, auro, gemmisque donaria pro regis anima obtulit. Inde reversa domum, quidquid sibi carum aut pretiosum supererat, in sacros ac pios usus convertit: absolvendoque suo, vere regio Conimbricensi virginum cœnobio, et alendis pauperibus, et protegendis viduis, defendendis pupillis, miseris omnibus juvandis intenta, non sibi, sed Deo, et mortalium omnium commodis vivebat. Reges duos filium et generum pacificatura, Stremotium nobile oppidum veniens, morbo ex itinere contracto, ibidem a Virgine Deipara visitata sanctissime obiit, anno millesimo trecentesimo trigesimo sexto, die quarta Julii. Post mortem multis miraculis claruit, præsertim suavissimo corporis jam per annos fere trecentos incorrupti odore; semper etiam reginæ sanctæ cognomento celebris. Tandem anno jubilæi, et nostræ salutis millesimo sexcentesimo vigesimo quinto, totius Christiani orbis concursu et applausu, ab Urbano Octavo rite inter Sanctos adscripta est.

After the death of King Dionysius, Elizabeth, who had been in her youth a model to virgins, and in her married life to wives, became in her solitude a pattern of all virtues to widows. She immediately put on the religious habit of St. Clare, assisted with the greatest fortitude at the king's funeral, and then, proceeding to Compostella, offered there for the repose of his soul a quantity of silk, silver, gold and precious stones. On her return home she consumed in holy and pious works all she had that was dear and precious to her; she completed the building of her truly royal monastery of virgins at Coimbra, and, wholly engaged in feeding the poor, protecting widows, sheltering orphans, and assisting the afflicted in every way, she lived not for herself, but for the glory of God and the well-being of men. On her way to the noble town of Estremoz, whither she was going in order to make peace between the two kings, her son and son-in-law, she was seized with illness; and in that town, after having been visited by the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, she died a most holy death, on the fourth day of July, in the year 1336. After death she was glorified by many miracles, especially by the sweet fragrance of her body, which has remained incorrupt for nearly three hundred years; and she is always distinguished by the name of the 'holy queen.' At length, in the year of jubilee, of our salvation 1625, with the unanimous applause of the assembled Christian world, she was solemnly enrolled among the saints by Pope Urban VIII.

O blessed Elizabeth! we praise God for thy holy works, as the Church this day invites all her sons to do.¹ More valiant than those princes in whose midst thou didst appear as the angel of thy fatherland, thou didst exhibit in thy private life a heroism which could equal theirs, when need was, even on the battlefield. God's grace was the motive-power of thy actions, and His glory their sole end. Often does God gain more glory by abnegations hidden from all eyes but His, than by great works justly admired by a whole people. It is because the power of His grace shines forth the more; and it is generally the way of His providence to cause the most remarkable blessings bestowed on nations to spring from these hidden sources. How many battles celebrated in history have first been fought and won in the sight of the Blessed Trinity, in some hidden spot of that supernatural world, where the elect are even at war with hell, nay, struggle at times even with God Himself; how many famous treaties of peace have first been concluded between heaven and earth in the secret of a single soul, as a reward for those giant struggles which men misunderstand and despise! Let the fashion of this world pass away; and those deep-thinking politicians, who are said to rule the course of events, the proud negotiators and warriors of renown, all, when judged by the light of eternity, will appear what they truly are: mere decep-

SAINT ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF PORTUGAL

tions screening from the sight of men the only names truly worthy of immortality.

Glory then be to thee, through whom the Lord has deigned to lift a corner of the veil that hides from the world the true rulers of its destinies. In the golden book of the elect, thy nobility rests on better titles than those of birth. Daughter and mother of kings, thyself a queen, thou didst rule over a glorious land; but far more glorious is the family throne in heaven; where thou reignest with the first Elizabeth, with Margaret and with Hedwige, and where others will come to join thee, doing honour to the same noble blood which flowed in thy veins.

Remember, O mother of thy country, that the power given thee on earth is not diminished now that the God of armies has called thee to thy heavenly triumph. True, the land of Iberia, which owes its independence principally to thee, is no longer in the same troubled condition; but if at the present day there is no fear of the Moors, on the other hand, Spain and Portugal have fallen away from their noble traditions; lead them back to the right path, that they may attain the glorious destiny marked out for them by Providence. Thy power in heaven is not restrained within the borders of a kingdom; cast, then, a look of mercy on the rest of the world; see how nations, recognizing no right but might, waste their wealth and their vitality in wholesale bloodshed; has the time come for those terrible wars which are to be harbingers of the end, and wherein the world will work its own destruction? O mother of peace! hear how the Church, the mother of nations, implores thee to make full use of thy sublime prerogative; stop these furious strifes; and make our life on earth a path of peace, leading up to the joys of eternity.

¹ Collect of the day.

July 10

THE SEVEN BROTHERS MARTYRS AND SS. RUFINA AND SECUNDA VIRGINS AND MARTYRS

THREE times within the next few days will the number seven appear in the holy liturgy, honouring the Blessed Trinity, and proclaiming the reign of the Holy Spirit with His sevenfold grace. Felicitas, Symphorosa, and the mother of the Machabees, each in turn will lead her seven sons to the feet of Eternal Wisdom. The Church, bereaved of her apostolic founders, pursues her course undaunted, for the teaching of Peter and Paul is defended by the testimony of martyrdom, and, when persecutions have ceased, by that of holy virginity. Moreover, 'the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians':¹ the heroes who in life were the strength of the Bride give her fecundity by their death; and the family of God's children continues to increase.

Great indeed was the faith of Abraham, when he hoped against all hope that he would become the father of nations through that same Isaac whom he was commanded to slay: but did Felicitas show less faith, when she recognized in the immolation of her seven children the triumph of life and the highest blessing that could be bestowed on her motherhood? Honour be to her, and to those who resemble her! The worldly-wise may scorn them; but they are like noble rivers transforming the desert into a paradise of God, and fertilizing the soil of the Gentile world after the ravages of the first age.

¹ TERTULLIAN, Apolog. 50.

Marcus Aurelius had just ascended the throne, to prove himself during a reign of nineteen years nothing but a second-rate pupil of the sectarian rhetors of the second century, whose narrow views and hatred of Christian simplicity he embraced alike in policy and in philosophy. These men, created by him prefects and proconsuls, raised the most cold-blooded persecution the Church has ever known. The scepticism of this imperial philosopher did not exempt him from the general rule that where dogma is rejected, superstition takes its place; and monarch and people were of one accord in seeking a remedy for public calamities in the rites newly brought from the East, and in the extermination of the Christians. The assertion that the massacres of those days were carried on without the prince's sanction not only does not excuse him, it is moreover false; it is now a proven truth that, foremost among the tyrants who destroyed the flower of the human race, stands Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, stained more than Domitian or even Nero with the blood of martyrs.

The seven sons of St. Felicitas were the first victims offered by the prince to satisfy the philosophy of his courtiers, the superstition of the people, and, be it said, his own convictions, unless we would have him to be the most cowardly of men. It was he himself who ordered the prefect Publius to entice to apostasy this noble family whose piety angered the gods; it was he again who, after hearing the report of the cause, pronounced the sentence and decreed that it should be executed by several judges in different places, the more publicly to make known the policy of the new reign. The arena opened at the same time in all parts not only of Rome, but of the empire; the personal interference of the sovereign intimated to the hesitating magistrates the line of conduct to pursue if they wished to court the imperial favour. Felicitas soon followed her sons; Justin the philosopher found out by experience what was the sincerity of Cæsar's love of
truth; every class yielded its contingent of victims to the tortures which this would-be wise master of the world deemed necessary for the safety of the empire. At length, that his reign might close as it had begun in blood, a rescript of the so-called mild emperor sanctioned wholesale massacres. Humanity, lowered by the unjust flattery heaped upon this wretched prince even up to our own day, was thus duly rehabilitated by the noble courage of a slave such as Blandina, or of a patrician such as Cecilia.

Never before had the south wind swept so impetuously through the garden of the Spouse, scattering far and wide the perfume of myrrh and spices. Never before had the Church, like an army set in array, appeared, despite her weakness, so invincible as now, when she was sustaining the prolonged assault of Cæsarism and false science from without, in league with
heresy within. Want of space forbids us to enter into the details of a question which is now beginning to be more carefully studied, yet is far from being thoroughly understood. Under cover of the pretended moderation of the Antonines, hell was exerting its most skilful endeavours against Christianity, at the very period which opened with the martyrdom of the Seven Brothers. If the Cæsars of the third century attacked the Church
with a fury and a refinement of cruelty unknown to Marcus Aurelius, it was but as a wild beast taking spring upon the prey that had wellnigh escaped.

Such being the case, no wonder that the Church has from the very beginning paid especial honour to these seven heroes, the pioneers of that decisive struggle which was to prove her impregnable to all the powers of hell. Was there ever a more sublime scene in that spectacle which the saints have to present to the world? If there was ever a combat which angels and men could equally applaud, it was surely this of July 10, 162; when in four different suburbs of the Eternal City, these seven patrician youths, led by their heroic mother, opened the campaign which was to rescue Rome from these upstart Cæsars and restore her to her immortal destinies. After
their triumph, four cemeteries shared the honour of gathering into their crypts the sacred remains of the martyrs; and the glorious tombs have in our own day furnished the Christian archæologist with matter for
valuable research and learned writings. As far back as we can ascertain from the most authentic monuments, the sixth of the Ides of July was marked on the calendars of the Roman Church as a day of special solemnity, on account of the four stations where the faithful assembled round the tombs of 'the Martyrs.' This name, given by excellence to the seven brothers, was preserved to them even in time of peace—an honour by so much the greater as there had been torrents of bloodshed under Diocletian. Inscriptions of the fourth century found even in those cemeteries which never possessed their relics, designate July 11 as the 'day following the feast of the Martyrs.' The honours of this day, whereon the Church sings the praises of true fraternity, are shared by two valiant sisters. A century had passed over the empire, and the Antonines were no more. Valerian, who at first seemed, like them, desirous of obtaining a character for moderation, soon began to follow them along the path of blood. In order to strike a decisive blow, he issued a decree whereby all the principal ecclesiastics were condemned to death without distinction, and every Christian of rank was bound under the heaviest penalties to abjure his faith. It is to this edict that Rufina and Secunda owed the honour of crossing their palms with those of Sixtus and Lawrence, Cyprian and Hippolytus. They belonged to the noble family of the Turcii Asterii, whose history has been brought to light by modern discovery. According to the prescriptions of Valerian, which condemned Christian women to no more than confiscation and exile, they ought to have escaped death; but to the crime of fidelity to God they added that of holy virginity, and so the roses of martyrdom were twined into their lily-wreaths. Their sacred relics lie in St. John Lateran's, close to the baptistery of Constantine; and the second Cardinalitial See, that of Porto, couples with this title the name of St. Rufina, thus claiming the protection of the blessed martyrs.

Let us read the short account of their martyrdom given us in to-day's liturgy, beginning with that of the Seven Brothers.

Septem fratres, filii sanctæ Felicitatis, Romæ in persecutione Marci Aurelii Antonini a Publio præfecto primum blanditiis, deinde terroribus tentati, ut Christo renuntiantes, deos venerarentur: et sua virtute, et matre hortante, in fidei confessione perseverantes, varie necati sunt. Januarius plumbatis cæsus: Felix et Philippus fustibus contusi: Silvanus ex altissimo loco præceps dejectus est: Alexander, Vitalis, et Martialis capite plectuntur. Mater eorum quarto post mense eamdem martyrii palmam consecuta est: illi sexto Idus Julii spiritum Domino reddiderunt.

At Rome, in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the prefect Publius tried first by fair speeches and then by threats to compel seven brothers, the sons of St. Felicitas, to renounce Christ and adore the gods. But, owing both to their own valour and to their mother's words of encouragement, they persevered in their confession of faith, and were all put to death in various ways. Januarius was scourged to death with leaded whips, Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs, Silvanus was thrown headlong from a great height, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial were beheaded. Their mother also gained the palm of martyrdom four months later. The brothers gave up their souls to our Lord on the sixth of the Ides of July.

Rufina et Secunda, sorores virgines Romanæ, rejecto connubio Armentarii et Verini, quibus a parentibus desponsæ fuerant, quod Jesu Christo virginitatem vovissent, Valeriano et Gallieno imperatoribus comprehenduntur. Quas cum nec promissis, nec terrore Junius præfectus a proposito posset abducere, Rufinam primum virgis cædi jubet: in quibus verberibus Secunda judicem sic interpellat: Quid est, quod sororem meam honore, me afficis ignominia? Jube ambas simul cædi, quæ simul Christum Deum confitemur. Quibus verbis incensus judex imperat utramque detrudi in tenebricosum et fœtidum carcerem. Quo loco statim clarissima luce et suavissimo odore completo, in ardente balnei solio includuntur. Et cum inde etiam integræ evasissent, mox saxo ad collum alligato in Tiberim projectæ sunt; unde ab angelo liberatæ, extra Urbem via Aurelia milliario decimo, capite plectuntur. Quarum corpora a Plautilla matrona in ejus prædio sepulta, ac postea in Urbem translata, in Basilica Constantiniana prope Baptisterium condita sunt.

Rufina and Secunda were sisters and virgins of Rome. Their parents had betrothed them to Armentarius and Verinus, but they refused to marry, saying that they had consecrated their virginity to Jesus Christ. They were, therefore, arrested during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. When Junius, the prefect, saw he could not shake their resolution either by promises or by threats, he first ordered Rufina to be beaten with rods. While she was being scourged, Secunda thus addressed the judge: 'Why do you treat my sister thus honourably, but me dishonourably? Order us both to be scourged, since we both confess Christ to be God.' Enraged by these words, the judge ordered them both to be cast into a dark and fetid dungeon; immediately a bright light and a most sweet odour filled the prison. They were then shut up in a bath, the floor of which was made red-hot; but from this also they emerged unhurt. Next they were thrown into the Tiber with stones tied to their necks, but an angel saved them from the water, and they were finally beheaded ten miles out of the city on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla, on her estate, and were afterwards translated into Rome, where they now repose in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.

'Praise the Lord, ye children, praise the name of the Lord: who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.' Such is the opening chant of this morning's Mass. But say, O blessed ones! was your admirable mother barren who gave seven martyrs to the earth? Fecundity, according to this world, counts for nothing before God; this is not the fruitfulness intended by that blessing which fell from the lips of the Lord when in the beginning he made man to his own image. 'Increase and multiply' was spoken to a holy one, a son of God, bidding him propagate a divine offspring. As the first creation, so was all future birth to be: man, in communicating his own existence to others, was to transmit to them at the same time the life of their Father in heaven; the natural and the super-

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

natural life were to be as inseparable as a building and its foundation; nature without grace would be but a frame without a picture. All too soon did sin destroy the harmony of the divine plan; nature violently separated from grace could produce only sons of wrath. Yet God was too rich in mercy to abandon the design of His immense love; and having, in the first instance, created us to be His children, He would now re-create us as such in His Word made Flesh. Reduced to a shadow of what it would have been, the union of Adam and Eve, unable to give birth straightway to sons of God, was dismantled of that glory beside which the sublime privileges of the angels would have paled; nevertheless it was still the figure of the great mystery of Christ and the Church. Sterile according to God and doomed to the death she had brought upon her race, it was only by participation in the merits of the second Eve, that the first could be called the mother of the living. Great honour indeed was still to be hers, and she would be able in part to repair her fall, but on condition of yielding to the rights of the Bride of the second Adam. Far better than Pharaoh's daughter rescuing Moses and confiding him to Jochebed, could the Church say to every mother on receiving her babe from the waters: 'Take this child and nurse him for me.' And every Christian mother, anxious to correspond to the Church's trust in her and proud of being able to realize God's primitive intentions, might well repeat with regard to this second childbirth, those words uttered by a superhuman love: My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you.¹ Shame upon her that would forget the sublime destiny of her child to be a son of God! A far less crime would it be were she, through negligence or by design, to stifle in him by an education exclusively directed to the senses that intelligence which distinguishes man from the animals subjected to his power. For the attainment of man's true end, the supernatural life is more necessary than the life of reason; for

¹ Gal. iv. 19.

a mother to make no account of it, and to suffer the divine germ to perish after being planted in the infant's soul at its new birth from the sacred font, would be to do unto death the frail being that owed its existence to her.

Far otherwise, O martyrs, did your illustrious mother understand her mission! Hence, though her memory is honoured on the day when four months after you she quitted this earth, yet this present feast is the chief monument of her glory. She, more than yourselves, is celebrated in the readings and chants of the holy Sacrifice, and in the lessons of the Night Office. And why is this? Because, says St. Gregory, being already the handmaid of Christ by faith, she has to-day become His mother, according to our Lord's own word, by giving him a new birth in each of her seven sons. After having made such a complete holocaust of you to your heavenly Father, what will her own martyrdom be, but the long-desired close of her widowhood, the happy hour which will reunite her in glory to you who are doubly her sons? Henceforward, then, on this day which was to her the day of suffering, but not of reward; when after passing seven times over through tortures and death, she had yet to remain in banishment, it is but just that her children should rise and make over to her, as of right, the honours of the triumph. Henceforth, though still an exile, she is clothed with purple, dyed not twice, but seven times; the richest daughters of Eve own that she has surpassed them all in the fruitfulness of martyrdom; her own works praise her in the assembly of the saints. On this day, O sons and mother, and ye two noble sisters who share in their glory, listen to our prayers, protect the Church, and make the whole world heedful of the teaching conveyed by your beautiful example!

JULY IX

SAINT PIUS I

POPE AND MARTYR

A holy Pope of the second century, the first of the eleven hitherto graced with the name of Pius, rejoices us to-day with his mild and gentle light. Although Christian society was in a precarious condition under the edicts of persecution, which even the best of the pagan emperors never abrogated, our saint profited by the comparative peace enjoyed by the Church under Antoninus Pius to strengthen the foundations of the mysterious tower raised by the divine Shepherd to the honour of the Lord God.¹ He ordained by his supreme authority that, notwithstanding the contrary custom observed in certain places, the feast of Easter should be celebrated on a Sunday throughout the entire Church. The importance of this measure and its effects upon the whole Church will be brought before us on the feast of St. Victor, who succeeded Pius at the close of the century.

The ancient legend of St. Pius I, which has lately been altered, made mention of the decree, attributed in the Corpus juris to our Pontiff,² concerning those who should carelessly let fall any portion of the Precious Blood of our Lord. The prescriptions are such as evince the profound reverence the Pope would have to be shown towards the Mystery of the Altar. The penance enjoined is to be of forty days if the Precious Blood have fallen to the ground; and wheresoever it fell, it must, if possible, be taken up with the lips, the dust must be scraped and the ashes thereof thrown into a consecrated place.

¹ Hermas. Pastor.
² Cap. Si per negligentiam, 27, Dist. II. de Consecratione.

Pius, hujus nominis primus, Aquileiensis, Ruffini filius, ex presbytero sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Summus Pontifex creatus est, Antonino Pio et Marco Aurelio imperatoribus augustis. Quinque ordinationibus mense decembri, episcopos duodecim, octodecim presbyteros creavit. Exstant nonnulla ab eo præclare instituta, præsertim ut Resurrectio Domini nonnisi die Dominico celebraretur. Pudentis domum in ecclesiam mutavit, eamque ob præstantiam supra ceteros titulos, utpote Romani Pontificis mansionem, titulo Pastoris dicavit, et in qua sæpe rem sacram fecit, et multos ad fidem conversos baptizavit, ac in fidelium numerum adscripsit. Dum vero boni Pastoris munus obiret, fuso pro suis ovibus et Summo Pastore Christo sanguine, martyrio coronatus est quinto Idus Julii, ac sepultus in Vaticano.

Pius, the first of this name, a citizen of Aquileia, and son of Rufinus, was priest of the holy Roman Church. During the reign of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius he was chosen Sovereign Pontiff. In five ordinations which he held in the month of December, he ordained twelve bishops and eighteen priests. Several admirable decrees of his are still extant; in particular that which ordains that the Resurrection of our Lord is always to be celebrated on a Sunday. He changed the house of Pudens into a church, and because it surpassed the other titles in dignity, inasmuch as the Roman Pontiffs had made it their dwelling-place, he dedicated it under the title of Pastor. Here he often celebrated the holy mysteries, baptized many who had been converted to the faith, and enrolled them in the ranks of the faithful. While he was thus fulfilling the duties of a good shepherd, he shed his blood for his sheep and for Christ the Supreme Pastor, being crowned with martyrdom on the fifth of the Ides of July. He was buried in the Vatican.

We call to mind, O glorious Pontiff, those words written under thine eye, which seem to be a commentary on thy decree concerning the Sacred Mysteries: 'We receive not,' cried Justin the Philosopher to the world of that second century: 'We receive not as common bread, nor as common drink, the food which we call the Eucharist; but just as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so have we been taught that the food made Eucharist by the prayer formed of His own word, is both the Flesh and the Blood of this Jesus who is made flesh.'¹ This doctrine, and the measures it so fully justifies, found, towards the close of the same century, other authentic witnesses who, in their turn, would almost seem to be quoting from the prescriptions attributed to thee. 'We are in the greatest distress,' said Tertullian, 'if the least drop from our chalice, or the least crumb of our Bread fall to the ground.'² And Origen appealed to the initiated to bear witness to 'the care and veneration with which the sacred gifts were surrounded, for fear the smallest particle should fall; which, if it happened through negligence, would be considered a crime.'³ And yet in our days heresy, as destitute of knowledge as of faith, pretends that the Church has departed from her ancient traditions by paying exaggerated homage to the divine Sacrament. Obtain for us, O Pius, the grace to return to the spirit of our fathers; not, indeed, with regard to their faith, for that we have kept inviolate, but as to the veneration and love with which that faith inspired them for the Chalice of Inebriation, that richest treasure of earth. May the Pasch of the Lamb unite, as thou didst desire, in one uniform celebration, all who have the honour to bear the name of Christian!

¹ Apolog. I. 66. ² De Corona, iii. ³ In Ex. Homil. xiii.

JULY 12

SAINT JOHN GUALBERT

ABBOT

Never, from the day when Simon Magus was baptized at Samaria, had hell seemed so near to conquering the Church as at the period brought before us by to-day's feast. Rejected and anathematized by Peter, the new Simon had said to the princes, as the former had said to the apostles: 'Sell me this power, that upon whomsoever I shall lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.' And the princes, ready enough to supplant Peter and fill their coffers at the same time, had taken upon themselves to invest men of their own choice with the government of the churches; the bishops in their turn had sold to the highest bidders the various orders of the hierarchy; and sensuality, ever in the wake of covetousness, had filled the sanctuary with defilement.

The tenth century had witnessed the humiliation of the supreme pontificate itself; early in the eleventh, simony was rife among the clergy. The work of salvation was going on in the silence of the cloister; but Peter Damian had not yet come forth from the desert; nor had Hugh of Cluny, Leo IX, and Hildebrand brought their united efforts to bear upon the evil. A single voice was heard to utter the cry of alarm and rouse the people from their lethargy; it was the voice of a monk, who had once been a valiant soldier, and to whom the crucifix had bowed its head in recognition of his generous forgiveness of an enemy. John Gualbert, seeing simony introduced into his own monastery of San Miniato, left it and entered Florence, only to find the pastoral staff in the hands of a hireling. The zeal of God's House was devouring his heart; and going into the public squares, he denounced the bishop and his own abbot, that thus he might, at least, deliver his own soul.

At the sight of this monk confronting single-handed the universal corruption, the multitude was for a moment seized with stupefaction; but soon surprise was turned into rage, and John with difficulty escaped death. From this day his special vocation was determined: the just, who had never despaired, hailed him as the avenger of Israel, and their hope was not to be confounded. But like all who are chosen for a divine work, he was to spend a long time under the training of the Holy Spirit. The athlete had challenged the powers of this world; the holy war was declared: one would naturally have expected it to wage without ceasing until the enemy was entirely defeated. And yet, the chosen soldier of Christ hastened into solitude to 'amend his life,' according to the truly Christian expression used in the foundation-charter of Vallombrosa.¹ The promoters of the disorder, startled at the suddenness of the attack, and then seeing the aggressor as suddenly disappear, would laugh at the false alarm; but, cost what it might to the once brilliant soldier, he knew how to abide, in humility and submission, the hour of God's good pleasure.

Little by little other souls, disgusted with the state of society, came to join him; and soon the army of prayer and penance spread throughout Tuscany. It was destined to extend over all Italy, and even to cross the mountains. Settimo, seven miles from Florence, and San Salvi, at the gates of the city, were the strongholds whence the holy war was to recommence in 1063. Another simoniac, Peter of Pavia, had purchased the succession to the episcopal see. John, with all his monks, was resolved rather to die than to witness in silence this new insult offered to the Church of God. His reception this time was to be very different from the former, for the fame of his sanctity and miracles had caused him to be looked upon by the people as an oracle.

¹ Meliorandæ vitæ gratia; Litteræ donationis Itæ Abbatissæ; Ughelli, III, 299 vel 231.

No sooner was his voice heard once more in Florence than the whole flock was so stirred that the unworthy pastor, seeing he could no longer dissemble, cast off his disguise and showed what he really was: a thief who had come only to rob and kill and destroy. By his orders a body of armed men descended upon San Salvi, set fire to the monastery, fell upon the brethren in the midst of the Night Office, and put them all to the sword; each monk continuing to chant till he received the fatal stroke. John Gualbert, hearing at Vallombrosa of the martyrdom of his sons, intoned a canticle of triumph. Florence was seized with horror, and refused to communicate with the assassin bishop. Nevertheless, four years had yet to elapse before deliverance could come; and the trials of St. John had scarcely begun.

St. Peter Damian, invested with full authority by the Sovereign Pontiff, had just arrived from the Eternal City. All expected that no quarter would be given to simony by its sworn enemy, and that peace would be restored to the afflicted Church. The very contrary took place. The greatest saints may be mistaken, and so become to one another the cause of sufferings by so much the more bitter as their will, being less subject to caprice than that of other men, remains more firmly set upon the course they have adopted for the interests of God and His Church. Perhaps the great bishop of Ostia did not sufficiently take into consideration the exceptional position in which the Florentines were placed by the notorious simony of Peter of Pavia, and the violent manner in which he put to death, without form of trial, all who dared to withstand him. Starting from the indisputable principle that inferiors have no right to depose their superiors, the legate reprehended the conduct of the monks, and of all who had separated themselves from the bishop. There was but one refuge for them, the Apostolic See, to which they fearlessly appealed, a proceeding which no one could call uncanonical. But there, says the historian, many who feared for themselves, rose up against them, declaring that these monks were worthy of death for having dared to attack the prelates of the Church; while Peter Damian severely reproached them before the whole Roman Council. The holy and glorious Pope Alexander II took the monks under his own protection, and praised the uprightness of their intention. Yet he dared not comply with their request and proceed further, because the greater number of the bishops sided with Peter of Pavia; the archdeacon Hildebrand alone was entirely in favour of the Abbot of Vallombrosa.¹

Nevertheless, the hour was at hand when God Himself would pronounce the judgment refused them by men. While overwhelmed with threats and treated as lambs amongst wolves, John Gualbert and his sons cried to heaven with the Psalmist: 'Arise, O Lord, and help us; arise, why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Arise, O God, and judge our cause.' At Florence the storm continued to rage. St. Saviour's at Settimo had become the refuge of such of the clergy as were banished from the town by the persecution; the holy founder, who was then residing in that monastery, multiplied in their behalf the resources of his charity. At length the situation became so critical that one day in Lent of the year 1067 the rest of the clergy and the whole population left the simoniac alone in his deserted palace and fled to Settimo. Neither the length of the road, deep in mud from the rain, nor the rigorous fast observed by all, says the narrative written at that very time to the Sovereign Pontiff by the clergy and people of Florence, could stay the most delicate matrons, women about to become mothers, or even children. Evidently the Holy Ghost was actuating the crowd; they called for the judgment of God. John Gualbert, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, gave his consent to the trial; and in testimony of the truth of the accusation brought by him against the Bishop of Florence, Peter, one of his monks, since known as Peter Igneus, walked slowly before the eyes of the multitude through an immense fire, without receiving the smallest injury. Heaven had spoken: the bishop was deposed by Rome, and ended his days, a happy penitent, in that very monastery of Settimo.

In 1073, the year in which his friend Hildebrand was raised to the Apostolic See, John was called to God. His influence against simony had reached far beyond Tuscany. The Republic of Florence ordered his feast to be kept as a holiday, and the following words were engraved upon his tombstone:

TO JOHN GUALBERT, CITIZEN OF FLORENCE, DELIVERER OF ITALY.

Let us read the notice which the Church consecrates to his blessed memory, though with a few differences of detail.

Joannes Gualbertus, Florentiæ nobili genere ortus, dum patri obsequens rem militarem sequitur, Ugo, unicus ejus frater, occiditur a consanguineo: quem cum solum et inermem sancto Parasceves die Joannes armis ac militibus stipatus obvium haberet, ubi neuter alterum poterat declinare, ob sanctæ Crucis reverentiam, quam homicida supplex, mortem jamjam subiturus, brachiis signabat, vitam ei clementer indulget. Hoste in fratrem recepto, proximum sancti Miniatis templum oraturus ingreditur, ubi adoratam Crucifixi imaginem caput sibi flectere conspicit. Quo mirabili facto permotus Joannes, Deo exinde, etiam invito patre, militare decernit, atque ibidem propriis sibi manibus comam totondit, ac monasticum habitum induit; adeoque piis ac religiosis virtutibus brevi coruscat, ut multis se perfectionis specimen ac normam præberet; ita ut, ejusdem loci Abbate defuncto, communi omnium voto in superiorem eligeretur. At Dei famulus cupiens subesse potius quam præesse, ad majora divina voluntate servatus, ad Camaldulensis eremi incolam Romualdum proficiscitur: a quo cœlicum sui instituti vaticinium accipit: tum suum Ordinem sub regula sancti Benedicti apud Umbrosam vallem instituit.

John Gualbert was born at Florence of a noble family. While, in compliance with his father's wishes, he was following the career of arms, it happened that his only brother Hugh was slain by a kinsman. On Good Friday, John, at the head of an armed band, met the murderer alone and unarmed, in a spot where they could not avoid each other. Seeing death imminent, the murderer, with arms outstretched in the form of a cross, begged for mercy, and John, through reverence for the sacred sign, graciously spared him. Having thus changed his enemy into a brother, he went to pray in the church of San Miniato, which was near at hand; and as he was adoring the image of Christ crucified, he saw it bend its head towards him. John was deeply touched by the miracle, and determined thenceforward to fight for God alone, even against his father's wish; so on the spot he cut off his own hair and put on the monastic habit. Very soon his pious and religious manner of life shed abroad so great a lustre that he became to many a living rule and pattern of perfection. Hence on the death of the Abbot of the place he was unanimously chosen superior. But the servant of God, preferring obedience to superiority, and moreover being reserved by the divine will for greater things, betook himself to Romuald, who was then living in the desert of Camaldoli, and who, inspired by heaven, announced to him the institute he was to form; whereupon he laid the foundations of his Order under the Rule of St. Benedict at Vallombrosa.

Deinde, plurimis ad eum ob ejus sanctitatis famam undique convolantibus, una cum iis in socios adscitis, ad hæreticam et simoniacam pravitatem exstirpandam et apostolicam fidem propagandam sedulo incumbit, innumera propterea in se et suis incommoda expertus. Nam ut eum ejusque socios adversarii perdant, noctu sancti Salvii cœnobium repente aggrediuntur, templum incendunt, ædes demoliuntur, et monachos omnes lethali vulnere sauciant: quos vir Dei unico crucis signo incolumes protinus reddit; et Petro ejus monacho per immensum, ardentissimumque ignem illæso mirabiliter transeunte, optatam sibi et suis tranquillitatem obtinet. Inde simoniacam labem ab Etruria expulit, ac in tota Italia fidem pristinæ integritati restituit.

Soon afterwards many, attracted by the renown of his sanctity, flocked to him from all sides. He received them into his society, and together with them he zealously devoted himself to rooting out heresy and simony, and propagating the apostolic faith; on account of which devotedness both he and his disciples suffered innumerable injuries. Thus, his enemies in their eagerness to destroy him and his brethren, suddenly attacked the monastery of San Salvi by night, burned the church, demolished the buildings, and mortally wounded all the monks. The man of God, however, restored them all forthwith to health by a single sign of the cross. Peter, one of his monks, miraculously walked unhurt through a huge blazing fire, and thus John obtained for himself and his sons the peace they so much desired. From that time forward every stain of simony disappeared from Tuscany; and faith, throughout all Italy, was restored to its former purity.

Multa funditus erexit monasteria, eademque et alia ædificiis ac regulari observantia instaurata, sanctis legibus communivit. Ad egenos alendos sacram supellectilem vendidit: ad improbos coercendos elementa sibi famulari conspexit: ad dæmones comprimendos crucem quasi ensem adhibuit. Demum abstinentiis, vigiliis, jejuniis, orationibus, carnis macerationibus, ac senio confectus, dum infirma valetudine gravaretur, Davidica illa verba persæpe repetebat: Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem, vivum: quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Jamque morti proximus, convocatos discipulos ad fraternam concordiam cohortatur, et in breviculo, cui consepeliri voluit, jussit hæc scribi: Ego Joannes credo, et confiteor fidem, quam sancti Apostoli prædicaverunt, et sancti Patres in quatuor conciliis confirmaverunt. Tandem triduano angelorum obsequio dignatus, septuagesimum octavum annum agens, apud Passinianum, ubi summa veneratione colitur, migravit ad Dominum, anno salutis millesimo septuagesimo tertio, quarto Idus Julii. Quem Cœlestinus Tertius innumeris miraculis clarum in Sanctorum numerum retulit.

John built many entirely new monasteries, and restored many others both as to their material buildings and as to regular observance, strengthening them all with the bulwark of holy regulations. In order to feed the poor he sold the sacred vessels of the altar. The elements were obedient to his will when he sought to check evil-doers; and the sign of the cross was the sword he used whereby to conquer the devils. At length, worn out by abstinence, watchings, fasting, prayer, maceration of the flesh, and finally old age, he fell into a grievous malady, during which he repeated unceasingly those words of David: 'My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of God?' When death drew near, calling together his disciples, he exhorted them to preserve fraternal union. Then he caused these words to be written on a paper which he wished should be buried with him: 'I, John, believe and confess the faith which the holy Apostles preached, and the holy Fathers in the four Councils have confirmed.' At length, having been honoured during three days with the gracious presence of angels, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, he departed to the Lord at Passignano, where he is honoured with the highest veneration. He died in the year of salvation 1073, on the fourth of the Ides of July; and having become celebrated by innumerable miracles, was enrolled by Celestine III in the number of the saints.

O true disciple of the New Law, who didst know how to spare an enemy for the love of the Holy Cross! teach us to practise, as thou didst, the lessons conveyed by the instrument of our salvation, which will then become to us, as to thee, a weapon ever victorious over the powers of hell. Could we look upon the Cross, and then refuse to forgive our brother an injury, when God Himself not only forgets our heinous offences against His sovereign Majesty, but even died upon the Tree to expiate them? The most generous pardon a creature can grant is but a feeble shadow of the pardon we daily obtain from our Father in heaven. Still, the Gospel which the Church sings in thy honour may well teach us that the love of our enemies is the nearest resemblance we can have to our heavenly Father, and the sign that we are truly His children.

Thou hadst, O John, this grand trait of resemblance. He, who in virtue of His eternal generation is the true Son of God by nature, recognized in thee the mark of nobility which made thee His brother. When He bowed His sacred Head to thee, He saluted in thee the character of a child of God, which thou hadst just so beautifully maintained: a title a thousand times more glorious than those of thy noble ancestry. What a powerful germ was the Holy Ghost planting at that moment in thy heart! And how richly does God recompense a single generous act! Thy sanctification, the glorious share thou didst take in the Church's victory, the fecundity whereby thou livest still in the Order sprung from thee: all these choice graces for thy own soul and for so many others hung upon that critical moment. Fate, or the justice of God, as thy contemporaries would have said, had brought thy enemy within thy power: how wouldst thou treat him? He was deserving of death; and in those days every man was his own avenger. Hadst thou then inflicted due punishment upon him, thy reputation would have rather increased than diminished. Thou wouldst have obtained the esteem of thy comrades; but the only glory which is of any worth before God, indeed the only glory which lasts long even in the sight of men, would never have been thine. Who would have known thee at the present day? Who would have felt the admiration and gratitude with which thy very name now inspires the children of the Church?

The Son of God, seeing that thy dispositions were conformable to those of His Sacred Heart, filled thee with His own jealous love of the holy City for whose redemption He shed His blood. O thou that wert zealous for the beauty of the Bride, watch over her still; deliver her from hirelings who would fain receive from men the right of holding the place of the Bridegroom. In our days venality is less to be feared than compromise. Simony would take another form; there is not so much danger of bribery as of fawning, paying homage, making advances, entering into implicit contracts; all which proceedings are as contrary to the holy canons as are pecuniary transactions. And after all, is the evil any the less for taking a milder form, if it enables princes to bind the Church again in fetters such as thou didst labour to break? Suffer not, O John Gualbert, such a misfortune, which would be the forerunner of terrible disasters. Continue to support with thy powerful arm the common Mother of men. Save thy fatherland a second time, even in spite of itself. Protect, in these sad times, the Order of which thou art the glory and the father; give it strength to outlive the

¹ Vita S. J. Gualb. ap. BARON, ad an. 1063.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST

confiscations and the cruelties it has suffered from that same Italy which once hailed thee as its deliverer. Obtain for Christians of every condition the courage required for the warfare in which all are bound to engage.

On this same day the whole Church unites in the solemn homage which Milan continues to pay, after a lapse of sixteen centuries, to two valiant witnesses of Christ. 'Our martyrs, Felix and Nabor,' says St. Ambrose, 'are the grain of mustard-seed mentioned in the Gospel. They possessed the good odour of faith, though it did not appear to men; persecution arose, they laid down their arms, and bowed their heads to the sword, and immediately the grace that was hidden within them was shed abroad even to the ends of the world; so that we can now in all truth say of them: Their sound has gone forth into all the earth.'

Let us honour them and ask their intercession by the prayer which the Church addresses to God in commemoration of their glorious combat.

COLLECT

Præsta, quæsumus, Domine: ut, sicut nos sanctorum Martyrum tuorum Naboris et Felicis natalitia celebranda non deserunt, ita jugis suffragiis comitentur. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that as the festival of thy holy martyrs, Nabor and Felix, returns for us to celebrate, it may always be accompanied by their intercession. Through our Lord, etc.

JULY 13

ST. ANACLETUS

POPE AND MARTYR

The name of Anacletus sounds like a lingering echo of the solemnity of June 29. Linus, Clement, and Cletus, the immediate successors of St. Peter, received from his hands the pontifical consecration; Anacletus had the less but still inestimable glory of being ordained priest by the Vicar of the Man-God. Whereas the feasts of most of the martyr Pontiffs who came after him are only of simple rite, that of Anacletus is a semi-double, because of his privilege of being the last Pope honoured by the imposition of hands of the Prince of the Apostles. It was also during his pontificate that the Eternal City had the glory of receiving within its walls the beloved disciple, who had come to fulfil his promise and drink of his Master's chalice. 'O happy Church,' exclaims Tertullian, 'into whose bosom the Apostles poured not only all their teaching, but their very blood; where Peter imitated his Lord's Passion by dying on the cross; where Paul, like John the Baptist, received his crown by means of the sword; whence the Apostle John, after coming forth safe and sound from the boiling oil, was sent to the isle of his banishment.'¹

By the almighty power of the Spirit of Pentecost, the progress of the faith in Rome was proportionate to the bountiful graces of our Lord. Little by little the great Babylon, drunk with the blood of the martyrs, was being transformed into the Holy City. This new-born race, so full of promise for the future, could already reckon among its members representatives of every class of society. Beside the boiling cauldron where the prophet of Patmos did homage to the new Jerusalem

¹ De præscript., xxxvi.

by offering within her walls his glorious confession, two consuls, one representing the ancient patrician rank, the other the more modern nobility of the Cæsars, Acilius Glabrio and Flavius Clemens, together fell by the sword of martyrdom. Anacletus adorned the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, and provided a burial-place for the other Pontiffs. Following his example, the distinguished families of Rome opened galleries for subterranean cemeteries, all along the roads leading to the Imperial City. There rest innumerable soldiers of Christ, victorious by their blood; and there, too, sleep in peace, with the anchor of salvation beside them, the most illustrious names of earth.

Anacletus Atheniensis, Trajano imperatore, rexit Ecclesiam. Decrevit ut episcopus a tribus episcopis, neque a paucioribus consecraretur, et Clerici sacris Ordinibus publice a proprio episcopo initiarentur: et ut in Missa, peracta consecratione, omnes communicarent. Beati Petri sepulcrum ornavit, Pontificumque sepulturæ locum attribuit. Fecit ordinationes duas mense Decembri, quibus creavit presbyteros quinque, diaconos tres, episcopos sex. Sedit annos novem, menses tres, dies decem. Martyrio coronatus, sepultus est in Vaticano.

Anacletus, an Athenian by birth, governed the Church in the days of the Emperor Trajan. He decreed that a bishop should be consecrated by no fewer than three bishops; that clerics should be publicly admitted to Holy Orders, by their own bishop; and that at Mass all should communicate after the Consecration. He adorned the tomb of blessed Peter, and set aside a place for the burial of the Pontiffs. He held two ordinations in the month of December, and made five priests, three deacons, and six bishops. He sat in St. Peter's Chair nine years, three months, and ten days, was crowned with martyrdom and buried in the Vatican.

Glorious Pontiff! thy memory is so closely linked with that of Peter that many reckon thee, under a somewhat different name, among the three august persons raised by the Prince of the Apostles to the highest rank in the hierarchy. Nevertheless, in distinguishing thee from Cletus, who appeared in the sacred cycle in the month of April, we are justified by the authority of the holy liturgy, which appoints thee a separate feast, and by the constant testimony of Rome itself, which knows better than any the names and the history of its Pontiffs. Happy art thou in being thus, as it were, lost to sight among the foundations whereon rest for ever the strength and beauty of the Church! Give us all a special love for the particular positions assigned to us in the sacred building. Receive the grateful homage of all the living stones who are chosen to form the eternal temple, and who will all lean upon thee for evermore.

JULY 14

SAINT BONAVENTURE

CARDINAL AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Four months after the Angel of the Schools, the Seraphic Doctor appears in the heavens. Bound by the ties of love when on earth, the two are now united for ever before the throne of God. Bonaventure's own words will show us how great a right they both had to the heavenly titles bestowed upon them by the admiring gratitude of men.

As there are three hierarchies of angels in heaven, so on earth there are three classes of the elect. The Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, who form the first hierarchy, represent those who approach nearest to God by contemplation, and who differ among themselves according to the intensity of their love, the plenitude of their science, and the steadfastness of their justice; to the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers, correspond the prelates and princes; and lastly, the lowest choirs signify the various ranks of the faithful engaged in the active life. This is the triple division of men, which, according to St. Luke, will be made at the last day: Two shall be in the bed, two in the field, two at the mill; that is to say, in the repose of divine delights, in the field of government, at the mill of this life's toil. As regards the two mentioned in each place, we may remark that in Isaias the Seraphim, who are more closely united to God than the rest, perform two by two their ministry of sacrifice and praise; for it is with the angel as with man; the fulness of love, which belongs especially to the Seraphim, cannot be without the fulfilment of the double precept of charity towards God and one's neighbour. Again, our Lord sent His disciples two and two before His face; and in Genesis we find God sending two angels where one would have sufficed.¹ It is better, therefore, says Ecclesiastes, that two should be together than one; for they have the advantage of their society.²

Such is the teaching of Bonaventure in his book on the Hierarchy,³ wherein he shows us the secret workings of Eternal Wisdom for the salvation of the world and the sanctification of the elect. It would be impossible to understand aright the history of the thirteenth century were we to forget the prophetic vision, wherein our Lady was seen presenting to her offended Son His two servants, Dominic and Francis, that they might by their powerful union, bring back to Him the wandering human race. What a spectacle for angels when, on the morrow of the apparition, the two saints met and embraced: 'Thou art my companion, we will run side by side,' said the descendant of the Guzmans to the poor man of Assisi; 'let us keep together, and no man will be able to prevail against us.' These words might well have been the motto of their noble sons, Thomas and Bonaventure. The star which shone over the head of St. Dominic shed its bright rays on Thomas; the Seraph who imprinted the stigmata in the flesh of St. Francis touched with his fiery wing the soul of Bonaventure; yet both, like their incomparable fathers, had but one end in view: to draw men by science and love to that eternal life which consists in knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Both were burning and shining lamps, blending their flames in the heavens, in proportions which no mortal eye could distinguish here below; nevertheless, Eternal Wisdom has willed that the Church on earth should borrow more especially light from Thomas and fire from Bonaventure. Would that we might here show in each of them the workings of Wisdom, the one bond even on earth of their union of thoughts—that Wisdom who, ever unchangeable in her adorable unity, never repeats herself in the souls she chooses from among the nations to become the prophets and the friends of God. But to-day we must speak only of Bonaventure.

When quite a child, he was saved by St. Francis from imminent death; whereupon his pious mother offered him by vow to the saint, promising that he should enter the Order of Friars Minor. Thus, in the likeness of holy poverty, that beloved companion of the Seraphic Patriarch, did Eternal Wisdom prevent our saint from his very cradle, showing herself first unto him. At the earliest awakening of his faculties he found her seated at the entrance of his soul, awaiting the opening of its gates, which are, he tells us, intelligence and love. Having received a good soul in an undefiled body, he preferred Wisdom before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison with the august friend, who offered herself to him in the glory of her nobility and beauty. From that first moment, without ever waning, she was his light. Peacefully as a sunbeam glancing through a hitherto closed window, Wisdom filled this dwelling, now become her own, as the bride on the nuptial day takes possession of the bridegroom's house, filling it with joy, in community of goods, and above all of love.

For her contribution to the nuptial banquet, she brought the substantial brightness of heaven; Bonaventure on his part offered her the lilies of purity, so desired by her as her choicest food. Henceforth the feast in his soul was to be continual; and the light and the perfumes, breaking forth, were shed around, attracting, enlightening, and nourishing all. While still very young, he was, according to custom, sent, after the first years of his religious life, to the celebrated University of Paris, where he soon won all hearts by his angelic manners; and the great Alexander of Hales, struck with admiration at the union of so many qualities, said of him that it seemed as if in him Adam had not sinned. As a lofty mountain whose head is lost in the clouds, and from whose foot run fertilizing waters far and wide, Brother Alexander himself, according to the expression of the Sovereign Pontiff, seemed at that time to contain within himself the living fountain of Paradise, whence the river of science and salvation flowed over the earth.¹ Nevertheless, not only would he, the irrefragable Doctor, and the Doctor of doctors, give up his chair in a short time to the newcomer, but he would hereafter derive his greatest glory from being called father and master by that illustrious disciple. Placed in such a position at so early an age, Bonaventure could say of Divine Wisdom, even more truly than of the great master who had had little to do but admire the prodigious development of his soul: 'It is she that has taught me all things; she taught me the knowledge of God and of His works, justice and virtues, the subtleties of speeches and the solutions of arguments.'²

Such, indeed, is the object of those Commentaries on the four Books of Sentences, first delivered as lectures from the chair of Paris, where he held the noblest intellects spellbound by his graceful and inspired language. This masterpiece, while it is an inexhaustible mine of treasures to the Franciscan family, bears so great testimony to the science of this doctor of twenty-seven years of age that, though so soon called from his chair to the government of a great Order, he was worthy on account of this single work to share with his friend Thomas Aquinas, who was fortunately freer to pursue his studies, the honourable title of prince of Sacred Theology.³

The young master already merited his name of Seraphic Doctor, by regarding science as merely a means to love, and declaring that the light which illuminates the mind is barren and useless unless it penetrates to the heart, where alone wisdom rests and feasts.⁴ St. Antoninus tells us also that in him every truth grasped by the intellect passed through the affections, and thus became prayer and divine praise. 'His aim,' says another historian, 'was to burn with love, to kindle himself first at the divine fire, and afterwards to inflame others. Careless of praise or renown, anxious only to regulate his life and actions, he would fain burn and not only shine; he would be fire, in order to approach nearer to God by becoming more like to Him who is fire. Albeit, as fire is not without light, so was he also at the same time a shining torch in the House of God; but his special claim to our praise is that all the light at his command he gathered to feed the flame of divine love.'⁵

¹ Litt. Alexandri IV.: De fontibus paradisi flumen egrediens.
² Cf. Wisd. vii. and viii.
³ Litt. Sixti IV. Superna cœlestis patria civitas; Sixti V. Triumphantis Hierusalem; Leonis XIII. Æterni Patris.
⁴ Bonavent. in II. Sent., dist. xxiii., art. 2, qu. 3, ad 7.
⁵ Exp. in Lib. Sap. viii. 9, 16.

The bent of his mind was clearly indicated when, at the beginning of his public teaching, he was called upon to give his decision on the question then dividing the Schools: to some theology was a speculative, to others a practical, science, according as they were more struck by the theoretical or the moral side of its teaching. Bonaventure, uniting the two opinions in the principle which he considered the one universal law, concluded that 'Theology is an affective science, the knowledge of which proceeds by speculative contemplation, but aims principally at making us good.' For the wisdom of doctrine, he said, must be according to her name, something that can be relished by the soul; and he added, not without that gentle touch of irony which the saints know how to use: 'There is a difference, I suppose, in the impressions produced by the proposition, Christ died for us, or the like, and by such as this: The diagonal and the side of a square cannot be equal to one another.'⁴

The graceful speech and profound science of our saint were enhanced by a beautiful modesty. He would conclude a difficult question thus: 'This is said without prejudice to the opinions of others. If anyone think otherwise, or better, as he may well do on this point as on all others, I bear him no ill-will; but if, in this little work, he find anything deserving approval, let him give thanks to God, the Author of all good. Whatever, in any part, be found false, doubtful or obscure, let the kind reader forgive the incompetence of the writer, whose conscience bears him unimpeachable testimony that he has wished to say nothing but what is true, clear, and commonly received.'⁵ On one occasion, however, Bonaventure's unswerving devotion to the Queen of Virgins modified with a gentle force his expression of humility: 'If anyone,' he says, 'prefers otherwise, I will not contend with him, provided he say nothing to the detriment of the Venerable Virgin, for we must take the very greatest care, even should it cost us our life, that no one lessen in any way the honour of our Lady.'⁶

Lastly, at the end of the third book of this admirable Exposition of the Sentences, he declares that 'charity is worth more than all science. It is enough, in doubtful questions, to know what the wise have taught; disputation is to little purpose. We talk much, and our words fail us. Infinite thanks be to the perfecter of all discourse, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, taking pity on my poverty of knowledge and of genius, has enabled me to complete this moderate work. I beg of Him that it may procure me the merit of obedience, and may be of profit to my brethren: the twofold purpose for which the task was undertaken.'⁷

But the time had come when obedience was to give place to another kind of merit, less pleasing to himself, but not less profitable to the brethren. At thirty-five years of age, he was elected Minister-General. Obliged thus to quit the field of scholastic teaching, he entrusted it to his friend, Thomas Aquinas, who, younger by several years, was to cultivate it longer and more completely than he himself had been suffered. The Church would lose nothing by the change; for Eternal Wisdom, who ordereth all things with strength and sweetness, thus disposed that these two incomparable geniuses, completing one another, should give us the fulness of that science which not only reveals God, but leads to Him.

Give an occasion to the wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him.¹ This sentence was placed by Bonaventure at the head of his treatise on 'The Six Wings of the Seraphim,' wherein he sets forth the qualifications necessary for one called to the cure of souls; and well did he fulfil it himself in the government of his immense Order, scattered by its missions throughout the whole Church. The treatise itself, which Father Claude Acquaviva held in such high estimation as to oblige the Superiors of the Society of Jesus to use it as a guide, furnishes us with a portrait of our saint at this period. He had reached the summit of the spiritual life, where the inward peace of the soul is undisturbed by the most violent agitations from without; where the closeness of their union with God produces in the saints a mysterious fecundity, displayed to the world, when God wills, by a multiplicity of perfect works incomprehensible to the profane. Let us listen to Bonaventure's own words: 'The Seraphim exercise an influence over the lower orders, to draw them upwards; so the love of the spiritual man tends both to his neighbour and to God: to God that he may rest in Him; to his neighbour to draw him thither with himself. Not only then do they burn; they also give the form of perfect love, driving away darkness and showing how to rise by degrees, and to go to God by the highest paths.'²

Such is the secret of that admirable series of opuscula, composed, as he owned to St. Thomas, without the aid of any book but his crucifix, without any preconceived plan, but simply as occasion required at the request, or to satisfy the needs of the brethren and sisters of his large family, or again, when he felt a desire of pouring out his soul. In these works Bonaventure has treated alike of the first elements of asceticism and of the sublimest subjects of the mystic life, with such fulness, certainty, clearness, and persuasive force, that Sixtus IV declared the Holy Spirit seemed to speak in him.³ On reading the Itinerary of the Soul to God, which was written on the height of Alverna, as it were under the immediate influence of the Seraphim, the Chancellor Gerson exclaimed: 'This opusculum, or rather this immense work, is beyond the praise of a mortal mouth.' And he wished it, together with that wonderful compendium of sacred science, the Breviloquium, to be imposed upon theologians as a necessary manual.⁴ 'By his words,' says the great Abbot Trithemius in the name of the Benedictine Order, 'the author of all these learned and devout works inflames the will of the reader no less than he enlightens his mind. Note the spirit of divine love and Christian devotion in his writings, and you will easily see that he surpasses all the doctors of his time in the usefulness of his works. Many expound doctrine, many preach devotion, few teach the two together; Bonaventure surpasses both the many and the few, because he trains to devotion by science, and to science by devotion. If, then, you would be both learned and devout, you must put his teaching into practice.'⁵

But Bonaventure himself will tell us best the proper dispositions for reading him with profit. At the beginning of his Incendium amoris, wherein he teaches the three ways, purgative, illuminative, and unitive, which lead to true wisdom, he says: 'I offer this book not to philosophers, not to the worldly-wise, not to great theologians perplexed with endless questions, but to the simple and ignorant who strive rather to love God than to know much. It is not by disputing, but by activity, that we learn to love. As to those men full of questions, superior in every science, but inferior in the love of Christ, I consider them incapable of understanding the contents of this book; unless putting away all vain show of learning, they strive, by humble self-renunciation, prayer, and meditation, to kindle within them the divine spark, which, inflaming their hearts and dispelling all darkness, will lead them beyond the concerns of time even to the throne of peace. Indeed, by the very fact of their knowing more, they are better disposed to love, or, at least, they would be if they truly despised themselves and could rejoice to be despised by others.'⁶

Although these pages are already too long, we cannot resist quoting the last words left us by St. Bonaventure. As the Angel of the Schools was soon, at Fossa Nova, to close his labours and his life with the explanation of the Canticle of Canticles, so his seraphic rival and brother tuned his last notes to these words of the sacred Nuptial Song: 'King Solomon has made him a litter of the wood of Libanus: The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going-up of purple.'⁷ 'The seat of gold,' added our saint, 'is contemplative wisdom; it belongs to those alone who possess the column of silver—i.e., the virtues which strengthen the soul; the going-up of purple is the charity whereby we ascend to the heights and descend to the valleys.'⁸

It is a conclusion worthy of Bonaventure, the close of a sublime but incomplete work, which he had not even time to put together himself. 'Alas! alas! alas!' cries out with tears the loving disciple to whom we owe this last treasure, 'a higher dignity, and then the death of our lord and master prevented the continuation of this work.' And then showing us, in a touching manner, the precautions taken by the sons lest they should lose anything of their father's conferences: 'What I here give,' he says, 'is what I could snatch by writing rapidly while he was speaking. Two others took notes at the same time, but their papers are scarcely legible; whereas several of the audience were able to read my copy, and the master himself and many others made use of it; a fact for which I deserve some gratitude. And now at length, permission and time having been given to me, I have revised these notes, with the voice and gestures of the master ever in my ear and before my eyes; I have arranged them in order, without adding anything to what he said, except the indication of certain authorities.'⁹

The dignity mentioned by the faithful secretary is that of Cardinal Bishop of Albano. After the death of Clement IV, and the succeeding three years of widowhood for the Church, our saint, by his influence with the Sacred College, had obtained the election of Gregory X, who now imposed upon him in virtue of obedience the honour of the cardinalate. Having been entrusted with the work of preparation for the Council of Lyons, convened for the spring of 1274, Bonaventure had the joy of assisting at the reunion of the Latin and Greek Churches, which he, more than anyone else, had been instrumental in obtaining. But God spared him the bitterness of seeing how short-lived the reunion was to be: a union which would have been the salvation of that East which he loved, and where his name, translated into Eutychius, was still in veneration two centuries later at the time of the Council of Florence. On July 15 of that year, 1274, in the midst of the Council, and presided at by the Sovereign Pontiff himself, took place the most solemn funeral the world has ever witnessed. 'I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan,' cried out before that mourning assembly, gathered from East and West, the Dominican Cardinal Peter of Tarentaise. After fifty-three years spent in this world, the Seraph had cast off his robe of flesh, and spreading his wings had gone to join Thomas Aquinas, who had by a very short time preceded him to heaven.

The following are the proper lessons appointed for St. Bonaventure in the Breviary:

Bonaventura, Balneoregii in Etruria natus, a lethali morbo adhuc puer, beati Francisci precibus, cujus religioni, si convaluisset, voto matris dicatus fuerat, evasit incolumis. Itaque adolescens, fratrum Minorum institutum amplecti voluit, in quo ad eam doctrinæ præstantiam Alexandro de Ales magistro pervenit, ut septimo post anno Parisiis magisterii lauream adeptus, libros Sententiarum publice summa cum laude sit interpretatus: quos etiam præclaris postea commentariis illustravit. Nec scientiæ solum eruditione, sed et morum integritate, vitæque innocentia, humilitate, mansuetudine, terrenarum rerum contemptu et cælestium desiderio mirifice excelluit: dignus plane, qui quam perfectionis exemplar haberetur, et a beato Thoma Aquinate, cui summa caritate conjunctus erat, sanctus appellaretur. Is enim, cum sancti Francisci vitam illum scribentem comperisset: Sinamus, ait, Sanctum pro Sancto laborare.

Bonaventure was born at Bagnorea, in Tuscany. While still a child, he was smitten by a mortal sickness, and his mother vowed that he should be consecrated to the order of blessed Francis if he recovered. He came safely through the sickness at the Saint's prayer; and consequently when a young man, he determined to enter the institute of the Friars Minor. He was put under the instruction of Alexander of Hales, and became so eminent for learning that at the end of seven years he obtained the Master's degree at Paris, and lectured publicly with great applause on the books of the Sentences, which later in life he explained by lucid commentaries. He attained great eminence, not only in knowledge and learning, but also in purity of life, innocence, humility, meekness, contempt for earthly things and desire for those of heaven; and he was manifestly worthy of being held as an example of perfection. By blessed Thomas Aquinas, to whom he was bound by close friendship, he was called a saint, and when St. Thomas found him one day writing the Life of St. Francis, he said: 'Let us allow one saint to labour for another.'

Divini amoris flamma succensus, erga Christi Domini passionem, quam jugiter meditabatur, ac Deiparam Virginem, cui se totum devoverat, singulari ferebatur pietatis affectu: quem in aliis etiam verbo et exemplo excitare, scriptisque opusculis augere summopere studuit. Hinc illa morum suavitas, gratia sermonis, et caritas in omnes effusa, qua singulorum animos sibi arctissime devinciebat. Quam ob rem vix quinque et triginta annos natus, Romæ summo omnium consensu Generalis Or-

He was enkindled with a great flame of divine love, and was moved with particular affection for the Passion of Christ our Lord, which was his constant matter of meditation, and for the Virgin Mother of God, to whom he wholly vowed himself. He sought, moreover, with all his power to excite a like ardour in others both by word and example, and to increase it by his books and other writings. Hence arose that sweetness of disposition, unction in speech and open-hearted charity to all

SAINT BONAVENTURE

dinis Minister electus est: susceptumque munus per duodeviginti annos admirabili prudentia gessit ac laude sanctitatis. Plura constituit regulari disciplinæ et amplificando Ordini utilia; quem una cum aliis Ordinibus mendicantibus adversus obtrectatorum calumnias feliciter propugnavit.

Ad Lugdunense Concilium a beato Gregorio decimo accersitus, et Cardinalis Episcopus Albanensis creatus, arduis Concilii rebus egregiam navavit operam: qua et schismatis dissidia composita sunt, et ecclesiastica dogmata vindicata. Quibus in laboribus, anno ætatis suæ quinquagesimo tertio, salutis vero millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo quarto, summo omnium mœrore decessit, ab universo Concilio, ipso præsente Romano Pontifice, funere honestatus. Eum Xystus quartus plurimis maximisque clarum miraculis in Sanctorum numerum retulit. Multa scripsit, in quibus summam eruditionem cum pietatis ardore conjungens, lectorem docendo movet; quare a Xysto quinto Doctoris Seraphici nomine merito est insignitus.

men, by which he succeeded in binding the hearts of all so closely to himself. For these reasons, when scarcely thirty-five years old, he was elected at Rome, by acclamation, Minister-General of his Order; and he held the office which he had taken up for twenty years, with remarkable prudence and praiseworthy holiness. He made a number of regulations suited to the maintenance of regular discipline and the extension of the Order: and he defended it, as well as the other mendicant orders, with great success against the charges of calumniators.

By Blessed Gregory X he was summoned to the Council of Lyons, and created Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He steered the Council successfully through the arduous tasks it had undertaken: as a result of which the disputes excited by schismatics were brought to an end, and the dogmas of the Church vindicated. In the midst of these labours, to the great sorrow of all who knew him, he died in 1274, in the fifty-third year of his age, and his funeral was adorned by the presence of the whole Council, and of the Roman Pontiff himself. He became renowned for many great miracles, and Xystus IV enrolled him among the saints. He composed a number of writings, in which he exhibited great learning and ardent piety, moving the reader's heart by his instruction: and for this reason Xystus V deservedly bestowed on him the title of the Seraphic Doctor.

Thou hast entered, O Bonaventure, into the joy of thy Lord, and what must thy happiness be now, since, as thou thyself didst say: 'By how much a man loves God on earth, by so much does he rejoice in him in heaven'?¹ If the great St. Anselm, from whom thou didst borrow that word, added that love is proportioned to knowledge² O thou, who wast at the same time a prince of sacred science and the doctor of love, show us how all light, in the order of grace and of nature, is intended to lead us to love. God is hidden in everything;³ Christ is the centre of every science;⁴ and the fruit of each of them is to build up faith, to honour God, to regulate our life, and to lead to divine union by charity, without which all knowledge is vain. For, as thou didst say,⁵ all the sciences have their fixed and infallible rules, which come down to our soul as so many reflections of the eternal law; and our soul, surrounded and penetrated with such brightness, is led, of her own accord, unless she is blind, to contemplate that eternal light. Wonderful light, reflected from the mountains of our fatherland into the furthermost valleys of our exile! In the eyes of the Seraphic Father Francis the world was truly noble, so that he called, as thou tellest us,⁶ even the lowest creatures by the name of brothers and sisters; in every beauty he discerned the Sovereign Beauty; by the traces left in creation by its Author he found his Beloved everywhere, and he made of them a ladder whereby to ascend to him.

Do thou, too, O my soul, open thine eyes, bend thine ear, unlock thy lips, and prepare thy heart, that in every creature thou mayest see thy God, hear Him, praise Him, love Him, and honour Him, lest the whole universe rise up against thee for not rejoicing in the works of His hands.⁷ Then from the world beneath thee, which has but the shadow of God and His presence, inasmuch as He is everywhere, pass on to thyself, His image by nature,

¹ Bonav. De perfectione vitæ ad sorores, viii. ² Anselm. Proslog. xxvi. ³ Bonav. De red. artium ad theol. ⁴ De reduct. artium ad theolog. ⁵ Itinerarium mentis in Deum, iii. ⁶ Legenda Sti. Francisci, viii. ⁷ Ibid. i.

reformed in Christ the Bridegroom. From the image rise to the truth of the first beginning, in unity of Essence and trinity of Persons, that thou mayest attain the repose of that sacred night where both the shadow and the image are forgotten in an all-absorbing love.¹ But first of all thou must know that the mirror of the external world will avail thee little, unless the interior mirror of thy soul be purified and bright, unless thy desire be aided by prayer and contemplation in order to kindle love. Know that here, reading without unction, speculation without devotion, labour without piety, knowledge without charity, intelligence without humility, study without grace, are nothing; and when at length, rising gradually by prayer, holiness of life, and the contemplation of truth, thou shalt have reached the mountain where the God of gods reveals Himself, taught by the powerlessness of thy sight here on earth to endure splendours of which nature was too feeble to give thee an indication, let thy blind intelligence remain asleep, pass beyond it in Christ, who is the gate and the way, question no longer the master but the Bridegroom, not man but God, not the light but the all-consuming fire; pass from this world with Christ to the Father, who will be shown to thee, and then say with Philip: 'It is enough for us.'²

O Seraphic Doctor, lead us by this sublime ascent, of which every line of thy works discloses the secrets, the toils, the beauties, and the dangers. In the pursuit of that Divine Wisdom, which even in its feeblest reflections no one can behold without ecstasy, guard us against mistaking for an end the satisfaction felt from the scanty rays sent down to us to draw us from the confusion of nothingness even to Itself. If these rays which proceed from the eternal Beauty be withdrawn from their focus and perverted from their object, there will be nothing but delusion, deception, vain knowledge, or false pleasures. Indeed, the more lofty the knowledge and the nearer it approaches to God as the object of

¹ Bonav. Itinerar. mentis in Deum, i. ² Ibid. vii.

speculative theory, the more in a certain sense is error to be feared. If a man in his progress towards true wisdom, which is possessed and relished for its own sake, is drawn aside by the charms of knowledge, and rests therein, thou, O Bonaventure, hesitatest not to compare such knowledge to a vile deceiver, who would withdraw the affections of the king's son from his noble betrothed to fix them upon herself. Such an insult to an august queen would be equally grievous whether offered by a servant or by a lady of honour. Hence thou didst declare that 'the passage from science to wisdom is dangerous, unless holiness intervene.'¹ Help us to cross the perilous pass; let science ever be to us a means of attaining sanctity and acquiring greater love.

Thou hast still, O Bonaventure, the same thoughts in the light of God. Witness the predilection thou hast more than once shown in our time for those centres where, in spite of the fever of activity which must needs keep in motion every force of nature, divine contemplation is still appreciated as the better part, as the only end and aim of all knowledge. Deign to continue thy protection of thy devout and grateful clients. Defend, as heretofore, the life and prerogatives of all religious Orders which are now so persecuted. To thy own Franciscan family be still a cause of increase both in numbers and in sanctity; bless the labours undertaken by it, to the joy of all the world, to bring to light as they deserve thy history and thy works. Bring back the East a third time to unity and life, and that for ever. May the whole Church be warmed by thy rays; may the divine fire thou didst so effectually nurture enkindle the earth anew!

¹ Illuminationes Eccl., ii. ² Ibid. xix.

July 15

SAINT HENRY

EMPEROR

Henry of Germany, the second king, but the first emperor of that name, was the last crowned representative of that branch of the house of Saxony descended from Henry the Fowler, to which God, in the tenth century, entrusted the mission of restoring the work of Charlemagne and Leo III. This noble stock was rendered more glorious in the flowers of sanctity adorning its branches than in the deep and powerful roots it struck in the German soil by great and long-enduring institutions.

The Holy Spirit, who divideth His gifts according as He will, was then calling to the loftiest destinies that land which, more than any other, had witnessed the energy of His divine action in the transformation of nations. Won to Christ by St. Boniface and the continuators of his work, the vast country which extends beyond the Rhine and the Danube had become the bulwark of the West, and for many years had been the scene of devastation and ruin. Far from attempting to subjugate to her own rule the formidable tribes that inhabited it, pagan Rome, at the very zenith of her power, had had no higher ambition than to raise a wall of separation between them and the Empire: Christian Rome, more truly mistress of the world, set up in their very midst the seat of the Holy Roman Empire re-established by her Pontiffs. The new Empire was to defend the rights of the common Mother, to protect Christendom from new inroads of barbarians, to win over to the Gospel or else to crush the successive hordes that would come down on her frontiers—Hungarians,

Slavs, Mongols, Tartars, and Ottomans. Happy had it been for Germany if she had always understood her true glory, if the fidelity of her princes to the Vicar of the Man-God had been equal to her people's faith.

God, on His part, had not closed His hand. To-day's feast shows us the crowning-point of the period of fruitful labour, when the Holy Ghost, having created Germany anew in the waters of the sacred font, would lead her up to the full development of a people's perfect age. The historian, who would know what Providence requires of nations, must study them at such a period of truly creative formation. Indeed, when God creates, whether in the order of nature or of the supernatural vocation of men and societies, He first deposits in His work the principle of that grade of life for which it is destined: it is a precious germ, the development of which, unless thwarted, must lead that being to attain its end; and the knowledge of which, could we observe it before any alteration has taken place, would clearly indicate the divine intention with regard to that being. Now, many times already, since the coming of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier, we have shown that the principle of life for Christian nations is the holiness of their beginnings: a holiness as manifold as is the Wisdom of God, whose instrument these nations are to be, and as peculiar to each as are their several destinies. This holiness, beginning as it does for the most part from the throne, possesses a social character. The crimes also of princes will but too often bear this same mark, from the very fact of the princes being the representatives of their people before God. Then, too, we have seen¹ how, in the name of Mary, who through her divine Maternity is the channel of life to the whole world, a mission has been intrusted to women: the mission of bringing forth to God the families of nations (familiæ gentium²), which are to be the objects of His tenderest love. Whereas the princes, the apparent founders of empires, stand with their mighty deeds in

¹ Time after Pentecost, Vol. III., St. Clotilde. ² Ps. xxi. 28.

the foreground of history, it is she that, by her secret tears and prayers, gives fruitfulness, a loftier aim, and stability to their undertakings.

The Holy Ghost leads many souls to imitate the Mother of God; like Clotilde, Radegond, and Bathildis, who gave the Franks to the Church in troublous times—three chosen souls—Matilda, Adelaide, and Cunigund—and added the aureole of sanctity to the imperial diadem of Germany. Over the chaos of the tenth century, whence Germany was to spring, they shone out like three bright stars, shedding their peaceful light over the Church and the world in that dark night, and thus doing more to suppress anarchy than could even the sword of an Otho. The eleventh century opened: Hildebrand had not yet arisen, and the angels of the sanctuary were weeping over many a desecrated altar, when the royal succession was brought to a beautiful close by a virginal union, as though, weary of producing heroes for the world, it would now bear fruit for heaven alone. Was such a step against the interests of Germany? No; for it drew down the mercy of God upon the country, which, in the midst of universal corruption, could offer Him the perfume of such a holocaust.

Let earth and heaven this day unite in celebrating the man who carried out to the full the designs of Eternal Wisdom at this period of history. In his single person he discovered all the heroism and sanctity of the illustrious race, whose chief glory it is to have been for a century a worthy preparation for so great a man. Great before men, who knew not whether to admire more his bravery or the energetic activity which made him seem to be everywhere at once throughout his vast empire, he was ever successful, putting down internal revolts, conquering the Slavs on his northern frontier, chastising the insolence of the Greeks in southern Italy, assisting Hungary to rise from barbarism to Christianity, concluding with Robert the Pious a lasting peace between the Empire and the eldest daughter of the Church.

But the virgin spouse of the virgin Cunigund was greater still before God, who never had a more faithful lieutenant upon earth. God in His Christ was in Henry's eyes the only King; the interest of Christ and the Church, the one principle of his administration; the most perfect service of the Man-God, his highest ambition. He understood how the truest nobility was hidden in the cloister, where chosen souls, fleeing from the universal degradation, were averting the ruin and obtaining the salvation of the world. It was this thought that led him, on the morrow of his imperial coronation, to confide to the famous Abbey of Cluny the golden globe representing the world, which he, as soldier of the Vicar of Christ, was commissioned to defend. It was with the desire of imitating those noble souls that he threw himself at the feet of the Abbot of St. Vannes at Verdun, begging admission into his community, and then, constrained by obedience, returned with a heavy heart to resume the burden of government.

The following is the notice, necessarily incomplete, which the Church gives us concerning St. Henry:

Henricus, cognomento Pius, e duce Bavariæ rex Germaniæ, ac postmodum Romanorum imperator, temporalis regni non contentus angustiis, pro adipiscenda immortalitatis corona sedulam æterno Regi exhibuit servitutem. Adepto enim imperio, religioni amplificandæ studiose incumbens, ecclesias ab infidelibus destructas magnificentius reparavit, plurimisque largitionibus et prædiis locupletavit. Monasteria, aliaque loca pia vel ipse ædificavit, vel assignatis redditibus auxit. Episcopatum Bambergensem, hæreditariis opibus fundatum, beato Petro, Romanoque Pontifici vectigalem fecit. Benedictum Octavum, a quo imperii coronam acceperat, profugum excepit, suæque sedi restituit.

Henry, surnamed the Pious, Duke of Bavaria, became successively King of Germany and Emperor of the Romans; but not satisfied with a mere temporal principality, he strove to gain an immortal crown, by paying zealous service to the eternal King. As emperor, he devoted himself earnestly to spreading religion, and rebuilt with great magnificence the churches which had been destroyed by the infidels, endowing them generously both with money and lands. He built monasteries and other pious establishments, and increased the income of others; the bishopric of Bamberg, which he had founded out of his family possessions, he made tributary to St. Peter and the Roman Pontiff. When Benedict VIII, who had crowned him emperor, was obliged to seek safety in flight, Henry received him and restored him to his see.

In Cassinensi monasterio gravi detentus infirmitate, a Sancto Benedicto, insigni miraculo, sanatus est. Romanam Ecclesiam amplissimo diplomate muneratus, eidem tuendæ bellum adversus Græcos suscepit, et Apuliam, diu ab illis possessam, recuperavit. Nihil sine precibus aggredi solitus, angelum Domini sanctosque martyres tutelares pro se pugnantes ante aciem interdum vidit. Divina autem protectus ope, barbaras nationes precibus magis quam armis expugnavit. Pannoniam adhuc infidelem, tradita Stephano regi sorore sua in uxorem, eoque baptizato, ad Christi fidem perduxit. Virginitatem, raro exemplo, matrimonio junxit, sanctamque Cunegundam, conjugem suam, propinquis ejus, morti proximus, illibatam restituit.

Once when he was suffering from a severe illness in the monastery of Monte Cassino, St. Benedict cured him by a wonderful miracle. He endowed the Roman Church with a most copious grant, undertook in her defence a war against the Greeks, and gained possession of Apulia, which they had held for some time. It was his custom to undertake nothing without prayer, and at times he saw the angel of the Lord, or the holy martyrs, his patrons, fighting for him at the head of his army. Aided thus by the divine protection, he overcame barbarous nations more by prayer than by arms. Hungary was still pagan; but Henry having given his sister in marriage to its King Stephen, the latter was baptized, and thus the whole nation was brought to the faith of Christ. He set the rare example of preserving virginity in the married state, and at his death restored his wife, St. Cunigund, a virgin to her family.

Denique rebus omnibus, quæ ad imperii honorem et utilitatem pertinebant, summa prudentia dispositis, et illustribus per Galliam, Italiam et Germaniam, religiosæ munificentiæ vestigiis passim relictis, postquam heroicæ virtutis suavissimum odorem longe lateque diffuderat, sanctitate quam sceptro clarior, ad regni cælestis præmia, consummatis vitæ laboribus, a Domino vocatus est, anno salutis millesimo vigesimo quarto. Cujus corpus in ecclesia beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli Bambergæ conditum fuit; statimque ad ejus tumulum multa miracula, Deo ipsum glorificante, patrata sunt: quibus postea rite probatis, Eugenius Tertius sanctorum numero illum adscripsit.

He arranged everything relating to the glory or advantage of his empire with the greatest prudence, and left scattered throughout Gaul, Italy, and Germany, traces of his munificence towards religion. The sweet odour of his heroic virtue spread far and wide, till he was more celebrated for his holiness than for his imperial dignity. At length his life's work was accomplished, and he was called by our Lord to the rewards of the heavenly kingdom, in the year of salvation 1024. His body was buried in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul at Bamberg. God wished to glorify His servant, and many miracles were worked at his tomb. These being afterwards proved and certified, Eugenius III inscribed his name upon the catalogue of the saints.

By me kings reign, by me princes rule!¹ Thou, O Henry, didst well understand this language of heaven. In an age of wickedness, thou knewest where to find counsel and strength. Like Solomon thou didst desire Wisdom alone, and like him thou didst experience that with her are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice;² but more blessed than David's son, thou didst not suffer thyself to be drawn away from Wisdom herself by those lower gifts, which were rather a test of thy love of God than an expression of His love for thee. The test, O Henry, was decisive; thou didst walk to the very end in the right path, following up loyally every consequence of our Lord's teaching; not content to mount with many even of the best, by the gentler slopes, thou didst run with the perfect, following closely the footsteps of adorable Wisdom, in the midst of the paths of judgment.³

Who can gainsay what God approves, what Christ counsels, what the Church has canonized in thee and thy noble spouse? Surely kings are not placed in so pitiable a condition that the call of the Man-God cannot reach them on their thrones? Christian equality requires that princes should not be less free than their subjects to have higher ambitions than those of earth. Thou didst prove to mankind that even for the world the knowledge of the holy is true prudence.⁴ By claiming the right to aspire to the highest mansions in our Heavenly Father's house (the baptismal birthright of every child of God), thou didst shine like a beacon-light under the darkest sky that ever overspread the Church; and thou didst rescue souls whom the salt of the earth, having lost its savour and being trodden under foot, could no longer preserve from corruption. It was not for thee in person to reform the sanctuary; but as chief servant of Mother Church, thou didst not fear to respect both her ancient laws and recent decrees, which are ever worthy of the Spouse, and holy as the Spirit who in every age dictates them. Thy reign was a period of sunshine before the satanic fury which was all too soon to break as a storm over the Church. While seeking first the Kingdom of God and His justice, thou didst not abandon thy fatherland, nor the nation that had placed thee at its head. To thee above all others Germany owes the establishment in her midst of that Empire which was her glory until in our times it fell, never to rise again. Long after thy departure from this earth thy holy works were of sufficient weight in the scales of divine justice to overbalance the crimes of a Henry IV or a Frederick II, which would have compromised for ever the future of Germany. From thy throne in heaven, cast down a look of pity on the extensive domain of the Holy Empire, which owed so much to thee, and which heresy has for ever dismembered. Put to confusion those principles, unknown to Germany in happier days, which would reconstruct, for the benefit of earthly prosperity, the grandeurs of the past without the cement of the ancient faith. Return, O emperor of glorious days! return and fight for the Church; gather together the remains of Christendom upon the traditional ground of the interests common to all Catholic nations: then will the alliance, which thy able policy concluded, give to the world a security, a peace, a prosperity, which it can never enjoy so long as it remains on such a slippery footing, and exposed to the violence of every hostile agency.

¹ Prov. viii. 15, 16. ² Ibid. 18. ³ Ibid. 20. ⁴ Prov. ix. 10.

July 16

OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

Towering over the waves on the shore of the Holy Land, Mount Carmel, together with the short range of the same name, forms a connecting link to two other chains, abounding with glorious memories, namely: the mountains of Galilee on the north, and those of Judea on the south.

"In the day of My love, I brought thee out of Egypt into the land of Carmel," said the Lord to the daughter of Sion, taking the name of Carmel to represent all the blessings of the Promised Land;¹ and when the crimes of the chosen people were about to bring Judea to ruin, the prophet cried out: 'I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the wrath of His indignation.'² But from the midst of the Gentile world a new Sion arose, more loved than the first; eight centuries beforehand Isaias recognized her by the glory of Libanus, and the beauty of Carmel and Saron which were given her. In the sacred Canticle, also, the attendants of the Bride sing to the Spouse concerning His well-beloved, that her head is like Carmel, and her hair like the precious threads of royal purple carefully woven and dyed.³

There was, in fact, around Cape Carmel, an abundant fishery of the little shell-fish which furnished the regal colour. Not far from there, smoothing away the slopes of the noble mountain, flowed the torrent of Cison, that dragged the carcasses⁴ of the Chanaanites, when Debbora won her famous victory. Here lies the plain where the Madianites were overthrown, and Sisara felt the power of her that was called the Mother in Israel.⁵ Here Gedeon, too, marched against Madian in the name of the Woman terrible as an army set in array,⁶ whose sign he had received in the dew-covered fleece. Indeed, this glorious plain of Esdrelon, which stretches away from the foot of Carmel, seems to be surrounded with prophetic indications of her who was destined from the beginning to crush the serpent's head: not far from Esdrelon, a few defiles lead to Bethulia, the city of Judith, type of Mary, who was the true joy of Israel and the honour of her people;⁷ while nestling among the northern hills lies Nazareth, the white city, the flower of Galilee.⁸

When Eternal Wisdom was playing in the world, forming the hills and establishing the mountains, she destined Carmel to be the special inheritance of Eve's victorious daughter. And when the last thousand years of expectation were opening, and the desire of all nations was developing into the spirit of prophecy, the father of prophets ascended the privileged mount, thence to scan the horizon. The triumphs of David and the glories of Solomon were at an end: the sceptre of Juda, broken by the schism of the ten tribes, threatened to fall from his hand; the worship of Baal prevailed in Israel. A long-continued drought, figure of the aridity of men's souls, had parched up every spring, and men and beasts were dying beside the empty cisterns, when Elias the Thesbite gathered the people, representing the whole human race, on Mount Carmel, and slew the lying prophets of Baal. Then, as the Scripture relates, prostrating with his face to the earth, he said to his servant: Go up, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked and said: There is nothing. And again he said to him: Return seven times. And at the seventh time: Behold, a little cloud arose out of the sea like a man's foot.⁹

Blessed cloud! unlike the bitter waves from which it sprang, it was all sweetness. Docile to the least breath of heaven, it rose light and humble, above the immense heavy ocean; and screening the sun, it tempered the heat that was scorching the earth and restored to the stricken world life and grace and fruitfulness. The promised Messias, the Son of Man, set His impress upon it, showing to the wicked serpent the form of the heel that was to crush Him. The prophet, personifying the human race, felt his youth renewed; and while the welcome rain was already refreshing the valleys, he ran before the chariot of the king of Israel. Thus did he traverse the great plain of Esdrelon, even to the mysteriously-named town of Jezrahel, where, according to Osee, the children of Juda and Israel were again to have but one head in the great day of Jezrahel (i.e., of the seed of God), when the Lord would seal His eternal nuptials with a new people! Later on, from Sunam, near Jezrahel, the mother whose son was dead crossed the same plain of Esdrelon, in the opposite direction, and ascended Mount Carmel, to obtain from Eliseus the resurrection of her child, who was a type of us all. Elias had already departed in the chariot of fire, to await the end of the world, when he is to give testimony, together with Henoch, to the son of her that was signified by the cloud; and the disciple, clothed with the mantle and the spirit of his father, had taken possession, in the name of the sons of the prophets, of the august mountain honoured by the manifestation of the Queen of prophets. Henceforward Carmel was sacred in the eyes of all who looked beyond this world. Gentiles as well as Jews, philosophers and princes, came here on pilgrimage to adore the true God; while the chosen souls of the Church of the expectation, many of whom were already wandering in deserts and in mountains, loved to take up their abode in its thousand grottos; for the ancient traditions seemed to linger more lovingly in its silent forests, and the perfume of its flowers foretokened the Virgin Mother. The cultus of the Queen of heaven was already established; and to the family of her devout

¹ Cf. Jerem. ii. 2, 7. ² Ibid. iv. 26. ³ Cant. vii. 5. ⁴ Judg. v. 21. ⁵ Ibid. 7. ⁶ Cant. vi. 3, 9. ⁷ Judith xv. 10. ⁸ Hieron. Epist. xlvi. Paulæ et Eustochiæ ad Marcellam. ⁹ 3 Reg. xviii.

⁴ Osee i. 11, and ii, 14-24. ⁵ Matth. xxiii. 34-37. ⁶ Apoc. xi. 3, 7. ⁷ Heb. xi. 38.

clients, the ascetics of Carmel, might be applied the words spoken later by God to the pious descendants of Rechab: There shall not be wanting a man of this race, standing before Me for ever.¹

At length figures gave place to the reality; the heavens dropped down their dew, and the Just One came forth from the cloud. When His work was done and He returned to His Father, leaving His blessed Mother in the world, and sending His Holy Spirit to the Church, not the least triumph of that Spirit of love was the making known of Mary to the new-born Christians of Pentecost. "What a happiness," we then remarked, "for those neophytes who were privileged above the rest in being brought to the Queen of heaven, the Virgin Mother of Him who was the hope of Israel! They saw this second Eve, they conversed with her, they felt for her that filial affection wherewith she inspired all the disciples of Jesus. The liturgy will speak to us at another season of these favoured ones."² The promise is fulfilled to-day. In the lessons of the feast the Church tells us how the disciples of Elias and Eliseus became Christians at the first preaching of the apostles, and being permitted to hear the sweet words of the Blessed Virgin and enjoy an unspeakable intimacy with her, they felt their veneration for her immensely increased. Returning to the loved mountain, where their less fortunate fathers had lived but in hope, they built, on the very spot where Elias had seen the little cloud rise up out of the sea, an oratory to the purest of virgins; hence they obtained the name of Brothers of Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel.³

In the twelfth century, in consequence of the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, many pilgrims from Europe came to swell the ranks of the solitaries on the holy mountain; it therefore became expedient to give to their hitherto eremitical life a form more in accordance with the habits of Western nations.

¹ Jerem. xxxv. 19. ² Paschal Time, Vol. III., p. 31. ³ Lessons of 2nd Nocturn.

The legate Aimeric Malafaida, patriarch of Antioch, gathered them into a community under the authority of St. Berthold, who was thus the first to receive the title of Prior-General. At the commencement of the next century, Blessed Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem and also apostolic legate, completed the work of Aimeric by giving a fixed Rule to the Order, which was now, through the influence of princes and knights returned from the Holy Land, beginning to spread into Cyprus, Sicily, and the countries beyond the sea. Soon, indeed, the Christians of the East being abandoned by God to the just punishment of their sins, the vindictiveness of the conquering Saracens reached such a height in this age of trial for Palestine, that a full assembly, held on Mount Carmel under Alan the Breton, resolved upon a complete migration, leaving only a few friars eager for martyrdom to guard the cradle of the Order. The very year in which this took place (1245) Simon Stock was elected General in the first Chapter of the West, held at Aylesford in England.

Simon owed his election to the successful struggle he had maintained for the recognition of the Order which certain prelates, alleging the recent decrees of the Council of Lateran, rejected as having been newly introduced into Europe. Our Lady had then taken the cause of the friars into her own hands, and had obtained from Honorius III the decree of confirmation, which originated to-day's feast. This was neither the first nor the last favour bestowed by the sweet Virgin upon the family that had lived so long under the shadow, as it were, of her mysterious cloud, and shrouded like her in humility, with no other bond, no other pretension than the imitation of her hidden works and the contemplation of her glory. She herself had wished them to go forth from the midst of a faithless people; just as, before the close of that same thirteenth century, she would command her angels to carry into a Catholic land her blessed house of Nazareth. Whether or not the men of those days, or the short-sighted historians of our own time, ever thought of it, the one translation called for the other, just as each completes and explains the other, and each was to be, for our own Europe, the signal for wonderful favours from heaven.

In the night between the 15th and 16th of July of the year 1251, the gracious Queen of Carmel confirmed to her sons by a mysterious sign the right of citizenship she had obtained for them in their newly adopted countries; as mistress and mother of the entire religious state she conferred upon them with her queenly hands the scapular, hitherto the distinctive garb of the greatest and most ancient religious family of the West. On giving St. Simon Stock this badge, ennobled by contact with her sacred fingers, the Mother of God said to him: "Whosoever shall die in this habit shall not suffer eternal flames." But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear her scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and disastrous widowhood of the Church which followed on the death of Clement V, the Queen of Saints appeared to James d'Euse, whom the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel—viz., a speedy deliverance from purgatory. "I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal." These are the words of our Lady herself, quoted by John XXII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege, and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious benefactress for the exercise of her mercy.

We are aware of the attempts made to nullify the authenticity of these heavenly concessions; but our extremely limited time will not allow us to follow up these worthless struggles in all their endless details. The attack of the chief assailant, the too famous Launoy, was condemned by the Apostolic See; and after, as well as before, these contradictions, the Roman Pontiffs confirmed, as much as need be, by their supreme authority, the substance and even the letter of the precious promises. The reader may find in special works the enumeration of the many indulgences with which the Popes have, time after time, enriched the Carmelite family, as if earth would vie with heaven in favouring it. The munificence of Mary, the pious gratitude of her sons for the hospitality given them by the West, and lastly, the authority of St. Peter's successors, soon made these spiritual riches accessible to all Christians, by the institution of the Confraternity of the holy Scapular, the members whereof participate in the merits and privileges of the whole Carmelite Order. Who shall tell the graces, often miraculous, obtained through this humble garb? Who could count the faithful now enrolled in the holy militia? When Benedict XIII, in the eighteenth century, extended the feast of July 16 to the whole Church, he did but give an official sanction to the universality already gained by the cultus of the Queen of Carmel.

The holy liturgy gives the following account of the history and object of the feast:

Cum sacra Pentecostes die apostoli, cœlitus afflati, variis linguis loquerentur, et invocato augustissimo Jesu nomine, mira multa patrarent: viri plurimi (ut fertur), qui vestigiis sanctorum prophetarum Eliæ ac Elisei institerant, et Johannis Baptistæ præconio ad Christi adventum comparati fuerant, rerum veritate perspecta atque probata, Evangelicam fidem confestim amplexati sunt ac peculiari quodam affectu beatissimam Virginem (cujus colloquiis ac familiaritate feliciter frui potuere) adeo venerari cœperunt, ut primi omnium in eo montis Carmeli loco, ubi Elias olim ascendentem nebulam, Virginis typo insignem, conspexerat, eidem purissimæ Virgini sacellum construxerint.

When on the holy day of Pentecost the apostles, through heavenly inspiration, spoke divers tongues and worked many miracles by the invocation of the most holy name of Jesus, it is said that many men who were walking in the footsteps of the holy prophets Elias and Eliseus, and had been prepared for the coming of Christ by the preaching of John the Baptist, saw and acknowledged the truth, and at once embraced the faith of the Gospel. These new Christians were so happy as to be able to enjoy familiar intercourse with the Blessed Virgin, and venerated her with so special an affection, that they, before all others, built a chapel to the purest of Virgins on that very spot of Mount Carmel where Elias of old had seen the cloud, a remarkable type of the Virgin, ascending.

Ad novum ergo sacellum sæpe quotidie convenientes, ritibus piis, precationibus ac laudibus beatissimam Virginem, velut singularem Ordinis tutelam colebant. Quamobrem fratres beatæ Mariæ de Monte Carmelo passim ab omnibus appellari cœperunt, eumque titulum Summi Pontifices non modo confirmarunt, sed et indulgentias peculiares iis, qui eo titulo vel Ordinem, vel fratres singulos nuncuparent, concessere. Nec vero nomenclaturam tantum magnificentissima Virgo tribuit et tutelam; verum et insigne sacri scapularis, quod beato Simoni Anglico præbuit, ut cœlesti hac veste Ordo ille sacer dignosceretur, et a malis ingruentibus protegeretur. Ac demum cum olim in Europa Ordo esset ignotus, et ob id apud Honorium Tertium non pauci pro illius exstinctione instarent, adstitit Honorio noctu piissima Virgo Maria, planeque jussit, ut institutum et homines benigne complecteretur.

Many times each day they came together to the new oratory, and with pious ceremonies, prayers, and praises honoured the most Blessed Virgin as the special protectress of their Order. For this reason, people from all parts began to call them the Brethren of the Blessed Mary of Mount Carmel; and the Sovereign Pontiffs not only confirmed this title, but also granted special indulgences to whoever called either the whole Order or individual Brothers by that name. But the most noble Virgin not only gave them her name and protection, she also bestowed upon blessed Simon the Englishman the holy scapular as a token, wishing the holy Order to be distinguished by that heavenly garment and to be protected by it from the evils that were assailing it. Moreover, as formerly the Order was unknown in Europe, and on this account many were importuning Honorius III for its abolition, the loving Virgin Mary appeared by night to Honorius and clearly bade him receive both the Order and its members with kindness.

Non in hoc tantum sæculo Ordinem sibi tam acceptum multis prærogativis beatissima Virgo insignivit; verum et in alio (cum ubique et potentia et misericordia plurimum valeat) filios in scapularis societatem relatos, qui abstinentiam modicam, precesque paucas eis præscriptas frequentarunt, ac pro sui status ratione castitatem coluerunt, materno plane affectu, dum igne purgatorii expiantur, solari, ac in cœlestem patriam obtentu suo quantocius pie creditur efferre. Tot ergo tantisque beneficiis Ordo cumulatus, solemnem beatissimæ Virginis Commemorationem ritu perpetuo ad ejusdem Virginis gloriam quotannis celebrandam instituit.

The Blessed Virgin has enriched the Order so dear to her with many privileges, not only in this world, but also in the next (for everywhere she is most powerful and merciful). For it is piously believed that those of her children who, having been enrolled in the Confraternity of the Scapular, have fulfilled the small abstinence and said the few prayers prescribed, and have observed chastity as far as their state of life demands, will be consoled by our Lady while they are being purified in the fire of purgatory, and will through her intercession be taken thence as soon as possible to the heavenly country. The Order, thus laden with so many graces, has ordained that this solemn commemoration of the Blessed Virgin should be yearly observed for ever, to her greater glory.

Queen of Carmel, hear the voice of the Church as she sings to thee on this day. When the world was languishing in ceaseless expectation, thou wert already its hope. Unable as yet to understand thy greatness, it nevertheless, during the reign of types, loved to clothe thee with the noblest symbols. In admiration and in gratitude for benefits foreseen, it surrounded thee with all the notions of beauty, strength, and grace suggested by the loveliest landscapes, the flowery plains, the wooded heights, the fertile valleys, especially of Carmel, whose very name signifies "the plantation of the Lord." On its summit our fathers, knowing that Wisdom had set her throne in the cloud, hastened by their burning desires the coming of the saving sign: at length there was given to their prayers what the Scripture calls perfect knowledge, and the knowledge of the great paths of the clouds.¹ And when He who maketh His chariot and His dwelling in the obscurity of a cloud had herein shown Himself, in a nearer approach, to the practised eye of the father of prophets, then did a chosen band of holy persons gather in the solitudes of the blessed mountain, as heretofore Israel in the desert, to watch the least movements of the mysterious cloud, to receive from it their guidance in the paths of life, and their light in the long night of expectation.

¹ Job xxxvii. 16.

O Mary, who from that hour didst preside over the watches of God's army, without ever failing for a single day: now that the Lord has truly come down through thee, it is no longer the land of Judea alone, but the whole earth that thou coverest as a cloud, shedding down blessings and abundance. Thine ancient clients, the sons of the prophets, experienced this truth when, the land of promise becoming unfaithful, they were forced to transplant into other climes their customs and traditions; they found that even into our far West the cloud of Carmel had poured its fertilizing dew, and that nowhere would its protection be wanting to them. This feast, O Mother of our God, is the authentic attestation of their gratitude, increased by the fresh benefits wherewith thy bounty accompanied the new exodus of the remnant of Israel. And we, the sons of ancient Europe, we too have a right to echo the expression of their loving joy; for since their tents have been pitched around the hills where the new Sion is built upon Peter, the cloud has shed all around showers of blessing more precious than ever, driving back into the abyss the flames of hell and extinguishing the fire of purgatory.

Whilst, then, we join with them in thanksgiving to thee, deign thyself, O Mother of divine grace, to pay our debt of gratitude to them. Protect them ever. Guard them in these unhappy times, when the hypocrisy of modern persecutors has more fatal results than the rage of the Saracens. Preserve the life in the deep roots of the old stock, and rejoice it by the accession of new branches, bearing, like the old ones, flowers and fruits that shall be pleasing to thee, O Mary. Keep up in the hearts of the sons that spirit of retirement and contemplation which animated their fathers under the shadow of the cloud; may their sisters, too, wheresoever the Holy Spirit has established them, be ever faithful to the traditions of the glorious past, so that their holy lives may avert the tempest and draw down blessings from the mysterious cloud. May the perfume of penance that breathes from the holy mountain purify the now corrupted atmosphere around; and may Carmel ever present to the Spouse the type of the beauties He loves to behold in His Bride!

JULY 17

SAINT ALEXIUS

CONFESSOR

Although we are not commanded to follow the saints to the extremities where their heroic virtue leads them, nevertheless, from their inaccessible heights, they still guide us along the easier paths of the plain. As the eagle upon the orb of day, they fixed their unflinching gaze upon the Sun of Justice; and, irresistibly attracted by His divine splendour, they poised their flight far above the cloudy region where we are glad to screen our feeble eyes. But however varied be the degrees of brightness for them and for us, the light itself is unchangeable, provided that, like them, we draw it from the authentic source. When the weakness of our sight would lead us to mistake false glimmerings for the truth, let us think of these friends of God; if we have not courage enough to imitate them, where the commandments leave us free to do so or not, let us at least conform our judgments and appreciations to theirs: their view is more trustworthy, because farther reaching; their sanctity is nothing but the rectitude wherewith they follow up unflinchingly, even to its central focus, the heavenly ray, whereof we can scarcely bear a tempered reflection. Above all, let us not be led so far astray by the will-o'-the-wisps of this world of darkness as to wish to direct, by their false light, the actions of the saints: can the owl judge better of the light than the eagle?

Descending from the pure firmament of the holy liturgy even to the humblest conditions of Christian life, the light which led Alexius to the highest point of detachment is thus subdued by the apostle to the capacity of all: 'If any man take a wife, he hath not sinned, nor the virgin whom he marrieth; nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh, which I would fain spare you. This, therefore, I say, brethren: the time is short; it remaineth, therefore, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.'³

Yet it passes not too quickly for our Lord to show that His words never pass away. Five centuries after the glorious death of Alexius, the eternal God, to whom distance and time are as nothing, gave him a hundredfold the posterity he had renounced for the love of Him. The monastery on the Aventine, which still bears his name together with that of the martyr Boniface, had become the common patrimony of East and West in the Eternal City; the two great monastic families of Basil and Benedict united under the roof of Alexius, and the seed taken from the tomb by the monk-bishop St. Adalbert brought forth the fruit of faith among the Northern nations. The Church gives us the following very short notice of our hero:

Alexius Romanorum nobilissimus, propter eximium Jesu Christi amorem prima nocte nuptiarum peculiari Dei monitu relinquens intactam sponsam, illustrium orbis terræ ecclesiarum peregrinationem suscepit. Quibus in itineribus cum ignotus septemdecim annos fuisset, aliquando apud Edessam, Syriæ urbem, per imaginem sanctissimæ Mariæ Virginis, ejus nomine divulgato, inde navi discessit. Ad portum Romanum appulsus, a patre suo tamquam alienus pauper hospitio accipitur: apud quem omnibus incognitus, cum decem

Alexius was the son of one of Rome's noblest families. Through his exceeding love for Jesus Christ, he, by a special inspiration from God, left his wife still a virgin on the first night of the marriage, and undertook a pilgrimage to the most illustrious churches all over the world. For seventeen years he remained unknown, while performing these pilgrimages, and then his name was revealed at Edessa, a town of Syria, by an image of the most holy Virgin Mary. He therefore left Syria by sea and sailed to the port of Rome, where he

³ Cf. 1 Cor. vii. 28–31.

towards heaven, for the angels will not despise a race that can produce such valiant combatants. The perfume of your holocaust accompanied your souls to the throne of God, and an effusion of grace was poured down in return. From the luminous track left by your martyrdom have sprung forth new splendours in our own days. With joyful gratitude we hail the providential reappearance, immediately after the Vatican Council, of the tomb which first received your sacred relics on the morrow of your triumph. Soldiers of Christ! preserve in us the gifts ye have bestowed on us; convince the many Christians who have forgotten it, that faith is the most precious possession of the just.

JULY 19

SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL

CONFESSOR

Vincent was a man of faith that worketh by charity.¹ At the time he came into the world— viz., at the close of the same century in which Calvin was born—the Church was mourning over many nations separated from the faith; the Turks were harassing all the coasts of the Mediterranean. France, worn out by forty years of religious strife, was shaking off the yoke of heresy from within, while by a foolish stroke of policy she gave it external liberty. The Eastern and Northern frontiers were suffering the most terrible devastations, and the West and centre were the scene of civil strife and anarchy. In this state of confusion, the condition of souls was still more lamentable. In the towns alone was there any sort of quiet, any possibility of prayer. The country people, forgotten, sacrificed, subject to the utmost miseries, had none to support and direct them but a clergy too often abandoned by their bishops, unworthy of the ministry, and wellnigh as ignorant as their flocks. Vincent was raised up by the Holy Spirit to obviate all these evils. The world admires the works of the humble shepherd of Buglose, but it knows not the secret of their vitality. Philanthropy would imitate them; but its establishments of to-day are destroyed to-morrow, like castles built by children in the sand, while the institution it would fain supersede remains strong and unchanged, the only one capable of meeting the necessities of suffering humanity. The reason of this is not far to seek: faith alone can understand the mystery of suffering, having penetrated its

¹ Gal. v. 6.

secret in the Passion of our Lord; and charity that would be stable must be founded on faith. Vincent loved the poor because he loved the God whom his faith beheld in them. 'O God!' he used to say, 'it does us good to see the poor, if we look at them in the light of God, and think of the high esteem in which Jesus Christ holds them. Often enough they have scarcely the appearance or the intelligence of reasonable beings, so rude and so earthly are they. But look at them by the light of faith, and you will see that they represent the Son of God, who chose to be poor; He in His Passion had scarcely the appearance of a man; He seemed to the Gentiles to be a fool, and to the Jews a stumbling-block, moreover He calls Himself the evangelist of the poor: evangelizare pauperibus misit me.' This title of evangelist of the poor is the one that Vincent desired for himself, the starting-point and the explanation of all that he did in the Church. His one aim was to labour for the poor and the outcast; all the rest, he said, was but secondary. And he added, speaking to his sons of St. Lazare: 'We should never have laboured for the candidates for priesthood, nor in the ecclesiastical seminaries, had we not deemed it necessary, in order to keep the people in good condition, to preserve in them the fruits of the missions, and to procure them good priests.' That he might be able to consolidate his work in all its aspects, our Lord inspired Anne of Austria to make him a member of the Council of Conscience, and to place in his hands the office of extirpating the abuses among the higher clergy and of appointing pastors to the churches of France. We cannot here relate the history of a man in whom universal charity was, as it were, personified. But from the bagnio of Tunis, where he was a slave, to the ruined provinces for which he found millions of money, all the labours he underwent for the relief of every physical suffering were inspired by his zeal for the apostolate: by caring for the body, he strove to reach and succour the soul. At a time when men rejected the Gospel while

² St. Luke iv. 18.

striving to retain its benefits, certain wise men attributed Vincent's charity to philosophy. Nowadays they go further still, and in order logically to deny the author of the works they deny the works themselves. But if any there be who still hold the former opinion, let them listen to his own words, and then judge of his principles: 'What is done for charity's sake is done for God. It is not enough for us that we love God ourselves; our neighbour also must love him; neither can we love our neighbour as ourselves unless we procure for him the good we are bound to desire for ourselves—viz., divine love, which unites us to our Sovereign Good. We must love our neighbour as the image of God and the object of His love, and must try to make men love their Creator in return, and love one another also with mutual charity for the love of God, who so loved them as to deliver His own Son to death for them. But let us, I beg of you, look upon this Divine Saviour as a perfect pattern of the charity we must bear to our neighbour.'

The theophilanthropy of a century ago had no more right than had an atheist or a deist philosophy to rank Vincent, as it did, among the great men of its Calendar. Not nature, nor the pretended divinities of false science, but the God of Christians, the God who became Man to save us by taking our miseries upon Himself, was the sole inspirer of the greatest modern benefactor of the human race, whose favourite saying was: 'Nothing pleases me except in Jesus Christ.' He observed the right order of charity, striving for the reign of his Divine Master, first in his own soul, then in others; and, far from acting of his own accord by the dictates of reason alone, he would rather have remained hidden for ever in the face of the Lord, and have left but an unknown name behind him.

'Let us honour,' he wrote, 'the hidden state of the Son of God. There is our centre; there is what He requires of us for the present, for the future, for ever; unless His Divine Majesty makes known in His own unmistakable way that He demands something else of us. Let us especially honour this divine Master's moderation in action. He would not always do all that He could do, in order to teach us to be satisfied when it is not expedient to do all that we are able, but only as much as is seasonable to charity and conformable to the Will of God. How royally do those honour our Lord who follow His holy Providence, and do not try to be beforehand with it! Do you not, and rightly, wish your servant to do nothing without your orders? and if this is reasonable between man and man, how much more so between the Creator and the creature!' Vincent, then, was anxious, according to his own expression, to 'keep alongside of Providence,' and not to outstep it. Thus he waited seven years before accepting the offers of the General de Gondi's wife, and founding his establishment of the Missions. Thus, too, when his faithful coadjutrix, Mademoiselle Le Gras, felt called to devote herself to the spiritual service of the Daughters of Charity, then living without any bond or common life, as simple assistants to the ladies of quality whom the man of God assembled in his Confraternities, he first tried her for a very long time. 'As to this occupation,' he wrote, in answer to her repeated petitions, 'I beg of you, once for all, not to think of it until our Lord makes known His will. You wish to become the servant of these poor girls, and God wants you to be His servant. For God's sake, Mademoiselle, let your heart imitate the tranquillity of our Lord's heart, and then it will be fit to serve Him. The Kingdom of God is peace in the Holy Ghost; He will reign in you if you are in peace. Be so, then, if you please, and do honour to the God of peace and love.'

What a lesson given to the feverish zeal of an age like ours by a man whose life was so full! How often, in what we can call good works, do human pretensions sterilize grace by contradicting the Holy Ghost! Whereas Vincent de Paul, who considered himself 'a poor worm creeping on the earth, not knowing where he goes, but only seeking to be hidden in Thee, my God, who art

all his desire,'—the humble Vincent saw his work prosper far more than a thousand others, and almost without his being aware of it. Towards the end of his long life he said to his daughters: 'It is Divine Providence that set your congregation on its present footing. Who else was it, I ask you? I can find no other. We never had such an intention. I was thinking of it only yesterday, and I said to myself: Is it you who had the thought of founding a Congregation of Daughters of Charity? Oh! certainly not. Is it Mademoiselle Le Gras? Not at all. O my daughters, I never thought of it, your "sœur servante" never thought of it,
neither did M. Portail (Vincent's first and most faithful companion in the Mission). Then it is God who thought of it for you; Him, therefore, we must call the Founder of your Congregation, for truly we cannot recognize any other.'

Although with delicate docility, Vincent could no more forestall the action of God than an instrument the hand that uses it, nevertheless, once the divine impulse was given, he could not endure the least delay in following it, nor suffer any other sentiment in his soul but the most absolute confidence. He wrote again, with his charming simplicity, to the helpmate given him by God: 'You are always giving way a little to human feelings, thinking that everything is going to ruin as soon as you see me ill. O woman of little faith, why have you not more confidence and more submission to the guidance and example of Jesus Christ? This Saviour of the world entrusted the well-being of the whole Church to God His Father; and you, for a handful of young women, evidently raised up and gathered together by His providence, you fear that He will fail you! Come, come, Mademoiselle, you must humble yourself before God.'

No wonder that faith, the only possible guide of such a life, the imperishable foundation of all that he was for his neighbour and in himself, was, in the eyes of Vincent de Paul, the greatest of treasures. He who had pity for every suffering, even though well deserved; who, by an heroic fraud, took the place of a galley-slave in chains, was a pitiless foe to heresy, and could not rest till he had obtained either the banishment or the chastisement of its votaries. Clement XII, in the Bull of canonization, bears witness to this, in speaking of the pernicious error of Jansenism, which our saint was one of the first to denounce and prosecute. Never, perhaps, were these words of Holy Writ better verified: *The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them.*¹ Though this sect expressed, later on, a supreme disdain for Monsieur Vincent, it had not always been of that mind. 'I am,' he said to a friend, 'most particularly obliged to bless and thank God, for not having suffered the first and principal professors of that doctrine, men of my acquaintance and friendship, to be able to draw me to their opinions. I cannot tell you what pains they took, and what reasons they propounded to me; I objected to them, amongst other things, the authority of the Council of Trent, which is clearly opposed to them; and seeing that they still continued, I, instead of answering them, quietly recited my Credo; and that is how I have remained firm in the Catholic faith.'

But it is time to give the full account which Holy Church reads to-day in her liturgy. We will only remind our readers that in the year 1883, the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the St. Vincent de Paul Conferences at Paris, the Sovereign Pontiff Leo XIII proclaimed our saint the patron of the societies of charity in France.

Vincentius a Paulo, natione Gallus, Podii non procul ab Aquis Tarbellis in Aquitania natus, jam tum a puero eximiam in pauperes charitatem præ se tulit. A custodia paterni gregis ad litteras evocatus, humanas Aquis, divinas cum Tolosæ, tum Cæsaraugustæ didicit. Sacerdotio initiatus ac theologiæ laurea insignitus, in Turcas incidit, qui captivum in Africam adduxerunt. Sed in captivitate positus herum ipsum Christo rursus lucrifecit. Cum eo igitur ex barbaris oris, opitulante Deipara, sese proripiens, ad apostolica limina iter instituit. Unde in Galliam reversus, Clippiaci primum, mox Castellionis parœcias sanctissime rexit. Renuntiatus a rege primarius sacrorum minister in Galliæ triremibus, mirum quo zelo et ducum et remigum saluti operam posuerit. Monialibus Visitationis a sancto Francisco Salesio præpositus, tanta prudentia per annos circiter quadraginta eam curam sustinuit, ut maxime comprobaverit judicium sanctissimi præsulis, qui sacerdotem Vincentio digniorem nullum se nosse fatebatur.

Vincent de Paul, a Frenchman, was born at Pouy, near Dax, in Aquitaine, and from his boyhood was remarkable for his exceeding charity towards the poor. As a child he fed his father's flock, but afterwards pursued the study of the humanities at Dax, and of divinity first at Toulouse, then at Saragossa. Having been ordained priest, he took his degree as Bachelor of Theology; but falling into the hands of the Turks was led captive by them into Africa. While in captivity he won his master back to Christ, by the help of the Mother of God, and escaped together with him from that land of barbarians, and undertook a journey to the shrines of the apostles. On his return to France he governed in a most saintly manner the parishes first of Clichy and then of Châtillon. The king next appointed him chaplain of the French galleys, and his zeal in striving for the salvation of both officers and convicts was marvellous. St. Francis de Sales gave him as superior to his nuns of the Visitation, whom he ruled for forty years, with such prudence as amply to justify the opinion the holy bishop had expressed of him, that Vincent was the most worthy priest he knew.

Evangelizandis pauperibus, præsertim ruricolis, ad decrepitam usque ætatem indefessus incubuit, eique apostolico operi tum se, tum alumnos Congregationis, quam sub nomine Presbyterorum sæcularium Missionis instituit, perpetuo voto a sancta Sede confirmato, speciatim obstrinxit. Quantum autem augenda cleri disciplinæ allaboraverit, testantur erecta majorum clericorum seminaria, collationum de divinis inter sacerdotes frequentia, et sacræ ordinationi præmittenda exercitia, ad quæ, sicut et ad pios laicorum secessus, instituti sui domicilia libenter patere voluit. Insuper ad amplificandam fidem et pietatem, evangelicos misit operarios, non in solas Galliæ provincias, sed et in Italiam, Poloniam, Scotiam, Hiberniam, atque ad Barbaros et Indos. Ipse vero, vita functo Ludovico decimotertio, cui morienti hortator adstitit, a regina Anna Austriaca, matre Ludovici decimiquarti, in sanctius consilium accitus, studiosissime egit, ut non nisi digniores ecclesiis ac monasteriis præficerentur; civiles discordiæ, singularia certamina, serpentes errores, quos simul sensit et exhorruit, amputarentur; debitaque judiciis apostolicis obedientia præstaretur ab omnibus.

He devoted himself with unwearying zeal, even in extreme old age, to preaching to the poor, especially to country people; and to this apostolic work he bound both himself and the members of the Congregation which he founded, called the Secular Priests of the Mission, by a special vow which the Holy See confirmed. He laboured greatly in promoting regular discipline among the clergy, as is proved by the seminaries for clerics which he built, and by the establishment, through his care, of frequent conferences for priests, and of exercises preparatory to Holy Orders. It was his wish that the houses of his institution should always lend themselves to these good works, as also to the giving of pious retreats for laymen. Moreover, with the object of extending the reign of faith and love, he sent evangelical labourers not only into the French provinces, but also into Italy, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, and even to Barbary and to the Indies. On the demise of Louis XIII, whom he had assisted on his death-bed, he was made a member of the Council of Conscience, by Queen Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV. In this capacity he was most careful that only worthy men should be appointed to ecclesiastical and monastic benefices, and strove to put an end to civil discord and duels, and to the errors then creeping in, which had alarmed him as soon as he knew of their existence; moreover, he endeavoured to enforce upon all a due obedience to the judgments of the Apostolic See.

Nullum fuit calamitatis genus, cui paterne non occurrerit. Fideles sub Turcarum jugo gementes, infantes expositos, juvenes dyscolos, virgines periclitantes, moniales dispersas, mulieres lapsas, ad triremes damnatos, peregrinos infirmos, artifices invalidos, ipsosque mente captos, ac innumeros mendicos subsidiis et hospitiis etiamnum supersitibus excepit ac pie fovit. Lotharingiam, Campaniam, Picardiam, aliasque regiones peste, fame, belloque vastatas, prolixe refecit. Plurima ad perquirendos et sublevandos miseros sodalitia fundavit, inter quæ celebris matronarum cœtus, et late diffusa sub nomine Charitatis puellarum Societas. Puellas quoque tum de Cruce, tum de Providentia ac Sanctæ Genovefæ ad sequioris sexus educationem erigendas curavit. Hæc inter et alia gravissima negotia, Deo jugiter intentus, cunctis affabilis, ac sibi semper constans, simplex, rectus, humilis, ab honoribus, divitiis ac deliciis semper abhorruit; auditus dicere: rem nullam sibi placere præterquam in Christo Jesu, quem in omnibus studebat imitari. Corporis demum afflictatione laboribus senioque attritus, die vigesima septima Septembris, anno salutis supra millesimum sexcentesimo sexagesimo, ætatis suæ octogesimo quinto, Parisiis, in domo Sancti Lazari, quæ caput est Congregationis Missionis, placide obdormivit. Quem virtutibus meritis ac miraculis clarum Clemens duodecimus inter sanctos retulit, ipsius celebritati die decima nona mensis Julii quotannis assignata. Hunc autem caritatis eximium heroem, de unoquoque hominum genere optime meritum, Leo tertius decimus, instantibus pluribus Sacrorum antistitibus, omnium Societatum caritatis in toto catholico orbe existentium, et ab eo quomodocumque promanantium, peculiarem apud Deum Patronum declaravit et constituit.

His paternal love brought relief to every kind of misfortune. The faithful groaning under the Turkish yoke, destitute children, incorrigible young men, virgins exposed to danger, nuns driven from their monasteries, fallen women, convicts, sick strangers, invalided workmen, even madmen, and innumerable beggars. All these he aided and received with tender charity into his hospitable institutions which still exist. When Lorraine, Champagne, Picardy, and other districts were devastated by pestilence, famine, and war, he supplied their necessities with open hand. He founded other associations for seeking out and aiding the unfortunate; amongst others the celebrated Society of Ladies, and the now widespread institution of the Sisters of Charity. To him also is due the foundation of the Daughters of the Cross, and of Providence, and of St. Genevieve, who are devoted to the education of girls. Amid all these and other important undertakings his heart was always fixed on God; he was affable to everyone, and always true to himself, simple, upright, humble. He ever shunned riches and honours, and was heard to say that nothing gave him any pleasure, except in Christ Jesus, whom he strove to imitate in all things. Worn out at length, by mortification of the body, labours, and old age, on September 27, in the year of salvation 1660, the eighty-fifth of his age, he peacefully fell asleep, at Paris, at Saint Lazare, the mother-house of the Congregation of the Mission. His virtues, merits, and miracles having made his name celebrated, Clement XII enrolled him among the saints, assigning for his annual feast July 19. Leo XIII, at the request of several bishops, declared and appointed this great hero of charity, who has deserved so well of the human race, the peculiar patron before God of all the charitable societies existing throughout the Catholic world, and of all such as may hereafter be established.

¹ Prov. xi. 3.

How full a sheaf dost thou bear, O Vincent, as thou ascendest laden with blessings from earth to thy true country! O thou, the most simple of men, though living in an age of splendours, thy renown far surpasses the brilliant reputation which fascinated thy contemporaries. The true glory of that century, and the only one that will remain to it when time shall be no more, is to have seen, in its earlier part, saints powerful alike in faith and love, stemming the tide of Satan's conquests, and restoring to the soil of France, made barren by heresy, the fruitfulness of its brightest days. And now, two centuries and more after thy labours, the work of the harvest is still being carried on by thy sons and daughters, aided by new assistants who also acknowledge thee for their inspirer and father. Thou art now in the kingdom of heaven where grief and tears are no more, yet day by day thou still receivest the grateful thanks of the suffering and the sorrowful.

Reward our confidence in thee by fresh benefits. No name so much as thine inspires respect for the Church in our days of blasphemy. And yet those who deny Christ now go so far as to endeavour to stifle the testimony which the poor have always rendered to Him on thy account. Wield, against these ministers of hell, the two-edged sword, wherewith it is given to the saints to avenge God in the midst of the nations: treat them as thou didst the heretics of thy day; make them either deserve pardon or suffer punishment, be converted or be reduced by heaven to the impossibility of doing harm. Above all, take care of the unhappy beings whom these satanic men deprive of spiritual help in their last moments. Elevate thy daughters to the high level required by the present sad circumstances, when men would have their devotedness to deny its divine origin and cast off the guise of religion. If the enemies of the poor man can snatch from his death-bed the sacred sign of salvation, no rule, no law, no power of this world or the next, can cast out Jesus from the soul of the Sister of Charity, or prevent his name from passing from her heart to her lips: neither death nor hell, neither fire nor flood can stay him, says the Canticle of Canticles.

Thy sons, too, are carrying on thy work of evangelization; and even in our days their apostolate is crowned with the diadem of sanctity and martyrdom. Uphold their zeal; develop in them thy own spirit of unchanging devotedness to the Church and submission to the supreme Pastor. Forward all the new works of charity springing out of thy own, and placed by Rome to thy credit and under thy patronage. May they gather their heat from the divine fire which thou didst kindle on the earth; may they ever seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, never deviating, in the choice of means, from the principle thou didst lay down for them of judging, speaking, and acting, exactly as the Eternal Wisdom of God, clothed in our weak flesh, judged, spoke, and acted.

July 20

SAINT JEROME ÆMILIAN CONFESSOR

SPRUNG from the powerful aristocracy which won for Venice twelve centuries of splendour, Jerome came into the world when that city had reached the height of its glory. At fifteen years of age he became a soldier, and was one of the heroes in that formidable struggle wherein his country withstood the united powers of almost all Europe in the League of Cambrai. The golden city, crushed for a moment, but soon restored to her former condition, offered her honours to the defender of Castelnovo, who, like herself, had fallen bravely and risen again. But our Lady of Treviso had delivered him from his German prison, only to make him her own captive; she brought him back to the city of St. Mark, there to fulfil a higher mission than the proud republic could have entrusted to him. The descendant of the Æmiliani, captivated, as was Lawrence Justinian a century before, by Eternal Beauty, would now live only for the humility which leads to heaven, and for the lofty deeds of charity. His title of nobility will be derived from the obscure village of Somascha, where he will gather his newly recruited army; and his conquests will be the bringing of little children to God. He will no more frequent the palaces of his patrician friends, for he now belongs to a higher rank: they serve the world, he serves heaven; his rivals are the angels, whose ambition, like his own, is to preserve unsullied for the Father the service of those innocent souls whom the greatest in heaven must resemble.

"The soul of the child," as the Church tells us to-day by the golden mouth of St. John Chrysostom, "is free from all passions. He bears no ill-will towards them that have done him harm, but goes to them as friends, just as if they had done nothing. And though he be often beaten by his mother, yet he always seeks her and loves her more than anyone else. If you show him a queen in her royal crown, he prefers his mother clad in rags, and would rather see her unadorned than the queen in magnificent attire; for he does not appreciate according to riches or poverty, but by love. He seeks not for more than is necessary, and as soon as he has had sufficient milk he quits the breast. He is not oppressed with the same sorrows as we, nor troubled with care for money and the like; neither is he rejoiced by our transitory pleasures, nor affected by corporal beauty. Therefore our Lord said: Of such is the kingdom of heaven, wishing us to do of our own free will what children do by nature."¹

Their guardian angels, as our Lord Himself said, gazing into those pure souls, are not distracted from the contemplation of their heavenly Father: for He rests in them as on the wings of Cherubim, since baptism has made them His children. Happy was our saint to have been chosen by God to share the loving cares of the angels here below, before partaking of their bliss in heaven. The following detailed account is given by Holy Church:

Hieronymus, e gente patricia Æmiliana Venetiis ortus, a prima adolescentia militiæ addictus, difficillimis Reipublicæ temporibus Castro Novo ad Quarum in montibus Tarvisinis præficitur. Arce ab hostibus capta, ipse in teterrimum carcerem detruditur, manibus ac pedibus vinctus; cui omni humana ope destituto beatissima Virgo ejus precibus exorata, clemens adest, vincula solvit, et per medios hostes, qui vias omnes obsederant, in Tarvisii conspectum incolumem ducit. Urbem ingressus, ad Deiparæ aram, cui se voverat, manicas, compedes, catenas, quas secum detulerat, in accepti beneficii testimonium suspendit. Reversus Venetias, cœpit pietatis studia impensius colere, in pauperes mire effusus, sed puerorum præsertim misertus, qui parentibus orbati, egeni et sordidi per urbem vagabantur, quos in ædes a se conductas recepit de suo alendos, et Christianis moribus imbuendos.

Jerome was born at Venice, of the patrician family of the Æmiliani, and from his boyhood embraced a military life. At a time when the Republic was in great difficulty, he was placed in command of Castelnovo, in the territory of Quero, in the mountains of Treviso. The fortress was taken by the enemy, and Jerome was thrown, bound hand and foot, into a horrible dungeon. When he found himself thus destitute of all human aid, he prayed most earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, who mercifully came to his assistance. She loosed his bonds, and led him safely through the midst of his enemies, who had possession of every road, till he was within sight of Treviso. He entered the town; and, in testimony of the favour he had received, he hung up at the altar of our Lady, to whose service he had vowed himself, the manacles, shackles, and chains which he had brought with him. On his return to Venice he gave himself with the utmost zeal to exercises of piety. His charity towards the poor was wonderful; but he was particularly moved to pity for the orphan children who wandered poor and dirty about the town; he received them into houses which he hired, where he fed them at his own expense and trained them to lead Christian lives.

Per eos dies Venetias appulerant beatus Cajetanus, et Petrus Caraffa postmodum Paulus quartus, qui Hieronymi spiritu, novoque instituto colligendi orphanos probato, illum in incurabilium hospitale adduxerunt, in quo orphanos simul educaret, atque ægrotis pari charitate inserviret. Mox eorumdem hortatu in proximam continentem profectus, Brixiæ primum, deinde Bergomi, atque Novocomi orphanotrophia erexit: Bergomi præsertim, ubi præter duo, pro pueris unum, et pro puellis alterum, domum excipiendis, novo in illis regionibus exemplo mulieribus a turpi vita ad pœnitentiam conversis, aperuit. Somaschæ demum subsistens, in humili pago agri Bergomensis ad Venetæ ditionis fines, sibi, ac suis ibi sedem constituit, formamque induxit congregationis, cui propterea a Somascha nomen factum: quam subinde auctam et propagatam, nedum orphanorum regimini, et Ecclesiarum cultui, sed ad majorem Christianæ reipublicæ utilitatem, adolescentium in litteris et bonis moribus institutioni in collegiis, academiis, et seminariis addictam sanctus Pius Quintus inter Religiosos Ordines adscripsit, cæterique pontifices privilegiis ornarunt.

At this time Blessed Cajetan and Peter Caraffa, who was afterwards Paul IV, disembarked at Venice. They commended Jerome's spirit and his new institution for gathering orphans together. They also introduced him into the hospital for incurables, where he would be able to devote himself with equal charity to the education of orphans and to the service of the sick. Soon, at their suggestion, he crossed over to the continent and founded orphanages, first at Brescia, then at Bergamo and Como. At Bergamo his zeal was specially prolific, for there, besides two orphanages, one for boys and one for girls, he opened a house, an unprecedented thing in those parts, for the reception of fallen women who had been converted. Finally he took up his abode at Somascha, a small village in the territory of Bergamo, near to the Venetian border, and this he made his headquarters; here, too, he definitely established his congregation, which for this reason received the name of Somaschan. In course of time it spread and increased, and for the greater benefit of the Christian republic it undertook, besides the ruling and guiding of orphans and the taking care of sacred buildings, the education, both liberal and moral, of young men in colleges, academies, and seminaries. Pius V enrolled it among religious Orders, and other Roman Pontiffs have honoured it with privileges.

Orphanis colligendis intentus Mediolanum proficiscitur atque Ticinum; et utrobique collectis agminibus puerorum tectum, victum, vestem, magistros, nobilibus viris faventibus, provide constituit. Inde Somascham redux, omnibus omnia factus, a nullo abhorrebat opere, quod in proximi bonum cedere prævideret. Agricolis immixtus per agros sparsis, dum se illis adjutorem in metendis frugibus præbet, mysteria fidei explicabat, puerorum capita porrigine fœda abstergens, et patienter tractans curabat; putridis rusticorum vulneribus medebatur eo successu, ut gratia curationum donatus censeretur. In monte, qui Somaschæ imminet, reperta specu, in illam se abdidit, ubi se flagellis cædens, dies integros jejunus transigens, oratione in plurimam noctem protracta, super nudo saxo brevem somnum carpens, sui aliorumque noxarum pœnas luebat. In hujus specus interiori recessu ex arido silice exstillat aqua, precibus servi Dei, ut constans traditio est, impetrata, quæ usque in hodiernam diem jugiter manans, et in varias regiones delata ægris sanitatem plerumque conciliat. Tandem ex contagione, quæ per omnem vallem serpebat, dum ægrotantibus inservit, et vita functos propriis humeris ad sepulturam defert, contracto morbo, annos natus sex et quinquaginta, quam paulo ante prædixerat, pretiosam mortem obiit anno millesimo quingentesimo trigesimo septimo: quem pluribus in vita, et post mortem miraculis illustrem Benedictus decimus quartus Beatorum, Clemens vero decimus tertius Sanctorum fastis solemniter adscripsit.

Entirely devoted to his work of rescuing orphans, Jerome journeyed to Milan and Pavia, and in both cities he collected numbers of children and provided them, through the assistance given him by noble personages, with a home, food, clothing, and education. He returned to Somascha, and, making himself all to all, he refused no labour which he saw might turn to the good of his neighbour. He associated himself with the peasants scattered over the fields, and while helping them with their work of harvesting, he would explain to them the mysteries of faith. He used to take care of children with the greatest patience, even going so far as to cleanse their heads, and he dressed the corrupt wounds of the village folk with such success that it was thought he had received the gift of healing. On the mountain which overhangs Somascha he found a cave in which he hid himself, and there scourging himself, spending whole days fasting, passing the greater part of the night in prayer, and snatching only a short sleep on the bare rock, he expiated his own sins and those of others. In the interior of this grotto, water trickles from the dry rock, obtained, as constant tradition says, by the prayers of the servant of God. It still flows, even to the present day, and being taken into different countries, it often gives health to the sick. At length, when a contagious distemper was spreading over the whole valley, and he was serving the sick and carrying the dead to the grave on his own shoulders, he caught the infection, and died at the age of fifty-six. His precious death, which he had foretold a short time before, occurred in the year 1537. He was illustrious both in life and death for many miracles. Benedict XIV enrolled him among the Blessed, and Clement XIII solemnly inscribed his name on the catalogue of the Saints.

With Vincent de Paul and Camillus of Lellis, thou, O Jerome Æmilian, completest the triumvirate of charity. Thus does the Holy Spirit mark His reign with traces of the Blessed Trinity; moreover, he would show that the love of God which He kindles on earth, can never be without the love of our neighbour. At the very time when He gave thee to the world as a demonstration of this truth, the spirit of evil made it evident that true love of our neighbour cannot exist without love of God, and that this latter soon disappears in its turn when faith is extinct. Thus, between the ruins of the pretended reform and the ever-new fecundity of the Spirit of holiness, mankind was free to choose. The choice made was, alas! far from being always conformable to man's interest, either temporal or eternal.

With what good reason may we repeat the prayer thou didst teach thy little orphans: 'Lord Jesus Christ, our loving Father, we beseech Thee, by Thine infinite goodness, raise up Christendom once more, and bring it back to that upright holiness which flourished in the apostolic age.'

Thou didst labour strenuously at this great work of restoration. The Mother of Divine Grace, when she broke thy prison chains, set thy soul free from a more cruel captivity to continue the flight begun at baptism and in thy early years. Thy youth was renewed as the eagle's; and the valour which won thee thy spurs in earthly battles, being now strengthened tenfold in the service of the all-powerful Prince, carried the day over death and hell. Who could count thy victories in this new militia? Jesus, the King of the warfare of salvation, inspired thee with His own predilection for little children; countless numbers, saved by thee from perishing, and brought in their innocence to His divine caresses, owe to thee their crown in heaven. From thy throne, where thou art surrounded by this lovely company, multiply thy sons; uphold those who continue thy work on earth; may thy spirit spread more and more in these days, when Satan's jealousy strives more than ever to snatch the little ones from our Lord. Happy shall they be in their last hour who have accomplished the work of mercy pre-eminent in our days: saved the

et septem annos vixisset, relicto scripto sui nominis, sanguinis, ac totius vitæ cursu, migravit in cœlum, Innocentio Primo Summo Pontifice.

was received as a guest by his own father, who took him for a poor stranger. He lived in his father's house, unknown to all, for seventeen years, and then passed to heaven, leaving a written paper which revealed his name, his family, and the story of his whole life. His death occurred in the Pontificate of Innocent I.

Man of God! Such is the name given thee, O Alexius, by heaven; the name whereby thou art known in the East, and which Rome sanctions by her choice of the Epistle to be read in this day's Mass! The apostle there applies this beautiful title to his disciple Timothy, while recommending to him the very virtues thou didst practise in so eminent a degree. This sublime designation, which shows us the dignity of heaven within the reach of men, thou didst prefer to the proudest titles earth could bestow. These latter were, indeed, offered thee, together with all the honours permitted by God to those who are satisfied with merely not offending Him; but thy great soul despised the transitory gifts of the world. In the midst of the splendours of thy marriage-feast, thou didst hear a music which charms the soul from earth—that music which, two centuries before, the noble Cecily, too, had heard in another palace of the queen city. The hidden God, who left the joys of the heavenly Jerusalem and on earth had not where to lay His head, discovered Himself to thy pure heart; and being filled with His love, thou hadst also the mind which was in Christ Jesus. With the freedom, which yet remained to thee, of choosing between the perfect life, and the consummation of an earthly union, thou didst resolve to be a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth that thou mightest merit to possess eternal Wisdom in thy heavenly fatherland. O wonderful paths! O unsearchable ways whereby that Wisdom

¹ Chrys. in Matt. Hom. lxii. al. lxiii.

¹ 1 Tim. vi. 11. ² Phil. ii. 5. ³ Heb. xi. 13.

of the Father guides all those who are won by love! The Queen of heaven, as if applauding this spectacle worthy of angels, revealed to the East the illustrious name thou wouldst fain conceal under the garb of holy poverty. A second flight brought thee back, after seventeen years' absence, to the land of thy birth, and even there thou wert able, by thy valiant faith, to dwell as in a strange land. Under that staircase of thy home, now held in loving veneration, thou wert exposed to the insults of thy own slaves, being but an unknown beggar in the eyes of thy father and mother, and of the bride who still mourned for thee. There didst thou spend, without ever betraying thyself, another seventeen years, awaiting thy happy passage to thy true home in heaven. God Himself made it an honour to be called thy God, when at the moment of thy precious death a mighty voice resounded through Rome, bidding all seek the 'man of God.' Remember, O Alexius, what the voice added concerning that man of God: 'He shall pray for Rome, and shall be heard.' Pray, then, for the illustrious city of thy birth, which owed to thee its safety under the assault of the barbarians, and which now surrounds thee with far greater honours than it would have done hadst thou but upheld within its walls the traditions of thy noble ancestors. Hell boasts of having snatched that city from the successors of Peter and of Innocent: pray, and may heaven hear thee once more, against the modern successors of Alaric. Guided by the light of thy sublime actions, may the Christian people rise more and more above the earth; lead us all safely by the narrow way to the home of our heavenly Father!

July 18

SAINT CAMILLUS OF LELLIS

CONFESSOR

THE Holy Spirit, who desires to raise our souls above this earth, does not therefore despise our bodies. The whole man is His creature and His temple, and it is the whole man He must lead to eternal happiness. The Body of the Man-God was His masterpiece in material creation; the divine delight He takes in that perfect Body He extends in a measure to ours; for that same Body, framed by Him in the womb of the most pure Virgin, was from the very beginning the model on which ours are formed. In the re-creation which followed the Fall, the Body of the Man-God was the means of the world's redemption; and the economy of our salvation requires that the virtue of His saving Blood should not reach the soul except through the body, the divine sacraments being all applied to the soul through the medium of the senses. Admirable is the harmony of nature and grace; the latter so honours the material part of our being that she will not draw the soul without it to the light and to heaven. For in the unfathomable mystery of sanctification, the senses do not merely serve as a passage; they themselves experience the power of the sacraments, like the higher faculties of which they are the channels; and the sanctified soul finds the humble companion of her pilgrimage already associated with her in the dignity of divine adoption, which will cause the glorification of our bodies after the resurrection. Hence the care given to the very body of our neighbour is raised to the nobleness of holy charity; for being inspired by this charity, such acts partake of the love wherewith our heavenly Father surrounds even the members of His beloved children.

I was sick, and ye visited Me,¹ our Lord will say on the last day, showing that even the infirmities of our fallen state in this land of exile, the bodies of those whom He deigns to call His brethren, share in the dignity belonging by right to the eternal, only-begotten Son of the Father. The Holy Spirit, too, whose office it is to recall to the Church all the words of our Saviour, has certainly not forgotten this one; the seed, falling into the good earth of chosen souls, has produced a hundredfold the fruits of grace and heroic self-devotion. Camillus of Lellis received it lovingly, and the mustard-seed became a great tree offering its shade to the birds of the air. The Order of Regular Clerks, Servants of the Sick, or of Happy Death, deserves the gratitude of mankind; as a sign of heaven's approbation, angels have more than once been seen assisting its members at the bedside of the dying.

The liturgical account of St. Camillus' life is so full that we need add nothing to it.

Camillus Bucchianici Theatinæ diœcesis oppido ex nobili Lelliorum familia natus est matre sexagenaria, cui gravidæ visum est per quietem, puerulum Crucis signo in pectore munitum, et agmini puerorum idem signum gestantium præeuntem, se peperisse. Adolescens rem militarem secutus, sæculi vitiis aliquamdiu indulsit, donec vigesimum quintum agens ætatis annum, tanto supernæ gratiæ lumine, divinæque offensæ dolore correptus fuit, ut uberrimo lacrymarum imbre illico perfusus, anteactæ vitæ sordes indesinenter abstergere, novumque induere hominem firmiter decreverit. Quare ipso, quo id contigit, Purificationis beatissimæ Virginis festo die, ad Fratres Minores, quos Capuccinos vocant, convolans, ut eorum numero adscriberetur, summis precibus exoravit. Voti compos semel atque iterum factus est; sed fœdo ulcere, quo aliquando laboraverat, in ejus tibia iterato recrudescente, divinæ providentiæ majora de eo disponentis consilio humiliter se subjecit, suique victor, illius religionis bis expetitum, et susceptum habitum bis dimisit.

Camillus was born at Bucchianico, a town of the diocese of Chieti. He was descended from the noble family of the Lellis, and his mother was sixty years old at the time of his birth. While she was with child with him, she dreamt that she gave birth to a little boy, who was signed on the breast with the cross, and was the leader of a band of children, wearing the same sign. As a young man he followed the career of arms, and gave himself up for a time to worldly vices, but in his twenty-sixth year he was so enlightened by heavenly grace, and seized with so great a sorrow for having offended God, that on the spot, shedding a flood of tears, he firmly resolved unceasingly to wash away the stains of his past life, and to put on the new man. Therefore on the very day of his conversion, which happened to be the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, he hastened to the Friars Minor, who are called Capuchins, and begged most earnestly to be admitted into their number. His request was granted on this and on a subsequent occasion, but each time a horrible ulcer, from which he had suffered before, broke out again upon his leg; wherefore he humbly submitted himself to the designs of Divine Providence, which was preparing him for greater things, and conquering himself he twice laid aside the Franciscan habit, which he had twice asked for and obtained.

Romam profectus, in nosocomium, quod Insanabilium dicitur, receptus est: cujus etiam administrationem, ob perspectas ejus virtutes sibi demandatam, summa integritate ac sollicitudine vere paterna peregit. Omnium ægrorum servum se reputans, eorum sternere lectulos, sordes tergere, ulceribus mederi, agonique extremo piis precibus et cohortationibus opem ferre solemne habuit; quibus in muneribus præclara præbuit admirabilis patientiæ, invictæ fortitudinis, et heroicæ charitatis exempla. Verum cum animarum in extremis periclitantium, quod unice intendebat, levamini subsidium litterarum plurimum conferre intelligeret, triginta duos annos natus, in primis grammaticæ elementis tirocinium inter pueros iterum subire non erubuit. Sacerdotio postea rite initiatus, nonnullis sibi adjunctis sociis, prima jecit Congregationis Clericorum Regularium infirmis ministrantium fundamenta, irrito conatu obnitente humani generis hoste, nam Camillus cœlesti voce e Christi crucifixi, manus etiam de ligno avulsas admirando prodigio protendentis, simulacro emissa mirabiliter confirmatus, ordinem suum a Sede Apostolica approbari obtinuit; sodalibus quarto obstrictis maxime arduo voto, infirmis, quos etiam pestis infecerit, ministrandi. Quod institutum, quam foret Deo acceptum, et animarum saluti proficuum, sanctus Philippus Nerius, qui Camillo a sacris confessionibus erat, comprobavit, dum ejus alumnis decedentium agoni opem ferentibus angelos suggerentes verba sæpius se vidisse testatus est.

He set out for Rome and was received into the hospital called that of the Incurables. His virtues became so well known that the management of the institution was entrusted to him, and he discharged it with the greatest integrity and a truly paternal solicitude. He esteemed himself the servant of all the sick, and was accustomed to make their beds, to wash them, to heal their sores, and to aid them in their last agony with his prayers and pious exhortations. In discharging these offices he gave striking proofs of his wonderful patience, unconquered fortitude, and heroic charity. But when he perceived how great an advantage the knowledge of letters would be to him in assisting those in danger of death, to whose service he had devoted his life, he was not ashamed at the age of thirty-two to return again to school and to learn the first elements of grammar among children. Being afterwards promoted in due order to the priesthood, he was joined by several companions, and in spite of the opposition attempted by the enemy of the human race, laid the foundations of the Congregation of Regular Clerks, Servants of the Sick. In this work Camillus was wonderfully strengthened by a heavenly voice coming from an image of Christ crucified, which, by an admirable miracle loosing the hands from the wood, stretched them out towards him. He obtained the approbation of his order from the Apostolic See. Its members bind themselves by a fourth and very arduous vow—namely, to minister to the sick, even those infected with the plague. St. Philip Neri, who was his confessor, attested how pleasing this institution was to God, and how greatly it contributed toward the salvation of souls; for he declared that he often saw angels suggesting words to disciples of Camillus, when they were assisting those in their agony.

Arctioribus hisce vinculis ægrotantium ministerio mancipatus, mirum est qua alacritate, nullis fractus laboribus, nullis deterritus vitæ periculis, diu noctuque ad supremum usque spiritum, eorum commodis vigilaverit. Omnibus omnia factus, vilissima quæque officia demississimo obsequio, flexisque plerumque genibus, veluti Christum ipsum cerneret in infirmis, hilari promptoque animo arripiebat; utque omnium indigentiis præsto esset, generalem ordinis præfecturam, cœlique delicias, quibus in contemplatione defixus affluebat, sponte dimisit. Paternus vero illius erga miseros amor tum maxime effulsit, dum et Urbs contagioso morbo primum, deinde extrema annonæ laboraret inopia et Nolæ in Campania dira pestis grassaretur. Tanta denique in Deum et proximum charitate exarsit ut angelus nuncupari, et angelorum opem in vario itinerum discrimine experiri promereretur. Prophetiæ dono, et gratia sanitatum præditus, arcana quoque cordium inspexit; ejusque precibus nunc cibaria multiplicata sunt, nunc aqua in vinum conversa. Tandem vigiliis, jejuniis, et assiduis attritus laboribus, cum pelle tantum et ossibus constare videretur, quinque molestis æque ac diutinis morbis, quos misericordias Domini appellabat, fortiter toleratis, sacramentis munitus, Romæ inter suavissima Jesu et Mariæ nomina, ad ea verba: Mitis atque festivus Christi Jesu tibi adspectus appareat: qua prædixerat hora, obdormivit in Domino, pridie Idus Julii, anno salutis millesimo sexcentesimo decimo quarto, ætatis suæ sexagesimo quinto: quem pluribus illustrem miraculis Benedictus decimusquartus solemni ritu sanctorum fastis adscripsit; et Leo decimus tertius, ex sacrorum Catholici orbis antistitum voto, ac Rituum Congregationis Consulto, cœlestem omnium hospitalium et infirmorum ubique degentium patronum declaravit, ipsiusque nomen in agonizantium Litaniis invocari præcepit.

When he had thus bound himself more strictly than before to the service of the sick, he devoted himself with marvellous ardour to watching over their interests, by night and by day, till his last breath. No labour could tire him, no peril of his life could affright him. He became all to all, and claimed for himself the lowest offices, which he discharged promptly and joyfully, in the humblest manner, often on bended knees, as though he saw Christ Himself present in the sick. In order to be more at the command of all in need, he of his own accord laid aside the general government of the order, and deprived himself of the heavenly delights with which he was inundated during contemplation. His fatherly love for the unfortunate shone out with greatest brilliancy when Rome was suffering first from a contagious distemper, and then from a great scarcity of provisions; and also when a dreadful plague was ravaging Nola in Campania. In a word, he was consumed with so great a love of God and his neighbour that he was called an angel, and merited to be helped by the angels in different dangers which threatened him on his journeys. He was endowed with the gift of prophecy and the grace of healing, and he could read the secrets of hearts. By his prayers he at one time multiplied food, and at another changed water into wine. At length, worn out by watching, fasting, and ceaseless labour, he seemed to be nothing but skin and bone. He endured courageously five long and troublesome sicknesses, which he used to call the "Mercies of the Lord"; and, strengthened by the sacraments, with the sweet names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, he fell asleep in our Lord, while these words were being said: 'May Christ Jesus appear to thee with a sweet and gracious countenance.' He died at Rome, at the hour he had foretold, on the day before the Ides of July, in the year of salvation 1614, the sixty-fifth of his age. He was made illustrious by many miracles, and Benedict XIV solemnly enrolled him upon the calendar of the saints. Leo XIII, at the desire of the bishops of the Catholic world, and with the advice of the Congregation of Rites, declared him the heavenly patron of all nurses and of the sick in all places, and ordered his name to be invoked in the Litanies for the Dying.

¹ St. Matt. xxv. 36.

Angel of charity, by what wonderful paths did the Divine Spirit lead thee! The vision of thy pious mother remained long unrealized; before taking on thee the holy Cross and enlisting comrades under that sacred sign, thou didst serve the odious tyrant, who will have none but slaves under his standard, and the passion of gambling was wellnigh thy ruin. O Camillus, remembering the danger thou didst incur, have pity on the unhappy slaves of passion; free them from the madness wherewith they risk, to the caprice of chance, their goods, their honour, and their peace in this world and in the next. Thy history proves the power of grace to break the strongest ties and alter the most inveterate habits: may these men, like thee, turn their bent towards God, and change their rashness into love of the dangers to which holy charity may expose them! For charity, too, has its risks, even the peril of life, as the Lord of charity laid down His life for us: a heavenly game of chance, which thou didst play so well that the very angels applauded thee. But what is the hazarding of

earthly life compared with the prize reserved for the winner?

According to the commandment of the Gospel read by the Church in thy honour, may we all, like thee, love our brethren as Christ has loved us! Few, says St. Augustine, love one another to this end, that God may be all in all.¹ Thou, O Camillus, having this love, didst exercise it by preference towards those suffering members of Christ's mystic Body, in whom our Lord revealed Himself more clearly to thee, and in whom His kingdom was nearer at hand. Therefore has the Church in gratitude chosen thee, together with John of God, to be guardian of those homes for the suffering which she has founded with a mother's thoughtful care. Do honour to that Mother's confidence. Protect the hospitals against the attempts of an odious and incapable secularization, which, in its eagerness to lose the souls, sacrifices even the corporal well-being of the unhappy mortals committed to the care of its evil philanthropy. In order to meet our increasing miseries, multiply thy sons, and make them worthy to be assisted by angels. Wherever we may be in this valley of exile when the hour of our last struggle sounds, make use of thy precious prerogative which the holy liturgy honours to-day; help us, by the spirit of holy love, to vanquish the enemy and attain unto the heavenly crown!

¹ Homily on the Gospel of the day. In Joann. Tract. lxxxiii.

SAME DAY

ST. SYMPHOROSA AND HER SEVEN SONS

FOR the second time in July a constellation of seven stars shines in the heavens. More fortunate than Felicitas, Symphorosa preceded in the arena the seven sons she was offering to God. From the throne where he was already reigning crowned with the martyr's diadem, Getulius the tribune, father of this illustrious family, applauded the combat whereby his race earned a far greater nobility than that of patrician blood, and gave to Rome a grander glory than was ever dreamed of by her heroes and poets. The Emperor Adrian, corrupt yet brilliant, sceptical yet superstitious, like the society around him, presided in person at the defeat of his gods. Threatening to burn the valiant woman in sacrifice to the idols, he received this courageous answer: 'Thy gods cannot receive me in sacrifice; but if thou burn me and my sons for the name of Christ, my God, I shall cause thy demons to burn with more cruel flames!' The execution of the mother and her sons was, indeed, the signal for a period of peace, during which the Kingdom of our Lord was considerably extended. Jerusalem, having under the leadership of a last false Messias revolted against Rome, was punished by being deprived of her very name; but the Church received the glory which the Synagogue once possessed when she produced the mother of the Machabees.

Another glory was reserved for this eighteenth day of July, in the year 1870: the Œcumenical Council of the Vatican, presided over by the immortal Pius IX, defined in its constitution, Pastor Æternus, the full, supreme, and immediate power of the Roman Pontiff over all the Churches, and pronounced anathema against all who should refuse to recognize the personal infallibility of the same Roman Pontiff, speaking ex cathedra—i.e., defining, as universal pastor, any doctrine concerning faith or morals. We may also remark that during these same days—viz., on a Sunday in the middle of July—the Greeks make a commemoration of the first six general councils: Nicæa, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and the second and third of Constantinople. Thus, during these midsummer days, we are in the midst of feasts of heavenly light; and let us not forget that it is martyrdom, the supreme act of faith, that merits and produces light. Doubtless, Divine Wisdom, who plays in the world with number, weight, and measure, planned the beautiful coincidence which unites these two days, July 18, 136, and July 18, 1870. If in these latter days the word of God has been set free, it is owing to the bloodshed by our fathers in its defence. The liturgy gives but a very short account of the immortal combat which glorifies this day:

Symphorosa Tiburtina, Getulii martyris uxor, ex eo septem filios peperit, Crescentium, Julianum, Nemesium, Primitivum, Justinum, Stacteum, et Eugenium: qui omnes propter Christianæ fidei professionem una cum matre, Adriano imperatore comprehensi sunt. Quorum pietas multis variisque tentata suppliciis, cum stabilis permaneret, mater, quæ filiis fidei magistra fuerat, dux eisdem ad martyrium exstitit. Nam saxo ad collum alligato in profluentem dejicitur: cujus corpus conquisitum a fratre ejus Eugenio sepelitur. Postridie ejus diei, qui fuit decimoquinto calendas Augusti, septem fratres singuli ad palum alligati, varie sunt interfecti. Crescentio guttur ferro transfigitur: Juliano pectus confoditur: Nemesio cor transverberatur: Primitivo trajicitur umbilicus: Justinus membratim secatur: Stacteus telis configitur: Eugenius a pectore in duas partes dividitur. Ita octo hostiæ Deo gratissimæ sunt immolatæ. Corpora in altissimam foveam projecta sunt via Tiburtina, nono ab Urbe lapide: quæ postea Romam translata, condita sunt in Ecclesia Sancti Angeli in piscina.

Symphorosa, a native of Tivoli, was the wife of the martyr Getulius. She bore him seven sons, Crescentius, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justin, Stacteus, and Eugenius. Under the Emperor Adrian, they were all arrested, together with her, on account of their profession of the Christian faith. Their piety was tried by many different tortures, and, on their remaining constant, the mother, who had taught her sons, led the way to martyrdom. She was thrown into the river, with a huge stone tied round her neck. Her brother Eugenius searched for her body and gave it burial. The next day, which was the fifteenth of the Calends of August, the seven brothers were tied to stakes and put to death in different ways. Crescentius had his throat transfixed; Julian was wounded in the breast; Nemesius was pierced in the heart, and Primitivus in the stomach; Justin was cut to pieces, limb by limb; Stacteus was pierced with darts, and Eugenius was cut in two from the breast. Thus eight victims most pleasing to God were immolated. Their bodies were thrown into a deep pit on the Tiburtian Way, nine miles from Rome; but they were afterwards translated into the city and buried in the Church of the Holy Angel in the Fish Market.

O Symphorosa, thou wife, sister, and mother of martyrs, thy desires are amply fulfilled; followed by thy seven children, thou rejoinest in the court of the Eternal King thy husband Getulius and his brother Amantius, brave combatants in the imperial army, but far more valiant soldiers of Christ. The words of our Lord: A man's enemies shall be they of his own household¹ are abrogated in heaven; nor can this other sentence be there applied: He that loveth father and mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me.² There, the love of Christ our King predominates over all other loves; yet, far from extinguishing them, it makes them ten times stronger by putting its own energy into them; and, far from having to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother,³ it sets a divine seal upon the family and rivets its bonds for all eternity.

What nobility, O heroes, have ye conferred upon the world! Men may look up with more confidence

¹ St. Matt. x. 36. ² Ibid. 37. ³ Ibid. 35.

faith of children, and preserved their baptismal innocence! Should they have formerly merited God's anger, they may with all confidence repeat the words thou didst love so well: O sweetest Jesus, be not unto me a Judge, but a Saviour!

SAME DAY

SAINT MARGARET VIRGIN AND MARTYR

THIS same day brings before us a rival of the warrior-martyr, St. George: Margaret, like him victorious over the dragon, and like him called in the Menæa of the Greeks, the Great Martyr. The cross was her weapon; and, like the soldier, the virgin, too, consummated her trial in her blood. They were equally renowned, also, in those chivalrous times when valour and faith fought hand in hand for Christ beneath the standard of the saints. So early as the seventh century our Western island rivalled the East in honouring the pearl drawn from the abyss of infidelity. Before the disastrous schism brought about by Henry VIII, the Island of Saints celebrated this feast as a double of the second class; women alone were obliged to rest from servile work, in gratitude for the protection afforded them by St. Margaret at the moment of childbirth—a favour which ranked her among the saints called in the Middle Ages auxiliatores or helpers. But it was not in England alone that Margaret was invoked, as history proves by the many and illustrious persons of all countries who have borne her blessed name. In heaven, too, there is great festivity around the throne of Margaret; we learn this from such trustworthy witnesses as St. Gertrude the Great¹ and St. Frances of Rome,² who, though divided by a century of time, were both, by a special favour of their divine Spouse, allowed, while still on earth, to assist at this heavenly spectacle.

¹ Legatus divinæ pietatis, IV. xlv. ² Visio xxxvi.

The ancient legend in the Roman Breviary was suppressed in the sixteenth century by St. Pius V as not being sufficiently authentic. We, therefore, give instead some responsories and antiphons and a collect, taken from what appears to be the very office said by St. Gertrude; for in the vision mentioned above allusion is made to one of these responsories, Virgo veneranda:¹

¹ Breviarium Constantiense, Augusta Vindelicorum, MCCCCXCIX.

RESPONSORIES

℟. Felix igitur Margarita sacrilego sanguine progenita: * Fidem quam Spiritu Sancto percepit vitiorum maculis minus infecit.
℣. Ibat de virtute in virtutem, ardenter sitiens animæ salutem. * Fidem.

℟. Hæc modica quidem in malitia, sed mire vigens pudicitia, præventa gratia Redemptoris: * Oviculas pascebat nutricis.
℣. Simplex fuit ut columba, quemadmodum serpens astuta. * Oviculas.

℟. Quadam die Olibrius, molestus Deo et hominibus, transiens visum in illam sparsit: * Mox in concupiscentiam ejus exarsit.
℣. Erat enim nimium formosa: in vultu scilicet ut rosa. * Mox.

℟. Misit protinus clientes, ad inquirendos ejus parentes; * Ut si libera probaretur, in conjugium sibi copularetur.
℣. Sed hanc qui desponsaverat, non ita Christus præordinaverat. * Ut si.

℟. Dum tyrannus intellexit quod eum virgo despexit: * Jussit eamdem iratus suis præsentari tribunalibus.
℣. Quam sperans puellarum more minis flecti subjuncto terrore. * Jussit.

℟. Virgo veneranda, in magna stans constantia, verba contempsit judicis: * Nil cogitans de rebus lubricis.
℣. Cœlestis præmii spe gaudens, in tribulatione erat patiens. * Nil cogitans.

℟. Post carceris squalorem carnisque macerationem, Christi dilecta: * Tenebrosis denuo recluditur in locis.
℣. Nomen Domini laudare non desinens et glorificare. * Tenebrosis.

℟. Sancta martyre precatibus instante, draco fœtore plenus apparuit: * Qui hanc invadens totam absorbuit.
℣. Quem per medium signo crucis discidit, et de utero ejus illæsa exivit. * Qui.

℟. Blessed Margaret, though born of pagan blood: * Receiving the faith by the Holy Spirit, preserved it free from stain.
℣. She went from virtue to virtue, ardently desiring the salvation of her soul. * Receiving the faith.

℟. Knowing no evil, she blossomed in purity, being prevented by the grace of our Saviour: * She tended the sheep for her foster-mother.
℣. Simple as the dove and prudent as the serpent. * She tended.

℟. Olibrius, hateful to God and men, passing one day, cast his glance upon her: * And he burned with desire of her.
℣. For she was exceeding lovely; her face like a beautiful rose. * And he burned.

℟. Forthwith he sent his men to inquire as to her parentage; * For that if she were of gentle blood, he fain would take her to wife.
℣. But Jesus Christ whose bride she was, had otherwise ordained. * For that if she were.

℟. When the tyrant heard that the virgin despised him: * Enraged he caused her to be brought to his tribunal.
℣. For he hoped that, as maidens are wont, she would yield through fear of his threats. * Enraged.

℟. The worshipful virgin stood firm in her constancy, setting at nought the words of the judge: * For she thought not of vile pleasures.
℣. Rejoicing in the hope of a heavenly reward, she was patient under the trial. * For she thought not.

℟. The beloved of Christ, after enduring the horrors of a dungeon, and the torturing of her flesh: * Is closed once more in a darksome prison.
℣. She ceases not to praise and glorify the name of the Lord. * Is closed.

℟. While the holy martyr was instant in prayer, a foul dragon appeared; * And rushing upon her, he devoured her.
℣. With the sign of the cross she rent him asunder, and came forth again unhurt. * And rushing.

ANTIPHONS

Ministri statim tenellæ corpus comburebant puellæ; sed, oratione facta, igne permansit intacta.

The executioners burn the limbs of the tender maiden: but making her prayer she feels nought in the flame.

Vas immensum aqua plenum præses imperavit afferri: et in illud virginem ligatam demergi.

A great vessel full of water is brought by the judge's command: and the virgin is cast in bound.

Laudabilis Dominus in suis virtutibus, vincula manuum relaxavit, suamque famulam de morte liberavit.

The Lord, who is worthy of praise in His mighty deeds, loosened the fetters of His handmaid, and delivered her from death.

Videntes hæc mirabilia baptizati sunt quinque millia: quos capite plecti censuit ira præfecti: quibus est addicta Christi testis invicta, benedicens Deum deorum in sæcula sæculorum.

At the sight of these wonders five thousand are baptized: the prefect in anger commands them all to be beheaded, and after them the unconquerable witness of Christ, blessing the God of gods for ever and ever.

PRAYER

Deus qui beatam Margaretam virginem tuam ad cælos per martyrii palmam venire fecisti: concede nobis, quæsumus, ut ejus exempla sequentes ad te venire mereamur. Per Dominum.

O God, who didst lead Thy blessed virgin Margaret to heaven, with the palm of martyrdom, grant, we beseech Thee, that by following her example, we may merit to come unto Thee. Through our Lord.

July 21

SAINT PRAXEDES VIRGIN

On this day Pudentiana's angelic sister at length obtained from her Spouse release from bondage, and from the burden of exile that weighed so heavily on this last scion of a holy and illustrious stock. New races, unknown to her fathers when they laid the world at the feet of Rome, now governed the Eternal City. Nero and Domitian had been actuated by a tyrannical spirit; but the philosophical Caesars showed how absolutely they misconceived the destinies of the great city. The salvation of Rome lay in the hands of a different dynasty: a century back Praxedes' grandfather, more legitimate inheritor of the traditions of the Capitol than all the emperors present or to come, hailed in his guest, Simon Bar-Jona, the ruler of the future. Host of the prince of the apostles was a title handed down by Pudens to his posterity: for in the time of Pius I, as in that of St. Peter, his house was still the shelter of the Vicar of Christ. Left the sole heiress of such traditions, Praxedes, after the death of her beloved sister, converted her palaces into churches, which resounded day and night with divine praises, and where pagans hastened in crowds to be baptized. The policy of Antoninus respected the dwelling of a descendant of the Cornelii; but his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, would make no such exception. An assault was made upon the title of Praxedes, and many Christians were taken and put to the sword. The virgin, overpowered with grief at seeing all slain around her, and herself untouched, turned to God and besought Him that she might die. Her body was laid with those of her relatives in the cemetery of her grandmother, Priscilla. The following is the short notice given by the Church:

Praxedes, virgo Romana, Pudentianæ virginis soror, Marco Antonino imperatore Christianos persequente, eos facultatibus, opera, consolatione et omni charitatis officio prosequebatur. Nam alios domi occultabat; alios ad fidei constantiam hortabatur: aliorum corpora sepeliebat: iis, qui in carcere inclusi erant, qui in ergastulis exercebantur, nulla re deerat. Quæ cum tantam Christianorum stragem jam ferre non posset, Deum precata est, ut, si mori expediret, se e tantis malis eriperet. Itaque duodecimo calendas Augusti ad pietatis præmia vocatur in cœlum. Cujus corpus a Pastore presbytero in patris et sororis Pudentianæ sepulcrum illatum est, quod erat in cœmeterio Priscillæ, via Salaria.

Praxedes was a Roman virgin and sister of the virgin Pudentiana. When the emperor Marcus Antoninus persecuted the Christians, she devoted both her time and her wealth to consoling them, and doing them every charitable service in her power. Some she concealed in her house: others she encouraged to firmness of faith. She buried the dead, and saw that those who were imprisoned wanted for nothing. But at length being unable to bear the grief caused by such a wholesale butchery of the Christians, she prayed God that if it were expedient for her to die He would take her away from so much evil. Her prayer was heard, and on the twelfth of the Calends of August, she was called to heaven, to receive the reward of her charity. Her body was buried by the priest Pastor in the tomb where lay her father and her sister Pudentiana, in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way.

Mother Church is ever grateful to thee, O Praxedes! Thou hast long been in the enjoyment of thy divine Spouse, and still thou continuest the traditions of thy noble family, for the benefit of the saints on earth. When, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the martyrs, exposed to the profanations of the Lombards, were raised from their tombs and brought within the walls of the Eternal City, Paschal I sought hospitality for them where Peter had found it in the first century. What a day was that of July 20, 817, when, leaving the Catacombs, 2,300 of these heroes of Christ came to seek in the title of Praxedes the repose which the barbarians had disturbed! What a tribute Rome offered thee, O Virgin, on that day! Can we do better than unite our homage with that of the glorious band, coming on the day of thy blessed feast, thus to acknowledge thy benefits? Descendant of Pudens and Priscilla, give us thy love of Peter, thy devotedness to the Church, thy zeal for the saints of God, whether militant still on earth or already reigning in glory.

July 22

SAINT MARY MAGDALEN

THREE saints, said our Lord to St. Bridget of Sweden, 'have been more pleasing to me than all others: Mary my mother, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalen.'¹ The Fathers tell us that Magdalen is a type of the Gentile Church, called from the depth of sin to perfect holiness; and, indeed, better than any other, she personifies both the wanderings and the love of the human race, espoused by the Word of God. Like the most illustrious characters of the law of grace, she has her antitype in past ages. Let us follow the history of this great penitent as traced by unanimous tradition: Magdalen's glory will not be thereby diminished.

When, before all ages, God decreed to manifest His glory, He willed to reign over a world drawn from nothing; and as His goodness was equal to His power, He would have the triumph of supreme love to be the law of that kingdom, which the Gospel likens unto a king who made a marriage for his son.²

Passing over the pure intelligences whose nine choirs are filled with divine light, the immortal Son of the King of ages looked down to the extreme limits of creation; there he beheld human nature, made, indeed, to know God, but acquiring that knowledge laboriously; its weakness would better show His divine condescension: with it, then, He chose to contract His alliance.

Man is flesh and blood: so the Son of God would be made Flesh; He would not have angels, but men for His brothers. He that in heaven is the Splendour of His Father, and on earth the most beautiful of the sons of men, would draw the human race with the cords of Adam.³ In the very act of creation He sealed His espousals by raising man to the supernatural state of grace, and placing him in the paradise of expectation.

Alas! the human race knew not how to await her Bridegroom even in the shades of Eden. Cast out of the garden of delights, she prostituted to vain idols in their groves what was left her of her glory. For she had much beauty still, the gift of her Spouse, though she had profaned it: Thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.⁴

God would not suffer His love to be defeated. Leaving humanity at large to walk in the ways of folly, He chose out a single people, sprung from a holy stock, to be the guardian of His promises. Coming forth from Egypt and from the midst of a barbarous nation, this people was consecrated to God and became His inheritance. In the person of Balaam, the former Bride saw Israel pass through the desert, and filled with admiration at the glory of the Lord dwelling with him in his tent, her heart for a moment beat with bridal love. I shall see Him, she cried in her transport, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not near. From those wild heights whence the Spouse would one day call her, she hailed the Star that was to rise out of Jacob, and predicted the ruin of the Hebrew people who had supplanted her for a time.⁵

Too soon was this sublime ecstasy followed by still more culpable wanderings! How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? Know thou, and see, that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God.⁶ But the ages are passing, the night will soon be over, and the day-star will arise, the sign of the Bridegroom gathering the nations. Let Him lead thee into the wilderness and there He will speak to thy heart. Thy rival knows not how to be a queen; the alliance of Sinai has produced but a slave. The Bridegroom still waits for His Bride.

At length the hour came: bending the heavens, He was made sin⁷ for sinful men; and hidden under the servile garb of mortals, He sat down to table in the house of the proud Pharisee. The haughty Synagogue, who would neither fast with John nor rejoice with Christ, was now to see God justifying the delays of His merciful love. 'Let us not, like Pharisees,' says St. Ambrose, 'despise the counsels of God. The sons of Wisdom are singing: listen to their voices, attend to their dances; it is the hour of the nuptials. Thus sang the prophet when he said: Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus.'⁸

And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment; and standing behind at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment.⁹ 'Who is this woman? Without doubt it is the Church,' answers St. Peter Chrysologus, 'the Church, weighed down and stained with sins committed in the city of this world. At the news that Christ has appeared in Judea, that He is to be seen at the banquet of the Pasch, where He bestows His mysteries and reveals the divine Sacrament, and makes known the secret of salvation, suddenly she darts forward; despising the endeavours of the Scribes to prevent her entrance, she confronts the princes of the Synagogue; burning with desire she penetrates into the sanctuary, where she finds Him whom she seeks, betrayed by Jewish perfidy even at the banquet of love; not the passion, nor the Cross, nor the tomb can check her faith, or prevent her from bringing her perfumes to Christ.'¹⁰

Who but the Church knows the secret of this perfume? asks Paulinus of Nola with Ambrose of Milan; the Church, whose numberless flowers have all aromas; the Church, who exhales before God a thousand sweet odours aroused by the breath of the Holy Spirit—viz., the virtues of nations and the prayers of the saints.

Mingling the perfume of her conversion with her tears of repentance, she anoints the feet of her Lord, honouring in them His humanity. Her faith, whereby she is justified, grows equally with her love: soon the Head of the Spouse—that is, His divinity—receives from her the homage of the full measure of pure and precious spikenard—to wit, consummate holiness, whose heroism goes so far as to break the vessel of mortal flesh by the martyrdom of love, if not by that of tortures.

Arrived at the height of the mystery, she forgets not even there those sacred feet, whose contact delivered her from the seven devils representing all vices; for to the heart of the Bride, as in the bosom of the Father, her Lord is still both God and Man. The Jew, who would not own Christ either for head or foundation, found no fragrant oil for His head, nor even water for His feet; she, on the contrary, pours her priceless perfume over both. And while the sweet odour of her perfect faith fills the earth, now become by the victory of that faith the house of the Lord, she continues to wipe her Master's feet with her beautiful hair—i.e., her countless good works and her ceaseless prayer. The growth of this mystical hair requires all her care here on earth; and in heaven its abundance and beauty will call forth the praise of Him who jealously counts, without losing one, all the works of His Church. Then from her own head, as from that of her Spouse, will the fragrant unction of the Holy Spirit overflow even to the skirt of her garment.

Thou despisest, O Pharisee, the poor woman weeping with love at the feet of thy divine Guest, whom thou knowest not; but 'I would rather,' cries the solitary of Nola, 'be bound up in her hair at the feet of Christ, than be seated with thee near Christ, yet without Him.'¹¹ Happy sinner to be, both in her life of sin and that of grace, the figure of the Church, even so far as to have been foreseen and announced by the prophets. For such is the teaching of St. Jerome and St. Cyril of Alexandria; while Venerable Bede, gathering up, according to his wont, the traditions of his predecessors, does not hesitate to assert that 'what Magdalen once did, remains the type of what the whole Church does, and of what every perfect soul must ever do.'

We can well understand the predilection of the Man-God for this soul, whose repentance from such a depth of misery manifested so fully, from the outset, the success of His mission, the defeat of Satan, and the triumph of divine love. While Israel was expecting from the Messias nought but perishable goods, when the very apostles, including John the beloved, were looking for honours and first places, she was the first to come to Jesus for Himself alone, and not for His gifts. Eager only for pardon and love, she chose for her portion those sacred feet, wearied in the search after the wandering sheep: here was the blessed altar whereon she offered to her divine Deliverer as many holocausts of herself, says St. Gregory, as she had had vain objects of complacency. Henceforth her goods and her person were at the disposal of Jesus; the rest of her life was to be spent sitting at His feet, contemplating the mysteries of His life, gathering up His every word, following His footsteps, as He preached the Kingdom of God. How swiftly, in the light of her humble confidence, did she outstrip the Synagogue and the very just themselves! The Pharisee might be indignant, her sister might complain, the apostles might murmur: Mary held her peace; but Jesus spoke for her, as if His Sacred Heart were hurt by the least word said against her. At the death of Lazarus the Master had to call her from the mysterious repose wherein even then she was seated; her presence at the tomb was of more avail than the whole college of apostles and the crowd of Jews. One word from her, though already said by Martha who had arrived first, was more powerful than all the words of the latter; her tears made the Man-God weep, and drew from Him that groan which He uttered before recalling

¹ Revelationes S. Birgittæ, lib. iv., cap. 108.
² St. Matt. xxii. 2.
³ Osee xi. 4.
⁴ Ezech. xvi. 14.
⁵ Num. xxiv. 17.
⁶ Jerem. xxxi. 22, and ii. 19.
⁷ 2 Cor. v. 21.
⁸ Amb. in Luc.
⁹ St. Luke vii. 37, 38.
¹⁰ Petr. Chrysol. Sermo xcv.
¹¹ Paulin. Ep. xxiii. 42.

¹ Expos. in xii. Joann.

the dead man to life—that divine trouble of a God overcome by His creature. Oh truly, for others as well as for herself, for the world as well as for God, Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her.¹

In all that we have said, we have but linked together the testimonies of a veneration universally consistent. But the homage of all the doctors together cannot compare with the honour which the Church pays to the humble Magdalen, when she applies to the Queen of heaven on her glorious Assumption day the Gospel words first uttered in praise of the justified sinner. Albert the Great² assures us that, in the world of grace as well as in the material creation, God has made two great lights—to wit, two Maries, the Mother of our Lord and the sister of Lazarus: the greater, which is the Blessed Virgin, to rule the day of innocence; the lesser, which is Mary the penitent beneath the feet of that glorious Virgin, to rule the night by enlightening repentant sinners. As the moon by its phases points out the feast days on earth, so Magdalen in heaven gives the signal of joy to the angels of God over one sinner doing penance. Does she not also share with the Immaculate One the name of Mary, Star of the sea, as the Churches of Gaul sang in the Middle Ages, recalling how, though one was a Queen and the other a handmaid, both were causes of joy to the Church: the one being the gate of salvation, the other the messenger of the Resurrection?³

¹ St. Luke x. 42. ² Albert. Magn. in vii. Luc.
³ Sequence Mane prima sabbati.—Paschal Time, Vol. I., p. 287.

On that great Easter day, Magdalen, like a morning star, announced the rising of the Sun of Justice, who was never more to set. 'Woman,' said Jesus to her, 'why weepest thou? Thou art not mistaken.' He seemed to say, 'It is, indeed, the Divine Gardener speaking to thee, the same that planted Eden in the beginning. But now dry thy tears; in this new garden, whose centre is an empty tomb, Paradise is restored; the angels no longer close the entrance; here is the Tree of Life, which has borne fruit these three days past. This fruit, which thou, O woman, art eager, as of old, to seize and taste, belongs to thee now by right; for thou art no longer Eve but Mary. If thou art bidden not to touch it yet, it is because, as thou wouldst not heretofore taste the fruit of death thyself alone, thou mayest not now enjoy the fruit of life till thou bring back him that was first lost through thee.'¹ Thus by the wisdom and mercy of our God, woman is raised to a greater dignity than before the Fall. Magdalen, to whom woman is indebted for this glorious revenge, has hence obtained in the Church's litanies the place of honour above even the virgins; as John the Baptist precedes the whole army of the saints on account of his privilege of being the first witness to our salvation. The testimony of the penitent completes that of the Precursor: on the word of John the Church recognized the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world; on the word of Magdalen she hails the Spouse triumphant over death. And, judging that by this last testimony Catholic belief is put in full possession of the entire cycle of mysteries, she to-day intones the immortal symbol, which she deemed premature for the feast of Zachary's son.

O Mary! how great didst thou appear before heaven at that solemn moment when, before the world knew aught of the triumph of life, our Emmanuel the conqueror said to thee: Go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.² Thou didst represent us Gentiles, who were not to obtain possession of our Lord by faith till after His ascension into heaven. These brethren, to whom the Man-God sent thee, were doubtless those privileged men whom He had called to know Him during His mortal life, and to whom thou, O apostle of the apostles, hadst to announce the mystery of the Pasch; and yet, in His loving mercy, the divine Master intended

¹ Sequence of Easter day. ² St. John xx. 17.

to show Himself that same day to many of them; and both thou and they were soon to be witnesses of His triumphant Ascension. Is it not evident that thy mission, O Magdalen, though addressed to the immediate disciples of our Lord, was to extend much further both in space and time? As He entered into His glory, the Conqueror of death already beheld these brethren filling the whole earth. It is of them He had said in the psalm: I will declare thy name to My brethren: in the midst of the Church will I praise thee; in the midst of a people that shall be born which the Lord hath made!¹ It is of them and of us, the generation to come, to whom the Lord was to be declared, that He said to thee: Go to My brethren and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God. Thou didst come, and thou comest continually, fulfilling thy mission towards the disciples, and saying to them: I have seen the Lord, and these things He said to me.²

Thou camest, O Mary, when our West beheld thee, treading the rocks of Provence with thine apostolic feet, whose beauty Cyril of Alexandria admires. There seven times a day, raised on angels' wings towards the Spouse, thou didst point out, more eloquently than any speech could do, the way He took, the way the Church must follow by her desires, until she is reunited with Him for ever. Thou didst prove that the apostolate in its highest reach does not depend on words. In heaven the Seraphim and Cherubim and Thrones gaze unceasingly upon the Eternal Trinity, without so much as glancing at this world of nothingness; and nevertheless it is through them that pass the strength and light and love which the heavenly messengers in the lower hierarchies distribute to us on earth. Thus, O Magdalen, though thou clingest ever to the sacred feet which are now not denied to thy love, and thy life is unreservedly absorbed with Christ in God, thou seemest more than any other to be always saying to us: If ye be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where

¹ Ps. xxi. 23, 32. ² St. John xx. 18.

Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.¹

O thou, whose choice, so highly approved by our Lord, has revealed to the world the better part, obtain that that portion may be ever appreciated in the Church as the better—viz., that divine contemplation which begins here on earth the life of heaven, and which in its fruitful repose is the source of all the graces spread by the active ministry throughout the world. Death itself does not take away that portion, but assures its possession for ever, and makes it blossom into the full, direct vision. May he that has received it from the gratuitous goodness of God never strive to dispossess himself of it! 'Happy house,' says the devout St. Bernard, 'blessed assembly, where Martha complains of Mary! But how indignant we should be if Mary were jealous of Martha!'² And St. Jude tells us the awful judgment of the angels who kept not their principality, the familiar friends of God who forsook their own habitation.³ Keep up in religious families established by their fathers on heights that touch the clouds the sense of their inborn nobility; they are not made for the dust and noise of the plain: and did they come down to it, they would injure both the Church and themselves. By remaining what they are, they do not, any more than thou, O Magdalen, become indifferent to the lost sheep; but they take the surest of all means for purifying the earth and drawing souls to God.

From thy church at Vézelay thou didst look down one day upon a vast multitude eagerly receiving the cross; they were about to undertake that immortal Crusade, not the least glory whereof is to have supernaturalized the sentiments of honour in the hearts of those Christian warriors armed for the defence of the holy Sepulchre. A similar lesson was given to the world at the beginning of last century; Napoleon, intoxicated with power, would raise to himself and his

¹ Col. iii. 1, 2. ² Bern. Sermo iii. in Assumpt. B.V.M.
³ St. Jude 6.

army a Temple of glory; before the building was completed he was swept away, and the temple was dedicated to thee. O Mary! bless this last homage of thy beloved France, whose people and princes have always surrounded with deepest veneration thy hallowed retreat at Sainte Baume, and thy church at Saint Maximin, where rest thy precious relics. In return, teach them and teach us all, that the only true and lasting glory is to follow with thee in His Ascension Him who once sent thee to us, saying: Go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father, and to your Father, to My God and to your God!

During the different seasons of the year Holy Church inserts in their proper places, as so many precious pearls, the various passages of the Gospel relating to St. Mary Magdalen; for the particulars of her life after the Ascension we are referred to the feast of her sister, St. Martha, which we shall keep in a week's time. To the liturgical pieces already given in this work in praise of St. Magdalen we add the following ancient sequence, well known in the churches of Germany, to which we subjoin a responsory and the collect of the feast from the Roman Breviary:

SEQUENCE

Laus tibi, Christe, qui es creator et redemptor, idem et salvator,

Cæli, terræ, maris, angelorum et hominum,

Quem solum Deum confitemur et hominem.

Qui peccatores venisti ut salvos faceres,

Sine peccato peccati assumens formulam.

Quorum de grege, ut Chananæam, Mariam visitasti Magdalenam.

Eadem mensa Verbi divini illam micis, hanc refovens poculis.

In domo Simonis leprosi conviviis accubans typicis,

Murmurat pharisæus, ubi plorat femina criminis conscia.

Peccator contemnit compeccantem, peccati nescius, pœnitentem exaudis, emundas fœdam, adamas, ut pulchram facias.

Pedes amplectitur dominicos, lacrymis lavat, tergit crinibus, lavando, tergendo, unguento unxit, osculis circuit.

Hæc sunt convivia, quæ tibi placent, o Patris Sapientia.

Natus de Virgine qui non dedignaris tangi de peccatrice.

A pharisæo es invitatus, Mariæ ferculis saturatus.

Multum dimittis multum amanti, nec crimen postea repetenti.

Dæmoniis eam septem mundas septiformi Spiritu.

Ex mortuis te surgentem das cunctis videre priorem.

Hac, Christe, proselytam signas Ecclesiam, quam ad filiorum mensam vocas alienigenam.

Quam inter convivia legis et gratiæ spernit pharisæi fastus, lepra vexat hæretica.

Qualis sit tu scis, tangit te quia peccatrix, quia veniæ optatrix.

Quidnam haberet ægra, si non isset, si non medicus adesset?

Rex regum dives in omnes, nos salva, peccatorum tergens cuncta crimina, sanctorum spes et gloria.

Praise be to Thee, O Christ, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour,

Of heaven and earth and seas, of angels and of men,

Whom we confess to be both God and Man,

Who didst come in order to save sinners,

Thyself without sin, taking the appearance of sin.

Among this poor flock, Thou didst visit the Chanaanite woman and Mary Magdalen.

From the same table Thou didst nourish the one with the crumbs of the Divine Word, the other with Thy inebriating cup.

While Thou art seated at the typical feast in the house of Simon the Leper,

The Pharisee murmurs, while the woman weeps, conscious of her guilt.

The sinner despises his fellow-sinner; Thou, sinless one, hearest the prayer of the penitent, cleansest her from stains, lovest her so as to make her beautiful.

She embraces the feet of her Lord, washes them with her tears, dries them with her hair; washing and wiping them, she anoints them with sweet ointment, and covers them with kisses.

Such, O Wisdom of the Father, is the banquet that delights Thee!

Though born of a Virgin, Thou dost not disdain to be touched by a sinful woman.

The Pharisee invited Thee, but it is Mary that gives Thee a feast.

Thou forgivest much to her that loves much, and that falls not again into sin.

From seven devils dost Thou free her by Thy sevenfold Spirit.

To her, when Thou risest from the dead, Thou showest Thyself first of all.

By her, O Christ, Thou dost designate the Gentile Church, the stranger whom Thou callest to the children's table;

Who, at the feast of the Law and at the feast of grace, is despised by the pride of Pharisees, and harassed by leprous heresy.

Thou knowest what manner of woman she is; it is because she is a sinner that she touches Thee, and because she longs for pardon.

What could she have, poor sick one, without receiving it, and without the physician assisting her?

O King of kings, rich unto all, save us, wash away all the stains of our sins, O Thou the hope and glory of the saints.

RESPONSORY

Congratulamini mihi, omnes qui diligitis Dominum, quia quem quærebam apparuit mihi: * Et dum flerem ad monumentum, vidi Dominum meum, alleluia.

℣. Recedentibus discipulis, non recedebam, et amoris ejus igne succensa, ardebam desiderio. * Et dum.

Congratulate me, all ye that love the Lord; for He whom I sought appeared to me: * And while I wept at the tomb, I saw my Lord, alleluia.

℣. When the disciples withdrew, I did not withdraw, and kindled with the fire of His love, I burned with desire. * And while.

PRAYER

Beatæ Mariæ Magdalenæ, quæsumus, Domine, suffragiis adjuvemur: cujus precibus exoratus quatriduanum fratrem Lazarum vivum ab inferis resuscitasti. Qui vivis.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be aided by the intercession of blessed Mary Magdalen, entreated by whose prayers Thou didst raise up again to life her brother Lazarus, who had been dead four days. Who livest, etc.

July 23

SAINT APOLLINARIS

BISHOP AND MARTYR

Ravenna, the mother of cities, invites us to-day to honour the martyr bishop, whose labours did more for her lasting renown than did the favour of emperors and kings. From the midst of her ancient monuments, the rival of Rome, though now fallen, points proudly to her unbroken chain of Pontiffs, which she can trace back to the Vicar of the Man-God through Apollinaris. This great saint has been praised by Fathers and Doctors of the Universal Church, his sons and successors. Would to God that the noble city had remembered what she owed to St. Peter!

Apollinaris had left family and fatherland and all he possessed to follow the Prince of the apostles. One day the master said to the disciple: 'Why stayest thou here with us? Behold thou art instructed in all that Jesus did; rise up, receive the Holy Ghost, and go to that city which knows Him not.' And blessing him, he kissed him and sent him away.¹ Such sublime scenes of separation, often witnessed in those early days, and many a time since repeated, show by their heroic simplicity the grandeur of the Church.

Apollinaris sped to the sacrifice. Christ, says St. Peter Chrysologus,² hastened to meet His martyr, the martyr pressed on towards His King; but the Church, anxious to keep this support of her infancy, intervened to defer, not the struggle, but the crown; and for twenty-nine years, adds St. Peter Damian,³ his martyrdom was prolonged through such innumerable torments that the labours of Apollinaris alone were sufficient testimony of the faith for those regions, which had no other witness unto blood. According to the traditions of the Church he so powerfully established, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove directly and visibly designated each of the twelve successors of Apollinaris, up to the age of peace.

¹ Passio S. Apollin. ap. Bolland.
² Petr. Chrys. Sermo cxxviii.
³ Petr. Dam. Sermo vi. de S. Eleuchadio.

The holy liturgy devotes the following lines to the history of this brave apostle:

Apollinaris cum principe apostolorum Antiochia Romam venit: a quo ordinatus episcopus, Ravennam ad Christi Domini Evangelium prædicandum mittitur: ubi cum ad Christi fidem plurimos converteret, captus ab idolorum sacerdotibus graviter cæsus est. Cumque ipso orante Bonifacius nobilis vir, qui diu mutus fuerat, loqueretur, ejusque filia immundo spiritu liberata esset; iterum est in illum commota seditio. Itaque virgis cæsus, ardentes carbones nudis pedibus premere cogitur: quem cum subjectus ignis nihil læderet, ejicitur extra urbem.

Apollinaris came to Rome from Antioch with the prince of the apostles, by whom he was consecrated bishop, and sent to Ravenna to preach the Gospel of our Lord Christ. He converted many to the faith of Christ, for which reason he was seized by the priests of the idols and severely beaten. At his prayer, a nobleman named Boniface, who had long been dumb, recovered the power of speech, and his daughter was delivered from an unclean spirit; on this account a fresh sedition was raised against Apollinaris. He was beaten with rods, and made to walk barefoot over burning coals; but as the fire did him no injury, he was driven from the city.

Is vero latens aliquamdiu cum quibusdam Christianis, inde profectus est in Æmiliam, ubi Rufini patricii filiam mortuam ad vitam revocavit: ut propterea tota Rufini familia in Jesum Christum crederet. Quare vehementer incensus præfectus accersit Apollinarem, et cum eo gravius agit, ut finem faciat disseminandi in urbe Christi fidem. Cujus cum Apollinaris jussa negligeret, equuleo cruciatur: in cujus plagas aqua fervens infunditur, saxoque os tunditur: mox ferreis vinculis constrictus includitur in carcere. Quarto die impositus in navem, mittitur in exsilium: ac facto naufragio venit in Mysiam, inde ad ripam Danubii, postea in Thraciam.

He lay hid some time in the house of certain Christians, and then went to Emilia. Here he raised from the dead the daughter of Rufinus, a patrician, whose whole family thereupon believed in Jesus Christ. The prefect was greatly angered by this conversion, and sending for Apollinaris he sternly commanded him to give over propagating the faith of Christ in the city. But as Apollinaris paid no attention to his commands, he was tortured on the rack, boiling water was poured upon his wounds, and his mouth was bruised and broken with a stone; finally he was loaded with irons, and shut up in prison. Four days afterwards he was put on board ship and sent into exile; but the boat was wrecked, and Apollinaris arrived in Mysia, whence he passed to the banks of the Danube and into Thrace.

Cum autem in Serapidis templo dæmon se responsa daturum negaret, dum ibidem Petri apostoli discipulus moraretur, diu conquisitus inventus est Apollinaris: qui iterum jubetur navigare. Ita reversus Ravennam, ab iisdem illis idolorum sacerdotibus accusatus, centurioni custodiendus traditur: qui cum occulte Christum coleret, noctu Apollinarem dimisit. Re cognita, satellites eum consequuntur, et plagis in itinere confectum, quod mortuum crederent, relinquunt. Quem cum inde Christiani sustulissent, septimo die exhortans illos ad fidei constantiam, martyrii gloria clarus migravit e vita. Cujus corpus prope murum urbis sepultum est.

In the temple of Serapis the demon refused to utter his oracles so long as the disciple of the apostle Peter remained there. Search was made for some time, and then Apollinaris was discovered and commanded to depart by sea. Thus he returned to Ravenna; but on the accusation of the same priests of the idols, he was placed in the custody of a centurion. As this man, however, worshipped Christ in secret, Apollinaris was allowed to escape by night. When this became known, he was pursued and overtaken by the guards, who loaded him with blows and left him, as they thought, dead. He was carried away by the Christians, and seven days after, while exhorting them to constancy in the faith, he passed from this life, to be crowned with the glory of martyrdom. His body was buried near the city walls.

Venantius Fortunatus, coming from Ravenna to our northern lands, has taught us to salute from afar thy glorious tomb.⁴ Answer us by the wish thou didst frame during the days of thy mortal life: May the peace of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, rest upon you! Peace, the perfect gift, the first greeting of an apostle, the consummation of all grace: how thou didst appreciate it, how jealous of it thou wert for thy sons, even after thou hadst quitted this earth! By it thou didst obtain from the God of peace and love that miraculous intervention which pointed out, for so long a time, the bishops who were to succeed thee in thy see. Thou didst thyself appear one day to the Roman Pontiff, showing him Peter Chrysologus as the elect of Peter and of Apollinaris. And later on, knowing that the cloister was to be the home of the divine peace banished from the rest of the world, thou camest twice in person to bid Romuald obey the call of grace, and go and people the desert. How comes it that more than one of thy successors, no longer, alas! designated by the divine dove, should have become intoxicated with earthly favours, and so soon have forgotten the lessons left by thee to thy Church? Was it not sufficient honour for that Church, the daughter of Rome, to occupy among her illustrious sisters the first place at her mother's side?⁵ For surely the Gospel sung on this feast for now twelve centuries, and perhaps more,⁶ ought to have been a safeguard against the deplorable excesses which hastened her fall. Rome, warned by sinister indications, seems to have foreseen the sacrilegious ambition of a Guibert, when she fixed her choice on this passage of the sacred text: There was also a strife amongst the disciples, which of them should seem to be the greater?⁷ And what more significant, and at the same time more touching, commentary could have been given to this Gospel than the words of St. Peter himself in the Epistle: The ancients therefore, that are among you, I beseech, who am myself also an ancient, to feed the flock of God, not as lording it over the clergy, but being models to them of disinterestedness and love; and let all insinuate humility one to another, for God resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth grace.⁸ Pray, O Apollinaris, that both pastor and flocks throughout the Church may, now at least, profit by these apostolic and divine teachings, so that we may all one day have a place at the eternal banquet, where our Lord invites His own to sit down with Peter and with thee in His Kingdom.

⁴ Venan. Fortunat. Vita Sti. Martini, lib. iv., v. 684.
⁵ Diplom. Clementis II. Quod propulsis.
⁶ Kalendar. Fronton.
⁷ St. Luke xxii. 24.
⁸ Cf. 1 Pet. v. 1-11.

While Apollinaris adorns holy Mother Church with the bright purple of his martyrdom, another noble son crowns her brow with the white wreath of a confessor-pontiff. Liborius, the heir of Julian, Thuribius, and Pavasius, was a brilliant link in the glorious chain connecting the church of Le Mans with Clement, the successor of St. Peter; he came to bring peace after the storm, and to restore to the earth a hundredfold fruitfulness after the ruin caused by the tempest. The fanatical disciples of Odin, invading the west of Gaul, had committed more havoc in this part of our Lord's vineyard than had the proconsuls with their cold legalism, or the ancient Druids with their fierce hatred. Liborius, defender of the earthly fatherland, and guide of souls to the heavenly one, brought the enemy to be citizen of both by making him Christian. As a pontiff, he laboured with purest zeal for the magnificence of divine worship, which renders homage to God, and gives health to the earth; as apostle, he took up again the work of evangelization begun by the first messengers of the faith, driving idolatry from the strongholds it had reconquered, and from the country parts, where it had always reigned supreme: his friend St. Martin had not in this respect a more worthy rival.

Five centuries after the close of his laborious life his blessed body was removed from the sanctuary where it lay among his fellow-bishops, and scattering miracles all along the way, was carried to Paderborn; pagan barbarism once more fled at the approach of Liborius, and Westphalia was won to Christ. Le Mans and Paderborn, uniting in the veneration of their common apostle, have thus sealed a friendship which a thousand years have not destroyed.

PRAYER

Da, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut beati Liborii, confessoris tui atque pontificis, veneranda solemnitas et devotionem nobis augeat, et salutem. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O almighty God, that the venerable solemnity of blessed Liborius, Thy confessor and bishop, may contribute to the increase of our devotion, and promote our salvation. Through our Lord, etc.

July 24

SAINT CHRISTINA

VIRGIN AND MARTYR

Christina, whose very name fills the Church with the fragrance of the Spouse, comes as a graceful harbinger to the feast of the elder son of thunder. The ancient Vulsinium, seated by its lake with basalt shores and calm clear waters, was the scene of a triumph over Etruscan paganism, when this child of ten years despised the idols of the nations, in the very place where, according to the edicts of Constantine, the false priests of Umbria and Tuscany held a solemn annual reunion.

The discovery of Christina's tomb in our days has confirmed this particular of the age of the martyr as given in her Acts, which were denied authenticity by the science of recent times: one more lesson given to an imprudent criticism which mistrusts everything but itself.

As we look from the shore where the heroic child was laid to rest after her combat, and see the isle where Amalasonte, the noble daughter of Theodoric the Great, perished so tragically, the nothingness of mere earthly grandeur speaks more powerfully to the soul than the most eloquent discourse. In the thirteenth century the Spouse, continuing to exalt the little martyr above the most illustrious queens, associated her in the triumph of His Sacrament of love: it was Christina's church He chose as the theatre of the famous miracle of Bolsena, which anticipated by but a few months the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi.

Let us unite our prayers and praises with those of holy Church, to honour the glorious virgin martyr.

Ant. Veni, Sponsa Christi, accipe coronam quam tibi Dominus præparavit in æternum.

Ant. Come, O Bride of Christ, receive the crown which the Lord hath prepared for thee unto all eternity.

℣. Specie tua et pulchritudine tua,

℟. Intende, prospere procede, et regna.

℣. In thy comeliness and thy beauty,

℟. Set forth, proceed prosperously, and reign.

PRAYER

Indulgentiam nobis, quæsumus, Domine, beata Christina virgo et martyr imploret: quæ tibi grata semper exstitit, et merito castitatis et tuæ professione virtutis. Per Dominum.

We beseech thee, O Lord, that the blessed virgin and martyr Christina may implore for us forgiveness; who was ever pleasing to Thee by the merit of chastity, and the confession of Thy power. Through our Lord, etc.

July 25

SAINT JAMES THE GREAT

APOSTLE

Let us, to-day, hail the bright star which once made Compostella so resplendent with its rays that the obscure town became, like Jerusalem and Rome, a centre of attraction to the piety of the whole world. As long as the Christian empire lasted, the sepulchre of St. James the Great rivalled in glory that of St. Peter himself.

Among the saints of God, there is not one who manifested more evidently how the elect keep up after death an interest in the works confided to them by our Lord. The life of St. James after his call to the apostolate was but short; and the result of his labours in Spain, his allotted portion, appeared to be a failure. Scarcely had he, in his rapid course, taken possession of the land of Iberia, when, impatient to drink the chalice which would satisfy his continual desire to be close to his Lord, he opened by martyrdom the heavenward procession of the twelve, which was to be closed by the other son of Zebedee. O Salome, who didst give them both to the world, and didst present to Jesus their ambitious prayer, rejoice with a double joy: thou art not repulsed; He who made the hearts of mothers is thine abettor. Did He not, to the exclusion of all others except Simon His Vicar, choose thy two sons as witnesses of the greatest works of His power, admit them to the contemplation of His glory on Thabor, and confide to them His sorrow unto death in the garden of His agony? And to-day thy eldest-born becomes the first-born in heaven of the sacred college; the protomartyr of the apostles repays, as far as in him lies, the special love of Christ our Lord.

But how was he a messenger of the faith, since the sword of Herod Agrippa put such a speedy end to his mission! And how did he justify his name of son of thunder, since his voice was heard by a mere handful of disciples in a desert of infidelity?

This new name, another special prerogative of the two brothers, was realized by John in his sublime writings, wherein as by lightning flashes he revealed to the world the deep things of God; it was the same in his case as in that of Simon, who having been called Peter by Christ, was also made by Him the foundation of the Church; the name given by the Man-God was a prophecy, not an empty title. With regard to James, too, then, eternal Wisdom cannot have been mistaken. Let it not be thought that the sword of any Herod could frustrate the designs of the most High upon the men of His choice. The life of the saints is never cut short; their death, ever precious, is still more so when in the cause of God it seems to come before the time. It is then that with double reason we may say their works follow them; God Himself being bound in honour, both for His own sake and for theirs, to see that nothing is wanting to their plenitude. As a victim of a holocaust, He hath received them, says the Holy Ghost, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall judge nations, and rule over peoples; and their Lord shall reign for ever. How literally was this divine oracle to be fulfilled with regard to our saint!

Nearly eight centuries, which to the heavenly citizens are but as a day, had passed over that tomb in the north of Spain, where two disciples had secretly laid the apostle's body. During that time the land of his inheritance, which he had so rapidly traversed, had been overrun first by Roman idolaters, then by Arian barbarians, and when the day of hope seemed about to dawn, a deeper night was ushered in by the Crescent. One day lights were seen glimmering over the briars that covered the neglected monument; attention was drawn to the spot, which henceforth went by the name of the field of stars. But what are those sudden shouts coming down from the mountains, and echoing through the valleys? Who is this unknown chief rallying against an immense army the little worn-out troop whose heroic valour could not yesterday save it from defeat? Swift as lightning, and bearing in one hand a white standard with a red cross, he rushes with drawn sword upon the panic-stricken foe, and dyes the feet of his charger in the blood of 70,000 slain. Hail to the chief of the holy war, of which this Liturgical Year has so often made mention! Saint James! Saint James! Forward, Spain! It is the reappearance of the Galilean fisherman, whom the Man-God once called from the bark where he was mending his nets; of the elder son of thunder, now free to hurl the thunderbolt upon these new Samaritans, who pretend to honour the unity of God by making Christ no more than a prophet. Henceforth James shall be to Christian Spain the firebrand which the Prophet saw, devouring all the people round about, to the right hand and to the left, until Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.²

¹ Wisd. iii. 6-8.

And when, after six centuries and a half of struggle, his standard bearers, the Catholic kings, had succeeded in driving the infidel hordes beyond the seas, the valiant leader of the Spanish armies laid aside his bright armour, and the slayer of Moors became once more a messenger of the faith. As fisher of men, he entered his bark, and gathering around it the gallant fleets of Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Albuquerque, he led them over unknown seas to lands that had never yet heard the name of the Lord. For his contribution to the labours of the twelve, James drew ashore his well-filled nets from west and east and south, from new worlds, renewing Peter's astonishment at the sight of such captures. He, whose apostolate seemed at the time of Herod III to have been crushed in the bud before bearing any fruit, may say with St. Paul: I have no way come short of them that are above measure apostles, for by the grace of God I have laboured more abundantly than all they.¹

¹ Battle of Clavijo, under Ramiro I, about 845. ² Zach. xii. 6.

Let us now read the lines consecrated by the Church to his honour:

Jacobus, Zebedæi filius, Joannis apostoli germanus frater, Galilæus, inter primos apostolos vocatus cum fratre, relictis patre ac retibus, secutus est Dominum, et ambo ab ipso Jesu Boanerges, id est, tonitrui filii sunt appellati. Is unus fuit ex tribus apostolis, quos Salvator maxime dilexit, et testes esse voluit suæ transfigurationis, et interesse miraculo, quum archisynagogi filiam a mortuis excitavit, et adesse cum secessit in montem Oliveti, Patrem oraturus, antequam a Judæis comprehenderetur.

James, the son of Zebedee, and own brother of John the apostle, was a Galilean. He was one of the first to be called to the apostolate together with his brother, and, leaving his father and his nets, he followed the Lord. Jesus called them both Boanerges, that is to say, sons of thunder. He was one of the three apostles whom our Saviour loved the most, and whom He chose as witnesses of His Transfiguration, and of the miracle by which He raised to life the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and whom He wished to be present when He retired to the Mount of Olives, to pray to His Father, before being taken prisoner by the Jews.

Post Jesu Christi ascensum in cælum, in Judæa et Samaria ejus divinitatem prædicans, plurimos ad Christianam fidem perduxit. Mox in Hispaniam profectus, ibi aliquos ad Christum convertit: ex quorum numero septem postea episcopi a beato Petro ordinati, in Hispaniam primi directi sunt. Deinde Jerosolymam reversus, quum inter alios Hermogenem magum fidei veritate imbuisset, Herodes Agrippa Claudio imperatore ad regnum elatus, ut a Judæis gratiam iniret, Jacobum libere Jesum Christum Deum confitentem capitis condemnavit. Quem quum is, qui eum duxerat ad tribunal, fortiter martyrium subeuntem vidisset, statim se et ipse Christianum esse professus est.

After the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, James preached His divinity in Judæa and Samaria, and led many to the Christian faith. Soon, however, he set out for Spain, and there made some converts to Christianity; among these were the seven men who were afterwards consecrated bishops by St. Peter, and were the first sent by him into Spain. James returned to Jerusalem, and, among others, instructed Hermogenes, the magician, in the truths of faith. Herod Agrippa, who had been raised to the throne under the Emperor Claudius, wished to curry favour with the Jews; he therefore condemned the apostle to death for openly proclaiming Jesus Christ to be God. When the man who had brought him to the tribunal saw the courage with which he went to martyrdom, he declared that he too was a Christian.

Ad supplicium quum raperentur, petiit ille a Jacobo veniam: quem Jacobus osculatus, Pax, inquit, tibi sit. Itaque uterque est securi percussus, quum paulo ante Jacobus paralyticum sanasset. Corpus ejus postea Compostellam translatum est, ubi summa celebritate colitur, convenientibus eo religionis et voti causa ex toto terrarum orbe peregrinis. Memoria ipsius natalis hodierno die, qui translationis dies est, ab Ecclesia celebratur, quum ipse circa festum Paschæ primus Apostolorum Jerosolymis profuso sanguine testimonium Jesu Christo dederit.

As they were being hurried to execution, he implored James's forgiveness. The apostle kissed him, saying: 'Peace be with you.' Thus both of them were beheaded; James having a little before cured a paralytic. His body was afterwards translated to Compostella, where it is honoured with the highest veneration; pilgrims flock thither from every part of the world, to satisfy their devotion or pay their vows. The memory of his natalis is celebrated by the Church to-day, which is the day of his translation. But it was near the feast of the Pasch that, first of all the apostles, he shed his blood at Jerusalem as a witness to Jesus Christ.

¹ 2 Cor. xii. 11, and 1 Cor. xv. 10.

Patron of Spain, forget not the grand nation which owes to thee both its heavenly nobility and its earthly prosperity; preserve it from ever diminishing those truths which made it, in its bright days, the salt of the earth; keep it in mind of the terrible warning that if the salt lose its savour, it is good for nothing any more but to be cast out and to be trodden on by men.¹ At the same time remember, O apostle, the special cultus wherewith the whole Church honours thee. Does she not to this very day keep under the immediate protection of the Roman Pontiff both thy sacred body, so happily rediscovered in our times, and the vow of going on pilgrimage to venerate those precious relics?

Where now are the days when thy wonderful energy of expansion abroad was surpassed by thy power of drawing all to thyself? Who but he that numbers the stars of the firmament could count the saints, the penitents, the kings, the warriors, the unknown of every grade, the ever-renewed multitude, ceaselessly moving to and from that field of stars, whence thou didst shed thy light upon the world? Our ancient legends tell us of a mysterious vision granted to the founder of Christian Europe. One evening after a day of toil, Charlemagne, standing on the shore of the Frisian Sea, beheld a long belt of stars, which seemed to divide the sky between Gaul, Germany, and Italy, and crossing over Gascony, the Basque territory, and Navarre, stretched away to the far-off province of Galicia. Then thou didst appear to him and say: 'This starry path marks out the road for thee to go and deliver my tomb; and all nations shall follow after thee.' And Charles, crossing the mountains, gave the signal to all Christendom to undertake those great crusades, which were both the salvation and the glory of the Latin races, by driving back the Mussulman plague to the land of its birth.

When we consider that two tombs formed, as it were, the two extreme points or poles of this movement unparalleled in the history of nations: the one wherein the God-Man rested in death, the other where thy body lay, O son of Zebedee, we cannot help crying out with the Psalmist: Thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable.² And what a mark of friendship did the Son of Man bestow on His humble apostle by sharing His honours with him, when the military orders and Hospitallers were established, to the terror of the Crescent, for the sole purpose, at the outset, of entertaining and protecting pilgrims on their way to one or other of these holy tombs! May the heavenly impulse, now so happily showing itself in the return to the great Catholic pilgrimages, gather once more at Compostella the sons of thy former clients. We, at least, will imitate St. Louis before the walls of Tunis, murmuring with his dying lips the collect of thy feast; and we will repeat in conclusion: 'Be Thou, O Lord, the sanctifier and guardian of Thy people; that, defended by the protection of Thy apostle James, they may please Thee by their conduct, and serve Thee with secure minds.'

¹ St. Matt. v. 13.

The name of Christopher, whose memory enhances the solemnity of the son of thunder, signifies one who bears Christ. Christina yesterday reminded us that Christians ought to be in every place the good odour of Christ.¹ Christopher to-day puts us in mind that Christ truly dwells by faith in our hearts.² The graceful legend attached to his name is well known. As other men were, at a later date, to sanctify themselves in Spain by constructing roads and bridges to facilitate the approach of pilgrims to the tomb of St. James, so Christopher in Lycia had vowed for the love of Christ to carry travellers on his strong shoulders across a dangerous torrent. Our Lord will say on the last day: 'What you did to one of these my least brethren, you did it unto Me.' One night, being awakened by the voice of a child asking to be carried across, Christopher hastened to perform his wonted task of charity, when suddenly, in the midst of the surging and apparently trembling waves, the giant, who had never stooped beneath the greatest weight, was bent down under his burden, now grown heavier than the world itself. 'Be not astonished,' said the mysterious child, 'thou bearest Him who bears the world.' And He disappeared, blessing His carrier and leaving him full of heavenly strength.

Christopher was crowned with martyrdom under Decius. The aid our fathers knew how to obtain from him against storms, demons, plague, accidents of all kinds, has caused him to be ranked among the saints called helpers. In many places the fruits of the orchards were blessed on this day, under the common auspices of St. Christopher and St. James.

PRAYER

Præsta, quæsumus omnipotens Deus: ut, qui beati Christophori martyris tui natalitia colimus, intercessione ejus in tui nominis amore roboremur. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who celebrate the festival of blessed Christopher the martyr, may by his intercession be strengthened in the love of Thy name. Through.

¹ 2 Cor. ii. 15. ² Eph. iii. 17.

July 26

SAINT ANNE

MOTHER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Uniting the blood of kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of Anne's illustrious origin is far surpassed by that of her offspring, without compare among the daughters of Eve. The noblest of all who have ever conceived by virtue of the command to 'increase and multiply,' beholds the law of human generation pause before her as having arrived at its summit, at the threshold of God; for from her fruit God Himself is to come forth, the fatherless Son of the Blessed Virgin, and the grandson of Anne and Joachim.

Before being favoured with the greatest blessing ever bestowed on an earthly union, the two holy grandparents of the Word made Flesh had to pass through the purification of suffering. Traditions which, though mingled with details of less authenticity, have come down to us from the very beginning of Christianity, tell us of these noble spouses subjected to the trial of prolonged sterility, and on that account despised by their people; of Joachim cast out of the temple and going to hide his sorrow in the desert; of Anne left alone to mourn her widowhood and humiliation. For exquisite sentiment this narrative might be compared with the most beautiful histories in Holy Scripture.

'It was one of the great festival days of the Lord. In spite of extreme sorrow, Anne laid aside her mourning garments, and adorned her head and clothed herself with her nuptial robes. And about the ninth hour she went down to the garden to walk; seeing a laurel she sat down in its shade, and poured forth her prayer to the Lord God, saying: "God of my fathers, bless me and hear my supplication, as Thou didst bless Sara and didst give her a son!"

'And raising her eyes to heaven, she saw in the laurel a sparrow's nest, and sighing she said: "Alas! of whom was I born to be thus a curse in Israel?

'"To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the birds of the air; for the birds are blessed by Thee, O Lord.

'"To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the beasts of the earth: for they, too, are fruitful before thee.

'"To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me to the waters; for they are not barren in thy sight, and the rivers and the oceans full of fish praise thee in their heavings and in their peaceful flowing.

'"To whom shall I liken me? I cannot liken me even to the earth, for the earth too bears fruit in season, and praises thee, O Lord."

'And behold an angel of the Lord stood by, and said to her: "Anne, God has heard thy prayer; thou shalt conceive and bear a child, and thy fruit shall be honoured throughout the whole inhabited earth." And in due time Anne brought forth a daughter, and said: "My soul is magnified this hour." And she called the child Mary; and giving her the breast, she intoned this canticle to the Lord:

'"I will sing the praise of the Lord my God: for he has visited me and has taken away my shame, and has given me a fruit of justice. Who shall declare to the sons of Ruben that Anne is become fruitful? Hear, hear, O ye twelve tribes: behold Anne is giving suck!"'¹

The feast of St. Joachim, which the Church celebrates on the day following his blessed daughter's Assumption, will give us an occasion of completing the account of these trials and joys in which he shared. Warned from heaven to leave the desert, he met his spouse at the golden gate which leads to the Temple on the east side. Not far from here, near the Probatica piscina, where the little white lambs were washed before being offered in sacrifice, now stands the restored basilica of St. Anne, originally called St. Mary of the Nativity. Here, as in a peaceful paradise, the rod of Jesse produced that blessed branch which the prophet hailed as about to bear the flower that had blossomed from eternity in the bosom of the Father. It is true that Sepphoris, Anne's native city, and Nazareth, where Mary lived, dispute with the Holy City the honour which ancient and constant tradition assigns to Jerusalem. But our homage will not be misdirected if we offer it to-day to blessed Anne, in whom were wrought the prodigies, the very thought of which brings new joy to heaven, rage to Satan, and triumph to the world.

Anne was, as it were, the starting-point of redemption, the horizon scanned by the prophets, the first span of the heavens to be empurpled with the rising fires of dawn; the blessed soil whose produce was so pure as to make the angels believe that Eden had been restored to us. But in the midst of the incomparable peace that surrounds her, let us hail her as the land of victory surpassing the most famous fields of battle; as the sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception, where our humiliated race took up the combat begun before the throne of God by the angelic hosts; where the serpent's head was crushed, and Michael, now surpassed in glory, gladly handed over to his sweet Queen, at the first moment of her existence, the command of the Lord's armies.

What human lips, unless touched like the prophet's with a burning coal, could tell the admiring wonder of the angelic Powers, when the Blessed Trinity, passing from the burning Seraphim to the lowest of the nine choirs, bade them turn their fiery glances and contemplate the flower of sanctity blossoming in the bosom of Anne? The Psalmist had said of the glorious City whose foundations were now hidden in her that was once barren: The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains;² and the heavenly hierarchies crowning the slopes of the eternal hills beheld in her heights to them unknown and unattainable summits approaching so near to God, that He was even then preparing His throne in her. Like Moses at the sight of the burning bush on Horeb, they were seized with a holy awe on recognizing the mountain of God in the midst of the desert of this world; and they understood that the affliction of Israel was soon to cease. Although shrouded by the cloud, Mary was already that blessed mountain whose base—i.e., the starting-point of her graces—was set far above the summits where the highest created sanctities are perfected in glory and love.

How justly is the mother named Anne, which signifies grace, she in whom for nine months were centred the complacencies of the Most High, the ecstasy of the angelic spirits, and the hope of all flesh! No doubt it was Mary, the daughter, and not the mother, whose sweetness so powerfully attracted the heavens to our lowly earth. But the perfume first scents the vessel which contains it, and, even after it is removed, leaves it impregnated with its fragrance. Moreover, it is customary to prepare the vase itself with the greatest care; it must be all the purer, made of more precious material, and more richly adorned, according as the essence to be placed in it is rarer and more exquisite. Thus Magdalen enclosed her precious spikenard in alabaster. The Holy Spirit, the preparer of heavenly perfumes, would not be less careful than men. Now the task of blessed Anne was not limited, like that of a material vase, to containing passively the treasure of the world. She furnished the body of her who was to give flesh to the Son of God; she nourished her with her milk; she gave to her, who was inundated with floods of divine light, the first practical notions of life. In the education of her illustrious daughter, Anne played the part of a true mother: not only did she guide Mary's first steps, but she co-operated with the Holy Ghost in the education of her soul and the preparation for her incomparable destiny; until, when the work had reached the highest development to which she could bring it, she, without a moment's hesitation or a thought of self, offered her tenderly loved child to Him from whom she had received her.

Sic fingit tabernaculum Deo—'Thus she frames a tabernacle for God.' Such was the inscription around the figure of St. Anne instructing Mary, which formed the device of the ancient guild of joiners and cabinet-makers; for they, looking upon the making of tabernacles wherein God may dwell in our churches as their most choice work, had taken St. Anne for their patroness and model. Happy were those times when the simplicity of our fathers penetrated so deeply into the practical understanding of mysteries which their infatuated sons glory in ignoring. The valiant woman is praised in the Book of Proverbs for her spinning, weaving, sewing, embroidering, and household cares: naturally, then, those engaged in these occupations placed themselves under the protection of the spouse of Joachim. More than once, those suffering from the same trial which had inspired Anne's touching prayer beneath the sparrow's nest, experienced the power of her intercession in obtaining for others, as well as for herself, the blessing of the Lord God.

The East anticipated the West in the public cultus of the grandmother of the Messias. Towards the middle of the sixth century a church was dedicated to her in Constantinople. The Typicon of St. Sabbas makes a liturgical commemoration of her three times in the year: on September 9, together with her spouse St. Joachim, the day after the birthday of their glorious daughter; on December 9, whereon the Greeks, a day later than the Latins, keep the feast of our Lady's Immaculate Conception, under a title which more directly expresses St. Anne's share in the mystery; and lastly, July 25, not being occupied by the feast of St. James, which was kept on April 30, is called the Dormitio or precious death of St. Anne, mother of the most holy Mother of God: the very same expression which the Roman martyrology adopted later.

Although Rome, with her usual reserve, did not until much later authorize the introduction into the Latin Churches of a liturgical feast of St. Anne, she nevertheless encouraged the piety of the faithful in this direction. So early as the time of Leo III¹ and by that illustrious Pontiff's express command, the history of Anne and Joachim was represented on the sacred ornaments of the noblest basilicas in the Eternal City.² The Order of Carmel, so devout to St. Anne, powerfully contributed, by its fortunate migration into our countries, to the growing increase of her cultus. Moreover, this development was the natural outcome of the progress of devotion among the people to the Mother of God. The close relation between the two cults is noticed in a concession, whereby in 1381 Urban VI satisfied the desires of the faithful in England by authorizing for that kingdom a feast of the blessed Anne. The Church of Apt in Provence had been already a century in possession of the feast; a fact due to the honour bestowed on that Church of having received, almost together with the faith, the saint's holy body, in the first age of Christianity.

Since our Lord, reigning in heaven, has willed that His blessed Mother should also be crowned there in her virginal body, the relics of Mary's mother have become doubly dear to the world, first, as in the case of others, on account of the holiness of her whose precious remains they are, and then above all others, on account of their close connection with the mystery of the Incarnation. The Church of Apt was so generous out of its abundance, that it would now be impossible to enumerate the sanctuaries which have obtained, either from this principal source or from elsewhere, more or less notable portions of these precious relics. We cannot omit to mention as one of these privileged places, the great basilica of St. Paul outside the walls: St. Anne herself, in an apparition to St. Bridget of Sweden, confirmed the authenticity of the arm which forms one of the most precious jewels in the rich treasury of that Church.³

It was not until 1584 that Gregory XIII ordered the celebration of this feast of July 26 throughout the whole Church, with the rite of a double. Leo XIII in recent times (1879) raised it, together with that of St. Joachim, to the dignity of a solemnity of the second class. But before that, Gregory XV, after having been cured of a serious illness by St. Anne, had ranked her feast among those of precept, with the obligation of resting from servile work.

Now that St. Anne was receiving the homage due to her exalted dignity, she made haste to show her recognition of this more solemn tribute of praise. In the years 1623, 1624, and 1625, in the village of Kerouanne, near Auray, in Brittany, she appeared to Yves Nicolazic, and discovered to him an ancient statue buried in the field of Bocenno, which he tenanted. This discovery brought the people once more to the place where, a thousand years before, the inhabitants of ancient Armorica had honoured that statue. Innumerable graces obtained on the spot spread its fame far beyond the limits of the province, whose faith, worthy of past ages, had merited the favour of the grandmother of the Messias; and St. Anne d'Auray was soon reckoned among the chief pilgrimages of the Christian world.

More fortunate than the wife of Elcana, who prefigured thee both in her trial and by her name, thou, O Anne, now singest the magnificent gifts of the Lord. Where is now the proud synagogue that despised thee? The descendants of the barren one are now without number; and all we, the brethren of Jesus, children, like Him, of thy daughter Mary, come joyfully, led by our Mother, to offer thee our praises. In the family circle the grandmother's feast day is the most touching of all, when her grandchildren surround her with reverential love, as we gather around thee to-day. Many, alas! know not these beautiful feasts, where the blessing of the earthly paradise seems to revive in all its freshness; but the mercy of our God has provided a sweet compensation. He, the Most High God, willed to come so nigh to us as to be one of us in the flesh; to know the relations and mutual dependencies which are the law of our nature; the cords of Adam, with which He had determined to draw us and in which He first bound Himself. For in raising nature above itself, He did not eliminate it; He made grace take hold of it and lead it to heaven; so that, joined together on earth by their divine Author, nature and grace were to be united for all eternity. We, then, being brethren by grace of Him who is ever thy grandson by nature, are, by this loving disposition of Divine Wisdom, quite at home under thy roof; and to-day's feast, so dear to the hearts of Jesus and Mary, is our own family feast.

¹ Protevangelium Jacobi.
² Ps. lxxxvi. 1.
¹ 795-816.
² Lib. pontif. in Leon. III.
³ Revelationes S. Birgittæ, lib. vi, cap. 104.

Smile then, dear mother, upon our chants and bless our prayers. To-day and always be propitious to the supplications which our land of sorrows sends up to thee. Be gracious to wives and mothers who confide to thee their holy desires and the secret of their sorrows. Keep up, where they still exist, the traditions of the Christian home. Over how many families has the baneful breath of this age passed, blighting all that is serious in life, weakening faith, leaving nothing but languor, weariness, frivolity, if not even worse, in the place of the true and solid joys of our fathers. How truly might the Wise Man say at the present day: Who shall find a valiant woman? She alone by her influence could counteract all these evils; but on condition of recognizing wherein her true strength lies: in humble household works done with her own hands; in hidden, self-sacrificing devotedness; in watchings by night; in hourly foresight; working in wool and flax, and with the spindle; all those strong things which win for her the confidence and praise of her husband; authority over all, abundance in the house, blessings from the poor whom she has helped, honour from strangers, reverence from her children; and for herself in the fear of the Lord, nobility and dignity, beauty and strength, wisdom, sweetness and content, and calm assurance at the latter day.³

³ Cf. Prov. xxxi. 10-31.

O blessed Anne, rescue society, which is perishing for want of virtues like thine. The motherly kindnesses thou art ever more frequently bestowing upon us have increased the Church's confidence; deign to respond to the hopes she places in thee. Bless especially thy faithful Brittany; have pity on unhappy France, for which thou hast shown thy predilection, first, by so early confiding to it thy sacred body; later on, by choosing in it the spot whence thou wouldst manifest thyself to the world; and, again, quite recently entrusting to its sons the church and seminary dedicated to thy honour in Jerusalem. O thou who lovest the Franks, who deignest still to look on fallen Gaul as the kingdom of Mary, continue to show it that love which is its most cherished tradition. Mayest thou become known throughout the whole world. As for us, who have long known thy power and experienced thy goodness, let us ever seek in thee, O mother, our rest, security, strength in every trial; for he who leans on thee has nothing to fear on earth, and he who rests in thy arms is safely carried.

Let us offer blessed Anne a wreath gathered from the liturgy. We will first cull from the Menæa of the Greeks, as being the earliest in date:

MENSIS JULII DIE XXV

Ex Officio Vespertino

En splendida solemnitas et dies clara, universo mundo jucunda, venerabilis atque laudanda dormitio Annæ gloriosæ, ex qua prodiit Mater vitæ.

O brilliant solemnity, day full of light and joy to the whole world! This day we celebrate the venerable and praiseworthy passage of the glorious Anne, of whom was born the Mother of life.

Quæ prius infecunda et sterilis, primitias nostræ salutis germinavit, Christum rogat ut culparum veniam largiatur his qui cum fide eum collaudant.

She who was once unfruitful and barren brought forth the firstfruits of our salvation; she beseeches Christ to grant pardon of their sins to them that sing His praises with faith.

Salve, avis spiritualis, verni nuntia gratiæ. Salve, ovis agnam parta, quæ Agnum tollentem peccata mundi, Verbum, verbo genuit.

Hail, spiritual bird, announcing the springtime of grace! Hail, O ewe, mother of the ewe-lamb, who by a word conceived the Word, the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world!

Salve, terra benedicta, quæ virgam divinitus germinantem mundo florescere fecisti. Sterilitatem tuo partu fugasti, Anna in Deo beatissima, avia Christi Dei, quæ fulgentem lucernam, Dei genitricem, edidisti: quacum intercedere digneris, ut animabus nostris magna misericordia donetur.

Hail, blessed earth, whence sprang the branch that bore a divine fruit. Thy fruitfulness put an end to barrenness, O Anne, most blessed in God, grandmother of Christ our God, who didst give to the world a shining lamp, the Mother of God; together with her deign to intercede, that great may be the mercy granted to our souls.

Venite universæ creaturæ, in cymbalis psalmorum Annæ piæ acclamemus, quæ e visceribus suis genuit divinum Montem, et ad montes spirituales ac tabernacula Paradisi est translata. Ad ipsam dicamus: Beata alvus tua quæ vere gestavit illam quæ in ventre suo portavit lumen mundi: gloriosa ubera tua, quibus lactata est ea quæ Christum, cibum vitæ nostræ, aluit. Hunc deprecare, ut ab omni vexatione et incursu inimici liberemur, et animæ nostræ salventur.

Come all ye creatures, let us cry out to holy Anne with cymbals and psaltery. She brought forth the mountain of God, and was borne up to the spiritual mountains, the tabernacles of Paradise. Let us say to her: Blessed is thy womb wherein she rested who herself bore the Light of the world; glorious are thy breasts which suckled her who fed Christ the food of our life. Beseech Him to deliver us from all harassing attacks of the enemy, and to save our souls.

Let us turn to our Western lands and join in the chants of the various churches. The Mozarabic liturgy thus interprets the feelings of the once barren woman, after her prayer had been so magnificently answered:

ANTIPHONA

Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo: quia exaudisti verba oris mei.

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; for Thou hast heard the words of my mouth.

℟. In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi.

℟. In the sight of angels I will sing praise to Thee.

℣. Deus meus es tu, et confitebor tibi: Deus meus, et exaltabo te.

℣. Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee: my God, and I will exalt Thee.

℟. In conspectu.

℟. In the sight.

℣. Gloria et honor Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

℣. Glory and honour be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

℟. In conspectu.

℟. In the sight.

Apt shall speak in the name of all Provence, and tell of its glorious honour:

ANTIPHON

O splendor Provinciæ, nobilis mater Mariæ Virginis, et Davidis filia; avia Redemptoris, nobis opem feras veniæ ut vivamus cum beatis.

O glory of Provence, noble mother of the Virgin Mary, daughter of David, grandmother of our Redeemer, bring us the grace of pardon, that we may live with the blessed.

Brittany shall declare the confidence it places in its illustrious protectress:

RESPONSORY

Hæc est mater nobis electa a Domino, Anna sanctissima Britonum spes et tutela: * Quam in prosperis adjutricem, in adversis auxiliatricem habemus.

Behold the mother chosen for us by our Lord, most holy Anne, the hope and protection of the Bretons. * In prosperity our helper, in adversity our succour.

℣. Populi sui memor sit semper; adsitque grata filiis suis, terra marique laborantibus. * Quam in prosperis.

℣. May she be ever mindful of her people, ever gracious to her children, whether on land or toiling o'er the sea. * In prosperity.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. * Quam in prosperis.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. * In prosperity.

Let us all unite with Brittany in the following hymn:

HYMN

Lucis beatæ gaudiis
Gestit parens Ecclesia, Annamque Judæa decus
Matrem Mariæ concinit.

Mother Church exults with the joy of this blessed day, and sings the praise of Anne, the beauty of Judea, the mother of Mary.

Regum piorum sanguini Jungit sacerdotes avos, Illustris Anna splendidis Vincit genus virtutibus.

Uniting the blood of holy kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of her ancestry is far outstripped by Anne's resplendent virtues.

Cœlo favente nexuit
Vincli jugalis fœdera,
Alvoque sancta condidit Sidus perenne virginum.

Neath heaven's smile she ties the nuptial bond; and in her holy tabernacle hides the unwaning star of virgins.

O mira cœli gratia!
Annæ parentis in sinu
Protinus ipsa conterit Sævi draconis verticem.

O wondrous grace of heaven! Scarce is the Virgin conceived in the womb of her mother when she there crushes the head of the cruel dragon.

Tanto salutis pignore Jam sperat humanum genus: Orbi redempto prævia
Pacem columba nuntiat.

With such a pledge of salvation mankind finds hope at length; the dove has come foretelling peace to the redeemed world.

Sit laus Patri, sit Filio Tibique Sancte Spiritus. Annam pie colentibus Confer perennem gratiam.

Amen.

Praise be to the Father, to the Son, and to Thee, O holy Spirit! To them that lovingly honour blessed Anne, grant everlasting grace. Amen.

We will conclude with these beautiful formulæ of praise and prayer to our Lord, from the Ambrosian Missal of Milan:

PREFACE

Æterne Deus, qui beatam Annam singulari tuæ gratiæ privilegio sublimasti. Cui desideratæ fœcunditatis munus magnificum, et excellens adeo contulisti; ut ex ipsa Virgo virginum, Maria, angelorum Domina, Regina mundi, maris stella, Mater Filii tui Dei et hominis nasceretur. Et ideo cum angelis.

It is right and just to give thanks to Thee, O eternal God, who by a singular privilege of Thy grace, hast exalted the blessed Anne. To whose desire of fruitfulness Thou didst give a gift so magnificent and so far surpassing all others, that from her was born Mary, the Virgin of virgins, the Lady of the angels, the Queen of the world, the star of the sea, the Mother of Thy Son, who is both God and Man. And, therefore, with the angels, etc.

ORATIO SUPER SINDONEM

Omnipotens, sempiterne Deus, qui beatam Annam, diuturna sterilitate afflictam, gloriosæ prolis fœtu tua gratia fœcundasti; da, quæsumus: ut, pro nobis apud te intervenientibus ejus meritis, efficiamur sincera fide fœcundi, et salutiferis operibus fructuosi. Per Dominum.

O almighty everlasting God, who didst give to blessed Anne, after the affliction of a long barrenness, the grace to bear a glorious fruit; grant, we beseech thee, that, as her merits intercede with thee for us, we may be made rich in sincere faith and fruitful in works of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.

July 27

SAINT PANTALEON

MARTYR

THE East celebrates to-day one of her great martyrs, who was both a healer of bodies and a conqueror of souls. His name, which recalls the strength of the lion, was changed by heaven at the time of his death into Panteleemon, or all-merciful—a happy presage of the gracious blessings our Lord would afterwards bestow on the earth through his means. The various translations and the diffusion of his sacred relics in our West have made his cultus widespread, together with his renown as a friend in need, which has caused him to be ranked among the saints called helpers.

Pantaleon, Nicomediensis, nobilis medicus ab Hermolao Presbytero in Jesu Christi fide eruditus, baptizatus est: qui mox patri Eustorgio persuasit, ut Christianus fieret. Quare cum Nicomediæ postea Christi Domini fidem libere prædicaret, et ad ejus doctrinam omnes cohortaretur, Diocletiano imperatore equuleo tortus, et admotis ad ejus latus laminis candentibus, cruciatus est: quam tormentorum vim æquo et forti animo ferens, ad extremum gladio percussus, martyrii coronam adeptus est.

Pantaleon was a nobleman of Nicomedia and a physician. He was instructed in the faith and baptized by the priest Hermolaus, and soon persuaded his father Eustorgius to become a Christian. Afterwards he freely preached the faith of our Lord Christ in Nicomedia, and encouraged all to embrace his doctrine. This was in the reign of Diocletian. He was tortured on the rack and red-hot plates were applied to his body. He bore the violence of these tortures calmly and bravely, and being finally beheaded, gained the crown of martyrdom.

What is stronger than a lion, and what is sweeter than honey?¹ Greater than Samson, thou, O martyr, didst in thy own person propose and solve the riddle: Out of the strong came forth sweetness.² O lion, who didst follow so fearlessly the Lion of Juda, thou didst imitate His ineffable gentleness; and as He deserved to be called eternally the Lamb, so did He will His divine mercy to shine forth in the everlasting heavenly name, into which He changed thy earthly name. Justify that title more and more for the honour of Him who gave it to thee. Be merciful to those who call on thee: to the sufferers whom a weary consumption brings daily nearer to the tomb; to physicians who, like thee, spend themselves in the care of their brethren; assist them in giving relief to physical suffering, in restoring corporal health; teach them still better to heal moral wounds, and lead souls to salvation.

¹ Judg. xiv. 18.
² Judg. xiv. 14.

July 28

SS. NAZARIUS, CELSUS, AND VICTOR

MARTYRS, AND

SAINT INNOCENT

POPE AND CONFESSOR

Nazarius and Celsus bring glory to the Church of Milan by appearing on the cycle to-day. After lying forgotten for three centuries in the obscure tomb that had received their precious remains in the time of Nero, they now receive the united homage of East and West. It was nine years since the triumphal day when Gervase and Protase, no less forgotten by the city once witness of their combat, had come to console and strengthen an illustrious bishop who was persecuted for his profession of the divine consubstantiality of the same Christ who had had all their love and faith. Ambrose, loved by the martyrs, though denied their palm, was soon to receive the white wreath of confession in reward for his holy works, when heaven revealed to him a new treasure, the discovery of which was again 'to illustrate the times of his episcopate.'¹ Theodosius was no more; Ambrose was about to die; the barbarians were at the gates. But as if simultaneous with the threat of imminent destruction to the ancient world, the hour for the first resurrection spoken of by St. John had sounded, the martyrs rose from their tombs to reign a thousand years with Christ on the renovated earth.

That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen, which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and in her was found the blood of prophets and of

¹ Amb. Ep. xxii.

saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. The great Pope Innocent I, whose memory seems to have been purposely united with that of the martyrs, bears witness to the deluge, wherein, during his pontificate, pagan Rome at length perished utterly, and made way for the new Jerusalem come down from heaven. Like the ancient Sion, the Rome of the Cæsars would not yield to the offers of that God who alone could fulfil her desires of immortality. Ever since the triumph of the Cross under Constantine, no city of the empire had remained so obstinately given to the worship of idols, or shed so much of that noble blood which might have renewed her youth. And yet after the defeat of her vain idols God, in His patience, determined to wait a century longer, the last decade of which was a series of salutary threats and merciful interventions, the evident work of the Christ whom she still obstinately repulsed. The incursions of the Goths, allies one day, enemies the next, everywhere spreading anarchy, gave her an opportunity of returning to superstitions which the Christian emperors had not tolerated; and in her dotage she welcomed the Tuscan soothsayers who had come to help her against Alaric, and allowed them to re-establish the worship of idols. Terrible was her awakening when, on the morning of August 24, 410, the true God of armies took His revenge; and while the barbarians were engaged in wholesale massacre and pillage, lightning set fire to the town and destroyed the statues in which she had so long placed her confidence and her glory.

The avengers of God, destroying Babylon, spared the tombs of the two founders of the eternal Rome. On these apostolic foundations Innocent began to rebuild the Holy City. Soon on her seven hills, purified by fire, she rose again, more brilliant than ever, the destined centre of the world of mind. It was in the year 417, the last of Innocent's pontificate, that St. Augustine, hearing that the Pelagian heresy was condemned, cried out: 'Letters have arrived from Rome; the dispute is at an end.' The Councils of Carthage and Milevis, which on this occasion had requested the confirmation of their decree by the Apostolic See, did in this but continue the uninterrupted tradition of the churches with regard to the supremacy of their mother and mistress. This fact is eloquently attested by the holy Pope Victor, who shares with the martyrs the honours of to-day. His great name calls to mind the Councils of the second century, held by his orders throughout the Church to treat of the celebration of Easter; the condemnation he pronounced, or intended to pronounce, against the churches of Asia, without anyone questioning his right to do so; lastly, the uncontroverted anathemas he hurled against Montanus and the precursors of Arius.

Let us read the notice of our four saints given in to-day's office:

Nazarius a beato Lino Papa baptizatus, cum in Galliam profectus esset, ibi Celsum puerum, a se christianis præceptis prius instructum, baptizavit: qui una Trevirim euntes, Neronis persecutione in mare uterque dejicitur, unde mirabiliter evaserunt. Postea Mediolanum venientes, cum ibi Christi fidem disseminarent, ab Anolino præfecto, constantissime Christum Deum confitentes, capite plectuntur: quorum corpora extra portam Romanam sepulta sunt. Quæ cum diu latuissent, Dei monitu a beato Ambrosio conspersa recenti sanguine sunt inventa, tamquam si paulo ante martyrium passi essent: unde in urbem translata, honorifico sepulcro contecta sunt.

Nazarius was baptized by the blessed Pope Linus. He went into Gaul, and there baptized a child named Celsus whom he had instructed in the Christian doctrine. Together they went to Treves, and in Nero's persecution were both thrown into the sea, but were saved by a miracle. They proceeded to Milan, where they spread the faith of Christ; and as they with great constancy confessed Christ to be God, the prefect, Anolinus, condemned them to death. Their bodies were buried outside the Roman gate, and for a long time remained unknown. But through a divine revelation they were found by St. Ambrose, sprinkled with fresh blood, as if they had but just suffered martyrdom. They were translated to the city and buried in an honourable tomb.

Victor in Africa natus, Severo imperatore rexit Ecclesiam. Confirmavit decretum Pii Primi, ut sacrum Pascha die Dominico celebraretur: qui ritus ut postea in mores induceretur, habita sunt multis in locis concilia: et in Nicæna denique prima Synodo sancitum est, ut Paschæ dies festus post quartamdecimam lunam ageretur, ne Christiani Judæos imitari viderentur. Statuit, ut quavis aqua, modo naturali, si necessitas cogeret, quicumque baptizari posset. Theodotum coriarium Byzantinum docentem Christum tantummodo hominem fuisse, ejecit ex Ecclesia. Scripsit de quæstione Paschæ, et alia quædam opuscula. Creavit duabus ordinationibus mense Decembri presbyteros quatuor, diaconos septem, episcopos per diversa loca duodecim. Martyrio coronatus, sepelitur in Vaticano, quinto calendas Augusti. Sedit annos novem, mensem unum, dies viginti octo.

Victor, an African by birth, governed the Church in the time of the Emperor Severus. He confirmed the decree of Pius I, which ordered Easter to be celebrated on a Sunday. Later on, Councils were held in many places in order to bring this rule into practice, and finally the first Council of Nicæa commanded that the feast of Easter should be always kept after the fourteenth day of the moon, lest the Christians should seem to imitate the Jews. Victor ordained that, in case of necessity, baptism could be given with any water, provided it was natural. He expelled from the Church the Byzantine, Theodotus the currier, who taught that Christ was only man. He wrote on the question of Easter, and some other small works. In two ordinations which he held in the month of December, he made four priests, seven deacons, and twelve bishops for different places. He was crowned with martyrdom, and buried on the Vatican on the fifth of the Calends of August, after having sat nine years, one month, and twenty-eight days.

Innocentius Albanensis, sancti Hieronymi et Augustini ætate floruit: de quo ille ad Demetriadem virginem: Sancti Innocentii, qui Apostolicæ Cathedræ, et beatæ memoriæ Anastasii successor et filius est, teneas fidem, nec peregrinam, quamvis tibi prudens, callidaque videaris, doctrinam recipias. Eum tamquam justum Lot subtractum Dei providentia ad Ravennam servatum fuisse, scribit Orosius, ne Romani populi videret excidium. Is, Pelagio et Cœlestio damnatis, contra eorum hæresim decretum fecit, ut parvuli ex Christiana etiam muliere nati, per baptismum renasci deberent; ut in eis regeneratione mundetur, quod generatione contraxerunt.Obavit etiam, ut Sabbato ob memoriam Christi Domini sepulturæ jejunium servaretur. Sedit annos quindecim, mensem unum, dies decem. Quatuor ordinationibus mense Decembri creavit presbyteros triginta, diaconos quindecim, episcopos per diversa loca quinquaginta quatuor: sepultus est in cœmeterio ad Ursum Pileatum.

Innocent, by nation an Albanian, lived at the time of Saints Jerome and Augustine. Jerome, writing to the virgin Demetrias, says of him: 'Hold fast to the faith of holy Innocent, who is the son of Anastasius of blessed memory and his successor in the apostolic throne; receive no strange doctrine, however shrewd and wise you may think yourself.' Orosius writes that, like the just Lot, he was withdrawn by God's providence from Rome, and preserved in safety at Ravenna, that he might not be a witness of the ruin of the Roman people. After the condemnation of Pelagius and Celestius, he decreed, contrary to their heretical teaching, that children, even though born of a Christian mother, must be born again by water, in order that their second birth may cleanse away the stain they have contracted by the first. He also approved the observance of fasting on the Saturday in memory of the burial of Christ our Lord. He sat fifteen years, one month, and ten days. He held four ordinations in the month of December, and made thirty priests, fifteen deacons, and fifty-four bishops for divers places. He was buried in the cemetery called ad Ursum Pileatum.

Glorious saints, who, either by shedding your blood in the arena or by promulgating decrees from the apostolic Chair, have exalted the faith of the Lord, bless our prayers. Give us to understand the teaching conveyed by your meeting to-day on the sacred cycle. We, who are neither martyrs nor pontiffs, may, nevertheless, merit to share in your glory; for the motive which explains your union to-day must be for us, each in his degree, the cause of salvation: the apostle tells us that in Christ Jesus nothing availeth but faith that worketh by charity!¹ It is only by that faith for which you laboured or suffered that we wait for the hope of justice² and expect the crown.

O Nazarius, who, leaving all things, didst carry the name of Christ to countries that knew him not; and thou Celsus, who, though a mere child, didst not fear to sacrifice, like him, for Jesus' sake, thy family, thy country, and thy very life: obtain for us the right appreciation of the treasure of faith, which every Christian is called upon to show to advantage by the confession of good works and of praise. Victor, jealous guardian of that divine praise with regard to the solemnity of solemnities, and avenger of the Man-God in His divine nature; Innocent, infallible teacher concerning the grace of Christ, and witness, too, of His inexorable justice, teach us to unite confidence with fear, uprightness of belief with the susceptibility a Christian ought to have with regard to his faith, the only foundation of justice and love. Martyrs and pontiffs, may your united attraction draw us along the straight road which leads to heaven.

¹ Gal. v. 6.
² Ibid. 5.

July 29

SAINT MARTHA

VIRGIN

Magdalen this time was the first to meet our Lord. Scarce a week had elapsed since her glorious passage, when she repaid her sister's former kind office, and came in her turn saying: 'The Beloved is here and calleth for thee.' And Jesus preventing her, appeared Himself and said: 'Come, my hostess; come from exile, thou shalt be crowned.' Hostess of the Lord, then, is to be Martha's title of nobility in heaven, as it was her privileged name on earth.

*Into whatever city or town you shall enter*, said the Man-God to His disciples, *inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide.*¹ Now St. Luke relates that *as they went, our Lord Himself entered into a certain town, and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house.*² How could we give greater praise to Magdalen's sister than by bringing together these two texts of the holy Gospel?

This certain town, where she was found worthy to give Jesus a lodging, this village, says St. Bernard, 'is our lowly earth, hidden like an obscure borough in the immensity of our Lord's possessions. The Son of God had come down from heaven to seek the lost sheep; He had come into the world He had made, and the world knew Him not; Israel, His own people, had not given Him so much as a stone whereon to lay His head, and had left Him in His thirst to beg water from the Samaritan. We, the Gentiles, whom He was thus seeking amid contradictions and fatigues, ought we not, like Him, to show our gratitude to her who, braving present unpopularity and future persecution, paid our debt to Him?

Glory, then, be to this daughter of Sion, of royal descent, who, faithful to the traditions of hospitality handed down from the patriarchs and early fathers, was blessed more than all of them in the exercise of this noble virtue! These ancestors of our faith, pilgrims themselves and without fixed habitation, knew more or less obscurely that the Desired of Israel and the Expectation of the nations was to appear as a wayfarer and a stranger on earth; and they honoured the future Saviour in the person of every stranger that presented himself at their tent door; just as we, their sons, in the faith of the same promises now accomplished, honour Christ in the guest whom His goodness sends us. This relation between Him that was to come and the pilgrim seeking shelter made hospitality the most honoured handmaid of divine charity. More than once did God show his approval by allowing angels to be entertained in human form. If such heavenly visitations were an honour of which our earth was not worthy, how much greater was Martha's privilege in rendering hospitality to the Lord of angels! If before the coming of Christ it was a great thing to honour Him in those who prefigured Him, and if now to shelter and serve Him in His mystical members deserves an eternal reward, how much greater and more meritorious was it to receive in person that Jesus, the very thought of whom gives to virtue its greatness and its merit. Again, as the Baptist excelled all the other prophets by having pointed out as present the Messias whom they announced as future, so Martha, by having ministered to the person of the Word made Flesh, ranks above all others who have ever exercised the works of mercy.

While Magdalen, then, keeps her better part at our Lord's feet, we must not think that Martha's lot is to be despised. *As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office*,³ so each of us has a different work to perform in Christ, according to the grace we have received, whether it be to prophesy or to minister. And the apostle, explaining this diversity of vocations, says: *I say, by the grace that is given me, to all that are among you, not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety, and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith.*⁴ How many losses in souls, how many shipwrecks even, might be prevented by discretion, the guardian of doctrine and the mother of virtues.

'Whoever,' says St. Gregory with his usual discernment, 'gives himself entirely to God, must take care not to pour himself out wholly in works, but must stretch forward also to the heights of contemplation. Nevertheless, it is here very important to notice that there is a great variety of spiritual temperaments. One who could give himself peacefully to the contemplation of God would be crushed by works and fall; another, who would be kept in a good life by the ordinary occupations of men, would be mortally wounded by the sword of a contemplation above his powers: either for want of love to prevent repose from becoming torpor, or for want of fear to guard him against the illusions of pride or of the senses. He who would be perfect must, therefore, first accustom himself on the plain to the practice of the virtues, in order to ascend more securely to the heights, leaving behind every impulse of the senses which can only distract the mind from its purpose, every image whose outline cannot adapt itself to the figureless light he desires to behold. Action first, then, contemplation last. The Gospel praises Mary, but does not blame Martha, because the merit of the active life is great, though that of contemplation is greater.'

¹ St. Matt. x. 11.
² St. Luke x. 38.
³ Rom. xii. 4.
⁴ Ibid.

If we would penetrate more deeply into the mystery of the two sisters, let us notice that, though the preference is given to Mary, nevertheless it is not in her house nor in that of their brother Lazarus, but in Martha's house, that the Man-God takes up His abode with those He loves.

¹ Rom. xii. 3. ² Moral. in Job v. 26, passim.

Jesus, says St. John, loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus.¹ Lazarus, a figure of the penitents whom His all-powerful mercy daily calls from the death of sin to divine life; Mary, giving herself up even in this life to the occupation of the next; and Martha, who is here mentioned first as being the eldest, as first in order of time mystically, according to what St. Gregory says, and also as being the one upon whom the other two depend in that home of which she has the care.

Here we recognize a perfect type of the Church, wherein, with the devotedness of fraternal love, and under the eye of our heavenly Father, the active ministry takes the precedence, and holds the place of government over all who are drawn by grace to Jesus. We can understand the Son of God showing a preference for this blessed house; He was refreshed from the weariness of His journeys by the devoted hospitality He there received, but still more by the sight of so perfect an image of that Church for whose love He had come on earth.

Martha, then, understood by anticipation that he who holds the first place must be the servant, as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister; and as, later on, the vicar of Jesus, the prince of prelates in the holy Church, was to call himself the servant of the servants of God. But in serving Jesus, as she served also with Him and for Him her brother and her sister, who can doubt that she had the greatest share in these promises of the Man-God: He that ministers to Me shall follow Me, and where I am, there shall also My minister be, and My Father will honour him.

And that beautiful rule of ancient hospitality, which created a link like that of relationship between the host and a guest once received, could not have been passed over by our Emmanuel on this occasion, since the Evangelist says: As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God.² And He Himself declares that whoever receives Him, receives also the Father who sent Him.

¹ St. John xi, 5. ² St. John i. 12.

The peace promised to every house deemed worthy of receiving the apostolic messengers, that peace which cannot be without the spirit of adoption of sons, rested on Martha with surpassing fulness. The too human impetuosity she at first showed in her eager solicitude had given our Lord an opportunity of showing His divine jealousy for the perfection of a soul so devoted and so pure. The sacred nearness of the King of peace stripped her lively nature of the last remnants of restless anxiety; while her service grew even more active and was well pleasing to Him, her ardent faith in Christ, the Son of the living God, gave her the understanding of the one thing necessary, the better part which was one day to be hers. What a master of the spiritual life Jesus here showed Himself to be; what a model of discreet firmness, of patient sweetness, of heavenly wisdom in leading souls to the highest summits!

As He had counselled His disciples to remain in one house, the Man-God Himself, to the end of His earthly career, continually sought hospitality at Bethania; it was from thence He set out to redeem the world by His dolorous Passion; and when leaving this world, it was from Bethania that He ascended into heaven. Then did this dwelling, this paradise on earth, which had given shelter to God Himself, to His Virgin Mother, to the whole college of apostles, seem too lonely to its inmates. Holy Church will tell us presently how the Spirit of Pentecost, in loving-kindness to us Gentiles, led into Gaul this blessed family of our Lord's friends.

On the banks of the Rhone, Martha was still the same: full of motherly compassion for every misery, spending herself in deeds of kindness. Always surrounded by the poor, says the ancient historian of the two sisters, she fed them with tender care, with food which heaven abundantly supplied to her charity, while she herself, the only one she forgot, was contented with herbs; and as in the glorious past she had served the Head of the Church in person, she now served Him in His members, and was full of loving-kindness to all. Meantime she delighted in practices of penance that would frighten us. Martyred thus a thousand times over, Martha with all the powers of her holy soul yearned for heaven. Her mind lost in God, she spent the whole nights absorbed in prayer. Ever prostrate, she adored Him reigning gloriously in heaven, whom she had seen without glory in her own house. Often, too, she would travel through towns and villages, announcing to the people Christ the Saviour.

Avignon and other cities of the province of Vienne were thus evangelized by her. She delivered Tarascon from the old serpent, who in the shape of a hideous monster, not content with tyrannizing over the souls of men, devoured even their bodies. It was here at Tarascon, in the midst of the community of virgins she had founded, that she heard our Lord inviting her to receive hospitality from Him in heaven, in return for that which she had given Him on earth.¹ Here she still rests, protecting her people of Provence, and receiving strangers in memory of Jesus. The peace of the blessed, which seems to breathe from her noble image, fills the heart of the pilgrim as he kisses her apostolic feet; and coming up from the holy crypt to continue his journey in this land of exile, he carries away with him, like a perfume of his fatherland, the remembrance of her simple, touching epitaph: SOLLICITA NON TURBATUR—ever zealous, she is no longer troubled.

¹ We are fully aware of the fact that certain writers have lately called in question the authenticity of this legend. But we are not deterred thereby from giving it here in all its simplicity. Until such time as holy Mother Church may think fit to decide on the matter, we, like the author, are willing to forestall her judgment.—(Tr.)

Martha nobilibus et copiosis parentibus nata, sed Christi Domini hospitio clarior, post ejus ascensum in cœlum, cum fratre, sorore, et Marcella pedissequa, ac Maximino, uno ex septuaginta duobus discipulis Christi Domini, qui totam illam domum baptizaverat, multisque aliis christianis, comprehensa a Judæis, in navem sine velo ac remigio imponitur, vastissimoque mari ad certum naufragium committitur: sed navis, Deo gubernante, salvis omnibus Massiliam appulsa est.

Martha was born of noble and wealthy parents, but she is still more illustrious for the hospitality she gave to Christ our Lord. After His Ascension into heaven, she was seized by the Jews, together with her brother and sister, Marcella her handmaid, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples of our Lord, who had baptized the whole family, and many other Christians. They were put on board a ship without sails or oars, and left helpless on the open sea, exposed to certain shipwreck. But God guided the ship, and they all arrived safely at Marseilles.

Eo miraculo, et horum prædicatione, primum Massilienses, mox Aquenses, ac finitimæ gentes in Christum crediderunt: Lazarusque Massiliensium, et Maximinus Aquensium episcopus creatur. Magdalena vero assueta orationi et pedibus Domini, ut optima parte contemplandæ cœlestis beatitudinis, quam elegerat, frueretur, in vastam altissimi montis speluncam se contulit: ubi triginta annos vixit, ab omni hominum consuetudine disjuncta, quotidieque per id tempus ad audiendas cœlestes laudes in altum ab angelis elata.

This miracle, together with their preaching, brought the people of Marseilles, of Aix, and of the neighbourhood to believe in Christ. Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles and Maximin of Aix. Magdalen, who was accustomed to devote herself to prayer and to sit at our Lord's feet, in order to enjoy the better part which she had chosen, that is, contemplation of the joys of heaven, retired into a deserted cave on a very high mountain. There she lived for thirty years, separated from all human intercourse; and every day she was carried to heaven by the angels to hear their songs of praise.

Martha autem, mirabili vitæ sanctitate et charitate, omnium Massiliensium animis in sui amorem et admirationem adductis, in locum a viris remotum cum aliquot honestissimis feminis se recepit: ubi summa cum laude pietatis et prudentiæ diu vixit: ac demum, morte sua multo ante prædicta, miraculis clara migravit ad Dominum, quarto kalendas Augusti. Cujus corpus apud Tarascum magnam habet venerationem.

But Martha, after having won the love and admiration of the people of Marseilles by the sanctity of her life and her wonderful charity, withdrew in the company of several virtuous women to a spot remote from men, where she lived for a long time, greatly renowned for her piety and prudence. She foretold her death long before it occurred; and at length, famous for miracles, she passed to our Lord on the fourth of the Kalends of August. Her body which lies at Tarascon is held in great veneration.

Now that, together with Magdalen, thou hast entered for ever into possession of the better part, thy place in heaven, O Martha, is very beautiful. For they that have ministered well, says St. Paul, shall purchase to themselves a good degree, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.¹ The same service which the deacons, here alluded to by the apostle, performed for the Church, thou didst render to the Church's Head and Spouse; thou didst rule well thine own house, which was a figure of that Church so dear to the Son of God. But God is not unjust, that He should forget your work and the love which you have shown in His name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints.² And the Saint of saints Himself, who as thy guest was indebted to thee, gave us to understand something of thy greatness, when, speaking merely of a faithful servant set over the family to distribute food in due season, he cried out: Blessed is that servant whom when his Lord shall come, He shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods.³ O Martha, the Church exults on this day, whereon our Lord found thee thus continuing to serve Him in the persons of those little ones in whom He bids us seek Him. The moment had come for Him to welcome thee eternally. Henceforth the Host, most faithful of all to the laws of hospitality, makes thee sit at His table in His own house, and, girding Himself, ministers to thee as thou didst minister to Him.

From the midst of thy peaceful rest, protect those who are now carrying on the interests of Christ on earth, in His mystical Body, which is the entire Church, and in His wearied and suffering members, the poor and the afflicted. Bless and multiply the works of holy hospitality; may the vast field of mercy and charity yield ever-increasing harvests. May the zeal displayed by so many generous souls lose nothing of its praiseworthy activity; and for this end, O sister of Magdalen, teach us all as our Lord taught thee, to place the one thing necessary above all else, and to value at its true worth the better part. After the word spoken to thee, for our sake as well as thine own, whosoever would disturb Magdalen at the feet of Jesus, or forbid her to sit there, would deserve to have his works frustrated by offended heaven.

¹ 1 Tim. iii. 13. ² Heb. vi. 10. ³ St. Matt. xxiv. 46, 47.

Let us, in union with the Church, make a commemoration of Saints Simplicius and Faustinus, martyred in the persecution of Diocletian, together with their sister Viatrice, whose name was gracefully changed into Beatrice after she had gone to heaven. The sister had had time to bury her brothers; and after her own combat she was laid to rest beside them, by the last of the celebrated Lucina. The hour for the triumph of the Church had not yet arrived; nevertheless the tomb of this illustrious trio, in the very grove of the Dea Dia of the Arvales, proclaims the victory of Christ over the most ancient superstitions of Rome. The holy pontiff Felix, who shares the honours paid to this glorious company, suffered in the time of the Arians.

PRAYER

Præsta, quæsumus Domine, ut sicut populus Christianus martyrum tuorum Felicis, Simplicii, Faustini, et Beatricis temporali solemnitate congaudet: ita perfruatur æterna; et quod votis celebrat, comprehendat effectu. Per Dominum.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that as thy Christian people rejoice together in the temporal solemnity of thy martyrs, Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrice, they may enjoy it in eternity, and may effectually attain to what they celebrate in desire. Through our Lord, etc.

July 30

SAINTS ABDON AND SENNEN

MARTYRS

THE decrees of eternal Wisdom ordained that the West should be honoured before the East with the glory of martyrdom. Yet when the hour had come, Jesus was to have, beyond the Tigris, millions of witnesses by no means inferior to their forerunners, astonishing heaven and earth by new forms of heroism. Impatient of the delay, two noble Persians won their palm on this day by the command of Rome. By shedding their blood they paid tribute for their native land to the eternal City; and now they protect our Latin Churches, and receive the prayers and praise of the West. France received a goodly portion of their sacred relics; and the city of Arles-sur-Tech, in Roussillon, can show to an incredulous generation the sarcophagus, from which flows a mysterious liquor, a symbol of the continual benefits bestowed on us by these holy martyrs.

Abdon et Sennen Persæ, Decio imperatore accusati, quod corpora Christianorum, quæ inhumata projiciebantur, in suo prædio sepelissent, jussu imperatoris comprehenduntur, et diis jubentur sacrificare. Quod cum facere recusarent, et Jesum Christum Deum constantissime prædicarent: traditos in arctam custodiam, Romam postea rediens Decius vinctos duxit in triumpho. Qui cum in urbe ad simulacra attracti essent, ea detestati conspuerunt. Quamobrem ur-

During the reign of Decius, two Persians, Abdon and Sennen, were accused of burying on their own estate the bodies of the Christians which had been exposed. By order of the Emperor they were apprehended and commanded to sacrifice to the gods. As they refused to obey, and moreover with the greatest constancy proclaimed Jesus Christ to be God they were placed in close confinement, and when later Decius returned to Rome they were led in chains in his triumphal march. They were dragged to the Roman idols, but to show their hatred of the demons, they spat upon them. Upon this they were exposed to the fury of lions and bears, but the beasts did not dare to touch them; at length they were put to death by the sword. Their bodies were dragged by the feet before the statue of the sun, but they were secretly carried away and buried by Quirinus the deacon in his own house.

sis ac leonibus objecti sunt: quos feræ non audebant attingere. Demum gladiis trucidati, colligatis pedibus tracti sunt ante solis simulacrum: quorum corpora clam inde asportata, Quirinus diaconus sepelivit in suis ædibus.

Hearken to our earnest prayers, O blessed martyrs! May the faith at length triumph in that land of Persia whence so many flowers of martyrdom have been culled for heaven. Before the time appointed for the struggle to begin in your native land, ye went to meet death elsewhere, and thus ye gained a new fatherland whereon to bestow your love. Bless us, the fellow-citizens of your choice, and bring us all to the eternal fatherland of all the children of God.

July 31 SAINT IGNATIUS CONFESSOR

Although the cycle of the time after Pentecost has shown us many times already the solicitude of the Holy Spirit for the defence of the Church, yet to-day the teaching shines forth with a new lustre. In the sixteenth century Satan made a formidable attack upon the Holy City, by means of a man who, like himself, had fallen from the height of heaven, a man prevented in early years by the choice graces which lead to perfection, yet unable in an evil day to resist the spirit of revolt. As Lucifer aimed at being equal to God, Luther set himself up against the Vicar of God, on the mountain of the covenant; and soon, falling from abyss to abyss, he drew after him the third part of the stars of the firmament of Holy Church. How terrible is that mysterious law whereby the fallen creature, be he man or angel, is allowed to keep the same ruling power for evil which he would otherwise have exercised for good. But the designs of eternal Wisdom are never frustrated: against the misused liberty of the angel or man is set up that other merciful law of substitution, by which St. Michael was the first to benefit.

The development of Ignatius' vocation to holiness followed step by step the defection of Luther. In the spring of 1521 Luther had just quitted Worms, and was defying the world from the Castle of Wartburg, when Ignatius received at Pampeluna the wound which was the occasion of his leaving the world and retiring to Manresa.¹ Valiant as his noble ancestors, he felt within him from his earliest years the warlike ardour which they had shown on the battlefields of Spain. But the campaign against the Moors closed at the very time of his birth.² Were his chivalrous instincts to be satisfied with petty political quarrels? The only true King worthy of his great soul revealed Himself to him in the trial which put a stop to his worldly projects: a new warfare was opened out to his ambition; another crusade was begun; and in the year 1522, from the mountains of Catalonia to those of Thuringia, was developed that divine strategy of which the angels alone knew the secret.

¹ The Diet of Worms which condemned Luther was held in April, and on May 20 St. Ignatius received the wound which led to his conversion.
² 1491.

In this wonderful campaign it seemed that hell was allowed to take the initiative, while heaven was content to look on, only taking care to make grace abound the more where iniquity strove to abound. As in the previous year Ignatius received his first call three weeks after Luther had completed his rebellion, so in this year, at three weeks' distance, the rival camps of hell and heaven each chose and equipped its leader. Ten months of diabolical manifestations prepared Satan's lieutenant, in the place of his forced retreat, which he called his Patmos; and on March 5 the deserter of the altar and of the cloister left Wartburg.

On the 25th of the same month, the glorious night of the Incarnation, the brilliant soldier in the armies of the Catholic kingdom, the descendant of the families of Oñez and Loyola, clad in sackcloth, the uniform of poverty, to indicate his new projects, watched his arms in prayer at Montserrat; then hanging up his trusty sword at Mary's altar, he went forth to make trial of his future combats by a merciless war against himself.

In opposition to the already proudly floating standard of the free-thinkers, he displayed upon his own this simple device: To the greater glory of God! At Paris, where Calvin was secretly recruiting the future Huguenots, Ignatius, in the name of the God of armies, organized his vanguard, which he destined to cover the march of the Christian army, to lead the way, to bear the brunt, to deal the first blows. On August 15, 1534, five months after the rupture of England from the Holy See, these first soldiers sealed at Montmartre the definitive engagement which they were afterwards solemnly to renew at St. Paul's outside the walls. For Rome was to be the rallying place of the little troop which was soon to increase so wonderfully, and which was, by its special profession, to be ever in readiness, at the least sign from the Head of the Church, to exercise its zeal in whatever part of the world he should think fit, in the defence or propagation of the faith, or for the progress of souls in doctrine and Christian life.¹

¹ Const. Pars, Homily delivered on the feast of the beatification of B. Peter Faber.

An illustrious speaker of our own day² has said: "What strikes us at once in the history of the Society of Jesus is that it was matured at its very first formation. Whosoever knows the first founders of the Company knows the whole Company, in its spirit, its aim, its enterprises, its proceedings, its methods. What a generation was that which gave it birth! What union of science and activity, of interior life and military life! One may say they were universal men, men of a giant race, compared with whom we are but insects: de genere giganteo, quibus comparati quasi locustæ videbamur."³

² Num. xiii. 34.
³ P. Ribadeneira, Vita Ignatii Loiolæ, lib. ii, cap. vii.

All the more touching, then, was the charming simplicity of those first Fathers of the Society, making their way to Rome on foot, fasting and weary, but their hearts overflowing with joy, singing with a low voice the Psalms of David. When it became necessary, on account of the urgency of the times, for the new institute to abandon the great traditions of public prayer, it was a sacrifice to several of these souls; Mary could not give way to Martha without a struggle; for so many centuries the solemn celebration of the Divine Office had been the indispensable duty of every religious family, its primary social debt, and the principal nourishment of the individual holiness of its members.

But new times had come, times of decadence and ruin, calling for an exception as extraordinary as it was grievous to the brave company that was risking its existence amid ceaseless alarms and continual sallies upon hostile territory. Ignatius understood this; and to the special aim imposed upon him, he sacrificed his personal attraction for the sacred chants; nevertheless, to the end of his life, the least note of the psalmody falling on his ears drew tears of ecstasy from his eyes.¹

¹ J. Rhovs, in variis virtutum historiis, lib. iii., cap. ii.

After his death, the Church, which had never known any interest to outbalance the splendour of worship due to her Spouse, wished to return from a derogation which so deeply wounded the dearest instincts of her bridal heart; Paul IV revoked it absolutely, but St. Pius V, after combating it for a long time, was at last obliged to give in. In the latter ages so full of snares, the time had come for the Church to organize special armies. But while it became more and more impossible to expect from these worthy troops, continually taken up with outside combats, the habits of those who dwelt in security, protected by the ancient towers of the Holy City, at the same time Ignatius repudiated the strange misconception which would to reform the Christian people according to this enforced but abnormal manner of life. The third of the eighteen rules which he gives as the crowning of the Spiritual Exercises, to have in us the true sentiments of the orthodox Church, recommends to the faithful the chants of the Church, the Psalms, and the different Canonical Hours at their appointed times. And at the beginning of this book, which is the treasure of the Society of Jesus, where he mentions the conditions for drawing the greatest fruit from the Exercises, he ordains in his twentieth annotation that he who can do so should choose for the time of his retreat a dwelling from whence he can easily go to Matins and Vespers as well as to the holy Sacrifice. What was our saint here doing, but advising that the Exercises should be practised in that same spirit in which they were composed in that blessed retreat of Manresa, where the daily attendance at solemn Mass and the evening offices had been to him the source of heavenly delights?

But it is time to listen to the Church's account of the life of this great servant of God:

Ignatius natione Hispanus, nobili genere, Loyola in Cantabria natus, primo catholici regis aulam deinde militiam secutus est. In propugnatione Pampelonensi accepto vulnere graviter decumbens, ex fortuita piorum librorum lectione, ad Christi sanctorumque sectanda vestigia mirabiliter exarsit. Ad montem Serratum profectus, ante aram beatæ Virginis suspensis armis, noctem excubans, sacræ militiæ tyrocinium posuit. Inde, ut erat indutus sacco, traditis antea mendico pretiosis vestibus, Manresam secessit: ubi emendicato pane et aqua victitans, exceptisque diebus Dominicis jejunans, aspera catena cilicioque carnem domans, humi cubans, et ferreis se flagellis cruentans, per annum commoratus est: claris adeo illustrationibus a Deo recreatus, ut postea dicere solitus sit: Si sacræ litteræ non exstarent, se tamen pro fide mori paratum ex iis solum, quæ sibi Manresæ patefecerat Dominus. Quo tempore homo litterarum plane rudis admirabilem illum composuit Exercitiorum librum, sedis apostolicæ judicio et omnium utilitate comprobatum.

Ignatius, by nation a Spaniard, was born of a noble family at Loyola, in Cantabria. At first he attended the court of the Catholic king, and later on embraced a military career. Having been wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, he chanced in his illness to read some pious books, which kindled in his soul a wonderful eagerness to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the saints. He went to Montserrat, and hung up his arms before the altar of the Blessed Virgin; he then watched the whole night in prayer, and thus entered upon his knighthood in the army of Christ. Next he retired to Manresa, dressed as he was in sackcloth, for he had a short time before given his costly garments to a beggar. Here he stayed for a year, and during that time he lived on bread and water, given to him in alms; he fasted every day except Sunday, subdued his flesh with a sharp chain and a hair-shirt, slept on the ground, and scourged himself with iron disciplines. God favoured and refreshed him with such wonderful spiritual lights, that afterwards he was wont to say that even if the sacred Scriptures did not exist, he would be ready to die for the faith, on account of those revelations alone which the Lord had made to him at Manresa. It was at this time that he, a man without education, composed that admirable book of the Exercises, which has been approved by the judgment of the Apostolic See, and by the benefit reaped from it by all.

Ut vero se ad animarum lucra rite formaret, subsidium litterarum, a grammatica inter pueros exorsus, adhibere statuit. Cumque nihil interim omitteret de studio alienæ salutis, mirum est, quas ubique locorum ærumnas ac ludibria devoraverit, asperrima quæque, et vincula et verbera pene ad mortem usque perpessus: quibus tamen longe plura pro Domini sui gloria semper expetebat. Lutetiæ Parisiorum adjunctis sibi ex illa academia variarum nationum sociis novem, qui omnes artium magisteriis et theologiæ gradibus insignes erant, ibidem in monte Martyrum prima ordinis fundamenta jecit: quem postea Romæ instituens, ad tria consueta quarto addito de missionibus voto, sedi apostolicæ arctius adstrinxit: et Paulus tertius primo recepit confirmavitque: mox alii pontifices ac Tridentina synodus probavere. Ipse autem, misso ad prædicandum Indis Evangelium sancto Francisco Xaverio, aliisque in alias mundi plagas ad religionem propagandam disseminatis, ethnicæ su-

However, in order to make himself more fit for gaining souls, he determined to procure the advantages of education, and began by studying grammar among children. Meanwhile he relaxed nothing of his zeal for the salvation of others, and it is marvellous what sufferings and insults he patiently endured in every place, undergoing the hardest trials, even imprisonment and stripes almost unto death. But he ever desired to suffer far more for the glory of his Lord. At Paris he was joined by nine companions from that University, men of different nations, who had taken their degrees in Arts and Theology; and there at Montmartre he laid the first foundations of the order, which he was later on to institute at Rome. He added to the three usual vows a fourth concerning missions, thus binding it closely to the Apostolic See. Paul III first welcomed and approved the Society, as did later other Pontiffs and the Council of Trent. Ignatius sent St. Francis Xavier to preach the Gospel

perstitioni hæresique bellum indixit, eo successu continuatum, ut constans fuerit omnium sensus, etiam pontificio confirmatus oraculo, Deum sicut alios aliis temporibus sanctos viros, ita Luthero, ejusdemque temporis hæreticis, Ignatium et institutam ab eo Societatem objecisse.

Sed in primis inter catholicos instaurare pietatem curæ fuit. Templorum nitor, catechismi traditio, concionum ac sacramentorum frequentia ab ipso incrementum accepere.

Ipse apertis ubique locorum ad juventutem erudiendam in litteris ac pietate gymnasiis, erectis Romæ Germanorum collegio, male nuptarum et periclitantium puellarum cœnobiis, utriusque sexus tam orphanorum quam catechumenorum domibus, aliisque pietatis operibus, indefessus lucrandis Deo animis instabat; auditus aliquando dicere, Si optio daretur, malle se beatitudinis incertum vivere, et interim Deo inservire, et proximorum saluti, quam certum ejusdem gloriæ statim mori. In dæmones mirum exercuit imperium. Vultum ejus cœlesti luce radiantem sanctus Philippus Nerius aliique conspexere. Denique ætatis anno sexagesimo quinto ad Domini sui amplexum, cujus majorem gloriam in ore semper habuerat, semper in omnibus quæsierat, emigravit. Quem Gregorius decimus quintus, magnis in Ecclesiam meritis et miraculis illustrem, sanctorum fastis adscripsit, et Pius undecimus, sacrorum antistitum votis obsecundans, omnium Exercitiorum Spiritualium Patronum cœlestem constituit et declaravit.

in the Indies, and dispersed others of his children to spread the Christian faith in other parts of the world, thus declaring war against paganism, superstition, and heresy. This war he carried on with such success that it has always been the universal opinion, confirmed by the word of pontiffs, that God raised up Ignatius and the Society founded by him to oppose Luther and the heretics of his time, as formerly he had raised up other holy men to oppose other heretics. He made the restoration of piety among Catholics his first care. He increased the beauty of the sacred buildings, the giving of catechetical instructions, the frequentation of sermons and of the sacraments. He everywhere opened schools for the education of youth in piety and letters. He founded at Rome the German College, refuges for women of evil life, and for young girls who were in danger, houses for orphans and catechumens of both sexes, and many other pious works. He devoted himself unweariedly to gaining souls to God. Once he was heard saying that if he were given his choice he would rather live uncertain of attaining the Beatific Vision, and in the meanwhile devote himself to the service of God and the salvation of his neighbour, than die at once certain of eternal glory. His power over the demons was wonderful. St. Philip Neri and others saw his countenance shining with heavenly light. At length in the sixty-fifth year of his age he passed to the embrace of his Lord, whose greater glory he had ever preached and ever sought in all things. He was celebrated for miracles and for his great services to the Church, and Gregory XV enrolled him amongst the saints; while Pius XI, in response to the prayers of the episcopate, declared him heavenly patron of all Spiritual Exercises.

This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.¹ And thou didst prove this truth once more to the world, O thou great conqueror of the age in which the Son of God chose thee to raise up again His ensign that had been humbled before the standard of Babel. Against the ever-increasing battalions of the rebels thou didst long stand almost alone, leaving it to the God of armies to choose His own moment for engaging thee against Satan's troops, as He chose His own for withdrawing thee from human warfare. If the world had then been told of thy designs, it would have laughed them to scorn; yet now, no one can deny that it was a decisive moment in the history of the world when, with as much confidence as the most illustrious general concentrating his forces, thou gavest the word to thy nine companions to proceed three and three to the Holy City. What great results were obtained in the fifteen years during which this little troop, recruited by the Holy Ghost, had thee for its first General! Heresy was trampled out of Italy, confounded at Trent, checked everywhere, paralyzed in its very centre; immense conquests were made in new worlds, as a compensation for the losses suffered in our West; Sion herself, renewing the beauty of her youth, saw her people and her pastors raised up again, and her sons receiving an education befitting their heavenly destiny; in a word, all along the line, where he had rashly cried victory, Satan was now howling, overcome once more by the name of Jesus, which makes every knee to bow, in heaven, on earth, and in hell! Hadst thou ever, O Ignatius, gained such glory as this in the armies of earthly kings?

¹ St. John v. 4.

From the throne thou hast won by so many valiant deeds, watch over the fruits of thy works, and prove thyself always God's soldier. In the midst of the contradictions which are never wanting to them, uphold thy sons in their position of honour and prowess which makes them the vanguard of the Church. May they be faithful to the spirit of their glorious Father; 'having unceasingly before their eyes: first, God; next, as the way leading to Him, the form of their institute, consecrating all their powers to attain this end marked out for them by God; yet each following the measure of grace he has received from the Holy Ghost, and the particular degree of his vocation.'² Lastly, O head of such a noble lineage, extend thy love to all religious families, whose lot in these times of persecution is so closely allied with that of thine own sons; bless, especially, the monastic order whose ancient branches overshadowed thy first steps in the perfect life, and the birth of that illustrious Society which will be thy everlasting crown in heaven. Have pity on France, on Paris, whose University furnished thee with foundations for the strong, unshaken building raised by thee to the glory of the Most High. May every Christian learn of thee to fight for the Lord, and never to betray his standard; may all men, under thy guidance, return to God, their beginning and their end.

² Litt. Apos. prima Instituti approbationis, Pauli III, Regimini militantis Ecclesiæ.

AUGUST I

SAINT PETER'S CHAINS

Rome, making a god of the man who had subjugated her, consecrated the month of August to Cæsar Augustus. When Christ had delivered her, she placed at the head of this same month, as a trophy of her regained liberty, the feast of the chains wherewith, in order to break hers, Peter the Vicar of Christ had once been bound. O divine Wisdom, who hast a better claim to reign over this month than had the adopted son of Cæsar, Thou couldst not have more authentically inaugurated Thy empire. Strength and sweetness are the attributes of Thy works, and it is in the weakness of Thy chosen ones that Thou triumphest over the powerful. Thou Thyself, in order to give us life, didst swallow death; Simon, son of John, became a captive, to set free the world entrusted to him. First Herod, and then Nero, showed him the cost of the promise he had once received, of binding and loosing on earth as in heaven: he had to share the love of the supreme Shepherd, even to allowing himself, like Him, to be bound with chains for the sake of the flock, and led where he would not.

Glorious chains! never will ye make Peter's successors tremble any more than Peter himself; before the Herods and Neros and Cæsars of all ages ye will be the guarantee of the liberty of souls. With what veneration have the Christian people honoured you, ever since the earliest times! One may truly say of the present feast that its origin is lost in the darkness of ages. According to ancient monuments, St. Peter himself first consecrated on this date the basilica on the highest of the seven hills, where the citizens of Rome are gathered to-day.¹ The name Title of Eudoxia, by which the venerable Church is often designated, seems to have arisen from certain restorations made on occasion of the events mentioned in the lessons. As to the sacred chains which are its treasure, the earliest mention now extant of honour being paid to them occurs in the beginning of the second century. Balbina, daughter of the tribune Quirinus, keeper of the prisons, had been cured by touching the chains of the holy Pope Alexander; she could not cease kissing the hands which had healed her. 'Find the chains of blessed Peter, and kiss them rather than these,' said the pontiff. Balbina, therefore, having fortunately found the apostle's chains, lavished her pious veneration upon them, and afterwards gave them to the noble Theodora, sister of Hermes.²

¹ Martyrolog. Hieronym., Bed., Raban., Notker.
² Acta S. Alexandri.

The irons which had bound the arms of the Doctor of the Gentiles, without being able to bind the word of God, were also after his martyrdom treasured more than jewels and gold. From Antioch in Syria, St. John Chrysostom, thinking with holy envy of the lands enriched by these trophies of triumphant bondage, cried out in a sublime transport: 'What more magnificent than these chains? Prisoner for Christ is a more beautiful name than that of Apostle, Evangelist, or Doctor. To be bound for Christ's sake is better than to dwell in the heavens; to sit upon the twelve thrones is not so great an honour. He that loves can understand me; but who can better understand these things than the holy choir of apostles? As for me, if I were offered my choice between these chains and the whole of heaven, I should not hesitate; for in them is happiness. Would that I were now in those places, where it is said the chains of these admirable men are still kept! If it were given me to be set free from the care of this church, and if I had a little health, I should not hesitate to undertake such a voyage only to see Paul's chains. If they said to me: Which wouldst thou prefer, to be the angel who delivered Peter or Peter himself in chains? I would rather be Peter, because of his chains.'³

Though always venerated in the great basilica which enshrines his tomb, St. Paul's chain has never been made, like those of St. Peter, the object of a special feast in the Church. This distinction was due to the preeminence of him 'who alone received the keys of the kingdom of heaven to communicate them to others,'⁴ and who alone continues, in his successors, to bind and loose with sovereign power throughout the whole world. The collection of letters of St. Gregory the Great proves how universally, in the sixth century, was spread the cultus of these holy chains, a few filings of which enclosed in gold or silver keys was the richest present the Sovereign Pontiffs were wont to offer to the principal churches, or to princes whom they wished to honour. Constantinople, at some period not clearly determined, received a portion of these precious chains; she appointed a feast on January 16, honouring on that day the Apostle Peter, as the occupant of the first See, the foundation of the faith, the immovable basis of dogma.⁵

³ Chrys. in Ep. ad Eph., hom. viii.
⁴ Opt. Milev. contra Parmen., vii., iii.
⁵ Menæa.

The following is the legend of the feast in the Roman Breviary:

Theodosio juniore imperante, cum Eudocia ejus uxor Jerosolymam solvendi voti causa venisset, ibi multis est affecta muneribus: præ cæteris insigne donum accepit ferreæ catenæ, auro gemmisque ornatæ: quam illam esse affirmabant, qua Petrus apostolus ab Herode vinctus fuerat. Eudocia catenam pie venerata, eam postea Romam ad filiam Eudoxiam misit, quæ illam Pontifici Maximo detulit: isque vicissim illi monstravit alteram catenam: qua, Nerone imperante, idem apostolus constrictus fuerat.

During the reign of Theodosius the younger, Eudocia, his wife, went to Jerusalem to fulfil a vow, and while there she was honoured with many gifts, the greatest of which was an iron chain adorned with gold and precious stones, and said to be that wherewith the apostle Peter had been bound by Herod. Eudocia piously venerated this chain, and then sent it to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia. The latter took it to the sovereign pontiff, who in his turn showed her another chain which had bound the same apostle, under Nero.

Cum igitur Pontifex Romanam catenam cum ea, quæ Jerosolymis allata fuerat, contulisset, factum est ut illæ inter se sic connecterentur, ut non duæ, sed una catena ab eodem artifice confecta, esse videretur. Quo miraculo tantus honor sacris illis vinculis haberi cœpit, ut propterea hoc nomine sancti Petri ad Vincula ecclesia titulo Eudoxiæ dedicata sit in Esquiliis, ejusque memoriæ dies festus institutus Kalendis Augusti.

When the pontiff thus brought together the Roman chain and that which had come from Jerusalem, they joined together in such a manner that they seemed no longer two chains, but a single one, made by one same workman. On account of this miracle the holy chains began to be held in so great honour that a church at the title of Eudoxia on the Esquiline was dedicated under the name of St. Peter ad Vincula, and the memory of its dedication was celebrated by a feast on the Kalends of August.

Quo ex tempore honos, qui eo die profanis Gentilium celebritatibus tribui solitus erat, Petri vinculis haberi cœpit: quæ tacta ægros sanabant, et dæmones ejiciebant. Quo in genere anno salutis humanæ nongentesimo sexagesimo nono accidit, ut quidam comes, Othonis imperatoris familiaris, occupatus ab immundo spiritu, seipsum dentibus dilaniaret. Quare is jussu imperatoris ad Joannem pontificem ducitur: qui, ut sacra catena comitis collum attigit, erumpens nefarius spiritus hominem liberum reliquit: ac deinceps in urbe sanctorum vinculorum religio propagata est.

From that time St. Peter's chains began to receive the honours of this day, instead of a pagan festival which it had been customary to celebrate. Contact with them healed the sick, and put the demons to flight. Thus, in the year of salvation 969, a certain count, who was very intimate with the Emperor Otho, was taken possession of by an unclean spirit, so that he tore his flesh with his own teeth. By command of the emperor he was taken to the pontiff John, who had no sooner touched the count's neck with the holy chain than the wicked spirit was driven away, leaving the man entirely free. On this account devotion to the holy chains was spread throughout Rome.

Put thy feet into the fetters of Wisdom, and thy neck into her chains, said the Holy Spirit under the ancient alliance . . . and be not grieved with her bands. . .

For in the latter end thou shalt find rest in her, and she shall be turned to thy joy. Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee . . . and her bands are a healthful binding. Thou shalt put her on as a robe of glory.¹ Incarnate Wisdom, applying the prophecy to thee, O prince of apostles, declared that in testimony of thy love the day would come when thou shouldst suffer constraint and bondage. The trial, O Peter, was a convincing one for eternal Wisdom, who proportions her requirements to the measure of her own love. But thou, too, didst find her faithful; in the days of the formidable combat, wherein she wished to show her power in thy weakness, she did not leave thee in bands; in her arms thou didst sleep so calm a sleep in Herod's prison; and, going down with thee into the pit of Nero, she faithfully kept thee company up to the hour when, subjecting the persecutors to the persecuted, she placed the sceptre in thy hands, and on thy brow the triple crown.

From the throne where thou reignest with the Man-God in heaven, as thou didst follow Him on earth in trials and anguish, loosen our bands which, alas! are not glorious ones such as thine; break these fetters of sin which bind us to Satan, these ties of all the passions which prevent us from soaring towards God. The world, more than ever enslaved in the infatuation of its false liberties which make it forget the only true freedom, has more need now of enfranchisement than in the times of pagan Caesars: be once more its deliverer, now that thou art more powerful than ever. May Rome, especially, now fallen the lower because precipitated from a greater height, learn again the emancipating power which lies in thy chains; they have become a rallying standard for her faithful children in these latter trials.² Make good the word once uttered by her son, that 'encircled with these chains she will ever be free.'³

¹ Eccli. vi. 25-32.
² Archconfraternity of St. Peter's Chains, erected June 18, 1867.
³ Arator. De Act. Apost. L. 1, v. 1070-1076.

The August heavens glitter with the brightest constellations of the sacred cycle. Even in the sixth century, the second Council of Tours remarked that this month was filled with the feasts of saints.¹ My delights are to be with the children of men, says Wisdom; and in the month which echoes with her teachings she seems to have made it her glory to be surrounded with blessed ones, who, walking with her in the midst of the paths of judgment, have in finding her found life and salvation from the Lord. This noble court is presided over by the Queen of all grace, whose triumph consecrates this month and makes it the delight of that Wisdom of the Father, who, once enthroned in Mary, never quitted her. What a wealth of divine favours do the coming days promise to our souls! Never were our Father's barns so well filled as at this season, when the earthly as well as the heavenly harvests are ripe.

While the Church on earth inaugurates these days by adorning herself with Peter's chains as with a precious jewel, a constellation of seven stars appears for the third time in the heavens. The seven brothers Machabees preceded the sons of Symphorosa and Felicitas in the bloodstained arena; they followed divine Wisdom even before she had manifested her beauty in the flesh. The sacred cause of which they were the champions, their strength of soul under the tortures, their sublime answers to the executioners were so evidently the type reproduced by the later martyrs, that the Fathers of the first centuries with one accord claimed for the Christian Church these heroes of the synagogue, who could have gained such courage from no other source than their faith in the Christ to come. For this reason they alone of all the holy persons of the ancient covenant have found a place on the Christian cycle; all the martyrologies and calendars of East and West attest the universality of

¹ Toto Augusto... festivitates sunt et missae sanctorum. De observatione psallendi, Labbe, V, 857.

their cultus, while its antiquity is such as to rival that of St. Peter's chains in that same basilica of Eudoxia where their precious relics lie.

At the time when in the hope of a better resurrection they refused under cruel torments to redeem their lives, other heroes of the same blood, inspired by the same faith, flew to arms and delivered their country from a terrible crisis. Several children of Israel, forgetting the traditions of their nation, had wished it to follow the customs of strange peoples; and the Lord, in punishment, had allowed Judea to feel the whole weight of a profane rule to which it had guiltily submitted. But when King Antiochus, taking advantage of the treason of a few and the carelessness of the majority, endeavoured by his ordinances to blot out the divine law which alone gives power to man over man, Israel, suddenly awakened, met the tyrant with the double opposition of revolt and martyrdom. Judas Machabeus in immortal battles reclaimed for God the land of his inheritance, while by the virtue of their generous confession, the seven brothers also, his rivals in glory, recovered, as the Scripture says, the law out of the hands of the nations, and out of the hands of the kings.¹ Soon afterwards, craving mercy under the hand of God and not finding it, Antiochus died, devoured by worms, just as later on were to die the first and last persecutors of the Christians, Herod Agrippa and Galerius Maximian.

The Holy Ghost, who would Himself hand down to posterity the acts of the protomartyr of the New Law, did the same with regard to the passion of Stephen's glorious predecessors in the ages of expectation. Indeed, it was he who then, as under the law of love, inspired with both words and courage these valiant brothers, and their still more admirable mother, who, seeing her seven sons one after the other suffering the most horrible tortures, uttered nothing but burning exhortations to die. Surrounded by their mutilated bodies, she mocked the tyrant who, in false pity, wished her

¹ 1 Mach. ii. 48.

to persuade at least the youngest to save his life; she bent over the last child of her tender love and said to him: My son, have pity upon me, that bore thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age. I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that is in them: and consider that God made them out of nothing and mankind also: so thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may receive thee again with thy brethren.¹ And the intrepid youth ran in his innocence to the tortures; and the incomparable mother followed her sons.

PRAYER

Fraterna nos, Domine, martyrum tuorum corona laetificet: quae et fidei nostrae praebeat incrementa virtutum, et multiplici nos suffragio consoletur. Per Dominum.

May the fraternal crown of Thy martyrs rejoice us, O Lord, and may it procure for our faith an increase of virtue, and console us with multiplied intercession. Through, etc.

¹ 2 Mach. vii. 27, 28, 29.

AUGUST 2

SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY LIGUORI

BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

Yesterday we admired, in Peter and the Machabees, the substructure of the palace built by Wisdom in time to endure for eternity. To-day, in conformity with the divine ways of that Wisdom, who in her playing reaches from end to end, we are suffered to contemplate the progress of the glorious building, to behold the summit of the work, the last row of stones actually laid. Now, summit and foundation, the work is all one; the materials are all priceless: witness the diamond of fine water which displays its lustre to-day. To this great saint, great both in works and in doctrine, are directly applied these words of the Holy Ghost: They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.³ At the time he appeared an odious sect was denying the mercy and the sweetness of our heavenly Father; it triumphed in the practical conduct of even those who were shocked by its Calvinistic theories. Under pretext of a reaction against an imaginary school of laxity, and denouncing with much ado some erroneous propositions made by obscure persons, the new Pharisees had set themselves up as zealous for the law. Stretching the commandments, and exaggerating the sanction, they loaded the conscience with the same unbearable burdens which the Man-God reproached the ancient Pharisees with laying on the shoulders of men; but the cry of alarm they had raised in the name of endangered morals had none the less deceived the simple, and ended by misleading even the best. Thanks to the show of austerity displayed by its adherents, Jansenism, so clever in veiling its teachings,

³ Dan. xii. 3.

had too well succeeded in its designs of forcing itself upon the Church in spite of the Church. Unsuspecting allies within the Holy City gave up to its mercy the sources of salvation. Soon in too many places the sacred keys were used but to open hell; the Holy Table, spread for the preservation and increase of life in all, became accessible only to the perfect; and these latter were esteemed such, according as, by a strange reversion of the apostle's words, they subjected the spirit of adoption of sons to the spirit of servitude and fear. As to the faithful, who did not rise to the height of this new asceticism, 'finding in the tribunal of penance, instead of fathers and physicians, only exactors and executioners,' they had but to choose between despair and indifference. Everywhere legislatures and parliaments lent a hand to the so-called reformers, without heeding the flood of odious unbelief that was rising around them, without seeing the gathering storm-clouds.

Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. . . . Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves. Not of your conventicles was it said that the sons of Wisdom are the Church of the just, for it was added: Their generation is obedience and love.¹ Not of the fear which you preached did the psalmist sing: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom;² for even under the law of Sinai the Holy Spirit said: Ye that fear the Lord, believe Him: and your reward shall not be made void. Ye that fear the Lord, hope in Him: and mercy shall come to you for your delight. Ye that fear the Lord, love Him: and your hearts shall be enlightened.³ Every deviation, whether towards rigour or weakness, offends

¹ Eccli. iii. 1. ² Ps. cx. 10.
³ Eccli. ii. 8-10.

the rectitude of justice; but, especially since Bethlehem and Calvary, no sin so wounds the divine Heart as distrust; no fault is unpardonable except in the despair of a Judas, saying, like Cain: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.¹

Who, then, in the sombre quietism into which the teachers then in vogue had led even the strongest minds, could find once more the key of knowledge? But Wisdom, says the Holy Ghost, kept in her treasures the signification of discipline.² Just as in other times she had raised up new avengers for every dogma that had been attacked, so now, against a heresy which, in spite of the speculative pretensions of its beginning, had only in its moral bearing any sort of duration, she brought forth Alphonsus Liguori as the avenger of the violated law and the doctor par excellence of Christian morality. A stranger alike to fatal rigorism and baneful indulgence, he knew how to restore to the justices of the Lord their rectitude, and at the same time their power of rejoicing hearts; to His commandments their luminous brightness, whereby they are justified in themselves; to His testimonies the purity which attracts souls and faithfully guides the simple and the little ones from the beginnings of Wisdom to its summits.³ It was not only in the sphere of casuistry that Alphonsus succeeded, in his moral theology, in counteracting the poison which threatened to infect the whole Christian life. Whilst on the one hand he never left unanswered any attack made at the time against revealed truth, his ascetic and mystical works brought back piety to its traditional sources, the frequentation of the sacraments, and the love of our Lord and His blessed Mother. The Sacred Congregation of Rites, after examining in the name of the Holy See the works of our saint and declaring that nothing deserving of censure was to be found therein,⁴ arranged his innumerable writings under forty separate titles. Alphonsus, however, resolved only late

¹ Gen. iv. 13. ² Eccli. i. 31.
³ Cf. Ps. xviii. 8-10. ⁴ Decretum, 14 and 18 Maii, 1803.

in life to give to the public, through the press, the lights which flooded his soul; his first work, the golden book of Visits to the Most Holy Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin, did not appear till the author was nearly fifty years of age. Though God prolonged his life beyond the usual limits, He spared him neither the double burden of the episcopate and the government of the Congregation he had founded, nor the most painful infirmities, nor still more grievous moral sufferings.

Let us listen to the Church's account of his life:

Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio, Neapoli nobilibus parentibus natus, ab ineunte aetate non obscura praebuit sanctitatis indicia. Eum adhuc infantem quum parentes obtulissent sancto Francisco de Hieronymo e Societate Jesu, is bene precatus edixit eumdem ad nonagesimum usque annum perventurum, ad episcopalem dignitatem evectum iri, maximoque Ecclesiae bono futurum. Jam tum a pueritia a ludis abhorrens, nobiles ephebos ad christianam modestiam verbo et exemplo componebat. Adolescens, dato piis sodalitatibus nomine, in publicis nosocomiis aegrotis inservire, jugi in templis orationi vacare, ac sacra mysteria frequenter obire in deliciis habebat. Pietatem littera-

rum studiis adeo conjunxit, ut sexdecim vix annos natus utriusque juris lauream in patria universitate fuerit assecutus. Patri obtemperans causarum patrocinia suscepit, in quo munere obeundo, etsi magnam sibi laudem comparasset, fori tamen pericula expertus, ejusmodi vitæ institutum ultro dimisit. Spreto

Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was born of a noble family at Naples, and from his early youth gave clear proofs of sanctity. While he was still a child, his parents once presented him to St. Francis Jerome, of the Society of Jesus. The saint blessed him, and prophesied that he would reach his ninetieth year, that he would be raised to the episcopal dignity, and would do much good for the Church. Even as a boy he shrank from games, and both by his words and example incited noble youth to Christian modesty. When he reached early manhood he enrolled himself in pious associations, and made it his delight to serve the sick in the public hospital, to spend much time in prayer and in the church, and frequently to receive the sacred mysteries. He joined study to piety with such success that, when scarcely sixteen years of age, he took the degree of Doctor in both Canon and Civil Law, in the University of his native city. In obedience to his father's wishes, he pleaded at the bar; but, while winning himself a name in the discharge of this office, he learnt by experience what dangers beset a lawyer's life, and, of his own accord, abandoned the profession. Then he refused a brilliant marriage proposed to him by his father, renounced his right of inheritance as eldest son, and, hanging up his sword at the altar of the Virgin of Mercy, he devoted himself to the divine service. Having been made priest, he attacked vice with such great zeal that, in the exercise of his apostolic ministry, he hastened from place to place, working wonderful conversions. He had a special compassion for the poor, and particularly for country people, and founded a congregation for priests, called 'of the Holy Redeemer,' who were to follow the Redeemer through the fields, and hamlets, and villages, preaching to the poor.

igitur præclaro conjugio sibi a patre proposito, avia primogenitura abdicata, et ad aram Virginis de Mercede ense suspenso, divinis ministeriis se mancipavit. Sacerdos factus, tanto zelo irruit in vitia, ut apostolico munere fungens, huc illuc pervolans, ingentes perditorum hominum conversiones perageret. Pauperum præsertim et ruricolarum miseratus, congregationem presbyterorum instituit sanctissimi Redemptoris, qui ipsum Redemptorem secuti per agros, pagos et castella, pauperibus evangelizarent.

Ne autem a proposito umquam diverteret, perpetuo se voto obstrinxit, nullam temporis jacturam faciendi. Hinc animarum zelo succensus, tum divini verbi prædicatione, tum scriptis sacra eruditione et pietate refertis, animas Christo lucrifacere, et ad perfectiorem vitam adducere studuit. Mirum sane quot odia exstinxerit, quot devios ad rectum salutis iter revocaverit. Dei Genitricis cultor eximius de illius laudibus librum edidit, ac de iis dum ferventius concionando disserit, a Virginis imagine in eum immisso miro splendore totus facie coruscare, et in exstasim rapi coram universo populo non semel visus est.

Dominicæ passionis, et sacræ

In order that nothing might turn him from his purpose, he bound himself by a perpetual vow never to waste any time. On fire with love of souls, he strove, both by preaching the divine word and by writings full of sacred learning and piety, to win them to Christ and to make them lead more perfect lives. Marvellous was the number of quarrels he stilled and of wanderers he brought back to the path of salvation. He had the greatest devotion to the Mother of God, and published a book on the "Glories of Mary." More than once, while he was speaking of her with great earnestness during his sermons, a wonderful brightness came upon him from our Lady's image, and he was seen by all the people to be rapt in ecstasy. The Passion of our Lord and the Holy Eucharist were the objects of his unceasing contemplation, and he spread devotion to them in a wonderful degree. When he was praying before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, or celebrating Holy Mass, which he never failed to do, through the violence of his love he shed burning tears, was agitated in an extraordinary manner, and at times was carried out of his senses. He joined a wonderful innocence, which he had never stained by deadly sin, with an equally wonderful spirit of penance, and chastised his body by fasting, iron chains, hair-shirts, and scourgings even to blood. At the same time he was remarkable for the gifts of prophecy, reading of hearts, bilocation, and many miracles.

Eucharistiæ contemplator assiduus, ejus cultum mirifice propagavit. Dum vero ad ejus aram oraret, vel sacrum faceret, quod numquam omisit, præ amoris vehementia, vel seraphicis liquescebat ardoribus, vel insolitis quatiebatur motibus, vel abstrahebatur a sensibus. Miram vitæ innocentiam, quam nulla umquam lethali labe fœdavit, pari cum pœnitentia socians, corpus suum inedia, ferreis catenulis, ciliciis, cruentaque flagellatione castigabat. Inter hæc prophetiæ, scrutationis cordium, bilocationis, et miraculorum donis inclaruit.

Ab ecclesiasticis dignitatibus sibi oblatis constantissime abhorruit. At Clementis decimitertii pontificis auctoritate coactus, sanctæ Agathæ Gothorum Ecclesiam gubernandam suscepit. Episcopus externum dumtaxat habitum non autem severam vivendi rationem immutavit. Eadem frugalitas, summus christianæ disciplinæ zelus, impensum in vitiis coercendis arcendisque erroribus, et in reliquis pastoralibus muneribus obeundis studium. Liberalis in pauperes, omnes ecclesiæ proventus iisdem distribuebat, ac, urgente annonæ caritate, ipsam domesticam supellectilem in

He firmly refused the ecclesiastical dignities which were offered him, but he was compelled by the authority of Pope Clement XIII to accept the government of the Church of St. Agatha of the Goths. As bishop, though he changed his outward dress, yet he made no alteration in the severity of his life. He observed the same moderation; his zeal for Christian discipline was most ardent, and he displayed the greatest devotedness in rooting out vice, in guarding against false doctrine, and in discharging the other duties of the pastoral charge. He was most generous towards the poor, distributing to them all the revenues of his see, and in a time of scarcity of corn he sold even the furniture of his house to feed his starving people. He was all things to all men. He brought religious women to lead a more perfect life, and took care to erect a monastery for nuns of his Congregation. Severe and continual sickness forced him to resign his bishopric, and he returned to his children as poor as when he had left them. Though worn out in body by old age, labours, chronic gout, and other painful maladies, his mind was fresh and clear, and he never ceased speaking or writing of heavenly things till at length, on the Kalends of August, he most peacefully expired, at Nocera dei Pagani, amidst his weeping children. It was in the year 1787, the ninetieth year of his age. His virtues and miracles made him famous, and on this account, in 1816, Pope Pius VII enrolled him amongst the Blessed. God still glorified him with new signs and wonders, and, on the feast of the Most Blessed Trinity, in the year 1839, Gregory XVI solemnly inscribed his name on the list of the saints; finally, Pope Pius IX, after consulting the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him a Doctor of the universal Church.

alendis famelicis erogavit. Omnibus omnia factus, sanctimoniales ad perfectiorem vivendi formam redegit, suæque congregationis monialium monasterium constituendum curavit. Episcopatu ob graves habitualesque morbos dimisso, ad alumnos suos, a quibus pauper discesserat, revertitur pauper. Demum quamvis senio, laboribusque, diuturna arthritide, aliisque gravissimis morbis fractus corpore, spiritu tamen alacrior, de cælestibus rebus disserendi, aut scribendi finem numquam adhibuit, donec nonagenarius, Kalendis Augusti, anno millesimo septingentesimo octogesimo septimo, Nuceriæ Paganorum inter suorum alumnorum lacrymas placidissime exspiravit. Eum inde virtutibus et miraculis clarum Pius septimus pontifex maximus anno millesimo octingentesimo decimo sexto beatorum fastis, novisque fulgentem signis, Gregorius Decimussextus in festo sanctissimæ Trinitatis, anno millesimo octingentesimo trigesimo nono solemni ritu sanctorum catalogo accensuit; tandem Pius nonus, pontifex maximus, ex Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis consulto, universalis Ecclesiæ Doctorem declaravit.

"I have not hid Thy justice within my heart: I have declared Thy truth and Thy salvation."¹ Thus sings the Church in thy name to-day, in gratitude for the great service thou didst render her in the days of sinners, when godliness seemed to be lost. Exposed to the attacks of an extravagant pharisaism, and watched by a sceptical and mocking philosophy, even the good wavered as to which was the way of the Lord. While the moralists of the day could but forge fetters for consciences, the enemy had a good chance of crying: *Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.* The ancient wisdom revered by their fathers, now that it was compromised by these foolish teachers, seemed but a ruined edifice to people eager for emancipation. In this unprecedented extremity, thou, O Alphonsus, wast the prudent man whom the Church needed, whose mouth uttered words to strengthen men's hearts.

Long before thy birth, a great Pope had said that it belongs to doctors to enlighten the Church, to adorn her with virtues, to form her manners; by them, he added, she shines in the midst of darkness as a morning star; their word, made fruitful from on high, solves the enigmas of the Scriptures, unravels difficulties, clears obscurities, interprets what is doubtful; their profound works, beautified by eloquence of speech, are so many pearls which ennoble no less than adorn the house of God. Thus did Boniface VIII speak in the thirteenth century, when he was raising to the rank of doubles the feasts of the apostles and evangelists, and of the four then recognized doctors, St. Gregory, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Jerome. But is it not a description, striking as a prophecy, faithful as a portrait, of all that thou wert?

Glory, then, be to thee, who in our days of decadence renewest the youth of the Church, and through whom justice and peace once more embrace one another at the meeting of mercy and truth. For this object thou didst literally give unreservedly thy time and thy strength. 'The love of God,' says St. Gregory, 'is never idle: where it exists it does great things: if it refuses to act, it is not love.'² What fidelity was thine in accomplishing that awful vow, whereby thou didst deny thyself the possibility of even a moment's relaxation. When suffering intolerable pain, which would appear to anyone else to justify, if not to command, some rest, thou wouldst hold to thy forehead with one hand a piece of marble, which seemed to give some slight relief, and with the other wouldst continue thy precious writings.

But still greater was the example God set before the world, when, in thine old age, He suffered thee, through the treason of one of thine own sons, to be disgraced by that Apostolic See, for which thou hadst worn away thy life, and which in return withdrew thee, as unworthy, from the very institute thou hadst founded! Then hell was permitted to join its stripes with those of heaven; and thou, the doctor of peace, didst endure terrible temptations against faith and holy hope. Thus was thy work made perfect in that weakness which is stronger than strength; and thus didst thou merit for troubled souls the support of the virtue of Christ. Nevertheless, having become a child once more in the blind obedience required under such painful trials, thou wast near at once to the kingdom of heaven and to the Crib, which thou didst celebrate in such sweet accents. And the virtue which the Man-God felt going out from Him during His mortal life escaped from thee, too, in such abundance that the little sick children presented by their mothers for thy blessing were all healed.

Now that thy tears and thy toils are over, watch over us evermore. Preserve in the Church the fruits of thy labours. The religious family begotten by thee has not degenerated; more than once, in the persecutions of last century, the enemy has honoured it with special tokens of his hatred; already, too, has the aureole of the blessed passed from the father to his sons; may they ever cherish these noble traditions! May the eternal Father, who in baptism made us all worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, lead us all happily by thy example and teachings¹ in the footsteps of our most holy Redeemer into the kingdom of this Son of His love.²

The commemoration of the illustrious Pope and Martyr, Stephen I, adds a perfume of antiquity to the holiness of this day dedicated to the honour of a comparatively modern saint. Stephen's special glory in the Church is to have been the guardian of the dignity of holy baptism. Baptism once given can never be repeated; for the character of child of God, which it imprints upon the Christian, is everlasting; and this unspeakable dignity of the first sacrament in no wise depends upon the disposition or state of the minister conferring it. According to the teaching of St. Austin, whether Peter, or Paul, or Judas, baptize, it is He upon whom the divine Dove descended in the Jordan, it is He alone and always that baptizes by them in the Holy Ghost. Such is the adorable munificence of our Lord, with regard to this indispensable means of salvation, that the very pagan who belongs not to the Church and the schismatic or heretic separated from her can administer it with full validity, on the one condition of fulfilling the exterior rite in its essence, and of wishing to do thereby what the Church does.

In the time of Stephen I this truth was not so universally known as now. Great bishops, whose learning and holiness had justly won them the admiration of their age, wished to make the converts from various sects pass again through the laver of salvation. But the assistance promised to Peter was not wanting to his successor; and by maintaining the traditional discipline, Rome, through Stephen, saved the faith of the churches. Let us testify our gratitude to the holy pontiff for his fidelity in guarding the sacred deposit, which is the treasure of all men; and let us beg him to preserve no less effectually in us also the nobility and the rights of our holy baptism.

¹ Gradual of the Mass, Ps. xxxix. 11.

² Greg. in Ev., hom. xxx.

¹ Collect of the Feast. ² Col. I. 12, 13.

PRAYER

Deus, qui nos beati Stephani
martyris tui atque pontificis annua solemnitate lætificas:
concede propitius; ut cujus natalitia colimus, de ejusdem etiam protectione gaudeamus. Per Dominum.

O God, who givest us joy by the annual solemnity of blessed Stephen, Thy martyr and bishop, mercifully grant that we may rejoice in the protection of him whose festival we celebrate. Through our Lord, etc.

AUGUST 3

FINDING OF SAINT STEPHEN PROTOMARTYR

Urged by the approach of Laurence's triumph, Stephen rises to assist at his combat; it is a meeting full of beauty and strength, revealing the work of eternal Wisdom in the arrangement of the sacred cycle. But the present feast has other teachings also to offer us.

The first resurrection, of which we spoke above, continues for the saints. After Nazarius and Celsus, and all the martyrs whom the victory of Christ has shown to be partakers of His glory according to the divine promise, the standard-bearer of the white-robed army himself rises glorious from his tomb to lead the way for new triumphs. The fierce auxiliaries of God's anger against idolatrous Rome, after reducing the false gods to powder, must in their turn be subjugated; and this second victory will be the work of the martyrs aiding the Church by their miracles, as the first was that of their faith despising death and tortures. The received method of writing history in our days ignores such considerations; that is no reason why we should follow the fashion; the exactitude of its data, on which the science of this age plumes itself, is but one more proof that falsehood is as easily nurtured by omissions as by positive misstatements. Now the more profound the present silence on the question, the more certain it is that the very years which beheld the barbarians invading and overturning the empire were signalized by an effusion of virtue from on high, comparable in more than one respect to that which marked the times of the apostolic preaching. Nothing less was required to reassure the faithful on the one hand, and on the other to inspire with respect for the Church these brutal invaders, who knew no right but might, and felt nothing but disdain for the race they had conquered.

The divine intention in surrounding the fall of Rome in 410 with discoveries of saints' bodies was clearly manifested in the most important of these discoveries, the one we celebrate to-day. The year 415 had opened. Italy, Gaul, and Spain were being invaded; Africa was about to share their fate. Amidst the universal ruin the Christians, in whom alone resided the hope of the world, put up their petitions at every sanctuary to obtain at least, according to the expression of the Spanish priest Avitus, 'that the Lord would inspire with gentleness those whom He suffered to prevail.' It was then that took place that marvellous revelation which the severe critic Tillemont, convinced by the testimony of all the chronicles, histories, letters, and discourses of the time,² allows to be 'one of the most celebrated events of the fifth century.' Through the intermediary of the priest Lucian, John, Bishop of Jerusalem, received from St. Stephen the first martyr and his companions in the tomb a message couched in these terms: 'Make haste to open our sepulchre, that by our means God may open to the world the door of His clemency, and may take pity on His people in the universal tribulation.' The discovery, accomplished in the midst of prodigies, was published to the whole world as the sign of salvation. St. Stephen's relics, scattered everywhere in token of security and peace, wrought astonishing conversions; innumerable miracles, 'like those of ancient times,' bore witness to the same faith of Christ which the martyr had confessed by his death four centuries earlier.⁵

Such was the extraordinary character of this manifestation, so astonishing was the number of resurrections

¹ Aviti Epist. ad Palchon., De reliquiis S. S.
² Ibid., edn. Sozomenis, Augustini, etc. — ³ Mem. Eccl., ii., p. 12.
⁴ Luciani Epist. ad omnem Ecclesiam, De inventione S. Stephani.
⁵ Severi Epist. ad omnem Eccl., De virtutibus S. Stephani.
⁶ Aug. De Civit. Dei, xxii. 8, 9.

of the dead, that St. Augustine, addressing his people, deemed it prudent to lift their thoughts from Stephen the servant to Christ his Master. 'Though dead,' said he, 'he raises the dead to life, because in reality he is not dead. But as heretofore in his mortal life, so now, too, he acts solely in the name of Christ; all that ye see now done by the memory of Stephen is done in that name alone, that Christ may be exalted, Christ may be adored, Christ may be expected as Judge of the living and the dead.'⁷

Let us conclude with this praise addressed to St. Stephen a few years later by Basil of Seleucia, which gives so well in a few words the reason of the feast: 'There is no place, no territory, no nation, no far-off land, that has not obtained the help of thy benefits. There is no one, stranger or citizen, barbarian or Scythian, that does not experience, through thy intercession, the greatness of heavenly realities.'⁸

The following legend epitomizes and completes the history given by the priest Lucian:

Sanctorum corpora Stephani Protomartyris, Gamalielis, Nicodemi et Abibonis, quæ diu in
obscuro ac sordido loco jacuerant, Honorio imperatore, Luciano presbytero divinitus admonito, inventa sunt prope Jerosolymam. Cui Gamaliel, cum in somnis apparuisset, gravi quadam et præclara
senis specie, locum jacentium corporum commonstravit, imperans, ut Joannem Jerosolymitanum antistitem adiret, ageretque cum eo, ut honestius illa corpora sepelirentur.

During the reign of the Emperor Honorius the bodies of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibo were found near Jerusalem. They had long lain buried, unknown and neglected, when they were revealed by God to a priest named Lucian. While he was asleep, Gamaliel appeared to him as a venerable and majestic old man, and showed him the spot where the bodies lay, commanding him to go to Bishop John of Jerusalem, and persuade him to give these bodies more honourable burial.

Quibus auditis Jerosolymorum antistes, finitimarum urbium episcopis presbyterisque convocatis, ad locum pergit:

On hearing this, the Bishop of Jerusalem assembled the neighbouring bishops and clergy, and went to the spot

⁷ Sermo 319, al. De diversis 51. — ⁸ Sermo 316, al. De diversis 53, De S. Stephano.
⁹ Basil. Seleuc. Oratio 41, De S. Stephano.

defossos loculos invenit, unde suavissimus odor efflabatur. Cujus rei fama commota, magna hominum multitudo eo convenit, multique ex variis morbis ægroti ac debiles, sani
et integri domum redierunt. Sacrum autem sancti Stephani corpus, quod summa tunc celebritate in sanctam ecclesiam Sion illatum est, sub Theodosio juniore Constantinopolim, inde Romam Pelagio Primo Summo Pontifice translatum, in agro Verano in sepulcro sancti Laurentii Martyris collocatum est.

indicated. The tombs were found, and from them exhaled a most sweet odour. At the rumour of what had occurred, a great crowd came together, and many of them who were sick and weak from various ailments went away perfectly cured. The sacred body of St. Stephen was then carried with great honour to the holy church of Sion. Under Theodosius the younger it was carried to Constantinople, and from thence it was translated to Rome under Pope Pelagius I and placed in the tomb of St. Laurence the Martyr, in Agro Verano.

What a precious addition to thy history in the sacred books is furnished us, O Protomartyr, by the story of thy finding! We now know who were those 'God-fearing men who buried Stephen and made great mourning over him.' Gamaliel, the master of the Doctor of the Gentiles, had been, before his disciple, conquered by our Lord; inspired by Jesus to whom in dying thou didst commend thy soul, he honoured after thy death the humble soldier of Christ with the same cares which had been lavished by Joseph of Arimathea, the noble counsellor, on the Man-God, and laid thy body in the new tomb prepared for himself. Soon Nicodemus, Joseph's companion in the pious work of the great Friday, hunted by the Jews in that persecution in which thou wert the first victim, found refuge near thy sacred relics, and dying a holy death was laid to rest beside thee. The respected name of Gamaliel prevailed over the angry synagogue; while the family of Annas and Caiphas kept in its hands the priestly power through the precarious favour of Rome, the grandson of Hillel left to his descendants pre-eminence in knowledge, and his eldest line remained for four centuries the depositories of the only moral authority then recognized by the dispersed Israelites. But more fortunate was he in having, by hearing the apostles and thyself, O Stephen, passed from the science of shadows to the light of the realities, from the Law to the Gospel, from Moses to Him whom Moses announced; more happy than the eldest born was the beloved son Abibo, baptized with his father at the age of twenty, who, passing away to God, filled the tomb next to thine with the sweet odour of heavenly purity. How touching was the last will of the illustrious father, when, his hour being come, he ordered the grave of Abibo to be opened for himself, that father and son might be seen to be twin brothers born together to the only true light!

The munificence of our Lord had placed thee in death, O Stephen, in worthy company. We give thanks to the noble person who showed thee hospitality for thy last rest; and we are grateful to him for having, at the appointed time, himself broken the silence kept concerning him by the delicate reserve of the Scriptures. Here again we see how the Man-God wills to share His own honours with His chosen ones. Thy sepulchre, like His, was glorious; and when it was opened, the earth shook, the bystanders believed that heaven had come down; the world was delivered from a desolating drought, and amid a thousand evils hope sprang up once more. Now that our West possesses thy body and Gamaliel has yielded to Laurence the right of hospitality, rise up once more, O Stephen; and together with the great Roman deacon deliver us from the new barbarians, by converting them, or wiping them off the face of the earth given by God to His Christ.

AUGUST 4

SAINT DOMINIC CONFESSOR

In that clime Where springs the pleasant west wind to unfold The fresh leaves, with which Europe sees herself New-garmented; nor from those billows far, Beyond whose chiding, after weary course, The sun doth sometimes hide him; safe abides The happy Calaroga, under guard Of the great shield, wherein the lion lies Subjected and supreme. And there was born The loving minion of the Christian faith, The hallowed wrestler, gentle to his own, And to his enemies terrible. So replete His soul with lively virtue, that when first Created, even in the mother's womb, It prophesied. When, at the sacred font, The spousals were complete 'twixt faith and him, Where pledge of mutual safety was exchanged, The dame, who was his surety, in her sleep Beheld the wondrous fruit, that was from him And from his heirs to issue. And that such He might be construed, as indeed he was, She was inspired to name him of his owner, Whose he was wholly; and so called him Dominic.

O happy father! Felix rightly named. O favoured mother! rightly named Joanna; If that do mean as men interpret it.¹

Then, with sage doctrine and goodwill to help, Forth on his great apostleship he fared, Like torrent bursting from a lofty vein; And dashing 'gainst the stocks of heresy, Smote fiercest, where resistance was most stout. Thence many rivulets have since been turned, Over the garden Catholic to lead Their living waters, and have fed its plants.²

¹ Dominic, belonging to the Lord; Felix, happy; Joanna, grace.
² Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradiso, xii. (Cary's translation).

This eulogium, truly worthy of heaven, is placed by Dante, in his 'Paradiso,' on the lips of the most illustrious son of the poor man of Assisi. In the great poet's journey through the upper world, it was fitting that Bonaventure should extol the patriarch of the Preachers as in the preceding canto Thomas Aquinas, Dominic's son, had celebrated the father of the family humbly girt with the cord.

The Providence that governeth the world, In depth of counsel by created ken Unfathomable, to the end that she, Who with loud cries was spoused in precious Blood, Might keep her footing towards her well-beloved, Safe in herself and constant unto him, Hath two ordained, who should on either hand In chief escort her: one, seraphic all In fervency; for wisdom upon earth, The other, splendour of cherubic light.³

O Wisdom of the Father, thou wast the one love of both; Francis' poverty, the true treasure of the soul, and Dominic's faith, the incomparable light of our exile, are but two aspects of Thee from below, expressing to us, in our time of trial and shadow, Thy adorable beauty. Speaking with no less profoundness and with greater authority, the immortal pontiff Gregory IX says: 'The Fountain of Wisdom, the Word of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose nature is goodness, whose work is mercy, does not abandon in the course of ages the vine He has brought out of Egypt; He comes to the aid of wavering souls by new signs, He adapts His wonders to the weakness of the incredulous. When therefore the day was declining towards evening, and while charity was becoming frozen by the abundance of wickedness, the light of justice was beginning to wane, the Father of the family gathered together workmen fitted for the labours of the eleventh hour; to clear His vineyard of the thorns that had overgrown it, and to drive away the multitude of mischievous little foxes that were doing their best to destroy it, He raised up the companies of Friars Preachers and Minors with the chiefs armed for battle.' In this expedition of the Lord of hosts, Dominic was 'His glorious charger, full of fire in his faith, fearlessly neighing by preaching the divine word.' In October we shall see the great share in the combat taken by his brother-at-arms, who appeared as a living standard of Christ crucified, in the midst of a society where the triple concupiscence was in league with every error, striving to overthrow Christianity itself.

³ Dante, Paradiso, Canto xi.

Finding everywhere this union of sensuality with heresy, which was henceforth to be the principal strength of false preachers, Dominic, like Francis, prescribed to his sons the most absolute renunciation of this world's goods, and he too became a beggar for Christ's sake. The time was past when the people, rejoicing in all the consequences of the Incarnation, made over to the Man-God the most extensive territorial domain that ever was, and at the same time placed his Vicar at the head of kings. The unworthy descendants of these high-minded Christians, after having vainly attempted to humiliate the Bride by subjecting the priesthood to the empire, reproached the Church with possessing those goods of which she was but the depository in the name of our Lord; the time had come for the Dove of the Canticle to begin, by abandoning the earth, her return journey towards heaven.

But if the two leaders of the campaign which arrested for a time the progress of the enemy were but one in their love of holy poverty, this last was the special choice of the Assisian Patriarch. Dominic's more direct means for obtaining the glory of God and the salvation of souls was science; this was his excellent portion, more fertile than that of Caleb's daughter. Less than fifty years after Dominic had bequeathed this inheritance to his descendants, the wisely combined irrigation, by the upper and the nether waters of faith and reason, had brought to full growth the tree of theological science, with its powerful roots and branches loftier than the clouds, whereon the birds of all tribes under heaven loved to perch without fear and gaze upon the sun.

¹ Bulla Fons Sapientiæ, de canonisatione S. Dominici.

"The father of the Preachers," said the Eternal Father to St. Catherine of Siena, "established his principle on the light, by making it his aim and his armour; he took upon him the office of the Word My Son, sowing My word, dispelling darkness, enlightening the earth; Mary, by whom I gave him to the world, made him the extirpator of heresies." In the same way, as we have already seen, spoke the Florentine poet half a century earlier. The order, called to become the chief support of the sovereign pontiff in uprooting pernicious doctrines, ought, if possible, to justify that name even more than its patriarch: the first of the tribunals of Holy Church, the Holy Roman Universal Inquisition, the Holy Office, truly invested with the office of the Word with His two-edged sword, to convert or to chastise, could find no instrument more trusty or more sure.

Little thought the virgin of Siena, or the illustrious author of the 'Divina Commedia,' that the chief title of the Dominican family to the grateful love of the people would be discussed in a certain apologetic school, and there discarded as insulting, or dissembled as unpleasant. The present age glories in a liberalism which has given proofs of its power by multiplying ruins, and which rests on no better philosophical basis than a strange confusion between licence and liberty; only such intellectual grovelling could have failed to understand that, in a society which has faith for the basis of its institutions as well as the principle of salvation for all, no crime could equal that of shaking the foundation on which thus rest both social interest and the most precious possession of individuals. Neither the idea of justice, nor still less that of liberty, could consist in leaving to the mercy of evil or evil men the weak who are unable to protect themselves: this truth was the axiom and the glory of chivalry: the brothers of Peter the Martyr devoted their lives to protect the safety of the children of God against the surprises of the strong armed one, and the business that walketh about in the dark:¹ it was the honour of the 'saintly flock led by Dominic along a way where they thrive well who do not go astray.'²

¹ Ps. xc, 6.
² Dante, Paradiso, Canto x.

Who could be truer knights than those athletes of the faith? taking their sacred vow in the form of allegiance,³ and choosing for their Lady her who, terrible as an army, alone crushes heresies throughout the whole world? To the buckler of truth and the sword of the word, she who keeps in Sion the armour of valiant men, added for her devoted liegemen the Rosary, the special mark of her own militia; she, as being their true commander-in-chief, assigned them the habit of her choice, and in the person of Blessed Reginald, anointed them with her own hands for the battle. She herself, too, watched over the recruiting of the holy band, attracting to it from among the élite youth of the universities souls the purest, the most generously devoted, and of the noblest intellect. At Paris, the capital of theology, and Bologna, of law and jurisprudence, masters and scholars, disciples of every branch of science, were pursued and overtaken by the sweet Queen amid incidents more heavenly than earthly. How graceful were those beginnings, wherein Dominic's virginal serenity seemed to surround all his children! It was indeed in this the Order of light that the Gospel word was seen verified: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.⁴ Eyes enlightened from above beheld the foundations of the Friars Preachers under the figure of fields of lilies; and Mary, by whom the Splendour of eternal Light came down to us, became their heavenly mistress and led them from every science to Wisdom, the friend of pure hearts. She came, accompanied by Cecilia and Catherine, to bless their rest at night, and covered them all with her royal mantle beside the throne of our Lord. After this we are not astonished at the freshness and purity, which continued even after St. Dominic, under the generalship of Jordan of Saxony, Raymund of Pennafort, John the Teuton, and Humbert de Romans, in those 'Lives of the Brethren,' and 'Lives of the Sisters,' so happily handed down to us. It is instructive to note that in the Dominican family, apostolic in its very essence, the Sisters were founded ten years before the Brethren, which shows how, in the Church of God, action can never be fruitful unless preceded and accompanied by contemplation, which obtains for it every blessing and grace.

³ Honorius III., Diploma confirmans ordinem.
⁴ Promitto obedientiam Deo et B. Mariæ, Constitutiones Fratr. Ord. Prædicat. vocum. xv. de Professione.
⁵ Matt. v. 8.

Notre Dame de Prouille, at the foot of the Pyrenees, was not only by this right of primogeniture the beginning of the whole order; it was here also that the first companions of St. Dominic made with him their choice of a rule, and divided the world amongst them, going from here to found the convents of St. Romanus at Toulouse, St. James at Paris, St. Nicholas at Bologna, St. Sixtus and St. Sabina in the Eternal City. About the same period the establishment of the Militia of Jesus Christ placed under the direction of the Friars Preachers secular persons, who undertook to defend, by all the means in their power, the goods and liberty of the Church against the aggressions of heresy; when the sectaries had laid down their arms, leaving the world in peace for a time, the association did not disappear: it continued to fight with spiritual arms, and changed its name into that of the Third Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic.

Let us read in the Church's book the abridged life of the holy patriarch:

Dominicus, Calaroga in Hispania ex nobili Guzmanorum familia natus, Palentiæ liberalibus disciplinis et theologiæ operam dedit: quo in studio cum plurimum profecisset, prius Oxomensis ecclesiæ canonicus regularis, deinde ordinis Fratrum Prædicatorum auctor fuit. Hujus mater gravida sibi visa est in quiete continere in alvo catulum ore præferentem facem, qua editus in lucem, orbem terrarum incenderet. Quo somnio significabatur, fore ut splendore sanctitatis ac doctrinæ, gentes ad christianam pietatem inflammarentur. Veritatem exitus comprobavit: id enim et præstitit per se, et per sui Ordinis socios deinceps est consecutus.

Dominic was born at Calaruega, in Spain, of the noble family of the Guzmans, and went through his liberal and theological studies at Palencia. He made great progress in learning, and became a Canon Regular of the church of Osma, and afterwards instituted the order of Friars Preachers. While his mother was with child, she dreamt she was carrying in her womb a little dog holding a torch in his mouth, with which, as soon as he was born, he would set fire to the world. This dream signified that he would enkindle Christian piety among the nations by the splendour of his sanctity and teaching. Events proved its truth: for he fulfilled the prophecy both in person and later on by the brethren of his order.

Hujus autem ingenium ac virtus maxime enituit in evertendis hæreticis, qui perniciosis erroribus Tolosates pervertere conabantur. Quo in negotio septem consumpsit annos. Postea Romam venit ad Lateranense concilium cum episcopo Tolosano, ut ordo, quem instituerat, ab Innocentio tertio confirmaretur. Quæ res dum in deliberatione versatur, Dominicus hortatu pontificis ad suos revertitur, ut sibi regulam deligeret. Romam rediens, ab Honorio tertio, qui proximus Innocentio successerat, confirmationem ordinis Prædicatorum impetrat. Romæ autem duo instituit monasteria, alterum virorum, mulierum alterum. Tres etiam mortuos ad vitam revocavit, multaque alia edidit miracula, quibus Ordo Prædicatorum mirifice propagari cœpit.

His genius and virtue shone forth especially in confounding the heretics who were attempting to infect the people of Toulouse with their baneful errors. He was occupied for seven years in this undertaking. Then he went to Rome for the Council of Lateran, with the Bishop of Toulouse, to obtain from Innocent III the confirmation of the order he had instituted. But while the matter was under consideration that Pope advised Dominic to return to his disciples, and choose a rule. On his return to Rome, he obtained the confirmation of the Order of Preachers from Honorius III, the immediate successor of Innocent. In Rome itself he founded two monasteries, one for men and the other for women. He raised three dead to life, and worked many other miracles, in consequence of which the Order of Preachers began to spread in a wonderful manner.

Verum cum ejus opera ubique terrarum monasteria jam ædificarentur, innumerabilesque homines religiosam ac piam vitam instituerent, Bononiæ anno Christi ducentesimo vigesimo primo supra millesimum, in febrem incidit: ex qua cum se moriturum intelligeret, convocatis fratribus et alumnis suæ disciplinæ, eos ad innocentiam et integritatem cohortatus est. Postremo caritatem, humilitatem, paupertatem, tamquam certum patrimonium eis testamento reliquit: fratribusque orantibus, in illis verbis, Subvenite sancti Dei, occurrite Angeli, obdormivit in Domino, octavo idus Augusti: quem postea Gregorius nonus pontifex retulit in sanctorum numerum.

Monasteries were built by his means in every part of the world, and through his teaching numbers of men embraced a holy and religious manner of life. At length, in the year of Christ 1221, he fell into a fever at Bologna. When he saw he was about to die, calling together his brethren and children, he exhorted them to innocence and purity of life, and left them as their true inheritance the virtues of charity, humility, and poverty. While the brethren were praying round him, at the words, 'Come to his aid, ye saints of God, run to meet him, O ye angels,' he fell asleep in the Lord, on the eighth of the Ides of August. Pope Gregory IX placed him among the saints.

How many sons and daughters surround thee on the sacred cycle! This very month, Rose of Lima and Hyacinth keep thee company, and thy coming has long since been heralded in the liturgy by Raymund of Pennafort, Thomas Aquinas, Vincent Ferrer, Peter the Martyr, Catherine of Siena, Pius V, and Antoninus. And now at length appears in the firmament the new star whose brightness dispels ignorance, confounds heresy, increases the faith of believers. O Dominic, thy blessed mother, who preceded thee to heaven, now penetrates in all its fulness the happy meaning of that mysterious vision which once excited her fears. And that other Dominic, the glory of ancient Silos, at whose tomb she received the promise of thy blessed birth, rejoices at the tenfold splendour given by thee for all eternity to the beautiful name he bequeathed thee. But what a special welcome dost thou receive from the Mother of all grace, who heretofore, embracing the feet of her angered Son, stood surety that thou wouldst bring back the world to its Saviour! A few years passed away; and error, put to confusion, felt that a deadly struggle was engaged between itself and thy family; the Lateran Church saw its walls, which were threatening to fall, strengthened for a time; and the two princes of the apostles, who had bidden thee go and preach, rejoice that the word has gone forth once more into the whole world.

Stricken with barrenness, the nations, which the Apocalypse likens to great waters, seemed to have become once for all corrupt; the prostitute of Babylon was setting up her throne before the time; when, in imitation of Eliseus, putting the salt of Wisdom into the new vessel of the order founded by thee, thou didst cast this divine salt into the unhealthy waters, neutralize the poison of the beast so soon risen up again, and, in spite of the snares which will never cease, didst render the earth habitable once more. How clearly thy example shows us that they alone are powerful before God and over the people, who give themselves up to Him without seeking anything else, and only give to others out of their own fulness. Despising, as thine historians tell us, every opportunity and every science where eternal Wisdom was not to be seen, thy youth was charmed with her alone; and she, who prevents those that seek her, inundated thee from thy earliest years with the light and the anticipated sweetness of heaven. It is from her that overflowed upon thee that radiant serenity, which so struck thy contemporaries, and which no occurrence could ever alter. In heavenly peace thou didst drink long draughts from the ever-flowing fountain springing up into eternal life; but while thine inmost soul was thus slaking the thirst of its love, the divine source produced a marvellous fecundity; and its streams becoming thine, thy fountains were conveyed abroad in the streets, thou didst divide thy waters. Thou hadst welcomed Wisdom, and she exalted thee; not content to adorn thy brow with the rays of the mysterious star, she gave thee also the glory of patriarchs, and multiplied thy years and thy works in those of thy sons. In them thou hast not ceased to be one of the strongest stays of the Church. Science has made

² Dialogue, clviii.

thy name wonderful among the nations, and because of it their youth is honoured by the ancients; may it ever be for them, as it was for their elders, both the fruit of Wisdom and the way that leads to her; may it be fostered by prayer; for thy holy order so well keeps up the beautiful traditions of prayer as to approach the nearest, in that respect, to the ancient monastic orders. To praise, to bless, and to preach will be to the end its loved motto; for its apostolate must be, according to the word of the Psalm, the overflowing of the abundance of sweetness tasted in communication with God. Thus strengthened in Sion, thus blessed in its glorious rôle of propagator and guardian of the truth, thy noble family will ever deserve to hear, from the mouth of our Lady herself, that encouragement above all praise: 'Fortiter, fortiter, viri fortes!— Courage, courage, ye men of courage!'

AUGUST 5

OUR LADY OF THE SNOW

Rome, delivered from slavery by Peter on the first of this month, offers to the world a wonderful spectacle. O Wisdom, who, since the glorious Pentecost, hast spread over the whole world, where could it be more true to sing of thee that thou hast trodden the proud heights under thy victorious feet? On seven hills had pagan Rome set up her pageantry and built temples to her false gods; seven churches now appear at the summits on which purified Rome rests her now truly eternal foundations.

By their very site, the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, of St. Laurence and St. Sebastian, placed at the four outer angles of the city of the Cæsars, recall the long siege continued for three centuries around the ancient Rome, while the new Rome was being founded. Helena and her son Constantine, recommencing the work of the foundations of the Holy City, carried the trenches further out; nevertheless, the churches which were their own peculiar work—viz., Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and St. Saviour's on the Lateran, are still at the very entrance of the pagan stronghold, close to the gates, and leaning against the ramparts; just as a soldier, setting foot within a tremendous fortress which has been long invested, advances cautiously, surveying both the breach through which he has just passed, and the labyrinth of unknown paths opening before him.

Who will plant the standard of Sion in the centre of Babylon? Who will force the enemy into his last retreat, and casting out the vain idols, set up his palace in their temples? O thou to whom was said this word of the Most High: Thou art My Son, I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, thou mighty One with thy sharp arrows routing armies, listen to the cry re-echoing from the whole redeemed world: With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign! But the Son of the Most High has a Mother on earth; the song of the Psalmist inviting Him to the triumph extols also the Queen standing at His right hand in a vesture of gold; if it is from His Father that He holds His power, it is from His Mother that He receives His crown, and He leaves her in return the spoils of the mighty. Go forth, then, ye daughters of the new Sion, and behold King Solomon in the diadem wherewith his Mother crowned him on the joyful day, when, taking possession through her of the capital of the world, he espoused the Gentile race.

Truly that was a day of joy, when Mary, in the name of Jesus, claimed her right as sovereign and heiress of the Roman soil! To the East, at the highest point of the Eternal City, she appeared on that blessed morning literally like the rising dawn; beautiful as the moon shining by night; more powerful than the August sun, surprised to see her tempering his heat, and doubling the brightness of his light with her mantle of snow; more terrible than an army; for from that date, daring what neither apostles nor martyrs had attempted, and what Jesus Himself would not do without her, she dispossessed the deities of Olympus of their usurped thrones. As was fitting, the haughty Juno whose altar disgraced the Esquiline, the false queen of these lying gods, was the first to flee before Mary's face, leaving the splendid columns of her polluted sanctuary to the only true Queen of earth and heaven.

Forty years had passed since the days of St. Sylvester, when the 'image of our Saviour, depicted on the walls of the Lateran, appeared for the first time to the Roman people.' Rome, still half pagan, beheld to-day the Mother of our Saviour; under the influence of the pure symbol, at which she gazed in surprise, she felt die down within her the evil ardour which made her once the scourge of nations, whereas now she was to become their mother; and in the joy of her renewed youth she beheld her once sullied hills covered with the white garment of the Bride.

Even from the times of the apostolic preaching, the elect, who gathered in large numbers in Rome in spite of herself, knew Mary and paid to her in those days of martyrdom a homage such as no other creature could ever receive; witness in the catacombs those primitive frescoes of our Lady, either alone or holding her divine Child, but always seated, receiving from her place of honour the praise, homages, prayers, or gifts of prophets, archangels, and kings!¹ In the Trastevere, where in the reign of Augustus a mysterious fountain of oil had sprung up, announcing the coming of the Anointed of the Lord, Callixtus in 222 had built a church in honour of her who is ever the true fons olei, the source whence sprang Christ, and together with him all unction and all grace. The basilica raised by Liberius, the beloved of our Lady, on the Esquiline, was not, then, the most ancient monument dedicated by the Christians of Rome to the Mother of God; but it at once took, and has always kept, the first place among our Lady's churches in the city, and indeed in the world, on account of the solemn and miraculous circumstances of its origin.

Hast thou entered, said the Lord to Job, into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail; which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?² On August 5, then, at God's command, the treasures were opened and the snow was scattered like birds lighting upon the earth, and its coming was the signal for the lightnings of His judgments upon the gods of the nations. The Tower of David now dominates over all the towers of the earthly city; from her impregnable position our Lady will never cease her victorious sallies till she has taken the last hostile fort. How beautiful will thy steps be in these warlike expeditions, O daughter of the prince, O Queen, whose standard, by the will of thine adorable Son, must wave over the whole world rescued from the power of the cursed serpent! The ignominious goddess, overthrown from her impure pedestal by one glance of thine, left Rome still dishonoured by the presence of many vain idols. But thou, all-conquering Lady, didst continue thy triumphal march. The Church of St. Mary in Ara cœli replaced, on the Capitol, the odious temple of Jupiter; the sanctuaries and groves dedicated to Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, and Proserpine hastened to take the title of one who had been shown in their fabulous history under disfigured and degraded forms. The deserted Pantheon awaited the day when it was to receive the noble and magnificent name of St. Mary ad Martyres. What a preparation for thy glorious Assumption is the series of earthly triumphs which this day inaugurates! The basilica of St. Mary of the Snow, called also of Liberius, from its founder, and also of Sixtus, after Sixtus III, who restored it, owed to this last the honour of becoming the monument of the divine Maternity proclaimed at Ephesus; the name of St. Mary Mother, which it received on that occasion, became, under Theodore I, who enriched it with the most precious relic, St. Mary of the Crib: all these noble titles were afterwards gathered into that of St. Mary Major, which is amply justified by the facts we have related, by universal devotion, and by the pre-eminence always assigned to it by the sovereign pontiffs. Though the last in order of time of the seven churches upon which Christian Rome is founded, it nevertheless ranked in the middle ages next to that of St. Saviour, in the procession of the greater Litanies on April 25 the ancient Roman Ordo assigned to the Cross of St. Mary's its place between that of St. Peter's and that of the Lateran.³ The important and numerous liturgical Stations appointed at the basilica on the Esquiline testify to the devotion of the Romans and of all Catholics towards it. It was honoured by having councils celebrated and Vicars of Christ elected within its walls; the pontiffs for a time made it their residence, and were accustomed on the Ember Wednesdays, when the Station is always held there, to publish the names of the Cardinal Deacons or Cardinal Priests whom they had resolved to create.⁴

As to the annual solemnity of its dedication, which is the object of the present feast, there can be no doubt that it was celebrated on the Esquiline at a very early date. It was, however, not yet kept by the whole Church in the thirteenth century; for Gregory IX, in the bull of canonization of St. Dominic, whose death occurred on August 6, anticipated his feast on the fifth of the month, as being at that time vacant, whereas the sixth was already occupied, as we shall see to-morrow, by another solemnity. It was Paul IV who in 1558 definitely fixed the feast of the holy founder on August 4; and the reason he gives is, that the feast of St. Mary of the Snow having since been made universal and taking precedence of the other, the honour due to the holy patriarch might be put in the shade if his feast continued to be kept on the same day. The breviary of St. Pius V soon after promulgated to the entire world the office, of which the following is the legend:

Liberio summo Pontifice, Joannes patricius Romanus, et uxor pari nobilitate, cum liberos non suscepissent, quos bonorum hæredes relinquerent, suam hæreditatem sanctissimæ Virgini Dei Matri voverunt, ab ea summis precibus assidue petentes, ut in quod pium opus eam pecuniam potissimum erogari vellet, aliquo modo significaret. Quorum preces et vota ex animo facta beata Virgo Maria benigne audiens, miraculo comprobavit.

Under the pontificate of Liberius, John, a Roman patrician, and his wife, who was of an equally noble race, having no children to whom they might leave their estates, vowed their whole fortune to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, begging her most earnestly and continually to make known to them by some means in what pious work she wished them to employ the money. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously heard their heartfelt prayers and vows, and answered them by a miracle.

Nonis igitur augusti, quo tempore in urbe maximi calores esse solent, noctu nix partem collis Exquilini contexit. Qua nocte Dei Mater separatim Joannem et conjugem in somnis admonuit, ut quem locum nive conspersum viderent, in eo ecclesiam ædificarent, quæ Mariæ Virginis nomine dedicaretur: se enim ita velle ab ipsis hæredem institui. Quod Joannes ad Liberium pontificem detulit, qui idem per somnium sibi contigisse affirmavit.

On the Nones of August, usually the hottest time of the year in Rome, a part of the Esquiline hill was covered with snow during the night. That same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them to build a church on the spot they should find covered with snow, and to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary; for it was in this manner that she wished to become their heiress. John related this to Pope Liberius, who said he had dreamt the same thing.

Quare solemni sacerdotum et populi supplicatione ad collem venit nive coopertum, et in eo locum ecclesiæ designavit, quæ Joannis et uxoris pecunia exstructa est, postea a Xysto tertio restituta. Variis nominibus primum est appellata, basilica Liberii, sancta Maria ad Præsepe. Sed cum multæ jam essent in urbe ecclesiæ sub nomine sanctæ Mariæ Virginis: ut quæ basilica novitate miraculi ac dignitate cæteris ejusdem nominis basilicis præstaret, vocabuli etiam excellentia significaretur, ecclesia sanctæ Mariæ majoris dicta est. Cujus dedicationis memoria ex nive, quæ hac die mirabiliter cecidit, anniversaria celebritate colitur.

He went, therefore, with a solemn procession of priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and chose the site of a church, which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was afterwards rebuilt by Sixtus III. At first it was called by different names, the Liberian basilica, St. Mary at the Crib. But, since there are many churches in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as this one surpasses all other basilicas in dignity and by its miraculous beginning, it is distinguished from them also by its title of St. Mary Major. On account of the miraculous fall of snow, the anniversary of the dedication is celebrated by a yearly solemnity.

What recollections, O Mary, does this feast of thy greatest basilica awaken within us! And what worthier praise, what better prayer, could we offer thee to-day than to remind thee of the graces we have received within its precincts, and implore thee to renew them and confirm them for ever? United with our Mother-Church in spite of distance, have we not, under its shadow, tasted the sweetest and most triumphant emotions of the cycle now verging on to its term?

¹ Cemeteries of Priscilla, of Nereus and Achilleus, etc.
² Job xxxviii. 22, 23.
³ Museum Italicum: Joan. Diac. Lib. de Eccl. Lateran. XVI, de Episcopis et Cardinal. per patriarchatus dispositis; Ritual. Ordin. xi., xii.
⁴ Paulus de Angelis, Basilica S. Mariæ Maj., descriptio vi, v.

On the first Sunday of Advent it was here that we began the year, as in the place 'most suitable for saluting the approach of the Divine Birth, which was to gladden heaven and earth and manifest the sublime portent of a Virgin Mother.'¹ Our hearts were overflowing with desire on that holy Vigil, when from early morning we were invited to the bright basilica where the 'mystical Rose was soon to bloom and fill the world with its fragrance. The grandest of all the churches which the people of Rome have erected in honour of the Mother of God, it stood before us rich in its marble and gold, but richer still in possessing, together with the portrait of our Lady painted by St. Luke, the humble yet glorious Crib of Jesus, of which the inscrutable designs of God have deprived Bethlehem. During that blessed night an immense concourse of people assembled in the basilica awaiting the happy moment when that monument of the love and the humiliation of a God was to be brought in, carried on the shoulders of the priests as an ark of the New Covenant, whose welcome sight gives the sinner confidence and makes the just man thrill with joy.'² Alas! a few months passed away, and we were again in the noble sanctuary, this time compassionating our 'holy Mother, whose heart was filled with poignant grief at the foresight of the sacrifice which was preparing.'³ But soon the august basilica was filled once more with new joys, when Rome 'justly associated with the Paschal solemnity the memory of her who, more than all other creatures, had merited its joys, not only because of the exceptional share she had had in all the sufferings of Jesus, but also because of the unshaken faith wherewith, during those long and cruel hours of His lying in the tomb, she had awaited His Resurrection.'⁴ Dazzling as the snow which fell from heaven to mark the place of thy predilection on earth, O Mary, a white-robed band of neophytes coming up from the waters formed thy graceful court and enhanced the triumph of that great day. Obtain for them and for us all, O Mother, affections as pure as the white marble columns of thy loved church, charity as bright as the gold glittering on its ceiling, works shining as the Paschal Candle, that symbol of Christ the conqueror of death, which offered thee the homage of its first flames.

¹ Advent, p. 123.
² Christmas, Vol. I, p. 140, 141.
³ Passiontide, p. 276. Station of Wednesday in Holy Week.
⁴ Paschal Time, Vol. I, p. 157.

AUGUST 6

TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD

'O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thine only-begotten Son, didst confirm the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers: and who, in the voice which came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner fore-signify our adoption as sons: mercifully vouchsafe to make us fellow-heirs of that King of glory, and the sharers of His bliss.' Such is the formula which sums up the prayer of the Church and shows us her thoughts on this day of attestation and of hope.

We must first notice that the glorious Transfiguration has already been twice brought before us on the sacred cycle—viz., on the second Sunday of Lent, and on the preceding Saturday. What does this mean, but that the object of the present solemnity is not so much the historical fact already known, as the permanent mystery attached to it; not so much the personal favour bestowed on Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, as the accomplishment of the great message then entrusted to them for the Church? *Tell the vision to no man, till the Son of Man be risen from the dead.*¹ The Church, born from the open side of the Man-God on the Cross, was not to behold Him face to face on earth; after His Resurrection, when He had sealed His alliance with her in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, it is on faith alone that her love was to be fed. But by the testimony which takes the place of sight, her lawful desires to know Him were to be satisfied. Wherefore, for her sake, giving truce, one day of His mortal life, to the ordinary law of suffering and obscurity He had taken upon Him for the world's salvation, He allowed the glory which filled His blessed soul to transpire.

¹ St. Matt. xvii. 9.

The King of Jews and Gentiles revealed Himself upon the mountain, where His calm splendour eclipsed for evermore the lightnings of Sinai; the covenant of the eternal alliance was declared, not by the promulgation of a law of servitude engraven upon stone, but by the manifestation of the Lawgiver Himself, coming as Bridegroom to reign in grace and beauty over hearts. Elias and Moses, representing the prophets and the Law whereby His coming was prepared, from their different starting-points, met beside Him like faithful messengers reaching their destination; they did homage to the Master of their now finished mission, and effaced themselves before Him at the voice of the Father: *This is My beloved Son!* Three witnesses the most trustworthy of all assisted at this solemn scene: the disciple of faith, the disciple of love, and that other son of thunder who was to be the first to seal with his blood both the faith and the love of an apostle. By His order they kept religiously, as beseemed them, the secret of the King, until the day when the Church could be the first to receive it from their predestined lips.

But did this precious mystery take place on August 6? More than one doctor of sacred rites affirms that it did.¹ At any rate, it was fitting to celebrate it in the month dedicated to Eternal Wisdom. It is she, *the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror and image of God's goodness,*² who, shedding grace upon the Son of man, made Him on this day the most beautiful amongst all His brethren, and dictated more melodiously than ever to the inspired singer the accents of the Epithalamium: *My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king.*³

Seven months ago the mystery was first announced in the gentle light of the Epiphany; but by the virtue of the mystical seven here revealed once more, the 'beginnings of blessed hope'⁴ which we then celebrated as children with the Child Jesus, have grown together with Him and the Church; and the latter, established in unspeakable peace by the full growth which gives her to her Spouse, calls upon all her children to grow like her by the contemplation of the Son of God, even to the measure of the perfect age of Christ. We understand, then, why the liturgy of to-day repeats the formulas and chants of the glorious Theophany: *Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee:*⁵ it is because on the mountain together with our Lord the Bride also is glorified, having the glory of God.

¹ Sicarp. Cremon. Mitrale, ix. 38; Beleth, Rationale, cxliv.; Durand, vii., xxii., etc.
² Alleluia verse fr. Wisd. vii. 26.
³ Gradual fr. Ps. xliv. 2, 3.
⁴ Leon. in Epiph., Sermo ii. 4.
⁵ 1st Responsory of Matins from Isaias lx. 1.

While the face of Jesus shone as the sun, His garments became white as snow.¹ Now these garments so snow-white, as St. Mark observes, that no fuller on earth could have bleached them so, are the just men, the royal ornament inseparable from the Man-God, the Church, the seamless robe woven by our sweet Queen for her Son out of the purest wool and most beautiful linen that the valiant woman could find. Although our Lord personally has now passed the torrent of suffering and entered for ever into His glory, nevertheless the bright mystery of the Transfiguration will not be complete until the last of the elect, having passed through the laborious preparation at the hands of the Divine Fuller and tasted death, has joined in the Resurrection of our adorable Head. O Face of our Saviour that dost ravish the heavens, then will all glory, all beauty, all love shine forth from Thee. Expressing God by the perfect resemblance of true Son by nature, Thou wilt extend the good pleasure of the Father to that reflection of His Word which constitutes the sons of adoption, and reaches in the Holy Ghost even to the lowest fringes of His garment which fills the temple below Him. According to the doctrine of the Angel of the schools, the adoption of sons of God, which consists in being conformable to the image of the Son of God by nature, is wrought in a double manner: first by grace in this life, and this is imperfect conformity; and then by glory *in patria*, and this is perfect conformity, according to the words of St. John: *We are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him: because we shall see Him as He is.*² The word of eternity, *Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee*, has had two echoes in time, at the Jordan and on Thabor; and God, who never repeats Himself, did not herein make an exception to the rule of saying but once what He says. For although the terms used on the two occasions are identical, they do not tend, as St. Thomas says, to the same end, but show the different ways in which man participates in the resemblance of the eternal filiation. At the baptism of our Lord, where the mystery of the first regeneration was declared, as at the Transfiguration which manifested the second, the whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice, the Son in His Humanity, the Holy Ghost under the form, first of a dove, and afterwards of a bright cloud; for if in baptism this Holy Spirit confers innocence symbolized by the simplicity of the dove, in the Resurrection he will give to the elect the brightness of glory and the refreshment after suffering which are signified by the luminous cloud.

¹ St. Matt. xvii. 2.
² 1 John iii. 2.

But without waiting for the day when our Saviour will renew our very bodies conformable to the bright glory of His own divine Body, the mystery of the Transfiguration is wrought in our souls already here on earth. It is of the present life that St. Paul says and the Church sings to-day: *God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.*¹ Thabor, holy and divine mountain rivalling heaven,² how can we help saying with Peter: 'It is good for us to dwell on thy summit!' For thy summit is love; it is charity which towers above the other virtues, as thou towerest in gracefulness, and loftiness, and fragrance over the other mountains of Galilee, which saw Jesus passing, speaking, praying, working prodigies, but did not know Him in the intimacy of the perfect. It is after six days, as the Gospel observes, and therefore in the repose of the seventh which leads to the eighth of the resurrection, that Jesus reveals Himself to the privileged souls who correspond to His love. The Kingdom of God is within us; when, leaving all impressions of the senses as it were asleep, we raise ourselves above the works and cares of the world by prayer, it is given us to enter with the Man-God into the cloud: there *beholding the glory of the Lord with open face*, as far as is compatible with our exile, *we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.*³ 'Let us then,' cries St. Ambrose, 'ascend the mountain; let us beseech the Word of God to show Himself to us in His splendour, in His beauty; to grow strong and proceed prosperously, and reign in our souls. For behold a deep mystery! According to thy measure, the Word diminishes or grows within thee. If thou reach not that summit, high above all human things, Wisdom will not appear to thee; the Word shows Himself to thee as in a body without brightness and without glory.'⁴

¹ Capit. of Sext, fr. 2 Cor. iv. 6.
² Joan. Damasc. Orat. in Transfig. iii.
³ Capit. of Sext, fr. 2 Cor. iii. 18.
⁴ Ambr. in Luc, lib. vii., 12.

If the vocation revealed to thee this day be so great and so holy, 'reverence the call of God,' says St. Andrew of Crete;¹ 'do not ignore thyself, despise not a gift so great, show not thyself unworthy of the grace, be not so slothful in thy life as to lose this treasure of heaven. Leave earth to the earth, and let the dead bury their dead; disdaining all that passes away, all that dies with the world and the flesh, follow even to heaven, without turning aside, Christ who leads the way through this world for thee. Take to thine assistance fear and desire, lest thou faint or lose thy love. Give thyself up wholly; be supple to the Word in the Holy Ghost, in order to attain this pure and blessed end: thy deification, together with the enjoyment of unspeakable goods. By zeal for the virtues, by contemplation of the truth, by wisdom, attain to Wisdom, who is the principle of all, and in whom all things subsist.'

¹ Andr. Hymitani, Archiep. Cretensis, Oratio in Transfig.

The feast of the Transfiguration has been kept in the East from the earliest times. With the Greeks, it is preceded by a vigil and followed by an octave, and on it they abstain from servile work, from commerce, and from law-suits. Under the graceful name of Rose-Flame, *rosa coruscatio*, we find it in Armenia at the beginning of the fourth century supplanting Diana and her feast of flowers, by the remembrance of the day when the divine Rose unfolded for a moment on earth its brilliant corolla. It is preceded by a whole week of fasting, and counts among the five principal feasts of the Armenian cycle, where it gives its name to one of the eight divisions of the year. Although the Menology of this Church marks it on the sixth of August like that of the Greeks and the Roman Martyrology, it is nevertheless always celebrated there on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost; and by a coincidence full of meaning, they honour on the preceding Saturday the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, a figure of the Church.

The origin of to-day's feast in the West is not so easy to determine. But the authors who place its introduction into our countries as late as 1457, when Callixtus III promulgated by precept a new Office enriched with indulgences, overlook the fact that the pontiff speaks of the feast as already widespread and 'commonly called of the Saviour.' It is true that in Rome especially the celebrity of the more ancient feast of St. Sixtus II, with its double Station at the two cemeteries which received respectively the relics of the pontiff-martyr and those of his companions, was for a long time an obstacle to the acceptance of another feast on the same day. Some churches, to avoid the difficulty, chose another day in the year to honour the mystery. As the feast of our Lady of the Snow, so that of the Transfiguration had to spread more or less privately, with various offices and masses,² until the supreme authority should intervene to sanction and bring to unity the expressions of the devotion of different Churches. Callixtus III considered that the hour had come to consecrate the work of centuries; he made the solemn and definitive insertion of this feast of triumph on the universal Calendar the memorial of the victory which arrested, under the walls of Belgrade in 1456, the onward march of Mahomet II, conqueror of Byzantium, against Christendom.

¹ Callixt. III Const. Inter Divinæ dispensationis arcana.
² Schultino, on this date; Thomasi, Antiphoner.

Already in the ninth century, if not even earlier, martyrologies and other liturgical documents¹ furnish proofs that the mystery was celebrated with more or less solemnity, or at least with some sort of commemoration, in divers places. In the twelfth century Peter the Venerable, under whose government Cluny took possession of Thabor, ordained that 'in all the monasteries or churches belonging to his order, the Transfiguration should be celebrated with the same degree of solemnity as the Purification of our Lady'; and he gave for his reason, besides the dignity of the mystery, the 'custom, ancient or recent, of many churches throughout the world, which celebrate the memory of the said Transfiguration with no less honour than the Epiphany and the Ascension of our Lord.'²

On the other hand at Bologna, in 1233, in the juridical instruction preliminary to the canonization of St. Dominic, the death of the saint is declared to have taken place on the feast of St. Sixtus, without mention of any other.³ It is true, and we believe this detail is not void of meaning, that a few years earlier, Sicardus of Cremona thus expressed himself in his Mitrale: 'We celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord on the day of St. Sixtus.'⁴ Is not this sufficient indication that while the feast of the latter continued to give its traditional name to the eighth of the Ides of August, it did not prevent a new and greater one from taking its place beside it, preparatory to absorbing it altogether? For he adds: 'Therefore on this same day, as the Transfiguration refers to the state in which the faithful will be after the résurrection, we consecrate the Blood of our Lord from new wine, if it is possible to obtain it, in order to signify what is said in the Gospel: I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father.¹ But if it cannot be procured, then at least a few ripe grapes are pressed over the chalice, or else grapes are blessed and distributed to the people.'²

¹ Wandalbert; Ildefons.
² Statuta Cluniac. V.
³ Deposition of the Prior of St. Nicholas.
⁴ Sicard. Mitrale, ix., xxxviii.

The author of the Mitrale died in 1215; yet he was only repeating the explanation already given in the second half of the preceding century by John Beleth, Rector of the Paris University.³ We must admit that the very ancient benedictio uvæ found in the Sacramentaries on the day of St. Sixtus has nothing corresponding to it in the life of the great pope which could justify our referring to him. The Greeks, who have also this blessing of grapes fixed for August 6,⁴ celebrate on this day the Transfiguration alone, without any commemoration of Sixtus II. Be it as it may, the words of the Bishop of Cremona and of the Rector of Paris prove that Durandus of Mende, giving at the end of the thirteenth century the same symbolical interpretation,⁵ did but echo a tradition more ancient than his own time.

¹ St. Matt. xxvi. 29.
² Sicard. Ibid.
³ Beleth. Rationale, cxliv.
⁴ Eucholog.
⁵ Durand. Rationale, vii., xxii.

St. Pius V did not alter the ancient office of the feast, except the lessons of the first and second Nocturns, which were taken from Origen,⁶ and the three hymns for Vespers, Matins, and Lauds, which resembled somewhat in structure the corresponding hymns of the Blessed Sacrament.⁷ The hymn now used for Vespers and Matins, which we here give, is borrowed from the beautiful canticle of Prudentius on the Epiphany in his Cathemerinon:

⁶ Homil. xii. in Exod. De vultu Moysi glorificato et velamine quod ponebat in facie sua.
⁷ Gaude, mater pietatis. Exultet laudibus sacra concio. Novum sidus exoritur.

HYMN

Quicumque Christum quæritis,
Oculos in altum tollite: Illic licebit visere Signum perennis gloriæ.

Illustre quiddam cernimus, Quod nesciat finem pati, Sublime, celsum, interminum, Antiquius cælo et chao.

Hic ille Rex est Gentium, Populique Rex Judaici, Promissus Abrahæ patri,
Ejusque in ævum semini.

Hunc et prophetis testibus Iisdemque signatoribus Testator et Pater jubet Audire nos et credere.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria, Qui te revelas parvulis, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.

All ye who seek Christ, lift up your eyes to heaven; there ye may behold the token of His eternal glory.

A certain brilliance we perceive that knows no ending, sublime, noble, interminable, older than heaven and chaos.

This is the King of the Gentiles, and King of the Jewish people, who was promised to Abraham our father, and to his seed for ever.

The prophets testify to Him, and the Father, who testifies with them for His witnesses, bids us hear and believe Him.

O Jesus, glory be to Thee who revealest Thyself to little ones, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, through everlasting ages. Amen.

Adam of St. Victor has also sung of this glorious mystery:

SEQUENCE

Lætabundi jubilemus
Ac devote celebremus Hæc sacra solemnia;
Ad honorem summi Dei Hujus laudes nunc diei Personet Ecclesia.

In hac Christus die festa Suæ dedit manifesta
Gloriæ indicia;
Ut hoc possit enarrari Hic nos suos salutari Repleat et gratia.

Come, let us sing with joy, and devoutly celebrate these sacred solemnities; let the Church resound with the praises of this day to the honour of the most high God.

For on this festal day did Christ give manifest signs of His great glory; that we may recount the same, may He give us His aid and fill us with His grace.

Christus ergo, Deus fortis,
Vita dator, victor mortis, Verus sol justitiæ,
Quam assumpsit carnem de Virgine, Transformatus in Thabor culmine, Glorificat hodie.

O felix sors bonorum! Talis enim beatorum Erit resurrectio. Sicut fulget sol pleni luminis, Fulsit Dei vultus et hominis, Teste Evangelio.

Candor quoque sacræ vestis
Deitatis fuit testis Et futuræ gloriæ.
Mirus honor et sublimis: Mira, Deus, tuæ nimis
Virtus est potentiæ.

Cumque Christus, virtus Dei, Petro, natis Zebedæi
Majestatis gloriam Demonstraret manifeste, Ecce vident, Luca teste, Moysen et Eliam.

Hoc habemus ex Matthæo,
Quod loquentes erant Deo Dei Patris Filio: Vere sanctum, vere dignum Loqui Deo et benignum, Plenum omni gaudio.

Hujus magna laus diei, Quæ sacratur voce Dei,
Honor est eximius; Nubes illos obumbravit, Et vox Patris proclamavit: Hic est meus Filius.

Hujus vocem exaudite: Habet enim verba vitæ,
Verbo potens omnia.

Christ, then, the mighty God, the giver of life, and conqueror of death, the true Sun of justice, to-day transfigured on Thabor's height, did glorify the flesh He had taken of the Virgin.

O how happy the lot of the good! For such will be the resurrection of the blessed. As shines the sun in fulness of his light, so shone the countenance of God and Man, as the Gospel testifieth.

The brightness, too, of His sacred robe gave testimony of His Godhead and of the glory to come. Wondrous the honour and sublime: wondrous exceedingly, O God, is the power of Thine almightiness.

And when Christ, the power of God, to Peter and the sons of Zebedee did clearly show the glory of His majesty, lo! they beheld, as Luke doth testify, Moses and Elias.

This we learn of Matthew, that they were seen speaking with God, the Son of God the Father. Oh! how noble and how holy, how good and full of all joy, to speak to God!

Great is the glory of this day, consecrated by the voice of God, and exceeding is its honour; a cloud did overshadow them, and the Father's voice proclaimed: 'This is my Son.'

Hear ye His voice: for the words of life hath He, Who can do all things by His word.

Hic est Christus, rex cunctorum, Mundi salus, lux sanctorum, Lux illustrans omnia.

Hic est Christus, Patris Verbum, Per quem perdit jus acerbum Quod in nobis habuit Hostis nequam, serpens dirus, Qui, fundendo suum virus In Evam, nobis nocuit.

Moriendo nos sanavit Qui surgendo reparavit Vitam Christus et damnavit Mortis magisterium.

Hic est Christus, pax æterna,
Ima regens et superna, Cui de cœlis vox paterna
Confert testimonium.

Cujus sono sunt turbati Patres illi tres præfati
Et in terram sunt prostrati Quando vox emittitur.

Surgunt tandem, annuente Sibi Christo, sed intente Circumspectant, cum repente Solus Jesus cernitur.

Volens Christus hæc celari
Non permisit enarrari, Donec, vitæ reparator,
Hostis vitæ triumphator,
Morte victa, surgeret.

Hæc est dies laude digna
In qua tot sancta fiunt signa; Christus, splendor Dei Patris Prece sancta suæ matris
Nos a morte liberet.

Tibi, Pater, tibi, Nate, Tibi, Sancte Spiritus, Sit cum summa potestate Laus et honor debitus! Amen.

This is Christ, the King of all, the world's salvation and the light of saints, the light enlightening all things.

This is Christ, the Father's Word, by whom He destroys the bitter law set in us by the wicked enemy, the cruel serpent, who, pouring out his poison upon Eve, did work our ruin.

Christ by dying healed us, who by rising restored our life and condemned the tyranny of death. This is Christ, the eternal peace, ruling both depths and height; to whom from heaven the Father's voice bore testimony.

At His voice those three aforesaid fathers were afraid, and prostrated on the earth when the word was uttered. At length they rise, Christ bidding them; they gaze around intently, but at once see none but Jesus.

Wishing these things to be concealed, Christ suffers them not to be uttered, until the restorer of life and conqueror of life's enemy should rise triumphant over death. This is the day so worthy of praise, whereon are wrought so many holy signs; may Christ, the splendour of God the Father, by the prayer of His holy Mother, deliver us from death.

To Thee, O Father, Thee, O Son, and Thee, O Holy Ghost, be, together with highest power, the praise and honour due! Amen.

The Menæa of the Greeks offers us these stanzas from St. John Damascene:

MENSIS AUGUSTI DIE VI

In Matutino

Qui manibus invisibilibus formasti secundum imaginem tuam, Christe, hominem, archetypam in figmento pulchritudinem ostendisti non ut in imagine, sed ut hoc ipse exsistens per substantiam, Deus simul et homo.

Quam magnum et terribile visum est spectaculum hodie! e cœlo sensibilis, e terra vero incomparabilis effulsit sol justitiæ, intelligibilis, in monte Thabor.

Regnantium es Rex pulcherrimus, et ubique dominantium Dominus, princeps beatus, et lumen habitans inaccessibile, cui discipuli stupefacti clamabant: Pueri, benedicite; sacerdotes, concinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia sæcula.

Tamquam cœlo dominanti, et terræ regnanti, et subterraneorum dominium habenti, Christe, tibi adstiterunt: e terra quidem apostoli; tamquam e cœlo autem, Thesbites Elias; Moyses vero ex mortuis, canentes incessanter: Pueri, benedicite; sacerdotes, concinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia sæcula.

Segnitiem parientes curæ in terra derelictæ sunt, apostolorum delectu, o humane, ut te secuti sunt ad sublimem e terra divinam politiam, unde et jure divinæ tuæ manifestationis participes effecti, canebant: Pueri, benedicite; sacerdotes, concinite; populus, superexaltate per omnia sæcula.

Agite mihi, parete mihi, populi ascendentes in montem sanctum, cœlestem; abjecta materia stemus in civitate viventis Dei, et inspiciamus mente divinitatem immaterialem Patris et Spiritus, in Filio unigenito effulgentem.

Demulsisti desiderio me, Christe, et alterasti divino tuo amore, sed combure igne a materia remoto peccata mea, et impleri iis quæ in te deliciis dignum fac, ut duos saltando magnificem, o bone, adventus tuos.

O Christ, who with invisible hands didst form man to Thine own image, Thou hast shown Thine original beauty in the human frame, not as in an image, but as being this Thyself, both God and Man.

How grand and awful was the spectacle beheld this day! from heaven the visible sun, but from earth the incomparable spiritual Sun of justice shone upon Mount Thabor.

Thou art the King of kings most beautiful, and Lord of all lords, O blessed Prince, dwelling in inaccessible light; to Thee the disciples, beside themselves, cried out: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

As before the Lord of heaven and King of earth and Ruler of the regions under the earth, before Thee, O Christ, there stood the apostles as from the earth, Elias the Thesbite as from heaven, Moses as from the dead; and they sang unceasingly: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

Leaving to the earth its wearying cares, the chosen apostles having followed Thee, O loving one, to the divine city far above the earth, are justly admitted to behold Thy divine manifestation, singing: Ye children, bless Him; ye priests, sing to Him; ye people, exalt Him above all for ever.

Come to me, attend to me, ye people, ascending the holy, heavenly mountain; casting away material things, let us stand in the city of the living God, and mentally behold the immaterial divinity of the Father and the Spirit, shining forth in the only-begotten Son.

Thou, O Christ, hast won me with desire, and inebriated me with Thy divine love; but burn away my sins with immaterial fire, and make me worthy to be satiated with the delights that are in Thee; that exulting I may sing Thy two comings, O Thou who art so good.

It will be well to borrow also from the Church of Armenia, which celebrates this feast with so much solemnity:

IN TRANSFIGURATIONE DOMINI

Qui transfiguratus in monte vim divinam ostendisti, te glorificamus, intelligibile Lumen.

Ast ipsum deitatis ineffabile Lumen propriis visceribus provide portasti, Maria Mater Virgoque: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Lumine abbreviato chorus apostolorum terretur; ast in te plenius habuisti ignem divinitatis, Maria Mater Virgoque: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Apostolis nubes lucida tenditur desuper; ast in te Spiritu Sanctus, virtus Altissimi, diffunditur obumbrans, sancta Dei Mater: te glorificamus et benedicimus.

Christe, Deus noster, da ut cum Petro et filiis Zebedæi tua divina visione digni habeamur.

Ultra montem terrenum aufer nos ad intelligibile tabernaculum cœlo celsius.

Exsultant hodie montes Dei Creatori obviam procedentes, apostolorum agmina et prophetarum montibus æternis sociata.

Hodie sponsa Regis immortalis, Sion excelsa lætatur, adspiciens cœlestem Sponsum lumine decorum in gloria Patris.

Hodie virga de radice Jesse floruit in monte Thabor.

Hodie immortalitatis odore manat, inebrians discipulos.

Te benedicimus, consubstantialem Patri, qui venisti salvare mundum.

O Light intelligible, who, transfigured on the mountain, didst show Thy divine power, we glorify Thee.

But this ineffable Light of the Godhead thou didst happily bear in thy womb, O Mother and Virgin: we glorify and bless thee.

The choir of the apostles trembled before the diminished Light; but in thee dwelt fully the fire of the divinity, O Mother and Virgin: we glorify and bless thee.

A bright cloud was spread over the apostles; but upon thee was poured the Holy Spirit, the Power of the Most High, overshadowing thee, O holy Mother of God: we glorify and bless thee.